By Jim Coffman

Just when I thought being a Cubs fan couldn’t possibly get any worse . . .
I mean, how much did that suck on Saturday and Sunday? Cubs players, these games matter a little more, right? It isn’t exactly complicated. At least you competed on Friday. The rest of the weekend was a monstrosity as the White Sox polished off a sweep at Wrigley.
I took in the final seven-and-a-half innings on Saturday evening from a stool at the beer garden behind Justin’s, which has been at the corner of Roscoe and Southport for just about forever.

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Posted on May 21, 2012

By Roger Wallenstein

Turn back the clock a few years and it might have been the newly-retired Kerry Wood, not Jeff Samardzija, whose errant splitter last Friday made Paul Konerko look more like former middleweight champ Carmen Basilio than the walking monument of the South Side.
Back in 2002-03, when a healthy Wood was about the same age as Samardzija and just learning how to pitch, he led the National League in hitting batters. Did he hit any of those 37 guys on purpose? It’s not out of the question, but intent isn’t necessarily the issue.

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Posted on May 21, 2012

By Marty Gangler

The biggest news last week wasn’t just that Kerry Wood finally hung them up it was the way he did it. Since when do players announce their retirement and then go out there one more time? Were the Cubs then obligated to put him in a game regardless of situation? Like, no matter what? Kerry Wood may have been Tom Ricketts’ fantasy pick, but the games are still real! And not all present a chance for, say, an intentional walk.
True, he got a strikeout when called upon. But what if he got shelled?
Putting Wood on this season’s roster probably cost the Cubs five games. Hopefully Ricketts will stay out of Theo and Jed’s way from now on.

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Posted on May 21, 2012

By Dan O’Shea

Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched (WHIP) has quickly become a standard stat category in many fantasy baseball leagues, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of fantasy team owners felt it wasn’t worth paying attention to, the thinking being that any highly-ranked pitcher will have a great WHIP.
That certainly can be the case, and it’s no surprise that last year’s two Cy Young winner have sub-1.00 WHIPs this year, but the rest of the names on the list of WHIP leaders might surprise you, and if WHIP is a stat category you lose on a regular basis, one or more of these guys might be worth seeking out.

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Posted on May 16, 2012

By Roger Wallenstein

My first ballgame was in 1950 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Our family didn’t move to the Chicago area until the following summer, and my dad grew up a Reds fan. The team was god-awful in those days, and no doubt Pop didn’t want to suffer in solitude. So he loaded my brother and me into the car for a trip to the ballpark to watch the likes of Ted Kluszewski, Ewell Blackwell, Bob Usher, and Connie Ryan.
Most recently I watched Gavin Floyd tame the Royals last Friday evening at the Cell. Let’s just say that between that first game 62 years ago and Friday’s 5-0 Sox victory, I’ve seen my share of baseball games.
Therefore, I think I know when to cheer, when to feel elated, when to keep my mouth shut, and when to head for the exit in the seventh inning, which I did a few weeks ago on a frigid evening with the Sox trailing Boston 10-3.
So when the speakers at the Cell blare, “Everybody clap your hands,” or that idiotic chart appears on the Jumbotron purportedly measuring the decibel level from the slightly less than 20,000 in attendance, I become mildly annoyed.

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Posted on May 14, 2012

By Jim Coffman

A few thoughts on the Bulls’ demise as the guys head back to the Berto Center in the next few days to collect their things and head out into an odious off-season.
Hey Jerry Reinsdorf, you and your partners have been raking in the profits on the Bulls for what, a quarter century now? I know the team wasn’t a money-maker when you all took over and you are of course entitled to any and all profits that result from what was obviously a very astute investment way back when.
And I know you took on significant additional financial liability when you partnered with the Wirtzes to build the United Center with all private money (wait, why do the Ricketts’ need a public subsidy to spend less money to update Wrigley than Reinsdorf and the Wirtz’s spent on the UC?).
Anyway, I just wanted to point out that Bulls fans would very much appreciate it if you would go ahead and use some of those profits to take the big financial hit that would accompany releasing Carlos Boozer with the amnesty clause negotiated into the collective bargaining agreement hashed out at the end of last year. Amnestying Boozer would mean the Bulls would still be on the hook for his compensation for the rest of his contract but that said monies would not count against the salary cap.

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Posted on May 14, 2012

CJ Watson’s judgment…terrible…You don’t pass the ball to a 45 percent foul shooter there…you just don’t…just plain dumb.

— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) May 11, 2012

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Posted on May 11, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

Even more ridiculous than throwing his glove 20 rows into the stands after sucking yet again was Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood’s response at his locker to a question about it from the Tribune’s Paul Sullivan.

Dude! Wrong.

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Posted on May 10, 2012

By Dan O’Shea

New and previously-overlooked star Bryan LaHair is officially the fantasy baseball sleeper success story of the year thus far (sorry, Adam Dunn). A 1.279 OPS going into Tuesday ranked second league-wide only to Matt Kemp, which is maybe the same as saying LaHair was first in OPS among mere mortals. His .388 average, eight home runs, 15 walks and 17 RBI weren’t too shabby either.
Of course, this all begs the question: When should you trade him? I mean, that’s what we do with fantasy baseball surprises, right? Because surprises have a way of fizzling once the initial thrill is over. LaHair probably wasn’t drafted in many fantasy leagues, but has been getting added like crazy from the waiver wire over the last 10 days or so. If you don’t have him on your fantasy team already, someone else in your league does.

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Posted on May 9, 2012

By Adam Grosch/PR

Chicago boxers Alex Martin and Shawn Simpson have won National Golden Gloves titles.
Martin defeated David Grayton of the Washington DC franchise in Saturday’s 152-pound final at the CasaBlanca Resort in Mesquite, NV. Simpson defeated Hector Colon of the Florida franchise to win the 114-pound championship.
Having enjoyed an outstanding amateur career as the most highly decorated amateur boxer in Chicago for the last several years, Martin now plans to turn professional later this year. Martin is trained by Mark Chears of Team Chears Boxing/Boxing For Boxers.

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Posted on May 8, 2012