New Ownership for the Cubs?

Now, of course, being early April, I had to check the date this was posted, but given the April 2nd posting date, I assume this is legit. The Chicago Tribune has in their paper today that they intend to sell the Chicago Cubs.

The article itself reads a little unclearly, but it appears Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, who owns a minority stake in the White Sox, convinced the Tribune, where he also owns a stake, to sell off the Cubs so he wouldn't have to sell his White Sox share.

For the most part, this doesn't really matter to me, but there is one scary part of this: Mark Cuban.

I think Mark Cuban is one of the best owners in American sports today and if any of the teams I was a strong fan of was struggling, would love to see Cuban come in the door of the owner's box to save the day, but Mark, don't go to my hated Cubs! That would break my heart to have to see a guy I root for so hard own a team I root against so hard.

Anyway, on to the opening night commentary now.

It seems like, watching that game last night, there were several critical moments and that most of the critical moments came when the Cardinals were at bat. The Mets had several 2 out base hits and were able to push across 6 runs, 5 against Carpenter. However, these were not the critical plays.

These are:

1) The failed sac-squeeze. The game was 2-0 at the time, and Carpenter's bunt, had it been even 4 feet further up the first base line, probably would have scored Kennedy from third and given the Cardinals some momentum. Instead, the Cardinals failed to score that inning and in the following inning, the Mets put up 3 more runs to make it 5-0.

2) This one is from the Monday-morning quarterback files, but Oquendo choosing to send Eckstein home with 1 out on a base hit by Wilson with Pujols coming to the plate. Obviously, this is a conversation we wouldn't be having if the throw was up the line by 4-5 feet, but since it was damn near a perfect throw to the plate, we are having this discussion. Even with the 5 runs, if these two runs scored, we're talking a 5-2 game, and maybe some momentum would carry in another run.

3) The double play in the 8th that Scott Rolen hit into. It was fairly hard hit, bases loaded, and if it squeaks through, we're talking 2 runs in with either men on 1st and 2nd or depending on where the throw goes, maybe even 2nd and 3rd. Again, this would have been a huge shift in momentum too.

There's 4 runs that the Cardinals basically threw away. Carpenter wasn't his sharpest, and seemed to be overthrowing in that 4th inning, but that doesn't concern me. The concerns for this team are going to be the middle of the lineup after Pujols and the rotation, sans Carpenter. Izzy is a secondary concern for me, because if the rotation can't hold up, Izzy's worth declines quite a bit, healthy or not.

Anyway, it was still awesome to see the banner go up. I almost actually put down the cash to buy tickets on eBay, but I couldn't see myself swinging $100 a ticket(erm, I mean, face value for tickets, plus an additional $100 or so to buy a baseball card valued at $1.50 in the price guides). Maybe if we hadn't just bought a new car and put ourselves in a whole new batch of debt, I could have justified it to myself.

Public Golf Course Etiquette

Ok, we all know the typical etiquette for golf(ok, we don't all know, I guess, but if you care about playing golf, you probably do).

I'm a public golf course kinda guy. As a high school teacher with a law student for a wife, I don't have the cash to throw down to join a country club(yet, anyway).

Here's some rules I think we can all agree on:

1) The rule of course is the furthest person out should hit their ball first. This, of course, should be observed, but if that guy isn't ready, and you're 10 feet closer and on the other side of the fairway, go ahead and hit your ball already! Along with this goes the idea of honors. If your group's best score is a bogey, let whoever's ready go up there and hit. Who cares about honors if your "honors" is over par.

2) Conversation is one of the great parts of golf. It's a sport you can bullshit with your pals almost all throughout the game. Last time out, I played with a guy who, several times, would address the ball, get ready to hit, then remember a story and walk back to us and HAVE TO TELL US THE WHOLE DAMN 3 MINUTE STORY.

Ok, 3 minutes of my life isn't usually an act that should be punishable by caning, but when you address the ball, I don't want to hear another word from you until you've hit the damn thing.

Conversation is best for those long walks down the fairway(or in my case, through the woods).

3) When you play through someone, actually take your time. Everyone who plays on a public course and has played alone knows this rule: When you play through someone, you rush yourself. When you rush yourself, you hit an 80 yard drive into the woods on the left. When you hit an 80 yard drive into the woods on the left, you end up taking 25 minutes to play the straight as an arrow 320 yard par-4 that you should have been able to skate through. We let you play because you were faster than us without rushing. Just take it easy, have a good time and keep playing the same speed. It was the speed that helped you catch up to us, afterall.

4) Last time I was out, I played with this guy.... oh, I already told that story. Anyway, don't pull up from hitting your ball to tell me a three minute story. There's some guy who just played through us that I want to put the pressure on by speeding up and making him choke on the pain in the ass par 3 over water.

5) Don't take everything so damn seriously. If you've got a 40 foot putt and someone else taps in before you and steps on your line, don't get angry. If someone stepping on your line was the difference between you making or missing 40 foot putts on a regular basis, you ought to be on the Tour, not playing golf with my sorry 18 handicap self.

6) If I've never played with you before, don't tell me the story that "I've never played this bad before." We all know you're full of it, and hopefully you've realized that too by now. Anyone who feels it necessary to tell the story about how this is the worst they've ever played every other hole is playing his average round, or perhaps slightly above average.

7) The amount you either spent on golf clubs is not worthy of bringing up unless you are asked. You don't get a merit badge for having spent 5 figures on golf clubs, and you also don't get one for getting a set of $1500 clubs for $.50 and a Blow Pop. If someone asks you where you got your clubs or how much you paid for them, alright, then they asked for it, and deserve the whole story. Don't bring it up to try to impress people though.

With these simple rules, you too can be a nice guy to play on the public course with. Observe these seven rules and learn how NOT to be the guy everyone talks about behind his back.

On a separate note: How about the Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals! Up 1 game to 0 over the Padres with the big road win.

Award Season Updates

Chris Carpenter and Albert Pujols are potentially on the verge of history. According to Matthew Leach, MLB's beat writer for the Cardinals, the teammates could be the first teammates in history to win the awards two years in a row. A few times before has a team held both the MVP and Cy Young back to back years, but never the same exact players.

However, neither player is a lock for the award, and could possibly be considered an underdog.

Chris Carpenter seems the more likely to repeat. While he's had a very good season, it's not the season of a typical Cy Young candidate. Rob Neyer wrote an Insider article on ESPN.com about this, and the last 5 starters to win the Cy Young without 20 wins all had something else to blow away the voters. Whether it be an astounding win percentage(Clemens - 18-4 in 2004), massive K totals(347 by Randy Johnson in 2000), or an absolutely filthy ERA(1.74 ERA by Martinez also in 2000). This year the NL crop of pitchers just hasn't been that impressive. And Chris Carpenter and Brandon Webb seem to be the kings of the very short hill this year.

Projected out, Neyer reports that their seasons will likely look like this:

Carpenter: 16-7, 2.84, 186 K's
Webb: 16-7, 3.00, 167 K's

Obviously the last month will be big. Whoever pitches better between these two should win it, or if they both collapse, maybe Bud Selig will intervene and give Johan Santana TWO Cy Young Awards this year.

On the other side, Pujols has more of an uphill battle. As Jayson Stark wrote, the NL MVP is a two-man race, and Ryan Howard is currently leading by a slight margin. I have to believe with his numbers(56 HRs, 139 RBI so far), that he is the leader, and by most articles out there, he is.

It's hard to believe someone likely to hi 60 and 150 in the power numbers could lose, but with Albert Pujols chasing him, it is possible. Pujols is still leading in OPS(although only slightly now - 1.097 to 1.093) and has him in many "clutch" categories. Pujols has the most game winning hits in the NL, and has the most game-winning home runs as well. With runnings in scoring position, Howard is very pedestrian, even below average at .248, whereas Pujols is batting .389 in the same situations.

Pujols also has awesome stats in the power categories(45 and 120), but that just isn't the same as 56 and 139.

The last month will be crucial, but right now it definitely looks like Carpenter will hold up his end, but Pujols will likely be outslugged by the "freak show," as Howard is called by his teammates during BP.