Castro & Rizzo, Oops, That's Castro & LaHair to All Star Game

"Don't You, Forget About Me"

Starlin Castro and Bryan LaHair were named to the All-Star Game.  While Castro was a no-brainer, it was a little surprising to see LaHair get the nod.  He did get off to a hot start, but has cooled significantly as the season has progressed.  Plus with all of the Jizzo'ing for Rizzo'ing going on, I'm surprised that anyone remembered Bryan was still on the team.

WTFATG*: Luis Valbuena

Quien?

Apparently I slept through spring training this year because I don't remember Luis Valbuena at all.  If you're like me, you're wondering who this guy is.  I thought he was one of our young farm guys.  Not so.

Valbuena's MLB career started in 2008 for the Mariners.  The Venezuelan was later traded to the Indians, then sent down to the minors in 2011 and eventually traded to the Blue Jays.  The Cubs claimed him off waivers from the Jays in April 2012.

It's been a small sample size, but I like what I've seen from Valbuena.  He looks solid in the field and he's got two homers and 7 RBIs in 6 games.  He's also not Ian Stewart.  His career stats don't really suggest that he'll continue on his current pace, although he hasn't played much the past few seasons.

Valbuena saw action in 17 games for Cleveland last year, following a 91 game campaign in 2010 and a 103 game run in 2009.  He hit 10 home runs in 2009 with a .250 average, his best season.  Homers dropped to 2 in 2010 and his average fell to .193.  In the 17 MLB games he played in last year, he hit .209 with 1 home run.

So obviously Valbuena's probably not the long term answer at third base.  Stranger things have happened though and the Cubs have a dearth of talent at third in the minors.  He's only 27 and the job seems to be all his for the moment.  Let's see what he does with it.   

*Who The Fuck Are These Guys? 

Sucking With Purpose

Well, the Cubs lost another series last night, dropping 2 out of 3 to Boston.  This team has been every bit as bad as I expected them to be, but losing hasn't bothered me as much as it has in the past.  Reason being, I'm still confident that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer have a plan to rebuild not just at the major league level, but system wide.  That kind of sea change takes time and isn't going to happen overnight, much less over the course of a single season.

The only thing I've found frustrating is some of the comments and complaints I've read from some Cub fans on the internets.  A lot of people seem to have missed the memo on just what's going on the North Side right now.  There was no chance in hell the Cubs were going to be competitive this year, so please dispense with the bitching and moaning about Theo not knowing what he's doing or calling for Dale Sveum to be fired.  It just makes our fanbase look foolish.

Yes, the Cubs suck.  However, I would argue that this year, the Cubs suck with purpose.  As one of the ESPN announcers pointed out last night, this is audition time.  Any of the players on the current team might be trade bait or cannon fodder.  Guys like Darwin Barney need to step up and prove they deserve to be on this team when the rebuilding dust settles.  Theo and Jed are going to be watching carefully to determine who stays and who goes.  Meanwhile, they appear to be ready to trade anybody they can get good prospects for, even ready to eat some money in order to do so.  Along with the draft and the addition of Jorge Soler, this will go a long way to replenishing a barren farm system.  Theo has admitted he made some mistakes in Boston, but most of those mistakes were on the free agent side.  This guy knows talent and I have confidence he can build a first rate farm system, which to me is the foundation for sustained success.  What a nice change from the Hendry regime, who merely threw oodles of money at the major league roster.  The Cubs had a few good seasons with this method, but no sustained success.

Dale Sveum may not have been the sexy hire the fanbase was hoping for, but honestly, if I see one more doofus bitching about Sandberg not being hired, I'm going to slap them around.  I'm not sure why these people believe the results would be different with number 23 in charge.  I loved Sandberg the player, but Sandberg the manager has never managed at the major league level.  There's no way in Hades he'd magically be able to make this a better ballclub.  Being a Cub icon ain't gonna make Ian Stewart hit for average, reverse Soriano's steady decline, improve Castro's concentration, or solidify the duct-taped bullpen.

I see Sveum's role much like Alan Trammel's in Detroit a number of years ago.  The Cubs have a motley collection of youth and veterans and Sveum's job is to stress the fundamentals and teach these kids to play the game the right way.  As they get better, add some better free agents over the next two-three years and all of a sudden, you're ready to compete.  Whether Dale will continue to be the manager at that point is anyone's guess, but I think he's the perfect guy for the task at hand.  The only thing that worried me at first was how he handled the bullpen, but the bullpen is so bad, there's really no way of telling if he's handling it right or not.  It seems like a complete crapshoot as to what kind of performance you're going to get from any Cub reliever at this point.  Hard to pin that on Dale.

I hate to say it, but as fans, all we can do is be patient.  I think we can look to what's happened in Detroit and Tampa Bay over the last decade to see what the future might hold.  You build from the bottom up, not the top down and I think your team is going to always have a chance to be in it.  The Cubs are going to have more money to spend than either of those teams in the next few years, but before you start spending money, a solid foundation has to be there.  That's what the Cubs are doing this year: pouring the concrete.  Yeah, watching it dry isn't going to be super exciting, but what the Cubs build on top of that just might be what Cub fans have been waiting for this past century and change.              

I Tried To Erase An Imaginary Curse by Walking With Goats And All I Got Was This Lousy Goat Curry

There's a reason Cub fans are the laughingstock of baseball.  It's stunts like this that send other teams' fans into hysterics.  Look, it's great that they're raising money for cancer.  It's nice that they're getting some exercise.  The fact remains that these boobs are walking across the country because they believe that a man and his goat caused the 103 year old pennant drought on the North Side of Chicago.

Be it Bartman or the goat, I am so tired of Cub fans giving legitimacy to this crap.  Blowing up the Bartman ball, goat carcasses left on the Harry Carey statue, rain dances in the outfield; nothing will change the fact that the Cubs' only curse has been a procession of bad baseball teams peppered with some bad luck whenever we do actually get a team that's worth a shit.

Other franchises have gone through long stretches of mediocrity.  Look at Pittsburgh and Kansas City.  Are their fans blaming the fucking supernatural?  No.  Is the answer walking across the country with a farm animal?  Again no.  The Cubs' time is gonna come, provided the owners continue to make building a winning franchise a priority.  The worm will turn, folks.  The Red Sox broke their championship "curse" not by making absurd pilgrimages or by desecrating Babe Ruth's grave, but by making smart baseball decisions.  The Cubs can do the same.

In the meantime, please stop making it even more embarrassing to be a Cub fan.

Bullpen Stumbles, Pierre Fumbles

Whoops!

Just when I start to feel a little positive about the 2012 Chicago Cubs, the bullpen decides to remind me just why the Cubs are in last place.  Now granted, as Dale Sveum pointed out, these guys are pitching in roles they really shouldn't be in.  If Marmol and Wood were reliable this year, the Cubs wouldn't have to worry about tossing guys like Scott Maine and Michael Bowden out there to face major league hitters with a game on the line.

By the way, what the fuck is up with Matt Garza and his inability to throw to first base?  His turf-burger in the 3rd was one of the more embarrassing things I've seen in a while.  At least Juan Pierre managed to top that when he screened himself with his own glove and dropped an easy out on a Bryan LaHair popup.

Speaking of LaHair, the real bummer last night was his streak of consecutive games in which he reached base came to an end at 32.  Pretty impressive for a guy a lot of people, including myself, were writing off as a 4A player.  LaHair has been one of the main reasons I've actually enjoyed watching this team this year. Editor's Note: He did reach base on an error last night.

Last night's loss aside, I'm still feeling pretty positive about this team.  They're not going anywhere this year, but they're a lot more fun to watch than the sad sack collection of dogdoo Cub fans were treated to over the past couple of years.  I'm starting to look forward to games again, which is pretty cool.

Speaking of cool, it's awesome to have the Saloon back up and running.  As you could no doubt tell from this post, I'm a little rusty at this whole blogging thing, but with time and more enthusiasm for this team, I'm hoping to once again reach the lofty heights of esoteric nonsense that made Thunder Matt a household name.

Cowboy Up!

The Cubs signed Kevin Millar. Jesus to Jesus and eight hands around. The slow crawl deathmarch to the 2010 season continues. The Cubs haven't even played a game yet and I'm starting to feel ready for 2011. I guess Millar will compete with Chad Tracy for a backup role. Either that or body bag filler for Ted Lilly. Millar hit .223 with 7 homers for the Blue Jays last year. Christ, I didn't even know he was still playing last year.

It wasn't so long ago that I actually believed, naively mind you, that Jim Hendry actually had a plan of sorts. The past two seasons I think Jimbo pasted printouts from Baseball Reference on his office walls, put a blindfold on, and had Randy Bush spin him around a few times before he flung darts at random. If the darts landed on players who were still alive, Hendry offered them contracts.

By that methodology, how the hell did Hendry miss out on Byung-Hyun Kim? Surely he offered more than the Giants did for the unreliable relief pitcher.

Cubs Sign Professor X

In a bold move, today the Cubs agreed to terms with legendary leader of the X-Men, Professor X, Charles Xavier. My assumption is that he will take over the GM duties from human blob Jim Hendry, who will be released back into the wild.

Scratch that, I've just learned that the Cubs in fact signed outfielder Xavier Nady, who's coming off of his second Tommy John surgery. Hendry must have seen the words "second Tommy John" on Nady's resume and Krispey Kremed himself. Mutant.

Unless Nady's physical reveals something hinky (like aftereffects of 2 TJ surgeries), he'll join the Cubs as their fourth outfielder. Nady played in seven games for the Yankees in 2009, putting up a .286 average.

The 4th Outfielder Conundrum

Apparently, one of Jim Hendry's remaining goals for the offseason is finding a fourth outfielder, the idea being that we need someone who can out hit Micah Hoffpauir and Sam Fuld (right) off the bench. Shouldn't be too hard. Let's take a look at the array of suckage currently floating around out in free agent land. At least the Royals took a bullet and signed Rick Ankiel, thus removing him as an option. Thank you, Dayton Moore. Here are some losers who are still available:

1. Jermaine Dye: Derrek Lee and Dye are apparently buddies, so obviously Dye would be super awesome, right? Dye got off to a hot start in 2009, but tanked in the last two months of the season. He can play a little first base, but watching an outfield of Soriano, Byrd, and Dye would be like watching your mom give Rush Limbaugh head.

2. Jonny Gomes: Gomes is intriguing. He's flashed some power in the past and isn't a horrible outfielder. He's also coming off of an injury, which I'm sure gives ol' Jimbo a sweet chubby. Of all the guys on this list, he could make the most impact, provided his 80 year old body doesn't fall apart.

3. Reed Johnson: Now that DeRosa is a Giant, his stalkers have turned their attention to Reed Johnson. Reed's a cool guy and he certainly fills the Cubs' need for a guy who can grow facial hair between innings, but he's really not much of an upgrade over guys like Fuld. Unlike Fuld, however, Reed can actually hit the ball when there are runners on base, so he's got that going for him.

4. Jim Edmonds: This worked out once. I don't see it working out again. But hell, I thought Edmonds was finished when the Cubs signed him the last time and he proved me wrong. I still really want to hate him though, so I hope he doesn't come back.


5. Xavier Nady: Nady's coming off Tommy John surgery. If he were a mediocre pitcher, I'd say he was guaranteed to sign with the Cubs. We know how Hendry loves his reclamation projects. If he's healthy, he hits pretty good and he has a cool name. He could easily be the new DeRo for the Trixie set.


6. Marcus Thames: The former Tiger has some pop in his bat and can play the outfield and a little first base. He also strikes out a ton. The Cubs already had Craig Monroe once, they don't need him again. Pass.

7. Rocco Baldelli: This guy is still playing? Well, you can bet someone will be dumb enough to give him a contract. Let's just hope he's not a big fat white guy with the initials J.H. Sure Baldelli was on the Rays while Pinella was there, but he never actually played for Uncle Lou. He's the Mark Prior of outfielders.

8. Eric Byrnes: No. No-ho-ho. No. No.



Of these eight mouth breathers, if I had to pick one, I would probably take a chance on Gomes. He hit .267 with 20 homeruns in 98 games with the Reds last year. By comparison, the Hoff hit .239 with 10 HRs in 105 games and although Fuld hit .299, he only managed 2 RBIs and one HR. Fuld is basically Ryan Freel without Farney in his head. And Ryan Theriot already owns the "scrappy white guy" mantle on this team. Also on Jim Hendry's to do list is sign yet another relief pitcher. A few years ago, this team was dripping with second baseman. Couldn't we get at least one guy who might be considered a starting 2B before we add another crappy pitcher? Just a thought.

The Great McGwire Mea Culpa Dilemma

Bigger than the return of Greg Maddux to the Cubs organization yesterday, was Mark McGwire's announcement about his steroid use. The ginger behemoth admitted to the world that he did in fact use performance enhancing drugs, including in 1998 when he broke the single season home run record. In other news, water is wet, the sky is blue, and Jenna Jameson has seen more dick than the Boston Celtics' locker room. While I'm sure that for Cardinal fans, this comes as a bigger shock than finding out Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father, the rest of the baseball world lets out a collective meh. But I'm not here to talk about the past.

Oh, bullshit, yes I am. This announcement by McGwire might have had a little more meaning if he'd manned up and mentioned it in front of Congress. Oh, I know, he was advised by his lawyers not to speak, even though he now claims he wanted to come clean. And I'm sure that same lawyer had a gun in McGwire's back the whole time he was testifying or whatever it was that he did at that sorry excuse for a hearing. And Cardinal fans, I'm not giving the Cubs' own Slammin' Sammy a pass on this one either, as he was just as embarrassing as your boy. At least McGwire didn't have a lawyer read a written statement, claiming poor English as an excuse. Now that McGwire has owned up to his misdeeds, I would hope that Sammy has the good sense to follow suit.

What annoys me about the McGwire statement is that I personally believe that the only reason he's repenting now is because he's been given the position of hitting coach for the Cardinals this season. I'm sure he's only coming clean is so he won't have to answer questions about this for the entirety of the season. At this point in the whole steroid debacle, maybe it's a little ridiculous of me, but I think having a hitting coach who's an admitted cheater might just affect the credibility of whatever performance he gets from the players this season. What kind of example is he going to be setting for the kids who come up from AAA ball? "Make sure you practice your fundamentals, kids!" Wink wink nudge nudge. "It's what worked for me!" The Cubs find themselves in a somewhat similar situation, as Rudy Jaramillo comes over from the Rangers, a hotbed of PEDs at the height of the steroids era. However, Jaramillo never set a homerun record or served as a co-saviour of the sport. McGwire did.

If baseball is truly to put the specter of PEDs behind it once and for all, it needs to divest itself of those who profited the most from that era. Rewarding McGwire and others like him by allowing them to return to the game after sullying the sport and then lying about it sends the wrong kind of message. If you're going to do that, then you might as well allow Pete Rose in the Hall and just stop this nonsense about testing and maintaining the "purity" of the sport. What I see is this: McGwire cheated. He lied about cheating. Now he's given a chance to return to the game and the fans are expected to believe that he will do an honest job with the Cardinals' young players. Because he says so. Because Tony LaRussa says so. Because Bud Selig says so? It's not the past we should be talking about. It's the present and future of the credibility of the sport.

The Mad Dog Returns to Chicago

Greg Maddux is returning to the Cubs, not to step back on the Wrigley Field mound, but as an assistant to GM Jim Hendry. Maddux will assist the coaches at the both major and minor league spring training and most notably will be "assisting in the development of Cubs minor leaguers during the regular season and assisting Hendry and the baseball operations department in talent evaluation." (per the MLB.com article).

Granted, Maddux might know shit-all about developing minor league talent. However, I'm more than willing to take that chance. This is probably the best goddamn move the Cubs have made in two seasons, which really says something about the trades and free agent acquisitions of the past couple offseasons. The only sucky thing is that they didn't hire him to be the pitching coach. Cub pitchers learned more from Maddux in his second tenure with Chicago then they ever did from Larry Rothschild. Welcome back to Chicago, Professor!

Pop Culture Gauntlet: The Karate Kid vs. Miles Davis

Welcome to Pop Culture Gauntlet, where people, places, and things from various subjects face off in a virtual cage match. As part of an ongoing series we will bring you new battles each week between randomly selected items from the Thunder Matt's PCG database. We will provide you with a brief background of both competitors. After reading, you can then vote on your choice in the poll located in the right sidebar column. Monday battles will run until 12am Thursday. Thursday battles will run until 12am Monday. Also we welcome any arguments for either competitor in our comments section. May the best man, thing, or whatever win.

Today's match: The Karate Kid vs. Miles Davis

The Karate Kid
The Karate Kid was released in 1984. The movie follows Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio), a high school kid who moves from Jersey to Reseda, California. He's a skinny wuss who quickly becomes the target of a group of toughs who all practice karate at the Cobra Kai dojo, run by a psycho named John Kreese (Martin Kove). To make matters worse, Daniel falls for Ali (Elizabeth Shue), a rich girl who just happens to be the ex of the #1 Cobra Kai, Johnny (William Zabka). Daniel finds a friend in the mysterious Okinawan handyman who maintains his apartment complex. Mr. Myagi (Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita) agrees to teach Daniel karate after saving his bacon by beating up the entire group of Cobra Kais. In order to secure protection for his young student, Miyagi agrees to enter Daniel in the same karate tournament the Cobra Kais regularly dominate. Thus follows the strangest karate training ever as Miyagi has Daniel wax his collection of antique cars, paint his fence, sand his deck, and paint his house, all with very precise instructions on how is supposed to perform these tasks. It turns out that all this manual labor Daniel has been doing is actually teaching him the defensive moves he needs for the tourney. In the meantime, his relationship with Ali goes up and down and Mt. Miyagi gives him a sweet convertible for his 16th birthday. One drive in the car, and everything is apparently forgiven. Daniel also sees Miyagi performing a stylized kick on top of some old deck pilings on the beach. This is apparently the "Crane Technique" for which there is no defense (except in the second movie, where it fails miserably). Cut to the tourney and we're treated to one of the best montage sequences in film history, set to "You're The Best", a quintessential 80's song, perhaps topped only by the incredibly homoerotic montage in Rocky III. Being as this is an 80s movie, Daniel naturally wins the tournament with the Crane Technique, but not before Kreese plays some dirty pool and has one of his boys attempt to cripple the Jersey kid.

Strengths: Mr Miyagi, "sweep the leg", montage of awesomeness, "wax on, wax off", the Crane Technique, and perhaps most importantly, Elizabeth Shue.

Weaknesses: Daniel's whiny ass, Jersey, the fact that many Americans view this movie as great insight into Japanese culture, the three sequels-one with Hilary Swank(!)

Fun Facts: Pat Morita was intially turned down for the Mr. Miyagi role. Elizabeth Shue left Harvard to do this film. "You're the Best" was supposedly written for Rocky III, but was rejected in favor of "Eye of the Tiger" (Thank you to imdb.com for fun fact info)


Miles Davis
Miles Davis was one of the most influential, if not the most influential jazz musician of his time. His trumpeting style prompted a plethora of imitators and throughout his life he stayed on the cutting edge of jazz. Miles was part of the jazz evolution as it transformed from cool jazz to bop. His modal compositions on albums like Milestones and Kind of Blue lifted the music to new heights. He experimented with funk on On the Corner and fusion was partially born from the ambitious Bitches' Brew. Some of the best jazz musicians of the time served in his groups, among them John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Julian "Cannonball" Adderly, Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, Wayne Shorter, Elvin Jones, Art Taylor, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin and many, many others.

In many ways, Davis was one of the first African-American superstars. He could be arrogant and dismissive towards fans, and with few exceptions, didn't really care for white jazz musicians. Like many jazz musicians, he suffered from a heroin addiction, but was able to get clean. His influence and legacy remain one of the lasting forces in jazz, Kind of Blue perhaps being the best known jazz album of all time.

Strengths: Soulful trumpet playing, the Coltrane years, helped define bop and invent fusion, successful African-American before the Civil rights movement, lasting influence, Kind of Blue.

Weaknesses: Hated Whitey, helped invent fusion, arrogant, was cheap when it came to paying his band members.

Fun Fact: Davis had recorded an album for Columbia while still under contract to Prestige Records. He owed Prestige four albums, so he and his quintet spent two days in the studio, recording enough material to fulfill the contract so he would be able to release his Columbia album. All four albums (Workin', Steamin', Relaxin' and Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet) are considered classics.

Milton Bradley Watch

Threat Level: Still an ambulating asshole, still on the Cu-wait, what? There are actually rumors of a Bradley trade going down? No fucking way!






Who'd we get? C'mon, big money, no Whammies, no Whammies, no Whammies . . .


SHIT!!! Carlos Silva, seriously? I know Bradley is a cantering cocknugget, but come on! I'd rather keep Bradley and hope Lou can keep from killing him for a season just so Ryne Sandberg gets a chance to manage the selfish prick.

In case anybody cares, Silva pitched in all of 8 games last year, finishing 1 and 3 with an 8.60 ERA before mercifully injuring himself. 2008 wasn't any better as Silva pitched in 28 games, amassing a 4 and 15 record with an ERA of 6.46. He's also fucking big. And not the good kind of big, if you know what I mean. Let's put it this way: if Silva ever went to Japan, the fucking Sea Shepherd would be following him around for his own protection.

Jesus.
Wept.

Milton Bradley Watch

Threat Level: STILL a fucking Cub. Still a perambulating prick.

The past few days have seen a flurry of moves, all made by other teams. The Blue Jays, Phillies, and Mariners may complete a blockbuster deal that would send ace Roy Halladay to Philadelphia and Cliff Lee to the Mariners. The Mariners suddenly look like contenders and remain in the mix for Jason Bay. The Red Sox meanwhile have signed Cub target Mike Cameron for 2 years and seem on the verge of acquiring John Lackey. Speculation is that Lackey's presence will allow them to deal Clay Bucholz and Jacoby Ellsbury for Adrian Gonzalez. Like the Red Sox really need to get any better. And the Cardinals have supposedly offered Matt Holiday 16M per over 8 years.

What have the Cubs done this year? Purged the team of every player signed last offseason, save the brooding Bradley. Resigned John Grabow, whose arm will probably now fall off. And they've expressed interest in signing Pirates closer Matt Capps, who was non-tendered by the Bucs. I fully expect Hendry to overpay to secure three years of Capps and call the offseason a success. I know there's a lot of post-season left, but so far it's had a very 2004 feel to it. Remember Freddie Bynum? Yeah, me neither.

It's looking more and more like Bradley will still be our problem come next season. Can Jim and Lou put the pieces back together and get the sulky Milton to play up to his potential? Can the rest of the team live with a guy who has no interest in being a team player and still compete? Will Lou snap and beat Milton to death with a baseball bat? Would any of the Cubs stop him if he did? And if he did, are the Cubs still on the hook for Milton's salary? All questions worth pondering as we death march to Opening Day 2010.

Milton Bradley Watch

Threat Level: Still on the Cubs. Still a giant walking cock. Looking more untradeable than ever.

Well, the "mystery team" rumor turned out to be a complete load of shit. Big surprise there. According to Carrie Muskat, the Cubs are now "scrambling" to deal Bradley. Fantastic. When I think of the word "scrambling" a little movie of the Keystone Kops appears in my head, coupled with the music from Bennie Hill, two things I don't want associated with my major league baseball team.

The way things are looking right now, unloading Aarons Miles and Heilman might be the highlight of the offseason. If that ends up being the case, I'll . . .I'll . . . fuck. We all know that I'm not going to stop watching this team. And neither are any of you, since you bothered to come here.

Milton Bradley Watch

Threat Level: Still a Cub. Still a colossal dick.

Rumors are that two to three other teams beside the Rays are interested in Bradley, meaning there's two to four GMs in baseball possibly dumber than Jim Hendry.

The Bradley for Burrell rumors continue to percolate and Royals' GM Dayton Moore shot down a rumor that the Royals and Cubs were discussing a Bradley for Gil Meche deal.

Turning Japanese

In case you missed it (like we did), America's favorite ginger outfielder is picking up his toys and going to . . . Japan. The Rockies gave Murton his release so he could attempt to jumpstart his career in the Nippon Leagues. Look, I know we bartenders here at the Saloon are biased toward the red-headed wonder, but Jesus Christ, isn't there any team in the majors that could give this guy a chance to play everyday? I'm looking at you Kansas City. Or what about you, Atlanta? Murton only hit .324/.389/.499 for the year in Triple A Colorado Springs. Sure, his defense is spotty, but if that kept you out of a major league lineup, there'd be a lotta guys out of work. (Cough-Soriano-cough).

Here at the Saloon we wish Thunder the best of luck in the Far East. Watch out for the blowfish, buddy.

Blackhawks Are the Anti-Cubs As They Actually Pull Off Comeback WIn

In case you missed it, (and judging from the general apathy towards hockey in this country, you probably did) the Blackhawks tied an NHL record for biggest comeback when they beat the Calgary Flames in overtime on Monday. Calgary scored 5 goals before the first period was barely past the halfway mark, chasing starting goalie Christobal Huet after he surrendered the first 3 goals. Rookie Antti Niemi replaced Huet and promptly gave up 2 goals of his own. The Hawks managed to score once in the first, on a goal from John Madden and headed for the first intermission down 5 to 1. Game over, right?

Wrong. The Blackhawk offense came out strong in the second period and simply dominated the Flames. Patrick Kane, Dustin Byfuglien, and Davey Bolland scored a goal apiece to bring the Blackhawks within one. It was almost like a different team came out to play in the second period. The Hawks were all around shitty in period one, looking flat-footed and sloppy. The unit that came out in the second used their speed to skate rings around their opponents. They were aggressive and kept the puck in the Calgary end for most of the period.

The third period was more evenly matched, as the Hawks came down to earth a little bit. At the 4:32 mark, Patrick Sharp put the tying goal past Miikka Kiprusoff. After the two goals he allowed in the first period, Niemi settled down and blocked the other 13 shots the Flames sent his way. The game went into overtime, but Brent Seabrook only needed 26 seconds to end the game with his winning goal.

This was one of the best hockey games I've ever seen, especially considering that the Hawks were complete shit for the first 20 minutes. It would have been so easy for these guys to just have rolled over and quit for the final two periods. I think this game was further proof that these kids are the real deal and hopefully are going to be a presence in the league for seasons to come. The only issue I see going forward is at goalie. Christobal Huet does not seem like the guy the Blackhawks can rely upon to take them deep into the post-season again. Niemi may be a rookie, but aside from his shaky first period Monday night, he's looked like the stronger goalie. Before it's all over, the Blackhawk front office may regret not resigning the Bulin Wall, who has looked solid in his outings with Edmonton so far this season. I guess we'll have to wait and see how long a leash Joel Quenneville gives Huet in the weeks to come.

Should He Stay or Should He Go?

Jim Hendry. His name alone fills me with mixed feelings, not to mention a craving for Krispey Kremes. One could argue that the Cubs have enjoyed one of their most successful runs during the Hendry years. One could also argue that some of Hendry's moves have hamstrung the team as well. If you were Tom Ricketts, would you keep Jim Hendry or look to bring in another GM to take his place? Let's examine some of the transactions Hendry has made over the past several seasons.

The Good:

Before the 2003 season, the Cubs were saddled with Todd Hundley. In a flash of brilliance, Hendry traded Hundley to the Dodgers for Mark Grudzielanek and Eric Karros. Grudz and Karros would both be big pieces on the 2003 Central Division winning Cubs that year while Hundley continued to suck out loud.

Hee-Seop Choi for Derrek Lee. Before the 2004 season, Hendry made this little beauty of a trade. As one of the three people who believed that Choi was the first baseman of the future, I was happy that I turned out to be completely wrong. Derrek Lee is now one of the keystone players on the Cubs and Hee Seop Choi is selling Kias back in his homeland.

Jim Edmonds. I personally thought Jim Edmonds was done and that this was a terrible signing. I had to eat my words, as Edmonds came back from the dead and gave the Cubs some solid baseball.

One of Hendry's best free agent signings was the four year deal he gave Ted Lilly. If I remember right, he was criticized for making this deal, but Lilly has quietly been one of the best pitchers in the NL over the course of his contract.

The ultimate Hendry trade is the mid-season deal he made in 2003, trading Bobby Hill and Jose Hernandez to Pittsburgh for Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez. At the time, most of the excitement was around acquiring Lofton to replace the injured Corey Patterson (who actually had been playing pretty good in '03), but I had had a man-crush on the Rammer even when he was with the Pirates. Lofton is long gone, but Ramirez is the best hitter on the Cubs and one of the best third baseman in the game. As for Bobby Hill, that boy ain't right. Never was.

The Bad:

Juan Pierre. After missing out on signing Raphael Furcal, Hendry decided he must have a leadoff hitter at all cost and dealt prospects Ricky Nolasco, Renyel Pinto, and pitcher Sergio Mitre to the Marlins for baby-headed Pierre. While Pierre did have 204 hits in his one season with the Cubs, giving up three pitchers for one year of Pierre was an awful trade. The trade was almost as bad as watching Pierre in the outfield. How do you know you're a sucky outfielder? When Jacque Jones has a better throwing arm than you do. I remember there were games where Pierre would flip the ball to one of his corner outfielders to make the throw back in to the infield. Little peanut-headed, limp-wristed so and so. Nolasco is now a solid part of the Marlins' rotation and Pinto has been decent out of the 'pen. Mitre is now a Yankee. And the Dodgers have Pierre. so lose-lose all around for the Cubs in this deal. Except for the fact that I no longer have to watch Pierre play.

The jury is still out on whether or not the Mark DeRosa trade was a good move or not. The Cubs will have to wait and see what they get from the pitching prospects the Indians sent them. However, the fallout from the DeRosa trade led Hendry to the Aaron Miles signing. Epic fail there. The DeRo trade was also supposed to be a buildup to trading for Jake Peavy, which never happened. When Ramirez went down with his shoulder injury, the Cubs had no viable major league substitute for him and Jake Peavy is now pitching for the White Sox because Hendry didn't pull the trigger on a deal for him in the offseason. Plus DeRosa eventually found his way to division rival St. Louis. He didn't do squat for the Cardinals, but it's still annoying that one of Hendry's moves inadvertently helped St. Louis. And not having DeRosa on the Cubs meant that for some inconceivable reason, Mike Fontenot played a bunch of games at third base. The memory of that still fills me with with a rage hotter than a million suns.

Alfonso Soriano. I'm not going to dispute the idea that Soriano was the best free agent available that offseason, but Hendry didn't even seem to negotiate, just basically threw a big pile of money at Fonzie. Really, it's not so much the money involved here as the number of years he gave Soriano. I can't understand why you would give a 30 year old guy an 8 year deal. Apparently, Hendry learned nothing from the Sosa debacle. So Soriano will be holding right field hostage for the next five years, while his legs get creakier and creakier. Not good. And there's no way in hell Hendry will find a trade partner willing to take on that kind of obligation.

Kosuke Fukudome. I really like Kosuke. He's a solid defender and I think he's a great #2 hitter. I do think he will continue to improve. You don't win batting titles in Japan by being a shitty hitter. The reason that this deal is starting to look bad is that Hendry again gave out too many years. A four year deal for a guy who'd never played in the majors was somewhat foolish. Also, it seemed like Hendry thought maybe Fukudome would flash a little more power and drive in more runs. If he had signed Kosuke to be a #2 hitter, OBP guy, this is a great move. But I don't think that's what Hendry expected Fukudome to do when he signed him.

Jason Marquis. Hendry overpaid for three years of Marquis. For two years, the best thing you could say about Marquis was that he ate innings and he could swing the bat a little bit. Then Hendry traded him for Luis Vizcaino, whom the Cubs promptly released. Marquis proceeded to have a career year for the Rockies, with his salary paid for by the Cubs. Now I'm not saying he would have had the same year for the Cubs, but the Cubs got absolutely nothing for trading him.

How about Jason Dubois for Jody Gerut, who Hendry then traded for an ineffectual Matt Lawton? A garbage trade twofer. For some reason, Jason Dubois is back in our minor league system, stealing playing time from some kid who's actually good.

The Ugly:

Milton Bradley. It's been discussed before, but this is the worst signing Hendry has ever made. No other GM in baseball was willing to give this walking cock a multi-year deal. Only Jim Hendry let himself get suckered by Milton's 'I've Changed' sales pitch. In addition to being a gigantic asshole, Bradley has never played a full season in the majors without hurting himself or his fragile ego. To give a guy with a history of injury and malcontentism a contract longer than a year is just ludicrous. I'm no GM, but I knew and most fans who follow the sport knew that Bradley was a cancer. And here again, it seems like Hendry learned nothing from the bad atmosphere surrounding Sammy Sosa. Now, much like the 2004 offseason, Hendry is handcuffed until he can rid himself of a jerk-off right-fielder wearing #21.

And just for fun, here are two guys that Jim Hendry has coveted over the years that he wasn't able to sign or trade for:

1. Termel Sledge
2. Austin Kearns

I think that tells you all you need to know about Jim Hendry's talent evaluation skills.

Another of my issues with Hendry is that he tends to get tunnel vision and focus on landing one type of player. Look at the Juan Pierre trade. Hendry was deadset on acquiring a leadoff hitter and had set his sights on Rafael Furcal. When Furcal spurned the Cubs at the last moment, Hendry panicked and overpaid (in prospect terms) to acquire Pierre. In order to land Soriano, he went well above a reasonable offer, just so the Cubs wouldn't lose Soriano as they had Furcal. Last offseason, he ignored guys like Raul Ibanez and Bobby Abreu to focus on Milton Bradley.

So does the good outweigh the bad over the course of Hendry's tenure with the Cubs? Personally, I think Hendry should be let go for the Bradley fiasco alone. There was plenty of evidence to suggest that Bradley was a headcase, yet Hendry offered him a long term deal regardless. That one misstep is going to cost the Cubs the bulk of what is owed to Bradley. Not exactly the best way to endear yourself to a brand new owner.

This is Baseball

If you didn't watch the one game playoff between the Twins and Tigers last night, you missed a beauty of a ballgame. Games like this are the essence of what playoff baseball should be. It was full of drama and great performances from superstars and ordinary players alike. The game lasted 12 innings, the score flip-flopping several times. If you like solid pitching efforts, you got it. If you like to see the home run ball, there were plenty of those. If you like great defense, both sides flashed enough leather to generate a week's worth of web gems. Clutch hitting and small ball? Oh, that was there, too. This game really had everything and both teams played their guts out.

Just some of the great stories of the game:

Rick Porcello. Porcello gave the Tigers one of the best outings of his young career. He pitched 5.2 innings, surrendering one earned run on a home run by Jason Kubel and an unearned run on a poor throw. He struck out 8 and only walked 2. Leyland might have been best served to have left him in.

Fernando Rodney. Rodney may have ended up the tough luck loser in this game, but it wasn't due to of lack of effort on his part. Rodney pitched 3 complete innings before giving up hits to Carlos Gomez and Alexei Casilla in the 12th, his 4th inning of work.

Brandon Inge. Inge was an absolute beast at third base in this game, making several incredible plays. The plays he made would have been considered spectacular for just about any third-sacker, but Inge doing it on knees held together with crazy glue, duct tape, and prayer is nothing short of amazing. As much pain as this guy has to be in, no one would've blamed him if he hadn't played at all, let alone put forth the effort he did. And despite all that, he's still busting ass down the line in the 12th inning to take away the possible double play.

The Home Runs from Miguel Cabrera, Jason Kubel, Orlando Cabrera, and Magglio Ordonez were all huge. Miggy's HR showed that he could be more than just a distraction to his team and Ordonez's sent the game to extra innings. Kubel's HR brought the Minnesota crowd back in the game and Orlando Cabrera's gave the Twins their first (though brief) lead of the game.

Twins Bullpen. Ron Gardenhire made full use of his bullpen and they responded. They kept the score close, keeping the Twins in it until they were finally able to solve Fernando Rodney.

Twins Offense. They knew they had to step up when Justin Morneau went down with the stress fracture in his back. This game wasn't just the Joe Mauer show, as everyone pitched in. The only Twins who failed to tally hits were Brendan Harris, who was hit by a pitch in his one at bat and Jose Morales. All the other players had at least one hit in the game. The speed of guys like Carlos Gomez was also on display, on both sides of the field.

Twins Defense. How big was that double play in the ninth that got Nathan out of a jam? Or the throw home in the 12th from Punto with the bases loaded?

Class. There was a lot of class on both sides, especially in the post game comments from Mauer and Cabrera, who were very complimentary of their Detroit opponents.

See this article on Yahoo for the top 10 plays of the game and the next time someone tells you they don't watch baseball because it's boring, tie them to the couch and put this game on the TV for them. If they still think the sport is boring after that, then they have no soul.

Koyie Hill Appreciation Society: 60 Hits, but a Whole Lotta Heart

Well kids, it's time to bid adieu to the Koyie Hill Appreciation Society for 2009. As you know, for every hit Koyie Hill delivered in 2009, I removed a section from this picture:

Koyie finishes the year with 60 hits and a .237 average in 83 games. Let's face it, Koyie isn't going to be remembered for his offensive output, but for the stretch of consecutive games he caught while Geo Soto was being weaned off pot and Ho-Hos mid-season. Koyie may not be an offensive juggernaut, but at least he ain't Paul Bako. Or Michael Barret. Or Rob Bowen.

Koyie may not have tallied enough hits to completely clear the board, but I would certainly not deprive those of you who have been following the KHAS posts all season of the chance to see the picture behind the picture. Meet Ms. Phoenix Ray:

Editor's Note: Photo has been removed from this post. To see the still not quite SFW version click here.

There are no more Koyie Hill fast facts for the year, save that Koyie Hill is one bad mother. Maybe I'm just old school, but Hill reminded me of the days when the catcher didn't have to hit to be a valuable member of the team. As long as you called a good game, blocked the balls in the dirt, and held down the running game, you could be considered a successful catcher. Anything you did with the bat was gravy.

So here's to you, Koyie Hill, a man out of time. If this were the 1980s, you might be the #1 ranked catcher in the big leagues right now. Thanks for being the hardest working backup catcher in the majors. Ice those knees and drink a cold one on the Saloon.