By Steve Rhodes

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Cubs are well on their way to matching last season’s 101 losses. After all, it’s essentially the same team.
Think about it: Eight of nine starters among position players were starters last year. The only difference is that Tony Campana (and Reed Johnson before him) is out and Nate Schierholtz is in. That’s an improvement insofar as Schierholtz is hitting .302 with a .355 OBP, but that’s easily cancelled out by the poorer play of everyone else except Welington Castillo if you ignore his defense and only consider his relatively hot bat.
The bullpen is essentially the same, too: Marmol, Russell, Camp and the return of Kevin Gregg to fill out Kerry Wood’s role in some weird way.
And while the rotation has exceeded expectations, thanks largely to Carlos Villanueva and Travis Wood, Edwin Jackson looks like the Alfonso Soriano of the Theo era.
It ain’t getting better, folks. And if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.

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Posted on May 6, 2013

By Roger Wallenstein

The discussion focused on Pete Reiser and Tony Conigliaro, two talented ballplayers of bygone eras, whose careers were cut short by injury.
I was privy to this conversation last winter as an old Dodger fan talked about Reiser, who broke in with Brooklyn in 1941 as an outfielder at the age of 21. The next season he led the National League with a .343 batting average while legging out 17 triples, 39 doubles, and scoring 117 runs.
In 1942 he was sailing along at a .388 clip when he had his first encounter with an outfield wall. Reiser, you see, gave chase to deep flies the way Joakim Noah approaches loose balls. And in those days there was no padding on the bricks.

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Posted on May 6, 2013

We’re going to trust the Hawks to take care of business against the Wild. There was a little setback Sunday, but the No. 1 seed is still in control. And as Joe Gilmartin of the Phoenix Gazette first said in 1987 (and Laker coach at the time Pat Riley immediately parroted), “No playoff series truly begins until a home team loses.”
So if the perpetually home-ice advantaged Hawks can just keep all their series’ from even starting this year, we should be good. Then again, it would be fine if they wanted to record a road win in Game 4 tomorrow night starting at 8:30 p.m..
The point of all this is that despite plenty of Blackhawk playoff drama around here, the big spotlight still shines on the amazing Bulls, who open their series with the Heat this evening at 6 p.m.
The indomitable Joakim Noah continues to lead this team on what can only be described as a ridiculous journey.

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Posted on May 6, 2013

By Roger Wallenstein

Forty years working with kids and their families has taught me a number of things, one of which is that rational people occasionally react irrationally when confronted with issues concerning their children. Furthermore, parents who may be somewhat unhinged to begin with become more so when their kids face adversity.
The accounts of the Walter Payton College Prep’s baseball team’s sticky situation concerning its forfeit of a game against Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep reminded me once again of this kind of parental reaction.

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Posted on May 6, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

Boiling down this clusterfuck to a few salient points that our foggy, amnesiac media keeps missing, because this is a well-worn script and we’re sick of it.
(And we’ll take Harry Caray and Steve Stone over David Haugh and David Kaplan any day.)

Harry Caray thought it was nuts to block rooftop views: articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-08-16/fea… | #cubs

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) May 2, 2013

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Posted on May 3, 2013

By Dan O’Shea

One of the most obvious maxims of baseball is “To win games, you need to score runs.”
That may not always be true in fantasy baseball weekly match-ups, however, especially in those leagues that count every stat up to and including put-outs.
Yet at some point this season, no matter what kind of league you’re in, runs could be the stat category that turns a weekly match-up loss into a win, or vice versa. It may not even make that big a difference, perhaps even just a point that proves valuable in playoff bracketing later on.

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Posted on May 1, 2013

Another Beachwood Scoop

Tom Ricketts finally dribbled out his family’s renovation plans for Wrigley Field on Tuesday, in advance of his big presentation at the City Club today showing why we should all take pity on how one of America’s richest families is being restrained from running its own business by pesky binding contracts, existing preservation law, city building and zoning codes, annoying neighbors and general Kubs Karma. Hint: The new Wrigley will look like an LED sign convention.
The Beachwood, as usual, has obtained the Ricketts’ confidential companion marketing plan to the renovation. Here are the highlights:

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Posted on May 1, 2013

Injured Bulls Leader Tries To Not Be Distracted By Historic Moment

“For all of the magic Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau has been able to coax out of his battered roster, this was one body blow too many,” Chris Mannix writes for Sports Illustrated.
“With Joakim Noah hobbling around on one foot, Taj Gibson operating on one good knee, Kirk Hinrich battling through a severe calf strain, and Derrick Rose still sitting in a suit, Chicago had built a 3-1 series lead through punishing defense and efficient offense, through the sheer will and determination of a team wired to refuse to quit.
“The loss of Hinrich though, the team’s level-headed floor general, it’s pesky perimeter defender who was ruled out Monday morning after his left calf worsened in the hours after grinding out 60 grueling minutes in the Bulls triple overtime win over the Nets on Saturday, proved to be too much.
“A physically taxed team had become too overextended. And with the clock winding down in Brooklyn’s 110-91 Game 5 win, there was Nate Robinson (44 minutes) and Jimmy Butler (32) hunched over at halfcourt, hands on their knees, too tired to stand up, a visual that spoke volumes.”

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Posted on April 30, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

Just because the Cubs took three of four from the Fish doesn’t mean they are somehow “back on track.”
It just means Miami would be in line for the demotion to AAA this week if the majors had such a thing. It’s nothing to be proud of.
Has Kevin Gregg “stabilized” the bullpen? My god, no.
Is Anthony Rizzo “emerging?” Sure – he’ll be hitting .281 in no time!
Did the Cubs answer a “wake-up call?” Please.
Are the Cubs happy to have Darwin Barney back? Yes, but enjoy him while you can.
Don’t forget: You’re not supposed to even care for a few more years.

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Posted on April 29, 2013

By Jim Coffman

No way Derrick Rose could be watching this series – and he has had a great seat – and not be playing if he thought it was possible.
With Rose still on the shelf, the Bulls, led by indomitable center Joakim Noah, have scored some amazing wins against the Nets on their way to a 3-1 series lead and will try to close it out this evening in Brooklyn.
Doubts are unavoidable. The worst started to creep in in the aftermath of the Bulls star’s brother/adviser Reggie’s ill-advised comments about the Bulls not having done enough to upgrade the roster not long after the trade deadline in February. He went on to say that perhaps his brother wouldn’t come back from his knee injury this season at least in part because the team didn’t have a good enough chance to win a championship.

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Posted on April 29, 2013