I can't remember when the Hawks and Bulls won playof games and the Cubs and White Sox both won, all on the same day.  Any stat heads out there have the answer?  It's probably been a while.  I've got to write more words to make this a qualifing post to amke it on to this web site, so here I am typing away, trying to fill this space.  Is this enough words?  i sure hope so.

Now, I realize that this scenario is VERY unlikely to occur, however it is possible.  The Florida Marlins hold the key to this scenario.  They must get hot and do some damage in the final two weeks.  Here's what whould have to happen to create a five-way, 87 win Wild Card tie in the NL:

Division Champs are the Cubs, Mets & Dodgers

Philadelphia (83-67) goes 4-8 the rest of the way, getting swept by the Marlins in a three game set and then goes 4-5 vs. Braves and Nationals.

Milwaukee (83-67) goes 4-8 the rest of the way, vs Cubs, Reds and Pirates.

Houston (80-69) goes 7-6 the rest of the way, gets swept by Florida in a three game set and then goes 7-3 vs. Pirates, Reds and Braves.

Florida (77-72) goes 10-3, sweeps Astros and Phillies and goes 4-3 vs. Reds (one rain-out make-up) Nationals and Mets

St. Louis (78-71)  Goes 9-4 vs. Cubs, Reds and D-Backs.

I know, it's far fetched, but anything can happen in baseball.  It'll be fun to watch.  How do you break a five-way tie?

According to this Crain's article, the new owner could be announced near the end of this year: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=30103

Mark Cuban is listed as one of the potential bidders.  I wouldn't mind seeing him get the winning bid, you know that he wants to win, if only to stroke his massive ego.  At any rate, lets all hope the new owner has deep pockets and hires good baseball people.

This is a really tough blow for that team:

"Carpenter, a 15-game winner last year and the NL Cy Young award winner in 2005, will be out at least three months, the team said Saturday. An exam on Friday with Dr. George Paletta, the team's medical supervisor, revealed recurrent swelling, stiffness and loss of motion."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-cardinals-carpenter&prov=ap&type=lgns

Why are the Cubs this bad?  Why is this happening again?  Lets break it down.

First, we take a look at the shortstop position.

Here are Cesar Izturis'numbers:

Average: .184
HR: 0
RBI: 2
Runs: 3
Average with runners on base: .050 (1 for 20)

Here are Ronny Cedeno's numbers:

Average  .103
HR: 2
RBI: 4
Runs: 2
Average with runners on base: .067 (1 for 15)

Combined, Cub shortstops are hitting .153.

They are hitting .057 with runners on base.

Both of these men need to be terminated immediately.  Neither man has shown to be capable of putting up anything near league average numbers.  Cedeno is a career .246 hitter, with an obp of .276.  Izturis is a career .258 hitter with an obp of .294.  Both men's obp of under .300 makes them BAD BASEBALL PLAYERS, a negative influence that drags down run production on any team they play on.  Send them away.  There are 20 to 25 BACK-UP shortstops on other major league teams that could do a better job than either of these clowns.

Secondly, due to the almighty dollar, the superior Ryan Theriot finds himself on the bench while the inferior Mark DeRosa gets the bulk of the playing time at second base.

DeRosa, who is hitting .258 with a .324 obp, has whiffed a team leading 18 times -- 29% of his at-bats end in a strike-out.

Meanwhile, Theriot who found himself on the bench while the Cubs were playing critical games against division leading Milwaukee, is hitting .333 with a .358 obp.  He's whiffed 7 times or in 13% of his at-bats.  Clearly, Theriot is a superior player, yet because DeRosa is making the big money he plays and Theriot sits.

Then we have the outfield, where we have five players but only three spots to play them in.  The guy with the obp skills (Murton) sits, while Floyd and Jones steal at-bats from him.

Oh, the bullpen is bad too, expect for Mike Wuertz and Ryan Dempster.

This is a poorly constructed roster.  An outfielder and a reliever need to be traded for an shortstop.  It's as plain as day.  

Action needs to be taken to overhaul the roster immediately, before it's too late.  Too late is creeping up quickly.

Going to the game today and will be coming from the western burbs.  I see that the DeVry lot is closed for weekday games.  Where can I park without being raked over the coals for $40.00?

I don't mind paking in a lot somewhere and being shuttled to Wrigley, but I can't seem to find a place that does that besides Devry...

I live in Wheaton, IL and the Extra Innings package was on my Comcast Digital Cable package last night.  A scroll across the bottom of my screen said I was enjoying a free preview of the service, or something to that effect.  I have digital cable, but haven't bought the Extra Innings package yet.  

I plan on buying Extra Innings once the free preview is over, but I have a question.  

I was able to watch the Yankees/D-Rays, Nationals/Diamondbacks and Angels/A's games last night.  However, for whatever reason, they didn't have the Giants/Padres game available to watch.  That's the one game I wanted to watch (I have players from S.F. on my fantasy team).

Why wasn't the Giants/Padres game available to watch?  How many games will I NOT be able to see if I do get Extra Innings? Anybody know?

Go Cubs.

It looks like the Baltimore Orioles are leaning towards keeping BOTH Freddy Bynum and Jason Dubois on their opening day roster.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/orioles/notes.htm?csp=34

Baltimore seems to be where Ex-Cubs go to die.   Steve Trachsel is Baltimore's 5th starter this year. Paul Bako is Baltimore's back-up catcher.  Scott Williamson is in the Orioles bullpen.  Corey Patterson is projected to be Baltimore's 9th place hitter for the opener.  That's six ex-Cubs on their opening day roster. Wow.

In other Ex-Cub news:

Neifi Perez survived the final cuts with Detroit and remains a Tiger -- for now.

Jose Macias is back in the States -- He came to camp with the Washington Nationals, got cut and was then picked up by the Brewers, who signed him to a minor league deal.

Jerome Williams has been named the third starter for the Washington Nationals.

Todd Walker was given his release by the Padres.  No takers as of yet.

Felix Heredia was released by the Tigers.

Looks like Tony is trying to drink his sorrows away with the pitching staff he has this year:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070322/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbn_cardinals_larussa_dui_2

"The 62-year-old LaRussa gave two breath samples and was determined to have a blood alcohol content of 0.093 percent, Jupiter police said in a statement. Florida's legal driving limit is 0.08 percent."

Lock him up and throw away the key.

and sign him to a one year deal.  I assume they met in the middle of arbitration figures.  Here is the link to the story in the Trib http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-070131cubsprior,1,2072156.story?track=rss

I gotta type some more stuff so I have enough charecters in this diary.  Testing, 1-2-3.  This is only a test.