March 29, 2007
Cubs vs. Cardinals
A Cubs fan and a Cardinals fan debate the 2007 season over at Three Man Lift. I like the Cubs fan take on the Cardinals health:
So, let me make sure I'm reading this correctly. You are hoping the third baseman, a key starting pitcher, an entire outfield and the closer are all going to stay healthy?? I hope to one day make sweet pupply love to Jessica Alba and I think my chances are better.
I'm picking the Astros to win the division.
This was one of the dumbest things I've read in a while. It sounds like it was written in the bleachers at Wrigley after a few Old Styles...
Still, I like the Cardinals to defend their NL Central crown...
Everyone seems to have forgotten the Brewers. This is their year.
I think that was the point of the article Mike. Two guys talking about their favorite teams. I enjoyed it since it reminded me of how my friends and I talk about the Cubs/White Sox/Cardinals.
I totally agree with Mark. Take a look at the Brewers rotation of Sheets, Capuano, Bush, Suppan and Varagas. If Big Ben stays healthy, they have the best rotation in the division.
The Cubs will slug their way to 2nd place, a huge improvement over last year when they were 28th in the majors in run production, but i think this is the Brewers year.
Ditto the above on the Brewers. In a very weak division, their pitching gives them the edge, though they'll be holding their breaths as well hoping Sheets stays healthy.
The Cards lineup look downright awful. It looks like Reyes and Wainwright could be better than expected, but they're going to have to be lights out to compensate for an offense that features Albert Pujols and not much else.
Ha. It's amazing how Cardinals fans remain so confident. Yes they won the World Series fair and square but seriously, if they were in any other division in baseball they wouldn't have even gotten a sniff at the post season. I mean the Reds were in contention to win the division until the final weekend of the season and they didn't even finish over .500! Every team in the division, besides the Pirates and Cardinals, has improved in the off season. It still remains a weak division with slightly better teams. There is no way the Cardinals come close to winning it. I think the Astros win the division with Milwaukee right on their tails.
DP,
Why do you like the Astros? Yes they have el Caballo but they also lost 2/5 of their pitching (2/3 of their good pitching). I have a sneaky feeling Clemens will go to Boston or NYY just for drama but its 50/50 that he will come back. Their closer could be either the best or worst in baseball. Yes they have a good team with a bunch of young players who are only getting better (burke, everett, ensberg- who could be a big sleeper this year, even wandy) but do you really think this adds up to better than the Cards or Cubs overall lineup? Im not even counting out the reds or brewers.
re: jessica alba
like ms. alba, the cubs tend to disappear when excited or flustered due to their special powers as one of the fantastic four of cursed teams (of course this number has been reduced by two in recent years due to the Chisox and Bosox actually winning world championships).
it's true rolen gets hurt a lot, that edmunds is rarely always healthy and that a starter always breaks down in the cards rotation, and now we know that while his players were on roids, LaRussa was boozing it up, but still it's LaRussa that's going to the Hall of Fame as a manager and not the Cubs Lou Piniella as of now.
One could argue that LaRussa has done more with less with the cards the last five or six years than any other manager in baseball, especially compared with the Boston, Atlanta and NY Mets and Yankees managers, who had loaded rosters.
--arthur j kyriazis, philly