My First Ever Blog Post

Hello World…  and whomever’s out there.

I thought of writing a grand introduction to this blog, but then realized how quickly my first entry would fade into obscurity.  After tiring from simply being a ‘comments’ presence at other blogs, I decided to start my own. 

I feel I have a lot of insight into baseball that hopefully will find an appreciatve readership.  I’m not a stat-head…  but I’m no baseball novice either.  More than being a Cubs fan, I’m a baseball fan first.  This blog will certainly mention happenings from around the league beyond the Bad News Cubs.  When you cheer for a team that is often eliminated from contention by June, one finds oneself rooting for other teams which actually have a chance.

But nevertheless, given that we’ve currently resumed play of a rain-postponed game from last night…  let’s get straight to some baseball.

One thing that never EVER gets mentioned in the Cubs blog world is team psychology.  Specifically, let’s look at the law of inertia.  The law of inertia states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, while an object at rest tends to stay at rest.  Well, the Cubs are something like 0-8 now in one-run games.  The stat world, and even a dear friend of mine…  likes to attribute this to bad luck.  Personally, I feel quite certain it’s more than bad luck. 

 If a team is used to losing a close game, they expect to lose them and it affects their play.  This would be an object at rest staying at rest.  If a team is confident in close games and is accustomed to grinding out wins, they’ll out-perform the former squad.  We’re only sitting at May 2nd, but the Chicago Cubs  are dangerously close to losing any confidence in winning close games on the season.  A baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint, but a lot gets decided early on.  The Cubs must win one run games and they must do it soon…  or they can kiss their season goodbye.

Next is the matter of the clutch hitting and smart ballplayer Ryan Theriot.  Theriot is the best thing to happen to the Cubs’ position personel since Mark Grace.  That’s not saying much about the Cubs farm system, but it is saying something for Ryan Theriot.  I’ve taken a lot of shit…  way more than I should…  for noticing that Theriot is a winning player who gets things done in the 9th inning. 

 When a baseball game is in the late innings and it’s close, it’s imperative to have players who can get on base.  On base percentage is the single greatest factor in how many runs a team will score over a season.  In the 9th inning, it becomes even more important.  Everyone is nervous, including both pitcher and batter.  So, you need hitters that will take advantage of a pitchers’ nerves and be patient at the plate.  Ryan Theriot has a habit of walking and getting hits in the 9th.  With the other Cubs, it’s either hit or bust…  and most often bust.

 A lot of emphasis is placed on power in today’s baseball world and it’s a load of garbage.  The team that wins the World Series never has the biggest home run hitter.  But they always have many hitters who will give you quality at-bats late in games.  Plus, most teams have some power regardless.

 It amazes me that most moron Cubs fans have completely failed to notice that our farm system has finally produced a solid player and a good hitter, Ryan Theriot.  It makes one think that Cubs fans are as inept as the Cubs themselves.

At this point, I’m going to close out this first post because I don’t want to get too in depth with Cubs personel.  Rather, I want to summarize what I’ve begun with.  The 2007 Cubs have a losing psychology that’s running out of time.  They’re undisciplined late in games at the plate, lacking clutch hitting beyond the new kid, Theriot.  In subsequent postings, we’ll examine our bullpen’s performance late in games…  and the role our awful catcher Michael Barrett plays in impeding our pitchers’ effectiveness.  We’re also going to examine our outfield which has four left fielders, no center fielders, and no right fielders. 

 Stay tuned my dear readers…   as we’ve got a long season ahead of baseball.  At this site, we’re going to take a thorough and enjoyable look at the difference between winning and losing games. 

Explore posts in the same categories: Baseball