Tag Archives: Cubs

Z implodes then explodes, now missing

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Is this the last we've seen of Big Z? Hopefully.

After becoming only the third Cubs’ pitcher since 1955 to give up five home runs in a game Friday  night (seems like that number should be higher, doesn’t it?), Carlos Zambrano promptly—and very predictably—attempted to hit the next batter, Atlanta’s sure-Hall-of-Famer third baseman, Chipper Jones and was immediately ejected.

Soon after his cliché and immature overreaction, the Baby Bull lived up to the first half of his nickname and reportedly cleared out his locker while exclaiming to everyone in the vicinity that he was retiring.  Now he’s missing and all of Cubs Nation is holding their collective breath, hoping he doesn’t come back.

Amiable, yet incompetent, Cubs’ manager, Mike Quade, sounded as baffled and panicked as ever after the game:

His locker is empty. I don’t know where he’s at. He walked out on 24 guys that are battling their asses off for him. I don’t know where he’s gone or what he’s doing. I heard he’s retired, or talking about retiring.

Walking away from the nearly $24 million still owed him would be a surprising move for most humans, but it’s a plausible scenario for the erratic Zambrano. “We will respect his wishes and honor them and move forward,” said a giddy Cubs’ GM, Jim Hendry after the incident.

So is this finally the last we’ve seen of the spectacularly mediocre Carlos Zambrano?  Cubs’ fans can only hope.

Has the BP Cup lost it’s luster?

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Maybe it’s because both teams are below .500?  Maybe it was the lack of clutch hitting or the abundance of base-running blunders.  Maybe it was the uninspiring 36 combined runs scored between the two mediocre ball clubs over the six games (18 runs apiece). Maybe it’s the dubious sponsorship by a corporate pariah like BP? Or maybe it was just the weather?

Whatever it was, this year’s Crosstown Classic just didn’t seem to have the same intensity and pasion as previous years.  It started off with a wimper on the South Side when mid-week scheduling and biblical weather curbed attendance to all-time lows with the Monday night attendance of 36,005 at U.S. Cellular Field being the lowest in the 15-year history of the interleague series.  The rest of that series was characterized by relatively lifeless crowds never seen before at Cubs/Sox battle.

The holiday weekend series at Wrigley was virtually assured to see record crowds, and it did—drawing a Cubs’ season-high 42,311 on a sun-splashed Sunday afternoon and 125,962 over the three games, second only to the record-setting Yankees series last month. But I can tell you from sitting in the bleachers on Saturday there just wasn’t the same kind of passion or venom for the opposition from either side that had been so palpable in the past. Don’t get me wrong, everyone was into the game from the first pitch, the beer was cold and flowing and a good time was had by all, but the trash talk and back-and-forth between Cubs and Sox fans just seemed subdued to me.

Maybe it’s another sign that interleague play in its current form has run its course.  Maybe it’s time for the kind of radical realignment hinted at over recent week by Commissioner Bud “Admiral Akbar” Selig. Or maybe it’s time to go even further and put the Cubs and Sox in the same division so that these games actually mean something in the grand scheme of things instead of just deciding who gets a silly little trophy?

Ballpark Beer Shots

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Beer &  Baseball – is there a better combination in the world? Send us your ballpark beer shots thru Facebook and Twitter and we’ll post them on the blog. Our goal is to get one from every ballpark in the Majors. We’re off to a great start!

Wrigley Field — Rockies @ Cubs 06/27/11 by Peter Ribolzi

Dodger Stadium — Angets @ Dodgers 06/26/11 by Nick Kavalauskas

Coors Field — Tigers @ Rockies 06/18/11 by Ryan Smith

U.S. Cellular Field — Tigers @ White Sox 06/04/11 by Ryah Smith

Yankee Stadium — 09/04/10 Blue Jays @ Yankees by Sean Frangella

No future?

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Despite owning the first-place Milwaukee Brewers the last two nights, the Cubs hope to claim the dubious honor of becoming the final team in the majors to win three in a row this season.  I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to say it’s time to turn the page on this disastrous 2011 Cubs season and look toward the future.

But that’s where things get even more troubling for Cubs fans since there seems to be no real direction or plan from ownership and management.  I think Johnny Rotten had the same feeling about the fate of the British monarchy back in 1976: “No future!” (sorry, I know it’s a stretch, but I felt it was past time to throw in a seminal punk anthem on the blog).

Fingers are being pointed in every direction for the colossal failure by fans and media alike. There seems to be growing sentiment against new manager, Mike Quade, but he can only be accountable for what he does with the players he’s been given.  Pete and I witnessed him pull off an “according to Hoyle” miracle (have to throw in any Pulp Fiction reference whenever possible) Monday night when he beat a first place team with a Triple-A lineup replete with household names like Lou Montanez, Tony Campana, and French-rapper-turned-first-baseman, DJ LeMahieu. No, you can’t blame Quade for this mess, you’ve got to point the finger at the GM and the man paying him.

It’s still very early in his tenure and he seems like a genuinely nice guy, but owner Tom Ricketts doesn’t strike me as the next Mark Cuban who thinks of himself as a fan first and an owner second.  He hasn’t shown that he will do (i.e. spend) whatever it takes to win a world championship as Cuban has.  Ricketts seems far more concerned with the mystical Triangle Building—the most talked about geometric structure since the Pentagon—and getting his bison hot dogs into Wrigley than he does about the abysmal product he has on the field.

One could argue that Ricketts has been hamstrung by too many backloaded contracts for aging vets who are constantly injured or no longer producing (hey Alfonso, Aramis, Kosuke—are your ears burning?).  But the other major market teams (as the Cubs certainly should be considered) the Yankees and Red Sox have never let bad deals stop them from spending their way to the top.  They’ve simply spent more to overcome any bad decision or injury.

Even if Ricketts really doesn’t have the resources right now, which seems hard to believe, he still chose to retain the services of the architect of those criminally short-sighted deals that created the dire situation, Jim Hendry.  If Ricketts was truly concerned about winning he would have jettisoned Hendry as soon as he had the chance.  Instead he gave Hendry his vote of confidence thus endorsing perpetually schizophrenic decision making—vacillating between spending big money to win now and then capping spending to build for the future. Hendry’s fundamental flaw is that he has never been able to pick a lane and we are now seeing the results of his chronic indecision.

So is the plan to act like a major market club and spend what it takes to win, or build for the future? Cubs fans have been stuck in limbo for too long. Ricketts has to decide soon or there will be no future for Cubs fans to look forward to.

“We stinks”

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The problem wasn’t Pujols. The problem was the previous at-bat. We should know better than this. We played like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing, embarrassing for the team, for the owners, for the fans. Embarrassing. That’s the word for this team.

We should know better than this, we should know better than we did on the field. We should know that Ryan Theriot is not a good fastball hitter. We should know that as a team. We should play better here. We stinks. That’s all I’ve got to say.”

Wow Carlos, you said a mouthful.  Yes Carlos, you stinks.  Yes Carlos, the problem wasn’t Albert Pujols.  Yes Carlos, your teammate, Carlos Marmol, should have thrown a fastball instead of the slider Ryan Theriot deposited into the left field corner to blow the save and your win. Yes Carlos, you played like a Triple-A team.  Yes Carlos, this is embarrassing for the team, the owners, and the fans.  And yes Carlos, you should know better than this.

It’s hard to argue with any of the points you made to the media after the Cubs let Pujols beat them for the second-consecutive day on walk-off home runs [a little side note to add insult to injury: that just happens to be the first time that a National Leaguer has hit walk-off home runs in consecutive games since Ron Santo pulled it off for the Cubs in 1966—guh].

But Carlos, what you fail to understand is that those kind of comments to the media don’t help the situation.  Those truths are self-evident—so what is your point?  The only purpose your incendiary statements could possibly have is to add fuel to the funeral pyre of the 2011 Cubs’ season.

Despite your apology to Marmol today, it’s also clear  that, whether you meant it or not,  those comments are  burning the bridge between you and the entire Cubs Nation.  It’s time for a change. Everyone is sick of your antics and we’re ready to move on.

But the ball is in your court since you have a no-trade clause.  So go ahead, waive the clause and demand a trade.   You’ve actually got some trade value left and it’s obvious it’s time for the Cubs to rebuild and move on without you.

That’s all I’ve got to say.

Soriano—the best player in Chicago?

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Is this the best our city has to offer?

Before Pete creams his panties like the throngs of gravitationally-challenged lady fans in ill-fitting Konerko #14 jerseys all over the South Side (has anyone else noticed this disturbing fashion trend?), I’d like to point our that Paulie’s staggering 8 home runs is only the second highest total amassed by a player in the city of Chicago this season—and it’s a fairly distant second.

Believe it or not, Alfonso Soriano is leading the majors by going yard 11 times already.  Yes, that bungling butcher/money pit pictured on your left.  I couldn’t believe it myself when I emerged from my malaise brought on by the pathetic ball Chicago & Detroit fans alike have been subject to over the past week, and took some time to look at the league batting leaders.

Add to those 11 taters 21 RBI, 17 runs scored and a .919 OPS and you have arguably the best player in Chicago right now. His mediocre .267 average and pathetic .286 OBP are anything but impressive, but “Adolfo” (as the Dick  Stockton likes to call him—that guy still cracks me up) is pretty much the gold standard of Chicago baseball today.

Now before Pete leaps to his keyboard to rip my throat out in defense of his beloved #14, let me just point out I don’t say that with any sense of price—that’s just how awful this first month of the season has been for both sides of town.

While the streaky 35-year old (um… yeah, make that 38-year old) has done anything but live up to his criminal 8-year/$136M contract that has the Cubs hamstrung until 2014 (I just threw up in my mouth thinking about it again) at least he can hang his hat on this one temporary feat.  Congrats!  Sleep well tonight, Adolfo.

You win some, you lose some—literally!

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A brain scan proving the Cubs are clinically bipolar.

The good news: The Cubs won yesterday!

The bad news: The Cubs also lost yesterday.

The good news: The Cubs are in first place in the NL Central!

The bad news: So is half the division.

Following the Cubs is an exercise in ambivalence so far this season and no day exemplified those conflicting emotions better than yesterday’s day/night doubleheader split with San Diego.  Reed Johnson’s dramatic 11th inning homer stole an otherwise excruciating Game One from the Padres which featured a blown save by Carlos Marmol followed by two gut-wrenching innings from Jeff Samardzija who miraculously (and nauseatingly) stranded five base runners while using 49 pitches to get the hold.  The nightcap was basically the opposite kind of agonizing game, featuring a late-inning Cubs rally from a 4-0 deficit that fell short like a classic Jacque Jones “throw” from the outfield.  I think I could actually hear the air let out the Wrigley balloon from my Uptown condo as the game finally ended 5-4 to bring the Cubs back to their familiar .500.

The frustrating Northsiders are taking the old  proverb, “you win some, you lose some” to a whole new level.  Thus far, the Cubs have had records of 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8 and now 9-9 for the first time in history, setting a new standard for mediocrity.

While I want to be happy that they are winning games and are competitive in the division, their inconsistency is maddening. I really want to like this group of misfits led by the gregarious, cerebral and hairless Mike Quade, but it’s almost like having a girlfriend who suffers from a bipolar disorder (I’ve had a few in my time, none clinically diagnosed, but I’m pretty sure).  When it’s bad, it’s really bad.  When it’s good, it’s great, but you’re just waiting for the next ridiculous melodrama to unravel before your eyes.

We’re not quite a month in, but I think it’s pretty clear this club is going to hover around .500 for the duration. Fortunately, they reside in an equally average division which should actually keep things interesting for the next few months. I guess I’m just a sucker for drama.

South Side Identity Crisis?

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Chicago Sun Times writer, Joe Cowley declared it this past Winter and we all laughed.  But now that Spring has finally arrived, the signs are all pointing to it being true.  The peculiar sights of empty seats at Wrigley Field juxtaposed against packed houses at U.S. Cellular Field confirm it—Chicago is clearly a Sox town.

It became obvious the pendulum had swung on Opening Day when I was able to walk up to Wrigley mere minutes before the first pitch and purchase a ticket without a problem.  There really wasn’t even much of a line to speak of.  What used to be the toughest ticket in town is now going for as little as $2.00 on StubHub. Meanwhile, business is booming as loud as the bats on the South Side. Opening Day was a complete sellout a full week prior to game day.

But this newfound popularity must be a bit unsettling for a fan base that has always prided itself on being the underdog, it’s second-class status, or, as my cohort so eloquently put it, being “the red-headed stepchild” of Chicago baseball.  It has thrived on bitterness and anger towards a world that has rejected them for all these decades, possibly since the Black Sox Scandal of 1919.  So now that that sense of rejection has been replaced by the warm embrace of the greatest baseball city in the world, there must be a void where that anger and venom once fueled the passionate and infamous “Sox Pride.”  Without it, how do Sox fans define themselves in this South Side golden era?

Further complicating matters, those same annoying hipsters that once crowded the Friendly Confines are now flocking down to 35th and Shields, descending like a plague on the hot new place to see and be seen, creating long lines at concession stands and urinals throughout a once serene ballpark.  Supply and demand will dictate higher ticket prices.  Wasted douchebags on cellphones behind home plate are waving at the TV camera while hot chicks pop bubblegum and twirl their hair—all completely oblivious to the action on the field. The standard boilerplate complains about Wrigley and Cubs fans are becoming the reality on the South Side.

So you’ve got to face it, Sox fans—like Ronald Miller in the  classic ’80s movie, Can’t Buy Me Love, you’re the popular kid in school now, that same popular kid you’ve loathed for all these years yet secretly wanted to be.  So now that you’ve made it, how does it feel to look in the mirror and realize you’ve become the very thing you hate the most?

All in: PV’s 2011 Predictions

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The magic crystal baseball says...

Let me look into my crystal baseball for this year’s prediction…

I’m as excited as Smitty to be writing about baseball again, and luckily the off-season was busy enough to write an article here and there. I spent most of the off-season basking in the glow of how accurate I was in predicting things last season. The White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers kept me from perfection in the preseason predictions, but nothing kept me from perfection in the playoffs. Let’s not forget that I had accurately picked the Giants to be in the World Series in May.

As Smitty pointed out in his post yesterday, it’s been an interesting off-season with signings, blow-ups, and something more serious, concussions. All the drama of the off-season will be answered by October, and for some teams will be answered by June.

AL East Division Champions: Boston Red Sox
While the Boston Red Sox seem to be the clear-cut favorites by making the biggest splash this off-season with the signings of Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Bobby Jenks let’s not forget about a team on the rise, the Toronto Blue Jays. I’ve forgotten about the Yankees already, as they keep getting older and less talented. Where Boston failed to improve was starting pitching, but it won’t be enough to keep them from winning the division with their All-Star offense. The Yankees have a strong chance of finishing behind the Blue Jays this year, with no true fourth and fifth starters. It never works in Chicago and it certainly will not work in the AL East. We’re shipping up to Boston!

AL Central Division Champions: Chicago White Sox
I’ve never been happier with the White Sox front office. Making all the right moves for the team and releasing dead weight, Bobby Jenks and Scott Linebrink aka Linestink, to improved the bullpen. They signed Adam Dunn and Jesse Crain (ex-Twin and proven set-up man), and resigned Paul Konerko and AJ Pierzynski. It looks like Jake Peavy will be back in the rotation by the end of April, and all should be well with the White Sox. For the Minnesota Twins to repeat they need a lot of things to go well for them, including Justin Morneau to return to form post concussion and for Joe Mauer to hit more than one home run at Target Field. I’m also not convinced that the 70′s porn mustache of Carl Pavano will continue to baffle AL Central hitters. The White Sox this year truly have the makings of a World Series ball club.

AL West Division Champions: Texas Rangers
How you cannot pick the Rangers to win this division is beyond me? Not only do they have young proven arms from last season, they also have a young proven offense from last season. To me this adds up to an AL West laugher. Everyone’s waiting for the Josh Hamilton implosion or the first trip to the DL for Nelson Cruz, not sure you should be counting on that. The Rangers prove what a good front office can do for you, and while I enjoyed the book Moneyball it doesn’t win you championships, it only wins you divisions. Money wins you championships and Oakland does not have it, and the Angels and Mariners are in a state of flux.

AL Wild Card: Toronto Blue Jays
I love the look of this team, they have a stable of young arms that will watch their ERA’s take a dive under four this season and they have more than enough pop to give the Red Sox a run for their money. I don’t think anyone expects Jose Bautista to hit 54 home runs again, but he will be in the 40′s along with 30-plus candidates Adam Lind and Travis Snider.

NL East Division Champions: Philadelphia Phillies
Best regular season rotation ever assembled, however the post season for many of the veteran Philly staff has not been friendly. So, while I think they’ll have no problems winning the division I do not see a World Series in their future. This older veteran staff pitched a lot of innings last year and will be worn down by October. As far as offense goes, well it’s hard to tell if the Braves have a better offense than Philly. I’ll say this, if Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins are not in 2009 form the Phillies will have some problems, but not enough to derail a 95 win season.

NL Central Division Champions: Milwaukee Brewers
I was a year early when I picked the Brewers last season, but this is their year. Zack Greinke will return from his rib injury to lead a staff that has been improved by his addition and Shawn Marcum. Let’s not forget that Prince Fielder is in a contract year, which will lead to numbers that will surpass Albert Pujols this season. Let’s talks about Albert Pujols for a minute, I see an injury in his future. I can’t support the Reds because of the Dusty Baker factor, and with injuries to the Cardinals pitching staff; well they will not be there. As for the Cubs, well I’ll give them credit for not putting Carlos Silva in the rotation but this team is a year away from competing again. I have a feeling next year, I’ll have the Chicago Cubs in bold, be patient, a solid nucleus is forming.

NL West Division Champions: San Francisco Giants
Why are both West divisions so weak? They are always the hardest division to predict since they are all kind of the same team. The Giants fresh off a World Series victory should prevail with the best young rotation in baseball. I’m going to stick with the Giants here despite the recent news of that Brian Wilson may not be available for the opener and Cody Ross’s strained calf muscle. As for Smitty stating the Giants were “lucky,” well they won 92 games last season, I would hardly call that lucky. That’s nine more wins than St. Louis had when they EMBARRASSED THE TIGERS. In 2008, the Phillies won 92 games; no one accused them of barely making the playoffs.

NL Wild Card: Atlanta Braves
A solid rotation and an improved offense make the Braves all but a shoe-in for this spot.

World Series: Chicago White Sox over the Atlanta Braves in 7
Ozzie will square off against his old team one year too late. What a great story it would have been for Ozzie to manage against mentor Bobby Cox. That series probably would have had the most ejections in World Series history, instead the Sox and Braves will battle to the brink with the White Sox clinching game seven at home because the AL will win the All-Star game this year. I feel dumber for having to type that an exhibition game decides home field advantage in the playoffs, but that’s another article for another day.

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton, TEX

AL Cy Young: John Danks, CHI

NL MVP: Prince Fielder, MIL

NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, SF

 


Cubs Wish List?

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I found an interesting note in my inbox from the Cubs this morning.  For the “FIRST TIME EVER”, the Cubs are selling 4-game Holiday Gift Packs that start as low as $92*.  Looks like Ricketts are really starting to make their mark on the franchise with fan-friendly deals like this. Seems like a good PR move to throw the fans a bone considering the team is not going to be very good next year and they just proposed taking state money to renovate Wrigley Field (which, incidentally, I’m not totally against, but that’s the subject for another post).

But then that little * after the $92 caught my eye so I started looking for the fine print.  That price applies to one pack IF you purchase two.  So it’s really $184 for eight Upper Deck Reserved Outfield seats.  That’s fine, I wouldn’t want to buy just one pack anyway—no biggie.  But then I started doing some math—not my strong suit, but this seemed easy enough.  That’s $23 per ticket.  Being an almost exclusively bleacher-bound Wrigley attendee, I wasn’t sure what an Upper Deck Reserved Outfield seat usually cost so I looked it up.  To my astonishment, Upper Deck Reserved Outfield seats went for as low as $8 (for the shit games on Mondays or Tuesdays against teams like the Pirates that no one cares about) and only as high as $22 for “Platinum Dates.” Wait a minute, am I missing something?

At this point I had to take a deep breath and think. Maybe the games are better than platinum?  But what’s better than platinum?  Apparently, the Cubs believe shit is because that’s what they’re shoveling.  Of the 28 dates between the 7 different Holiday Pack plans, 23 are April or September dates which are virtually guaranteed to be the coldest and least meaningful months to go to a Cubs game in 2011.  21 of 28 are Mon, Tues, or Wednesdays. Not a single White Sox, Cardinals or inter-league game is included in any pack. Mostly mediocre games vs. the Diamondbacks and Padres appear instead.

Charging a buck more than the face value of the best possible games while offering mostly bad dates against mediocre opponents must mean there is some kind of an added bonus, right?   Right!

As an added bonus, upon completion of your Holiday Pack order, you will have the chance to purchase Cubs Dollars at a discounted rate. Cubs Dollars can be used to purchase souvenirs and concessions inside of Wrigley Field and would make the perfect compliment to tickets for any Cubs game.

Wow. Thanks. I guess that “discounted rate” means I can get my dollar back when I buy a foam finger or cotton candy. But I’m not really sure, I can only find out what that part of the “deal” is after I spend at least $184 plus the minimum amount I can spend on your crappy Cubs cash.

But I think their marketing campaign irks me the most.  If I made a Cubs wish list, there’s only one thing I’d put on it.