Category: Postseason

The White Sox have left the CELL-ding

The White Sox were forced into a do or die situation by losing the first two games in Tampa versus the Rays in Florida. They came back home Monday behind John Danks to win, putting the series at a 2-1 deficit. But on Tuesday the baseball in Chicago came to an end, the White Sox were eliminated.

Like I’ve stated before I enjoy going to the last game of the season, this one was different, everybody was there, it still mattered, till it was over, then it was over. There would be no game tomorrow, wait’ll next year.

The response from the crowd was much different on the southside of Chicago than it was on the northside of the city when the Cubbies were eliminated. The expectations were different. The Cubs were expected to win, they had won their division last year, this was the year to win it all, ending a century of frustration. While the White Sox gave up last year, traded away one of their pitchers from their rotation, didn’t get Torii Hunter, and looked to be going nowhere. As fate would have it both teams won their respective Central Division crowns.

“It’s Gonna Happen” was the rallying cry for the Cubbies. Kosuke Fukudome was brought on to play rightfield, one of the Cardinal devils Jim Edmonds was brought on to play center, Geovany Soto was ready to take over behind the plate, and Rich Harden was brought in down the stretch to anchor the rotation. While the White Sox brought on Alexei Ramirez for only $1,000,000 per year for four years because nobody thought the Cuban star could play, missed out on getting Hunter (as I mentioned before) & Miguel Cabrera, instead adding Orlando Cabrera, nobody knew whether Joe Crede could rebound from his bad back, Carlos Quentin was a talent who always got hurt, and adding Ken Griffey, Jr. down the stretch at the expense of trading a relief pitcher, this team’s chances were suspect at best.

I rode to, what would be, the last game of the year with Rob & CLuke’s daughter Kate. Inside the ballpark, next to Nancy, were the usual subjects, Tade, Steve, Dick & Bea, Caramel Corn Mike & his brothers, George & Debbie & Debbie’s son, Terry, & Phil. But Al & his son Anthony were nowhere in sight, so I called Anthony’s Cell in the 3rd inning, they were in the upperdeck, security wouldn’t let them downstairs, even though they were season ticket holders, seems upperdeck season ticket holders only had first level access during the regular season. After Al almost got arrested for debating this position with an off duty police officer, Tade went upstairs, bringing down Al & Anthony, now we were all where we belonged.

Gavin Floyd was a little off, B.J. Upton was a little on, and soon the baseball season in Chicago was over. We all said our goodbyes, promising to stay in touch in the offseason, we’re going to get together to watch a Bulls, Hawks, or Bears game from a Wings. Nancy said she’d come and she even gave me a kiss goodbye, till next year.

Two other notes…

Minnie Minoso was watching the ballgame from the concourse behind homeplate, so I approached him. I’d ordered three teeshirts from www.minoso.com about one month ago, but never got them, the check never cleared either. Minnie told me, he’d look into it, and give me a call.

The next baseball I’ll see in person will be in about one month in Arizona at the Arizona Fall League. I love prospects and really enjoy seeing youngsters before they become stars. One youngster I saw last year was a middle infielder for the Boston Red Sox with some pop in his bat, he ripped a game winning homer in an AFL game, so it was kind of a full circle moment when Jed Lowrie ripped a game winning single to advance the BoSox past the Halos in last night’s ballgame.

WHITE SOX: ONE WIN AT A TIME

Was out at the Cell yesterday for the Sox/Rays playoff game, it was the 4th straight do or die game, and the Good Guys prevailed. A full house of fans dressed in black, not attending a funeral, but showing support for the Good Guys, who wear black, and possibly Johnny Cash. Drove down there in the rain with Rob, CLuke & his daughter Kate, others by Nancy were Rob’s daughter Kim, her friend Mel, Al & his sons Anthony & Dan, Dick & Bea, Steve, George & Debbie & her son, Caramel Corn Mike & his brothers, and Bill & his best friend TADE! Hope I’m not forgetting anybody, sheesh, the grief I put up with!

John Danks was in control, the White Sox played little ball (all three runners tagged on a bases loaded sac fly (Thome, Konerko, & Griffey), blazing speed, and the Good Guys won without the benefit of a longball. Getting ready for a Monday afternoon must win game at the Cell, I’ll be in black, having a vodka lemonade & a pretzel before the game, and screaming, “LET’S GO WHITE SOX!”, as loud as I can with my annual death cough.

Was talking with Caramel Corn Mike’s cousin before the game, her son was a freshman starting pitcher for Eastern Illinois. They went to the College World Series in Omaha.

Another note, I taught my four year old nephew Braden, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, he’s singing it all the time. Even though my niece Amanda & her brother Braden are in Wisconsin, they are root, root, rooting for the White Sox.

I’m still waiting for the NLDS cuz the Cubs haven’t showed up yet

Please tell me Alfonso Soriano didn’t strike out on that pitch.  I guess it was appropriate as it was indicative of the Cubs’ whole series against the Dodgers and especially Soriano’s 1 for 14 performance. 

The headline on the sports page of our local paper on Sunday read "ALL IS WELL"  in big letters. I know it wasn’t a Cubs fan who came up with that headline.  "All is Well" was not in reference to baseball, of course but to University of Illinois football team’s 45-20 drubbing of Michigan on Saturday (btw, nice going guys).  Yet, for any Cub fan to wake up to that headline, it was insult on top of injury.  I’ll bet it was a Cardinal fan that fashioned that line. 

Aside from the costly errors, it was timely hitting that hurt the Cubs.  In some ways, the overall stats between the Dodgers and Cubs were comparable.  Hitting (LA’s .250 to Chicago’s .240) and ERA (LA’s 3.68 to Chicago’s 3.87) were not out of line.  The Dodgers did have 3 more extra base hits (12 to 9) and three more homers but the key stat as it usually is was runs scored.  LA scored 20 to Chicago’s 6. 

Derrick Lee who hit .545 for the series (6 for 11).  Out of all that, Lee could only produce two runs which is more indicative of the batters around him than anything.  Credit is due to Mark DeRosa, error notwithstanding, for his 2 runs and 4 rbis. 

Unless you are a Cub fan (been one since I can remember) you can’t understand what it’s like.  But this year was supposed to be different.  We actually had a good great team.  

Goat Riders of the Apocalypse are already looking towards 2009, something I can’t quite do yet.  They’ve got a list of 9 Reasons the Cubs will Shine in 09. 

The Cup is still half-empty for me. 

I DIDN’T KNOW DonS WAS A WHITE SOX FAN

DonS didn’t get into his brother’s postseason baseball pool, because three of his favorite teams were in the playoffs (Angels, Brewers, Cubs), and he thought the Phillies & Red Sox would be in the World Series. Not wanting to go against his heart, he decided to skip the pool. Both the Brewers & Cubs are down two games to none, the Halos are down one game to none, and four to one after one inning in game #2. But what I didn’t know was that DonS is a closet White Sox fan, what else could explain the rough start my team is off to?

Actually I believe starting Javier Vazquez in game #1 set up the Rays, got them the confidence they needed to compete, just in case they needed momentum. Today Chicago jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but could not put Scott Kazmir away. We had runners on base all night long, leaving them stranded, and eventually Tampa scored more than enough to win, winning by four.

Last night I bid $180 on an upper deck ticket on stubhub for Sunday’s playoff game at the Cell. I won’t find out if I won(?) until 11:00 AM on Sunday. Not sure if I want to show up, especially seeing the Sox haven’t shown up thus far.

I bought three tee shirts on www.minoso.com over a month ago, but they still haven’t arrived. So I called a cell phone number Dick gave me, he said it used to be Minnie’s, but that was a couple of years ago. To my surprise, Minnie answered my afternoon call, said he was in Florida for the game, and would talk with me at the game on Sunday. I urged him to, just win, I guess his urging didn’t help, as now we’re down 2-0.

Just like the regular season, our backs are against the wall, and we need to win three in a row to keep our playoff life alive. This one’s for DonS, “LETS’S GO WHITE SOX!”

Cubs losing steam against Dodgers

On Wednesday, Jill Howe, an Elgin High School student was asked to take her FUKUDOME jersey off and replace it with her gym shirt.  Apparently, school officials had not heard of Kosuke Fukudome and thought it was an obscene word. 

After Fukudome’s oh for eight performance in the first two games of the playoffs (including 5 LOB), a lot of Cub fans who know very well who Kosuke is may be taking his jersey off.

Last night, before heading out with my buddy Larry to catch the Cubs-Dodgers game, I watched the first inning at home.  When Big Z got the Dodgers one-two-three, I told my wife "this will be his game.  I know it."  I probably should have waited for the second inning before making my proclamation. 

Not that Zambrano can be held totally responsible for the collapse that happened in the second inning.  The fielding miscues didn’t help and only served to unravel Zambrano.  

Lack of patience at the plate has been the reason for the Cubs’ woes.  The Dodgers have been able to work the count and our guys haven’t.  And when the Cubs have hit the ball.  They’ve hit it hard.  Only right to Dodger fielders. 

A day of rest and Rich Harden brings his best on Saturday against LA’s Hiroki Kuroda. 

As for Jill Howe, common sense and decency prevailed.  The High School principal intervened and declared that as long as Fukudome was a legit name, she could wear her jersey…

…if she really wants to now.

OZZIE – OH NO! NOT VAZQUEZ!

Before the first postseason game between the Rays and the White Sox down in the Sunshine State, I was feeling pretty good. Tampa Bay had lost 90 or more games for ten straight years, although this year the Devil Rays minus the Devil were able to put their losing ways behind them, and somehow win the AL East. I’m a math guy, so somehow 9=8 doesn’t make sense to me, but whatever works.

I’ve been lucky enough to be on hand at the Cell to witness first hand, what’s been working, and what hasn’t. I came in from Waupaca to watch Javier Vazquez spit it out, yet again, on Saturday vs the Indians. Which forced the Pale Hose into a jam whereby they needed to win three straight games against three different opponents to salvage a playoff berth. When the wheels came off and Vazquez was removed from the game, I screamed BOO louder than I’ve ever done so before. Let me explain something here. I am not a fan, who cheers a player on the top, and then boos them when they fall apart. Javier Vazquez has great stuff, probably the best stuff on the staff. But he refuses to trust his stuff and will not pitch inside. Often times he tries to be cute, enticing batters to swing at pitches just outside, falling behind in the count, and then getting clobbered. It’s maddening.

Anyway after winning the three games needed to get into postseason, it was time for the playoff series to begin. The Rays have a solid rotation, so I wasn’t sure whom they’d throw in game one, but I was positive the White Sox would start Mark Buehrle. Even though Vazquez has the best stuff, Buehrle is our #1, no doubt about it. I realized my Buehrle tee shirt was down in the dirty wash, pulled it out, but was shocked to find out, reading the paper, that Javier Vazquez was starting game one for Chicago.

This is the same Vazquez that Ozzie Guillen called out, saying, he was a choker & not a big game starter. That strategy didn’t work before Saturday’s game, so now he was showing him the ultimate confidence by starting him in the playoff opener. Wasn’t Ozzie paying attention, hadn’t he been watching this guy pitch? Surely Buehrle would’ve been pitching on three days rest, but he’d been doing it down the stretch, with positive results. With off days there was the possibility we wouldn’t have to see Javier start at all in the playoffs, but here he was, out there getting ready to get pounded by the lefthanded heavy lineup of the Rays. I was resigned to the fact, we’d be down 1-0 to a team that had never been to the postseason, giving them momentum.

Of course Vazquez did get pounded and the White Sox are now in a hole in a must win game #2 with Buehrle on the bump. A rookie lefthanded reliever Clayton Richard was brought on to relieve Javy, totally dominating the Rays batters, and I had to think, what might have been. The good thing is that Javier won’t be starting any more games in this series, hopefully not any more in a White Sox uniform (I purposely pictured him in a Yankee uniform, because I can’t stand seeing him in ours), but it might be too late. Hopefully the White Sox can climb out of this hole, with their backs against the wall, and defeat Tampa Bay.

Cubs-Dodgers: Dempster was a little "off" tonight

Game 1 of the NLDS started out exciting enough.  Exciting enough that when Mark DeRosa hit his two-run homer in the second inning, I spilled my full plate of nachos on the floor and I didn’t even care. 

But that was about all the excitement I was going to get all evening it would seem. 

Cubs starter Ryan Dempster was one strike away from pitching 5 shutout innings against the Dodgers tonight.  Maybe in the back of his mind, that’s what Lou Piniella was thinking when he kept him out there.  I’m normally the kind of guy who likes to keep a guy out there when he’s pitching a shutout but even I would have considered some bullpen relief before this point.  TBS broadcaster Ron "Mr Obvious" Darling told us "It looks like it’s not Dempster’s night tonight". 

No, it wasn’t.  Four earned in 4 2/3 innings but also 7 walks.  He was lucky he got away with what he did. 

Kudos to Geovany Soto, by the way.  Yes, he was 0 for 3 behind the plate but he had his work cut out for him behind the plate.  He trapped countless balls in the dirt (and a couple high ones).  With our wild pitching tonight, he did a tremendous job. 

The best thing to do is to forget game 1 and  go on to game 2. 

Off-topic:  I have the utmost respect for Tony Gwynn and for the most part he says things that are reasonably intelligent but am I the only person who thinks he doesn’t have a voice for TV broadcasting? 

Cubs, Dodgers: Breaking down the Stats

Dave Pinto does a good job of breaking down the Cubs and Dodgers statistically on Baseball Musings.  Not too many surprises here:

Cubs come out on top offensively in pretty much every category.  They were tops in the league in runs/game, OBA (Dusty who?), slugging and batting. 

On the pitching side of things, it’s a little more competitive.  Dem Bums’ ERA of 3.68 was tops in the NL in ERA though the Cubs weren’t too far behind with a 3.87 ERA which was good for 3rd in the league.  Though the Cubs best the Dodgers (and the rest of the league) in K/9 IP, they don’t do as well in BB/9 IP in comparison. 

The Cubs won the season series record but Pinto points out that the games and stats were close.  Runs, homeruns and walks, were all pretty statistically even. 

Powerhouse Angels first to clinch

angels_logo Congrats to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for being the first MLB team to clinch a playoff berth.  A special congrats go to my buddy DonS who is an avid Angels fan. 

With a current 87-57 record, the Angels won all season, everywhere, anytime.  Their road record was even slightly better than their home record (.606 to .603).  Not counting their 0-1 March, their worst months were May and August when they had a winning percentage of "only" .536.  Their first half they won 60% of their games.  To follow up, they now have a .612 winning percentage in the second.  Win, win, win.

They have to feel to feel good about the fact that they currently have a 8-1 record against the Red Sox.  Hopefully, that will bode well if they face them in the playoffs.  And oooh, a 3-6 record against the pesky Rays. 

Francisco Rodriguez got his 56th save against the Yanks in today’s important game leaving him one behind Bobby Thigpen’s single-season record for saves.  I’m not a fan of the save stat but count me in a one fan rooting for K-Rod to break Thiggy’s record. 

Nice going, Halos!  Way to get the job done quick!