2007 Cubs part 2:The Big Three of the Infield

The Chicago Cubs infield corners were and are the strength of the Cubs’ offense. On first base they have one of the premier hitters in the league in Derrick Lee. He is a complete Baseball player! Since coming over to the Cubs from the Marlins he has been a consistent power hitter that works the count and a major run producer for the team. He also has very good speed and he hustles the bases.  Last year he was hampered by first a broken wrist and then a family crisis, which kept his bat out of the lineup much of the year. The team really missed that offense. If he returns to his previous form this year his bat will often carry the Cubs. Another great thing about D. Lee is his defense. His glove on the field makes every defensive member of that team a better player. He not only plays great defense but just the reminder of someone as defensively talented as Lee playing first base helps everyone in the game feel and perform with more confidence. The only negative I worry about is the family crisis from last year. Family has to come first and if the troubles with his daughter worsen or start weighting down his shoulders his heart might not be in the game.

On third base is another premier hitter in Aramis Ramirez. He does not have the plate discipline of Lee. But his power numbers and run producing ability has been second to only Lee on the team in the past. Add his power to combination of D. Lee and Soriano (from the outfield) and the Cubs have the start of a real potent offense. He has been accused of not hustling (probably true at times), but I think a lot (not all) of the lack of hustling can be associated with his worry about the nagging groin injury he has been fighting for the last couple of years. After watching what Nomar G. went through the last several years with his groin injuries, I am not sure I would want him pushing that muscle region too much. His defense has always been suspect but it has improved since coming to the Cubs. Part of that is due to D Lee being at first base, but last year even after Lee went down to injury, Ramirez’s defense was solid. He starts slow when the weather is cold (lmao, he looks like he is dressed for February at times in the Chicago spring season) but as the weather heats up so does his bat. I am expecting big things from Ramirez with the murders row that the Cubs are building to line up with him.

Another key component of the Cubs infield is the catcher Michael Barrett. He is a good hit for average hitter with a good eye, run producer, with a good slugging average that should include twenty or more homeruns in a season. You can bat him any spot in the lineup and he produces. He also has enough plate discipline and hustle to bat second in the lineup if needed. Second is a batting position that the Cubs as a team had trouble with in the past. Added into the meat of the projected lineup his strengths and discipline will help protect whoever hits before or after him. His weakness is his defense. He is a converted catcher and he is still learning the position. He has improved his throwing and receiving but he still has room for more improvement. Also his game/pitch calling needs improvement. I would really like to see the team coaches work hard on his defensive liabilities during spring training. I also think it would be interesting for the team to start having him shag some flyballs. If he looked above average in the outfield they could rest the LH Jones against LH pitchers he struggles against and play the RH Barrett in LF while giving the very good sub Blanco more time behind the plate without losing Barrett’s bat in the lineup. Blanco does not swing the bat as well as Barrett, but Blanco’s defense and game calling skills are considerably better than Barrett. Barrett’s bat in the lineup will help this lineup shine. A benefit if they were able to play him some in the outfield, would be to relieve some of the body stress and damage a catcher goes through in the season. These three combined with Soriano and the rest of the outfield should make this a team hard to keep off the scoreboard.

Next post; the infield nightmare of second base and shortstop. Sigh, someone please pass the aspirin.

 2007 Cubs: part 1          part 3           part 4

Anna Nicole Smith – Lived fast, died young and had a good-looking corpse

Well, after several days of testimony the judge made his decision in the trial determining where Anna Nicole Smith is to be buried. In the end he made what most experts seem to think was the only decision he could have made from the start of the proceedings. He turned the dead body of the late Smith over to the court appointed guardian of her five-month-old child. He also recommended that Anna be buried along side her recently deceased son. The evidence that was displayed at the trial displayed little doubt that Smith desired to be buried by her dead son. The only conflicting question revolved around her clarity of mind when making decisions before her death. And despite that it was evident that her faculties were flawed by abusive drug use – it seemed there was little doubt with anyone in the gallery, except Smith’s mother, that Smith only cared about being near her dead son. Though the involved parties involved in the trial had supposedly worked out their differences; there are now rumors that Smith’s mother has already filed an appeal. That does not surprise me as this trial was just the springboard for several trials that will revolve around Anna Nicole Smith, her now parentless five-month-old child and the prospect of becoming the administrator to the “yet undetermined” millions of dollars that Smith’s baby daughter will inherit. I managed to watch a great deal of the trial and the cast of characters in this trial will make some biographer(s) very rich. Most of the individuals seeking control of Smith’s dead body came across to me as pitiful as the short-lived life of Anna Nicole Smith.

The adjudicator in this trial was a self-described eccentric Judge. He came across as the probable love child of Judge Judy and Judge Ito. And though there were many rumors about future intentions, he came across to me as a caring individual that was most interested in getting the parties to see past personal ambitions and take notice of the baby’s best interests and what Anna Nicole Smiths personal wishes would have been concerning her burial. It evidently worked for a short time. Only time will tell what type of lurid memories will be gathered and used as weaponry by these combatants. One can only hope they will not forget every dirty piece of laundry they display is one more dirty piece of laundry the young baby will have to live with when she is grown. And we can also only hope that the opponents keep most of the trash-talk behind closed doors.

The mother of Anna Nicole Smith, as you would expect seemed deeply upset, despite not having personal contact with her daughter for over a decade. Evidently there was a lot of animosity between the two and there was some very ugly accusations being tossed around. As I watched her I was given the impression that Smith’s mother had a lot of remorse and guilt. The kind of guilt you feel when an estranged family member dies and you sit back and think coulda-woulda-shoulda. Of course by then it is way to late to mend bridges, even if the bridges were once repairable. I do not know if they were, but there was some testimony that indicated both possibilities. Whatever the truths – the living will have to endure whatever twangs of guilt and loss that are left behind until their life is over. It is a sad lesson of life many people help co-produce.

The most compassionate individual of the trial for me was the ex-boyfriend/photographer/probable biological father of the baby, Birkhead, whom seemed to be the only one in the last years of Smiths life that made an attempt to talk Smith away from her drug habit. During his testimony he continually broke down emotionally when discussing Smith and her death. From the testimony I heard it seemed to me that his and Smiths relationship was a passionate-tempestuous affair that ended badly. And from the events described the ending was probably heavily influenced by his attempts to end her drug abuses.

The other individual involved, Stern, was the person I had the most problems with. It is not that I doubt that he had great feelings for Smith. I think he did. But he struck me as weak and as the Judge put it – an enabler for Smiths drug abuse. I was especially disgusted with his actions in the video shown during the Thursday section of the trial. The video was being shot, by Stern with a camcorder, while Smith was under the influence of drugs. In less than a minute of the total tape that they showed: he directed her actions and made contemptible comments humiliating her pitiable condition at the time of taping.

As I watched this trial unfold I found myself on an emotional roller coaster. One thing that seemed to come from the testimony to me was that Anna Nicole Smith was a controlling individual. The individuals she surrounded herself with, even the ones that were emotionally tied to her, lived off her fame and money. She was also living in a fantasy where she identified herself as the next Marilynn Monroe. She patterned much of her life to parallel Monroe and even her eventual death paralleled Monroe’s dramatic drug-like ending. Also, like Monroe, when her life was challenged, she abused drugs. When her son died her life fell apart and the drug abuse got to the point it evidently claimed her life. I found myself feeling empathy to disgust to anger. I was mad about the drug abuse and the constant enabling of her controlling nature and drug abuse by her entourage, including Birkhead and especially Stern. When I watched the video I was so disgusted at Stern I had trouble believing what I was watching. I was touched by her Mothers and Birkheads visible despair. But I also realize that they are not all completely to blame. They must accept and learn to live with their part in this tragic story. But Ann Nicole Smith had her part in this tragedy. Much of it was most assuredly scripted by her controlling nature. It came out that she expected exclusivity of her entourages’ abilities. The testimony painted her as demanding and when she did not get her way you were out of the circle. Her whole movement to the Bahamas revolved around keeping Birkhead away from their soon to be born child. There was plenty of blame to go around for everybody. And before it is over the fingers will continue to shake and point at each other and Ms. Smith. In the end the biggest loser will be Ms. Smith’s baby, as she will have all this dumped on her as she matures. This poor kid is probably doomed to a lifetime of analysis. I read a book back in High School by Willard Motley titled “Knock on Any Door”. In the book the main character had a poignant motto that went “Live fast, die young, and have a good-looking corpse”. My guess is that Anna Nicole Smith lived that axiom. I am sure I am not the first to say it but – May she find the peace in death she lacked in life!

Gold-Digging Link

2007 Chicago Cubs, Improved or more heartbreak? Part 1.

Baseball spring training is under way. I have been a Chicago Cubs fan for more years than I am going to count or acknowledge. For anyone familiar with baseball that means for most Cub fans a lifetime without a World Series champion to cheer for. For those unaware of the Cubs misfortune; the last time the Cubs were participants in the World Series was 1945, my dad was a young boy at that time. They lost that year in the World Series. The last time they actually won a World Series was in1908. That has been awhile. They have come close to returning a few times in my lifetime but they never have been able to make it over the final hurdle to get back into the WS. This year for the first time in my lifetime, the team management has spent some serious money (close to $300 million long term) in an effort to build a contender. Yet I am not sold that all the money they spent is going to make a huge difference in the goal of reaching a 2007 WS title. So I am going to post my look at the 2007 Chicago Cubs team as I observe it right now.

The 2007 outfield.

Last years starting leftfielder was Matt Murton, he hits right/throws right. It was his first year as a full-time starter at the position on the MLB level. His negatives were that his fielding and throwing arm was suspect at times and he did not have much power or speed. His positives were that despite struggling to hit homeruns at times he did display some power and he led the team in batting average. Plus he had a great eye for the strike zone and worked walks, something lacking on past Cubs teams. Another plus was he is a hustler in the field and when running the bases. His hustle got him on base several times more than many other players with similar speed most of which would have tanked the sprint for the base. His overall hustle reminded me of a Pete Rose. He looks like if someone would work with him on his defense he will be a talent in the league. However for all his positives and leading the team in batting average it looks like the team is planning on letting him ride the bench as they went out and pursued a left-handed hitter and it has been printed that they are considering a platoon with Murton and the new hire, Floyd. Since most of the pitchers in the league are Righties it could mean Murton could ride the bench a lot unless he has a huge spring training and stays hot for most of the season.

Next the Cubs have spent mega-millions in obtaining a new player to play centerfield. Alfonso Soriano was signed for $136 million over an eight years contract. He is a premier hitter with speed, power and hits for average. Plus he has a strong throwing arm, something the Cubs lacked last year in the outfield. He will add a lot of pop and should be a run producer for the team. The negatives are; he has never played centerfield – last year was his first year playing the outfield and he played leftfield. Before that he had always played in the infield and was suspect on defense. His defense in leftfield last year was decent especially considering it was his first year playing there. If his defense is more like last years than his previous history he will make a good addition to the Cubs outfield and his offense will more than make up for his errors. If it is like his earlier years look for a $136 million dollar three-ring-circus in centerfield. In my opinion another negative is where they plan to bat him in the lineup. He has so much power and run producing potential that in “my opinion” he should bat in the middle of the lineup, maybe third. But he has evidently cut some deal before he was signed to bat leadoff. If he is leading off that means he will bat a lot of times without people on base, especially when you consider as the lineup roll around, he will follow the trailing hitters of the lineup who have the worst on-base percentages. That combination means a lot of his power hits will be for little gain, including a lot of single shot homeruns. What a waste of power.

The starting rightfielder is Jacque Jones who had a terrible start last year, but came on and by the end of the season had a respectable year. If he has a good year from start to finish, rightfield should be fine in his hands. But if his bat starts out cold, the fans could be a problem. Last year after his terrible start the fans were relentless on him and unjustly rode his back the whole season. He should make a good left-handed bat hitting sixth or seventh in the lineup. One of his negatives is his arm is not a strong throwing arm, plus last year he played the season with an injury to his throwing arm. The team needs his arm to be stronger and more accurate than it was last year, as runners were taking extra bases on his poorly executed throws.
The rest of the outfield will probably be Cliff Floyd, who was signed as a free agent to give the team a veteran left-handed hitter in the lineup. Floyd is a proven leftfielder that will offer up better defense and more power than Murton, when he is in the lineup. Normally I would assume him to be the fourth/substitute outfielder but I have read rumors they are planning on platooning him with Murton. I do not like that idea, but hey, I do not own the team. I just buy their hats and sports gear so they can pay these guys millions of dollars to do something I would do for free. The other main outfielder will probably be Angel Pagan, a journeyman outfielder who can catch and has great speed but does not hit for much average or power. There are also rumors of the Cubs young prospect, Felix Pie, making the team. But he struggled hitting at AAA level last year so he will probably start at AAA level again barring any disastrous injuries in the preseason to the projected 2007 outfield. There have also been rumors of trying their speedy young second baseman from 2006, Ryan Theriot, in the outfield.

My summary is that the talent they have in the outfield should hit, get on base and drive-in/score runs no matter which of the four to five projected outfielders they play. Their question will be on the defensive side of the game. The outfield had a tendency to soft-toss and miss the cutoff man when throwing the ball back towards the infield in 2006. And not a one of them had the arm strength to throw out runners on a consistent basis. The whole returning outfield needs to work on catching and throwing the ball. Soriano will be a wild card on defense. He could stink it up or he could be fine. The real deal he offers in the outfield is he has a cannon for an arm. Offensively this outfield is an improvement from 2006; defensively the jury is still out.

More on the 2007 Cubs at a later date.

2007 Cubs: part 2          part 3          part 4

The Movie Industry Continues Chumming the Waters of Life for Boomer Cash!

Can you separate the Boomer generation from the birth and adolescence of Television? Probably not, and evidently the Movie Industry also seems to think along the same idea. They are always dipping into early TV for programing ideas. And with the ever-increasing quality of computer-aided graphics, the movie industry has been reaching into the treasure trove of televisions cartoon shows from the boomer generation. We have seen the likes of Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Thunderbirds, George of the Jungle, Dudley Do-Right, The Flintstones, Richie Rich, Scooby Do, Inspector Gadget, Josie and the Pussycats, Fat Albert and Mr. McGoo. I was sooo disappointed that they skipped over the The Archie Show series and chose its sister show Josie and the Pussycats. Other than the original Flintstones Movie, the original Scooby Do Movie and a few cartoon crossovers like Spiderman, Superman and the X-Men, which were really big time action comics that struggled to survive creatively in the cartoon world, most of the rest were mediocre to just plain stinker “cartoon to movie” regenerations. But I guess it was inevitable they would continue to expand their horizons and dip even deeper into boomer classics, trying to grab some of that Boomer cash before we are all killed off in some “Twilight Zone” world disaster. It appears one of the coming boomer favorite cartoons to make the jump to the big screen will be, Underdog, sans the long deceased voice of Wally Cox. Maybe I am wrong, but I have a hard time believing that this will be much better than many of the other revived cartoon characters sent to bat at the big screen. Maybe some creations should just be left to live in past memories and/or regenerate on the cartoon networks instead of in a big-screen box office flop. Pardon me, but it is late and I have to go take my Underdog super energy pill so I can stay alert for Coast to Coast AM. And I would not want to miss the next UFO conspiracy.

Looking for the Beef

More and more POTUS wannabes are raising their hands and screaming Me-Me-Me pick ME. Yet I have yet to hear or read a well laid out plan to tackle the terror problem in Iraq and the rest of MidEast from either party’s pretenders to the throne. Most of the pretenders seem to talk versions of either “stay the course” or “cut and run” in Iraq and skim over or ignore the rest of the terror situations. In other words an increase in party speechifying, lacking substance other than party kiss-ass. I have come to expect this “hate on and point fingers at the other guy” type of mentality from both parties and their candidates. The only positive at addressing the Iraq problems I have seen as of late, has been the Bush appointment of a new General (who is supposed to be made up of the right stuff, whatever that is) to run the Iraq showcase. I hope he is the Beef Bush needs to fix Iraq. Since Lincoln seems to be getting referred to a lot of late: the new General seems a fitting accompaniment to the Lincoln allusions, as Lincoln had to change Generals a lot before he found a winner warrior. Of course Lincolns final choice for General was a brutal bloodletting military individual that would be castigated by the media in our modern feel-good wars. So rather than let the two-party POTUS rhetoric place me in an inescapable comatose state I have been spending a lot of time reading on the Internet. While jumping around the various links I travel I ran across a couple of links I found interesting.

The first link is to the Counterterrorism Blog. It has several interesting looks at the terror problems we face. Included is a piece about hate filled radical school textbooks being used in Britain. There is also a piece talking about Iran and sanctions. The recent pact in Palestine is talked about. There are some interesting articles about Hezbollah. One talks about continuing conflict with Israel and another takes a look at the possibility they are getting ready to start up fighting within Lebanon. They examine terror all around the world. If you have not visited the site, I think it is worth a look.

Link1

The next links are from a site by a former convert to radical Islam, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. The first link is an excerpt from his Readers Digest article talking of his attraction, conversion and eventual rejection of radical Islam.

Link2

The next link is a list of his publication and Internet journals talking of terrorism and it’s effects. I have not read them all but I find it interesting to read thoughts from someone who had been seduced into the movement and then left.

Link3

Trips Around the Blog World

I thought I would share a few more sites that I have been visiting. Since all but one are blogs; you will have to determine the validity of the information you will find at the sites, should you accept this mission to click the links! (I really have this crazy urge to play the theme to Mission Impossible and say “this tape will self-destruct in sixty seconds.” It must be some residual aftereffects of the S*p*r B*wl Game.)

 The first two links are from an Iranian blogger. He is taking the current hostility rumblings a lot calmer than I would if I lived in his region of the world!  It is commented on and visited by people from many different places and it has links to many other similar regional blogs. Caution, I will warn anyone visiting the link or the links on his blog, that there are some posters and links on his blog that have a very hostile attitude for USAmericans. I think the blog offers up an interesting look at a more moderate Iranian view than we are normally exposed to about how we are viewed overseas.

Islamic Republic Shows the Finger

War with Iran 

The next link is a blog offering up insight about the suppressing of blogging information many mid east Bloggers face from conservative Islamic governments.

Persian Impediment

The next two blogs are Western blogs that keep track of happenings in China. I have been trying to read  information about China for a long time. I started keeping a closer look about the time of the Dubai port outrage. One expert who was talking about the incident was also talking about how China had managed several US ports for years.  They also seem to be getting control of several ports south of our borders also. They worry me a lot more than the Dubai ports dealings.

China e-Lobby

China View

My last link is to a board where you can link to newspapers from around the world. Some are in English (which is all I can read) others offer up their native language.

On-line Newspapers

Comments and opinions are always welcome.

Same time, another place, next year Tony?

The Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 29 to 17 in the 2007 Super Bowl (oops I said it again).  The score was close until late in the game, and the Chicago Bears still had a chance to win the Super Bowl (please do not come after me Mr. NFL/KGB agent for saying Super Bowl) until a late fourth quarter interception returned by the Colts for a touchdown drove the final nail in the coffin. The weakness of the Chicago defensive line was evident, without Tommie Harris anchoring the line the defense struggled to have any effect on putting any pressure on Manning passing game. Manning was hitting the short and intermediate passes all night for healthy chunks of yardage and first downs. The only time they had any effect on Manning, when passing, was when they compromised the defensive designs by blitzing. The question on defense during the off-season will probably be, do they stand pat with the defensive starters that they have or try to grab a new monster for that front line. The other defensive question could be, will they have to replace Briggs or will they be able to keep him on the team. Thomas had a good running game. But the line exhibited the same visible weaknesses it did in several other games from the past few weeks. They Bears offensive blocking did not dominate the opponents defensive line. The passing game was substandard for several reasons. Grossman was not pretty but it was really hard to judge Grossman as he is still an inexperienced QB. But it was evident that the offensive line was too porous, which helped rattle him. The line needs to be more of a dominant force if the Bears are going to be successful and take home trophy. The play calling was also suspect as it was also evident that Grossman was having trouble gripping the ball. He was losing the snaps and the ball was floating too much for him in that rain. When they did start working on the short to intermediate passes they had much better luck advancing the ball. It was too little and too late to matter. Also the coaching staff needs to become more aware of Grossman’s limitations and ability. This was a growing experience fro all, I hope. The team fought until the end, a very good sign. I was amazed at the ability of the defense at keeping Manning and Company out of the end zone during the second and third quarters. They really did bend but not break. The Colts could have put that game out of reach early. But the Bear defense stepped up with big plays stopping the Colts offense at critical moments of the game, even though they spent an inordinate amount of time on the field during those quarters. That problem was created due to the Bears sputtering offense. My hope is that the Bears will obtain some dominating studs to anchor that offensive line in the off-season. I also want to see them keep Greise to compete for the starters spot; I think it will only help Grossman improve. I was sad to see the Bears lose, but it was clear that the Colts were the dominant team of Super Bowl XLI. My biggest hope is that the words out of Lovie Smiths mouth when he talked to Dungy after the game were, “Same time, another place, next year Tony?” What does everybody else think?

The Super Bowl Alternative, for the Football Impaired!

For those not into the football or that do not like the Colts or the Bears, the ultimate “cute escape” has a new 2007 volume. The Puppy Bowl 3 is offered as the Super Bowl (oh no I said Super Bowl, the NFL Secret Police will probably hunt me down) alternative on the Animal Planet. As for me it will be in my PIP box (just in case the Bears stink it up); Ya gotta love a bunch of little puppies skirmishing on the TV gridiron! WooHoo!

Goooooo Bears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pizza – Pizza – Pizza. A Nice Hot Pizza!

What is it with the love affair people here and across the nation have with national chain pizzerias? The only ones I truly think offers up a tasty pizza is Papa Johns and Wise Guys.  And though I think Wise Guys makes a very good pizza, I think Papa Johns is a little meager on the toppings.  And though Pizza Hut (12 in the QC?) seems to be the big hit here and across the country I think their pizza tastes just a cut above a piece of grease soaked Texas Toast  in dire need of toppings. I can remember when a group of friends and I decided to order in pizza a couple years ago, and try as I would for another choice, Pizza Hut was the only place that all of them would agree on. Yuck, I do not mean to offend, but that pizza is last on my list of places to eat pizza! I remember getting the pizza and as I was playing with my piece I folded it over like a sandwich. As I squeezed the pizza together, grease just poured from the crust. There had to be enough grease roll out of that slice to comb back my hair until the next millennium. The toppings were sparse and it was tasteless except for the tallowed crust. Godfathers crust to toppings ratio is way too out of balance also, unless you order a specialty like a Taco Pizza. Of the remaining ones, Dominos & Little Caesars, I can eat Little Caesars but Dominos is not a place I order from either. We have some very great places to get pizza in the Quad Cities. Harris and Franks has been producing quality pizzas long before my family moved to this area (and before I was even born) that are tasty and stimulating to the taste buds. There have been many other independent Pizza places open up similar to them that I enjoy, including Clints, Sluggers and my new favorite Fields of Pizza, in East Moline. And no one is even close to Happy Joes for originality when it comes to Pizza masterpieces. Also independents like Alfanos, Huckleberrys, Stashus and Shortys all make very good pizza products. All of those Independent places leave my pizza tasting faculties in a state of bliss. Plus there are pages of great pizza eateries in the Quad City area. Yet when I suggest pizza to a group, one of these National Chains always rolls off someone’s tongue as best pizza. Please, edible, sure! Best Pizza, hardly! The only upside difference I see that national chains offer (besides a glut of horrible advertising, “is that an upside to the consumer”) is that many of the independents do not offer delivery. Who cares! If I have to choose between taste and delivery, taste wins every time (unless I am so sick I cannot travel and/or cannot bribe someone to do the legwork for me). Heck, before I will pay big money for most National Chain Pizzas, I will pop in a good ol` Tombstone frozen pizza, their taste and crust beat the heck out of most national chain pizzerias in my tasting experiences. Plus I do not have to leave the house when a Tombstone is the choice. MMM, pizza sounds good for the Super Bowl. Maybe a nice Tombstone classic sausage, doctored up with some sautéed green peppers. (I would order out but I just ordered out pizza two days ago!) Well, I guess I gotta go get that Super Bowl spread set up for Sunday. Go Bears!