Chicago's Inside Pitch
Hey-hey! Atta boy, Len (and an interesting lineup)
Posted by Bruce on Fri, 06/13/2008 - 15:17
Loved Len Kasper's tribute to Jack Brickhouse on Jim Emonds' ninth-inning homer yesterday. For those of us who grew up listening to Jack, the call brought back great memories. All in great fun and done respectfully.
Cubs go this way tonight:
Theriot, SS
Hoffpauir, 1B
Lee, DH
Ramirez 3B
Fukudome, RF
Soto, C
Edmonds, CF
DeRosa, 2B
Patterson, LF
Gallagher, P
As we warned, Lou's going to make it interesting every day with Soriano out.
Cubs should be able to weather Soriano-less storm
Posted by Bruce on Thu, 06/12/2008 - 12:16
Now comes the test. The Cubs will be without leadoff man and left fielder Alfonso Soriano for six weeks, give or take, as he recovers from the broken bone in his left hand, suffered in last night's game.
Based on recent history, the Cubs should be OK.
When Soriano was on the DL in late April because of a right-calf strain, the Cubs went 9-5, outscoring their opponents by an astonishing 103-55. Included were back-to-back 13-run games on April 19 and 20, 7-1 and 8-1 victories over the Mets and a 19-5 victory over the Brewers on April 30.
Soriano hit by pitch, taken for X-rays
Posted by Bruce on Wed, 06/11/2008 - 20:05
Cubs left fielder Alfonso Soriano was hit on the left hand by a pitch from Atlanta's Jeff Bennett in the second inning of tonight's game at Wrigley Field.
Soriano left the game immediately and was en route to a hospital for X-rays. The pitch hit him on the left hand and then bounced up and hit him on the side of the head.
Sox after latest Cuban star?
Posted by scotgreg on Wed, 06/11/2008 - 19:09
Had a chance to have dinner with Jose Contreras and Alexei Ramirez during spring training, along with agent Jaime Torres, who represents both players.
Contreras and Ramirez are both native Cubans, and they defected so they could play major-league baseball.
Over dinner, Torres talked about how comfortable Contreras was playing for the White Sox, and how much of an impact that had on Ramirez choosing to sign with the Sox.
With any luck, the White Sox might be able to land a third Cuban defector _ Dayán Viciedo, a 19-year-old third baseman.
Even at such a young age, Viciedo has long been considered one of Cuba’s all-time greats. Torres, who is representing the 6-foot-2, 200-pounder, compares Viciedo to Boston’s Manny Ramirez.
A vote here for Don Levin
Posted by Bruce on Wed, 06/11/2008 - 19:07
Driving to Wrigley Field today, I passed the Allstate Arena and noted the Calder Cup championship won Tuesday night by hockey's Chicago Wolves. The Wolves are an amazing success story in Chicago sports. Born in 1994, they won two championships in the old International Hockey League and two in the American Hockey League.
Much of the credit goes to the guys running the hockey operations: GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and coach John Anderson, both of whom belong in the NHL. But much of it also goes to the guy writing the checks: owner Don Levin.
Cabrera swims ashore
Posted by scotgreg on Tue, 06/10/2008 - 22:08
A couple weeks ago, I wrote here that shortstop Orlando Cabrera was as good as gone at the end of the season, if not sooner.
It was pretty harsh treatment, but Cabrera clearly looked like a one-man island in the middle of the White Sox' clubhouse after selfishly calling the official scorer two different times to get error calls overturned.
Today, I'm not going to say Cabrera is going to be back with the Sox in 2009. He is still headed toward free agency and Alexei Ramirez is looking more and more like the White Sox' shortstop of the future, even though he's currently playing second base.
Lou's rotation math
Posted by Bruce on Tue, 06/10/2008 - 18:27
Cubs manager Lou Piniella made it official today and said that Carlos Zambrano will start Thursday's series finale against the Braves, pushing Sean Gallagher back to Friday in Toronto. Monday's off-day enabled Lou to move Big Z up a day.
"We've done the pitching schedule, basically, about through the all-star break," Lou said this afternoon. "I think Carlos will get 7 starts, Lilly gets 7 starts and the other three starters get 6 apiece."
Higher power
Posted by scotgreg on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 22:53
It's only one homestand, so you can't get too carried away.
Still, the power display put on by the White Sox during 7 straight wins over the Royals and Twins was nothing short of impressive.
For the record, the Sox hit 19 home runs before heading to Motown. Here is the breakdown:
Joe Crede (5)
Nick Swisher (4)
Carlos Quentin (2)
Alexei Ramirez (2)
Jim Thome (2)
Paul Konerko (2)
A.J. Pierzynski (1)
Jermaine Dye (1)
Yes, it was very warm when it wasn't raining during the homestand. Yes again, the ball carries very well at the Cell when the weather heats up.
For the record, Kansas City and Minnesota combined to hit 9 home runs during the 7 games on the South Side.
All things considered, the White Sox' pitching staff has nothing to be ashamed of.
Expect Cubs to watch SportsCenter
Posted by Bruce on Sat, 06/07/2008 - 19:33
For all the ruckus Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano caused in the dugout Saturday, some people claimed not to have seen it. Chief among them was manager Lou Piniella.
Piniella removed Zambrano after Matt Kemp hit a 3-run homer off Big Z in the seventh inning that gave the Dodgers a 7-3 lead, a score that held up.
When Zambrano reached the dugout, he went ballistic on a couple of Gatorade jugs and flung his hat.
"I was on the mound, and I hear all this commotion," Lou said. "I thought there was a wave going on, but there was no wave."
Only a Big Z tsunami.
You see L.A....
Posted by Bruce on Fri, 06/06/2008 - 22:24
...Only when the smog lifts. That was the joke back in the day, playing off the name UCLA. Actually, the air quality has been quite good here the last couple nights. It's been so good that you can actually see the San Gabriel Mountains out beyond center field. At dusk, they take on a purplish hue that's quite striking. On some nights, and days, when the air quality isn't so hot, those mountains are just a rumor.
They tout this place as "baseball's most beautiful ballpark" out here. I'm sure Wrigley Field backers might have an issue with that.
But the view is quite striking, so much so that looking out past center field you'd never know you're in L.A. That's a good or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. I prefer San Diego and San Francisco over L.A. in California.
