Final Thoughts on Chicago Sports

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?