Cubs in Five

What Can You Learn from One Week?
by Jeff Webber

One: The Cards Are Not Yet Dealt
Nothing like sweeping your division rivals in your first home series of the season. The Cubs didn't always look pretty doing it, and their finest moments may have reeked more of good luck than dominance, but the W's still go down in the book. But it's way, way, way too early to get cocky. (Do you really think the Rockies will still be in first place in a month? Or that the Devil Rays will keep playing .500 ball?) It won't be two weeks before the Cubs are playing the Cards again, and next time, it'll be in front of sold-out St. Louis crowds in the Cards' brand spanking new stadium.

Two: Early Returns on The Marshall Plan
Twenty-three-year-old rookie pitcher Sean Marshall's first start was a mixed bag. On the one hand, he kept the ball down, threw nearly two thirds of his pitches for strikes, and retired nine Cards in a row at one point. On the other, he was completely out of gas after just 65 pitches and had to be yanked early in the fifth after plunking David Eckstein to load the bases. Michael Wuertz and Jerome Williams took over for him after that, with Wuertz looking terrific even while allowing a few runs to score, and Williams looking like crap even as he managed two scoreless innings. Go figure.

Three: Things You Should Get Used To, or, It's Never Too Early to Start Picking on Jacque Jones
Get used to Jacque Jones having extended 0-fer streaks like the 0-for-12 with which he opened his career as a Cub. He strikes out like a freshman on prom night and he's already shown a disturbing tendency to press to impress. I've been calling this since the day we signed him: Jones is our 2006 scapegoat.

Four: Things You Shouldn't get Used To, or Beware the Sex Appeal of Anecdotal Evidence
Don't get used to Jones redeeming himself with clutch homers like the one he slugged off a Sidney Ponson misplaced changeup Sunday night. Jones will have his days and seems like a nice enough guy, but don't let a dumb luck homer off a meatball pitch from a gassed fat dude convince you he's our new go-to guy. He's probably not even fully out of his slump yet. Also: Michael Barrett's nine RBIs are super and Ronny Cedeno's 10 hits are great. But Barrett has not suddenly turned into Manny Ramirez and Ronny Cedeno did not wake up as Derek Jeter. Pitchers will adjust. That said, enjoy all three of these things while they last. Cedeno, in particular will be coming back to earth hard in the near future.

Five: Here's Hoping the Fun Can Last Another Week
The next six Cubs games are against the pitching-starved Cincinnati Reds and the bottom-feeding Pittsburgh Pirates. If'n you were hoping the Cubs would run up an early lead, here's their chance. After that come the Dodgers, Cards, Marlins and Brewers. Oh what a difference a week can make.

Sox in Five

Stumbling Out of the Gate
by Steve Gozdecki

Remember how the White Sox looked so terrible in spring training? Remember how we shrugged it all off as a whole lot of nothingness, confident that the team would pull it together once the season started? Remember how an easy victory over the Cleveland Indians on opening night managed to erase our worries and fears?

Well, after a very uninspiring, occasionally terrifying first nine days of baseball, during which the Sox have posted a 3-4 record, the worries may be creeping back in. If you're only as good as your last game or two, then the Sox are doing just dandy, coming off a pair of fairly crisp victories over division rivals Kansas City and Detroit. But our two losses each to Kansas City and Cleveland may leave you with a bit of worry.

One: It's Just One Week Out of 26
Boy, these White Sox stink, don't they? Can't hit, can't pitch, can't field — the season's over! Oh, I kid of course. The regular season is a marathon, not a sprint. Your World Champion Chicago White Sox are not the only 2005 playoff team off to a slow start here in the new season — indeed, while the Red Sox, Astros, Angels and Cardinals are playing better-than-break-even ball early on, the Yankees, Braves and Padres have joined the Sox in stumbling out of the gate and amassing sub-.500 records here in the early going. We're not even 5 percent of the way into the season, and there's plenty of time for the Sox to wake up and climb back to the top of their division.

Two: They're Called Home Runs, Not Thome Runs
Coming into yesterday's game, Jim Thome had hit three home runs while the rest of the White Sox combined for, erm, zero. That this power outage saw the team compiling a 1-4 record exposed the falsehoods behind claims that the Sox are a small-ball squad that scores runs through hustle and bunts and stolen bases and other things that create more outs than runs. Fact is, as go the homers so go the White Sox, and so with Paul Konerko and Joe Crede joining Thome in going yard yesterday in Detroit's spacious Comerica Park we witnessed a White Sox winner that put them close to the break-even mark.

Three: Yes He Can Play Many Different Positions, But Can He Play Them Well?
While we've managed to banish one of the "o" boys (as in, "Oh Lord what is he doing in the major leagues, let alone on my team?") with the offseason release of Timo Perez, we've still got Pablo Ozuna to kick around here in '06. And Friday night, with the not-so-useful Scott Podsednik riding the pine, we got just enough Pablo out in left field to make us miss Pods, and maybe even Timo. An infielder by trade, Pablo was sent out to the outfield that evening and managed to misplay a wind-addled fly ball of the sort that most people not named Adam Dunn or Pablo Ozuna would catch. The resulting double that shoulda been caught helped the Royals put up a five spot on their way to an 11-7 victory. Add a backup outfielder (or, be still my beating heart, a starting leftfielder with some pop) to Kenny's little shopping list.

Four: A New and Improved American League Central Division?
On both the radio and TV side, as well as on a Twins game that I caught on the tube thanks to a free trial of the delish MLB expanded cable package, I'm hearing all kinds of talk about how much more competitive the American League Central division is this season. But I'm not buying it despite what we've seen through this single week of play. Cleveland's hitters scare the pants off of me, but the loss of ace starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia to injury for a month has to hurt the team a bit despite its easy April schedule — improvement over last year's 93 wins doesn't seem likely. The Twins are treading water and perhaps even declining a bit versus last year, with only two reliable starting pitchers and a not-so-good offense two key concerns. Kansas City is still Kansas City, though they've got some minor league talent that may be promoted around midseason to give the team's long-suffering fans a bit of hope for the future. Only Detroit, with a good-looking offense and some hard-throwing young pitchers, looks significantly improved from last year, but it's still hard to expect much more than an 80-win season from them.

Five: Bring Me the Head of Scott Podsednik
Is it a lingering groin injury? Too much rust after an injury-shortened spring training? His recent marriage to Playmate Lisa Dergen? Whatever the cause, Scott Podsednik has had a negative effect on your Chicago White Sox this season. Pods has only reached base twice in 21 plate appearances so far, scoring once while not yet attempting a stolen base. So weak is the stick of Pods that the Royals were actually pitching around ninth-place hitter Brian Anderson with men on base in order to get to him. While the Scott Podsednik who can get on base at a .350 clip and succeed on three out of four base-stealing attempts is marginally useful, this current version of Pods may leave you wondering if we can get Timo back. Almost wishing, even.

Fire in Five

Worse Management, Better Defending, Better Than Losing
by Steve Gillies

Well, that was a lot more like a road game. Nothing to write home about in terms of pretty soccer, but they managed to go to the home of the defending champions and get a draw. Playing on the road, results matter a lot more than performance, and doubly so when you're at the start of the road trip from hell.

One: One Year Ago Later
I'd be deeply remiss if I didn't mention that a year ago this week AEG, the parent company of the Fire, decided to release popular general manager Peter Wilt and replace him with a David Brent look-a-like named John Guppy. Guppy was brought in to concentrate on selling Executive Suites in the new Bridgeview Stadium and secure a deal on the naming rights (oops). Now one year later, the stadium may still not have a name, but I hear those corporate box seats for the B96 Summer Bash are moving fast. My friendly season ticket rep has been replaced by someone with a New York accent and I can't watch away games on anything but the pay-per-view at the soccer bar because getting local TV coverage doesn't seem to be a priority. At least in previous years when I watched games at the soccer bar there was a good chance Peter Wilt would show up to have a few beers with fans and maybe buy chips and salsa for everyone. I guess it wouldn't really be a Chicago sports team if there weren't some bad moves by the ownership to complain about, though, so let's move on and talk about what happened on the field this week.

Two: The Defending Was a Little Better
Even though they fielded the same lineup as last week, the Fire certainly showed a different attitude defensively. Jim Curtin, who looked a little sluggish last week, was all over the field making sliding tackles, winning headers and even getting forward to score a late game-tying goal. Credit should also go to the team as a whole for keeping Landon Donovan quiet. Whether he was playing as a forward or dropping into midfield to try to get more of the ball, someone was always there to make life difficult for him. Extra credit goes to Ivan Guerrero and Gonzalo Segares, who picked up yellow cards for excessive fouling on the purple-shoed poster boy of Major League Soccer. Good job guys. Sometimes part of good defending is letting them know you're there.

Three: But Still... They Gave Up Another Bad Goal
In the 79th minute with the game winding down, I was finishing my last beer thinking that we had a few close calls, but we were going to get through it with a shut-out. Sure, Chris Albright scared us with a header off a corner kick that hit the crossbar, but that was the best chance LA were going to get and they didn't take it. Surely no one could get that open again. Of course, five minutes later LA had another corner, Albright got open again and managed to put his header half an inch lower this time. For what I thought had been a pretty impressive defensive performance, seeing them let a guy get open from a corner twice in a row in the closing minutes of a game is pretty disheartening. I'll give them credit for picking their heads up and scoring a late goal of their own, but if it hadn't been for that goal all of the headlines would have been about the Fire's poor defending for the second week in a row.

Four: Is it Me, or Is Justin Mapp Growing Up This Year?
For the past two years, Justin Mapp has been not only one of the youngest, but also probably the most talented player on the Fire. There's been something a little frustrating about him, though. While he's great with the ball at his feet, he'll go for long stretches of games without getting himself involved in plays, particularly toward the end of games. He's also shown the least amount of work defensively of any of the players, which has gotten him labeled as a lazy player. Watching him in person for the last two years, I could never figure out if he wasn't quite physically ready for professional soccer, or if he just didn't have the heart. But early signs this season have been good encouraging. He's stayed active and dangerous throughout entire games. His late run against LA led to the Fire's score off a free kick. More importantly, I've seen Mapp make at least four sliding tackles this season. By my unofficial count, that's four more than he had made in his career up until now.

Five: We Need a Win Next Week
Realistically, coming away from road games against Dallas and LA with a loss and a tie isn't too bad. With another seven games before playing at home, the Fire is going to have to pick up a win soon though. Fortunately, their next game is against the Columbus Crew, who placed last in the Eastern conference last season and started this year at 0-2. With a large contingent of Fire fans expected to make the trip to Columbus, this should be time for the Fire to pick up their first win. Tough games on the horizon against the New England Revolution, the Kansas City Wizards and the New York, uh, Red Bulls on the horizon, mean this should be the time to pick up their first win of the season.

Bulls in Five

Up and Down
by Jason Maslanka

Have I titled a column "Up and Down" yet this year? I imagine I have, but outside of synonyms for up and/or down, other titles just don't seem as apropos. This past week functioned as the finale to a huge up, an unexpected four game winning streak and surge into the eighth playoff spot, and concluded with a huge down, a 14-point thrashing at the hands of the 76ers.

One: What Was That?
A late season four-game winning streak. A solid seven-point win at the Wachovia Center against the Sixers. A one game lead for the last playoff spot. That's what Bulls fans were thinking about on Saturday morning. By Sunday morning, everything had changed once again. Allen Iverson had scored 39 the night before and the Sixers beat the Bulls 89-75. Trust me when I say that the final score was no indication of what an awful game the Bulls played. When they needed a win the most, for a two game lead on the Sixers with only six games to play, they laid an egg... a huge ostrich, strike that, dinosaur egg.

Two: Choose Your Own Adventure
35-41. That's the record of the Bulls, while the Philadelphia 76ers are at 36-41. Their records are nearly identical, but the Bulls control their own destiny, as the pundits love to say. Through some convoluted system, the Bulls hold the tie-breaker over the Sixers and would make the playoffs if both teams finish with identical records. If the Bulls win all their games, or at least as many as the 76ers, they're in. It's that simple. When asked about controlling their own destiny, Scott Skiles noted that the team hadn't won six games in a row all year, and it'd be pretty wild if they did now. Bulls' fans are in for an interesting finish, but if I were a betting man, I'd take the Bulls as the eighth seed over the Sixers.

Threeeeee: But Why?
It's true that there's no rhyme or reason as to why someone would pick the Bulls for anything, let alone a playoff spot. While normal analysis may not help predict the Bulls' future, it can't hurt to look. The Bulls play exactly half of their final six games at home. They play Atlanta, Orlando and Toronto, three teams with worse records than theirs. They play Washington, a team with a .500 record, and have two nearly guaranteed losses in New Jersey and Miami. The Sixers play four of their last five on the road. They play nearly the same schedule as the Bulls, but play that hot Nets team twice. They'll have to win one more game than the Bulls during this stretch, and statistics are not with them.

Four: This Week
This week features four games. The Bulls absolutely must win two of those games. No one can expect them to beat New Jersey tonight, nor Miami on national television on Saturday. The two important games are Atlanta and Washington. Any team that deserves to be in the playoffs has to beat the Atlanta Hawks. There's no doubt about that. Beating the Wizards is no guarantee — they cause the Bulls tons of trouble dating back to last year's playoffs — but a win is a must. Going 2-2 this week would set them up for Orlando and Toronto to finish the season. Much like Atlanta, those are matchups that playoff teams win. With a 4-2 record to close out the season, Philly would be forced to go 4-1. With New Jersey twice and Miami once, that seems nearly impossible.

Five: Playoff Tickets
For those brave souls who believe in this team, and don't mind a possible Ticketmaster refund system, playoff tickets go on sale this Saturday morning. They can also be purchased at the United Center and other Ticketmaster locations. Jason's Bet: Buy first round tickets and enjoy the playoff atmosphere. Don't think too hard about second round tickets. That would be a miracle.

Standings Update: The Bulls (35-41) sit 0.5 games behind Philadelphia and 1.5 games behind Indiana and Milwaukee.