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Text of the page (random words):
xample ryan dempster was switching from closer to starter and ended up winning a career high 17 games and finishing sixth in the nl cy young voting kerry wood was making the transition from starter to closer and finished with 34 saves regarding that last paragraph i d say the cubs had such regular season success partly because of those experiments well done lou update zambrano wins a silver slugger permalink comments 2 cuban s out or not 2008 11 11 09 02 by phil bencomo the sun times reported thursday that mark cuban has zero chance of receiving the approval from mlb necessary to purchase the cubs but i m not convinced consider the source of the speculation an anonymous major league baseball source the entire basis for the sun times report is one person whose proximity to bud selig or even a single owner is unknown one would assume that the sun times trusts this anonymous source surely this source has proved accurate in the past if his or her bold statement is enough to prompt a nearly 700 word article especially considering that no other relevant mlb sources are quoted what s that you say look at the lead paragraph and sources close to commissioner bud selig sounded an alarm this week wait a minute sources that s plural right not a typo but i thought wait let me check first quote s attribution a major league baseball source said this week that s one source second attribution that same mlb source promised that s still one source oh i see it now it s those darned copy editors of course missing that little mistake it should read another mlb source promised because we all know that the sun times or any media organization bastions of truth and justice that they are would never sensationalize the words of a single unattributed source in order to sell papers boost traffic and revive a flagging beat that should now provide fodder for at least a week it s not like newspapers are you know starved for attention or anything ready to sacrifice integrity if it means printing more papers sarcasm aside the story if true has interesting implications sam zell saddled with debt must wring as much cash as he can from the sale of the cubs mark cuban reportedly bid more than 1 billion and remains interested in purchasing the club says the daily herald but what happens if mlb blocks a sale to cuban who could very well be the high bidder craig calcaterra says a court may have to decide just that i have no idea if mark cuban still even wants to buy the cubs but if he does he is basically being told that he s going to have to sue to do it or more to the point he and sam zell are going to have to team up to do it given that the only court to ever consider the matter has ruled that the anti trust exemption does not apply to the sale of teams such a suit stands a good chance of success in my view i don t know if given the tribune s current financial position zell is obligated to go down that road in order to sell to the top bidder but from what little i do know of such matters it wouldn t surprise me but all of this depends on cuban being blocked by mlb which is whatever one report based on one anonymous source says not a certainty the sun times added today that tribune co has set a november 26 deadline for bidders zell s still looking for his billion but the wall street journal says it s slipping away along with zell s plan to keep only a five percent stake in the team no word on whether cuban would be willing to buy a minority stake permalink comments 1 from the ashes 2008 10 13 20 37 by phil bencomo so i ve got this image bouncing around in my head of the cubs 2008 season it should be a pretty picture of a remarkable season evoking pleasure and awe a division title 97 wins a no hitter a season for the ages right but that s not how we remember seasons we remember how they end this picture in my head which i suppose is really more like a video clip is sort of a sadistic cross between the hindenburg and the titanic totally cheesy i know lou piniella stands at the helm cub players bustle about making sure this enormous boat blimp launches successfully and all is good on the earth what more a celebrated writer for a national magazine writes a cover story proclaiming this behemoth s magnificence and even the significance of success the world cannot contain its excitement the boat blimp rises from the sea to glory and well you can guess how it ends here s part of the reason i waited so long to write this post reality s great cruelty in the end love always brings suffering the greater the love the more devastating the loss to suffer over the loss of something unloved is to not suffer at all there s always next year sob yep my scribblings in the aftermath of the sweep i had more and nearly wrote an entire post based on them but that piece of paper filled with so much angst and self pity has since been destroyed you re welcome it s only natural to be upset after all i did just watch the winningest cub team in my lifetime follow for six months a perfect script like a westminster champion follows its owner only to reach the playoffs roll over play dead and never get back up it was simply torturous not unlike my ensuing post would have been to read again you re welcome but that was 10 days ago and i ve moved on that s the way of the cub fan the way of our favorite absurd franchise remember 2008 for all of its good times lick the wounds from the bad and hope for a better tomorrow what more is there to do what happens when you don t wait stuff like this wow last week during my alternating angry depressed stage a friend remarked that there are only two ways for the cubs to win a championship and you wait until now to enlighten everyone i asked look he said either they re so good unbelievably good that they just won t and can t lose or else they squeak into the playoffs as the team that gets hot late then surprise everyone and coast through on momentum to 2009 and either 130 or 86 wins permalink comments 1 riding the red bull 2008 10 02 12 16 by phil bencomo joe posnanski are the cubs mortally wounded by losing game 1 i say no the cubs are still the better team but they obviously need a big performance from carlos zambrano and man oh man it s scary to put 100 years of pain and the passion of cub nation on the red bull himself my only prediction is this zambrano will either be utterly dominant or he will absolutely suck i don t think there s an in between not tonight not for carlos exactly let s not skirt around the hard fact this game is a must win if the cubs are to have any chance at winning the series and to win zambrano must pitch well tonight and the cub lineup must start hitting in short the cubs must play like a 97 win team that s a lot of must s but it all starts with carlos with whom there is rarely any middle ground between brilliant dominance and spectacular failure his two mid september starts may forever define him a no hitter on the 14th and an eight run 1 2 inning debacle five days later the no hit carlos pitched after 11 days of rest tonight he will throw after seven i can t say which zambrano will appear but it will be obvious from the start if he s on i will sigh with relief if he is not i can only hope that lou piniella makes not the same mistake trying to squeeze just a little bit more from a pitcher with nothing left to give two nights in a row permalink comments 2 dodgers at cubs nlds game one chat 2008 10 01 14 30 by phil bencomo we re going to try an experiment folks you see dodger thoughts has to put it conservatively a very active comment section cub town does not i know this any chat thread here will pale next to the chat at dodger thoughts but i d still like to provide a place for cub fans to mingle among themselves now that said if the number of participants shrinks below or fails to ever rise above three or four myself included i ll probably shut it down and send people over to dodger thoughts they re civil people over there i promise and i m sure it ll be far more enjoyable than spending three hours chatting essentially alone with me ahem it s up to you readers if you want to chat here during the game go for it i ll be around but if the place is looking deserted and it shouldn t be too hard to tell i ll make an announcement thanks ryan dempster at home 2008 14 3 2 86 era 109 hits allowed in 129 innings derek lowe on the road 2008 5 6 4 42 era 106 hits allowed in 93 2 innings hardly a complete picture of the match up but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy so we ll go with it the wind s blowing in and fall is in the air let s start off right boys just win dodgers at cubs 5 30 p m permalink comments 13 the expanding man 2008 10 01 06 22 by phil bencomo several times each week my legs grow agitated as i suspect any anthropomorphic body part would if it too spent hours each day stored under a desk while important tasks are carried out above preposterous my legs exclaim you know full well just how relative of a term important is just think of all the important things i can do i try to explain the valid reasoning and necessity of sitting at my desk forcefully adding this is not a democracy but legs chafe at such tyranny it seems and before i can muster the militia to quell the treasonous revolutionaries i am unwillingly out of my seat walking out of the building and into the great unknown i try to console myself choosing in my mind some plausible destination that i will in truth never reach i instead wander aimlessly led by legs that weave from street to street on naught but a whim but frightened i am not perhaps i was once but the legs always grow tired or bored after a time and order is restored once more i ve come to cherish such walks in a way when my feet carry me unimpeded over the always growing mountain of tasks to be completed and down into the deep fertile valley of boundless thought my mind wanders in such times of quiet solitude some of my most inspired thoughts and ideas come to me as i walk and in similar situations that leave the mind free while the body performs some thoughtless rote act these thoughts may meander toward the cubs but they just as likely will not i have spent the last several days searching for words to fill the void in my head where the 2008 cubs ought to be and inspiration eludes me but tonight my legs stirred once again as i walk steely dan s deacon blues plays in my head it d been lodged there in my head for a few weeks but yesterday it suddenly broke free where before it was a soft buzz that occasionally floated through my mental chaff and into consciousness blues now plays endlessly only dropping into the background as if on some mental audio ducker setting when i am distracted from it by thought or stimulation i ll learn to work the saxophone i ll play just what i feel drink scotch whisky all night long and die behind the wheel they got a name for the winners in the world i want a name when i lose they call alabama the crimson tide call me deacon blues i walk and i think why have i struggled so mightily to find words for the winningest team of my lifetime i ask myself it was pointed out to me last week that largely i only write posts of substance following a poor showing that is i thrive on the cubs setbacks and in turn my own misery i m not sure that s completely true but it lands close to the heart of the matter have i become such a cynic that i cannot motivate myself to write anything positive for fear that something dastardly is close behind to negate my enthusiasm my hope my carefully crafted words do i even have the capacity for optimism anymore the lake comes into sight perhaps my character has become irreparably flawed i think returning to my thoughts consider among cub regulars only ryan theriot 95 and kosuke fukudome 92 have ops numbers under 100 swap mike fontenot for mark derosa at second derosa for fukudome and put jim edmonds in center over reed johnson and only theriot has an ops under 111 and that every starter in the cubs playoff rotation recorded an era of at least 110 and that the bullpen though a bit shaky at the lower rungs is among those due to throw the bulk of the innings outstanding and i can muster nothing i ve taken to appending if they get there to the end of all my statements regarding the cubs and later playoff rounds and it s entirely indicative of the shell that surrounds me deflecting unbridled passion and keeping me safe from its potential harm then something clicks but is that shell i ask silently protecting or depriving removing the scar tissue may leave me vulnerable and may result in great emotional pain but does not the chance at boundless ecstasy outweigh any cost a life steeled against potential harm is steeled against both good and bad what kind of life is worth living in anticipation of failure maybe i think i can change maybe i can open myself to the world as never before and leave both parties better for it you call me a fool you say it s a crazy scheme this one s for real i already bought the dream my feet slow to a stop they ve been carrying me along the lake the sun has since set but it is hardly dark i look ahead my gaze running parallel to the shore chicago lit up in all its glory dominates the view and fireworks fly from navy pier into the night sky i stand and i watch minutes pass and even as i turn toward home i cannot tear my eyes away yes warmth fills me despite the cold and i smile this is the night of the expanding man i take one last drag as i approach the stand i cried when i wrote this song sue me if i play too long this brother is free i ll be what i want to be permalink comments 2 bibbidi bobbidi boo 2008 09 20 10 08 by phil bencomo after one batter the magical sheen melted away there would be no repeat performance perhaps not even a scoreless first frame after two mortality and reality with it perhaps with its infecting weaknesses in tow reared its head gnashed its teeth and bellowed to announce its presence and after three it was clear as a clock tower s chime an august pumpkin he was and after an unforgettable game a pumpkin carlos zambrano became again many reasons physical and psychological have been bandied about as cause for zambrano s horrific no hitter followup fatigue injury pressure distraction the list grows long in one week we ve seen both the best and worst of zambrano the real carlos stands somewhere in between but in october toward which pole will he lean the cubs options are myriad but i d give carlos a few extra days of rest before his final regular season start which should be time enough to work through his struggles and rest up for october extra rest did wonders sunday and could straighten zambrano out again if not to quite the same effect the magic number sits at one ted lilly s on the mound just clinch it boys cardinals at cubs 2 55 p m permalink comments 2 about the toaster baseball toaster was unplugged on february 4 2009 frozen toast catfish stew and so to fade away fairpole baseball toaster to be unplugged...