By Jim Coffman
One thing is certain as we bid adieu to the latest interleague interlude, one that was lopsided just about everywhere but here (the American League was much the superior combatant for the fourth year in a row): Neither the Cubs nor the White Sox will run away and hide with their divisions in the next month or two. We haven’t seen much of it in Chicago, but in other places teams have been known to build decent leads early on, maintain them and then stretch them out as July turns into August. That won’t happen around here because . . .
Despite departing the weekend with a three-game lead (in the loss column) over the Cardinals, the Cubs’ schedule is just starting to toughen up (after an early season stretch that featured a disproportionate number of home games). The forecast is not great for re-starting any long win streaks any time soon. And while the Cardinals haven’t been setting the world on fire of late (5-5 in their last 10), they also have officially avoided a June swoon. And here come the Brewers (seven games over .500 heading into this week).
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Still, Zambrano is due back this week, Soriano isn’t far behind and everything still feels reasonably solid. I hated to see Carlos Marmol take the loss on Saturday (that was the game to win wasn’t it? You just knew Mark Buehrle would put it all together on Sunday). But Marmol threw strikes. And so did Sean Marshall on Sunday.
The White Sox have a different problem, namely that they had a highly successful week and the Twinkies not only don’t go anywhere, they make up a little ground. At some point Minnesota’s ridiculous run will end (Sunday’s win over the Brewers was their 11th in their last 12 games); in fact, it should at least slow way down this week. That’s when Minnesota, which went 14-4 in interleague play this summer, goes back to playing real competition from the American League.
And the Tigers are coming! The Tigers are coming! They pulled themselves above .500 for the first time all season with a win Sunday.
On the other hand, neither team will be falling completely out of contention any time soon either. Quite simply, the pitching on both sides of town is just too good.
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Moving right along:
I caught a little of the track and field Olympic Trials over the weekend (I watched from 11 to midnight on the USA Network on Friday night) and would love to watch some more in the coming week. The ideal would be to alternate between track and field and the swimming equivalent, which has also just kicked into gear.
Based on world championship competition in 2007 as well as many, many glimpses of greatness so far this season, the U.S. has a great chance to dominate track and field (and not just in the sprints – the home team could bring home more medals in distance events than it has in many a decade). And it could do even better in swimming. In terms of all the high profile Olympic sports with multiple medals on the line, the biggest lock for an American medal harvest is girls gymnastics, where the two best competitors in the world call the U.S.A. home. But gymnastics involves judges and when I’m taking a break from baseball and umpires in particular (nice call throwing Piniella out of the game Sunday even if as he was going back to the dugout Blue!), I’m looking to minimize the impact of judges in my sporting entertainment.
And there is plenty more to be said for races. The drama of finding out who will get there the fastest never fades. Neither does the well-edited drama of who will jump the highest or the farthest or throw something heavy the farthest (although I could take or leave that hop, skip and jump thing – aka the triple jump).
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Soccer has just about turned the corner in America: Attendance is up. New soccer-specific stadiums have either recently been completed or will be in about a half-dozen major markets. The Euro 2008 tournament that concluded Sunday (way to go Spain!) was a big hit featuring all sorts of epic matches filled with exciting, attacking soccer. But soccer is coming on despite the local MLS franchise. What an incredibly boring bunch the Fire is this year, turning in its third straight scoreless performance Saturday and doing so at home against the previously struggling San Jose Earthquakes (fortunately the visitors didn’t score either – and fortunately I didn’t buy tickets for the always dreadful scoreless tie).
A total of well over 15,000 people showed up at Toyota Park in Bridgeview for the Fire’s uninspired effort. That certainly beat the 3,200 on hand at the Chicago Sky’s big WNBA win over the Detriot Shock at the Pavilion. But I think everyone would have had a lot more fun at the old ball game.
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Jim Coffman appears in this space every Monday with the best sports wrap-up in the city. You can write to him personally! Please include a real name if you would like your comments to be considered for publication.
Posted on June 30, 2008