Archive for August, 2008

John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™

What’s the toughest save in baseball? My partner at ACTA, Greg Pierce, and I were talking about relief pitchers. We wondered what would be the absolute toughest save situation a relief pitcher could encounter. We decided that it would be a save situation in the ninth inning or later where the pitcher enters with the [...]

August 30, 2008   Posted in: John Dewan  No Comments

Two new polls up – cast your vote!

Posted on the sidebar of the Clark & Addison Fan Blog are two new polls… “Who is your 2008 MVC (most valuable Cub)?” and “Who scares you the most for the Cubs to face in the NL Playoffs?” You can cast one vote per poll per day, so as your opinion changes you can update [...]

August 29, 2008   Posted in: CubHub.net Site Update  No Comments

Cubs Could Clinch at Wrigley

Could the Cubs clinch the NL Central division at home? Given their current pace, we could be looking at when the Cardinals visit Wrigley Sept 19/20/21.  Have you experienced this glorious season in person yet?  If not, you have options… Just 12 regular season home games remain for the 2008 Chicago Cubs season schedule. The next [...]

August 29, 2008   Posted in: Wrigley Field, game day, standings  No Comments

Happy Birthday To Lou

At this point in the season, things couldn’t be sweeter for birthday boy Sweet Lou.  After notching their 6th win in a row last night with a come from behind 6-4 victory over a strong Philly team, capped off by MVP candidate Aramis “I Promise” Ramirez’ 8th inning grand salami birthday present to Lou, things [...]

August 29, 2008   Posted in: Lou Piniella, guest post  No Comments

Zell tells investors Cubs will sell in 2008

Multiple sources are reporting Tribune chairman Sam Zell informed investors the Cubs will sell by the end of this year to one of five bidder groups. Zell said he expects “rapid” approval of Major League Baseball. Among the reported finalists are groups led by Mark Cuban, John Canning, and the Ricketts family.    (Crain’s) — Tribune Co. [...]

August 26, 2008   Posted in: Team Ownership, biz of baseball  No Comments

Will the NL MVP please stand up

Aramis “I Promise” Ramirez is keeping his promise of late, slugging 3 x 3 home run blasts in the last two games. Suddenly talk radio has him slated as a NL MVP candidate. That may be a stretch but considering the Cubs’ success one would think the leagues’ MVP should come from this team, the [...]

August 26, 2008   Posted in: guest post, players  No Comments

Soriano about to explode?

Often times, an indication a good hitter is about to go on a tear is when they are seeing the ball well. They hit line drives, take a few pitches, and start drawing more walks.  Alfonso Soriano has astonishingly (for him) taken 7 walks plus 4 SBs in the past 6 games. For a guy who drew [...]

August 26, 2008   Posted in: observations, players, stats  One Comment

Cubs Cruising to the Clincher

Lou Piniella has been commenting on all the historical references coming up these days.  You know, the “…not since 1984″, or “last time that happened was 1935″, “a hundred years since…” stuff.  Lou says he’s not interested in all that, he just wants this team to focus on what is in front of them. Piniella [...]

August 26, 2008   Posted in: Lou Piniella, fan comments, observations, rivalries, standings  No Comments

John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™

Are long at-bats more productive than short ones? It seems obvious. Work the count. Make the pitcher labor. Foul off those two-strike pitches. As you go deeper in the count, it’s going to work in the batter’s favor. Or does it?The numbers beg to differ. Here are the major league averages for long and short [...]

August 23, 2008   Posted in: John Dewan  No Comments

Zambrano brings Arm and Hammer

The bats are sleepy, but Big Z beat the hapless Reds with his arm and his bat. Carlos Zambrano rebounded for his first win in his 4th try this August and added the game winning hit.  In fact, the last time Zambrano won a game in the month of August was 8/24/2006! Z did not have [...]

August 21, 2008   Posted in: players  No Comments