Cubby-Blue

Tyler Colvin impaled, Bears beat Cowboys. Weird, man.

 

Hey guys.

It's really busy, I was at the office all Sunday.  I get those Chicago Tribune email sports alerts, and the above is how I found out about Tyler Colvin and the Bears yesterday.

Freaky.

Tyler Colvin got "impaled"?

I saw the i-movie version of it. 
Those maple bats have got to go.
What are they waiting for? Death?

It says Colvin's out for the rest of the season... 

The Cubs sweep the Fish, winning game 3 by a score of 13 to 3.

And the Bears beat the Cowboys in Dallas.

What a weird, weird day.

Fingers crossed for Colvin.

More later...

 

Mighty Casey Coleman wants to be part of '11 Cubs story

Well, of the kid starters (not relievers) we've seen this season, Casey Coleman seems to be the guy.
Thomas Diamond looks more physically impressive, but he'll have to wait for another chance I guess.
Coleman has that fighter mentality thing where he hangs in and doesn't fall apart when he either doesn't have his best stuff or just has the rotten inning.
Mike Quade says he's made a "wonderful" impression.

Yesterday he went 6 innings: 5 h, 4 BB, 2 R, 5 SO and the Cubs win 5-3 over the Marlins for win numero five in a row. Their longest streak of the season.

Marlin catcher Brad Davis and 3rd baseman Wes Helms kinda brain-farted up a run for the Cubs: with Cub runners on 1st and 2nd, Starlin Castro walked. Everybody moves up, right? But Davis threw down to 3rd and Helms, while his body was in the area of 3rd base, his head was elsewhere and the ball went into left. 

And today it's another chance for us to feel either The Fear or Hope for Jeff Samardzija, and The Fear or Hope for The Chicago Bears as we can flip between the games at noon.

I love these kinds of Sundays.

Lastly, if Casey Coleman sticks next year, you can expect me to be calling him "Mighty".

 

Sean Marshall is really good.

Here's what it says in the box score:
Sean Marshall entered the game in the bottom of the 8th, and threw 0.2 of an inning. While he got a strikeout, he didn't give up a hit or a run, there was no earned run or walks, no homer.

But it's a better story than that.

There were runners on first and second with only one out because young Andrew Cashner, while striking out Logan Morrison, allowed Gaby Sanchez to hit a single and then walked Dan Uggla.

The Cubs were up by two on a night when Ryan Dempster had thrown 123 pitches through 7 innings to hold the Marlins to nothing. And if you're one of Ryan's team mates, you have to be aware that he's been pretty freaking masterful this entire season. But name it - a breakdown in the defense or the offense has let Ryan down so many times it's like a felony. And every time, Ryan sits in that room afterwards with all those reporters and explains that he gave up that one home run (or whatever), and it's okay. He'll take the blame. 

If you're one of Ryan's team mates, you'd probably want to win just a little bit more for the guy.

So Mike Quade calls in Sean Marshall.

When you see that shot of him running onto the field before they cut to a commercial, don't you feel an unusual sense of calm? 

Unlike almost every other Cub, Sean Marshall has earned our confidence. 

And he delivered.

Next comes Carlos Marmol, who kind of inspires the opposite feeling even though he's 5th in the NL with 31 saves (32 after last night).

And he walks the first two guys and maybe you should turn off the tv, but he gets a guy to fly to center. Then he gets a strikeout. And then the dinky pop up behind third that's falling fair and nobody's gonna get to it and suddenly there's a weird special effect that looks like Starlin Castro coming out of nowhere to divebomb the hit into the last spectacular out of the game.

Castro, he's exactly like Sundance.

  

Right in here, Strother Martin is hiring Butch and Sundance to be guards.

Look at the part where Sundance can't hit the coin until he moves, about 1:35 into the clip.

"I'm better when I move." he says.

That's our Starlin.

The Cubs are playing their most exciting ball of the season. 

If you're not watching, you're missing it.

 

PLEASE GO HERE TO SEE THE RULES FOR THE PAINTING GIVEAWAY COMPETITION, AND THEN ENTER!

The illustration of Marshall is also in the latest issue of VINELINE.

 

Cubby Blue competition with original painting as prize!

That's right, I'm giving away a Tim Souers original painting, probably worth a couple mil, as a prize for this competition.

It's a 16"x12" acrylic and ink on canvas with one of my favorite sarcastic subject matters: things I'd rather do than watch the Cubs.
inspired of course by 2010, but it's kind of a timeless theme with the Cubs, don't you think?

Here's a detail:

I'll post it on Oct 3rd, the day of the Cubs' last game.

All you have to do is guess who the next Cubs manager will be, and then come as close as possible to exactly what that man will say at the press conference when Jim Hendry puts the Cubs jersey on him and all the flashbulbs are going off.

For an example, I'll use Lou even though we know it won't be him. But note that "Hi Fellas" is something only he would use. So think specifically about who your choice is. What nuances they may have. The winner will be the one that's as CLOSE TO EXACT to what the new manager will say.

 

EXAMPLE:

Manager: Lou Piniella

Quote: "Hi Fellas. First I'd like to thank the organization for bringing me back and allowing me the chance to bring a championship to Chicago for the second time. Jim got a nice group of players together, and we're going to have fun. Thank you."

 

I'm certain that scene will be a video on Cubs.com, or at least the quote will, and I'll use that as the guide to compare your quote to. 

Please put all entries in comments, or if you still haven't figured out how to do that then email me and I'll put your manager pick and quote there.

If you can't make up your mind on who the manager will be, feel free to enter more than once, but each entry must be a separate comment.

I'm not sure how long comments stay "live" on my blog, so if you can't comment under this post just comment on any post between now and the 3rd.

If we have 2 or more entries that feel incredibly similar, I'll put it out as a vote from you on which is closer to The New Cub Manager's actual quote, meaning his content, phrasing, and length of the quote.

If the Cubs name someone that nobody guessed, then I'll put the names of everyone who entered into a hat and choose that way.

The deadline is Oct 3rd, 2010, or the day Hendry announces, whichever comes first.

I'll have to ask the winner, via email so we're all private, what address you want the painting shipped to once we're done. And I insist I get a photo of the winner holding the painting with a big smile on their face to put up on the blog.

Hell, seems like something to do while we wait out the end of 2010, right?

Thanks in advance for participating, and I was just kidding about a "couple mil".
Probably more like "seven zero figure" would be correct. 

One last thing: I've never done this before. If something I weird happens and makes the competition lame or unfair, I'll figure out something simpler. But the painting will be definitely be given away.

 

Quade runs circles around LaRussa as Cubs sweep Cards

Mike Quade just ran circles around Tony LaRussa.

Well, he did if you just watched the Cardinal's effort.

Even Pat Hughes last night said he'd never seen such a lethargic Cardinal team play the Cubs.

Not good for Tony LaRussa.

Pretty awesome for Mike Quade.

Yeah, of course it's meaningless and all that, but it's better than a poke in the eye...

The Cubs sweep the Cardinals in St. Louis for the first time since 1988? (Did I hear that right?) 
Young Tyler Colvin drives the stake in the heart with the 3 run homer (his 20th!) off of Cardinal Ace Chris Carpenter. 

Carlos Zambrano wins yet another game, and he's so excited he decides to talk about retiring! 

AWESOME CARLOS!

Can you please do that kind of reflection when you're home this winter so we'll all have something to talk about rather than how the Bears could possibly be 1 and 7?

And Mike Quade as the new Cubs manager.

He's seriously doing some kind of job, and surely his performance has to give Jim Hendry pause.

For sure Hendy's gonna travel around and do all the interviews, but... how to put this?

There's a weird phenomenon amongst fishermen.

When you're fishing you always take the boat to the other side of the lake because you're positive that's where that Big Bass is.

But sometimes, he's right off the pier.