There have been more than enough rumors involving the Cubs dealing irrascible outfielder Milton Bradley to someone...anyone, so why not throw one more long on the fire.
A Tribune "breaking news" report has the Cubs sending Bradley to Texas in a three-team deal that would also see Rangers pitcher Kevin Milwood going to the New York Mets and the Mets' second baseman Castillo here.
However, a NYC blogger says it ain't gonna happen.
The Cubs have agreed in principle a two-year deal with lefty reliever John Grabow. Grabow was acquired from the Pirates on July 30 along with Evergreen Park native Tom Gorzelanny. The deal is expected to be $7.5 million over two years.
We all know that "Cubs" and "omens" go together like "Wrigleyville" and "drunken frat boy", but is there something oddly fortuitous about the family name of the new Cubs owners? The blog Bleed Cubbie Blue takes a look...
Ted Lilly under went arthroscopic shoulder surgery this afternoon. Depending on how the rehab goes for him he may or may not miss the start of the season next April.
Another Cubs pitcher with a surgically repaired shoulder. Stop me if you've heard this one before. Hopefully for the Cubs sake this won't be a season long issue. They can't afford to lose a pitcher of Lilly's caliber.
The Little Friends of Printmaking have created a great new Cubs t-shirt -- but not one many Cubs fans are likely to be find very flattering. And since the Little Friends are based in Milwaukee, I have a feeling I know why.
Will he or won't he? President Obama may go pitch Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics afterall (with Arne Duncan in tow). But, as everyone knows, Oprah has the last word.
Whither goest thou, White Sox? Kenny Williams is trying to figure that out.
Cubs fans disillusioned by the outcome of this season can take a look back at the 1984 team. Not that the outcome then was any better, but still...
Seattle's T.J. Houshmandzadeh says he has something to prove when the Seahawks meet the Bears this Sunday. Meanwhile, the Bears seek to establish the running game. But if wide receiver Johnny Knox continues his ascent, we can wait a little while.
Mixed martial arts star Fedor Emelianenko is coming to Chicago in November. Take appropriate action.
And you find yourself...riding a bike down Michigan Ave. Musician David Byrne talks about his cycling fixation and cruising around Chicago.
Boxer David Diaz brings it back home this Saturday.
If you're participating in the sixth annual Salmon Classic this Sunday at Northerly Island, use this as inspiration.
The Chicago Fire prepare to honor another Chicago soccer team who weren't too shabby themselves in their day.
Late Chicago Olympian Willye White has a new park named in her honor.
The Big Ten football season kicks off this Saturday and while other teams discuss strategy for their upcoming opponents, Northwestern's gridiron gang has different concerns on their mind.
The Chicago Outfit close out their 2009 season this Saturday at the Windy City Fieldhouse. Get pumped up for the contest by checking out the cool video below.
So with baseball season in Chicago officially over (OK, OK, ALMOST over, Mr. Sticker), the question now turns to who'll be standing on the field when the Cubs and White Sox start play in 2010. Free agency, arbitration, trades...you name it. Bottom line, there'll be some faces missing from the team picture on both sides of town next year.
Today we got word that White Sox reliever Bobby Jenks is shutting it down for the rest of the year due to an injured right calf muscle, which has given rise to talk of whether we've seen the last of the portly closer on the mound for the Sox for good. He's up for arbitration next year and the Sox aren't known for fighting hard to keep guys in that situation, so it could be the end of his career with the team.
Ever wanted to see butt-kickin' roller babes (plus one movie star playing a roller babe) sing at Wrigley Field? Here's your chance: It's been announced that Drew Barrymore, one of the stars of the upcoming roller derby movie Whip It, will be singing the seventh-inning stretch at the Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers game on Tuesday, Sept. 15. Accompanying her will be two players from Chicago's own Windy City Rollers, Athena DeCrime and Val Capone (who also works as a vendor at Wrigley).
Back in the 1980s when the Cubs REALLY were stinking up the joint (as opposed to their current performance of dropped fly balls and lackadasical managers), the team did whatever it could to get fans into the ballpark on a consistent basis. It was the era when they sold fans on the idea of the bleachers-as-bar (Thank you, Harry Caray). And it was the era of Marla Collins.
If the name doesn't immediately conjure up an image in your mind, you probably weren't a hetrosexual male during that time. Collins was the Cubs "ballgirl", a term created during that less label-conscious time. But she wasn't merely a female version of a ballboy, dressed up in an ill-fitting full uniform. Collins had curves and the Cubs weren't afraid to use them. In her case, she was given Daisy Dukeish shorts and a tighter-than-it-probably-had-to-be jersey, all done up in Cubs pinstripes. Her hair was Farah Fawcett-perfect and guys would stand up when she sprinted to pick up foul balls or deliver a new set of baseballs to the umpire. Since the Cubs weren't really hitting them out of the park during that time, there were people wishing they would at least foul one to the backstop just to see her in, um, action. Here profile was furthen enhanced when Harry started waxing poetic about her from up in the booth, and when WGN producer Arne Harris began giving orders to his camera men to follow her motion every now and then instead of Ryne Sandberg's.
But the Collins era came to an end when she posed for Playboy and offended the Cubs' "family friendly" sensibilities (which were apparently fine when they dressed her in the shortest shorts and tightest top and positioned her nearly in the middle of the field).
The Daily News Journal of Kankakee catches up with Collins and talks about her two daughters (!) and her, let's say social interaction with some of the top ballplayers of that era. She may not have done much to help the Cubs get closer to a World Series, but she made the waiting a little less painful.
At any other point in the season, a Cubs/White Sox game would be a hype-lover's dream. But with the two teams at 10 1/2 and 7 games out, respectively, any fan claiming bragging rights after tomorrow's game would seem to be grabbing at straws. Yeah, sure, Ozzie Guillen is sounding like Bluto Blutarsky these days telling everyone that nothing is over until HE says it's over, ever after the team dumped two relative stars in Jim Thome and Jose Contreras And the Cubs fans, ever the optimists, will probably be encouraged to hear that the team has decided to fight it out until the end (as if they could simply walk away). But, truth be told, if there is any real venom swapped by the fans of the two teams tomorrow, as there has been in the past, it'll only be done by the clueless. Look, if you have tickets to the game, by all means go. Have a beer. Cheer for your team and congratulate the winner. But if you're expecting it to mean anything more than that, you're just as out of it as the White Sox and Cubs.
The Cubs' Milton Bradley is not happy. So what else is new? Besides, he's now the Ricketts family's problem.
The White Sox have lost four in a row and five of their last six. The Bleacher Reporter ask if they're heading in the wrong direction. Hmmm...let me think about that one.
Don't let Jay Cutler's cool demeanor fool you. According to ESPN he's a little jittery about returning to Denver as a member of the Bears this Sunday. Elsewhere on the Bear beat, Matt Forte is looking for balance and Dusty Dvoracek is looking at a doctor this Friday.
As if running a triathlon (like the Chicago Triathlon this weekend) wasn't difficult, try throwing cold, rainy weather into the mix. Here at some tips for coping with that.
While the state debates video poker, the real thing is going on in a tournament in Arlington Heights tonight. Wanna play? Ante up here.
The Chicago Sky host a benefit this Friday to promote breast cancer awareness.
Chicago Public Radio's Justin Kaufmann talks with legendary Steve Stone about his Wikipedia entry, and gets lots of stories about Stone's time with both the Cubs and Sox -- and his 1983 Playgirl spread.
Playgirl?! Oh yes. The pictorial is online here if you're interested. I wouldn't call it safe for work, but there's no "Little Stoney" visible if that's what you're worried about. You can let Stone know what you think -- or blot it from your mind and just ask him about baseball -- on Twitter at @BaseballStone.
Yeah, we know there's still plenty of time left in the baseball season, but it's getting late, they're eight games out of first and, well... it appears that even the logo on Derrick Lee's helmet is calling it quits (via Deadspin). If that's not depressing enough, Yahoo! Sports paints a pretty dismal picture of the way the rest of their season is unfolding.
It is being reported that the long awaited sale of the Cubs is finally complete. The Ricketts family, who have been front runners since negotiations began, are spending $845 Million for the team and related assets. They will have a 95% control of the team (the other 5% will be retained by the Tribune Compnay), ownership of Wrigley Field and a 25% stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
If you are wondering what this, and other Cubs stories, would sound like in a haiku, visit The Cubs in Haiku on Twitter.
On a night where runs were hard to come by, in a park notorious for keeping balls inside the park, Kevin Gregg made offense look easy. Prior to the eight inning of Monday night's game in San Diego, the Cubs and the Padres had complied a scant four hits and zero runs each. Ted Lilly made his return from the DL and pitched six strong innings - allowing four hits, no runs and keeping his pitch count to 70. The Cubs made Padres' starter Kevin Correia work a little harder to finish his six innings but ultimately scored no runs either. After seven scoreless innings, it looked like the Cubs grabbed the reigns and put themselves in position to squeak out a low scoring victory in the top of the eight inning. Derrek Lee led off the inning with a triple and Aramis Ramirez's single in the next at bat drove in Lee to score the game's first run. John Grabow and Carlos Marmol combined for a perfect second half of the eight and set the table for the closer, Gregg, to end the game.
It might be safely said that when it comes to the gameday activities that surround Wrigley Field, most of the denizens of Wrigleyville fall into two categories: those who love living close to the buzz, the excitement, the commotion and those who would rather have hot knitting needles jammed into a body orifice than have to deal with mass of humanity that descend on the area when the Cubs are in town.
For the latter, have we got a website for you.
"Is There A Cubs Game Today?" might sound like a must-stop destination on the information superhighway for fans seeing details on that day's contest, but it's anything but a plethora of information and helpful tips. Well, scratch that second part. It IS full of helpful tips, if by "helpful tips" you mean ways to avoid the area completely.
After back-to-back 11-5 losses, the Cubs return home to Wrigley Field on Tuesday following a 4-6 road trip. The trip started with initially high hopes: the Cubs had come out strong after the All Star break and had won eight of their last seven games going into Florida. But the road trip, particularly the Colorado series, has left a bad taste in the mouth of any one who watched what took place on the field over the weekend.
The one good thing about the four game series against the Rockies over the weekend is that they managed not to get swept. Beyond the one win, it was one of the ugliest series of the year for the Cubs. It started on the wrong foot before the first pitch was even thrown as Carlos Zambrano was sent to the 15 Day DL prior to his scheduled start on Friday. Sean Marshall learned shortly before the game started that he would be the replacement starting pitcher and did not fare well on the short notice, only lasting two innings. Saturday gave the Cubs their only win of the series but even it brought bad news as Aramis Ramirez re-injured the left shoulder that kept him out of the majority of the first half of the season.
The last two games of the series were a disastrous combination of poor starting pitching, bad relief pitching and shaky defense. Tom Gorzelanny's second start with the Cubs could not have looked more different from his first. With six runs allowed in 1.1 innings pitched, the start nearly doubled Gorzelanny's ERA. Meanwhile, while the Cubs were struggling to keep the Rockies inside of Coors, the Cardinals have been playing hot and are now three games up on the Cubs. If the Cubs want to redeem themselves from this weekend, winning some games at home with Philadelphia in town would help. Since the All Star break, the Cubs are 3-7 against teams that currently have a winning record and 12-2 against losing teams. Beating the teams their supposed to beat is nice but if they want to make the playoffs they have to be able to beat other contenders as well.
In many ways, the Cubs' 2009 could be considered far from lucky. From injuries, to the bats falling asleep for nearly two months, to a shaky bullpen, it has not necessarily been a dream season. But the Cubs can consider themselves extremely lucky as far as substitute starting pitching has gone. Sean Marshall originally started the year as the fifth starter, but when Carlos Zambrano went to the DL early in the season, Randy Wells proved to be more than a suitable fill in and too good to send back to the minors once Zambrano returned. The move even worked well for Marshall, who has gone on to post the lowest ERA of any left handed reliever in the National League since being moved out of the starting rotation to make room for Wells.
While Kevin Hart was on the mound Thursday pitching, a deal trading him to the Pittsburgh Pirates was being finalized somewhere in the Cubs' front office. According to ESPN, Hart, along with relief pitcher Jose Ascanio and minor league player Josh Harrison are part of a deal to recieve left handed pitching from Pittsburgh. The Pirates, who have been in full fire sale mode for most of the year, will send John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny to the Cubs. It is a move that will add much needed left handed pitchers to the Cubs bullpen. Ever since Neal Cotts was optioned to Triple A Iowa , Sean Marshall has been the only lefty available for the Cubs in relief. Marshall has been so good as a relief pitcher, sporting a 1.31 ERA, that to use him only as a left handed specialist would be a waste at this point. Grabow and Gorzlanny are now options to go to when the Cubs need a big out against a left handed batter. With Hart gone, there is no word yet who will fill the last spot in the rotation while Ted Lilly is injured.
Outside of his few starts this season, Hart is probably best remembered by Cubs fans for his work as a call up reliever during the end of the 2007 season. In the midst of a tight divisional race with Milwaukee, Hart posted a 0.82 ERA over the last few weeks of the season to help The Cubs reach the playoffs. His last start with the Cubs was a win, 12-3 over the Houston Astros as the Cubs took three out of the four games in the series. The Cubs will start a 10 game road trip Fridayversus the Florida Marlins. Rich Harden will start while the Marlins starter is Chris Volstad.
Boy, you have one inter-team spat... Even though the Bears are denying any rift between Brian Urlacher and new QB Jay Cutler, USA Today has concluded that the team is the new Dallas Cowboys.
Can we leave the poor guy alone? A documentary is being planned on Steve Bartman and the "incident".
Speaking of the Cubs, the middle of their lineup (Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Milton Bradley) are heating up at just the right time.
If the Illini make it to the Rose Bowl again, they can thank... Donovan McNabb?
If you join up with the Fork In The Road biking and dining group, will you be having a well-rounded meal?
The Chicago Huddle, a weekly Bears preview and recap show, is looking for a spokesperson to open each program. Looking at the photo on the front of the video, I can't for the life of me figure out what they're looking for.
The Chicago Women In Baseball League and the Chicago Gems baseball club will take their skills to a bigger audience when they conduct and exhibition prior to the start of a Schaumburg Flyers game during Women In Baseball Day
Sunday was a good day for the Cubs. An afternoon 5-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds completed the three game series sweep while losses by the Cardinals, Astros and Brewers helped the Cubs sneak into a half game lead in the NL Central, the first on top the division since April 21st. Rich Harden pitched another strong outing, allowing one hit and one run in six innings while striking out eight. After posting a 5.47 ERA in fourteen starts before the All Star break, Harden has a 0.95 ERA in the three games since and is showing the dominant fastball/change up combination that the Cubs expected to see after trading for him mid season last year.
Harden has not been the only Cub showing signs of improvement recently. Since he was moved to the front of the line up, a formerly struggling Kosuke Fukudome is batting .333 with a .404 OBP in the lead off spot. Alfonso Soriano is hitting .429 since the Break, having a hit in all nine games he has played in. Even Milton Bradley is showing signs of improvement. He is still hitting for a lower than expected average but his .448 OBP in July is nothing to scoff at. Any player who gets on base as often as Bradley has recently is worth value. Not coincidentally, the Cubs have won 10 of their last 13, the first impressive streak in months.
In order to stay in first place, the Cubs will need more improvement and steady play from the offense. They also need to do a better job staying healthy. With the Cardinals acquiring Matt Holliday last week, making the post season became an even more difficult goal to reach. Not many rumors are surrounding the Cubs during the last week before the trade deadline. They may try to pick up a lefty reliever, and possibly an extra bat, but no big names are expected as of now. On Monday, the Cubs start a four game series in Chicago with the Astros, who are currently two games behind them in the standings.
Alfonso Soriano and Ted Lilly have become the latest Cubs to be sidelined with injuries during an injury plagued 2009 campaign. Soriano, who had never been put on the disabled list before joining the Cubs, is starting to expect that all his injuries as a Cub may be more than just coincidence. Lilly is out sore knee and can be considered day to day for now. He had started 34 games in his two previous years with the Cubs and could be considered the workhorse of the staff. Frankly, it's a little scary that injuries have gotten so bad for the Cubs that even Lilly, a player known for his extreme durability through out his career, is now missing starts. Randy Wells will fill in Lilly's place for Saturday's game against the Nationals.
Before our local baseball teams get back to action, including the apparent struggle to remain mediocre, one final look back at Chicago's involvement in the Mid-Summer Classic:
The New York-based Gawker wonders if Barack Obama muffed his first All-Star Game opening pitch attempt? Here, judge for yourself.
Meanwhile, yeah, we know it was a Chicago Cub being introduces in St. Louis Cardinal country, but the reception Ted Lilly got?... Ouch.
If it's any consolation for Lilly, a team of Cubs' "all-stars", including Keith Moreland (!) beat a team of White Sox "all-stars". Nah, it's probably not any consolation.
The White Sox' Mark Buehrle no doubt felt a pinch of pride after pitching a perfect inning in front of his "home town" crowd.
The Smithsonian Institution, Baseball Hall of Fame and the Chicago History Museum apparently each have one of the signs in their archives. Hopefully the Hall of Fame gets around to adding Dunston himself one of these years.
On a beautiful Sunday in Chicago, the type of day baseball was made for, the Cubs hosted a double header with the St. Louis Cardinals and completed the four game series heading into the All-Star break. Carlos Zambrano got his first win in six starts during the day game, allowing three runs over six innings. Zambrano helped his own cause by hitting his third home run of the season. Micah Hoffpauir also hit a three run home run in the first inning off Cardinals' starter Kyle Lohse. The Cubs managed to drive in three more runs in the seventh inning off a series of errors by the Cardinals defense, culminating in a 7-3 Cubs win.
For only the second time during the 2009 season, the Cubs were able to start their original projected lineup. That's right, with Aramis Ramirez's return on July 7, the Cubs were able to to start Geovany Soto, Derrick Lee, Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome and Milton Bradley together for only the second time this year. The only other time this season the Cubs were able to start all nine players together? Opening Day, making it a 78-game stretch in which they could not field their original lineup. Certainly this team has struggled on the field at times during those 78 games, as we have struggled to watch the, at times, painful performances of a should-be talented team. But if you need reason to hope, think of of it this way: with yesterday's 4-2 win, the Cubs are undefeated with their full lineup. Two games over .500 is not very good but only two games out of first in the division is not very bad either. They've won six out their last eight games, Aramis is back, Soriano is finally out of the leadoff spot and it looks like the sale of the team may finally go through so they may be able to make some mid-season moves. Who knows, maybe in a week they will be back to struggling on offense and consistently losing games 3-1 all over again, but maybe things are coming together. Maybe, for the first time in a long time, they've put together a streak of good fortune.
Depending on your point of view this could be some good news to break the monotony of the Cubs' lackluster season; the Tribune Company has finalized the sale of the team and Wrigley Field.
Two. That is the grand total of All-Stars representing Chi Town in Major League Baseball's 80th Midsummer Classic. Mark Buehrle will make his fourth All-Star team after starting the year off 6-0 for the Southsiders. He is 8-2 with a 3.09 ERA. He was the starter for American League in the 2005 All-Star game in Detroit. He would be the winning pitcher in that one as well.
One could make the argument that Scott Podsednik is deserving of a trip to St. Louis. Since rejoining the Southsiders on April 14 he has hit .312, .368, and .407. Not too shabby considering most of the experts in baseball believed his better days were behind him. This is no doubt a snub of Podsednik especially since he is not one of five candidates vying for the final American League roster spot.
Fresh on the heels of the mildly interesting revelation that Geovany Soto tested positive for marijuana while playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball classic this season, comes this mind-blowing follow-up: Lou Piniella admits he partook of the weed once himself.
Really? Grandpa Lou? Old Grumpy Pants? Yup, that was Brother Louie admitting that just before the start of today's White Sox/Cubs game at U.S. Cellular. He said he only did it once and it didn't do a thing for him. Why isn't that hard to believe?
Maybe it's time for the rest of the Cubs to come clean on whether reefer madness is running rampant in the clubhouse. Because, seriously, Milton Bradley has got to be on SOMETHING. I mean, forgetting how many outs there are in an inning? Classic pothead move.
Michael Phelps, you can breath easier (well, as easy as you can while inhaling and holding it). Another athlete has been busted by the pot police. This time, it's Cubs catcher Geovany Soto, who tested positive for marijuana while playing for Puerto Rico in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. There reportedly won't be any penalty imposed on Soto, who called it an "isolated incident", by MLB or the Cubs. At the very least, the news might provide a possible reason for the drop-off from his Rookie-of-the-Year numbers last season for Cubs fans.
There may have been fireworks going off during the late innings of Wednesday's night game in Detroit but there would be no late game dramatics for the Cubs. With the tying run on first base and a full count, Kosuke Fukudome struck out looking at a borderline pitch to end the game 5-3. The final inning of offense was thematic of the Cubs' play at the plate during the whole game: the first two batters reached base safely but no one could drive them in. In total, the Cubs had 18 base runners during the game but could only score three runs. In six of the innings they had the leadoff man reach a base and only brought two of them around to home. Here is a break down of their struggles with RISP:
2nd inning: 2 on, no outs - 0 runs scored
3rd inning: lead of double - 0 runs scored
4th inning - 2 on, no outs - 0 runs scored
5th inning - bases loaded, two outs - 0 runs scored
6th inning - bases loaded, no outs - 1 run scored
7th inning: 2 on, no out; bases loaded, 1 out - 1 run scored
9th inning: 2 on, no out - 0 runs scored
The opportunities were there for the Cubs to win, they just could not get the hits when it mattered. Despite the three game losing streak they are currently in, the offense has been more effective than it had been. They are finally getting more hits and men on base; the new struggle has been to drive in runs during RBI situations. The defense and relief pitching can still use improvements, too. Geovany Soto's error in the fifth inning ended up helping the Tigers score a crucial go ahead run while Jose Ascanio and Carlos Marmol struggles in relief appearances during the eight gave the Tigers an insurance run to their lead. With the loss, the Cubs are back at .500 with a 34-34 record - 3.5 games behind St. Louis in the NL Central.
The White Sox wrapped up their nine game road trip on Sunday with a 4-1 victory over the Reds. This trip began in Milwaukee where they would take two out of three. They would return home briefly to take on their North side counter parts where they would split a rain shortened series. They would take on the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend.
This series was important because on Saturday they would play the first ever regular season Civil Rights game. The Sox won a barn burner 10-8. Mark Buehrle pitched on Sunday and earned his first victory since May 19. He improves to 7-2 on the year. They were 5-3 on the trip and they return home to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Just under a week ago, the Chicago Cubs had hit one of their lowest points of the season, losing to the Chicago White Sox 4-1, the loss put the Cubs at 9-17 of their last 26 games. However, since then, the Cubs have won four straight games, their longest of the season, including a sweep of the AL Cleveland Indians.
Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto returned to familiar form both hitting over two home runs in the 4-game win stretch.
The Cubs face Atlanta to make up a rain out from their May series tomorrow, followed by a three-game series against the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers, a re-match of the 1945 World Series.
The Cubs completed a three game sweep of the Cleveland Indians with a 6-2 win on Sunday, marking their fourth win in a row. Randy Wells pitched 6.2 innings and gave up two runs, improving his record to 1-3. Despite Wells' 2.57 ERA in his eight starts this season, it was not until Sunday that he notched his first career victory. Unlike the previous three Cubs wins, this game had no need for late game dramatics. Geovany Soto hit a solo home run in the second inning and the Cubs held the lead for the rest of the game. Derrek Lee was able to extend his hitting streak to 18 games and Milton Bradley had two hits to put his streak at 10 games.
Starting with a make up game tomorrow in Atlanta, the Cubs will spend the next ten days on the road as they continue the five week stretch before the All Star break in which they only have one day off. If their offense continues to play like it has over the last four games, this tiring stretch of games will most definitely be easier to endue. Over the last week, Ryan Theriot is hitting .304, Bradley .333, Soto .357, and Lee has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball during June. Is this a lucky stretch or should we actually expect some improvement coming from the offense? Certainly this ten game road trip will be a test.
Now that Part I of Cubs vs. White Sox, 2009 is in the books, Chicago baseball fans get a brief respite before the madness kicks back into gear again when the two teams meet at The Cell for the rematch next weekend. Brian Livingston takes a look at the abbrebviated series and offers an intriguing way to make up for that washed-out game that was supposed to start the series.
The series seemed to lose some intensity after the rain out on Tuesday, but don't tell that to White Sox fans who were smiling from ear to ear after their team beat their North Side counterparts 4-1. This series took place during the middle of the week, which seemed to take away the atmosphere that normally surrounds this series which usually takes place on the weekend. It is unfortunate that Tuesday night's game got rained out, because it would've been nice to see a night game during the week being played between these two at Wrigley Field.
This match up is meant for the weekend because it generally makes for a better atmosphere before, during and after the games. A thought crossed my mind as to how to schedule the rained-out game. Originally it occurred to me that they could do what they did in New York. A game between the Mets and Yankees was rained out at Shea Stadium last season. They re-scheduled the game for the following weekend when they were playing the Yankees at their place. They played an afternoon game at Shea and then a night game at Yankee Stadium.
The Cubs and Sox play next weekend at U.S. Cellular; why not play an afternoon game at Wrigley then take the Red Line down to U.S. Cellular? How cool would that be to have the players ride an express train down to 35th Street after playing an afternoon game at Wrigley? It would really give new meaning to the "Subway Series". Of course both clubs would have to agree to it, and more than likely it isn't going to happen. There is an off-day in September that the two teams share, and the game will most likely be played on September 3.
It appeared that both games were going to go to the White Sox. The Sox were 4-1 winners in game one, but the Cubs would play spoiler in game two. Just like the overall series itself, the numbers between these two they were pretty evenly matched during the two game set. On the downside they'll have to wait for September to conclude this series. The all-time series is once again tied 34-34 and the Sox season record stands at 31-35, four games out of first place. The Sox head out to Cincinnati to take on the Reds this weekend, featuring the Civil Rights game on Saturday.
For the Cubs, this years' Cross Town Classic comes at an odd set of crossroads. Statistically speaking, the six games that make up the Cubs/White Sox rivalry each year are actually the most meaningless six games of the season. Games against NL Central opponents carry a larger weight in deciding which team will win the division. Inter-division games have more significance when it comes to deciding which team will win the wild card. Inter-league play has almost no meaning outside of pure wins and losses. Despite the hype and perceived significance of these games, losing in them is only a single blade sword. When a team loses within in their respected division or league, it not only gives them the loss but also gives a win to a team in their direct competition; it creates a one game swing in the standings. In the six games of the Cross Town Classic, each game is only half as important. Neither a win nor loss carry much clout, each only represents a half game swing in the standings.
While the percentages of male fans may not be all that surprising, there are some unexpected stats in there -- which team's fans are the best paid and most educated, for instance.
For the second straight game, Geoff Blum delivered the game winning hit for the Houston Astros against the Cubs. With two outs in the bottom of the 13th inning, Blum hit a sharp ball down the first base line, driving in Hunter Pence from second. Also, for the second straight game, the Chicago Cubs had only one solo home run to their offensive credit. Despite the Cubs' starters giving up only two runs in the 21.2 innings they pitched in the three game series, the Cubs will leave Houston with only one more win than they came in with.
Ryan Dempster delivered another strong effort by Cubs pitching, allowing one run over seven innings. In his last three starts, Dempster has pitched 20 innings and allowed only earned run, a sac fly in the first inning of today's game. His ERA has fallen by a full point during the three game span and it looks like he may be returning to last year's form.
But as enjoyable as it has been to watch the Cubs' pitching post a team ERA of 1.55 during the month of June - the best in all of baseball - it has been just as painful to watch the rest of the team hit. To put it in perspective just how bad the Cubs' offense is compared to their pitching, think about this: If the Cubs scored exactly four runs in every one of their previous 27 games, their record over that period would be 19-4 - plus four games being inconclusive as they would have resulted in a 4-4 tie. Let's say, for fun, that they split those four extra inning games and went 21-6 since May 9th. Their new record would be 37-20; good enough for the second best record in baseball and first place in the NL Central by at least four games. Instead, they have gone 13-14 during that period.
If four runs a game seems like an unreasonable number to expect, remember that they averaged 5.3 runs a game last year. We know that eventuality the pitching will cool down, no team can maintain a 1.55 ERA for too long, but will the bats ever start heating up? So far Derrek Lee seems to be the only one up to the task but it will be a long season if no one else follows suit.
On the other side of town, the Cubs' top pick says he was hoping they would select him all along because he admires their history...
...which, as a Tribune article states, has been well documented on film.
A golf foursome with Ben Roethlisberger, Justin Timberlake and Michael Jordan? Somebody pinch former Chicago cop Larry Giebelhausen, because he must be dreaming.
Chicago's long history of heavyweight boxing add another chapter as Frez Oquendo takes on Gonzalo Basile in a June 26 bout.
Fire fan favorite C.J. Brown looks back on 12 years with the team.
Finally, meet the man who motivated Michael Jordan to greatness (by beating him out for the last spot on their high school basketball team): Leroy Smith. (If he looks a little like Charlie Murphy, that's purely coincidental, we're sure.)
It seems as if every Carlos Zambrano start has become some sort of sight to see. Will he blow up? Will he get injured? Will he go on a seven minute tirade that climaxes with beating a Gatorade machine to death and a six game suspension? 2009 has been anything but low key for Zambrano. Friday night, the story line was already in place as Zambrano went for his 100th career win - a somewhat significant milestone in a pitcher's career. In the history of baseball, well over 500 pitchers have recorded 100 or more wins. So while it is a noteworthy achievement, it doesn't put a pitcher in any sort of elite group. But no moment is mundane with Zambrano on the mound and he won his 100th game with a flair that few pitchers have achieved before him.
So when Tony Dungy said signing Jay Cutler was risky for the Bears, did he stop to consider who the previous three or four Bears quarterbacks were?
Author Sarah Paretsky takes time off from documenting the exploits to private investigator V.I. Warshawski to discuss another dark subject: the Cubs. She compared Cubs fans to "tired women living with alcoholic men." Ouch.
If the news that Matt Hagan will trade the Shelor.com Funny Car body for a FRAM Tough Guard design on the Dodge Charger, you probably want to be at Route 66 Raceway this weekend.
Ryan Dempster may have been the first to come with blows but it was Carlos Zambrano who put the fatal wounds on the Cubs' new Gatorade dispenser, according to the Chicago Tribune. Zambrano, during his outburst of crazy on May 27th, brushed aside pitching coach Larry Rothschild in the dug out and unleashed his full rage on the dispenser over a disputed call at home plate that later replays showed was correct. Ever since, the Gatorade machine has been dying a slow death of leaks and a broken shell casing. When the Cubs return to Wrigley from their current road trip, they will be greeted by an old fashioned bucket and tap style dispenser, ones that have shown over time their durability to be resistant against the onslaught of angry pitchers. In some ways, this may be a good omen for a Cubs team that is struggling to stay afloat. If, someday, the Cubs ever win it all, what could they do with a Gatorade dispenser? The customary act of dumping the Gatorade bucket over the coach's or manager's head would become impossible. They would have to drag Lou Piniella to the machine, stick his head under the fountains and press the soda tabs to give him his proper Gatorade bath; that's just no good. In order to be a champion, you must be prepared for it and now another small piece of the puzzle is in place. The Gatorade dispenser was two months old.
Continuing the Cubs recent streak of strong pitching performances, Ryan Dempster went seven innings against the Dodgers, allowing no runs and only three hits. The offense lent their support to their starter, scoring in five of the eight innings they took to the plate for a clean 7-0 win. It is the fifth game in a row for the Cubs in which they have held the opposing team to two runs or less. The strong outing was Dempsters best performance so far this year and came on the heels of his worst, a four inning, six run stint against the Pirates on Monday. Since that lost to the Pirates, the Cubs have allowed only five runs in five games; the Gatorade dispenser couldn't be happier. On Friday, the pitching allowed the Cubs to perform a feat that has eluded them all season: win with less than four runs scored. Prior to Fridays game, the Cubs had scored three or less runs in nineteen games and had lost every one of them. Thanks to yesterday's game, they are now a much more impressive 1-19 with less than four runs scored.
Tomorrow, Sean Marshall (3-3) will go for the series win against Eric Milton (1-0) on ESPN as their featured Sunday Night baseball game. Marshall started this stretch of strong pitching when the rain gods interrupted his last outing for a rare five inning victory.
Wipe your tears, Hawks fans. According to USA Today, the young team's gotta wear shades ('80s music reference).
Not only are Derrick Rose's academic endeavors at Memphis under scrutiny, but it looks like the grade hanky-panky extends back to high school.
So does this SAT probe mean anything for the next batch of NBA hopefuls, many of whom will be here in Chicago for the annual pre-draft camp?
Answering the cries of many Cubs fans, GM Jim Hendry says the trading of Mark De Rosa isn't the problem. Meanwhile, The Bleacher Reports thinks moving Alfonso Soriano to second is one of the answers. And if the sale of the team to the Ricketts family doesn't go through, Sam Zell says "don't worry".
So who's the most important Bear on the team right now? If you think the answer is obvious, think again.
Even with deep dish pizza and Italian beef sandwiches all over the place, Chicago is pretty average when it comes to fitness. We're 25th out of 50.
Someone found the Tampa Bay Rays 2008 AL Championship trophy in a thrift shop in Chicago. Well, not the ACTUAL trophy...
The Chicago Fire's Gonzalo Segares gets the "up-close-and-personal" treatment from Goal.com.
It sounds like a sweeps week "special report": Are playgrounds endangering our children? Watch "Not Just Fun and Games", a special investigative report...
And the beat(ing) goes on... With their 10-8 loss to the Pirates yesterday, the Cubs losing streak hit eight, matching their longest losing streak in the last SEVEN seasons. "It certainly can't get any worse," said catcher Geovany Soto, who apparently never heard of the numbers nine, ten or eleven, etc. Although their hitting has been taking a downward slide lately (they're batting .244 as a team, third worst in the majors), the bats woke up yesterday and pounded out 10 hits. But pitching is still a hit-or-miss proposition (no pun intended). Yesterday, starter Ryan Dempster lasted only four innings and gave up six runs, two on back-to-back bases-loaded walks. The bullpen, of course, wasn't much better with Neal Cotts dishing up a two-run homer to let Pittsburgh take the lead.
So what's the solution? Well, a lot of people, including Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan, thinks the team needs an eruption from Mount St. Lou (Pinella) to fire up the troops. At least Milton Bradley and Ted Lilly seem to think raised voices are the answer as both have had verbal run-ins with the umps lately, with Lilly being tossed from the bench during Monday's game. But if you need a dirt-kicking tantrum from Pinella to beat someone like today's Pirate starter Ian Snell (1-5, 4.88 ERA), then they've got bigger problems than anyone ever thought.
Despite winning their first series this month the White Sox fall back on bad times losing to the Twins 20-1. Bartolo Colon was god awful lasting only two innings but only surrendering one earned run. It was his defense that failed him. Wilson Betemit who was replacing Josh Fields, the newest member of Ozzie Guillen's doghouse, committed an error that opened the flood gates in the second.
A throwing error allowed the inning to continue which allowed the Twins to have a seven run inning. The game became out of reach at this point and it only got worse from there. The bullpen didn't do any better either. The Twins scored in all but three innings. Sox relievers gave up a six spot in the sixth and a four spot in the seventh.
By the time this week's three game series with the Cardinals is over, the Cubs will be just about a quarter done with the 2009 season. And while I cannot predict what will happen during the next three games, it's safe to say that the first 40 games of the year have not gone to script. If you had talked with a Cubs fan before the season started and informed them that after six weeks of play Aaron Miles, Micah Hoffpauir and Bobby Scales will become everyday players; the team's number one starting pitcher and biggest RBI producer will both go on the DL; Derrek Lee, Milton Bradley, Geovany Soto and Mike Fontenot will be fighting to stay above the Mendoza line and the bullpen will post the second worst ERA in all of the NL, you probably would have been greeted with predictions of a season full of doom and gloom. But somehow, this Cubs team has not fallen into the dark; they have found a way to win games and stay competitive in a surprisingly strong NL Central division. Despite the injuries, the slow starts and unreliability in the bullpen, the 2009 Cubs have managed to post the same record through 36 games as the 2008 team did a year ago.
On Tuesday, the team starts a short, six game road trip in St. Louis. For the Cardinals, these games have higher stakes involved than the average mid-May series. Losers of 9 out of their last 13 games, St. Louis will once again put their frequently injured, Cy Young winning pitcher Chris Carpenter on the mound for the first time since he went to the DL on April 14th. If he can pitch to form, the Cubs' hitters will have their hands full with Carpenter on Wednesday and Adam Wainwright pitching on Thursday. It may be the boost the Cardinals need to break out of their current slump. While the Cardinals are looking for a strong return from their number one starter, the Cubs are hoping to pull out a few more wins while waiting for the return of their staff ace. Carlos Zambrano is scheduled to start in San Diego on Friday after a rehab outing over the weekend. Despite a rocky 3.2 innings pitched at High-A Daytona, Zambrano says he feels ready to go and only needs to work on correcting his release point before Friday's game.
If you were looking for the results of today's Cubs-Astros game, forget it. Rain washed it out.
For his uncharacteristic helmet-throwing incident, the White Sox' Jermaine Dye gets suspended and fined, meaning he's going to miss most of their series against Toronto.
Speaking of Chicago vs. Toronto, the Fire travel to the Great White North to take on Toronto FC this weekend. Other Fire news: the team has qualified for the 2009 SuperLiga tournament and kick off their annual Community Soccer Series net week.
Meanwhile, Chicago's other pro soccer team, the Red Stars have a budding star with the free-spirited midfielder Megan Rapinoe. Elsewhere, ESPN shows the Red Stars some by singing out goaltender Caroline Jonsson as one of the standouts in the Women's Professional Soccer League's inaugural season.
Vancouver is still trying to hold its collective heads up high after being bounced by the Blackhawks. But at least they don't welch on a bet.
If you had a brand-new boat (and really, in this economy, who doesn't?), the Chicago Park District has given you two new harbors.
Yahoo! Sports has the Bears finishing 11-5 this season. Hmmm...what changed?
As long as the Arena Football League is gathering mothballs, former Rush coach Mike Hohensee figures he's better earn a buck somewhere else.
Tired of movie dates, candlelit dinners and walks along the beach? Try antigravity yoga (among other alternative and physical date ideas).
New video game upstart retail outlet Play N Trade opens a new store in the Chicago area.
Seeking to assert their masculine superiority, the baseball-playing Schaumburg Flyers will take on the Chicago Bandits, the 2008 National Pro Fastpitch champions, in a fastpitch softball game. Why am I temped to bet the house on the Bandits?
The Cubs have been on a roller coaster ride so far this season. Here are some of the most recent ups and downs.
First the good news. Apart from the continued good play of guys like Fukudome, Soriano and Hoffpauir, there isn't much in particular to be happy about. The team went on a small winning streak between the end of April and beginning of May. Hopefully that puts some wind in the sails. The new young pitcher Randy Wells had a good first major league outing. He could continue to contribute for some time. In the promising news category the Cubs acquired Ryan Freel, who has all the tools to be an Edmonds-like addition.
Team health has been bad. It just got worse. With Zambrano already down and Lee missing more and more games due to neck soreness, Ramirez dislocated his shoulder and may miss two to three months. Even with Freel we're really going to miss a .364 hitter averaging almost an RBI per game. On top of all that, Chad Fox, who was tearing it up at AAA, but is no stranger to injury, threw to only two batters Saturday before being pulled with pain in his problem elbow. Unfortunately for him that could mean an end to his career.
Speaking of the bullpen if your looking for ugly, look no further. Marmol and Greg have been strong but that's about where the consistency ends. Playing a division rival and contender in the Brewers this weekend the Cubs were relying on the whole team to step it up. The line scores tell the tale. Milwaukee's wins in the first two games were both due to late inning runs. Guzman held the line in the third game but it took Marmol and Gregg to close out the win. We're 31 games in. These guys have had their chance. It's time to start making moves.
If we spoke a week ago, I would've told you to start counting to 102 years. The Cubs had slipped to a 3-7 slump, including a four game slide to Cincinnati and St. Louis. However since April shifted to May, the Cubs are starting to catch fire, and currently sit three games behind St. Louis.
A major contributor to the Cubs 6-1 streak, filling in for the injured Aramis Ramirez, third basemen Mike Fontonot sits 2nd on the Cubs with the most home runs (5) behind slugger Alfonso Soriano (7). However, shortstop Ryan Theriot has strutted his stuff hitting .305 with 3 home runs, all three of them within the past two weeks.
Although the Cubs aren't putting up the monster numbers they did this time last year, they're sitting quite pretty in the early part of the season heading into the early summer.
The (semi) satirical sports website Deadspin takes a look at the incident from yesterday's Cubs-Cincinnati Reds game at Wrigley Field, namely the feline that scurried onto the field and the curse-related implications of the intrusion (i.e., not making the World Series AGAIN). Nevermind the cat; isn't having Dusty Baker back in the ballpark a harbinger of bad tidings in itself?
In case you've forgotten that in between the Bulls and Blackhawks playoff runs, there's still baseball in Chicago, and Aramis Ramirez reminded us just how exciting baseball can be.
Tied 5-5 in the 11th inning on Saturday, A-Ram spanked a huge two-run shot to win the game for the big blue train, pushing the Cubs to a 7-5 record, and an NL Central Division lead cushion of a game. This was Aramis' third homer of the season, but first in the late innings (6th inning or later), A-Ram hit six go-ahead runs in the late innings last season.
The Cubs open a series today with the Reds that lasts until Thursday evening, they are then embarking on a road trip which takes them through St. Louis and Arizona before looping back to Wrigley to play the Marlins.
On paper the Cubs are off to a decent start this season with a 7-4 record; but the devil is definitely in the details with this team. The baseball world has made it clear that the Cubs are the team to beat in the NL Central and as a fan that is still smarting from last year's playoff sweep I'm viewing everything with an eye on the post-season.
They say pitching and timely hitting wins in the playoffs. The Cubs starters have been a bright point in the young season. Ted Lilly even flirted with a no-hitter his last time out. The problem is in the bullpen. Marmol has been dependable but that's about where it ends. Yesterday's 7-5 win over the red birds not withstanding, the relief corps has been shaky at best. As far as timely hitting goes, you'll have to read below the fold to see why I'm worried. Today's headlines are dominated by Rami's walk-off 2-run homer but look closer and you'll see he was trying to avoid an 0 for 6 day. Soriano was the hero last week with a late go ahead homer, but he struck out badly in his first three at bats. That's certainly clutch hitting, but the lack of consistency is what puts me right back in last October wringing my hands and wondering where my 8 All-Star team went.
In any case, judging by the first 3 in the series, tonight's game against the Cardinals should be an all out battle. There is a lot of good Chicago sports happening right now and April baseball might just be background noise. I for one want to be doing in October what Hawks and Bulls fans are right now. It would be nice to see these holes addressed before they come back to bite us later. Maybe that's why they've been trotting Micah Hoffpauir out there every day lately. I'd like to see him become the star he's destined to be in Cubby blue, but if it means a chance to put some better arms in our pen this year, it's best to get his name on the radar.
With the dawn of a new season comes new hopes, new dreams, and new goals. For the Chicago Cubs one of the goals include winning their first World Series in 100 years. In what will likely pan out to be one of the rockiest Cubs seasons in recent memory, the Chicago Cubs will be World Series Champions in 2009.
April 6: In the Cubs opener against the Astros, Carlos Zambrano throws six shutout innings before giving up a three run homer, costing the Cubs the game as they lose their 3rd straight opening day 4-3.
April 13: After going 3-3 to start the season, Ted Lilly pitches a solid 1-run game sending the Cubs to 4-3 after defeating the Rockies to open the season in Wrigley Field.
April 23: Milton Bradley sees first stint on the disabled list as he strains his quadricep diving for an outfield ball with two outs, landing himself on the 15-day disabled list. The Cubs would win the game against Cincinnati upgrading to a 10-5 record.
April 30: After batting .203 over the first month, Kosuke Fukudome losing the center field job to Micah Hoffpauir, who goes 3 for 4 with a HR against the Marlins in his MLB debut.
May 8: Bradley returns to the Cubs lineup, goes 2 for 4 with a game-winning hit to defeat the Brewers 9-8, putting the Cubs up 3 games in the division.
Much to the shock of Cub-dome, Kevin Gregg has been named the Cubs closer, not Carlos Marmol, says ESPN.com. Marmol, the heavy favorite going into Spring Training may have lost the job due to his dismantling in the World Baseball Classic as he gave up a game winning home run in the Dominican Republic's elimination game.
Gregg, the former Marlins set-up man went 7-8 last season with a 3.41 ERA before being traded to the Cubs. Gregg had an astounding Spring Training by not allowing a single run all month.
Marmol, meanwhile, will share the set-up job with Jeff Samardzija, a place Marmol is very familiar with, as it was his job last season.
In perhaps the largest Spring Training victory in Cubs history, the North Siders demolished the helpless Oakland A's 20-5 on Monday to win their fifth straight game against western teams.
Some of the games notable hero's were Micah Hoffpauir, Derrek Lee who slugged his first spring training homer, and Ryan Dempster who saw his first action since he squirmed out of a one run lead in the late innings earlier in the week against Seattle.
Check in next time for the Spring Training Wrap-Up!
There may not be a casino in Chicago (yet), but there is definitely some gambling going on. The city is now on the hook for $500 million to host the Olympics, part of the state's $750 million guarantee.
The Cubs want a new spring training facility in Mesa, or else they're walking. And Cubs fans want to end 100 years of misery or...they'll be back next year.
They may have been so-so as a team last season, but as humanitarians, the Bears might belong in the Super Bowl.
Two coaches from the Chicago Force are probably glad the temperatures are going to be a bit warmer this weekend. They're getting their heads shaved for charity tomorrow. Meanwhile, the women'd pro full contact football team released their 2009 schedule.
The Windy City Rollers' home teams throw elbows in their next match this Saturday night at the UIC Pavillion.
Meanwhile, if you're up for a road trip, Chicago's other roller derby queens, The Outfit, have a bout-on-wheels near Grand Rapid, MIchigan.
Carlos Zambrano will throw the first pitch at Wrigley Field for the 2009 season, according to the AP. In his previous four opening day starts, Zambrano has gone 0-1 with three no decisions. The Cubs, however are 2-2 on Opening Day when Big Z is on the mound.
In Spring Training news, the Cubbies are 2-4 in their past six games, including a 3-2 loss to defending World Baseball Classic Champions Japan on Thursday. Chicago sends out a split ball club to play the Los Angeles Angels and the Seattle Mariners in today's double header.
I've heard of June woes, and October heartbreak, but I've never heard of spring training angst. The Cubs dropped their fifth straight game after losing to Milwaukee 2-0 on Saturday. Carlos Zambrano saw his second start in Spring Training, but allowed both Brewers' scores. Despite Zambrano striking out five of the Brew Crew's hitters, the Cubs lineup couldn't get anything going.
The loss comes after a 5-4 shootout against Los Angeles, and two straight losses to the White Sox, bringing the Cross-Town rivalry to a 2-1 Sox advantage.
The big blue train plays Texas and Kansas City at home before embarking on a road trip that includes a visit to Seattle's camp, the Dodgers, and even an exhibition game against a World Baseball Classic team.
Now that Terrell Owens has been released by the Cowboys, would he be a good fit for the Bears? And how long before he brings Kyle Orton to tears?
Speaking of Bears quarterbacks, a Sporting News blog says that Rex Grossman's eminent departure is bad news for Chicago. And while he is visiting Cincinnati, Dallas seems more than eager to welcome him there.
Sure Blackhawks defenseman James Wisniewski was as fan favorite, but Daily Herald sports blogger Tim Sassone says give his replacement, Sami Pahlsson, a chance.
Thornton High School rules the top spot in the Tribune's final boys high school basketball rankings. The highest Chicago school, De La Salle, finished third.
NBA.com writer David Aldridge gives props to Norm Van Lier and Red Kerr.
To paraphrase Douglas MacArthur, displace cheerleaders never die, they just hook up with other sports teams.
Registation may be closed, but there's still plenty of action to be had on and off the course as the annual Chiditarod runs this Saturday. Shopping carts have never seen this much action.
You would think a team that easily won their division last year would be charging full steam ahead with their fans right behind them. Then again baseball is that unique team sport that relies heavily on individual performance. The Cubs have a great looking team but will that turn into a great season?
Cubs fans have a lot of specific questions as Spring training gets underway. Namely will Derrek Lee return to form? Can Milton Bradley stay healthy and positive? With Harden's health always a question how deep is our rotation really? Peavy rubbed our faces in it this weekend. Is there still a possibility he'll wear Cubby blue? And so it goes. We'll just have to wait and see. For now I'm happy to know that it feels like Spring somewhere and the boys of summer are getting warmed up.
The Cubs defeated cross-town rivals White Sox 13-0 on Saturday afternoon, pushing their Spring Training record to 4-0 -- their best start in a decade. After spending several seasons in Double A and bouncing around the majors, Brad Snyder got the call to play outfield today -- and provided a huge boost to the Cubs' offense when he slugged a grand slam in the game.
For those of you keeping track at home, the Cubs are now 1-0 in the 2009 series against our cross-town foes, and hopefully the win percentage stays that way.
In other news:
Carlos Marmol has retracted his decision, and will now play in the World Baseball Classic for the Dominican Republic. I wish him the best of luck.
The first game of Spring Training was played today for the Chicago Cubs, as they began their 2009 journey.
Former Cubbie set-up man Jeff Samardzija got the nod. Samardzija went 1-0 last season with a 2.28 ERA, yet the Notre Dame grad doesn't have a "locked" spot on the 40-man active roster.
It's going to be a battle for who gets the set-up job this season, as Louis Vizcaino , Chad Gaudin , and Kevin Gregg are all bidding for the set-up job.
In other news...
Good news Cubs fans! Carlos Zambrano and Carlos Marmol have opted to drop out from the World Baseball Classic to instead work Spring Training for the Cubs.
Clothing designer Novem has created the ultimate Chicago sports fan t-shirt.
Designed by Paul Deters, it features the mascots of every major league team in Chicago: a totem pole of White Sox, Cubs, Bulls, Bears and Blackhawks, with the Fire behind and Sky above.
It's available for $29 online or in their studio store at 1104 N. Ashland.
As Cubs spring training opened up on Tuesday, manager Lou Piniella told Cubs.com that he's "unsure who'll be leading off come opening day." Alfonso Soriano says he's willing to give up his lead-off position in exchange for a nice middle-of-the-order position. Last season Piniella experimented with the lineup quite a bit throughout the season, but all in all, the North Siders went 69-36 with Soriano as the lead-off man.
So if Soriano doesn't bat lead-off, who will? Rumors are floating around that it could be anyone from Ryan Theriot, Kosuke Fukudome, or even newcomer Milton Bradley.
As spring training moves on, keep it right here for the latest news out of Cubs camp!
No matter how this thing with John Paxson and the Bulls shakes out, he may not be to blame for their current state. Might it be this guy?
For years now, Cubs fans have been making an Iraq-like surge and turning Milwaukee's Miller Park into "Wrigley Field North". Now the Brew Crew and Amtrak are looking to return the favor.
One blogger sees something sinister in the fact that the Cubs' pitchers and catchers report for spring training today and the calendar reads "Friday the 13th".
Is Carlos Quentin really Floyd Robinson, V 2.0? The two San Diego natives and White Sox outfield stars, separated by 40 years, recently met and compared notes.
MLB.com profiles the "father of black baseball", Negro League founder and Chicago American Giants owner Rube Foster.
It might be grabbing at straws, but a Tribune reporter says Favre's (possible) retirement will hurt the Bears. Yeah... that's it... that's what's hurting the Bears.
ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. sees the Bears going after Florida WR Percy Harvin... if they know what's good for them.
No Decepticons were in sight, but a Transformer IS making an appearance at the Chicago auto show.
Whitney Young, the top high school basketball team in the state, continues its quest for the city title with a quarterfinal game Sunday against CVS at the Pavilion.
If championships are won in October, then someone forgot to tell the Cubs. Despite being one of the National League's top tier regular season teams in 2007 and 2008, they were swept each year in the first round of the playoffs. But in 2009, the Cubs will attempt something they've never done: win three straight NL Central Division Titles.
Recognizing the enormous task ahead, the Cubs went out and had one of the most active off-seasons in recent memory. After releasing relief pitcher Kerry Wood, center fielder Jim Edmonds, and trading away second baseman Mark DeRosa for three minor league pitchers, the off-season looked gloomy. But as January faded into February, things began to pick up.
Chicago vs. Tokyo in the battle for the Olympics: Might TV have the final word? If not, maybe a mural will sway the Olympic Committee.
If the Bears actually signed everyone who reportedly has expressed an interest in playing for them, think of the team! For now, throw T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Simeon Rice on the pile.
Are the Orioles fleecing the Cubs? One blogger seems to think so.
There's a movie being made about the Cubs (and no, it's not a disaster flick) and you can be in it.
While Dewayne Wise fights for a roster spot with the White Sox, the coaching staff will be watching closely.
Meanwhile, Sox PR chief Brooks Boyer explains the Obama Effect on the team's merchandising.
First, there was Barack Obama in the White House. Now there's Pat Quinn in the State House. Politically speaking, White Sox Nation just keeps getting bigger.
Speaking of the Sox, as SoxFest kicks off this weekend, Ozzie Guillen says the team will try "small ball"... again. And will Joe Crede join former Sox teammate Juan Uribe in Frisco? His potential replacement, Josh Fields, is wasting no time just in case he does.
Detroit WR Mike Furrey...free agent QB Chris Simms (son of Phil)...Super Bowl starter Kurt Warner...all rumored to be on the Bears radar. Really?
Does Richard Dent REALLY need someone to go to the NFL Hall of Fame committee and plead his case?
This is THE weekend for the Windy City Rollers, as they make their UIC Pavilion debut.
But don't forget to show some love to the city's other roller derby queens, The Outfit, as they host a benefit party tonight.
You'd think getting punched in the face and crotch, sometimes at the same time, would be high on the pain scale for a UFC star. But for one Hammond, Ind., there's something more painful: being a Cubs fan.
Before the 2007 season the Chicago Cubs reached an agreement with Under Armour for the sporting apparel company to place their logo on the gates of the outfield wall in Wrigley's heretofore advertising free and virgin insides. Now after two seasons of the campaign it seems that Under Armour wants out of the deal and that the Cubs want them to stick around, so badly, in fact, that the Cubs, or, excuse me, the "Chicago National Ball League Club, Inc.," as the US District Court Case refers to the franchise, are suing. Understandably, with the worldwide economic downturn, Under Armour maybe wants to save up that yearly 2 million a year for something slightly more practical than two logos within the Friendly Confines. And really is it such a bad thing for the fans and baseball purists to have Wrigley resort back to its pure and clean ivy walls?
Remember when the Chicago Cardinals were the toast of the town? Neither do we. Here's some footage to show you what the big deal was.
Barack Obama is a continuation in a long like of athletically-active presidents, although we're pretty sure that list doesn't include Taft. Wait, we take that back.
Albert Belle, Dennis Rodman, A.J. Pierzinski... we're fast becoming the home for athletes that rub everyone else the wrong way. So why NOT Terrell Owens?
Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija is getting used to sudden fame...
...while fellow Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano nearly breaks a water cooler over the CTA fare increase (OK, not really).
Sox fans, the Twins are retooling for an AL Central title and just might used Joe Crede to do it.
Study of Sports analyzes the Sox-Bartolo Colon deal and raises the issue of the "S" word ("S" being steroids).
Despite a struggling economy, the Chicago Red Stars have sold 1,000 season tickets for their inaugural women's professional soccer season. Granted, season tickets are only $99, but still...
Winter cornhole league play kicks off at Joe's on Weeds Street, with proceeds benefitting the Chicago Cornhole Charity Initiatitve. Yeah, you read it right.
A Cubs fan still can't get over the loss of Mark DeRosa.
The 35th Street Review gives you 10 things to watch for in Chicago baseball, 2009. Meanwhile, the Sox Machine is looking for good relievers on the cheap.
Da Bears Blog lists the only three good things about this season's team.
Bear legend Dick Butkus (not to be confused with bupkes) announces the winners of his annual national college lineman award next Tuesday.
The local high school basketball playoff picture begins to take shape, the Derek Rose Shootout brings the best in city prep hoops under one roof and one local school hopes to derail the top team in the country.
Bulls legend Michael Jordan talks about his shoes. Well, not exactly his shoes, but THE shoe.
Short of maybe their pursuit of Jake Peavy (has that happened YET?), nothing has been more drawn out for the cubs than their proposed sale to new ownership. But while the process started back in a completely different presidential administration, it might be drawing to a close in the next day or so. According to reports, Tribune owner Sam Zell is contemplating offers from three bidders, Chicago real estate investor Hersch Klaff; the Ricketts family, who founded the online brokerage firm TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.; and a group led by New York investor Marc Utay, who reportedly grew up in Chicago.
But from a fan standpoint, there is one name that is glaringly omitted from that list: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the brash "fan's owner" who threatened to bring the Cubs into the world of personality-driven Big League Sports and not the same old stodgy corporate bottom-line-watching style of ownership. Even more than a few Cubs players had to have visions of private jets dancing in their heads (as Cuban has done for his NBA Mavericks). Hell, even his name spoke "Cubs". Not since Bill Veeck had a (potential) owner connected with fans on their level, even going so far as to join them in the bleachers, as both Veeck and Cuban had done. Has Crane Kenney EVER sat in the bleachers?
When they last met, the Packers beat the Bears 37-3. While the Green Bay tries to figure out how to do it again, the Bears are working on how to avoid a repeat this Monday night.
The Bleacher Report asks: What if Terrell Owens was a Bear? We answer: All hell would break loose.
The Sporting News' reaction to the Wrigley Field hockey spectacular: meh.
Meanwhile, the Hawks' Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are first and sixth, respectively, among forwards in NHL All-Star Western Conference balloting. Brian "Soup" Campbell is third in balloting for defensemen.
Bollingbrook and Whitney Young are at 10 and 15, respectively, in the rankings of the top 50 girls high school basketball teams. And on the boys side? De La Salle manages to squeak in at No. 44.
A Chicago consulting firm looks at how avatars might help in winning at online poker.
In local soccer new, the Fire's Soccer Development Academy plays in three matches while the Storm slate their own holiday appearances in the coming days.
Soup's on...and it's paying dividends for the Blackhawks
A French newspaper seems to think that the election of Barack Obama means softball will be back in the Olympics. Huh?
Are Thursday NFL games a "recipe for disaster"? Depending on when you read this, you may already have the answer.
So by now you've heard how Governor Gimmie, aka Rod Blagojevich tried to hold the Cubs hostage in his attempts to shakedown the Tribune Company, specifically to get them to fire several members of their editorial board in exchange for his not screwing with their attempts to sell the team and the ballpark.
That Blagojevich would attempt to put the squeeze on the Trib is (now) not surprising, given the newly-emerging scope of his pay-for-play ways and the allegations that he basically tried to sell the newly-vacated Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder.
No, what's surprising is that he would hold his beloved Cubs hostage to do it.
They haven't really made a lot of noise recently in the Hot Stove League, the part of winter baseball that really matters (Jake Peavy discussions aside), but the Cubs are finding ways to make news nonetheless, ranging from an expected timetable for their impending sale, a new ticket pricing plan and the ongoing saga of Ron Santo's bid for the Hall of Fame.
UPDATE: Santo was denied entry to the Hall once again, this time missing by nine votes (receiving 39 of the necessary 48 votes).
And the Cubs post-season post-mortem examination continues, with Lou Pinella blaming that old standby, the media, while Ryan Dempster says the team flatout wasn't ready. Hey guys, sorry, no do-overs.
Meanwhile, the White Sox, who seems to have come to grips with their playoff loss, work on keeping Bobby Jenks around. But did Nick Swisher phone it in for much of the season?
Four area college soccer teams have made it to the NCAA tournament.
It was bound to happen after that embarrassing loss to the Packers: The "Fire Lovie" talks are heating up. Here is one blogs' 10 reasons why he deserves the ax. Meanwhile, Fanhouse questions Lovie's assessment that the Bears receivers are "pretty good".
The Bulls' Derrick Rose sits atop most Sports Illustrated NBA writers' list of early top rookies. Naturally.
It's not the major draw it used to be, but prep football is still a big deal in Chicago. The Catholic League is gearing up for its title game, pitting Loyola Academy against De La Salle.
A disabled cyclist bikes 1,064 miles from Jacksonville, Fla. to Chicago. His final destination? Where else: Oprah.
The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation gets a new name.
The Chicago Outfit wants YOU... well, that is, if you're a female and don't mind getting knocked around a little. There's a recruitment Q&A tonight at 9:30
If you haven't had enough of cornhole, and really who has (OK, put your hands down), there's a Thanksgiving tournament coming up called the "Turkeyhole Classic" coming up here in Chicago. No, really.
The Beyond the Vines memorial wall is 35 feet long and 14 feet tall, located in Bohemian National Cemetery, at Foster and Pulaski. It's designed to look like Wrigley Field's center field wall, complete with ivy, and topped by a 7'x4' stained glass replica of the scoreboard. When complete it will contain 280 "eternal luxury sky boxes" for your or your loved one's remains.
Slots are filling up (must resist "dying to get in" joke); if you're interested, call 773-463-4696 for pricing and more information.
Consider this a little consolation for not making it to the Fall Classic: Cubs catcher Geovany Soto was the near unanimous choice for National League Rookie of the Year today, winning 31 of 32 first-place votes. He beat out Cincinnati's Joey Votto, who got the other first place vote. Soto is the fifth Cub to win the award and the first since Kerry Wood in 1998.
Oh, and he also caught a no-hitter this season too off Carlos Zambrano, which he talks about here:
Now that the campaigning is over, it's back to the gym for Obama.
Finally, the Trib's Mike Downey gives a glimpse of Obama's first 100 days.
DePaul offers a four-credit course on the Cubs. Wonder if it's Pass/Fail, Fail, Fail, Fail, Fail... (Sorry, couldn't help it.)
It looks like a long season for fans of UIC and Loyola men's hoops. One prediction has them finishing 6th and 7th, respectively, in the Horizon League.
The Chicago Slaughter indoor football team will host open tryouts this Sunday. The head coach? Steve "Mongo" McMichael.
OK, sorry, one more Obama item, this time a three-on-three game he took part in in Indiana. Gotta admit, for a chief executive, he's got some moves.:
The Minnesota Vikings' Bernard Berrianexpects boos when he returns to this old stomping grounds at Soldier Field this Sunday. C'mon Bears fans, don't let him down.
If his contract doesn't discourage the White Sox from resigning him, Ken Griffey Jr.'s recent knee surgery might.
Evanston remembers one of his favorite sons, former MLB pitcher Kevin Foster.
Speaking of favorite sons, new Wolves head coach Don Granato is happy to be back home as he prepared for the team's home opener Saturday night.
Remember the Cubs' "fan" who tried to auction off his loyalty on eBay? He may have found a buyer and a kindred spirit in the Boston Red Sox.
In the battle of sports radio on Chicago (well, it's actually just a two-horse race), WSCR-AM has taken the lead.
De La Salle's Mike Shaw is being touted by ESPN as the "next big thing" in Chicago high school basketball.
Even if you're not entered in this weekend Urbanathlon, you can still go down and enjoy the party.
The Windy City Rollers are holding tryouts. If you think you have what it takes (and can come up with a clever alias like "Val Capone" or "Lucy Furr"), come to a scrimmage preview on Monday. Incidentially, the WCR All-Stars made it to the national finals in Portland, Oregon.
It doesn't help that the economy is currently in or headed directly for the proverbial crapper, but the price of tickets to sporting events show no sign of coming down to meet the slightly thinner pockets of the buying public, according to an article on "Medill Reports".
Currently, the average ticket to a Cubs' game rose to $42.49 in 2008, according to the report, a 42 percent increase from 2004. And that two-parents-two-kids-at-the-game measuring stick they're always using in the yearly reports on how much a day at the ballgame will cost (officially known as the Fan Cost Index)? This season it was $251.96 for a Cubs game. And it doesn't appear likely to come down even with the "occurances" of this past season.
The Bears were the most expensive ticket in town at an average price of $88.33. The White Sox were a better baseball bargain with an average ticket price of $30.28 and an FCI of $214.61. The Blackhawks were the city's best professional sports value at $34.88, although that could change next year if the team makes the progress everyone expects.
As if Cubs fans didn't have enough problems, what with their team getting the bum's rush from the NL Playoffs, a certain extremely popular fake news program jumps on the pile. Wait for it... it hits at about the 1:36 mark.
Our sponsor, Cubscast, has nailed the plight of Cubs fans so far this post-season with this t-shirt. Available (in sweatshirt and hoodie form, too) in their shop.
Sure, they're involved in a heated playoff series. Doesn't mean that Derrek Lee and Mark DeRosa shouldn't think about their longterm future.
The Wrigley Field faithful aren't the only ones singing "Go, Cubs, Go". A "fan" in California wants them to win too, although for admittedly selfish reasons.
If the Twins had their way, it would have been double-or-nothing against the White Sox. (OK, not really, but...)
According to one writer, the Fire fans are some of the nicest around town.
Got an extra $90,000 or so lying around? You can sponsor your own triathlon.
Two more elite runners (PDF) announced for the Chicago Marathon field.
Well there you have it. The Cubs have dropped game one of the NLDS. Since 1995, the winner of game one has gone 23-3 and in 10 tries the Cubs have never won a playoff series after losing the first game. What does this all mean? Nothing! Obviously. This is baseball, where a team (with their own curse) came back from a 0-3 deficit against their arch-enemies to win the pennant. These Cubs have won 97 games and played extremely well over a long season. They've come back in dozens of games, once from 8 runs down. They are a good team but lost a game; simple as that. This is 2008 and the season started in April, not in 1909. We come back and beat them tomorrow.
One side note, I heard something I found very troubling. On the radio post-game show Dave Kaplan railed against the fans in the park for not being supportive. By his account those at the game were far from the die hard fans that hung on every strike during the season. I wasn't there but if it's true that would be a real shame. As if its not bad enough that MLB has let prices spiral out of control, in part by getting in bed with StubHub, those that got to go might not have done their duty as fans. Let's hope it's better tomorrow.
This time, no talk of curses, OK? No dusky felines or horned farm animals or bespectacled young men sitting several rows back or haunted magazine covers. No hoodoo or voodoo or hexes or incantations or spells involving animal bodyparts and plants mashed into a poultice.
Oh, the media will try to goad you into talking about those things as if they were actual factors. They'll stick cameras in your face and a tape recorder under your nose and will get you to try to say that every Cubs' pitcher's ball four and every Derek Lee strikeout is part of some cosmic plan to keep the Cubs from winning the World Series. They'll do these things because people expect them and it saves them from doing any real work ("OK, people, story ideas for the Cubs series." "The curse?" "Great, good job, let's break for lunch."). They'll write books about and get famous celebrity Cub fans to talk about it. There'll be bad songs written about it by hack songwriters trying to capitalize on it. People will burn things or bury things or wear things or bless things. Nuns will be employed at some point, I believe.
These might be tickets to a game that will never happen, but for most Cubs fans, they're still dream tickets. If you're not a season ticket holder, your only chance to hold one of these puppies may by sucking up to your alderman.
Well unless you live in a sensory deprivation chamber you know the Cubs have clinched their division and are busy setting up the team they will take into the playoffs. Players like Micah Hoffpauir and Kevin Hart are still fighting for spots but successfully battling two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana was enough for Sean Marshall to earn a spot in the October bullpen.
The current series against the Mets is very likely a preview of NL first-round action so both teams are taking a good look at each other. One person who didn't care to look is Ron Santo. The Cubs legend and WGN radio broadcaster didn't make the trip, either because he still harbors resentment for the Mets, or he didn't want to burn his new toupee. I'm sure Ronnie will be wherever the Cubs are when it comes to the NLDS and any other playoff series. Even if its the Southside.
With two more games against the Mets and the last three at Milwaukee, the Boys in Blue still have a lot to say about what happens in the NL. Carlos Zambrano goes tonight. Hopefully, for all of us looking toward the post-season, we'll get the no-hitter Z, and not the inning-and-two-thirds Z that showed up last start.
As previously mentioned in Merge, bars in Wrigleyville and US Cellularburg (US Cellstonia?) are being asked to voluntarily stop serving alcohol after the 7th inning of home playoff games wherein the Cubs or Sox could clinch a series. This is some hilarious quasi-fast pitch (pun intended) being called by Hizzoner and what should bars really do? Games get out at what? 11pm, CST? So, yeah, stop serving three hours early for the sake of what, families? children? Excuse me, but last time I checked, former frat boys, duuuuuuudes, and vapid women lived in Wrigleyville. Meanwhile, on the Southside, I'm pretty sure they have vastly more important things to worry about than curbing the amount of consumption and need to be vastly more aware of the clientele and actually exacting some sort of responsibility on the employees and customers of said speakeasy.
Back to the lecture at hand, what Daley is proposing is ludicrous and would amount to a much less safe and far less controlled environment wherein people would be, indeed, "gettin' their drank on!" The only comparable notion I can I think of is the current straits that many universities find themselves flummoxed by when confronted with the problem with under-agers drinking far too much in uncontrolled circumstances at off-campus house parties.
However, instead of realizing that people like to get drunk, down, fete, dirty, krunked, what-have-you, Daley, is of the belief that people are having too much in bars -- which, in many cases, I am sure they are. Yet, attempting to curb drinking through a 7th inning cut-off would merely exacerbate the drunken throngs by tempting them to raid their own pre-purchased stockades of liquor and beer that they (the drunken crowds) already are fantasizing about while drinking until the end of the games, bar time, whatever. Within the realms of a bar at least there exists the implied notion of control, versus the unchecked beer-swilling of a person in their own (or a friend's) home.
Now here's a truly useful thing to have handy while you shop for Cubs playoff tickets: a list of seats with obstructed views. It even notes whether you can easily see one of the TV monitors from the seat.
The good news: Carlos Quinten's cast has been removed. The bad news: They're not rushing him back.
Ok, so Kosuke Fukudome didn't exactly set the Chicago baseball world on fire. There could be another Japanese baseball star trying to make his mark at Wrigley Field next season.
They haven't had their first match yet, but the Chicago Red Stars already look like the team to beat, thanks to three new additions to their roster.
A survey says nearly every kid plays video games. Will the Jumbotrons of today be the playing fields of tomorrow?
Apparently he wasn't punched enough the first time. A local boxing promoter is returning to action IN the ring.
In case you missed it, the Chicago Open crowned a squash champion recently.
The Chicago Storm joined the four-team Xtreme Soccer League. You know it's wild because they spell it "Xtreme".
It was an ironic move that wasn't lost on White Sox fans.
When ESPN made the necessary switch from the White Sox/Detroit Tigers waterlogged game Sunday (Game 2 of a doubleheader) to the dramatic conclusion of the Cubs/Houston Astros neutral-site game in Milwaukee, it was a microcosm of the 2008 baseball season in Chicago.
There were the White Sox, sloshing and slogging their way through a hastily arranged doubleheader on a dreary, grey, overcast slit-your-wrists kind of evening. Still, despite that depressing scenario and in front of a crowd only slightly larger than most high school graduating classes, the Sox had managed to stake a 7-0 lead, giving a national audience at least a glimpse of the kind of run-scoring ability they possess (Good thing they weren't around for their catnap against the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the week). And when the lead was cut slightly to 7-2, there was some concern but nothing to cause one to throw their giant White Sox foam finger at the television in anger.
The Cubs should play all their games in Milwaukee. Congratulations to Carlos Zambrano for pitching the Cubs first no hitter since Milt Pappas just missed a perfect game in 1972. Milt told ESPN after the game he had mixed feelings but was ultimately happy for Carlos. The game was already destined for the books since it was being played on "neutral" ground due to Hurricane Ike making baseball in Houston impossible. Still, Big Z stole the show by coming back from injury with his most dominating performance of the year. The win put the Cubbies 7.5 games over the Brewers with only 14 to play; cautious optimism is starting to turn into giddiness.
This weekend ESPN will begin airing an Outside the Lines detailing the Cubs history and woes. The website we linked to on the GB homepage has a good preview. I imagine they began planning the show when the Cubbies were winning series like nobody's business. The last thing I want to hear about while the team is tanking is the last 100 years of misery. Still they did eek out two close games to take the series in St Louis. Yesterday's win came despite Wood's insistence on putting a couple guys on in the ninth just to make things exciting and shoot Ron Santo's blood pressure through the roof. With the next two days of Cubs baseball being canceled on account of hurricane, you can get your fix with some of the other features OTL put together. I like the 102 facts about Chicago baseball and the board they set up to let fans air their grievances. I love it when Chicago baseball fans get together so Cubs fans can talk about the game and history and Sox fans can talk about Cubs fans.
No, we didn't expect the Bears to beat the Colts last Sunday night either. But if they're going to build on that, there are three things they must do to beat the Carolina Panthers this Sunday.
Even if they don't win the game, the Bears are still scoring touchdowns at the bank.
Arguing over who gets the last drumstick is one thing. But a Cubs-White Sox World Series could drive one family nuts.
REALLY old school White Sox fans will mourn the death of former manager Don Gutteridge.
Current White Sox star Carlos Quentin hopes to be healthy by the playoffs. Question is: will he be playing or watching?
Patrick Kane and Jonathan Towes, the Blackhawks' Teen Titans (OK, they're not really teens but it's not far off) get some more (inter)national publicity.
From Kansas City to Chicago on a bike: Are gas prices THAT high?
The marathon gold-medalist from this year's Olympics, Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania has joined the field (pdf) of runners for the 2008 Chicago marathon. Hopefully, we'll have better weather this year.
The Sky take on the New York Liberty in their next-to-last game of their WNBA regular season.
Chicago teams finished third, fourth and fifth in the 2008 North American Gay Amateur Athletic Association Gay Softball World Series.
You're in Lisle. You're riding your bike. You have a hankering to see a play. What are you going to do?
Amidst the heart-pounding stories of untimely injuries (like that of Carlos Quintin), panic-inducing losing streaks (five and counting for the Cubs?) and too-close-for-comfort pennant races, there is a bigger question that looms for Chicago baseball fans: whom to vote for.
No, we're not talking about next year's All-Star game. That's a little too "wait'll next year" even for baseball fans. We're talking about THE election, the big one, the biggest "sporting event" in the country. The race for president.
Surprised that hardcore baseball fans in Chicago, who are engaged in nail-biting division races on both sides of town, would have time to contemplate things like budget deficits and tax gains? Well, if a presidential candidate can find time to discuss baseball, then it's only fair that a die-hard White Sox fan places the race for the White House in baseball terms.
The Chicago Sky go for their fourth win in a row, a franchise record, when they host the Seattle Storm tonight at the UIC Pavilion.
A Los Angeles resident tells about the great time he had seeing the Cubs at Wrigley Field recently. Of course, this was before their recent, ahem, troubles.
Despite their contract differences, a Sporting News writer thinks Ben Gordon and the Bulls are "destined" for each other.
The Bears' Kyle Orton says he's not the same QB he's been in the past. Thank God.
Sure they say don't panic, but when a team's history results in even the most rational fans being able to name two or three curses off the top of their heads it's going to take more than words. Yes the Cubs have lost five in a row at home and possibly their ace in Big Z; a big blow even though his last few outings haven't really been ace-worthy. Usually we would start looking for black cats and green turtlenecks but in this writer's humble opinion this year is different. This is a good team, a great team even, and in many ways they're not even playing to their full potential. Derrek Lee's average may be around .295 but his clutch hitting has been at sub-DLee levels. The book on Fukudome was doing just what it was supposed to do; find holes, but with time to adjust I think he can be just as good in the MLB as he was in Japan. Maybe adversity is just the ticket to get the guys really playing the way they can. The truth is if we're panicking it's our own faults. Before the Phils came to town the Cubbies won more series in a row than any year since 1907. The underlying message in that feat should have told us all something: don't get used to this. What we can count on is a manager and several players that have battled through September and October, as well as a couple of aces in Dempster and Harden. So seriously, don't panic. If that doesn't cheer you up, how about knowing that the last time the boys delivered a championship, the Cardinals where 46 games out of first place!
Thanks to all of the ups and downs, as well as the unpredictable twists of the current Chicago baseball season, well, it's enough to drive one to drink. A popular vodka company apparently knows that and will unveil new billboards to at least give fans an idea of WHAT to drink.
Effen Vodka is set to unveil new billboards on the south and north sides of the city to capitalize on the continuing (fingers crossed) good fortune of both the Cubs and White Sox. The Cubs-themed billboard will make reference to the supposed team curse, while the one located near U.S. Cellular field will simply bolster the South Side pride.
But when it comes to aligning themselves with a local sports team, the Bears would seem to be a natural fit for the Holland-based vodka company. After all, I can't count how many times I've heard someone yell, "Effen Rex Grossman" in the last couple of years.
Stories That Will Not Die 1: Mariotti says he's not going to Boston, which leaves only five bazillion other cities for him to tell us where he's not going. Also, the Sun-Times takes a parting shot at their one-time star columnist.
Stories That Will Not Die 2: The Wall Street Journal says Barack Obama isn't the only one down on the Wrigley Field Experience. And Sports Illustrated jumps on the pile, too. But another website turns the other cheek and tries to link White Sox-lovin' Obama with the Cubs.
Stories That Will Not Die 3: Another week, another standing: Now, Chicago is supposedly the front runner for the 2016 Olympics.
The City of Chicago has a plan to make use the most bike-friendly place in the world.
Professional squash fever: Catch it! An international pro squash tournament is headed here.
A lesson in how not to write a press release, this one involving the Bears. My favorite sentence: "The Chicago Bears tickets have many sources of power that let the team to be so."
Among upcoming events at Soldier Field: the Chicago High School Kick Off Classic this weekend.
No matter what happens today the Cubs will have won their ninth series in a row. Here's a little perspective for you: they haven't done that since 1907. That year the team won ten in a row. Remember though we are still cautiously optimistic. Having had the best record in baseball for a good part of the year, a fan asked Carrie Muskrat (scroll down a bit) how teams with the highest win percentage did in the playoffs. In short, only OK. They made the fall classic a shade better than half the time but have a losing record in the big series. Then again the conventional wisdom is it's all about pitching in October and at least one analyst thinks the Cubs have the best playoff rotation. We'll just have to wait and see. Stupid linear time!
Cub fans are as worrisome as they come. The same guy that says he isn't superstitious might yell at the TV when Len or Bob even mentions the postseason. That guy may or may not be me. Then again, you look at power rankings, their record and these last couple road trips and even the biggest bleacher bum has to admit it might just be time for cautious optimism. About the only thing I can harp on is their inability to consistently lay down a sac bunt. It's a minor gripe but still odd. I'll let someone who gets paid to analyze these things figure that one out. The rest of the story is peachy. It's hard to imagine a scenario in which the boys in blue don't make it to October, 1969 notwithstanding. That swagger Lou was looking for last year is seemingly here; better late than never. The road doesn't look so scary anymore. Even Florida can't continue its hex. There is no clear NL MVP candidate on the Cubs (I know what Gammons heard and it's touching but most likely a dream) but apparently even that is a good thing since one of their greatest strengths is versatility. Now I know you Sox fans/general Cubs-haters are dying to remind me of every failure in the last hundred years but until you find me, I'll be sitting back and enjoying the view.
It may not make it to the side of a milk carton, but the Chicago Fire fan club Section 8 is missing their banner.
Some people might have an opinion about who they are, but a new book of photos entitled "We Are Cubs Fans" seeks to define the loyalists visually. The obligatory Ronnie Woo Woo photo is included.
Speaking of the Cubs, Sports Illustrated joins the rest of the country in being amazed that they AND the White Sox are both in first place and may make the playoffs in the same season for the first time since 1906.
And speaking of the Sox, Fox Sports calls the acquisition of Carlos Quinten the steal of the century. OK, they call it the steal of the season. It just LOOKS like the steal of the century.
Tickets for the National Pro Fastpitch softball championships go on sale this Saturday at Judson Sports Complex in Elgin, home of the Chicago Bandits. The Bandits are one of the four teams who will be participating.
Now that the Blackhawks are enjoying a resurgence in popularity, new fans might want to read about one of the team's legends featured in a story from the Sports Illustrated vaults.
Probably no other series brings out the baseball tradition of Wrigley Field like a Cubs-St. Louis weekend clash (one of which was just concluded Sunday with a 6-2 Cubs victory). The sea of Cubby blue competing with the tsunami of Cardinal red. Cheers of support for both teams that wash over in equal waves. And Budweiser everywhere (it may be St. Louis' beer, but Harry Carey made it Wrigley's own). It's enough to make one forget the deteriorating condition of much of the ballpark.
Well, almost everyone. A student writer for the UCLA Bruin gives his thoughts on Wrigley Field and Cubs baseball. But don't let the first sentence fool you. He liked the place, he really likes it.
It's another weekend of crucial baseball in Chicago (but then aren't they all these days?), and it's one that might cause at least a little worry for the teams' respective fans.
The Cubs' cushy six-game lead over St. Louis (and their five-game lead over Milwaukee) could take a hit if they do the seemingly impossible and tank their three-game series against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. (Update: The Cubs defeated the Cardinals 3-2 in 11 innings Friday) We say "seemingly impossible" because the Cubs are a ridiculous 43-16 at home and the Cardinals are a very human 31-25 on the road. No need to do the math because it's right there. It's the Cardinals' first visit to Wrigley this season. The Brewers, meanwhile, will be taking on the Washington Nationals, who are currently stinking up the joint in the National League East
The White Sox, meanwhile, are teasing their fans more than Gypsy Rose Lee with their tenuous hold on first place (now they're in, now they're out) and a four-game series with Boston isn't helping matters any. Their half-game AL Central lead over Minnesota could crumble like a churro if the Red Sox repeat last season's dominance over the White Sox, when they outscored the South Siders 46-7 in a four-game series. Yeah, there's no Manny Ramirez to face this year, so that might figure in the White Sox favor. It's one of the few breaks they'll receive this weekend, thanks to Minnesota having to contend with lowly Kansas City.
If you've been reading Tailgate's own Zach Thomas, you know that bike racing is booming in the Chicago area. The Chicago Tribune plays catch-up.
A South Side group is getting kids as young as eight into the challenging sport of triathlons...
...while elsewhere on the South Side, another group is bringing the sport of rowing to a new, younger crowd.
The Urbanathalon is coming! Yes, it sounds like some B-movie monster, but actually it's a moderately strenuous 10-mile race, obstacle course thingy. Not too late to enter
Bring the pain: The UFC is coming to the Allstate Arena October 25. Top bout on the card is Anderson "The Spider" Silva vs. Patrick "The Predator" Cote. Anyone in UFC nicknamed "The Fluffy Bunny"?
Start saving your betting bucks now. The Arlington Million is this Saturday.
Twenty-five years ago, they installed lights in Wrigley Field. Purists howled. The world survived.
Well the Cubs (and Cubs fans) have had a crazy time the last week or so. Frustration, elation, angry princes and rogue lightning are just a few of the things we've witnessed recently. First of all, congrats to the team for sweeping their division rivals the Brewers. If you watch any sports TV at all you don't need me to tell you that the series was trumped up as October in July. We'll see. In any case, it was immensely satisfying after being so frustrated by the bullpen and lack of timely hitting since the All-Star break. I swear I'm trying not to smile when I see Prince Fielder annihilate his bat after a pop up and get tossed for yelling horse[poop] over and over, Gagne not being able to bean Edmonds in four tries and then hearing that the Brew Crew is brawling in their dugout. The bottom line is they are a good team, the Cubbies had a good series, but there is a lot of baseball still to go.
That point became painfully obvious as the team dropped the first game of each series to the Pirates and Astros. At some point the Cubs are going to have to figure out how to hit young call-ups. They did come on to win the last two games, clinching the rubber match thanks to what Reed Johnson described as his favorite moment on a baseball field. The Astros series remains to be decided, but already it's given us one of the best highlight videos of the season. Watch as Derrek Lee, um...exclaims and the guys laugh in the dugout as Lance Berkman tosses his metal chain and scurries off the field.
A few tidbits: if you haven't done so yet, check out the new West Side Rooters. You can't go wrong with Ronny Woo Woo as your Sergeant at Arms...OOF WAH!... Woody could be back tonight; maybe Mark O'Neal found the neosporin. Lastly, on a sad note, Skip Caray, son of Harry, father of Chip, passed away over the weekend. He was 69, and although he limited himself to home games, was still broadcasting this season.
First it was two alleged Cubs fans pummeling an alleged White Sox fan over his chosen team affiliation to the point of his losing an eye. Now comes word of more alleged Cubs fans being involved in another physical altercation, this time reportedly pouncing on a Milwaukee Brewers fan following Tuesday night's game at Miller Park.
The Cubs currently hold a three game lead over the Brewers in the National League Central. If this is the price of success, perhaps we should keep an ambulence handy at 1060 W. Addison.
While we here at Tailgate have been know to get a bit passionate about sports, be it baseball, football, soccer, cycling, etc., things like this serve to remind us it's all just a game.
As Chicago's two baseball teams continue their improbable dual climb to the top of the baseball food chain, they both meet the two biggest challenges to their dreams in the next four days.
The Cubs and White Sox, atop the NL Central and AL Central respectively, confront the two biggest threats to their first-place status when the Cubs facing the surging Milwaukee Brewers in Bratsville while the Sox travel to Minnesota to face the pesky Twins in the Hump Dome. Both series are four games each with the Cubs and Brewers kicking it off tonight at 7:05 p.m., while the Sox and Twins kick off their series five minutes later.
The White Sox hold a 2 1/2 game lead over the Twins while the Cubs have a narrow one game lead over the Brew Crew. A stumble by one or both teams in these very important series could push them into second place where there's a good chance they could stay there for the remainder of the series. Even if you loath the team on the other side of town, the chance to see them sink in the standings makes both games must-see TV.
Start exercising your remote control fingers. There stands to be a lot of channel surfing in the next few days.
The Cubs' Peoria farm team, the Chiefs, got in a brawl with the Dayton Dragons Thursday evening — in the first inning! Both managers and 15 players were ejected from the game, and a spectator was taken to the hospital after getting hit by a baseball thrown at the Dragons' dugout by pitcher Julio Castillo (as Chicagoist said, guess we know why Castillo's still in the minors.) It was Castillo who instigated the fight, in fact, by retaliating for a hit batter by hitting not one but two batters, and threatening a third. That brought Dragons manager Donnie Scott down to talk with the umps, Chiefs manager Carmelo Martinez down to defend — and the rest is history. Here's some video:
The ejections were reversed by the league commissioner to avoid forcing the teams to use their bullpens to fill in the outfield.
You'll be able to catch the Chiefs in action -- well, playing baseball, at least -- next Tuesday when they play the Kane County Cougars at Wrigley. Tickets are still available.
In case you’ve forgotten, the Chicago Force are going for the IWFL title this Saturday at North Park University’s Holmgren Athletic Complex. Cheer them on.
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quinn got a lot of Detroit Red Wings fans ticked off when he managed to skewer the team in his resolution celebrating the outdoor game against the Blackhawks at Wrigley Field...
...But here’s guessing he’ll have an easier time getting tickets to the game than you do.
A half-game lead (as of Thursday afternoon)? Are the Cubs done for? One writer seems to think so (though he admits he’s a Sox fan but insists that has nothing to do with it… right.)...
...But never fear Cubs fans, there are enough pro-Cubby blogs to ease the pain. In fact, there’s a whole army.
The need for (man-powered) speed: The Chicago Criterium is this weekend.
If the prospect of getting swept by the Arizona Diamond backs and losing their grip on first place in the NL Central weren't enough, the Cubs are now a half a mil lighter in the wallet thanks to a fine by Major League Baseball regarding their actions following the June draft. According to Sports Illustrated, the Cubs failed to report a signing to MLB offices and put a player on the field without MLB approval, earning them the $500,000 fine.
The Chicago Bandits have a chance to move into first place in the NPF when they continued their four-game series against the league-leading Philadelphia Force tonight. The Bandits beat the Force 3-1 in the series opener on Wednesday.
The 2008 Aberdeen Street Dodgeball Ninjas will host their summer tournament this Saturday at Sheridan Park. If nothing else, it should provide some interesting photos.
The Chicago Cycling Club hosts a "Baseball Nostalgia Tour", which includes stops at 10 present and former ballparks and lunch at the Billy Goat Tavern.
And speaking of baseball, an all-Cubs channel? I thought we already had that...and referred to it as the local news (said the White Sox fan with the inferiority complex).
Not to dismiss the first half of the 2008 baseball season, but for me, my battle cry has always been, “Talk to me AFTER the All-Star break.”
Countless frantic fans on both sides of town, giddy with early-season promise have, through the years, approached me with manic glee in their eyes, fully convinced that this was The Year due to the fact that either the Cubs or White Sox are in first place at the break, a sign that supersedes anything a billy goat or Shoeless Joe could conjure up.
I’ve seen it so many times I’ve lost count. Take this season, for instance, which finds the White Sox AND the Cubs in first place in their respective divisions. Or rather take 1977, the year to which this year has most often been compared. For it was 1977 which marked the last time both teams were in first place at the same time.
Well you could spend the rest of the day reading about what Rich Harden might or might not do for the Cubs. All the locals have write-ups; here are Mariotti, Sullivan and Morrisey's. ESPN's Jayson Stark weighed in as well. No one, however, is better prepared to deal with Harden's injury history and possible upside than Cubs fans who labored through the Prior/Wood years. Who is better at being encouraging, hopeful and stoic while pretending not to hear the guy two rows back detailing what we're bound to get in return?
In any case it's been a pretty fun summer so far. With the Cubbies in the hunt, all sorts of interesting articles are popping up, and not just about the team, but things that really only die hard fans could care about. My favorites so far are the uniform breakdown, the "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" article and guest singer contest. Ah one, ah two, ah three...!
Steve Stone joining Hawk Harrelson in the White Sox TV booth? According to the Tribune, it could happen, though the dominos have to fall in just the right way.
ESPN’s Scoop Jackson says the Bulls’ drafting of former Simeon High School star Derrick Rose evokes the memory another Simeon hoopster tabbed for greatness, Ben Wilson, whose murder 24 years ago stunned the city.
Deposed WSCR morning man Mike North says he has four deals on the table. No word on whether any of them involve dishing out extra relish.
A new online marketplace offers fans the chance to put in a bid for playoff and World Series tickets for the Cubs (provided they make it) from season ticket owners looking to dump them. Presumably the website will offer the same deal for (ahem) the White Sox.
The Chicago Rush take on the Grand Rapids Rampage (don’t you love those Arena Footbal League names?) in an AFL Divisional Round playoff game this Sunday, 2 p.m., at Allstate Arena. In other Rush news, wide receiver Donovan Morgan was named AFL Rookie of the Year
The Sky’s Sylvia Fowles is getting a bit antsy since being sidelined with a knee injury, as she reports on her WNBA blog.
White Sox catcher A.J. Piersynzki needs your help in selecting his at-bat music. Though the website lists suggestions (“Panama” by Van Halen?) , I’m sure there are more appropriate songs...right?
Also, the White Sox host the first Double Duty Classic, featuring the top high school baseball players from across the Midwest, on Monday, July 7, 2:30 p.m. The game will honor the legacy of the Negro Leagues and is named for legend Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe.
If you're a fan of Chicago baseball, you might take special pride in seeing your Boys of Summer represented in the Midseason Classic, set for July 15 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. If so, get cracking: All-Star voting ends tonight at midnight.
As it stands, one Chicago team should be well represented in the game while the other will be woefully absent, despite having both teams in first place in their divisions. As of Wednesday, the Cubs have a strong possibility of having three starters in the game. Geovany Soto leads all catchers in voting, while Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome (yes, Fukudome, he of the .292 batting average and six HRs) are Nos. 1 and 3 in balloting for the starting outfield. Derek Lee is third among first basemen, Mark DeRosa is second among second basemen in votes and Ryan Theriot is third among shortstops.
He may not have had the national attention and accolades of the current Cubs, who have argueably usurped the title "America's Team" from the Dallas Cowboys, but for "Sweet Swinging" Billy Williams, his connection with the team has been no less exciting.
If you don't know many of the details of Williams' life as a Cub (and if you're a die-hard Cubs fan, you should), you can brush up on All Things Billy by picking up a copy of his book and having Williams autograph it for you at a special signing for his new biography, Billy Williams: My Sweet-Swinging Lifetime with the Cubs, July 8, 4:30-6pm at Harry Carey's Tavern, 3551 N. Sheffield, just a long foul ball from Wrigley Field. The book was written with longtime Tribune sportswriter Fred Mitchell.
Williams, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987, suffered the same unfortunate fate of his longtime teammate Ernie Banks, which is to have never made it to a World Series despite an exemplary career. But that apparently hasn't diminished his love for the game in general and his love for the Cubs in particular. Williams is still connected to the team as an executive advisor.
The book tells of Williams' early childhood, growing up in the same home state as Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey and Satchel Paige (what the heck were they putting in the water?), his days in the Negro League and his five decades in the big league. It's a must-read for any true Cubs fans. Or even a White Sox fan.
So the first half of the Great Chicago Baseball Orgy is over and the Cubs have emerged not only with early bragging rights but a firmer grip on National League Central, thanks to their three-game sweep of the White Sox. The Sox, meanwhile, saw their lead in the AL Central get cut to 1 1/2 games over the always-bothersome Minnesota Twins.
So what have we learned from this, other than Ozzie Guillen and a few other guys on the White Sox should probably zip it until after the series is over? Well, we learned that:
The Cubs will never lose another game in Wrigley Field.
The Cubs can get by just fine without Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Zambrano, but the White Sox are pretty lost without a healthy Paul Konerko and an effective Jim Thome.
There are two Jose Contreras: Good Jose and Bad Jose. Bad Jose was in the ballpark on Saturday.
Carlos Marmol is not the best closer-who's-not-a-closer as some would have you believe.
He may be the better rapper, but Guillen might not be the better manager in town.
Big rats and the smell of urine are far less scarier than Aramis Ramirez' bat.
Sox fans get a chance to exact some revenge against their pain-in-the-neck Cub fan cousins next weekend when the White Sox host the Cubs at U.S. Cellular (which USA Today says will take place on the "less pristine South Side"). Nothing less than a sweep will do for the White Sox in the three-game series and while the team does have a few home series sweeps under their belt this year, the Cubs' current play is on another planet. You've been forewarned, Sox fans: it might be another long weekend.
I suppose it makes sense that the actual participants in the annual local baseball orgy known (among other names) as the Crosstown Classic are a little blasé about the whole thing. Listen to sports talk radio or read the papers and you get the idea that baseball Armageddon is on the horizon and nothing less than the fate of the free world hangs in the balance.
But read the quotes from the likes of players like Paul Konerko, Derek Lee, Joe Crede or even Kerry Wood and you get the idea that they’re as excited by the contests as someone having a hangnail removed.
Their opinions usually run along the lines of “: “It’s just another game.” “It means more to the fans than us.” “It’ll be a lot of fun, but…” The Cubs’ Mark De Rosa said as much last week when in an interview he stated, “(I)t has to be viewed as [just] another series. I know it's not. I know it will be hyped up, and rightfully so. It's fun, it's a hot topic to talk about, and they're playing well and we're playing well. But I think it ends there. Six games hopefully won't affect the outcome of either team's division standing.”
A Major League Baseball story on the Cubs' days as a WEST Side ballclub includes some interesting bits of information, including the time in 1908 when a woman gave birth in the bleachers. Contrast that with today when...nah, too easy.
Belmont Harbor will be the launching site of a major international boating event when 84 boats from around the world compete in the 2008 Etchells World Championships. The weeklong event kicks off this Friday.
Another bout has been added to the boxing card at the Aragon Ballroom this Friday, which we told you about yesterday.
After a surprising and promising 2008 season for the Blackhawks, this weekend's NHL draft will be as important for the Hawks as the NBA draft will be for the Bulls. A hockey prospects resource site gives the lowdown.
He may not be in the Hall of Fame, but South Carolina residents are not forgetting their native son, White Sox legend Shoeless Joe Jackson and are building a museum in his honor. The organizers are hoping that the tribute helps the HOF committee forget about Jackson's role (or non-role) in the whole Black Sox scandal.
On any other team it would seem like the end of the world, or at least the end of a season.
Your marquee player, the one who leads the team in home runs and is fourth in RBI goes down with a broken hand for at least six weeks, a span in which your team faces an AL Division leading team, two of the hottest teams in baseball who are both in the thick of their own division race, and two feisty opponents from your own division, both poised to cut into your slim division lead.
But the way the Cubs have been playing lately, this may be nothing more than a blip on the radar.
When outfielder Alfonso Soriano was plunked on the hand by Atlanta pitcher Jeff Bennett at Wrigley Field Wednesday night, breaking a bone (a minimally displaced fracture of the fourth metacarpal, for the doctors in the crowd), you could hear the groans and cries of “Here we go again” all the way to Irving Park. The team has been cruising along with a 7-3 record in their last 10 games, a 28-8 record at home and a 2 ½ game lead in the NL Central. So something had to go wrong…. Right?
With the Cubs’ Kosuke Fukudome the latest Japanese baseball star to try to show his stuff in the West, the status of Japan’s own professional league is in shaky condition, according to a Bloomberg report. No less than former MLB manager Bobby Valentine says, “MLB is trying to kill the sport.”
The Sporting News reports on the “surprising” White Sox (surprising to them, right?) and says one of the main reasons for the unexpected surge is – who else? – Carlos Quentin.
The website Black Athlete Sports Network shows another side of Cap Anson, the legendary baseball figure who was captain-manager of the Chicago White Stockings (who later became the Cubs). Generally regarded as less-than-enlightened when it came to race, Anson was reportedly one of the first major leaguers to compete against an all-black team that was led by future Negro League founder Rube Foster.
The Cubs AND White Sox both in first place? OK, that's GOTTA be one of the Modern Signs of the Apocalypse, right after Howard Cosell rising from the grave. But that's where we find ourselves this morning after the Cubs wrapped up an 8-2 homestand with a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates and the White Sox completed a sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 13-8 victory for their fifth straight win.
Their frenzied weekends left the Sox 1 1/2 games up in the AL Central while the Cubs hold a two-game lead over St. Louis.
Enjoy it while it lasts, Chicago. Bartender, bragging rights for everyone...
According to reports Wednesday, the Cubs have, for all intents and purposes, signed veteran outfielder Jim Edmonds and if you hear a collective yawn of indifference it's to be expected.
Edmonds, a minor star with the St. Louis Cardinals but a virtual nobody with his current team the San Diego Padres, is expected to arrive in Chicago sometime today for a physical and could be in uniform as soon as tomorrow... to face his old team the Padres at Wrigley Fieid.
Signing Jim Edmonds for about $280,000 is a puzzler. He's currently batting .178 with 24 strikeouts through 26 games with the Padres this season, so his bat, such as it is, adds nothing to the lineup. And while he won eight Gold Gloves as a centerfielder with the Cards, it's generally accepted that he's lost a step or two.
So why is he here? Who knows? The Cubs are desperate for a lefty hitting centerfielder now that Felix Pie has washed out and is expected to be sent to Iowa AAA. But Pie is hitting .222, so putting Edmonds in his place? ...well, as the kids say, what's up with that?
Maybe they're banking on a change of scenery sparking Edmonds to some semblance of his former self. Don't count on it.
In a move that has Illinois tax-payers rejoicing and the Sun Times rehashing the "Zell No!" pun for the umpteenth time, the Tribune Co. has rejected the Illinois Sports Facility Authority's proposal to purchase Wrigley Field. However, the delicate public/private dance may not be over as it seems that the body's chairman, former Gov. Jim Thompson, is undeterred by today's announcement and is still examining options to put our tax dollars to work to "respect the landmark ordinance and to keep the iconic nature and historic nature of Wrigley Field". Even if Sam Zell is willing to sell on the cheap to pay down his mountain of debt, the citizens of Illinois seem to have more pressing concerns (PDF) than nostalgia.
Tomorrow night Chicago Fire playmaker and Mexican national hero Cuahtemoc Blanco will throw out the first pitch at the Cubs game. Since he probably doesn’t know the words, he won’t be singing during the seventh inning stretch though. That duty will fall to the striking partnership of Chad Barrett and Chris Rolfe. Just a guess, but I’ll bet it’s going to sound pretty terrible. Also betting Blanco can throw a pretty mean fast ball.
After the racist t-shirt controversy early in the season, show your support with a truly respectful shirt. According to Son & Heir Apparel, the Japanese characters translates to "Go Cubs" and "It's Gonna Happen." (If you read kanji and can vouch for this, let us know.)
By now, the attention being paid to former Cubs manager Lee Elia’s now infamous post-game explosion in 1983 is starting to seem a little like overkill. Yes, it was an interesting blip on a then-boring Chicago sports landscape. Yes, even in 1983, a profanity-top-heavy post-game analysis was a bit out of the ordinary. But to many in the media today, that mere 4 ½ minutes of frustration has earned the right to be commemorated as an “anniversary”.
On the radio today, WSCR-AM has constantly mentioned Elia’s rant it in its hourly newscasts as if it were a recent event. The Tribune, meanwhile has mentioned the incident in no less than 10 stories since April 23, including five articles fully dedicated to the occasion. (The Tribune, incidentally, is the organization that owned the Cubs and fired Elia after the outburst.) The Sun-Times has managed to hold its Eliapalooza to six articles, including only two fully dedicated (thought they did have a link to the censored recording on their website). However the Sun-Times may win The Most Overwrought Headline Award regarding the Elia saga, after labeling his outburst as being part of “baseball infamy”, a category I personally was reserving for the steroid scandal or Roger Clemens’ possible hanky panky with a 15-year-old country singer.
Deny it as we might, Chicagoans do have a little chip on their shoulder about playing second fiddle to New York City in just about everything, a fact that a New Yorker will waste no time in telling you. “Sure, you have the Sears Tower, but the Empire State Building is the quintessential skyscraper. Sure you have a thriving theater scene, but everyone knows a play isn’t REALLY a hit until it makes it on Broadway. And sure your entire city burned to the ground about 137 years ago, but you’re trying to compare it to OUR great tragedy of only seven years ago?...”
Which is why the baseball events of the next few days are our rare opportunity to exact a modicum of revenge in a short amount of time. In a quirky bit of scheduling, both Chicago baseball teams will take on both New York City baseball teams in their respective leagues. The Cubs (12-6) open a short two-game series today against the Mets (10-7) while the White Sox (11-7) square off against the Yankees (10-10) in a three-game series beginning Tuesday night. Speaking of Tuesday, it will offer the rare chance for a Chicago-New York unofficial split doubleheader as the Cubs and Mets battle at 1:20 at Wrigley Field, while the White Sox and Yankees clash at 7:11 at U.S. Cellular Field.
It's not enough that they've stopped selling those racist Kosuke Fukudome t-shirts outside of Wrigley Field. Those of you who bought one (unknowingly, of course) or were given one as a gift need to get rid of them!
It'd be a shame if instead of honoring Kosuke Fukudome's fast start in the major leagues (.317 /.442 / .460), the friendly confines were filled with ignoramuses wearing racist t-shirts that demean his ethnicity.
I generally reject talk of billy goats, black cats or Walkman-wearing fans in left field when discussing the alleged otherworldly reasons for the (mis)fortunes of the Cubs. Unless it was a billy goat that drafted Mike Harkey or a black cat that let a ball go between his legs in the eighth inning of the 2003 National League Championship Series.
Still, when you sit back and ponder the collection of freakish incidents that have befallen the team over the years, you might concede that while the gods must be crazy, they are also NOT Cubs fans.
Tuesday’s injury to left fielder Alfonso Soriano might be another page in that weird book. Soriano, to the dismay of baseball fundamentalists, routinely performs this strange little hop while catching a routine fly ball. It’s not baseball blasphemy, but it’s enough to make a Little League coach instruct his team to change the channel whenever a ball arcs its way toward left.
Against the Cincinnati Reds yesterday he performed his usual fly ball shtick, only this time with different results. He landed and immediately lifted his right leg in pain. The end result: a calf injury that could land Soriano on the 15-day DL. (Right now would be a good time to cue to a video shot of Lou Pinella sitting in the dugout rubbing his face and head in frustration.)
Update: Soriano was placed on the 15-day DL late Wednesday afternoon.
The next few games will be a test for both teams, as the Sox face the A's, a perennial rival, and the Cubs take on Dusty Baker's Reds. A middling Cincinnati team shouldn't be much of a challenge, but facing their former skipper may turn a few Cubbies toward point-proving, which rarely goes well. We'll see.
To some, it’s probably akin to spray-painting your name on The Vatican. That’s the high regard that some baseball purists, and even casual fans, have regarding Wrigley Field. Words like “shrine” and “temple” are often bandied about when talk about Wrigley in the context of ballpark esthetics comes up. Even when Cubs teams throughout the years stank up the joint something fierce, there was always those appealing bricks and ivy to make stench palatable. Even quite a few White Sox fans have had to admit that in the era of whiz-bang, high-tech, Corporate-Name-Of-The-Month ballparks, Wrigley is a gem. Well, except for Ozzie.
So it’s not without a little bit of consternation that Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin questions the latest addition to the ballpark: the letters “CBOE” painted on in bright yellow letters on a new section of ground-level seats that the Chicago Board Options Exchange is sponsoring this year.
The lettering, located on the wall between the Cubs’ dugout and the left field bullpen, raises the question of whether this bit of advertising violates City of Chicago landmark ordinance.
A surprise ruling by Major League Baseball today has ended the longest championship drought in American pro sports. The Commissioner's office today declared the Chicago Cubs champions of the 1945 World Series—erasing the team's 100-year title drought.
The Chicago Cubs lost the 1945 World Series 4 games to 3, to the Detroit Tigers. But Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig today announced the Tigers used an illegible player in that series—and he's stripped Detroit of the championship.
Well, OK, maybe not, but this 100 Year Curse™ crap really needs to stop. The last thing the Cubs need is the extra weight of overwhelming expectations loaded upon them. We all remember the last time they got close, how they cracked under the pressure with a little help from a certain guy wearing headphones? Don't tell me you really think it was all his fault. The boys in blue get flustered easily, especially under pressure.
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