Despite Victory, Odds Still Not in White Sox’ Favor

September 29, 2012 @ admin → No Comments

Saturday stat day: With their 3-1 victory Friday (Sept. 28) over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays and Detroit’s 4-2 loss at Minnesota, the Chicago White Sox moved within one game of the American League Central-leading Tigers. Meaning if the Tigers (84-73) go 3-2 in their five remaining games, the Sox need to go 4-1 to tie for the division title. And then go 1-0 in Game No. 163 to reach the postseason. The folks at coolstandings.com have Detroit with a 71.9 percent chance of reaching the postseason. The Sox’ best chance for a postseason berth? A five-game Tigers losing streak. And possbily six.

Amid these facts and figures, let the record show that Playboy magazine is featuring Girls of the Big Ten in its October 2012 issue.

* With their 8-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Chicago Cubs are 0-17 vs. the National League West this season. The odds are in their favor to win one, no? No. The odds would seem in the Cubs’ favor to lose 100 games for the first time since 1966. Well, unless you expect the Cubs (59-98) to go 4-1 to close out the season.

* One of the Cubs’ few highlights, second baseman Darwin Barney’s errorless streak, ended with a bad eigth-inning throw. Which means Barney tied Placido Polanco (2007) for the major-league record for consecutive errorless games at second. And you probably thought there wasn’t much pressure on a Cubs player this late in a season. Hah!

* The Cubs set a record for road losses with their 57th (22-57). The Cubs went 21-56 away from Wrigley Field in 1956. And you probably thought the Cubs wouldn’t be setting any records this season.

* So what do Cubs fans have to look forward to? You mean other than the end of the season? Well, there’s the battle for the team title in batting average. For Cubs hitters with 300 or more at-bats, Anthony Rizzo leads at .287 to Starlin Castro’s .285. Yes, the end of the season can’t come soon enough.

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Nathalia Melo is the winner of the Ms. Bikini title at the Olympia in Las Vegas.

Congratulations to the folks in Las Vegas who are enjoying the Olympia competition. The winner of the Ms. Bikini competition is Nathalia Melo. If the travel budget at elliottharris.com had been handled more carefully earlier in the year, there might have been sufficient funding to send someone (namely the person typing these words at 4 a.m. Saturday) to Vegas to provide photos and videos of the sights and scenes from the event that features figure, fitness, bikini, model, bodybuilding and other excitment.

As it is, we do have video of Nathalia. It’s not from her 2012 triumph, but it’s might merit a glance for those willing to take a little time away from watching football or whatever else you might be doing.

If video becomes available from the Olympia, you can rest assured that at least some of it will find its way to this site. Hey, the editorial staff at elliottharris.com likes to think of it as a public service. That seems more than reasonable, don’t you think? No need to answer the question, thank you.