Chicago Sports Talk

i have been a little frustrated as of late with my white sox. i hate having the minnesota twins AND cleveland indians ahead of us in the standings. not to mention all of the other divisions seem to have much better records than the AL Central. people say it’s because the AL Central is tough this year, but we won’t know until we are done playing with ourselves. whoa, that didn’t come out right. well, you know we have been playing mostly AL Central teams so far. yea yea, you knew what i meant. =P

anyway, it just seems like in the case of the White Sox that things are just not clicking together. we either have good pitching and not so good hitting (or basically nonexistent) or we have tons of runs and the pitchers can’t pitch strikes. actually while we (I) are talking about pitching strikes does anyone notice that in many cases we get a reliever into the game with one purpose and one purpose only and that is to throw strikes? tell me why 9 times out of 10 we throw a first pitch ball, or walk the guy! i think that is just not what relievers are supposed to do. the worst that happens is someone hits a homerun. but really while i don’t want a homer, at least the batter earns that. when we walk people we aren’t even giving ourselves a chance!

either way we have had some unfortunate events and we haven’t been as consistent as i would like, but i know we can win games. we have the stuff! come on white sox! woooo, let’s win some games, even if we have to beat my jon garland this series.

It’s April and fans are still optimistic. Both Chicago teams have winning records, as a matter of fact, they have identical records. Can they both reach the playoffs? Yes. Can they both reach the World Series? Yes. A lot has to happen, but look at how good teams do it

The recipe for winning hasn’t changed over the the years. The intangibles help, but except for good luck they’re overrated. Good cubhouse chemistry, rah-rah guys, intense personalities, are all good, if you win. The same intagibles are considered a cancer in the clubhouse if you lose. Good pitching, good defense, timely hitting and avoiding or playing through key injuries add up to championships.

Do the Cubbies have the ingredients? Starting pitching, middle relief and their new closer all look solid. Some of the pitchers are in new roles and aren’t proven. Yet. Time will tell. Defense is a little shaky at times, but can be very impressive at other times. D-Lee is great, Fukudome is solid too. Pinella is good at making a defensive move if a guy doesn’t cut it, so it might seem like someone isn’t clicking early on, but he’ll get it right in the end, guaranteed. The hitters don’t have to pound the ball like they are now, but if D-Lee is consistent, if A. Ramirez stays interested the whole year, and if Soriano goes on the DL for a long time, letting a less selfish guy play, the lineup is strong. And again, trust in Sweet Lou to get it right on offense too.

How about the Chi-Sox? Do they have what it takes? Kenny Williams did another good job in the off season. Pitching? The starters are good, and have the potential to be one of the best. Kenny’s signings of Octavio Dotel and Linebrink are excellent. And Jenks is Jenks. The infield D is one of, if not the best in the A.L.The outfield is solid too. Hitting is timely so far and the big boppers are not even rolling yet.

So let’s get World Serious, and order those World Series tickets now! And then sit back, enjoy the season and wait for the Sox-Cubs battle. We can watch the Sox sip champagne at the end of the series.