adambr2

Where is Riske missing??? These pitches look like they're catching a good 3 inches of the inside corner!!

This is a milestone. That is the first time in the history of Major League Baseball, that I have seen the fake to 3rd, look to 1st thing actually work.

Where did that pitch miss?

Good grief. Three errors, 1 wild pitch, 1 passed ball. Can we please not hand the Giants the game today?

I doubt it. I've never heard that. You see guys with tins in their back pockets on the basepaths all the time.

Yeahhhh Braun!!

Riske is so good he can pitch 2/3rd of an inning with 1 pitch!

Hmm, both Parra and CV went 5 1/3rd and then ran into a wall. I hope this doesn't start taking an early toll on our bullpen.

No reason to be alarmed, but we really haven't seen Prince drive the ball much since late last year. 1 HR in spring training. Even the one he almost hit out yesterday looked like one that normally carries enough for him to get it. I'm not a nutritionalist, and I have no knowledge of whether a strict vegetarian diet is possibly detrimental to his homerun power. Probably not. But after 5 weeks of showing little power I do wish it would start coming around a little bit.

Like I said, Brian mentions "something special" and a no-hitter after the end of last inning, and it's immediately broken up in the 6th. I know there's nothing to it, really, but come on Brian, haven't you ever heard of superstition?

Yeah, the FSN cameras have been horrific. Zooming in on Davis last inning too when Parra had two strikes on him. Sure, why would I want to see the actual pitch at a crucial moment in the game when I can see a close-up of Davis' swing? I think the camera crew is trying to be a little too cute with everything, and consquently they're pissing everybody off.

He would need a quick inning or two, but if he actually kept it going they would let him throw 110-120 easily.

What a pitch!!! Froze him!! Then Brian goes ahead and ruins the n*-h***er by going ahead and announcing it.

First sign of stupidly aggressive this season. That was one of the pre-season concerns from some of us.

He could tie the MLB record tommorow, and set it on Sunday. Keep it going Rickie!!!

Anyone know who's pitching tommorow? Parra, or Sheets now that he's had regular rest?

Last year I really missed Sutton, just the way he called the game like you were watching it with another fan. I couldn't stand Brian, it seemed to me early last year that he thought he was still calling a golf game, he rarely showed any enthusiasm. Since then though, Brian has really grown on me. He's professional but doesn't temper his enthusiasm during a big moment anymore, which I love to see.

A 3 ERA, 20 win pitcher? I hope no one was realistically predicting that. I know we all loved Overbay when he was here, but we would have embarrassed the Blue Jays in the trade if Bush was really worth that. He's never really projected any higher than the bottom of a rotation. If he was really a 3 ERA, 20 win pitcher, he could be our ace. Bush had a great WHIP in 2006, which I think caused some to project him far too high. He's probably not ever going to be much more than a #4 to #5 pitcher. On the Brewers he is probably the 6th best starter when Gallardo returns.

We have ZERO road sweeps since June of 2004. Zero. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Cripes, you'd think eventually we'd win the last game of the series after winning the first two just on dumb luck alone. I don't expect to usually sweep on the road, but I expect to do it more than once every four years. For whatever reason, we're not able to play a complete series on the road, and we need to be able to. Winning a series means nothing, this isn't the electoral college. A series is nothing more than a few individual games. Each game counts the same. Winning a road series 3-0 is obviously different than winning one 2-1. People think that you should be happy as long as you won the series, the logic being that if you win most every series, you'll be in the playoffs. Problem is, it's not that simple. In some series', you'll be the team that gets swept -- you need to be able to do the same to counteract that.

Fine by me. We've had good success against Zito -- who, not saying he is bad, but he IS one of the most overrated and overpaid pitchers in baseball.

I've said that the Cubs rotation has fewer questions, but ours has more potential. Completely agree with this assessment fan. The Cubs rotation doesn't really have question marks, but it's more of a "what you see is what you get" kind of rotation. It's not bad, but at the least, I'd expect Sheets, Gallardo, and Parra to be potentially better than anyone in their rotation besides Z, and Suppan and Villanueva are about the same level as the #2-#5 in the Cubs rotation IMO. I still don't understand the logic in converting Dempster. I can't understand why they think he's a better option than Marshall, who obviously has more upside, too. It's not like Marshall was bad last year.

I hadn't heard that C-Pat is the permanent leadoff man in Cincy now, but if he is -- wow. Patterson is well beyond the point of waiting for his potential to pan out. I believe the guy has a negative career VORP. He's just not good. If they are that desperate for a CF/leadoff man, I'm sure we'd be willing to sell Gwynn high this year, although perhaps not to a division rival.

That's very true. I guess for me, it's just a simple matter of the fact that I don't see how Lilly-Dempster-Hill-Marquis is a better #2-#5 rotation than any other MLB rotation. It just seems/looks like a very average rotation to me. Not bad, just average. Z is a good ace, but he's not head and shoulders better than other NL aces.

I am still struggling to understand how the Reds came to the conclusion that Dusty Baker was the answer, but I have no problem with the fact that they did.

Most of the experts seem to, as almost all have agreed the Cubs are the heavy favorite to win the Central. But why? Rotation: The Cubs rotation is highly regarded, and I'm not exactly sure why. Zambrano is a true ace, no question. But after that, it gets pretty average. Lilly is a good #2 if he pitches like his '07 form, not so much if he pitches like the rest of his career. He's likely to at least slightly regress. Gallardo is head and shoulders above Lilly as a #2. I still don't think converting Dempster is the answer, although that remains to be seen. Hill is pretty decent, but a middle of the rotation guy at best. Marquis is an alright bottom of the rotation guy, but I doubt he'd crack our rotation. Although Parra isn't proven, I'd definitely say we have the better rotation when Gallardo returns, for now it's pretty close. Bullpen: This one is pretty close. I'd say Marmol is probably the best reliever in the Central, or at least one of the best. Both the Cubs and Brewers both have bullpens made up of pretty good, proven relievers with at least some reliable years in the past. The better overall bullpen may boil down to Gagne vs. Wood and who ends up being the better closer. Lineup: I think the Brewers lineup has a pretty apparent advantage. The Lee/Fielder battle is close, but Prince will put up superior offense. Weeks is preferable to DeRosa in the lineup, same with Hardy over Theriot. I'll take Ramirez over Hall, at least on offense. Soriano is solid, but he's just not going to match Braun's production anymore, especially being on the wrong side of 30 and maybe older than we think. Cameron is elite defensively in CF, and gets the nod over Pie until Pie can show signs of production at the MLB level. Fukudome and Hart are pretty evenly matched in RF, and that's being pretty generous to Fukudome, given Hart's already proven production in 2007 in the MLB. Soto is still a question mark, but I'll say Soto over Kendall. Kendall so far appears to be just what we needed at catcher, though. I'd say Pinella is a better in-game manager than Yost, but I don't expect that to be the deciding factor in a pennant race, and I do think Ned will learn from some of his '07 mistakes. So what am I missing here? Top to bottom, I don't see how the Cubs are a superior team. I know I'm biased, but I don't see any obvious reason that they should be a near-unanimous pick to win the Central.