Bears’ Bennett Back ; Cubs, Sky Win; Sox Fall

August 11, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Monday meanderings: The Chicago Bears welcomed tight end Martellus Bennett back from a brief suspension for “conduct detrimental to the team.” If coach Marc Trestman and team management really wanted to punish him, wouldn’t they have had him play substantial minutes in the exhibition opener vs. Philadelphia?

Video below of Victoria’s Secret model Lily Aldridge.

* Speaking of the Eagles, there’s video of their 2014 cheerleaders below. The NFL should let visiting teams’ cheerleaders attend road games when the home team (as in the Bears) have no squad. Either that, or make cheerleaders mandatory for all teams. Hey, the NFL is about uniformity (skimpy and otherwise).

* Anthony Rizzo drives in the winning run for a 3-2 Chicago Cubs victory vs. the Tampa Bay Rays in 12 innings at Wrigley Field. It doesn’t get much better than that for Cubs fans. And the Cubs move to within three games — of being .500 at home. They are 26-29 at Wrigley and 50-66 overall (for those who might be too giddy with a one-game winning streak).

* Speaking of the Cubs, second baseman Javier Baez went 2-for-6 with only two strikeouts. He did commit an error, his second of the season. Meaning he has one more home run than he does errors in six games with the Cubs. Just guessing the Cubs are hoping for a greater ratio of homers to errors. Baez also has more errors than he does walks. Mainly because he has zero — as in no, none, nada — walks. For those concerned about on-base percentage.

* It’s far too easy to focus on the strikeouts that Baez is accumulating. So, naturally, that’s what we will do. In six games, he has 12 in 29 at-bats. Meaning he is striking out 41 percent of the time and homering once every 9.7 at-bats. If he can homer that frequently, chances are the Cubs won’t worry about the whiffs.

* The Cubs used 20 players in the game, including seven who pitched, in the game. Guess manager Rick Renteria is warming up for September when big-league rosters expand.

* Speaking of September, it can’t come soon enough for some White Sox fans who have endured an up-and-down season. OK, mainly down. The latest downer was a 4-2 loss at Seattle. John Danks (9-8) allowed the four runs as his earned-run averaged reached 4.96. His brother Jordan struck out to end the game with the bases loaded. On the bright (?) side, Jordan did go 2-for-4 to boost his batting average — to .130. Yeah, not so bright.

* The Sox do remain in the fight to avoid the basement in the American League Central. The Sox (56-63) are 2 1/2 games ahead of last-place Minnesota. The Sox also have a better record than the National League Central cellar dwelling Cubs (50-66). Any more consolation than that for Sox fans is going to require more analysis than this site is going to provide on a Sunday night (or early Monday).

* With an 80-69 victory at home against the Atlanta Dream, the Chicago Sky kept its dreams of a WNBA playoff berth alive. Allie Quigley led the Sky (14-17) with 17 points. Last season’s rookie of the year, Elena Delle Donne, came off the bench to score 15 points in 21 minutes. Center Sylvia Fowles had 13 points and 15 rebounds. Rookie guard Jamierra Faulkner had 14 points and six assists, and Epiphanny Prince had 13 points. The Sky is tied for third in the Eastern Conference with the top four teams reaching the postseason. Conference leader Atlanta (17-14) has lost five in a row. With guard Courtney Vandersloot returning from knee injury, the Sky may be a more formidable foe in the postseason than it has been for much of the regular season when injury and illness have been a problem.

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