Not a great day for Chicago baseball! What in the world went on today? The Sox set the tone early with a 20-1 shellacking at the hands of their rival Twins AT HOME! Not to be "outdone" the Cubs put together another absolutely pathetic offensive effort losing 3-1. The Cubs have now lost 4 in a row after winning 5 in a row. Ah...consistency...gotta love it.
That has been the trick for the Cubs...consistency. I heard a startling stat today. The Cubs are hitting .294 in their wins while hitting .193 in their losses. Well, the 3 game sweep at the hands of their rival Cardinals didn't go against these stats. Tue night's game was a JOKE offensively. Joel Pineiro threw an MLB season low 92 pitches in his CG 3-hit shutout. Last night, at least they scored...although it was just once and lost again 2-1. Much the same tonight going down 3-1 so overall they completed their 3-game anti-sweep losing 8-2. YEP two whole runs in 3 games combined. Who were they facing? The 1965 Dodgers with Drysdale, Koufax, and Claude Osteen (all three had less than 2.80 ERA)? Nope...the 2009 Cardinals who do have Chris Carpenter although he was making his first start in a month, but Joel Pineiro and Adam Wainright? Unless you're a serious baseball fan, you probably never even heard of these guys and yet they were able to TOTALLY dominate our Cubbies. Wainright came within 2 pitches of pitching the second CG of the series, but D-Lee muscled a jam shot into short right to bring the tying run to the plate. Fortunately for the Cards, Milton Bradley was the supposed potential tying run. LaRussa brought in Franklin to throw those two pitches, Bradley who is on pace to drive in 38 runs this year in total (Pujols drove in his 38th today!) did hit the ball hard, but right at Schumaker in RF to end the "threat".
But which team had the worse day? That has to go to the White Sox. It started all well and good as Kenny Williams finally came off his LONG vacation (where was he all off-season?) to work a deal with the Padres for Jake Peavy. With Contreras struggling and Colon still kind of iffy plus Floyd and Danks struggling, adding Peavy would have been a HUGE lift for the pitching staff. Don Cooper seemed REALLY excited in an interview I heard this morning. After taking the first two games from the Twins in their 3-game series with their rival, the Peavy news just seemed to be the cherry on the top of a great week. So what happened after that? Well, they went out and got DESTROYED 20-1 in front of the home folks. Yikes! That's the worst home loss in a baseball game in my recollection and tied the worst in Sox history.
My daughter's baseball coach is a Sox fan. I asked him tonight if he had seen the Sox game or heard the result. In typical Sox "fan" fashion, he had no idea. When I told him they lost 20-1 to the Twins today, his next question was curious. "Who pitched?" he asked. I said "lots of guys!" Colon started and left after 2 innings and 8 runs although only 1 run was earned after a Betemit error on a sac bunt helped the Twins push 7 across in the 2nd inning including a bomb from former Sox Joe Crede.
But as bad as that was, it wasn't the worst thing to happen to the Sox on this day. Shortly after the game was over, the Sox learned that Jake Peavy had rejected the trade to the Sox (maybe he was watching the game). Peavy has a no-trade clause so he can choose his next team. In his statement he said "Right now, this [San Diego] is the best place for me and my family." Tough day Sox fans.
Showing posts with label sox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sox. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
May 19th Update
I wanted to do an update on the most recent happenings associated with the posts on my blog. I'll go through each of the most recent posts one at a time here so read the ones that interest you and feel free to respond/comment as you see fit.
Well, I simply must start with the Blackhawks. Does anyone else feel like the Hawks have the Red Wings right where they want them? Even though the Hawks are down 2-0, I feel like they are really "right there" and could easily take the next 4 games to win the series in 6. After being a non-factor in Game 1, Towes obviously came to play tonight scoring both of the Hawks goals. Khabibulin stepped up pretty well tonight saving 35 shots. Unfortunately, he was only 1-for-2 in OT and the Hawks fell 3-2. My daughter was hoping the Hawks would duplicate her soccer team's performance over the weekend. They were down 2-1 late in the game but were able to tie it in regulation and were able to pull it out in OT. The Hawks got it half right. Now they come home to a rockin' UC and will take back the momentum from the Wings. This whole thing kind of reminds me of the 1980 Olympics with the Wings playing the role of the "unbeatable" Russians while the upstart Hawks are the USA.
Now on to the Cubs...what the heck was THAT tonight against a reeling Cardinals team? Weren't the Cards coming off a home sweep at the hands of the 1st place Brewers while the Cubs were coming off a 4-1 homestand? That's not what it looked like to me. Did they really get completely dominated by Joel Pineiro? 3 hits? Really? 3 lousy hits! Where was the patience at the plate this team has exhibited most of the year? Pineiro pitched his first complete game of the season while throwing only 92 pitches. He came in with an unremarkable 4.17 ERA but after 9 innings of shutout ball, dropped it to 3.48. On a good note, they only left 1 guy on base. Of course, it is easier to let only 1 guy on base when 3 guys reach base with no walks to go with their 3 measley hits. Bradley hit into a DP to eliminate one of the runners and then Soriano was picked off to eliminate another; hence "only" one runner LOB. Wow!
How can you explain such a lousy effort against your #1 division rival? I just don't get it. You can't blame Lou for the lineup this time either. Other than Aramis being out with his injury, the rest of the lineup would have to be considered their best lineup. You really need to take advantage of those rare days when Phat Albert doesn't do anything too. Pujols was 1-4 and left 3 runners on base tonight. Too bad.
Cubs fans vs. Sox fans update. CSN is advertising this week as rivalry week with the Cubs in St. Louis and the Sox home facing the Twins. Cubs vs. Cards drew 41,374 while the Sox vs. Twins drew all of 26,696 on a GORGEOUS Tuesday evening. Where's all the Sox fans? Too busy watching the Cubs lose on WGN tonight? Hey Sox fans, double-bonus as I'm sure you didn't even notice - the Sox won tonight! By the way, just to put that pretty pathetic attendance figure at The Cell last night in perspective...the Cubs drew 23,441 to Miller Park with 24-hour notice on a rescheduled game that was supposed to be played in Houston but was moved to Milwaukee due to the hurricane in Houston. The game date was September 14th so don't tell me how last night was a school night because the game at Miller Park was a school night too.
Lee vs. Hoffpauir update. Maybe watching Hoffpauir play well in his absence clicked something in D-Lee's head. Lee has gone 6-11 in his last 3 games since coming back to the starting line-up and has even drove in 3 runs in those 3 games. Of course, the Cubs are 1-2 in those games. Hmmm. I was hoping Hoffpauir would take a little more advantage of his opportunity than he actually did, but he still did pretty well while being thrown into the starting line-up like he was. I'd still like to see him play more consistently but if just the threat of his being there and ably fill in is enough to help D-Lee produce, that works too.
I hope you are all enjoying my posts. Please be sure to comment as much as you can so I know you're "listening". Thanks!
Well, I simply must start with the Blackhawks. Does anyone else feel like the Hawks have the Red Wings right where they want them? Even though the Hawks are down 2-0, I feel like they are really "right there" and could easily take the next 4 games to win the series in 6. After being a non-factor in Game 1, Towes obviously came to play tonight scoring both of the Hawks goals. Khabibulin stepped up pretty well tonight saving 35 shots. Unfortunately, he was only 1-for-2 in OT and the Hawks fell 3-2. My daughter was hoping the Hawks would duplicate her soccer team's performance over the weekend. They were down 2-1 late in the game but were able to tie it in regulation and were able to pull it out in OT. The Hawks got it half right. Now they come home to a rockin' UC and will take back the momentum from the Wings. This whole thing kind of reminds me of the 1980 Olympics with the Wings playing the role of the "unbeatable" Russians while the upstart Hawks are the USA.
Now on to the Cubs...what the heck was THAT tonight against a reeling Cardinals team? Weren't the Cards coming off a home sweep at the hands of the 1st place Brewers while the Cubs were coming off a 4-1 homestand? That's not what it looked like to me. Did they really get completely dominated by Joel Pineiro? 3 hits? Really? 3 lousy hits! Where was the patience at the plate this team has exhibited most of the year? Pineiro pitched his first complete game of the season while throwing only 92 pitches. He came in with an unremarkable 4.17 ERA but after 9 innings of shutout ball, dropped it to 3.48. On a good note, they only left 1 guy on base. Of course, it is easier to let only 1 guy on base when 3 guys reach base with no walks to go with their 3 measley hits. Bradley hit into a DP to eliminate one of the runners and then Soriano was picked off to eliminate another; hence "only" one runner LOB. Wow!
How can you explain such a lousy effort against your #1 division rival? I just don't get it. You can't blame Lou for the lineup this time either. Other than Aramis being out with his injury, the rest of the lineup would have to be considered their best lineup. You really need to take advantage of those rare days when Phat Albert doesn't do anything too. Pujols was 1-4 and left 3 runners on base tonight. Too bad.
Cubs fans vs. Sox fans update. CSN is advertising this week as rivalry week with the Cubs in St. Louis and the Sox home facing the Twins. Cubs vs. Cards drew 41,374 while the Sox vs. Twins drew all of 26,696 on a GORGEOUS Tuesday evening. Where's all the Sox fans? Too busy watching the Cubs lose on WGN tonight? Hey Sox fans, double-bonus as I'm sure you didn't even notice - the Sox won tonight! By the way, just to put that pretty pathetic attendance figure at The Cell last night in perspective...the Cubs drew 23,441 to Miller Park with 24-hour notice on a rescheduled game that was supposed to be played in Houston but was moved to Milwaukee due to the hurricane in Houston. The game date was September 14th so don't tell me how last night was a school night because the game at Miller Park was a school night too.
Lee vs. Hoffpauir update. Maybe watching Hoffpauir play well in his absence clicked something in D-Lee's head. Lee has gone 6-11 in his last 3 games since coming back to the starting line-up and has even drove in 3 runs in those 3 games. Of course, the Cubs are 1-2 in those games. Hmmm. I was hoping Hoffpauir would take a little more advantage of his opportunity than he actually did, but he still did pretty well while being thrown into the starting line-up like he was. I'd still like to see him play more consistently but if just the threat of his being there and ably fill in is enough to help D-Lee produce, that works too.
I hope you are all enjoying my posts. Please be sure to comment as much as you can so I know you're "listening". Thanks!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Cubs Fans vs. Sox "fans"
So what is the difference between Cubs fans and Sox fans? In my experience, it's all about the focus between the two fans. Cubs fans really only keep track of the Cubs with an outside interest in the Sox. Sox fans seem to have MUCH more interest and derive much more excitement from Cubs' losses with a little more than secondary interest in the Sox. I have had conversations with supposed Sox fans that don't even know all five if the Sox starters. Really? But you know what made it worse...they knew the Cubs rotation including the order they pitch. Regardless, there is definitely a rivalry between the two ball clubs, but I think the rivalry between the fans is even more intense.
This whole cross-town rivalry thing for me dates back to 7th grade. I took a bus to my new Catholic school in 7th grade where I met several new kids. One of them lived in a different subdivision and it turns out he was a Sox fan while all of my friends all cheered for the Cubs so this was the first time I ever had to deal with someone like that. I was picked up before he was so I was on the bus when we picked him up. I took great pleasure letting him know that the Cubs won their game the day before and he did the same when the Sox won. I would have the whole bus yelling "Cubs WON!" and he was primarily on his own countering us. Even when the Cubs lost, it was nearly as fun if the Sox lost as we would all yell "Sox LOST!" and doubly fun when both happened. I still remember his name...weird.
As I increased my base of friends, I expanded to know more Sox fans. When I was in high school, my best friend had another friend that was a Sox fan. The year was 1983 and if you know much Chicago baseball, you know the Sox crushed the competition on their way to a 20-game division victory over the Royals. At the same time, the Cubs were scuffling along to "just miss" the playoffs by 19 games. That was a long summer at my friend's house. I remember this particular kid was pretty handy (actually worked at Handy Andy - remember that store?) and he had built himself a light kind of in the shape of a wagon wheel. In each of the spaces between the spokes (there were 20), he had different White Sox pennants. It was pretty cool even though they were Sox pennants.
In high school I befriended a guy who turned out to be a Padres fan. Really? A Padres fan in the NW Chicago burbs...how does that even happen. Well, the year was 1984 which ended up not being a good time to have a friend who was a fan of the Padres. The night Sutcliffe struck out Joe Orsulak and the Cubs clinched their first playoff berth in 39 years, I wrote the names of all the Cubs' players, numbers, and a Cubs logo in permanent marker on my Levis for school the next day - I didn't care if I got a detention (which I didn't). Our Homecoming Dance was Saturday night during Game 4 of that fateful playoff series. I spent more time walking out to my car checking the score (no internet cell phones back then!) on the radio than I did with my date (don't remember her name - must not have been a baseball fan).
In college, I again expanded my friend base and ended up becoming friends with more Sox fans. They weren't fanatical and they also didn't despise the Cubs so it wasn't much of a problem. I did get to know even more Cubs fans in college too and they were fanatical - I remember their names. When the Cubs clinched the division in 1989, I remember all of us were dialing the phones like crazy trying to get tickets not that we had the money to pay for them, but what's a couple days worth of food compared to a Cubs playoff game? I picked up my girlfriend (now my wife) at the Amtrak station at school. There was a whole bank of pay phones and the TicketMaster number was toll-free so I had two phones going at the same time. No luck however and neither did my friends.
Now I get to deal with my adult friends and neighbors and their kids. Just as I was brought up as a Cubs fan thanks to my father, my friends' kids are growing up as Sox fans based on their own father. Nothing wrong with that I guess. But here's the question...how did these guys end up as Sox fans instead of Cubs fans to start with? A couple of the guys I know that are Sox fans grew up on the north side which would logically mean they "should" be Cubs fans so what happened? Either they switch alliances just to be different or they had some other reason. I have heard Sox fans argue that most of the people attending Cubs' games are not true Cubs fans...rather they are only interested in the exerience. While I agree there are plenty of people there to get the experience...particularly the Friendly Confines which many people refer to as the biggest beer garden in the US. That may be true, but most of the people in the stands do pay attention to the game as you can tell by watching the game - they know when there is a big spot in the game; when to stand up and cheer. The Cubs continue to draw more and more people each year, but where are the Sox fans? Even in their World Series season, they still hardly drew more than average and couldn't even sell out their final regular season homestand. Does anyone think that could have happened with the Cubs at Wrigley? Didn't think so.
So what about Wrigley Field? I have been visiting ballparks throughout the country over the last few years with my family. All 5 of us are headed to the Midwest ballparks this August for our 3rd annual baseball vacation. Two years ago, we visited Detroit, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Last year, we saw the end of Shea and Yankee Stadium as well as Philadelphia and Boston. So we saw some old and saw some new parks. I know it might be blasphemy and before my visits to the new "old school" parks I would have agreed, but I think it may be time to knock down the Friendly Confines and build us a new old school park similar to those in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. We haven't made it to Baltimore yet, but we will eventually and I know Camden Yards is where it all started back on the right track after all the lousy cookie-cutter artificial turf stadiums built in the 70s. I've also been to Turner Field in Atlanta which I also really liked. Tough to beat the locationin Wrigleyville so they'd have to tear it down and put the new park up in its place. I'd be willing to sacrifice a season of playing ball at The Cell on the southside; heck, maybe two seasons. THEN we could put to rest all the talk about how the Cubs only draw more fans than the Sox because of Wrigley. Would anyone like to make that bet if both teams played at The Cell? Didn't think so. Did you see how many butts were in the seats for that make-up game against Houston last year that was held in Miller Park in Milwaukee? The Cubs drew 25,000 there with 24-hour notice. Not bad, huh? Those are Cubs fans my friend.
This whole cross-town rivalry thing for me dates back to 7th grade. I took a bus to my new Catholic school in 7th grade where I met several new kids. One of them lived in a different subdivision and it turns out he was a Sox fan while all of my friends all cheered for the Cubs so this was the first time I ever had to deal with someone like that. I was picked up before he was so I was on the bus when we picked him up. I took great pleasure letting him know that the Cubs won their game the day before and he did the same when the Sox won. I would have the whole bus yelling "Cubs WON!" and he was primarily on his own countering us. Even when the Cubs lost, it was nearly as fun if the Sox lost as we would all yell "Sox LOST!" and doubly fun when both happened. I still remember his name...weird.
As I increased my base of friends, I expanded to know more Sox fans. When I was in high school, my best friend had another friend that was a Sox fan. The year was 1983 and if you know much Chicago baseball, you know the Sox crushed the competition on their way to a 20-game division victory over the Royals. At the same time, the Cubs were scuffling along to "just miss" the playoffs by 19 games. That was a long summer at my friend's house. I remember this particular kid was pretty handy (actually worked at Handy Andy - remember that store?) and he had built himself a light kind of in the shape of a wagon wheel. In each of the spaces between the spokes (there were 20), he had different White Sox pennants. It was pretty cool even though they were Sox pennants.
In high school I befriended a guy who turned out to be a Padres fan. Really? A Padres fan in the NW Chicago burbs...how does that even happen. Well, the year was 1984 which ended up not being a good time to have a friend who was a fan of the Padres. The night Sutcliffe struck out Joe Orsulak and the Cubs clinched their first playoff berth in 39 years, I wrote the names of all the Cubs' players, numbers, and a Cubs logo in permanent marker on my Levis for school the next day - I didn't care if I got a detention (which I didn't). Our Homecoming Dance was Saturday night during Game 4 of that fateful playoff series. I spent more time walking out to my car checking the score (no internet cell phones back then!) on the radio than I did with my date (don't remember her name - must not have been a baseball fan).
In college, I again expanded my friend base and ended up becoming friends with more Sox fans. They weren't fanatical and they also didn't despise the Cubs so it wasn't much of a problem. I did get to know even more Cubs fans in college too and they were fanatical - I remember their names. When the Cubs clinched the division in 1989, I remember all of us were dialing the phones like crazy trying to get tickets not that we had the money to pay for them, but what's a couple days worth of food compared to a Cubs playoff game? I picked up my girlfriend (now my wife) at the Amtrak station at school. There was a whole bank of pay phones and the TicketMaster number was toll-free so I had two phones going at the same time. No luck however and neither did my friends.
Now I get to deal with my adult friends and neighbors and their kids. Just as I was brought up as a Cubs fan thanks to my father, my friends' kids are growing up as Sox fans based on their own father. Nothing wrong with that I guess. But here's the question...how did these guys end up as Sox fans instead of Cubs fans to start with? A couple of the guys I know that are Sox fans grew up on the north side which would logically mean they "should" be Cubs fans so what happened? Either they switch alliances just to be different or they had some other reason. I have heard Sox fans argue that most of the people attending Cubs' games are not true Cubs fans...rather they are only interested in the exerience. While I agree there are plenty of people there to get the experience...particularly the Friendly Confines which many people refer to as the biggest beer garden in the US. That may be true, but most of the people in the stands do pay attention to the game as you can tell by watching the game - they know when there is a big spot in the game; when to stand up and cheer. The Cubs continue to draw more and more people each year, but where are the Sox fans? Even in their World Series season, they still hardly drew more than average and couldn't even sell out their final regular season homestand. Does anyone think that could have happened with the Cubs at Wrigley? Didn't think so.
So what about Wrigley Field? I have been visiting ballparks throughout the country over the last few years with my family. All 5 of us are headed to the Midwest ballparks this August for our 3rd annual baseball vacation. Two years ago, we visited Detroit, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Last year, we saw the end of Shea and Yankee Stadium as well as Philadelphia and Boston. So we saw some old and saw some new parks. I know it might be blasphemy and before my visits to the new "old school" parks I would have agreed, but I think it may be time to knock down the Friendly Confines and build us a new old school park similar to those in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. We haven't made it to Baltimore yet, but we will eventually and I know Camden Yards is where it all started back on the right track after all the lousy cookie-cutter artificial turf stadiums built in the 70s. I've also been to Turner Field in Atlanta which I also really liked. Tough to beat the locationin Wrigleyville so they'd have to tear it down and put the new park up in its place. I'd be willing to sacrifice a season of playing ball at The Cell on the southside; heck, maybe two seasons. THEN we could put to rest all the talk about how the Cubs only draw more fans than the Sox because of Wrigley. Would anyone like to make that bet if both teams played at The Cell? Didn't think so. Did you see how many butts were in the seats for that make-up game against Houston last year that was held in Miller Park in Milwaukee? The Cubs drew 25,000 there with 24-hour notice. Not bad, huh? Those are Cubs fans my friend.
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