Bruiser Chong

To the credit of the Stros, they've been playing much better the last two weeks. Beltran KILLS at Wrigley, Bagwell's been hitting like the Baggy of old since getting his latest cortisone shot, Berkman has been heating it up and Kent seems to have great career numbers against all of the Cub starters. Bad defense will also help out the opposition, too. Were it not for that embarrassing two-error play that scored THREE, the Cubs would've won today. At any rate, they should take the final game tomorrow and split the series.

Wow, it's only the second and things looked just about wrapped up at Wrigley. Some god awful defense allowed THREE runs to score on the same play. With the wind blowing in, Clemens on the mound and Nomar not in the lineup, the Cubs may have to shoot for a series split tomorrow. At least Farns was put on the DL today.

Man, the Giants are FUCKED if Schmidt's really hurt. He only went 3 2/3 innings today, giving up SIX runs. I didn't get to see the game, but looking at MLB Gameday, it seemed he was really off. The fourth inning should've been his easiest, with the lower third of the order coming up. He didn't record an out until striking out J.D. Drew. Plus he gave up a pair of run-scoring hits to the PITCHER. May have just been an off day for Schmidt, but if his injury is more serious than we think, this team is done.

That's stupid if it's true. Especially since he's always talking about winning is what's important. With a one-run lead and a low pitch count, he should've just finished things off himself and avoided the drama.

I just think it's funny that every season it seems like the Yanks make some big signings and yet, when the season's done with, they still need to go out and make more big signings. Apparently adding Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez is not enough to get the job done. Better go out and get Beltran and Clement, too. Eventually they'll out and get Scott Rolen to be the backup third baseman.

Agreed. This isn't panic talk, either. Regardless if it's a close game or not, Farnsworth rarely avoids trouble. I thought Dusty leaving him in was a smart move, though. The game was already over and there's no reason to wear down your bullpen any further. Kyle's gotta learn some lessons. If the Cubs are gonna make a move as far as relievers go, they better hurry it up. They've only got a couple more days if they want him to be eligible for the postseason roster.

Pretty tough to win when your starter gives up eight runs. The bullpen was solid until they brought Farnsworth in. While the game was basically over at that point, it was still just a three-run game, but Farnsworth giving up SIX runs sealed the deal. Very tough game to watch from the fourth inning on, as it looked like it'd be an interesting slugfest from the outset, but that only worked for the Stros. Still, it's just one game and you'd be hardpressed to beat Roy Oswalt two times in under a week. Carlos Beltran will probably be cutting his wrists when it comes time to leave Wrigely. I can't remember a game he's played there in which he didn't homer (actually, I don't think there's been one). As for Farnsworth, I think they need to do something. It's clear he's not working the kinks out of whatever is causing him to pitch so horribly, but he's going to be a huge liability for the team down the stretch. He's been given a lot of chances, but he really can't seem to put it all together. Tough for him, but those are the breaks.

Yeah, my mistake. You put discs 2 and 4 in first and 1 and 3 go on top of that. Just really shoddy packaging, nonetheless. I'm probably going to return mine.

This has to be some of the worst packaging I've ever seen in my life. I just got mine in the mail and just from picking up the DDD.com box, I could tell I had a floater. Damn thing sounded like a murraca. Anyway, I opened up the set itself and no freaking wonder why the discs don't stay put. You have to put Disc 2 and 4 ON TOP of Disc 1 and 3. What the hell is that? I can't even get the two discs to stay in place now.

Zsasz, Brock quite clearly doesn't like the wrestling business. Money talks and people don't always mean what they say, but he's had nothing but unflattering things to say about the business since he left. Even if he flops here, I don't see him coming back anytime soon.

Really, really old news. I'll probably end up getting them, although I'm disapointed that there doesn't seem to be a gift set with busts lined up for this wave, like with the first one.

I watched most of the game and thought it was great. I'm pretty neutral for both teams, but it became clear early on that one run be enough to win the game.

A single hand of blackjack.

Even the mightiest of losing streaks must come to an end somehow. Maybe you should just be happy that they didn't get swept, since it took back-to-back rallies Monday and Tuesday to avoid defeat. I won't argue about Gordon being exhausted, though. You'd swear there are only three relievers on the Yankees roster the way Torre uses his pen.

I agree that it's not Baker's fault Hawkins blew the save, since it's his job. But Hawkins has been struggling lately and while a closer has to learn to deal with tight spots, there's no reason to take out a starting pitcher who was not only dominating, but economizing his pitches as well as Maddux was today.

I know most people are aware of Baker's shortcomings as a manager, but today he really put on a show. First, Maddux pitched a gem, going eight innings of one-run ball and only throwing 84 pitches. This included a four-pitching eighth inning. So everything indicates that Maddux will just go the distance, correct? No, no, no. We gotta bring LaTroy Hawkins in. Now, don't get me wrong, I like Hawkins, but don't like seeing him in such a close situation; especially when the starter was quite able to go another inning at least. I understand that Hawkins needed to get some work in, having not pitched since Saturday, but why use the pen if there's really no reason to? So he gives up a lead-off hit and after the runner's moved over to second via a sac bunt, Hawkins winds up striking out the next batter in a toughly contested 10-pitch at-bat. Just one more out to go and then it happens. A double to the wall and we're tied. To add salt to the open wound, he retired the next hitter on one pitch. Now I know nobody is perfect and Hawkins is gonna have to pitch in close games; maybe even more important games down the road if the Cubbies wanna be successful. But in a case where the starter hasn't even broke 90 pitches and has shown no signs of fatigue, why go to the pen? This leads us to the bottom of the 9th and Dusty blunder number two of the day. Grudzielanek leads off with a ball that is pretty obviously foul down the rightfield wall; except it's called fair, having been viewed that way by the first base ump. Grudz wisely goes to third on the play, never slowing down. So they've got the leadoff man on third in the last inning with nobody out. They can't possible not score and win this game, right? Right? Next batter is Paul Bako, who is probably one of the worst hitting position players in all of baseball. He had homered earlier and made an outstanding defensive play in the eighth to help Greg only throw four pitches, but in a situation like this, I think it's clear you go to the bench. Especially when you've got Michael Barrett, one of the Cubs' best contact hitters, sitting on the bench. But Dusty sticks with Bako who pops it up. Todd Walker pinch hits next and at this point, I still think it would've been smart to go with Barrett. Walker winds up popping out to third base. At this point. I'm going crazy and cursing Baker. I tried to put a positive spin on the blown save, but getting the leadoff man on third leaves no real excuse why you can't plate him, since all it takes is just about any form of contact. So Patterson is now up and as much as he's dazzled me this month, I don't particularly care for him to be in such a situation. He gets two strikes on him and I figure, okay they're not gonna score. Patterson proves me wrong, golfing a slider into the rightfield stands to give the Cubs the dramatic win and send everyone home happy (except Milwaukee fans). This all leads back to Baker, though. I'm estatic the Cubs pulled out the win, but had Patterson not gotten the job done, one would have little luck overlooking Dusty's managerial blunders. Putting in Hawkins was stupid, but excusable on some fronts. But not pinch-hitting a position player who's batting .180 and isn't a good contact hitter, when all you need is some contact, is ridiculously stupid. Sorry, just had to vent. Glad to see the Cubs get the win (and a HUGE call in their favor) but you get the feeling these little things that they're still not doing right will come back to haunt them before it's all said and done.

Maybe she's his dealer. She looks happier now, but she's bigger than the last pics I saw. I probably wouldn't give her a second look now if I saw her on the streets. Not necessarily ugly, but definitely nothing to look twice at.

Bob looks like he's posing with Burt's wax statue.

That's a tough call. Pujols has 33 win shares, meaning he's responsible for about 11 of the Cards' victories this season. Their current lead in the Central is 13 games, so without Albert, they'd be cutting it very close as far as postseason activity goes. With Bonds, there's no question that the Giants would be screwed without him. But as it is, they're still not exactly sitting pretty with him. They're definitely much better with him, but as it is, they're not going to the postseason even with him.

I'd rather see Rolen get it, but we all know that the signs point to Bonds getting it. Since Day One of the season everyone's been following his every move because of him tying Mays. It's really no contest other than between Bonds and Rolen. Rolen's cooled off in recent weeks, too, so I think this bodes well for Bonds. Beltre's making a strong case, but he'll be overlooked. And Sean Casey? Are you kidding me? It's not still May is it? I thought we dropped this crazy notion that the Reds were a good team and Sean Casey was hands down the best player in the NL.

Guess they figured he could go an inning, since his dumb ass got tossed before completing three innings during his last start. And the Cubbies continue to blast opposing pitchers. I know it's a bit deceiving since they're now playing mediocre teams, at best. But this is still a lineup that got totally pwned by the likes of Oswalt, Sheets and even Capuano earlier in the season, but have all delivered a certified whoopin' to all of them in the last week. I'm loving the lineup Dusty's using right now. Lee in the two slot is odd, but it's working and Patterson is has been hitting this month like I expected him to all season, since he moved up to the leadoff spot. And Matt Clement must've been estatic to get 13 runs of support. He hasn't gotten that much in all his starts combined.

I think it should be Vlad or Sheff. Vlad always had the problem of being relitively overlooked because he was in Montreal and has been one of the big reasons why the Angels are in it. The team's been injury-prone this season and without Vlad, I doubt they would've been able to overcome them. The starting pitching is only now starting to perform the way they expected it to, so you gotta give props to Vlad for keeping them in the race. Sheff is in the same boat. Lots of injuries for the team, but he's been one of the most consistent performers. He got off to a slow, start, but since late May or June, he's been the one guy you can almost always expect to get the big hits; whereas Jeter and A-Rod have been hit or miss all season.

I don't think it's necessarily that he's fallen apart. He's just had next to no run support this season, especially in the second half, where most of the Brewer pitchers are having the same problem. It doesn't help that the Cubs have seen Sheets five times within the last six weeks or so. Even the best pitcher becomes easier to hit when you see him so often in such a short time.

I go to a community college so no go for me. Even then, there's only been one guy to come out of the University in town and I've never heard of him. Matter of fact, the only people to even come out of Michigan that I've actually heard of are Paul Assenmacher, Kevin Tapani, Curt Young (who went to my high school), Dave Campbell and John Vander Wal. The only notables are Kirk Gibson, Mark Mulder, Steve Garvey and Barry Larkin.

I guess I'll be the first to step up and agree with Dids. I hate people like this. It's not even so much that you want to go wherever; it's the principle of the matter. The whole point of cell phones is to communicate easily whether you're at home or not. I know that wasn't the original point of them, but in this day and age, let's not fool ourselves into thinking they're not for that. I'm like your friends once in a great while, but most of the time, I feel a great sense of guilt if I can't call someone if I said I was going to or if I'm delayed in calling them from when they expected the call. No one's clear of the matter, but so many people make it the rule rather than the exception. It's just annoying to be asked to do something and then have to rely on other people to call you, only to have them not come through. It's like, why say you're going to call or whatever if you're not? Don't do it for my sake. I'd rather know one way or the other. Sometimes I think people are just too afraid to say that don't want to do anything or for you to be involved. I'd prefer someone tell me straight up instead of leading me on. It's all good; I can handle the truth. People just aren't considerate of others. Simple as that. Some are, but most don't feel bad if they leave you hanging in whatever situation if it doesn't affect them.