Misery Love Company...

And so in an effort to take some of the heat off the Cubs and their 0-2 playoff start, the Sox are keeping it real by going 0-2 right along with them... brothers in arms. A collective 0-4... Chicago against the rest of the baseball world.

The city was spinning faster than the Milky Way when it realized both teams had October baseball in their future. And now? Everyone is being flung off and landing in a heaps of "wait until next year" piles all throughout the Chicagoland area. There are still a few strong ones hanging on, but their grip is weakening.

The table is set, the guests have arrived and are being seated and the bird is coming out of the oven. Everyone is hoping for another appetizer or two before serving the cooked bird.

The way I see it, the Sox can't buy a hit when they need one. Even if they were given the chance to toss the ball up to themselves and hit it and the Rays had their shoelaces tied together they (the Sox) would still manage to strike out or pop it up and leave runners stranded. I can hear the knife being sharpened in the kitchen, but they should be able to keep that bird from coming to the table and being carved as the Sox play well at home. How they play road vs. home is like night and day. I know what I said in my last post about thinking the Sox would give a better showing in game 2... I think things would have been better it they left the wire hoop bats at home and brought some real lumber with them. Oh wait... they weren't swinging anyway. Obviously, if you don't hit, as in stringing a few hits together... and more than once per game at that... it decreases your chances of scoring runs. Let's face it, you kinda need runs to have any chance of winning and more specifically more (runs) than the other team.

The Cubs are donating their playoffs to the Dodgers through a series of walks and errors. I can't honestly say how the Cubs look playing, I've only watched an inning or two of their series, but from what I've read, it sounds like they're playing scared, but like I said, I can't speak first hand about that. I suspect the Cub fans might be hanging on to that Milky Way spin by their north side pinkies. Some may in fact be smelling the bird as they whirl around. But I think they would be willing to wait on getting it served to them.

You can't bow out in the first round being the team with the best record in the NL to the NL team with the lowest winning percentage among all playoff teams. Those rascal Cubs, that's what they are on the verge of. You are supposed to win at home... that's not to say that you can't win on the road, but the whole point of having home field advantage is to give the better team an added advantage. You work hard during the season and get rewarded by getting home field advantage and the Cubs have literally given that away. As a Cub fan, you better hope that they can win on the road because if they don't, you'll have to wait until opening day to step into the shrine that is Wrigley.

Chicago baseball fans have endured some of the worst baseball in the history of the game. Not only do we have a handful of World Series appearances... there's even less victories. We have had not one, but two separate teams delivering them to us. Unlike many other cities that have only one. You would think that the law of averages would catch up and the baseball demons (I'd have said gods, but gods are too forgiving to have such bad baseball year after year) would throw Chicago a bone once every ten years or so. Something so that each generation can say I remember when... Since 1903 the start of the modern WS... the Cubs have won the NL pennant 10 times emerging with only 2 WS wins. The Sox 6 times the AL pennant winners and 3 WS wins. Pathetic indeed given that's only 5 World Series wins for the city in 105 years. Or do you prefer 210 years given that there are two teams? Five WS wins is 1/5 the total of the Yankees... they have 26.

No wonder we freak out like prom bound school girls any time our baseball teams are playing in October.

I will probably tune in to an inning or two tonight to check in and see if the road to failure will be completed on the road or they wait until they come home so the Cub fans can rejoice in the great season with the crash ending. Someone might want to check and make sure Lou is heavily sedated tonight.

Anticipations, Expectations and Realities

Anticipation... the Cubs are going to the World Series.

Expectation... the Cubs could/should/would win at Wrigley.

Reality... (just see photo at left) They didn't and are in the process of doing it again as I write this losing 7-0 in the bottom of the 7th.

As a lifelong Sox fan... well as far back as I can remember (which these days is only hours ago) I'm not crying over their losses. If I'm being honest, at some level, I'm almost giddy. They have put themselves in a tremendous hole and HAVE to win the next three whereas the Dodgers only have to win one of the next three. I do feel for the Cub fans though, but not enough to not give any one of them the business about their team and its colossal choking thus far.

Anticipation... for the Sox none, they were supposed to finish last in the division. Just making it to the playoffs is a bonus... advancement (if any) is an additional bonus.

Expectation... again none, no one expected them to be in the post season, but now that they are there, I'd like to see them not go down without a fight.

Reality... just what I figured. Vazquez didn't pitch horribly, but he didn't pitch well enough to win either, and he didn't. Win that is. It could have been worse based on his previous three outings. They were in it most of the way but lost 6-4. Again it was the lack of the one big hit, escaping them yet again... just as it has plagued them all season long.

Well, tomorrow brings another day and another chance... for the Sox. I do anticipate a better showing from them tomorrow. Perhaps biasedly blinded because I am a fan hungry for a winner... as are Cub fans to be sure, but I am optimistic about their chances with Buehrle on the hill. They are pretty much in a must win situation tomorrow are the Sox, as were the Cubs, but you can see where they are headed... to LA down 0-2... it's win or go home for them. Luckily for the Cubs, they are off tomorrow, they better make good use of it and attempt to regroup. If I might offer a suggestion... they might want to make better use of their hands... oh I don't know... maybe by using them to grab onto their ears and then pull really hard so as to get their collective craniums out of their collective posteriors.

9-1 now in the 9th... oops 10-1. It's one thing to stand up and fight for it... it's another to kind of hand it to them. Yesterday 8 walks total (7 by Dempster) and so far 4 errors today. I don't care who you are, you aren't going to win many games this way.

Uh Oh, they're making a run here... 10-3 bottom of the 9th and nobody out. I will wait and see how this goes down before closing this out.

BRB...

If you're a Cub fan... and at this point you might want to keep that to yourself... it was a pretty pathetic ending to a pretty pathetic performance. The last two batters were called out looking... didn't even lift the bat... pathetic indeed.

This just in... we have a final from the not so friendly confines of Wrigley Field... 10-3.

It was equal opportunity botchery as every infielder made an error... solidarity for your fellow "stone-hand". Cub fans take solace in knowing that you are not alone in your suffering as there are fans of seasons past (many, many seasons past) that have suffered right along with you... all 36,514 days or so. What's one more day?

So it's off to LA down 0-2.

...Say g'nite Gracie

Once Every 100+ Years...

Sometimes things take a long time to happen... a really long time. We hear things in the news regarding weather. Things like the 100 year storm, 100 year flood... I guess it only fitting that it is that way for Chicago baseball.

It's been over 100 years since the Sox AND the Cubs have made it to October baseball... that being the same October that is... and so it has come to pass, both Chicago baseball teams in the post season.

While I am long a Sox fan, I have to give due to those that deserve it... in this case the Cubs. They've had a great season and have the opportunity to go to the World Series... not to take away anything from the Cubs, but the National League isn't overrun with awesome teams, and the Cubs had this all but wrapped up a long time ago. They are my... as Hawk Harrelson puts it... my pick to click for emerging the National League champs. From a record perspective, they were head and shoulders above everyone else in the NL and statistically superior too. Anything less than a ticket to the World Series (in my book) has to be somewhat of a failed season.

Remember though, this is the start of a whole different season, everyone is 0-0 and anything can happen to anyone at anytime. A lot has to do with how you're playing as you enter the playoff season. How dead are your pitchers arms? How slow have the bats become? You have to play your best baseball right now! Everything has to align just right for that to happen and if it doesn't, the best you can hope for is that the other team plays worse than you do. Having said that...

The White Sox weren't even supposed to be here, nor were the Twins... I know, they (the Twins) are not. They're not because of the White Sox. The White Sox aren't favored to beat the Rays (Tampa Bay for those not in the know) and based on what we saw of their (the Sox) play on the road... just see the last road series against the Twins... I can understand why no one is picking them to click in the post season. Like I said though, everything starts out 0-0 and a clean slate. Do I think that the Sox will win? I don't know, but I will say that for me, as a fan, everything hinges on game one. For me, how this is going to go will be seen in game one. Unfortunately, the starter for game one for the Sox has been (of late) pitching more like Charlie Brown. If they manage to steal one with Vazquez (wow, what a great scrabble word his name is) on the hill, then I think that it will give the series a huge swing in the Sox favor.

Will they make it to the World Series if they manage to beat the Rays? Tough to say, unlike the Cubs, the Sox do not have home field advantage throughout the playoffs and would only have it (I'd have to check) but I think that they'd only have it against Boston since they (Boston) are the wild card team. If by some chance the Sox do make it as the AL champs, the Sox would be the home team thanks to the AL winning the All-Star game.

Talk about the stars aligning... I think that IF it were an all Chicago, subway/EL series, they will have to lock the city down. I was talking to Julie, and mentioned the fact that it's been over 100 years since both Chicago teams were in the post season. I went on to say that if the Cubs manage to make it to the Series and the Sox don't, I will probably root for the hapless Cubs, but only for the sake of the city. I guess it's made a tad easier since the Sox won it in '05. I also said that it's one thing if the Sox make it and end up losing to a NL team , it's another thing entirely if that NL team happens to be the Cubs! It would be unbearable. Given that they (the Sox and Cubs) split this season's 6 games, winning in their respective ballparks, that would favor the Sox... the Sox having home field that is.

I think that a Sox Cubs World Series would turn the city on it's ear. There are plenty of friends that are one or the other and it would be great to settle the bragging rights once and for all. The last time were both in the playoffs was in 1906 and that was the World Series... which incidentally, the Sox won. I won't be around in another 100+ years to wait around and see it again. I for one hope to see a Red Line series... with the south side prevailing of course.

I'm going to attempt to blog about the playoffs for both teams for as long as they are in there. I can't say that I will be anything less then Sox biased though. For the record, aside from my mother-in-law being a Cub fan, I have a few (uneducated) Cubs fans for friends.

Let's face it, it's going to be exciting because at this time of the year (year after year) in Chicago, the only team playing is the Bears.

Glad that the Sox play in the afternoon and not at night, then it won't interfere with the debate.

The Slient Thief...

What is the silent thief you ask?

Aging.

It mockingly and silently moves along without any prompting... as a matter of fact, we celebrate it with cake and ice cream. Oh I understand why we do so. It starts out in your younger years... something every kids longs for... cake, ice cream or sometimes both. It sets a precedent, it grooms us into having it when we're old(er) to remind us of a time when things were made better with cake and ice cream.

Ironically as we age, those cakes should be lower in sugar and higher in whole grain fiber. Imagine if you got that as a kid? A cake that looked like someone dumped the box birdseed into the mix... yuck! Who's mocking whom then?

Life is full of defining moments... marriage, death... though there are those that might argue that there is no difference between the two. Not me of course, but some.

*Cough* Ahem...

Where was I now... oh yes defining moments that mark your aging. Births, graduations, buying a house, buying a car, dealing with a tragedy... something life altering in nature. Watching your kids (for those us who have them) grow up and make a life of their own... though we are a little ways away from that yet.

One could also argue that there a plenty more to add to the list, but for my purpose it goes back to music... again. It's time to start rascal shopping or shopping for a walker when you hear a song from your youth (and you remember when it first came out) being played on the radio.

On the oldies station!

Ouch. The song? Boys Of Summer by Don Henley... circa 1984... almost a quarter of a century ago. I was still a teenager of 19 then ... albeit my last year as such, but a teenager nonetheless. A touch of irony I suppose too in that the song itself is about aging. Can you feel the symmetry?

I know what does that say in that I (from time to time) listen to the oldies station?

As Sonny and Cher said "The beat goes on", for those of old enough to remember that duo let alone their variety show. I know that there are emails a plenty circulating pointing out the good old days. I feel compelled to point something out at a bit of my mom's expense (sorry mom) but she somewhat recently sent an email (like the aforementioned) to my brother and I. A link that plays a montage of music and pictures about and from the 60's. It was fun, and I've seen others like it.

My mom, in her message, said something along the line of "since you were both born in the 60's". While I remembered (if you will) most of what was playing (in the montage) since I was born almost smack in the middle of the 60's... early '65, I can't speak for what Brian remembered. It is true... he was born in the 60's as well, but in a mere three days a new decade began, the 70's. I found it humorous is all, yes, he was born in the 60's alright, all of three days of them.

I realize that I'm missing an even reasonable segue there, but it was something that I had a humorous laugh about when I read what she wrote and I wanted to share it. I imagine that Brian did in fact remember a number of things too, but to what extent I don't know.

It's really more about Brian being a child of the 60's... all three days of them. I imagine that my mom (or anyone else that knows Brian) is doing the math and I want to be clear in that I'm counting the partial day (his birth date) as one of the three days. I know details, details.

Sorry to just prattle on but it's not like I make anyone read this.

Tell Me Why...

I don't like Mondays...

I should be glad this Monday because the rain finally stopped (after an official O-Hare measurement of over 12 1/2") allowing me to stop with the designing and build of the ark. I should be glad this Monday since after all the rain, our sieve of a basement stayed water free... well, some very mild seepage. In years past with this kind of rainfall, it would look like a marina down there. So it was good to see the cats without their life jackets on. They've been banished to the basement due to a ongoing flea problem. We found out from the vet that they (the fleas) are bad this year... so I suppose we're not alone in that respect.

I did manage to see somewhat of a comical sight... comical in that it was kind of like visual oxymoron. A elderly-ish gentleman was walking down the street with a long over coat, a hat of some type and a SpongeBob umbrella. Kind of made me chuckle and made me think good for him, then I thought any port... you do what ya gotta do.

I suppose that you can't really tell me why I don't like Mondays... and most specifically this Monday.

Let's see, if today's Monday, that means yesterday was Sunday... and if yesterday was Sunday that must mean that the Bears played. They did... for only a half. They gave the game away and should be sitting 2-0 instead of 1-1. Oh well, they have 14 more games.

The Sox just lost an important game, luckily the Twins also lost.

So with all this rain comes wetness. With wetness can come some slipperiness... hence the slippery when wet warning... and so it happened. I was walking and hit a wet piece of wood and it was like I stepped on a banana peel. Suddenly I was skeeching on my right heel and to keep myself from going down I had to take an exaggeratedly wild step with my left foot. Upon doing so (and I'd like to add that I had my steel toe boots on) my left foot met with something solid, something very solid and unmoving. More specifically the toe of my boot, as in like kicking something. Problem was that while my boot stopped, the foot within said boot did not. It continued at a high rate of speed and slammed itself in a crumpled heap against the steel toe... my poor poor index toe, my number #2 toe taking the brunt of it. See, I'm one of those blessed with their second toe longer than the big toe. Under the nail bed is purple and the end of the toe is red and a tad swollen. This was the mother of all stubs.

Yes, it hurts to walk... quite a bit in fact.

Obviously, yet another blatant attempt to delay and put off working on the house.

On the upside, at least I wasn't carrying anyone...