MESA, Ariz. — ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips might want to steer clear of Lou Piniella when the Cubs play Milwaukee on an April 12 ESPN telecast.

Piniella was fuming over a remark Phillips made recently on Chet Coppock's WMVP-AM 1000 radio show. Asked about Kosuke Fukudome's rookie season, Phillips criticized Piniella's handling of the Japanese outfielder.

"My view is Lou doesn't have a great deal of patience for assimilation into culture, assimilation into the team," Phillips said. "He is just not the most patient guy around, and he tends to verbalize his frustrations in an angry way. I think that may have affected Fukudome a little bit."

Piniella played Fukudome in 150 games and gave him 501 at-bats, sticking with the right fielder despite his struggles before sitting him for a brief stretch in September. Fukudome then started the first two playoff games before Piniella sat him in Game 3.

"I don't have much respect for Steve Phillips," Piniella said after hearing the comment Monday. "Let him be around a little more and see what transpires before he makes assumptions. I've lost total respect for this guy. If he had something to say, let him say it to me."

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

What about Lou Diamond Phillips?

Since when was ruining the Mets a stepping stone for haivng intelligent baseball thoughts. Id rather get my football info from Matt Millen

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I think it's safe to say don't invite Piniella & Ozzie Guillen to the same party with Steve Phillips...This is the same ESPN analyst who has had the White Sox manager on his "hot seat" each of the last 2 years. I hope Lou & Ozzie flip Steve the bird when ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" does each team this season, especially considering Phillips & Joe Morgan will be working the national broadcasts with Jon Miller starting in April.

Shark, we don't say that name out loud. JM is referred to as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" on this board.

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Seriously?

I hear if you say his name 3 times he shows up and a wreaks havoc on the board.

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I apologize, fans...That S.O.B.'s name won't be mentioned on this board again...I can't stand him or Steve, who couldn't generally manage the Mets before becoming a bum on ESPN...

Phillips statement that Lou did not allow Fukadome to become comfortable and get properly acclimated into the clubhouse was ridiculous. He was plenty comfortable in April and May, when he was looking like a rookie of the year candidate and All-star. But then pitchers adjusted to him and began jamming him, he got further from the plate and started opening up that front shoulder too quick and things went bad. None of that was Lou's fault. In fact, Lou tried to work with Fukadome on staying closed and keeping that front shoulder in longer and then Fukadome hit a home run in his next game in Milwaukee pinch hitting. He had a 3 hit day the following night and seemed to be getting out of his slump. Then, he went right back to spinning around and opening up too quickly. From the clips of him batting in April and May, to those of him struggling in the latter months of the season, he looks like 2 very different hitters. You see him keeping his head in and closed much longer earlier in the season, then his head pulling out and his front shoulder flying open much earlier, late in the season. Gotta fix that. Phillips is a horses ass to blame anything on Lou though. I think Lou likes him, especially his defense. But how long could he continue to start a guy who was becoming an automatic out?

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Go Cubs!!!!

Actually he shows up and tells you why he was a better 2B than Ryno and why he thinks Ryno was overrated.

He's a tool.

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

Well what you have to understand is, in talking about presence, is that it is a second baseman's job to have presence and prominence in the infield. While some may erroneously say that it is inherent in a short stop's job, a second baseman is like a toolbox for the carpenter. The carpenter would be the pitcher, of course, because they're making it possible for an infielder to have a job. Now some may ask, "What about if a pitcher strikes someone out? What did an infielder have to do with that?" And I answer that with, "An infielder gave the pitcher confidence that if he would NOT have struck out the opposing player, then he would have most definitely given up a fly ball or something down the middle that the hitter would have knocked out of the park."

And that is what is so important about presence. It is not always about what an infielder does, or what a second baseman does--it's about what is CAPABLE of doing. Which is why in the case of Ryne Sandberg, if a second baseman is the toolbox, he is the missing flathead screwdriver that the carpenter needed and didn't have, so the pitcher had no confidence, and gave up a hit. Sandberg would have been out of position, and therefore the runner on base would have advanced. In the Machine, Ryne Sandberg would be the rusty cog that caused a breakdown. He would have been the reason a Six Flags roller coaster didn't work properly and caused a massive accident, leading to countless deaths.

My four daughters have calculated the numbers of possible fatalities in baseball if baseball was a uniformed military unit, had Ryne Sandberg been a part of it.

The numbers were higher than Pearl Harbor and Normandy combined.

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Second is better than first when speaking in terms of basemen, and more specifically, me.

Okay, I fucking hate Joe Morgan, but this was some funny shit!

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Seriously?