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11/06/2004: Thought for the Day:
One way to restore faith is by seizing the winter and signing Carlos Beltran, who is on record as saying he likes Wrigley Field and will consider playing here. For now, there is no certainty that the New York Yankees, who need starting pitching more than another star position player, will make a huge bid on Beltran, who is emerging as the game's best five-tool performer. If the Tribsters dump Sosa, reinvest their fat profits into the product, abandon MacPhail's fiscal conservatism and throw $100 million at agent Scott Boras and his marquee client, fans will forget the Stone episode and won't care if Bozo the Clown is analyzing the games.
So why do I think they'll screw up the Beltran thing anyway? Because the Cubs are the Cubs.
--Jay Mariotti [Chicago Sun-Times]
Len on 11.06.04 @ 08:21 PM CST
Replies: 2 comments
on Sunday, November 7th, 2004 at 9:12 AM CST, Gooseneck said
Speaking of screwing things up, how 'bout them Cardinals?
on Sunday, November 7th, 2004 at 4:16 PM CST, Len Cleavelin said
Rub it in Goose, rub it in. :-Þ
Seriously, I think I've said elsewhere that baseball performance is streaky, and that basically the Cardinal bats, starting pitching *and* relief pitching all went south at the same time. Given that, it's kinda hard to win in a short series. Some of that going south is probably due to injuries (don't know how things would be different, for instance, if Carpenter hadn't injured the nerve in his arm late in the season, and Scott Rolen was supposedly still struggling with the calf injury in the postseason). And some of it is probably pure dumb luck (e.g., Jedmonds's bat going south, or Pujols hitting .333 with no freaking RBI).
HOWEVER, for a team what was supposed to finish third in the division, actually winning 105 regular season games, the Division Title, the Divisional Series and the NL Pennant? Damn, I wish I'd screw up like that.
:-)