Author: Teddy Ballgame

The White Sox were ready to play when the Cubbies strongest rival came to town. It was weird to see this strange red foe on the Southside of Chicago. There really isn’t any history between the two clubs, so it was hard to know what to feel upon seeing Cardinal fans wearing their 2005 “whatever they were champion of” apparel. As the track record would indicate Sox starter Javier Vazquez surrendered a first inning run, but that wasn’t going to hold up. Mark Mulder was the Card hurler and to say he’s been struggling would be a vast understatement. The White Sox got it going in the bottom of the 3rd and before the dust had cleared there were 11 runs on the board, even Brian Anderson got an RBI double to right center. Just in case there was any doubt, Sidney Ponson was brought on to face the onslaught in the 6th inning, he hit two batters in a row, was thrown out of the game, and the Sox plated six more runs, making the score 19-2. The guy, who cleans up spilled popcorn (not all mine) behind the plate where we stand, came up to me and sez, “No good, no twenty, only 19”. In the 7th inning after Joe Crede launched a bomb to LF, he came back smiling and exclaimed, “Twenty!” David Riske got revenge by nailing Chris Duncan with a pitch, guess he won’t be farmed out. Duncan got a little revenge of his own for the Redbirds by launching a 9th inning long ball. But the four 9th inning runs scored by St. Louis didn’t mean a whole lot, final score 20-6!!!

Why’d the Phillie skipper bring Arthur Rhodes into a game against the Yankees? Rhodes has a career record against the Bronx Bombers of 4-8 with an ERA of 7.22 in 81 innings of work. But Arthur was summoned to protect a two run lead, you guessed it, a two run loss was the result. The lefty got nobody out, surrendering three hits and walking one, and was charged with four runs.

I guess I never gave it much thought, but being a White Sox fan why would I? Even though Wrigley Field has been around since 1914 (originally built for the Whales of the Federal League), the Cubs have never won a Championship while playing at the Friendly Confines. Their last title was in 1908, quickly closing in on the 100 year mark, anybody can have a bad century now & then. Last night while the Cubs were experiencing a rain delay in Cleveland, Comcast Chicago ran a feature about their old ballpark, West Side Ballpark. The Cubbies played their first 23 years in old West Side Ballpark, which was located where County (John Stroger) Hospital’s parking lot now currently sits. West Side Ballpark was very near a hospital, patients would complain about the noise. Beyond the leftfield wall was where the psych ward was, which is where the term, “out of leftfield” might have come from. Maybe that also explains some of the genealogy of Cub fans today.

Check out what the Tribune had to say regarding Jeremy Piven’s rendition of Take Me Out To The Ballgame. Elliott Harris of the Sun Times had this to say in his Quick Hits section. It’s difficult to determine what is more shocking: “Entourage” actor Jeremy Piven saying, “Let’s bug it out, you little bitches” to the crowd Sunday for the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley Field or the Tribune actually running the quote. It’s difficult to determine what is less shocking: The team issuing an apology for Piven’s performance in the broadcast booth or the team not issuing an apology for the Cubs’ performance on the field. It’s incredible to think the Cubs can be so bad that they make fans’ eyes roll but yet don’t cause any heads to roll. You’d think at least the assistant to the assistant to the assistant to the alternate to the apprentice of a summer intern in the grounds crew would be fired. Just to show the Tribune Co. means business. Then again, business and the Tribune Co. don’t seem to be an ideal match these days.

While Piven was being interviewed in the booth the Tigers hit two of their eight home runs on the day, to which Piven quipped, “I thought batting practice was over”. He even volunteered to go in there and pitch even though his opening pitch attempt didn’t quite reach home plate in the air. “Maybe I’ll get them out by pitching under the radar,” said Jeremy, before ending with, “Go Cubbies!” But go where is the question. The eight home runs allowed are the most allowed by a major league team, 2nd time the Cubs have done that this season, first time a team has ever done that twice in one year. If they don’t win it’s the same.

Learned some new words to Take Me Out To The Ballgame as sung by some Bleacher fans at Wrigley Field. It goes, Root root root for the Cubbies, if they don’t win it’s the same. Now that’s a song I could sing along to while enjoying a beautiful day at the ballpark in Chicago. And as I was singing these newly learned verses I knew they would proove prophetic. Somehow there was some sadness as I was sitting next to an eight year old fan attending his first Cub game, oh the misery he will endure. Some fans are used to the inevitable, Judy’s been coming to the Bleachers since 1963, Marvin since 1947, and newbie Holly for the last nine years. Judy’s husband John was needling her all game long, but if she was totally honest she’d have to admit he was only telling the truth.

The Cubbies played little ball in the 1st inning when Juan Pierre bunted his way aboard, stole 2nd, was bunted to third by Tony Womack, and scored on Mike Barrett’s sac fly. Then they flexed their muscles in the 2nd when Jacque Jones launched a missle into the RF stands. But that was it as far as Cub highlights were concerned. In the 5th the Astros got on the board when Adam Everett doubled to left, after Carlos Zambrano made him look sick in his first plate appearance. There were some other game changing moments; Todd Walker hitting into a DP on a 2-0 pitch after the leadoff man got on, Walker throwing wide to 2nd on a potential DP ball that loaded the bases and setup a game winning two run single, Jacque Jones throw home from right that barely made the infield on a woeful attempt to nail Lance Berkman as he scored the go ahead run, Womack not being able to get the ball out of his glove on an easy DP turn, the Cubs not scoring after Freddie Bynum got a leadoff triple to left, Chris Burke made two great stops on grounders to keep Freddie at 3rd and an easy bouncer to Burke closed out the frame, and then Chris Burke got a leadoff eighth inning single off Bobby Howry (who’d come on to relieve Zambrano, pitch count). Brad Lidge struckout the first two Cub batters on six pitches, then got pinch hitter John Mabry to bounce out to Burke to end the game. There were 40,236 fans in attendance, paying the Tribune, telling them they like bad baseball, and never need to put a good baseball team on the field.

There’s a joke going around the Cubs can’t keep their website up, they can’t seem to string three W’s together, too bad they couldn’t just string three L’s together. Sing it… If they don’t win it’s the same.

On a night when the White Sox were Hammered & Nailed in Arlington, the same promotion was taking place on the Northside of Chicago at the Claddagh Ring. But the two nights had totally different meanings! Texas beat up on the Pale Hose 8-0 and to top it off Ranger starter Vicente Padilla nailed A.J. Pierzynski twice in the game, both teams were warned after the 2nd beaning. Ozzie Guillen brought rookie relief pitcher Sean Tracy into the contest with one thing in mind, hit Hank Blalock with a pitch, and thus protect his hitters. Tracey came inside on Blalock before getting him out. A fuming Guillen sprang out of the dugout and removed Tracey from the game. Guillen couldn’t admit he wanted Sean to hit Hank, saying only Tracey wasn’t a mopup man, his mopup man wasn’t ready when Javier Vazquez was pulled, and that’s why he removed Sean after facing just one hitter. It was reported Tracey will be sent down after failing to carry out the skipper’s orders. Almost forgot to explain the Hammered & Nailed promo at the Claddagh Ring. For $12 you get a manicure and a drink, it’s a real crowd pleaser among the ladies, which brings them into the bar, which is a real crowd pleaser for the men.

With Father’s Day just around the corner I thought it was the perfect opportunity to bring out the story that just won’t go away. Dad, take me out to the ballgame took on a whole new meaning on September 19, 2002 when William Ligue Jr and his teenager son came onto White Sox Park in Chicago and attacked KC Royals coach Tom Gamboa. The two claimed there exchanges between themselves and the coach during the game, a claim Gamboa strongly denies. NickyV was sitting right by the father/son duo and says alcohol might have had something to do with it. Read here what ESPN had to say about the incident. Smoking gun had this to say. The above photos show Ligue as he appeared when he attacked Gamboa and then after he lawyered up.

I remember when I was a kid all major league teams would have doubleheaders on Father’s Day with a Father/Son game taking place between games. I wonder whether some of the sons of yesterday are some of the stars of today. Ken Griffey Jr, Barry Bonds, and Bret & Aaron Boone are some famous sons who might have participated.

In fact I remember when Illowa APBA League President Mike Bunch used to bring his infant son Marcus to league functions. Now Marc is in his eighth year as manager of the Moline Upperdeckers. Am I old or what? Just turned 50 in April.

The Chicago Champions took five of the first six games versus the Chicago Highlanders, before settling on a 6-3 series win. The win closed the gap between the two teams to just one game, the Highlanders holding the advantage. In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, lemme tell you, this is my latest series in the Illowa APBA League. I’ve managed the Chicago Champions for over thirty years and have ten championships to my credit. The IAL is a 8/10 team draft league that was established in 1975. Some of the Champion stars down through the years have been Mike Schmidt, Jim Rice, Gary Carter, Cal Ripken, Joe Carter, Jeff Bagwell, Dave Stieb, & Orel Hershiser. Some of the key members of this year’s team are ARod, Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez, Jimmy Rollins, Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, Mark Buehrle, Brett Myers, and Greg Maddux (298 career wins, and counting).

APBA is a dice game with players’ cards based on what they did the previous season. Cleanup man Grady Sizemore hit four homers with nine RBIs in the nine game set. A.J. Burnett pitched two complete game victories, allowing one earned run, 2 hits per game, 2 walks, and punched out 17 batters, beating Roger Clemens (13-1, 298 career wins, and counting) for the first time this year. We’re not even halfway through with the season, check out what’s happening in this league by clicking on the Illowa APBA League, and let the good times roll!