Around Here: Good Things About Eliminations, Flu Shot, Raking Pine Straw and Lawn Tractor Problems

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14

Well, one good thing about the Sox being eliminated from the playoffs (and the Brewers were also eliminated last night), I no longer have to make a special effort to watch any of the playoff games anymore.  I will watch parts of them as I get a chance to, but not all the games.  Plus, had the Sox gone to the World Series and won, there is a considerable savings on souvenirs of the event.

I got my regular flu shot for the second straight year,  I didn't get them for many years as I taught school and was around so many kids that I had built up quite an immunity, but the last several years I had been really sick with the flu for a couple weeks at a shot, so, hey, I'll take the shot.

Put up some more Halloween lights.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15

I did a lot of pine straw raking (free mulch) around the east and west pine islands and picked up a whole lot of limbs and sticks in the arboretum area in preparation of cutting the grass.  Sadly, I couldn't get the lawn tractor started and will have to have it worked on again.  It is now 28years old and perhaps even a John Deere doesn't run forever.  This is the third problem this year so it may be time to get another one.

--RoadDog

Around Here: Sad Sox Eliminated, No Civil War Round Table, Donovan's Reef and German Fest at Stucky's

TUESDAY. OCTOBER 12

I had two big things to do today.  Originally just one, but yesterday's Sox-Astros ALDS game was rained out and rescheduled for today.  I also already had a McHenry County Civil War Round Table meeting at Woodstock Public Library, the first in person one since the virus hit at 7 pm.  The Sox game was in the afternoon.

We went to Sunnyside Tavern in Johnsburg to watch the Sox game which was my big mistake.  The Sox got off to a 1-0 lead, but then the bats went silent and any mistake the Sox made, the Astros scored.  They were especially good at scoring with two outs which happened quite a few times.  That is the mark of a good team.

And, out pitching collapsed again as well.  The result was a 9-1 loss and elimination from the playoffs.  To say the least, I was in no shape to drive the 17 miles to Woodstock for the round table meeting.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13

We went to Donovan's Reef in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin and played trivia with Uncle Jeffie.  Afterwards, I went to Stucky's in Johnsburg, Illinois, and had their Wednesday special, the German Fest 4-course dinner which included beef goulash, bratwurst balls & sauce, hunter's pork chops and Black Forest cake for $13.50.  As usual, Chef Deb put out a great spread.

--Eins, Zwei, Drei.  --RoadHund

Thanks for a Fun Season Chicago White Sox

They gave their best shot, but those Astros were just too good.  I found out that this will be their fifth straight trip to the American League Championship Series.  And you could sure see it.  Make a mistake and they crucified you.  

That third inning especially yesterday.  Rodon hit the first batter, then walked the next two.  I immediately said the Astros were going to score at least two, which they immediately did.  That 2-1 lead proved to be all they needed.  

After the Sox beat them 12-6 Sunday in the game that seemed like it would never end, Sox bats went silent.  This was something the Sox had been doing regularly the last two months of the season.

But, I see a real fun year coming next season and they can use the experience in this playoff series to help base them for the next.

And, of course, I have to apologize to them for writing about the games in advance.  Whenever I do that for any of the teams I back, that essentially amounts to a kiss of death.

Oh, well.  At least I now have a lot more free time and I saved a lot of money buying souvenirs.  I will watch the rest of the MLB playoff, now that the Brewers are also out, at my convenience.  No must-watch games.

Oh yes, back in 2005, the White Sox swept the Astros in the World Series.  Just saying.

--RoadSad

And, Yet Another Futile Effort on the Part of the Bad / Sad Sox

Now down two games to nothing in a best of five series.  The season should be over tomorrow night.  Everything I feared the Six would do, is exactly what they're doing.  

Then there is that Craig Kembrel. Sure hope that arm-hanger is gone by next year.  He comes in with the Sox down by a run and then suddenly they are down my five runs.

The Astros take advantage of every mistake the Sox make.  In one inning the Sox walked three straight Astros and two scored to tie it.

And, I didn't like the fact that the game was televised just on the MLB network which we don't get.

Well, one good thing about a quick out for the Sox is that it frees up time for me.  With them gone, I don't HAVE to watch or listen to any more baseball games.  Plus, I won't have to buy stuff that I would had the Sox won the World Series.

--RoadSad

Well, the Bad Sox/Sad Sox Showed Up Yesterday

Watched the entire game at a local watering hole and it was hard.  Sox pitcher Lynn didn't have his stuff and the Sox couldn't buy a hit there in the first six innings.

Of course, par of the problem was me putting the whammy on them by writing about them in this blog.  I guess I have to then take part of the blame.

But, at least the Sox got their act together at the end of the season and won five games in a row before losing the last one.  It reminds me of 2005, when the Sox won the World Series where they won five games in a row at the end of the season and then went through the playoff with a 11-1 run.

It was kind of bad that they were not threatened by any of the other Central Division AL teams and won so easily.

Well.  Good Luck Today.  --RoadSox

So, Which White Sox Team Will Show Up Today (A Sox Fan Worries)

In just a little bit, the Chicago White Sox will be starting their playoff game against the Houston Astros.

And, the big question is, which Sox team are we going to see.  Is it going to be the good one or the bad one.  If it is the bad one, it will be three and done.  And, there is no way of knowing which we will be getting until after the game gets underway.

The Sox can be unbelievably impressive at times and such a waste at others.  They can beat a team by ten runs and then lose the next four games by one run each.  Their pitching can be brilliant or I can't watch.  Relief is even a bigger question, especially with the Hendricks and Kimbrel.  Either brilliant or like throwing gas on the fire.

Now, I know I just put a whammy on the team by writing about it, but I just had too.

One thing I know, is that perhaps the team should be renamed the Chicago Hispanic Sox (sure are a lot of Hispanic names) or the Chicago Gold Chains (it seems most of the players always have those gold chains out bouncing around).

Plus, more than a few of the players require an interpreter when they speak to the media.  Looks like if you have been in the U.S. for several or more years, you ought to learn how to speak the language especially with how much money you're earning.

Any, just a few thoughts before the playoffs begin.

Go You White Sox and Bring It Back to Comiskey Park.  --RoadSox

About That Almost Perfect Game That I Saw at Comiskey Park in 1983-- Part 1

In 1983, a buddy of mine and I bought a special White Sox ticket package where we got to see 20 games during the season, plus were guaranteed tickets to the 1983 All-Star game which was held at Comiskey and also we had tickets to any post season games (and that turned out to be a real good buy because the Sox did go to the playoffs before they broke my heart, but that is another story).

Anyway, Wednesday I was thinking about that game for some reason earlier in the day while I was online and I did a search and found a great account of the game.  "Remembering Milt Wilcox's Near-Perfect  Game in 1983" by Dan Holmes in Vintage Detroit Collection.  That sure brought the memories back to an April freezing night some 38 years earlier.

As a matter of fact, this magical game was on April 15, 1983.  Carlos Rodon's was on April 14, 2021.

Coincidence?

Yep, this was another near-perfect game and back then it was for Detroit pitcher Milt Wilcox against my beloved Sox.  From the 7th inning on, I became a big Detroit fan, especially for a guy named Milt.

--RoadMilt

This Should Be a Sports Axiom: Save Some of Your Runs

After the last couple months, I would have to put these two likely axioms in play for sports.

Blowing Out Your Opponents Just Means That You'll Be Losing Some Close Games in the Future.

The Chicago Cubs blew out the Pittsburgh Pirates three straight games in September as they were fighting for a post season berth.  The scores were 17-8, 14-1 and 16-6.  Sure, we enjoyed those.  And they even won the next game, beating Cincinnati 8-2.

BUT:  Then came the nine game losing streak with five straight games lost by just one run.

4-2, 3-2 (10 innings), 5-4 (10 innings), 2-1, 9-8 and 3-2.  Cubs out of playoffs.

And, the St. Louis Cardinals blew Atlanta out in that one NLDS game and then lost four straight to the Nationals to bow out of the World Series.

Moral to the Story:  Save some of those runs.

Ain't It the Truth.  --RoadScore

Who Was That Daniel Murphy Who So Ran Over Us This Week?

Everyone was wondering who this guy was and what he has against the hapless Cubs.  To say he is having an extraordinary playoff rub is quite the understatement.  This guy killed us and had no remorse whatsoever.

I had to look him up and find out more about him.  I knew nothing of him.  He has been playing baseball with the Mets since 2008 and is a good hitter with his lifetime .288 batting average.  What was surprising to me, though, is that in that time he has hit only 62 home runs.  That's an average of almost nine homers a season (he did not play in 2010).

He hit four home runs, one every game, against us.  And has seven total in the playoffs.

This season was his highest home run output with 14.  His regular season stats:  140 hits in 499 at bats, 14 homers, 73 RBI and a .281 batting average.

So far in the 2015 playoffs:  16 hits in 38 at bats, 7 homers, 11 RBI and .421 batting average.

Major League Career Stats:  422 hits in 3354 at bats, 62 homers and a .288 batting average.

Home Run Totals:

2008--  2
2009--  12
2011--  6
2012--  6
2013--  13
2014--  9
2015--  14

Wednesday night he went 4 for 5 with two singles, a double and his mandatory home run.

Where's His White Horse?  --RoadSadDog

A Better Way to Have the Major League Baseball Wild Card Playoff

How about having a best of three series.  The National League one-game playoff will be this Wednesday, something that folks around here (Chicagoland) are mighty excited about for some reason.

I'd say it would be better to start the games today and play home, away, home for the team with the better record.

Something to Think About for Next Year.  --RoadDog


YOGI-ISMS:  The towels were so thick I could hardly close my suitcase.

Baseball...Now That I Don't Much Care

Since neither the White Sox or Cubs (or even the Brewers), the three teams I pull for in MLB, made the playoffs (well, they could have made it in reverse, both ending in last place in their respective divisions and in a race to see who could be worse-- the Sox were), I don't much care who wins. Other than the fact that it WON'T BE THE YANKEES!!! As long as they don't make it, that is alright with me.

Actually, I was pulling for the Oakland A's and Pittsburgh Pirates since both rank with the "loser" category, something I can definitely identify with (the Pirates have had twenty straight losing seasons and the A's can't get folks into their park).

I guess now, I'll back the local Midwest teams, Detroit and St. Louis. I actually like the Cardinals (especially when they had baseball's best manager, Tony LaRussa (who also managed the Sox to success back in the 80s) but they are getting too much like the Yankees, winning all the time like that.

Go Tigers and Cardinals. --RoadDog

White Sox 1983, White Sox 2013: What a Difference!

What a difference 30 years makes. Yesterday, the Sox "wrapped up" a 99-game losing season to end their 2013 season. Well, at least Peavey's gone. Other than one game, I don't think they scored more than nine runs in their last ten games. Mighty sad.

Looking back at my 1983 journal, on October 2nd, I wrote "The Sox closed out their season with a victory and won more games than anyone else, 99."

Let's see, 1983, 99 wins and 2013, 99 losses.

As bad as the Sox were this year, at least it wasn't a late season free-fall like last year when the Sox led most of the season, before a late September collapse and that pales even when compared to the 1967 season, when, with five games left in the season, the Sox were in first and playing the two worst teams in the American League, the Washington Senators (now Texas Rangers) and the Kansas City A's (now Oakland A's). All they had to do was win three games to clinch it. They lost all five to finish 4th in the American League.

This killed me for baseball even worse than the better-known '69 Cubs collapse. Just to show it was no fluke, the Sox opened the '68 season with ten straight losses.

Just Saying. --RoadDog

So, What's with the Twins Against the Yankees? (Or, What Do the Twins Have Against the Sox?)

I had to sit through a season where those pesky Twins absolutely dominated the White Sox in 2010. If they got a man in base with two outs, he scored. Id a great play had to be made, it was. If a Twins pitcher needed a great outing, he got it.

Then there was that last-ditch, must sweep series against the Twins in September where a sweep did occur, only it was those TCers (or Twinkies as the Hawk calls 'em) swept us. Then, to prove it was no fluke, the Sox got swept by the Tigers in three straight. Our season record against Minnesota was 5-13.

Then, the Twins play the Yankees in the ALDS. Too bad the Twins could not have imagined the Yankees in Sox uniforms then they would have done better.

They got swept 6-4, 5-2 and 6-1 in a series described as having" all the suspense of a public execution."

On top of that, from 2004-2010, the Yankees have now won nine straight post season games from Minnesota, that's three straight ALDS series.

That ties the Yankees for third for all time most consecutive wins versus an opponent in post season history:

11 Red Sox over Angels 1986-2008
10 Athletics over Red Sox 1988-2003
9 Yankees over Twins 2004-2010
9 Yankees over Rangers 1996-1999

And the Yankees play the Rangers next.

Somebody's Got to Beat Dem Bums. --RoadDog


SENIOR PERKS: People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

White Sox Vs. Cubs in World Series-- Part 2

While on vacation, I picked up the October 3rd USA Today which had a great front page article on the Cubs and Sox before the roof caved in.

"For Chicago baseball fans, two sides to the story" by Mike Dodd and Judy Keen.

I back the Cubs, UNLESS THEY PLAY THE SOX!!! Sox fan first, Cubs second.

The article says that the Cubs are known as a white-collar fan's team and its been 100 years since their last world championship and haven't been to a World Series since 1945.

The Sox are a blue-collar team whose 88-year-championship drought ended in 2005. They had last been in a World Series in 1959.

Representatives of baseball's two-team areas (NY City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) had made the same playoffs nine times since 1999. The last intercity World Series was New York in 2000.

I was hoping the Sox would be hot after they had lost first place in the last two weeks of the season, and had to win their last three games, including a make-up and playoff one to win the AL Central Division. That is how they went into the 2005 playoffs with a five game winning streak and then cruised to a 11-1 record to win it all. But, the Rays were pretty hot themselves.

The Cubs won the NL Central easily and had the best record in the National League.

Oh, Well, There's Always Next Year. --RoadDog

Sox Out, All My Teams Lost in DC, Northwestern 5-0

Sad to report that the White Sox went down to defeat by the Tampa Bay Rays 3 games to 1. Wait until next year, but no one expected them to do as well as they did. Now, the Cubs on the other hand....

Milwaukee and the Angels also lost. This is good in a way as now I don't have to make an effort to watch the league championships and then there's all the money I'll save by not having to buy mementos. AND, I DIDN'T Have to wear that Cubs hat!!!

Reckon I'll pull for Tampa Bay since this is the first time they've been there.

I just saw that not only Vanderbilt is 5-0 and ranked, but also the Vandy of the Big Ten (Eleven Actually) Northwestern is 5-0 and ranked. Not everything is bad.

All Lose, All Lose, Well, Not All. --RoadDog

Sad Times in Chicago for Baseball Fans

Things are not going well at all for our Chicago baseball teams. Definitely looked like something was afoot when both teams got to the playoffs for the first time since 1906. However, unfortunately, that appears to be as far as it is to go as both teams are down in their best-of-five series, 2 games to 0.

Making it worse, neither team really showed up to play in either game.

At least, it was exciting to see the Sox win their last three games to clinch the AL Central. That was do or die. But now, it's all die. Those were some really sorry efforts.

Well, At Least I'll Have More Time to Do Things. --RoadDog

Two First Place Baseball Teams

Well, here it is the beginning of September, the last month of the season, and Chicago has a clear rarity, two FIRST PLACE MLB teams: the Sox and the Cubs.

I am a Cub fan UNLESS they play the SOX. Of the two, I'd have to say the Cubs are the better team and personally I doubt that the Sox will get to the World Series to play the Cubs (that is, if the curse doesn't kick in). After watching Tampa Bay and the Boston these past two weekends, they are easily better than the Sox.

BUT, We Can Hope, Anyway. Go Sox, Go Cubs. --RoadDog

Da Cubs, Three and Out, Maybe They Pay TOO Much

Da Cubs were like Da Bears during the first quarter of the Packer game Sunday night. In the NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks, there was nothing, then three and out. Three straight losses.

Well, at least I don't have to wear that Cubs hat. I told my friends that I would actually wear it if the Cubs got to the World Series. That is no longer a problem. I have never, to my knowledge, worn anything with Cubs on it. I do pull for the lads, though. They are my second favorite team. Da Sox are my favorite and the less said about this past season for them, the better.

An article in the Sunday Chicago Tribune by Dave Van Dyck compared what the Cubs and Diamondbacks paid for their players. Contracts for Arizona's 25 man roster totalled about $35 million, including $7 million to Saturday's winning pitcher Livan Hernandez. Their starting eight on Saturday earned a total of less than $14 million, led by Eric Byrnes' $4.5 million. Five players were making less than $400,000 each (the major league minimum is $380,000.

In comparison, Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez combines for $30 million.

Then again, there's the New York Yankees who were eliminated last night by the Indians. You want to talk about a group of high salaries that under perform.  That is definitely alright with me as I really, really don't like those guys.

Plus, it seems like whenever the Cubs give out a super-salary, it backfires. Look at Carlos Zambrano this year after his big pay day. Then, last season, Derrek Lee was injured shortly after his big contract. Then, there was always Kerry Woods and Mark Prior's huge contracts that fizzled. Talk about your getting paid for nothing.

There was an interesting article about sites all Cub fans should visit while in Chicago. It is on my other blog at http://www.roaddogsroadlog.blogspot.com/ .

Well, I Suppose There's Always NEXT Year. --RoadDog
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