Summer News, ramblings

The semester is winding down...all I have left to do class-wise is 1 homework assignment and an exam for Applied next week, and do a group presentation on a Mathematical Phyiscs paper during finals week. I'm quite ready for summer, though I very much need to make sure that I do my fair share of studying this summer so I can pass my quals. Of course there is also a pile of grading that I will need to do in the next week for the class I'm teaching...blah.

Speaking of the summer, we both seem to have plans pretty much set. I'm getting some summer money from the department as part of my 1st year grad student support, and I have scored a month's worth of support from Professor Milewski in return for some research. Hopefully I'll find something good which will be a starting point for future research in my next few years. After the researching, I will be taking a ~6 week applied math qual prep class from Ben Akers, which should prove to be super useful. After that, we move into our new place, hang with the visiting Morbecks, go to a Cubs game, and then the quals will be upon me. Hopefully we will go to a few Cubs and/or Brewers games this summer too.

Jennie has a job with the University Theatre costume shop and also doing alterations for David's Bridal. She seems excited about both jobs, and they should be fun. She'll be working a lot when the 2 jobs overlap (mid-May to mid-July), so I need to make sure I'm busy with stuff so I don't get Cabin Fever.

Other ramblings...

I still haven't gotten my teaching evaluations back yet. From last fall. Some people have gotten them back yet but it's been pretty spotty all around. I have no idea how my students rated me. I feel like I've done an okay job each semester that I've taught, doing well in different areas. Last semester I was one of 10 TAs teaching for a large lecture and I feel like I did a pretty good job interacting with my ~45 students and staying organized, though I'm not sure how directly useful my discussions were. This semester I was the sole TA for a course of ~75 students, and I saw them less often than in 222. I feel like I did a better job of presenting how to approach problems etc in discussion, but did a poorer job of keeping my students involved. Being the only TA I was far less organized and made more rookie mistake type stuff due to the fact that I didn't have any other TAs to sound off of in the class. It will be interesting to see how they all come back.

In TV-watching news...the only 'live' TV we've watched lately has been Cubs games. We just finished our 3rd run through of Buffy and it gets better somehow every time. Joss Whedon really is great. Jennie has said at several points that the show has renewed her belief in television as a source of truly quality TV shows. I think its terrible that the show never really got any critical acclaim...though not as big of a travesty as Firefly, the best show on TV ever, being cancelled after one season.

In book-reading news, I just finished At All Costs, the most recent book in the Honor Harrington series. Jennie is still slogging through the tepid Ashes of Victory (it gets better!). IM me if you want to discuss what will happen next, impressions, etc...the end of that last book was pretty wild.

Anyway, I've done pretty well at procrastinating to avoid the above homework, I should probably get back to it...

Grrr...Rob Neyer

I read Rob Neyer's article about what the Cubs should do now that Lee's gone and it left me pretty annoyed. Neyer rightly points out that we have 0 1b prospects who can fill in adequately for Lee, and recommends that the Cubs call up Michael Restovitch from the Minors to play 1b. That's certainly a reasonable suggestion, but he takes a huge shot at the Cubs when he describes their other option (which is what will likely happen).

The Cubs will probably play Walker at 1b most of the time and use one of their two remaining second basemen (Hairston and Perez - hopefully Hairston) at second. What burns me is that in the article, Neyer writes off both of them as terrible. I'm not going to be waving a flag for Perez anytime soon, but Hairston should do well as a primary 2nd baseman. He's fully healthy, unlike last year, and he had a good spring.

Neyer continues by slamming Jacque Jones, suggesting that Restovitch should have been called up anyway to replace him. This is foolish on two counts. First of all, while Jones's average has been poor, he was injured just has he was getting his stroke back, and he's been hitting the heck out of the ball and has just had bad luck. Rob Neyer is someone who will be the first to tell you that a 2-week sample of ABs (with injury included) is no indicator whatsoever for the rest of the season, and this makes no sense. Speaking of making no sense - it would make no sense at this point for the Cubs to bench a guy they just signed to a decent contract - what are the paying him for? If he's still doing this badly in late May...then things would be a little different. What he seems to think is that the Cubs should call up Felix Pie and put him in the RF spot instead of Jones, which I do not think he is ready for.

Anyway, this what I think the Cubs should do. I do agree with Neyer - they should call up Restovitch. However, he should be around as another utility guy. Mabry will be backing up Walker at first base but Restovitch should be our 4th outfielder - since Bynum is more of a pinch-runner type instead of a pinch-hitter type. He's a good pinch-runner/defensive replacement but he should not have to swing the bat. The new lineup should look something like this:

CF Pierre
2B Hairston
1B Walker
3B Ramirez
C Barrett
RF Jones
LF Murton
SS Cedeno

I guess the only silver lining in this Lee injury was that it cleared up the logjam at second base. If the Cubs can play .500 ball until the horses arrive, they will still be in good shape to make a run at the postseason.

The Hammer Falls

And so we find out today that Lee has 2 broken bones in his wrist and will be gone for 8-10 weeks. I'm not saying the Cubs have giant forks in their backs now, but it never helps anyone when the best player on your team goes down for half the season. Here's hoping that our pitching holds things together - we might turn out to be like last year's Astros (great pitching, zero offense, got hot when their best player (Berkman) came back from injury).

Crap!

Just listening to the Cubs game - and both Derrek Lee AND Scott Eyre seem to have been injured on the same play. Dammit. Keeping my fingers crossed for a good injury report...

Finally updating

Things are looking cautiously optimistic for the Cubs. The team's speed really as showed up on the field, despite a sub-par start by Juan Pierre. Murton and Cedeno have been doing quite well. The pitching has been the bizarre spot for the Cubs so far however.

Zambrano, the sole healthy ace, has pitched quite poorly, issuing many walks in each of his starts. Maddux, on the other hand, seems to have reversed the declining trend that many had projected for him. Rusch has just been awful - I can't wait for the big guns to arrive. At least our bullpen has been fantastic, as advertised.

Gammons wrote a great article a few days ago about the Cubs, saying that the team had the pieces to contend as it stands right now, and any innings they get out of Prior, Wood and Miller can only be viewed as a bonus. While I may not be as optimistic as Gammons is, he does make the point that the organization's stance has changed - the team no longer relies on Prior and Wood to be the linchpin of the team anymore.

What I'm hoping happens is that if Rusch has another awful start, he gets optioned to the minors and replaced by Hill (who's pitched well thus far) or Guzman. Marshall might get swapped out sooner too - the Cubs won both games he started but his starts haven't been lights out by any stretch. Of course, this isn't to say that these guys they call up from the minors might be any better...

Opening Day

Aside from my Cubs post, other news and notes on opening day:

Nomar is injured again. I really feel bad for the guy...it seems like he can't stay healthy these days. Losing him shouldn't be that big of an impact on that team anyway - any team that plays in Chavez Ravine is not built around offense.

I was thrilled to see Houston win 1-0 over Florida. Granted, Dontrelle Willis pitched for half that game, but if the Astros could only manage one run against Florida's excuse for a bullpen that bodes well for every other team they play. Their pitching is quite good, but their bats will have to wake up when people not named Pettite or Oswalt are pitching.

I also found the Barry Bonds situation amusing. If Padres fans are booing him like crazy then things should be interesting in other stadiums - they're among the most mellow fans in the league. And the syringe thing - priceless.

Even though the White Sox lost today, I think they are a better than what I wrote in spring training. Thome brings a lot more to that team than gave him credit for, and he will have a better shot at staying healthy as a DH.

Final Season predictions

My mistake if these don't reflect my earlier previews...this is how I'm thinking now.
My 'surprise' good teams this year are Detroit, Colorado, and the Cubs, and the 'surprise' bad teams are the Twins, Jays, and Astros. The NL west is going to be a real dogfight.

AL East
Yankees - 92 wins
Red Sox - 86 wins
O's - 80 wins
Jays - 79 wins
Rays - 70 wins

AL Central
White Sox - 90 wins
Tigers - 85 wins
Indians - 83 wins
Twins - 75 wins
Royals - 68 wins

AL West
A's - 96 wins
Angels - 87 wins
Rangers - 76 wins
Mariners - 60 wins

NL East
Braves - 89 wins
Mets - 82 wins
Phils - 76 wins
Nats - 73 wins
Fish - 71 wins

NL Central
Cardinals - 91 wins
Cubs - 89 wins
Brewers - 84 wins
Astros - 77 wins
Pirates - 76 wins
Reds - 68 wins

NL West
Dodgers - 86 wins
Giants - 83 wins
Padres - 82 wins
Colorado - 80 wins
Arizona - 76 wins

Playoffs
DS
A's over Angels
White Sox over Yankees
Cubs over Cardinals
Braves over Dodgers

CS
A's over White Sox
Cubs over Braves

WS
A's over Cubs

(disclaimer - these Cubs picks are assuming Prior, Wood, Miller stay healthy after they arrive)