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The off season has officially begun and the first team to make a significant move is the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers held a press conference today to announce the signing of Ken Macha as the new coach for the Brewers.  Macha signed a two year deal with the club to try and bring the Brewers to back to back postseason appearances.  Macha was the manager of the Oakland Athletics but was fired after the 2006 season.  The 2006 Oakland A’s made the playoffs under Macha for the first time since their 2003 season.  The Brewers also claimed Chicago Cubs’ third base reserve, Casey McGhee, from waivers.

It should be a fun five months of this stuff.  With such names as Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez on the market, there’s no telling who will end up where and how this will impact the future of our Chicago Cubs.

Wow, that was kind of anticlimactic.

After a 40+ hour delay due to rain, the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays came back and finished the suspended Game 5.   The Phillies pulled out the win as they win their second World Series title in franchise history.  I am actually not all that mad about this as I have to look at the whole picture.

The city of Philadelphia has not seen a champion in 25 years.  That is a very long time to go without a championship in your city.  It’s like trying to imagine what Chicago would be like had we had no Michael Jordan, no 1985 Bears, and yes… no 2005 Chicago White Sox.  What a depressing thought.  Actually… when I think about it, I am 22 years old (born in 1986) and have really only ever seen the Bulls dynasty and the White Sox (who I’m not a big fan of, but I was pretty excited to see a baseball winner in the city).  Really though, only one of my teams (Bulls) has ever really won it all and I was so young that I barely remember much of it.  Not to mention that I started at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during the basketball dream season and graduated right as the team went to the Rose Bowl last year.  Both of those turned out to be a bust in the end as the Illini couldn’t win the game that mattered.

So I guess I kind of feel the pain of the Philadelphia fans.   I’m in the prime of my life… my dad and uncles and grandpas all tell me that this is the perfect time in my life to soak up the sports scene as it will be more and more difficult to do so once I am working and have a family.  And all I have to show for it is a few Bulls winners, the Cubs choking, the rival Cardinals and White Sox winning the World Series, the Bears choking, and the Hawks being the Hawks.

Argh… maybe the Bears or Bulls or Hawks can salvage something this winter and make me excited about sports until Opening Day.

haha this is starting to sound like a joke.  With the 2008 World Series being suspended last night, people from all over are blasting the MLB Commissioner Bud Selig for multiple reasons.  As I sit here watching “Around the Horn,” I’ve heard the following criticisms of Selig:
-it’s all his fault this happened.
-he should have the World Series games played at a neutral site
-he should have the games moved up three hours and not be beholden to FOX (I’ll give the panelists some credit on this one)
-he created the mess as he gave the Rays an unfair advantage as he waited for them to score that run before calling the game.
-bud selig ruined baseball
-people will never watch baseball again because it’s a mess

Wow.  I don’t really know where all of this is coming from.  Where’s the person blaming Philadelphia for not winning in four games so a Game 5 shouldn’t have even been necessary?  I am not the biggest fan of Bud Selig, but come on.  Give the guy a break.  They’d be bashing him even more had he called the game and awarded the Phillies with a win.  The man’s hands were tied last night and he knew that there was no way he would call the game considering what was at stake.

But I won’t just let him off the hook.  I think that Jackie MacMullen was onto something when she said that the games should be played two-three hours earlier or in the afternoon in order for more kids to be able to watch these games.  It has seemed odd to me that these games have gone on so late, especially since they are starting on EST.  I like the idea of bumping the game start time up as it can increase viewership and possibly avoids a situation like last night.

So now what?  I’m sure this isn’t the end of all of this madness.  Tonight’s suspended game has been cancelled so the Phillies and Rays must wait until tomorrow to get this game in.  If the Phillies lose this suspended game?  They head back to St. Petersberg.  Watch the Rays win both of those games and the media explode on Selig for screwing the Phillies out of a World Championship.

This should be fun.  In the end, I guess I’m glad that the Cubs aren’t there.  It’s kind of nice to be watching from the outside for once (granted, we haven’t had the kind of weather in Chicago that you see in Philly, so maybe this wouldn’t even matter).

The Phillies/Rays game is under a rain delay and wouldn’t you know… the game is tied up 2-2.  I love how the game was 2-0 for the longest time and then suddenly becomes 2-2 just in time for the grounds crew to throw the tarp on the field.  While it would be a pretty dumb way to win the World Series on a shortened Game 5 due to rain, I would rather it happen that way as I am just wanting this series to end.  I read a story today that said the Phillies and Rays have drawn the lowest ratings for a World Series in the history of the World Series.  Shocker?  Not really.  The series has been sort of fun to watch for the average baseball fan… but most people don’t really care for the World Series if the local team isn’t there.  Look at the Mets-Yankees series back in 2000— sure these made for some great games, but did anyone care about the results outside of the New York area?  Not really… so they drew a low rating.   It really doesn’t help the cause either when the series has been so brutal with the Phillies stranding what seems like a million baserunners and the Tampa Bay Rays playing like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

I wanted this series to end as soon as possible but it doesn’t look like it will.  Instead, it seems as though this game will be suspended.   The weather report shows there will be rain all day tomorrow in Philadelphia with temperatures falling to thirty degrees.  Bottom line, the series must end soon or else there will be all sorts of scheduling problems given the nasty forecast.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to get a free taco tomorrow at Taco Bell from 2:00-6:00PM.

Ryan Howard blasts another home run to put the Phillies ahead 5-1.

In this fourth game of the World Series, the Phillies have looked great.  They are clicking on all cylinders: good defense, great starting pitching, and they’re even hitting with runners in scoring position!  The offense of the Tampa Bay Rays has seemed to disappear as they haven’t been providing a whole lots of runs in these games.  Their defense has been shaky too as they have made several key errors.  If I didn’t know any better, at this point, I would have to say that Philadelphia is going to win this thing tomorrow night.  It seems as though the Phillies are going to hold on to tonight’s lead as Tampa just can’t muster up any offense.  And you have to like Philadelphia’s chances with Cole Hamels pitching tomorrow night.

So much for the prediction that it would go seven games… so much for this thing even going six games!

You know, I have to admit that I do enjoy watching the Phillies fans go crazy with the towels and cheering and everything.  If the Phillies are to win this thing, I hope they do it at Citizen’s Bank Park.

As I type, Hinske hits a solo home run to put the Rays within three runs.

I guess I really don’t care who wins this thing, but I hope that whoever wins will win it on their home field.

So Taco Bell has some crazy promotion where you can get a free taco if someone steals a base in the World Series.

Last year, Jacoby Ellsbury stole a base in what was a pretty goofy exchange that was caught on the mikes:

Royce Clayton: Hey, you like Taco Bell?
Ellsbury: (nods)
Clayton: You know, if somebody steals a base in the World Series, everybody in America gets a Taco Bell free . . . taco.
Ellsbury: Everybody in America?
Clayton: Everybody in America gets a free taco.
(Source)

Great stuff, huh?

Well, you will have the chance to grab a free taco once again this year.  Jason Bartlett stole a base in Game 1 on Wednesday night. Therefore, on Tuesday, October 28th, you can grab a free taco from Taco Bell between 2:00-6:00PM.

Horray for free tacos!

Game 2 of The World Series has just finished with the Tampa Bay Rays winning by a score of 4-2.

The Phillies struggled to score with runners in scoring position for the second straight night while both teams made a few key errors that led to runs being scored.

I really don’t know what to think about this series as it heads to Philadelphia.  I think back to my original prediction: that each team would win their home game… but that’s obviously wrong.  I didn’t realize how bad Philadelphia’s rotation is outside of Cole Hamels; and how good Tampa Bays’ rotation is.  I guess after watching the first two games, I’ll update my prediction to say that the Rays will pull off something similar to what they did against Boston.  I think the Rays will win the first and second game at Citizen’s Bank Park… Cole Hamels will win the game he pitches… allowing the Rays to win the series in Game 6 when it is back at Tropicana Field.

Oh yeah, and the Tampa fan that threw the homerun ball back on the field… please stop.  That’s a tradition we here on the North side of Chicago are so proud of.

*sigh*

So it finally happened.  The Lakeview Baseball Club updated the EAMUS CATULI sign:

I used to think this thing was great and it was something that only the true Cubs fans understood.  Now, I think it’s just a symbol of our futility.  Why are we celebrating the 100 years of failure?  I just don’t see what good this does for Wrigley Field or the players.

I think the Eamus Catuli! sign is great as it is a more positive message (Let’s go Cubs!).  However, the numbers can be done without.  Now it just looks ridiculous with the extra slot for the 100th year.

Also, I think there is a big difference between this sign and the “L” flag.  Some may think that if the Lakeview Baseball Club symbol is so negative, why not do away with the flying of the “L” flag?  In my opinion, I think the “L” flag is fine as it indicates, “We lost today, oh well.”  The flag is only flown to note the result of the game that day, and it is taken down the next morning.  The AC0063100 stays up all year long and has an even worse message as it reminds us of our futility for not everyday, but for the past 100 years.

Plus, I think it’s good to fly the “W” and “L” flag as somedays I don’t know how a game ends and I find out by looking at the flag as I go by on the Red Line.

Go Cubs!

As we await the start of Game 1 of the 2008 World Series, there is no relevant news to report from the Cubs.

As far as the World Series goes, Game 1 will be played Wednesday night at Tropicana Field.  The Rays will have home field advantage throughout the World Series thanks to the American League’s victory over the National League in the All-Star Game back in July.  In that game, Brad Lidge was the losing pitcher as this was his only blemish on the entire 2008 campaign.

I read an article today that said the Rays have played well against Philadelphia historically.  I believe that the Rays’ all time record against the Phillies is 10-6.  This is setting up to be a good series and I will continue to stand by my original prediction that this will be a seven game series with the home team winning every game.

Jim Hendry finally got offered that extension.

The Cubs signed general manager, Jim Hendry, for four more years.  I think this is a great move as Hendry seems to be very passionate about his job and has been known to make a few good trades.  Hendry has been with the Cubs since 2002.  Since 2002, the Cubs have won a division title three times.  I definitely think there is something to be said for the Cubs’ recent success and Jim Hendry being at the forefront of that success.

With the combination of Lou Piniella and Jim Hendry, I feel that it is only a matter of time that the Cubs will go to the Promised Land.  Now, seeing as Piniella is only signed through 2010, we don’t have much of a window to play with… so win now, Cubs, please!

Go Cubs!