By Roger Wallenstein

Despite standing ovation after standing ovation when Derek Jeter strode to the plate at the Cell over the weekend, these are not the Yankees we thought they were.
They used to be a team the White Sox saw 22 times a season when Mickey, Yogi and Whitey wreaked havoc on the South Side. Or George Steinbrenner fired yet another manager, one of whom, Billy Martin, was just the other day called a “bigot” by former pitcher Tommy John in an interview by Dan Patrick.
What about the ugly dugout fight between Reggie Jackson and Martin when the manager pulled his star right fielder in the middle of an inning for perceived lack of hustle? Or the way Joe Torre, who led the Yankees into the post-season for all 12 seasons he managed the team, was disrespected in 2007 when he was offered a measly one-year contract?
Now those were the Yankees we thought they were, a truly despicable outfit.

Read More

Posted on May 25, 2014

By Steve Rhodes and Jim Coffman

Welcome to the pre-beta edition of The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour, our weekly sports roundup. In this show: Coach Queasy & The Qubs. Plus: Theo Doesn’t Get It, Rick Renteria’s Disconnected Optimism Wearing Thin & The Jed Hoyer Condescension Meter.

Read More

Posted on May 24, 2014

By Thomas Chambers

Every bacchanal demands a cleanup.

* * * * *
New drinking game: Take a pop every time you hear “California Chrome (‘Chrome for us hipsters) is America’s Horse.”
You do have to admire him after victory in the 139th Preakness Stakes propels him on the odyssey of seeking Thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown.
‘Chrome, with Victor Espinoza aboard, ran a nearly identical race to his victory in the Kentucky Derby two weeks before. I say nearly because the son of Lucky Pulpit required a bursting turn of foot on Pimlico’s far backstretch to keep himself out of trouble and traffic as he bided his time before the big money run down the stretch. Another new twist was his relative serenity in the starting gate, usually a hellhole for him. He still didn’t like it, but at least he wasn’t trying to tear it apart weld by weld as in the past.

Read More

Posted on May 23, 2014

Vies For All-Star Start With 0 Wins

The Cubs should thank their lucky stars for Twitter, because without it watching this wretched mess would be unbearable.
To wit:

Samardzija bobblehead just became sentient; attacking all other #Cubs bobbleheads.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) May 21, 2014

@Cubfan66 @ldavis1800 @noradiva1 @beachwoodreport Uh oh. He’s got the letter opener. pic.twitter.com/2pCTn6hy7F

— Berries Verified (@soulberries) May 21, 2014

Read More

Posted on May 22, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

One of Theo Epstein’s constant refrains is that the pain we are going through now is the price we have to pay for “sustained success” in the future.
But what if we don’t care about sustained success in the future?
Worrying about sustained success in the future is for normal franchises. These are the Cubs. We’ve suffered enough. We just want to win it once. After that, who cares? We’ll be more than happy to wait another 100-plus years.
This is what Theo doesn’t understand. Sustained success isn’t what Cubs fandom is about. That ship has sailed. It’s about that one moment. Win us a World Series first; then we can think about sustained success.
Because you don’t truly understand this franchise, Theo, and in particular how it differs from the Red Sox and their championship drought, you are putting the cart that is future before the horse that is the present.
Sustained success, see, is for later. Winning is for now.
In that vein, I’d like to dedicate this week’s Cub Factor to Betty J. Soedler, of Locust Grove, Virginia. We lost Betty nine days ago.
“Her two biggest regrets were that the Minnesota Vikings did not win the Super Bowl and the Chicago Cubs did not win the World Series during her lifetime.”
She couldn’t live long enough to see your plan through, Theo.
The rest of us – like the plan itself – aren’t guaranteed either.

Read More

Posted on May 20, 2014

By Jim Coffman

The Hawks took advantage of home ice advantage and won Game 1 against the Kings 3-1 on Sunday in the Western Conference final. They couldn’t be in better position at this point in the playoffs.
They haven’t lost at the United Center since the end of the regular season (three home wins in the first round against the Blues and three in the second versus the Wild) and if they win the rest of their home games, they win the whole thing, plain and simple.
Given that the other two teams in the NHL Final Four, the Rangers and Canadiens, finished the regular season with fewer points than their counterparts from Chicago, the Hawks would also have home ice advantage in the Stanley Cup finals. Not that I want get ahead of myself and maybe even jinx the local squad. But a lowly local sports commentator can’t do that, can he? If it turned out that I could by the way, I promise I would use my power for good.
Anyway . . . despite all of that good stuff, coach Joel Quenneville seems awfully worried about things, doesn’t he?

Read More

Posted on May 19, 2014

By Roger Wallenstein

Is there any other profession besides professional sports where trades take place?
Like, what would happen if we could dump Emanuel and get de Blasio? I think we’d be dumb not to make that deal. Or how many surgeons from Rush would it take to pry James Andrews loose from his practice in Birmingham? Suppose we didn’t like the sopes rancheros super chef Rick Bayless concocted at the Frontera Grill. Imagine if we then dispatched him to New Orleans in a straight-up deal for Emeril and his chorizo po’ boy.
Of course, the world doesn’t work that way, but baseball does. Before the days of free agency and guaranteed, no-trade contracts, players were chattel and trades were made with regularity.

Read More

Posted on May 19, 2014

Best In The City, Third In The State

“It might be surprising that Clemente, an urban school in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, has an archery team,” Barbara Brotman wrote for the Tribune in March.
“On top of that, it has the third-ranked team in the state.”
That’s out of 143 Illinois schools that participate in the National Archery in the Schools Program. Seventeen of those are Chicago schools.
Clemente traveled to Louisville last weekend for nationals – the only Chicago team to do so. (Ten other teams from Illinois also went; just three of those were in the high school division, while the rest were elementary or middle schools)

Read More

Posted on May 16, 2014

By Dan O’Shea

It’s a wonder Cy Young’s arm didn’t fall right off of his body at some point. His 511 career wins, 749 career complete games and 7,356 innings pitched are baseball’s most unbreakable records. Sure, things were different back then – games were managed differently, pitchers didn’t throw as hard and they were never pulled from games. Still, I think the “Cy” may have been short for “Cyborg.”
This year, we are being reminded again why no modern pitcher will ever come close to those numbers. Not only has bullpen micro-management made the complete game virtually a thing of the past, the best pitchers in the game today simply can’t stay healthy. Since the start of spring training, at least 18 pitchers have either had or are waiting to have reconstructive Tommy John surgery on their elbows, according to the USA Today.
Many of them, including the latest slated for season-ending surgery – Marlins ace Jose Fernandez – were considered to be in the top tier of fantasy pitching stat contributors.

Read More

Posted on May 14, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

Here’s the problem with Jeff Samardzija throwing 126 pitches against the White Sox last week: According to Theo Epstein, it doesn’t matter whether the Cubs win 68 or 73 games this year.
So why is Ricky Renteria trying so hard to win that game that he pushes him past what he acknowledges was his pitch limit?
If the game mattered, that would be one thing. And even still, if this was a potential playoff team, you’d want to keep Samardzija fresh for late in the season.
But the game did not matter. It didn’t even matter to show Samardzija’s trade value; it only endangered it.
Misaligned incentives all the way around.

Read More

Posted on May 13, 2014