It Was Raining Cub Home Runs: Cubs 6, Padres 4

Well, allow me to retort!

No actually, I won't really. Just nitpick a little. I think Milwaukee is better than crap. Sure, their rotation's nothing special but they're stacked with hitters who can carry a team and vets who can lead. Their bench and bullpen are arguably better than ours right now. If they can hold the opposition to around four runs each day, they're going to be dangerous. Especially if they pick up a Jake Peavy or something in the summer again.

The Cardinals are, well, yeah, Albert Pujols and a bunch of guys. But somehow, between him, La Russa, and Duncan, that bunch of guys always seems to overachieve. If Glaus and Carpenter return and are effective for much of the season, they're going to be in the hunt as well. They too could boost their lineup or rotation.

I agree that, all that said, the Cubs are the most talented team in the Central and should take the title. But of course, we're the Cubs and so we tend to underachieve. This could be more of a fight than it was last year. And last year could be the reason everyone's been a bit on edge this year -- we bolted out of the gate last year (12-4 start, IIRC) and never looked back. Hasn't been quite that easy this year.

Yeah, E-Man not great news. But it is kind of expected as firstly the deal likely still is months and months, if not a year, away. Secondly, he just signed a new 4-year deal. He wouldn't get fired likely until at least after next season (after 2nd year of deal). Hopefully the Cubs can win a WS (hell one playoff game at this point would be good) and it would all be moot. I would gladly eat tons of crow. I would even change my handle to 'I<3Hendry'. :)

MikeC: "Because you know Greene can hit with power while hitting .220?"

Kind of like our 2B now (FontNot): .218 AVG with 5 HR's

It's no secret that I am probably the biggest (non-gay) lover of TheRiot (ok, I do have a bromance) on TCR, but I kept my mouth shut while a lot of people in the off season talked about him not being good or what have you. Right now, he's our man, and he's doing one hell of a job. Hopefully he can keep it up, and most importantly learn to incorporate his new found power with what he did before in providing a slap-happy lead-off type hitter.

MikeC: Yea, Gallardo. He's good.

Ya, gotta give LaRussa his props but Pujols is the key. Any team with Pujols on it has at least a chance to contend. Unfortunately, I don't think he's a roider, either.

He's always had a little pop? Really? Where and When did he have it?

Is that the expert medical analysis of Will Carroll?

*rolls eyes*

Here's the Will Carroll comment on ARam (also I did reply briefly with post #37). It's clear WC is just a reporter and when I read some of his writings, I'm not so sure that he does justice to the details regarding the medical terminology, anatomy or surgical concepts in what his sources tell him. It reminds me of trying to describe surgical anatomy to lawyers, there is just something that often gets lost in translation. I'm sure he tries to understand this material as his niche is that of a sports-medical reporter, it's just that he seems to jump the tracks at times.

I remember some back and forth stuff with him on TCR when I wrote about #22's shoulder surgery. I mentioned capsular thermal shrinking for a congenitally lax capsule but that isn't done as the primary procedure when the anterior capsule is torn off the front of the socket/glenoid (aka a Bankart lesion). Back then he was trying to describe capsular shifts (there are several techniques) vs Bankart repairs (also several techniques) if I recall it correctly. Now he's talking thermal capsular tightening for ARam (in the offseason) which is quite a stretch of speculation (pun intended). Thermal shrinking of the shoulder only makes sense after repairing any torn Bankart anatomy (ie, what is torn off the glenoid) and the shoulder capsule remains very lax. Saying it has it's downside (doesn't any operation?), does it imply that the other options don't have downside (or consider it a no comment on them having more/less downside)? They all obviously have risk/downside. Any of the options that tighten a shoulder capsule can be over-tightened or stretch out or re-tear. Number 22 is now a case in point as most all of the above happened unfortunately.

I'm pretty confident to say that there is no literature that indicates pain leaving in less than (or more than) a week (Friday will be 1 week) has any predictive value for future instability or time to recovery. Although a younger person who has had multiple dislocations does have a high rate of recurrence, that doesn't mean he will have a recurrence, especially if he's compliant with appropriate exercises for the front of the shoulder from here on out. Of course if he returns and has another hyperextension trauma it can re-dislocate but as the capsule gets more stretched out (and easier to reduce in subsequent dislocations, as the tissues are "pre-stretched" and less new tissue damage occurs) from repeat dislocations the shoulder can get progressively less stable and therefore becomes more reasonable to offer surgical stabilization procedures. Also, if he has a bony defect (Bankart or Hill-Sachs) the anatomy can be less stable but the media reporting on his post-reduction MRI didn't say there was any associated bony lesions. There is some recent literature that suggests to position the shoulder in slight external rotation (with a modified sling) rather than the conventional arm sling position as this reapproximates the anterior shoulder tissues to a more anatomic location for healing, although that data is still soft.

http://tinyurl.com/pcdrw3

I think the severity of pain may be more of an indicator that ARam's shoulder injury was more reminiscent of a first time dislocation (since it was almost 9-10 years since the previous episode). But again, it's not been shown that intensity of (subjective) pain correlates with any prognostic value as to time to heal or type of surgical considerations down the road.
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Aramis Ramirez (60 DXL)
Ramirez is still in pain, and that says a lot about how serious the dislocation that he suffered last Friday actually was. He is eventually going to need some sort of capsular tightening, a surgical procedure that's exactly what it sounds like, though there are several ways to accomplish that goal. Surgeons differ on how they prefer to do it, with the "thermal" version being the most popular, but it has its downsides. The Cubs still believe that he'll be back in six weeks, but all signs point to a more extensive stay unless the pain leaves quickly and some reasonable stability returns to the joint. At this stage, the likelihood of a recurrence is through the roof.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?arti...

Of course, saying something is true doesn't make it so.

I would definitely not be shocked if it came out that Pujols has used or does use PEDs. But your continual assertions that he juices is getting old.

You have no idea if he is juicing. Stop pretending that you do.

Oh that is not bad. I was expecting one of those lineups he through out there the other week vs. the SFG.

not sure...I can say I have no problems using Firefox on a Mac OS Leopard...

beyond that, it's up to the other readers.

Maybe someone is trying to tell you something.

Sorry! Couldn't resist!

Huh? What lefty?

Rod Carew?

Ty Cobb?

Whoops! I mean 11-2 Cubs.

I sure am mighty disappointed Milton Bradley and DLee are resting.

They could have helped us out today. Then again, with Bobby Scales 4 RBI's, maybe not. PRobably not.

I hated sitting Bradley today mostly because his bat is starting to heat up, so why risk throwing off his timing by sitting him for a day when he's already had plenty of rest?

And it's great that RJ had some nice hits today, but for this team to succeed over the long haul, Milton Bradley needs to play a big part. If he can boost his confidence and perfect his timing against a shitty pitcher with the wind howling out, I'm all for it.

Off-topic: Bobby Scales is fucking awesome. Obviously he's not going to hit .400+ all year, but it's great to see him making the most out of this opportunity.

What's up with Dempster's daughter?

nice 3/44 on my post this morning ROB G, re hendry/kenney with link.

btw, scott eyre is broke.

Yeah, seems really shitty that they emailed Hendry the decision during the 7th inning considering Bradley was already sitting and they could have just as easily told them before the game.

Also, what a crock of shit the 1 game suspension is anyway.

Yes I guess you could call me long suffereing but I've had my share of excitement along the way, I remember most of 84, then all of 89, 98, 03 and of course 07 and 08 and hopefully 09. Sure there were really bad teams along the way but I never stopped following the Cubs day to day even in the dark days of Micah Bowie and Andrew Lorraine.

I am too young to remember the bad early 80s teams, but those 99,00, and 02 teams were pretty bad.

How can you leave me off your list krausened? ASS-HOLE! Eleventy !111!!

Well there's no secret to why he's had success in the big leagues. He has real nice bat control, he keeps his hands back. It's just a real sweet swing all around. He's not going to hit .400+ once pitchers adjust to him and I think he'll struggle especially against the top-notch pitchers, but he'll be a better-than-average hitter. And I said it before we even seen him play his first game with the Chicago Cubs this year: "I think we'll come to love Bobby Scales".

Also, this is a lesson on why minor league stats sometimes lie. Pie has a trainwreck of a swing that is somehow effective against AAA pitching, but once he gets to the bigs he's flailing his bat around like a little leaguer. Then you have guys like Theriot & Scales who actually know how to hit and they come up to the big leagues and survive.