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Midweek musings: Give Ryan Dempster 10 runs in one game and he can get one victory. Give him 10 runs over four games and he probably can win at least three. The Cubs right-hander finally won his first game of the season with a 10-0 decision Tuesday (June 5) against the Brewers at Milwaukee. Dempster (1-3) was perfect through five innings. He had gone 18 starts without a victory. The triumph ended an 11-game road losing streak, the Cubs’ longest such streak since 1954. Gee, the Cubs are unbeaten since the team’s first draft pick by the Theo Epstein regime. Whoever saw such immediate results coming?
Lariyah Daniels always is welcome around here. In any attire she likes.
* Speaking of pitching, Phil Humber (2-3) is a perfect example of imperfection. The Chicago White Sox right-hander lasted only five innings (101 pitches) in a 9-5 loss to the visiting Toronto Blue Jays. He is 1-3 with a 7.38 earned-run average in eight starts since his perfect game against Seattle on April 21. Peerfection can be fleeting. Mediocrity — or less — can be more enduring. Not sure how much of whatever Humber is doing the Sox can endure at his recent level.
* Still speaking of baseball stats, Blue Jays center field Colby Rasmus had the first five-hit game of his big-league career in the victory against the White Sox. When Rasmus was with the St. Luis Cardinals (before his trade to the Blue Jays last season), rather than a good game, five hits generally meant a good week.
* The vitriol directed toward the Miami Heat, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade does seem a bit much. With a loss to the visiting Boston Celtics on Tuesday, the Heat is one loss from elimination in the Eastern Conference finals. Wouldn’t the haters prefer to have James & Co. lose in the NBA Finals? Or is there too much concern/anxiety that the Heat might actually win the NBA title that has eluded James?
It looks like the lineup is set for this week’s edition of “Sports & Torts” with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris. The show is live at noon Chicago time on Thursdays at talkzone.com. Scheduled to appear June 7 are former big-league baseball player Roy Sievers, former head of the baseball players union Marvin Miller (who should be in the Hall of Fame) and lovely Lariyah Daniels. She is a singer (with the group Hessler), model, bikini competitor, personal fitness trainer and more.
It is unclear whether Lariyah will wear a bikini outfit, her music attire, workout wear or something else to the studio. As long as she shows up, I think we all will be happy. Until then, a photo of her will have to suffice.
It's former Ice Crew member Yanina on TV!
Speaking of beautiful women, congratulations to another friend, the lovely Yanina. The former member of the Chicago Blackhawks Ice Crew is among the cast of NBC’s “Love in the Wild” dating program.
For those of us unfamiliar with the show before its season 2 debut Tuesday, the show looks a little like a blend of “Amazing Race” and “Survivor” with a dating theme. Jenny McCarthy is the show’s host.
If this mention seems like an excuse to run a photo of Yanina, the editorial staff at elliottharris.com doesn’t know what to say — other than you might be on to something. We can only hope to be able to bring Yanina in for a “Sports & Torts” interview one of these weeks.
Strat-O-Matic fanactics Brett Carow and Sam Hennemann will try to break the Guinness World Record for longest marathon playing a board game (53 hours and 59 minutes). The event, hosted by Strat-O-Matic, will begin Thursday (June 7) at Foley’s Pub & Restaurant in New York. The event is open to the public.
Carow, 32, was named the Ultimate Strat-O-Matic Fanatic at the company’s 50th anniversary celebration last year. Hennemann, 31 has been a member of Carow’s River Falls Men’s Strat-O-Matic league since 1993. The Guinness World Record belongs to James Carroll, Jared Wetsel, Kraig Deming, Josiah Hooten and Aaron Trent, who played “Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game” at the Little Shoppe of Games in Oklahoma City, on Aug. 12-14, 2011.
The Miami Dolphins cheerleaders lip-synching “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen ought to brighten up the day — even for fans of the Miami Heat, which trails the Boston Celtics in their best-of-seven series 3-2 after losing at home Tuesday night:
ANd a little more sports-themed “Call Me Maybe” action from Los Angeles:
As much as this space likes to think of itself as a Donald Trump-free zone, occasional exceptions do exist. Especially in that he makes only the briefest of cameo appearances on the following video that overwhelmingly features Miss USA 2012 contestants:
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