Saturday, July 16, 2005

All hail Zach Duke

Still time to climb into the ROY race.

Game 90: Zach Duke at Cubs

Four o'clock. Greg Maddux for the Cubs.

Mark Cuban

Aw shit. Paul Meyer reports he'd buy the team. For real now.

I believe the CW among those near the team is that the current ownership won't sell before the team has a winning season. Is this still the case? Anyone know?

Friday, July 15, 2005

Game 89: Pirates at Cubs

Kerry Wood and Josh Fogg.

Where's Zach Duke? He's about the only pitcher I'm excited to see these days. Maybe McClendon, since he realizes he won't be back next year, can get loose and manage Japanese-style, sending Duke to the hill night after night. Give him a shot at 30 wins.

In other news, boy am I glad I picked up Chris Shelton in my fantasy league. He's catcher-eligible, and he's been a godsend. I've shot into first place, and I'm poised to humiliate graciously defeat Bones and Scoop in yet another season.

The moral of the Shelton story has something to do with trying to be too perfect. I believe that DL discarded him because he couldn't play a position well enough. It's consistent with the criticisms he's had of Ramirez and C. Wilson. The two most valuable things in baseball are veteran starters and power bats. We've done an OK job grooming and collecting starters, but only experience makes them veterans. Time to do something about the power bats. Rather than wait for Mr. Perfect, we should make room for Mr. Available.

At this point, if I'm DL, I go get Ryan Howard and start calling him Little Pops. And I do that before Kip Wells reveals that his wing hurts. And before Howard establishes himself as a ten-million-a-year player.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Game 88: Pirates at Cubs

Mark Redman and Mark Prior in the first of four day games. Game on 2:20pm.

All hail the return of baseball.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

All-star break

May Bay hit a lot of homers. No games until Thursday, and then it's a day game against the Cubs.

Game 87: Mets at Pirates

1:35pm, Pedro Martinez and Kip Wells.