Final Thoughts on Chicago Sports

NBA Draft: Y'all don't know how Joakim is gonna party with the Bulls!

Let me start by saying Joakim Noah seems like a nice kid.  A really good basketball player, too.  As an uber-athletic seven footer with long arms and high energy, he should fit in nicely with John Paxson's Bulls.  He's a winner.  Back-to-back champion, in fact.  Now, he doesn't solve the Bulls low-post scoring needs, and some have compared him to Tyson Chandler,  which isn't exactly a compliment.  But he never takes a night off, and Scott Skiles will never tire of using him.  I applaud Paxson taking the best available talent instead of the next great white stiff that has Chris Mihm written all over him.  At the very least, the Bulls have plenty of trade bait now to go and acquire a big man.  So yeah, I like the Noah pick. 

But man, the dude's a flake.

First off...what's with the Dumb & Dumber suit?  I mean, I love that movie, too.  It's a classic.  But I'd think twice about reviving that style on the biggest night of my professional life.   And how about the frilly clown hair?  Seriously, he looks like a cross between Carlos Santana and the "chick" from The Crying Game.  You know, if they mated.  Ok, that's not right.  Nevertheless....

I can go all night with the Noah jokes but I'm going to take it easy on him.  He could end up being a major stud and I'll end up regretting that Crying Game line.  So I'll just say, "Nice pick, total corn dog." 

The Bulls also picked up 7 footer Aaron Gray from Pitt and a guard named JamesOn Curry from Oklahoma State.  I know absolutely zilch about both guys and when you think about "great 2nd round picks in NBA history," it probably doesn't matter.   JamesOn Curry sure has an interesting name, though.  Now I'm just waiting until LeBron James guards him, so Tom Dore can do his Johnny two-times impression. 

That's all for now.  I'll be back soon for a look at the free agent market.  Let's go, Bulls!

Hope you didn't go to bed! Cubs Win! Holy Crap!

In the most shocking comeback since the Bears beat Arizona on Monday Night Football, the Cubs came back to beat the Rockies 10-9 tonight at Wrigley Field.  Holy Crap.  Here's how it happened:

The Cubs built an 8-3 lead behind an OK game from Jason Marquis, a 5-for-5 night from Mike Fontenot, a few Ribbies from DeRosa, some great defense, and a 3-run shot from Angel Pagan. 

Then, in one of the least shocking developments ever, Scott Eyre and Bob Howry combined to give up six freaking runs in the 9th inning to put the team down 9-8.  It happened in like 2 minutes flat.  I couldn't believe it.  Actually, I could totally believe it, and this game was about to go down as the worst loss of the season.  Until the bottom of the ninth.

A leadoff single, a strikeout and a force out left the Cubs with catcher Rob Bowen on first and backup catcher Koyie Hill up to the plate with two outs.  I'm tellin you, this team was f--kin dead as fried chicken, my friend.  If I've seen it once, I've seen it a hundred times.  So the .194 hitter knocks a hit into left.  Then Ryan Theriot hits a grounder to second that's bobbled by Kaz Matsui.  Bases loaded, up comes Soriano.  Base hit!  Two runs score.  Pandemonium! 

No, the home team scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth is hardly a rare occurence.  But for the 2007 Cubs?  It's a f--king miracle.  That's all I'm gonna say. 

Good night!  Go Cubs!

Checking in on the Bears: Release the Tank!

There's lots of news out of Hallas Hall in the past two weeks, and I've been slacking on the Bears coverage.  Let's get to it. 

• Tank Johnson, in trouble with the law again, was released today by the Bears.  Good riddance.  It's nice that they sent a message, winning football games be damned.  I'm sick of talking about him, though I am curious as to how the line's going to shape up now.  It sounds like Dusty Dvoracek is going to be the starter, which really doesn't give me the warm fuzzies.  He was a solid looking prospect last preseason, but he didn't play a down last year due to injury.  Free agent Anthony Adams should be in the mix as well.  Here's an idea, see if Alex Brown can be convinced to move inside to keep his starting job.  He may even drop his trade demand at that point!  Win, win!
• Nathan Vasher signed a five-year contract extension today.  Sweet.  He didn't have the flashy interception numbers this year, but I think that was due more to teams throwing away from him than any dropoff in play.  Nice to see a Pro Bowler want to stay in Chicago.
• Tommie Harris thinks the Bears would win the Super Bowl with Donovan McNabb at QB in place of Rex Grossman.  Wait, he was just kidding.  Rex alone did not lose that game, but Harris is right.  As mediocre as McNabb was in his lone Super Bowl appearance, at least he never turned a second and one into a fourth and twenty.  He never missed a receiver by "10 yards too long, five yards to the right," and he never threw a pick and decided to not tackle the cornerback as he sprinted to the end zone.  McNabb has never done any of those things.
• Fourth string QB J.T. O'Sullivan is fresh off a trip to Europe, and the reviews have been glowing.  Can he beat out Kyle Orton?  Does national-title-winning QB Chris Leak have a chance at beating Orton?  Can a bottle of Jack and a groupie with plastic tits beat out Orton?  Yes, Yes, and Hell Yes. 
• Speaking of Orton, did you see he's the best bowler on the Bears?  Of course he is, as it's the only sport you could do while drinking a beer.  Believe me, I know.  I know all about it.
• The Bears signed fullback Obafemi Ayanbedejo.  Or something.  Special Teams Ace Brendan's brother.  Not a lot to talk about here. 
• On "jersey switcheroo day," Brian Urlacher wore Lance Briggs' number 55.  Who loses the most by Briggs leaving the Bears?  Brian Urlacher.  Duly noted. 
• Turning heads in mini-camp?  Garrett Wolfe and Mark Bradley.  Of course, neither is wearing pads.  I remember when Dave Wannstedt was about to put Anthony Morgan in the Hall of Fame after he blew by Donnell Woolford a few times sans pads.  The same Anthony Morgan that finished his Bears career with 27 catches and 4 TDs.  Or what Steve Smith did in one game against the Bears in the 2006 playoffs.

We're getting dangerously close to Training Camp; just a few more weeks.  Bear Down.

Cubs Bring Brooms to South Side

Despite some legitimate beefs by Perry, I'm a big fan of the Crosstown Classic.  The atmosphere in the ballpark is always electric, and it's the topic of conversation for baseball fans across the city for the entire week.  I was at the Cubs-Sox game a few weeks ago when Lee hit that pinch grand slam, and the stadium was truly alive.  If I could change one thing, though, I'd eliminate the home and home series.  Just play one series per year, alternating venues.  The individual series would mean more and the outcome of these "side" games wouldn't affect the standings as much.  Jerry Reinsdorf probably wouldn't go for it, though, as the Cubs series was one of the few guaranteed sellouts the Sox would get pre-2005, and he doesn't want to lose his meal ticket. 

Anyways, let's talk about the 2007 edition of the Crosstown Classic. 

• Carlos Zambrano ruled Game One of the series with a performance that can only be described as dominating.  Sure, the hypothermic bats of the Sox might have had something to do with it, but twelve strikeouts?  Gawd.  Since kicking Barrett's ass out of town, Big Z has been the ace we were waiting for. 
• Alfonso Soriano homered in all three games of the series, leading off the first two games.  He now has eleven homers in June after hitting zero in April and only four in May.  To top it off, he threw an absolute rocket to gun down the only runner to come within sniffing distance of home plate this afternoon.  He keeps this up for the rest of the season, and he'll earn folk hero status on the North Side.  (It doesn't take much.)
• I love how the team won game two with the suicide squeeze.  I don't have the stats to back this up, but the suicide squeeze seems to work at least half the time.  With the problems the Cubs have had scoring runners from third this year, you'd think they'd try it more. 
• I was flipping back and forth between Len & Bob on WGN and Hawk & DJ on Comcast today, comparing and contrasting the styles and the moods.  I tell you what, the Sox better start winning fast or Hawk is going to go Santo on them.  It's such a depressing broadcast, I felt like jumping off my roof.  The only thing to liven them up was the controversial call by the ump in the 8th.  Let me set it up.
  • I watched the play live on WGN.  Mark DeRosa hit a rocket to the corner with two on and nobody out.  Uribe got in runner Angel Pagan's way rounding second and obstruction was called.  The play continued, though, and that's when the Benny Hill theme song started playing.  The three little Cubs made four bone-headed base-running moves on one play.  Two outs, runner on second.  Then the umps got together and discussed the play for five full minutes.  They decided to load the bases with Cubbies, no outs.  Time to flip to Comcast because it's about to get good.
  • Holy Schnikes.  Hawk started going nuts.  Guillen got tossed, and Hawk repeatedly kept screaming "this is BS!"  They had completely missed the obstruction on the play, and they were totally clueless as to what the hell was going on.  They were yelling things like "protest!" and whatnot.  Pagan ended up getting doubled off second again on the very next play, and Hawk was telling him to go back to second because the Cubs are getting extra outs.  He was steamed.  Finally, after the commercial, the found out about the obstruction and understood the call (read: dead ball), but they wanted to rip the umpire a new one for allowing the play to continue despite what should have been a dead ball.   I gotta say, the whole sequence was as entertaining as heck.  If the umps made calls like that every game, Sox games might be tolerable to listen to.  Or not.
• After today's game, I send a friendly little SMS jab to Perry about the Series.  He held back on the snide commentary, and he thankfully didn't play the 2005 card.  (Never does, actually.  Refreshing!)  Anyways, he talked about Buehrle's impending trade, and he brought up the unthinkable.  What if he gets traded to Milwaukee?  That would seal the deal for the Brew Crew.  Not that the Cubs have much of a chance at coming back, but Buehrle heads north and you can stick a fork in this division.  The Brats would win.  Hopefully the Red Sox swoop in with their bags of money and keep him out of our division.

So now, with the Colorodo Rockies coming in, the time is ripe for a letdown.  Just keep it interesting, Cubbies, till training camp starts.  That's all I ask. 

Eamus Catuli

Michael Barrett's a Father!

The Cubs traded Michael Barrett to the San Diego Padres today for catcher Rob Bowen and prospect Kyler Burke.  Good move.

My, how things have changed.  You know, if you had told me back in March that the Cubs would trade Barrett for a backup catcher and a Single-A prospect, A) I would have said you're crazy, B) would have assumed the team was 20 games out of first, and C) start focusing on the Bears.  In my season preview on April 1st, I described Barrett as a borderline All-Star.  Well, he hadn't played in an All-Star game yet, but he was damn close.  He won the Silver Slugger last year, and he was selected to represent the USA team in the World Baseball Classic.  Since he arrived in Chicago, he consistently hit around .290 with decent pop (16 HRs per year.)   He was easily among the top three or four catchers in the NL.  He's just been a really good hitting catcher.  And that's it.

Since day one, pitchers didn't really like working with him.  Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, and Greg Maddux all preferred guys like Paul Bako or Henry Blanco to working with Barrett.  Zambrano didn't like him either.  He didn't have much of an arm, and he wasn't the greatest at blocking balls in the dirt.  That aside, I've watched a lot of baseball in the last few years.  He wasn't horrible behind the plate.  He was subpar, but when you're hitting around .300 you can live with a little less defense.  The problem this year is he's been hitting around .250.  And his defense has been particularly bad.  And I haven't even gotten to the stupid mistakes on the basepaths.  If I got a catcher hitting .250, I want to see strong defense and fundamentals.  He's been anything but.

Barrett isn't the most popular player around baseball.  Ask Roy Oswalt.  Ask A.J. Pierzynski.   Barrett consistently found himself in altercations with opponents. 

This is to say nothing of his own team.  The biggest factor in Barrett getting traded was his fight with Zambrano.  Without that, we'd just be sitting here waiting for him to break out of his little .250 slump.  Instead, he was a major distraction.  He had an animated exchange with Rich Hill in the dugout last week, and everyone assumes they were on the verge of a fight.  Every day, Lou was fielding questions about Barrett.  Will he catch Zambrano?  What's up with Hill?  He was such a distraction.

So now he's gone.  And in his place is Rob Bowen, a 26-year old with some upside.  Strong defensively, and he's been hitting well this year.  He might be a keeper.  He also might be the next Roberto Machado.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  And as for the 19-year old kid in single A, he's a toolsy player picked 35th overall in last year's draft, but he's raw, struggling, and simply needs time.  If he ever makes the majors, in 2011 or so, we'll probably have forgotten where we got him.

Barrett seemed like a nice guy and the current Cubs are all saying the right things.  No sense throwing the man under the bus now that he's gone.  So so long, Michael.  I can't say that we'll miss you, but we'll always have this:

Checking in on...Sammy Sosa and the Texas Rangers

After losing 2 of 3 to the Padres, in spectacular fashion I might add, the Cubs have a day off tomorrow before heading to Arlington to face the Texas Rangers.  Have I mentioned that I love interleague play?  There's some definite flaws with the current system, but overall the good outweighs the bad.  For example, last week I got to see Ichiro play at Wrigley Field.  And Jeff Weaver!  You can say all you want about how the schedules are not balanced and how the natural rivalries create unfair advantages, but the real gold is found in the matchups.  Sure, Tampa Bay versus Washington isn't exactly a winning matchup.  But really, Tampa versus anyone is a lousy game to watch. 

Anyhoo, with the Rangers coming to town, I've got two anecdotes:

• This will be the first time that the Cubs have played at the Ballpark in Arlington.  The Rangers visited Wrigley Field once back in 2002, and I attended game one of that series.  That game was notable for multiple reasons:
• It was the first time in MLB history that four players with 400 career Home Runs played in the same game.  (Sammy Sosa and Fred McGriff of the Cubs; Juan Gonzalez and Rafael Palmeiro of the Rangers). 
• Three other first-ballot Hall of Famers started that game:  Alex Rodriguez, Ivan Rodriguez and Todd Hundley. 
• Shortstop Alex Gonzalez won the game with a walkoff homer in the 9th, one of several he hit during that magical 2002 season. 
• Two Ranger fans, wearing brightly colored chaps and 50-gallon hats, travelled  994 miles to watch the game without realizing they looked like total d-bags. 
• The Rangers are about to have a firesale, and among the names on the block is none other than Sammy Sosa.  Sammy's been having a pretty solid year in his quest to reach 600 career homers.  He's been about as good as he was during his last year with the Cubs, which is to say lots of pop and little else.  Better than his horrible year with Baltimore, at least.  Anyways, I don't want to say the Cubs should go after him, as that would borderline ridiculous.  But you know who'd be a good fit?  None other than the Chicago White Sox.  Wonder if Texas is interested in First Base Coach Harold Baines?  And what's Fred Manrique up to these days?

The Seattle Series and the Progressive Lou Piniella

Lots going on in the past few days, so I'll get right too it. 

First of all, the Cubs won 2 of 3 from the Seattle Mariners.  I went to Tuesday night's game, and it was as frustrating as any loss this year.  As usual, they started the game off with a crooked number and then followed it up with six zeroes.  It's been such a common occurrence lately that it was entirely predictable.  Then the whole 0 for 5 thing with the bases loaded, followed by poor defense.  Frustrating.  At least they matched up with some lousy starting pitchers and won the next two. 

Matt Murton got demoted yesterday, and I agree with the move.  I like Matt Murton, but he's simply not a good part-time player.  Neither is Jacque Jones, for the matter.  If either one of those guys had a chance to play every day, I bet they both would be hovering around last year's numbers, at the very least.  As part-timers?  They look horrible.  And this is to say nothing of Cliff Floyd.  When he's been healthy enough to play this year, he's been the most productive guy in the bunch.  So I agree with giving him the everyday job, I just can't count on him to stay healthy.  So expect inconsistency the rest of the year as Lou tries to sort it out.

One thing Lou has been doing right is choosing which Shortstop to start.  While it would seem like a no-brainer to start Ryan Theriot every day over Cesar Izturis, Lou sees it a different way.  He's been starting Izturis, the much better defender, when a ground ball pitcher is on the mound (like Marquis or Hill), and then he's been starting Theriot when a flyball pitcher is on the mound (like Zambrano and Lilly).  So it's sort of a progressive platoon.  Choose the starting SS based on defense, not lefty-righty pitching matchups.  While I can't say that anything the Cubs have done this year has definitively worked, it would seem that this is something that is going well. 

Finally, Michael Barrett has been given a timeout by the Cubs.  I've appreciated all that he's done with the bat the last few years, but his defense has gone from "adequate" to "shit" in the last three months.  Couple that with a hardly great batting line this season, and it's no wonder the Cubs are going with Koyie Hill for the next few weeks.  Barrett needs to be shopped.  Not necessarily traded, but they've got to see what they can get for him.

And with that, it's time for San Diego to come to town.  Bear down!

Cubs end road trip on a downer

After winning four of their first five games, the Cubs dropped the last two to finish their road trip 4-3.  Four and three sounds pretty good for the road, unless you start 4-1 of course.  That's a more depressing finish that tonight's Sopranos finale.  Hold your nose as you tip-toe through these notes:

• The Cubs got jobbed by the home plate umpire tonight.  With two outs and two strikes on Edgar Renteria in the first, Lilly threw some chin music and got tossed.  No warning, no nothing.  Even Joe Morgan thinks the Cubs got jobbed, and he hates the Cubs.  With Lilly out, everyone in the the depleted bullpen had an inning or two with their name on it.  And wouldn't you know it, after building a decent lead and getting solid work from the middle relievers, Dempster of all people blew it.  Typical.
• Mike Fontenot was looking like the star of the game.   After a bush-league move by Renteria on the basepaths, Fontenot retaliated with an RBI triple and a homer that had "all for naught" written all over it.  He looks pretty solid, on defense especially, and I think we might have found a permanent replacement for Cesar Izturis on the roster.  You know where we got this kid, right?  He was one of the no-namers we got with Jerry Hairston for Sammy Sosa two years ago. 
• How about Soriano on Friday night?  I was at the carnival with the family and I kept checking my phone for updates, and I thought there a bug on espn.com.  I kept reading "Soriano homered."  He sure is exciting when he gets hot.
• Rich Hill seems glad to have May behind him, and he also seems to like pitching against the Braves.  Did you see his stats against Atlanta?  He's something like 27 innings, 2 runs allowed.  That's like "Dwight Gooden versus the Cubs" ridiculous.  Too bad they're not in our division.

Tomorrow's a makeup game with Houston followed by a three-game set against Seattle, and I'll be in attendance for the first game of that series.  Get to see Ichiro!  And the season's still alive, thankfully.

Go Cubs!

MLB Draft? Wake me in five years

Tank, Piniella: Suspended!

The hammer came down today on Tank Johnson and Lou Piniella.  Here's the scoop:

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Tank Johnson for 8 games.  He's allowed to go to Training Camp and play in the preseason, but he's not allowed to participate in the day-to-day activities of the team during the first 8 weeks of the season -- though he can use the facilities at night (which in itself is funny.)  He also can reduce his suspension to six games for "good behavior."   That's great.  If you can manage to NOT GET ARRESTED over the next four months, you can resume collecting your lofty paychecks from the Chicago Bears a few weeks early.  That's a pretty tough order for a professional athlete, but I think Tank is up to the task.  I do wish, however, that he was allowed to practice with the team during the suspension.   I think taking part in practice would be good for him.  The last thing you want is him hanging with his thug friends and getting high. 

Speaking of getting high, that reminds me of Michael Vick.  All of Tank's legal troubles started with him having cops over to house to quiet down some noisy pit bulls in his back yard.  I'm not saying Tank fights his dogs, but the latest Sports Illustrated has a large article about Michael Vick's problems, and basically says dog fighting is not uncommon among pro football players.  Dog fighting is pretty brutal, and anyone that has anything to do with it should fry.  If Tank was ever involved in anything like that, his career will most definitely be over.

Over to the Cubs.  Bud Selig handed Lou Piniella a four game suspension for his outburst on Saturday, and the Cubs are now 2-0 since Alan Trammell took over.  Did Lou fire up the Cubs?  Or are they simply responding to Piniella being up in the skybox?  Buster Olney has an interesting article about how Lou might not be the best guy to manage a club in 2007.  His fiery attitude and habit of calling out players for failure just doesn't jive with the coddled athletes in today's world.  Or so they say. 

As a fan, I love it.  I want to see a manager get as pissed as me when a player gets picked off the basepaths.  I want to see a manager call out a pitcher for throwing a 40-foot pitch on 3-0 with the bases loaded.  I want to see a manager go out and defend his players when he thinks there was a bad call.  But Buster has a point.  Ask Cliff Floyd.  He's a grown-ass man.  He don't need no manager yellin at him.  We'll see how it turns out.  If they keep winning for Trammell and then go back to losing for Piniella, then it might be time to call a spade a spade. 

That sucks because I like Lou.  His in-game decisions and roster decisions are head-and-shoulders better than Dusty Baker.  If you could somehow take Dusty's calm demeanor and combine it with Lou's baseball strategy, you'd have the perfect manager for a ballclub in 2007.

And how about Soriano tonight?  Welcome to Chicago, Fonzie!

Cubs Fight, Round 1: Zambrano vs. Barrett

Things are going downhill fast for the Cubs.  After getting swept by the freaking Marlins and losing four in a row overall, the Cubs started a three-game series with Atlanta this afternoon.  At this point, to say the "shit hit the fan" would be an understatement.  After giving up seven runs on thirteen hits in five innings, Carlos Zambrano and Michael Barret got into a fight in the dugout.  It apparently moved into the clubhouse as well and both players were sent home.  Lou had a tirade, and the Cubs now sit closer to last than first.  Yep, June baseball in Chicago.  Gotta love it!

The target of Lou's rant is sloppy play.  We've got one guy who can't catch, one guy who can't throw, and one guy who can't run the bases.  Lou said he has some ideas on what to do but he decided it was best to keep them to himself.  I'll go ahead and say it for him:  it's time to get new players. 

The Cubs have enough talent to win the joke that some call the NL Central.  The problem, though, is that they don't have any chemistry.  And they've got guys that hit well but can't play defense.  Or guys that can throw but can't catch or guys that can catch but can't throw.  And none of them can run the bases.  It's just a collection of idiots, when you boil it down.  Idiots don't win in the postseason, despite what you may have heard about the 2004 Red Sox.  They usually don't even get there, for that matter. 

I don't want to say "blow it up," but there's a number of people they can't win with.  It's not that they're poisoning the well, it's just that these are the types of guys who shouldn't be playing a significant amount of time on a winner.

1.  Jacque Jones - My personal whipping boy.  He's not bad, but the problem is he's not very good.  And his defense and baserunning is laughable.  Check that, cry-able.

2.  Michael Barrett - I've always supported Barrett.  But when you boil it down, he's a loser.  He hits OK, but his defense is poor, he can't throw anyone out on the basepaths, and he's making enemies all over baseball.  (See Pierzynski, Oswalt, and Zambrano for starters.)

3.  Cesar Izturis - I think Theriot is the starter now at Shortstop, which is nice, but he's no savior either.  After the hot start, I think we're seeing the true Theriot.  Which is to say, .280 with no power and average D.  David Eckstein on his best day.  Oh, and Izturis still blows.

4.  Matt Murton - If he's not going to play every day, trade him.  He's the opposite of Jones.  He can throw but he can't catch.  And he's got about as much power as Ryan Theriot.

So I guess my point is, if they don't start winning fast, time to start dealing.  I'm about two weeks away from calling it a season. 

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy.