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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It was May 2nd. A Sunday. Eighty-four ...
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It was May 2nd. A Sunday. Eighty-four ...
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>The 35th Street Review</title> <atom:link href="http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>http://www.sox35th.com</link> <description>Part passion. Part pretension. Mostly White Sox.</description> <lastBuildDate>Sun, 22 Apr 2018 01:54:32 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=5.7.1</generator> <item> <title>Hanging Up The Spikes</title> <link>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2177/hanging-up-the-spikes</link> <comments>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2177/hanging-up-the-spikes#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andrew Reilly]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2010 05:25:53 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[News]]></category> <category><![CDATA[site news]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sox35th.com/?p=2177</guid> <description><![CDATA[And so it comes time for The 35th Street Review to say good night, good luck, and goodbye to all that.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>I.</strong></p><p>The 35th Street Road Show continued last weekend in Kansas City, as a group of friends and I took in Friday night’s Royals-Sox showdown. Mark Buehrle, we noted early on, had thrown a perfect game before and would do it again. And for a few innings, he did! And, I kid you not, Mark Buehrle throwing another perfect game was the only thing that could’ve made watching the White Sox play the Royals compelling in any way whatsoever. Royals-Sox, two horrible teams playing for an insanely lame brand of fleeting pride, the kind that just lets idiots in a parking lot yell at each other about whose team was worse for the past few hours. Think about it: if the Sox won the game, would they really have won anything at all? </p><p>And then of course Gil “The Expreche” Meche held them to one run while the Royals torched Buehrle. Scott Podsednik’s average, by the time all was said and done, sat at .313.</p><p>There are no words.</p><p><strong>II.</strong></p><p>I had this idea of doing another epic write-up about the game, about the city, about the fans, something that would so perfectly describe How It Feels to be a stranger in such a strange land, because that’s always the fun of this site which, you may have noticed, had been quite neglected lately. And it occurred to me that maybe what this site needed was a good shaking-up, or a strange new direction. New features! New contributors! New grand visions!</p><p>Still, something about this train of thought brought about a heavier, sharper, more rattling notion: after three years, it was becoming less and less fun to rant about the bad day some stranger had at the office. It wasn’t something I wanted to do but something I <em>had</em> to. Lapses in posts started to instill guilt, rather than excitement; slowed schedules weren’t more free time, just that much more owed time. That is not a healthy relationship for a person to have with a website.</p><p><strong>III.</strong></p><p>You could chalk it up to this year’s Sox, of course. You could say they’re just having a down year and every fan struggles at times like this, except it’s not that fandom has really gone away. I still root for this team, and I always will, even when they sign a 40-year-old Jim Thome this winter and build the 2012 team around Mark Teahen and his sweet new contract extension. And there’s always plenty to talk about even while the team is sinking: the hilarious idea of the impending fire sale, or freeing up room to take on a big free agent, or getting precious at-bats for the hotshot prospect . . . but it is a sad day indeed when payroll flexibility and big-league opportunities for questionable prospects are all we have left to cheer for.</p><p><strong>IV.</strong></p><p>If you don’t already do so, I encourage you to check in with Jim at <a href="http://www.soxmachine.com">Sox Machine</a>, J.J. at <a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-425-Chicago-White-Sox-Examiner">White Sox Examiner</a>, and the whole team at <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com">South Side Sox</a> for your daily fix. The big guys are all well and good but with a team like this, in a city like this, it’s rare to hear a unique voice but my bloggers-in-arms bring it on a daily basis. While you’re at it, check out <a href="http://ussmariner.com/">U.S.S. Mariner</a> and 35th Street Superfriend Drew’s <a href="http://www.ghostrunneronfirst.com/">Ghostrunner on First</a> Blue Jays blog. <a href="http://crazyyankeechick.blogspot.com/">Crazy Yankee Chick</a>, <a href="http://www.goatriders.org/">Goat Riders</a>, <a href="http://www.thosegirlsbaseball.com/">Those Girls</a>, really anyone listed in the right rail of this site is 100% approved and endorsed. I read a lot and, as a Sox fan, I hate a lot too. Trust me, these guys and gals are more than worth your time and interest.</p><p>That said, the site, physically, will remain intact. There might be some cosmetic changes down the line as it transitions from document to archive, maybe some prettying up and finally fixing some of the things that never got fixed, but it’ll be here for all the intense academically-oriented research I know it will someday fuel.</p><p><strong>V.</strong></p><p>A big thanks to everyone who contributed a guest post, everyone who linked to this site, everyone who left a comment, got a chuckle, sent me hate mail, helped with technical advice, or in any other way was involved with The 35th Street Review. My words are empty with no one to hear them, my ideas useless with no one to challenge them, my plans pointless with no knowledge to execute them; you showed me how to get past those things, and for that I am forever grateful.</p><p><strong>VI.</strong></p><p>Most of all, thank <strong>you</strong> for reading. I know there were quite a few of you, some more often than others, some more vocal, some more famous and some goofing off at more well-known workplaces, but every single one of you made this worthwhile. A writer, they say, is only as good as his readers, and that is the only reason I ever dared call this site the best.</p><p><strong>VII.</strong></p><p>So that’s that. I think of some local hero’s final trip down the tunnel with a little left in the tank but still leaving on top and never looking back, knowing full well it’s always better to quit while you’re ahead than to stick around too long, my work and your enjoyment of it becoming a lesser version of what we both once knew.</p><p>I think. We’ll see. And, hopefully, so will you.</p><p>Thank you as always for reading,<br />Andrew Reilly<br />editor, The 35th Street Review<br />Chicago, IL<br />May 20, 2010</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2177/hanging-up-the-spikes/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>20</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Death at 161st and River</title> <link>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2150/death-at-161st-and-river</link> <comments>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2150/death-at-161st-and-river#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andrew Reilly]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 07 May 2010 02:36:52 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Features]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Chicago White Sox]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Field Reports]]></category> <category><![CDATA[New York Yankees]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The 35th Best]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Yankee Stadium]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sox35th.com/?p=2150</guid> <description><![CDATA[The 2010 Chicago White Sox season ended on a Sunday in May in New York City. I know, because I was there.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It was May 2nd. A Sunday. Eighty-four degrees and partly cloudy. The <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/reillyandrew/sets/72157624002427608/">home team</a> in white with blue pinstripes, the visitors riding in from the west in gray. One with nothing to lose, the other with everything to prove. I announced to my neighbors in section 412 that their team was going to win, that they need not worry, that any time a visiting club’s leadoff man is batting ninth and its designated hitter isn’t hitting anything at all, there probably wasn’t much cause for alarm.<img loading="lazy" src="http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4583308118_ceff9ef088_m.jpg" alt="Upper deck, Yankee Stadium" width="240" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-2163" srcset="http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4583308118_ceff9ef088_m.jpg 240w, http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4583308118_ceff9ef088_m-150x112.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></p><p>“Our Yankees are gonna give you a game,” someone said.</p><p>“This is New York, kid,” added another. “You tell your team you gotta bring your best here.”</p><p>“Who’s pitchin’ for you, Buehrle?” someone asked. “Buehrle’s got nothin’ on Phil Hughes. Nothin’.”</p><p>As predicted, they were right. And so was I.</p><p>+++</p><p>It wasn’t really a problem of them facing the Yankees—you know, the <em>Yankees</em>, who’ve won some games, haven’t you heard. But take away the name, take away the carefully manicured mystique and spiteful pedigree and the facts were this:</p><p>The team the White Sox were up against was playing .666 ball to the Sox’ .400.</p><p>The Sox’ opponent’s leadoff man sported an .877 OPS to Sox leadoff man Mark Kotsay’s .540. </p><p>The enemy was hitting a collective .390. The Good Guys? .182.</p><p>Two second basemen, entered that game, both heralded as the future of their respective franchises. One, playing for the winning team, was perhaps the best-hitting second baseman in the game at that moment. The other, playing for the Sox, was perhaps the worst.</p><p>And their mirror image existence continued almost endlessly, trading one’s bad for the other’s good, but we all knew: one team on the field was built to win this game, the other was built to maybe compete, both proving in unison that competition is no substitute for victory.</p><p>+++</p><p><img loading="lazy" src="http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4582685887_29b16fef31_m.jpg" alt="Yankee Stadium bleachers" title="Yankee Stadium bleachers" width="240" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-2166" srcset="http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4582685887_29b16fef31_m.jpg 240w, http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4582685887_29b16fef31_m-150x112.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" />There are three kinds of Yankees t-shirts, each more pathetic than the last.</p><p>The first is the jersey t-shirt with a player’s name and number on the back: JETER 2, RODRIGUEZ 13, and, for reasons unknown, SWISHER 33. Perhaps bro-tastic whining is what makes a Real Yankee, I don’t know. But you wonder what the point is of such a piece of clothing when, all jokes about envy and weakness aside, Yankee jerseys don’t have players’ names on them for the exact reasons Yankee fans will tell you <em>no one’s</em> jersey should have a player’s name on them—that you root for the name on the front, not the back; that you shouldn’t have to be told who your favorite team’s players are; that the numbers mean something bigger than just who’s borrowing them on their trip through town, unless yuh Babe Ruth oah Dare-ick ****kin’ Jee-tah, in which case you, sir, are a sporting god to these savage baseball heathens.</p><p>But I digress.</p><p>The second will tell you how many times the New York Yankees have won a World Series. Twenty-seven at the time of this writing but, to hear the people wearing such clothing tell it, that may change as soon as next week while lesser teams are still foolishly hacking away in vain trying to get their unworthy hands on a trophy that rightfully belongs to the New York Yankees. This strikes me as funny not because you can’t take a step around Yankee Stadium without being reminded of this achievement, but because anyone who wears a shirt that says “Got Rings?” quite likely has none of their own. Oh, sure, they wept tears of joy at Rick’s Bar on Leonard Avenue or puked all over the 6 that one night last fall, but ask them how many times the Yankees handed them a piece of jewelry commemorating their contributions to what happened the previous October. Ask them how many hits they got off of Schilling, or how many they stole against the Phillies. These people, these fans, they cannot wait to remind us that their team has won more than ours and yet these people, in the end, have won exactly as much as any other observer of any other game; where a normal fan gets joy from a sporting drama that ends well, a Yankee fan is so sad, so desperate for hope they must try to draw what little pride they can from some stranger’s good day at the office. You might as well claim to have cleaned all the windows on the Chrysler Building.</p><p>But again, I digress.</p><p>The last is the one about the Red Sox. Or the other about the Red Sox. Or the other one that says that thing about Boston. And you have to wonder: if their team is so great, so storied, such a perfect embodiment of victory itself, why are these fans so insecure about a team with only seven World Series wins to their credit? How can you possibly be threatened by any team, ever, anywhere, when even your team’s museum is <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/reillyandrew/4582682687/">so sure of itself</a>? Maybe they’re missing something obvious, or maybe they need to create a fictitious enemy to feel better about what they’ve done to the league, to the business, to the sport.</p><p>Or maybe they haven’t figured out that 27 minus seven is a huge number, New York schools being what they are these days.</p><p>+++</p><p><img loading="lazy" src="http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4583312890_a2f39f4091_m.jpg" alt="Model of Yankee Stadium" title="Model of Yankee Stadium" width="240" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-2168" srcset="http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4583312890_a2f39f4091_m.jpg 240w, http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4583312890_a2f39f4091_m-150x112.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" />A lot of people hate the Yankees for what they are, for what they spend, for what they do. I am not one of these people. The Yankees don’t get things done in a way any other team is above, no matter what other self-congratulating baseball operations might tell you. Every team engineered a crooked deal for a new ballpark, every team preys upon the financial suffering of another and every team cons its fans into thinking they are part of something special. No, my problem with the Yankees is that, so long as they and I both exist, Major League Baseball is effectively over.</p><p>Think about it like this: having won 27 of a possible 105 World Series (or 95, if you consider they weren’t even the “Yankees” per se until 1913), the Yankees have put themselves in a position where the next-winningest St. Louis Cardinals would have to win 17 titles <em>in a row</em> to give them any competition. The point of the sport is to win and then to Win, and for as long I will live, the Yankees will have done more of that than anyone, ever, anywhere. The White Sox may take them on a Saturday afternoon, but history will show that one of those two clubs won When It Counted because they won enough to end up Where It Counted. They’ve lost more World Series than most teams have even <em>appeared</em> in; what is special to most is an afterthought to them, a team of laughable wealth turning the cherished into the disposable.</p><p>This is not about jealousy or some petty sense of entitlement, but about being beaten into submission; okay, New York, you win. You win. You won. Now leave the rest of us alone.</p><p>+++</p><p><img loading="lazy" src="http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/P1050252.jpg" alt="Gate 4, Yankee Stadium" title="Gate 4, Yankee Stadium" width="240" height="320" class="alignright size-full wp-image-2173" srcset="http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/P1050252.jpg 240w, http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/P1050252-112x150.jpg 112w, http://www.sox35th.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/P1050252-225x300.jpg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" />Confession time: I rooted for the Yankees on one occasion, and I would’ve rooted for them a second had the very specific opportunity presented itself.</p><p>The first was 2001. World Series. Yankees vs. Diamondbacks. Not out of some sense of post-9/11 I♥NY sentimentality or even adherence to the idea that the league with the DH must always prevail, but because the Diamondbacks of that season were, for all intents and purposes, the Yankees minus the closer. Gonzo, Grace, Matt Williams, Steve Finley Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling: before they were the Diamondbacks’ stars, these were other teams’ stars, Kevin Kendrick and Jeff Moorad having by then successfully pried away the talents of the Mariners and Tigers of the world. Except, in the end what they’d really done is beat the Yankees at their own game—twice over, if you think about it.</p><p>When it comes down to it, you can only have one bully in the game, and the way I saw it, the Diamondbacks needed to be taught a lesson. Any more than one goon in the sport and it just becomes stupid; the new big spender becomes annoying and the old big spender just gets even worse. Look what happened to the Red Sox, and now the Phillies; look what didn’t happen to the Cubs. The reason the former are now despicable is the same reason the latter is laughably pathetic.</p><p>That shameful franchise from the North Side, by the way, brought about the second justifiable instance of rooting for the Yankees. We all remember the autumn of 2003, as the sports press drooled at the prospect of a Cubs-Red Sox showdown, and we all probably remember recoiling in horror at the sad, sad coverage we knew was coming our way. Misguided poeticism turning squalor into splendor and revisionist history making phonies into phenomenon. It was disgusting before it even happened, and we needed an antidote. We needed the calculated evil of a true juggernaut to reveal to these people everything that they were not. In short, we needed the Yankees. </p><p>But it never came to that, and one evil’s incompetence ultimately saved us from another’s menace. Just like last time.</p><p>+++</p><p>So this is how it comes to pass in an afternoon that the Sox are rendered helpless against good pitching, where their best pitcher is just another guy getting laughed out of New York, where the best they can do is to lose by nine runs and watch a little hope disappear.</p><p>There will be other games, yes, and in fact there already have been. Games where the Sox look like the real deal and games where they look like an American Legion softball team getting crushed by the guys from the next town over. There will be some stretches that make us cheer, some that make us swear out loud, and some that remind us again that summers spent rooting for this team seem to get shorter and shorter every year. But it’s only May, and it was just one game.</p><p>And yet, somehow, it might as well have been all of them.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2150/death-at-161st-and-river/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>4</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>The Real & Unreal Of South Side Baseball</title> <link>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2145/real-unreal-of-south-side-baseball</link> <comments>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2145/real-unreal-of-south-side-baseball#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andrew Reilly]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:00:35 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Features]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Alexei Ramirez]]></category> <category><![CDATA[assessments]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Billy Koch]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Bobby Jenks]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Chicago White Sox]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jake Peavy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mark Teahen]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Paul Konerko]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sox35th.com/?p=2145</guid> <description><![CDATA[Separating fact from fiction, and fiction from meta-fiction.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Aside from warm weather, a pleasant diversion, and the all-encompassing sense of false hope, my favorite thing about early-season baseball has to be the magnification of every accomplishment. Buehrle threw a shutout on Opening Day? A 0.00 ERA for the season is inevitable! Ozzie Guillen <a href="http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100409&content_id=9178050&vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws">calls out</a> Sox fans? This means war! Andruw Jones has a good night? He’s back, baby! </p><p>But premature ridiculousness aside, there’s a certain sense that these early days might be telling us more than we realize. Let us gaze, then, into the immediate future and hypothesize as to how much of what already is may or may not become what will be.</p><p><strong>Right Now:</strong> Paul Konerko has four home runs and eight RBI through ten games, establishing a pace to hit 65 while driving in 130.<br /><strong>Real Or Unreal?:</strong> The numbers are absolutely unreal, but the ratio is not impossible. Twenty-five bombs with fifty across the plate? When the team has a collective .221/.316/.397 line, there’s no reason to bet against it.</p><p><strong>Right Now:</strong> Alexei Ramirez has established himself as a liability both at the plate and in the field.<br /><strong>Real Or Unreal?:</strong> A little from column A, and a lot of column B. We all know Alexei’s not that great with the glove, but history also suggests his bat will come around from this, the newest edition of his <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=ramiral03&year=Career&t=b#month">traditionally slow starts</a>.</p><p><strong>Right Now:</strong> Mark Teahen is in the White Sox’ plans through 2012 .<br /><strong>Real Or Unreal?:</strong> Sigh. On the plus side, he’s outhitting old “Thunder Strike” Konerko. I know this is a bad thing for so many reasons, I just can’t decide which is worse. Is it that he has more going for him than Konerko yet less to show for it, or is it that Konerko and Teahen could both be doing so much more even while Teahen is handing over unearned runs two at a time and Paulie’s one dimension is getting smaller and smaller? You know what, let’s go with the first one.</p><p><strong>Right Now:</strong> Bobby Jenks is actually Billy Koch.<br /><strong>Real Or Unreal?:</strong> Koch was traded to the Marlins midway through the 2004 season; seeing as how current Marlins closer Leo Nunez has allowed zero runs and one hit while walking none, it seems unlikely Jenks will be heading to Miami. But the whole get-two-on-before-striking-out-the-side-with-pure-gas thing? Oh yeah, they could make a movie about that. Koch II: Jenks or Be Jenksed!.</p><p><strong>Right Now:</strong> Jake Peavy is the team’s <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/2165256,CST-SPT-soxnt16.article">worst starting pitcher</a>.<br /><strong>Real Or Unreal?:</strong> Don’t even joke about that; either he’s the Jake Peavy of the past two outings and thus a bust for the ages, or he’s <em>Jake Peavy</em>, yet finishes fifth in Cy Young voting behind Buehrle, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, and, oh, let’s say Matt Thornton.</p><p><strong>Right Now:</strong> The Sox have yet to win a game while scoring fewer than five runs.<br /><strong>Real Or Unreal?:</strong> All too real, but that’s really not a bad thing. I mean, it’s not like the Sox aren’t capable of crushing the Zack Greinkes and CC Sabathias of the world when they have to, right? Every team coughs up five runs a night, right? And because their offense is so awesome they should fear no one, right? Right. No one! Team of Destiny! </p><p><strong>Right Now:</strong> These first two weeks are exactly how the rest of the season will go, and 2009 is doomed to repeat itself.<br /><strong>Real Or Unreal?:</strong> <a href="http://www.avclub.com/chicago/articles/blackhawks-vs-bulls-which-bandwagon-should-you-jum,40193/">Go Hawks</a>!</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2145/real-unreal-of-south-side-baseball/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>2</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>2010 Chicago Cubs Season Precap</title> <link>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2136/2010-chicago-cubs-season-precap</link> <comments>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2136/2010-chicago-cubs-season-precap#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[C. David Kearney]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 06 Apr 2010 03:47:58 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Visitors]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2010 Baseball Preview]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Carlos Zambrano]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Chicago Cubs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Derrek Lee]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Football]]></category> <category><![CDATA[guest writers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mysteries]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pain]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sadness]]></category> <category><![CDATA[season previews]]></category> <category><![CDATA[self-loathing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sox35th.com/?p=2136</guid> <description><![CDATA[If this year at Wrigley Field were an animal, it would be a puking gorilla. Our correspondent reports from Waveland and Sheffield.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>[Editor’s Note: With the regular season underway, our Cubs correspondent finally got around to writing this up. It is pretty mean and surprisingly belligerent, as to be expected from the self-described “best fans in baseball.” Rivalries and cross-town pettiness aside, The 35th Street Review looks forward to another terrible season by, of, and for Chicago’s minor league baseball team.]</em></p><p>You might have noticed this Cubs preview wasn’t posted until after the season started, but I think it’s important to look at just what would have transpired between the offseason, which was just two days ago, and right now, which is how long it took the Cubs to reach a level of unfiltered suckitude beyond even a remotely acceptable level.</p><p>You might also have figured out by now I am a Cub fan. This will need some explaining.</p><p>The editor/writer/web-guy/blogg-o/whatever-you-call-it of this site, who is kind of jerk when it comes to things like my baseball-related pain, asked what he, as a Sox fan and by extension a general ignoramus about things related to matters other than where to get a replacement water pump for an ’82 Trans Am and the going rate for a <del>six-pack</del> case of Stroh’s and a bottle of Night Train, needed to know about “what’s it like being a Cub fan right now,” or whatever kind of hippie crap they teach you to ask at art school these days, and after reading my 9,487,303-word response and not understanding many of the terms used therein (“crowds,” “sunshine,” “fun,” “life on the outside” and what-have-you), decided to hand me the microphone instead. So.</p><p>I was going to write up all kinds of reason for optimism this year, especially now that Carlos Zambrano has been traded to the Mets and Alfonso Soriano got sent to Peoria, but then I remembered neither of those things actually happened. Then I stabbed myself in the face to feel a new kind of pain. I can happily report it worked.</p><p>Then I was going to take a serious look at the competition, and while I did this Carlos Zambrano gave up six runs. During my lunch hour. That sound you Sox fans heard, assuming you didn’t have your <em>Very Best of Dokken</em> <del>records</del> tapes turned up too loud, was the sound of Cub fans welcoming back that old sinking feeling. Usually this happens much later in the season, and it’s much quieter since Chad and Trixie are safely back at John Barleycorn doing Diesel Bombs, or whatever the kids are mixing with their well vodka these days, and the rest of us who should know better by now all knew it was going to happen. But this year will be different! No more heartbreak! No more waiting for it to be over, because it’s already over!! Can you see this is killing me?!?</p><p>Also, there are already at least four Cubs players I wish could contract something incurable. Not literally, but you know, at least the kind of disease where they go ruin someone else’s year instead of mine. Derrek Lee, I’d add, is not one of them. I actually really like Derrek Lee, and I hope the Cubs re-sign him before he runs off and wins a World Series with the Diamondbacks. The rest of you jerks can go fall from a high place. The Bears got Julius Peppers, by the way. Five months to kickoff. Can’t wait.</p><p>So anyway, to answer your question, since you obviously worked so hard to get your job as editor of this site and have honed your journalistic/investigative skills through years of honest, well-researched sports reporting coupled with thought-provoking interviews about subjects that actually matter: it feels awful. It feels like having to go to the DMV every weekday, but only when it’s nice out. It feels like having an ulcer in my brain. It feels like someone running over me with a car that has steak knives protruding from the tires. Probably an ’82 Trans Am with a Sox sticker on the back, because that’s just the way things go when you root for the Cubs: first your best pitcher gets shelled, and then someone hits you with a car, then you lay there in pain wondering when this guy forgot you’re not supposed to throw low-speed fastballs over the middle of the plate, which I think my dog could do a better job of, except he isn’t old enough to punch out a catcher and, no matter how hard I try to teach him, simply refuses to point to the sky in celebration before and after dropping fresh turds all over the field.</p><p>So how about those Braves, huh? Eh? Meh.</p><p><em>——</p><p>C. David Kearney is a lifelong Cubs fan from the Chicago area. If he owned an Alfonso Soriano jersey, he would put it on and then burn it.</em></p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2136/2010-chicago-cubs-season-precap/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>3</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>And Now, A Few Insanely Specific Predictions</title> <link>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2131/and-now-a-few-insanely-specific-predictions</link> <comments>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2131/and-now-a-few-insanely-specific-predictions#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andrew Reilly]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:27:12 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Features]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2010 Baseball Preview]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Alex Rios]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Andruw Jones]]></category> <category><![CDATA[attendance]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Bold Predictions]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Carlos Quentin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Chicago White Sox]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mark Kotsay]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Ozzie Guillen]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sox35th.com/?p=2131</guid> <description><![CDATA[If you're going to believe in sports, you might as well believe in something ridiculous.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Carlos Quentin will hit more home runs than Alex Rios and Andruw Jones combined.</strong> This could demand Quentin hit 35; this could just as easily demand he hit 15. But for better or worse, he pretty much <em>is</em> the offense, meaning as Carlos goes, so the rest of them go as well.</p><p><strong>Mark Buehrle leads the staff in wins but not in ERA (and definitely not in strikeouts).</strong> When nine of 10 outings are either (a) six innings allowing three runs or (b) seven innings allowing two runs, this is just the way it goes.</p><p><strong>Attendance flirts with the 2 million mark.</strong> Bad Local Economy + Terrible Previous Season = Not Looking Good. Did you, like me, get an email from the club this morning about Opening Day tickets still available?</p><p><strong>Bobby Jenks appears in less than 45 games for the White Sox.</strong> 2:1 odds say this happens because of injury, while 3:1 odds say because he is traded mid-season.</p><p><strong>Jim Thome hits more home runs than Mark Kotsay.</strong> But don’t tell Ozzie!</p><p><strong>The Sox’ most important rookie is someone we weren’t even thinking about two months ago.</strong> I agree with <a href="http://soxmachine.com/soxmachine/2010/03/23/sergio-santos-the-great-cheap-hope/">Jim’s idea</a>.</p><p><strong>The Angels will own the White Sox.</strong> And the 2002-2007 Twins <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=lohseky01&year=Career&t=p">remain good</a> at exactly <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hunteto01.shtml">one thing</a>.</p><p><strong>The Sox’ highest individual RBI tally will be less than the number of games the team wins.</strong> Unless they only win 70 games, in which case . . . you know what? Let’s not go there.</p><p><strong>The Sox trade for a big-name player.</strong> Carl Crawford or, barring that, Jason Giambi. One of these outcomes means things are going well.</p><p><strong>Ozzie Guillen does not get fired during the season.</strong> Although we will probably find plenty of reasons he should be.</p><p><strong>Sox over Cardinals in six for their second World Series title in six years.</strong> Team of Destiny!</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2131/and-now-a-few-insanely-specific-predictions/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>1</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>2010 Chicago White Sox Season Preview: The Year Of When</title> <link>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2121/2010-chicago-white-sox-season-preview</link> <comments>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2121/2010-chicago-white-sox-season-preview#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andrew Reilly]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 27 Mar 2010 04:55:44 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Features]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2006]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2010 Baseball Preview]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Chicago White Sox]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jake Peavy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mark Buehrle]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Ozzie Guillen]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pitchers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[speculation]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sox35th.com/?p=2121</guid> <description><![CDATA[With just over a week left until Opening Day, we might as well get this out of the way.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For the first time since 1991, the White Sox enter the season with exactly zero players whose recent performance suggests they’ll hit 30 home runs. Yes, there are guys who <em>could</em> bring the thunder, assuming things like histories of crippling injury, natural decline in output, or horrifying dropoffs in general baseball skill won’t interfere with real life. They are theoretically more well-rounded, built more to play competitive baseball than to win a home run derby.</p><p>At the same time, for the first time since I don’t even know when, the White Sox enter the season with a bona fide ace at the top of the rotation—not a guy who can be good, nor a guy who was merely superior to the other arms around him, nor a guy who dominates when he’s on, nor a guy who has one mighty season to his name peppered amongst a lot of nothing and even more of even less, but a guy actually poised to <em>murder</em> the opposition every single time he gets the ball. Even better, the three behind him aren’t just guys coming off of good seasons but actual, legitimate pitchers. Even if Mark Buehrle is in the last throes of his peak, even if Gavin Floyd is a step or two away from consistency, even if John Danks is only 85% of the killing machine we know he can be, this is a rotation to rival even the vaunted Five Horsemen of 2006, a stance which in hindsight seems especially foolish. (“Johnny SoCal and Jose Contreras are gonna to do it again! Javier Vazquez really can pitch when it counts! I’m an idiot!”)</p><p>On one hand, these truths are fantastic complements of each other; on the other, larger, more painful hand, the former will at some point render the latter entirely useless. This could be April 28th; this could be sometime in early October. And I think this presents a good way to look at this, the Year of When.</p><p>When will Carlos Quentin get hurt?</p><p>When will one or all of Bobby Jenks, Paul Konerko, or A.J. Pierzynski leave town?</p><p>When will Gordon Beckham hurry up and become the greatest player of all time already?</p><p>When will Scott Linebrink rediscover his abilities?</p><p>When will Ozzie Guillen either lose or abdicate his position as manager of the White Sox?</p><p>Until then, we can look forward to a team that will lead the league in hitting .265 with average power. They will be quite adept at stealing second from slow batteries and you better believe the Andruw Joneses of this roster will be given the green light rounding third more often than not, if only to prove that even if this team isn’t good, it’s still crazy enough to think it is. And, all well-informed pessimism aside, you have to admire a team with the kind of oblivious confidence the Sox have shown since last November, acquiring washed-up All-Stars and broken organizations’ bust prospects as though they, and not the Mariners and Yankees of the world, were the ones who knew which players were good and just how to get them. Even if the White Sox choke, they choked it their way. Mark Teahen and Juan Pierre instead of Chone Figgins. Mark Kotsay instead of Johnny Damon. Jones instead of any player with more going for him these days than being “a low-risk move from a business standpoint.”</p><p>They won’t be as bad as the 2009 team (a victory in and of itself) and they might even be able to topple the Joe Nathan-less Twins with a solid 83, maybe 86 wins but when it comes time to prove something, we’re looking at a team built to go home and to get there early. Yes, it’s only March and yes, the botched Johnny Damon negotiations prove there’s money left to add a missing piece should one present itself; Carl Crawford, Adam Dunn, whatever. We’ll talk about it when it happens—and when it’s not a move to acquire a 2009 Alex Rios but rather to acquire a <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/riosal01.shtml#2007-2008-sum:batting_standard">2007-2008 Alex Rios</a>.</p><p>The White Sox, heading into the season, are an incomplete team; with a front four like they have, maybe they can get away with it. Maybe you don’t need savage power to compete in the American League. Maybe these guys can give finally life to the hybrid 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers/2003 Florida Marlins Dream Team that lives inside a certain faction of Sox management’s brain. Maybe, just maybe, everything really will be alright. Only time and an alarming number of cruel, cruel 4-3 losses will tell.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2121/2010-chicago-white-sox-season-preview/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>2</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Mauer Power</title> <link>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2111/mauer-power</link> <comments>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2111/mauer-power#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andrew Reilly]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:27:09 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[contracts]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Joe Mauer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Minnesota Twins]]></category> <category><![CDATA[speculation]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sox35th.com/?p=2111</guid> <description><![CDATA[And maybe, just maybe the Twins' richest player will develop an extremely mild, highly-focused fear of setting foot on a baseball diamond. Think happy thoughts!]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It would be both easy and logical to tremble and shake at <a href="http://aarongleeman.com/2010/03/22/twins-keep-mauer-through-2018-with-184-million-deal/">the news out of Minnesota</a>. “Eight years is a long time,” some might say, “especially when those eight years are happening largely at the American League Central’s expense.”</p><p>Or, “Man, I wish the Sox had someone worth $184 million.”</p><p>Or, “The Twins? Really? The <em>Twins?</em>”</p><p>But you know something? There’s no reason to be afraid, or at least no more reason to be afraid than you, like me, probably are every time Minnesota Nice comes up to bat.</p><p>For starters, Mauer will be 27 next month, so it’s not like there’s <em>that much more</em> damage he’s capable of doing. What’s he going to do up there in Minnesota, hit .350-something with a perfect grasp on situational hitting while calling great games and developing great pitching staffs out of nothing? I mean, really, why would you ever, uh . . . yeah, maybe he . . um, moving on then.</p><p>Did you know that, despite his wizardry at the plate, the Sox, somehow, have managed to <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/split_stats.cgi?full=1&params=oppon|CHW|mauerjo01|bat|AB|">contain</a> the Great Mauer? Admittedly, .296/.366/.460 is still a fantastic line, but it’s at least <em>less</em> fantastic than what Ol’ Sideburns has done to the rest of the league. So we have that to celebrate.</p><p>But look, it’s eight years as a catcher and eventual designated hitter (or, depending on what happens with Justin Morneau down the line, first baseman), and common baseball logic suggests that, for all intents and purposes, the next four are really the seasons we need concern ourselves with. And yet, Mauer is already a great player, so what else can he really have up his sleeve? With all the upcoming talent and top-tier free agents the Sox will inevitably chase down in a good old-fashioned battle of mid-market clubs, the whole concept of a Silver Slugging MVP will be rendered moot. And remember, while their team may have the best catcher in the game, our team has the best shortstop <em>and</em> the best center fielder.*</p><p>That said, we really only wish personal injury on a very specific handful of players and personnel around here, so I’m not going to say “I hope Joe Mauer breaks his leg and returns from injury a shell of his former self.” But if he wanted to, say, walk away from the game forever while still cashing that sweet, sweet Pohlad-endorsed paycheck, I would be okay with that, because then we all win. Except the Twins. Which is the whole point.</p><p>All this as the competition busies itself with bold statements about its future, and the Sox make waves through tantrums from recently-departed <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/2010-03-22-4021098173_x.htm">low-level employees</a>. How embarassing.</p><p>(*) Of 1997.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2111/mauer-power/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>6</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Another Week, Another Reason To Laugh At Us</title> <link>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2107/another-week-another-reason-to-laugh-at-us</link> <comments>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2107/another-week-another-reason-to-laugh-at-us#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andrew Reilly]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:08:43 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Bobby Jenks]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bust prospects]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Carlos Quentin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Chicago White Sox]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rants]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sox35th.com/?p=2107</guid> <description><![CDATA[When bust prospects attack.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>I.</strong></p><p>Oney Guillen, who has exactly as many major-league at-bats to his name as you and I, did not like working for the <a href="http://twitter.com/OneyRoberto/status/10738063946">three geeks</a> who never played the game and who know nothing about sports, by which I assume he means (a) the owner who has brought more titles to Chicago than every other team owner this city has ever seen combined, (b) the general manager who is at once the best and worst at his job and, you know, played six seasons as a pro and (c) his own father, who I’m sure had nothing to do with him getting a shot at those major-league at-bats in the first place. I mean, if you can’t trust a <a href="http://soxmachine.com/soxmachine/2010/03/20/twitter-guillens-create-an-inevitable-conflict/">nepotistic 36th-round pick</a>, who can you trust? Also, he prefers face-to-face, <a href="http://twitter.com/OneyRoberto/status/10780570790">man-to-man</a> conversation which, I guess, is why he lost his job via Twitter. Or something. </p><p>Somewhere in the Northern League, <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=cox---002dan">Daniel Cox</a> is laughing at all of us.</p><p><strong>II.</strong></p><p>Jake Peavy <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/2113023,CST-SPT-sox21.article">doesn’t like the Cubs</a>. Just like before, except, you know, <a href="http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/Yet-Again-Jake-Peavy-Back-In-Cubs-Crosshairs.html">the opposite</a>.</p><p><strong>III.</strong></p><p>Bobby Jenks will be <a href="http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100321&content_id=8859904&vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws">back in time for Opening Day</a> and—holy crap—that’s only two weeks away.</p><p><strong>IV.</strong></p><p>A common refrain—and I’m right there with it—is that the offense is going to hinge not on the whole lot of nothing waiting to happen with the designated hitter, nor with Paul Konerko nor with Gordon Beckham completing his inevitable transformation into some kind of Voltron-like mechanism with Chase Utley for its arms, Albert Pujols for a head and late-1990s Alex Rodriguez for a pair of legs, but rather with Carlos Quentin “returning to the mean.” You know: if Carlos Quentin does what Carlos Quentin is capable of, then the bats will be able to do their job enough to let the team Carlos Quentin its way into a Carlos Quentin-type Carlos Quentin Carlos Quentin.</p><p>But I think this is where the blinders come in, where we Sox fans risk descent into our own version of the Mark Prior/Kerry Wood madness that happened across town throughout most of the last decade: if Carlos Quentin does his “usual Carlos Quentin thing,” what does that really <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/q/quentca01.shtml#batting_standard">look like</a>?</p><p>.254/.349/.491, 31 HR, 97 RBI</p><p>Which would be phenomenal, if only we could base those numbers off of anything that’s ever actually happened. I, for one, am going to think positively on this one, but I also never got that one hit in that one game in AAA on the last day of the season, so what do I know?</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2107/another-week-another-reason-to-laugh-at-us/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>2</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>2010 Chicago Baseball Preview: Beyond Thunderdome</title> <link>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2104/2010-chicago-baseball-preview-beyond-thunderdome</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andrew Reilly]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:56:08 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Chicago Cubs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Chicago White Sox]]></category> <category><![CDATA[elsewhere]]></category> <category><![CDATA[season previews]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sox35th.com/?p=2104</guid> <description><![CDATA[You root for the Cubs? The Cubs? What’s the matter with you? In case you’ve been living in a cave, or have perhaps been sequestered for the past several decades, I’d like to remind you …]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You root for the Cubs? The <em>Cubs?</em> What’s the matter with you? In case you’ve been living in a cave, or have perhaps been sequestered for the past several decades, I’d like to remind you there’s a vastly superior team just across town, far more able to compete for the long haul and already instilling unparalleled fear in the hearts of its . . . fans. Sigh. [<a href="http://www.avclub.com/chicago/articles/sox-vs-cubs-which-chicago-baseball-team-will-be-th,39147/">A.V. Club Chicago</a>]</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>At Least Someone’s Thinking Positively</title> <link>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2101/at-least-someones-thinking-positively</link> <comments>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2101/at-least-someones-thinking-positively#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Andrew Reilly]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:28:55 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Andruw Jones]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Chicago White Sox]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Media]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Omar Vizquel]]></category> <category><![CDATA[spring training]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sox35th.com/?p=2101</guid> <description><![CDATA[The defense part? That's the worst part. And the scary part, too.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dave Van Dyck <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/ct-spt-0316-white-sox-chicago--20100315,0,3094909.story">reports from Glendale</a>:</p><blockquote><p>The defense part? “Way better than last year,” Guillen said. “We were so bad defensively that I had the (designated hitter) making errors,” Guillen joked.</p><p>The addition of multiple Gold Glove winners Andruw Jones and Omar Vizquel helps, but so does Juan Pierre replacing Scott Podsednik in left field.</p></blockquote><p>Eschewing the usual ranting and raving about the idiocy generally informing Gold Glove decisions, let’s just take a second to acknowledge the two things this possibly means:</p><p><strong>1. The team has sold Vizquel and Jones as players, not as mentor and bat, respectively.</strong></p><p><strong>2. Our friendly local sports media has postulated the above on its own.</strong></p><p>Now, we’ve joked before about the new guys’ defensive achievements (Fifteen Gold Gloves! Screw you, Cleveland!) but could it be that people are actually taking the threat of Jones and Vizquel in the field seriously? In a world where the former is coming off three seasons of just awful defense (even in that magical <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Andruw_Jones#Gold_Glove_criticism_and_defense">2007 Gold Glove season</a>) and the latter here for . . . whatever it is. I have no answers to either of these dilemmas. But perhaps—think positively!—none are really needed, and this was all just a huge misunderstanding.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.sox35th.com/index.php/2101/at-least-someones-thinking-positively/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>2</slash:comments> </item> </channel></rss> If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
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