Category: MLB (Page 429 of 448)

Thank you, Rick Telander, for echoing my sentiments to a much larger audience. If the Chicago Cubs are ever to win another World Series, the Tribune Company simply must sell the team.

The Trib has owned the Cubs for 25 years, and can boast of four playoff teams — two of which choked in the NLCS — and only one point where they had winning records in back to back seasons. Forbes ranked them as the sixth most profitable team in baseball last year. Sixth. And they’ve done nothing but lose for almost a quarter of a century. The lesson is clear: they do not care about winning. They care about profitability.

Granted, I know that it going to take a hell of a lot for the Trib to sell the Cubs, which is probably bolstering their stock price more than any other asset. But enough is enough. Between deliberately fielding mediocre teams and scalping their own tickets (how they won that lawsuit, I’ll never know), they are a disgrace of an owner, and if Bud Selig had any balls, or cared at all about the fans the way he says he does, he’d strip the Trib of their team and find them an owner that’ll make them genuinely competitive again, not the fake-competitive that they’ve been shelling to their masochistic fan base all these years. Mark Cuban, perhaps? Hey, don’t laugh, he’d buy his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday if they’d let him.

And fans, you have a say in this, you know. You want to nudge the Trib into selling the team? Then make them less profitable, and STOP GOING TO WRIGLEY. Until we give them a reason to take action, they will continue to sit back and count your money. Stay off the rooftops, and stay away from Wrigley. Even better: start buying White Sox tickets (attending the games is optional). They have to know that Cubs fans have had enough. The only way they’ll hear us is if we hit them in the wallet. The revolution begins now.

The New York Mets made strides to improve their starting rotation by acquiring veteran Orlando Hernandez for reliever Jorge Julio on Wednesday.

Hernandez has struggled so far this season for the Diamondbacks, going 2-4 with a 6.11 ERA. With his playoff experience, however, Hernandez should provide New York with the push they need for the second half of the season.

Hernandez was a starting pitcher for the Yankees during their World Championship run from 1998-2000 and is accustomed to playing in the media spotlight that is New York. More recently, El Duque was a main cog in the Chicago White Sox championship run last season.

He will join a rotation that already features Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine and Steve Trachsel.

Julio was 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA in his first season with the Mets. He struck out 33 in 21 1-3 innings, and had pitched better of late after a rough beginning.

Last weekend’s brawl between the White Sox and Cubs showed a complete lack of class by Michael Barret and the rest of the Cubs but also brings to light another development. The lovable Cubbies may not be so anymore and it’s the boys on the South Side that are starting to rule the city. It has always been a Cubs town but with the recent success of the White Sox, the tides could be starting to turn. Not only are the Sox winning, fans seem to be gravitating towards the aggressive, intense attitude Ozzie Guillen has instilled in his ballclub. Meanwhile, Cubs players continue to get injured and as a result, their team’s season becomes an adventure. Once again, the lovable losers are several games below the .500 mark and are in fifth place in their division.

Michael Barrett’s punch to the face of A.J Pierzynski illustrated the pinnacle of the Cubs’ frustrations. The White Sox catcher walked off the field to a standing ovation from the U.S Cellular crowd. As Guillen stated after the game, the brawl would bring the club closer together. The Cubs have never had to worry about their fan support. They sell out every game in Wrigleyville no matter what the team’s record is. But now come the surging South Siders and if the Cubs are not careful, the White Sox could officially overtake them and become the fan favorites in Chicago.