By Andrew Reilly
There are two ways to look at the upcoming weeks and the Sox’ merciless schedule.
The obvious school of thought says it’s all over, that the season effectively ended with the savage beating the Orioles handed down today. Not that losing to the O’s means much in the scheme of things, but that the Sox’ opportunities to fatten up on mediocre teams have all passed, the Good Guys left with nothing to show for it but a slightly narrowed distance between themselves and the Kittens and a Minnesota team filling more and more of the rear-view mirror with each passing day. It’s as though these previous 91 games were a good time and all, but the Sox have to go home now and let the grown-ups get down to the business of playing serious, meaningful baseball.

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Posted on July 20, 2009

By Thomas Chambers

A few horseplayers in Chicago like to bicker about which is better, Arlington Park or Hawthorne Race Course.
It’s like Obama vs. McCain or Democrats vs. Republicans. There’s no good one – they’re all politicians. Or debating the merits as a metropolis of New York City versus Chicago. All I’ll say here is New York had a 200-year head start and the put-upon munchkin running this city called our tallest skyscraper “Big Willie” this week.
There is really no comparison and I don’t say that because of the facilities or that Hawthorne is considered to be in an icky neighborhood.

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Posted on July 17, 2009

By Dan O’Shea
Could the start of second half of the baseball season mark a new beginning for your fantasy baseball team? Maybe, but remember, there is less time left in your fantasy season than in the real MLB season, and less time still to make any trades. It’s definitely time to take stock of various underachievers, and do something about them one way or another. That means putting them on the trading block if you think you can get something, or maybe just on the chopping block if you think you can’t. Of course, there might also be a few worth keeping in the hopes they turn their seasons around. Here’s my take with a new Fantasy Fix feature, the weekly Fantasy Fix Action Ratings:
Player: Josh Hamilton, OF
Fantasy Fix Action Rating: TRADE
Comment: Back from injury and hitting again, but no homers yet since his return. The promise of easy production in the Rangers lineup is still there, but you’d be better off with a mid-tier outfielder with a clear power streak.

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Posted on July 16, 2009

By Mike Conklin
Did you know the U.S. Soccer Federation, which has its headquarters in Chicago, is bidding to host the World Cup in 2018 only two years after the Olympics could be here? And that some important matches – possibly the championship contest – could be played at Soldier Field?
Didn’t think so. At best, soccer receives token coverage in Chicago.
There was a reminder of this in June, when the U.S. men played Honduras – yes, the same Central American nation currently working its way through a coup attempt – in a World Cup qualifier here. Playing in poor weather, the contest still drew 55,647 spectators to see the U.S. win 2-1. Aside from Game Day coverage that got buried, the contest received little notice.

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Posted on July 15, 2009

By Andrew Reilly
I had the good fortune of attending the Leinster GAA Senior Hurling Final in Dublin last week, and for anyone not interested in learning the expectedly archaic rules and traditions associated with such an intricately-titled sporting event, the condensed version goes like this: soccer played with baseball bats.
And it was awesome, but not just for the reasons you’d expect (although let’s make one thing clear: dudes running at each other with wooden sticks is pretty amusing). The game was exciting and all, what with Kilkenny besting Dublin 2-18 to 0-18 (Up the Dubs!, as Dublin fans like to say), but as with most sports that happen outside of America the real entertainment was in the stands. Giant flags, painted faces, section-to-section call-and-response sing-alongs, prominently-placed signs strictly prohibiting air horns and flares (flares!) inside the stadium; the whole affair was less sports and more county-level rallies, the good people of Dublin County (Up the Dubs!) rallying their troops against the invading horde from the countryside and whatnot.

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Posted on July 14, 2009

By Jim Coffman
As I was walking down the Wrigley ramps after the Cubs’ delightful 7-3 victory over the Cardinals Sunday afternoon belting out “Go Cubs Go,” I experienced a revelation (it was of virtually no consequence but I believe it still qualified as a revelation). I hate most of the cutie Cubbie crap – throwing home run balls back, the Harry statue and glasses above the press box, the love of Ron Santo no matter how monstrously incompetent he is on the radio – but you have to love a good sing-along after a win. Anyway, it dawned on me that if we made a small change, just this once the song would actually make sense. It is, of course, goofy that we sing “The Cubs are gonna win today” after the Cubs wins. But here was our chance, all we had to do was sing “The Cubs are gonna win tonight!” Get it? Because it was a day-night doubleheader! So I belted that out at the end of the first few choruses and hoped a few of my fellow fans would join in. I know, I know – I am the most clever ever.

Beachwood Baseball: The Cub Factor The White Sox Report will appear on Tuesday.

Shockingly enough, I was still alone when I tried it a third time, at which point my 10-year-old son, who I think had found it at least slightly funny the first time I changed the lyric, turned on me with a “Daaaaaaaaaad!” I weathered his disapproval and belted out ” . . . tonight!” one more time but that was it. Maybe it was just general indifference or embarrassment on display but probably it was something more. Probably it was the fact that no one thought the Cubs were gonna win tonight. And sure enough they didn’t. And that was despite an unbelievable top of the ninth in which Lou Piniella out-LaRussa’d Tony LaRussa and the Cubs caught a giant break when Reed Johnson’s stumbling, sliding trap of Cody Rasmus’ shallow fly ball near the left field line somehow stuck in the middle of his glove (violating several laws of baseball physics) and was ruled the third out.
Previously, after bringing in left-handed Sean Marshall with two on and no outs in the ninth and watching him walk the first hitter he faced, Piniella actually moved Marshall to left field, replacing Alfonso Soriano in the lineup with the right-handed Aaron Heilman. Heilman struck out the only batter he faced, righty Brendan Ryan, and then headed for the bench. Marshall returned to the mound to face the lefties who awaited in the Cardinal lineup (with Johnson taking over in left field). Except LaRussa then pinch-hit a righty (Jarrett Hoffpauir – no relation to Micah despite the fact that they are the first two Hoffpauirs, names spelled the same – to ever appear in major league games). And then Marshall struck him out anyway. And then Rasmus hit that fly ball down the line that Johnson somehow corralled despite tripping over his own feet moments before. Baseball is so boring isn’t it?

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Posted on July 13, 2009

By Marty Gangler
As soon as you think this 2009 Cub team is going to turn it around they do something like, well, something like be themselves again. Even with the return of “leading man” Aramis Ramirez, the Cubs did little this week besides be themselves. And even though I rip the crap out of them most times, I’d really like them to win more and be, well, not themselves. With this in mind we here at the Cub Factor would like to throw out a few ideas based on some classic (and not so classic) baseball movies, you know, because in movies people aren’t themselves, they act like other people. And there’s some advice in these classics that could certainly help the Cubs.
* Major League: Ask Jobu for ability to hit. Julio Zuleta will do, too.
* Hustle: The Pete Rose Story: Put some skin in the game.
* The Natural: Start storm-chasing looking for trees hit by lightning. Dusty and Rabbit can help.
* Ed: The next second baseman is . . . a chimp. Or Sean Marshall.

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Posted on July 13, 2009

By Thomas Chambers
I get the heebie jeebies in River North.
I’m thinking of opening a ministry there, like the Save-a-Soul Mission in Guys and Dolls. My apostles will walk the sidewalks telling the tourists that just because it’s bigger – maybe the biggest – it’s still just a McDonald’s, with higher prices. Don’t be tempted by the frog on the roof, and you’ll be disappointed that it’s not very hard rock. No, there’s no gangster museum here anymore. And the chicken-wing girls aren’t any different from the ones you have out by your airport.
Now I walk among these downtrodden of our Tourist Economy. I will reach out to these souls of limited disposable dollars, providing guidance to true neighborhood spots unique to Daley City. Watch locals drown sorrows, and with good food. I’ll recruit the microphone preacher from Washington and State, for he’ll become our human Green Sheet and spread the word on pace scenarios and false favorites and PolyTrack tendencies. If one should have a need to testify with $2 on a horse, one of His great creatures, as such a man, from Ohio, did last Saturday, we will remain true to our calling and show him the way.

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Posted on July 10, 2009

By Dan O’Shea
Are you ready to trust Manny? Since returning from a drug-related suspension last Friday, Manny Ramirez has gone 4-16 at the plate with two home runs and five RBIs, which isn’t bad for a guy who went two months without seeing major league pitching. Since the beginning of his suspension, I have liked the potential for “Man-Ram” to come back and be like Steve Austin with a bat during the second half of the season. Because Manny is so famously loose about nearly everything, I felt he could deal with any stress, boos and (possibly, sadly) syringes that might be tossed his way.

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Posted on July 9, 2009

By Jim Coffman
The Cubs have gathered themselves, haven’t they? And now they are surging forward. Of course you can’t be sure this will last, but the starting pitching, the key in baseball every time, has settled into a groove of late and it therefore isn’t even a little surprising the North Siders are on a roll. It helps that they are in the midst of a long homestand, no doubt. But still . . . this is a team that could very well run away and hide atop the Central Division in the second half of the season. And if they do pull that off, I hope folks will remember how grim it was in June, when the team was struggling desperately to stay at .500 and everyone was just hoping they wouldn’t fade away. Now the division is clearly up for grabs. The Astros for goodness sakes, who struggled mightily out of the gate, have rallied back into contention.

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Posted on July 7, 2009