For a man that's only 26 years old and has only spent four years in the Major Leagues, Grady Sizemore has accomplished quite a lot. He had a fantastic 2008 season, one that many thought warranted an MVP award, and had a lot of people thinking the Indians were going to be the team to beat in the AL Central this season....
While the White Sox offense has finally started to show some life during the last week and the team has won six of their last eight games, they still can't be too pleased about the prospect of having to place Carlos Quentin on the disabled list. The man who might have been AL MVP last season if not for a broken wrist started off the season pretty nicely for the Sox, but has struggled recently while battling foot problems....
With pitch counts becoming so important in recent years it seems as though starting pitchers are working less innings every year. These days if you can give your team six innings of solid work every start you're probably going to end up making a lot of money in baseball because the Roy Halladays of the world are very few and far between. Because of this bullpens are becoming more and more important for teams...
There was a little bit of Foul Balls incest going on yesterday when Panger hooked Silvio up with two tickets to last night's Cubs game, and it was an awfully sweet gesture by Panger. I mean, to give somebody two very nice seats to a Cubs game at no charge after they've lost eight in a row, and the forecast calls for rain that night, it takes a special person. Thankfully Panger rode the short bus to school.
Not only did Nix make some nice plays in the field, but he hit two homers off of Joe Saunders to boot and has put Chris Getz' job in serious jeopardy. With Scott Podsednik doing a nice job at the top of the order, that little run up thing he's doing in the batter's box is working well for him, and Alexei Ramirez settling in at #2, Nix fits in nicely at the #9 spot of the lineup. Sure, his average isn't that great, but he does bring some pop and seems to have a better glove than Getz. At this point, that's a trade off Ozzie Guillen will be thrilled to make.
I know The Loop is generally confined to Chicago stuff, but I can't help but wonder how pissed off NBA commissioner David Stern is right now. For the last few months he's been masturbating to the idea of a Lakers-Cavaliers NBA Finals in which he could showcase Kobe vs. LeBron.
Baseball players use a lot of different techniques to get themselves mentally prepared to do their jobs on a daily basis. Some of them read self-help books and do Stuart Smalley-style daily affirmations to remind themselves that they're good people and that people like them, and others convince themselves that everyone hates them and is out to get them. Milton Bradley falls into the latter category...
control continued to be a problem as he walked six and threw 112 pitches, but he kept working his way out of trouble.
Somewhere in between all that Neal Cotts gave up a two-run homer and the lead to Nate McLouth, and the Cubs never recovered.
Have you heard? The White Sox and Padres have agreed to a deal that would send Jake Peavy to Chicago for what is being reported as four players, two of which are believed to be Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda. The teams have agreed to the deal and now the only thing we need to sit around and wait for is Jake Peavy's approval...
It's been rumored that San Diego Padres pitcher Jake Peavy has been coming to Chicago for quite a while now after the Cubs tried to work out a deal for the Cy Young Award winner over the summer, but apparently it's not the Cubs who may be landing him. As you've no doubt heard by now, it seems that the White Sox and Padres have come to an agreement on a trade that would bring Peavy to the White Sox, and now we're just sitting around waiting to see if Peavy will approve the deal.According to Padres personnel, Peavy met with Padres manager Bud Black late Wednesday night to discuss a trade overture from the Sox.Peavy, whose consent would be needed for a trade to any club, declined all comment after meeting with Black.
Within the clubhouse, though, Peavy referred to the situation as “something to think about” yet also restated his desire to stay in the National League. One of Peavy's teammates said he believes Peavy respects the Sox's aggressiveness in pushing for him but may have reservations about pitching for Ozzie Guillen, the White Sox's volatile manager.
Why the reservations about playing for Guillen? Anybody who has watched this team knows he's been pretty good to his pitchers, sometimes to a fault.
Obviously, even though I'm not sure who exactly the four players the Sox would supposedly be sending to San Diego are, if this deal goes through it will go a long way in making me feel better about the Sox' chances this season.
They've played better the last two days, which I'll admit is nice, but putting Peavy in the rotation will give us the best one in the AL Central.
It's been a pretty horrible year for Alex Rodriguez, but after seeing the way he's handled himself in light of the steroid scandal and reading Selena Roberts' book, I kind of get the impression that he couldn't care less. According to Roberts in her book, Rodriguez is more focused these days on being a celebrity than a baseball player, and a lot of his actions back this up. There was that whole leaving his wife for Madonna thing for example...
Athletics third baseman Eric Chavez has missed a lot of games over the last few years because of his back and shoulder injuries. Chavez played in only 90 games back in 2007, and 23 games last season. This year he's appeared in 8 games and has three hits in 30 at bats thanks to his balky back. Now it seems that his back may be keeping him off the baseball diamond for the rest of his life....
Tom Ricketts and his family put in the winning bid to purchase the Chicago Cubs back in January, but the details of their offer have yet to be finalized four months later, and Ricketts is looking to find some other investors to help back his $900 million offer for the team. He doesn't need the help with the $850 million he's raised with a loan and selling some shares in the family business, TD Ameritrade, but if you can get it, why not?
When they were playing the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks through the first two rounds of the playoffs, the young Blackhawks made plenty of mistakes during games. They committed a few too many turnovers at times, but thanks to their overwhelming edge in talent, they were able to overcome their errors.
Mike Garrity, 19, of Batavia, has been charged with two counts of felony aggravated battery, according to court records.
Police say the alleged incident occurred at about 1:55 a.m. Friday at Kam's, Home of the Drinking Illini, 618 E. Daniels St. The altercation stemmed from an argument in which, according to one witness account, the victim allegedly was harassing some women at the bar, said Champaign police spokeswoman Rene Dunn.
The women then told Garrity of the harassment and Garrity and the victim confronted each other, Dunn said. A witness told police that the victim struck Garrity first.
"According to one witness, the victim got in Mike's face and yelled at him and hit him with his fist," Dunn said. "Michael told him he needed to back off. [The victim] continued to yell and [Garrity] allegedly hit him."
The victim was taken to a local hospital with serious head injuries.
The White Sox are off to a 15-18 start to the 2009 season, and that record is pretty misleading. The fact of the matter is that the White Sox have played a lot worse than their record would indicate. They're at or near the bottom of the American League in any significant offensive, defensive, or pitching stat that's kept. They were also shut out for an MLB-leading sixth time on Wednesday afternoon, and as Fletch mentioned it in the Starting Five on Monday, when they lose, they lose big. They've now been outscored 125-39 in their 18 losses...
Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira was one of the two big free agent available last winter along with CC Sabathia, and it wasn't exactly a huge surprise when he landed a $180 million deal with the Yankees. What has been somewhat surprising is Teixeira's inability to live up to his contract through the first month and a half of the season...
After their amazing series against the Boston Celtics in the playoffs this year, odds are more people around the United States are going to start recognizing the Chicago Bulls. The series garnered a lot of attention, and the Bulls not only made a name for themselves within the NBA ranks, but also with the more casual fan.
I now realize that this is a bunch of crap. The reason I'm bored by baseball right now is because the White Sox suck. Hard.
Now I'm not entirely sure why he did it, but the Orlando Sentinel's Jeremy Fowler decided to come up with a list of the five fittest coaches in college football. Needless to say, Charlie Weis did not make the list, but another Chicago-areaish college coach was.1. Ron Zook, Illinois: Look at those pipes. Zook is known to bench more than 300 pounds even at age 55, sporting more muscle than most coaches who are either fat or skinny.USC's Pete Carroll finished in 2nd, with Jim Harbaugh (Stanford, receiving end of Mike Ditka's spit), Larry Fedora (Southern Miss) and Randy Shannon (Miami) rounding out the top five.
