Won the tournament

One other thing...I was at my industry conference this past weekend and played in the golf tournament on Sunday at the Cowboy Country Club. It was outstanding to wear a Houston Texans golf shirt while playing and even better winning the first place trophy!

I'm glad we are over .500

At this point of the season I'm glad the Astros are over .500. The season reminds me of past relatsionships. We've had great times (10 game win streak, twice taking 2 of 3 from the Cubs) and some painful ones (are we the only team to get swept by the Pirates since the '79 "We Are Family" Bucs?).

I have been enjoying that over the last two days we've beat the Cards and their "all-incredible-world-best ever-let's change the manager of the year trophy for him-he loves abandonded cats-thinks wearing sunglasses in the daytime is cool" Tony LaRussa. Amazing that nearly all our runs have come from the long ball. I'm sure that once LaRussa has seen us being uncharastic and knocking balls over the wall, he mentally checked out and was thinking about the fajitas at Pappasitos. Hey Tony...it's an 162 game seasion...maybe you shouldn't have mailed it in so early. Geeze!

I'll wait a few weeks until I start blogging on football, however, let me say Michigan starting three true freshmen on offensive is not good (even if two of the three were from the Houston area). A&M lost to Arkansas St???????? I can't even come up with some type of repectful comment.

Magic Number

The Cubs' magic number for the division title is...

Run Centraly Run

Holy crap.

The Cubs' run differential is stupid crazy...

Maybe they are saying "Chieeeeeeeeef..."

Boo.

All the third baseman did during his time in Pittsburgh was put together one of his most successful seasons -- one in which he hit .300 and slugged 34 home runs and 112 RBIs as a 23-year-old.

He never complained or asked to be traded.

"They boo their own players, so I'm not surprised they boo me," said Ramirez, who was traded from the Pirates to the Cubs in 2003. "They booed me while I was playing here. That's the way they are.

"They just traded me, so they should boo whoever traded me."

Special Olympic Edition!

"In the sand the ball bounces +++ but the bounces are few +++ for the bobbies +++ They're held...

...by BRA 1 & BRA 2!"

Deb Gurke's Big O

Hey Tim,

I was thinking (always a dangerous thing). But last night Lou put in the lefty lineup. I am proposing the all "O" lineup.

Soriano--LF
Theriot--SS
Blanco--1B
D-RO--CF
Soto--C
Cedeno--3B
Fonteneau--2B
Fuko(dome)--RF (Okay, I cheated a little on that one)
Zambrano--P

1st base coach--Sinatro
3rd base coach--Santo

Go Cubs Go!

Deb

Posted by: Deb Gurke | August 17, 2008 at 11:26 AM

Turn On Your Face(book)

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Cubs 18, Scalpers 2

Did you know the last time the Cubs beat a team by eight or more runs in both games of a double header was in 1908?

...and do you know what happened in 1908?









You guessed it - the Feyenoord Rotterdam football club was founded.

Cubs 6, Cardinals 2 - August 10, 2008

What Were The Padres Thinking?

Boy, where’d that Edmonds kid come from? He’s pretty good!

FROM ESPN Online:

Edmonds' stellar afternoon came on the Cardinals' first visit to Wrigley Field this season.

During Edmonds' return trip to St. Louis last month, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa was miffed about Edmonds' comments that he was happy to be with the Cubs and tired of talking about his past. Edmonds responded by saying La Russa ducked him before the first game of that series.

Edmonds appeared to enjoy his first homer Friday, pausing at the plate momentarily to watch it take off before rounding the bases. Before the drive, Edmonds was 0-for-7 this season against his former team.

His second homer, his 15th of the season, was an opposite-field shot to left-center. He ran quickly around the bases after tying the game but did come out of the dugout for a curtain call.

Junior Mince

Sources report Ken Griffey, Jr. has been quoted as saying he is looking forward to having the opportunity to move to the American League and looks forward to having a new team put him on the DL.

Knee Kurkjian Response

Last night on ESPN Tim Kurkjian reported the Milwaukee Brewers are enjoying the results of acquiring CC Sabathia as witnessed by sellout crowds at Miller Park for the four-game series with the Cubs.

The Z is SOOO big...

...it takes two stories to cover his awesomeness on Yahoo.

Cubs Bring Out The Wurst In Milwaukee

Where to begin?

Note to CC - you might have done better had you put it on a tee for Soriano.

Gaudin & Marmol had as many Ks each as did the MLB-strikeout leader, Sabathia...and not only did CC take 124 pitches to get a pair of strikeouts (the most pitches he's thrown in a game in four years, by the way) half of his pair of punch-outs was against Ted Lilly!

Note to Yost - Ummm...first game of a four-game series and your ace closer throws a 37-pitch inning...nice.

Lenny Dykstra may have been "Nails", but Reed Johnson is freakin' "Railroad Spikes".

Tonight, the Big Z...who can, and will, beat you with his stick!

"Ayyy!" to Z

...the Big Z is ready for the second half.

Halftime Thoughts and Musings

Hey all!

Much like my man, "Let's Go Astros!" I have been traveling extensively as well. But I am home for a while and taking a minute to catch up.

Are any other Cubs fans like me all nervous that the Cubs have been so good all year? If you're a (Bleck!) Yankees or Red Sox fan, you may be familiar with being in first all year, but for we Cubs fans, this is all unsettling. I keep waiting for a '07 Rockies team to come out of nowhere and foul the whole thing up. But the more I see the other leagues (The NL West... Are you kidding me?!) the more confident I feel... Which just scares me more. Ah, well... Such is life when you're a Cubs fan I guess.

Our slogan of, "Six Degrees of Mediocity" seems to be a bit of an understatement. If the last place team in the division were sitting in the West, they'd be only a couple of games out at the break. San Francisco at 15 games under .500 is only seven games out of first, and Arizona is under .500 at the break. I think even I could manage a team in that division!

Back to the NL Central... The top two teams in the wildcard race, and arguably the most dangerous teams in the playoffs would be the Cards and the Brewers. I don't know what smoke and mirrors the Cars are using to keep afloat, but the Brewers with that lineup and as good a front two starters are there are outside of Chicago (tongue in cheek only slightly) makes them very dangerous if they make the playoffs.

A final note about the All Star game: I went to bed in the 11th, but the game was REALLY good. Far better than most I remember. It would be really interesting if the Rays and Cubs end up reaching the Fall Classic since both are outstanding on their own turf but below .500 on other ground. It would be so like the NL if that series came down to a deciding Game 7 in Florida.

That's the good thing about baseball, though... It, like a box of chocolates, is something where you never know what you'll get.

God bless us all.

All-Star thoughts

I like the All-Star game. Check that, I love it. I remember as a kid, it was a big deal. The drive for expansion hadn't happened so even having one member from each team, everyone was worthy. Not to mention the novality of having the leagues playing each other. Back then only the All-Star game and World Series was when you could see interleague play. It was an event. The NL won every year until 83, when Fred Lynn hit a Grand Slam off Atlee Hamacker. Does it still hold the same feeling for me? Yes. Not because it means home field advantage in the series, but because it reminds me of being a kid. Isn't that what baseball should do?

I don't know about you but I root more for the local guys in the All-Star game than any other time. I want my guys to do well on the national stage...get some publicity. Let the country know what I believe, how good the local nine are every year, (yes drinking the Kool-Aid). I remember being pissed when Joe Niekro didn't get to play in the All-Star game, then the next year Jose Cruz didn't play either.

For the most part, I think the fans, at least in the NL, got it right. Except for Fukudome, one of the top two at each position was voted in. Fukudome, while not putting up spectacular All-Star number, wasn't a surprise with the on-line Japanese vote and the Cubs fans storied support. I think we're seeing a "changing of the guard" where the young guys like Hanley Rameriz, Chase Utley, Ryan Braun and Matt Holliday getting their chance. There's nothing worse then when fans pick some guy batting .250 becauase he's been there for 10 years.

I'm off to Dallas this afternoon, and yes I get in to town with plenty of time to find a good spot to watch the game.

Three Degrees of Superiority

Now, Let Me Get This Straight...

Your last name is "Harden" and you name your kid "Richard"...?

...oh, wait...his name is actually "James Richard"...my bad.