ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

Woohoo! Happy Memorial Day everyone. I hope you are all out there having a safe holiday. Don't drink and drive, and don't forget to notice the Sox are in first place! So far that bet I took with some family members is bringing in an extra $50 bucks for yours truly! The only thing that ruined this weekend was the fact that we were nationally televised on Fox this past Saturday afternoon -- only to have our fifth starter on the mound. Can you guess what happened? At least now everyone in the country knows that the Sox have a major need in the 5th spot of the rotation. Do you think this will help Mr. Williams find a trade that suits him? We need to do something quick or this small two and a half game lead in June will be a fond memory. And not of the everlasting variety.

On different news: Calgary is down 1-0 tonight on ABC(its in HD -- you should know by now) and the Lakers game is about to tip.

Before I get started, I wanted to comment on something I noticed this week. Actually, my old man brought it up earlier in the week and I just didn't get a chance to blog about it. He pointed out that this past Monday we pretty much had nothing to watch on the tube as far as sports go. (standard cable or D*TV). I believe it was a single NBA playoff game for the Eastern Conference. A quiet day in the sports world. But then comes Tuesday, and we had both the Cubs playing, the Sox game, the first game of the Stanley Cup, and the Lakers game! Personally, I was checking in with the Sox game and going back and forth between the hockey game and the Lakers. And in case you are curious, I like Calgary to win the final Stanley Cup in the modern era (I predict hockey won't exist as we know it in a few weeks...more on that later)

On to the Sox: The cooler talk last year was pretty much always about the amazing “deal with the devil” Loiza cut to be one of the best pitchers in the AL for 2003. He joined an amazing list of quality athletes who came out of nowhere to become the best in their respective sport for a short amount of time. (If you are thinking Kurt Warner, you get a point) So this year I assumed that Loiza's “deal” expired due to his slow-ish start. Then came last night. I must say, if we could just find someone to handle the 5th spot in our rotation, and Loiza continues to reach the level he did last night, the Sox will FINALLY stop underachieving in this division and we can really start to enjoy baseball in this town. Say what you will Cubs fans, but the best thing for this city is to get BOTH teams into the playoffs.

I was at the Cubs game on Saturday. Cubs v. Cards is always a great series. I still prefer hitting Sox Park for the obvious reasons (leg room, better food, easier to park) -- but if you're going to go to Wrigley you might as well try to get tickets against a big-time rival like the Cards. We were all hoping that Woods was going to pitch, but with his recent arm issues, that wasn't going to happen. Instead we saw a Woods-like performance from Glendon Rauch. A few notes from the game:

• Alou is the man for this team. No questions asked. (yes, the Trib noted this over the weekend in the paper)
• A bird crapped on two people in our section. One of them was a the big-man himself 
• You can see our view here.

It was a tough week. I'm busy at work, and the weather has been kind of shitty. It has been rainy and dark. It saps your energy.  I was happy to get home after a few pints tonight to watch the Sox. Up until the 7th inning when Ozzy decided to take Schowennweiss out of the game. The whole thing went into the crapper. We had a 2-1 lead and blew it.  Marte just couldn't get anyone out. It is my main concern with this team. I'm not so worried about Colon not being around anymore. I am truely concerned that the bullpen just can't get it done.

I'm finishing the night off watching the Cubbies hold onto a 2-1 lead themselves in the 7th. They just blew a chance to add some insurance runs. Bases loaded, but with 2 outs and Maddux up. Ah well. I bet the Cubs bullpen gets the save tonight. That's just the way it goes sometimes.

And in case you are keeping track...the RAK on the sleeve of these retro Padre jerseys is for Ray A Kroc. The former owner of the team.

...from my brother earlier today. I was stuck in traffic after grabbin something to eat when the phone rang. He opens the conversation with a quick “What's up” and follows that with “We need to cut Bill Koch”. Ugh. The last conversation I really wanted to have while already aggravated by the traffic. I will admit that the next ten minutes in gridlock really flew by -- all because we got a chance to play Kenny Williams. It's my favorite game.

The bottom line is that Billy Koch - aka the Kroch - stinks like one. He did his best to lose tonight's game to the Orioles. Thank god they pulled it off. No lead is safe with this team. I understand that we might have some hot bats right now (Uribe comes to mind) but we need a closer. I don't think its Marte, and I think Ozzie has just figure out that it's not Koch. So now what? Everyone is worried about how crappy Danny Wright is. Worry no more since he has been demoted. I doubt anyone was surprised that he wasn't going to fill the hole left by Colon. It turns out that the starting pitching has problems that only the bullpen can rival....

So I got home and it was time to finish playing GM. The verdict was to just cut Billy since we doubt anyone could be tricked into taking him off our hands. Oh wait -- someone already was tricked into taking him -- US.