8 all-stars in one year (with fukudome, soriano, and marmol not deserving to go at all) V. 10 world championship banners at 8th & pine…you decide! i still stand by, for all the good mr. selig has done for the game, this stupid all-star game thing is absurd-if nothing else, its time to change up the marketing…aaron cook should have been MVP-win or lose for the NL
Well…that’s a little over the top. Actually, Pinella was brilliant by not playing his guys very much at all…that way they’re fresh for the second half. Is bleach the only way to keep white sox? Curious…
Perhaps if Sox fans were a little more classy, more Cubs fans like myself would have voted for Dye (I did). Soriano did deserve to go it can be argued.
Losers do not get to be MVP in a 3 run performance. Maybe Sherril for MVP. It figures that the Reds and Astros lost it for the Cubs.
Anonymous 8:42 -
It just goes to show you what a lean year it must be in the National League when eight Cubs are named to the All-Star team. Zambrano and Dempster should have been there and possibly Ramirez and Soto, but Fukudome, Marmol, Wood and Soriano, come on!?!
- Dan S, a voter and Cubs Fan - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:02 am:
Downstate GOP Faithless, When did Pujols decide he was a “speed demon”? Nice job getting nailed at second, that calf must still be tender!
Speaking of losers, anyone notice that StateWide Tom’s “Be Like Newt” show drew a handful and even fewer on-line. Guess when your agenda includes the big thanks to Blagoof for letting them sponsor his gambling plan voters will stick with the Ds.
We were hoping the website wonders would have really rocked the system.
Never let it be said that with the nation in an economic nosedive, an unpopular and deadly war, and the state in a political swamp, that there isn’t room for towel-snapping sports comments.
Cubs won because fans have internet access and vote, fans go to games and vote. I would argue that Derosa should have been there. But these are the same fans who cheered for Bonds, Sosa, McGuire and other scientific experiments after most knew that something fishy was going on.
Why should wood not be there? Soriano’s numbers were pretty good for leading off.
- Dan S, a voter and Cubs Fan - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:11 am:
The Flubs road record along with last night’s outcome pretty much guarantees that we won’t have to put up gloating by the north side morons all winter.
Maybe next year.
Looks like there will be a game 7 at the Cell come October!
- Speaking At Will - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:16 am:
Bud Selig has got to go!
The All Star Game should have no bearing on who has home field advantage in the World Series.
Every other major sport does the right thing, which is the team with the better record gets home field!
Ridiculous!
- Big Beef no more...Doctor's orders - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:31 am:
No way you can call this a Cub loss. Cubs will win the first two in the AL city and will finish the sweep with the clincher in Wrigley Field claiming the World Championship.
Hey Bill, you must apparently be the South side moron who didn’t check the Sox road record. 22-27 — not exactly head and shoulders above the North siders.
It took 16 innings for the AL All Stars to beat the Cubs last night, and it sure helped that Dan Uggla played like a Cubs. Was he betting on the AL? Did they tell him this game was going to be on national television? He was awful and cost the Cubs home field advantage.
Wumpus, you’re complaining about scientific experiments — but urging that DeRosa should’ve been there? In this era, everyone’s suspect. But you might particularly want to take a look at that guy’s career numbers sometime. Let’s just say they’ve spiked appreciably.
Give Rich a break, he is finally beginning to accept reality. The only rational explanation for referring to last night as a Cubs loss is a tacit admission that they are destined to be in the Fall Classic but now won’t get home field advantage. That’s real progress! By October, he’ll be publicly wearing Cubbie blue, completely out of the closet.
Derosa’s numbers sure have spike, Marco, you’re right. He came up in the late ’90s and through 06 had never played a full season (he was a super-utility guy). The reason his numbers have spiked is because his at-bats have doubled. In the early 2000s when sparks were really flying off the bats, his numbers were far below average and right on par when you extrapolate his at-bats out to a full season. Apparently you weren’t a math wiz however, and that’s not your fault.
I thought it was so nice that the Cubs let so many other players join them for the first annual Cubs v. AL All Stars Game. All the Cubs, of course, performed splendidly — it’s just such a shame that a couple of the non-Cubs failed to keep up to the Cub standard. I mean, this will deny the Cubs their rightful home field advantage in the World Serious! Because Milwaukee and St. Louis will certainly step aside in the second half and the other division winners and Wild Card will gladly forfeit the NLDS and NLCS, right?
I am so hoping for the Chubs to fade as soon as possible… but I’m also terrified they won’t… and we’ll have to put up with this into the Fall.
Oh, anonymous, only if it were that easy — just double the AB’s and toss of a patronizing comment about math skills (Kind of a Bushian response, actually. Nice!)
But, since you seem to enjoy numbers, let’s look at a couple.
(And I’m apologizing in advance to all of you who rightly don’t care about this.)
The key metrics of power — which juice, as it were, is supposed to boost — tell a different story from yours. And they are completely independent of the NUMBER of at-bats, based instead on productivity during the at-bats once actually has.
For OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging), DeRosa’s last two years in Atlanta (2003-04) look like this: .699 and .613. He was no youngster at this point, turning 29 in the second of those years. But beginning with his time in Texas and continuing with the Cubs (2005-2008), his OPS went to .764, .813, .791 and .830. Looks
like a jump to me. Moreover, while the years prior to 2003 (2001-02) show his OPS at .740 and
.768, as you so aptly state, this was the golden age of balls flying, Bonds having hit his 71 in
2001. No one’s hit anywhere near that number of home runs in the past couple of years. But Mark’s numbers are nevertheless again quite high, aren’t they?
Slugging percentage tells a similar story. Here are the career numbers for DeRosa, starting in 2003: .383, .320, (and then, first year in Texas at age 29) .439, .456, .420, .453.
I could be right. I could be wrong. But I’m not making this stuff up.
Sorry I’m late to the dance, but anyone making any Forward Looking statements about a World Series in the Friendly Confines within their own lifetime needs to add the standard Cubs disclaimer:
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer
This website may contain forward-looking statements. These statements present fan’s expectations, beliefs, plans and objectives regarding future performance, and assumptions or judgments concerning such performance. Any discussions contained in this website, except to the extent that they contain historical facts, are forward-looking and accordingly involve estimates, assumptions, judgments and uncertainties. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors are self-evident throughout the last 100 years of the Cubs franchise.
- BandCamp - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:38 am:
Rich, you don’t need to be so un-Christian so early in the morning…
- Old Shepherd - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:39 am:
Should’ve had more Cardinals on the team.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:42 am:
When the White Sox or the Cardinals have eight of their players named to an All Star team (which will never happen), then you can talk.
- Vote Quimby! - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:46 am:
The Cubs lost? I guess that makes Dan Uggla our new Steve Bartman….
- Ghost - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:48 am:
To be news worthy would the thread not have to read, cubs win?
- Kevin Fanning - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:51 am:
===The Cubs lost? I guess that makes Dan Uggla our new Steve Bartman….===
I second that!
- Dan S, a voter and Cubs Fan - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:53 am:
The 3 Cubs pitchers had a combined ERA of 0.00 gave up 1 hit and struck out 6. How do you figure the Cubs lose?
- Downstate GOP Faithless - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:53 am:
8 all-stars in one year (with fukudome, soriano, and marmol not deserving to go at all) V. 10 world championship banners at 8th & pine…you decide! i still stand by, for all the good mr. selig has done for the game, this stupid all-star game thing is absurd-if nothing else, its time to change up the marketing…aaron cook should have been MVP-win or lose for the NL
- Bass Man - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:54 am:
Well…that’s a little over the top. Actually, Pinella was brilliant by not playing his guys very much at all…that way they’re fresh for the second half. Is bleach the only way to keep white sox? Curious…
- Vote Quimby! - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:55 am:
Bud Selig must go!
- Wumpus - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:58 am:
Perhaps if Sox fans were a little more classy, more Cubs fans like myself would have voted for Dye (I did). Soriano did deserve to go it can be argued.
Losers do not get to be MVP in a 3 run performance. Maybe Sherril for MVP. It figures that the Reds and Astros lost it for the Cubs.
- Vote Quimby! - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 8:59 am:
Uggla should have been the MVP for the AL….
- Springfield Alum - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:00 am:
Anonymous 8:42 -
It just goes to show you what a lean year it must be in the National League when eight Cubs are named to the All-Star team. Zambrano and Dempster should have been there and possibly Ramirez and Soto, but Fukudome, Marmol, Wood and Soriano, come on!?!
- Dan S, a voter and Cubs Fan - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:02 am:
Downstate GOP Faithless, When did Pujols decide he was a “speed demon”? Nice job getting nailed at second, that calf must still be tender!
- sockpuppet express - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:02 am:
Speaking of losers, anyone notice that StateWide Tom’s “Be Like Newt” show drew a handful and even fewer on-line. Guess when your agenda includes the big thanks to Blagoof for letting them sponsor his gambling plan voters will stick with the Ds.
We were hoping the website wonders would have really rocked the system.
- Springfield Alum - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:03 am:
Dan S & Bass Man:
Spoken like true Cub fans. I’ll bet you root for the Northwestern Wildcats, too.
- Easy - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:09 am:
I would have thought sockpuppets would be referring to the Democrats who need talking points from the Speaker to figure out why Rod is bad?
Maybe I missed it in the boxscores, but how did Jermaine Dye do last night?
- anon - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:09 am:
Never let it be said that with the nation in an economic nosedive, an unpopular and deadly war, and the state in a political swamp, that there isn’t room for towel-snapping sports comments.
- Wumpus - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:10 am:
Cubs won because fans have internet access and vote, fans go to games and vote. I would argue that Derosa should have been there. But these are the same fans who cheered for Bonds, Sosa, McGuire and other scientific experiments after most knew that something fishy was going on.
Why should wood not be there? Soriano’s numbers were pretty good for leading off.
- Dan S, a voter and Cubs Fan - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:11 am:
Springfield Alum, I-L-L-I-N-I THANKS YOU.
- Bill - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:14 am:
The Flubs road record along with last night’s outcome pretty much guarantees that we won’t have to put up gloating by the north side morons all winter.
Maybe next year.
- He Gone - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:15 am:
Looks like there will be a game 7 at the Cell come October!
- Speaking At Will - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:16 am:
Bud Selig has got to go!
The All Star Game should have no bearing on who has home field advantage in the World Series.
Every other major sport does the right thing, which is the team with the better record gets home field!
Ridiculous!
- Big Beef no more...Doctor's orders - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:31 am:
No way you can call this a Cub loss. Cubs will win the first two in the AL city and will finish the sweep with the clincher in Wrigley Field claiming the World Championship.
- Downstate GOP Faithless - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:34 am:
if scott kaczmir had gone back out again, andrew friedman would have personally sought ought and beat bud selig
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:41 am:
Hey Bill, you must apparently be the South side moron who didn’t check the Sox road record. 22-27 — not exactly head and shoulders above the North siders.
- Bass Man - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:41 am:
Springfield Alum:
Excuse Me??? Northwestern is a direction. I have orange and blue blood, as U of I is my Alum!
Okay…let’s get this straight one time…
Illini, Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:54 am:
It took 16 innings for the AL All Stars to beat the Cubs last night, and it sure helped that Dan Uggla played like a Cubs. Was he betting on the AL? Did they tell him this game was going to be on national television? He was awful and cost the Cubs home field advantage.
- Wumpus - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 9:59 am:
Haha, so Florida Marlins beat the Cubs once again
- Marco - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 10:26 am:
Wumpus, you’re complaining about scientific experiments — but urging that DeRosa should’ve been there? In this era, everyone’s suspect. But you might particularly want to take a look at that guy’s career numbers sometime. Let’s just say they’ve spiked appreciably.
- raisin - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 10:53 am:
Stay above the fray, Rich. Ignore the Cubs. Ripping them only brings you down a level.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 10:55 am:
Nah, I like it in the fray.
- Wumpus - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 11:35 am:
Hmm, MArco, good point. I mainly meant for Derosas versatility, but he is getting a lot more at bats/playing time this year.
- George Mitterwald's Gamble - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 11:46 am:
Give Rich a break, he is finally beginning to accept reality. The only rational explanation for referring to last night as a Cubs loss is a tacit admission that they are destined to be in the Fall Classic but now won’t get home field advantage. That’s real progress! By October, he’ll be publicly wearing Cubbie blue, completely out of the closet.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 11:47 am:
===By October, he’ll be publicly wearing Cubbie blue, completely out of the closet.===
I will ignore the double entendre, but I will NEVER wear Cubbie blue. Period.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 12:00 pm:
Derosa’s numbers sure have spike, Marco, you’re right. He came up in the late ’90s and through 06 had never played a full season (he was a super-utility guy). The reason his numbers have spiked is because his at-bats have doubled. In the early 2000s when sparks were really flying off the bats, his numbers were far below average and right on par when you extrapolate his at-bats out to a full season. Apparently you weren’t a math wiz however, and that’s not your fault.
- The Curmudgeon - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 12:39 pm:
I thought it was so nice that the Cubs let so many other players join them for the first annual Cubs v. AL All Stars Game. All the Cubs, of course, performed splendidly — it’s just such a shame that a couple of the non-Cubs failed to keep up to the Cub standard. I mean, this will deny the Cubs their rightful home field advantage in the World Serious! Because Milwaukee and St. Louis will certainly step aside in the second half and the other division winners and Wild Card will gladly forfeit the NLDS and NLCS, right?
I am so hoping for the Chubs to fade as soon as possible… but I’m also terrified they won’t… and we’ll have to put up with this into the Fall.
- Marco - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 1:03 pm:
Oh, anonymous, only if it were that easy — just double the AB’s and toss of a patronizing comment about math skills (Kind of a Bushian response, actually. Nice!)
But, since you seem to enjoy numbers, let’s look at a couple.
(And I’m apologizing in advance to all of you who rightly don’t care about this.)
The key metrics of power — which juice, as it were, is supposed to boost — tell a different story from yours. And they are completely independent of the NUMBER of at-bats, based instead on productivity during the at-bats once actually has.
For OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging), DeRosa’s last two years in Atlanta (2003-04) look like this: .699 and .613. He was no youngster at this point, turning 29 in the second of those years. But beginning with his time in Texas and continuing with the Cubs (2005-2008), his OPS went to .764, .813, .791 and .830. Looks
like a jump to me. Moreover, while the years prior to 2003 (2001-02) show his OPS at .740 and
.768, as you so aptly state, this was the golden age of balls flying, Bonds having hit his 71 in
2001. No one’s hit anywhere near that number of home runs in the past couple of years. But Mark’s numbers are nevertheless again quite high, aren’t they?
Slugging percentage tells a similar story. Here are the career numbers for DeRosa, starting in 2003: .383, .320, (and then, first year in Texas at age 29) .439, .456, .420, .453.
I could be right. I could be wrong. But I’m not making this stuff up.
- Take It Easy - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 1:58 pm:
the cub factor returns.
- Say WHAT? - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 2:47 pm:
How does one spell the sound of blowing rasberries?
- Springfield Alum - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 3:00 pm:
Marco:
I always thought DeRosa was on the juice. Thanks for confirming.
- Wumpus - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 3:41 pm:
Well Derosa did spend time in the Texas organization. I hope he is legit
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, Jul 16, 08 @ 10:00 pm:
Rich -
Sorry I’m late to the dance, but anyone making any Forward Looking statements about a World Series in the Friendly Confines within their own lifetime needs to add the standard Cubs disclaimer:
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer
This website may contain forward-looking statements. These statements present fan’s expectations, beliefs, plans and objectives regarding future performance, and assumptions or judgments concerning such performance. Any discussions contained in this website, except to the extent that they contain historical facts, are forward-looking and accordingly involve estimates, assumptions, judgments and uncertainties. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors are self-evident throughout the last 100 years of the Cubs franchise.