Everyone makes fun of it. It happens multiple times per game (especially lately) and it takes forever. What is it? Lou Piniella's walk to the mound. 

I pride myself on a pretty good imitation of the Lou strut, where his hips remain completely motionless and just his legs move forward, like a rooster. And when he jogs? Oh man, that's physical comedy. Lou just doesn't want to exert himself, and at his age, I don't blame him.

I'm not going to call Lou out on his "fire" or bring up any of that June talk, but fact of the matter...more

I'm not ready to call the race over in the NL Central just yet, but it's over a week into August and that means it might just be time to admit the 2009 Cubs are little more than average. Usually by now, what you see is what you get with a team, and the Cubs haven't put together an impressive string of games with exception of pounding on the NL's worst leading up to this road trip. Continue to play at all like they did during the four-game embarrassment this weekend at Coors Field and it won't matter if they win...more

Offensive inconsistency on the road. I think it's safe to say that after the first week of August, we can clearly identify this as the Cubs' biggest problem (followed by bullpen unreliability). Things like getting shut out by a pitcher making his second start need to change if this team is going to get ahead of the Cardinals and give itself some breathing space by September's end.

In terms of winning and losing, you could've chalked up last night's game as a loss the second Sean Marshall took the mound. There's no way Lou could've expected Marshall to keep it...more

I know you're all thinking it: Kevin Gregg sucks. What kind of closer gives up three home runs in two innings? What kind of closer blows two saves in a row? Give Carlos Marmol the job. Even resigning Kerry Wood would've been better. Blah blah blah.

What you should be thinking is: What kind of manager trots out his closer in a 2-1 ball game the day after he blows a three-run save opportunity with two outs, throws 38 pitches and gets shellacked by his former team? Or, what kind of general manager putting together a surefire contender goes after...more