Boy, this Roid thing is starting to spiral outta control....

Ankiel, now Troy Glaus is coming under the radar.... Who else is gonna be exposed next... I have a sneaky suspicion about guys like Todd Helton and Shawn Green.

Here's the thing with Lou: he was brought in to win now. I mean, you can say this is nothing new with what's happening now, but it is: we have a very high payroll that needs to be performing like a team with 80+ wins right now and they aren't. They're playing like a bunch of rookies and they aren't. This all boils down to management and, while maybe Lou isn't the one to take the fall, his coaching staff can certainly be blamed. This team's performance has been completely inexcusable, regardless of whether or not they make it to the postseason.

Girardi, on the other hand, was a perfect candidate for a rebuilding phase, which I think would still have been the best answer. You could've saved money on Marquis, DeRosa, and Floyd, traded Jones for beans and Barrett and Izturis for low level prospects, and had Pie, Theriot, Fontenot, Soto, Gallagher, Guzman, Marmol, and Murton starting and upping their game. Lee and Ramirez could've been the perfect players to build the lineup around, and Soriano could've been the big name acquisition who could help the team out up to the time it was ready, and then afterwards. Had we gone that route, maybe we'd be in the playoff hunt, maybe not, but we certainly wouldn't be making a big stink over all these blown games that we've had. And in the long run, we'd have a lot of staying power.

But since we went with Pinella, we need to win. That's why he's here. And yeah, we have a winning record, but it took a while to get there, and there's not a single team that'll be in the postseason other than possibly the Yankees that I see us as being better than for a five or seven game series. The way I see it, Pinella has two seasons to give us a 90 win team, because that's what this team should be. We haven't had any monumental injuries that have kept us from getting there, so there's no excuse that we shouldn't have a 90 win team this year.

Just a little tid bit to maybe give some people some more hope - The last blown game Dempster had was June 10th and in the next twenty games we went 14-6. Let's not give up on the season!! Go Cubs!!

Rick, yes I truly believe that Pinella has done well with this team and the only reason I would have wanted Girardi would be because I want him to be the manager for many years and not just 3. Although Lou's shifting lineups can be eyebrow raising at times, at least he doesn't trot the same boring lineup that isn't working day in and day out. If things aren't working, he changes stuff and he isn't afraid to use young guys or play the hot hand. Sweet Lou is changing a culture at Wrigley. We may not make the playoffs, (although I'm not giving up), but

I give Lou a lot of credit for turning this team around from where they were earlier in the year and obviously they are better than last year after all the additions, which keep in mind Hendry may not have added all those additions with Girardi as Pinella made it pretty clear that Jim was going to have to spend some money if Lou was going to sign.

One more thought for today...I will bet that we will all look back (whether it's a month or a year from now) and wish Girardi was given the manager role. Do we truly think Pinella has gotten the most from this team? A .500 team. Big deal for Lou. With a $300 million payroll, we could perform just a well in his stuffed jersey.

Folks...season over. This team is not that of 2003, and has no momentum. I don't care what Dempster's record is, yesterday is an example of not being able to win the big game. Every game should be approached like Game 7 of the World Series. With all the extra hands in the bullpen, why Pinella stayed with Dempster is beyond me. This is no time to try to build confidences. And Ward's miscue is so inexecusable that it takes us back to the all the mistakes back in April/May. This team just doesn't get it. It this group can't mentally be razor sharp after 140 games, when will they? I'm a diehard like the rest of this posting group, but this team is sickening to watch. Million dollar player ego's making minor league mistakes.

OK, after mooping around all night last night, I feel a little better this morning.

Jim, I agree I think we will win the Central, but I don't think we will get swept by the first round. Yesterday after the game I was ready to crusify Dempster, but looking back at it Jim you are right, the biggest play that hurt us yesterday was Ward getting picked off of first, that should never happen, especially this time of year. But Dempster still should have saved out the game.

Like I mentioned earlier I still think this team will get to the playoffs, then who know? After reading some post yesterday some people are ready to start over and look to next year. We are still in first place, at one point we were NINE games out of first, and let's not forget we STILL have the best record in the NL since June 2nd.

Looking at the schedule:

Brewers - 11 of there last 23 games are against the Braves, Cardinal, and the Padres, not easy games. Plus the three they play in Cincy they are going against Arroyo and Harang. Not too mention 13 of those 23 games are NOT in Milwaukee. Bruan has yet to go in a funk, i think he is due.

The Cardinals - have five with us and 7 with the Phillies, Brewers and Mets. Though Ankiel has been providing most of the offense as of late, he will cool off, maybe especially now with these alligations coming against him. Though Rolen and Encarnacion were not exactly tearing it up, the Cards are going to miss those two down the stretch.

Cubs - 18 of there last 23 games are against teams under five hundred, three of those team fighting for last place in the division. And the five that aren't we have a winning record against.

Hitting - Our hitting hasn't been producing a ton of runs - to say the least - but it seems like we are starting to find our power stroke a little bit here lately. If we can cut out the DP's and start getting some bunts down, we should be alright.

Pitching - Except for Zambrano our pitching has been pretty good as of late, Lilly has had two good games back to back, so hopefully he is back to his norm, Marquis has had three good outings in a row, especially the one yesterday and Hill has looked good his last couple outings. And let's Face it, Big Z is not going to go the rest of the year with out a win, I am predicting he turns it around (for the second time this year) on Sat.

So let's not give up hope yet fella's. GO CUBS!!!!

The story's on ESPN.com too.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3008363

I hope that a media circus insues and the Cards fall off the face of the planet. Uh oh Ricky, you've been a bad boy.

Everyone should go read this article about Ankiel

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2007/09/06/2007-09-06_rick_ankiel_received_12month_supply_of_h.html

I still think that the Cubs will win the Central and then get swept by whoever they play. For whatever reason we have a crummy record and play lousy against teams that have winning reords outside the NL Central. Yeah, we could blame Dempster for today that would be easy, but Ward getting picked off first base with a man on second base was inexcusable. That was a momentum killer.