So I was just flipping through the channels looking for something to watch before the Bulls game starts, and I came across Comcast Sports Net's Bulls Pregame show. In it Mark Schanowski and Kendall Gill were sitting courtside and talking about how Brad Miller wants revenge when all of a sudden a great quaking could be heard.
Much like the scene in Jurassic Park, the water inside my bottle began to shake, and then I saw him.
This son of a bitch. He's taunting me now. Do you really think he didn't know what he was doing when he walked behind them during a live shot?
Who are you, mysterious M&Ms jacket guy, and what do you want with me!?
Throughout the history of baseball fans of the game have always sought out the players they could relate to. Sure, the superstars of the game receive a lot of love and adulation from their fans, but those fans also realize that they're never going to be able to hit 755 homers or hit .400. That's why there are always those cult favorites on every team. The scrappy guy who doesn't have the most talent, but through his hard work and dedication he gets the job done...
Obviously with my knee injury I'm having some trouble getting around, so I wasn't able to take advantage of my free night off of work because of it last night and instead stayed home and watched television. It was also one of the longest nights I can remember in quite a while.
We've become rather spoiled in Chicago over the last few weeks with both the Bulls and Blackhawks in the playoffs and the shared mediocrity of the Cubs and White Sox. Every night there's been a big game for Chicago to watch, whether it was the Hawks and Flames, another epic overtime battle between the Bulls and Celtics, or just a baseball game.
Well on Wednesday both the Sox and Cubs played during the day -- well, I don't know if what the Cubs did actually counts as playing a game -- and the Bulls and Hawks were off. So as a result, there wasn't much to do last night. I tried to give a couple of other NBA playoff series a chance, but frankly, after watching the Bulls and Celtics play for the last week and a half, there wasn't much the Hawks/Heat and Nuggets/Hornets could do for me.
So instead I watched the 100th episode of Lost, which like the first 99 episodes, gave me enough to keep me interested but left me in the dark all the same. Then after that I finally got around to watching the copy of Frost/Nixon that Panger gave me months ago.
If you haven't seen it yet I suggest you rent it when you can. It's a pretty damn good flick.
Still, at the end of the night I was still pretty disappointed that I didn't have any sports to watch but then I realized that maybe the sports gods were just giving us all a night off to decompress and prepare for tonight. For this evening our plates are pretty full.
The Bulls will be fighting for their playoff lives in game six tonight, needing a win to stay alive and force a game seven in Boston, and the Blackhawks begin their second round hair-pulling contest series with the Vancouver Canucks.
Hopefully after each game we w
on't be left feeling like Richard Nixon after his interviews with David Frost.
The Rajon Rondo Foul
The NBA announced yesterday that there would be no suspension for Rajon Rondo for his hard foul on Brad Miller at the end of game five that won the game for the Celtics, and I'm not surprised or upset about it.
Yes, it was a hard foul but I don't think it deserved a flagrant. Sure, Rondo basically punched Miller in the mouth but I really don't think that was his intention. He may not have gone for the ball on that foul, but Rondo was going for Miller's arm to make sure he sent him to the free throw line instead of giving up an easy layup.
He just happened to make contact with Brad's face while doing so.
In the end, though, it was just a hard playoff foul. Something that you're supposed to do in the playoffs, where there isn't supposed to be an easy bucket. In fact, instead of crying about it I wish the Bulls could actually learn from it.
The Celtics have had too many easy layups in this series in which they've been fouled by the Bulls, but the fouls are soft ones in which the Bulls make contact with the Celtic as he goes up. In other words, the Bulls are giving up easy baskets.
Instead of slapping Kendrick Perkins or Glen Davis' arm as he goes up, clothesline him. Grab his arms and hold him down. You won't get a flagrant call for it, especially now, and you may actually induce a technical from the Celtics. You've seen how Perkins reacts every time he's called for anything, so if you bear hug him as he's going up he's probably going to get incredibly pissed off and take a swing at you.
Oh, and if you want to send Rondo flying into the fourth row the first time he flies down the lane tonight, I say go for it.
Everyone On The White Sox Is Injured
The White Sox have the day off on Thursday as they fly to Texas to get ready for a weekend series against the Rangers, but I'm wondering who is going to hurt themselves while walking to the bathroom on the team flight. In the last few days the team has lost Chris Getz to a finger injury, Jim Thome to a heel injury, and now it looks like Brian Anderson is going to miss some time with an oblique injury.
Anderson had finally just started getting some regular playing time after Dewayne Wise separated his shoulder, and he was playing very well. He was hitting .349 before going 0-for-Seattle to drop his average to .288. He also had the second highest OBP of any regular on the team behind Chris Getz at .383, so combining that with his defense and he'll be missed if he has to miss a lot of time.
Mostly because that would mean Jerry Owens could get a lot of playing time, and that may scare the crap out of the White Sox as well. According to the Tribune's Mark Gonzalez, Owens was seen shaking hands with his teammates before leaving the clubhouse on Wednesday afternoon, bags in hand.
All of which raises speculation that Owens, who is out of options, is going to be released by the team and replaced by the recently signed Scott Podsednik.
An abbreviated version of The Loop this morning before I head out to get an MRI on my knee.
As you're all aware, the Bulls lost game five to the Celtics last night 106-104 in overtime thanks to Paul Pierce finally deciding to show up in this series. Well, it wasn't just Paul Pierce, actually. The Bulls did build an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter but then decided to stop playing defense for a while and allow the Celtics to get back into the game.
There were a lot of things in this game that bothered me, but none more than the fact that the Bulls let Pierce and the Celtics run the same play four times in a row during overtime and never thought to adjust and stop it.
Do you think maybe John Salmons could have forced Pierce to go left just once, or maybe when he did start to make his move they could have somebody run at him to help and trap him? Force him to make a pass, possibly to Stephon Marbury who literally crapped his pants earlier in the game when faced with the prospect of taking a wide open shot at a critical junction in the game?
No?
Okay.
There were a couple of other things I learned watching last night's game as well.
There isn't an injury that will keep Ben Gordon out of the lineup, or a shot he won't throw up when he's in a contract year and the eyes of the world are on him. He's got $58 million to make up for after all. Granted, he's hitting most of those shots, but much like Doug Collins as Ben was taking the shot at the end of overtime to tie the game, you're screaming "What are you doing!?" when he does it.
It takes a minimum of three Celtics to hit John Salmons as he drives for a layup before the officials even think of blowing a whistle.
On the flip side of that, the Bulls are allowed to hack the shit out of Kendrick Perkins at any time they feel like it. I can't stand the guy, but he does have a point when complaining about how the refs are treating him. Of course, as his coach Doc Rivers pointed out after game four, if Perkins would stop acting like he's never committed a foul in his life after he's called for one, maybe the refs wouldn't hate on him so much.
The NBA could save everybody a lot of time if they would just start these games in overtime.
Finally, and most importantly, I learned that Brad Miller runs the 15-foot dash in 3.2 seconds.
I also have to admit that I'm not very confident about the Bulls chances for game six. It's just the way this team has been all season I have every reason to believe they're going to come out and crap the bed on Thursday night. I wish I didn't feel this way, especially after the way this series has gone, but I do.
White Sox Split
The White Sox offense is in a funk right now. If you take away their 10-run performance against the Blue Jays last Saturday, they've only scored 8 runs in their last five games. The bats definitely didn't show up on Tuesday.
The Sox won the first game of the doubleheader 2-1 but only had two hits off of some dude named Chris Jakubauskus who threw a complete game. The only inning he didn't retire the Sox in order was the fourth inning where the Sox scored their two runs. Thankfully Bartolo Colon was fantastic for the Sox as well.
In the night cap there was a great pitching matchup on paper between John Danks and Felix Hernandez, but with Danks being as brilliant as he has been since last October, I felt he was due for a stinker at some point and it came on Tuesday night.
Danks allowed 5 runs and 8 hits in four innings to pick up his first loss of the year. Hernandez, on the other hand, lived up to his end of the bargain going eight shutout innings.
Big Z Gets Back On Track
Carlos Zambrano hadn't pitched very well in his last two starts so you know he wanted to get his act together in the desert last night, and he did just that. Well, okay, it wasn't a great performance considering he gave up 8 hits, but he only allowed 3 runs in his seven innings of work.
Besides, he made up for it with his first home run of the season to join Alfonso Soriano and Mike Fontenot as Cubs who went deep on Tuesday.
At least that's what I think happened. I actually wasn't able to watch the game. If there's any problem with both the Bulls and Blackhawks being in the playoffs at the same time it's that it doesn't leave me much time to watch both the Sox and the Cubs.
The win helped the Cubs join the White Sox at 10-9 on the season.
Here Comes The Hawks' Schedule
The schedule for the Hawks second round series against the Vancouver Canucks was released last night, and here it is!
Thursday April 30th @Vancouver 8pm
Saturday May 2nd @Vancouver 8pm
Tuesday May 5th @Chicago 7pm
Thursday May 7th @ Chicago 7pm
Saturday May 9th @Vancouver 9:30pm
Monday May 11th @Chicago 8pm
Thursday May 14th @Vancouver TBD
I'll be at game four myself.I know this isn't going to be popular, but I'm taking the Canucks in six in this series. I just think that Roberto Luongo is the best goalie in the NHL right now and I can't see the Hawks beating him four times.
Normally, a post like the one you're about to read right now would be reserved for the old Foul Balls feature Asshole of the Week, it's just that I don't do that anymore.
Still, this doesn't mean that I've stopped letting my anger fester inside me for months at a time before unleashing it on undeserving victims at random times.
Nope. Not at all.
After watching the Bulls lose to the Celtics in overtime on Tuesday night and then following that up by watching a DVR'd version of the White Sox getting their asses kicked 9-1 in the second game of a doubleheader, I'm ready to blow.
Oh, and there's also the fact that I'm scheduled to undergo an MRI on my left knee Wednesday afternoon after hurting it while saving a group of schoolchildren trapped inside a burning school bus.
(What can I say? Their teacher was hot.)
At the very least I have a partially torn LCL, and if the MRI shows it's a complete tear, I get to go under the knife and endure some super fun rehab.
So, as you can tell, I'm not in the best fucking mood right now. I need somebody to take it out on, and I've found just the fat bastard to do it on.
Hey you.
Yeah you, you fat bastard.
I see you sitting directly behind home plate at just about every White Sox home game. I want you to know that you piss me off. Not because you have enough money that you can actually afford to own season tickets there. It's your money. If I had it I'd be doing the same thing.
I'm also not pissed at you because you spend half the fucking games playing around on your laptop. I don't know if you're working or if it's just some kind of special computer the Sox provide so you don't have to get off your lazy ass and walk 20 feet to get your 15th helping of nachos and another two hot dogs. They're your arteries. Clog them up if you want to.
No, I'm pissed at you for entirely different reasons.
See, I did the math. Those seats you own? Yeah, those Scout Seats cost between like $250 and $300 a game. At least. The way I figure it, for that one seat you're spending $24,300 a year.
But again, that's not my beef.
My problem with you is the fact that, while you have no problem spending $24,300 on baseball tickets (and it's $48,600 if you bought the seat next to you as well), for some reason you can't drop a couple of hundred dollars on a new fucking jacket.
Every time the temperature dips below 60 degrees I see your fat ass sitting there in that yellow M&M's Nascar jacket.
Do you realize how fucking stupid you look?
Seriously, you look like the actual race car. If Kyle Busch saw you walking down the street in that jacket he would literally try to climb inside your mouth and attempt to drive you around Chicagoland Speedway.
You're so big, round and yellow in that thing that the leaves of trees turn towards you when you walk by.
When you sit on a park bench, little children of various sizes begin walking around you in circles while spinning.
Ghosts run away from you in fear that you will eat them, not realizing that the only way you'd eat some cherries or a banana was if they were covered in chocolate first.
Why don't you get on that laptop of yours and go to the White Sox official website and order yourself a White Sox jacket like the one your friend who attends the games with you wears.
It's not often that we approach the end of April and the Kansas City Royals are either in first place or only a game out of it, but that's the situation the team currently finds itself in as they trail the Detroit Tigers by a game in the AL Central. Still, it's not that rare considering that on this date in 2003 the Royals were 17-5 and 4.5 games ahead of the White Sox....
For the first time in a long time I wasn't very excited about the NFL draft this weekend. I'm sure a lot of Bears fans felt this way because the team's big draft splash came three weeks ago when they traded away a bunch of picks for Jay Cutler. Plus, with the Cubs, White Sox and NBA and NHL playoffs all going on simultaneously, there were plenty of other diversions from Mel Kiper's hair and Chris Berman's, well, whatever the hell Chris Berman actually brings to the table. I guess a bad combover and stupid nicknames, with a few "circling the wagons" references mixed in.
Still, I did tune in during commercials just to see if anything crazy happened, but nothing out of the ordinary really took place. I was surprised to see Michael Crabtree fall all the way to San Francisco with the 10th pick, and couldn't help picturing Mike Singletary yelling at him about the way they do things in San Francisco, and to leave that "diva bullshit" back in Lubbock. All with his pants around his ankles.
What I wasn't surprised at all to see, and in fact incredibly amused by, was the Oakland Raiders decision to take Darrius Heyward-Bey out of Maryland with the 7th pick. Oh, Al Davis, you batshit crazy old man, how you never cease to amaze me. Odds are had the Raiders not taken Heyward-Bey, he'd have still been available when they picked in the second round.
Hell, Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin were still available at #7, and Al passed both of them up because Heyward-Bey ran a 4.3 40. Sure, he has absolutely no idea how to run actual routes, and his hands are questionable, BUT HE SURE CAN FLY! THAT'S RAIDERS FOOTBALL!
I'M FUCKIN' CRAZY!!
After that pick though, there wasn't much amusement. I kept tabs on the draft for a few more hours until I found out the Bears had traded their 2nd round pick to Seattle, and then I was done.
The Bears got all their work done on day two, and for all intents and purposes, they did a pretty good job from what I'm reading. I'm not a draft expert or anything, but of the players they chose that I've seen, I like.
They used their first pick in the third round to take Jarron Gilbert, a defensive tackle at San Jose State. Now, I can't say I see too much of the Spartans, but I have read that many scouts think Gilbert has the most upside of any DT in this draft, and I've seen him jump out of pools before from underwater.
See.
"The pool incident was after a workout during the summer,'' Gilbert said. "My strength coach told me the story of (former Bear) Adam Archuleta jumping out the pool, and everybody went crazy. The buzz was unbelievable. So I just went up there and tried it. Got it on the first try. ... I had to put it on film.''
Great. He learned it from Adam Archuleta. Let's hope somebody else taught him how to tackle.
After Gilbert the Bears took Juaquin Iglesias, the wide receiver from Oklahoma. I've seen Iglesias play plenty of times, and though he's not going to be anything spectacular, he's polished enough as a route runner that he can probably contribute right away as an option in the slot.
With their first pick in the fourth round the Bears took DE Henry Melton out of Texas. He's a bit undersized at 6'3 260, but those are the DE's that Lovie and Rod Marinelli love. Plus Melton spent his first two years at Texas as a running back, and his 4.65 40-time should give him help getting by offensive tackles.
He'll be a nice backup for the aging Adewale Oguleye and Alex Brown.
After Melton the Bears took D.J. Moore who is a corner out of Vanderbilt. Apparently the Bears have a hard on for guys out of Vanderbilt the last few years. Earl Bennett, Chris Williams, Jay Cutler, and now Moore.
He was originally projected as a first round pick but a bad pro day caused him to slip down some draft boards apparently. They say he has good ball skills and jumping ability. You know who else has good ball skills? Your mom.
After Moore the Bears took another receiver in Johnny Knox, who I guarantee will be called Johnny Knoxville or Jackass more often than he's called by his actual name. He's out of Abilene Christian, and I didn't renew my Wildcats season tickets last season, so I haven't seen much of him. I do know that he's six-feet tall and has blazing speed however.
In other words, it's shocking that the Raiders didn't trade up to get him after Heyward-Bey with the 8th pick.
The Bears then addressed their needs at the linebacker position by taking Marcus Freeman in the 5th round. Obviously, since Freeman spent his college career at Ohio State, I've seen him play plenty.
I think he may turn out to be the jewel of this draft for the Bears. He didn't have the greatest pro day, and underachieved at times with the Buckeyes, but he's a great fit for the Bears defense. He may end up starting before this season ends and I wouldn't be shocked at all if he has a better career than his Buckeye teammate James Laurinaitis, who was selected in the 2nd round by the Rams.
The Bears used their 6th rounder on Al Afalava who's a strong safety out of Oregon State. I don't know much about him other than his name is incredibly fun to say because it's almost Alf. His scouting report says he'll be a contributor on special teams, and that he likes to eat housecats and afalava beans.
The Bears finished up in the 7th round with Lance Louis, a guard out of San Diego State. I know absolutely nothing about him other than he'll be used to add depth to the offensive line.
They finished up their picks with Derek Kinder, a receiver out of Pittsburgh. I saw Kinder play a few times in college, and he seemed to have good days against Notre Dame. Whether that will translate into the NFL, I doubt it, but with the Bears situation at WR you know he's going to get a shot.
Bulls Win A Thriller
Now while the Bears were making all those draft selections that I listed above, I wasn't actually watching the draft. No, instead I was going for a ride on the roller coaster that was game four between the Bulls and Celtics on Sunday afternoon.
A ride that would finish with a 118-115 double overtime victory for the Bulls after three and a half hours of twists, turns, loops, and vomit-inducing thrills. It was one of those games that was so amazing that you really can't figure out how to describe it afterwards. All I know is that I'm too young to have a heart attack but I'm pretty sure I had a few while watching.
The biggest one coming when Tyrus Thomas grabbed a rebound in the closing seconds of the first overtime (or was it regulation? It all blends together) and instead of passing to Derrick Rose he held on to the ball trying to be the hero. He was subsequently fouled and missed the first of two free throws which allowed the Celtics to tie the game again.
Thankfully Ben Gordon nailed a three in the final seconds of the first overtime to force a second, and the Bulls were able to hold off a Paul Pierce three to tie it after John Salmons got a finger on the shot.
Game five is on Tuesday night in Boston, and though I fully expect the Bulls to lose, I definitely feel better about their chances now than I did after game three.
There Was Baseball Too
On the diamond the Cubs were able to avoid being swept by the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis with a 10-3 win. I didn't see any of this game, but I do know that Alfonso Soriano got beaned in the head, and Rich Harden then delivered some payback to Albert Pujols' poo-hole later in the game.
Also, Kosuke Fukudome drove in five and there four more days until May starts for Cubs fans to enjoy them.
On the south side the Sox lost 4-3 to the Blue Jays to lose their series with the best team in the American League. Still, losing to Roy Halladay isn't anything to be ashamed of, and there was some good news to come out of it because Jose Contreras had his best start of the season by far.
The bad news, though, is that Chris Getz has a broken finger and is likely headed to the disabled list. We probably shouldn't get our hopes up about Gordon Beckham taking his place on the roster if it happens, as I'm guessing they'll call up Jayson Nix before the rookie.
All right, I promised them last week but then some things came up and I didn't have time to finish them all in time, but now here they are. The very first edition of the Foul Balls MLB Power Rankings.
Now, without getting too much into the specifics, I've created my own mad scientist formula that compiles a team's Win-Loss record with a bunch of other statistical data, and then I take the numbers that come out and put them in the special machine I have called a spreadsheet, and out come the rankings.
I assure you, it would make Einstein's head explode and it's probably a lot more complicated than it needs to be.
I also feel the need to point out that the rankings shown are based solely on data available at this time. Just because a team is ranked third doesn't mean they're the third best team in their league. It just means they are at the moment.
I also had to divide the rankings up by league because certain statistics I use in the formula are skewed by league. For example, a higher team ERA in the American League is expected because of the DH, so it wouldn't be fair to compare an AL ERA with an NL ERA.
Anywho, onto the rankings.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Toronto Blue Jays 12-5
Boston Red Sox 9-6
Detroit Tigers 8-7
Seattle Mariners 10-6
Kansas City Royals 8-7
Chicago White Sox 8-7
New York Yankees 9-6
Cleveland Indians 6-10
Texas Rangers 6-9
Oakland Athletics 5-9
Baltimore Orioles 8-8
Los Angeles Angels 6-9
Tampa Bay Rays 6-10
Minnesota Twins 7-9
Seriously, if somebody had told you that after nearly a month of baseball the Blue Jays, Tigers, Mariners and Royals would make up four of the top five teams in the American League, would you have believed them? I know I wouldn't.
The Blue Jays not only have the best record in the AL, but they're hitting the ball and pitching extremely well, so it's not exactly a surprise. Now can they maintain that for an entire season when they have to play the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays nearly 60 times? I don't know.
As for why the Mariners would be below the Tigers when they have a better record, well, they're not playing in the greatest division and their offense isn't exactly scaring anybody. If it wasn't for their fantastic pitching at the moment, that record wouldn't be nearly as good.
Also, as for how the Twins can be in last place when they're only a game under .500, well, being without Joe Mauer doesn't help. Also not helping? The fact they're one of the worst hitting, pitching and fielding teams in the league so far. Mauer will definitely help improve one of those areas, maybe two.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Los Angeles Dodgers 11-5
St. Louis Cardinals 11-5
Pittsburgh Pirates 9-6
San Diego Padres 9-6
Florida Marlins 11-4
Chicago Cubs 8-6
Cincinnati Reds 9-6
New York Mets 6-9
Milwaukee Brewers 6-9
Arizona Diamondbacks 6-9
Atlanta Braves 7-8
Philadelphia Phillies 6-8
San Francisco Giants 6-8
Houston Astros 6-10
Washington Nationals 3-11
Colorado Rockies 5-9
The top two in the NL shouldn't come as any surprise at this point as both the Dodgers and Cardinals are tied for the best record in the league. Still, they're not as close as you'd think looking at their win-loss records. While the Cardinals are crushing the ball, the Dodgers aren't exactly slacking on offense, while they have better pitching and a superior defense at the moment.
As for the Pirates and Padres, yeah, that's a bit surprising. The Pirates have been pitching out of their minds so far this season and I'm not sure they can maintain it. As for the Padres, sooner or later the Dodgers will start pulling away and they'll dismantle the team, so I wouldn't expect them to be in the top five all season.
As for the rest of the rankings in the NL, they pretty much fall in line with the win-loss records at this point except for the Nationals creeping out of the bottom spot. This can be explained by the fact that even though they're horrible, their offense hasn't been too horrible and they can play the field. The Rockies, meanwhile, well they suck everywhere.
OVERALL TOP 10
Los Angeles Dodgers
Toronto Blue Jays
St. Louis Cardinals
Boston Red Sox
Pittsburgh Pirates
San Diego Padres
Detroit Tigers
Florida Marlins
Seattle Mariners
Kansas City Royals
So far no league gets any bragging rights as the top ten is split evenly between both the AL and the NL. Though the NL does have all five of its teams in the top eight. Two of those teams are the Padres and Pirates, however, and I don't think they have much staying power.
Feel free to tell me how stupid I am in the comments. Or, if you're into it, agree with me. Whatever.
The Indians are off to a slow start to the 2009 season, as is last year's AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee. After going 22-3 in 2008, Lee has already matched last season's loss total only four starts into the season thanks in large part to his 5.25 ERA. Now nobody in their right mind figured that Lee was going to have another amazing season in 2009, but the Indians had to be hoping for more than what they've seen so far, even if Lee did look a lot better in his last two starts, allowing three runs in 14 innings...
Needless to say, Milton Bradley's first few weeks in a Cubs uniform probably haven't gone as planned. He's got one hit in his first 23 at bats, has been ejected from a game already resulting in a two-game suspension, and he also has that whole injured groin thing going on. Still, that didn't stop Bradley from appealing his suspension and rejoining the Cubs lineup on Wednesday night...
Today's Loop is going to be a little shorter because with a Sox game and the Hawks game to watch after I got home from work last night, I was up late, and I have to cover two posts over at NBC this morning for Eamonn.
But anyway, the Hawks fell to the Flames 6-4 last night in what was a pretty entertaining game. It would have been a lot better had the Hawks come out on top, but what can you do? Hell, after the way the second period started it didn't even look like the game would be worth watching.
The Flames scored three unanswered goals to start the period and took a 4-1 lead, but just when the Hawks looked finished, they came storming back. The line of Kris Versteeg, Sami Pahlsson, and Dustin Byfuglien took over and scored three straight goals of their own to tie the game at 4-4.
Versteeg must have been pretty pumped up about being a finalist for the Calder Trophy -- that's the NHL's Rookie of the Year for those of you who are hockey ignorant -- because in only 4:30 of ice time in the period, he ended up with a goal and two assists.
That's making the most of your chances, though he wasn't alone out there.
The Flames would take a 5-4 lead with about seven minutes to go before Jarome Iginla added an empty-netter in the closing seconds to finish it off.
The one thing this game was missing, which was a bit of a surprise with all the kerfuffling in game three, was a lot of extra-curricular activities after the whistle. For the most part both teams kept their composure, and you could tell that they felt the eye of the NHL on them after the antics of Monday night's game.
Anyway, now the series is down to a best of three, with game five back at the United Center on Saturday afternoon. Needless to say, it's going to be a huge game, and whoever picks up the win then will have a huge advantage.
Hopefully it'll be the guys in the red sweaters.
John Danks Is Dealing
While the White Sox offense put a lot of runs on the board in Baltimore on Wednesday night in an 8-2 victory, the thing I was most impressed with was the continued excellence of the young southpaw John Danks.
I had my concerns about Danks coming into the season after a stellar 2008, but those concerns are being put to rest rather quickly. Johnny went 7 innings and allowed only 4 hits and a run without walking anybody to improve to 2-0 on the season, and lower his ERA to 0.95.
That means in his three starts so far this season, Danks has allowed only two runs, and both of them have crossed home plate via solo homers.
If he keeps pitching like this it's not crazy to think he's going to end up with a Cy Young Award to put on his mantle for the efforts, and maybe even win 20 games.
As for the offense, Jim Thome hit his fourth homer of the season, and Josh Fields had quite a day for himself as well. Fields went 3-for-5 with a double, 3 RBI, and his first homer of the season. I'm not surprised by this at all because today was the first time I took him out of my lineup in our FanHouse roto league because he'd slowed down the last few days.
Chris Getz continued to swing the bat well too, going 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. He's now raised his average to .316 and his OBP to .386, which I'll gladly take from our lead-off man.
Wow, That's A Shocker
In news that comes as a surprise to nobody who has paid any attention to the NBA this season, Derrick Rose was named Rookie of the Year on Wednesday. Let's just hope he has the same reaction to it that Versteeg had to his nomination on Wednesday night and goes out and leads the Bulls to a victory tonight against the Celtics.
What was surprising about Rose winning the award was that for the first time since joining the Bulls he admitted to being selfish about something.
"When I first came into the season, my biggest thing was to get this award," said the humble young superstar. "I was telling you all that I didn't care, but I did. You really do want this award. There was a lot of talent out there that I had to go against."
Damn kids. Always putting themselves before the team!
Johnny Cueto Shuts Down Cubs
Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto had struggled in his first two starts of the season for Cincinnati, allowing 4 runs in 6 innings during his first start, and only lasting 4.2 innings in his second start thanks to 6 walks, but he seemed to figure things out on Wednesday at Wrigley.
Cueto threw 7 shutout innings against the Cubs to out-duel Ted Lilly who pitched 7 innings himself, and allowed only one unearned run. Of course, that run was unearned because of Lilly's throwing error, so in a way, he did earn it.
Major League Baseball has generally been the lead dog when it comes to the major American sports and taking advantage of the internet and technology. They have MLB.tv, which is like, the greatest thing ever for a baseball fanatic such as myself, and they've also came out with an application for the iPhone as soon as it hit the shelves. They also have MLB.com which brings in over 60 million unique visitors a month, and now they're looking to expand on it....
There aren't very many parts of the United States who are feeling the crunch of our struggling economy more than the city of Detroit, and as a result, odds are there are going to be a lot more empty seats at Comerica Park this season than there have been in recent years. This isn't good news for a team with the fifth highest payroll in MLB at just over $115 million...
The White Sox may have lost to the Orioles 10-3 last night, but I don't care, yesterday was still one of the greatest days in White Sox history. Mike MacDougal is no longer a member of the Chicago White Sox.
MacDougal has been the bane of my White Sox fandom, along with many others I'm sure, so I when the news broke that he'd been designated for assignment a smile broke across my face that I couldn't get rid of for hours.
"We tried to do different things with him because we believe he has one of the best arms in the game," said Ozzie Guillen "[But] you cannot keep believing in him when he doesn't give you any ammunition. It was hard for me to use him because I didn't know what role he was going to have."
I find that hard to believe because it's pretty easy to figure out what MacDougal's role was. He was the guy who came out of the bullpen and started pouring gasoline on any fire that was lit.
Now that he's been designated, that means the Sox have 10 days to trade him or they just have to release him and continue paying him. Since I'm guessing there aren't many teams out there who will think to themselves "You know what the one missing piece on our roster is that could mean a division title? Mike MacDougal."
So since there really isn't a market out there for a relief pitcher whose specialty seems to be burying sliders in the dirt, it looks like the Sox are just going to have to pay off the rest of his contract. Which is fine with me because I don't sign the checks.
Still, MacDougal's release does present somewhat of a problem for me. As much as I love the White Sox, there's always that one player on the roster that I can't stand. That player was MacDougal, so now I need to find a new player to hate.
It's a pretty tough decision, and it's usually a role that I give to a middle reliever, but at the moment Jerry Owens is leading the race. Of course, given Jerry's history when it comes to competing for a job, he'll probably end up hitting .450 this season and stealing 80 bases.
Jimmy Mac Is A Bedroom MVP
Hey look, we have a Mac theme going on today.
I'm not sure what exactly it is about our Super Bowl champion Bears, but it seems that while they were great at beating the hell out of opponents and winning football games, they have the damndest time keeping an erection.
First Da Coach started doing ads for Levitra, scarring me for life, and now oft-injured punky quarterback is proving that he wasn't only soft on the playing field. Yep, Jim McMahon has started schilling for some boner pill called MVP. I'm guessing it stands for Most Virile Penis.
Whatever it stands for, McMahon says he uses it and it works for him everytime. Though it does nothing to stop him from falling off the bed and separating his shoulder.
The Fridge Is In The Hospital
Speaking of those 85 Bears, William "The Refridgerator" Perry is hospitalized and in serious condition in his hometown of Aiken, South Carolina. Perry has been suffering from Guillain-Barre' syndrome since last summer, and Wikipedia describes it as so:
an autoimmune disease affecting the peripheral nervous system, usually triggered by an acute infectious process. It is included in the wider group of peripheral neuropathies. There are several types of GBS, but unless otherwise stated, GBS refers to the most common form, AIDP. It is frequently severe and usually exhibits as an ascending paralysis noted by weakness in the legs that spreads to the upper limbs and the face along with complete loss of deep tendon reflexes. With prompt treatment by plasmapheresis or intravenous immunoglobulins and supportive care, the majority of patients will regain full functional capacity. However, death may occur if severe pulmonary complications and dysautonomia are present.
In other words, it's something you don't want. Because of it Perry has been wheelchair bound for a while and has lost about 100 pounds in the last year. According to his agent, he's getting better and they're hoping he's out of the hospital in a week or so.
Vinny Del Negro Will Use His Timeouts As He Pleases
I made mention of the fact that for the second straight game, the Bulls were out of timeouts at the end of a close game on Monday night. While I didn't blame the loss on Vinny Del Negro's seeming disdain for keeping one in his back pocket, it sure as hell didn't help matters and he had to face a lot of questions about it on Tuesday.
In a nutshell Vinny told the media to fuck off, but in a much nicer way.
"People are going to second-guess and first-guess," the finely coiffed one said. "So what? I don't care. I'm the coach. I will make the decisions. That's the way it is.
"In two or three seconds, the ball is going to go to Derrick [Rose] because he's our fastest guy to get it up the court. We set up a play in the Celtics' timeout [with 12.3 seconds left]. We didn't execute it because the Celtics did a good job with their execution.
"I would've liked to have one at the end, but sometimes you have to use them to stay in the game. When they're making runs or when we get the ball with 20 seconds left and we're down two, I want to make sure we get a good shot—especially with a young team."
Good enough for me, I guess. Just teach Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas how to block out before Thursday's game.
All in all the Minnesota Twins haven't done too shabby without Joe Mauer in their lineup for the first three weeks of the season. They've managed to go 7-7 and only trail the Tigers, White Sox and Royals -- all tied atop the AL Central -- by a mere game in the standings. They've also been able to do this in spite of the fact they've been outscored 80-62 in their first 14 games....
Well things had been going too well for this city's teams anyway I suppose, we had to lose eventually, and thanks to Ray Allen's hot shooting in the second half on Monday night, we did.
The Celtics beat the Bulls 118-115 thanks to Ray Allen's three-pointer with 2.2 seconds left and Vinny Del Negro's inability to keep track of how many timeouts he has for the second straight game. Not that I'm blaming Del Negro for the loss or anything, because in reality, the Bulls didn't really deserve to win last night anyway.
Ben Gordon did, but not the Bulls.
In the first half Rajon Rondo abused anybody who tried to guard him, and the only thing that was able to slow him down was the court itself as he landed funny on a layup attempt with five minutes left in the first half and sprained his ankle.
Then there was the aforementioned Ray Allen, who got into a duel of former UConn guards with Ben Gordon in the second half as each of them took turns dropping big shot after big shot. Of course, considering neither of them are very adept at playing defense, and they were guarding each other, this shouldn't be that big of a surprise.
In the end Allen's 30 points were worth more than Gordon's 42 because every time he missed a shot, his teammates would get the rebound and put it back in. Anytime Gordon missed a shot, the Bulls ran back on defense.
Which was really the story of this game. The Celtics out-rebounded the Bulls 50-36, but more important, 21 of Boston's 50 rebounds came on the offensive end. This led to a huge advantage for Boston in second chance points.
Of course, that's why I'm also still pretty optimistic about things as this series comes back to Chicago for game three on Thursday night. The Celtics killed the Bulls on the boards all night and they still needed a last second three from Allen to win the game.
If the Bulls can learn to keep Kendrick Perkins off the boards, they win this game by about 15.
The Bulls also had their own little block party, finishing with a team playoff record of 14 blocks, with six from Tyrus Thomas and four from Joakim Noah. My only wish is that Thomas and Noah could learn how to block a shot and retain possession of it instead of swatting it right back to the Celtics.
At the end of the day, though, all you hope for when you start a playoff series on the road is to split the first two games and come home even. The Bulls did just that, and let's be honest, we all had them down 0-2 at this point, so these first two games have to be considered a victory.
Now they'll return to the United Center where they're 14-2 since the All-Star Break, and beat the Celtics 127-121 on St. Patrick's Day. The Celtics didn't have Kevin Garnett in that game either, and now they'll probably have a Rajon Rondo at around 60% after his ankle swells up to the size of a grapefruit during the next two days off, and there's even a possibility Boston will be without Paul Pierce.
Not because he's injured or anything, but because after seeing the way he played on Monday night, I'm pretty sure he'd rather be anywhere but on a basketball court right now. Did he know there was a game going on or did he just think it was a scrimmage?
Well I Said It Would Take Six Games Anyway
Unfortunately the Bulls weren't the only Chicago team to lose a playoff game on Monday night. The Blackhawks went into Calgary trying to take a 3-0 lead in their series with the Flames, and things looked good early when they scored on a power play only a few minutes into the game, but after that it was all Flames.
For the first time in the series the Flames were able to maintain their intensity and physical play for a full 60 minutes -- having the home crowd behind you helps -- and it resulted in a 4-2 win.
Patrick Kane missed the game with "flu-like symptoms," possibly because he was incredibly nervous about getting killed on the ice. Still, I don't think his presence would have made any real difference.
The game ended with a lot of kerfuffels -- Pat Foley's word, not mine, I just like saying it because it sounds funny -- between the two teams who have developed a nice hatred for each other over the last five games.
The biggest kerfuffel took place after Adam Burish broke his stick cross-checking Calgary's Rene Bourque, and Bourque took exception. Words were said, punches were thrown, and recipes were exchanged for a few minutes as the final minute of play took about five minutes to complete.
Of course I'm sure both teams will bury the hatchet in time for Wednesday's game four, and everybody will go out for a milk shake and talk about girls they like. Or they'll try to kill each other all over again.
The White Sox Hung With The President
With an off day in Baltimore before starting a three-game series with the Orioles on Tuesday, some members of the White Sox organization took advantage of their free time by going to the White House to hang with Barack Obama.
You may have heard that he's a White Sox fan.
All in all about 30 members of the organization got a tour of the White House and all of them had a good time, but perhaps no one enjoyed it more than Octavio Dotel who got a hug from Obama.
"I saw the opportunity to ask for a hug," Dotel said after the team returned to its Baltimore hotel. "He said, 'Of course.' that was really nice of him. He knows a lot about us. He noticed that we've been playing well lately. He's a big fan. I can tell he really enjoyed (the visit)."
I'm not going to ask how Dotel knew Obama was excited.
I feel compelled to point out that the trip wasn't a complete success, however. The team did fail to get a government bailout for the sinking ship that is Mike MacDougal.
Jim Cornelison Is A Huge Hit On The Bar Circuit
Since the Hawks lost last night, I figure I should give Hawks fans something nice to go out on here this morning. Apparently Jim Cornelison likes singing the National Anthem so much, that even after Hawks games he likes to hit up local bars like West End and sing for everybody.
Of course, I should also point out that I'll sing "Stairway to Heaven" complete with rock star thrusts and theatrics for a free pitcher anytime I'm out drinking. If you don't believe me, find me at a bar sometime and buy me beer.
Throughout the history of baseball fans of the game have always sought out the players they could relate to. Sure, the superstars of the game receive a lot of love and adulation from their fans, but those fans also realize that they're never going to be able to hit 755 homers or hit .400. That's why there are always those cult favorites on every team. The scrappy guy who doesn't have the most talent, but through his hard work and dedication he gets the job done...
bviously with my knee injury I'm having some trouble getting around, so I wasn't able to take advantage of my free night off of work because of it last night and instead stayed home and watched television. It was also one of the longest nights I can remember in quite a while.
An abbreviated version of The Loop this morning before I head out to get an MRI on my knee.
Carlos Zambrano hadn't pitched very well in his last two starts so you know he wanted to get his act together in the desert last night, and he did just that. Well, okay, it wasn't a great performance considering he gave up 8 hits, but he only allowed 3 runs in his seven innings of work.
Normally, a post like the one you're about to read right now would be reserved for the old Foul Balls feature Asshole of the Week, it's just that I don't do that anymore.
It's not often that we approach the end of April and the Kansas City Royals are either in first place or only a game out of it, but that's the situation the team currently finds itself in as they trail the Detroit Tigers by a game in the AL Central. Still, it's not that rare considering that on this date in 2003 the Royals were 17-5 and 4.5 games ahead of the White Sox....
For the first time in a long time I wasn't very excited about the NFL draft this weekend. I'm sure a lot of Bears fans felt this way because the team's big draft splash came three weeks ago when they traded away a bunch of picks for Jay Cutler. Plus, with the Cubs, White Sox and NBA and NHL playoffs all going on simultaneously, there were plenty of other diversions from Mel Kiper's hair and Chris Berman's, well, whatever the hell Chris Berman actually brings to the table. I guess a bad combover and stupid nicknames, with a few "circling the wagons" references mixed in.
I'M FUCKIN' CRAZY!! 
A ride that would finish with a 118-115 double overtime victory for the Bulls after three and a half hours of twists, turns, loops, and vomit-inducing thrills. It was one of those games that was so amazing that you really can't figure out how to describe it afterwards. All I know is that I'm too young to have a heart attack but I'm pretty sure I had a few while watching.
The Indians are off to a slow start to the 2009 season, as is last year's AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee. After going 22-3 in 2008, Lee has already matched last season's loss total only four starts into the season thanks in large part to his 5.25 ERA. Now nobody in their right mind figured that Lee was going to have another amazing season in 2009, but the Indians had to be hoping for more than what they've seen so far, even if Lee did look a lot better in his last two starts, allowing three runs in 14 innings...
Needless to say, Milton Bradley's first few weeks in a Cubs uniform probably haven't gone as planned. He's got one hit in his first 23 at bats, has been ejected from a game already resulting in a two-game suspension, and he also has that whole injured groin thing going on. Still, that didn't stop Bradley from appealing his suspension and rejoining the Cubs lineup on Wednesday night...
Today's Loop is going to be a little shorter because with a Sox game and the Hawks game to watch after I got home from work last night, I was up late, and I have to cover two posts over at NBC this morning for Eamonn.
I had my concerns about Danks coming into the season after a stellar 2008, but those concerns are being put to rest rather quickly. Johnny went 7 innings and allowed only 4 hits and a run without walking anybody to improve to 2-0 on the season, and lower his ERA to 0.95.
In news that comes as a surprise to nobody who has paid any attention to the NBA this season, Derrick Rose was named Rookie of the Year on Wednesday. Let's just hope he has the same reaction to it that Versteeg had to his nomination on Wednesday night and goes out and leads the Bulls to a victory tonight against the Celtics.
Major League Baseball has generally been the lead dog when it comes to the major American sports and taking advantage of the internet and technology. They have MLB.tv, which is like, the greatest thing ever for a baseball fanatic such as myself, and they've also came out with an application for the iPhone as soon as it hit the shelves. They also have MLB.com which brings in over 60 million unique visitors a month, and now they're looking to expand on it....
There aren't very many parts of the United States who are feeling the crunch of our struggling economy more than the city of Detroit, and as a result, odds are there are going to be a lot more empty seats at Comerica Park this season than there have been in recent years. This isn't good news for a team with the fifth highest payroll in MLB at just over $115 million...
The White Sox may have lost to the Orioles 10-3 last night, but I don't care, yesterday was still one of the greatest days in White Sox history. Mike MacDougal is no longer a member of the Chicago White Sox.
I'm not sure what exactly it is about our Super Bowl champion Bears, but it seems that while they were great at beating the hell out of opponents and winning football games, they have the damndest time keeping an erection.
In a nutshell Vinny told the media to fuck off, but in a much nicer way.
All in all the Minnesota Twins haven't done too shabby without Joe Mauer in their lineup for the first three weeks of the season. They've managed to go 7-7 and only trail the Tigers, White Sox and Royals -- all tied atop the AL Central -- by a mere game in the standings. They've also been able to do this in spite of the fact they've been outscored 80-62 in their first 14 games....
