Windy City Weekend Roundup: "It's Back!" Edition

Unfortunately, I have not been able to publish any posts since September due to time constraints, however, I now am able to give a weekly weekend roundup of all that is happening in the Windy City.

• Cubs Convention started on Friday. The biggest announcement was probably the fact that Carlos Zambrano will have LASIK eye surgery. Maybe the Cubs don't need Jake Peavy after all.
• Back to the Cubs, this only comes two years after the first announcement.
• The Bears announced that Bob Babich's days of calling defensive plays are over for the forseeable future. Lovie Smith will now be the man who takes the blame for any failures. This is good news, because in Lovie's three years as defensive coordinator in St. Louis, the Rams were third in the NFL in takeaways and fumble recoveries, tied for sixth in sacks, and tied for eighth in interceptions.
• The Bears' new assisstant head coach and defensive line coach has a great resume. He can not only be Lovie's friend, just like Babich, but has also coached a team to an be undefeated! At losing!
  
• Northwestern men's basketball appears to be incapable of holding a lead. I was there, and it was one of the worst eight minutes I have ever seen. The fact that most of the stadium was chanting "Let's go Boilers!" didn't help either.
• This isn't Windy City related (except indirectly), but still funny.

What a Difference a Year Makes

This Cubs team is 81-50 through 131 games, the franchise's ninth-best start (if you can call it a start) through the first 131, in history. Last year, the Cubs were 67-64. So, what is different about this Cubs team as opposed to last year's? What could have made that 14 game improvement over last year's team? Kosuke Fukudome? Jim Edmonds? Jeff Samardzija? Chad Gaudin? Rich Harden? Reed Johnson?
Sure, all of those guys are good, but some of them haven't been with this team all year, and the others haven't been 14 games better than their replacements. Maybe it is all of those guys combined, but I just feel more confident about this team than last year's.
This is a deeper team than the '07 one. When Bill Murray's brother is your fourth starter, you know that you have a strong starting rotation. Mark DeRosa is having a career year at second, Geovany Soto has emerged as one of the best catchers in the NL. Also, last year the Cubs relied mostly on Daryle Ward to come through in late game pinch-hit situations. This year, Lou Piniella could use an updated version of these, and probably still win. So, all in all, I trust this Cubs team a lot more than I trusted last year's. It's Gonna Happen!

Monday Windy City Roundup

Bears: As this pitiful-looking team prepares for the annual preseason finale against Cleveland, there is a lot of work to be done. As tough as Chicago fans are on quarterbacks, playing a game in Soldier Field has to be easier than playing Cleveland. Last week's game was at home against the 49er's. The true test of Kyle Orton's ability will come on Thursday night at the Browns. Normally Cleveland fans would be pretty mellow compared to say, Packers fans in Lambeau, but there is the little issue of the Dawg Pound, and Orton's history at Cleveland (29-47, 258 yds, 1 td, 1 int). Even with all of that, it's still the defense that worries me. After what J.T. O'Sullivan did last week, Oregon State grad Derek Anderson could absoutely torch this secondary. Well, we will see.

Cubs: Open a three-game series in Pittsburgh tonight, and have a four-game series at home against Philadelphia this weekend. The Pirates series is Jeff Karstens, Ian Snell and Zach Duke vs. Ted Lilly, Carlos Zambrano and Jason Marquis. Karstens shut out the Cubs through six innigns on August 1st, which was his major league debut, and was the day after the Cubs finished their four-game sweep of the Brewers. Snell and Duke should be fairly easy wins, and I predict a sweep. Against the Phillies, Ryan Dempster vs. Cole Hamels on Thursday is the only sure thing, with Rich Harden going on Friday expect to see Lilly and Zambrano finish up the series this weekend. My prediction is 6-1 this week.

Weekend Thoughts: Olympic Edition

Now that the Olympics are over (at least the will be tonight), we have the pennant race and football season to look forward to. So here are my thoughts as the we head into the awkward period when it's not the thick of a race in baseball, or football season:

• If Kyle Orton plays this whole season like he did on Thursday, the Bears marketing campaign may be "One city. One team. One Quarterback."
• There's one man in Chicago who was the talk of the town last year, but this year is the forgotten man: Bob Babich. The defense allowed 354.7 yards per game last year. In 2006, Ron Rivera's defense allowed 294.1 yards per game. His career could be in jeopardy this year.
• Sports Illustrated had an article about the Cubs bullpen by Luke Winn. It's mostly about Samardzija, Wood and Marmol, but Winn says that the Cubs have "the NL's deepest overall pen (righties Bob Howry and Chad Gaudin and lefty Neal Cotts could be solid setup men anywhere else)." Gaudin maybe, but Cotts and Howry shouldn't be major league pitchers anymore.
• In the article mentioned above, there is a photo of Wood in his windup. There's something in back pocket, and now I'm curious as to what it is. Probably a small cylinder with some petroleum jelly in it, or something of the sort.

And a congratulations to all medal-winning athletes at the Olympics, regardless of their country.

Bit of a boring week, eh?

So, this week has been fairly dull since Monday's big news. Cubs have won one, lost one against the Reds. Bears play again tonight, so things could heat up in a flash. But for now, sports in the Windy City are boring. I guess this means that it's time for my equally boring review of Madden 09 (for the Wii).
This new version has some small improvements, and is definitely, not drastically, better than last year's installment. For one the 5-on-5 mode is very fun. You have a quarterback, running back, center and two wide receivers on offense. There are four plays: run, short pass, medium pass and deep pass. You can also use the new Call Your Shot feature, which is fun. Before the game you decide starting position, number of downs, number of touchdowns to win and whether or not the players have big heads. On defense, you have a safety, linebacker, defensive tackle and two cornerbacks. Your four plays are blitz, short pass, medium pass and deep pass. That part is also fun. The playcalling menu has been improved, but the audible control is frustrating. Bottom line is, buy this game if you don't have Madden 08. If you haven't sold 08, save your 50 bucks.

Monday Windy City Roundup

Bears: Kyle Orton was named the starter today. And for once, since before last season, I agree with a decision that Lovie Smith has made. Orton is a much more consistent quarterback, and a game manager. I know that calling a QB a game manager is a cliche, but Orton really is. When someone makes smart throws, and slows the game down, they are a game manager. And that is exactly what Orton does. He reminds me of a lesser Peyton Manning. Sure, Orton isn't as smart, hard-working, or talented, but he is still capable in every important catergory. Grossman is a gunslinger, which can be good if you have a good offensive line (Brett Favre last year), but with one as bad as the Bears', a gunslinger is a problem (Brett Favre in '05 and '06). Grossman now is saying goodbye to Ortman and hello to the bench.

Cubs: Have a second straight Monday off. After a surprisingly good road trip down south, they have a six game homestand against Cincinnati and Washington. This gives the streaking Cubs a chance to shove a sword down the throat of Dusty Baker's new team. And Corey Patterson's new team. And Jerry Hairston's new team. Bring back Mark Prior, and the whole gang will be back at Wrigley for three games! This first series should be a challenge, with Harden, Lilly and Zambrano facing Johnny Cueto, Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang. Arroyo and Harang are Cubs killer's, and Cueto 1-1 with a 4.97 ERA in two starts this year against the Cubs. Of course, all three are struggling this year. The series against the Nats only has Marquis vs. TBA. My prediction for this week is 4-2.

The Curse is Broken!!! (no, not that curse)

The Cubs have finally broken through and won one! The curse, the dreaded curse, the curse that has stood for multiple years, is finally broken! Smashed! Destroyed! Obliterated! Decimated! All on a Daryle Ward 3-run homer! Amazing! But, unfortunately, we still have to win a world series to break the actual curse. I was just talking about the curse of the Cubs in Florida. They had lost nine straight in Florida (including at the Rays in June) until Lou's favorite pinch-hitter ripped an 0-1 fastball into the seats. Our friend Paul Sullivan described him as smelling "like a brewery" during postgame interviews, due to his teammates' beer shower (combine weight, game-winning homer, and smelling like beer, and we've got ourselves another Prince Fielder).
But, why is it that it was so impossible for our Cubbies to beat the Marlins or the Rays? Probably bad luck. Every team has its hot and cold streaks, and the Cubs always played in Florida during a cold streak. Or maybe the Cubs decided to suck right then (betting scandal?). We may never know.

Changes Please: Doubleheader Edition

For some reason, I am really annoyed that the MLB continues to use the doubleheader as a way to make up lost games. I understand the importance of doing so, but there has to be a better way than the doubleheader. The current system calls for a midday or afternoon game (today's 12:10 start vs. the Braves), and a night game (6:15 tonight). This really wears a team down, and keeps them from being able to hold a steady division lead, or keep pace with another team, at least in the games following. Most of these players train to play nine innings a day, some as many as 12 or 13. But to have a guarantee of at least 18 innings in a day, means that the players will go into the next series tired and worn out. Starting pitchers especially are thrown off by this. They have to warm up, and like to know when they will be pitching next. If you have five days rest, your day to throw is a day later. So with a doubleheader, pitchers are thrown out of routine.
Without a solution, griping about a problem is no use. So I have a few solutions:
1. Forget about the game entirely. This is my least favorite. It's as if the game was never planned. Cubs only play two games this series against the Braves. Lou skips Harden (scheduled to pitch yesterday) and goes straight to Marquis. Harden can throw a simulated game (those words bring back memories). Unfortunately, this season couldn't go down in the record books, because they would have less games played. And half a game in the division doesn't really matter, because one team has played less games.
2. Wait until both teams have a day off to play it. This may mean a little extra travel, but the same things go for the rotation as option one. Obviously, later in the season this may be more difficult, so you could then use option three.
3. Have a designated number of days after the season and before the playoffs in which to play any makeups. This is my favorite. If there is no need to play all of the makeup days, then start the playoffs early. Also, it solves another problem with the current system: if the two teams don't have another meeting that season, and no overlapping off days, then the two teams will just use option one. I modeled this idea after my school having snow days at the end of the year in case we have any in the winter. If one team has too many rainouts in the first half, then you can have a day taken off of the all-star break for them.
So, in conclusion, option three will probably be the best; even better than the current system.

Monday Windy City Roundup

Cubs: Have the day off today. This week they are at Atlanta and Florida. Harden, Marquis and Lilly are going against Charlie Morton (3-5, 5.70 ERA), Jorge Campillo (7-4, 2.83) and Tom Glavine (2-3, 4.85). Morton looks like someone who could turn into a good pitcher (he's still a rookie). Campillo could probably be a 2nd or 3rd starter. He is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in 13.1 innings pitched during his two August starts versus the Brewers and Diamondbacks. He still looks like a pitcher that the Cubs can get to. We all know Tom Glavine. He hasn't made a start since June 10 versus the Cubs. He went three innings, surrendering 6 hits, 4 walks and 4 runs (all earned). They'll probably still be in first at weeks end.
Scott Eyre now joins Will Ohman as a Cubs lefty traded to the NL East in the past year. Hopefully this kid Schlitter can be a decent starter some day. So far he's thrown 2 shutout innings in Class A and given up only 2 hits.

Bears: I know it's still the preseason, but Caleb Hanie looks like a better QB than Ortman. That's really no surprise, because Ortman is terrible. But Hanie still won't win the starting job. For one he's a rookie undrafted free agent. Those things shouldn't count against him at all, but do with Lovie as coach.
So, to handicap the QB race that actually matters (no offense to Hanie). The "man" part of Ortman always plays his best in the preseason. And "Ort" always plays best in the regular season, so Lovie will make Grossman the starter. That's also because the Bears want Grossman to be the starter. They want the former first round pick to be good. They assume he will be good because Jerry Angelo was confident enough to use a first round pick on him. The same happened with Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones (or maybe Benson bought Angelo and Lovie a few drinks).
So Grossman will win, lose his job to Orton, get it back and lose it again, only to have a competiton next training camp.

Wait...What Just Happened?

This is going to be end up being the best week that the Cubs have had all season! They just steamrolled the Brewers in Milwaukee, and now they have to face the Pirates at home. The Pirates. At home. The Cubs are 9-3 against the Bucs. They're 5-1 at home. One of the road losses only happened because Alfonso Soriano dropped a routine fly ball with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth. The Cubs are going to be on an eight game winning streak. Woo-hoo!!!
...
Wait...
The Cubs lost? They got shut out by the Pirates? Jeff Karstens, the Pirates starter had never even thrown a major league pitch in his life. He went 6 shutout innings against the highest scoring team in the National League. He surrendered only 5 singles. What happened here? The Cubs had rolled past C.C. Sabathia and Ben Sheets in Milwaukee. And now they can't beat Jeff Karstens? Well, hopefully Ted Lilly and Carlos Zambrano can get the Cubs turned around.

The Big One: The One We've All Been Waiting For

This is it. These next four games will decide the Cubs' season. If they get swept, they're 3 games down on Milwaukee. If the Cubs sweep, they have a 5 game cushion, and magic number of 49. I know that nobody really cares about the magic number in July, but in my opinion, once it gets under 50, you should start to pay attention. A Brewers sweep would put their magic number at 50.
Tonight's game is at 7:05 CST. Lilly vs. Sabathia. As a Brewer, Sabathia has made 4 starts, and gone 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA. He has logged 33 innings, struck out 31 and allowed only 5 ER.
In Lilly's last 4 starts (3 since the Sabathia trade), he has gone 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA. He has gone 21.2 innings, struck out 20 and allowed 10 earned runs.
If the Cubs can get to Sabathia early (Soriano first pitch homer?), then the Cubs can win. Otherwise, no.