From the baseball diamond to the balance beam, Smile Politely’s sports team keeps you up on all the sizzle in local athletics.
August is a month that can make or break a baseball team's season. It's officially too late for a team that's hanging around .500 to legitimately have a shot at the postseason, unless said team plays in the NL West. There's also the possibility for even more distance to be put between the haves and have-nots, as teams who shipped out their veterans at the trading deadline tank, and the contenders who benefited from those fire sales beat up on their weaker sisters. In that way, it's telling to look at which players in the AL Central are putting it together this month, and which are falling apart. For your reading pleasure, we've divided them into two distinct groups, "HOT" and "NOT."
I write this from vacation in Wisconsin. On the way up here I was listening to 670 The Score in Chicago. Boors and Bernstein (not my favorites, I'm a Murph guy) were discussing what the Cubs should actually be focusing on in these last few weeks given that they were going to make the playoffs.
When fans would call in about Milwaukee possibly passing the Cubs for the division lead, Bernstein would whine back at them saying, "It doesn't matter! The Cubs are in!"
He was suggesting that even if Milwaukee did overtake the Cubbies, which he didn't believe would happen, there was no way the Cubs wouldn't at worst qualify for the playoffs via the wildcard.
Now I can't remember the last time anyone, let alone cynical Chicago sports radio, thought the Cubs had a postseason spot locked up in early-mid august.
But the truth is, I think he's right.
Last Friday, a couple years of controversy slipped away into the static of television. On the morning on August 15, channel 66 on the now Comcast-controlled cable service became the Big Ten Network.
I awoke and turned it on to find a replay of a bad football memory for me: Purdue at Iowa, 2002. The Boilers let the game slip away in the final two minutes of regulation, as Brad Banks outsmarted the Purdue line to toss a five-yard touchdown to receiver Dallas Clark, putting the Hawkeyes up for good, 31–28.
Does this type of backdated reporting sound silly? Even, perhaps, obsessive? It is.
For those of you who can't get enough Illini football pre-season analysis, this item will probably be redundant, but for the rest of you who don't want to be caught off-guard by office conversations revolving around Juice and Zook and the like, here are some links to several reputable season previews:
It seems like most prognosticators have the Illini slated somewhere between #10 and #30 in the Football Bowl Subdivision (rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?). What do you think about their chances? Will they continue their improvement, take a step backward or stay put?
Don't look now, but the baseball season is almost three-fourths over, and the AL Central is a two-team race. According to the Baseball Prospectus Postseason Odds Report (the folks that said there was a 99.89 percent chance the Mets would win the NL East in mid-September last year), there's less than a three percent chance that the Detroit Tigers will come back and win the division, so we'll ignore them for the sake of this analysis. Either the Minnesota Twins or the Chicago White Sox will win the Central, so let's break this sucker down by position and see who's got the upper hand.
I’m really growing to hate the Cards/Cubs series. The games are usually pretty close and lately the Redbirds seem to be barely coming out on the wrong end of the good score. Honestly, I’m not sure this series was all that important as far as the division race goes. St. Louis is pretty much in a position where they have to rely on a wild card birth if they are going to see post season.
According to the Sun-Times, the Chicago Cubs' oldest living fan is being denied his request to throw out the first pitch in a game at Wrigley this season.
Deadspin has a take on this too, which seems a little reactionary, but I guess that's what they're here for. But in all honesty, if they let Pete Wentz do it, it can't be that exclusive of a club.
I went to a Danville Dans game last Friday, and they had a novel solution to this problem: just let a bunch of people throw out the "first" pitch. There must have been 15 people lined up on the mound, from five-year-olds to middle-aged men, and they had three catchers rotating through to retrieve their errant offerings. That way everyone could realize their dream, and they don't have to wait until they're 104 to do it.
Big Brown won the Haskell. So why am I not thrilled? In fact, why was I just about sick to my stomach after the race was over? On the bright side of things, we witnessed a new side to the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner last Saturday. Never before had the champ been on his belly and been forced to dig deep to pull off a victory. There was no overpowering romp in this race. And while asking for Big Brown to once again blow away his competition might be asking too much of him, the Haskell raises even more questions than when the champ was first entered in the race.
I'm taking a break from in-depth analysis this week and checking out the parallels between the canine and Central worlds to reveal some shocking similarities. Some of these aren't so much physical resemblances as compatible personalities, so bear with me, and I hope you enjoy.
Chinese Crested Dog and A.J. Pierzynski (Catcher, Chicago White Sox)
Since his ill-advised dye job a couple of weeks ago, A.J. has looked even more obnoxious. According to Wikipedia, Chinese Crested males "can become slightly aggressive as they age." A.J. has been slightly aggressive since he passed age seven, as Miguel Olivo of the Royals can attest. I'd love to link to video of the "fight," but MLB has shut down all of the YouTube links for copyright claims.
The poltergeist inhabiting Jamar Smith's lanky frame looks a lot like the freshman phenom who never missed a shot. But looks are deceiving. That Jamar died, a long time ago.
It's hard for us, his friends, fans, admirers to accept that the younger, vital Jamar is gone, forever. Wraiths, demons, vampires often affect onlookers this way — because they physically resemble the persons they once were.
But if we got today's Jamar on the court, he would disappoint. He would show flashes of brilliance, as he did at the Ubben all summer. He would alternate cold-spells, and moments of seeming ineptitude. His performance would recall to us his sophomore year, when his statistics dipped into human range, then kept falling.
Stepping Up
What a difference a week can make. Your Chicago Cubs were able to gain four games on the Milwaukee Brewers and two on the Redbirds to move the trailers to five and six games back, respectively. It all started with the huge four-game series at Miller Park, where the Cubs shocked all of baseball and Baseball Tonight's Buck Showalter by sweeping the Beermakers in their own backyard. As I posted last week, I really felt like the key was forcing Sabathia, Sheets and Parra to throw deep into counts, raising their pitch count early in the game and forcing the Brewers to use their overworked, sub-par bullpen. Let’s take a look:
One of the more rewarding elements about coming to play basketball for the Illini is the local celebrity that follows a successful career at Assembly Hall. Of the most notable names to pass through in the past decade, a couple of them have taken it upon themselves to offer their services by teaching kids the thing they know how to do best: play basketball.
Unlike Damir Krupalija , whose parents opened up shop selling used cars upon their son's minor success on the court in the 90's, both Dee Brown and Brian Cook have started basketball camps in Champaign-Urbana during the summer months on various courts in town.
It’s been a pretty obvious grumble since the Triple Crown, but I’m more convinced now than ever that the connections of Big Brown don’t deserve him. Anyone who has been following this horse knows about his corporate ownership by International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, Inc. (IEAH), his big mouth trainer with a bigger ego, and finally, his scatterbrained jockey who embarrassed him in the Belmont. If there’s one single person in Big Brown’s camp that we can cling to, that person is Big Brown’s closest human friend, his exercise rider and assistant trainer Michelle Nevin.
Last night, the Twins pulled within a half-game of first place in the AL Central with a 6–5 victory over the White Sox. The Twins came back from a 4–0 deficit with a five-run fifth inning. It was a big game for both sides coming in, and it was one of the few games in the season series that was in doubt until late in the game. The Sox now lead 7–6 for the year, but it was only the second game decided by one run. Here are some notes from the game:
Well, there’s no other way to say it, last week was a real bastard for the Cardinals. We come out of the break — sweep the lowly Padres and things look all peachy. All of a sudden Milwaukee comes to town and we get swept right back. Follow that up with losing a series to the Mets and it’s hard to be especially optimistic. For some reason though, I’m still not as pessimistic as I probably should be.
The worst part is that Milwaukee is back in the race and we were the team that let them get there. We let them get there in a really ugly display of a bullpen. The Cards probably should have at least split with them, maybe even taken three out of four, but it didn’t turn out that way. If they would only play six or seven innings, I can’t help but feel we would look a lot better. Sadly, they still play nine.
Everything just got worse again for Illinois Basketball. The News-Gazette reports that Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz is seeking to revoke Jamar Smith's probation. Evidently there was an incident at Fubar, on Green Street, Friday night. Allegedly, Smith was part of that incident.
A warrant for his arrest was issued on Tuesday morning.
It's possible that Smith was not drinking, and it's possible that the terms of Smith's probation forbid him from entering licensed premises whether he drinks or not. The probation stems from Smith's felony DUI, on my birthday, last year.
If a judge agrees that Smith was in violation of his probation, you've seen the last of Jamar Smith. Bruce Weber and Wayne McClain will continue to lose sleep, and I will continue to wonder why top athletes drink alcohol during intensive training periods.
"What I didn't want to do, and made clear to CBS, is to have any of that take attention away from the games or players — it isn't about Billy Packer."
False modesty? That's up to you to decide.
"They had to move in a direction for their future. And it made a lot of sense to me. This is good for both parties."
Could this possibly be true? Well, even a paid court side seat for the Final Four gets old after a while. (I think. I'd be interested in finding out for myself.) Besides, Billy Packer is not a sports fan. That's just one of many, many weird aspects of the man.
Offense struggling
Nervous Cub fans like to say things like “it’s a long season, don’t worry” when their team is in the midst of an offensive slump for no apparent reason. It’s true; every team’s offense usually hits a lull at some point in the season. The teams with good bats find a way to dig themselves out of the rut and stay out of it. The teams that cannot, don’t make the playoffs and often times aren’t in the race come trade deadline time.
The field for the Grade II Jim Dandy Stakes this Sunday is shaping up to be a sampling of the best-of Triple Crown hopefuls and never-wases. Pyro, fresh from his comeback in the Northern Dancer Stakes at Churchill Downs, has proven his authority over Recapturetheglory and Visionaire after his Derby flop, and now is set to prove himself against former Triple Crown runners Da’ Tara, Tale of Ekati, Anak Nakal, and Macho Again. New rivals Tiz Now Tiz Then and Tizbig are also up to challenge. In this second half of the year, the big stakes races are starting to pop up again in preparation for the most prestigious race in America, the Breeder’s Cup Classic. But Pyro is on a road all his own.
My friend Tony and I went for a bike tour of the lovely state of Indiana a couple of weeks ago, and it was a truly humbling experience. We rode 500 miles in four days; day one was Champaign-Urbana to Terre Haute, Ind.; Day Two, we met up with Tony's family and participated in RAIN, a 160-mile trek from Terre Haute to Richmond, Ind.; day three was Richmond to Carmel, Ind.; and day four we returned from Carmel to C-U. I don't spell out the route in order to brag, because the trip temporarily drained me of the will to live, but to give you some perspective for the Roger Ebert-style breakdown which is to follow.
When the Minnesota Twins traded Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett, two of their best young players whose last names didn't begin with "M," to the Tampa Bay Rays for Delmon Young this past offseason, it was bittersweet. Garza and Bartlett had shown a lot of potential for the Twins; Garza was a rare (for the Twins, anyway) right-handed power pitcher, and Bartlett was keeping stiffs like Juan Castro and Nick Punto from getting starts at shortstop. And then when Young got off to a slow start both in the field and at the plate this spring, things looked bleak. But Delmon has heated up over the past couple of months, and Twins fans are hoping that he can affect the American League Central race in a positive way the rest of the season.
As promised, a new bike transportation map of Champaign-Urbana has been released. For the time being, the map is available as a free pdf on ChampaignCountyBikes.org, but tens of thousands of copies will soon be available throughout C-U.
According to a press release from CCB, "20,000 copies will be made available at local bike shops, fitness centers, other retailers, and public buildings throughout the communities. 10,000 copies will be distributed on the University of Illinois campus."
The Upper Crust
The term "The Upper Crust" is often used to describe the elite, the rich, maybe even noble of society. It’s also a terrible name for a dessert/pie place. The National League has an upper crust and they all reside in the Central. It’s quite clear to me that the senior circuit’s finest three teams are the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers. I won’t spend much time debating this; The West is a joke, with the underachieving Diamondbacks and Dodgers leading the way, both two games under .500. The East has Philly, the Metropolitans and the Marlins, none of which stack up to the three-headed powerhouse that has become the NL Central. As final evidence, I give you this week, post All-Star. Neither the Cardinals nor the Brewers lost a game. Seven and oh. Not only that, the Brewers arguably snatched the Giants best player when they traded for solid veteran two-bagger, Ray Durham yesterday.
The thing about the plan was, Asmussen said Curlin had to “look much the best” in his effort in the Man o’ War Stakes on July 12th. As he finished a well-beaten second, calling Curlin “much the best” wouldn’t be accurate, though he was anything but shabby for his first start on turf. So, the question is, what now? Should the turf campaign continue for the 2007 Horse of the Year, or should the champ go back to the well-trod dirt? Before we jump to make the decision for majority owner Jess Jackson, let’s weigh the facts.
Lots to write about this week. I could touch upon the rise of Texas Rangers All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton, who has kicked his coke habit to the curb and nowadays smacks home runs over the wall at an alarming rate. In Monday’s Home Run Derby, he hit 28 dingers in the first round alone, easily besting the top first-round performance in my mind, Mark McGwire’s memorable round at Fenway in 1999.
For the last seven-plus years, Bill Simmons has been writing for ESPN.com on many sporting topics. Since the Sports Guy is taking a full-summer leave of absence, many of you may be going through a bit of withdrawal at this point. So, what could be a better tribute than to rip off one of his best shticks, the one where he tenuously matches quotes from a particular movie to their sports equivalent? Here's my favorite example. I'd like to link up this year's events in the American League Central with a bunch of quotes from one of my favorite movies, O Brother Where Art Thou. It's eminently quotable, and, as I hope you will see, surprisingly relevant to the task at hand.
I've made a list of all former Illini who are playing professional basketball. Most fans know about Deron Williams, and the other Illini in the NBA, so I wanted to focus on all the other Pros who are out there.
Of course Deron plays for the Jazz, while Luther Head is a Rocket, and Brian Cook and James Augustine are on the Orlando Magic. There was one other former Illini who was in the NBA this past season, none other than Awvee Storey. Storey only played one season for the Illini, in the Lon Kruger era before transferring to Arizona State. He's bounced around the NBA and has also had stints in Venezuela, South Korea, the USBL and the NBA development league.
In total there are 22 players who either played this past season for a pro team or are currently playing in the NBA summer leagues. You could call these guys the Illini Globetrotters, as it seems almost all points on the globe are covered.
Here's the breakdown — after the jump.
It's a slow week for the casual basketball observer. July may be the most important month in the business, but major happenings affect only those in the business. The rest of us, barring a sudden interest in Jungian philosophy, or shaving a few pounds off our fat asses, are forced to find non-news to grumble about.
I gather the biggest non-story still chafing the yokels, possibly even disrupting the Klan meetings of rural southern Indiana regards Bruce Weber's offhand comment to a luncheon of Illini supporters: He predicted the Hoosiers will suck this year.
I figured it’s time to do a mid-season report, since it’s the All Star break, even though it’s a little past mid-season. It’s tough to complain much since we’re still hanging in there, but I actually think we should have had four or five more victories so far, and Saturday’s debacle against the Pirates is a perfect example. You can’t blow a big lead in the late innings against a team that’s just not very good. A stupid loss like that can bite you in the ass come September. Anyway, on with the grading — after the jump.
The Break
This morning I decided to see what the Sun-Times had to say about the Cubs first half. After I finished reading a story about the new cover of the New Yorker portraying Obama as a militant Muslim with a burning American flag, I dug into a few hardball columns.
Most everyone is focused on the obvious, as we should be:
“(after Sunday’s loss) A bigger lead would have exceeded the best-ever five-game advantage the 1969 Cubs enjoyed at the break -- and comparisons to the ill-fated '69 favorites aren't necessarily a good thing.”
A Champion Born, a King is put to the Test
Last Saturday, Zenyatta, the big four year-old filly, went to her sixth career start looking a little sweatier than usual. And even under circumstances that showed the girl was having an off day, the “Amazon” managed to hold off rival Tough Tiz’s Sis, winning the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap by half a length. For Zenyatta, an “off day” means winning by a half length instead of 4 and a half. Until the Vanity, no horse has come to challenge Zenyatta in the stretch, at closest trailing her by a 1 ¾ lengths — and that horse happened to be Bob Baffert trainee, Tough Tiz’s Sis. Openly admitting he had been trying to avoid a match-up with his filly against Zenyatta again, Baffert had hoped the daughter of Tiznow would be able to keep her two-race winning streak rolling. It was not to be, as the reigning Queen of California proved to be the best even when she didn’t feel like it.
I’ve long debated an angle for my next Cardinals-related column. While the acquisitions of C.C. Sabathia by the Brewers and Rich Harden by the Cubs could provide an opportunity to express a desire for the Cardinals to pick up a shut-’em-down reliever and big bat, I’ll take a pass this week. I’ll even avoid talking about the implosion of Mark Mulder’s shoulder, yet again, and the surprise promotion of one of St. Louis’ prized pitching prospects, Jamie Garcia. For by this time next week I’ll have a better read on all of the above.
In the meantime, there are always books to read while wasting away warm summer afternoons. So, let’s discuss some you may have a hard time putting down.
Have you ever had the desire to grab multiple boxes of fragile cookies, strap them to your bike, and make a mad dash across campus to deliver them to a starving, drunken horde? If so, you might enjoy being a delivery rider for Insomnia Cookies, one of two businesses (along with Jimmy John's) in Champaign-Urbana to utilize the more agile riders to make quick deliveries through the tangled streets of Campustown. "I've definitely beaten the driver back to the store consistently on my bike many times," says Braden Elliott, who delivered for Insomnia during the 2007-08 academic year. "I didn't have to avoid busy streets, stop at lights or signs, go the right way on a one-way, or find a road to go around (rather than through) campus."
Before two gut-wrenching losses to the Boston Red Sox the past couple of evenings (thanks, bullpen!), the Minnesota Twins were the hottest team in baseball, having won 18 of their last 21 games dating back to June 13. The Twins' offense has been surprisingly good this season despite having only a couple of players (Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau) whose names would be recognized by more than a few people outside the Land of 10,000 Lakes. One of the keys to their offensive resurgence has been the play of two rookies, Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla. They have added speed on the basepaths and on defense, giving the team a dimension they lacked last year.
Week in Review
Competition-wise, this was a week of where every game went as one might have predicted. Looking over the pitching matchups, every time the matchup favored San Fran or St. Louis, the Cubs lost (three times), every time the starter was stronger for the Northsiders, we raised the White Flag (four times). Lincecum, Cain and Lohse got the best of our offense, but Zambrano made a high quality return to the rotation with six shutout innings, Lilly beat Zito, Sean Marshall continued to look under-rated and Dempster bounced back from his Southside anomaly.
If some people have all the luck, then somebody’s gotta get what’s left.
For over two and a half decades, Larry Jones’ horses have passed spotlessly on drug tests. The trainer says he hasn’t used steroids since 1997. After his Kentucky Derby filly, Eight Belles, broke both front ankles while galloping out after the race, the trainer was immediately put underneath the magnifying glass. To quell the radical
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