Play Ball!

Today is opening day! Once again everything is right with the world. Every team believes they can win it all, hope and optimism abounds! Today is the day where I will make my predictions for the Beloved (White Sox) and the Chicago Cubs.

First off the Cubs: The National League Central is a suckfest. The only real competition in this division will be the Brewers and this will depend on how their starting pitching holds up. Houston and St. Louis are shells of their former selves and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati just blow. The Cubs improved just enough to win this division with the addition of K-Fuk. However there are a lot of holes here too. First off the starting rotation I still think there are holes after Zambrano and Lilly. I've seen Dempster pitch twice this spring and I thought he did well enough but let's see how that translates to major league hitters. Rich Hill could have won more games last year if he had more run support. Marquis is strong in the beginning of the season but then goes back to sucking in the heart of the season. The bullpen will be strong with Howry, Wuertz and Marmol. Wood will have need to prove he can pitch back to back days in order to instill confidence he can be a top notch closer or move over for the heir apparent Marmol. Offensively you have no real lead off hitter to set the table for the heart of the order which will probably looks something like Lee, Ramirez, Fukodome and possibly Soriano. Also the middle infield raises a few questions with Theriot and DeRosa defensively; will they be good enough? Prediction: Win NL Central

Now to the White Sox: The American League Central is the toughest league in baseball. Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Minnesota is a murders row of a schedule. This starting rotation scares me to death! Buehrle and Vasquez I like, Contreras scares me to death, Floyd and Danks are unproven. Man I wish Garland was still here all he did was win eighteen game for you the last couple of years. I am confortable with Dye and Swisher in the outfield however is Swisher playing left or center? If he is in left is Gerry Owens in center? In the infield you have Paul Konerko at first which is fine with me, Juan Uribe at second which isn't bad. We won a World Series with him at short stop and Joe Crede at third. Now is Crede here to stay thus pushing Josh Fields out of the picture? Or is he being showcased? I remember when Crede pushed Robin Ventura out of the picture and Sox fans were upset now the same is happening only this time with Crede being pushed instead of pushing. I like Joe Crede and he was a member of the World Series team but I am worried about the health of his back and his contract demands after this year. Can this team bounce back in this division? We sat back while Detroit added Willis and Cabrera; do we have enough? Man I am having a hard time with this prediction, my heart says they win it but only because I want to go to a World Series celebration in October but my head says third place.

The Cubs are making a big mistake

I like Matt Murton he has helped the Cubs in the last few seasons. He may not be the greatest outfielder in the world but he is a .300 hundred hitter who is better than Reed Johson and Daryl Ward. I am not sure why the Cubs have decided to assign him to Triple A but in reality they will probably trade him. I think this decision will come back to haunt them when they need a right hand hitter off the bench. Oh well it will be an interesting season of them winning the NL Central and get bounced in the first round by Colorado or Arizona, again.

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TDizzle

You're not going to believe this

But Kerry Wood is hurt. I know this is a rare thing it's not like this has happened every season he has been in the majors! Or missed a whole season due to injury! Give him a break! Oh wait he spends most seasons on and off the disabled list. He did miss a season due to shoulder surgery. And he has never displayed the durability to pitch consecutive days in his time as a relief pitcher. However in all fairness he has been ridden hard and put away wet by every manager he has played for but come on. This year he was going to be given the coveted closers role for the Cubs and he comes up lame. Mind you there are very few true and elite closers in the game. Granted the closers role has changed over the years they no longer come in the game like Goose Gossage would in the seventh inning to protect a lead or cool off a rally. Now they come in to mop up during the ninth. Nonetheless he is hurt and now you are going to see the keys to the kingdom handed to Carlos Marmol. Hold on Cubs fans

You are a sad strange little man, you have my sympathy.

This line was uttered by Buzz Lightyear in the original Toy Story movie and I believe it applies here. I have two bosses, we shall call them Boss 1 and Boss 2. Boss 1 is the senior representative of the government in our state. How does he spend his time? Doing something important? No he spends it running an experiment on our thermostats and went to far as to print up warning signs and place them on each thermostat in the building! Then we goes to each one and charts them according to the temperature and then adjusts the vents. He is almost fanatical about this. Boss 2 has his fingers in more honeypots than Winnie the Pooh. Whenever Boss 1 is out of the office Boss 2 parks in his spot as if it is his way of showing us underlings he is in charge. We are also in the process of a multiple information technology projects both of which are considered important. Matter of fact one is a government wide project and Boss 2 approaches me because he wants to ensure that his webshots screen saver program will work! Never mind anything important like e-mail or our payment system just webshots. Things could be worse, I could still be working at Bear Stearns!

At least baseball starts in two weeks

The Bulls are DONE! Let's start to look forward to the draft. They cannot protect a lead, Boylan is clueless however you may see him on the bench next year. Where do we go in the draft? Do we go after a true point guard? Or a big man? I think Deng will resign and he will play the three, Thabo should play the two, I believe Gordon and Hinrich will be trade bait and Hughes may end up as our point guard, that leaves Gooden or Thomas at the four and Noah at the five. Who knows what this off season will bring but I know there will be wholesale change.

I am on the ledge with the Bulls

I hate to say it but you guys have me looking forward to the Spring Training Cubs/Sox matchup tomorrow. You have fueled my basketball excitement for years I was with you in the post Jordan years watching religiously to beat down after beat down. I will not bring up the folly that ensued. I am hoping that you will play well tonight against Philly show some of the trademark hustle from last year. I want to see you play well and I want you to make the playoffs even if it kicks us out of the lottery. So please play like you mean it!