Thursday thoughts (or as close to thinking as anyone is going to get around here): A one-game sample is too small to make judgments on regarding the Chicago White Sox. But if walking 12 batters — as they did in a 6-4 loss to the visiting Cleveland Indians on Wednesday (Sept. 26) — is the way the pitching staff is going to handle pressure down the stretch for the American League Central title, you won’t have a whole lot of games in that sample size.
* If you think the Sox felt pressure being tied with the Detroit Tigers, it’s difficult to think there is going to be less now that the Sox are one game behind Detroit.
* Wondering which series will be tougher for the Sox: four at home vs. Tampa Bay or a season-ending three at Cleveland. Assuming the Sox still will be battling the TIgers for the division title by the time they reach Cleveland.
* If the Sox have trouble playing before small crowds (20,166 — about half full — was at U.S. Cellular Field for Wednesday’s game. Far fewer fans — of any team — are likely to show up in Cleveland.
* Thanks to a couple of rain delays in Denver, most sane Cubs fans — if that’s not an oxymoron — were sleeping before the Rockies recorded a 6-0 victory. Which means the pressure is on the Cubs, too — if they want to avoid 100 defeats. The Cubs (59-96) need to play better than .500 ball in the final seven games. For most teams, going 4-3 might not be asking much. But you have to remember the No. 2 draft spot is at stake, so there might be an upside to losing 100. Not that the Cubs would lose on purpose.
* A sign that it might be time for Cubs manager Dale Sveum to give second baseman Darwin Barney a rest: two strikeouts in four at-bats Wednesday. He entered the game with 52 strikeouts in 524 at-bats. Barney is tied with rookie outfield Brett Jackson (107 at-bats) for sixth place on the team.
* With the NFL ending its lockout of game officials, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. Until the first blown call by the non-replacement officials.
If it’s Thursday (which seems likely because yesterday was Wednesday and tomorrow is Friday — assuming that you are reading this on Sept. 27 or any subsequent Thursday), then it is time once again for another edition of “Sports & Torts” with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris at noon Chicago time on talkzone.com. The highly acclaimed program (well, it is in the Spada and Harris households and reportedly even elsewhere) will have Lisa Eveleth, a bikini competitor who participated at the recent Midwest Championships in suburban Chicago, and former football star Mike Haynes as the interview guests on the Sept. 27 show.
Here is a brief interview that Lisa was gracious enough to submit to after her success at the Midwest Championships:
And some video from the bikini awards portion of the program:
Speaking of the Midwest Championships, promoted by Stacy Stengel, here is video of a previous “Sports & Torts” guest, Staci Boyer with her fitness routine from the event:
For those of us who can remember when Hula Hoops first hit the market, here is an updated version (much improved from this perspective):
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