Recent comments

Anonymous 18 years ago (view)

Mr. Whipple... Huh?

Anonymous 18 years ago (view)

i got nothing against brenley...im just saying wanting brenley over dusty isnt gonna make a lotta people happy if the reasons they hate dusty for are true. and speaking of winning...bobby cox...some of you have no idea how similar dusty/bobby are. theyre just managers...you gotta go outta your way to just absolutely suck. psst...look over in cincinatti if you wanna see a manager who has no idea what his personel can and cannot do.

Anonymous 18 years ago (view)

All you Brenly haters are totally just looking for reasons to hate him. He may manage with his gut, but it was pure genius to leave Randy Johnson in in game 6 with a 15-0 lead. Kim was young and SUCKED!! Brenley wasn't to blame for his meltdown in games 3 and 4, not matter how many pitches he left him in for. Today's pitchers are just babies and pitch counts are totally arbitrary! All you Brenly haters can just suck it up because Brenly won the world series.

Anonymous 18 years ago (view)

It's a shame we don't have a threaded discussion. There's a lot of really bizarre troll-like comments above that ignore and purposely confuse the point I was making, i.e. that Dusty Baker screwed up and actually had run out of position players before the game was over forcing him to let Blanco hit with 2 on, 2out, and 2 down in the ninth instead of a pinch hitter. There was no way that he was going to use Barrett and so he didn't. When he pinch ran Macias for Grieve he was completely out of pinch hitting position players.

Anonymous 18 years ago (view)

"the addition of the old reliable and very good version of Mark Mulder" I don't know if I'd call him reliable just yet...despite some very, very good outings, he's still oscillating between being lights out and getting tagged for 4-6 runs and giving up 7-10 hits. Still, 4-6 runs is nothing to the Cardinals offense. Should we start keeping track of the wild card race now? (shameless self-promotion: read my interview with Len Kasper at Old Style Cubs, http://oldstylecubs.blogspot.com)

Anonymous 18 years ago (view)

John, your review demonstrates how weak this division really is. The Division's Pythaganport record is 121-133. If Obermueller stays at this level and Capuano continues to improve, the Brewers might be able to make regular appearances at the .500 mark. And if JJ Hardy turns into something special, and Prince Fielder is as advertised, they keep their effective and inexpensive bullpen, and make a targeted signing or two, they could contend as soon as next year. (If I were them, I'd look seriously at moving Overbay once they drop out of the running this year and signing a big-time offensive corner outfielder. But will the new owners pony up?) The emergence of the Brewers and the young pitching of the Cardinals makes it look like the Cubs's window is closing rapidly.

Anonymous 18 years ago (view)

Bob Brenley for manager? i seriously dont understand some of you dusty haters...bob is guilty of many of the same things people bitch about dusty for. and if dusty did what brenley did during the WS the dbacks won, you'd want his head before inning 9, game 7 was even over. its just a manager...this team is not a 100 win team with another manager or a 60 win team with dusty. you wanna complain about something that matters...how about that bullpen...how about hendry signing macias/blanco? real things...real impact players... when we get these mid-season manager firings/quiting/etc...very very very rarely do teams improve in any noticable amount. for every mckeon you got many more no impacts. its a manager...until they throw 50+ip a year or gets 200+ ab's...he's an overpaid babysitter who fills out lineup cards and makes substitutions while keeping the clubhouse frustration-free as possible. dusty's done almost EVERY suggestion this board has brought up that would "otally save this team"...and its pretty much all failed... dubois is starting, and sucking it up...the bullpen has played closer/setup/long role reversal for weeks, and sucking it up...its just not clicking and i dont see a lot of dusty out there screwing it up, i see players not coming through...i see a bullpen that cant get anything done with consistancy. the "troops" are giving it their all, theyre happy, theyre not in revolt...losses dont always mean a sinking ship.

Anonymous 18 years ago (view)

Tbone: "Yeah, those pitchers who win 15 games are a drag. Strikeout totals from two years ago are what's going to win the Central Division this year." Despite Wood having Tommy John surgery in 1999 he still has six years experience where he's started more than 20 starts every year, more than 26 starts in 4 of the six years, and more than 32 starts in two of the years. Wood carried this ballclub in 2002 and 2003, where he pitched 452 1/3 IP (regular season and playoffs). Dusty just pitched his arm off in 2003. Wood went 120-plus in 14 of 35 starts, including five of six starts late in the year. He also had a 141 pitch outing over seven innings against St. Louis in May. Including the playoffs, Wood threw 4,007 pitches in 2003, the most in the majors. Prior averaged 114.2 pitches per start, the most in the majors (Wood was second at 111.3). In Kerry's 169 career starts, he's left the game with the lead (men on or off base) in 98 times. He got the win in 68 of those 98, and got the loss in 7 of those games. The bullpen has blown 30 leads of Kerry Wood, since he's been called up!! Sure the bullpen is going to blow saves, but come on 18% of Kerry's starts have been blown in his career. 31% of the games he left with the led, the bullpen has blown. So on a team with a good bullpen Kerry very well could be 85-45, instead of 68-51 with a lower ERA (due to inherited runners scoring off of the bullpen) than his current baudy 3.69 career ERA. Wood already has 1000 IP logged under his belt and 11 complete games. He's the quickest pitcher to 1000 strikeouts and the quickest pitcher to 50 starts of 10+ strikeouts. In perspective of baseball history, Wood has the second highest K/IP, trailing only Randy Johnson. In regards to active leaders in Hits/IP, Wood has the second lowest, trailing only Pedro Martinez. Yes Wood has had his injury problems with the majority associated with his surgically repaired elbow. Yet despite that, in Kerry's 6 MLB seasons, he's logged 160+ IP in four seasons, two being 200+ IP. Collecting 200+ strikeouts in four seasons, and having an ERA under 3.75 in five seasons. In 2003 (season and playoffs), Kerry pitched 238 2/3 IP in 36 starts, giving up 173 hits, 88 earned runs, 114 walks, 297 strikeouts. His total record was 16-12 with a 3.32 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and .210 BAA.

Anonymous 18 years ago (view)

Oh well, some people (not you) want Dusty fired and will use any small thing and spin it to try and blame Dusty for it. I want Dusty fired, just so you'll pipe down, Manny. It doesn't help anything that he's not a great manager. I say Bob Brenley for manager. He did more with less. His firing in 2004 was the most absurd bit of upper management logic ever exhibited. Go figre--they couldn't win games with Casey Fossum, Steve Sparks, Casey Daigle and Edgar Gonzalez in their starting rotation. That plus gambling so much on Richie Sexson sure makes it look like Brenley got the shaft for general management incompetancy. Even 2003 found the Diamondbacks so riddled with injuries and Breneley still posted 84 wins. In 3 full seasons he won a world series and the NL West. I think an argument cna be made that his 2001 world series victory was the result some of the greates managerial maneuvering ever seen. For Bobby I lobby!!

Anonymous 18 years ago (view)

John, before I even read this article I have something to share with you: MLB players try their hands at singing on new CD . It includes a performance by Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins. He is rapping his original "Wish List." Isn't he on yours?