Full Court Press

The best laid plans of mice and Cubs often go awry.

The fact that they've already bailed on plan "A" after only two games is a sign of panic that we usually don't see until early June.

April is a cruel time.

Soriano certainly does not appear to be a clutch hitter, so maybe batting first is the right spot or him. At least there,striking out and swinging at bad pitches are not as harmful. Theriot has not looked all that great either but came back a little bit today. Is Ramirez going to start hustling one of these days?

I'm so tired of people just throwing up their hands on Soriano and resigning themselves to batting him leadoff. He's a disaster in the leadoff spot. The rationale seems to be that he's a bit worse elsewhere, so we better have him lead off. What nonsense: as if how Soriano feels is more important than the overall quality of the lineup we run out there. Unbelievable, in fact. It's like the season is a therapy session designed to make Soriano comfortable. If he's a head case and can't hit in certain spots, then--provided you can't trade him, like we can't--you tuck him down in the five or six spot and let him work it out for himself. To say it's not a bad thing to have a sure out at the top of the order every game is about as poor a chain of reasoning as I've ever witnessed. The truth is, OBP is what should determine the top of the order, and that means it should be Fukudome and DeRosa, though I prefer DeRosa first so he doesn't have the double play opportunities the two man would. DeRosa's OBP was .370 last year, and Fuku looks comparable, if not better, so they should lead things off and set it up for Lee and Rammy. Hendry should be fired for the Soriano signing alone, and for not grabbing either Dan Haren or Erik Bedard to back up Z.

The Bottom Line is this: The Cubs are horrible in execution. It does not matter where Soriano hits. The Cub's hitters have the wrong approach and the consequence is poor execution. This is why we needed Joe Giraldi instead of Lou (sleeping) Pinella. Cubs need a coach that will teach execution at the plate and expect execution. The scouting report on the Cubs is throw them curve balls and high and away fastballs and they will swing. Case & Point, games one and two of this season. I know it's early, but this is the same crap year by year and I'm sick of it

Do any of you really think that Lou is really a good manager?? He is a joke, and you all know it but wont admit it. Get ready for your 100 years of NOTHING, scrubs.

I would rather start a game 1-0 with Alph leading off than a "conventionial" leadoff man. Ask Ted Lilly how he felt after one pitch today. All I ever hear is what Alph cannot do, but I would rather have him than not. And I don't care how much he makes.

Get Brian Roberts, whatever it takes. This is ridiculous...

Putting sorry-ano back in the lead-off spot is really a very bad idea. You had a full year to see him their last year and it was a flop. He strikes out way too much for a lead-off hitter, and does not get on base enough. This tells me Lou still has no idea in year 2 what team he has, or is sorry-ano behind closed doors forcing lou to put him in that lead-off spot to see more fastballs. either way the cubs still suck and cannot and still cannot score runs. Same old sad cubs.

Putting sorry-ano back in the lead-off spot is really a very bad idea. You had a full year to see him their last year and it was a flop. He strikes out way too much for a lead-off hitter, and does not get on base enough. This tells me Lou still has no idea in year 2 what team he has, or is sorry-ano behind closed doors forcing lou to put him in that lead-off spot to see more fastballs. either way the cubs still suck and cannot and still cannot score runs. Same old sad cubs.

Putting sorry-ano back in the lead-off spot is really a very bad idea. You had a full year to see him their last year and it was a flop. He strikes out way too much for a lead-off hitter, and does not get on base enough. This tells me Lou still has no idea in year 2 what team he has, or is sorry-ano behind closed doors forcing lou to put him in that lead-off spot to see more fastballs. either way the cubs still suck and cannot and still cannot score runs. Same old sad cubs.

It is not a sign of panic to go back to the previous plan when the whole concept of Soriano in the #2 hole was intended to be temporary. Soriano must be allowed to play the game the way has done in the past to great success. Theriot had two hits, yes, but both with two out and the bases empty. Leading off he has not reached base. This makes more sense, although I would prefer seeing Kosuke Fukudome in the #2 slot.

Soriano is not a lead off hitter. The lead off man should be the guy with the best on base percentage. it should be someone who can consistently get the bat on the ball and not strike out. I don't see Soriano being either of those.

Roman, I want you to learn something. That is not a significant change. At all. Most batting order changes aren't, but that is really, really meaningless.

Before: Two low-OBP guys batting 1st and 2nd in front of power bats.

After: Two low-OBP guys batting 1st and 2nd in front of power bats.

Wake me up when the Cubs stop shooting themselves in the foot and demote Theriot to the bottom of the lineup where he belongs. Literally every hitter in the Cubs starting lineup is better suited to bat first or second than Ryan Theriot, because they're all better at getting on base. The sooner the Cubs realize that Fukudome and his projected .400 OBP belong in front of Lee, Ramirez, and Soriano, the better.

Did you learn something today?

Soriano was the biggest mistake the Cubs ever made. He can't catch a fly ball and he is an awful leadoff hitter. The Cubs have to do it like the 2005 World Champion White Sox did it. They played great small ball and the pitching was great. The problem with the Cubs is the pitching has not been very good. Lou is not looking like the the World Champion Ozzie. Looks like a normal season for Cubdom.

sounds like cub fans are catching on to sori's act. Isn't he from the same town as sosa? What a coincidence, if hendry didnt' learn anything from the wasted years and money at the end of the sosa contract and then turned right around and signed Sori, well, hendry will never learn.

Maybe Sori had those little stick on things under his eyes on backwards and it was affecting his play. Just what the cubs needed, another self obsessed, immature, egotistical, under achieving, over hyped, over paid, fundementally flawed, non team player on the roster. Why don't they just give sori a boom box full of salsa he can blast non stop in the clubhouse that should get him out of his mental slump.

I expect he'll play just well enough to ultimately frustrate. Hendry should trade him as fast and as far as he can. Ship him back to Macphail in Baltimore, this signing of Soriano is Mcphails last gift to the cubs, and it will sink the team for the next 4 to 6 years, watch and see.

That's great! Now if he can cut back on his strikeouts and actually get on base once in awhile, steal bases, or hit homers like he used to with the Yankees, Nationals and Rangers, we got something to be excited about. Otherwise I'll continue to follow Brian Roberts' success with the O's. More importantly I would fire the hitting 'coach' and get someone who could teach these overpaid bozos how to get on base and score runs instead of playing Home Run Derby with each other.

One more thing; with Soriano leading off today and Dempster, our losing streak stopper, on the mound, victory #1 is a guarantee for today. Over/under on Dempster before being relieved; 4.2 innings pitched.

T.J. & Noles, well said.

I like to call Soriano "Slim Sosa," though to be fair to Sammy, he did take far more walks. Soriano puts up pretty meaningless numbers and wouldn't know clutch if he worked for an auto manufacturer. I'm so sick of hearing what spot in the order makes him "comfortable." I'm sure he's plenty comfortable drawing his 14 million a year -- stop whining and perform.

At least he walked today to drive in a run. Hopefully he'll start making contact with the ball as the season progresses. I'm not ready to write him off,and he did steal a base today as well.One could argue that free swingers are going to look foolish on occasion, but make up for it when they get those opposite field hits and homers. Let's hope today starts a ten or twelve game win streak.

T.J.....that's remarkable. You came up with the same two unlikely people to bat 1/2 in the Cubs lineup to maximize its production as I did. Congratulations! You win the "Not Stupid" award! Sadly, only you and Ricky are the only people on this blog that deserve it. And me. I am awesome.

For anyone that doesn't think the lead off hitters OBP is that important consider this little fact and if you don't believe it check the box scores and see.......if you were to make a bet with a buddy for any particular days full list of games and bet that in each game one of the teams would score at least one run in the first inning and that the winning team would score more runs in one inning of the game than the other team does in the entire game you would come out on top 90% of the time.

how about Pie, Fukudome, Lee, Soriano, Ramirez, blahblahblahblah, Pitcher

only because I want to start off with two left handers most of the time...

and I think Soriano can hit 40 hr's...fun 4 the kids 2 watch

and no..I don't care if we win or lose...cubs are Jinxed...I've dealt with it and you can too...still better than that bathtub with a big nasty ring around it on 35th between Duckapunch and Dodgabullet Blvd's...I can hear a scared Hawk, now....

"Well, it's Gang Night Tonight at Cabrini Field here at Socioeconomics Stadium".."Notice the heavily armed Pope Mobiles on the field today for the Umps and Base Coaches" .."Oh my God!!".."Steve Stone has just been shot..."..."derdeederdeederderder, he gone"

I can make a Hawk Harrellson fan throw a punch at me.... a talent I'm proud of

Sorry..I felt like picking on the little dickie zisks, George Lemons, and Chet Ortas for a moment...

Strawberry/Rhubarb...I like Pie

Kudos to you Mr. Modrowski. No Sox thread in sight. peas out.......carrots in.

Since I am in the Bahamas, can I legally make bets on tonights games for the Mainland Bloggers?

This is just a Blogosophical question. In case any feds are reading.

Yeah stuck...it's funny if the cubs won 3 of the first five on the road against division opponents, and helped their main competition to a 0-5 start, there'd be about three threads on the cubs....1 for fukudome, 1 for Soriano, 1 for the team. I don't know if roman is a sox fan or not, I know his favorite team is not in chicago...but can the only other .500+ team in chicago get a thread please?

Won them with their alleged two best pitchers not pitching well I should add, and they shouda won game 1, the Sox that is.