pebadger

I'm hoping for 9 errors, so long as they win.

Somebody get Ed a windmill ornamant for his lawn.

Better than nothing, but I don't like that AB all that much.

Is it a blessing or curse for Cubs fans that WGN doesn't have a full-time K-Zone or Fox Trax? Does it make it easier or harder to complain about the umps? I guess they only put it up there when it fits their homer slant.

You can say Hall is done and be right. The sad thing is, you can say Hall would be an upgrade to the Brewer lineup and also be right.

Is it probable to say that the way RR usually handles these things that this kid only gets very spotty PT with an occasional PH AB and Counsell/Wilson is the platoon until further notice? The worst part of all of this is that the price for whatever marginal player the Brewers were going to add (if any at all) probably went up.

I was going to make the snarky comment last night that even though the game is on WGN, I guess there really isn't any TV for today's game.

Looks like a good chance no Fukudome for the Cubs today. Could be headed to Cleveland per ESPN.

I messed up my ankle with a bad hyperextention once. The wierdest thing about it was that after the inital swelling went away there really wasn't any pain, but it was just felt so "weak" that it was hard to do anything with it. I had a pretty good pain threshold in those days but that was awful. Didn't hurt, but body just wouldn't respond to what I wanted it to do. In a race this close, every single day that Ricky misses could be the difference.

Game tomorrow is on WGN for Brewer fans able to watch there.

This is going to end up being a circle the date on the calendar day methinks.

Not sure posting a graphic that the starters have a 2.47 ERA over last 11 starts, yet the team is only 6-5 in those games is really a pick-me-up.

I was tinking about the possibility of a Z meltdown tonight, but it seems like there isn't enough of a reservoir of potential energy built up to really fuel a good one tonight. The Cubs being out of it has kind of drained some of the mojo. Of course we could always get one of those games that due to calls, breaks and an incident or two could also take on a life of its own. Just hoping for a good solid win. Or a Greinke perfect game. I'd take that, too.

I'm pretty sure the rule of thumb is to avoid camera shifts during the action except as needed to basically follow the ball. When you shift the viewpoint it takes viewers time to reorient their minds to what is going on; it may not be at all clear to the view why the focus has been shifted. Then, it takes time to shift your mind again once you shift back. The ball is the anchor for the broadcast. If things are going on in play on the periphery which end up having a big impact on what happens in a given sequence, the preference is to use replay (with explanation from the analyst) to provide that information after the fact. I know people complain about crowd shots and the like, but those shots are very often what a general audience will remember about a given broadcast: "that idiot in the hat" or the camera guy fixating on a particular person, or some kid doing something that will end up going viral on youtube. Many still don't like the ancillary video, but I think they underestimate just how much time needs to be filled with some video. The general viewer wants that stuff a lot more than a text graphic explaining wOBA. And what about sound? Can you image a baseball broadcast without crowd noise (even feeble crowd noise)? The non-baseball stuff is probably much more vital to the "feel" of a broadcast than most realize. Like it or not, all that stuff that hardcore baseball people dislike about broadcasts is probably very necessary to keep baseball ratings from sinking even lower than they are. The broadcast is entertainment (broadly-defined). I don't think they will be changing their formula anytime soon. One person noted upthread that if they wanted to see the crowd and stuff like that they'd just go to the games. I honestly think that's kind of backwards. Once at the game, you can largely ignore all that "fluff" and the crowd (with the exception of your immediate neighbors) and probably enjoy the game more as a hardcore fan than you can at home. You miss the immediacy of replay and some graphical information/breaking news that the broadcast might provide, but if you have a wireless device you can probably provide that for yourself.

Good win.

Going back to my "Kinda glad he caught it" post: Don't want to see anyone maimed or killed for both Dempster's and Braun's sake. Not to mention everyone watching. Now let's win this thing.

I'm actually kind of thankful he caught that.

I know that's not a record losing streak in the big picture, but the Mariners were .500 when the thing started. For a team at .500 that late in the season it has to be a record, doesn't it?

I know this is nitpicking, but it bothers me when a team score 2 in the first and the other team score 3 n the bottom of the same inning and the media guy says that this could be a come-from-behind win. To me, unless it's a walkoff, it's not a come from behind win unless you trailed at some point at the end of a complete inning. Yes, there are definitional exceptions when the lead you catch up to/surpass is sufficiently large to be remarkable, but otherwise it just seems kind of silly.

This is starting out like one of those games these teams used to always have at Wrigley when neither of them was especially good.

Hallelujah! Edit: Don't know why anyone would pitch McGehee away. That's all he's been looking for lately, so as to try to go the other way. Until he prvoes he can turn on anything I work him IN, IN, IN all night long.

I still want Rickie leading off. At least they were able to clear the 3B this inning.

What's with the pastel rainbow of guys by the Cubs dugout?

Beautiful. And thank you, BA, for calling that AB exactly what it was.

SWING THE BAT, NYJER!