Although it took longer than I had hoped, the Cubs wrapped up the National League Central Division tonight with a win over the Reds, coupled with Greg Maddux notching his 347th career win in a game against the Brewers. Now the Cubs only need 11 more wins to erase 99 years of bad memories. Go get 'em!
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Quote of the week - from Cubs fan Bill Murray when talking about following the Cubs in their quest to clinch the Division Title: "I've never been to Cincinnati, and I was trying to keep that record intact."
Friday, September 28, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Cubs Winning! -- Barry's Ball to Visit Space Station?
The Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds last night with an impressive 3-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning. Of course, they still left 11 runners on base, something that will have to be fixed if they want to start winning consistently.
I get the feeling that the NL Central race is going to come down to the last day. Especially if teams like the Astros keep rolling over for the Brewers. The Astros removed Woody Williams and Roy Oswalt from their projected starts against the Brewers this week and replaced them with two rookies with ERAs over 6.0. The Reds are out of the race too, but the Cubs will face their #1 and #2 starters twice over the next two weeks.
* * *
The person who bought Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball is letting the public decide what to do with it. He has set up a website to allow fans to vote on the treatment of the ball. The options are 1) send it to Cooperstown, 2) brand it with an asterisk and then send it to Cooperstown, or 3) put it in a rocket and fire it off into space. Although I thought #3 was interesting - out of sight, out of mind - I ultimately felt like that was the easy way out - just ignore the issue.
I decided to vote for #2 - mark it with an asterisk. As much as I hate to admit it, Bonds was probably the best player of my generation to this point (A-Rod, Pujols, or some other younger guys could surpass him). He has won 7 MVPs (he won 3 in the early 90s, before he was "enhanced") - the last person to win even 3 MVPs was Mike Schmidt. I have no doubt in my mind that he used drugs to keep himself in shape to play baseball at this level well into his 40s. So, even though he was a great player and would have been a HOFer even ignoring everything since 2000, I still feel he deserves an asterisk on his record-breaking ball because I really doubt he would have been able to reach that number if he wasn't using drugs to elevate his physical condition.
I doubt I would put an asterisk in the record books next to his stats, because he technically never broke any rules that baseball had in place. But, marking the record-breaking ball at least recognizes the fact that he didn't get that record in the proper way.
I get the feeling that the NL Central race is going to come down to the last day. Especially if teams like the Astros keep rolling over for the Brewers. The Astros removed Woody Williams and Roy Oswalt from their projected starts against the Brewers this week and replaced them with two rookies with ERAs over 6.0. The Reds are out of the race too, but the Cubs will face their #1 and #2 starters twice over the next two weeks.
* * *
The person who bought Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball is letting the public decide what to do with it. He has set up a website to allow fans to vote on the treatment of the ball. The options are 1) send it to Cooperstown, 2) brand it with an asterisk and then send it to Cooperstown, or 3) put it in a rocket and fire it off into space. Although I thought #3 was interesting - out of sight, out of mind - I ultimately felt like that was the easy way out - just ignore the issue.
I decided to vote for #2 - mark it with an asterisk. As much as I hate to admit it, Bonds was probably the best player of my generation to this point (A-Rod, Pujols, or some other younger guys could surpass him). He has won 7 MVPs (he won 3 in the early 90s, before he was "enhanced") - the last person to win even 3 MVPs was Mike Schmidt. I have no doubt in my mind that he used drugs to keep himself in shape to play baseball at this level well into his 40s. So, even though he was a great player and would have been a HOFer even ignoring everything since 2000, I still feel he deserves an asterisk on his record-breaking ball because I really doubt he would have been able to reach that number if he wasn't using drugs to elevate his physical condition.
I doubt I would put an asterisk in the record books next to his stats, because he technically never broke any rules that baseball had in place. But, marking the record-breaking ball at least recognizes the fact that he didn't get that record in the proper way.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
New Addition
That is not "New Edition" - although readers of the blog might think I would write about them since they are a musical group from the 80's and I have professed my love for that genre of music.
No, the spelling on the title is correct. The "New Addition" is a baby girl named Carrie Joanne that entered the world at 9:09am on Thursday, August 30th.
Mommy and baby are doing well and are actually getting some sleep (in 2-3 hour increments).
As I did with the birth of my first daughter, I cried in the delivery room. The emotion was a mix of joy from seeing my child fresh out of the womb and feelings of pride and relief for my wife.
The first birth was completed after 3 days of being tipped with her feet above her head in a hospital bed while the doctors administered steroids to help speed the lung development of the baby that was going to come out 3 months before it was supposed to. That was a mentally grueling 3 days for me and I could only imagine what it must have been like for Amy.
This time, the delivery was scheduled, but no one expected it to happen so fast (less than an hour from start to finish), so Amy had to go through the full-sized delivery without any drugs.
I have no idea what that would actually feel like.... and I'm glad. I prefer my tears to be for joyful reason, not painful ones.
No, the spelling on the title is correct. The "New Addition" is a baby girl named Carrie Joanne that entered the world at 9:09am on Thursday, August 30th.
Mommy and baby are doing well and are actually getting some sleep (in 2-3 hour increments).
As I did with the birth of my first daughter, I cried in the delivery room. The emotion was a mix of joy from seeing my child fresh out of the womb and feelings of pride and relief for my wife.
The first birth was completed after 3 days of being tipped with her feet above her head in a hospital bed while the doctors administered steroids to help speed the lung development of the baby that was going to come out 3 months before it was supposed to. That was a mentally grueling 3 days for me and I could only imagine what it must have been like for Amy.
This time, the delivery was scheduled, but no one expected it to happen so fast (less than an hour from start to finish), so Amy had to go through the full-sized delivery without any drugs.
I have no idea what that would actually feel like.... and I'm glad. I prefer my tears to be for joyful reason, not painful ones.
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