What's Wrong with Chicago Baseball?

Before this season began, Chicagoans had some high expectations for their baseball teams. The Cubs were considered a massive favorite in the NL Central, and the White Sox were considered to have just as much of a chance as any to win the AL Central. Now, as April is ending, the Cubs stand at 10-10 (awaiting the result of tonight's game, and the Sox are 11-10. The White Sox find themselves .5 games back of division-leading Kansas City, while the Cubs are 4 games adrift of 1st in the central, behind the division leader Cardinals, who are playing out of their mind. Both the Cubs and Sox have a negative run differential, and both teams seem to be playing without a certain level of confidence. This is odd in both cases, as Ozzie Guillen has always tried to promote his win or die trying, nothing to lose, leave everything on the field attitude, and the Cubs simply should be playing with confidence because they're the most talented team in the division. Currently, the Cubs are getting very good production from most of their hitters, with Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome leading the way. They are not, however, getting anything from Derrek Lee, who may just be getting too old to be an everyday player, Milton Bradley, who is already showing signs that he is having trouble adjusting, and Geovany Soto, who may be experiencing a "sophomore slump". These three are batting .200, .097, and .111, respectively, going into tonight's game. They also had a combined 2 HR and 13 RBI prior to tonight's game. The Cubs' pitching, as a whole, has been quite sub-par. Ted Lilly has their lowest SP ERA, at 3.80. Zambrano's is 4.64 and Dempster's is 5.40. As far as Zambrano's ERA goes, its safe to say that eventually it will drop. He's been generally getting rather unlucky this year, and has proven in years past to be a better pitcher than a 4.64 ERA. Ryan Dempster, however, is a little more concerning. He has simply pitched very poorly, and unlike Zambrano, he is not a proven horse in the rotation. While I am not saying that last season was a fluke for Dempster, I don't think that it was entirely representative of his abilities as a starting pitcher, in that he did better than he is capable of. At the end of the day, the Cubs are still the favorite in the NL central, especially with the Cardinals not having Chris Carpenter for several months. I don't see them keeping up this pace, and the Cubs definitely have the talent to win over a 162 game season.

The White Sox, at 11-10, are not so far adrift of their preseason expectations, as they were not considered such a huge favorite in their division. They are, however, still playing significantly below their potential. Thus far, they've been given great production from Mark Buehrle and John Danks, who both have ERAs that are 3.00 or less. Bartolo Colon has, at times, looked like his old self, and at other times, looked like Carlos Silva, and his current ERA of 4.15 reflects that. A major concern for Sox fans up to this point must be Gavin Floyd. Floyd, who had a breakout season last year, currently has a 5.52 ERA and has looked atrocious. His WHIP of 1.77 is reminiscent of Jeff Weaver's Seattle Mariners days, and he is extremely fortunate to have a 2-2 record. On the offensive side of the ball, Carlos Quentin is showing that last season's power surge was no fluke, as he is leading the AL with 8 HR already. His .253 average is significantly lower than last season's, but if he is able to have another 30+ HR season, that should be rather immaterial. Paul Konerko is having a resurgent season, with 3 HR and 18 RBIs to go along with his .333 average so far, and they are also getting great production out of Jermaine Dye. Jim Thome and Alexei Ramirez, on the other hand, have both largely disappointed this season. Alexei may be one of the biggest disappointments in baseball thus far, given his huge expectations. He is batting .214 with 1 HR and 9 RBIs, although he does have 5 SB so far. The Sox also don't have too much reason for concern though, as they're playing in a pretty weak division and have some players that have had devastatingly slow starts. Another encouraging thing for the Sox is the fact that no one has really had a beastly start to the season. This would suggest that the team is not playing over their potential, considering, with the exception of Konerko's start, everyone appears to be playing at or below potential, a good sign for things to come.

Other Assorted Sports Notes

Bulls-Celtics, Game 6
As we speak, the Bulls are blowing yet another game to the Boston Irishmen, who are just incredibly lucky to be playing a team that doesn't know how to finish a game. If nothing else, the Bulls have competed with the Celtics the entire series, and while one could make the argument that the Celtics are a much worse team without KG, its also important to remember how much of a shmuck KG is. Overall, while this series will ultimately be remembered for the Bulls being so bad in the last 4 minutes of the game, its nonetheless encouraging that they're competing so well against one of the NBA's elite teams.

Matt Garza
Matt Garza pitched the game of his life tonight against the hottest team in baseball. The Red Sox were 10-1 in their last 11 games going in to tonight's game, and Garza's line was as follows- 7 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 10 K, 0 R. Here's to the most inconsistent pitcher in all of baseball (seriously, look at his start log for last year, he either threw 8 scoreless or 2 IP 10 ER every start.)

European Football Musings
I was extremely disappointed in European Football the other day. I'm going to be in Rome during the Champion's League Final, and I was toying with the notion of possibly going to the game to cheer on the Mighty Reds take on presumably Barcelona. However, upon going onto some online ticket brokers, the cheapest available tickets were about ₤ 1400. Yes, one thousand, four hundred British pounds. For those unfamiliar with the exchange rate, that's over $2,000. For a single ticket. Needless to say, I'll not be in attendance.

Franck Ribery has stated his displeasure at Bayern Munich's potential failure to make the Champions League next season, and went so far as to say that it will be very difficult for him to stay with Bayern if they fail to qualify for the CL. Keep your eye on this story, as every club in Europe would be delighted to have Ribery's services.

Inter Milan looks like they want to give away the league title to their arch-rival, AC Milan. They've lost 7 points to AC in the last 3 games, and now hold a 7 point lead with 5 games to play.

Zack Greinke
Our favorite Kansas City Royal not named Joakim Soria finally gave up an earned run. SI did a phenomenal article on him in their latest issue, I definitely suggest taking a look.

Here's my obligatory shoutout to the Blackhawks. By default, Go Blackhawks, you're the closest NHL team to my house, so I'll not root against you.