May 21, 2014: Winning is contagious

It looks like the Cubs and Sox are catching that disease the Blackhawks are plagued with:  Winning.  Maybe it’s short lived, but it’s great when it’s happening.  With the Cubs on a 3 game winning streak, and the Sox with 2 in a row, the Blackhawks magic is spreading throughout the city.  We will never lose another game again!  Each and every win should be savored and enjoyed, no matter how little.  While the Hawks resume action tonight, with a lot more on the line than the baseball teams in this city, it’s nice to win some baseball games.  Maybe the summer won’t be so bad…

42 games in a row without a loss: This is the streak that Masahiro Tanaka was on.  Of course, this streak includes his games in Japan, but to not lose a game since 2012 is phenomenal.  Well, that streak was broken when the Yankees rolled into Wrigley Field last night.  The Cubs, who were blanked by him in New York, were able to push 4 runs across against him (the most he’s given up all year), and pull out the win, in a game that I thought for sure would be stopped by the rain.  The rain actually seemed to bother Tanaka.  I’m sure it rains in Japan, but maybe they play all their games indoors.  He appeared to be a little rattled as the umpires let the game continue as the rain began to pour.  Is that the formula for success against Tanaka?  Either way, it sure looks like he is the real deal; of course he is, because the Cubs didn’t get him.  Because when the Cubs get a “mega-star”, he just doesn’t turn out to be all he was cracked up to be.

This game marked the return of one of these players to Wrigley:  Alfonso Soriano.  As he stepped to the plate at Wrigley for the first time since leaving the Cubs, he was greeted with what Len Kasper described, polite applause.  I would have been booing.  Yes, his numbers with the Cubs were not that horrible.  In fact, there were some times, when he flat out carried the team, when he would go on one of his home run streaks.  I do remember that, but I also remember all the bad stuff.  I remember that we were getting a 40-40 potential guy who never got close to those numbers.  He had some decent home run years, 33 in 2007, and 32 in 2012, but never 40.  And stolen bases you ask… his high mark was 19.  His fielding was a joke at times.  Although he did improve at the very end of his tenure with the Cubs, he looked lost at times.  I’ve never seen a player have to hop to catch a ball.  He misplayed so many balls out there; while the most errors he made in a year were 11, there were countless other plays that he did not make that he should have made.  Then we get to the postseason, which is the true reason I would have been booing him.  His stats in the postseason for the Cubs:  .107 batting average, 0 runs, 0 RBI’s, 0 extra base hits.  That’s how I’ll remember him, and that’s why I would have been standing up and booing him.  He’s gone and I couldn’t be happier about it.
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The Cubs won, and that’s what I was happy about.  To beat another 1st place team (at the time), is a good sign.  Meanwhile, the Sox took care of the Royals for the 2nd straight night.  I guess they don’t miss Abreu…haha.  They crept back to 1 game below .500;  not bad for a team everyone thought would be in the gutter, even Sox fans.  .500 would be a good goal for this team, although I think they’ll come up short with my 75 predicted wins for this club.  Didn’t see any of the Sox games the last 2 nights, but I know they scored enough runs to make up for their pitching, which is what they’ll have to do all year to win, other than the games Chris Sale will pitch.  They probably won’t be able to score in those games…

Tonight our attention will turn back to the United Center, where the reigning Stanley Cup champs play game 2.  It would be nice to go up 2-0 before heading to the West Coast.  Shaw is still questionable, but the rest of the Hawks are at full strength.  While the Cubs and Sox look to maintain their winning ways, I just hope the Hawks still have that disease, and improve to 8-0 at home this postseason.  I’ll trade any Cubs & Sox wins for 7 more wins for the Hawks.  Bold prediction:  5-3 Hawks.