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Sunday smorgasbord: For some reason, splitting doubleheaders tends to feel better when your team wins the second game. In the case of the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, they lost the second games after winning the first Saturday. Which means both teams still have the same won-lost record. Oh, joy. Or as much joy as 61-75 brings.
* Based on a small sample size (OK, based on Saturday’s results), the Cubs and Sox would be better off playing doubleheaders (provided that they split them). Yeah, never mind.
Video below of Brazil’s Priscila Pires.
* On the bright side for the Sox, they did defeat Max Scherzer in their opener with Chris Sale the winning pitcher despite allowing three first-inning runs. Sale struck out 13 in seven innings (113 pitches) in the 6-3 victory. He tied the team record for double-digit strikeout games with Ed Walsh. Sale accomplished the feat in 81 starts to the 295 it took Walsh. Meaning Sale did it about 3.5 times quicker. Then again, something says batters strike out about 3.5 time more today than they did when Walsh was pitching for the Sox (1904-16).
* On the bright side for the Cubs, they hit three home runs — by Starlin Castro, Logan Watkins and Chris Valaika — in a 5-1 victory in the opener. The Cubs had zero home runs in the second game, a 13-2 loss. If I didn’t know better, I’d be on the lookout for a trend developing with that.
* Speaking of the Sox (we were a couple of graphs ago, trust me), they traded outfielder Alejandro De Aza to Baltimore for two minor-league pitchers. Meaning Sox fans who still want to complain about his defense will have to watch Orioles games.
* Ex-Sox player of the day: San Francisco Giants pitcher Jake Peavy had a no-hitter for 7 1/3 innings and departed one out later in a 3-1 victory at home against the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the first time in his career that he took a no-hitter into the eighth.
* For those of us who stayed up to watch the conclusion of the Wisconsin-Louisiana State football game, the Badgers did look good early in the season opener in Houston. Not much late, however, as LSU rallied from a 24-7 deficit for a 28-24 victory. Badgers appear to need a quarterback who can pass the ball. As far as watching from the sofa, a matchup such as that is preferable to seeing some small-time school playing a team from a major conference.
* Speaking of college football (particularly the Big 10), Northwestern lost at home to Cal 31-24. Putting a damper on the Wildcats’ hopes for a national title. Illinois won at home 28-17 against Youngstown State. Meaning the Illini’s chances of winning a national title are pretty much what they were before the game — except they now have a 1-0 record.
* Still speaking of college football, once upon a time if you wanted to know who won Saturday night’s game at Hawaii, you had to wait for the Monday papers. Let the record show No. 25 Washington prevailed 17-16 at Honolulu. For folks who have grown up with immediate access to information, good for you. But somehow having to wait provided a cosmic connection to generations past when news delivery was far slower. And, yes, this is being typed late at night (early morning actually).
* The Chicago Sky lost its WNBA Eastern Conference finals opener 77-70 to the host Indiana Fever. Just guessing when one team (the Sky) goes 1-for-8 from three-point range and the other (let me see, I’ll bet it’s the Fever) goes 9-for-21, one team is playing better perimeter defense — not to mention moving the ball around better on offense. Game 2 in the best-of-three series is Monday at 3 p.m. at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.
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