Category: Chicago Cubs

Land-o-Links – 5/24/2006

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Bulls, Chicago Cubs, Land-o-Links, Major League Baseball, NBA Basketball, Random Thoughts, SportsLeave a comment

Soul Patrol! Taylor Hicks is taking it home tonight. Until then, here are the links for the day:

1) Report Says High Gas Prices Not Caused by Gouging – Really? Gas prices fluctuate according to the normal rules of supply and demand as opposed to being controlled by the Pentaverate consisting of the oil companies, Karl Rove, the Queen, the Vatican, and Col. Sanders? I still don't believe it.

2) Three 6 Mafia to Peform During WWE's 'Smackdown' – Let's take a look at that Oscar scoreboard again: Three 6 Mafia 1, Martin Scorsese 0.

3) Thomas, Aldridge – or Maybe a Trade? – Isiah Thomas is the gift that keeps on giving. With the Bulls securing the #2 pick in this year's NBA Draft, we're guaranteed either Tyrus Thomas or LaMarcus Aldridge to fill our need for size or there's still the possibility of parlaying this pick into a trade for Kevin Garnett. Now, if we can only get Isiah to taking over the coaching reigns in New York, we can send Greg Oden a non-refundable plane ticket from Columbus to Chicago for June 2007.

And finally…

4) Another Win Bites the Dust – How many more blown saves will it take for Ryan Dempster to achieve LaTroy Hawkins status? I say another 2 and he's there.

Feeling Punchy Today?

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Major League Baseball, NBA Basketball, Sports4 Comments

A few thoughts on the world of sports from the past few days:

1) Punchless Cubs – I'll spare everyone an excessively long diatribe on Michael Barrett's cheap shot on A.J. Pierzynski. However, I will point out that I enjoy the North Side spin that this will somehow fire up the Cubs, as if having their starting catcher and best hitter since Derrek Lee's injury getting slammed with a suspension that could run a week or more is going to do a lot to "fire up" an already putrid offense. Just what the Cubs needed – Henry Blanco and his .051 batting average while the Cubs play Atlanta this weekend and then 16 straight NL Central games after that! Plus, regardless of team allegiances, the sight of Neifi Perez as a cleanup hitter should be mortifying to any baseball fan. Look, I know A.J. is an asshole, but Cubs fans need to take a step back and look at how Barrett's groundless punch has the potential to sink that lineup into an even greater abyss at the worst possible time.

2) Sox and Hound – The thing I love about this White Sox team is that I expect them to make a comeback every time that they fall behind. Regardless of how large of a deficit, they always keep applying pressure to the opposition. Even after Frank Thomas returned to the Cell with revenge on his mind with two homers (for a guy hitting under .200) that would have sucked the life out of a lesser team, the Sox pressed back and won on a suicide squeeze play executed perfectly by Pablo Ozuna in the 10th inning. Great teams make those types of great plays.

3) Great NBA Playoffs, But No More Bron-Bron – I haven't enjoyed watching the NBA Playoffs this much since the Jordan Era. The Mavericks pulling it out in overtime over the Spurs in game 7 last night was a fitting end to a classic series. This sets up a Mavs/Suns Western Conference Finals matchup, where the over/under on total points per game is going to be 300. However, I was disappointed in LeBron James and the Cavs failing to get a defensive rebound for the last minute of Game 6 against the Pistons on Friday night. That guaranteed that Cleveland's Curse of MJ Making Craig Ehlo His Bitch would continue for another year – everyone who watched that meltdown on Friday instantly foresaw the Pistons' throttling of the Cavs in Sunday's Game 7. I have no personal love for the Cavaliers, but as a basketball fan I relished the prospect of LeBron facing up Dwyane Wade and Shaq in a best-of-7 series. I'll just have to take comfort in the fact that we're not going to see a snore-inducing repeat of a Pistons/Spurs NBA Finals. Regardless, this postseason proves that the NBA is back this year.

The Beauty of Being a Sox Fan This Weekend

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Major League Baseball, SportsLeave a comment

Since the days of the old Windy City Classic exhibitions where the White Sox and Cubs (or at least a bunch of their minor leaguers a la Michael Jordan playing for the Sox at Wrigley back in 1994) would play each other for charity to the advent of interleague play, there was always one thing in common with all of those games: Sox fans cared a whole lot more about winning those matches than Cubs fans.

I don't need to go into too much detail about the well-worn stories of the historic inferiority complex of Sox fans compared to our cuddly neighbors to the north with their gem of a ballpark and superstation-fueled national fanbase. I'll sum up those dark ages in this fashion: few things would get my blood-boiling more than traveling out-of-town, mentioning to someone that I was from Chicago, and then having that person ask about what I thought of the "Cubbies," to which I would retort something rhyming with that the team could go chuck themselves. It was the ignorance of general public believing that everyone from Chicago loved the Cubs that was more maddening to me than anything else. Since the Sox were more often than not out of the pennant race by June, beating the Cubs was the one thing that would matter for the entire year.

However, the Chicago Tribune's John Kass wrote a poignant column today which perfectly sums up how the baseball universe has turned since last October. We won the World Series, which pretty much washed away the outright bitterness that I always applied to these crosstown games. What matters more than beating the Cubs is staying ahead of Detroit (who is inexplicably crushing everyone this year) and Cleveland while making another run in October – and I can say that without a hint of B.S. Winning a World Series and having an even more talented team on paper the next season changes your perspective on things.

Meanwhile, what do Cubs fans have to look forward to? Watching the savior Kerry Wood get rocked for a homerun per inning in each of his outings? Hoping Derrek Lee comes back before they fall behind the Pirates in the NL Central standings? Praying that Mark Prior still has at least one or two functioning limbs? For the first time that I can recall, this crosstown weekend actually means more to Cubs fans than Sox fans. Sure, I still want the Sox to pummel the Cubs everytime in the same manner that I'd like to see the Bears beat the Packers or the Illini to oust Michigan, but the season doesn't hinge on this weekend anymore. For me, that's a beautiful thing.

A Tradition Unlike Any Other: Frank the Tank’s Random Weekend Thoughts

On By Frank the TankIn Big Ten, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Golf, Illinois Fighting Illini, Major League Baseball, NBA Basketball, Random Thoughts, Sports2 Comments

Random sports thoughts from the weekend:

1) Lefty Again – I was perplexed for a moment when I thought I saw Hootie Johnson, Jim Nantz, and Tiger Woods present the Green Jacket to Bartolo Colon in the Butler Cabin, but then I realized it was just Phil Mickelson. Seriously though, it was amazing to see Mickelson, who two years ago was golf's version of the Chicago Cubs, turn in such a dominating performance yesterday with a leaderboard filled with Tiger, Vijay Singh, Fred Couples, Retief Goosen, and Jose Maria Olazabel (one of the most underrated athletes in any sport) right behind him. The two best things about the Masters: (1) only 4 commercial breaks per hour with a limit of 2 commercials during each break and (2) when CBS jumps to "bonus coverage" of another hole, there isn't a shot of a coach taking a timeout to immediately go into another commercial break. As a result, I watched about 12 hours of golf this past weekend and the answer to your question is yes, I have no life.

2) Badgers and the Frozen Four – After watching Wisconsin beat Boston College in the Frozen Four to win the national championship in front of a virtual home crowd in Milwaukee, I believe that it's time for Illinois to make the leap to NCAA Division I hockey. One of these days, I'll write a long-winded and detailed rant on "How Bill Wirtz Fucked Up with Frank the Tank" explaining why I'm not an NHL fan and how the Blackhawks are dead to me, but when I was in college, going to Illini club hockey games was one of one of my favorite things to do on campus. Even though Illinois just had a club-level team, all of the games were packed with fans. Considering how popular the hockey teams are at the other Big Ten schools that have Division I programs, that hockey is typically the only sport other than football and men's basketball that consistently turns a profit for athletic departments, and the Assembly Hall can be turned into a rink for games, this seems to be a no-brainer for Illinois (although it seems that the rest of college hockey is petrified of the Big Ten forming its own hockey conference).

3) WTF, Bulls?! – The Bulls suffocated the Sixers last week in Philadelphia and the Sixers were reeling from losing another game on Friday night, so it would seem that the Bulls were destined to take a 2-game lead over Philly for the last Eastern Conference playoff spot on Saturday night in the rubber match in the comforts of the United Center, right? Well, I'll need to check the box score again to confirm this, but I believe that Allen Iverson made 5,000 straight jumpers along with 4,000 free throws in the third quarter while the Bulls shot 1-out-of-10,000,000. Believe me, if you think those numbers are bad, it looked a lot worse watching it live. So, there's now a tie for the last playoff spot with the Bulls needing to play the super-hot Nets on Tuesday. Just awful.

4) How Long is the Grace Period for the White Sox? – The Sox dropped 2 out of 3 to the Royals, which up until last week, when Kansas City voters passed a tax referendum to renovate Kauffman Stadium, was Candidate #1 of MLB Teams That Need to Move to Las Vegas. Supposedly, we're only one week into a five-year moratorium on complaining about a team after they've won a championship. Is everyone sure it isn't supposed to be a five-week moratorium instead?

5) Cubs – Cards vs. Yankees – Red Sox – Here's what I believe is the primary difference between Cubs – Cardinals rivalry and the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry (besides the "small" factor of actually winning the World Series recently): While the Cards could be equated with the Yankees in terms of success compared to their respective rivals, I've never met a Chicagoan that actually would ever willingly move to St. Louis (I'm not talking about heading to Wash U for college for 4 years – I mean permanent residence). I know I wouldn't. In contrast, the bemoaning of the constant failures of the Red Sox (up until 2004, of course) was an extension of the overall inferiority complex that Bostonians feel toward New York City. So, what's worse? Is it the Chicagoan that looks down upon St. Louis as an inferior city yet the Cubs maddeningly don't have anywhere near the history of success of their rube rivals (in football terms, subsitute "St. Louis" with "Green Bay" here)? Or is it the Bostonian that consistently feels inferior on both fronts? I'll leave you with that thought on your Monday morning.

2006 National League Preview

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Cubs, Major League Baseball, Sports5 Comments

Yesterday it was the American League. Today, let's check out the Senior Circuit. I'll have my predictions for the baseball postseason next week.

NL EAST

1) Atlanta Braves – The conventional wisdom was that the Mets would overtake the Braves last year, but the Atlanta rookies proved to be pretty much all studs. Even though they've only won one World Series during this unprecedented 16-year division winning streak the Braves organization and, in particular, manager Bobby Cox have proven that this is the premier franchise in baseball. Pretty much every key player is back, so I see no reason why they won't win the East again.

2) New York Mets – The Mets excel at making splashy signings to grab some New York tabloid headlines from the Yankees every winter (this season, enter in Billy Wagner), but they seem to be baseball's version of the Washington Redskins: they've got stars all around, yet the lack of chemistry and continuity from season-to-season means they spend the first couple of months of the year underachieving. By the time they turn it around, it's usually too late. Expect some lackluster results from the Mets again.

3) Washington Nationals – This is what happens when a team is actually run by Major League Baseball A.K.A. Bud Selig: they trade for by far and away the best offensive second baseman in baseball, yet decide to stick him in left field, where power hitters are a dime a dozen. Alfonso Soriano might have acquiesed to the switch for now, but how happy would you be if your new employer essentially slashed your salary potential by 20% by moving you to a different position? This isn't a good situation. Still, there's enough talent here for the Nats to make a decent showing. I wouldn't be surprised if this team ends up finishing ahead of the Mets.

4) Philadelphia Phillies – The over/under on the number of games before Philly fans start throwing batteries on the field is 3. They had their window of opportunity the last few years and they blew it. It's going to almost as ugly as…

5) Florida Marlins – … the Marlins' cicada-like cycle of destroying their team within 2 years of winning the World Series. Can you believe that only the Yankees have been more successful in the postseason over the past decade than this sorry-ass excuse for a franchise? The Yankees' spending doesn't make me sick, but the crap that the Marlins have pulled twice does.

NL CENTRAL

1) Chicago Cubs – No, this is not a typo by your favorite White Sox fan. The biggest thing here is that I love Juan Pierre. This guy is going to change the face of this offense for the better. Imagine what Derrick Lee's numbers are going to look like when he doesn't come up to the plate with the bases empty due to Corey Patterson's lack of anything. The Cubs would have done themselves a whole lot of good by signing Kevin Millwood or someone else comparable instead of continuing to chase the Healthy Wood and Prior Urban Legend, but the bullpen is vastly improved. Plus, this division won't be as strong this year.

2) Milwaukee Brewers – Not only do I believe that the Brew Crew is going to finish second in the division, but they're going to take the Wild Card as well (partly because the NL compared to the AL looks like the NFC compared to the AFC in the NFL right now). The Brewers have the most pitching depth in the division and premier power hitters in Carlos “El Caballo” Lee and Richie Sexson (UPDATE: I'm a dumb-ass; Sexson is with the Mariners now; substitute Geoff Jenkins' name here). This will be the team that makes the leap in baseball this season.

3) St. Louis Cardinals – The Cards had the best team in baseball on paper the last two seasons but weren't able to come up with a World Series win. I foresee a significant reduction in victories this season for an aging team, even if they do carry the best individual hitter in the NL in Albert Pujols and the best individual pitcher in the NL in Cris Carpenter.

4) Houston Astros – If Roger Clemens comes back, the Astros will grab the Wild Card. His presence gives them the premier starting rotation in the league. The offense is brutal, though, so if he doesn't come back to Houston, which is what I'm betting on, the Astros won't have enough strength to overcome their traditionally slow starts to the season.

5) Cincinnati Reds – Will Grant Hill, er, Ken Griffey Jr. be healthy all season? It won't matter, because this team really sucks.

6) Pittsburgh Pirates – Arrrrrrgh, me booty's the booty of the NL Central! Arrrrrrrrrrgh!!!

NL WEST

1) The Real World: San Francisco Giants – Coming up this season on the Barry Bonds reality show: With a halfway healthy Barry and Jason Schmidt, the Giants take this pathetic division with 82 wins. However, Barry has a steroid-induced fit with his 2005 replacement Pedro (Feliz) before the All Star break. In response, the members of the team vote to let Barry stay on the team but decide to take away his keys to the clubhouse.

2) The Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles – I picked the rest of these teams…

3) Colorado Rockies – … based on…

4) San Diego Padres – … how much…

5) Arizona Diamondbacks – … I like their uniforms.

Notwithstanding the NL West, I'm so ready for baseball!

Hot Stove League Review #2 – Cubs

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Cubs, Major League Baseball, Sports1 Comment

If you can’t tell already, I’m a White Sox fan without reservation, but I don’t really take any joy in the tepid review of the Cubs’ offseason moves that I’m about to provide.  Maybe a World Series victory has made taken the harshness out of my Sox Pride, but it really would be nice to see both Chicago clubs playing at the same time in October for once.

The thing is that the Cubs aren’t holding up their end of the bargain.  While Kenny Williams has been aggressively and impressively improving on a team that has already won the whole shebang on the South Side, Jim Hendry’s performance over the past couple of months on the North Side has been spotty at best.  He’s made one great trade, a few solid moves, and a number of questionable transactions so far this offseason.  Here’s my review:

1) Re-signing Ryan Dempster and Glendon Rusch – Solid keepers for the Cubs, particularly the durable Rusch.  I still have reservations as to whether Dempster can be a viable closer long-term, but I’d drag Rod “the Shooter” Beck back out of his trailer before touching LaTroy Hawkins ever again.

2) Re-signing Neifi Perez – Bleh!

3) Signing Scott Eyre and Bobby Howry – These were two good moves to shore up the awful Cubs bullpen.  Howry, in particular, was unstoppable for the Indians during the second half of 2005.  As for Eyre, any player whose ESPN.com scouting report for 2005 begins with how he resurrected his career after being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder gets a vote of confidence from me.

4) Trading for Juan Pierre – This was the biggest and best move that Jim Hendry has pulled the trigger on this offseason.  The Cubs’ inability to get their lead-off man on base over the last couple of years has caused the team to waste countless opportunities to blow open games early, especially with the pounding potential of Derrick Lee and Aramis Ramirez in the 3 and 4 spots in the batting order.  I’m so confident that Pierre will alleviate this problem that Vegas ought to be setting lines on whether Lee will win the Triple Crown in 2006 – if he came close last year, imagine what he could do when Pierre is consistently in scoring position during Lee’s at-bats.  This may be sacrilegious for me to say as a Sox fan, but I would take Pierre over Scott Podsednik in the lead-off spot any day of the week.  I love this move for the Cubs.

5) Signing Jacque Jones – On the heels of making a great move to improve the Cubs outfield, Jim Hendry made one of the worst transactions in all of baseball this offseason by signing Jacque Jones to a three-year contract.  First of all, as the Chicagoist pointed out, it makes no sense to sign an outfielder whose stats mirror the steep downward trend of Cubbie outcast Corey Patterson coupled with the exact same penchant to try to unsuccessfully jack homeruns as opposed to using his natural speed to get on base.  Second of all, the Cubs didn’t even bother calling Jeromy Burnitz to see if he wanted to come back, yet they signed Jones to a longer contract for more money even though Jones’ production over the last few seasons has been worse than Burnitz’s performance.  So, the Cubs essentially are locked into a downgrade in rightfield for three seasons and are paying more for it.  By May, you can count on Jones being the latest recipient of the boo-birds at Wrigley in the tradition of Patterson, LaTroy Hawkins, and Todd Hundley.  I can’t tell you how awful this move is for the Cubs.

6) Trading Corey Patterson – One hand is telling me that Corey is all of the sudden going to have a breakout season with the Orioles to fulfill the sky-high potential we’ve been hearing about for years.  On the other hand, not even this Sox fan could take another season of watching this guy in Wrigley.  The fact that Jim Hendry was able to trade Patterson for a six-pack of Natty Light ought to be sufficient.

Despite the relatively large quantity of moves by the Cubs, there are quite a few open holes that the team still needs to fill (and I’m not sure if those holes are going to be filled by Opening Day, if ever).  At this point, it looks Ronny Cedeno is going to be at shortstop, Jason Dubois will be in leftfield, and Neifi Perez (bleh!) is playing second base.  It would be one thing if the Cubs, who have the most financial resources in baseball after the Yankees and Red Sox, were starting just one of those players as a fill-in, but it’s unacceptable having one-third of the batting order going into the season as unproven question marks (or in the case of Perez, a proven black hole at the plate).

At the same time, I was surprised that the Cubs didn’t put out any feelers for A.J. Burnett or Kevin Millwood.  Ever since the Cubs were essentially proclaimed to have the greatest pitching staff ever on the cover of the 2004 Sports Illustrated baseball preview, we’ve seen the same cycle: Kerry Wood gets hurt in spring training, Mark Prior starts feeling something wrong in May and the club has to “shut him down” by June, and Greg Maddux continues to get slower and older.  Meanwhile, their previously unheralded South Side rivals were the ones who rode a great starting pitching staff to a world championship.  The Cubs can no longer use the excuse of how much better they would be if their starting pitchers were all healthy.  Their current starting pitchers will NEVER all be healthy at the same time, so the Cubs should have brought in someone else.  Jeez, the White Sox brought in Javier Vasquez as a SIXTH starting pitcher on a defending world championship team, yet the Cubs continue to stand pat with their underachieving pitching staff.

All in all, the Cubs have dramatically improved in the leadoff spot with Juan Pierre and have a stronger bullpen, but I’m really not impressed with their lack of moves with the starting pitchers and middle of the infield (plus Jacque Jones is going to be awful – I guarantee it).  The Cardinals are on a downward slope and Astros are not going to be a contender without Roger Clemens.  Unfortunately, as it currently stands, the Cubs won’t be able to take advantage of what will be a weaker NL Central in 2006.

My review of the baseball world outside of Chicago will be posted within the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, expect a Bears and NFL divisional playoff preview tomorrow.  Have a great day!