By Jim Coffman
No matter what obstacles you may be facing on this frightfully frigid April Monday morning in Chicago, no matter what difficulties stand in your way, take heart from one fact in particular: At least you aren’t a Tigers fan (and if you are, well, what the heck are you doing in here anyway? Go read Detroit sports stuff. I’m sure somewhere there’s a breakdown of how Rasheed Wallace really, really, really will control himself this time around – he promises – and lead the Pistons back to the NBA Finals).
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But back to the Tigers, I mean, are you kidding me? They got beat 18-0 by the White Sox on Saturday and Sunday. They gave up two grand slams in one game to wrap up another disastrous series. Their payroll is the second- or third-highest in the majors, they are 2-10, and they could be out of it by the end of April at this rate.
My son’s Sports Illustrated for Kids 2008 Baseball Preview edition arrived in the mail, typically late, in the middle of this past week. The cover photo was a big picture of the face of a cartoonish Tiger and inside was a big story about how good the team from Detroit would surely be. This probably marked the first time in sports publication history that a pre-season favorite had been eliminated from contention (after the Tigers’ 0-7 start, stat-heads were right there with the news that no team that has started with that many losses in a row has ever made the playoffs) before many of their readers received the magazine in the mail.
* It is a little obvious but it still must be said – it was a tough week for Tigers overall. And now, for the first time in the long and stories history of this column – the last three-plus months or so – I’m going to venture into golf. Fore!!
I know Mr. Woods brought all the Grand Slam chatter on himself by talking about how it (wins in the Masters, the British and U.S. Opens and the PGA championships in the same year) was easily foreseeable this year. But it is still so dim for others to talk about Woods’ being favored or expected to pull this off. The fact of the matter is, winning a PGA tournament is the equivalent of winning a raffle. It just takes one guy (out of the 100-plus in an average field) playing the tournament of his life, and it’s not your week. And that’s what has happened at the last two Masters: one guy has played the tournament of his life and it has been enough to knock off Woods (the runner-up both times).
You have to hate it when guys you’ve barely heard of rise up and record fluke victories, spoiling the chances of more consistent and accomplished golfers to not only win but to add a chapter to a compelling sports biography. At least there is a much better chance that this year’s champ, Trevor Immelman, won’t be a one-major wonder than there is with Zach Johnson, last year’s champ.
At the other end of the spectrum, there has been some chatter that Woods isn’t just an amazing golfer, he’s one of the great athletes of this era (that chatter was a lot louder when he was winning tournament after tournament earlier this year). In a word, No. Athletes have to do something slightly more strenuous than walking and swinging golf clubs to earn a spot in the pantheon of athletic greatness.
* In other baseball news, the Red Sox pulled out a second straight win over the Yankees Sunday evening (8-5) in a typically interminable American League game. How do people sit through this stuff? Hour after hour after hour of occasionally exciting but too often somnambulant baseball is tough to take. The Cubs’ 15-inning contest with Pittsburgh was considerably easier to watch (OK, OK, it was easier in part because I had a stake in the proceedings – but it was still much better baseball, briskly contested). More on the Cubs later.
Elsewhere in the wide, wide world . . .
* I took in the Bulls game on Sunday night. We bought the tickets long ago and what are you going to do? It isn’t like you can even give them away at this point. And the game unfolded just about exactly the way you might have guessed. The Magic dropped in more than a half-dozen wide-open three-pointers in the first quarter to seize a lead that was never truly threatened the rest of the way.
Fortunately we had something to look forward to in the second half, something that promised true drama and intrigue. And the Dunkin Donuts race did not disappoint. My horse in this masterfully presented bit of scoreboard entertainment was the bagel; the kids were backing Cuppy Coffee. After several highly entertaining laps around the cartoon racetrack, it was looking good for the kids as the Java approached the finish line in front. But then he started inexplicably (mysteriously, some might say – was the fix in?) spinning his wheels. We were crushed as the donut came on on the inside and eked out a victory. But we knew we had witnessed competition at its highest level and there was at least some satisfaction in that.
Back to baseball.
* There was plenty for this Cub fan to love last week – on Wednesday night that is, as that game with the Pirates went on, and on, and on. Sure, Kerry Wood blew the save in the ninth and yes, Kevin Hart botched a potential win in the 14th. The great thing, though, was that they lost the lead but they didn’t completely blow the game, a game the Cubs eventually won 6-4. Both Wood and Hart recovered after botching things up and got multiple outs to keep the game going.
How about that Geovany Soto? He had clutch hits all through the week and even threw a guy out stealing to cap off one of the most exciting plays in baseball (the strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play) early against the Phillies Friday. But against the Pirates, Soto kept the final Cubs rally alive with a nice takeout slide at second, preventing a double play.
Sure enough a few batters later, Felix Pie came through with a huge (for the Cubs and for him) two-run single that finally proved too much for the Pirates to overcome. You had to be happy for Pie, who has done nothing but win at every level of the Cubs organization coming into this year. I was not pleased to see him head to the bench during the first week of the season after all of four games (and Rich Hill goes to the bullpen after two shaky starts?) but Mr. Piniella promises Pie is still the primary centerfielder.
All I am saying Lou, is give Pie a chance.
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Jim Coffman appears in this space every Monday, but his column will be on a two-week hiatus as he goes undercover deep in the bowels of Carlos Zambrano’s brain. SportsMonday will return on May 5.
Posted on April 14, 2008