Mike Piazza retired this week after a 16 year big league career that will likely give him Cooperstown consideration. Tommy Lasorda writes a blog for MLB and posted the story of Piazza’s rise to the big leagues. It shows in part how beneficial it can be to have a guy in Lasorda’s position on your side.
http://tommy.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/05/michael_piazza.html
Alfonso Soriano’s recent tear is well documented; he’s 24 for 50 (.480 BA) over the past 2 weeks, with 7 HRs, 5 doubles, 16 RBIs, and a .491 on-base pct. He has clearly been carrying a Cubs team that went 8-2 on the homestand, one of the best in years.
The middle of the order, however, has been quiet. Very, very quiet. The 3, 4, 5 hitters have gone a collective 15 for 75 over the past 7 days with no HRs and just 8 RBIs. This needs to change if we’re going to put up a fight against a red-hot Houston club. Here are the low-lights of the past 14 days for the heart of our batting order:
Not a good sign when the lead-off hitter has more runs batted in than the middle 3 hitters do - over a 2 week period. C’mon guys, more Wheaties!
In Vegas last February I saw the Venetian sports book was offering an intriguing ‘prop’ bet. A prop bet is a proposition bet not directly about wins and losses in sports, but often something more obscure or interesting. In this case, they offered odds on who would hit the most home runs in the 2008 regular season. They listed 50 of the top power hitting guys in the majors and what the odds for each were to be the home run champ. Here’s that list:
The final entry says FIELD, which basically means a major leaguer who is not on that list would hit the most home runs. Having a hard time deciding who to take, I chose to put a couple bucks on the FIELD. So far so good with the likes of Chase Utley, Josh Hamilton, Carlos Quentin, and maybe …Geovany Soto??
I was in Las Vegas in February this year to (among other things) place my annual bets on the upcoming Cubs season. I thought it would be interesting to post for all the odds as I found them…
Odds @ Caesars Palace, Ballys, Paris, Rio & Flamingo
Cubs to Win the 2008 National League Pennant
Opening line 10/10/2007: 4/1
Current as of 2/21/2008: 5/2
Cubs to Win 2008 World Series
Opening line 10/10/2007: 8/1
Current as of 2/21/2008: 5/1
These are not true odds because they are off-set by the total amount wagered. Historically, the Cubs (and most Chicago teams) are bet heavily by the many tourists from the Midwest and national members of “Cubs Nation” that bet more with their heart than mind.
Odds @ Venetian Las Vegas
Cubs to Win the 2008 National League Pennant
Current as of 2/21/2008: 4/1
Cubs to Win 2008 World Series
Current as of 2/21/2008: 8/1
Over/Under on the total number of regular season Cubs wins: 86.5
Venetian was offering better odds, presumably due to a smaller contigent from Chicago laying their money at this sports book. The Venetian is known as a convention/business traveler hotel and their sports book is not among the biggest or most popular. Sometimes you can find bargains at the less-touristy Vegas resorts.
Coming tomorrow: a very interesting “prop” bet from the Venetian
Check in this weekend as I post two items (one on Saturday, part II on Sunday) on Las Vegas odds for the 2008 Cubs.
For now, check out the new “Plan Your Game” section of CubHub.net…
“Ryan Theriot notched his 18th multi-hit game of the season Wednesday night, tying him for second in baseball with Philadelphia second baseman Chase Utley. Atlanta’s Chipper Jones leads all big league players with 19 multi-hit games. “
Inspired by this note on Cubs.com, lets take a closer look at a player quietly having a good year so far.
Batting a hefty .329 on the year, Ryan Theriot is quietly having a pretty great year. Offensively, he ranks in the top 3 in many shortstop categories (both AL and NL) - he is:
Defensively, he is middle of the pack with 58 put-outs, 20 DPs, 3 errors and a .981 fielding percentage. Still, Ryan “the riot” Theriot is queitly having a very solid year.
Well, it’s official - for better or worse.
I can appreciate its a low risk move from an organizational standpoint. Of the $8,000,000 he makes this season, St Louis is paying 2mil, and San Diego is paying 6mil, so the Cubs only have to pony up about 2/3 (prorated) of the league minumum for about $270,000. Thats tip money - understood. And we didn’t have to give up any players to get him. Fine.
Now the work begins. Not only is Edmonds trying to revive his career but he’s playing for his baseball life. This can be a strong motivator for a guy. I’m sure whatever he’s got left, he will leave on the field. As a spot player, he is likely an upgrade over the Pie-Johnson combo in CF so far this year. If not, he will find himself unceremoniously cut without a second thought. So in a way, if he is on the team he is likely contributing. No problem.
But the real work is for Cub fans to find a way to accept him. For me, he was the face of the Cardinals for most of this century. I mean, Albert Pujols you just have to tip your cap to and say he’s a helluva player. But Jim Edmonds played a different role for them. I think Edmonds will have to really earn his (pin-)stripes as a Cub to be welcomed. And if the Cubs can actually win this year, some extra zing will come from Cardinal fans seeing “the greatest center fielder in Cardinals history” drinking champagne in the home clubhouse at Wrigley in October.
He’ll likely be in the starting lineup today. I hope Zambrano doesn’t drill him in the ear during pre-game warmups.
Cubs multi-position wonder Mark DeRosa is writing his blog again: MarkDeRosa.MLBlogs.com
How totally cool is that - to read an active Cub player’s blog during the season. I hope he will be as candid on the blog as he often is as a radio guest. One of my favorite comments from him came last year as the Cubs were about to open round one (and only) of the playoffs. He was asked if he had spoken to Lou about whether he would start or sub during the playoffs. DeRosa hesitated, then said something like ‘no, I expect to start. If I don’t I’m going to filp over his (Lou’s) damn desk!’ What a great quote that was.
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