By Jim Coffman

A.J. snookered ’em again at the Cell on Sunday, shortly after Jeff Cox proved he has stones of steel. And in a remarkable baseball game, the White Sox finally turned the tables on the resourceful Rays from Tampa Bay, a team that – despite a history filled with nothing but futility – has refused to falter this summer.

Beachwood Baseball: The Cub Factor The White Sox Report

The Eastern Division-dominating Rays have done so even though they’ve never been close to close (it is tough to contend when you’ve never won more than 70 games – and they’ve only done that once in their two-decade or so history). They haven’t just won nine more games this summer than they ever have before with 30-some still to play, the Rays have also played their best against good teams. Doing so against the White Sox had resulted in five straight wins (three in Tampa Bay earlier in the season and two in Chicago on Friday and Saturday).

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Posted on August 25, 2008

By Ricky O’Donnell

There will always be a disconnect between baseball fans who are into sabermetrics and people who view the game through a more, um, traditional lens. If you grew up learning that the way to play baseball is to bunt, steal, and hit-and-run, it probably won’t matter how many studies show that that isn’t necessarily the most efficient way to score runs. People are generally stubborn, and don’t want to relearn something they already know.
But I’ve never understood when those people blast teams for “hitting too many home runs.” A home run scores at least one run, and scoring runs is kind of the whole point of the game. The Sun-Times’s Greg Couch has done it a couple times this year, once famously bashing Alfonso Soriano for being selfish by trying to hit homers (uh, what?), and more recently wondering if the White Sox can do any real damage in the playoffs by relying so heavily on the long ball.
But if the Sox keeping mashing the way they have been lately, scoring 13 or more runs three times in a four-game stretch last week, even the most old-school critics will realize that hitting a boatload of homers is a pretty great way to win baseball games.

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Posted on August 25, 2008

By Marty Gangler

Another week and two more series wins. I guess you could be mad that the Cub didn’t get the brooms out and sweep away a couple of the worst teams in the league, but winning two of three in every series is not bad. I just think the fans expected more.
Is that wrong? Maybe we’re asking too much as fans to say that the Cubs should of won all six games this week instead of a mere four of six. But before you reconsider, consider the fact that this team has done nothing but disappoint its fans for 100 years. Wait, so does that mean we should expect more from these guys? Like they should of swept both of these series’? Or do we realize that they always disappoint us so we should take what we can get?
I for one don’t know what to think. And I further don’t know if this team deserves to be ripped this week for disappointing me. But I can’t tell if I’m disappointed. And if I should I be. And if I’m speaking in circles it’s because I don’t know what to call this week. I mean, it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either.
Kind of like going to a restaurant and ordering the Half-Pound Cheddar Burger. Only they are out of cheddar cheese so instead you order the Swiss Burger. And the Swiss is pretty tasty, but you wanted the big Cheddar Burger and, in fact, you drove all the way across town to House of Cheddar Burgers just to get it. And you could have gotten a Swiss Burger from the place right by your house, but you wanted more than that. Yet, in the scheme of things it was totally fine. But you don’t know if you should be angry or not. You just feel okay. Okay, I think Cub fans should feel okay.

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Posted on August 25, 2008

By Eric Emery

As we approach this season, the Kool-Aid Nation has low self-esteem. The Bears’ fortune is tied to an inexperienced quarterback, a rookie running back, an injury plagued offensive line, inept wide receivers, and a defensive scheme that fails to adjust. Let’s face facts: The Bears have more question marks than that guy giving away the government’s money.
Yes, we were just beaten by J.T. O’Sullivan, but at least it wasn’t Peter Tom Willis.
No, the Bears don’t smell so good right now, but they don’t quite stink to high heaven just yet. Here are some signs that your team is really bad.

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Posted on August 22, 2008

By The Special Guests Publicity Service

No pain, no gain
In an age of multimedia accessibility to an information overload, business owners and managers have every reason to be concerned about the entertainment temptations that can pull their employees off task.
Currently, around the world, this is especially true with the excitement of the Summer Olympics, available 24/7 through multiple digital channels and the Internet, with updates and event alerts popping up on cell phones hourly.
But Dave Crenshaw, a time-management consultant to some of the nation’s top business executives, says companies are not only wise to allow the inevitable when it comes to their employees sneaking online peaks at the Games, but if managed the right way, it can actually improve productivity.

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Posted on August 19, 2008

By Jim Coffman

Baseball is just too good right now to spend much time on the Olympics. Besides, the swimming is over and track and field is tape-delayed and drug-riddled (and it certainly didn’t help that the Americans managed all of one bronze medal in the men’s and women’s 100-meter dashes). We might get back to the Olympics next week because the USA men’s and women’s teams in everything from basketball to water polo to volleyball had strong first weeks. There could be a whole bunch of red, white and blue squads going for team golds later this week. But today it is baseball, baseball, baseball, and more baseball.

Beachwood Baseball: The Cub Factor The White Sox Report will not appear this week.

The White Sox have had more trouble with the Oakland A’s than any other opponent – including the Twinkies – the last half dozen years. And essentially starting with the oh-so-special 2003 National League Championship, the Cubs have almost never known what to do with the Marlins during the same time. So the fact that the local squads simultaneously stuck it to those homestanding teams over the weekend would have to qualify as what, the 1,000th sign that this is the year of Chicago baseball?

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Posted on August 18, 2008

By Marty Gangler

Another week and another week of Cub victories. The wins are coming easy these days. But as their lead in the division widens and the schedule grows shorter, Cub fans are in a strange predicament. Where’s the drama? We need some soap operas about the bullpen, the rotation, Lou’s lineups . . . anything. To that end, we here at The Cub Factor have put together a few tips to “increase the drama” as we head toward fall.
* Tell your girlfriend that the next time the Cubs lose a series you’ll propose to her.
* Parlay the Cubs with the Bears the rest of the way.
* Call in to sports radio stations claiming that the Cub season rests on the arm of Bob Howry and then try to argue your point.
* Drink every time someone makes an out.

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Posted on August 18, 2008

By Jim Coffman

I love swimming. Competitive swimming that is. And bear with me here because a little personal history will eventually dovetail satisfactorily with recent sporting events, I promise. It all started with the fact that my dad was particularly fond of the sport and he cruised through the pools at impressive speeds all through college. My parents signed my brother and I up when we were little for the swim team at the Jane Addams Center Hull House in Lakeview, the community center located just north of Belmont on the west side of Broadway. Incidentally, Hull House closed a decade or so ago and now has been converted into a giant gym. It’s just what the neighborhood needed of course – there’s at least one other gym on that block of Broadway, let alone the dozen or so more located within the surrounding half-square mile.

Beachwood Baseball: The Cub Factor The White Sox Report

Nat and I learned to swim in the warm, 20-yard pool in the basement. And we competed in age-group meets, ones that managed to last only a couple hours, as opposed to the nightmare youth-swimming competitions they put on now, which often last entire weekends. Later, one of the best things to happen to me at St. Ignatius was being cut from the basketball team my freshman year. I then went out for swimming and avoided four years of not just sitting on the bench but sitting at the very end of the bench. The competitions were great but the training . . . let’s just say I was thoroughly sick of it by the end of my senior season.
After I went to Haverford College in small part because it didn’t even have a pool (they can’t hold a practice if there isn’t a pool), I continued to follow swimming first through my brother, who was a better swimmer than I (and a water polo star), and then through our slightly younger first cousins, who moved to the western suburbs when they were in high school and who won state championships at Hinsdale Central. And of course we all followed USA Swimming whenever the occasion warranted.

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Posted on August 12, 2008

By Ricky O’Donnell

If you watched the White Sox this past week, you noticed something familiar: Carlos Quentin was rather awesome. But his four homers in the last six games aren’t all that surprising. Quentin has been the best hitter in the American League all year long, and as the season starts to wind down, his numbers look even more eye-popping. At his current pace, Quentin will hit 43 home runs. You can expect him to finish with over 120 RBI as well, and post one of the highest OPS’ in White Sox history.

Beachwood Baseball: The Cub Factor SportsMonday will appear on Tuesday this week.

And that got me thinking, how many players would you rather start a team with than Quentin? Age is certainly a factor in this equation, and at 25, Q! has time on his side. Sure, a lot of baseball superstars are more established, and Quentin has just started his career. But anyone who thinks he may be a one-year wonder hasn’t done their homework. Quentin was always supposed to be really good. After being a first-round draft pick in 2003, Quentin OPS’d over .900 in four minor-league seasons. His failures early in his career as a Diamondback were largely a mixture of bad luck, injuries, and adjusting to life in the majors at a very young age. I’m confident that this is just the start for him.

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Posted on August 11, 2008

By Marty Gangler

The Cubs could of really stuck a huger fork into the Redbirds this weekend with a sweep but it didn’t happen. Even so, the feathered foul from St Louis has been dipped in egg batter, rolled in a flour seasoning mixture and is about to be thrown into the fryer. But looking at this team, you have to wonder how they’ve stuck around for so long. Most commentators give credit to the supposed genius of Tony LaRussa and his pitching coach/designated driver Dave Duncan. But are these two guys really that good? We here at The Cub Factor don’t think so and have a few theories as to why the Cardinals are better than they should be.
* Tony LaRussa went down to the Crossroads.
* LaRussa and Duncan are managing on HGH.
* A series of specially placed mirrors shrouded in smoke.
* Old-time hockey.
* Pitchers going through Tommy John surgery are actually given Tommy John’s arms.

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Posted on August 11, 2008