sfaJack

As opposed to the retarded chest bumping and ridiculous showboating typical of most other NBA players after they dunk a ball (uncontested) to pull their team to within 30 points of the lead? Give me Duncan any day.

Well, as a Red Sox fan, you can get someone other than Clement. Look at Rusch's career numbers; his success this year is out of the ordinary. I would hate to have to depend on him for a full season. There is a reason he was 1-12 last year. Yeah, depending on a guy that hasn't pitched effectively in almost four years and also coming off major surgery as an everyday guy is a bad idea regardless of whether he's "only" a fifth starter or not. Emphasis added. You have no idea how Wood will do when he gets back. If the injury flares up again and you have to shut him down (again) and Clement has been traded, guess what: you've got TWO holes in your rotation. Cubs can't afford that if they're still trailing St. Louis by 5 games or more. It's just too many "ifs" for me. The bottom line is that SS isn't killing the Cubs. True, it isn't their strength, but no lineup is perfect and they've weathered the storm pretty well thus far...why would you expect that to suddenly become a huge hole that drags their whole season down? It just doesn't make sense to trade away one of your best players this year for a guy who's coming off an injury, has a bad attitude (apparently), and who doesn't have a contract for next year, especially when it's to "upgrade" a position that isn't killing you all the while weakening what is the strength of your team.

I said it the other day and I'll say it again: no. Clement is more valuable to the Cubs this year than Nomar would be. Would you really want Rusch or Mitre in the rotation full-time, especially while knowing that Wood is no cinch to come back strong? Not me. The Cubs' offense is ok, but they won't win without Clement, and especially with the year he's having. The fact that they don't score for him has no effect on the way he pitches; it's more bad luck or coincidence than anything, so why trade him just because they don't score for him? And just out of curiosity why is it so disastrous for the Marlins to get him?

I'll bet they don't trade him, no matter how far back they are or how many teams are in front of them. The Astros built this team to win this year, 2005 and beyond be damned. I'd expect that they're going with this group and will either sink or swim. In fact, Gerry Hunsicker said here in a radio interview just this morning that he does not expect any other "major" moves to be made. They better at least try to get another middle reliever. Trading Dotel is starting to really look like a bad move, particularly since their bullpen is pretty bad now (outside of Lidge) and Beltran's arrival (despite his own best efforts) has failed to ignite the offense.

IIRC, I think that was done to clear room in the outfield so that one Richard Hidalgo could get playing time. And we all know that they made the right choice there. Oh, wait...

*dangles Nomar infront of you for Clement* No thanks. The Cubs need Clement in the worst way, especially with the type of year he's having (BTW: Matt only getting 16 runs of support in his last 11 starts is criminal). I think they'd be a weaker team with Nomar and no Clement. Having to rely on either Glendon Rusch and/or Sergio Mitre for the rest of the year just doesn't appeal to me very much. They've been lucky to get what they have out of Rusch thus far; let's not push it.

There you go Philly fans. 17 more votes for Abreu, but I refuse to do any more as our pizza has arrived.

I'm pleased to see the fans got it together and did not vote Adam Everett to start the game. He might have been the worst starting SS in ASG history. Oh, and I sit in amazement at ESPN's ability to turn this into a whole hour show.

Bah. It landed in the second row of the Crawford Boxes, making it an out at any other ballpark. Not really an epic shot at all. That ridiculously short left field is one thing I hate about Minute Maid, regardless of whichever team it is hitting "home runs" there. The Astros will need Ensberg though, as Jeff Bagwell looks older and older each passing day. He's been in a horrible slump and is showing zero signs of coming out of it.

Yeah, that's definitely right. What annoys me most about Rome though is that EVERYONE on his show, be it callers or guests, does nothing but either kiss his ass and say shit like "Yeah, Romey, yeah!" or agree with EVERYTHING Rome says when 80% of the time, he's totally and completely wrong. As for this poll, I guess I gotta say Dan Patrick even though we only get two hours of it on tape delay. Rome usually sucks, we don't get SNR or Fox anymore, and our "ESPN Radio" is only actually ESPN radio for about 6 hours a day (read: middle of the night) and half the weekend so I have no idea what the Herd is.

Astros are wearing those sweet orange crush rainbow jerseys today. They need to bring those things back full-time.

Hmmm...so would the Yankees of '98, '99, and '00 (even '01) be considered "random" champions? Arizona with the best 1-2 pitching punch in '01? Everyone loves to scream "Angels!" and "Marlins!" when talking about random, unpredictable champions. But everyone forgets that the Angels won 99 games in 2002 and that the Marlins were the best team in all of baseball from late May to the end of last year. Not exactly "random" teams in my book. If the baseball playoffs were best of 3 or even a single game, I'd buy into the theory that the playoffs are random as all the Moneyball-brainwashed people believe. There is some merit to that theory, but when you win 4 of 7 from a particular team, it's almost always a good indicator of which is the better team. Luck can win you one or two games...it's unlikely to win 4 of 7, for two series in a row.

Unless he's improved dramatically since he was with Houston, no, he's not. It's a single-A pitcher, so him providing immediate help is unlikely. Secondly, while the Cubs' bullpen is the very definition of erratic, they aren't the worst. Glendon Rusch should help it out when Wood gets back and if Dempster is coming along as well as they say, he should help, too. And Hawkins hasn't sucked has a closer. He's been pretty reliable, and certainly better than friggin' Borowski was.

Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant -- 100%

I think it's been said that Bagwell's shoulder is a degenerative condition and there is no surgery to fix it. He'll either have to play through it, or retire.

I don't see the big deal with this. The networks do have a point--the candidates have already been picked, so what exactly is there to report, other than possibly the VP candidates? And most people don't give a shit anyway; just look at the pathetic numbers of voter turnout on Election Day.

You probably know this, but the generally accepted line on that around here is that Ausmus has never been much of a hitter, thus nobody expects him to put up big numbers; any offense you get from him is a bonus. Ausmus is accepted for his "great defense" and his "ability to make pitchers better," whatever that means. (Note: Ausmus's "great" defense barely equals 30% of basestealers thrown out.)

The shoulder. Supposedly, he has trouble lifting his arm above shoulder level. It's making throwing very difficult for him, too. I can't count the number of times he's opted to just step on first instead of throwing to second (or third) and try to get two. This is their one last shot with the current group. I would expect the Astros to look vastly different next year. Kent = $10 million of deferred money due; it's either all due next year, or split out over the next two years, so he's not really "gone." Biggio=they'll pick up his $3 mil option. It would cost $1 mil to get rid of him, but they'll bring him back. Bagwell=they're stuck with him. They can't just trade him because he's a 10/5 guy, and besides that, who would take him at about $18 mil a year? You'd have to be fucking insane. Don't expect Beltran to be re-signed, though they'd be smart to do it RIGHT NOW.

You're probably right, but it ain't Jimy's fault they're struggling. The Astros' offense has been asleep for at least a month now and there really isn't much he can do about that. Hell, if it wasn't for Beltran, they'd have almost zero offense these last six games. Oh, and Jeff Bagwell is looking REALLY bad right now. Prior ate him alive today. Bagwell really shouldn't be playing everyday right now.

Relax, guys. The Cubs are just biding their time until they get the chance to unleash the fury that is Michael Wurtz.

... Shit, I guess I missed the joke alf. It's been a very, very bad week for me...

Well, what else should I say? I think they still would have gotten beat by the Pistons, mainly because I don't think 41-year-old John Stockton would have been any more useful to the Lakers than Payton is/was. What skills would he have brought to them that Payton doesn't have, besides maybe a better "team" attitude? Fisher probably still would have gotten most of the playing time at the point, so what would be different?

Same thing.

Ahem. You forgot Zambrano. He deserves it more than Clement. Matt deserves some consideration, but there are too many starters in the NL that are better than him, so I don't think he should go. Alou? No. Prior? No way. Not this year. Sosa doesn't deserve to go either, but he obviously will.

Eh, tough loss today. I was forced to only listen to the end as I was stuck in traffic on my way home, but, like Bruiser, I knew the Cubs missed their window when Martinez struck out in the 8th. Has Carlos Beltran been great since he got traded or what? Damn. Anyway, it's PRIOR~! tomorrow against Pete Munro, so that should be advantage Cubs. Taking 2/3 is perfectly acceptable, though you hate to blow that one today.