If You’re Looking for a Chicago Cubs Message Board
The Cublogoverse is loaded with quality sites – including quality message boards. But I thought I’d take the opportunity to suggest checking out the best Chicago Cubs message board out there: Sons of Ivy.
No, this is not an advertisement. I’m an administrator over there – I just thought, hey, if I like the place, and you like me (you do like me, don’t you? Don’t you???), you might want to check it out.
Check it out. Good discussions, good people.
The Cublogoverse is Consolidating
The Cublogoverse is always expanding – there is a new Cubs blog out there, on average, every week – and contracting – those same new Cubs blogs seem to last, on average, a week. Occasionally, though, it does both at the same time.
Enter Exile on Clark Street. It’s a new Cubs blog, consolidating the talents of the now-defunct Thunder Matt’s Saloon, and the not-yet-defunct Wasting Away in Wrigleyville and College of Idiots. If the new blog sticks to the style that made the preceding three a good read, it should be a worthwhile stop. Tell them I sent you. Or else.
The Cublogoverse is Tweeting Dawson to the Hall
The good guys at Cubscast have put together a Twitter campaign to show public support for Andre Dawson’s Hall of Fame candidacy. And hey, sports writers uses Twitter like whoa, so this is not one of those futile online petition things. So if you’re a Twitter user, tweet #Dawson4TheHall at 1:20CT repeatedly. Your country needs you.
The Cublogoverse is Shrinking
The Cublogoverse has always been a fluid space – shrinking and expanding as new blogs pop up, and old blogs fade away.
Usually, Cubs blogs drift out without much fanfare. A post every day becomes every other day. Then every other week. And then the weeks go by. And then, sadly, it’s RIP time. Blogging is a tough business, believe it or not; particularly in the Cubs world. There are too many of us, and not enough of you.
So it is rarified air in the upper echelons of the Cublogoverse, and even more rarified to close up shop once you’ve reached those heights. But that’s what Another Cubs Blog has decided to do. ACB will be going out on its own terms: when the season ends, so too will five years of one of the best Cubs blogs.
Despite the name, ACB was not just another Cubs blog. It has boasted a vibrant, opinionated, and intelligent community for years. ACB has always offered a unique blend of grousy analysis, statistical review, and great ideas. And it will be missed.
Want Matt Murton Back?
Well, here’s the Cubs’ chance. To make room for (juicing) reliever, Juan Rincon, the Colorado Rockies designated Murton for assignment.
Murton’s quick trip to Coors Field left him eager for more. He’d been with the club from April 29 to June 4 and hit .267 during the stretch, but the veteran of four big league seasons with the Cubs and A’s had increasing difficulty getting playing time with the emergence of rookies Fowler and Gonzalez. Murton hit .321 for the Sky Sox with 10 homers and 71 RBIs in 86 games.
“I had a lot of success early,” Murton said of his summer with the Sky Sox. “I went through a few weeks when mentally it was getting a little hard, because I knew I was ready, but the opportunity wasn’t there. I really feel like over the last week to 10 days down there I really started to play like I was capable of, hitting the ball the way I expect to. It’s hard for the guy that’s kind of been in and out, because you always know where you’re capable of being and you want to be there helping the team win, but at the same time you’re in another place for the time, and you’ve got to occupy that time, too. Really for me it’s a matter of the next few days getting some quality at-bats and seeing what happens.”
Murton has to go through a 48-hour procedural window to clear waivers, given his status as a player with three years or more on a big league roster, and he is hopeful that after finishing August with the Sky Sox he’ll be back with the Rockies for the playoff push. MLB.com.
I would imagine that the guys at Thunder Matt’s Saloon are hoping for the Cubs to put in a claim.
Dave Kaplan May Be the Most Overpaid Writer in the Cublogoverse
Chicago Cubs writer Dave Kaplan set off a firestorm yesterday when he posited that Carlos Zambrano May Be the Most Overpaid Player in the Game. That suggestion, alone, would have been enough to subject Kaplan to ridicule. After all, one need look no further than Zambrano’s own teammates – Alfonso Soriano, Aaron Miles, and Ryan Dempster come to mind – to find a player less worthy of his salary.
But Kaplan went much, much further. His diatribe lit up the Cubs starter as one would expect from Paul Sullivan. Clearly, Carlos Zambrano must stop sleeping with Cubs’ writers’ mothers.
I am so sick of hearing that Carlos Zambrano is the “ace” of the Cubs staff and that he is considered one of the best starters in the baseball. That is such a pile of garbage and it is about time people start to call this guy what he really is, a fraud.
This, while Zambrano is recovering from a bulging disc in his back, which he has played through for years. Very strange that the injury was seemingly the impetus for the rant. Kaplan continues to go off, after the jump.
The Cublogoverse is Grading the First Half
Although generally I avoid these large link dumps, there were too many good mid-season reviews/commentaries on the Chicago Cubs’ 2009 season in the Cublogoverse to only note and comment on a few. Thus, link dump.
Bleed Cubbie Blue literally grades the Cubs and all of the players on the Cubs. As a whole, they get a C+. Generous for an underachieving .500 team, I would think.
Another Cubs Blog criticizes, line by line, that very BCB grading job.
Not Qualified to Comment also grades the Cubs (a theme developing), and overall comes up with a C-. Sounds about right. Maybe still too generous given the composition of the payroll team.
Cubbies Crib evaluates the team, without grading, and concludes that the Cubs are very lucky to be at .500.
Desipio wants you to chill out on the sky is falling stuff, given all that the Cubs have already seen happen this year – and played through.
The Friendly Blogfines offers the good, the bad, and a little bit of hope and advice for the second half.
The Ghost of Paul Noce suggests that the .500 start to this season is further indication that the window of opportunity for this team is closing.
View From the Bleachers, among other things, has some excellent advice for Lou: just play Jake Fox.
In Case You Weren’t Paying Attention: the Cubs Suck with Runners in Scoring Position
The Chicago Cubs’ offensive woes this year are well-documented. But it’s not just a general suckiness offensively that’s burdening the club, there’s a specific, exceptional problem: the Cubs are the worst hitting team in baseball with runners in scoring position.
Naturally, it’s possible to score without runners in scoring position. But, um, a whole lot of runners score from second or third. They just don’t do it for the Cubs. And until they fix this problem, they’ll continue to lose a lot of 2-1, 3-2, even 1-0 contests.
Our friends over at The Friendly Blogfines put together an excellent piece highlighting the Cubs’ failure to hit with runners in scoring position and it’s worth a read. Some of the lowlights, after the jump.
