Side Project - Turning "Two"

My buddy and I decided that since we absolutely love Ryan Theriot of the Chicago Cubs that we would create and dedicate a blog to just him. After checking Google, it seems that almost nothing on the web is dedicated to Theriot. So without much further ado, please check it out at:

http://turning-two.blogspot.com

We are looking into registering a more official DNS name for the site and I will update you when we do.

Unfortunately, I may have jinxed Theriot by creating this site yesterday as he had a costly error on a routine double play that led to 4 runs in the 7th inning. Nonetheless, I believe it to be a rare occassion and still fully support our starting shortstop.

That was a tough loss and I am beyond ready to see Zambrano take the mound with some confidence. I really wonder what that Sunday night game vs the Cards could have done for him. He looked to be fully in command of anything and everything he threw that game....too bad it only lasted 3 innings due to rain.

We can still consider this series successful if Ted Lilly leads us to a victory today over newly promoted Manny Parra of the Brewers. All signs point to a Cubs victory, although our track record vs pitchers we know nothing about, probably is not the best.

GO CUBS GO!

Marvelous

The game last night was simply marvelous. I watched the first few innings, saw the Brewers take a lead and then I had to leave for a bit. I came back just in time for the bottom of the 7th inning....and what an inning.

Congrats goes to Jacque Jones. I have a superstition that if I bad mouth JJ when he comes to the plate, he delivers. Its been working great in the 2nd half, and last night was no difference. A huge 2-run double.

Then of course, my boy, Ryan Theriot delivers the clutch one hopper to the pitcher....that only he could jinx. I think it was his blazing speed that caused Linebrink to fumble the ball. I'll take it anyway it comes....and it seems Theriot is always delivering.

GO CUBS GO!

Cards now in 2nd place....watch out.

Where have I been?

Its been quite a while since I had any significant posting on my blog. I apologize. I got a little busy with work and my brain has been in a literal lock of any unique thoughts.

I don't really know what to write about the Cubs. They're in first place. Great. But, I don't feel like we're playing anywhere near first place levels. The Brewers are awful. Anytime the Cards get real close we have been able to hold them off.

Soriano is back tomorrow. Man oh man do I hope he ignites us like he did last time he came off the DL and we went on our amazing run. Lou says he'll be back in the leadoff spot, but I am nervous and disagree. I had a quad injury my sophomore year of high school with soccer. After a few days everything would feel fine, but as soon as you step into the heat of competition and take that first "real" burst of speed or explosion...."POP"! You can not simulate full speed in practice, no matter what you do. I know he won't be stealing any bases....which makes me wonder why put him back at lead-off? Yes, I know he doesn't want to bat anywhere else. But Lou should trump him and say, sorry buddy. You aren't a speed threat right now, so you'll bat 2nd, 3rd, or 5th. Theriot is our speed threat and he should be batting leadoff.

Honestly, I'd like to see the following order: Theriot, Lee, Soriano, Ramirez as our first four. We need to try Lee somewhere other than #3. Maybe Soriano will like #3.

I hope I am wrong and I hope Soriano plays with a fury the last month of the season. Everyone knows we need him. Our offense has been anemic of late but I am quite impressed with our pitching. Still, we have lost a lot of low run scoring games. And that is just not fun. Its fun winning 2-1....not losing 2-1.

Its time to take another series from the Brewers.

Go Cubs Go.

Hallelujah! Z is still a Cub!

Wow did I need some good news. The Cubs have been frustrating me this past week since my last positive posting. All season long I've feared we'd lose Zambrano to the stupid Yankees all because of the impending sale of the Cubs and the uncertainty.

Well today that has all changed!

Big Z is a Cub for at least 5 more years!

5 years, 91.5 Million. I don't care what it cost, we desperately needed his anchor in our rotation!

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7130616

GO CUBS GO!

Pleasant Surprise

The Cubs have won 2 in a row in Coors field which is quite an accomplishment in my mind considering what the Rockies did to the Brewers earlier this week. When I determined the pitching rotation was going to be Lilly, Marquis, Hill, and Marshall, I figured we had to win the Lilly game and then hope for one other. Well that one other already came in the form of a stellar Jason Marquis start. He pitched 6 and 2/3 innings giving up only 1 un-earned run, 5 hits and struck out 5. Quite a dominant performance at Coors with red hot hitters such as Holliday, Hawpe, Tulowitzki, and Atkins.

Everyone knows I was really against the Marquis signing at the beginning of the year, but I finally have to admit he's been a solid addition. He did struggle there for a bit after a great start and I figured he'd continue to decline throughout the season. But he has put in a couple of really good performances lately and we really need that to continue.

Jacque Jones and Matt Murton homered.
For Jones he hadn't homered in what seems like forever (June 1). For Murton, it was his 2nd HR in as many days at Coors Field. For his career, he is 7 for 17 (.411) with 3 HRs at Coors in 4 games. Extrapolate that out over 81 games and he'd have 60 HRs at home if he were a Rockie. Maybe Jim Hendry can inform Dan O'Dowd (Rockies GM) of that stat and perhaps we could exchange Murton for Matt Holliday? Just wondering.

Anyway, Jones and Murton basically have to keep starting everyday until they prove us otherwise. They are too hot to bench and with Murton on pace to be the greatest player of all time (as long as he plays at Coors), I am sure Lou will stick with them. Additionally, our best defensive outfield of the season would be Murton in LF, Pie in CF, and Jones in RF. Let's just go with that and hope Soriano is back in a few weeks.

Ryan (my boy) Theriot actually went 0-5....I had to rub my eyes when I saw that. He has now only gone hitless 4 times in his last 22 games. Remarkable. I love the guy and frankly I love him WAY more in the leadoff spot than I do Soriano.

Playing Colorado is just what the doctor ordered. We are playing with more offensive confidence now. Let's keep this streak going. Let's cheer for once for the Astros and for them to beat the Brewers. We are only 1/2 game back....Let's take that lead and not look back.

I've heard before that you need to just win series in baseball. Win all your series and you'll have a .667 winning percentage (pretty stellar). Well I've also heard that if you take the first 2 games of a series, you then have to go for the kill. Don't just be satisfied with the series win. We've won the first 2 of 4 from the Rockies. We now need to win 1 more. And if we win today, let's pull off the 4 game sweep!

GO CUBS GO!

Crunch Time

Well I was starting to formulate my thoughts on the state of the Cubs right now....and then I read this. I think it says just about everything I was thinking and then some. Give it a read. It's at one of my more favorite blogs (Thunder Matts Saloon). Bravo to the author Rich....dead on. Why should I try to write anything else?

http://thundermatt.com/2007/08/crunch-time.html

Barry Bonds was Carlos Beltran

Congratulations to Barry Bonds. He is the all time homerun king in MLB with 756 HRs and now counting. I am so happy and relieved it is all over because now I can hope that ESPN and Sports Talk Radio shows can go back to being normal. I personally don't have a whole lot against Barry Bonds and could care less who owns the record, but on my drive in this morning I couldn't help but question the number of radio hosts and callers that said it did not matter if Bonds took any enhancements because he would have been the greatest baseball player of all time even without performance enhancing drugs....REALLY?

I did hear one host question this statement by stating that Bonds numbers were good but not the best of all time prior to the 1998/1999 time frame of when steroid use supposedly started with Barry. So I started thinking....who exactly would Barry have been compared to today during his first several years. It had to be someone with power and speed. The first name that popped into my mind was Carlos Beltran. I was still in my car and had no idea what the numbers looked like, but I thought they might be similar. So I asked myself...do I consider Carlos Beltran on pace to be the greatest player of all time. My answer was a resounding NO.

So lets look at the facts. I took Carlos Beltran's first full 8 seasons (1999-2006). And then I took a similar 8 year stretch from Barry Bonds (1989-1996). I even did not count Bonds first few years of 1986-1988, of which he had smaller numbers. So, you could say I helped skew the comparison in Bonds' favor. Here is what I found.

Total Games played: Beltran (1162) Bonds (1176) - A Wash
Total ABs: Beltran (4501) Bonds (4035) - Due to Bonds' extra walks and Beltran leading off in KC
Total Hits: Beltran (1264) Bonds (1207) - Advantage Beltran (slight)
Total Runs: Beltran (814) Bonds (853) - Advantage Bonds (slight)
Total Doubles: Beltran (240) Bonds (243) - A Wash
Total Triples: Beltran (52) Bonds (34) - Advantage Beltran
Total Homeruns: Beltran (203) Bonds (269) - Advantage Bonds
Total RBI: Beltran (756) Bonds (828) - Advantage Bonds (slight)
Total SBs: Beltran (224) Bonds (295) - Advantage Bonds
Total Walks: Beltran (519) Bonds (891) - Advantage Bonds (huge)
Total Ks: Beltran (824) Bonds (599) - Advantage Bonds (huge)
8-year BA: Beltran (.281) Bonds (.299) - Advantage Bonds

So you can see after Bonds' first 3 seasons but before the alleged steroid use, I would argue that he was better than Carlos Beltran over Beltran's first 8 seasons thus far. But, I would also argue that the numbers are fairly similar. Sure Bonds' edges him, but does he edge him enough to warrant saying he is greater than Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, or Joe DiMaggio? I don't think so.

My whole argument is to refute those that say Bonds was already going to be the best player even before the alleged steroid use. I think that is crazy. That is like us now saying that Carlos Beltran is on pace to be the greatest player ever. It's a joke. It just so happens that Barry Bonds became an absolute animal from 2000 - 2004. He also has played an incredibly long career (which is worth saluting) and has been pretty steady year in and year out. Perhaps his consistent longevity is more remarkable than anything else. But, if Beltran has another 12 seasons on his current pace would that make him perhaps as good as Ruth, DiMaggio, Williams, or Mays?

As a child growing up in the 80's and 90's, I don't even remember thinking that Bonds was the best player in baseball at the time. Sure I was biased towards Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, and Mark Grace...but I honestly remember thinking Ken Griffey Jr. was probably the best player. Just look at his 8 year stretch from the link...YIKES! Bonds was listed in my mind with guys like Dawson, Puckett, Gwynn, Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripken Jr, and others. He was definitely an All-Star, and a top player of his time, and worthy of All-Century status...but I really have to question greatest player of all time. Maybe he's the best I've ever seen....but would he have been the best I've ever seen if his 4 monster years were more similar to his other solid years? I'm not so sure.

Barry Bonds is a remarkable player, definitely First Ballot HOF Worthy. But I have a really hard time ranking him in the top 3 of all time. Maybe he is the best of my lifetime and maybe we just have so few people that actually can testify personally to Babe Ruth's skill with us anymore. Williams, DiMaggio, and Mays were not on TV like Bonds is every night....but I would still put all 4 of them ahead of Bonds purely on word of mouth testimonies. Maybe I'm the idiot.

Coco Crisp meet Mariner Moose

So I saw this on ESPN the other day....while they had better footage than this, I love the crowd reaction....audio is really needed for the full effect.

I don't feel so good right now

While I was in Japan, the Cubs played some decent ball. They took 2 out of 3 against the Reds and split a 4 game series with the Phillies. But upon my return is when I started to not feel so well.

The Mets series opened with 6-2 loss; a game the Cubs did not play well in. I was then able to attend on Saturday and watch Ted Lilly shutdown all but Moises Alou in a 6-2 win. All 6 runs came after a 2 out infield single that Ryan Theriot was called safe at first on. Even in the stands in real time I thought he was out. Nonetheless, the Cubs capitalized with that opportunity and scored 6 runs after it. We did get a hit batter and a walked in run, but who's counting? BUT, the point is that the Cubs did not hit well in that game either. Then came Sunday night, the climax of my sickness. Coming into Sunday night, I didn't necessarily expect to win, but I did expect to play better than we did. Our offense was anemic again. But Alfonso Soriano coming up lame between 2nd and 3rd to make the 3rd out was enough to make me vomit. While I have a lifelong interest in the Cubs and wanting to see them make the playoffs, my fantasy team is also firmly dependent on Soriano. Today's report says a torn quad and now out up to 6 weeks. We are really going to miss his bat.

Our OF will likely consist of a platoon of Murton, Jones, Floyd, Pagan, and DeRosa. It could be worse, but still, losing Soriano was like when Lowell left Wings. The show just fell apart.

My sickness continued last night against the Astros. Rich Hill was extremely encouraging giving up just 1 run, but the Cubs offense could not muster more than 1 run themselves. Losing in the 10th inning stung with the Brewers losing yet again.

This offense needs to snap out of the funk or I am afraid we could slip further behind the Brewers. We are lucky they've been losing lately as well.

So come on Ramirez and Lee. Put this team on your back and get hot together. Theriot, DeRosa, Murton, Kendall....time to be the great role players I know you can be. Let's focus on this together, make the playoffs and get Soriano back just in time for it.

GO CUBS GO!

Slurp Shop

Tonight our colleagues in Japan took us to a Ramen Noodles restaurant. When I heard that is where we were going I have to admit I was initially disappointed. Ramen has never really excited me....pretty boring and not very tasty. I know guys that lived off Ramen in my fraternity in college (mostly the Maruchan brand pictured here), but I couldn't do it. It was just not filling nor tasty enough for my liking.

We walked into the restaurant and it was a pleasant atmosphere. 2 very large irregular shaped tables made out of tree trunks filled the entire room. Each table sat about 12 people....so you were sitting next to or across from strangers....but I found that pretty humorous. Here is why.

Directly across from me was a mother and a child of about 6 years old. As most Japanese men do, I am assuming the husband/father was still at work. Here is a nice mother and son dinner together out of the house. They received their ramen before we did. Now I know my wife will be reading this and I apologize to her, but the mother was gorgeous. One of the most beautiful women I've seen so far in Japan. She was very well dressed and proper. But then the eating began. Evidentially as I learned once our food arrived, it is proper to slurp your noodles in such a place. Well this women basically buried her face down near her bowl and start grabbing at the noodles (again with CHOPSTICKS) and loudly slurping them into her mouth. This lasted for a good 15 minutes. I almost laughed out loud 3-4 times. Here was a gorgeous, proper Japanese woman, slurping her food like a 5 year old. But with the chopsticks....you really have no choice.

Now to the ramen...My bowl arrived and I took my first bite. INCREDIBLE! So good I took a picture for remembrance. I am not kidding. If ramen in the U.S. were like this, I probably could have lived off of it in college. The soup had such a great flavor and the strips of pork in it were as tender as any filet I've had. I could not get enough of it.
Then I realized...I was slurping like everyone else. It was so good and you wanted so much of it so quickly, that slurping was the only option. You could only keep the noodles on the chopsticks for a few seconds so you moved them to your mouth as fast as possible and slurped them away. I told my colleague that I wanted to go back to the U.S. and open such a restaurant. He said there is a very similar chain that has a few in the U.S. and he thinks there might be one in Chicago. We are going to follow up on that tomorrow in the office. If there is one in Chicago, I am getting the address and going there next time I'm in the city.

What a far cry from Maruchan Instant Noodles! I can now say that I LOVE authentic ramen.