Dave is right---with winning run on 3rd and less than 2 outs, the outfield has to play very shallow, shallow enough that anything over his head wins the game anyway, and shallow enough to be able to throw runner out on flyball---he looked like he was too deep

I have a question, why the HELL was Fukudome playing so deep vs. Blum in the 9th last night? A single, or any extra base hit would have won it for the Stros anyway, so why wasn't he playing the Jim Edmonds CF? He should have been playing to take that very hit away that ended up winning the game. Trammel, where you at bro? That's the bench coach who should be helping to position your OF's given the scenario that was unfolding. That chump single should have been robbed by playing an ultra shallow CF. It's crap, Big Z deals and is stricken w/ the Randy Wells syndrome. C'mon Aramis, please be healthy, please!

Dave,

I thought the very same thing when I saw that. makes no sense to be way out there. ugh

Don't look for Aramis Rameriz to solve your problems. He's out of shape and out of sync with that shoulder injury. He probably won't be right the rest of the year. That was a serious injury!

Look at the facts:

Your LF is not hitting (.235) and looks very disinterested in the field.

Your CF is starting to funk out; he can't hit the curve and last night they gave him two straight curves and one slider in the dirt--with the game on the line--and he was done. Besides, he doesn't hit with power or in the clutch and he doesn't drive in runs.

Your RF, Bradley, is a complete bust in every way.

Your 3B is a light hitting, poor fielding 2B.

Your SS is okay.

Your 2b, whether Miles or Scales, just can't get it done offensively.

Your 1B has almost no power anymore.

Your C is not hitting a lick.

Your very best hitter and pinch hitter, Fox, was sent to the minors. Your next best hitter, Hoffpauir, cannot get on the field due to politics.

ARam is not going to solve this mess.

The REAL problem is that the Cubs do not have a competent GM. He did not realize what almost made them winners last year, so he gave away his offense for this garbage. The man is incompetent.

And Lou--he's better than Dusty and Cecil Coooper, but boy, that ain't saying much. Lou REFUSES to make the moves that would have given the Cubs 10 more wins by now. It is Lou himself that has tossed away 10 wins by refusing to use his players to the greatest possible advantage. And that's the difference between a great manager who wins with what he has, and a manager who always comes us short.

Finally, you need to remember that our greatest threat is not the Brewers; it is the Cards and the Reds. Look for the Cubs to finish 3rd behind these two teams.

Your right 1 player is not going to make the team win but with his prense in the lineup will spark the offense.

Look at A-Rod when he came back everybody started to hit. If I had to pick between A-Rod and Ramirez I pick Ramirez. More of a cluth hitter.

According to MLB Network, the Cubs abd Braves are the finalistas to land Mark Derosa.

waldo, c'mon man....seriously, we tried to be nice the other day in our approach to your "rumors", but this is getting ridiculous.

Your buddy is taking you for a ride with his website. He's pulling rumors out of thin air, and trying to pass it off as "the Cubs are finalists for DeRosa"....which is NOT the case, and for several reasons.

1)I'd be absolutely floored if we got DeRosa. First of all, Hendry would be admitting a mistake, which he does not like doing (as evidenced by taking 3 yrs to deal Marquis). Second of all, it was said the reason he was traded in the first place, was to "slash payroll to acquire a power lefty bat".

2)Unless the Indians eat a huge portion of his contract, it ain't happening. Furthermore, if they did so, we'd have to include probably 3 top prospects for him (which is WAYYYYYYY more than Cleveland paid for him)

Then, your buddy goes on to spout off about Brad Hawpe. Really? There's not even whispers out there about him being linked to the Cubs. Why? Because we have an OF that makes $40 million combined this year. So unless we find a taker for one of them, there's simply no way we will sit them on the bench and take on another big salary. I love the idea....but it's not going to happen unless the sale of the team finally goes down, AND we get rid of one of our 3 starting outfielders.

The only rumor that I've heard....and it was completely unsubstaniated, and started by Ben Maller at foxsports.com: under headline "A's need to deal Holliday"http://msn.foxsports.com/rumor...

*even then, all Ben does is give his take, saying "how about Holliday back to the NL with the Cubs?.....he just pulled it out of thin air. It's not like he said, "I've been talking to members of the Cubs who say...."

All we can do as fans is speculate. The only time we can talk about actual rumors is when they're substantiated in the media----NOT from a blogger.

I, for one, have noticed that the White Sox are falling fast out of contention. The only thing I can say is that Kenny Williams is aggressive, and not afraid to trade anyone. He was rumored to have offered their top pitching prospect Poreda, among others for Peavy. Having said that, I believe we could get just about anyone from the White Sox except for Gordon Beckham. In my mind, top candidates would be Dotel and Jenks for the pen. And if I were Hendry, I'd kick the tires on Alexei Ramirez for versatility AND his power.

But outside of the Nationals and White Sox, I'm not sure any other team is ready to blow up their roster at this point...maybe minor deals, but those 2 teams seem poised for white flag time.

And for the Nationals, the only real fit we'd have is with Christian Guzman. They won't trade Zimmerman. Hendry had his chance with Dunn and blew it, and now we don't have room in our OF for him, and their pitching sucks...so Guzman would be our only possible target there.

Anyway, I'm sorry for calling you out on it, but please stop trying to drive traffic to your site and your buddy's site

I dont want Derosa either but I saw it on MLB network for myself. He is not a player that suits are needs right now.

Aaron, thanks...I was looking all over the web...wasting time to substantiate this...with no xxxx luck. This offense is SO disheartening.

The Cubs got seven hits and has scored three runs or fewer in seven of their last 11 games.

“When we start hitting consistently, we’ll start winning consistently,” manager Lou Piniella said. “When you can hold a team on the road to two runs, you’ve got to feel pretty good about your chances.”

if that isn't pure senility, I don't know what is.

AND.... we have now by far the premier starting rotation in all of baseball.... which makes the god-awful disgusting, bottom of the barrel, scum offense seem even worse....

talk about fundamental baseball for the offense?

The Tampa Bay Rays..

BJ Upton and Carl Crawford have 51 stolen bases together -which is more than TWICE the number the entire Cubs offense has.

- They are followed in the lineup by Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena who have 13 HR and 17 HR respectively..... which is more than Soriano, Bradley, Fukudome and D.Lee have TOGETHER...