10. Ryan Dempster getting his one out of the evening. 9. Koyie Hill hitting a homerun. 8. Al Yellon and Buster Olney arguing on Twitter over whether Justin Berg hit Justin Upton on purpose. 7. No killer tornadoes hit the stadium. 6. The NFL Draft, NBA playoffs, and Michael Scott’s farewell provided some distraction. 5. A long, lingering shot of …
New Calendar For Kosuke
We all know the story by now. This is the fourth April in a row that Kosuke Fukudome has treated pitchers like they insulted his sister. In the previous three years, he would fall off the cliff in such a Wile E. Coyote-esque manner, you’d want to make sure he isn’t purchasing his bats from ACME, Inc. The key, obviously, …
There’s nothing wrong with Ryan Dempster
Ryan Dempster has gotten off to the worst start of his Cubs career. It’s led to some wondering what is wrong or whether or not he’s done. If we look at his ERA it’s gone from 2.96 in 2008 to 3.65, 3.85 and now 7.63. Obviously something isn’t right. We see a similar trend with his FIP (3.41, 3.87, 3.99 …
Is this year’s team different?
On at least two occasions Alvin Yellon has commented on how different this year’s team is compared to last year. After Saturday’s win he said it for at least the second time that I’m aware of. The Cubs were down 8-5 and came back to win, which prompted Alvin to say this: It’s absolutely clear to me that this team …
Measuring Heart: A Scale of 1 to Santo
Executive Chairperson-in-Chief via Proxy cum Laude slash Editor’s note: I offered the chance to pick a post topic in exchange for American Idol results. Emily came through for me and picked the topic “Santo!” I found it to be a perfectly timed suggestion. Thanks, Emily, for not forcing me to compromise my already discredited journablogistic integrity. I’ve heard it said …
Cubs compared to their projections
I wrote this on Friday morning so it’s updated through Thursday’s games. I’m too lazy to update it to include Friday’s blowout loss. This is something I’ll try to update once a month just so we can see where players are at compared to their projections. It’s something SG has done on RLYW a few times over the last couple …
Should Brett Jackson be starting for the Cubs?
Brett Jackson was the Cubs first round pick in 2009 and the 31st pick overall. It was the first time that I could remember that the Cubs selected someone who knew how to get on base. Jackson took a lot of walks on college and there was never any doubt as to his ability to reach base. He also had …
OV Roundtable, Part 2
You were probably dying in anticipation of the second part of our roundtable so we apologize for not posting it yesterday.
OV Roundtable, Part 1
The four of us talked about what’s gone on so far this season on Tuesday night and you can’t even tell which of us wasn’t there.
When God Was Handing Out Brains, Nathan H. From Omaha Thought They Said “Trains” and Got Out of the Way
I try to stay away from Cubs-oriented mailbags or “ask the expert” features because they often are littered with questions from people who should probably thank God every night that breathing is an automatic response, since if it wasn’t they would probably have a hell of a time learning how to do it. I’m talking about people who make Todd …