The Cubs, whose consecutive bullpen collapses buried them against the worst team in the National League, sent down a reliever because they didn’t like the way he was getting outs.
The White Sox, who were scorched for eight unearned runs in one inning because of shoddy fielding, benched their best defensive player in favor of a guy who made 36 errors a couple of years ago.
Gee, no, I can’t figure out either why Chicago has gone a combined 177 years without a World Series winner.
Former Cubs third-base prospect Eric Hinske, who was traded in a deal for Miguel Cairo, began the weekend with 11 home runs and 36 RBIs for Toronto. Which brainiac of the Chicago National League Ball Club, a subsidiary of Tribune Co., decided the Cubs didn’t need power at that position, and has he been fired?
Now I learn that there is not only a Web site called firedonbaylor.com, but also one called FireBaylor.com.
E-mailer Lenore Marema: “Are there reasons to start www.fireandymcfail.com?”
The Cubs, whose offense has exceeded the recommended daily adult serving of Darren Lewis and Chris Stynes, have come back after the eighth inning more than the Sox.
Look, Todd Hundley has stunk with and without Mack Newton. Sammy Sosa has been good with and without Mack Newton. And Don Baylor has had trouble making the right pitching decisions with and without Mack Newton, Oscar Acosta and Larry Rothschild.
For what it’s worth, Toronto fired its manager and had a better record than the Cubs a couple of days later.
Ray Durham began interleague play with 109 hits against National League teams. Sounds like a selling point to trade him to a National League team for pitching, if only Ken Williams was better at, I don’t know, trading for pitching.
Early stats showed former Cubs outfielder Brooks Kieschnick outpitching Jim Parque in the minors.
The Sox have a Rally Socks giveaway coming up (not valid after the eighth inning).
Remember Jeffrey Maier? He was the 12-year-old boy who caught a fly ball headed for Baltimore outfielder Tony Tarasco that turned into Derek Jeter’s game-tying home run during a 1996 playoff game in Yankee Stadium. Reports are, Maier, now 17, is going to Wesleyan University to play baseball.
The Chinese government reportedly told the Rockets not to visit China unless they planned to draft Yao Ming No. 1 and not trade the huge center, who is viewed as soft and as a perimeter player. So there you go. The guy can’t play inside and might not get outside.
Seems to me, the whole Yao issue for the Bulls is whether they believe he can execute all the low-post dirty tricks Bill Cartwright knows.
Dumbest Things in Sports, Vol. 3: Bill Walton–who thought it was a good idea to put Bullwinkle J. Moose on NBA broadcasts?
Under a proposal by world anti-doping officials, athletes who use drugs to enhance performance would be banned for life. Currently, they bat third or fourth.
The Bears signed a safety who comes pre-injured, presumably because they aren’t sure whether the healthy ones they have actually can play the position after they let a starter leave via free agency. Was it only last season they were 13-3?
When names such as Antonio Freeman, Hardy Nickerson, Derrick Alexander and John Fina get cut, NFL players need a better union.
Michael Irvin gets a spot on Fox Sports Net’s NFL pregame show next season, and I’m thinking, talk about big strides for work-release programs.
International figure skating, embarrassed by a judge claiming she was pressured “to vote a certain way” in the 2002 Olympics and always dogged by judging problems, adopted a new plan. It added five more judges. No lie. Raise your hand if you believe the International Skating Union is secretly running the Cubs.
Dumbest Things in Sports, Vol. 4: The neutral-zone trap–any other way that hockey people can make their sport as boring as soccer?
Which Stanley Cup champion would be worse for Hawks fans, Detroit and its nacho grande payroll or Carolina and its middle-class salaries?
John Anderson coached the Wolves to championships in two leagues. He coached them to championships as an independent, where terrifically committed owner Don Levin gave his team every chance to win, and coached them to a championship as an NHL affiliate, where he had to do it with someone else’s players. What more does the NHL need to see before this guy gets a chance?
I finally found a use for the World Cup: Cubs management is the own goal of baseball.
Say this for the World Cup: It gives insight into ways of other cultures. The Confederation of African Football, for instance, attempted to ban spiritual advisers–known as juju men–from the sidelines of its teams, wanting to portray a more contemporary image.
“We are no more willing to see witch doctors on the pitch than cannibals at the concession stands,” the CAF declared in a statement.
To which African Soccer magazine responded: “To depart for an international competition without consulting or including sorcerers is akin to going to an exam without a pencil.”
