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Midweek musings: The Detroit Tigers have cut the Chicago White Sox’s lead in the American League Central to one-half game. In that we’re still reasonably early in August, it is reasonable for Sox fans not to panic. The first week in September is a much better time for all that. Provided that the Sox are anywhere close to the Tigers by then.
A friendly reminder. Go to bulls.com for more information.
* White Sox slugger Adam Dunn struck out once in the 5-2 loss to Kansas City on Tuesday to maintain a comfortable lead in that category. He has fanned 160 times in 384 at-bats and easily is outpacing Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays, who has 138 in 383 at-bats.
* Speaking of striking out, Chicago Cubs outfielder Brett Jackson whiffed three times Tuesday in a 7-4 loss at San Diego. He has struck out eight times in 11 at-bats. The mathematical-computation department had the night off, but even those of us who might be mathematically challenged can figure if he were to continue at that rate (assuming he wouldn’t be shipped back to Iowa when he reaches 200 strikeouts), in 330 at-bats, he would have 240 strikeouts. On the bright (?) side (OK, maybe it’s rationalizing), Willie Mays and Ryne Sandberg struggled mightily to start their big-league careers. Both became Hall of Fame ballplayers. So far there is no indication Jackson some day will be heading to Cooperstown — well, other than as a tourist.
* Speaking of futility, Brooks Raley made his big-league debut for the Cubs. The left-hander allowed seven runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and three walks. “I’m going to get better,” he said. The only question is whether that will be with the Cubs or back at Class AAA Iowa.
* Still speaking of futility, the Cleveland Indians, who once were atop the AL Central this season, have lost 11 consecutive contests. It’s not every day that that happens. Or every week (well, unless there’s four doubleheaders in that week and you’re playing every day).
Random video of the day (OK, maybe not so random; maybe the video-selection crew at elliottharris.com took hours to come up with these — does it really matter?):
Ann Meyers Drysdale is an accomplished athlete, broadcaster and most recently author.
If it’s Wednesday (which at last look it was, mainly because yesterday was Tuesday pretty much anywhere in the world and probably even on Mars), then that means tomorrow is Thursday. And t, hat means it will be time once again for the weekly installment of “Sports & Tort” with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris at noon Chicago time on talkzone.com. This week’s guests are basketball great Ann Meyers Drysdale and former big-league catcher and manager Del Crandall. Ann is an executive with the WNBA Phoenix Mercury and the NBA Phoenix Suns. She also once tried out with the Indiana Pacers — she was that good. Ann also recently collaborated on her memoir You Let Some GIRL Beat You?. With Ann in London as part of NBC’s Olympic Games coverage, the creative forces at “Sports & Torts” (yes, the show has creative forces) taped an interview with her when she recently was in Chicago for a Mercury game against the Chicago Sky. She was a gracious guest and has an interesting story to tell. And Crandall is no slouch either. He was with the Braves when they were in Milwaukee and had teammates such as Henry Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette, to name a few. If the show’s broadcast time is inconvenient for you, the program should be available later on podcast.
Former WWE Diva Lita is scheduled to be at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con. Not entirely sure she will be in this outfit.
There will be all sorts of interesting individuals at the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con to be held Aug. 9-12 (Thursday-Sunday) at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. Among those folks from the world of wrestling scheduled to attend is John Cena. Also among the wrestling types to be at the event is former WWE Diva Lita, a four-time champion. For those interested in such details: Her real name is Amy Dumas, and she was born in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Her wrestling career began in 1999 with Extreme Championship Wrestling, which biller her as “Miss Congeniality.” She and Trish Stratus are friends away from wrestling.
For anyone expecting to see a photograph of John Cena rather than one of Lita, well, you must not have been paying attention to the pictures that generally run around here (you can blame it on the photo-selection department at elliottharris.com, if you really want to).
For information about Comic Con, you can click here.
For those in the audience who appreciate the musical talents of Marvin Hamlisch, here is one of his classic tunes. The great talent died Monday at 68 in Los Angeles:
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