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.Random thoughts while wondering what bothers Chicago White Sox management more — losing to the Houston Astros (who have the worst record in baseball) or hearing reports that the Astros will lead the big leagues in profitabilty at $99 million this year:
It’s full-time status for Jen Lada at Comcast SportsNet.
* There seems an excellent chance the Astros (44-86) will lose at leas 100 games this season, If they go 18-14, they reach 100. And a team wih a 44-86 record is going to close out the season by playing better than .500 baseball. Very unlikely.
* Speaking of being unlikely, it would seem unlikely for the Sox (54-76) and Cubs (55-76) that both would lose 100 games. Or even one, although you never know. The mathematical computation department around here estimates the Sox need to conclude the season by going 9-23 and the Cubs 8-23 to avoid reaching 100 defeats. Which would seem a reachable goal — assuming the teams stil have goals at this point.
* In addition to the goal of finishing better than their crosstown rival, the Cubs and Sox also can battle it out to see which team has the better run differential. OK, maybe better isn’t the precise adjective. For the record, the Sox are a minus-70 and the Cubs a minus-53 as today’s effort for this site is being crafted typed. In case anyone who was wondering what the significance of the Cubs scoring two runs in the ninth inning Monday in a 6-2 loss to the Dodgers might be. Sox fans can speak to the significance of the two runs the Astros scored in the ninth — mainly because they accounted for the difference in a 10-8 loss.
* Speaking of the woeful Astros, they lead the Sox in their season series 4-1 with two games remaining. Meaning the Sox could be the only team Houston will have a winning record against (Houston is 9-7 vs. the Los Angeles Angels).
* Speaking of woeful and Los Angeles, the Cubs have the dubious distinction of being 0-5 vs. the Dodgers. No other series that has had a game played features a team without a victory.
* If none of the preceding is sufficient for Cubs and Sox fans to argue who has the worse team, then all this effort will be a lost cause. Which somehow seems apropos.
* Sox sluggere Adam Dunn has struck out 150 times in 443 at-bats. The overworked mathematical computation department around here is estimating his strikeout percentage at close to .333.
* Cubs shortstop Starlin Castros was thrown out attemptiong to steal vs. the Dodgers. It was his sixth caught stealing this season. He has eight stolen bases. Industry sources say that’s not a very good percentage — whatever the percentage might be (the mathematical computation department left right after the previous paragraph was typed, so you’ll have to figure out the percentage yourself, if you are so inclined).
* Trying to end today’s written portion of the program with something of a more positive nature, there is this: Comcast SportsNet has hired Jen Lada to be a full-time reporter/anchor. Which means we can run a photo of her rather than one of someone striking out or being caught stealing. Congratulations to al parties concerned.
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