Yesterday I got to spend the day at the Hines VA Hospital. Well, me and about 100 bikers, their families and the occasional friend. There were stunt bike tricks, free food for the vets and games for the rest. In other words, I missed an entire day of baseball but for a good cause. I also managed to get a nasty case of sunburn and am typing this while covered in aloe.
There’s a spiffy visual for you.
Anyway, while I was out having fun Chicago baseball decided to create enough news to even overshadow the bacchanalia surrounding the arrest of Jay Mariotti.
Let’s start with the Cubs. In a stunning turn of events, Lou Piniella’s team quit and then so did he. CARRIE MUSKAT, while not a fat lady, sings a sad song after the game.
After 3,548 games over 23 years as a manager, Lou Piniella is headed home.
Piniella and the Cubs began this season with a 16-5 loss to the Braves on April 5, and he ended his managerial career Sunday losing by the same score to the same team. The Cubs’ skipper announced July 20 that he was retiring at season’s end, but he moved up the date so he can go home to Tampa, Fla. His 90-year-old mother is ill.
“I’ll go home and be where I’m supposed to be,” Piniella said. “I’m going to miss it, there’s no question about it.”
Atlanta’s Bobby Cox is retiring at year’s end, and the two veteran managers met at home plate one last time to exchange lineup cards and hug. Piniella then tipped his cap to the crowd of 37,518 at Wrigley Field.
“I hate to see Lou leave,” Cox said. “He’s just been great for the game.”
Piniella wiped a few tears away once he returned to the dugout. It wasn’t the first or last time.
“Today’s game wasn’t pretty, but I’d rather reflect on the good times I’ve had here,” Piniella said. “Lot of good times, lot of good people. It’s been a lot of fun. The pregame with Bobby Cox was special. He’s been a good friend for a long time. I appreciate my four years here with the Cubs’ organization. The city’s special, the people here are special. I’m appreciative.
“I cried a little bit after the game,” he said. “I get emotional—I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be. This will be the last time I put on a uniform. It’s been very special to me.”
He broke down for a few seconds, then collected himself. The players couldn’t help but shed a tear or two, too.
“That’s the human factor is the man deserves a lot better than that,” Cubs catcher Koyie Hill said. “Same old story [in the game]—it’s not lack of effort or anything like that. It’s just the way it goes. I don’t know if you could’ve scripted it any worse.
“He’s given his life to the game,” Hill said. “We all appreciate that. We appreciate the opportunity we had to play for him and we’re going to miss him.”
Whenever Piniella went onto the field to make a pitching change, he was greeted with chants of “Lou, Lou” from the fans. Third-base coach Mike Quade will take over as interim manager on Monday when the Cubs open a three-game series against the Nationals.
“It was nice, a nice tribute,” Piniella said of the fans. “These are nice people here and great fans. I was very appreciative, very moved, very touched.”
He took time during the game to look around sun-splashed Wrigley Field and beyond. It’s the last time he’ll be calling the shots from the dugout.
“You know what I noticed today was I noticed things around the park that I hadn’t noticed before,” he said. “It was a good ballgame for six or seven innings, and then it got out of hand. What are you going to do? These guys are trying and I wish them well the rest of the way.”
What did he notice?
“Quite a few things, inside and outside the ballpark,” he said, preferring not to reveal specifics. “I wasn’t daydreaming, but I was very cognizant of the things around here. It’s a good day to remember and also it’s a good day to forget.”
The Cubs wanted to send “Sweet Lou” off with a win. He finishes with a 316-293 record in three-plus seasons in Chicago. Piniella was the first manager in 100 years to lead the team to consecutive postseason appearances in 2007 and ‘08, but they went 0-6 in the playoffs. They also lost the last game of ‘09, which means he ended every one of his seasons with the Cubs with a loss.
“The intensity that he brings every day is at such a high level,” Hill said. “There’s almost a wake or funeral after every loss. You think, ‘Man, he brings it every day.’ That passion speaks for itself.
“He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever been around,” Hill said. “He’s an intelligent guy and definitely taught us a bunch. You see him make guys better and that’s usually a sign of a good leader.”
This year has been disappointing as the underachieving Cubs have failed to top .500.
“I think the 25 guys in this room appreciate everything he’s done for us and know [home] is where he should be,” Hill said. “We’ve all been playing baseball for as long as we can walk, and no matter who it is, when somebody says it’s their last game, it’s pretty emotional. You respect him for everything he’s done in the game. It’s going to be tough to see him go.”
Piniella does depart as the 14th-winningest manager in Major League history with a 1,835-1,713 record.
Omar Infante, rookie Mike Minor (2-0), Jason Heyward and Derrek Lee spoiled Piniella’s day. Infante and Heyward each hit two home runs, while Minor struck out 12 and Lee, playing his third game with the Braves, hit a three-run double in the eighth. Randy Wells (5-12) took the loss, and is 0-4 in five August starts.
The day had gotten off to an emotional start with Piniella’s pregame speech to his players, and Wells said he and Hill talked about wanting to “leave it all on the field today.” But the right-hander served up a season-high seven runs on seven hits.
“This is probably the one loss that stings the most for me this year,” Wells said.
Infante led off with his fifth home run, but the Cubs tied it in their half of the first on Marlon Byrd’s RBI single. Heyward gave the Braves the lead with his first homer of the game with one out in the third, but the Cubs answered on Aramis Ramirez’s two-run homer—his 19th—with two outs in the third.
Melky Cabrera singled to lead off the Braves’ fourth, stole second and reached third on an error by Hill, and one out later, Rick Ankiel walked to set up Infante’s second homer, opening a 5-3 lead.
The Braves added four in the seventh, including a pair of runs on Alex Gonzalez’s double, and five in the eighth as well as Heyward’s second homer with one on in the ninth.
“It’s not like he’s retiring because it’s the end—he’s got some family stuff going on,” Wells said. “He was pretty emotional about why he was leaving. You feel for a guy like that—it’s your mom. On top of that, the guy’s given so much to baseball you owe it to him to give everything you’ve got out there.”
The Cubs have had to say goodbye a lot this season as Ted Lilly, Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and Lee have all exited via trades. All thought they could help the Cubs get to the World Series.
“I don’t think when you come in as an outsider that you know what you’re getting into here, and it’s different,” Piniella said about managing the Cubs. “The people here, since I’ve been here, we’ve raised the bar and they expect us to win, which is good. The fans, they get into the game.
“It’s a fun place, it really is,” he said. “It’s a fun place to watch a baseball game, probably the most fun place in Major League Baseball. I hope that in the very near future they can get a team here that can give people what they want.”
Piniella will be watching and cheering them on.
Well, all we can do is wish Lou the best and hope his mother gets well. I guess we should also hope the Cubs win a few more games. Big Star’s getting worried that they won’t be able to rest any players for the playoffs if the division race isn’t decided soon enough.
On the Southside, thanks to Cowboy Joe West, the Sox were forced to play 31 innings in less than 24 hours and had to do so with a piecemeal pitching rotation. Cowboy Joe is not selling a lot of CDs on the Southside. Except to people who use them as coasters. The latest scribe to join the MLB.com crew, ROBERT FALKOFF, seems just as worn out by the recent gauntlet as the team is.
The White Sox are working overtime these days, but all that extra duty isn’t getting them any bonuses in the win column.
A third consecutive extra-innings game at Kauffman Stadium in less than 24 hours fizzled into a 3-2 loss to the Royals on Sunday, which left Chicago pondering the notion that close doesn’t count for much in baseball.
Jason Kendall’s walk-off single to left-center in the 10th off Scott Linebrink sent the White Sox back to Chicago with a 2-4 road trip. How do you create frustration? Try a couple of one-run defeats at Minnesota, a blown four-run lead in Kansas City and then a road-trip finale when Zack Greinke and his bullpen mates narrowly outpitched the White Sox.
Manager Ozzie Guillen didn’t question his team’s effort, but he did question the offensive execution.
“We faced some pretty good pitching,” Guillen said. “Greinke is pretty good—I’m not going to take that away from him. But we had a good chance to score more runs and we didn’t.”
Guillen’s point was illustrated by the fact that Chicago was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Time after time, the White Sox failed to deliver the big hit.
Finally, Kendall did.
“We’re playing hard, playing the right way, and it’s just not working out,” second baseman Gordon Beckham said. “Greinke is over there throwing 96 mph with an 88 mph slider. It’s not easy to hit against a guy like that. But that being said, we’ve still got to execute and come through. When it doesn’t happen, a lot of people get upset about it.”
Greinke was long gone when the game was ultimately decided. Linebrink started the 10th in impressive fashion as Yuniesky Betancourt popped out to Omar Vizquel in foul territory and Chris Getz struck out. But Gregor Blanco drew a walk and the dynamics of the inning changed when Blanco stole second on a close play.
“I was waiting to see what kind of move [Linebrink] had,” Blanco said. “He showed right there he had a high leg kick.”
Blanco stole third to put a little more pressure on the defense, but it still came down to Linebrink against Kendall. Linebrink challenged Kendall with a 3-2 fastball, and the veteran catcher came out on top.
“We’ve had some tough games over the last week, but at some point that will be behind us and there will be another good streak ahead of us,” first baseman Paul Konerko said.
White Sox starter John Danks matched Greinke on the scoreboard but needed 112 pitches to get through six innings. With the bullpen taxed by injuries and some general fatigue, Bobby Jenks came to the rescue by delivering three scoreless innings. But in the end, it wasn’t enough.
“We had some chances, they had some chances, and for the most part everybody failed until Kendall got the hit,” Konerko said. “That was that.”
The White Sox (67-57) managed 10 hits, including two by Vizquel that lifted him into 48th place on the all-time hit list with 2,776. But whenever the White Sox mounted baserunners, Greinke reached back for something extra.
“It was a tough series here, and it was a tough series at Minnesota,” said Danks. “It’s not going to get any easier. We just have to play good baseball these last five or six weeks and see where that takes us.”
The three consecutive extra-inning games marks the first time the White Sox have had that happen since 1988. Going beyond nine innings generally hasn’t been a good thing for Chicago this year. The White Sox are now just 4-9 in extra innings.
Suffice to say, players are looking forward to the off-day on Monday.
“We just played 31 innings in a span of about 22 hours, so we need this day off,” Beckham said. “We’re going home, and hopefully we’ll have a good week against the American League East.”
The White Sox could certainly use a strong week as they try to stay within striking distance of the Twins.
A weekend of working overtime simply didn’t prove to be profitable.
Maybe this video will help inspire the Sox to take care of business. I know it did wonders for my morning.
Nevertheless, the Sox are now 5 games out of first and taking a, much needed, day off before returning home and facing the pesky Orioles. More commonly known as the team that will not die.
Red: [narrating] I wish I could tell you that Andy fought the good fight, and the Sisters let him be. I wish I could tell you that - but prison is no fairy-tale world. He never said who did it, but we all knew. Things went on like that for awhile - prison life consists of routine, and then more routine. Every so often, Andy would show up with fresh bruises. The Sisters kept at him - sometimes he was able to fight ‘em off, sometimes not. And that’s how it went for Andy - that was his routine. I do believe those first two years were the worst for him, and I also believe that if things had gone on that way, this place would have got the best of him.
Congratulations Jay.
No seriously, big time kudos fella. Every major news syndicate has posted a bit revolving one hundred per cent exclusively around you. Even in Thailand!
This is some one of a kind being famous, huh? Real famous indeed. Suzanne Stone Maretto would be mightily impressed. And all of this achieved by just a little paddy whack. Hell, she had to kill her husband to get this kind of attention. Great director, that Gus Van Sant. Doubtful there would be any interest in a sequel revolving around a pudgy, past the expiration date, LA arriving sports columnist*.
But we at least long last know the birth date. Will the Wikipedia page be finally updated instead of the estimated age?
And now we await the release of the mug shot. Hey man, the anticipatory build up is killing us. Will the coiffed hair be out of place? How about streaming ruined mascara? Cuts and bruises? Geez Jay, say it ain’t so. Did you go all California on us to reclaim your courage just like Rocky? Was this training for an impending physical rematch with Hawk or Neil? Or perhaps this was a tuneup fight in preparation of kicking the ass of an ill stricken (but infinitely better journalist) Roger Ebert? Did Apollo Creed abandon you and Pauli at the LA gym? But back to that mug shot, will it reveal blackened eyes, missing teeth or a split fat lip? There is no tomorrow!
Cuts and bruises? Courage and conviction indeed. Wonder if she (really?) is dialing up the gal friends with bravado of “yeah but you should see the other guy*....”
Now how about the K-Rod column* last week? How damn ironic! At least that involved a physical encounter with a man! And anything short of Bud Selig and MLB punishing the Mets pitcher with crucification and being burned at the stake was a travesty by your Judge Dredd standards. What say the executioner turned defendant now?
I know… I know… I know… We don’t know the facts of your arrest. This is all speculative. It is the stuff of those damn meddling Internet Creatures. It is unfair. Innocent until proven guilty. Wait until the facts come out. Yes indeed. All the basic elements of ethical news reporting and simple humanity. And yet, for nearly two decades, it was those very same basic principles of fairness that you never exhibited towards the subjects of your columns*.
And yes Jay, we in Chicago have long memories. A hundred years of zero Cubs’ World Series Championships will sharpen the old memory banks. Chicagoans are the elephants of sports fans. Tank Johnson and Cedric Benson are laughing their behinds at you. Remember Jay? Of course you do. Recall those vicious columns* demanding to throw away the jailer’s key on Tank before the facts were learned? Or how about the ridicule and insane hysterics over Lovie Smith and Bears players visiting Tank while incarcerated?
Thugs. Criminals. Menaces to society.
I’m sure Brian Urlacher has not forgotten your continual publishing of his private text messages during an extremely ugly custody battle. Or your banal feud with Ozzie Guillen and Reinsdorf. It was all gravy for you. Surely this arrest was cooked up by evil doer Jerry collaborating with those nasty Swedes right?
It would be easy to point a finger and laugh at you Mariotti. It really would. But glass houses are fragile. And you are not worth it. Faith in the justice system still remains and hopefully works a little more honestly in California than Illinois these days. Perhaps your destiny really is an appearance on The View. Joy would probably get a kick out of tousling your curl extensions. It worked for Rod after all.
And yes, Ochocinco is quite perceptive in yesterday’s Tweet. Just how will F*SPN handle this situation of one of their own in a predicament normally so chortled enthusiastically when an athlete is involved? The double standard is already quite evident. Just tersely worded short statements from your soon to be former employers over at the LeBron Network and AOL. Geez, Jalen really dodged a bullet huh?
Perhaps it would only be fitting that you, yourself, write* a column* regarding your “indiscretion” as part of your punishment and repayment of debt to society. But not from the typical “World vs Jay” slant that has served you well financially after all this time.
No, it should be court-ordered that you over exaggerate the facts without just cause, declare yourself a menace to society, a violent criminal and a street thug. That you don’t deserve mercy. That your employers should immediately fire you. That all (remaining?) family should stick you on an ice flow and wave goodbye. That you don’t deserve second chances at life. That you are the worst vile piece of garbage ever produced in the history of the earth.
And it all must be true, because you wrote* that it be so. It would be the manifesto of a lifetime for you. And it should appear on the front pages of every newspaper you have torched and left behind in a rubble of destruction.
Think of it as helping to save the newspaper industry you boldly proclaimed was dying.
But luckily for you, Jay Mariotti, the real world does not operate to your unforgiving code of sensationalistic tripe. A judge will decide your fate based on the legal facts. Life will offer some opportunity of redemption and a second chance. Hell somebody out there still thought enough of you to bring the bail money.
But will you change? Will a lesson be learned? Has humility been restored? Is the Season of the Witch over?
I doubt it.
And one more thing Jay that needs to be cleared up…
5’10 and 165 lb?
First off, kudos to Cubs fans for the standing ovation they gave to Derrek Lee when he got his first at bat as a member of the first place Braves. That was a classy move for a classy guy. Of course, he then went out and showed why a .190 hitter gets traded in the first place, but that’s neither here now there. Even so, the Cubs managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and went down 5-3. The Sox were supposed to play KC last night but when the umps saw an elderly Jewish man lining up animals 2 X 2, they were wise enough to postpone the game. Video of lightening is downright horror movie stuff.
But today’s not about baseball.
The Bears are getting ready to play Oakland tonight. Last week the Chargers blitzed so much that the Bears were forced to pull their (future) HOF QB after 8 plays and then watched as their second string QB went down with a serious injury. Today members of the O-Line were on Comcast Sports saying how they picked up blitzes better. “Better” is one of those qualitative terms. Being one of the “better” rappers in Utah isn’t the same as being one of the better ones in Compton. The Bears clearly seem to be pleased with the Utah level of competition.
VAUGHN MCCLURE at the Trib talks to Isaac Bruce to get his take on where the Bears’ receivers are. He, politely, says they ain’t there yet.
After two-plus weeks of working with the Bears receivers, former four-time Pro Bowl wideout Isaac Bruce offered his assessment of the group.
“I think they have a lot of room for improvement,’’ Bruce said as training camp practices concluded Thursday. “They’re at a good pace right now. They’re athletic enough to run the system. They’re intelligent enough to run the system.
“They built the foundation here at camp. So what’s going to happen is the foundation is going to be set when the regular season starts.’’
Bruce’s opinion is far from an indictment. But coming from a guy who perfected his role in offensive coordinator Mike Martz’s complex scheme, it seemed only natural for Bruce to dissect every minor aspect.
“When I talk about room for improvement, I’m a detail guy: route-running ability, releases, being sharp in and out of your breaks, and making sure that when you’re not getting the ball you’re doing what you need to do to get your buddy open,’’ he said.
“I was telling the guys (Wednesday) night that Torry Holt and myself, we were such on a page where I could look at the defense and I knew when I wasn’t getting the ball, but I knew when he was going to get it. So therefore, I was going to be the best clear-out guy I could be. And he did the same for me. Little things like that will take you a long way.’’
Bruce, who joined the Bears strictly for camp as part of the NFL’s minority coaching internship program, seemed particularly impressed with Devin Aromashodu, the lanky receiver who continues to show signs of being a go-to target.
“I like D.A. He was just all over the place,’’ Bruce said. “He learned probably every position as far as the wide receivers are concerned. I mean when you have to learn F, X and Z; that’s big for this system.
“With Devin (Hester), I never saw him initially before I started working out with him this offseason. But from what I heard before, he’s coming off the ball better. He’s competing a lot better. He and Johnny (Knox). I think the starters are pretty much set and motivated to run this system.’’
During the offseason, Martz promised the receivers would be the strength of the team. Bruce believes Martz is the one coach capable of making that a reality, in time.
“You have a coach who will come in with new branches every week challenging your creativity, challenging your ability to apply what you get in that meeting room and take it on the field,’’ he said. “That was a great thing for me. I mean, it kept me sharp. I didn’t have a coach where he was just coming in and repeating what someone else did, because that gets boring.
“I mean ADD is real. Guys lose interest. You know what I’m saying? Coming in every day with a coach who is creative ... I think everyone who has been in (Martz’s) system has graduated to the next level.”
Well, as long as the players aren’t bored, what more could we ask for?
Hope?
Nah.
NEIL HAYES at the Sun Times says anyone looking for something different tonight may as well head downtown and catch A VARIETY SHOW. At least it comes with booze to numb the pain.
The Bears haven’t been a glowing endorsement for preseason football. First, they looked mostly disinterested during their exhibition opener against the San Diego Chargers and not only refused to apologize for it but let it be known that we can expect more of the same when the improving Oakland Raiders visit Soldier Field tonight.
Like every other NFL team, the Bears have their own agenda during the exhibition season, which they freely bend and shape to suit their immediate needs. The result has little to do with the game as we know it during the regular season, creating mini-controversies over how many snaps Jay Cutler takes in the first exhibition game, for example.
What fans want and what the Bears are prepared to deliver are two different things. That’s the fundamental problem with preseason football. In this case, Bears fans are ravenous after three disappointing seasons. They want to peruse the full menu before the grand opening, but coach Lovie Smith refuses to serve anything but tapioca on either side of the ball.
Fans who want to leaf through offensive coordinator Mike Martz’s playbook will only be allowed to glimpse a few pages of the prologue.
‘’You just want to let them put their hand on the ground and come off the ball, and let guys get used to being in what we call the silks, the game uniforms,’’ Martz said of his goal in the exhibition opener. ‘’Get in that environment, in a new offense, with new guys around you, and kind of [exhale] and not make things hard for them, and let them play a little bit.’’
The players don’t like the exhibition season any more than fans do. Privately, most coaches will tell you two games will suffice, but owners won’t give up the revenue from the two additional gates unless they can bleed it from players in the next collective-bargaining agreement. The players don’t want to see the regular season extended to 18 games, and with good reason.
A 16-game season feels right, first of all. Most important, it would be reckless to consider extending the season when the medical community still doesn’t have its arms around the concussion epidemic. The only thing that could topple history’s most successful sports league is a generation of players spending their retirements drooling into towels.
Until those issues are resolved, the preseason will be a tug-of-war between preparation and preservation. Martz and Smith have been widely criticized for not playing Cutler more in the opener. It’s true he might need more than the perfunctory preseason snaps while learning the new system.
However, that desire is counterbalanced with this reality: If Cutler gets mauled by a slobbering linebacker or if he trips over a pylon and breaks his ankle, the Bears are staring 3-13 right in the mug. He needs to get comfortable with this offense in game situations before the season opener. He also needs to be ambulatory.
That’s why, to hear Martz and Cutler tell it, what happens on the practice field is more valuable than the preseason games.
‘’We’re doing certain things,’’ Cutler said when asked if he would like to do more offensively during the preseason. ‘’We’re mixing some things in there. But, like I said, these four preseason games don’t count. Once we get into that first week, the record is clean again and the games start counting and the bullets are for real.’’
What you see or think you see tonight can be deceiving, especially when neither team is scheming and one team may be further along in a specific area.
Many folks are bringing up the fact that the 1985 Bears went 1-3 in the pre-season. Yes, that’s true. What they forget was that the 1st string offense and defense knocked the crap out of people and then Ditka played anyone who could fit in a uniform. Fans in ‘85 knew they were seeing something special. I defy one person to tell me they get the same feeling watching this years version of the Monsters of the Midway.
On a sad note, electric punt returner JOHNNY BAILEY has passed away due to pancreatic cancer. He was a fan fave and a Pro-Bowler and there’s nothing much more to add here other than our condolences for his true friends and family.
Our very own Big Star has already started a thread, so CLICK HERE TO BEAR DOWN.
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Fans of numerology and other related folderol got to have a lot of fun yesterday. But, before I begin, I want to give a big shout out to the nice people at Best Buy who hooked me up with my brand new Dell Inspiron. My cats seem to think that the laptop is just a cool electric lap but, other than that, I am amazed at how much you can do on this thing that I would have thought I needed a full desktop computer for in the past. Also, yesterday, Johnny Knox was asked to sign a souvenir helmet for a young fan and signed his own instead and walked away. I am sure that this will lead to more rumors about how smart the Bears are this year as opposed to years past.
Okay, back to our numerological theme. First, the number 7. The Cubs were actually looking as though they were going to beat the Padres but then decided to beat themselves in the 7th inning. CARRIE MUSKAT reports on the whole, sordid, affair.
It was too much Mat Latos, too little Carlos Zambrano, and just too weird.
Latos struck out a career-high 10 batters over seven innings to win his 13th game and lead the Padres to a 5-3 victory Thursday over the Cubs, who lost for the 18th time in the last 22 games.
Latos (13-5) and the National League West-leading Padres completed their first four-game sweep of the Cubs at Wrigley Field with the win, doing so in front of 30,687, the smallest crowd of the year at Wrigley. San Diego last swept a series against Chicago May 12-14, 2006, when it won three straight.
This season has had plenty of strange moments, and the Cubs can add the seventh inning to the bloopers reel.
The Cubs had taken a 2-1 lead on back-to-back RBI doubles by Marlon Byrd and Aramis Ramirez in the sixth. Sean Marshall (6-4) took over for Zambrano in the seventh and walked Miguel Tejada, then gave up three straight singles, including an RBI single by Ryan Ludwick, which tied the game. Chase Headley singled and, one out later, Will Venable hit a two-run single to chase Marshall.
Then it got bizarre. Chris Denorfia bounced a grounder to Ramirez at third, and he threw to catcher Koyie Hill, who chased Headley back toward third and tagged him out. Venable had scampered to third on the rundown. As Hill walked away from third, he appeared to have called time. But the umpires didn’t recognize it. No one was covering at home, and Venable scored on what was ruled a fielder’s choice.
“You have to put your arms up to stop play,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “[Hill] put his wrist up, and the umpire didn’t acknowledge it. You’ve got to get your hands up and make sure the umpires know it’s ‘time out.’”
Padres third-base coach Glenn Hoffman told Venable he had a window.
“I noticed it,” Venable said, “but it wasn’t until [Hoffman] nonchalantly came over and confirmed it. It ended up being a closer play at the plate than I thought. It was a great heads-up call by Hoffy.”
First baseman Xavier Nady recognized what was happening and tried to cover home.
“I was trying—he’s a lot faster than I am,” Nady said of Venable. “I didn’t know what was going on. I bolted, and it wasn’t quite enough.”
Hill said he made the same gesture he usually does.
“I think in that situation I need to be more emphatic about it just to make sure, because you’ve got guys scattered all over the field,” Hill said. “Credit [Nady] for getting to home plate, because he’s holding a guy on and he has to stay put at first.”
Hill’s plan was to call time, then go to the mound to check on pitcher Justin Berg.
“What’s frustrating is it wasn’t a lack of concentration or just cluelessness,” Hill said. “It just happened. I felt I asked for time with the same gesture I always use.”
The Padres’ rally resulted in a no-decision for Zambrano, who was in line for a win. Making his first start at Wrigley since being reinstated from the restricted list, he gave up one run over six innings, walked six and struck out one.
“I felt good early in the game,” Zambrano said. “It was like my early games in the big leagues when I walked a lot of guys, but I was able to calm myself when I had to. I walked the first guy and I was able to get a ground ball for a double play or fly ball.
“With men on base, I was able to be more aggressive,” he said. “[Pitching coach Larry Rothschild] told me in the fourth inning, if I want, just put the leadoff hitter on first base and start pitching. I felt good the whole game, and my sinker was running good and my offspeed.”
Speaking of early games, Friday is Zambrano’s baseball “birthday.” He made his Major League debut on Aug. 20, 2001, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Brewers, taking the loss. He is the longest-tenured Cubs player and lost another veteran teammate Wednesday with the trade of Derrek Lee to the Braves.
“It’s hard to see people who played with you for a long time go,” Zambrano said. “Whatever the team thinks is good for the team—and we need for the team to be better and in a good position for next year—is good for me.”
While the outing was an improvement, Zambrano still has work to do. He’s failed to get past the sixth in his last three starts and has given up 15 hits and walked 15 over 16 2/3 innings.
“He’s got real good movement, and he’s throwing a few more breaking balls and he’s using his split finger and a cut fastball,” Piniella said. “Basically, I think the velocity will come. One run over six innings, you can’t fault that at all. It was a good performance. If he gets his command a little early, he can go much deeper in the game.”
I was watching the game with some buds. I saw Hill wandering around the field with the ball still in his mitt and I mentioned that the ball was still live. As I was saying that my buds started to argue with me and then we all got to watch as Venable easily scored. Neener neener neener, I was right.
Not that it gives me any real pleasure. Nothing would make me happier than to see the Cubs & Sox go deep in the playoffs. It would be great for the city. It would also stop that sad low moan I hear every time the Cubs play. I really hate that moan. Even when the Sox were suxing in 2007 I never heard a noise like that.
Okay, on to our #11 usage. The Sox got 21 hits, another lucky number, on their way to beating the Twins 11-0 and pulling back to within 4 games of first place. Our old pal, SCOTT MERKIN, talks about all the lucky numbers from last night.
There was no late comeback for the Twins on Thursday night to send another sellout crowd at Target Field home with feelings of euphoria.
The White Sox escaped Minnesota’s home park without having to deal with a third straight near-miss, leaving them sitting on the plane to Kansas City, rethinking that one Michael Cuddyer single finding its way through for the game-winning hit or how they came up one hit short against Matt Capps in the ninth. On this night, the story was White Sox in every facet of the game.
They pounded Carl Pavano (15-8), an American League Cy Young candidate, for a career-high 15 hits over six-plus innings and finished with a season-high 21 in their 11-0 whitewash of the AL Central leaders. What could have been a lost week for the White Sox (66-55) in Minneapolis ended up as more than a slight glimmer of hope as they departed town trailing by four games.
“This time of the year, there are still a lot of games left, but there is kind of a different ring to four back or six back,” said White Sox captain Paul Konerko, who tied a career high with a 5-for-5 showing at the plate in the victory.
“We’ve dug ourselves a hole here again, but there’s still time to get back out of it,” Konerko said. “They had the better series. Tonight was good for us, but they did what they had to do and they won the series, so we can’t be happy walking out of here just because we got a win, We’ve got to get back to work and try cutting into that deficit.”
For at least one night, though, the White Sox will have positive memories of facing the Twins (70-51). They snapped a three-game losing streak to Ron Gardenhire’s crew and a four-game skid overall, all against division opponents, providing plenty of support for Mark Buehrle (12-9).
Buehrle improved to 4-2 since the All-Star break and won his first game in Minnesota since Sept. 21, 2007. The staff ace has found plenty of success career-wise against the Twins, as his 25th win broke a tie with Roger Clemens for most victories against Minnesota.
Thursday’s effort held a bit more importance than any of his recent trips to the mound. That magnitude was based on the Twins’ pair of 7-6 wins to start this three-game series and their 10-4 season edge over the White Sox, putting Buehrle’s squad at a decided playoff push disadvantage.
“Must-win or not, we won the game and that’s all that matters,” said Buehrle, who struck out four, walked one and gave up five hits over seven innings. “There are [41] games left, and you don’t want to get down too much.
“You get down to a team like this. ... They are a great team and the way they have been playing and we’ve been playing, too big of a hole would be hard to climb out.”
An early offensive assault put forth by the White Sox had the Twins in a deep hole. When Pavano finished the third inning, five different White Sox starters already had two hits.
Pavano threw 87 pitches over six-plus innings, with only four resulting in swinging strikes. A pitcher with a 2-0 record and 2.25 ERA against the White Sox this season coming into Thursday was temporarily figured out by the visitors.
“Just because we lost the last couple, guys are still feeling good up there,” Konerko said. “We’ve been swinging the bats pretty well and we just continued that tonight. But to score 11 runs in a game where [Pavano] starts, you don’t see that coming.”
“It seemed to be a night where they were seeing the ball really well and found some holes and found some gaps and made me pay for my mistakes,” said Pavano, who lost his first home start since May 23 against Milwaukee. “You’re going to have games like that and you have to go as deep as you can.”
Along with Konerko’s 31st home run, 24th double, three singles and four RBIs, Juan Pierre, Omar Vizquel, Mark Teahen and Alexei Ramirez added three hits apiece. Ramirez went deep late in the game and drove in two, joining Teahen and A.J. Pierzynski with two RBIs.
An eighth-inning exit by J.J. Putz, who has been so valuable at the back end of the White Sox bullpen, put a slight damper on Thursday’s celebration. Putz walked off the field after issuing a free pass to Cuddyer, just moments after Guillen and head athletic trainer Herm Schneider came to the mound to check on him.
Putz described the injury as patella inflammation in his right knee and didn’t seem overly concerned about the problem.
Plenty of concern exists for the White Sox in regard to catching the Twins. Guillen views pretty much every game left as a must-win for his squad, trying to catch a team with a 24-9 second-half mark. After Thursday’s win, though, he reiterated a point made before the contest.
Keep this team in contention until the Twins come to Chicago for the final time from Sept. 14-16 and see what happens. This series finale shutout stands as a small step toward reaching that goal.
“Give me a shot against them late in the season,” Guillen said. “We’re done with them. Fine. Now I predict this thing is going to be all the way to the wire. [If] we stay healthy, we’re going to compete.”
“Our goal was to come in here and gain ground,” Buehrle said. “But we could have lost three games in the standings and instead we only lost one. Just take it from here and see what happens.”
The Sox scored a ton against the Twins this series, it was their pitching that gave out. Hopefully that was a bump in the road and not a portent of things to come.
Yesterday I had to put my 16 year old cat to sleep. Her name was Uhurah. I found her in the winter of 98. She had a broken back and had been left to die. I bandaged her up as best I could, it was a Saturday night, and perpared to take her to the vet on Monday to be put to sleep. Instead, by that Monday morning she was trying to walk and eating regularly. So the vet got to give me advice on how to help her heal and wished me a nice day. He never even charged me.
She was one of the most loving animals I’d ever been around. She was fiercely loyal to my other cat at the time, Teagan, and used to sleep on my head no matter what I did to prevent it. After a while I just gave up. She used to follow me down the street and heel on command. I know well trained dogs that have problems with that. But, she has been getting sicker and sicker and the vets couldn’t do any more. So, I made sure she got to do all of her favorite things yesterday then tranquilized her for the trip. I wanted her to be calm and she doesn’t like strangers. She used to pee on them if they got too close.
Toko would have approved of her.
Anyway, I guess I’m a little sad today, but am hoping that it doesn’t color this post too much.
First off, I’d like to thank the Bears for getting their season out of the way so early. Between a lousy first quarter, multiple injuries and clueless play, I think I’ve seen enough. When I heard a guy at the bar scream “BRING BACK RON TURNER!” I knew it was done. If what fans saw Saturday night was indicative, they will be lucky to be a 6-10 team this year.
Really, really lucky.
Speaking of lucky, the Cubs played this weekend and won two games in a row against the division challenging Cardinals. At their current pace they should be in the hunt for the division championship just about in time to make fans forget all about the Bears. MICHAEL BLEACH, yes - that’s his real name, talks about the run for the title.
The Cubs won a series. It was their first series win since Chicago took two of three from the Cardinals on July 24, and the first time they won two straight games since the same date. That is what they are focusing on.
It doesn’t matter that they gave up five runs in the ninth inning and had the tying run on first base with two outs to go. It doesn’t matter that they had to use ace reliever Carlos Marmol to bail them out of a jam, despite the right-hander tossing 1 2/3 innings the night before.
All that matters is the final score—9-7 against the Cardinals on Sunday—read in the Cubs’ favor.
“It is in the win column,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said with a smile as reporters walked into his office. “It is in the win column.”
After a big six-run fourth inning, it looked like the Cubs would simply put it on cruise control to head home with a victory. Starting pitcher Ryan Dempster was locked in, going 6 2/3 innings with two runs allowed and six strikeouts. Piniella removed first baseman Derrek Lee in the fifth inning, saying he wanted to give the veteran some rest with the blowout in hand.
“A nice comfortable lead going into the ninth. I felt pretty good,” Piniella said.
The Cardinals had other plans. The ninth inning started with a surprise, when St. Louis backup catcher Steven Hill—fresh from the Minors—led off with his first career Major League home run. While taking a run away from a seven-run lead is harmless enough, Cubs reliever Marcos Mateo lost control after that and put the next three batters on base.
Cards backups Nick Stavinoha and Aaron Miles singled, bringing a visit to the mound from pitching coach Larry Rothschild. Whatever he said had little effect, as Marcos walked nine-hole hitter Brendan Ryan on five pitches, loading the bases with zero out.
“He had been pitching, throwing the ball well,” Piniella said. “That home run must have shook him up, because he sort of lost his composure out there. I guess it is a learning experience for these kids.”
With James Russell in for Mateo, the left-hander got Skip Schumaker to strike out on a foul tip, but walked left-hander Jon Jay on four pitches to bring in a run. Piniella had seen enough and called in Marmol.
Marmol gave up a two-run single to Felipe Lopez and walked Randy Winn before inducing consecutive groundouts to end the five-run inning. A win is a win.
“A ninth like that is a little misleading, because if the game was close, Marmol would have been in there sooner,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said, downplaying his team’s comeback that surely had most Cubs fans ready to throw their remote through the TV.
Such a large comeback was only possible after such an explosive fourth inning for the Cubs. Marlon Byrd and Xavier Nady started the fourth with soft singles that found holes in the outfield, and a Blake DeWitt walk loaded the bases against Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse. Catcher Koyie Hill struck one batter later with his second double in as many days, crushing a ground-rule two-bagger over the center-field wall, driving in Byrd and Nady.
The Cubs kept their foot on the gas, with Dempster helping his own cause with an RBI single, driving in DeWitt.
Kosuke Fukudome sent a double down the left field line, bringing in Hill. It was the 1,500th hit of Fukudome’s professional career, combining his Japanese and Major League totals.
With Lohse driven from the game, Cardinals reliever Mike MacDougal allowed Dempster to score after a wild pitch, but was finally able to record some outs, getting Starlin Castro to ground out and Lee to strike out looking. The Cubs still had one more run in them, however, with Byrd driving in Fukudome on an opposite-field single.
“A bloop, a ball in the hole, and then all hell broke loose after that,” Lohse said.
Lee got the Cubs on the board first, with solo homers to straight center in the first and third innings. It was the 24th multi-homer game for Lee, and makes four home runs in three games since spending four days on the bereavement list.
“Getting a little rest, a little breather. Breathers are good for these guys,” Piniella said to explain the power surge.
Breathers are good for the fans too. In fact, Cubs’ mania is slowly retuning to life. Who knows? Baseball is a crazy enough game that no one should be counted out until the last week of September.
On the Southside, fans were welcomed to the Hemlock Society’s annual “Take this Razor Home and do the Human Race a Favor” night. In keeping with the theme, the Sox bullpen went out and committed Hari-Kari. SCOTT MERKIN was able to maintain his composure long enough to bring us all the gory details.
Even with a three-game sweep of the Twins during this week’s series at Target Field, the White Sox will not lay claim to first place in the American League Central.
They actually could forge a tie atop the division. But thanks to their ugly 13-8 loss at U.S. Cellular Field to Detroit and Minnesota’s three-game sweep at home of Oakland, the White Sox enter Minneapolis trailing by three games.
This highly anticipated get-together now is more about survival for the White Sox (65-53), as opposed to playoff positioning, after closing out a 2-4 homestand and losing seven of their past 10 games.
“To me, a very bad homestand,” said a visibly disappointed White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen in the wake of Detroit’s first road series win since mid-May. “Terrible. They can say whatever they say, do whatever they do, very bad.
“Very bad pitching. When we pitch well, we’re not hitting. That makes the combination for a very poor homestand. We’ve got to prepare better for the next road trip and play better, there’s no doubt.”
Sunday’s setback seemed rather apropos of this 2010 White Sox season, full of twists and turns, highs and lows. The beginning looked pretty bad, as the Tigers (57-60) built a 5-1 lead entering the bottom of the fifth.
The middle became both exciting and encouraging for the White Sox, scoring three in the fifth against Armando Galarraga and three in the sixth off reliever Robbie Weinhardt, while claiming a 7-5 lead on Paul Konerko’s two-run home run. Konerko’s 29th long ball and 80th RBI scored Alexei Ramirez, who had delivered the game-tying single on the previous pitch.
As for the ending? Well, Sunday’s finish qualifies as downright miserable. The White Sox just hope the season’s conclusion doesn’t play out the same way.
“We battled back, which was nice,” Konerko said. “We just couldn’t hold them. They were swinging the bats well and it was just one of those days where it was almost [a win], but it was just another loss. We just have to regroup on this off-day and come out ready to play on Tuesday. It’s still a long way to go.”
“It’s really a nice win for us,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “We kind of let it away, and to bounce back and take it back, that was big. They’ve been beating up on us. It was nice to come in and get two out of three, take a series.”
Andruw Jones played a positive role in the White Sox effort, with three hits, including his 16th home run coming in the eighth inning. He also emerged on the wrong side of the ledger during Detroit’s three-run eighth, dropping a Brandon Inge fly ball to bring in Johnny Damon with an insurance ninth run.
J.J. Putz (5-5) suffered his third blown save and second straight late-inning loss, after getting tagged by Alex Avila for the game-winning home run in the ninth inning on Saturday. Trailing by one run with two outs in the eighth, Putz gave up a two-run triple to Damon off the center-field wall as the deciding shot of this three-hour, 31-minute contest.
Damon’s blast scored Ryan Raburn and Austin Jackson, quieting the 36,287 in attendance. Jackson walked to extend the inning on a borderline 3-2 pitch called by home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson, who ejected White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper for arguing balls and strikes one inning earlier.
One of the best defensive center fielder’s in the history of the game, Jones didn’t get the best jump on Damon’s triple to center and got turned around in his pursuit. But Guillen never penalizes his charges for physical errors.
“[He] wins 10 Gold Gloves, you expect him to make that play,” said Guillen of Jones’ error on Inge’s line drive to right-center. “But that’s part of the game, I’m not going to point at people. When you’re in the field, you expect to make errors.”
“I ran a long way for that ball, but if it gets to my glove, it has to be caught,” said Jones of his rare defensive miscue. “Those things happen. There’s nothing you can do. Just go back and try not to miss it next time.”
Detroit added four more in the ninth off Tony Pena, after the White Sox left the tying run on third against Ryan Perry in the eighth. Putz blew back-to-back save opportunities for the first time since July 25-Aug. 13, 2008 (four straight), and the trio of Sergio Santos, Putz and Pena allowed seven earned runs in the final 2 2/3 innings.
Chris Sale, who was the team’s top pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft back on June 7, struck out two in retiring all four hitters faced in relief of starter Freddy Garcia. The right-hander struggled for a second straight trip to the mound and for the third time in five starts, allowing five runs on eight hits over five innings. Raburn and Jhonny Peralta both went deep to help build up a four-run lead.
“Everybody else, they are pretty positive. I am too, but I have to get into the groove and start throwing the ball better,” said Garcia, who lost the homestand opener to the Twins on Tuesday. “This week, I blame myself. I pitched terrible.”
Guillen’s crew needs to play better, and it needs to start Tuesday. The White Sox also need a bit more energy, which might have been sucked out of them through two straight late-inning losses.
“All I can do is be a cheerleader out there,” Guillen said. “I might be wrong, but I didn’t see any energy out there. I didn’t see any enthusiasm in today’s game.”
The only enthusiasm I saw was from the 100 year old guy who got his dying wish to see a Sox game. Really? That was his dying wish? No hookers? No skydiving? No night of drunken abandon? Just see a Sox game? Not even a Sox win? Oh well, I guess it was nice of the team to make that happen for the dude. All in all, I guess I’ve heard worse last requests.
Well, the Sox get a nice day off today and then face the Twins on Tuesday. We all know what needs to happen if the Sox want to avoid playing spoilers too. And if it doesn’t? Well, ........