..:Official 2008 NL Central Thread:..Congratulations Chicago Cubs...:

Just browsing through a chat transcript from MLBTR:

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2:38
[/td] [td][Comment From Mike]
Do you see the Indians moving Sizemore before he reaches free agency, or do they have him locked up? What might it take for the Cubs to acquire a player of his caliber?[/td] [/tr][/table]
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I love Sizemore, but he's gonna demand a ginormous salary in the near future. Cubs are doin decent without him.
 
I hate games like these. Soriano with the drop, Soto with some bad pick ups, Cedeno and his failed bunt, and Zambrano was awful. If he keeps going like this,he's the # 3 guy in the playoffs after Dempster and Harden.

Damn it, let's win this game damn it. (*^*$&^#*($&^#($*&#)(&@*()_&()@&*$#^$#
 
Bases loaded nobody out in the 8th...I swear if Lee hits into a double play...............................
 
Geo Soto with 7 RBI's
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....Cubs lead 13-8 Whoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Check that, Cubs lead 14-8
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Cardiac Cubs Explode In Late Innings
Cubs Beat Pirates 14-9
PITTSBURGH -- Lou Piniella had a cold beer sitting on his desk after the Cubs' 14-9 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park on Tuesday night.
Heck, the soon-to-be 65-year-old manager needed one after his team lost a two-run lead, committed three errors and had to continually shoo away the Piratesin what turned into a four-hour marathon.

In the end, it took a seven-run eighth inning to bring the National League Central-leading Cubs their 82nd victory of the season.

"We've had some long games [here]," Piniella said, referring to the two extra-inning games both teams played in Pittsburgh four monthsago.

"This one here was a long one, but our guys battled and they kept coming back. It really wasn't one of our better games. But look it this way, itwas a win."

The come-from-behind victory overshadowed what was an obviously frustrating night for the Cubs. Chicago overcame a rough outing by ace Carlos Zambrano, whowas hit hard for six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings and a crucial error by left fielder Alfonso Soriano in the sixth to improve to 6-2 at PNC Park.

Geovany Soto carried the Cub's offense on his back with a career-high seven-RBI night. The catcher smacked a home run, two three-run doubles and scoredthree runs. He became only the seventh player in the Majors this season to collect seven RBIs in a game, and the first Chicago player to do so since AramisRamirez did so on Sept. 18, 2006.

"What a big night Soto had," Piniella said.

"It felt really good," Soto said. "I just tried stay on the ball and tried not to do too much, and have good at-bats for my team."

The Cubs got to the Pirates bullpen early in the eighth, down, 8-7. After two leadoff singles, Bucs reliever Craig Hansen went a bit wild. He walked RyanTheriot to load the bases and handed out free passes to Derrek Lee and Ramirez to give the Cubs a 9-7 edge.

Reed Johnson followed with an RBI single, Soto had his second three-run double and Mike Fontenot, who led off of the inning, drove in Chicago's 14th runwith a line-drive double to right.

"It seemed like every inning was a battle," Soto said. "We grinded it out."

Things weren't that peachy for the Cubs early on.

Zambrano surrendered three first-inning runs. His location "wasn't good," Piniella said, and he was leaving the ball up in the zone.

Soto said Zambrano didn't have his 'A' game on Tuesday, and it showed when the right-hander gave up a run in the fourth and two more in thefifth.

"This wasn't one of his better days," Piniella said. "I'm not concerned, but you want to see him throw it good. I didn't know ifit was concentration or not, but he'll be better next time out."

The outing reconfirmed Zambrano's struggles in the month of August. Last year, the Cubs' ace owned a 7.06 ERA in that month. The same is true thisseason, with Zambrano carrying a 7.43 ERA in five August starts. However, he came back and posted a 3.44 ERA in September and October last year.

"I think I have to eliminate August," Zambrano said. "Once I pass August, everything will be back to normal. I was thinking about that todayand last August wasn't that good but I was able to come back the next month and September and October were good. There's nothing to worryabout."

The Cubs took the lead with a four-run fourth. Soto came up with the bases loaded and cleared them with a double. Zambrano then drove Soto in with a singleto record his eighth straight game with at least one RBI. Zambrano has also gone 13 starts with at least one hit.

The Cubs added two more runs in the fifth and sixth on Mark DeRosa's double and Soto's 20th home run of the season, which broke the club'srookie record by a catcher. However, the Pirates added four over those frames to take an 8-7 lead.

Two runs scored in the sixth after Soriano took his eyes of Adam LaRoche's fly ball to left field. Third baseman Doug Mientkiewicz tripled in two runsto make the Cubs' left fielder lick his wounds.

The play was eerily similar to Soriano's dropped ball in the Cubs' 6-5 loss to the Pirates on May 25. Soriano lost the play in the sun and the balldeflected off his glove to help propel the Pirates to victory.

"I don't know what happened," Soriano on Tuesday. "I have to concentrate more to not have that happen again."

The Cubs have now won nine series in a row of two or more games for the first time since 1907 when they won 10 in a row.

"It wasn't one of our better games," Piniella said. "You'd rather win like that than play a great game and lose it."
 
Damn cardinals.......this season has been like me and my first girlfriend.....she jerks me off for 4 or 5 months......puts her tounge on the tip after 6months......then moves to california before I can close the deal.

I don't know about you guys....but I'm looking towards next year. NO we aren't totally out of it.....but we can't beat the pirates, cubs,brewers or sweep the reds, phillies and braves.

our offense just goes flat in big games.......hopefully it goes down to the last days just to make it exciting at least
 
We have been letting this season slip out of our grips since the All-Star break. The Cubs are just too good this season to really give up any ground. TheBrewers started clicking at the right moment. As each day passes, it's getting easier and easier for me to let this season go. I will take refuge knowingthat we are on the brink of another choke job by the Cubs though. This season has just been building up to a monumental collapse in the postseason; I wonderwhat it will be this year.
 
Soto = ROY.
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Horrible game last night, but we got the W, all that matters.
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Another series under our belt, now lets get the sweep because the 4 gamer vs Philly will be VERY tough.
 
Z what is going on with you man?

Fun game to watch last night, Soto put on a clinic. He was so good he almost made a fool of himself. Still waiting for his first Grand Slam, i will take baseclearing doubles anytime though
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^^ Z always sucks in august though.. he even said it himself.. haha.. he wants august to pass so he can get back to normal.. he's been on a hitting spreethough! 13 game hit streak with an rbi in the last 8 games. sick.
 
I was leary of Lou pulling Z in the middle of the 5th. Samardzija and company blew it anyway. I am surprised Z didn't destroy the cooler after that.

I'll take last night's garbage win. Like Len Kasper said in the 7th when we were down a run, "I am not worried". We had pummeled Pit allseason, so expecting a few more runs was inevitable.

Z will straighten it out. I would like him to get his crap out now, not in Oct. DeRosa is slowly becoming my favorite Cub....

God, I love this Cubs team. Head to toe, so solid. If we stay injury free, watch out....

I'll be on a rooftop in right field on Fri
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^^
Sweet, i have never done rooftop seats. Are they nice?

So lets talk playoff rotation. If i were going into the playoffs tomorrow and i were Lou i would start

Harden
Dempster
Zambrano
and in case of game 4 or 5
Harden
Dempster

Lets be honest Harden has been ridiculously good this with the Cubs. He is darn near un-hittable. He gets game 1 because he could pitch on short rest in game4.
Dempster has been the real staff ace. really no further explanation needed.
Zambrano is as good as they come when he is on. I could see giving him the first spot because he is the emotional leader of this team and he is such a fierycompetitor, however, based on how everyone has pitched to this point i can see him getting game 3.
What do you guys think?
 
Great work picking up the extra win. Winning 2 outta 3 vs everyone else is nice, but getting this sweep gives a little extra padding if things don't gowell vs Philly.

I'll take a split with Philly and move on. Asking for 3 outta 4 is a bit much even at home. Philly got some aces they can throw at us too.
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Dub, I don't know if we throw Harden out there too much in the playoffs. As great as he is, unless it is the actual world series we need to keep his armalive. We are the Cubs, it would be so us to burn him up in the first and second round and have him dead armed for the first series in my great grandparentslifetimes.
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I say we stick him in game 3 of each series we can, UNTIL God willing, we make a run to the series and then we can use him until his arm falls off. Z alwayssucks in August, he gets in a groove like he did to end last year and we'll be fine.

And look for Z to DH in the AL parks.
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I have no problem with Z DH'in if for no other reason then it would give us a great emotional uplift when he gets a hit. Plus he is batting like 361 orsomething.
 
playoff rotation

zambrano
harden
dempster
lilly
zambrano

zambrano is the 1st starter for the fact that he can pitch every 3 games unlike harden who will only pitch once a series.

but i would like to see the cubs sit harden vs NL teams that we may see in the playoffs(phillies,brewers,mets), he is dominating them because they never seenhim and the more chances we give them to see him the more they get to recognize his pitches and pitching tendencies.
 
1. Zambrano, 2. Demp, 3. Harden.

Z deserves to pitch the first game everytime.

And stop jinxing us! No more talk of playoffs until we clinch.

[table][tr][td]AUGUST[/td] [td]OPPONENT[/td] [td]TIME (ET)[/td] [td]TV[/td] [td]CHC PITCHER[/td] [td]OPP. PITCHER[/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Thu, Aug 28[/td] [td]Philadelphia[/td] [td]8:05 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td]Dempster (15-5)[/td] [td]Hamels (11-
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[/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Fri, Aug 29[/td] [td]Philadelphia[/td] [td]2:20 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td]Harden (9-2)[/td] [td]Blanton (6-12)[/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Sat, Aug 30[/td] [td]Philadelphia[/td] [td]3:55 PM[/td] [td]FOX[/td] [td]Lilly (13-7)[/td] [td]Myers (7-10)[/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Sun, Aug 31[/td] [td]Philadelphia[/td] [td]2:20 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td]Zambrano (13-5)[/td] [td]Moyer (11-7)[/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]SEPTEMBER[/td] [td]OPPONENT[/td] [td]TIME (ET)[/td] [td]TV[/td] [td]CHC PITCHER[/td] [td]OPP. PITCHER[/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Mon, Sep 1[/td] [td]Houston[/td] [td]4:05 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td]Marquis (9-7)[/td] [td]Oswalt (11-9)[/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Tue, Sep 2[/td] [td]Houston[/td] [td]8:05 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td]Dempster (15-5)[/td] [td]Backe (8-12)[/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Wed, Sep 3[/td] [td]Houston[/td] [td]8:05 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Fri, Sep 5[/td] [td]@ Cincinnati[/td] [td]7:10 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Sat, Sep 6[/td] [td]@ Cincinnati[/td] [td]7:10 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Sun, Sep 7[/td] [td]@ Cincinnati[/td] [td]1:15 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Tue, Sep 9[/td] [td]@ St. Louis[/td] [td]8:15 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Wed, Sep 10[/td] [td]@ St. Louis[/td] [td]8:15 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Thu, Sep 11[/td] [td]@ St. Louis[/td] [td]8:15 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Fri, Sep 12[/td] [td]@ Houston[/td] [td]8:05 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Sat, Sep 13[/td] [td]@ Houston[/td] [td]7:05 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Sun, Sep 14[/td] [td]@ Houston[/td] [td]2:05 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Tue, Sep 16[/td] [td]Milwaukee[/td] [td]8:05 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Wed, Sep 17[/td] [td]Milwaukee[/td] [td]8:05 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Thu, Sep 18[/td] [td]Milwaukee[/td] [td]2:20 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Fri, Sep 19[/td] [td]St. Louis[/td] [td]2:20 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Sat, Sep 20[/td] [td]St. Louis[/td] [td]1:05 PM[/td] [td]FOX[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Sun, Sep 21[/td] [td]St. Louis[/td] [td]2:20 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Mon, Sep 22[/td] [td]@ NY Mets[/td] [td]7:10 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Tue, Sep 23[/td] [td]@ NY Mets[/td] [td]7:10 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Wed, Sep 24[/td] [td]@ NY Mets[/td] [td]7:10 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Thu, Sep 25[/td] [td]@ NY Mets[/td] [td]7:10 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Fri, Sep 26[/td] [td]@ Milwaukee[/td] [td]8:05 PM[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Sat, Sep 27[/td] [td]@ Milwaukee[/td] [td]1:05 PM[/td] [td]FOX[/td] [td] [/td] [td] [/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Sun, Sep 28[/td] [td]@ Milwaukee[/td] [td]2:05 PM[/td] [td]
[/td] [/tr][/table]
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