Nice thing is he can rest his sweatshop over the next 2 weeks. Which of course will just make his trigger finger itchier.

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The modern world is divided between those that would numb itself to its meaninglessness through various substances and various hedonisms and those that realize it and go crazy

Thought it was he froze fearing Wisneski was hurt debunked.

already mentioned...#3 wild card plays the brewers.

in my opinion, cubs are a year ahead of schedule. the issue with the cubs is the pitching. the cubs can't harness wesneski's wicked stuff and are lost at sea with taillon. the cubs seemed to have lost both killian and thompson and given all that, not confident ben brown will reach expectations. cuas' has so-so stuff and zero command on his breaking stuff. his fastball is a straight 92 mph. gave velazquez away for him. don't want to see smyly next year and hendricks' career train is pulling into the station. they'll need to sign some quality pitching...starting and relief. sick of hearing about hottovy and wicks. wicks had that change-up before the cubs drafted him. what is hottovy doing with wesneski and taillon? what is hottovy doing with killian and thompson?

the everyday position players seem ok, just don't need to hear the cubs media-world and their plaudits for happ and swanson. the braves didn't win the WS because of swanson. happ has had a crap year, despite him perfecting his HR trot and coordinating touching his helmet with stepping on the plate. with an 'ok' candelerio, no more madrigal as a starter and i'd use pca every day now. he's the future, not 32 y/o tauchman.

last night was a ridiculous loss. strike outs and DPs...the cubs win last night's game if it was played in july. swanson really needs 2 consecutive days off. not going to happen.

Ugh, watching Baseball Tonight in advance of Cubs/Snakes and I'm subjected to Cubs Highlights with ZZ's voice.

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An unjust law is no law at all--St. Augustine of Hippo

Cause tried and true
I see the light in you
Oh, can you dig in my soul?
Could you smell my whole...
life?--Gener and Deaner

Losing early again. Down 3-0 after 1.

Swept tonight they’re out of a playoff spot

Corbin Carroll discussing Stoic philosophy on the Cubs telecast. Nice.

like to hear cone talk about wicks' change-up....seems as though he'd rather be doing a mets or yanks game in ny.

You rang?

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

See that's where they got you and others fooled. The Cubs HAD NO PLAN. Their plan was to get guys like Bellinger , Joc Pederson, etc.. who have had down years, see if they can recapture their glory days in the first half, then trade them away for prospects. The only reason they signed Swanson was to show the fans they're actually spending when in reality Swanson wasnt a top tier looked after FA. He was 2nd/3rd rung.

They just got lucky this year when the team got together when nobody wanted to get traded. Now they have a plan by accident that was no planning of their own.

Nardi - are you going to do pbp or no? I have a meeting coming up soon to attend.

This carroll guy and Guriell guy are cub killers. these guys have won like 2/3 games vs the cubs by themselves this year.

we traded for this bum caus? right down the middle 2 run homer. this game is over. this team is swept, 1-5 road trip. they were lucky to even win that 1 game

next series at home vs pitt and col.

what makes anyone think the way they're playing they cant beat either of these teams at home? they have to go 5-1 on this homestand. anything else and they are done for the playoffs.

some of the prospects they have amassed from trades and some they have developed themselves..are due to pay dividends next season, according to my calendar. add in quality (not super-stardom) in swanson and candelerio, bellinger and that schedule is on track. my issue is with the pitching and the cubs' failure to get wesneski, killian, thompson to the next consistent level. i smirked at the swanson signing, was not a fan of the taillon signing. i don't expect every pitching prospect to be a dwight gooden, but something is wrong with hottovy and all these young arms. the kiss-ass network won't delve into these types of issues.

if anything, you seemed go to overboard on the cubs, as recently as last week...now you say the cubs have fooled their fans, but, not you?

as cubs fans, easy to identify where the cubs can upgrade. candelerio over madrigal, pca over tauchman. C position is a toss-up. pitching wise, i believe they need to sign some quality. the cubs will be there next year.

at the end of the year, i would fire ross and hire Mark Prior from the Dodgers as the manager. He's done a great job with those young Dodger pitchers.

ok lets put a positive spin on this.

What they've squandered - the right to choose their own destiny. All they had to do was win. Now they must depend on others to lose down the stretch.

The hottest teams - Dbacks and Marlins. The Marlins team is the one I'm really scared about.

Dbacks only hard opponent coming up is the Astros who are fighting for the division crown. That race will go to the end. The got the Giants next and the Giants are fighthing for their playoff lives so they may beat the Dbacks.

The Marlins just swept the Braves. Only competitive team they have now is at the Brewers. This fucking Marlins teams is nails. These fuckers don't quit. If I was the phillies or Brewers these guys ARE NOT who I want to play in the first round.

The Cubs must win the next 2 series. Pitt they have to sweep at home and Colorado take 2/3. or vice versa. If they go 4-2 they are done.

Maybe by the time they have to play the Braves and Brewers next week, those two teams may already have clinched and playing out the schedule.

First things first, have to beat the Pirates at Wrigley tomorrow.

with hottovy, the cubs have been middle of the pack (this year and previous years) as far as team ERA. this year, the brewers are .24 better than the cubs, nearly 1/4 run per game. almost 2 less runs a week. the dodgers and prior, with all the injuries and the urias episode, are worse than the cubs. j-hey with a 7 hits in 10 ABs on sat/sun against a tough mariner staff. ian happ, 5 for his last 10 ABs, batting nearly .40 points lower than jhey.

the cubs young arms and taillon. the cubs and jhey. you have to question the cubs coaching staff. i don't expect the kiss-ass network nor wscr hosts who host hottovy and ross shows to hold their feet to the fire.

ross did the right thing with suzuki. not sure what his thinking is with morel. terrible situational hitting (every situation is hitting the ball 470 feet and showing off a new dance on HR trot) in recent times. let's hope morel doesn't go down the baez path of 'trust me with my hitting'. with canario up, could have sat morel a bit, to dwell on swinging at breaking balls 2 feet outside. cubs need the DH spot to hit, because it was/is natural that bellinger and suzuki would and will still cool down, hitting-wise.

swanson needs a rest. the scenarios to rest him for 2 consecutive days aren't optimal, but ross seems terrified of sitting swanson. pure fatigue.

You hate to see it

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This choke job would be annoying if they actually had expectations like the Sox did.

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you gotta smile at Frank, dolphin and mike. They are cute. Their baseball worlds are so full of suck it is nice they get something to be happy about once in awhile. The fighting grifols will maybe get them back in contention in a few years.

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

Obviously this last stretch sucks and things do not look good. But if you had told me at start of the year that they would be at this point with 12 games left to play I would have been thrilled. Get to see meaningful games to end the year. Hopefully they make it. But either way they have been an entertaining team to watch this year and I think a solid foundation is there moving forward.

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

I ain't holding my breath on that. Bears may win a playoff game before the Sox do which is really saying something.

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man that's a tough one, but i think i go Bears win one first

Larry Holmes was upset Stroman pitched back-to-back games. Failing to mention 44 total pitches with days off Sunday & Monday.

Cubs go 6-6 worst case scenario.
Dbacks 5-6 worst case - not expecting any help from the white Sox
Marlins 7-5 worst case
Reds 7-4 worst case
Giants 7-5 worst case.

Not looking good for cubs if this plays out. They miss it by 1 game. Someone confirm as I’m not good w math

that's exactly what happened. they were playing great and then lost 8 out of 10. you watch players and you wonder if they will help the cubs contend next year. if they play this way, will the cubs contend? nico hoerner. with no one on base, or, leading off an inning, saw him line base-hits to right field in a few games. great. the other night, with a man on 2nd and no one out, he's squeezing the sawdust out of the bat and hits a 2-hopper to ss. now, one out and does not advance baserunner. what is he thinking? the past few games, i just got a few hits going to right field, now, i want to pull the ball in a situation that calls for hitting behind the runner. hopefully, some of these guys play and learn.

we know that some of these guys would cool off hitting. you can control your AB. the club doesn't need to lose 8 of 10 because of collective pitching and hitting slumps. saturday was the example. hopefully, they learn.

i think you're right. i believe they have the tie-breaker over one club, the giants. everyone else holds the tie-breaker over us and none of those scary clubs are playing another NL wild card hopeful, to kill each other off. giants and arizona, 2 games. we'll see..hopefully the giants still have some fight in them.

But now that you're here at the present, you were wrong.

_________________
The modern world is divided between those that would numb itself to its meaninglessness through various substances and various hedonisms and those that realize it and go crazy

velazquez hit another HR today. 11 HRs in 98 ABs for KC. 14 total HRs for the season, only a few less than happ - who has 410 more ABs. the more ABs velazquez got last year, the better he was. i understood/understand the cubs outfield is a members only club and the books are closed. we gave velazquez away for 14Ks/13BBs in 18 IP cuas. i hope it was a regular fed ex job and not fed ex express. pay and benefits are a sea apart.