By Dan O’Shea

A few observations from the opening month of the 2014 baseball season.
Fantasy Player Of The Month: Jose Abreu.
Who would have thought we’d highlight the fantasy feats of two different South Side-by-way-of-Cuba players in the first few weeks of the season? First, it was Alexei Ramirez, the sneaky mid-round value who went on run of over-achievement to start the season. Now, it’s sleeper-turned-fantasy starter Abreu, who broke the rookie records for HRs (10) and RBI (32) in the month of April despite going through two mini-slumps where he was collectively 2-for-40. Abreu is drawing comparisons to Miguel Cabrera, and already looks like the fantasy steal of the year.

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Posted on April 30, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

“The ones who have left talk as if they’ve escaped,” Gordon Wittenmyer writes for the Sun-Times.
“As if the Cubs have become baseball’s Alcatraz, where players do time until free agency or the inevitable trade while the lucky ones get reduced sentences by virtue of one-year flip contracts.
“Just listen to Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Matt Garza’s advice to Jeff Samardzija, who will be on the trading block this summer.

“All I can tell him is keep pitching; pitch your way out of it,” said Garza.

Yes, but how do we escape?

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Posted on April 28, 2014

By Jim Coffman

Hooray for the Hawks and all, but I’m going to need to spend some time with the Bulls today. For one thing, the local hockey team will still be here next week. I’m thinking the basketball team’s chief concern at this point is whether the initial off-season vacation will be sun-and-fun or natural wonders.
What the heck is going on with this group?

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Posted on April 28, 2014

By Roger Wallenstein

The only thing missing from Jose Daniel Abreu’s walk-off grand slam Friday night was the ball striking a light tower creating a shower of sparks.
“You feel like the whole place could kind of feel it,” said Sox leadoff man and center fielder Adam Eaton, recounting the situation: bottom of the ninth, two outs, bases loaded, Sox down 6-4 to Tampa Bay. “When he got up it was like, ‘Uh, oh. Something great’s going to happen.’ And indeed it did.”
Roy Hobbs was fiction. The Sox’s “El Natural” is real. Fans had to settle for an exploding scoreboard rather than a shattered light tower, but his blast into the right-field bullpen sent 17,000 patrons into a frenzy – along with his teammates.

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Posted on April 28, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

The Chicago sports scene always provides Deadspin with plenty of material, but this week we went above and beyond our duty to provide the world’s most popular sports site with wacky hijinks. Let’s take a look.
1. Ugly Blues-Blackhawks Series Gets Uglier With “Wakey-Wakey” Taunt.
Hawk Harrelson can only exist in this town because Chicagoans are still so goddamn parochial. It’s Homer City. So when Brooks Orpik puts a legal, unpenalized hit on captain Jonathan Toews, a great crime has occurred. And when the Blackhawks don’t retaliate for said legal, unpenalized hit, well, idiocy abounds.
But when Brent Seabrook puts a dirty hit on Blues captain David Backes, and then Duncan Keith taunts the concussed Backes with a childish “wakey, wakey,” well, yeah, it was, um, wrong, the sports commentariat sheepishly and grudgingly acknowledges, but who knows, maybe he didn’t really say it (“I don’t remember everything that gets said,” Keith claimed, which is essentially an admission), and hey, you know, it’s good for the Blackhawks to play a Backes-less Blues at any rate.

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Posted on April 25, 2014

Honoring Wrigley The Best Way They Know How

It was a game for the ages.
With a two-game winning streak on the line, the Cubs took the field on Wednesday outfitted in the uniforms of their forebear Chicago Federals to commemorate the 100th birthday of the ol’ ballpark. The woeful Arizona Diamondbacks dressed as the Kansas City Packers, who took this very field on April 23, 1914.
And who could forget the rivalry that began when starting Packers pitcher George “Chief” Johnson “was removed after two innings when served with an injunction from his former team, the Cincinnati Reds.”
The Packerbacks were out to spoil the party.
The Cuberals were out to fulfill their destiny.

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Posted on April 24, 2014

By Perspectivas Latinas/CAN TV

“The Chicago Youth Boxing Club provides professional boxing instruction to youth in Little Village, North Lawndale, Humboldt Park and some suburbs. Victor Rodriguez, Gabriel Navarro and Ana Patricia Juarez discuss their work and growth of the organization.”

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Posted on April 23, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

Ricky Renteria is already following in the failed footsteps of Dale Sveum in one key area: He’s trying to win games.
Didn’t you get the memo, Ricky?
When a manager employs platoons and lineup systems and looks for daily match-ups, he’s trying to win every game.
Not what you were hired for, Rick.
You were hired to develop players. That means playing Mike Olt and Junior Lake every day; we don’t need to see what Luis Valbuena and Ryan Sweeney have to offer.

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Posted on April 22, 2014

By Roger Wallenstein

I can take certain players leading the charge for the Wizards against the Bulls.
John Wall is an emerging star in the league. A fan expects him to impact big games in big ways. Bradley Beal is one of the best young shooting guards in the Eastern Conference. And Marcin Gortat and Nene are strong players – in more ways than one – in the hearts of their careers.
But Andre Miller? I mean, he was over the hill three years ago, wasn’t he? Yet there was the veteran reserve guard making the plays that put Washington in front in the fourth quarter Sunday in the Wizards’ 102-93 victory over the Bulls in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

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Posted on April 21, 2014

By Roger Wallenstein

On a Sunday morning when your team hasn’t won a game since last Tuesday’s frigid 2-1 squeaker over the Red Sox – a game the White Sox stole on a ninth-inning error – your mind tends to dwell on other aspects of this young season.
I lack patience for Sox fans who complain that their organization is second-class compared to the guys on the North Side of town. The idle, senseless Internet chatter bemoaning Sox attendance is the kind of prattle which needn’t concern those of us who root for the White Sox.
So what am I doing checking attendance figures for the young season? I’m not proud of this. But the inkling that this season has the potential to be less than thrilling results in seeking other signs – in addition to those on the field – that this ballclub just may be in difficulty.

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Posted on April 21, 2014