Posts Tagged ‘Chicago Cubs’

Vs. Series (2nd Base)

Posted: March 10, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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Three out of the four teams have questions about who will be their opening day 2nd baseman. The Mets appear to be the only team set at the position barring injury. Let’s take a look starting in Chicago with this position.

In a perfect Chicago Cubs world Javier Baez would’ve cut down on his strikeouts over the winter and would walk into spring training and claim the 2nd base job. Sadly it doesn’t work that way and the Cubs will have to make a big decision with Baez. Send down to Triple A Iowa to work on his swing or give him the starting job at 2nd base and hope he plays like the top prospect he was a couple of seasons ago. Baez played 52 games for the Cubs last seasons and struck out 95 times. If he would’ve played all 162 games his strikeout total would’ve been 296; yeah almost 300 strikeouts. In 2009 Mark Reynolds set the single season record for strikeouts by a batter with 223. If Baez hasn’t found a way to cut down on his strikeouts he’ll shatter that record in 2015.  The Cubs did go out this winter and make a deal with the Atlanta Braves for Tommy La Stella. La Stella played in 93 games for Atlanta and hit .251. La Stella doesn’t have a lot of power hitting just one home run last season, but he struck out just 40 times and did walk 36 times. If Baez needs more time in Triple A Iowa look for La Stella to handle 2nd base for the Cubs.

The White Sox starter at 2nd base sin;t any clearer. It’s looking like it’s going to come down to Carlos Sanchez, Gordon Beckham, Micah Johnson and Emilio Bonifacio. I’m thinking that Bonifacio is out as a starter as the talk is he’ll play the “super” utility position teams talk about and be used all over the field. Beckham was the White Sox 1st round draft pick, 8th overall in the 2008 amateur draft. Beckham never hit for the White Sox and was dealt last season to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Yency Almonte in August last season. Beckham was signed as a free agent this off-season and he’ll compete for the 2nd base job, but you have to wonder if anything has changed and he’ll hit. Sanchez played 28 games at the end of last season for the White Sox hitting .250. Sanchez like Beckham is a very good defender as he committed just 1 (one) error in his time at the big league level last season. Sanchez is 22 years old and did hit .293 for Triple A Charlotte in 2014. The White Sox will have to decide if he’s ready for the majors this spring. Micah Johnson is a bit of a wild card at this spring at 2nd base. Johnson has just 65 games of Triple A experience where he hit .275 but he does add a speed factor; stealing 12 bases at Charlotte in those 65 games. I think the White Sox would like to see Sanchez or Johnson break out and win the job in spring training. That would allow Beckham to be the back up infielder on the team and Bonifacio could fill in were ever the team needs him.

I think the Cubs are in a better spot at 2nd base right now going into the season. La Stella is a solid player and if Baez can actually become the player scouts have said he’d be the Cubs are set at the position for years to come. As for the White Sox; well if you have four guys competing foe a job you don’t have one. Gotta go Cubs here.

The New York Yankees situation at 2nd base isn’t a whole lot different from what the White Sox have. The Yankees did decide to bring Stephen Drew back after his horrible 2014 season. Let’s face it Drew and his agent over played their hand in free agency during the 2013 off-season and it cost him all of 2014. Drew combined to play 85 games for the Yankees and Boston Red Sox where he hit.162with 7 home runs. Not that Drew was ever going to hit for a high average, but .162 is terrible. He’ll have to adjust better on the defensive end as well. In 2014 Drew played 34 games at 2nd base for the Yankees and committed four errors.  Will the Yankees stick with Drew or will they look at a player like Jose Pirela. Pirela got 24 at bats with the Yankees last season hitting .333 with 1 double and 2 triples. Could Pirela do enough in spring training to unseat Drew at 2nd. The Yankees do have prospect Rob Refsnyder in big league camp, but he hasn’t played at the major league level and has just 77 games at Triple A Scranton/Wilkes Barre. Refsnyder did hit .300 at Scranton/Wilkes Barre with 8 home runs in limited action there. It would be a big jump for Refsnyder to make the Yankees out of spring training, but you’d have to figure he’s only a year away. The Yankees do have veteran Brendan Ryan, but he hit .167 last season and has a career batting average of .234. This looks like it’s Drew’s job to lose; so the Yankees need him to bounce back and be the player he used to be. Now the question is; can he?

Believe it or not the New York Mets are the only team that are set at 2nd base going into the 2015 season with All-Star Daniel Murphy there. Murphy hit .289 with 9 homers and 57 RBI’s last season. While Murphy’s not a power hitter; his career high in home runs is 13 in 2013 I’m sure the Mets would like to see the RBI’s total go up. Murphy did add 13 stolen bases last season. Murphy committed 15 errors in 126 games at 2nd base last season. Those 15 errors where more than any other 2nd baseman made in 2014, but did turn the second most double plays as a 2nd baseman turning 88 of them.

With Drew coming off a terrible season in 2014 and it looks more and more like he’ll be the opening day 2nd baseman for them is there really any other options than to take Murphy as New York’s 2nd baseman.

The Vs. Series takes a day off tomorrow (Wednesday) as my weekly Let’s Call it Wednesday blog will go up as usual. The Vs. Series will return Thursday looking at the New York and Chicago shortstop positions.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime and listen to our podcast Sports Time Radio over at BlogTalkRadio.com

7/9/14 Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 9, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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The baseball trading deadline is at the end of the month, but the Oakland A’s and the Chicago Cubs got things started on July 5th. The Cubs traded two starting pitchers; Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija to the A’s and received shortstop Addison Russell, Billy McKinney, Dan Straily and a player to be named later or cash considerations. Living in the Chicago area this has been talked about quite a bit. I’ve heard a lot of baseball people say the Cubs got a great deal, but did they? Hammel and Samardzija are top of the rotation pitchers while the Cubs have potential. Straily started the season in the Oakland rotation and was so bad he was optioned to Triple A. McKinney is in Class A ball; that’s a long way away from being in the major league. The best player baseball people say the Cubs got in the deal was shortstop Russell; who was in Double A at the time of the trade and injured. For this trade to come out good on the Cubs end doesn’t Russell have to be a break out major league player? Shouldn’t McKinney at least get the majors and be a solid player. Shouldn’t Straily be a 4th or 5th starter for the Cubs. There are so many if’s involved in this deal for the Cubs I’m not sure you can say it’s good on there end to start with. Now it may work out to be a great deal for the Cubs, but can you call it that way right now or should you wait to call it a great deal. Remember you don’t always get John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander or Mark McGwire for T. J. Matthews, Blake Stein and Eric Ludwick. I gave Cubs fans a break there and they all know what I’m talking about. Or course having Hammel and Samardzija wasn’t going to get the Cubs into the playoffs any time soon; so they might as well move them for prospects who might be major league ready when and or if the Cubs ever improve. Does this trade have to get the A’s into the World Series for it to be a good deal for them? The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim also made a trade on July 5th. The Angels got left-handed pitcher Joe Thatcher and outfielder Tony Campana from the Arizona Diamondbacks for outfielder Zach Borenstein and minor league pitcher Joey Krehbiel. I’m not quite sure if this move by the Angels is equal to the move that the A’s made, but it should make the American League West fun to watch. The Diamondbacks made another trade the next day sending starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy to the New York Yankees for pitcher Vidal Nuno. You have to believe the Yankees where looking for a veteran starting pitcher since it looks more and more like C.C. Sabathia will be lost for the season. The Yankees still have a shot at being a playoff team and they’ll need a veteran starter like McCarthy in their rotation. As the deadline gets closer their will be more and more trades made as team try to get ready for a playoff run.

If you listen to the show you know I’ve been very tough lately on Chris Bosh. Bosh was offered a 4 year $88 million dollar deal by the Houston Rockets and hasn’t taken it yet because he apparently is waiting to see what LeBron James does. If you don’t remember Bosh used to be a Top 10 or maybe even a Top 5 player in the NBA now he’s an after thought in Miami. Bosh’s last year in Toronto he averaged 24.0 points per game. He’s never averaged over 20.0 points per game with Miami. I think Bosh needs to get out of the shadows of James and Dwayne Wade. While Wade isn’t the player he used to be he’ll always be the face of the Miami Heat. Wade was their draft pick and won a title before James and Bosh got their. I’m telling Bosh to go to Houston take that deal and try to win a title with James Harden and Dwight Howard. If Bosh passes up the Rockets deal and signs a veteran exception or whatever the NBA calls it then he’s a coward and he has no confidence in his own ability. It would be sad for Bosh if I thought he had more talent than he thinks he does.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

Five Year Plan

Posted: January 2, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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We all know the stats on Theo Epstein. Youngest GM in history at the age of 28. Broke the Bambino Curse with the World Series win in 2004 at Fenway Park. But then again, didn’t they win because of the little boy who lived in Babe Ruth’s house was at a game and was hit in the face with a ball, so that broke the curse, right? Theo then resigned in 2005, only to be rehired back in 2006. He brought another World Series ring to Boston in ’07, in ’08 they made it to the ALCS only to lose to the Tampa Bay Rays and were swept by the Angels in the ’09 ALDS. It appeared that Boston was crumbling. Bad deals were made, guys were injured. Francona was gone and in October 2011, Theo resigned from the Red Sox, to take the job as a president of the Cubs. He hired Jed Hoyer and they brought over Anthony Rizzo from San Diego. Since the Five-Year plan has been set into motion, all we hear about in Chicago is the farm system and how everybody can’t wait till they all hit the bigs. The Big Jack & I, along with many fans, analysts and “baseball people” have been trying to figure out what they are doing. So, I’m taking a look back at Theo’s draft picks in Boston.

2003 17th pick in first round, David Murphy. He debuted in 2006 and played only a couple games before being traded to the Rangers with two other guys for Eric Gagne in ’07. A first round supplemental pick, compensation for losing Cliff Floyd in free agency, Matt Murton. Here in Chicago, I know that name because he came over to the Cubs in a four team trade that included the Twins, Expos and Red Sox. The Cubs also received Nomar Garciaparra and the Red Sox with Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz. In 2006 he played 144 games and had a batting average of .297, 13 hr and 62 RBIs. Sadly he didn’t play much after that. He went to the A’s then Colorado where he played his last game in the bigs, in 2009. Jonathan Pappelbon was drafted in the fourth round. He debuted 7/31/05. He had 35 plus saves from ’06 – ’10. After 2011 like Theo, he left as a free agent to sign with the Phillies.

2004 in the second round 65th overall…Dustin Pedroia. He debuted in 2006 and played in 31 games. Next season he was awarded the 2007 Rookie of the Year. In ’08, he earned the MVP and a spot on The All Star team and again in ’09, ’10 and most recently in 2013. He’s a career .302 batter and has over 1200 hits and just under 500 RBIs. Cla Meredith is the only other draftee of this class that spent significant time in the majors. From Boston to San Diego to playing his last major league game with Baltimore. He appeared in 286 games posting a .500 record at 14 with a 3.62 era.

2005 was a big draft for Theo with the first round landing two compensation picks, the first one, 23rd pick was Jacobi Ellsbury first appeared in 2007 and since has a career .297 avg and has lead the AL in steals three times. In 2011 he made the All Star team, received the Silver Slugger and the Gold Glove. Jacobi was a compensation pick from the Angels for Orlando Cabrera. But on December 6, 2013 he inked a seven year deal for $153 million with the Yankees. Pick 26 was a compensation pick form the Dodgers for Derek Lowe, Craig Hansen a relief pitcher that spent about 4 years in the bigs but ending his major league career in 2009 in Pittsburgh he appeared in 92 innings with a 6 plus era. The 42cd pick was supplemental for the loss of Pedro Martinez. Clay Buchholz, the two time All Star is 58-33 with a 3.6 era. He has only pitched two seasons with at least 25 starts. If he were to stay healthy, I wonder if he’d be up for the Cy Young in 2014. Jed Lowrie was the 45th pick that was given to the Bo Sox for the loss of Orlando Cabrera. He hasn’t really had a full season of play until 2013 with Oakland, where he racked up 75 RBIs and a .290 avg with 45 doubles and 80 runs. The last supplemental pick in the first round for Boston was pick number 47, Michael Bowden for the loss of Derrick Lowe. Bowden is a relief pitcher that played minimally in Boston but Theo sought him out in 2012 and he is now a Cub in middle relief. In the 14th round, Pedro Alvarez was drafted but did not sign. He entered the 2008 amateur draft and was the number 2 pick by the Pirates.

2006 #1 draft pick was outfielder Jason Place. He spent six years in the minor league system and left in 2011. 2cd pick, was Daniel Bard he’s a pitcher with just over 250 innings pitched and a 3.6 era. Josh Reddick came out of this class but is now playing in Oakland. Justin Masterson is the last notable signing to come out of this draft but he is now in Cleveland and went there for Victor Martinez. Both Brandon Belt and Logan Schafer were drafted in this class but didn’t sign.

In 2007, the first pick for the Bo Sox was Nick Hagadone who was a supplemental pick for the loss of Alex Gonzalez. He would later be involved with the trade that sent Masterson to the Indians for Martinez. Will Middlebrooks came out of the fifth round. The third basemen didn’t see the majors until after Theo left in 2012 because of a Kevin Youkilis injury. In 2013 he qualifies as a rookie playing in 94 games but didn’t put up great numbers. Let’s see if he can get 500+ at bats in the next couple of seasons. The 6th round produced, now Cubs starting first basemen, Anthony Rizzo. In 2013 he put up a .233 avg with 80 RBIs, 40 doubles and 23 home runs. Justin Grimm was drafted in this class but didn’t sign. He was later drafted by the Rangers but was acquired by the Cubs in the Matt Garza deal with Mike Olt, Neil Ramirez and CJ Edwards on 8/23/13.

From 2008 until 2011, the most notable draft pick would be Jackie Bradley who was chosen in the first round of the 2011 amateur draft and Allan Webster, P who was drafted in the 18h round by the Dodgers in the 2008 amateur draft and was sent to Boston along with James Loney in the deal that sent Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Nick Punto and Adrian Gonzalez to the Dodogers. The man heading up the Red Sox minor league system is Xander Bogearts, he was signed as an amateur free agent in 2009. He has played a handful of games for Boston in 2013 splitting the 12 games at 3rd and Shortstop. All in all, at the end of the day the Boston Red Sox farm system is ranked #1 according to Baseball America’s 2013 rankings. Where were the Cubbies, you ask? Well tied for fifth, with a team that mirrors it’s rebuilding phase, the Kansas City Royals. The major difference between both systems, market size. Chicago is the third largest market in the country, whereas Kansas City doesn’t make the top 30.

Boston is considered the seventh largest market and hosted and won the World Series for 2013. This starting lineup held four of Theo’s alumni with an average age of 30 with the exception of David Ortiz at 37 and 3rd baseman Will Middlebrooks, 24. When it came to the World Series Middlebrooks was replaced with Xander Bogearts at 3rd and we saw Pedroia, Saltalamachia and Ellsbury. Even Buchholz had a swing at the plate when he started in St. Louis. The MVP of the World Series, “Big Papi” David Ortiz. Compared to the 2007 World Series team that had Pedroia and Ellsbury, Theo’s picks and only a handful of starters that came out of the Red Sox farm system. Theo was able to bring a second World Series to Boston in 4 years by building a team similar to the 2013 World Series team with a mixture of youth and expeirence.

The 2012 draft for the cubs started out with OF Albert Almora. He’s expected to play center field and should be ready for the MLB in 2016. He’s considered a five-tool player. This young man drafted out of high school is expected to fall just shy of being a star but should have great fantasy numbers. With this description, I think of Aramis Ramirez, who left the Cubs for Milwaukee, giving Theo a first round supplemental pick, Pierce Johnson. The 6’3 right hander owns a plus fastball with the potential for a plus curveball. Cubs fans should expect to see him in 2015. Second supplemental pick in the first round for the loss of Carlos Peña, Paul Blackburn. Out of high school and into the minors, the right hander out of California went 2-3 in the Arizona fall league with a 3.3 era and started 12 games. With continued development, he could be ready to start in time to be competitive in 2016.

The 2013 draft saw 3B Kris Bryant taken in the first round, second pick. He spent a majority of 2013 in single A, where he posted a .336 batting average. With only 128 at bats, he was able to hit 9 home runs with 32 RBIs and 22 runs. He did K 35 times, but he’s expected to be a power hitter. He’s solid on the field and in 88 chances only had 3 errors and was able to turn 3 double plays. All subsequent picks, have very little playing time in the minors, leaving them under the needs to get more playing time.

At the end of the day, to have a winning team, a strong farm system is great to build on but no matter how effective the Nationals farm system was before Strasburg and Harper came up, they haven’t won a World Series or even their division. The Astros farm system in 2013 was ranked #2 and they weren’t even close to any shot a playoff run nor will they be considered to make any kind of run soon. Theo’s five year plan starts to take hold in 2016 which don’t be fooled, doesn’t mean that they will win, it means they will be competitive. With Jeff Samardzjilla, seemingly on his way out of Chicago, he’s due for free agency in 2015. That leaves us with Edwin Jackson who has four years left on his contract and this offseason, Theo and Jed have been very noncommittal with contracts, making most deals with one or two year contracts. As a Cubs fan, all we can do is sit and wait. Wait to see if in 2016, Theo & Jed can make a few key free agent signings or trades to bring some veterans to the line up to mix up the youth expected to invade in ’15 & ’16. With the drafting and filling the system, how many of them are just future trade pieces? As I said, we’ll have to wait and see. Now I know through out this I threw some random pieces in there. Boston 7th largest market 3 World Series in 10 years after a “curse” was lifted. Kansas City, not even in the top 30 for media markets in the US but they’re farm system is tied with the Chicago Cubs system. Boston has the best farm system but the Astros and Padres follow them to beat out the Rangers at the four spot, which is in the 5th largest market, that hosted the World Series three years straight. If the Rickets are using their own money to fund the renovations of Wrigley Field and the one “oh so Horrible” contract of Alfonsio Soriano is now gone. Then essentially there should be money to spend, not just to spend it but spend it wisely to “compete” in today’s market where multi-million dollar contracts are handed out like candy on Haloween. Is Theo right or wrong with his five year plan? Do I as a Cubs fan have to like it? No. As I said before We’ll have to wait and see. I’m wondering if Theo was brought over just to dispel the “curse.” Then again he can only do that if he produces a World Series, which I don’t see happening during his tenure as President of Cubs operations. What confuses me is, in Boston, he did it in four years? But as a Cubs fan, haven’t we waited long enough but to the office, what’s a few more years? Then again, Theo’s five year plan has driven me to jump on the Dodgers bandwagon, where they’re President said we want to win now, unlike some other teams with their five year plans. Not only would a World Series at Wrigley Field break the curse and have the biggest celebration for a World Series winner. They could even do a World Series winner tour of the continental US. But more important than anything to every Cubs fan would be able to say yea but you guys won in 2005 so go Suck the Fox!

@mantime8

CONFESSIONS OF A NEUROTIC CUB’S FAN

Posted: July 18, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports
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Back in 1946, when I was eight years old, I finally started paying attention of professional sports. In the fall of that year, I started following the Chicago Bears via radio. (No TV as yet in those days.) With great interest and excitement, I listened to the radio broadcasts every Sunday afternoon. The Bears had a very good team and won game after game. Finally, they played the New York Giants for the title. I remember very little about that game with the exception of the score. I remember that the Bears had taken a 14-0 lead but the Giants made a comeback and tied the score at 14-14. Then, with Sid Luckman at the helm, the Bears took the lead via touchdown and added a field goal for insurance winning the championship 24-14. How easy is this, I thought to myself. It wasn’t because in 1947 , I became a fan of the Chicago Cubs.

I only remember bits and pieces of listening to those games, but one thing remains quite clear; the Cubs were a bad baseball team! Before I started paying attention to baseball, the Cubs had won the NL pennant in 1945 and played the Detroit Tigers in the world series. Naturally, with the 7th and deciding game in Chicago, the Cubs were smoked 9-3. Even in 1946, they were respectable, finishing in 3rd place. Not so in 1947! It didn’t take me long to discover that this team was horrible. I can still remember some of the players I rooted for. Bill Serena, Handsome Ransom Jackson, Roy Smalley, Wayne Terwilliger, Andy Pafko etc. My personal favorite was the slugging outfielder Bill “Swish” Nicholson. In those days, the radio announcers (Bert Wilson; his catch phrase was “We don’t care who wins as long as it’s the Cubs!”) did the road games via a simulation with ticker tape. I remember one day when I was ill (a frequent occurrence in my youth) and listening to the Cub-Dodgers game from Brooklyn. It was easy to hear the ticker tape spewing out the information. Bert Wilson started to get very tense and dramatic and I had the feeling that something important was about to happen. With the score tied 1-1 in the top of the 9th and a runner on 1st, my hero, Bill Nicholson strolled to the plate and hit a home run with the Cubs winning 3-1.

But good things like that happened very infrequently. In 1948, for example, both the Cubs and White Sox had dismal seasons and they both wound up in the cellar. The newly reformed Chicago Sun-Times (a merger of the tabloid Times and the Sun newspapers) flip-flopped the standings one summer day so it appeared that the Cubs and White Sox were on the top of the National and American leagues.

The memories weave through my mind like fog. Fast forward to the early 50’s. After years of being cellar dwellers, the Cubs surprised the NL when they brought up an outfielder/1st Baseman named Bob Speake. Speake set the NL on fire winning games with his bat and his glove. I remember listening to one road game on the radio. Score tied 2-2 in the 10th; Speake at bat. (“Speake hits a high towering drive to left field. It’s a home run!”) That one even surprised me. Listening to it on radio, I thought it was a routine fly ball. Of course the league quickly caught up to Speake when they discovered he couldn’t hit a high inside fast ball. The Cubs, who wound up the 1st half of the season in 2nd behind Brooklyn did their usual fade towards the end of the season. Speake was soon traded to the Giants and was out of baseball in a couple of years.

In my senior year of high school, 1955, I used to dash home and usually catch the last couple of innings of the Cub’s game. When I tuned into this one, there seemed to be more tension than usual. Sure enough, Sad Sam Jones had a no hitter going. With the Cubs leading 4-0 in the 9th, he walked the 1st three batters but, shockingly, struck out the next three to preserve the no hitter. Harry Creighton, who was usually half in the bag by the end of the game, interviewed Jones on the field after his no hitter. His first question?? “ How’s the family, Sam”! No joke that’s what he said.

In 1960, the Cubs acquired pitcher Don Cardwell in a trade. He made his Cubs debut in the second game of a double header on a Sunday. The Cubs, as usual, lost the 1st game. Cardwell pitched a great 2nd game and had a no hitter going into the 9th inning. Two outs and the batter hits a sinking line drive to left. With Jack Brickhouse yelling “Come on, Moose” Moryn, never regarded as a great fielder makes the catch by his shoe tops. Another no hitter! (And yet another bad team.)

I saw a lot of games at Wrigley in 1963. One I still remember quite well. Cubs vs. Giants; game tied in the 10th inning and the Giants have the bases loaded, one out. In comes Lindy McDaniel in relief; he picks Willy Mays off of 2nd base and then strikes out the batter to end the inning. The fans stand and applaud. McDaniel bats for himself leading off the 10th and hits a walk off homer to win the game!

There were some sad memories also. Ken Hubbs dying in a plane crash. Lou Brock traded to the Cardinals for sore armed pitchers, Ernie Broglio and Bobby Shantz. (both of the pitchers out of baseball in another year or so. (Whatever happened to Lou Brock??)

With things looking bleak at Wrigley, the Cubs pull a shocker and hire Durocher as manager. A famous quote from Durocher after he took over the team. “This is not an 8th place ball club.”. He was correct. They wound up in 10th place because of the addition of 2 expansion teams.

But Durocher turned it around in 1967. Beckert, Banks, Santo, Hundley, Williams, Kessinger, Williams, Hickman etc. In a game I attended at Wrigley Field before a packed house, the Cubs won 4-1. Lee Thomas, subbing for a injured Ernie Banks driving in the key runs. On Sunday, the Cubs won again and moved into 1st place! And the fans actually ran onto the field to celebrate.

But they didn’t win that year or the next. We all know what happened in 1969. A great team with a poor center fielder, Don Young. Despite that, the Cubs had an 8 ½ lead over the Mets in late August. Typically, they collapsed while the Mets played out of their minds winning 41 out of 50 to win the pennant by 8 games. Then the not many years removed from expansion Mets beat the favored Baltimore Orioles to win the world series in 5 games. Durocher stayed around for a couple more years, but that magic was never repeated.

We move to 1984. Cubs get Ric Sutcliffe in a trade and romp to a win in their division. (When they clinched the title, two businessmen who were on the road trip said, with actual tears in their eyes, “so this is what it’s like to win”. Quite correct. When the Cubs are winning and playing exciting ball, the food at Wrigley tastes better, the crowds are more alive and intense and even the sunshine is stronger. So the Cubs win the 1st two against the Padres. Just one more to advance to the world series against Detroit. One loss, the 2nd loss in extra innings when Garvey homers off of Lee Smith. In the deciding game, with the Cubs nursing a 3-0 lead, Leon Durham whiffs on a ground ball and the curse continues! (Rumors abound that Leon was snorting a bit of cocaine that day.)

Wild card teams get into the playoffs a couple of times but are quickly eliminated.

And do I have to go through the Bartman game of 2003 one more time? I can’t even think about it. But remember this; if the Cubs SS didn’t boot a double play ball that would have ended the 8th inning, the Cubs still would have been leading 3-1. Kerry Wood gets hammered in the deciding game at Wrigley and bleeping Florida beats the Yankees to win the world series.

The Cubs win back to back division titles in 2007-2008 and can’t even win one playoff game!

But currently it’s different. I have no more patience to watch the current mediocre product. I’m tired of being patient and time is running out. When I was younger, there was always hope and optimism for next season but no more. The Cubs have become a non-factor in Chicago sports. At least, for now.

Hey, how about those Blackhawks!!

Schaumburg Stu

The Sports Time Radio All – Stars

Posted: July 6, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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If you’ve listened to Sports Time Radio you know that we’re not a huge fan of the way the major league baseball All Star teams are selected. So I tried to have us put together our own All Star team. Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy, Schaumburg Stu and I all made list of our All Stars. Here’s how we went about it. Each person ranked the top 3 players at 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base, Shortstop and Catcher. We ranked 9 outfielders, 6 starting pitchers and 4 relievers. A player got 10 points for a 1st place vote. 8 points for a 2nd place vote. 6 points for a 3rd place vote and then 5 points, 4 points, 3 points, 2 points, 1 point and a half of a point for positions 4th through 9th. Here how are voting came out. The player’s point total is in parenthesis. Others getting votes will be listed.

National League

Catcher: Yader Molina (38)

Buster Posey (34) Wilin Rosario (12) Evan Gattis (12)

1st Baseman: Joey Votto (34) Paul Goldschimdt (34) Tie!

Adrian Gonzalez (16) Freddie Freeman (12)

2nd Baseman: Brandon Phillips (34) Matt Carpenter (34) Tie!

Marco Scutaro (16) Daniel Murphy (6) Jedd Gyroko (6)

Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki (36)

Jean Segura (34) Everth Cabrera (26)

3rd Baseman: David Wright (36)

Pablo Sandoval (26) Michael Young (16) Ryan Zimmerman (12) Pedro Alvarez (6)

Outfield: Carlos Gonzalez (28), Carlos Beltran (18) Andrew McCutchen (15)

Dominic Brown (14) Carlos Gomez (14) Dexter Fowler (13) Hunter Pence (11) Michael Cuddyer (11) Bryce Harper (8) Justin Upton (7) Shin Shoo Choo (6) Ryan Braun (5) Gerardo Parra (5) Jay Bruce (4) Norichika Aoki (2) Starling Marte (1) Matt Holiday (1/2) Alfonso Soriano (1/2)

Starting Pitcher: Patrick Corbin (30)

Adam Wainwright (27) Jordan Zimmerman (23) Matt Harvey (22) Clayton Kershaw (13) Shelby Miller (11) Mike Minor (6) Cliff Lee (5) Jeff Locke (4) Travis Wood (3)

Relievers: Jason Grilli (40)

Edwin Mujica (22) Craig Kimbel (14) Rafael Sorinao (10) Aroldis Chapman (8) Sergio Romo (6) Mark Melancon (6)

American League

Catcher: Joe Mauer (40)

Carlos Santana (28) Jarrod Saltalamacchia (8) Matt Wieters (6) Salvador Perez (6)

1st Baseman: Chris Davis (40)

Prince Fielder (28) James Loney (14) Edwin Encarnacion (8) Adam Lind (6)

2nd Baseman: Dustin Pedroia (32)

Robinson Cano (28) Jose Altuve (16) Howie Kendrick (12) Jason Kipnis (8)

Shortstop: Jhonny Peralta (38)

J.J Hardy (32) Alexei Ramirez (8) Elvis Andrus (6) Jed Lowrie (6) Ben Zobrist (6)

3rd Baseman: Miguel Cabrera (40)

Adrian Beltre (16) Manny Machado (14) Josh Donaldson (14) Evan Longoria (12)

Outfielders: Mike Trout (33) Adam Jones (30) Tori Hunter (18)

Alex Rios (15) Coco Crisp (12) Jose Bautista (12) Nate McLouth (9 1/2) Alex Gordon (7) Brett Gardner (6 1/2) Jacoby Ellsbruy (6) Curtis Granderson (4) Nick Markakis (2) Melky Cabrera (1) Nelson Cruz (1) Mark Trumbo (1)

Starting Pitcher: Clay Buchholz (30)

Max Scherzer (27) Yu Darvish (23) Hisashi Iwakuma (16) Bartolo Colon (14) Justin Masterson (10) Justin Verlander (8) Felix Hernandez (7) Matt Moore (6) Chris Sale (3)

Relievers: Mariano Rivera (40)

Joe Nathan (24) Addison Reed (11) Aaron Crow (8) Tony Sipp (6) Jim Johnson (6) Andrew Bailey (6) Jessie Crain (5) Glen Perkins (5)

This Old Stub: Easter Sunday

Posted: February 11, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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Sunday April 24, 2011. LA Dodgers vs Chicago Cubs

This was a great day to go to head to the north side of Chicago and beginning our annual tradition of spending Easter Sunday at Wrigley Field. My dad called me up a couple days before to tell me one of the women he works with had free tickets, Do you want to go? Does Pinocchio have wooden balls?? Of course I want to go. Where’s the seats? He didn’t really know, so it was a nice surprise when we picked him up and to see that we had great seats on the first base side. The only problem…the Cubs were playing the Dodgers. You say what’s the problem? My dad and have never been to a Cubs\Dodgers game that LA didn’t win. Crazy I know, what are the odds? Kind of like the year I went to a Cubs game once a week for 5or 6 weeks and Rich Harden started every game. Your next question, why do you continue to go to games against the Dodgers? I don’t know but every time I check the schedule, I just can’t help it. I was even at a game where Tommy Lasorda did the 7th inning stretch and I happen to be near the booth when he was leaving. Wish I had a pen & program for an autograph but I got to shake his hand.

33,000 people showed up on this holiday to see Mike Quade put The Big Z up against Donny Baseball’s lefty Hiroki Kuroda. The one thing with Carlos Zambrano at this time was everybody loved the way he played the game but watch out if he gets angry. Top 1. Z takes the mound, leading off for LA, Aaron Miles and on his second pitch sends a deep line drive to right field for a triple. Not a great start. Casey Blake digs into the box and takes 1st base after being beaned by Z. Andre Either steps to the plate sends a ground ball deep to second base allowing Miles to score the first run of the game and giving himself a single. The cleanup man Matt Kemp sends a grounder to Soriano, scoring Blake. Man on first and second, Jerry Sands double to RF scoring Either and moving Kemp to 3rd. 3-0, no outs. James Loney hopes to keep the momentum going, he drives in Kemp but grounds out to 1st base. Already 4-0 and were not even close to finishing this inning. Cather Rod Barajas sends a fly all to LF and its scored as a sac fly as Sands scores. Come’on Z just one more out. Shortstop Jamey Carrol sends a short fly ball to right field to end the inning. Eventhough the Cubs are down by 5, the crowd cheers as they run off the field in hopes of a bounce back in the bottom half of the inning. Lefty Japanese pitcher vs Lefty Japanese batter Kosuke Fukudome sends a ground ball to the first base side and lands himself a lead off double. 2cd basemen Darwin Barney steps in the box, sees two pitches and sends a ground ball through the hole in the left side of the diamond. With Fukudome on third and Barney on first, Starlin Castro sends a ground ball deep to SS and reaches on an E6 force out at second but sends Barney to third and score Fukudome. With two men on Aramis Ramirez goes down swinging. The 10 million dollar man, Carlos Peña sends a line drive to center scoring Barney. Center fielder Marlon Byrd goes down swinging sending Alfonso Soriano to the plate. The first pitch he sees is a wild one moving both runners over a base. With runners in scoring position, he works it to a 2-2 count only to go down swinging. What a first inning, combined we had 7 runs 7 hits and an error.

Top 2. Kuroda grounds out to short. Back to the top of the order, Miles reaches on an error by Barney but Blake grounds into a 1-4-3 double play to end the inning. The stadium erupts, who doesn’t love seeing a routine DP. Bot 2. Giovanni Soto is caught looking and Zambrano goes down swinging. Kosuke grounds out to first to end the inning. Before the third starts, time for a baño break and hopefully the discount on concessions is still going on. Either way we need refills and I want a SuperRope. Before I get back to the game, let me make it clear, I don’t go to baseball games for the bathrooms. Many many sports talk people in Chicago whine about the horse troffs that we have to use. Hey ladies, you want me to call you a wambulance? Seriously, you should see the guys that line up for the stalls. If they had a room where you just walk in and pee on the wall I’d still go. Now, the real problem is the flow, no pun intended, of the bathrooms. There could be more especially for the women. I’m just glad I never have to stand in that line. I think I’ll save this rant for its own blog.

Top 3. Right fielder, Either hits into a routine 3-1 ground ball. Kemp takes the first pitch, then sends a line drive double to left. He’s killing it today. Sands goes down swinging but Loney sends a ground ball to left scoring Kemp to add to their lead. Big Z gets Barajas to fly out to Byrd to end the inning. Bot 3. Barney goes down swinging on three straight pitches, Castro grounds out to third. Aramis digs and sends a grounder to left for a double. Peña steps up the crowd is stirring, hoping to see him send one onto Waveland Ave. One and two count and he goes down swinging to end the third. 6-2 Dodgers. Jamey Carroll leads off the top of the 4th with a double but Kuroda strikes out. Miles sends a line drive single to left. Men on first and third, Casey Blake grounds into a 4-6-3 DP and Zambrano is out of what could have been a disastrous inning. Kuroda takes down Byrd, Soto & Fonsy in order.

Top 5. Big Z gets Either swinging, catches Kemp looking and forces Sands to ground out to Barney, but his day is over when Quade puts Reed Johnson in to pinch hit for Z. Another 1-2-3 inning for Kuroda. John Grabow is at the mound now And gets James Loney to lead off the top 6 with a ground out but Barajas singles to center. Carroll flys out short to right. Kuroda reaches on an error. Miles digs in to send a liner deep to center field scoring Barajas. With Kuroda on third and Miles on first, Blake sees five pitches and walks to first. Bases loaded. Either steps to the plate and swings at the first pitch sending a fly ball to right-center field but Byrd is there to end the inning. Bot 6. Castro leads off but grounds out. Ramirez singles to center. Peña flys out. With two outs Byrd sends a line drive to left, Aramis doesn’t stop at second keeps going its going to be close and he’s out! Top 7 Justin Berg replaces Grabow and takes Kemp, Sands & Loney down in order.

The 7th inning stretch at Wrigley has become such a great promotional tool and there’s nothing like it at Wrigley Field. But for the life of me, I can’t remember who was there. I’m going to have to take a lot of notes from now on. Soriano leads off the Bot 7 with a line out to SS. Soto doubles to left. Quade decides to pinch hit for Berg, Tyler Colvin takes his place but pops up to SS. With two outs, Kosuke steps in the box and sends Soto to 3rd on a single to left. Darwin Barney digs in and takes the first pitch for a ball. Kuroda shakes off a couple calls, checks on Fukudome, throws home Barney swings ground ball up the middle to center. Soto scores, Fukudome stops at third. Don Mattingly decides to go to the bullpen and brings in Mike MacDougal and he gets Castro to ground out to end the inning.

Kerry Wood takes to the mound in the top of 8. Wood gets Barajas to line out but walks Carroll on 6 pitches. Marcus Thames steps in for MacDougal and flys out to center. Wood closes out the inning by getting Miles to groundout to Peña. Blake Hawksworth comes to the mound in the bottom 8. Ramirez sees four pitches and grounds out to short. Blake gets Peña to go down swinging. He gets a 2-2 count on Byrd, single to third. Soriano at the plate, 3-1 count ground ball to third to end the inning.

Pitcher Marcos Mateo relieves Wood and starts the inning by walking Blake, Either singles advancing the runner. Matt Kemp digs in, stares down to the mound, Mateo throws, Kemp swings at the first pitch sending back deep center field Byrd gets under it catches but can’t stop Blake from advancing to third. Jerry Sands works a full count into a base on balls loading the bases. Loney solid swing right to Barney to Castro to Peña to end the inning. Geo Soto walks up and the cubs fans are stirring, hoping for a chance at a comeback. He works a 3-2 count now every person is standing, clapping, cheering. Ball Four! The organist begins to play, the stadium is filled with hope at a W. Blake DeWitt pinch hits for Mateo but pop fouls out to 1B.
Fukudome lines out to 1B but with Barney at the plate and a “defensive indifference” Soto ends up at second only to remain there as Darwin lines out to second. The moment everyone was waiting for was to sing “Go Cubs Go” but it didn’t happen today. Am I to blame, or is it my dad or both of us. Whether or not, I will always be drawn to see the Cubs vs Dodgers. Maybe its the fact that the Dodgers swept the Cubbies in the playoffs. Or maybe it’s just that since I was a kid if we always went to at least one game a year. The experience of going to Wrigley was always great, win or lose. Something I always did with my dad as a kid and now we’re trying to travel to get tat experience of the ballparks. I do hope to see this series one day in LA.

@Mantime8

Baseball Reference

photo credit

Merry Christmas

Posted: December 28, 2012 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports
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If you caught our last episode on BTR, I promised to blog about my Christmas sports presents. It was a pretty great day, present wise for me. I know, I know that’s not what it’s about but We are all about sports. Lets start with my mother-in-law. I was secretly hoping she’d get me another gnome of some Chicago team but even better a brand new stainless steel barbecue set which are not cheap by any means. The other Cubs set I own is more for display than cooking. I can’t wait to use them, what the hey, regardless of the weather this weekend in Chicago, I might have to fire up the grill. I was very excited to open up the box with my brand new Brandon Marshall T-shirt. Now I know it isn’t formal or really even business casual but I showed to her moms house on Christmas wearing this shirt with my New Era Fitted hat to match. Speaking of New Era, check out my blog about how much I love their fitted hats. My brother-in-law and I had a game of touch football against the youngsters and we probably would have won if he didn’t blow out his knee. We didn’t think it was that bad until he threw his cigar. I know what your thinking, but our last game on thanksgiving was won and he had his cigar the whole time we played. That morning I had another box to open and inside contained my brand new New Era 5950 San Francisco Giants 2012 World Series fitted cap. If you follow me on twitter you probably seen the pic before but now it’s officially on my dome. After tweeting a pic of me wearing it New Era favorited my tweet. Yes I am that cool! At least I think I am.
But nothing tops the gift I didn’t open that morning, my brand new weight set and adjustable bench. I found it on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately the seller lived within 10 mins from me. I have actually been watching Craigslist since the summer and I just couldn’t find what I was looking for, for a good price. I bought an adjustable bench with adjustable arms for the Olympic bar. The weight tree included the standard barbell set. He also threw in an E-Z Curl bar and the few barbells that attach to it, along with two individual curl bars. And the added bonus of just one 30lb dumbbell. That’s right ONE dumbbell. Who goes out and buys one dumbbell? That guy but its cool, ill just get the funny looks when I go to buy 1 dumbbell. Now I just need some heat in the garage.

@mantime8
Sports Time Radio
SportsTimeRadio@hotmail.com

This Old Stub: Kansas City

Posted: November 16, 2012 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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The second installment of This Old Stub takes us down to Kansas City, Missouri and straight to Kauffman Stadium. What’s better than a weekend drive to experience baseball in another city and another ball park. As a kid in the 80’s, the Kansas City Royals and George Brett were talked about a lot. Between the ’85 World Series and the infamous pine tar incident. Now, I may have been too young to remember those moments but spending as much time as I watching baseball, I’ve sat through my fair share of rain delays. Before the national networks took over, and before I had cable to watch in my room, they showed a lot of baseball films during these delays and with the MLB Network needing programming for the offseason. But really starting to understand the game around 7-8, one of the greatest athletes to grace the diamond and the football field, everyone knew who Bo Jackson was. Bo was the man when I was growing up and made many highlight plays but what always stood out to me was the Royals Stadium. It was the most unique I had ever seen with the outfield having all those water fountains. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. So, when the Cubs released the 2011 schedule and I saw that they were playing down in KC, I called my dad and said, “We’re going to Kansas!” Growing up, going to a Cubs game was the one thing we did no matter what each summer and he said, “We are?”

Now it amazed me that I was not the only to have this wonderful idea because I called Royals ticket office the day their tickets went on sale and all they had were single tickets, yuck. I sat and I watched StubHub for weeks and as the Cubs seemed to decline in performance, so did the cost of tickets. In the end I was able to land Diamond Club Tickets which were about 10 rows behind home plate and paid about $90/ticket. Not bad at all.

We packed up my mothers PT Cruiser and drove down, once you pass Joilet, IL on I-55, there isn’t much at all until you hit ST Louis, but you don’t have to go through downtown St Louis, you head west on I-72 until it ends. South on I-35 and besides the Black Wing Shaped aircraft that flew over us at only about 5-10k above us, there was nothing, you’d pass through a couple suburbs but that was about it. Great for passengers to sleep. Now we stayed just outside KC in a small town. Honesty I don’t remember, but the hotel was filled with Cubs Fans. We drove down Friday morning, ate at a local restaurant, which I love doing the food always seems to be much better. The place we ate at didn’t even have take out menus but it was great food. Little did we know, that we should have saved our appetites for the game. We were probably about 15-20 outside of KC. Of course it seemed like the longest ride there. I just remember finally being able too see the tops of the crown and as we approached closer and closer… like I’m 7 years old again and seeing my first game, the only thing that’s changed, I don’t have my mitt…the crown gets bigger and bigger. I can’t wait to get inside. We park, I’m practically running towards the gates. I’ve got all our tickets, take yours and yours and here’s yours. As soon as we get in, I already know we’re behind home plate. Lets walk around the whole park. Great part of this stadium is you get access to everything. However, I didn’t do my research and found out that day that the stadium was remodeled to add more seating to the outfield, so many of the fountains were gone but several still stood in center field and incorporated throughout the outfield. I also didn’t know that in left field, they built the Royals Hall of Fame. But on to our seats we go, to discover our tickets are checked again by security this time and he opens the glass door and let’s us in the Diamond Club. The diamond club has its own bar, gourmet chefs, servers for our entire section, separate bathrooms. To top it off at the top of the landing they have these half circle 50s diner style booths at the top and if you missed the play just look up because each booth had its own 32in flat screen. Phenomenal. I felt like VIP. Now if your looking to be on TV, you need to be in the first couple rows, I guess we were just out of view. Speaking of views, not a bad seat in the house, but that’s just me I love baseball. Our seats had almost a two in cushion and I landed myself the aisle seat. Game hasn’t even started and I can’t wait to come back here one day. After hitting the gift shop and picking up a George Brett Tee, we go back to our seats and I check in on MLB At Bat and it tells me that I just won a free Tee. I go pick it up and it’s a throw back with the old mascot Mr. Royal. How can the day get better.

Two of the worst teams in baseball but the place still drew about 45k that day and I’d have to say at least 2/3 was Cubs Fans. Once all the opening ceremonies are over, the home team takes the field with Brian Pena behind the plate, batting 7th, he begins to warm up Bruce Chen. Leading off, Kosuke Fukudome flies out to right. Starlin Castro sends a screamer to center and then moves to second on Aramis Ramirez’s single to center. With Jeff Baker in the box, Castro makes an attempt on 3rd but is thrown out by Pena. Baker sends a fly ball to right scoring Ramirez, the whole stadium erupts, for a moment its like were in Chicago. With Baker on 3rd, Catcher Geovany Soto, strikes out to end the inning. Ryan Dempster takes to the mound. Center fielder Melky Cabrera, 1B Eric Hosmer and DH Billy Butler make it a 1-2-3 inning.

Top 2, Carlos Peña (1B), Alfonso Soriano (LF), and Lou Montanez (RF) go down in order. Bot 2, Alex Gordon (LF) smacks a line drive to RF giving him a lead off single. With hopes to move him over, Jeff Franceur (RF) flies to LF. Mike Moustakas (3B) moves Gordon over to 2B on a softly hit ball to CF. Brayan Pena battles Ryan into throwing a wild pitch advancing both runners and then sac flying out to LF scoring Gordon for the home teams first run. Shortstop Alcides Escobar grounds out to end the inning. With all the excitement I forgot to make sure I still had everything in my pockets. I swear you can never keep anything in shorts pockets. Top 3 DJ LeMahieu (2B), Fuludome and Castro go down in order. Sending us to the Bot 3, where Chris Getz (2B) singles on a bunt to Dempster. Getz then gets caught trying to steal. Could have been a botched hit and run because Melky smacks a ground ball double to RF. Hosmer then Butler both manage to strike out swinging but Melky still manages to steal 3rd base. Ramirez with a lead off double to start the 4th. Baker grounds out to third, Soto walks. Man on 1st & 2cd, Peña sends a soft liner to right scoring Ramirez and the Cubs take the lead, Soto tags second on his way to 3rd, Franceur sends a rocket to Moustakas to tag Soto, allowing Peña to move to 2B. With 2 outs, Chen intentionally walks Soriano. Montanez doubles to LF, scoring Pena. Soriano rounds second, third on his way home, Gordon to Escobar to Pena and Soriano is tagged out at home. That’s 7-6-2, if your scoring at home.

After a play like that, it’s time to get some snacks and use the restroom. I almost forgot to check my pocket and see if it was still in there. Yup. Now back to my extra comfy seat behind home plate. Bot 4. Gordon reaches on a throwing error by Dempster. Franceur up to bat…he sends a rocket to left field and thank god Boomer isn’t calling this game in my head because that baby is out of here. 2 run homer to left and we are all tied up at 3. Moutakas & Pena get the first two outs. Escobar walks & moves to third on a line drive to center by Getz. Man on 1st & 3rd, Melky sends a screamer to left, scoring Escobar. 4-3 with Eric Hosmer ending the inning on a ground out 3-1.
The fifth inning sees Butler the only one with a hit then both teams are down in order. Still in my pocket, hope no one sees me checking my pockets. After the 5th inning, they announce that there will be a fire works display after the game. Couldn’t have picked a better game to go to. We were able to tour the park in the day, catch some partial day ball, I got a free Mr Royal tee and now a firework show, could this day get any better? No action in the 6th. Top 7, Carlos Peña doubles and causes the Royals to bring Blake Wood in from the bullpen. Sori sends Peña to third on a single to Francoeur. Blake DeWitt is brought in to bat for Montanez hitting into a 4-6-3 DP scoring Peña. We’re all tied up again, DJ & Kosuke both get singles causing a visit to the mound. Castro singles loading the bases for Ramirez, who goes down swinging. Bot 7, Tony Campana replaces DeWitt in Center, Kosuke moves to right and James Russel relieves Ryan and gets Melky & Hosmer out. Cubs bring in Chris Carpenter who walks the next two batters but gets out of the inning on a soft ground ball by Francoeur. 8th inning. Aaron Crow replaces Wood getting a 1-2-3 inning. The Cubs bring in Sean Marshall for Carpenter and he also has a 1-2-3 inning.

Top of the ninth, Alfonso strikes out but Campana reaches on a popped bunt to 3rd. He moves to 3rd on DJs single. Kosuke reaches on a force out error by Getz sending DJ to 3rd and scoring Tony. 5-4 with Castro in the box, ground ball to Melky scores DJ. Top 9, 6-4, man on 1st & 2cd, Aramis Ramirez at the plate, the pitch, ground ball to Getz, throws it Alcides, to Hosmer, 4-6-3 DP and we move to the bottom of the 9th. Reed Johnson to left and Carlos Marmol in for a chance at a save. Marmol starts with walking Getz but catches Melky looking and sends Hosmer back to the dug out swinging. Bottom 9, 2 outs with a man on first, Billy Butler doubles to right, and Getz holds at 3rd. Butler being the potential tying run, is replaced with Jarrod Dyson. Alex Gordon at the plate, the potential winning run. He sends a ground ball to Castro, throws in to Peña and the Cubs Win, Cubs Win, Cubs Win. If only Harry were still here. What a perfect day, visited a different ball park, got a free tee shirt, the Cubs won and now we get a firework show. It begins, red, blue, green explosions raining in the sky. I turn towards my girlfriend, make like I’m grabbing my bag under the seat, drop to a knee and get a crazy look and “What the hell are you doing?” I look up and spit out the words as nervously and quickly as one can, “Will you marry me?” I’m sure I heard a yes and I tried but made her put her ring on. All the while my mother photographed everything. The only way I knew how to make an already great day even better. Say what you will, I did it the only way I knew how and I will definitely not here any complaints if I ever want to go visit Kaufmann Stadium again. Of course by the time we hit the road, she posted it on Facebook. We had several phone calls, even had my cousin ask what’s the date? Pretty great weekend with my parents and now my fiancé. We now have a long drive back to Chicago. Somewhere in southern Illinois, we got good and bad news. Free tickets behind home plate at Wrigley Field that Monday afternoon. Score! But then to learn that one of my friends passed away. It hit me harder than I had expected, he was the type that always had a smile on his face and never seemed to have a care in the world. A tragic loss but as they say, the end of a life, is just the beginning of a new life.

@mantime8

This Old Stub

Posted: October 28, 2012 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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I’m sure ill hear comments about the title of my new blog but I don’t care and besides isn’t that what they turn into, To those of us who save their ticket stubs from the games we’ve gone too. If I do nothing all spring or summer, I always find a way to make it to a baseball game. Whether its to Wrigley Field or any park, my goal of course is to visit every park in the country but no the Yankees stadium is not the first on my list especially since they tore down “the house that Babe built.” And I’d rather go anywhere than stay in the south side of Chicago. Anyways….I hope you like my new series and maybe you’ll be inspired to reminisce with myself and Big Jack on Sports Time Radio or send me your story and ill blog about it.

Now this first visit to the friendly confines was from this year, which isn’t much for reminiscing about the old days or anything like that but it holds some significance and hopefully we can a look back and say i remember when…..It’s April 2012 and the MLB just stepped on the mound and all March I kept telling Big Jack, how I wasn’t going to to any Cubs games because our savior Theo and his team hadn’t done anything to draw me to pay for tickets. But he knows me well enough that there are some things I just cannot resist and spending 3 hours on a gloomy April Sunday, sitting outside on the North side of Chicago, where you never know If there will be clear skies or violent storms. I wake up extra early or was it that I couldn’t sleep or am I just adding this line for a dramatic effect? Either way, the night before, I print up the tickets and place them on the black granite kitchen counter tops by the back door with my keys on top. My promotional Cubs drawstring back pack…the small kind that usually girls in high school track use….from a bank that is no longer in business has 2 Officially licensed Cubs Poncho’s (I know what your thinking), a pair of Cubs Gloves Scarf and Skullcap, old ticket stubs and a bag of peanuts inside it. I of course double check it before we leave. I put the tickets in there, Lock the door and were gone. Every time we go, my wife loves to wait until we are somewhere on Lake Shore Drive, to give me that nervous look and say, ” Did you grab the tickets???” As my eyes begin to pop out of their sockets, all I can blurt out is, “The Bag” I swear she does this every time. I exit Belmont, turn right on Inner Lake Shore, then a left on Addison and the anticipation begins to stir in my stomach. Apartment buildings, stop signs, the Shell on the left corner. You can see the L tracks, the parking lot I used to park at until the old Mexican guy sold it, across from him is the new parking garage that is also used for the new police station. We’re walking up to the Addison Red Line stop All you hear is “TICKETS, WHO NEEDS TICKETS; PEANUTS, CHEAPER OUTSIDE THE PARK….” The only time I walk fast, I’d run but you know, I hand my wife her ticket and don’t even look back, I’m in the bag check line, my tickets scanned and I’m wishing I could have made to the second game so that I got my 2012 Cubs Magnet Schedule…it never gets old. A deep breath to take it all in….and to our seats section 220-1Row 2, now this is where knowing the stadium comes into play. When looking for tickets, I’m not only looking for the best deal but also location, kind of like buying a house. I’ve sat in just about every section at Wrigley to know what gives you the bet view and pretty much anything behind home plate makes for a great view. Not to mention sitting in the terrace reserved can be beneficial when bad weather ones about. The terrace is covered by the upper deck blocking out the sun and rain but can be a little cooler so dress warm with no sun, especially being in the second row. You’d be surprised but sitting in the middle of a section is going to keep you much warmer. Now the second row brings you much closer to the field but also to the stairs that lead to the concourse. I don’t like to do awhile lot of walking up & down stairs but you always pay for convenience. After grabbing some ood drinks and my personal favorite that I do not ever share, A Super Rope, buy it at the stand & not from the guy walking around.

Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012, opening weekend for the Chicago Cubs, looking to not be swept by the future NL East Champions. Stepping to the mound for his first Major League start since 2010, the 6’5″ 225lb, Notre Dame alum and the man the Cubs plan to build the team around, Jeff Smardzija. First up Ian Desmond with a double to Soriano simmering down the excitement of the fans but not putting any hopes down at all on my first look at Jeff. With Danny Espinoza and Ryan Zimmerman flying out and Adam LaRoche striking out. We head to the bottom of the first, Jodan Zimmerman takes to the rubber and David DeJesus, Darwin Barney and Starlin Castro, 1-2-3. This pitching duel continues into the bottom of the 3rd when Catcher Steve Clevenger singles to Former Cub, Xavier Nady in left, with Jeff’s first at bat, it’s traditional situational NL ball with the advancement of the runner to 2cd on a sac bunt, but DeJesus lines out to 2cd. The very next inning, Castro singles to center, then steals 2cd base and moves over to 3rd on a pass ball then scores on Alfonso Soriano’s sac fly, sending a wave of cheers throughout the friendly confines and just like that the Cubs take the lead but in the fifth aren’t able to get Bryan LaHair home after his double. Jeff continues to shutdown the Nats until the top of 6 when Wilson Ramos (C) singles to center then moves to second on J. Zimmerman’s sac bunt. After Desmond’s single moves Ramos over to 3rd, Espinosa gets a Sac Fly RBI and were all tied up. But the Cubs answer that run in the bottom half of the inning after Barney’s first double and is moved over to 3rd on a fly out by Castro, Soriano singles to left to score Barney and take the lead 2-1. To lead off the bottom of the 7th LaHair hits his second double of the day but yet again does not cross the plate.
With 7 innings pitched, 6 hits and 1ER Zimmerman is replaced by Ryan Matheus to walk DeJesus but gets Barney to fly out. Then Castro steps up to the plate and sends a rocket to left field scoring David and sending the stadium into a frenzy. Castro then steals 3rd and the Nats decide to walk Soriano then bring in Sean Burnett to finish the inning but he allows a single to center by Ian Stewart, scoring Castro, Wrigley Feild is going nuts and the Cubs are up 4-1 and its looks like they will get their first W of the season.

It’s the top of the 9th with one out to go, Ryan Zimmerman steps up to the plate the final potential out, Ground ball to Short but Ryan reaches on a fielding error by Starlin. Just one more out to go Smardzija has pitched 8 2/3 innings with 4 hits and 1ER, when Adam LaRoche steps to the plate and Home Run to right field and the Nats are down by 1 point and can tie this game up. Dale Sveum walks to the mound to relieve Jeff and bring in the unpredictable Cubs Closer Carlos Marmol. In true Marmol fashion, keeping all Cubs Fans on the edge of their seat walks Jayson Werth. With one out to go, one man on Nady fouls out to Stewart to end the game and allowing the Cubs to raise that W flag for all of Wrigleyville to see.
There’s nothing better than going to a Cubs game and watching them Win and being able to stay as the players take to the clubhouse and sing Steve Goodmans, “Go Cubs Go” with upwards to 40000 people. It’s an experience and that’s what it comes down to, it’s all about experience the team live, Your favorite team, hell any team for that matter. Now this was the Cubs first victory and on my drive home all I could think about was how i knew the start of SportsTime Radio was going to be a winner. Easter, an odd day to debut a sports talk show, but the Big Jack and I couldn’t think of a better day to start our show, it coincided with our favorite sport and that W by the Cubbies just boosted my confidence that day but allows the Big Jack and I do what we are passionate about..hearing ourselves speak! We love bringing our opinion into the sports world and having a platform to do it on. And we get to talk about what we want not just the ” Hot Topic” of the day. For the both of us I thank everyone for the support. Please continue to listen to us and spreading our blogs to your friends.

Side note: sometime during the game, my wife shows me a picture of us, my cousin found us and had a powerful lens and sent us the pic. Nothing like spending Easter Sunday with the fam at a baseball game, well they’re Greek Orthodox, so their Easter was on a different Sunday and they chose that day because after the game, you were able to have your kids run on the field. My wife and I thought about staying…..and then we saw the line. My cousin said her kids had fun but that I would have been just like her husband, more excited than the kids and wanted to run the bases himself. I thought about telling her, No I wouldn’t, but we both know its not true. We’ve gone the last two years on Easter and maybe I’ll have to go next Easter???

@Mantime8

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