Cubs Blowout Rangers!

I almost forgot what it was like to sit in Wrigley Field high fiving strangers, cheering with delight, and being proud of my Chicago Cubs.  The Cubs blew out the Rangers 9-2 for a sweep of their one game series makeup game, by putting up a 5 spot in the 4th inning.  Of course there were murmors in the crowd that the lead was not enough once our bullpen got in there.  Chinstrap Feldman pitched amazingly again by following up his complete game 3 hitter with a 2 hit 7 inning appearance.  I wasn't sure about this Feldman guy at first.  He has three errors and couldn't cover first base for shit.  But those kinks seem to be worked out at this point and the guys on a roll.  Chinstrap even knocked in and scored a run in the 5 run 4th.  I was at the game with my friend Scotty, who's Jewish, so he was particularly thrilled to see who he assumed to be a fellow Jew playing so well.  He said, there's not a lot of us in baseball, so we gotta cheer for the guys we got!  I think I'm going to start doing that for players of mixed European descent instead of wasting my cheers on other races....Sheeessh!

Other positives.... The Cubs drew 7 walks last night!  Two of which were drawn by Darwin Barney, who really isn't getting on base any other way. The Cubs also rallyed with 2 outs! Yes.  You heard that right.  All 5 runs came with 2 outs.   Castro came through in the clutch.  Rizzo homered.  Luis "Ian Stewart Who?" Valbuena went 3-4, and the Cubs generally looked like a dominant baseball team.  This, after such an abysmal weekend of losing to the Reds.  It was nice to see, and the fans responded with the most intense fanatical cheering I've seen at the ballpark this year.  The best thing about last night?  We put up 9 runs against the Rangers, a team with the lowest ERA of any major league club.  At least they were until last night!  They got knocked down a notch because of us!!  And a Huge positive from yesterday.....Son Ranto and the Lovable Lou Sears's new podcast is ready for consumption!

Some negatives from the game.  Soriano went 0-4, lowering his average to .267, however he did draw a walk to force in a run.  Also, our Misser, ummm, I mean Catcher, Castillo, committed a throwing error.  But the most negative event of the night was not getting to the ballpark in time to get my free winter hat!  It would have gone so perfectly with my texting gloves from the second game of the season too!

Now I mentioned the Rangers were knocked out of 1st in ERA, but guess who is first now?  That's right.  The St. Louis Cardinals, and they're here in Chicago for a 2 game set.  Tonight, Lance Lynn who is 5-0 with a 2.75 ERA goes up against Travis "I'm not kerry" Wood, who is 2-2 with a 2.50 ERA.  If you go on runs alone, we will best their starter by .25 runs.  And here is the key to winning these games.  We gotta get to their bullpen.  I know this is hard to believe when you consider the Cubs are 12-20 and the Cards are 20-11 and in first place.  But the Cardinals bullpen is dead last in team ERA with a 5.45 compared to the Cubs pen of 4.60.  So Dale Sveum....if you read this blog....please tell the team to take some damn pitches tonight and get to the Cards pen.  It truly is our only chance at winning.  Patience.  Patience.  Patience.  Let's take another 7 walks eh?  Tomorrow, Jake Westbrook who is 2-1 with a 1.07 ERA goes agains The Mustache, Carlos Villanueva who is 1-2 with a 2.85 ERA.  Both of these games have all the makings of pitchers duels....well....at least until the bullpens are tapped....then it might get ugly....

Let's do what we did last night!  Keep the rally going!

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Go Cubbies!

We Got Marmoled!

We were Marmoled once again yesterday at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.  What can you say about a pitcher who gives up 2 walks, hits a batter, and doesn't record a single out?  The Cubs were leading 4-2, when Marmol strode to the mound in his former inning of glory, the 8th.  He then proceded to singlehandedly lose the game for the Cubs with a performance that can only be described as horrific.  Now, I admit I am a boo-er, but I reserve my booing for opposing teams, umpires, and lack of effort on behalf of the Cubs.  I never saw the point in booing your own player who is obviously not sucking on purpose.  We want him to perform well the next time right?  What if a bunch of people came to your job and booed you as you tried to organize a spread sheet?  What if when you walked to work in the morning, people yelled "You Suck!".  I doubt any of us have the capacity to perform well under these circumstances,  So why do we expect it from our ballplayers?  I'm familiar with the counter argument.  "Hey!  These guys get paid millions of dollars to play a kids game, they can handle a little booing."  I certainly don't know what it's like to be a millionaire, but I do know that having more or less money doesn't make you any less human.  So fans, as much as I'd like to boo Marmol, we shouldn't, because unless the Cubs find someone stupid enough to take him, he's our guy.  Now Dale Sveum on the other hand should be booed, and booed heartily.

Since taking the helm in Chicago, Mr Sveum has presided over talented players that have performed incredibly poorly.  This is a young Cubs team with a relatively young and inexperienced manager in Sveum.  Mr. Sveum has had success as a coach for other teams, winning it all with the Red Sox in 2004, and taking the Brewers to the playoffs as interim manager in 2008.  However, his only full year as manager was last year, 2012, and the Cubs lost 101 games for one of the worst finishes in team history.  The Cubs lost 103 games in 1962 and 1966.  So please tell me Wonderboy Epstein, and Mr. "My Family is named after a disease" Ricketts, what sense does it make to have an inexperienced manager, training inexperienced players?  Oh yeah, maybe because we have an inexperienced owner, and a one hit wonder from Boston running the show!  Theo did win a World Championship for the Red Sox 2 years after taking the helm, but he's not magic!  That team was already built for the most part when he took the helm.  That Red Sox team was about the right mix of guys and chemistry.  The superstars were already there.  Pedro Martinez.  Manny Ramirez.  Johnny Damon.  As far as I can tell, David Ortiz was probably Theo's best signing ever, and that was 10 years ago! But Big Papi and Theo didn't win the World Series.  The Red Sox did, with a mix of young blood, future Hall of Famers, and wily veterans.  Can you name one Chicago Cub today who you imagine will be in the Hall of Fame someday?  We can hope for guys like Rizzo and Castro to keep hitting, but they are by no means dominant players at this point in their career.  So the Red Sox get Big Papi and who do we get?  Scott Fucking Hairston who's batting .108 and pretty much only plays against leftys.  What else has the boy genius Epstein done?   DeJesus?  Edwin 0-4 Jackson?  Who?!?  Nobody.  That's who.  The Chicago Cubs have no great players.  None.  Who do you blame?

How about Tom Ricketts?  The typical rich fuck who thinks he can just hire some sniveling, privileged, silver spoon sucking wonderkid, and put together a championship.  Did anyone see Spiderman on Broadway?  It sucks.  U2 Wrote the music, Julie Taymore, a Tony Award winning director, conceived of the script, and It became a case of the Emporer wears no clothes.  All these talented, famous people couldn't bring themselves to tell each other that their ideas were not cohesive, and they had no real plot for their characters to live through.   They just assumed it was going to work because of their past successes.  So the producers threw millions of dollars at the production which was quite spectacular with the Green Goblin and Spiderman performing aerial stunts over the audience.  But it was all just bells and whistles.  The music sounded like U2's B sides, and was completely untheatrical.  While the conceived plot was virtually non existant and difficult to follow.  The producers kept throwing good money after bad, until Taymore was finally canned.  I see Tommy Ricketts doing the same thing.  Throwing money around on scoreboards to advertise at us, and hotels so his family can remain in the top 1 percent of the 1 percent and basically live off the Cubs forever.  I agree with most of the changes he's proposed,  But when are we going to see a fucking team on the field capable of winning?  I for one am frustrated as hell about it.  Ricketts is like one of those spiderman producers who just bought a bunch of nothing and keeps trying to sell it to us.  Hell.  I keep buying it.  I've only missed 3 home games this year.  But that also gives me the right to complain about it!

So where does the blame lie?  Booooooooo!  Tom Ricketts!  Boooooooooo! Theo Epstein!!!  Boooooooooo!  Dale Sveum!!!!!

But leave poor Carlos Marmol alone.  He can't help that he sucks now.

Well...I gotta go....game time in an hour, and I'll be there....ready to Booooooooooooooo........

Too little Too Late; Cubs Rally and Lose

Boy did I almost pick the wrong day to not sit in cold rainy Wrigley Field.  The Cubs staged a 9th inning #fakerally to be edged out by the Reds 6-5.  Soriano left the bases loaded twice and decreased his trade value further.  Rizzo went 3-5, but didn't have a single RBI, and blew it when the chips were down.  and Darwin Barney ended the game by swinging at a pitch over his head.  But....they almost won, and I would really have regretting not sitting through a rain soaked walk off.  Castillo committed his 4th error in the game as well, though it should have been charged to Castro for not covering second base on a throw down to second.  Castro is simply not a team player.  He doesn't jive with the other players.  He seems to be in his own damn world out there.  Lay off the sunflower seeds buddy and concentrate!

At least Lou and i got the new podcast out...this sentence is a link!!!

Some positives.  We were close again.  Yeah...horseshoes and hand grenades.  Kevin Gregg pitched another scoreless inning, and the Cubs actually took 3 walks and pounded out 15 hits!  Unfortunately, that's about it in the positive category.

I sound like a broken record here, but we left 12 men on base, and were 5-15 with men in scoring position.  The 5-15 isn't as much the problem as the LOB.  But we only scored 5 runs, and had many other chances that weren't capitalized on.  This team is a day late and a dollar short.   also, I'm pretty sure Michael Bowden is not a great pitcher.  3 walks in 1.1 innings.  Carlos Villanueva was shaky too.  I think his arm was tired from twirling his stache....

Well, at least the weather is better today, but I'm not feeling this 12:05 start.  At least me and the lovable Lou Sears will be sitting in free box seats!  Hopefully, the 9th inning rally can continue into the first inning of today, and if not,  the Shark can pick the team up without the always waning run support.

Check out our twitter feed during the game....gonna try and post some nice pics as we're sitting close...

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Go Cubbies!!!!!

Me and the Cubs Need a Day

Let me tell you a little something about myself.  I'm an addict.  And one of the main substances I'm addicted to is Cubs Baseball.  But me and the boys in blue need a day off.  After this last 4 game series with the Padres, I feel like a junkie coming off a bender.  Got high with a win Monday night, came down hard with a blow out loss on Tuesday with a little whiskey chaser.   Wednesday, woke up feeling surprisingly strong, because at least Tuesday's whiskey helped me sleep, and won the game handily with sheer force of adrenaline.  But Thursday afternoon, I was out of gas, and just needed two days of laying on the couch, and came up short in a sloppy loss where I never got it quite together.  Yes, this was the roller coaster week of your 2013 Chicago Cubs.  A team that's always a brick short of a load, and a dollar short of a dream.  A team that is like an old 1983 Chevy Malibu, where 2 spark plugs have been replaced, but the 4 others are misfiring.  When we have great pitching, we can't hit or field.  When we hit, the bullpen blows it late.

This Chevy is gonna get a new paint job with a renovated stadium, but the interior is full of cigarette burns, and you can't roll down the back window because it's taped up with duck tape.  The damn thing has an 8 track player too, but unfortunately Saturday Night Fever is stuck in there, and if you hear one more falsetto voice singing, you might just drive the damn car off the bridge.  It's definitely time for a new car.  Not a new stadium mind you, but a new attitude from the fans.  We can't sit here and take last place lying down.  Management has to get off their luxury boxed asses, and put a team on the field we can always be proud of.  On the Cubs off years. they should finish no lower than 3rd place.  Period.  End of Story.  It's frustrating to hear all these plans of a scoreboard, hotel, and revenue generating advertising, yet no talk of "WE ARE IN LAST PLACE!" Are you going to buy the best team in the majors with the new money?  Or will you be content to have Cubs Fans come to Wrigley just enjoy the largest bar in Chicago and forget about the baseball team.  Granted, Wrigley needs help, just to preserve   the place for future generations.  But how about the team?

Yesterday's passed ball by Wellington Castillo that tied the game was made worse by a severe lack of hustle.  He said he felt like he lost us the game.  Well.  He did.  I agree.  The Cubs have missers.  Not Catchers.   We lead the league in Wild Pitches, and are 2nd in passed balls.  Some of those wild pitches should have been handled by our Misser.  We must have lost at least 2 games on these extra outs and bases taken.  Other costly errors by Castro must have cost us at least 2 more games.  This is a .500, 3rd place ballcub.  But they don't play the game right, and it's killing us.  That to me says management is the problem.  If Castillo isn't benched today for lack of hustle, I don't know what a benchable offense is.  I don't care if he's hitting over .300.  His job is catcher.  His job is to catch the damn ball, and if he misses it, to at least run after it as quickly as possible.

So management!  Are you listening?  There are gonna be about 4000 people at rain soaked Wrigley this afternoon because the team sucks and it's crappy outside.  I can't even get a Stub Hub ticket for a 1:20 start after 7:20 in the morning, because your greedy asses opted out of Stub Hub and now need a 6 hour window to buy cheap last minute tix for this last place team.  I would have maybe gone too and drank your crappy 8$ beers, but instead, I'll just stay home.  Because the Cubs and I, we need a day away from each other.  It's a long season, and just like any addiction, some days it's just about maintenance at the methadone clinic, and other days, we get the real shit and take the great with the awful.  See you tomorrow Cubbies.  Me and Lou Sears got free box seats!

A Tale of Two Cubs Games

So, I've been drinking beer at Wrigley Field the last two evenings, and have now witnessed a well played 5-3 Win and last nights laugher loss 13-7.  Of course it was more fun to be at the game on Monday because we won, and I sat in the bleachers where the fans are a bit more sociable, than a loss viewed from row 17 of Terrace reserved,  but either way, wherever you sit at Wrigley, provided it's not directly behind a pole, it's a good ole time.  However, I find there to be changes a brewing among the fan base.

For example, on Monday, in the bleachers, our group including The lovable Lou Sears, participated in the age old bleacher tradition of razzing the right fielder.  Chris Denorfia and Kyle Blanks got an earful from us about how his father is a lousy drunk, and his wife is cheating on him.  None of it informed, and most likely not true, but it's nice to know they can hear you.  I once yelled to Donald Trump that he sucked at a Mets game.  He was only about 20 feet away, and he didn't react, but I know he heard me, and that was satisfaction enough to know that he knew someone in the stands that day thought he sucked.  The same is true of opposing players.  they should know they suck too.  I love booing their every move.  It's my right as a ticket holder, and I learned to do it as an impressional 13 year old in the Left Field Bleachers.  I learned how to swear, how to jeer, and unfortunately about how drunk guys can tend to be homophobic pricks.   Yet, in our current cultural climate,  lets say, Generation Y, raised with time outs instead of spankings, participation trophies where everyone's a winner, and a general hipster nerd chic, is not as interested in the negativity spewed from those in Generation X through the boomers and beyond.  These idiots even tried to do the damned "Wave" on Monday night, while me and a few old timers yelled back, "No Wave!"  Later on, Lou, my friend Antonio and I tried to get a little "Left Field Sucks"  going.  But these, "free to be you and me hipster geeks" weren't the slightest bit interested, so I yelled out, "Fine!  Lets do the wave, ya pansies!" Basically, Lou Sears and I have become those jerk offs who taught my 13 year old former self how to be a loud brash asshole at a ball game.  Except for the homophobia.  We've had parents yell at us for our language and volume, and Lou Sears says something like, "Family Sections over there folks!".  Basically, we are total pricks and I hope we are influencing some young pre teen to carry on Wrigley Field's brash Bleacher tradition.  Furthermore , Monday was the anniversary of the Lee Elia tirade.  Check it out here...

It seems, especially relevant on an important date in Cubs history such as the Lee Elia Tirade, that we could at least honor Lee with some vitriolic slander of the opposing outfielders personal life.  It's only right.  Bleacher Bums!  Get it together.  We are meaner than this.  Find your inner hate, and spew it!

Now, I said this is a tale of two Cubs games.  I sat in terrace reserved on Tuesday and watched the Cubs get blown the hell out. 13-7.  A game plagued with errors, lack of clutch hitting, and for the first time this season, pretty horrific starting pitching from Edwin Jackson.  Also, It must have been gay athlete appreciation night, because there were a ton of gay people there.  Which is great!  Considering the recent coming out of Jayson Collins, and the fact that the ballpark is pretty much situated in boys town. I don't know if they would ever do this, but they should have gay pride night, just like they'll do Irish appreciation, or German October fest.  I would be at that game in a heartbeat. Win or Lose, the game would be fun as shit.  Because Gays are awesome.  Period.  End of Story.  If you've never been to a gay pride parade, you don't know what your missing.  It's like Carnivale in freakin Rio!  Imagine that kind of atmosphere at Wrigley!  They kind of have it too "Out at Wrigley" is August 3rd...check this article out here.... but I wish they associated it with Actual Chicago Gay Pride which spans the last two weekends in June.  The Cubs are in Seattle during the pride parade, but can you imagine if they had the floats do a circle around the stadium?  It would be incredible!  Also, if the Cubs were to come out strongly in support of Gays, what would that do to our fan base?   A.  Grow it exponentially.  B.  We'd have a return of the hilarious vitriol that I so miss in the Bleachers.  (If you're unfamiliar, gays are often times incredible at snapping on people)  Quick witted and sharp because of all the pain they've  endured from homophobic neanderthals.  I know there will be people that hate the idea, but just like I'm right that there shouldn't be a new ad spewing video screen, there should be hilarious, drunk, gay fans yelling obscenities at opposing players outfielders.  Oh Snap!

Well, I'll be back again tonight.  Where we'll have the tale of two beards.  Chinstrap Feldman vs.  Andrew "beard of bees" Cashner.  Don't have a lot of hope for this one, but you never know.  At least there may be some hilarious gay people around me.  That would make the game more tolerable.

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Let's turn those Padres into martyrs tonight!  Avenge 1984!!!

Go Cubbies!

It's a Beautiful Day For Cubs Baseball!

Too bad the Cubs are playing tonight under the lights.

The Cubbies come home from a road trip that saw them swept 0-3 in Milwaukee, 1-2 against the Reds, and 3-1 against the Marlins.  So we went 4-6.  Not terrible, but it could have gone better of course.  We lost 3 of the games by one run, and 2 of the games by 2 runs.  So we were in almost all the games.  We also haven't had any laughers, win or lose.  Haven't been blown out, or blown anybody out.  It's nice to not feel like turning off the game after the third inning because we are already losing by 7 runs.  Something I did all too often last year.  Still on the fence as to whether or not I should feel positive about how we are in all of these games.  It's tough to see the forest for the trees in situations where you get beaten by good teams by a run, and beat bad teams by a run.  Does that just mean you're average?

Some good news from the trip.... Anthony Rizzo returns home with a batting average over .200, and a total of 8 Homers.  We can only hope that as the weather heats up, so will his bat.  He was visiting his hometown during the Miami series, and had lots of family and friends at the park cheering him on.  Maybe some of us in Chicago could become his surrogate family so he feels more comfortable in the friendly confines.  Someone should invite him to their family dinner.  Or maybe adopt him as your son?!  He's got money!!  Also The surprise return of 2009's closer, Kevin "Goggles" Gregg has also proved to be an asset to the Cubs.  He has yet to allow a run this year.  Which is important of course for a team like the Cubs, who are dead last in the majors with runners in scoring position with a paltry average of .151.

Other than that, my takeaway is that we play all teams pretty tough, and if it wasn't for a few costly errors and lack of clutch hitting, we could have won at least half of the games we lost.  You've got to wonder when the Cubs' luck will turn around?  We are competitive in all of these games, against pretty good teams too, except the loser Marlins.  My hope is that we can click, and start to build a team, or core of players that you can trust into the future.  Are Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo players we can trust with this ball club for the next 5 years and beyond?  2 things have to happen.  Castro needs to get better at shortstop, or be moved to 3rd base, and Rizzo needs to start hitting for average.  The whole team needs to cut out on strikeouts and unproductive outs as well.  The lack of fundamental baseball play the Cubs have shown thus far this season, is disconcerting.  Passed balls and Wild pitches.  Lots of costly errors.  And especially, a lack of clutch hitting, and situational hitting.  I understand all players will make mistakes from time to time.  But our errors are not for a lack of talent, but rather for a lack of mental awareness.  We're just not playing smart baseball.

Luckily, the San Diego Padres are in town!  And they suck.  Well, at least as bad as we do.  We are both 9-15.  In my estimation we have a better chance at winning tonight.  I'll be cheering from the bleachers with the Lovable Lou Sears at my side.  We should have a new podcast up by game time too.  So be on the lookout.  We've got The Shark going up against Clayton Richard, who is 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA.  So I like our chances.  May even show up early and try and shag some home runs at batting practice.  But I'll probably just do a little pre gaming at home.  

I also wish this game was going on under the sunshine instead of the lights.  I said it as a 13 year old in 1987, and I say it today.  No Lights at Wrigley.  Don't want a scoreboard either.  Ugly ad screaming product  pusher.  It was better the other way and you all know it!

Go Cubbies!
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Get Out Your Sweep Brooms!

As I sit here 2 hours before game time writing this post, on the verge of winning a 4th straight game against possibly the worst team in the NL, I can't help but hope, and hope hard, that the Cubs can pull this one out and sweep this Marlins team. Why should I care so much about this battle for the basement? Because this Cubs team needs to feel what winning is like. Get used to it. And keep doing it.

The Cubs are to losing what the Yankees are to winning. We are the Lovable Losers. Fans entertain themselves at Wrigley Field whether we win or lose the ball game. We have just as much fun, or at least I do, making fun of this team losing, as reveling in the wins. We have got to change that culture surrounding the team, And expect to win. The players need to do the same. Some of these kids on the team weren't born to watch the Cubs lose in 1984. Many of them were still in grade school in 2003. And there's no reason the Cubs past failures should reflect on the present team. It's all in our head. So lets keep it off the field. And even out of the stands.

I read a recent article where Andre Dawson, one of my boyhood heroes, was quoted as saying that the Cubs need to spend money to win. Everybody knows that. And he's disappointed that this major market team has a payroll half of the Yankees and Dodgers, and even less than the Whitesox. With so many fans nationwide, the Cubs draw well all over the country. Don't we deserve to watch some superstars play? Not to mention the Cubs have the 3rd highest ticket prices in the major leagues. Ricketts has 500 million to spend on a giant advertising screen and some renovations. But not enough dough to buy some decent players for the team. I for one will give them one more year for this "rebuilding" but next year, all bets are off. I want to win.

Andre Dawson and I are right about this. The Cubs need to spend to win. There is no reason they aren't contending now. And there is no reason they shouldn't contend every year. I think we are in the right track with these young guys. But it's hard to know. We spent some dough on Edwin Jackson. But he's been our 4th best starter so far. So of course it's not just about spending money, it's about spending it right. The Cubs have never done that too well. Think Sorianos contract. So we are gonna have to have faith in this wonder boy Theo Epstein. Should we?

Wouldn't it be great if we were buyers at trade deadline? Wouldn't it be great we could sweep the Marlins and Padres and get to .500? Wouldn't it be great if we made a run like the Pirates did last year with a team about the same caliber as our Cubbies?

Lets start by expecting to win. Every day.

Let's sweep dem fish!
Go Cubbies!