It was noted during our Cubs gamecast yesterday that the Cubs are playing uninspired, non-aggressive baseball. Which got me to thinking. If you don’t hit, how can you look inspired? I’m not ready to criticize the Cubs for not trying, because I think they are. When your active roster has guys who shouldn’t be there at this point, like Jason Dubois, Dave Kelton, Rey Ordonez, Jimmy Anderson, Mike Wuertz, etc. you’ve got problems. It’s going to be hard to win games. That’s what’s happening.
The Cubs are sending the Meat Tray and “From bad to” Wuertz back to Iowa today and will activate some guy named The Franchise and Kent Mercker tomorrow. That’ll help. Hell, at this point, what’s going to hurt?
Sammy Sosa’s taking “dry swings” as part of his rehab. I don’t even want to know what that means. I pointed out in the gamecast that I know what a “dry hump” is, and really, it’s not all that much fun. Dry swings? Who thinks up this crap?
What we need is a break from the Cubs for a day. They get today off. So, so do we. We’ll pick up the obsessing over them tomorrow. It’s like a mental health day from the Cubs.
So what do we talk about?
Isn’t it obvious?
The NBA Finals start on Sunday! After only a six day layoff! Whoo! I’m psyched. I’m ready. Let’s break down the Finals position by position.
Kobe Bryant v. Richard “Rip” Hamilton
Kobe is the best all around player in the NBA today. He can take it to the hole with vigorish. He loves to back you down. He can score from any angle.
But enough about last summer’s vacation. Oh, I kill me.
Look, it’s just pointless to do a breakdown of the NBA Finals. The Pistons have nobody who can guard Shaq or Kobe. Who’s going to score for Detroit? The only truly favorable matchup they have is Chauncey Billups over Gary Payton. It’d be two, if Rasheed Wallace still had the fascia on his plantar (huh?), but he’s nearly as hobbled by that as Karl Malone is by being old.
Larry Brown coaching a scrappy team against LA? Yeah, we saw this movie and it lasted five.
This one won’t go longer than that, either.
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OK, this is sort of Cubs related, but it’s more George Ofman related, and really, who can resist the sexy man that is Captain Fivehead himself, George O?
Anyway, back on March 31, an intrepid reader who’s name has been withheld to protect him from George’s goons (although, I’ll give you a hint, his initials are Dave Bohnenkamp), exchanged e-mails with George over Ofman’s on-air assertion (twice an hour all freakin’ day long) that the Cubs had lied about Mark Prior’s injury and that he’d be out until at least “mid-July.”
In fact, one of these e-mails from George contained this infamous line:
the writers are bitterly angry at the cubs, with the exception of kiley….FOR LYING! i know. you don’t.
Nice that George can only use the shift key to YELL in an e-mail.
Anyway, tomorrow is, according to my calendar, June 4 and a look at the pitching matchups shows that some guy named Mark Prior is going to pitch for the Cubs. Now, this is not mid-July, at least as far as I can tell.
So, as was suggested to me, and it seems like a good idea, how about we all take a moment out of our busy day tomorrow and send George a belated Happy Fourth of July e-mail! Since Prior is pitching, it must be mid-July. We must have missed our nation’s birthday. How could we be so foolish? So careless? We’re 228 this year, you know.
Send your e-mails to georgeofman@670thescore.com
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Sunday night is, of course, the season finale of The Sopranos. It’s been a great season, even if it’s been too short, and we had that 30-minute dream sequence and we saw Edie Falco’s naked butt.
So what’s going to happen in the finale?
Glad you asked.
The program description for this week is this:
ALL DUE RESPECT (season finale)
Tony’s crew circles the wagons as Johnny Sack turns up the heat. Carmela counts her blessings; Christopher is freaked out by an unexpected visitor; Benny’s connection to the plumbers’ union comes in handy; AJ demonstrates his business acumen; and Tony ponders whether to execute a “sacrifice bunt.”
Let’s break this down.
Tony’s crew circles the wagons as Johnny Sack turns up the heat
Silvio in a cowboy hat? Paulie with an Indian headdress? Chrissy driving a chuckwagon?
Fine, we know that’s not what they mean. You could see in the previews for this week that Tony had the whole crew assembled at dinner. They’re ready to go to war. As for Johnny Sack turning up the heat? Well, Phil Leotardo is shown beating somebody in the head with a tire iron. I’d say things are getting warm.
Carmela counts her blessings
I think Tony had to fork over 600,000 “blessings” to buy that lot for her last week. That’s a lot to count.
Christopher is freaked out by a surprise visitor
You know…we never actually saw Adrianna die. Then again, Silvio’s the one who whacked her, so we know it got done. If it was Paulie, there’d be a good chance she was running around the Pine Barrens with the Russian. So who’s back to freak out Christopher? The female FBI agent? Tim Daly back from rehab? Tyne Daly back from the set of “Judging Amy?”
Benny’s connection to the plumbers’ union comes in handy
For those of you who don’t know, Benny is part of the Sopranos crew, and he’s played by Max Casella, the kid best known for playing Vinny on “Doogie Howser”. He was the undersexed kid who crawled in Doogie’s window every night. Somehow it was less creepy when Joey used to climb through Dawson’s window like that.
How would Benny’s connection to the plumber’s union come in handy? Well, it could be useful to have sewer access to dispose of the body of a) a New York “soldier”, b) a large, gay Sopranos family member with a crush on Meadow’s finace, c) Tony eats a lot of beef…sometimes a plunger just won’t suffice.
AJ demonstrates his business acumen God love, AJ, but the kid is dumber than a box of hair. We all know this. So if he’s demonstraing any acumen, it’s more likely he’s demonstrating a complete lack of it. What’s he selling? Drugs? O-Town tickets? Naked photos of his sister? His mom? Himself? Eww.
Tony ponders whether to execute a “sacrifice bunt.”
Only if Don Baylor wrote this episode. This has to be Tony still trying to decide whether to whack Tony B. But after his “Go f@#$ yourself. He’s my cousin,” line last week to Johnny Sack, I don’t think that’s the case. I know who he could sacrifice, though. Nobody would miss Artie Bucco? Would you? Or Janice. Who’s going to be sad to see Janice go bye bye? Anybody?
Anyway, we’ll all just have to tune in on Sunday night to find out. And then we can wait 18 months for the next season.
Sigh.
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Oooh! Adam Caldarelli is going to do one of his entertaining “From the Cubicle” things during Prior’s comeback tomorrow! Whatever.
Dusty expects The Franchise to help get the Cubs back on track. Ya don’t say?
Corey’s the new whipping boy. Congratulations!
Hmm? Wasn’t Maggs supposed to be out for a just a few days with a calf strain? Now he needs knee surgery. What, were the Sox LYING!?!
Rosey with a lame Out Loud thing with the always relevant, Red Auerbach. What, Dick Harter wasn’t available?
Roger Powell is pulling out of the NBA Draft. I’m stunned! Shocked!
Mike Downey’s writing proves he knows about slumps.
Mariotti puts down the doughnut to write about “the Rocket Hole.” So many Andy Pettitte jokes, so little time.
Greg Couch’s column on the Sox need to sign Magglio might have been better had it not been published on the day we find out he needs knee surgery and will be out until the All Star Break.
Hee hee! Hee hee!
Guess who the Cubs play next weekend?
Kurt Warner’s a Giant. At least Brenda won’t have to change the color of her feather boa!
Tim Kirjljklkjlj;kj;jlk says that current baseball parity could slow the progress of trade talks. Yeah, because Cincinnati, Detroit and Texas are really going to stay in their races.
The CIA needs a director. I’ll go dust off my resume.
How many Taiwanese does it take to change a lightbulb? Apparently, two.
Sure, but who hasn’t done this?
Just because:
Kate Beckinsale
America’s finest news source says that most American’s haven’t decided who to vote against this year.
Apparently, something really, really big happens in the finale.
I don’t know what it is (nor do I want to), but it should be worth the wait.
And hey, they said the next season would be sometime in 2005. Allegedly.
Good god!
We lost to that?
Yikes.
I mentioned yesterday that part about being non-aggressive and uninspired baseball. To clarify a little, what I meant was that the Cubs don’t appear to be as aggressive as their opponents on the bases (granted, little or no team speed), in the field, or at the plate. Poor pitch selection does not always result form being aggressive. They seem to be guessing too much or being impatient. Oppenents just seem to have a little extra life in their games and the Cubs just kind of go through the motions.
It’s sad to think that Alex Gonzalez’ injury has probably had a greater negative impact on this team than missing players the caliber of Wood, Prior, and Sosa, but Ramon Martinez is so much worse at the plate than Gonzo. His defense has been steady, but he has about 2/3 the range of A-Gon.
And George, this has been the coolest July I can remember. What about the Ordonez injury? I think the Sox have been lying!!!
I’m outta here! Maybe this will get me out of testifying against the President about the CIA agent’s identity becoming public.
"Dry swings" are the opposite of the swings I take.
Yeah, things could be worse, I could be injured. Then you’d have Totally Paulie Bako as your everyday catcher.
Someone told me there was a qoute attributed to Korey where he said something to the effect of:
"I’d rather swing at high and low balls then to take one right through the strike zone."
I haven’t seen the qoute. Anyone confirm this? Sounds like Korey though.
And I think Kelton and Dubois would be able to hit at least as well as K-Pat, Martinez, A-Gon, bako, Goodwin or Macias. I’d rather see them get an opportunity over one of these guys. Check out what Holliday has done in CO since they gave him a shot. Utley in PHI has done a good job too. Freel in Cin anyone? You have to find out if these kids can play before you commit to them (like they did with Korey.)
BTW, if you’re interested in how the Sopranos may possibly end…..http://www.aint-it-cool.com/display.cgi?id=17701
TW, I wrote it today in a thing about Corey coping with the boobirds. I didn’t quote him, but there’s a paraphrase you’re looking for.
”In the long run, it will make me a better player, maybe mentally tougher,” he said. ”Everything that has happened in my career, I would never change. It’s all a process. I wouldn’t take one thing back.
”I know the people who care about me — my family, my friends, my teammates and coaches. That’s all that matters.”
The boos intensified Tuesday after Patterson struck out twice with the bases full.
>> He said afterward that he would never apologize for being aggressive and would rather swing at pitches out of the zone than take a pitch down the middle.
”You are supposed to be aggressive, but you have to be aggressive with strikes,” Baker said. ”They don’t call balls and strikes for nothing. I don’t want him to apologize for it. I just want him to concentrate and focus on swinging at strikes.”
Corey said it, almost word for word, after Tuesday’s loss. It was replayed several times yesterday on The Score.
That picture you posted? I think these two would suffice.
I’m all for the cubs keeping Kelton and Dubois around instead of Goodwin and Macias, as long as Hollandsworth or somebody is able to play center from time to time. I do believe that Patterson will hit again. The comparisons to Oddibe McDowell and Jerome Walton are ridiculous. Those guys never in their careers showed the ability to hit the ball as hard as Corey has at times. Not once. I’m frustrated with Patterson too, but the fact is, he hasn’t been horrible, he’s been mediocre. I really don’t think the Cubs could put anyone better in center right now. And things could definitely be worse. The cubs could have lost seven of their last nine and not have Prior, Zambrano, and Maddux lined up to pitch the next series.
So much for mental health. Sorry, Andy.
Stetch:
You’re right. Patterson has shown more power than McDowell or Walton. He’s also shown the same willingness to be coached as Walton did during his "2 year slump."
Korey’s also shown much WORSE instincts than either of them on the bases. And anything other than a flyball is an adventure. A one hopper can be played into a triple by Korey (or Kor-E8) more often than not.
Patterson has been horrible for a guy who was counted on to be a top of the order guy. Then again, the guy did strike out 114 times in 444 ABs. Oh, wait. That was while he was a DiamondJaxx. I keep reminding myself that he’s been bad at every level save low-A Lansing.
As I’ve been saying for several years, CF is in need of an upgrade. As Andy wrote, CF is one of the possible places for an upgrade (with SS), an upgrade that’s needed for this team to have a playoff worthy offense.
I know Patterson has been bad this year, but to give up on the guy now would be ridiculously short sighted. He flashed his potential last year, and the guy has too much upside to just give up on him. I know Cub fans are sick of waiting (for everything) but Patterson will figure it out this year. And enough with the Kenny Lofton talk. Kenny was a great leadoff hitter with a terrible attitude, and a total defensive liability in centerfield.
Make room in center for meeee
You’re trade bait, Felix.
CT:
People have said the same thing about Farnsworth. He sucks.
People who evaluate Korey as a good prospect are the same ones who thought John Thierry would be a great DE. He wasn’t. Sure, they both have talent. But they also lack the ability to harness it.
It’s time to move Korey before it costs this team a pennant. Be it the the bench, Iowa or KC, that’s fine. But not in CF in Wrigely.
As long as we are in this "Hating Corey" mood, I must ask this:
How long are we willing to wait on him?
Now, I’ve been critical of him in the past as well, but I still think we need to give him a little bit of time THIS YEAR before we even consider doing anything with him. I think mid-July (Or, to paraphrase OFFman, the time when the Cubs were supposedly LYING!!!) is the deadline.
If Corey is still doing the same things he is doing now, then maybe we consider something. But, until then, I want the kid to have the chance to recover from a knee injury and try to show he can come back to his early 2003 level.
And for mental health, well, that’s not my gig. Go see a professional if you want an answer. That is all.
Hey, if Hendry can get Carlos Beltran I’m all for it. I’m just not getting my hopes up that the cubs will land the guy that a dozen other teams are after. Other than Beltran, I don’t see anyone available that would be a significant upgrade. Steve Finley is notoriously streaky and very old. He may or may not play better than Patterson for the rest of the year. As for Corey not harnessing his talent, I think it’s more likely that someone with obvious talent will figure out how to use it than someone who "plays the game right" will suddenly gain talent.
Fine, I’ll just get flamed again for this, but Corey is not costing the Cubs the pennant. His numbers look pretty similar to the $7 million first baseman. There are far bigger holes on this team right now than the one in center field.
The reason Corey frustrates everybody is because he played so well last year. Do we so quickly dismiss the fact that he had major knee surgery less than a year ago? He missed half of a season and because the team is banged up and underachieving to this point he’s become the poster boy for everything that’s wrong with it.
I’m not happy with the way he’s played, but just like I don’t actually blame Gabor for the Cubs struggles (though he is awfully fun to make fun of), this is a collective team effort to this point.
I don’t begrudge those who boo him. They have every right to. The simple fact is that the Cubs have no alternative to him right now. There’s nobody else who can play center on a daily basis. So get used to it.
I just changed my first name so I can pretend the Cubs fans are just chanting "Louuuuuuuuu!" when I come to bat.
What is #12 supposed to be?
#12 is me.
The league is always full of guys that had talent that never realized it. Ken Phelps, Bob Hamelin, Cory Snyder, Pete Incaviglia, Rob Deer…Just to name a few from years past. If it’s K-Pat and a pitching prospect for Beltran, it’s a no brainer. Done deal.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Korey. I’m just fed up with his primadona attitude. He hasn’t done anything noteworhty yet and he’s already proclaiming himself a #3 hitter and says he’ll swing at whatever he wants.
He’s gotten better every season til this one. If he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s going to end up like Steve Balboni (.230/.290/.500).
You want to give him a pass because of his injury but does he even deserve it anymore? It’s not like it’s his injury that’s causing him to play poorly. It’s his attitude.
Trade or AAA until he figures it out. He’s not a good hitter. He’s not a good definsive CF. We can at least have one of those with a better attitude in Kelton or Dubois or Jackson. Pie is about 4 years away.
No. 24,
I’m supposed to be No. 12.
It’s surprising and disheartening at the same time to see how many people will jump off the ship at even the vaguest sight of onboard precipitation. Help IS on the way folks, and it could be exponentially worse as things stand currently!
In other news, if anyone wants to read my horribly long-winded monthly review of the MLB action we saw over the month of May, check my articles out here:
National League: http://www.livejournal.com/users/simdaddy/49036.html#cutid1
American League: http://www.livejournal.com/users/simdaddy/48756.html#cutid1
I didn’t have anywhere else to post it so thats why it currently resides at such a lackluster domain! Any feedback (ranging from "quit wasting our time you stink!" to "eh, this might be passable") would be appreciated!
Chuck:
Corey Patterson vs. John Thierry? Not a fair comparison. Nobody other than Wandstedt seriously thought Thierry would be a good DE. He was drafted based on having similar size and speed to Charles Haley. And he never did anything at the NFL level to prove that he might actually be able to play.
If you’re ready to give up on Patterson after 350 games played, what stellar alternative would you suggest? Beltran is a pipe dream (and the Royals have started winning, so they’ll hang on to him a little longer). Nobody else available is much better than Patterson. The only really good option I see would be attempting to pry Ichiro away from Seattle, who need to break up their rapidly aging team. But I still think Patterson will hit eventually.
350 games?
That’s 3.5 times more than I need to see him!
What leads you to believe he will? He was stellar in A ball. Every year until last he was not a star player. You could’ve gotten his AA numbers from any number of people. I have a feeling he’s more like Bellhorn was in his "breakout" year. Pitchers finally figured out that there’s no reason to throw Korey a strike because he’s going to swing at it if you roll it in.
I think we’ll get a career .260/320/.400 from Korey w/ average defense. That makes you an average ballplayer. Until he gets his K/BB ratio close to 3:1 (preferably 2:1), he’s not going to hit. FWIW his K/BB ratios (00-4.67:1, 01-5.5:1, 02-7.47:1, 03-5.13:1) have never resembled anything close to passable. He’s never seen (averaged) 4 pitches per plate appearance in any season.
Maybe the hype was too much. Maybe we set the bar too high. I don’t know. I don’t think it’s the actual lack of production that bothers most of us (after all we get regular helpings of Bako, A-gon, Ramon Martinez and Damian Miller last year). It’s the attitude, or the unwillingness to try to adapt or learn.
Andy:
The reason Korey frustrates is NOT because he "played so well last year." A look at the numbers reveals he really didn’t. He had a huge opening day, made a bunch of baserunning errors, and played a mediocre outfield.
The reason he frustrates is that he’s been given more chances than any other player with a similar record deserves. As TW and I have pointed out, other than Low A, he’s sucked at every level. He’s got an uncoachable attitude. He refuses to learn from mistakes.
What does he have going for him? The same thing John Thierry had going for him: A physique.
And for all the Moneyball sycophants out there, how long does it take people to realize that Korey is just a bad player?
Gary Scott got 175 MLB at bats before his career was over.
Kevin Orie got 1,051 MLB at bats before his career was over.
Patterson has over 1,200 MLB at bats and still going.
Those guys are missing one thing that Korey has – a bonus.
Who’s this Chuck?
Come on, Chuck, did he hit 13 HRs and steal 16 bases on opening day? You’re just undermining your criticism.
The guy obviously worked hard to come back from his injury. But keep booing, though. I’m sure it’ll help him play better.
Keith:
The only booing I’ve done this year was when I saw the court records about how you refused community service after your coke "issues" were discovered.
I’m glad for his sake he’s not injured. Bully that he worked hard to recover. Now work hard to lay off the Nuke LaLoosh fastball that lands in the press box.
BC – in #20 you called Patterson "the kid". Isn’t he about 5 years older than YOU are?
Chuck, Orie was batting .181 when the Cubs traded him. It’s not quite fair to compare Patterson to that. Again, I’m dissapointed with what Corey’s done too, but it’s not like he’s been the worst player in the league. We’ve all watched the cubs for a long time. We know what truly awful players look like. I don’t think Corey fits that mold.
Corey Patterson had a great Opening Day and then sucked last year?
He was in a bit of a slump when he was injured. He had 1 homer and about six RBI between the end of the Yankees series and his collission with Tino the Stiff.
But in 83 games last year, he hit safely in 66 of them. Of the 17 games he played and didn’t get a hit, one was a pinch-hitting appearance vs. Philly.
His attitude is disturbing. But even this year he shows what he could be.
That said, trade him if you can get someone better to play center. There aren’t too many CFs you can get right now that are better than Corey that you can get for Corey and another player you can afford to dump (Farns, anyone?).
I fully agree with you on Patterson. I was just going to say he sucks as bad as Orie, Scott, Ty Griffin, Hee Seop Choi, etc. When was the last time we developed a great hitter from our minor league system. Rafael Palmeiro is the last guy I can remember. The hitting instructors and scouts in the minor league system should be fired for the Cubs. They suck. We sure the hell can develop pitchers but definitely not hitters.
I wasn’t at the game Tuesday so I didn’t boo him (though I’m sure I would have by the 9th inning). I know I called him a few names at home though. What aggravated me the most is that given the situation of having to face righty Cletite the next day, and the likelihood of us doing much in that game with our hit and (mostly) miss offense, those bases loaded situations were critical to our chances of winning the Series. If Corey the K would at least appear to think situationally and not feel the need to go up and hack, he might have been successful one of the two times.
Corey Patterson has 59 walks in his career. Barry Bonds has 72 walks since Opening Day. That might be an unfair comparison, but I agree with #38. The Cubs don’t develop patient hitters.
That said, we’re stuck with him, and he’s better than A-Gonzalez and Derrek Lee (right now). He can no longer be considered untouchable, but if he ever figures out the strike zone (a chance growing longer every day), he’ll be great.
Chuck,
Save you venom for someone deserving of it.
Like Kyle Farnsworth, whose balls crawl inside of him whenever it’s a truly big game.
I know the chicks and the 23 year old frat boys love "Fransy", but any baseball fan can tell you that it’s time to tie a can to him.
Patterson. If the Cubs got Carlos Beltran, I wouldn’t want them to deal Patterson. Bench him instead, like Andy suggested, and deal with the Beltran/Alou Free Agency deal and how it affects Corey in the offseason.
As for booing, I agree with Jimmy Piersall, who said the fans should be ashmed. I know we spend money to watch these guys perform (shoot–I fork over over a thousand a year for my season tickets), but it really is lame to boo a pro player for failing to perform. Failure to hustle…that’s another thing, like when Korey K’d on a Steve Sparks dropped-third knuckleball 3 weeks ago, and just stood at the plate for the catcher to retreive it, run back, and tag him. THAT earns a boo, but not whiffing, in my opinion. I’d like to see one of these fat bastards standing in the box and trying to make contact. Booing ain’t gonna make him hit better, and it’s a great way to ruin his already weak-assed confidence.
Sorry, Chuck, my PC was broke. I still think Corey needs to be packaged to KC for Beltran. Thanks for your patience.
#38 ain’t me.
As to Mike D., spend some of that $1000 on spelling lessons.
Nice! We truly liked this work .