Clark & Addison Blog - CubHub.net

Lou Piniella has been commenting on all the historical references coming up these days.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 has been here before and knows his squad has to finish strong.

With the LA Angels up 17 games in their division, they will clinch with weeks to go in the season. This will then present the challenge for them that Lou had with his 2001 Mariners team that won 116 games and got stale waiting for the playoffs. They lost the ALCS to the Yankees 4 games to 1 after just making it through the ALDS, winning game 5 at home over the Indians. I would like to see the Cubs cruise into the division title with about 7-10 days to go in the season - no excitement, no streaks, just winning series’. This would give them time to rest some guys, line up their rotation, and prepare to face (presumably) the NL West division champs, LA or Arizona. Once in the playoffs, victory goes to the hottest team.

Your Turn

Some great comments have come in lately from AJ on Cubs Never Out Of It post, and from Lamar Miller on the Joe Morgan Is A Putz post. 

AJ pointed out how with the Brewers 9 games abck of the Cubs in the loss column, they would need to go 26-5 in their remaining 31 games to beat out the Cubs assuming we slump to .500 (16-16) in our last 32 games. That’s an excellent observation that illustrates how well in hand this Cubs team has the division.  Just take care of business modestly and we are home free. 

Lamar added on to many of the posts and comments received at CubHub.net World HQ regarding the ineptness of Joe Morgan. That post was actually picked up by the Sun-Times and Reuters there was so much interest.

Remember - this is a site for all Cubs fans - your comments are encouraged. Join the conversation!

Dusty’s Cincinnati Reds are a mere shadow of their already meager former selves with the absence of notorious Cub killer, Adam Dunn.  The big redheaded slugger hit a whopping 38 home runs against the Cubs in his career with 7 of them coming off of Carlos Zambrano alone.  The guy just plain feasted on Cubs pitching, particularly at Wrigley Field where he hit 23 of his 38 bombs.  His trade to Arizona will help the Cubs …until playoff time comes!

Along with Dunn, the Reds dumped Ken Griffey Jroff to the White Sox leaving the team with few power options and lots of kids in their lineup.  Joey Votto hit 3 HRs in a game against the Cubs this year, but that doesn’t happen every day. We’ll see what magic Dusty has for this team in transition.

The good folks at BaseballProspectus have run a simulation to determine the statistical chances of teams making the 2008 playoffs. Running the remainder of the season one million times, they show the Cubs as 89.12% certain to win the division, with another 9.81% chance of being the Wild Card entry, if they were come in second to the Brewers. This gives the 2008 Chicago Cubs a statistical chance of 98.93721% to make the playoffs!

Sure, I’m drinking the Cubbie Kool-Aid, but here is actually something scientific to stand on. The ‘08 Chicago Cubs will play meaningful baseball in October. That’s all well and good, but it is equally fair to point out there is a chance (~1.6%) they don’t make it too.  But let’s focus on finishing the season strong and lining up well for - at least - the divisional playoffs.

This simulation shows the division winners as the Cubs & Mets, with a toss up in the West of the Dodgers & D’Backs and Brewers as Wild Card.  The Cubs would have the best record which would usually get the Wild Card in Round 1 (NLDS), but two teams from the same division cannot play each other in the NLDS. So the Cubs would play, according to Baseball Prospectus, the winner of the NL-West.  So who would you rather play, Arizona or LA???

Now I am willing to reconsider my position on Jim Edmonds as a Cub.  My original assertion was that he had to beat his old team, the dreaded Cardinals to ‘make his bones’ as it were, in Cubs pinstripes.  With today’s two HR day, along with a sparkling diving catch, I now finally accept Jim Edmonds as a Cub.  He has made an impact. He has proven he does in fact have more baseball in him. He has made GM Jim Hendry look awfully, awfully good in picking him up for basically nothing.  In fact, the Cards still pay millions of his salary. That sweetens the deal as the Cubs pound a nail in the 2008 Cardinals season.

When the Cubs got Edmonds, I wrote comparing it to the Bulls acquiring Dennis Rodman. The guy played a key role for years in a heated regional rivalry (Detroit Pistons) and now we are being asked to accept him as our own. Then, like now with Edmonds, I felt like the onus was on the player to prove his worthiness before I truly accept him. Edmonds has been steadily building a case since joining the Cubs but today, for me, pushed him over the top. He even got a curtain call from the Wrigley faithful following his second HR today.  So, welcome to the Cubs, Jimmy Ballgame!  

Where is the venom?  Where is the competitiveness?  Why aren’t these teams taking it personally? 

What’s missing from the Cubs-Brewers rivalry is some old fashioned animosity. We need some bean-balls, some hard slides, a bench clearing brawl to spice up this rivalry.  There is just too much respect and professionalism between these two ballclubs. It just doesn’t fit for how they beat each other up on the scoreboard and how they always seem to rise to meet the occasion when playing each other. 

There was another story today about arrests following a brawl in the stands during last nights game at Miller Park. The fans get it, why don’t the teams?  Its very different when the Cubs play the Cardinals or the White Sox - even the Astros. But its all niceness when they play the Brewers.  What’s up with that?  C’mon guys!

Cubs make it two in a row over the Brewers at Miller Park last night with a dominating 7-1 performance, extending their division lead to a full 3 games.  Carlos Zambrano overwhelmed the Brew Crew and their ace, Ben Sheets in convincing fashion.  With Sheets and Sabathia chalking up losses, I like our chances with remaining series match-ups of Ryan Dempster and Rich Harden facing Manny Parra and Dave Bush respectively. On paper, it all looks good but of course on any given day…