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I am going to write a new article about the Cubs every month of the 2005 Cubs season. Here is issue #4. Things are looking
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Wood and Nomar
This year the Cubs have been cursed with a plague of injuries. It seems like us fans are always waiting for someone to come back wheter it has been Wood, Prior, an Nomar. I am sick of waiting so I am not going to wait anymore. I am fine with the Cubs the way they are. Sure, when Wood comes back it will be kind of interesting to see how he does in the bullpen. And a healthy Nomar is an upgrade on Niefi. But as Cubs fans we are always waiting for something and I am sick of it so I am going to cheer for the team we have out there right now even though our lineup looks way different than we thought it was going to look when the season ends.
Trade Deadline
Once again we are sitting here wondering whether Hendry pulls the trigger and pulls off another deal at the deadline. Last year Cubs fans were excited to find out Nomar would be a Cub. A year later, I am most interested in Murton, the red headed kid that the Bosox threw in the Nomar deal. Will Hendry make a similar move to the Nomar or Aramis deal a few years ago? I don't think so. I do think that he might add another arm to the Cubs shaky bullpen. I have heard that they are looking at a couple of arms in the Royals 'pen. Novoa and Dempster have looked decent lately but Wuertz is not exactly been perfect. And whatever happened to Leicester and Wellemeyer? Leicester has an ERA close to 7 but we should give Wellemeyer another chance up here.
Cardinals
The Cubs still have a lot of games left with the Cardinals. I love when the Cubs beat the Cardinals. Are the red birds really that invinceable? I think not. Why don't the Cubs take the opportunity to play them head to head all these games and try to win? Lets take a bite out of their lead. I hate the Cardinals. They think their poo poo doesn't stink or something. I wish they would lose 10 in a row. People make fun of me for liking the White Sox. They tell me as a Cubs fan I should hate the Sox and Cardinals. I don't know. I want to cheer for the Chicago teams. But the Cardinals. Man I do not like those guys. I like players like Grudzielanek but when they put the Cardinals uniform on they just look different. They look like the enemy. The worst thing for me as a Cubs fan was when I saw Shawon Dunston with the Cardinals. That just looked wrong.
Wrigley and Tickets
I thought the popularity of the Cubs would subside after the 2003 playoffs but it seems to have gained even more steam. If you are a casual fan and you want tickets to a game, don't bother calling Ticketmaster or going to the Cubs website. There are no tickets left. Most of them were sold months ago. Your best bet is Ebay or paying at least 2 times the face value from the legalized scalpers around the ballpark. The whole thing is pretty crazy. We buy up a bunch of tickets before the season starts and go to about 15 games but if you don't plan proactively you are out of luck unless you have piles of money laying around.
Wildcard
Since the Cardinals are running away with it again we are forced to watch the Wild Card standings again just like last year. It is annoying. There are a bunch of teams in the race. I guess the Wild Card is good for baseball because it makes it more interesting for some teams (the Cubs) that would otherwise be out of contention. Another cool thing is that 3 of the past 4 World Champions were wild cards. Is this the Cubs year? Yes it is. Or maybe it is not.