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.

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PREACH