Alright, took a short break as usualand now I'm making the transaction to 2010. This will be fun
GO CUBBIES!
Alright, took a short break as usual
I've been enjoying reading this dynasty. Just found it today since I've been without internet for the past six months, and was glad to find it. A couple of notes about historical accuracy, if you don't mind. First, Sam Zell did not buy the Tribune company until April 2007. When MacPhail left, resigned, fired, whatever you want call it at that point, the guy who took over as president was John McDonough. If MacPhail had been fired in 2000, he would have been a likely candidate to take over.
Also I think this was just a typo, but the Cubs managed at the time was Don Baylor not Taylor. And my only compliment about that mistake is making me have to think about the Cubs being managed by Baylor.
Thanks for reading and I don't know much about the Cubs so I used wikipedia
Last edited by TheBigBomber; 03-29-2009 at 07:47 PM. Reason: Weird, a whole sentence was spelled wrong, so I fixed it lol
Oh I realize that you might not know that much about the Cubs. As a Cubs fan, I know quite a bit about the franchise, and was just offering a little bit of information to make the dynasty more accurate. But the errors were quite small, and took little away from the dynasty. Keep up the good work, and bring a championship to the northside, please.
Better, But Not Good Enough!
Onto August we go. Guess starter status is too much for Eric Young who got an injury in his first week of starting, it was a 5 week long injury which is now shortened to 2 weeks. This did give Orlando Cabrera his slot in the lineup back. (****! I forgot to put Cordero in). Oh and lets say our record is only at .500. We have a 67-66 record due to one thing...
PITCHING! We're so bad in pitching we might have to send in the rookies. Kevin Tapani is a nobody and we're willing to buy him out of his contract. A 5.26 ERA and only 116 K's in 162.2 innings played. This is worse than last year, come on TAP! Then there's Jason Bere, he's not as bad as last year but is still horrible. A 5.44 ERA and 70 WALKS! This guy is another giant worry for us. Next, there's Jon Lieber who isn't bad but not amazing. A decent team-leading 4.29 ERA and a 3.5 K/BB ratio. He's not doing bad but I'd like a little bit more from him. Rookie, Carlos Zambrano is showing us why we SHOULDN'T start him and if we had a nice supply of older pitchers, I would start him but we don't. 97 walks in 145.1 IP and a 4.58 ERA. Worst of all, Tom Gordon an RP leads us in wins.
Alright, the good thing about our team, batting. Rondell White got injured the first day in August so we had to start Corey Patterson. Cabby batted leadoff and his average stands at .289 which isn't bad. Batting after Cabrera is his former teammate on the Expos, Jose Vidro. He leads our team batting at a .324 clip , has 18 homers, and 80 RBIs. Then we have newly acquired, Ry-Ry Klesko. He is maintaining a .305 average and has whacked 19 in the stands along with 78 RBIs. Batting clean-up is a true legend, Sammy Sosa! He's having a year almost like last year batting at .316 with 35 smackers and 110 RBIs. After three consecutive years of 50+ homers, 135+ RBIs and .285+ average he's looking at another one. Sammy Sosa is hall of fame worthy even at the young, tender age of 32. Cliff Floyd, Bill Mueller, and Rondell White all have averages over .290 which is amazingly good. Rondy has 20 homers, Todd Hundley has 23, and Floyd has 14. No one in our lineup is batting under .280. Our team average is about .282 which is weird.
And our standings ...
CALENDER:
(Laziness
HIGHLIGHTS:
Sammy Sosa ...
UPS
SP Jon Lieber
CL Joe Borowski
RP Tom Gordon
RF Sammy Sosa
Our Entire Lineup
DOWNS
Our Rotation Except For Lieber
SP Kevin Tapani
RP Felix Heredia
Now to cap it all off. Here's what's happening. We have September call-ups which is always nice. Our problem though is that we're down 9 games in our division and 12.5 games down in wild card. Unless we can pull off a miraculous comeback, I think we should prepare for next year. (Next update, we'll be going different. Series by series until the season ends. Then we'll have end of the month and MLB leaders. You can guess MVP and all that fun stuff. Hope you enjoy!)
BRAVES, PADRES
4-Game Series Against The Braves
Cubs 19, Braves 0
- 19-0! What! We absolutely decimated the Braves, by 19 points. Rich Hill was fantastic, he allowed 3 hits and one walk through 8.2 innings of play. Our offense was there all game. Led by you know who, SLAMMIN SAMMY! He had 2 homers, a triple, and a game leading 7 RBIs! Ryan Klesko went 3-5 with a grand slam! Floyd gave us 2 RBIs and Rondell White had 3 RBIs including a homer. WOW!
9.2.01
Cubs 2, Braves 4
- Less exciting. Only two runs both coming on Cliff's single homer. Tap allowed 4 runs in 5 RBIs. Not much more to say.
9.3.01
Cubs 14, Braves 4
- Excitement returns! A 14-4 win baby. Big Bere pitched us 7 nice innings but did allow 4 runs. Sadly, he had to leave with elbow tendinitis so he'll be out until the last few games of the season. Cliff Floyd continues his outstanding performance in this series. He has had 2+ RBIs in all the game including 5 tonight coming on a homer. Sammy hits again, a homer and 3 RBIs. Hundley hit TWO homers and helped us with 3 RBIs. Rondy also hit a homer, we're all about runs this series.
9.4.01
Cubs 5, Braves 1
- Pitching prevails as we win the series 3-1. Jon Lieber pitching a complete game, his third of the season and allowed a single run. Jose Vidro finally did something helping win the game for us with 3 RBIs and a homer. Orlando Cabrera also had 2 RBIs but that was it. Sadly Floyd's RBI streak ended.
9.5.01
OUTCOME: Sammy Sosa now has 38 homers and 120 RBIs along with a .321 average. Jose Vidro will sit on the bench for the next 2 games and will be replaced by Augie Ojeda from tiredness. Rondell White will bat second, and Augie will bat 8th. Lieber is becoming ace material. We win the series, Three Games to One! Onto the Padres! We fall back more into the race, 11 back from our division, 10 back from wild card.
3-Game Series Against The Padres
Padres 2, Cubs 4
- Pitching leads us yet again! Big Z pitched us 8 good innings allowing only 2 runs and Joe Borowski earned the save. Klesko, Sosa, Floyd, and Mueller all pitched in with an RBI a piece.
9.6.01
Padres 4, Cubs 5
- Eighth inning winnin'! Richy Hill pitched us 6 innings of 4 run ball while Borowski got us another save. Cabby hit 2 RBIs leading off and a homer. Klesko had an RBI and a stolen base along with a homer. Sam.I.Am had 2 RBIs.
9.7.01
Padres 2, Cubs 4
- SWEEP! Pitching led us through. TAP started for us and only allowed one earned run, an error caused the other. He also pitched 8 strong and K'ed 7. Cabby had 2 RBIs yet again and hit his 8th homer. Rondy White hit a homer and Klesko chipped in. The only good thing was Borowski's save, that's three in a row.
9.8.01
OUTCOME: Joe Borowski has 3 consecutive saves and 33 on the season. Jason Bere will go on the DL and Mark Prior will be brought up to replace him. To take off some heat off of our top players, Cliff Floyd will take a break from the next series to be replaced by Mike Mahoney a temporary outfielder. Joe Girardi will give Todd Hundley a break. Vidro will only play 1 game of our next 3-game set to be replaced by Augie Ojeda yet again. This is happening to prevent any injuries and we have a very low chance of making it into the playoffs. Oh we swept the Padres! Next series will be with the Marlins.
STANDINGS: 10 games back from Houston in the division race and 10 games back from Florida in the wild card race.
Agh the cubs back in the good ol' days, when they stunk. Pretty entertaining diary especially with the juicer on your team;-). Good luck turning it around without being slap happy crazy in free agency or trades.
Its an upgrade over 65-97 lol. Thanks for reading, and I'm going to try to make use of my minors which is crazy good. I think for Free Agency I might get a great pitcher and some outfield.
Marlins, Mets
3-Game Series Against The Marlins
Marlins 4, Cubs 6
- We pitched a nice game led by Mark Prior who gave us 6 innings and allowed only 4 runs. Though, he did strain his chest and was out for the rest of the game but should be back next game. Sosa & Klesko gave us 2 RBIs. Mueller and Klesko gave us a homer each.
9.9.01
Marlins 10, Cubs 4
- We took a bad beating here. Jon Lieber gave us a great performance as he endured 7 innings of only 3-run ball. Tom Gordon blew it giving up 6 runs in a single inning. Cliff Floyd hit a a pinch-hit home run. Sammy & Klesko gave us an RBI each.
9.10.01
Marlins 7, Cubs 3
- We took the loss in this series. Carlos Zambrano gave up 3 earned, 2 unearned runs but only lasted 5 innings. Cordero & Tavarez also gave up a run. Sammy Sosa hit a 3-run home run giving us our only RBIs.
9.11.01
OUTCOME: We lose the series 2-1 to the Marlins. We take a bump in the standings. Sammy Sosa is second in the league with 40 homers and second in the league with 129 RBIs. He's in the running for the MVP. Our normal starters will be back for the next series.
4-Game Series Against The Mets
Mets 4, Cubs 11
- Big runs here, but the pitching was also nice. Rich Hill gave up 3 runs in 7 innings but did strikeout 8 batters. Cabby hit a solo shot while Klesko, White, and Julio Zuleta chipper in with an RBI. Floyd went 2-3 with a walk and 2 RBIs. The Muell & Hundley both had 2 RBIs.
9.12.01
Mets 4, Cubs 5
- TAP HITS THE LOTTERY! One single run allowed in 8 innings of play. He even got us an RBI. Sadly, Joey B gave up 3 big ones. Cabby hit 2 ribbies and Sammy Sosa drilled a 2-run slam.
9.13.01
Mets 6, Cubs 5
- Extra inning loss this time. Julian Tavarez cost us the game in the end allowing a run to score. Prior wasn't very sharp allowing 5 runs. Cabby, Vidro, Mueller, Hundley (solo homer), and THE RIOT had an RBI each.
9.14.01
Mets 10, Cubs 1
- Absolutely obliterated in this game. Lieber was lit up allowing 8 runs in 6.1 innings before the pen could stop the bleeding. Our only run came off of a Sammy Sosa solo blast.
9.15.01
OUTCOME: Our chance of getting into the playoffs are slim to about none. Sammy leads the league in homers with 42 and is third in ribbies. Eric Young will take over for Jose Vidro for the entire next series. Mike Mahoney will take over for Todd Hundley and Cliff Floyd will take a rest after the first game in our next series.
STANDINGS: 12 games back in the central and 12.5 back in wild card. If we lose the next series we're done.
D-Backs, Dodgers
GREISINGER INKED
We only have 6 starting pitchers that can play in the majors and two of them went down. So we needed a starting pitcher, the best in free agency was Seth Greisinger. Seth has had a year of experience with the Tigers but he's going to end up starting for us. He will pitch on the first game of the LA Dodgers series and will be placed into the minors since his services won't be needed anymore. The deal we got was 2 years, $500k.
3-Game Series Against The Diamondbacks
Cubs 5, D-Backs 6
- Tom Gordon blew it for us in the end. Big Z didn't perform either as he gave up 5 runs in only 6 innings. On offense we were led by Bill Mueller who went 3-4 and got us 2 RBIs. Cliff Floyd drilled his 18th homer of the season. Cabby & Mahoney chipped in with an RBI.
9.16.01
Cubs 13, D-Backs 1
- DOMINATION! We practically ruined Arizona here. Our pitching led the way, Rich Hill was absolutely superb. He lasted 8 innings and allowed a single run. Cabby was the best bat as he went 3-4, scored twice, and hit 3 RBIs. Rondy White & Mike Mahoney each had 2 RBIs as well as Mahoney hitting his first career homer. Sammy Sosa & Todd Hundley hit solo shots as well.
9.17.01
Cubs 5, D-Backs 4
- This game was finished by the 6th inning. Prior gave us 7 solid innings of 3-run ball along with 8 strikeouts and the relief pitched perfect. Ryan Klesko hit his 25th slam which was a solo. Jose Vidro was in the pinch but still managed to hit the 2-run single to give us the lead which was carried out until the very end.
9.18.01
OUTCOME: Great series for us. We are hanging on by fingers in the race, we need to be perfect for the next 3 series and we can only afford to lose one or two. A miracle is what we need but its what we won't get. Our regular lineup will be here for the 4-game series against LA.
4-Game Series Against The Dodgers
Cubs 7, Dodgers 9
- Seth Greisinger blew it lasting only 4 innings and allowing 6 runs. He'll be released after the season since we only gave him a 1-year deal, thankfully. He was only a one time thing for us. Slamming Sosa has more fight as he delivered not one, but TWO homers in this game and had 3 RBIs. Vidro, Mueller, Cabby, and Zuleta all had an RBI a piece.
9.19.01
Cubs 12, Dodgers
- Take that stupid Dodgers. Jon Lieber gave us nice innings and a great performance. Ryan Klesko went large, he hit his second GRAND SLAM! Sammy Sosa also hit a homer which was a 3-run homer. Rondy White hit a 2-run homer, all we needed was a solo gun and we had a team homer cycle.
9.20.01
Cubs 2, Dodgers 5
- Dodgers get the upper hand on us in this one. Thankfully, Big Z pitched a complete game! He allowed ONLY 2 earned runs and sadly 3 unearned runs thanks to the damn Muell. Klesko & Floyd had our only 2 RBIs.
9.21.01
Cubs 3, Dodgers 1
- WHAT NOW! We tied up the series which is good enough taking into consideration the Dodgers good record. Rich Hill was brilliant giving up not a single run in his 7 innings but Will Ohman gave up one. Sosa & Mueller chipped in with RBIs each. Zuleta has been outstanding in pinch-hitting this year as he had yet another run which came off a homer.
9.22.01
OUTCOME: We told the players our chance were done. We're out of the race for real now. The Dodgers put the nail in the coffin. Every player was impressive this years, time to prepare for next year.
(On the next post, I'm going to post a really short summary of both series, so just like a record, scores, and a pic. Then we go over to End of the season review for the Cubs and then leaders & playoffs. Then round by round in one post along with World Series. Then the fun stuff. Keep reading.)
THE FINALE
3-Game Series Against The Padres
Cubs 7, Padres 4
- Cabby hit a grand slam.
9.23.01
Cubs 11, Padres 2
- Lieber pitched a complete game.
9.24.01
Cubs 1, Padres 3
9.25.01
Cubs 2, Padres 8
9.26.01
3-Game Series Against The Phillies
Phillies 2, Cubs 4
- Hundley hit a 3-run pinch hit homer.
9.27.01
Phillies 4, Cubs 5
- Hundley hit another 3-run pinch hit homer. Floyd hit 2 home runs.
9.28.01
Phillies 3, Cubs 4
- SWEEP!
9.29.01
OUTCOME OF SERIES: Very nice for us, we did great. Sammy dropped down and should be out of MVP contention.
(End Of Season Review Next! )
END OF THE SEASON REVIEW!
SP Kevin Tapani - Not good, not good at all. Keeping him in the free agency may not happen. His 4.79 ERA isn't too appealing but better than most on our roster. His age is shotty, so one injury could end it for him. Hopefully, he won't cause much further trouble.
SP Jason "Big" Bere - Horrible, just horrible. The worst pitcher we have on the roster. He'll be the one guy we need to trade. He's kind of pricy and we can't have him taking up space.
SP Jon Lieber - We want him to stay with us forever. He's fantastic, may not be the best but he's got a pretty nice ERA. Great K/BB ratio which is about 3. Jon, have fun with the next 3 years. You're staying.
SP Carlos "Big Z" Zambrano - He's in line for rookie of the year, but so far away as well. His 4.40 ERA is barely standing for us, he might spend time working on his stuff in the minors. Especially with a 123 BBs that's terrible, and that's why he might be in triple A.
SP Rich Hill - What a young beast! His record stands at 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA even if he pitched 63.1 innings, I love the guy.
CL Joe Borowski - Did decently well with his 3.61 ERA but went 38/40 in saves which was fantastic. We'll probably keep him around for one more year.
SU Will Ohman - 2.91 ERA which is great, 68 K's in 65 IP. I want this guy in for years to come.
Rest Of The Bullpen - Cordero is doing a very nice job. Tom Gordon helped us out with his 13-4 record. Heredia is horrible and we should be dumping him. Tavarez is terrible as well. Ron Mahay is so bad, we will pay a team to take him.
C Todd Hundley - He did a pretty good job. 30 homers and a .277 average, great off-season pick-up. His fielding work was pretty shotty though.
1B Ryan Klesko - Mid-season pick-up, we've never looked back. A fantastic .298 average and 26 homers all season. 93 runs and 99 RBIs.
1B Julio Zuleta - A great pinch-hitter for us, he's hit 2 homers and has a lot of RBIs.
2B Jose Vidro - He led the team in batting average with a .328 BA and had 19 homers. A re-signing will be in his future.
2B Eric Young - He's a very good back-up. His .248 BA is great and he led us with 13 SBs.
3B Bill Mueller - WHAT A MUELL! He was on fireeee, he batted at a .299 clip. He's not a slugger but he's a very good player.
SS Orlando "Cabby" Cabrera - A great lead-off hitter. He batted a .283 clip which was fantastic. He also had 10 homers and 10 stolen bases.
LF Cliff Floyd - The other part of the Expos' deal, he has turned out just as good as Vidro. He had a .310 average in the end, blasted 22 homers, and 108 RBIs. The best season of his life.
CF Rondell White - He kind of plummeted at the end but still pulled off an outstanding season. His average stood at .284 and he knocked 24 long bombs and had 76 RBIs.
RF SAMMY SOSA - WHAT A STUDMUFFIN! You can't go better than Slammin' Sammy Sosa. 46 home runs, 116 RBIs, .302 average. MVP contendah!
And our standings ...
FINAL RECORD - 85-77
(Coming up we have a leader review, then transactions, then Fergie Jenkins' thoughts, and FA review, then more stuff.)
SEASON LEADERS
AMERICAN LEAGUE LEADERS:
Batting Average: Edgar Martinez (SEA) .356 BA
On Base Percentage: Jason Giambi (OAK) .469 OBP
Home Runs: Jim Thome (CLE) 51 HR
Runs Batted In: Juan Gonzalez (CLE) 165 RBIs
Runs Scored: Alex Rodriguez (TEX) 148 Runs
Extra Base Hits: David Ortiz (MIN) 95 EBH
Outfield Assists: Carlos Beltran (KCR) 14 Assists
Earned Run Average: Roy Halladay (TOR) 2.46 ERA
Wins: Mike Mussina (NYY) 21 Wins
Strikeouts: Pedro Martinez (BOS) 212 K's
Walks/9 IP: Mike Mussina (NYY) / Roy Halladay (TOR) 2.15 W/9 IP
Saves: Rod Beck (BOS) 40 Saves
Complete Games: Roy Halladay (TOR) 8 CG
National League Leaders:
Batting Average: Dmitri Young (CIN) .354 BA
On Base Percentage: Erubiel Durazo (ARI) .469 OBP
Home Runs: Jeff Bagwell (HOU) 47 HR (Sammy Sosa, 46 HR)
Runs Batted In: Jeff Bagwell (HOU) 155 RBIs (Sammy Sosa, 141)
Runs Scored: Jeff Bagwell (HOU) 156 Runs
Extra Base Hits: Lance Berkman (HOU) 92 EBH (Sammy Sosa, 75)
Outfield Assists: Doug Glanville (PHI) 15 Assists (Rondell White, 8)
Earned Run Average: Andy Benes (STL) 2.75 ERA
Wins: Kevin Millwood (ATL) 21 Wins
Strikeouts: Kerry Wood (MON) 231 K
Walks/9 IP: Greg Maddux (ATL) 1.88 W/9 IP (Jon Lieber, 2.06)
Saves: Takashi Saito (LAD) 44 Saves (Joe Borowski, 38)
Complete Games: Ben Sheets (MIL) 6 CG (Jon Lieber, 6)
STANDINGS
AMERICAN LEAGUE:
NATIONAL LEAGUE:
WILD CARD:
If i didn't hate the Cubs so much, this would be a fun read
I'm joking, good job on this man, keep it up, I will continue to read it.
I actually don't hate the cubs, I view them as loveable losers.
I actually only hate the Astros
and I don't paticularly like some of the cubs ball players, ramirez, soriano, and zambrano are players I just don't like, I didn't like Prior either, but he is gone.
Originally Posted by TheNamelessPoet
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