I’m posting purely because it looks like the guys name is “Cubbie” and I can’t help but to link him to the Chicago Cubs.

Without further ado, I present “Cubbie dances to Beyonce’s Single Ladies”

Scott: “If the Cubs and the White Sox both make it to the World Series?

Obama: “I would be going.”

Scott: “Who would you root for?

Obama: “Oh, that’s easy. White Sox. I’m not one of these fair weather fans. You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer, beautiful people up there. People aren’t watching the game. It’s not serious. White Sox, that’s baseball. Southside.”

ESPN Video (about the 2:20 mark)

Via BizofBaseball.com

The Chicago Cubs’ humiliating postseason collapse was not the result of shaky pitching, nonexistent hitting or an infield as porous as Missouri limestone.

I heart Tenneessee tattoo parlors

Rather, the club’s demise was preordained at a Tennessee tattoo parlor some 600 miles from Wrigley Field. That’s where lifelong fan Jimmy Burroughs got the Cubs logo etched onto his right shoulder blade. But that’s not all he got. Carved ever-so-lightly within the Cubbie “C” he found the words, “Go Cards.”

Via STLToday

PS.  Is anyone else concerned that the recipiant of the tattoo is a child therapist?

The Cubs were pretty awful in the first two games at Wrigley Field, where they were an NL-best 55-26 during the regular season. Game 1 starter Ryan Dempster matched a career high with seven walks in 4 2-3 innings in a 7-2 loss, and each of the four Chicago infielders committed errors in Game 2, leading to a 10-3 setback. A move to Los Angeles didn’t help the Chicago offense, which scored a league-leading 855 runs this year. The Cubs had only four hits in 17 at-bats with runners in scoring position in the first two games before going one for 11 in Game 3. 

Via Associated Press

So without further ado, the random baseball thoughts of a Cardinals Fan circa October 2008.

The season of the 2008 St. Louis Baseball Cardinals - It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride with a fast start and surprise out of a team anyone didn’t really have much hope for, but the first half the season was quite enjoyable.  The quality of their games lead to some fist pumps, high fives and some exclaims of “See, no one should ever count out the Redbirds!”  On June 16, 2008 I even went so far as to write a prediction on my whiteboard of the Cardinals winning the World Series.  Alas, I may have been wrong.

The second half though exposed the details of their very evident flaws…the bullpen.   There is the well documented problems of the bullpen, their roles, and actually closing out games.  The Redbirds lead the NL in bullpen losses (30) and blown saves (30) and you can certainly point to that being a reason for missing the playoffs.  The offense was actually pretty good.  1st in the National League in batting average and second in my favorite stat of OPS.

Albert Pujols vs. Ryan Howard for MVP – This an April Fool’s Joke right?    Simply hitting a lot of home runs does not equate to being Most Valuable.  Statistically there are many ways to slice and dice the numbers and both Howard and Pujols come out ahead in them, but the true value of a hitter is seen through OPS.  OPS meausres the value of every at bat and those numbers don’t lie.  Albert Pujols 2008 OPS was 1.114 (73rd best of all-time) and he had 104 walks and only and Ryan Howard’s is .880 or more than 21% lower. Howard also had 199 strikeouts.  OPS takes the home runs in to account, and the walks, and the strikeouts, so for me that sums it up best.  Yes, Albert didn’t lead the Cardinals to the playoffs but neither did Andre Dawson in 1987 when you won the NL MVP for a sixth place Cubs team!  BTW, Ozzie Smith and Jack Clark finshed 2nd and 3rd that year respectively.

Don’t be a knucklehead like THIS guy.  Be honest with the observations.

Chicago Cubs 2008 play-off run –  They lose game one and game two, so are the cubbies on the brink of failure?  We’ll find out late Saturday night, early Sunday morning when the game ends for us Central Time Zoners as to whether of not the curse continues.

Outlook for 2009 Cardinals – More than 86 wins?  A better bullpen?  Some clearity in the outfield?  More second basemen playing the outfield?  Will Dunc be back? Mo pulling another excellent trade out of his sleeve?  We’ll see….and comment on it over the winter.

Sorry to hear that.

Choke Image courtesy of  Sanftleben.com

Of late the starting pitching has been…mediocre. You get one good start out of a pitcher, then he comes back with a poor outing and that goes for all of them. Sans a few little glitches, Adam Wainwright has pitched the Ace’s role that he was given this year.
Relief, could use some relief. Pitching too much, and too often will wear out these gray beards in Springer, Villone, Franklin and Izzy. Izzy….he’s lost his killer instinct. God knows he usually walks guys, but that’s sometimes on purpose because he’s confident that he can get the next one and he doesn’t want to lay one up. But, he’s lost his teeth and it shows on his face. He’s become the equalivant of a ground ball being hit to Steve Sax….you don’t know where it’s going to go.

Hitting or lack of. Heck last night the boys couldn’t even hit Pittsbugh’s Phil Dumatrait. No offense Mr. & Mrs. Dumatrait, but your son is’t what I would call an over powering strike throwing pitcher. Last night in six innings he threw 88 pitches and a mere 53 were strikes. That’s barely 60%. And for the year he’s got 26 Strikeouts and 18 walks. The Cardinals SHOULD have got all over this guy….but they didn’t.

Mediocre, Mediocre, Mediocre.

So we may be seeing the true 2008 Redbirds right now, but I hope not. I hope this is just a first quarter lull. We’ll see.

So to make myself feel better and to distract myself from the Cardinals woes, let me point out an interesting Cubs bashing note.

Before Dusty Baker got the Cincinnati Reds job this spring, the 14 previous Chicago Cubs Managers NEVER got another full-time Managing job in the MLB again! How bad is that? Here’s the list.

Dusty Baker 2002 – 2006
Bruce Kim 2002
Rene Lachemann
Don Baylor 2000 – 2002
Jim Riggleman 1995 – 1999
Tom Trebelhorn 1994
Jim Lefebvre 1992 – 1993 * Interim gig with 99 Brewers
Jim Essian 1991
Joe Altobelli 1991
Don Zimmer 1988 – 1991
Frank Lucchesi 1987
Gene Michaels 1986 – 1987
John Vukovich 1986 * Interim gig with 88 Phillies
Jim Frey 1984 1986
Charlie Fox 1983

Info courtesy of ESPN The Mag.

So who’ll win the series? The scheduled starters are as follows:

Hill (1-0, 3.79) vs. Wainwright (3-1, 2.79) Friday
Wainwright has been HOT and Hill is just now back in the rotation.
Advantage: Cardinals

Lilly (1-4, 6.46) vs. Lohse (3-0, 2.36) Saturday
Teddy Gasoline has been rocked all year and Lohse is playing likes he’s a Scott Boras client looking for a better deal. Oh wait, he is a Boras client.
Advantage: Cardinals.

Marquis (1-1, 4.45) vs. Wellemeyer (2-1, 4.14) Sunday
On paper it looks even, but Jason “Chip on his Shoulder” Marquis usually pitches well when revenge or scorn is at issue.
Advantage: Cubs

So if the Redbirds could take two out of three that would be great. In fact, I fully expect them to get AT LEAST TWO if not sweep. Because they’re better? Not necessarily. The Cards have The Factor behind them. The Factor being that NO ONE EXPECTS THEM TO BE THIS COMPETITIVE! They are soooooo over-achieving from what the experts expected that they have no pressure on themselves!

On the other hand, the Cubs are holding ALL the expectations, all the pressure and everyone including the PLAYERS are talking about the 2008 World Series for God’s sake!!!

The Cubs may need some help from Abe Lincoln, a beaver, and a deep sea diver to hand the weekend.

Gloating or Mea Culpa to follow next week.

“You know what the funny thing is?” he added a moment later. “I wouldn’t have caught it, anyway.”

Via ESPN