Cubby-Blue

How big is Soriano's tear?

I remember having to learn the metric system when I was in grade school, but I never really did. So when the CHICAGO TRIBUNE said the tear in Alfonso Soriano’s quad was “one centimeter”, I thought well maybe the doctor they quoted was from Liverpool. Maybe the guys at the TRIB think they have a large European audience or something. Or maybe they think it’s such an insignificant measurement that they can just tell me in a different language, because that’s what metric is to me.
I Googled “measurement conversion”, and found out that 1 centimeter = 0.39370079 of an inch.
That’s pretty close to .4 of an inch, which is closer to just less than a half inch than just more than a quarter inch. So lets say Alfonso’s tear is just less than a half inch.
Okay, I’m starting to get the picture.
I’ll bet I caught an ant about that size when I was little.
But an ant can’t wreck my whole summer.
There is a coffee stain on my shirt that I’d say was a little less than half an inch across.
I’m fine with it.
This tear of Alfonso Soriano’s quad that’s a little less than half an inch, though, has ruined my entire life.
The Cubs say they’re not gonna treat him with kid gloves, that he’ll be back around Labor Day.
Starting yesterday, that’s 31 games out of the remaining 55 without Soriano if I counted right.
So I’d say that tear on Soriano’s quad is way bigger than just less than a half an inch.
I’d say this tear is bigger than a breadbox, bigger than Illinois, bigger than Paris Hilton.
Baseball Gods, give me strength.

Oh No. Soriano's injury

I’ve been in New York before trying to find the Cubs on tv somewhere, and it’s always impossible. But since the Cubs were playing the Mets, the game was on everywhere. We went into a place called “Toad Hall”, and after a couple minutes the bartender correctly identified us as being from Chicago. The regular Met fans were actually a friendly bunch (the fact that the Cubs were already losing probably helped).
This was the weekend of big-numbers: Bonds with 755, A-Rod with 500, Hideki Matsui with 100, and now Tom Glavine with 300 wins.

There was music playing and no sound from the tv as we watched Alfonso Soriano rounding second base and then suddenly begin hopping, pulling up lame into third and being easily tagged out.
They showed the replay a couple times, and all my fun was wrecked.
Lets see how bad this is, this quadriceps injury.
The Cubs have been really pretty lucky with the lack of injuries this year, and their record reflects that.
It was awesome seeing Kerry Wood on the mound again, but I’ve got a bad feeling about Soriano.
As I write this my internet connection at the stupid hotel doesn’t work, and I’m not turning on ESPN this early because I don’t want to see the injury happen all over again.
And just now Bill Cimino called to tell me Soriano’s out a month.
A month.
August.
I’m trying to remain calm, but man what a kick in the nads.

Forget About Yesterday, Dempster

Giving up 4 runs in the 9th…
Ouch.
That’s why they say a good closer has to have a bad memory.
We’ll see how Lou handles it, but I’ll bet he has Dempster get right back on that horse today.
And…wake UP, bats.
3 losses in a row would probably be a “slide”, at least in the papers, plus it’s just not good to lose to the East.
Hey, here’s a cool thing Pete Taylor showed me:
If you can text on your cell, you can get any score immediately sent to you from Google.
(maybe this is old news to you, but if not this is WAY faster than waiting for your cell/Blackberry/i-phone/whatever to hook up to the net)
For your message, just write in “Cubs score”. For the phone number you send it to, text in the spelling of google (it’s 466453), and hit send.
You’ll immediately get a text sent back to you with the score.
It’s the coolest thing.
The uncoolest thing?
Did you see that extreme sports skateboard guy fall about a hundred feet and land on his back?
I almost hurled.
Okay, Lilly against this Maine Met guy.
Good God, the Mets are good.

The Carlos Marmol Effect

All athletes have this thing about knees.
Knees are just a really valuable part of your body.
Without your knees, you’re retired.
Carlos Marmol, he throws this pitch.
It’s sort of a ¾ arm angle, and his neck stretches waaay out to his left, and his arm goes way out to the right, and the pitch looks like it’s going straight at the batter’s knees at about 400 MPH, and the batter can’t help it.
His knees stiffen, then fly back trying to get out of the way.
And the ump says, “steeee-rike!” because the ball hangs a left about a foot from the batter and goes right over the plate.
Len Kasper didn’t know what to call it last night, except for “breaking ball”.
I don't know either, though.
"Filthy" is the current term for stuff like this, I think.
Anyway, Carlos came in for 1.1 innings and struck out 3 guys.
I’d feel sorry for them, looking so silly, but naaa.
Carlos’ era is 1.63, and he’s struck out 53 guys in 38.2 innings.
What a weapon.
The Cubs beat up the Phillies 7-3.
But the Brewers beat the Mets too, (the Central is hangin' with the East) so the Cubs remain one game out.
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