This is a good explanation, and it makes a ton of sense. With every pitch that he couldn't get over the plate in his last two starts, he was watching a $100,000 go down the toilet. He just couldn't handle the pressure! And if the contract negotiations were what caused his last two disastrous starts, then I can't imagine what the playoffs are going to do to him. I wish people would stop making up excuses as for why hitters go into slumps. It's never just "oh, these things happen..." It's always some ridiculously stupid "he wasn't struggling because he hit a bump in the road, he was struggling because he didn't get enough fiber in his diet/his contract was making him nervous/he's down to two packs a day/he's e-mailing his brother too much."And although he denied it at times, it was clear that the negotiations for his new deal were affecting his play, particularly in his last two starts.
Then, there's more reasons to hate Cubs fans. (This came from a Cublog):
Meaningless.There are quite a few storylines that ESPN could use tonight; among them:
Carlos Zambrano's contract extension, signed on Friday
Wait, the race between three terribly mediocre teams who are fighting for the right to represent a putrid division in Actober? Hot damn!The NL Central division race
LOL. Yes, it was Sweet Lou. Sweet Lou is clearly the story of the 2007 Chicago Cubs, because he willed the starting pitchers to become one of the best in the league. It was Lou who transformed Roosevelt into league average AL starter into a (soon) 15-game winner. It was Lou who continued to elevate Rich Hill's game, and get a halfway decent season out of Jason Marquis. The reason the Cubs are winning is because Lou BROUGHT them there. Rich Marquilly are just along for the ride.What Lou Piniella has done bringing a 96-loss team from last year into first place in late August
Well, the Red Sox and Yankees are in a race that won't see the winner of the division enter the playoffs by default, or with 80-84 wins. While it would be out of place on a broadcast between the Cardinals-Cubs, I think it deserves mentioning. But of course that would take away from all the time that could be spent discussing what a spark plug The Riot is, or how him and Mike Fontenot played together for the 2000 LSU championship team. (Did anyone else know this? I didn't! I'm so informed thanks to Len and Bob!) Or how Matt Murton has red hair, Cubs fans are passionate about their team, how Jacque Jones has gone from being a miserable player to a halfway miserable player and how the wind blows out. Boston and New York are far more intriguing than the crap that is St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee.Instead, we'll probably get more blather about whatever the Red Sox and Yankees and Barry Bonds have done today
Well, I just placed a collect call to the Mark Prior Fan Club on my Cubs SI phone and they informed me that the Cubs will not lose a single game for the rest of the season. They will also go 14-0 during the playoffs, because Jason Kendall will outheart the Red Sox/Tigers/Indians/Angels/Yankees and it will feel like three losses in one game.In the meantime, stay tuned to BCB for real discussion of where the Cubs are today, and where they're going.
Remember, for REAL discussion of Cubs baseball, go to BCB. They don't mess with stats. Stats are all fact, no heart.
