Where to begin, where to begin? I wrote a story about nearly dying due to botulism and people are saying it’s hysterically funny and they are going to reprint it. Yes the near taco experience did lead to my first published short story, but still .....
A buddy of mine and I worked on a web project for a guy who had a very limited budget and so on. We got it up for him around noon. It turns out that was two hours too late as far as he was concerned and he let us know that we had destroyed his business, he had a lawyer, blah blah blah. Since we had access to his web site we went and snagged his hit log. He was averaging 3 hits a day and they all seemed to be from a single IP address. My guess is his. You can see me shaking in fear.
Or the AC is too high.
Anyway we ripped his site off line and sent him a bill for the real amount.
Another buddy of mine wanted ice cream. The ice cream truck was coming by. He ran to meet it and took a header and ended up in the hospital.
He never did get his ice cream.
As you can tell yesterday was a day filled with weird.
And, in keeping with the overall theme, the Cubs went out and gobsmacked the visiting Pirates to the gentle tune of 14-4. That’s right, they scored two touchdowns while only giving up two safeties. And this was all while they were dumping players during the game. Carrie Muskat has the whole odd story.
As the Cubs were scoring runs in a nine-run fifth, general manager Jed Hoyer was making changes to the roster.
The Cubs dealt pitcher Paul Maholm and outfielder Reed Johnson to the Braves on Monday night, and have reportedly sent catcher Geovany Soto to the Rangers. Hoyer confirmed the deal with the Braves, but the Cubs’ trade with the Rangers was still pending approval.
Hoyer and Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein have both made it clear they intend to make changes, and they got a head start before Tuesday’s 3 p.m. CT non-waiver Trade Deadline.
As Johnson and Soto were taken out of Monday’s game—a 14-4 win over the Pirates—and got the news, they hugged their teammates and then exited.
“You hate to be pulling guys out of games,” Hoyer said. “It isn’t comfortable to go down there and make moves. I don’t like to make lineup changes.”
“I can’t lie to you, it was the first time I’ve ever gone through that,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said.
The Cubs will receive Minor League right-handed pitchers Arodys Vizcaino and Jaye Chapman from the Braves in return. Chapman, 25, was 3-6 with seven saves and a 3.52 ERA in 40 games with Triple-A Gwinnett. Vizcaino, 21, may be the prize in the deal. A power arm, he was ranked as the Braves’ No. 3 prospect. He made his big league debut with the Braves last season, and was 1-1 with a 4.67 ERA in 17 relief outings. He is recovering from Tommy John surgery, which he had in March.
“We’ve been really clear all along that we’re not contending right now, and we need to take assets that are shorter term and turn them into longer-term assets,” Hoyer said Monday night.
Johnson, 35, started in center field against the Pirates and scored two runs, but he was pulled for a pinch-hitter before his second at-bat in the Cubs’ nine-run fifth. The veteran was batting .302 this season, including a .333 average against left-handed pitching.
Maholm, 30, was 5-0 with a 1.02 ERA in his past six starts dating to June 29 and 9-6 with a 3.74 ERA overall. He has thrown six straight starts of at least six innings in which he’s given up one or no runs.
Soto, 29, has been in the Cubs’ system since he was drafted in 2001. He was pulled after the Pirates’ sixth inning and also greeted in the dugout by handshakes and hugs from his teammates. Soto was batting .199 in 52 games this season. He missed time because of a torn meniscus in his left knee.
The 2008 National League Rookie of the Year, Soto was being paid $4.3 million this year and was on track to go to arbitration for the third time this offseason.
The Cubs will reportedly get pitcher Jacob Brigham from the Rangers in exchange. He was 5-5 with a 4.28 ERA in 21 starts at Double-A Frisco. Neither the Rangers nor the Cubs were expected to confirm the reports Monday night.
“It is strange telling two players in the middle of the game,” Hoyer said. “It started to leak out about Paul, and I wanted to make sure he heard from us first. Both guys took it great. In the case of Paul, he said he grew up a Braves fan.
“Everything about that game was unusual,” Hoyer said. “You don’t experience that too often, but I guess near the Deadline, some strange things happen.”
The Cubs did have an option on Maholm for next season.
“It came down to getting a 21-year-old with that arm,” Hoyer said. “I don’t think we would’ve been able to get that kind of value frankly if [Maholm] was only under control for a couple months.”
Ryan Dempster, on the other hand, whom the Braves also sought, would be a rental because he will be a free agent after this season. The Cubs knew the Braves wanted a starting pitcher. It was just a matter of finding the right one, Hoyer said.
“We’d had a lot of dialogue, we’d discussed a lot of players and it probably made revisiting something a little easier,” Hoyer said.
The Cubs aren’t finished, Hoyer said.
“I think it’ll be busy tonight, and I think it’ll be a busy morning,” he said. “Whether we make other deals, we’ll see. I know there will be a lot of phone calls and a lot of activity.”
The Cubs were expected to promote pitcher Casey Coleman and catcher Welington Castillo from Triple-A Iowa in time for Tuesday’s game. There were reports that top prospect Brett Jackson had been pulled from Iowa’s game, and also was headed to the Cubs, but team officials said they didn’t expect the outfielder to be part of the group.
“I’m not going to comment on the guys coming up,” Hoyer said.
Prospects acquired by Cubs
Arodys Vizcaino, RHP: One of the big three pitching prospects in the Braves’ system, Vizcaino was still No. 54 overall on MLB.com’s Top 100 list and No. 3 on the Braves’ Top 20 despite missing the entire season due to Tommy John surgery. When healthy, he has the makings of three above-average to plus pitches with his fastball, curve and improving changeup. He has decent command, giving him the chance to be a starter, but his power stuff does play up out of the bullpen and with concerns about his durability, that could be his eventual long-term role.
Jaye Chapman, RHP: Drafted by the Braves back in 2005, Chapman has had success pitching out of the bullpen and was added to the 40-man rosters as a result last offseason. He doesn’t have closer’s stuff, though he has finished games in the Minors, now spending his second season in Triple-A. He’s struggled a bit with command, with a 4.3 BB/9 ratio, but he’s also struck out 9.6 per nine in his career. Now 25, the Cubs may give him his first big league opportunity and he has a ceiling as a middle man.
-- Jonathan Mayo
Just FYI, the last time the Cubs had a winning record in July (they are 15-9 this month) I was married and running a company.
It’s been a while.
On the Southside they pride themselves on playing error free baseball. It has been the linchpin to their success this year. Well, that and pitching. Anyway last night they said the heck with all that error free stuff, that’s too hard, and went out and reminded me of a T-ball team that was being denied a trip to Dairy Queen. Scott Merkin was there and was just shaking his melon.
Through the course of this first-place 2012 season to date, the White Sox have endured prolonged hitting slumps and struggles from their pitching staff.
Monday’s 7-6 loss to the Twins before 35,018 at a raucous Target Field seems to indicate that one of the best defensive squads in all of baseball currently finds itself battling a fielding funk.
Three errors, including a crucial throwing miscue from catcher A.J. Pierzynski in the bottom of the ninth inning, contributed to three unearned runs and a second straight defeat for the White Sox (55-47). This effort in the field followed a shaky defensive night Sunday in Arlington for a team that has allowed a Major League-low 20 unearned runs.
Manager Robin Ventura acknowledged a team could go into a collective defensive malaise, but fixing the slump was more his focus.
“That’s something we have to clean it up and focus on it and make sure we’re better at it because we’re giving away a lot of runs,” Ventura said. “The big ones are the unearned ones. You give them something they really shouldn’t have. We’ve just got to get better at that.”
A four-run first inning and a Twins team sitting 14 games under .500 at 44-58 as the opponent should have added up to an easy series-opening victory for the White Sox. Instead, they gave away that lead quickly and two late rallies weren’t enough to avoid ninth-inning heartbreak.
Danny Valencia opened the ninth with a single to left off reliever Brett Myers (0-1). Pinch-runner Alexi Casilla was sacrificed to second by Brian Dozier, but when Pierzynski threw the bunt past first baseman Paul Konerko, the runners advanced to second and third.
Jamey Carroll followed with the walk-off sacrifice fly to right.
“With two strikes, I was just trying to put it in play,” Carroll said. “With the infield in, you feel like you have a chance to put it past them, but fortunately I got enough on it to allow Alexi to score.”
“On that play in the ninth inning, [Dozier] made a good bunt, I picked it up and I just made a bad throw,” Pierzynski said. “It happens and it’s one of those things that will eat at you, but you got to get ready for tomorrow.”
Pierzynski’s throw assisted the game-winning rally, but his bat propelled the visitors to an early advantage. After missing five straight games because of a mildly strained right oblique, a healthy Pierzynski roped the first pitch he saw from Cole De Vries 413 feet into the right-field stands for a three-run blast.
Pierzynski’s 17th home run, which is one short of his single-season best, followed Konerko’s run-scoring single.
“I dug myself into a pretty good hole there,” said De Vries, who survived five innings thanks to numerous hard-hit White Sox balls finding Twins defensive players. “It was one of those games where I didn’t pitch as well as I could have obviously.
“It was nice the rest of the team did what they did helping me out by getting that four right back. It helped me settle down a little bit.”
Jose Quintana struggled for the third time in four starts, as the rookie left-hander allowed six runs on 10 hits over seven innings. Only four of those runs were earned, and to Quintana’s credit, he settled down to hold the Twins scoreless over his final four innings.
Quintana was bailed out by Alejandro De Aza, who returned from a two-game absence because of a sprained left wrist. De Aza knocked out four hits and singled home runs in the fourth and then again in the eighth, which tied the game, following Alexei Ramirez’s stolen base against reliever Jared Burton. Ramirez reached base when hit by a pitch with one out.
But Minnesota’s five first-inning hits produced four runs. Ryan Doumit’s single and Valencia’s sacrifice fly in the third broke the tie against Quintana, who didn’t strike out a batter and walked one.
These particular struggles for Quintana didn’t seem to worry the pitcher or his catcher.
“The most important part is my arm, and my arm feels great,” said Quintana through translator and White Sox manager of cultural relations Jackson Miranda, when asked about any issues from his rising innings total. “Today, going back to it, I made an adjustment and from now on I’ll look into doing that.”
“He was just up early,” said Pierzynski of Quintana. “As the game went on, he got better. We talked to him about getting ground balls. He started getting the ball down. He settled down and gave us seven solid innings. That was it. Just missed spots early, ball was up and they hit them.”
Exactly 60 games remain on the schedule for the White Sox. Their 1 1/2-game lead in the American League Central over the Tigers, who lost by a 7-3 margin at Boston on Monday, will be tested through what feels like playoff baseball on a nightly basis.
To survive that extended test, the White Sox need to find the airtight defense that defined them for much of the season.
“You know that teams in our division are coming after it,” Pierzynski said. “We’ve been playing well and tonight was hopefully a blip on the radar. We made some mistakes and obviously the one in the ninth is the big one I made, but things happen and I’m proud of the way we came back after giving up the lead.”
If only earned runs counted the Sox would have won the game. That’s not a fun statement to make.
Probably less fun to live through. Still, thanks to Detroit tanking just when we need them to the Sox are still in first.
It doesn’t get much weirder than that.
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Dingers is a wonderful word. It sounds like everything it’s not.
It sounds naughty; “An den she grabbed me dinger and gave it a tug.”
It sounds insulting; “He was such a dinger. He gave her a bouquet made of cockroaches.”
It sounds incredibly childish; “I’m a dinger, you’re a dinger wouldn’t you like to be a dinger too?”
It sounds confusing; “Dunn’s dinger doinked Don the Sox fan .....”
What it does not do is fit well in any sentence that ends with “Stretch! Yes! You can put it on the BOOOOOAAARD! Mercy!”
But yesterday was a day for dingers. In fact, thanks to the Cubs, yesterday will be forever remembered in history books as the first time a team hit one homer per inning for five innings off the same pitcher. Don’t get me wrong, other Cubs pitchers have given up 5 homers in a game. 2 in this inning, 3 in that. Warren Hacker, Ismael Valdez, Steve Stone and Carlos Zambrano have all done it. But one run per inning for five straight innings set a standard that I doubt will be met any time soon. Cash Kruth was at the game and has the whole story.
Travis Wood made the kind of history no one wants to Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Cubs left-hander became the first starter in Major League Baseball history to surrender a home run in each of the first five innings, as the Cubs fell to the Cardinals, 9-6.
“I missed some pitches and they didn’t miss the pitches that I missed,” Wood said. “They ended up hitting them out of the park.”
According to Elias, it also was the first time the Cubs have allowed a home run in each of the first five innings in club history. It also was the first time a Major League team homered in the first five innings of a game since the Astros did so against Colorado on Oct. 2, 2004.
The five homers Wood gave up also put him in the company of five other Cubs for the most home runs surrendered in a single game in franchise history. Before Friday, the most recent occurrence was when Carlos Zambrano gave up five in his last start with the club on Aug. 12, 2011.
“They came in swinging. It’s a tough lineup to face,” catcher Geovany Soto said. “He was trying to keep the ball down, but it’s one of those days that they were slugging out there.”
Wood (4-6, 4.98 ERA) allowed a two-run homer to Yadier Molina in the second inning and solo shots to Matt Holliday (first inning), Lance Berkman (third), Matt Carpenter (fourth) and Allen Craig (fifth).
Daniel Descalso added a run-scoring triple in the fourth and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of St. Louis starter Lance Lynn.
“He pitched me tough. I think we just took advantage of some mistakes,” Craig said. “Pitchers are going to make mistakes, and when we’re swinging the bats good, we’re going to capitalize on those mistakes. I thought he had good stuff.”
Wood allowed eight runs on seven hits in five innings, marking the third consecutive outing in which he’s given up at least six earned runs. He is 0-3 with a 12.69 ERA in that span.
“I went on a roll and now I’m on the other side of it,” said Wood, who was 4-0 with a 1.01 ERA in his previous four starts. “The pitches are still there, the shapes are good. Just have to keep working.”
Despite Wood’s struggles, the Cubs’ offense responded quickly to Holliday’s first-inning homer, hitting for the cycle and scoring three runs off Lynn (13-4, 3.42 ERA) in the bottom half of the inning. David DeJesus hit a leadoff triple and scored on a single by Starlin Castro. Anthony Rizzo followed with his sixth homer of the year, a two-run shot, into the right-field bleachers.
Soto’s double completed the cycle, marking the first time the Cubs hit for a first-inning cycle since July 25, 2009.
Chicago scored three more runs in the third, beginning with another leadoff triple, this time by Castro. Rizzo drove in the shortstop before Alfonso Soriano followed with an RBI double and scored on a single by Soto.
Lynn allowed six runs in five innings, after holding the Cubs to two combined runs in his first two starts against them this season.
“It just seemed like they knew what I was trying to do,” Lynn said. “They weren’t going to get beat on that today. The time before, I was able to make pitches and get out of innings with runners on. Today, when they got the runner on, they scored.”
Lynn opened the fourth inning with a leadoff walk to Luis Valbuena, who was caught stealing, but the right-hander and five relievers combined to allow only three Cubs baserunners the rest of the way.
Castro went 3-for-4 to record his 88th multihit game since 2011, tied with Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips for the most in that time. Rizzo went 2-for-4 and leads all National League rookies in batting average (.330), homers (six) and RBIs (15) since his June 26 debut.
“It’s a good feeling to be in that kind of mindset, have that feeling at the plate, and I just want to stick with where I’m at and keep going,” Rizzo said.
The loss, only the Cubs’ third in their last 13 home games, came in front of 40,778 on Ron Santo Day, which honored the late third baseman who was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Also in honor of Santo’s number, both teams had 10 hits and the Cubs 1 error to the Cards 0 also rounded things out nicely.
Just FYI, for me to avoid having to pay for beer the Cubs need to go, at least, 47-17 the rest of the way. Something tells me that maybe, just maybe, I’m buying.
On the Southside Chris Sale took the mound to the delight of the many people who have penciled him in on their short list for a Cy Young Award. He went out and immediately hit the first batter he faced, gave up a three run homer the 5th one he faced and ended up giving up four runs in one inning. The Sox responded by giving him the lead back in the 4th and he took them into the 7th and accepted the victory graciously. Our homie, Scott Merkin, was at the game and gives us the 4-1-1.
Chris Sale admittedly didn’t have his best stuff during Friday’s 9-5 victory over the Rangers before 47,638 at the Ballpark in Arlington, as evidenced by his fastball topping out at 92 mph on just two occasions over 6 1/3 innings.
What the first-year starter had was enough smarts and pitching ability to lead the White Sox to their fourth straight win and to a 1 1/2-game lead in the American League Central over the Tigers, who lost, 8-3, to the Blue Jays in Toronto. That lead comes just five days after the Tigers swept the White Sox and took a 1 1/2-game lead of their own.
The southpaw improved to 12-3, despite allowing five runs on six hits. Four of those runs came in the first inning, culminated by Nelson Cruz’s 14th home run, a three-run shot to right-center. From the second to the sixth, Sale pitched scoreless baseball.
As for that velocity issue, Sale and the White Sox (54-45) responded with the same overall lack of worry as they did when questioned about the topic after the left-hander worked eight innings in a victory over the Royals on July 15.
“These guys can hit anything,” said Sale of the potent Rangers offense. “Like I said before, it’s not about how hard it’s coming in. It’s where it’s at. I don’t know how to answer that to be honest with you.”
“We talked about it a little bit but it’s him becoming more of a pitcher rather than just using velocity,” said White Sox manager Robin Ventura of his ace left-hander, whose ERA stands at 2.61 after 18 starts and 19 games. “Every once in a while he can still do it. But I don’t think it’s anything arm related.”
That health diagnosis from Ventura was quickly supported by his 23-year-old starter.
“Everything is fine,” Sale said. “It’s getting late in the year and that might be a little bit of it. But that’s not something I’m paying attention to. I honestly couldn’t care less how hard I’m throwing.”
His ninth win in 10 decisions wasn’t without its challenges.
In the fifth, Sale hit Craig Gentry with a pitch and then walked Ian Kinsler. Elvis Andrus unsuccessfully tried to bunt twice, and then struck out when manager Ron Washington had Andrus bunt a third time. Josh Hamilton followed with a three-pitch strikeout, missing a Sale slider on 0-2 by quite a margin, and Adrian Beltre took a called third to end the frame.
Texas (58-40) scored once in the seventh without benefit of a hit, but it could have been much worse. Nate Jones replaced Sale with a runner on first and one out and promptly hit Kinsler and walked Andrus to load the bases. Matt Thornton was brought in to face Hamilton, and induced a fielder’s choice to first baseman Paul Konerko that scored a run. Thornton walked Beltre to re-load the bases, but Michael Young’s line out to Alex Rios in right ended the rally.
After six strikeouts, two walks and 109 pitches thrown, Sale had improved to 2-0 against the American League West leaders.
“He’s pretty good. He made some good pitches,” said Kinsler. “We had some good at-bats against him and some opportunity, but that’s what a good pitcher does. He makes pitches.”
“I feel like we let him get away, especially when we came back and scored four runs in the first inning,” Washington said. “I felt like we could make that stand.”
Yu Darvish (11-7) made his inaugural appearance against the White Sox, and Ventura’s crew didn’t have much trouble getting to the Rookie of the Year candidate. The White Sox scored one in the first on Rios’ sacrifice fly and two more in the second on Kevin Youkilis’ 425-foot home run on an 0-2 pitch to cut the lead to one. It was a sequence that disappointed the Texas right-hander.
“Very much so,” said Darvish of Youkilis’ blast to center. “Two outs, two strikes and giving up that home run. That’s something that was very unfortunate.”
Alejandro De Aza’s two-run single in the fourth gave the White Sox their first lead at 5-4. By the time Rios picked up his third RBI with a ninth-inning double off Alexi Ogando and Alexei Ramirez went deep, the White Sox were on their way to a fourth straight win against the two-time defending AL champs.
De Aza was not around at the end of the victory, after colliding with Ramirez on Gentry’s blooper to short left-center with one on and nobody out in the seventh. Left fielder Dayan Viciedo had the presence of mind to pick up the baseball and fire to Gordon Beckham to force Yorvit Torrealba at second, but De Aza was replaced by Jordan Danks after sustaining a sprained left wrist when Ramirez bent the wrist back on the collision.
“His body twisted my wrist,” De Aza said. “If I miss any time, maybe one day. But I don’t think this is bad.”
About the only loss for the White Sox on Friday was Zack Greinke being traded to the Angels for prospects. And that’s assuming the White Sox were serious players for Greinke.
When questioned by MLB.com about the Greinke pursuit and his current perusal of other impact hurlers, general manager Ken Williams went with a “no comment” response by e-mail. He probably had plenty of words of praise to share concerning his starting pitcher.
“Fortunately for us we swung the bats,” Sale said. “I was fortunate enough to hold them but [the offense] won the game for us tonight.”
Yeah, his velocity was down but his nastiness was way up. His curve left hitters looking like little kids playing against adults. His change left them looking at their shoes and his cutter had them scratching their heads. That slider that Hamilton missed, by about 6 feet, was a freaking Bugs Bunny pitch.
You don’t need to throw when you can pitch like that.
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Families are odd things. You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you can’t pick your family. You also probably shouldn’t pick your friend’s noses but that’s a rant for another day.
Lots of times we hear sports teams talk about how they are like family. Since I’ve never been in a family that could trade mom for a little brother to be named later I’m not sure how that works. Yet Chicago’s two baseball teams do seem to try and give it a legitimate shot. As much as is humanly possible they keep players involved with the team long after their playing days are done. Moreover, they try and support the players in ways that are neither required nor expected. That may have been reduced on the Northside with the arrival of the Theogime, but it will never disappear. It is as much a part of being a Cubs’ fan as it is being a player. The reason players love the Cubs has nothing to do with lowered expectations and everything to do with the general bonhomie felt on and off the field.
Carrie Muskat writes that another example of that will be on display this week when the Cubs honor Ron Santo this Friday.
Cubs legendary third baseman and broadcaster and new Hall of Famer Ron Santo will be celebrated at Wrigley Field on Friday from the top of the ballpark down to the grass.
The late Santo was enshrined in Cooperstown, N.Y., last weekend and will be feted before Friday’s game between the Cubs and Cardinals. There will be blue and white No. 10 flags rimming the top of Wrigley Field.
There also will be a “10” design in the center-field grass. The Cubs partnered with Scotts Lawn Care Co., to incorporate the “10” in the outfield. The perfect “10” was chosen by fans online in a month-long contest.
Santo’s No. 10 was retired by the Cubs in 2003, and he was elected into the Hall of Fame by the Golden Era Committee in December 2011, one year after his passing.
The first 10,000 fans at Friday’s Cubs game against the Cardinals will receive a commemorative Ron Santo Hall of Fame plaque.
The Santo family will be on hand to receive a photo from the Hall of Fame ceremony last Sunday. There also will be a video tribute to Ron Santo before the game on the right-field scoreboard.
Cubs players will wear the No. 10 patch on their uniforms, which they wore last Sunday in St. Louis when Santo was inducted.
It’s unclear whether they’ll click their heels again. Cubs manager Dale Sveum asked the starters to do so as they took the field before last Sunday’s game in St. Louis to honor Santo, who did the heel click in 1969.
There will be commemorative Ron Santo Hall of Fame Cubs jerseys, T-shirts and patches for sale, with proceeds benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and fans also can purchase Kernel Fabyan popcorn in a special Santo tin, with proceeds going to JDRF. Santo worked tirelessly in the fight against diabetes, raising more than $65 million for JDRF.
A nine-time All-Star, he was one of four players to total 2,000 hits, 300 home runs and 1,300 RBIs, joining fellow Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson and Billy Williams.
Santo was widely considered to be a dick during his playing days. Yet, after he retired, he became a completely different person. He became lovable, loyal and highly regarded. Eventually he worked his way from de-facto ambassador to full time broadcaster and, after that, he became an icon for all things Cub. How that will play out for other beloved Cubs coming into the ranks, such as Kerry Wood, remains to be seen. While there is much that needs to be changed there are some positive things in Cub culture as well.
On the Southside the whole family vibe starts with Jerry Reinsdorf. Scott Merkin took a look at some of the things he’s done to keep the family feeling intact.
Jerry Reinsdorf serves as White Sox chairman, but he runs the Major League Baseball franchise on the South Side of Chicago more like a family.
“Everyone who comes to the White Sox realizes that he does really feel that this is a family,” said Steve Stone, who has known Reinsdorf for many years and has worked as the White Sox television analyst for the last five years. “That’s something they talk about at other places, but they don’t see a lot. You can see it here.”
Earlier in the 2012 season, Reinsdorf paid the cost for a new Olympic gold medal for Chicago shortstop Alexei Ramirez. The original medal for Ramirez, won while playing for Cuba during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, disappeared as he traveled to Chicago before the 2008 season to begin his Major League career. Ramirez became instantly emotional when Reinsdorf and Jose Contreras—his Cuban countryman, friend and former White Sox teammate—presented the medal to him prior to a White Sox game on June 8.
Prior to Wednesday’s three-game sweep of the Twins, Reinsdorf handed a ring to Philip Humber for his perfect game thrown on April 21 in Seattle, the same sort of ring the White Sox had commissioned for Mark Buehrle for his 2009 perfect game. A.J. Pierzynski was given a bronzed catcher’s mask, the same mask that he wore while catching Humber’s perfecto, placed on a pedestal.
Reinsdorf concluded the impromptu ceremony by giving Paul Konerko a ring to commemorate his 400th home run, hit on April 25 in Oakland. This sort of generosity and connection with his players is not new for Reinsdorf.
“He is one of the most loyal men in a business that doesn’t engender loyalty,” Stone said. “He cares about the White Sox. He cares about winning. He cares about the players that are here.”
The winning part seems fairly obvious, as Reinsdorf has talked in the past about running the White Sox basically to break even. The money that comes in usually goes back out to help improve the team, especially if that means adding an impact player, such as starting pitcher Zack Greinke, who could turn the White Sox from a playoff-caliber team to a championship-caliber team.
Reinsdorf sets the tone for the organization off the field as well. The White Sox chairman is one of the leaders in commitment to diversity in hiring and business practices, for example.
When Major League Baseball’s first Diversity Business Summit was being put together, it was Reinsdorf who stepped up and said he wanted to host it in Chicago. The event was a huge success, taking place on Tuesday, with more than 1,000 people in attendance for a summit that began with an owners’ roundtable discussion.
“What has made Jerry special is the consistency of his message and also the implementation of his strategy and in measurable ways,” said Wendy Lewis, MLB’s senior vice president of diversity and strategic alliances. “It’s exemplified throughout his organization. I work a lot with all the MLB clubs, and I know the White Sox in particular, their folks are very well versed and embrace diversity. That only comes when the leader is sincere.”
Tuesday’s Summit was a testament to MLB’s desire to get the word out that it wants to do business with minorities. It was a concept Reinsdorf dealt with when the Diversity Committee was originated by Commissioner Bud Selig in 1992, known then as the Equal Opportunity Committee.
One of the first things done by the Committee was to take a survey to see what percentage of baseball’s employees were minorities, and Reinsdorf was surprised by the results.
“All of baseball was really low, including the White Sox,” Reinsdorf said. “So, I said, ‘I know we don’t turn people down because they are minorities.’ What I found is they weren’t applying for the jobs.
“We get resumes in every single day, jillions of resumes. We were hiring from the resumes that we got. The same thing, I checked with our purchasing people. We get people who come and they want to bid on our stuff, and we take the best of them.
“So I realized that minorities must think that there’s no point, they can’t get in the game,” Reinsdorf said. “We have to get the word out that you can get in the game. You are not going to get preferential treatment. But come on and get in the game, so that’s what we started doing.”
All it took, Reinsdorf joked, was telling people to do it. It worked.
“I really believe just giving everybody equal opportunity is going to work out,” Reinsdorf said. “I just wanted to give people a chance to earn the business. If you are buying pencils or paper, why wouldn’t you want to get bids from everybody? You are bound to get better prices that way.”
This sort of even-handed leadership and loyalty has benefited the game as well as the White Sox during Reinsdorf’s more than 31 years in the game.
“There are a lot of other owners in this game who are pretty good. I’m not sure there are any owners that are better than Jerry Reinsdorf,” Stone said. “But what he’s done away from either the basketball court or the baseball field, people he has helped that he doesn’t talk about, and charities that he’s gone to and supported that we might never know that he has done.
“Things we know exist, but we don’t know the specifics. That epitomizes Jerry Reinsdorf.”
Reinsdorf rocks.
That about sums it up.
The 7 championships he’s brought the city are nice too.
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Do you see that girl to the right? Pretty, right? Well, I just wanted you to know that “Yes she will” but not with you. That’s called reality.
Reality is one of those things you just can’t change no matter how much you want to. In your mind you’re a .400 hitter with smoking hot nekkid chicks dripping off your manly loins. Reality says you’re overweight, smell bad and couldn’t get laid if you had a Porsche and an AMEX black card.
I’m sorry, that’s just the way it is.
But not all reality is bad. In fact some of it downright rocks. Not so much in Chicago’s winter sports, I admit. The Bulls seem to have surrendered this season, the Hawks may not have a season and the Bears are scripted to get to the second round of the playoffs and then get smacked. That keeps everyone employed at Halas Hall and avoids the problems that come with fielding a legitimate contender.
And yet ......
Reality says that the Cubs are starting to look like a baseball team. Yes they are going to lose a player or three over the next week or so but any fan of the game has to like the pieces that are staying. Carrie Muskat was at the game yesterday and one of those pieces was front and center.
If Ryan Dempster is dealt, the Cubs will be counting on Jeff Samardzija, and on Monday night, the latter looked like an ace.
Samardzija gave up one hit over eight innings in the Cubs’ 2-0 victory over the Pirates, snapping Pittsburgh’s winning streak at five games.
“That was, no doubt, the best stuff he’s had,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said of Samardzija, who’s in his first full season as a starter. “He had his two-seamer working, kept the ball down, elevated when he wanted, had his split working, his slider, could get back in the count with his slider. I don’t think I’m on his Christmas list right now.”
That’s because Sveum pulled Samardzija after the right-hander had thrown 99 pitches, depriving him of a chance at a complete game.
“Obviously, I would’ve sent him back out there [for the ninth] if he had covered first base,” Sveum said.
The Pirates’ only hit off Samardzija came with one out in the fourth, when Andrew McCutchen hit a weak grounder toward second. First baseman Anthony Rizzo fielded the ball, and Samardzija was late getting off the mound to cover at first. McCutchen beat the pitcher to the bag.
“McCutchen is kind of quick, so you can’t hesitate there,” Samardzija said. “I’m sure we’ll have [pitchers fielding practice] pretty early now because of me.”
Samardzija learned from his misstep.
“How [McCutchen] hit it threw me off there for a second,” Samardzija said. “He nobbed it, and I froze. I’ve talked to Rizzo before—I want him to be aggressive. That’s on me there—he made an aggressive play, and I need to be on first there.”
So, is Sveum off Samardzija’s holiday list?
“He’s still on my Christmas list,” Samardzija said. “Just not tonight. The coaches’ job is to look out for the players, and the players’ job is to go out and play the game. Everybody’s got emotions and opinions on things.”
Alfonso Soriano provided the offense, hitting an RBI double in the fourth and another in the ninth to back Samardzija (7-8), who won for just the second time in his last nine starts. He struck out five and walked one, throwing 71 of his 99 pitches for strikes.
“He was just getting us out,” McCutchen said of Samardzija. “That’s it. That’s the biggest thing. He was just getting us out. That’s it. He beat us today, so, shake it off. ... It happens to the best of us.”
It’s no surprise Samardzija’s best game came in Pittsburgh. It’s where he scored his first collegiate touchdown with Notre Dame.
“Football seems like a long time ago,” said Samardzija, an All-America wide receiver. “I don’t remember it too much.”
That’s good for the Cubs. Carlos Marmol entered in the ninth inning to record his 12th save in 14 opportunities. The win was the Cubs’ 15th in their last 23 games, and their first against the Pirates in four games this season.
Trade rumors swirled around the Cubs clubhouse before the game. Dempster appeared to be headed to the Braves, Matt Garza was being considered by the Dodgers and Paul Maholm was being scouted by teams, including the Pirates, his former club. Dempster spent much of the game next to Sveum in the dugout. Expect at least one Cubs player to be dealt by next Tuesday’s non-waiver Trade Deadline.
“There’s a possibility of everything,” Sveum said. “It’s that time of year. Something could come up at the 11th hour. It’s that time of year; when you have the commodities that people want, anything can happen at any given time. The odds of all three of them being gone, no. That’s very impossible odds.”
What were they talking about? Sveum claims the discussion was focused on the team’s NHL sweater trip, scheduled for Aug. 2. Does that mean Dempster will still be with the Cubs then?
“He’s here. That’s it,” Sveum said. “[The media has] to give that a rest.”
Sorry, but that won’t happen until Aug. 1. The Cubs are counting on the 27-year-old Samardzija, who needed 97 pitches to get through five innings in his last start, against the Marlins.
“When he has his split, and he’s keeping the ball down and using his two-seamer as well, he’s been really good,” Sveum said. “He’s a horse. Obviously, things will change after this year as far as all the innings and worrying about it. I know he doesn’t get too happy about it, but he knows the issues going in. He’s proven to everybody what he is, and that’s a starting pitcher. To have an outing like that against the hottest team in all of baseball, swinging the bats, is pretty impressive.”
The Cubs entered the game having not scored in their last 25 innings, and they were hitless and scoreless through the first three against lefty Erik Bedard (5-11). Starlin Castro walked to open the fourth and scored one out later on Soriano’s double into right-center to end the streak. Castro also scored on Soriano’s second double of the game, his 20th of the year.
Soriano almost got the day off. Sveum was considering a break for the veteran.
“I’m feeling good,” Soriano said. “We had a bad weekend in St. Louis, but we came back today and had a better game. Samardzija pitched an incredible game, and we got the first one [in the series]. I hope tomorrow we play like we did tonight and we can win the series tomorrow.”
The Cubs have three pitchers in play for trades; Dempster, Garza & Malholm. There is no way in hell all four will get traded. As we discovered yesterday rumors of Dempster’s relocation were greatly exaggerated. According to everyone I could find the rumors began in Atlanta because, as we all know, lying to the pubic is the best way to earn their trust. Dempster is allegedly furious about the whole thing. Which would seem, given the control he has over where he goes, to eliminate Atlanta from any serious contention.
Good move Braves!
The Cubs are in no mood just to dump anyone either. If they don’t get the package they want they may offer extensions instead of plane tickets. That could make them very interesting very soon.
On the Southside no one seems interested in making the playoffs via the wild card. For those who bemoan the fact that they fell out of first this past weekend please keep in mind only three teams in history have gone wire to wire in first place and then won the World Series; the Yankees, the Tigers and the White Sox. In other words, every other team that’s won it all hasn’t done it. In some cases they haven’t even sniffed first place during the season. Simply put, Chillax my bruthas.
Yeah, I said it.
Anyway, Cash Kruth was at the game yesterday and watched as the team decided to win even if Gavin Floyd was pitching.
In May, the questions were about why the White Sox couldn’t win at home.
On Monday afternoon, the concern was a floundering offense.
By the time Monday’s third inning rolled around, the White Sox proved their lack of concern was justified.
Paul Konerko, Adam Dunn and Alex Rios each homered and right-hander Gavin Floyd spun a quality start in his return from the disabled list, as the White Sox beat the Twins, 7-4, at U.S. Cellular Field.
The win snapped the club’s five-game losing streak, a skid that dropped the White Sox behind the Tigers in the American League Central. The victory was just the fourth in the last 12 games for the White Sox.
“When we swing it like that, we’re pretty good,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “Again, it’s one of those where you go through a tough stretch and a night like tonight you hope carries over.”
Although the White Sox remain in second place, they showed Monday their offensive struggles of the last 10 games—in which they hit only .228 and averaged 3.1 runs per game—were an aberration.
“You’ve heard it a thousand times: hitting’s contagious,” Dunn said. “Hopefully it carries over, but obviously you’re not guaranteeing anything.”
Chicago’s powerful lineup chased Twins starter Francisco Liriano (3-10, 5.31 ERA) after 2 2/3 innings, as the middle of the White Sox order pounded the left-hander. Konerko hit a three-run home run in the first inning, his first homer since June 29 in New York.
Dunn hit a two-run homer in the third, taking Liriano deep to dead center. It was Dunn’s 29th homer, putting him in sole possession of the Major League lead, one ahead of Texas’ Josh Hamilton.
Rios followed Dunn’s homer with his own two-run shot, launching Liriano’s offering deep into the left-field seats. Rios is hitting .376 with seven home runs and 21 RBIs in his last 23 games.
Liriano was removed two batters later, allowing seven runs on seven hits. Left-hander Brian Duensing held the White Sox to three hits in four innings of scoreless relief.
“He got the ball up, and they made him pay. These guys can do that very well,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of Liriano. “We’ve seen them hit like this before. That’s a bunch of guys that when you make a mistake, that’s what’s going to happen.”
White Sox leadoff hitter Alejandro De Aza—who entered hitting only .180 in his last 14 games—had three hits and stole a base as the White Sox won at U.S. Cellular for the ninth time in their last 11 games.
The South Siders’ recent play in Chicago—18-9 in their last 27 games—is in stark contrast from how they began the season at their home ballpark, going 7-13 in their first 20 games there. Monday’s crowd of 37,788—the second-largest of the season, behind only Opening Day—also provided quite the home-field advantage.
Floyd (8-8, 4.46), who was on the disabled list with right elbow tendinitis, earned the win by allowing three runs (two earned) and walking six in six innings. He showed rust early, throwing 27 pitches in the first, 17 in the second and allowing a run in each inning, but settled down in the middle innings.
Sloppy play behind Floyd hampered the right-hander in the fifth and sixth innings. A throwing error by De Aza allowed a run to score in the fifth, while third baseman Kevin Youkilis was charged with two errors—one fielding and one throwing—on a play in the sixth. The three errors were a season high for the White Sox, who had committed only one in their last nine games.
Despite the three miscues, the defense was mainly Floyd’s friend. The White Sox turned five double plays for the first time since twisting six on Aug. 7, 2009, and shortstop Alexei Ramirez made a leaping, run-scoring catch in the ninth.
The Twins tied a franchise record by hitting into those five double plays.
“All our guys realize we can play defense,” Ventura said. “Those two in the middle [second baseman Gordon Beckham and Ramirez] did a great job of getting ground balls and getting Gav out of some situations where, if they get through or you don’t get those double plays, it’s a different kind of game.”
Minnesota’s Ryan Doumit homered in the eighth off right-hander Jesse Crain before Brett Myers made his White Sox debut, retiring the lone batter he faced.
The team pulled off five double plays last night. Without them this is a very different game.
On the plus side, with the signing of Myers the Sox now possess the most evil facial hair in baseball. That’s got to count for something.
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Yesterday I was waiting for the train to take me home. A young, African-American, gentleman walked past me, said hello, and went to use the public restroom. So far so normal. He came out of the bathroom a few minutes later wearing a micro-mini, a waist length dread-lock wig, stiletto heeled boots and fishnets. Not nearly as normal as I’d originally thought. He(?) then pulled out a pink cell phone and proceeded to confirm his(?) date with someone named Nick. My first fear was that he(?) was calling our blogger Nick, who has been known to stray from more conventional paths, but those fears were allayed when I heard him(?) say “I know what you mean, I hate sports too.”
Our Nick’s love of sports is only surpassed by his love of the many wild game offerings at Hot Doug’s and midget porn.
Yes you can mix wild game and midget porn, but please be careful and read the instructions carefully.
Anyway, none of this is what I came here to write about today. Nay I say unto thee, I came instead to talk of some incredible records that are popping up around us.
Let’s take a look at one record that’s developing right in front of our eyes and no one with an active brain cell thinks it’s real. Yet, here it is, The Cubs are on place to not only restore some personal dignity but to actually make the playoffs. And, yes, I’m aware of their record.
Cash Kruth takes a cautious peek at what’s happening on the Northside.
Sometime soon, the Cubs will trade their valuable assets and build toward the future.
Until those deals happen, the 25 players on Chicago’s roster figure they’ll do everything they can to prove the Cubs aren’t as bad as much of the first half indicated.
On Thursday, they once again did a pretty darn good job.
Cubs left-hander Paul Maholm tossed eight innings of one-run ball and left fielder Alfonso Soriano’s solo home run sparked a four-run fifth, as the Cubs beat the Marlins, 4-2, on Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
The victory improved the Cubs to 14-5 in their last 19 games, the best record in the Majors since June 25. It also capped a 5-1 homestand coming out of the All-Star break, giving Chicago wins in 10 of its last 12 at Wrigley Field.
All of that from a team in sell mode as the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline nears.
“This team is obviously pretty good,” said outfielder Reed Johnson, who went 2-for-4 and made a diving catch in the eighth inning. “We’ve played some tough games and had some really good results of late, so hopefully it shows we’re not as far away as we thought we were.”
Thursday’s recipe was similar to the Cubs’ last 19 games: Solid starting pitching and timely hitting.
Maholm (8-6, 4.09 ERA) scattered five hits while walking one and striking out four. His lone blemish came in the sixth inning, when Marlins pinch-hitter Donovan Solano led off with a triple and scored on center fielder Emilio Bonifacio’s groundout to second.
The left-hander earned his fourth straight win, trying a career high accomplished three times previously, including April 21-May 9 this season. He has a 0.89 ERA in that span.
“When your starters are going out there giving up one or none for six, seven innings, and the back end of that bullpen is doing their job, that’s going to lead to a lot of wins,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said.
Marlins left-hander Mark Buehrle (9-9, 3.29)—the former White Sox pitcher making his first start in Chicago since signing with Miami this offseason—equaled Maholm through the first four innings before getting hit hard in the fifth.
Soriano led off the inning by launching Buehrle’s 2-2 fastball into the left-field bleachers for the game’s first run. It was Soriano’s 18th homer of the season and 150th as a Cub. He is the 13th player in club history to reach that milestone.
Right fielder Jeff Baker followed with a single, catcher Geovany Soto walked and second baseman Darwin Barney also singled to load the bases. Third baseman Luis Valbuena lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center, scoring Baker and advancing both Soto and Barney. After Maholm struck out, Johnson hit a two-out, two-run single.
“Soriano’s home run was huge,” Sveum said. “Obviously he was pitching well, and then to come back and Reed Johnson’s two-out base hit to left field was kind of the backbreaker for Buehrle.”
Solano pinch-hit for Buehrle in the sixth, as the lefty was removed after allowing four runs on six hits as his four-game winning streak was snapped. Despite being 10-18 against left-handed starters this season, the Cubs have now won six of their last seven, and seven of their last nine such contests.
“Today, it seemed like it was a close game for the first four innings, and then they scored some runs, and the crowd was kind of into it a little bit,” said Buehrle, who lost to the Cubs for the first time since June 22, 2007.
Johnson, who shifted to right field in the eighth inning, also made a diving catch in the right-center field gap in the top of the eighth. Shortstop Starlin Castro climbed the ladder to rob Jose Reyes of a hit in the sixth, while Soriano made a nice running catch in the fourth.
“It was huge. I’m sure if that gets by him, I’m probably done,” Maholm said of Johnson’s catch. “Whenever he hit it, I kind of gave up in my mind that he just got a triple. Reed, obviously, is a very good defensive outfielder and made an unbelievable catch.”
Cubs closer Carlos Marmol allowed one run in the ninth before converting his 10th straight save opportunity.
The Cubs now leave the Friendly Confines and travel to St. Louis, where they begin a three-game series with the Cardinals on Friday and look to continue to ride their momentum.
“Obviously at the beginning of the year, it was going in the other direction for us,” Johnson said. “We had losing streaks and we were trying too hard to get out of those losing streaks that we kept going in the wrong direction. When you’re winning ballgames, you want to keep that good feel, and I think that’s what’s going on.”
Let’s take a step back from reality and play some “what if” for a minute. Dempster is gone. All that is being discussed now is what the Cubs get in return. Let’s say they get a couple of major league ready guys. Not Dempster level players, but a couple of decent arms they can keep for a couple of years while they develop their farm system. With their current hitting and defense that might be enough to keep them competitive. And, as constituted, there is no reason the Cubs can’t become the first team to hold a .700 winning percentage for two or more consecutive months. Which would put them in the playoffs. Which would make this city rock.
Which would earn me beer.
I’m a tad target focused when it comes to beer.
On the Southside a record was broken. It was a record I didn’t know existed. Jose Quintana pitched 8 shut out innings and lost or got a no-decision for the third time this year. That is the first time that has happened to a pitcher since 1900 when they began paying attention to stuff like that. Scott Merkin was at the game and poured a bottle of cheap tequila down Quintana’s throat. It was the humane thing to do.
At the point of impact, Addison Reed took a few steps toward home plate and then gave a cursory look over his right shoulder.
Cody Ross delivered his signature bat flip, the same one he had enacted a couple of times the night before.
Regardless of the tone or nature of their actions, both the White Sox closer and the Red Sox hero realized this ninth-inning drive was long gone.
Ross connected for his 16th home run with one out and two on, erasing a White Sox advantage and giving the Red Sox a 3-1 walk-off victory on Thursday night before a frenzied 38,413 faithful at Fenway Park. It was a game where the White Sox (50-42) certainly played well enough to win, but they didn’t quite do enough to prevent their third loss in four games to the Red Sox (48-45) and first series setback since losing two of three at home to the Cubs from June 18-20.
This punch-to-the-gut result seemingly increased the drama for the end of the White Sox 10-game road trip to start the second half that has them currently standing at 3-4, with a trip to Comerica Park on the docket for this weekend. The red-hot Tigers (49-44) have moved to within 1 1/2 games of first place in the American League Central.
But the White Sox have been in this position before. In fact, they suffered the same sort of walk-off heartbreaker against the Tigers on May 4 when Jhonny Peralta took Matt Thornton deep. So, resiliency once again needs to be a trademark of the division leaders.
“Just like we’ve done all year,” said Reed, who suffered his third blown save in 18 opportunities. “Forget about it and go out there tomorrow and it’s a huge game. It’s us and Detroit right now battling for first. So hopefully we’ll go in there and sweep the series.”
“Those are games that sting,” said White Sox manager Robin Ventura of his team’s fourth walk-off loss this year. “But by the time we get to Detroit, we’ll be ready to go.”
Ventura has been praised for the calm, cool and collected way he has run this team, both in good times and bad. The first-year manager will have more than his share of second-guessers for the way the White Sox ninth inning was handled at Fenway.
Rookie Jose Quintana was brilliant once again, hurling eight shutout innings, while giving up five hits, striking out two and not issuing a walk. Three of those hits came in the seventh, when the Red Sox loaded the bases with one out, but Quintana induced a double-play grounder from Will Middlebrooks as the culmination of an eight-pitch at-bat to preserve the White Sox one-run lead.
At 103 pitches, though, Ventura decided to go to his bullpen to start the ninth. Instead of starting with his closer, Ventura turned to left-hander Thornton to counteract the left-handed bats of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez up first and third in the inning.
“You can go back out there with him, but you are eventually going to go to those guys anyway if he gets in trouble. So you go to the guys who are fresh,” Ventura said. “He did his job and he got out of some tough spots. So, that’s my call to take him out and bring somebody else in.”
“That’s the manager’s choice,” said Quintana through translator and White Sox manager of cultural relations Jackson Miranda. “It’s one of those that this is going to happen. It won’t be the first or the last time. It’s just something that some days you have some good outings and some days you don’t. You have to go out there and keep playing.”
Thornton gave up a leadoff single to Crawford, and after third baseman Eduardo Escobar’s double-clutch cost the White Sox a double-play on Dustin Pedroia’s grounder, Gonzalez singled to right on a 0-2 pitch. Ventura replaced Thornton with Reed, and three pitches later, Ross delivered.
“I want to be the guy up every time in that situation. I always have my whole life,” Ross said. “I just like that pressure and I like just being there in the moment. I can’t really compare it to anything. It’s just a great feeling especially when you come though and you’re a hero. There’s no better feeling.”
“It was supposed to be a fastball away and it sailed over the plate and he got a good piece of it,” Reed said. “He’s been hot this whole series and it was a bad pitch and he hit it. It’s unfortunate. Quintana threw his [butt] off and there’s nothing else he could have done. He did everything. It [stinks] we didn’t come out with a win.”
Alfredo Aceves (1-6) earned the win in relief of Clay Buchholz, who gave up one run over eight innings. Quintana’s three starts of eight scoreless innings or more this season are tied for second behind a group of seven pitchers at four, including Detroit’s Justin Verlander.
Verlander was the last rookie hurler to have at least three outings of eight scoreless innings or more in 2006. On Friday, Verlander tries to bring the Tigers one step closer to first place in the series opener.
Jake Peavy gets the call for the White Sox. Peavy left Boston to arrive in Detroit early on Thursday, and despite an airport delay, probably was in flight when the Red Sox claimed victory. It will be easy for him to forget the celebration his teammates witnessed.
“We are going to come back and play,” Ventura said. “This team is resilient.”
Moving forward, teams that beat the Tigers do one thing and do it often. Ground balls to first and third. Barring a miracle over 80% of them end up in the outfield. They have the worst corner defenders I have ever seen. After that everything falls into place.
Just keep pounding them out and letting Adam Dunn be the base-running threat he has morphed into.
Did I really write that?
Worse yet, is it really true?
Oh hell, it’s bourbon o’clock somewhere and that’s good enough for me.
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