Official 2023 Chicago Cubs Season Thread Vol: (17-17)

arstyle27 said:
Lol....c'mon man. I'll calm down once our division lead hits double digits. Remember CP..I'm not just a Cubs fan, I'm a Chicago fan. I've gone through more heartbreak than you. I value every game. Yes, I know that a game against Seattle in July has little significance, but I want us to get rolling again. The clip we started at was unbelievable, and I don't expect us to hit that again, but as long as we keep winning series, we'll be good.
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I have a honest question for you; this is not meant to sound like I'm being an *******. How old are you? 

Based of when you joined you gotta be in your late 20's/early 30s. 

IF that's the case, how have you been so thru so much heartbreak?

Bears: 85 Bears which odds are you/I don't remember but they have always been maybe average or maybe a bit better than average. To say the least, this is most of my "heartbreak" which isn't even really that. Almost won 05.

Sox: I hate the Sox more than any team of all of sports. To be honest, I can hardly watch them when they play the Cubs. That aside, assuming you don't hate them, 2005. Just over 10 years ago they won the WS. How is that heartbreak?

Bulls: the whole 90's which if you're about the age I think, was the arguably the greatest run of championships in all of sports. Pretty consistent Playoff contender. Where is the heartbreak?

Hawks: Self explanatory. Where is the heartbreak?

Cubs: I can understand the "heartbreak" here but for ***** sake, how can you go from rooting for a team since you been born that have sucked forever (minus their fluke season in 2003) to essentially pulling a 180 to thinking they need to win 162 games in a row? I've said before that they almost need to lose. Get the **** outta their system. October is such a different animal. I follow this thread everyday damn near and it's mostly to read all the good stuff CP posts and then you come posting like your a new fan trying to over do it to show your "super been a cubs fan forever" fandom. (Offtopic: I'm not saying you are a new fan, because God forbid a REAL Cubs fan finds a new/impostor Cubs fan. "you're not a real fan, I've been with them thru all the ********!"  -- half the Cubs fans are so unbearable nowadays. We get it. You stuck by a **** team for infinity years and now they are good and you can reap the rewards. Here is a cookie. And what is going to happen IF they win? Then all the attention goes elsewhere and Cubs fans are upset because the attention is gone)

For real, I'm not trying to be a **** head but after every loss you have to freak out and post about how "this isn't the Cubs way and they keep this up and they are done forever!"? I just don't get for such a devoted fan that you can't seem to figure out how it all works. They spoiled us as fans the past two years and I understand that but relax, enjoy them, and let's get to October. 

Unless you expect some Chicago team to win something every year which is insane, I'd argue that we have very little "heartbreak" minus some disappointment here and there which is EXACTLY what it's about being a fan of ANY sport/team.
 
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:lol That was just 2 years ago too.

But I get it, he'd been jaded from years of the Cubs screwin up, but Theo is a different animal. And I think now, everyone sees it. They're here for the long haul, however long it takes, they're going to make us relevant from the ground up.
 
Mark Prior Speaks to SI

It has been a decade since I last threw a pitch in the big leagues. Ten years … it certainly doesn’t feel that long ago. Not that I’ve been away from the game completely; I spent years trying to make it back from injuries back before finally calling it quits in 2013.

Now, when I walk into a major league stadium, I still feel at home. And yes, Wrigley’s obviously always going to carry more emotional weight for me, but my current job as minor-league pitching coordinator with the San Diego Padres takes me to Petco Park all the time, and never feel out of place. I remain very much connected to what’s going on — to the sights and sounds and rhythms of the game.

I love everything about my new role: Being around the game; being part of an organization and trying to make it better. I love working with the kids — as crazy as it sounds to say that, I’m not that old — the administrative balancing act of coordinating some of the moving pieces that that are integral to a major league organization.

Really, I am just thankful to be part of a team again.

I certainly didn’t expect to be in this position when I retired three years ago, right around this time of the season. The opportunity to work for the Padres, to go back to my hometown of San Diego, came up almost immediately. I certainly would have preferred to still be on the mound, but there was no way I could turn the opportunity down. Looking back, as hard as it was to accept that I would never throw another pitch in the big league​s, staying in the game was the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Remaining connected to baseball also makes it easier to open up about my time with the Cubs, about my successes and setbacks. That wasn’t always the case. When I first arrived in Chicago, it felt like I was always being measured — against others; against history; against myself — and I was really careful to make sure that I didn’t say anything that might be misconstrued or taken the wrong way.

I’m not so worried about all that anymore.

Even now, when people hear my name, they still think about the hype and the potential. And, inevitably, the injuries.

So fine, let’s talk about it.

Some people pointed to problems with my delivery and arm action.

Others — mostly Cubs fans — still blame my manager, Dusty Baker, for the series of injuries that derailed my career. They believe that he overused me in 2003 and blah, blah, blah. Only, here’s the thing: [COLOR=#red] I don’t blame Dusty for what happened to me.[/COLOR] I wouldn’t change a single thing that happened during that season — beyond us failing to bring a World Series Championship to Chicago, of course. No matter how many pitches I threw, I never asked to come out of a game — doing so would have been unthinkable.

Dusty was hired to manage each game like it was his last. And over the course of a season (or even multiple seasons), that meant an endless series of decisions — especially when it comes to balancing pitcher workloads against the need to win games. Ironically, this is part of my job with the Padres now — the job pitching coaches at all our affiliates have — and it’s not an easy one. Like anything else, you do the best you can.

I believe Dusty did the best he could, and anyone who thinks he is responsible for what happened to me or Kerry Wood, I would strongly disagree.

Also, people seem to forget two major events that significantly influenced my injury history: 1) the collision I sustained with Marcus Giles in 2003; and 2) the Brad Hawpe line drive that broke my elbow two years later. I’m no doctor, but I can’t help but feel like those incidents muddied the waters in advance of my subsequent shoulder injuries. That collision could’ve stretched my shoulder capsule out without my ever really knowing it.

I’ll never know, but I’ll always wonder.

Given what happened, I still grimace when I think about those people who said I had perfect mechanics. The Kershaws, the Greinkes, the Arrietas — even they have times when their mechanics are off, and they are the best pitchers on the planet. As a pitcher, there are just times when you feel like you can’t sync up; when your sequence is off. That’s a big part of a pitcher’s responsibility: To execute and to find that groove. I never thought my mechanics were perfect. I just thought that I had a solid delivery that suited my body. I threw the way I had been taught; the way I had since I was six years old.

Now, as for the hype that surrounded my rise to the majors, I can admit that I heard it, but that doesn’t mean that I had trouble separating myself from it. With all the pressure that comes along with the fans’ expectations — they’ve been waiting a long time — it was impossible not to be aware of the buzz. And at times, those circumstances made for a less than ideal fit because of my personality.


Whether it was talking to the media or going out in public, my instinct was always to close myself off. To protect myself. I think that’s where people in Chicago got the impression I was standoffish. That I was too measured, or even defensive.

And in a way — at the time, anyway — I was.

I know that now. Some of that comes with growing up, but a big part has been how my kids have helped to bring me out of my shell.

Honestly, my reputation for being aloof — maybe stoic is a better word — goes back to my college days. It started the summer before my junior season, when I had a chance to play for the United States national team. To say it was a good team would be an understatement; of the 22 players on the squad, 16 made the majors, and the roster included Ryan Howard and Mark Teixeira.

In the lead-up to the event, I started getting phone calls from agents in my hotel room. Mike Gillespie, my coach at USC, was the national team manager, so I told him what was going on — about the mounting pressure and having to use an alias. When we met later that fall back on campus, our focus was to figure out how to control all the off-the-field chaos. Obviously, I knew I was going to be a professional ballplayer — I was drafted by the New York Yankees out of high school and chose to go to college instead — but it’s virtually impossible to describe the level of attention (most of it unwanted) highly-touted prospects receive.

I didn’t set out to be difficult; I just wanted to maintain some semblance of control over who I met with, and when. 

Coach Gillespie and I decided to send out a letter to all scouting directors letting teams know that if they wanted to meet with me, I would be available from January 1 to February 1. After that, all I cared about was pitching for the Trojans. The last thing I wanted was to worry about having a meeting with Team X on the Saturday before a start, so we set up a finite window for clubs to evaluate me. Some teams appreciated the straightforward approach, but for those that wanted continuos access — “to get to know you,” they claimed — it was a tougher pill to swallow.

You have to understand, in the year you’re drafted, every move you make on the field is being watched. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing or not. Scouts aren’t only there to watch you pitch on Friday night; they’re at the ballpark at nine the next morning to get a sense of what your routine is after a start. What time did you get to the ballpark? What were you wearing? How focused were you?

Crazy? Maybe, but it’s to be expected. These are huge, career-altering decisions — for the player and the scout. Millions of dollars are on the line. Teams are making an investment for which they need to see a return, in the form of a bona fide Major League ballplayer. I don’t blame them for watching my every move back then — but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t difficult.

Once USC’s season started, I was done talking. I wasn’t rude, I didn’t ignore anyone, but my priority was to be the best I could be on the field.

So was I controlling? Difficult? I’d say I was protective — with good reason. My central focus, what drove me every day, was getting USC back to the College World Series. That was it. Whether people or believe it or not, where I wound up at the next level was secondary to me … at least until that college season was over. Sometimes I wonder if some deep part of me already knew how wild the ride to come was going to be.

A few weeks back, I was in a room with some of my fellow Padres personnel. As all organizations do, we have some great ex-players working here: Moises Alou, Trevor Hoffman, Mark Loretta. We were all talking about player development, and how fast certain guys get to the big leagues. Each of them said it takes years. Then it was my turn.

“Six weeks,” I said.

It was a funny moment, but it taught me something. Those guys might’ve taken longer to get there, but they still had great careers. That’s one of the great things about working in player development: Everyone has a different timetable. It’s my job now to help make it as smooth as possible for pitchers in the Padres system.

I was only 21 when I got to Chicago, and like most 21 year olds, I was just trying to figure things out. Forget mapping out my longterm future, I was pitching in the big leagues, stepping on the mound in one of the world’s great sports landmarks, representing an entire city — hell, enjoying life. I was barely of legal drinking age and there I am alongside Dusty Baker. Larry Rothschild. Kerry Wood. Joe Girardi. Fred McGriff.

I know I rubbed some people the wrong way back then. But truthfully, I was so focused on pitching my best, so worried about my next start, I just wasn’t all that aware of what was going on around me. My five-day schedule was regimented to the minute, it was almost to the point of having OCD. I showed up at the ballpark every day to make sure I was getting all my work in — all to ensure that I was as prepared as humanly possible. Looking back on it, I guess there’s a fine line between having a routine — as every great athlete should — and having blinders on.

For example, when I first came up, I had no desire to talk to the media the day before a start. That was my way of trying to manage the hype so that when I took the mound, my mind was focused solely on the next pitch.

Whether that was a good or bad approach, I really don’t know. It was just my way of trying to manage the expectations, to handle this image everyone had of me. Maybe if I’d been better about accepting the hype, better about being open and honest about all of it, I would’ve had more perspective. Not that I could have controlled what people thought and wrote about me — certainly not the media, which I deliberately avoided — but so the fans could have better understood me.

For five years, I rode the waves of life in the major leagues. The great and the not-so-great; the exhilarating wins and the debilitating losses. Then, at 25, I find myself suddenly confronted with the kind of adversity many players don’t face until well into their 30’s.

Each time I got hurt, I felt upset. Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, I was probably mildly depressed, too. Eventually, I became bitter at times. I wasn’t healthy. I wasn’t pitching. And when I did pitch, my ability to perform seemed to get worse and worse.

I remember vividly the conversation that finally changed things.

Larry Rothschild had been my pitching coach for all six seasons in Chicago, and anytime you spend six seasons with someone — day in and day out, spring training after spring training — you’re bound to have ups and downs in the relationship. I remember him pulling me aside near the end of the 2004 season. It had been a trying year to say the least. I’d sprained my elbow and never quite got it going, though I did finish the season on a bit of an uptick. I was worn down, first by the injuries, then from the pressure to get back and perform to the standards I’d set.

I remember the conversation like it was yesterday.

“You’re 23, and you’re acting like a 50-year-old, grumpy man,” Larry said. “You need to take a step back. Start being a better teammate. Start having a better attitude.”

I’d been defensive and guarded for so long that I didn’t even realize how these challenges were affecting my daily life; how I had shut off certain relationships I never should have. Sure, I knew how good I was, and I had never lacked in confidence, but facing failure for the first time can do strange things to an athlete. It can make you question yourself.​

I still talk to Larry from time to time, and I often kid him about that conversation. I’ll use that story when talking to young players, to remind them how important it is to see the forest for the trees. Baseball is an individual sport on so many levels, but it’s still a team game first and foremost.

Sometimes it’s easy to get so tunneled into what you need to do every moment of every day that you lose perspective on of your interactions with people — your coaches and teammates, the guys you’re supposed to be battling alongside. Being part of a baseball team is a process. It can’t always be about how you feel at any given minute; it needs to be more about where you and your teammates collectively are after a day, a week, even a season. Letting a process play out isn’t something a lot of people have patience for these days. And yet that’s so much of what our game is all about.

If I’d known then just how close the end really was, maybe things would’ve worked out differently. But there I was, 25 and trying to get back on track. Sadly, it never really happened. As great as my time in Chicago was, it seemed to flash by in a blink … and then it was gone. From potential franchise savior to just another guy trying to hang on and salvage a career.

I spent six years trying to make it back.

Through all of my attempts to recover, my goal was simple: Take a big league mound for one pitch. Just one pitch. Whatever happened next, so be it. But to overcome a pair of shoulder surgeries and endless setbacks, to take the mound again — I felt like if I could just get there, maybe anything really was possible.

By the end, I was able to go out and compete. Maybe not at the level people remember me for, but well enough to be part of a Triple-A ballclub — a place, it’s easy to forget, that so many guys would kill to reach.

The challenges I faced, the injuries I endured, going through extended spring trainings in Tampa and Fort Meyers and Peoria, gave me a vastly different perspective on the game (and on life). When I got a big league invite to the Yankees in 2011, I went there gave up one run in nine spring training appearances. When Joe Girardi told me they were going with Bartolo Colon instead, I took it in stride and accepted the triple-A assignment.

Would I love to still be pitching now, at 35? Without a doubt. But would I change where I’m at in life, the personal as well as the professional? Absolutely not. I loved my time at USC, and still support the program as an alumnus to this day.

And I loved my time in Chicago, too, despite how things turned out. If I would have signed with New York out of high school, maybe I would’ve crashed and burned years earlier. Or maybe I would’ve pitched for a decade and never made it to The Show. It’s impossible to say.

I do know that I’ll never have any regrets.

There’s another conversation that’s stuck forever in my head. I was having lunch with Dusty shortly after I retired. He asked me what I planned on doing. I told him I didn’t know. He said, “If you’re going to stay in the game, don’t get out for very long, because the game is always changing. It doesn’t take long for your generation to move on from relationships. And that’s what baseball is: A relationship.”

When I talked to other people — friends, former teammates and other people around the game — they all said the same thing: “Despite everything that’s happened, Mark … if you really love the game, you have to stay involved.”

Ultimately, my relationship with baseball has, at times, been pretty complicated — even difficult. But it’s one I’ll always be grateful for and forever committed to.
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:rollin :rollin

Y'all need to lay off my homie AR.
While he does over scrutinize every loss, and he lets the losses get to him. I can relate and respect his pessimisim. It's damn hard being a Chicago sports fan.
My dude just needs to crack a few brews and chill out, but he's a good dude who has some good thoughts and insight, my dude is always money in the Bulls thread.
Matter of fact everyone here is good money. All the contributors to this thread are good, level headed fans, y'all can come drink beers with any day.

meyer23 meyer23 you're a good dude, and I'm sure you meant no slight but.......don't ever call the "03" season a fluke. We were a damn good team, who just mentally collapsed
 
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I'm not down on AR at all, he and I lived in the NL Central thread days with that POS Zo. :lol

AR good money with me, I just try to chill him out on losses that have little real value. Playoff losses gonna kill the guy. :lol
 
CP1708 said:
laugh.gif
That was just 2 years ago too.

But I get it, he'd been jaded from years of the Cubs screwin up, but Theo is a different animal. And I think now, everyone sees it. They're here for the long haul, however long it takes, they're going to make us relevant from the ground up.
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I remembering coming in here a couple years ago making jokes about the Cubs and being a pessimistic *******. It was MY way of dealing with this team. Being passive aggressive was my thing. It sort of still is. Look, I'm bitter about all the past history with this team but I understand how this game works. That's all I was getting at. I have NO ill will towards AR, none. I was just curious if maybe he was a younger dude who hasn't been totally invested in this team as long as some of us which would maybe explain his posts. That's all. I know I'm still new here but Chicago Sports (minus the Sox) have been my life. And I don't think being a Chicago fan is all that hard. See my post above. There are a TON of cities that got is waaaaaaaaaaaay worse. 
SLP Product said:
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Y'all need to lay off my homie AR.
While he does over scrutinize every loss, and he lets the losses get to him. I can relate and respect his pessimisim. It's damn hard being a Chicago sports fan.
My dude just needs to crack a few brews and chill out, but he's a good dude who has some good thoughts and insight, my dude is always money in the Bulls thread.
Matter of fact everyone here is good money. All the contributors to this thread are good, level headed fans, y'all can come drink beers with any day.

@Meyer23 you're a good dude, and I'm sure you meant no slight but.......don't ever call the "03" season a fluke. We were a damn good team, who just mentally collapsed
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I'm not totally sure if I would say "damn good" but I get what you're saying. 
nthat.gif
 That might be the pessimism in me still talking but in any case, 03 was fun to watch. 
CP1708 said:
I'm not down on AR at all, he and I lived in the NL Central thread days with that POS Zo.
laugh.gif


AR good money with me, I just try to chill him out on losses that have little real value. Playoff losses gonna kill the guy.
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That's all I'm saying too. I don't have a problem with anyone in here. I don't post much but I do read a lot. It's just crazy that he's  so emotional but at the same time it seems like he doesn't get how long a season is. Nothing I said was meant to be taken personal, just some honest feedback I thought.
 
Whatever Happen to the NL Central Thread? It sure would be nice if somebody was to pull that back up.
 
Meyer23 said:
I have a honest question for you; this is not meant to sound like I'm being an *******. How old are you? 
Based of when you joined you gotta be in your late 20's/early 30s. 

IF that's the case, how have you been so thru so much heartbreak?

Bears: 85 Bears which odds are you/I don't remember but they have always been maybe average or maybe a bit better than average. To say the least, this is most of my "heartbreak" which isn't even really that. Almost won 05.

Sox: I hate the Sox more than any team of all of sports. To be honest, I can hardly watch them when they play the Cubs. That aside, assuming you don't hate them, 2005. Just over 10 years ago they won the WS. How is that heartbreak?

Bulls: the whole 90's which if you're about the age I think, was the arguably the greatest run of championships in all of sports. Pretty consistent Playoff contender. Where is the heartbreak?

Hawks: Self explanatory. Where is the heartbreak?

Cubs: I can understand the "heartbreak" here but for ***** sake, how can you go from rooting for a team since you been born that have sucked forever (minus their fluke season in 2003) to essentially pulling a 180 to thinking they need to win 162 games in a row? I've said before that they almost need to lose. Get the **** outta their system. October is such a different animal. I follow this thread everyday damn near and it's mostly to read all the good stuff CP posts and then you come posting like your a new fan trying to over do it to show your "super been a cubs fan forever" fandom. (Offtopic: I'm not saying you are a new fan, because God forbid a REAL Cubs fan finds a new/impostor Cubs fan. "you're not a real fan, I've been with them thru all the ********!"  -- half the Cubs fans are so unbearable nowadays. We get it. You stuck by a **** team for infinity years and now they are good and you can reap the rewards. Here is a cookie. And what is going to happen IF they win? Then all the attention goes elsewhere and Cubs fans are upset because the attention is gone)

For real, I'm not trying to be a **** head but after every loss you have to freak out and post about how "this isn't the Cubs way and they keep this up and they are done forever!"? I just don't get for such a devoted fan that you can't seem to figure out how it all works. They spoiled us as fans the past two years and I understand that but relax, enjoy them, and let's get to October. 
Unless you expect some Chicago team to win something every year which is insane, I'd argue that we have very little "heartbreak" minus some disappointment here and there which is EXACTLY what it's about being a fan of ANY sport/team.
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I'm 34. Any competitive Chicago team that doesn't win a ring is heartbreaking for me. Yes, I witnessed 6 titles during the 90s with the Bulls, but the last one came 18 yrs ago. I want to win every year. Past success doesn't comfort a loss today.

Bears haven't won since 85. We've had more crappy teams than good since then. 2007 should've been the year, but we lost to Peyton down in Miami. Since then, we've lost in the playoffs a few times, and narrowly missed others. Bears had super potent defenses that were wasted.

Cubbies are self explanatory. Haven't won a trophy in over 115 yrs. Lots of suck age mixed in. Great teams losing in the first round to Arizona and LA was tough. Devastating. Worse was losing to the expansion Marlins.....and losing to the Mets hurt too, even though that team exceeded expectations. And I see the big picture with this team. I'm not some idiot that wants to slice his wrists every loss. We weren't playing well. Ignore records and division leads. We were playing sub .500 ball. Looks like Cubbies are back on track though.

Chicago Fire were once the best team in MLS. We went from 100 to zero real quick.

Blackhawks were terrible in the early 2000s. Then Wirtz died and change began. But did the Hawks win last year? Nope. Can't expect trophies every year, but heartbreaking nonetheless.

Illini should've beat Carolina that year. That squad was so good. Still remember that comeback against Arizona. Top 3 ever.

I hate the Sox so screw em.

Point is, I'm probably more passionate than most and I'm not afraid of showing raw emotion. I don't cry after every loss, I don't pop bottles after every win. Ask my friends though....you can always tell the score of a game by looking at my face. Lol
 
And I don't care about the Cubs receiving more attention or not. Also, I dislike bandwagon fans. The teams I follow have a direct connection to my heart. Not saying u can't root for random teams, but don't jump ship to the new hot team.

Most of you don't follow me on Twitter. CP, poor guy, has seen more of my rants than anyone lol. I hate losing so damn much. I'm ultra competitive. So after certain losses, I lose it. Then I calm down again....until the next one. :)
 
Got to meet Kyle Schwarber yesterday while I was out and about I ran into him. Crazy man, was really a bummer he got injured right at the start of the season.

Also, met Javy Baez at my job, that was a crazy one.
I definetly need to go to a cubs game soon.
 
AR, All good, mah man. For what it's worth, I appreciate the reply. It's great to meet a fellow Sox despiser, too! 

Also, on the Fire front; I don't follow soccer but I've been to a few games and it's some of, it not (to me), best live sports I've seen. (YES, I've been to plenty of Hawks games)
 
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W. 68-41

8 shutout innings for Jake.

Season high 27 over .500

6 series wins and 1 four game split since break.

Won 16 of 21.
 
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