Monsters of the Mediocre

The Patriots came into Chicago on a short week, walked up behind the Bears, pantsed them, stepped on their britches while around their ankles, pushed them down into a full-fledged face plant, and straddled them while pointing and laughing and calling them the Monsters of the Mediocre. Things started out well after Da Bears won the toss, deferred the football, the Pats went three-and-out, and Hester returned the punt for 16 yards after reversing the field and getting a few blocks. But then Da bears ran the ball three times in a roll for their own three-and-out and the game pretty much ended for Da Bears at that point.

Brady and his offense decided that it was time to stop playing around. They vehemently attacked the Tampa 2 where it's vulnerable, in the middle of the field. Brady consistently and successfully dumped the ball to receivers just behind the linebackers in front of the safeties. Once this got Da Bears on their heals, BenJarvis Green-Ellis would run it down their throat at 4.1 yards-per-carry. At least three times throughout the game, Brady dumped it to a receiver for a first down, then BGE ran for a first down. It was tough to watch your team get dominated, yet fun to see how an offense should operate. On this particular drive, their second possession, after passing over the middle for a first and BGE running for a first in consecutive plays, Brady hit Welker on a 3rd and 10 for a 17 yard gain and then Branch for yet another 17 yarder. After Chris Harris missed a tackle on one play and then couldn't "negotiate the pigskin" (thanks Joniak) on a tipped pass by Urlacher in the endzone, Brady connected with TE Gronkowski for a 7-yard touchdown when he boxed-out Urlacher at the goal-line. Let's review. So that makes it an 85 yard drive, a drive that the Tampa 2 is designed to not let happen, in which Brady went 7-10 for 72 yards and a TD pass.

The weather was of no factor, for New England anyway...

On the ensuing kickoff Davis fumbled the rock, but (whew) Bennett, with the help of a small miracle, recovered it. But that's neither here nor there as Cutler was sacked in the series and again went three-and-out.

This led to another Brady dump over the middle to Welker, another BGE run for a first, a FB run on 3rd-and-1 for a first, a perfectly executed screen for a first, two runs for a first, another BGE run for a first, and finally capped off by a 3-yard Danny Woodhead run for a touchdown. Let's review once more. That's an 85-yard drive followed up by this 87-yard methodical march down the field unfazed by weather or any one the defenses Da Bears use (Tampa 2, cover 3, nickel, nickel-man, man). Embarrassing. The front four were nowhere to be found, especially the tackles. This was by far the best O-line they will face this year and it was evident on the field. And again, this defense doesn’t work if you can’t get pressure up the middle. The scary part was the first down the Pats were converting on third down. The 3rd and 10's, 8's, 12's. ALL DAY.

The "Bear Weather" myth has officially been busted and it only got worse. As a side note Da Bears are actually waaaaay below .500 in games that are played in freezing conditions.

Ensuing Bears drive... Knox gets strip-tackled and fumbles, this time it goes for a 35-yard Gary Guyton scoop-and-score. TWO NE TD'S IN 20 SECONDS! At this point the Pats have more touchdowns than Da Bears have first downs! WHAT?!? 21-0. Hawk Harrelson chimes in and says "This ballgame is OVA!"

At least Manning returned two kicks for 40+ yards, I guess.

Another NE strip-sack to make it first-and-goal on the 8. At least they held them to a field goal, I guess.

At this point the Pats were on a 100-3 point differential since the third quarter of their game on Thanksgiving thanks in part to their 24-0 rout of the Mediocre Monsters. It would be upped to 112-3 by time Da Bears finally scored a TD. And just when you thought the half was over, Brady hits a wide-open Branch for a 59-yard TD pass. Coverage breakdown, but at this point it doesn’t matter. NE first half possession breakdown: punt, TD, TD, FG, FG, TD. Butt whoopin’.

The dumps, draws, screens, play-action dumps continued into the night. Hester had a nice 64-yard punt return in the second half and just as I was going to praise Cutler who’s been running for his life for making completions with his feet and arm….he’s throws a pick in the red-zone. The O-line was exposed yet again on Sunday. They’ve been keeping it together for a few weeks, but they couldn’t so much as run-block when they actually had the advantage on a slick surface of knowing where the play was going and they still got blown up.

O, and you also can’t turn the ball over four times, duh.

The odd thing is, it was actually a GREAT day for Da Bears. The Packers lost to the….Lions? No way! OMFG! Yes, it’s true. I’d like to personally thank Aaron Rodgers for not utilizing the QB slide to protect himself and getting knocked out of the game after being concussed. I’m not saying I’m happy that he was concussed but….you know what I’m saying….So it was another divisional loss for the Pack, which obviously bodes well for Da Bears. It’s more complicated to say that Da Bears’ magic number is 2, it very may well be, but divisional and conference games need to be considered and it’s a bit of a mess that I’ll be happy to clear up for you after this week. The Pack lost their noon game and some folks thought that maybe Da Bears came out flat because they knew that this wasn’t a “must-win” game. Uh, NO. They didn’t come out flat, in fact they stopped NE on their first series, remember? They just got stomped on. It happens.

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Da Bears: Validity of Legitimacy

Da Bears have validation, sort of. Their defense certainly proved that it can contain one of, if not the most explosive player in football in Michael Vick. And I couldn’t be happier about it. Vick was all anybody talked about on television and radio starting on the Monday Night game when he posted video game stats against the Redskins. The MNF crew refused to get off his genitals and it turned out to be just another Monday Night game that I had to turn off because of the excrement spewing from their suck-holes. Da Bears holding off Vick and his posse of speed made it that much sweeter, but I digress.

The Cover 2 base that Da Bears use works best when the line gets penetration into the backfield and that’s what took place pretty much the whole afternoon. The rotating tackles did a great job caving the pocket and making Vick feel uncomfortable, yet not flushing him out of the pocket where he can also be dangerous. Each of the starting four linemen had at least half a sack. Tommie Harris created the turning point in the game when he put a paw on Vick’s pass in the red zone, which was picked-off by yet another Harris, Chris Harris. On Da Bears’ ensuing drive after Harris tipped it to Harris and Harris returned it to the 37, they drove down the field methodically. Cutler hit Knox for a nice gain and then Bennett for a 30 yard gain to make it the third 30+ yard play in the first half. The drive ended when Cutler did a great job freezing the safety by looking to the left of the field and then firing the ball to Bennett on an out-route to the right for a six yard touchdown pass. Folks, that’s a 14-point swing! That’s a huge difference from looking at going down six with under two minutes left in the half to being up by eight going into the third quarter.

The defense continued to get pressure from the front four, which of course helped the secondary. They did a tremendous job tackling. There wasn’t much miss-tackling going on and not much yards after the catch either. The defense wasn’t exactly perfect, 26 points against is a clear indication of imperfection. In fact, on two separate occasions, Vick overthrew a wide-open Brent Celek. Of course he finally connected with Celek in the end zone when he threw it 30 yards downfield through a space the size of a sheet of paper on 4th and 9 between three Bears defenders. But it was too little too late by then.

I’m surprised I haven’t heard Lovie say “We get off the bus running,” in his Southern drawl since that’s basically what they did in the month of November. Their run-to-pass ratio greatly increased. And guess what else? They went from being the second-to-worst in converting third downs to being the third best in the month of November as well. OMFG! I never thought I’d see the day, but somebody must have put OC Mike Martz in a sleeper-hold and made him run the ball more and make less 7-step drop play calls. AND IT’S WORKING. Da Bears shred a very good Eagles defense. They even dominated the time of possession in the third quarter with a 10:05 drive that resulted in a Gould field goal. Granted, the Eagles’ best player on that side of the ball, Asante Samuel, was on the injured list as well as their other starting cornerback, but Da Bears got the job done nonetheless. That’s all you can really ask of them. Well I suppose you could ask them to not get Cutler sacked four times in the first half, but he was only sacked once in the second half, which is nice.

Da Bears have been using the greatest show on bad turf to their advantage. There were two obvious plays where the field benefited the home team: the Urlacher sack when he also punched the ball out of Vick’s hands, but was recovered by the Eagles’ Anthony Adams and the Knox touchdown when the cornerback lost his footing near the goal line that left Johnny wide open at the near corner of the endzone. I’m glad the turf has become an advantage for Da Bears, but I hope it doesn’t lend reason for a player injury. The turf has been bad for years yet the park district continues to allow it to be a venue for concerts and soccer games amongst other events. The high school Prep Bowl game was even played on that very field the day before. THE DAY BEFORE! Yet other parks in Chicago have artificial surfaces for flag football! WHAT?!? Look, I like the grass too, but there are other options besides the slop that they play on now.

The bottom line is, this is a bottom line business and Da Bears are atop the North Division in the NFC at 8-3. I never thought that they would be at this point, but they are. They have proven their legitimacy in this glob of parity known as the NFL. Do I still have my doubts about Da Bears? Certainly. Do they have a shot at making the playoffs and making a run to the Super Bowl? Of course, but winning that Super Bowl….I still think it’s improbable. Go Bears.

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Special Teams is 1/3 of Football

We knew the Vikings were bad before they came into Soldier Field, but I was still pretty impressed with the play and execution by DA BEARS. People tend to forget that special teams is one-third of a football game. Da Bears dominated the men in purple in special teams. Even with one poor 32 yard line-drive punt by longtime team MVP Brad Maynard, the defense picked up the slack and held the Vikes to, well, nothing due to a missed field goal. It was certainly a total team effort, but Mr. Hester set the table a few times with 147 of the 179 return yards in a game of field position that Da Bears could have easily lost had he and the return teams not showed up to play. Hester even cleaned his own plate when he got into space on a crossing-route and scored an important touchdown (aren’t they all?).


The defense was good as usual, especially against the run where they absolutely shut down Adrian Peterson. They held the arguably best back in the NFL to 51 measly rushing yards. It all starts in the trenches and the D-line was getting good penetration throughout the game. This in turn helped the secondary. Sure they had that embarrassing breakdown on the Harvin TD pass, but Favre was picked off three times. Okay, the receivers slipped twice, but the defensive backs were still in the right spots to make those INT’s. Favre was trying to avoid pressure much of the day and once fumbled on a great hustle play by DE Melton who caught him from behind and swatted the ball away as he was taking old man Favre down. Emphasis on old. Lovie preaches and bleeds turnovers. The result of the game is why.

And look who else showed up to play, why it was the third-down offense that made its first appearance of the season. Da Bears converted 11 of 19 third downs, HOLY CRAP! It was nothing miraculous like 16 of 19, but for Da Bears it was quite impressive. Cutler made one inexcusable red-zone mistake, but it shouldn’t overshadow the dozen good decisions he made. I know some fans had bad ’09 Cutler flashbacks, but it was only one bad play. Martz wasn’t as predictable as he was in Buffalo and actually kept the Minnesota defense honest with good play-calling. He mixed it up with an end-around, draws, bubble-screens, and delivered the final blow with a brilliant play-action pass to Kellen Davis on third and inches from the Minnesota 19 that went for a touchdown. It seemingly slammed the door shut on the Vikings’ season, Childress’ job, and hopefully Favre’s career.

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They Are Who I Thought They Were!

The Bears are who I thought they were! As did everybody else who has even a little football sense. They lost to a team with inferior talent, with a coach in his first year with the team, who has lost 16 of their last 18 games on the road. The Seahawks came in to Soldier Field and had their way with the Bears. Oh, and Jay Cutler was back under center this week so the Collins/Hanie tandem can’t be used an excuse. It was pathetic and I had a hard time turning the game back on when I switched to a red-zone channel during commercials.

The Bears used its 4th different O-line in 6 weeks. Garza had his knee scoped, so Tice had no choice but to do some player shuffling. The Bears used the best players they have on the roster, which is fine. Unfortunately, the best linemen they had included the most idiotic. The Seahawks would run an inside stunt with the DE and I think Webb had a crush on him, either that or he was playing shadow because he just kept following him inside and they would blitz from the outside and Cutler was a sitting duck. Quack. Forte missed at least two blitz pick-ups as well. Quack Quack. Cutler gets sacked six more times after missing a week with a concussed head. I know it would be telling the defense that it’s a passing play, but Chester Taylor needs to be in there every passing play. At this point I just want my franchise QB upright and not on his back looking thru his ear-hole. The opposition knows that every play has about a 70% chance of being a passing play anyway, so might as well have your best protection scheme on the field. But hey, that would be logical so for the Bears it’s out of the question.

By the way, was Julius Peppers’ name called at all yesterday? Must have been one of those notorious weeks that he takes off even though he’s physically on the field. He should have had a field day with the nearly immobile Hasselback taking the snaps. Or if he was being double teamed and being chipped off the edge, where was Izzy on the other end who must have been 1-on-1? The defense can’t be this inconsistent. It was good at bending for a few weeks, but yesterday it broke.

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The Chicago White Sox: Who's to Blame?

12 games back on September 22nd and mathematically eliminated from the postseason (thumb pointing downwards while making a loud farting noise). I’ve heard some White Sox fans say “Well, they made a good run…”. Really? “Made a good run”? Yes, they had a few pretty good streaks like when they won seven straight a few weeks ago and they went on the 25-5 tear and that’s admirable. But like all businesses, baseball is a bottom-line business and the Chicago White Sox did not get it done this year. Statistically, all around, they were better than last year, just not by much. The pitching stats are almost identical to last year.


STAT  2010 / 2009

ERA 4.06 / 4.14

SO 1,024 (season not yet over) / 1,119

WHIP 1.356 / 1.351

BB/9    3.1 / 3.2

K/9      7.1 / 7.0



Offensively, they were slightly better than last year, but certainly not substantially.


STAT 2010 / 2009

AVG. .269 / .258

OBP   .332 / .329

SLUG. .411 / .426

OPS    .759 / .740

OPS+   102 / 91

wOBA  .333 / .325

RUNS  702 / 724

SB    144 / 113


I’m showing avg. only because people are still just use to it being a foundation for batting statistics, but that is rapidly changing. On-base percentage (OBP) is far and away a much more valuable statistic. As you can see, the avg. for this year was .011 better than last year, but the OBP was only .003 higher. The object of baseball is to score more runs than the other team, whether it takes nine innings or not. How do you score runs you might ask? Why, by getting on base, of course! You’re killing me Smalls! (If you haven’t seen the movie Sandlot yet, you’re not American and you hate apple pie). Another side note, if you love baseball (and America) as much as I do, then you MUST read Moneyball by Michael Lewis. I’m going to try not to butcher the explanation, but in his research for his book Lewis found that the Oakland A’s organization devised a logarithm to show that OBP is three times more valuable than slugging, three times! That’s redonkeylous, but Lewis breaks it down further in verbal terms. Let’s say in any given inning, the leadoff man launches a homerun and starts out the team’s slugging percentage for that inning at 4.000, but then the next three batters make consecutive outs, dropping the SLUG% from 4.000, to 3.000 to 2.000 to 1.000 for the inning. 1.000 isn’t bad, right? Well, what would be the result if the OBP for an inning was 1.000? How many runs would be scored? The answer is…an infinite amount! The half inning would never end! Players would just keep getting on base, never making any outs. Don’t like my explanation? Me neither, read the book. And while you’re at it, check out all the saber metric statistics provided for free on fangraphs.com and baseball-reference.com since Baseball Prospectus charges for their work. I’ll get to the point soon I swear. Then your eyes fall upon the SB number and you say to yourself, wow, the White Sox have close to 30 more stolen bases this year than last year and are second in the AL. Well, they also have 22 more caught stealing that last year too and lead the AL. You may say that that’s natural considering the spike in attempts, which is true; however, throughout the body of work of an entire season, in order to have a positive run value for stolen bases a team has to have a success rate of at least 70%. The Sox are hovering around 67%, so in their entirety, the stolen bases have in fact run the Sox out of more scoring situations and innings and have been more detrimental to the team than helpful. As the table shows, the White Sox are just about on pace to score the same amount of points as last year, even with all of the extra stolen bases. Of course the OBP is nearly indistinguishable from last year, yet there’s many more stolen bases and they’re still on pace to score the same amount of runs…

The White Sox have only made the playoffs once since winning the World Series in 2005, and they had their asses handed to them by the Rays after winning game 163 against none other than this year’s Central Division Champs, the Twins. The White Sox went 5-13 against the Twinkies this year, and were 30-39 versus the division. The Twins were 40-29 within the Central. I said months ago in this blog and on sportstownchicago.com that the White Sox had to win the division, thru the division. The numbers above tell the story.

So who’s to blame for this failure of a season? Well, Ozzie’s little DH-by-committee experience did not work, nay, it failed miserably. Kenny allowed Ozzie to have too much input in who should be on the roster, unless it was Jerry who told Kenny to give Ozzie the lineup flexibility that he wanted. Ozzie and Kenny have been a pretty good tandem throughout the years, one saving the other’s behind and vice versa, but things are coming to a head. There was another blow up between the two in August. It probably had to do with Kenny telling Ozzie that he had about enough of his NL-style of on field managing and that he was going to get a slugger in the lineup to try to salvage the season, not to mention that it was going to be somebody who can protect MVP candidate Paul Konerko. It seemed like a pretty significant slap to Ozzie’s face, but if I was in Kenny’s position, I would have smacked him with the same force. I think Ozzie did a great job this year, especially with the bullpen. He didn’t over-manage as much as he has in the past and like I expected him to do again this year. Unfortunately, his season-plan was a monumental failure.

Some of the blame also lands on the players, especially on the starting pitching. Yes, they pitched similarly to last year, but the point was to pitch BETTER than last year. The first month and a half they were awful. Then they turned it on for about two months. Then the big games arrived in August and September and they were hot for a while, and then they were really hot, but only because they wet themselves. Danks pitched well in a big game, in 2008. Floyd has no-hit stuff, inconsistently. Peavy is still looking for his latissimus dorsi. Sweaty Freddie wasn’t as sweaty as a Freddie could be sweaty because when you pitch well below the league’s fastball average you need the corners otherwise you get pounded. Buehrle was Buehrle with a full belly from eating innings. Jackson was an excellent pickup who has now proven twice that he can pitch in the AL. Don’t even say it was a bad deal since trading away Hudson with his 1.65 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in the weak NL West. If you don’t like the move, you’re Matt Spiegel’s “out of town stupid”.

So, it’s Jerry’s fault, by default. It’s Kenny’s fault for not trusting his gut and playing to his sandlot of a ballpark and jamming his lineup full of base-clogging sluggers who get on base 41% of the time they step into a batter’s box (Jim Thome). It’s Ozzie’s fault for the awful execution of making the lineup and wanting Mark Kotsay to get way more at-bats than he deserved. It’s the players’ fault for not playing up to their ability and not staying healthy. It’s Joe West’s fault, because I said so and this is my blog.


Tape & Pinetar:

The Bears are 2-0 and will be 2-1 before midnight Central Standard time on Monday evening. The question is exactly how well will they play against the Packers in that loss.

The Bulls have a shot at obtaining Carmelo Anthony if they give up Noah. Do it, now.

The Blackhawks are 6-1 to repeat a Stanley Cup Championship, yet they are not the favorite to win as the Washington Capitals are 5-1. (The Penguins are also 6-1).

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Mannyhood

For the next month, Bridgeport, the neighborhood home of Comiskey Park, shall be known as Mannyhood. Or just call it Bridgeport, I don’t care, the point is Manny Ramirez is presently on his way to join the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland. The odd thing is that the White Sox had the best team batting average and scored the most runs in the AL in the month of August. SO why are they adding a bat, especially now when the bullpen is depleted with Threets, Putz, and Thornton injured and Brian Fuentes could have possibly been had via waiver claim and has now landed on the very team that they’re in a race with to win the Central division? Well folks, I’ll tell ya. Manny is playing for a contract in this last month. That’s it. It’s that simple, sure there are other variables involved, but all can be broken down back to that fact. Of course, regardless as to how he performs in this last month Manny will get signed somewhere, but with a typical motivated Manny-like performance it’ll be the difference between $2M a year and $5 or 6M a year. He’ll be motivated, but will he produce? My guess is he’ll produce. I think it’s a good…let’s call this taking a chance on Manny a gamble because that’s what it is, it’s a good gamble for the White Sox to take. The options out there for relief help were and are still weak. If Sox fans are upset that they missed out on Brian frickin Fuentes on the waiver wire, they obviously think the Sox are way worse off than I do. The Sox would certainly not win the Central if their fate was to be decided by Fuentes. He’s pretty expensive and essentially, he’s a LOOGY (Lefty One-Out GuY). Well, at least that’s all I’d ever use him for as righties have pretty good numbers against him, but lefties are hitting below the Mendoza-line. By the way, Ron Gardenhire said that Capps will retain the closer job and Fuentes will have more of a set-up role, just to give you an idea what they’re planning on doing with him. A pretty costly set-up man, right? I don’t blame them for trying to shore up their bullpen, but my point is the money the White Sox are paying to Manny is better used on the gamble rather than trying to acquire Fuentes. Besides, All-Star Matt Thornton wasn’t as hurt as originally thought as he said he feels great and he should be back on the active roster soon. Chris Sale has stepped it up and is a better option than Fuentes anyway and better than a washed up Scott Downs or an inconsistent Jason Frasor as well. The Sox bullpen imploded in recent weeks, but it seems to be back on track starting with Bobby Jenks. The September call-up is Wednesday, since it will be September of course, and they’ll be able to add more arms, inexperienced arms, but arms at the very least as the bullpen trouble stemmed from a work overload. The starting pitching picked it up after April and May, but they still have only thrown five complete games all year. The pitching all around will continue to have its ups and downs, but as evident from yesterday’s game they need to try to out-slug the opposition down the stretch run here. No matter what the numbers are or how it’s achieved, the goal in baseball is to score more runs that the other team in nine innings. Manny will contribute to that.

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Bears Family Night "Practice"

Family Night Bears practice under Friday night lights was just that, strictly for the family this past Friday night. There wasn’t much to see for someone trying to cover the practice with a critical eye, no sir. It was more of a “players on display” sort of showcase than a true practice. More players were there just going through the motions rather than it being a competitive practice with players fighting for a job. There were a lot of skeleton drills (7-on-7) as well as individual drills, spreading each positional group throughout the field, followed by some special teams and finally wrapped up with 11-on-11 plays.

The individual drills were lack-luster and had the tempo of a frosh team with the knowledge of having no shot at a conference championship this year. The ONLY interesting part of these drills was the one-on-one mentoring for Johnny Knox by one Isaac Bruce. He was teaching Knox how to escape a corner back jam and get a free release at the line of scrimmage as getting off the line cleanly is vital for the timing of the Martz offense. He taught him a rip move and a swim move to counter the jam, and a flat out juke to get off the line without even being touched.

As for passing drills, Jay Cutler only took about one-third of the snaps with the majority being taken by Hanie and the rest by Lefevour. Cutler connected with Greg Olsen on 7 of 12 passes on 7-on-7 and 10 of 15 on 11-on-11. The only trouble is, especially in 11-on-11, Cutler would have been sacked on at least 8 of those passes. The throws also wouldn’t have been as crisp because even after he was tag-sacked, he still stepped up and fired a pass. Of course, the same happened for Hanie and Lefevour as well, though their passes weren’t as accurate with a lot of over-thrown passes which will be INT’s in a live game.

There was nothing shown on the 11-on-11’s as far as play calling went. It looked like a West Coast offense. Twins left, twins right with the backfield and tight ends frequently going in motion. Had you been told that you were going to get a taste of the Martz offense, you would have been cursing that you were burned and accused that person of being a liar at the end of practice.

As for the special teams, it was just a chance to make sure the personnel knew which team was out there and where his spot on the field was. And maybe a little bit of discipline in making sure that guys stayed in their lanes and didn’t get sucked in. Other than that it was the “Meatball Hour” with the mouth-breathing fans cheering in a ridiculous manner because a returner “broke” one for a TD. Um, no. There was hardly any contact and it was a game of tag allowing returners to sprint through lanes that would have already been collapsed.

Family Night practice keys:

-The O-line is god-awful and will probably ruin the health of our franchise QB.
-The backup QB’s are not efficient and the season is over if Cutler does in fact go down with an injury.
-I hope you enjoyed it meatballs because there won’t be much to cheer for this year.

Tune in for the last two weeks of Cover three tonight and next Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

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Was There a De-Pantsing of Kenny Williams?

White Sox fans have mixed feelings about what down at the non-waiver trade deadline. I guess that you could say that this blogger is “glad”. Glad that the Sox acquired a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher, who we know can pitch in the American League, as opposed to sticking with a pitcher in Daniel Hudson in which we HOPE can pitch in the American League. Also, another very vital nugget of information according to White Sox beat writer Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times is that the White Sox projected Hudson to be a number five starter/middle reliever at best. So, with his low ceiling of potential the Sox must feel that they got the better of that trade as the Nationals have said that they could see Hudson as a top of the rotation pitcher in the future.

It is evident that White Sox GM Kenny Williams’ goal was to obtain a big bat to wedge into the middle of his lineup. A deal was all but done to get Lance Berkman into a south side uniform, but he invoked his 10 and 5 rights and vetoed the trade. Just another former Houston Astro who didn’t want to play on the south side for whatever reason along with Roy Oswalt, both of whom were moved before the trade deadline that ended at 3PM Central time on Saturday. Maybe they’re still bitter over the ’05 spanking they took in the World Series…..but that’s neither here no there. It’s also evident because Kenny tried to trade for Manny Ramirez, but that trade was nixed by the Dodgers. One is because they still feel they have an outside shot at making the playoffs either by winning the NL West or the Wild Card and two is because the White Sox essentially wanted him for free and only contribute $1M of the $7M left on his contract and not give up any players (the Dodgers were asking for Dayan Viciedo in return). It would be an interesting move to say the least, as Mannywood is still on the disabled list with a strained calf in what is his third DL stint just this year. It would have marked the second time in as many years that the White Sox traded for a player on the DL, last year of course being for Jake “Where’s my latissimus dorsi” Peavy. Also, if you look at history, you would know the possibilities of a healthy and motivated Manny Ramirez, especially in White Sox Park at the peak of summer.

Still, other fans, the mouth-breathing meatball types, feel that Kenny was pants by Nats GM Rizzo. The thinking being that Rizzo told Kenny that if he trades for Edwin Jackson that Kenny could flip him to Washington along with another prospect or two for Adam Dunn. Sure Kenny took an indirect shot at Rizzo when he said that it was frustrating to work with such new, young GM’s, but if you think that Kenny is so dumb and underprepared to trade for Jackson and get “stuck” with him then you need to find a new team to root for or be fired from baseball all together. Kenny probably wanted to flip Edwin Jackson to the Nats if possible, but will most definitely take the upgrade he’s made to the rotation. If he absolutely didn’t Jackson and only sought Dunn, then he would have only made the trade had it been a done deal with another team in the mix to complete a 3-way trade. Rizzo was adamant in his quest to trade for Gordon Beckham in a Dunn deal, pun intended, and that is why by time Saturday rolled around the trade talks between the Sox and Nats were on a respirator. I happen to like this non-move in not dealing away Beckham for a two month rental who can’t play the field and would be unhappy only DH-ing in the AL.

On top of all this, White sox pitching coach Don Cooper loves the high ceiling Edwin Jackson has. He has already had a side session with Jackson and has tweaked a few things. He wants the 6’3” Jackson to stand taller on the mound in order to stay on top of pitches and get the proper downward tilt on them. Jackson’s fastball average ranks fourth in the Major Leagues at 94.0 mph. He also has a nasty slider. His ERA may be inflated now, but I’m interest to see what adjustments he’ll make to win games for this club.

As always tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com.

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White Sox Trade Rumors

The trade deadline is looming and the rumors are swirling around players on both sides of town as well as players throughout the league. Dan Haren has all ready been dealt from the D-Back to the Angels in what looks to be purely a salary dump transaction. Arizona is getting a bag of nothing in return as far as talent goes, but it does free up about $30M in the books. They got a couple of low-end prospects and Joe Saunders who had a heck of a year in 2008. He went 16-7 last year, but he was fortunate to receive the run-support that he did to acquire those wins as his ERA was 4.60 and his WHIP was 1.430. On top of that, he’s injury prone so good luck with that Arizona.

The names being mentioned around the White Sox have been Adam Dunn of the Washington Nats, Prince Fielder of the Brew Crew, and as of late Luke Scott and Miguel Tejada of the Baltimore O’s.

Adam Dunn is a younger Jim Thome. He’ll hit more homers than Big Jim and his OBP is nice and high, which I value, but he’s another base-clogger. Sure he’ll get on base, but what’s the point if he can’t score without playing station-to-station baseball. Not only that, but he’s strictly a rent-a-player. The Sox would have to give up a ton of good talent in order to acquire him from the Nats GM Rizzo just to use his services for the remainder of the year. It really depends on the talent they would have to give up to get him because the Sox could definitely use a power bat from the left side of the plate. Since he’s proven that he can hit 40+ home runs in a season (and is currently on pace to due so again) he has been given the pass to strikeout as many times as he pleases, so I don’t want to hear that side of the argument. And the less at bats Kotsay gets, is a good thing. Let’s use him for what he was brought here for, pinch hitting in later innings. His Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 games is an abysmal -98.0 and his Wins Above Replacement according to fangraphs.com is -0.8. SO he’s cost the White Sox 80% of a win and hypothetically owes THEM money, $3.1 million to be approximate.

Prince Fielder is obviously a great power bat from the left side as he has proven that he can hit 50 homers in a year (it’s very possible for him to do the same again this year). Imagine the damage he can do at White Sox park; however, the Brew Crew will be asking for the moon in order to send him to Chicago. The likes of Gordon Beckham or Carlos Quentin with Daniel Hudson thrown into the mix. Yes, Prince is an overweight fat-body, but he’s not quite the base clogger that Dunn is. His OBP is up there at a .399 clip and his OPS is .904 and I like the fact that he can score on a single from second. He doesn’t bring much to the table as far as defense goes though, so he’d be a VERY expensive DH who can spell Konerko from time to time at 1B. The other variable to remember is that he’s under contract through 2011, so the Sox would be “borrowing” him for the rest of this year and all of next. I suppose there’s always the slightest of chances that they’ll sign him in the open market after that, but it’s most unlikely because his agent Scott Boras, whom Kenny Williams is not a fan of dealing with, will be asking for Ryan Howard money.

Tune in Thursday from 7 to 9 for a special edition of Cover 3, Monday August 2nd we'll be back to regular schedule.

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By: Robert Zielinski Jr.

The White Sox: 3-Game Skid, Vizquel Vs. Viciedo

After going 26-5 in their 31 games prior, the White Sox are on a three-game skid courtesy of their divisional rival Minnesota Twins. What should have been a 4-game series split, ended up as a 3-1 series loss after a tough defeat yesterday. The White Sox reverted to their old ways after winning the first game of the series and began to boot the ball around the infield and make mental mistakes. Dayan Viciedo made a critical error on Friday night on what should have been a 5-4-3 double play and turned into a run scoring, game changing gaffe. It was a fielding error on a hard hit ball to third, so I’m not that down on him especially since the Sox knew coming in that he’s not in the lineup for his fielding. He’s the future first baseman/DH. Which brings me to my next point…Omar Vizquel needs to be at third base as much as possible to shore up the defense. Although both players have the same amount of errors of 2 at 3B, Vizquel has played more than twice as many innings. Obviously he doesn’t have the kind of “pop” in his bat that Viciedo does, but “Defense wins championships” is a sports cliché for a reason! He also seems to have settled down Alexi Ramirez whose Ultimate Zone Rating is a solid 8.6 with a UZR/150 of 15.4 thus far. Vizquel isn’t tearing the cover off the ball, but he’s not exactly being detrimental to the lineup either. He gets his hits as shown by his .265 BA and he can actually lay a sacrifice bunt down to advance the runners. Now I know Viciedo is up in the Majors for a reason and he needs to get his at-bats being a big part of the future core of the White Sox, so I’d suggest making him the full-time DH. I know this isn’t what Ozzie wants as he likes the flexibility of his roster, but this is the circumstance that the Sox are in. What happens when Teahen is ready to come off the disabled list? That’s another blog for another day as I think that day is still closer to a month away. If they don’t want to go that route, put him back in triple A. We’re only about six weeks away from the September call-ups anyway, and maybe he can get more work as an everyday third baseman.

The White Sox lost the series finale at Target Field after going into the bottom of the ninth with a 3-run lead. Big Bobby Jenks didn’t record an out before he was replaced by rookie Sergio Santos who was called upon and asked to do what he’s never done before. He was asked to close out a game, with inherited runners and on the road no less! Needless to say, it didn’t work out. I’m not that down on Bobby either as he had converted his last 15 save opportunities, but this loss was so tough that I’m now skeptical of the whole shorten-the-game idea. Essentially, in order for that idea to work and be properly executed, you’re asking at least three pitchers to have their good stuff on a nightly basis. Don’t get me wrong, it has worked perfectly for a few clubs throughout the years, particularly a bullpen that has been anchored by a future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera. I’m just saying my own foundation on that sort of game plan has been rocked and I’d like to hear arguments from both sides.

Tape & Pine Tar

The Cubs won a tough series matchup against the Phillies. The most impressive part was getting the victory last night on Sunday Night Baseball when they defeated the Doc himself, Roy Halladay. They took three of four and really took them to the woodshed the two games they won. Starlin Castro’s bat is really starting to come around and guess who finally joined the party….Aramis “Too little, possibly too late” Ramirez. Even after the series versus the Phillies victory, the Cubs still stand 9.5 games behind the division leading St. Louis Cardinals. Even the Cincinnati Reds are ahead of them by nine games. What a hole the Cubs have dug themselves into, but it’s a rather pathetic remark aimed towards the NL Central as a whole when I say that the Cubs still have a legitimate shot at going on a run to take over the division, or have an outside shot at climbing over seven teams to win the wildcard slot.

Bears training camp is just around the corner. People are making a big deal about the fact that Devin Hester is working out with former Martz-offense receiver and future Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce. In my opinion, it would be a better story if he WASN”T going the extra mile to gain an edge for his game.

As always tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

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By: Robert Zielinski Jr.

NBA Free Agency: Is LBJ to Chicago Possi-BULL?

Well, where to start? Wade and Bosh are signing in Miami. LeBron is making his decision announcement tomorrow night in Connecticut. What? And this just in…..Carlos Boozer is a Bull. It’s a 5-year $80MM deal, which still preserves their maximum salary offer to LeBron James. It puts the cap figure at $13.8MM leaving just enough space to squeeze in LBJ. Hopefully James hasn’t completely made up his mind all ready and the Bulls can use this signing as a ploy to recruit James into wearing a Bulls uniform. It’s hard trying not to read into things as any thing can happen, but I deduce that since the announcement is coming from Connecticut, James will NOT be returning to the Cavs. If he was, why wouldn’t he just do it in Cleveland or Akron? Sounds like he’s seeking a safe-haven in case Akron erupts into a riot. (That may be hyperbolic, but you understand). The Bulls as an organization have said that they have not officially been told “no” in the James sweepstakes. Though that certainly does not necessarily mean “yes” either.

Tape & Pine Tar:

All this NBA free agency talk is coming in the wake of the news that White Sox ace Jake Peavy is almost certainly done for the season with a detached latissimus dorsi muscle. When asked if he’d be out for the remainder of the season….. “I can’t say,” Peavy replied. Well, that’s not good. Even if he does’t return by the end of the season, how sharp could he be? Peavy throwing if he comes back could be detrimental to the team instead of beneficial. Ozzie has yet to speak to Kenny Williams today, so he does not know if the Sox are pursuing a starting pitcher as of right now. Sources have said, however, that the White Sox are “all over” Adam Dunn. There’s no word yet on which players may be involved in a package for Washington, but there’s still three weeks before the non-waiver trade dealine.

As always tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com.

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Ballpark Etiquette Certification Card

The Zambrano stuff is just TOO easy. I’m going to go a different route this time. I went to both White Sox winners this past weekend, so far the most part it was a good time. Yes, I know, you’re happy for me. But dammit, people need to learn some ballpark etiquette! Hell, I’d be in favor of requiring all fans to go to a ballpark etiquette class every other year just so they can get through the damn turnstile. If it’s to a means of everybody in the park to having an even better time, I’m all for it. You must present your “Ballpark Etiquette Certification Card” with a photo ID before you can even present your ticket for game entry. I’m joking of course, but it’s really not a bad idea to generate some extra revenue if one had to pay a fee to receive said card and could create an entire department of jobs, but I’d rather there weren’t any “Etiquette Nazis” asking fans to present their card or be removed from the premises. All I’m really asking is for people to use their common sense to display some common courtesy and not be completely oblivious to those around them. There are many subtle things people can do or not do to make the game more enjoyable. For instance, all of the chairs are connected to each other and the quarters are close so it would be nice if you didn’t bounce your leg up and down as it’s brushing mine. Don’t kick the back of my seat if you don’t want me to “accidentally” spill something on you or smash your face into a jelly. If you’re a sore-loser Cubs fan leaving Comiskey early because your “Cubbies” are losing in the 5th inning and as you walk past two nice 50-something ladies who try to tell you that your fly is open, DON’T simulate masturbation and ejaculation as you stand on the stairs near the tunnel. The next courtesy goes for all levels of the ballpark, but especially for the upper deck where the seating is much steeper. During actual play of an inning, under no circumstances unless a medical emergency, stand out of your seat. Sit your ass down! You do not need to stand during any transaction with a vendor. If you’re such a slob that you can’t reach your wallet and it’s absolutely necessary to stand to get out money, do so rapidly between pitches so that no one behind you misses any of the game. One pitch can mean the whole game. If you stand, the row behind you has to stand and the row behind them had to stand and so on. I paid $35 to watch the game in the 500 level in the 18th row and all I can see is the back of your douchy haircut pulled back in a white headband with your sleeveless shirt to show the section that you have a pregnant worm for an arm. And when the people behind you DO tell you to sit your ass down, that’s not your cue to blow kisses at them, it means sit the F@CK down hillbilly!

As always, tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening, except for July 5th, from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

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Back to .500

And just like that, the White Sox are back to .500, actually above .500 for the time being! They currently stand at 35-34 a .507 percentile and 4.5 games behind the Twins in the AL Central. They’ve spent the past two weeks feasting on the underbelly of the Major Leagues, the NL. The White Sox have always played well in Inter-league play, but they’ve dominated it this year going 11-2 with 5 Inter-league games left on the schedule, all of which will be wrapped up this coming weekend in part two of the Crosstown Classic on the Southside. They even beat up on an excellent pitcher Tommy Hanson on an excellent, best record in the NL team in the Atlanta Braves. The Braves will be a better test for the White Sox as they have 3 good oitching matchups and both teams have been hot as Atlanta won five straight before taking the loss to the Sox last night. They’re certainly a better test than the hot-grabage the Bucs and Nats put out between the foul lines. General Manager Kenny Williams is never a true “seller” but he was definitely on that end of the spectrum a couple of weeks ago, and now he’ll be looking to make an addition to the team to make a better run at the AL Central. They’re looking for left-handed pop in the batter’s box and possibly a left-handed reliever. Adam Dunn and Lance Berkman have been rumored to be on the White Sox radar. Berkman has been struggling at the plate and with injuries, especially to his knee which kept him on the DL for the beginning of the season. He does pick up the ball pretty well and could spell Konerko at first base. Dunn has been mashing with 17 homers, 8 of which came at home in a spacious National’s Ballpark. Imagine that man hitting within the smaller dimensions of Comiskey! I’m sure a few fly balls in that park turns into homers in this one. The bad news is, the Twins have been rumored to be the front-runners to acquire former Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee from the soon-to-be-selling Mariners. The AL Central will be all but won if they make that acquisition.

As always tune in to Cover 3 on sportstownchicago.com every Monday evening from 7 to 9.

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Assessing the White Sox

We’re 60 games into the season, well more like 65….or so, but by now General Managers have assessed their teams. It’s time to determine whether to buy or sell. The baseball teams on both sides of town are in a seemingly perturbing predicament. The White Sox, thus far, have stood pat. A.J. Pierzynski’s 10 and 5 vesting rights have been implemented as of this past Sunday. One could think that should he have been moved this season, it would have been before the rights kicked in, but the truth is it really doesn’t matter all that much. Rumor had it that the Rangers had and may still have interest in A.J. as they’ve tried out a trio of catchers this season, none of which produced what management expected for a team in the race for the AL West. Jarrod Saltalamacchia can’t hit big league pitching and he turned into Rube Baker of the motion picture Major League II with his troubles of getting the ball back to the pitcher, not even dirty magazines could help this kid out. I’m sure White Sox GM Kenny Williams performed his due diligence and listened to and is listening to offers for A.J., but for one, he hasn’t been hitting well especially compared to last year, and two, he’s got that sort of negative reputation and the ol’ “punch me” face. Yet, the vesting rights still don’t hold much water as Pierzynski has all ready said that he’d be willing to waive his no-trade clause should the White Sox fall further out of contention and be given the opportunity to be moved to a contender. Mark Buehrle’s 10 and 5 rights kick in in July, so there should be a circus following him in the coming weeks. Buehrle, if not all ready, is rapidly turning into a NL pitcher. He has a limited no-trade clause that will soon turn into the full no-trade, but I have to believe that at this point in his career that he’d only accept a trade to an NL contender by the name of St. Louis. They have a good shot at winning the NL Central, they’re looking for starting pitching, and it’s Mark’s hometown.
The starting pitching got off to a slow, nay, a bad start. The staff is starting to come around as they’ve thrown nine quality starts in a roll and they have won 8 of their last 10. The problems are that the Twins win when the Sox win and they lose when the Sox lose. (Although, the Sox did gain a game last night to bring them to 6.5 games back). Also, Jake Peavy is now experiencing dead-arm. His next start is being pushed back to Saturday and possibly further. I know, first thing’s first and the Sox have to get back to .500 and the they’re still 3 wins away from reaching that goal, but it would be nice to steal more games away from Minnesota along the way. The Sox were once 9 games below .500 so there’s been a little progress. Some fans, including this one, may have taken the staff for granted and just expected them to produce quality start after quality start right from the beginning and continue to do so the entire season. Hopefully they’re back on the right track though. Rios and Quentin were the next big questions and Rios has been stellar and Quentin is seemingly a fallen star thus far. Rios is on pace to be the first 30-30 White Sox while having the best average on the team by far at .313. Konerko is second at .294. Quentin has struggled mightily with a .213 average. The silver lining for Quentin has been his average with runners in scoring position hitting at a .314 clip. That has helped him to pot a respectable 36 RBI as he seems to come thru when the Sox really need him.
All the talk of this “Ozzie ball” ((which isn’t even real, and I’d like to know who coined that term so I can hate them directly) it’s just known as small ball and it’s the way baseball has been played for over a hundred years, a style that is still alive and well and living in the National League), hasn’t panned out as expected. Sure they have a lot more stolen bases this year and that has helped to move guys into scoring position, but most guys still can’t lay down a bunt and are just plain bad at situational hitting. White Sox have missed out on plenty of opportunities when all they needed was a sacrifice bunt or fly or a grounder to the right side. And as I’ve pointed out before, the Sox are still reliant on the long ball! They’re just doing it throughout the entire lineup as opposed to a few base-clogging power hitters. This brings me to the latest and greatest White Sox news…the call-up of Dayan Viciedo. Mark Teahen went on the DL with a broken middle finger, Jason Nix wasn’t getting it done in the field or with the bat so he was designated for assignment, and they can’t ask Omar Visquel to play every day at 43 years old. So, Vicideo is back at The Show. He brings a power bat to the lineup, which I like because though the thought of playing small ball to win the Central is a nice idea to entertain, it has failed and the Sox have to play to the small dimensions of their ballpark to win more games. Viciedo’s stat line for this year in triple A has been pretty good. He’s your typical free-swinging Cuban prospect with extra pop. He batted .290 with 14 dingers and 14 RBI. He posted a poor OBP drawing just 8 walks with 52 strikeouts in 255 plate appearances (courtesy of baseball-reference.com). But, like I said, the Sox aren’t doing much as far as situational hitting goes anyway, so they may as well have another masher on the lineup card. This is besides the fact that they’re hoping he’ll be the shining star they’ve paid him to be in the coming years and it’ll be good to get him some quality major league at-bats.
Tonight the White Sox will face rookie Phenom Stephen Strasburg. It should be a good game as Gavin Floyd takes the bump coming off a strong performance in which he took a no-hitter into the 7th and was the tough-luck loser. Strasburg has command of 4 major league pitches. Considering the fact that he’ll be pitching at home and facing AL pitchers in the batter’s box, his strikeouts should easily reach double digits. The White Sox handed a much less dominant 8-0 Carlos Silva his first loss of the season, hopefully they can keep that trend going and give Strasburg his first loss of his Major League career.

As always, tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com. A huge thanks to Matt Spiegel of WSCR 670 The Score for joining the show last week.

Also, a shout out to Jay BLAAck and Joe Quelleville! Thanks Mayor Richie!

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Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 Breakdown

Coach Q decided that he needed to make some line shake-ups and he did that by breaking up the 1st line. It was Hossa and Kopecky with Toews this game. This gave a good balance to each line as it spread out the speed of the team. The Hawks’ power play was much better in Game 5 as the went 2 for 4. They missed out on their first opportunity when Krajicek was called for cross-checking 2:50 into the game. Dave Bolland gave the Flyers a chance of their own when he was called for cross-checking himself with 10:45 left in the 1st. With 8:44 left Hartnell was guilty of a high stick. During the power play Byfuglien absolutely trucked Powe for his 30th hit of the series. Big Buff had eight total hits in the game and leads the series in hits by far. Seabrook was credited with the first goal of the game. It was a power play goal that bounced off of every body’s favorite defensemen Chris Pronger, which made that particular goal a little bit sweeter. Steeger got the primary assist as Brower got the secondary. The Hawks continued to apply the pressure and scored a second goal with 4:34 left in the 1st. Bolland (Sopel, Byfuglien) was standing at the side of the net when he threw the puck off of Leighton’s skate and bounced into the net. The boys in the Indian-head sweaters didn’t stop there in the 1st either. With 1:45 Versteeg (Seabrook, Byfuglien) fired a snapper just over the right shoulder of Leighton, who may have been screened for a split second that was just long enough for the the puck to sneak past him. The Hawks had 13 shots on goal in the first, but the 2nd period didn’t start out so well. Philly decided to go back to Boucher for the second time this series, but :32 into the period Hartnell (Leino, Briere) potted a lay-up goal. Kopecky lost the puck along the boards and Leino fired a drive at Niemi, one which he thought he had covered up, but it squirted out for Hartnell to tap in and the Flyers were on the board. The Hawks answered quickly less than three minutes later when Kane (Ladd,Sharp) put the biscuit in the basket. Ladd fired a shot that was blocked by Pronger, but bounced right back to Ladd who found the trailing Kaner with a pass at the left side of the net. The Flyers responded even quicker cutting the lead in half when Timonen (Briere, Leino) scored the Flyers’s 2nd goal of the game. Byfuglien has his own way of responding when he downright WRECKED Pronger in the corner. It was a hit similar to the crumbling of the Walls of Jericho. It was very satisfying to say the least. Both teams traded penalty kills at mid-period. Soon after, Niemi made yet another disgustingly awesome sliding pad save. With 4:22 left in the 2nd, Pronger went to the penalty box for hooking Kaner. Pronger got his butt handed to him all night, whether it was by Big Buff putting Pronger shaped holes in the boards or Kaner skating circles around the old man. Seven seconds later, you guessed it, Byfuglien (Toews, Keith) potted a power play goal from just in front of the net thru the 5-hole of Boucher. Pronger wasn’t on the ice to cross check Byfuglien from behind in front of the net, what a shame. The Hawks should have had another power play, but there was no call when Campbell caught a stick to his face and two, count them, two refs missed it. After two periods, Big Buff had a goal and two assists. The Blackhawks continued to have good play through the neutral zone and had even better fore-checking, especially by Captain “Serious” Toews. However, the Flyers were still able to scratch out a goal with 13:24 left in the game when van Riemsdyk pocketed a big rebound from Krajicek. Van Riemsdyk must have grown some goal-muscles because he decided to cross-check Hossa in the back, which of course wasn’t seen by any of the refs, and sent Marion to the locker room for a few moments to regroup. Hossa did come back though and played with even more inspiration as if he needed any more. Byfuglien blew up Timonen and a ref on the same hit. The guy was all over the ice and later he gave Leino and then Pronger consecutive bell-ringing hits. With 9:22 Steeger went to the box for high sticking Pronger, but it was an excellent penalty kill as the Flyers were only able to get one shot on goal. The Hawks even almost scored a shorty by Toews as he collected a sweet drop-pass from Bolland, but to no avail….this time. Sharpie potted one from Kane with 3:52 left in the game and that was pretty much the dagger to the heart, although Gagne did cut the lead to two as he was able to score when Keith broke his still on a slapper and had to defend the zone stick-less. Eddie Olczyk pointed out that late in games defensemen with the lead should revert back to the harder wooden sticks, as opposed to the fiber, composite, whatever you want to call it stick so things like that don’t happen. The Hawks were playing well enough to get away with it this time though. The Flyers pulled Boucher and with 2:05 left in the game Byfuglien did a good job to settle the puck down and center it and scored an empty-netter to put Game 5 to rest and give the Hawks the 3-2 series advantage headed back to Philly. Buff, Bolland, and Steeger all were +3 for the game. Niemi had 23 saves and the Hawks had a faceoff advantage of 38-31. The Blackhawks came out with a good pace, attacked the net and kept up that pace throughout the game for the most part. It was the best response that they could have executed coming back from Philly and if they play their game again, this series will be over on Wednesday. If not, we’ll see the boys for the last game at the UC this season on Friday and hope the bounces go their way.

As always tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

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Western Conference Final Game 4 Breakdown

Everybody knew San Jose would be in desperation mode in a must-win elimination game. The Blackhawks did a good job of keeping things under control to start the game, even with Hendry’s holding penalty at 5:02 into the game. The great penalty kill line had a nice shift with contributions from Hossa and Toews, a big save by Niemi, and blocks from Seabrook and Hossa. With 8:50 left in the first the Sharks scored the first goal of the game off the stick of Couture. Setoguchi threw the puck to the net and Couture potted the rebound over the glove of Niemi. The Hawks didn’t get a power play until the middle of the second period, but to no avail. It was the Sharks who would score the short-handed goal. Marleau blasted a one-timer from Vlasic past Niemi. This deflated the UC for some time and it was Ben Eager who smashed Heatley for his second big hit of the game in an attempt to get the crowd back into the game. The Hawks missed another power play opportunity after Heatley was sent to the penalty box for hooking. Toews was sent to his respective box shortly after for a cross-check that took place right in front of the net. The Hawks netted their first goal with 6:42 left in the second. Seakbrook scored with a little help from Hjalmarsson and Versteeg. Dave Bolland tied it up at 2 with 1:22 left in the second. He made a great fundamentally-pack play starting from behind the net. He raced to the puck and lifted Couture’s stick off of the puck. He then got good body position to box Couture out and was able to bring to puck to the front of the net on the other side. He elevated the puck, which was redirected by a Shark and got past the glove-side shoulder of Nabokov. In the third, The Hawks were given three straight power plays. Boyle was called for delay of game, Clowe was guilty of holding, both of which were penalty kills, and Heatley went to the box for slashing. It was on the third and final power play that Byfuglien potted his third game-winning goal in four games. Kane got the primary assist as Toews received the secondary and extended his franchise record for consecutive postseason games with a point to 13. Steeger put the cherry on top with an unassisted empty-netter with :42 left in the game. The boys in the Indian-head sweaters are headed back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1992 in the hopes to break the 39 year drought!

Be sure to tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening, except Memorial Day, from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

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Western Conference Game 3 Breakdown

The Blackhawks are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals, and it only cost them seven shattered teeth of Duncan Keith! The Hawks swept the Sharks in four straight games, but it truly was closer than what outcome may insinuate. For instance, Friday’s game three was decided in overtime. It was an interesting game from the beginning. Not even a minute and an half into the game Dave Bolland was called for goalie interference on a B.S. call that came after a great save by Nabokov. Less than a minute later Joe Pavelski scored on the power play. O, but wait, after the replay the goal was taken off the board as it showed that the puck was kicked in and Pavelski never got his stock on the puck before it passed the goal line. It turned into a penalty kill and somewhat deflated the Sharks for the rest of the period. Excellent back checking by the Hawks helped them nearly score on a turnover. They played well through the neutral zone as well as the Sharks could only set up the cycle with a chip and chase. Early in the second Andrew Ladd absolutely lifted Big Joe Thornton off the ice with a sweet hip-check as they raced to the corner. Though, Thornton would get Ladd back late in the third with a nice hit, but not as good since Ladd really didn’t see it coming like Thornton did. With two minutes into the second period Bolland got called for his second penalty of the day for holding. 37 seconds later Hossa was called for hooking and after missing some pretty easy shots, Marleau finally potted one on the 5 on 3 advantage. Niemi was pinned between the pipes and the puck just went off the web of his glove and into the net. The Hawks finally caught a break when Couture went to the box for slashing and Sharpie put the biscuit in the basket after a needle-threading pass from Toews as he centered the puck from the right corner. Toews broke the Blackhawks’ franchise record with his 12th consecutive postseason game with a point. After two periods it was a slight 23-21 SOG advantage for the Sharks, but a commanding 26-11 faceoff advantage for the Hawks. I thought it was interesting that the announcer for NBC said that San Jose was “Hanging in there” with the Hawks. What? I know that the Hawks had the two game series lead over the Sharks, but the game was tied at the time and they were the number one seed of the Western Conference. They shouldn’t be the ones “Hanging in there” with anybody they should be playing the game. The first two-thirds of the third period were ugly. Duncan Keith was sent to the box not even a minute in for hooking after an awful turnover. About five minutes later Big Buff was called for tripping and later Bolland was called for tripping to make it his third penalty of the game. The puck was in San Jose’s zone for way too long and the only bright spots was Ben Eager’s blast that went off the post and the fact that the Hawks penalty kill special team had comes through not once, not twice, but thrice in the third period alone. Bolland’s game was a little sloppy as indicated by his three infractions; however, he did score with 3:55 left to give Chicago a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately, Marleau scored his second game with 4:23 left in the game, which eventually went to sudden death. It was an exciting extension to the game as Niemi made three great saves in a roll around 10:30 into overtime. This created the chance for Bolland to get another point as he got the assist for Big Buff’s game winner from between the circles as he went top cheese over Nabby’s shoulder sending the Gatorade bottle flying in there air! Niemi had 44 saves. 44! Out of 46, almost a 96 in save percentage! Nabby had himself a game as well saving 35 of 38 SOG. The Hawks took game three and were 11-0 all time in series’ leading 3-0. Stay tuned for breakdown of Game 4 from the UC. Game 4 breakdown coming soon...

PREACH

Stolen: Home-Ice Advantage

The home ice advantage for the Sharks has evaporated…for now. We witnessed, very arguably, the best game Annti Niemi has played in an Indian-head sweater. He stopped 44 shots on goal out of 45 all while standing on his head! (As the saying goes, if you will, if I may). The one that got past Neimi was by no means a softy. It came during the second Power Play out of three during the first period alone off the stick of Jason Demers at 11:19 minutes in. Demer’s shot was deflected off of a defending Duncan Keith that was redirected just over the right should of Niemi. From there on out, the “Finnish Fortress” made several exceptional saves including a few with the glove. San Jose played with seven defensemen and the Hawks saw a steady diet of Heatley, Thornton, and Marleau. The Sharks easily controlled the entire first period with three Power Plays, but were only able to capitalize on one. A possible turning point in my mind was a three on two Sharks advantage that came before there was even a goal on the scoreboard. It essentially was a three on one, but Keith skated straight back and used an active stick to break up a play that could have resulted in an open net goal and changed the complexion of the game. Both teams squandered some good opportunities. Toews and Thornton both miss out on good scoring chances simply by not squaring up the puck on the stick on spoiled one-timers that produced weak shots off the heel of their respective sticks. The Blackhawks were able to tame the Sharks from about five minutes into the second period throughout the rest of the game. They were able to out hustle San Jose and recover more loose pucks. Sharpie scored the tying goal with 12:13 left in the second period with assists from Keith and Brouwer. Keith was again a key player here as he recognized the opportunity for a four on three and sped down the ice to create the play and got a point on the assist. The Hawks ran into some trouble after a holding penalty on Seabrook at 14:01 in the second. This is when Niemi made a sick glove-save sliding from post to post in desperation mode. It was a thing of beauty especially from the goal-cam. The Sharks did however have a 31-22 shot-on-goal advantage after the second period. The third period was all Hawks though as the game was being played completely to their tempo and playing a lot of fast-paced cycle-play. Coach Q made an exquisite line change, which resulted in some Shark confusion leaving Big Buff all alone for an open-lane shot from between the circles to score the game-winning goal with 6:45 left in the game. The Hawks faced more adversity as Dave Bolland was called for a tripping penalty with :55.1 seconds left in the game. Although, the Blackhawks did receive a small break as the refs escorted Versteeg to the box instead of Bolland, who is a crucial part of the penalty-kill special team. San Jose played with an empty and had a six on four advantage, but to no avail and the Blackhawks stole a game at the Shark Tank. The keys for game two are tightening up the fore-checking and cutting down on all of the shots on goal. They can’t ask Niemi to play out of his mind for every game here on out, though it would be sweet if he did.

Remember to tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

PREACH

Blackhawks Looking to Clinch, Again

Game 6 is upon us and the Blackhawks are headed in with a three games to two advantage over the Canucks. I’m not one to believe in game-to-game momentum, but the boys in the Indian-head sweaters may be feeling some pressure before they take the ice tonight in British Columbia. And, well, that’s just fine with me. Oddly enough, the Hawks flat out do not play well when there isn’t any sort of pressure or urgency. They’ve also been road-warriors in these playoffs. This is contrary to most other clubs. Other clubs tend to play well when there is no pressure and can play a loose type of game. But NOOOOOOO, the Hawks had to go and come out sluggish, at home mind you, in Game 5 and make things a little more interesting as far as this series goes. They didn’t seem to be themselves right of the stick. They were a step slower than the Canucks no matter who was on the ice at any given time. They took far too many dumb penalties and were given a taste of their own acetaminophen. It didn’t help that Erhoff deposited the biscuit in the basket with the help from a Burrows screen within the first minute so that they could revert to a neutral-zone trap for the rest of the game and stymie the Hawks’ offensive attack. Bieksa potted the next two goals taking a 3-0 lead into the third period. Luongo standing on his head and not coughing up any succulent rebounds was the cherry on the top for Vancouver. This coming after he was called out by his coach to perform better between the pipes and shaving his playoff beard to switch things up. Still, the Blackhawks expect to win this series in six as indicated by their heavy packing with extra tighty-whiteys. They plan on jumping on a jet to fly south down to San Jose after their victory to begin that series. My keys to a Game 6 victory are as follows: no dumb penalties and Big Buff’s big butt in Luongo’s grill. That is all.

Tape & Pine Tar:

The Cubs have brought up their number one prospect in Starlin Castro at what I believe is an odd time. If they had just waited three more weeks the Cubs could have locked him up for an extra year with arbitration. If they didn’t start him down in Double A to begin the season to wait until June to bring him up, then why didn’t he just break camp with them and start the season in The Show? Albeit, he had an historic debut when he went oppo on a 3-run bomb and also had a base-clearing triple to be the first player ever to rack up 6 RBI’s in their first game in the Bigs. It’s also untimely because “L-L-Lil Fontenot” (in a stuttering, mouth-breathing Sweet Lou voice) has been hitting above .300 and he’s been the odd man out, even though it was Chad Tracy who was designated for assignment, as Theriot has shifted over to the 4 position as Castro has taken over the 6.

To say the Sox are underachieving would be an understatement. They’re bad right now with a few bright spots. Danks & Santos have been lights-out on the bump. Konerko leads the majors with 13 dingers, Rios is playing well and working out even though Kenny truly didn’t want him, and Jones has been producing gravy for a plate with no mashed potatoes. Other than that, bad. Pierre leads the majors with 15 swipes, but his OBP is below .300. BAD. Beckham is batting below the Mendoza-line at .193 and is on the brink of getting at-bats in the minors, ‘nough said…BAD. The list goes on and that’s just for the starting lineup…go to whitesox.com, scroll over stats and click on sortable player stats and try to keep from losing your lunch. The big question facing Ozzie this week is what to do with big Bobby Jenks. 6.75 ERA in 12 IP with an average of 20.4 pitches per IP. BAD. Well Putz has 103 career saves…Oh but he has an ERA dangerously close to 5, so that may not be the best idea. Thornton has been pretty reliable collecting 25 K’s in 15.1 IP….but Ozzie has all ready been riding him hard this season. I’d say use him late, especially in their upcoming series versus the Twins and their left-handed-heavy lineup and play the match-ups. Otherwise, Sergio Santos has been stellar finally giving up his first ER of the season this past Saturday. He’s got great stuff, particularly his slider, to compliment his high-90’s fastball. He’s got confidence right now and I’m sure Ozzie has it in him as well so let’s get what we can out of him now in those late-inning situations. Maybe Jenks can work his way back into the roll with a good stint as a middle-reliever, which will be tough as he doesn’t pitch well without the lead…then again he hasn’t pitched well WITH the lead this year either. I’m fairly indifferent when it comes to Jenks. Should he start doing well and have his stock rise by mid-season to be trade bait, fine. If he stays in the roll and slams the door shut with every save opportunity, fine. Right now, he’s just a guy.

As always tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

PREACH

Turning the Tide

The boys in Indian sweaters have taken control of the series from the Preds 3-2 and have a chance to clinch tonight in the Music City. After going down two games to one the Hawks have come roaring back with the help of overall team efforts. The defense is improving, the hustle has gotten better winning more battles in the corners, and the physicality has picked up. Niemi pitching no-no’s isn’t hurting either. He’s only let in two soft goals in my prospective with a save percentage of .923 for the series. The mental mistakes have been cut down, but they need to be eliminated. The Blackhawks can’t afford any more bad turnovers as one has contributed to a postseason loss all ready and Kaner’s last night almost cost them the series advantage. Being down 2-3 is a massive difference compared to 3-2, but for now Hawks’ fans have thwarted the fear of a first round bounce out of the playoffs at least for a game. The Hawks scored two goals on players coming straight out of the penalty box….a dicey game plan! The second was a game-winner when Hossa tapped in a Sopel slapper rebound. Hossa served a five minute major when he boarded a Predator, a hit that was being compared to the Ovechkin-on-Campbell hit by the Preds’ head coach. Hossa walked away scott-free from the incident as NHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell determined that the action did not warrant a suspension after reviewing the tape and having a phone conference with the offender. Hossa may have just gotten the slap on the wrist because he’s not a repeat offender, which is absurd in its own right, but hey I’m happy he doesn’t have to sit out any games. Puck drops 8 PM Monday Central time.

Tape & Pine Tar:

The Bulls won a game!..........and then got thumped. They’re losing the series 3-1. You know how I feel about this season and the most interesting part now is how soon after the season will Vinny del be fired?

Da Bears’ draft picks were, well, eh. Major Wright Safety from UF was a decent pick up. He may have been the best talent on the board at the time and it fills a need of the Bears. He’s got a nice skill set, but he’s not a great coverage guy, which is what the Bears truly need in the Cover 2. He played a nice centerfield for UF, but his responsibilities will be different in the scheme. It’ll be a fun project to keep an eye on. DE Corey Wootton was a nice pick up as well. The value in this pick is tremendous. He was a top 10-15 pick a year ago before he tore an ACL, MCL, and meniscus in the Alamo Bowl. He’s at about 90-95% healthy as he put it and still played well for the Northwestern Wildcats. We’ll see how he compliments the defense once he’s healthy and can explode off the line and be a pass-rushing menace. Josh Moore from Kansas State is a 5th round CB, is a 5th round CB, is a 5th round CB. You understand. Dan Lefevour is an okay pick. Again, the best talent on the board at the time, though he’s not REALLY needed he’s still a better option than Henne. J’Marcus Webb has a good OT skill set, but he’s a Division II OT. He’s shown he can play against tough competition, but still won’t make any contributions this year.

The White Sox swept the M’s in a three game set with no lack of drama and didn’t even face Felix Hernandez or Cliff Lee who’s currently on the DL. Andruw Jones had a happy birthday on Friday hitting two homers one of which was a walk-off. Rios stepped up Saturday with another walk-off dinger. Seems like a lot of fool’s gold, but I’ll take the much needed victories….for now.

The Cubs demolished The Brewers over the weekend, but again didn’t face the 1-2 staff members sidestepping Gallardo and Wolf. It was still a positive weekend with all of the hits collected. Sweet Lou moved Big-Z to the pen….DUMB. Then he said he won’t pitch him in back-to-back games. Talk about cutting his value…..OMFG. Dumbest move I’ve seen in baseball in my lifetime thus far!

Tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

PREACH

Blackhawks Vs. The Preds: Games 1 & 2

I didn’t even notice the aerobic workout I was performing as I watched the Blackhawks dump it up after a standing room only ticket fell into my lap Friday afternoon. (The very last row in the 300 level has two stairs and I was stepping up and down from behind the hand rail to watch the game when it was right under me from a steep view behind the “Hawks’ Nest”). The National Anthem was deafening and things were optimistic for a while from a fan standpoint especially with a 1-0 lead headed into the third period. Trying to breakdown the game from 500 feet up, I was a little uneasy even with the small advantage, and with good reason. The Hawks were being too cute with the puck. It’s one thing to be patient, but the cute play of the Hawks cost them the game. I’m not pinning the loss on him, but Brouwer’s turnover at the blue line is a perfect example to point out the blatantly obvious. The Predators (what an odd mascot name by the way, as most people think of the sexual kind these days particularly with the popular MSNBC show To Catch a Predator) out-grinded and out-hustled the Hawks all night, chiefly (pun intended) along the boards in the corners. They played good team-defense setting traps deep in the Hawks’ zone reeking havoc and creating turnovers. Annti Niemi allowed a questionable goal and he took full responsibility for it. Some people said the ice conditions were bad due to a Bon Jovi concert nonetheless and that the puck took a funny bounce. I think Niemi just got caught sleeping and maybe it was a combination of both, but he let it roll off his back and slammed the door shut in game two.
He wasn’t particularly busy Sunday night, but he saved 23 of 23. Some of which were superstar saves. My favorite of the night was after blocking a point-blank shot and unfolding into full-out splits, he blocked another as he slide across the paint to block the rebound. It was simultaneously graceful and groin-straining to the eye. The Preds’ net-minder Rinne is having himself a series as well. He’s very athletic between the pipes for sporting that 6’5” frame as he displayed that while standing on head throughout game two. He was busy early and often as Nashville committed four penalties almost consecutively, one of which led to a Bolland goal in a second period power play. A nice quasi-spin-o-rama by Toews found Bolland in front of the left circle who made an excellent backhand shot to light the lamp. The Hawks were a little less cute, but certainly were still patient and not peppering Rinne with shots. Maybe the game plan was to stay patient or maybe the Hawks had good reason to not recklessly fire shots at Rinne because he was eating every thing that came his way with not much loose change in front of the net. This could have forced the Hawks to pass more and find that perfect shot. Kaner gave the Blackhawks an insurance goal in the 3rd period and they took a 2-0 victory as Niemi pitched a no-no. They head to Nashville with the series tied at 1, but game three should apply the pressure on the Preds to play well in front of the home crowd and not let the Hawks steal a game back. The boys in the Indian sweaters should be a little more loose in game three and hopefully get that game one loss back in Nashville.

Tape & Pine Tar:

The White Sox are on a four game skid. The bullpen, the team aspect that I was must skeptical of, has been lights out. The starting rotation and the offense especially have been, to understate, underachieving. Ozzie’s decisions, like batting Kotsay third, which is absurd, so absurd that Jerry should fine him, isn’t helping at all.

The Cubs lost the series to the lowly Astros. The bullpen is, well, pathetic. Lineup changes are on the way with Byrd going to lead off against lefties as Theriot will be dropped to the eighth spot. One of the possibly very many shakeups we’ll see throughout the season.

The Bulls got stomped on by 13 in game one of their playoff series, not a surprise to me. I know that it’s tough to get swept, but that’s my prediction. I like the fire and the woofin’ that Noah is bringing, but it’ll just add fuel to King James to put the Bulls away easily and rapidly.

Remember to tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

PREACH

Cubs getting back to .500

The Cubs are looking to get to .500 baseball as they take on the lowly 1-8 Astros this afternoon at Wrigley. The Cubs’ starting rotation has been decent thus far with the exception of a couple of starts from a so-call staff ace. The bullpen on the other hand…brutal. It’s been bad for the most part with a good showing here and there especially by Marmol when he actually finds his release point. At some point you MUST get some sort of results from Jeff Samardzija. The ten million dollar kid has yet to produce a good year and he’s off to an awful start. In three appearances he has accrued an 0-1 record with an ERA over 16 and a 2.7 WHIP. Ouch. Fangraphs shows that his fastball this year and especially last year has been getting rocked. Drafted in ’06 and no productive return yet in 2010. The lineup card has had its good and bad days mostly relying on the long-ball. Soriano is on the hot seat and will be benched and/or a platoon player more often instead of just making a late exit in tight games in which the Cubs have a slight lead. Stay tuned for more Cubs updates and visit the Cover 3 radio show blog at thecoverthree.blogspot.com and listen every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

Opening Day, Come and Gone

Opening Day has come and gone and some things have changed as others remain. I’m just hoping that caught your attention so that you’ll read the rest of the entry, but I all ready have your click so what’s the difference. Just kidding aka jk. LOL aka laugh out loud. Okay, I’ll stop. The White Sox got out the gate clean and then immediately stumbled into a four game skid. Same old same old…not enough offense while wasting quality starts, errors, Ozzie over-managing and exhausting the bullpen in the season’s first week of games. Misuse of the bullpen in the opening series may have cost the Sox a game against the Twins, amongst other things. Like….when Pierre got on first base and was bunted over on a sacrifice by Beckham. It was well-executed, but they’re paying Pierre to get on base and straight-steal bases!Ozzie should have let him run and if he stole second cleanly then he could have been bunted over to third leaving it to Quentin to come thru with a mere sac-fly or possible pass-ball or wild pitch for Pierre to score. That’s a gamble you have to take in that situation, which is taylor-made to your liking with Pierre being your base runner. At least Mark Buehrle has started the season off 2-0. Peavy had the worst outing in the first go around of the pitching rotation and it still wasn't even THAT bad of an outing. Sweaty Freddie was the pitcher I was most skeptical of and he had a good outing, but he made one mistake by leaving a pitch up in the zone and it was crushed which lead to a 2-run homer and a White Sox loss 2-1. Yesterday, Pierre made an excellent play when he stood far enough away when Thome peppered a ball off of the wall from a Bobby Jenks offering and made an even better throw to his relay man from just in front of the warning track. J.J. Hardy was just rounding third as the throw reached the cutoff man on one hop. A strike was thrown to A.J. who was waiting for J.J. in a good looking game-ending play. Hopefully Ozzie gets back to baseball basics and can get the Sox on an early season roll. The Sox head to the Rogers Center in Toronto, a place where they've dropped the their last ten games played there and haven't won a game in that building since 2007. Good Luck boys.

Tape & Pine Tar:

The Cubs stumbled right out of the gate, but have come away with a few wins since then. There will be more on the Cubs this week after today's home opener.

The Blackhawks lost their last regular season game to the Red Wings. A good game and a tough loss to take as it cost the Hawks home ice throughout the Westen Conference playoffs, especially since it was an overtime loss due to what I beileve was a mental error by Big Byf. Possible more on that was well, but they do start their first round on Friday against Nashville.

The Bulls are a game closer to making the playoffs after beating up on the depleted Toronto Raptors. Too bad because I'm hoping they don't make it so that they get an outside shot at getting a top ten pick in the lottery.

As always, listen to Cover 3 streaming live on sportstownchicago.com every Monday evening from 7 to 9. PREACH.

The Niemi Train Has Left the Station

Sound the horn, a decision has been made! With nine games left in the season it’s safe to say that Antti Niemi is the starter between the pipes for the Blackhawks. Coach Quenneville named Huet the starter for the 8-3 calamity against the Columbus Blue Jackets Thursday night, but also said that he’s yet to decide a starter for the Stanley Cup playoffs. That is, until now. It’s not quite official, but after wetting his pants in his first game back since five games ago, the smart money says Huet will not be in net at the start of the postseason. The Niemi train has left the station, I told you to board months ago! The Blackhawks may not have won, but they still clinched a playoff birth after Calgary lost to the Islanders. Speculation right now is that Niemi will play about seven of the last nine games. I want him to stay hot, but I also want him to stay healthy and have his legs for the entire playoffs. It’s a shame the lack of confidence Hawks fans have when they have that very expensive, roster-binding goalie in net. I’d like to see “Huey” eat up more tick to keep Niemi fresh, but the Hawks are still pining for points in their quest for home ice throughout the playoffs. A concern for some of those who’ve committed to The Indian is that if they do take first in the conference and become the best in the West that they may have to take on current eight seed Detroit Red Wings. I’m not sure why that’s such a growing concern….Just because they knocked the Blackhawks out of the playoffs last year doesn’t mean that they will this year. The Hawks are flat out better than the Red Wings this year. The Blackhawks just have to play to their utmost ability. The Wings don’t pose any mismatches or any other reason to strike fear in this Hawks fan nor does any other team for that matter.

Tape & Pine Tar: (Similar to segments such as quick hits or odds and ends)

The Bulls, well, better luck next year. It’s like I said, I count this year as a victory as it is since they set themselves up to acquire a top-tier free agent over the summer. Now it’s all up to team Pax-Gar to sign one to a max contract. But would someone please make Vinny shut down Noah for the short remainder of the year. There’s NO point to him playing 12 minutes a game, you’re just begging for him to tear an ACL or something.

Ozzie you were given the team you asked for, but please don’t bat Kotsay third. That would just add to your bad over-management resume.

Lou. O sweet Lou, you better hope Lilly is on the track he says he is because if you have Silva in your rotation for as long as you think you may then the Cubs are in trouble. I personally think Marshall is ready for a spot and that Silva shouldn’t even be considered for a rotation spot, I don’t care what he’s done this spring. Pitch Marshall.

As always tune in every Monday evening to Cover 3 from 7 to 9 pm streaming live from sportstownchicago.com

Stick, Gloves, Suspension

For the second game in a roll The Blackhawks have lost a top four defenseman by a reckless and a vicious, skate-leaving hit. Campbell is out for at least the remainder of the regular season after suffering a broken collar bone as well as a few broken ribs when he was boarded by an irresponsible Ovechkin push from behind. The 3-time All-Star was more than arm’s length away from the boards as he chased the puck behind his net when Ovechkin caught up to him from behind and gave him an arm-extending push sending Campbell right-shoulder-first into the boards. It was reckless because he has to know where his opponent is relative to the boards and he has to know he’s an extremely strong individual. Campbell aka “Soupy” admits he had his head down, he was also in an awkward position and the toe pick got caught in the ice, but that in no way warrants anybody, especial someone who in my opinion is the best hockey player in the world, to board another player with his back to him. It was a unique situation and it was essentially a perfect storm to inherit the result that came from the play, but Ovechkin must be more conscience of where players are on the ice. Campbell was lucky to come away with only a few broken bones because he could have been paralyzed. Just think of the girth and magnitude of that word and you'll understand.
The Seabrook situation was slightly different. Seabrook finished his check on Perry just as he got rid of the puck behind the Blackhawk net. It sent Perry into the glass who was also caught in an awkward position and did a sort of twist and tumble before he hit the ice and slid all the way to the corner. The puck effectively made a circle in the Hawks’ zone and Seabrook found himself with it and quickly passed it behind the net as he stood behind the end line. Wisniewski came from about fifty feet out and just before he met Seabrook he left his feet, raised his forearms and bashed Seabrook’s head into the glass. Seabrook was unconscious on his feet before crumbling to the ice. Seabrook awoke a short time thereafter and skated off the ice under his own power. Meanwhile, there was scrapping in the corner in a Blackhawk attempt to protect their defenseman. Wisniewski was obviously trying to protect his teammate in letting the opponent know that if you layout his player he’s going to do the same to you. BUT, he took it too far. Players don’t have enough respect for each other on the ice. Yes this is a game and hard hitting has been a part of it probably since its conception, but we’re also talking about guys’ livelihood here. They’re earning paychecks at a job to support themselves and their families! There’s no room for hits like Wisniewski’s on Seabrook in hockey. Players have been “allowed” to police themselves on the ice, but there needs to be a line drawn somewhere. And skate-leaving, forearm raised headshots are a pretty good place to start. The refs are often afraid to pull the trigger on a certain call in a certain situation because they want to get the call right, yet there isn’t a defined rule given by the NHL on exactly what call to make in such a circumstance. The league needs to step in and define the call on such illegal hits and define the consequences. Wisniewski has been given an eight game suspension. Fine. For now. There should be some sort of suspension tier for illegal hits or other similar infractions. Example: The purposely vicious hit on Seabrook should be a ten game suspension. If Wisniewski commits the same hit on another player ever again in the NHL, he should be suspended for 25 games, once more for a third time and a possible expulsion from the league is in order. Also, the team in which the suspended player is on should not be allowed to pick up another player to fill that roster spot. So the punishment should be on both the player and team. Maybe then players will think twice or maybe even thrice before making a hit like that on another human wearing skates.
Some fans have been saying the Hawks have been soft in not protecting their players, but you can pick your battles without it being detrimental to your team. They’ve also been calling for an enforcer. No, just no. Play the game and score more goals than the other team to win the game.

Playing Catch Up

Da Bears have signed three free agents: Julius Peppers, Chester Taylor, and Brandon Manumaleuna. All of which excite me and essentially make Da Bears closer to a Super Bowl, Unfortunately, it only makes them about 8-8 or so and they'll still miss the playoffs. While Peppers' pass rush will draw some attention away from Tommy Harris, it's still up to him to show up and actually perform and Da Bears still need a competent safety. Manumaleuna is a de facto tackle that will put his hand on the line of scrimmage and block. Chester Taylor will be a good blocking back and catch passes out of the backfield. They may seem like nice additions to join the Martz Madness, but this won't stop Cutler from consistently pulling himself off the turf and checking to make sure that all of his body parts are still in place. It won't stop Martz from filling the air with footballs that will be picked because the low I.Q. receivers won't know where to line up in due to the one hundred different formations in the playbook, let alone which route to run and how to run it well.

The Bulls are in a free fall. Noah is shut down for weeks due to a foot injury and the rest of the team has forgotten what a rebound is. D-Rose is also banged up and those two are pretty much the Bulls' entire roster since they're basically forfeiting this year in the hopes to sign a top-tier free agent to a max contract. (It's wishful thinking because he's probably going to stay in Cleveland, but the Bulls may have an outside shot at signing LeBron James).

The Blackhawks are still on a tear, but Coach Q has been juggling the net-minders. I told everybody to jump on the Niemi-train and I'll be surprised if he doesn't start at least 75% of the remaining games on the schdule. Huet is so frustrating. The Hawks are tied for first with San Jose with 93 points. Home ice is VITAL. Commit to The Indian.

The Sox and Cubs are in the Cactus League.....

Favor-a-Bull Things A-Brewin'

Bulls basketball is exciting again, sort of. Rose and Noah are fun to watch, but the Bulls are still locked in this basketball purgatory. However, the organization is doing good things to get the Bulls on the path to winning. For now, Bulls fans have to play the wait-and-see game. The GM (s) have traded away Salmons for two expiring contracts as well as the laugh-a-bull play of cry baby Tyrus Thomas for two more expiring contacts. This gives the Bulls about $18-21 million in salary cap space room and puts them in a great position to sign at least one max contact in one of the greatest free agent classes of all in time in any sport. There’s still a long ways to go with many scenarios yet to be played out, but I all ready consider this season to be a success due solely to these transactions. Making the playoffs would just be a bonus to an otherwise forgettable season. Oh, and you can just forget about getting Lebron too cuz it ain’t happenin’. There’s an outside shot that the Bulls could land D-Wade, mostly because he hails from Chicago, but again it’s very improbable. There’s some talk that Chris Bosh may just sign with the Heat and he and Wade will try to run the table in Miami. Where do the Bulls go from there? Next in the free agent line are over-the-hill, second tier players. I’m really happy with what the Bulls have done thus far, but they’re going to have to make this team more appealing if money alone can’t get a top tier player in a Bulls jersey.
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The Big Hurt

The Big Hurt retires after eighteen pain-inflicting seasons. It was slightly unfortunate that he didn’t finish his illustrious career in a White Sox uniform, but it was nice to see him announce his retirement in Chicago and have his number 35 retired as well and see things come full-circle. He won back-to-back MVP’s in ’93 and the shortened ’94 season and was cheated in more than one way out of another one on 2000. We all know what happened in ’94 and it was just too bad especially for Big Frank who was on pace to break the single-season runs scored record in the AL held by none other than the Great Bambino George Herman Ruth set at 177 in 1921. Not to mention that he had a shot at the Triple Crown! His retirement makes me feel old as he was my first favorite player as a kid. I didn’t have posters of Mickey Mouse or Big Bird, but a monstrous poster of Big Frank putting one out of Comiskey. When we played swift in the parking lot behind our building and mimicked players’ batting stances I always became a little more intense and flared my nostrils and swung a little harder when I pretended to dig in as Frank Thomas. But I digress. Big Frank will undoubtedly be enshrined in Cooperstown. The question is, will he be a first ballot Hall of Famer? Now to me, obviously I’m hoping that he is as he deserves it in my humble opinion, but it doesn’t matter much either way. I understand that it’s prestigious to be a first ballot Hall of Famer, but it’s not like there is a separate wing in the Hall recognizing such players. For Frank Thomas, it’s probable, but it’s all up to the writers in the problematic voting process. There’s a lot of egos to get past in that gauntlet, egos that simply refuse to vote for anybody in their first year of eligibility. There’s also people that may not vote for a guy who spent half of his years hitting in the designated hitter position, even though it’s an every day position. DH is a position in baseball just like all the others; it may not be an on-field position, but a position nonetheless. Position, (that one was just for good measure). Yet again, I digress. So here’s to you, Big Frank. Thanks for your hard work, the memories (my favorite being that when you hoisted Robin Ventura over your shoulder after a game winner), and the unbounded joy you’ve bestowed upon us. I hope that you decide to stay in baseball some how some way.
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