Half-way point

Well we are at the official half-way point in the MLB season. Actually past half-way, but I won't get into details there.

We've had this blog running for almost a year now. During the off-season and first few weeks of this year we took quite a bit of heat from random people who preferred to remain anonymous regarding how much they hated Ryan Theriot. How much he stunk. What a weak link in the Cubs team he was going to be this year.

It's amazing how those comments abruptly stopped about 1 month into the season.

We'll be the first ones to admit that Ryan Theriot is not a superstar player. We'll admit there are more appealing SS's in MLB to have on your team. We know that he is not the kind of player that stands out on the field and draws the crowd to a ballpark.

But with that said, we'd argue tooth and nail that The Riot is as valuable to this team as almost any other player. And the sentiment among Cub fans is starting to get there.

Take yesterday as an example. The Cubs broadcast text vote yesterday was among the non-allstars, which Cub has been most vital or most valuable to the Cubs this season. I don't remember the exact choices but they included Theriot, Lee, Edmonds, DeRosa, and Johnson. I immediately sent my text vote in for The Riot. I knew Lee was going to win, but to me, Derrek Lee has been anything but clutch this year. He had a great start, but it seems in big situations, he is always striking out or grounding out. I still love the guy and his defense is spectacular, but I had to go with The Riot here. I figured DeRosa or even Edmonds might get more votes than Theriot.

As I figured, Lee won with 35%, but what really caught my eye was the fact that Theriot was just behind him with 33%. That speaks volumes to what Cubs fans now think of Theriot and how far he has come into the hearts of the best fan base in the world. We here at Turning-Two are proud of that. We're proud that we saw the potential in this guy while most of the fan base was skeptical and even asking for us to ditch him in favor of some high-priced FA.

Give Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella credit here. They realized that with Soriano, Fukudome, Lee, Ramirez, and Zambrano, the last thing this team needed was another high profile player at SS. What was needed is a scrappy, quick, high on-base percentage SS with more heart than anyone else on the team. They knew Ryan Theriot could be that guy. And The Riot has delivered so far. Batting .320 (team lead) with 15 SB and a .394 OBP, what more could you want? If you are about to give me a lecture on his lack of defensive range, keep it to yourselves. I'll admit its not all-star caliber defense. But it is very, very solid and its getting the job done. We needed a top of the lineup, on-base guy with speed and the knack of scoring runs. What good is a HR from Ramirez if nobody is on base. Still nice to have, but more powerful when The Riot is on the base paths for him. We have it all in Ryan Theriot. We couldn't be happier.

And if there is any question about the role this guy plays in the clubhouse. Did you see the celebration at home plate on Saturday in extra innings when DeRosa scored the winning run? That video highlight more than anything else this season gave me goosebumps. If you haven't seen it, head over to MLB.com and pull it up. DeRosa slides in just barely in front of a Bengie Molina tag. Theriot was right there giving him the slide signal, being a good teammate. The umpire calls DeRosa safe, and DeRosa and Theriot embrace in the most joyous hug you'll ever see from MLB teammates short of that done after a World Series clinching out. It was as if they were 5-years old again. Just priceless.

Pictures courtesty AP Photo - Paul Beaty

This team is special. We need to enjoy this. Ryan Theriot is a big part of what is going on.

THE RIOT!