By Phil Barnes
Another solid week in the books for the Sox as they finish 4-2 during two road series’. The South Siders showed their offense in the opener against Detroit on Monday, scoring 10. But Tuesday was a whole different story, getting absolutely bombed 9-0. But that is alright, fans should accept a blowout loss a week as long as they continue to play above .500 ball.
Personally, last week’s version of “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” went pretty well, so I will probably stick to this for a while until it either runs its course or I get a few e-mails from people complaining for their money back.
So let’s take a look.

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Posted on April 20, 2009

By Thomas Chambers

Why are these things oh so predictable? Like Crash Davis telling the hitter it’s a fastball down the pipe.
The Daily Racing Form was founded in 1894 by Frank Brunell of Chicago. Horse racing was vastly popular in America, and Iinformation is everything in playing the horses. At first, it was somewhat of a local endeavor.
But Moe Annenberg – a circulation genius/muscle man who made his bones on our very own Chicago Tribune before joining the Hearst empire – and the Mob saw the benefit of providing pre-race information and race results on a nationwide basis, using the developing telephone and telegraph system.

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Posted on April 17, 2009

By Dan O’Shea

Slow and steady may win the race, but some early picks from the waiver wire don’t hurt either.
Baseball is full of slow starters, otherwise solid or even great players who year after year don’t really get going until June or July. It’s up to a fantasy baseball manager to recognize that reality and to factor that into the decisions you make not only during your draft, but as the season progresses.
Roy Oswalt is just one example of a slow starter. I don’t believe I have ever once drafted Roy Oswalt, but more often than not, I have traded for him before the second half begins. Why? Because over the span of his career, he is 65-24 from July 1 onward, but only 54-42 before then. It doesn’t sound like that remarkable of a difference, but further consider his career record from Aug. 1 onward: 52-14. Three of his six career shut-outs have come in September alone. That’s when league titles, fantasy and otherwise, are won and lost.

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Posted on April 15, 2009

By Jim Coffman
The teams are alright.
The local squads swept the weekend, going 7-0. Can’t you just hear good old Mel Allen (the longtime, velvet-voiced host of This Week in Baseball) saying “How ’bout that?”

Beachwood Baseball: The Cub Factor The White Sox Report

And Chicago didn’t just win on field, floor and ice, it dominated . . . starting with . . . the Blackhawks. They caught a huge break with a dubious penalty shot call with less than 30 seconds remaining against the Red Wings in Saturday’s opener of a two-game, two-day, regular season-ending series with the Red Wings. And Dustin Byfuglien took advantage, breaking a 2-2 tie. An empty-netter made the final 4-2.

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Posted on April 13, 2009

By Marty Gangler
Okay. It’s been a week and although that is not much of a sample size there may be a few things I have to re-think. And, well, it’s time for the first week knee-jerk reaction. It’s really all the first week is good for. With this in mind a few things don’t make as much sense as I thought they did. For one, Alfonso Soriano seems to be doing fine in the leadoff role. And Derrek Lee does look like he sucks now. And Kosuke Fukudome can actually hit. So what does this all mean? It means that I was pretty wrong in my thinking on all of these counts. Yes, it’s only been a week but maybe these things are actually true. Which makes me think of some other things I might be wrong about and should change my mind on – both Cub-related and otherwise. So with all of this in mind, we here at the Cub Factor now believe the following statements to be true:
* Ron Santo is really a tremendously talented broadcaster.
* I will sell my house next week.
* Wrigley Field is a shrine and should never be torn down.
* My straight job is very secure and I have nothing to worry about.

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Posted on April 13, 2009

By Phil Barnes
Not a bad ending to opening week, huh Sox fans? Despite a drubbing on Friday night, coming back on Saturday and Sunday with offensive onslaughts almost entirely negated the previous work-week struggles at the plate. Instead of accidentally letting myself foreshadow the meat of this report, let’s just get right into it.
Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly, White Sox opening-week style.

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Posted on April 13, 2009

By Thomas Chambers

It’s getting right at that time when you can, or think you can, start to draw some conclusions about the contenders for the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby May 2 at Churchill Downs.
But this year, a year in which the three-year-old class appears to be at least somewhat talented, and the Derby Preps very entertaining, there will also be two stories that portend more intense scrutiny and disdain for a game battered by the heartbreaking saga of Barbaro, the Big Brown steroids “scandal”, and the breakdown of Eight Belles in this very race last year. They include a syringe full of “cough medicine” and alleged mistreatment of Thoroughbred horses by a fairly prominent horseman.

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Posted on April 10, 2009

By Dan O’Shea

What does Opening Day really mean in the fantasy world? It’s nice to get off to a strong start, of course, but don’t get too panicky just because CC Sabathia had one of his worst outings ever in his Yankee debut against the Orioles. Sabathia has never been good on Opening Day, and practically has made the argument against starting him to start off the season. He did turn in a truly terrible line this week that was virtually absent of fantasy points: 4.1 IP, 5 BBs, 0 Ks (!), 8 hits, 6 ER. That, in turn, already has the New York media on his back, but wait until Sabathia gets rolling sometime in May, along with a Yankee offense that will give him more breathing room.

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Posted on April 8, 2009

1. Reverse

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Posted on April 7, 2009

By Jim Coffman
Jay Cutler would have been worth five first-round draft picks. Of course he would have. We’re talking about a shiny, new all-Pro Bowl quarterback, one who still has three years left on his rookie contract. Signal-callers this good and this young and this cheap (yes the Bears will have to re-do his contract before it ends – but I’ll bet they get at least one great year out of him before they do) do not get traded. Ever. So talking about the Bears giving up too much just doesn’t compute. How can you trade too much for the far and away most valuable commodity in the sport? Short answer – you can’t.

Beachwood Baseball: The Cub Factor The White Sox Report

And, of course Cutler, won’t win games by himself. He’ll need help. But the Bears didn’t lose anything from their defense last week (maybe it would have been good if they actually had lost a few of last year’s most egregious under-achievers but still . . . ). And while I’m hoping the Monsters will sign free-agent wide receiver Torry Holt (who would be able to help next season while rookies almost certainly wouldn’t), there are significant offensive pieces here already. Start with deep passes to Devin Hester and then mix in short and medium-ranged ones to Matt Forte (whose ability to run the football is actually surpassed by his knack for catching it) and stud tight end Gregg Olsen. Not bad. And the absolute happiest guy on this team has to be wide receiver Earl Bennett, who did not catch a pass as a rookie last year but now is reunited with his former college quarterback. The Bears draft a big wide receiver in the second or third round and grab a Jerry Angelo special or two, i.e. significant defensive contributors in the fifth round (when they have two picks) or later, and I’ll take that going forward.

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Posted on April 6, 2009