Perhaps That Word Does Not Mean What You Think It Means

Pitching Coach.

Yeah, that's two words, but, anyone take the time away from bashing the National League to wonder, maybe the Red Sox don't really know what they're doing over there?

I mean, Smoltz goes on down I-55 to the Redbirds and pitches like a born-again superstar. Penny goes into San Fran and struts his stuff against the defending champs. And Beckett looks like he's wondering where the meds are. Mabye, just maybe, John Farrell ain't all that. Who is that guy anyway? Yeah, when the Baseball World is looking at your resume for these reasons, it isn't a good thing.

Unless you're the Cardinals or Giants that is.

Story is it took about a day for the Cards and Dave Duncan (a REAL pitching coach) to figure out what was wrong with John Smoltz. Seems he was tipping his pitches. Really?! Ya mean someone paid to know these things, seven figures most likely, doesn't know this kind of things? And I thought Larry Rothschild needed some help...

Yeah, he still does. I mean, how many complete games do the Cubbies have this year? ONE. Guess who that was. Lilly? Good guess, best bet, but, nope. Big Z? Yeah right. That'd mean he'd be earning his paycheck. Dempster? Hell, young man Wells has more IP/GS than ol Red. Wells is definitely one of the very bright spots of the year though (10-7, 2.90 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and a .358 Opp SLG, seventh best in the NL). So, I guess that means they'll either dump him in the offseason or really overpay him (reverse psychology?) Anyway, back to the quiz. It's Sean Freaking Marshall. Yeah, that's right. The guy in the pen with nine starts all year. Fantastic.

Well, it's Ryan Dempster up against some noob named Eddie Torres tonight. Wait, that's the alien from Cheech and Chong. I mean Carlos Torres. A guy who's only pitched 9.1 innings in two starts this year. He debuted in the Bigs at the end of July. Sounds like the Cubs are in trouble...

If only I were kidding.

But, Red just had his 2nd best month of the year in August. He's got a 3.69 ERA, almost 6.2 IP/GS, 37/12 K/BB, but a tepid 1.31 WHIP for the month. His season's WHIP is 1.37, so I'm guessing that's about what to expect from him. That'd be fourth on the starting staff though, above, you guessed it, Zambrano's paltry 1.43 runners per inning. YIKES (that's 39th in the NL, 69th in the League). Would this be the time to mention Z is the third highest paid starter in all of Baseball? Oh, I've said that before? OK, I won't say it this time then...

So, rants aside, will Dempster show up tonight against the White Sox and give us a win? Let's hope so. The Northsiders need to run off about 10 straight to get back in this thing. Chances of that? Especially with D Lee getting the night off.

Let's just say I'm folding to any raise. And I'm only getting my money in if I'm already blinded.

That's not all that good. :P But, I still have my cards in my hands.

Go Cubs!

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