Time to Focus on Stats for Cubs, White Sox Fans?

May 3, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Yes, it is a little early to rule out the Chicago Cubs or White Sox from postseason possibilities (this year). But it would appear fans of each team will more likely focus on individual achievement than team success (yes, that’s a guess — albeit not an entirely uneducated one).

Video is below of Priyanka Chopra for those who care (and even for those who don’t).

* The Cubs defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 Friday at Wrigley Field. In the process, they handed Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright his first Friendly Confines defeat. He had been 6-0 in 12 starts and five relief appearances. Wainwright gave up six runs in five innings Friday. He had allowed six runs — total — in six previous starts.

* Speaking of statistics that are mind-boggling, the folks at the ESPN department of statistics provided this gem: Welington Castillo “is the 2nd Cubs catcher with 2 doubles in a game in the past 80 seasons and the 1st since Damon Berryhill in 1990 (also against the Cardinals).” Well, Castillo had three doubles, and that’s most likely what the ESPN folks meant to write, although they misspelled his first name. But, hey, we all make mistakes.

* Speaking of doubles, Castillo had one more Friday than Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo has this season.

* Speaking of Rizzo, he is sixth in the National League in on-base percentage at .419. As impressive as that might sound, some would say the reason for that lofty ranking is the Cubs haven’t had an offensive threat batting behind him for most of the season. But let’s not analyze this too much, if you want to feel good about the team’s rebuilding plan. Or building plan — because it’s unclear exactly what they might be rebuilding.

* White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu hit his American League-leading 11th home run and drove in his American League-leading 33rd run against the Indians in Cleveland. Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez went 2-for-4 to lift his league-leading batting average to .356. Despite going 0-for-3, right fielder Dayan Viciedo is third in the league with a .337. And if catcher Tyler Flowers ever qualifies with enough plate appearances, he would be up there as well with a .354 average. So it appears the Sox offense is fairly good. The pitching? Not so much, as a 12-5 loss to the Indians might indicate with left-hander John Danks gave up eight runs on 10 hits in five innings. Gee, with a crowd of 15,518, you’d think the Sox would feel at home.

* Ex-Sox of the night: The tag-team combo of Arizona second baseman Aaron Hill and pitcher Addison Reed. Hill drove in both runs in a 2-0 victory at San Diego, and Reed recorded the save, his seventh of the Diamondbacks (10-22).

* The bright (?) side to the Bulls being ousted from the NBA’s postseason is center Joakim Noah was able to have “minor” arthroscopic surgery on his left knee sooner rather than later.

* Speaking of the NBA postseason, it has been incredible to watch (with the exception of the Bulls-Washington Wizards series — unless you’re a Wizards fan). The latest example came late Friday when Damian Lillard hit a series-ending three-pointer at the buzzer for the Portland Trail Blazers against the Houston Rockets. If nothing else, Bulls fans can be thankful their team is in the Eastern Conference rather than the Western, which features an abundance of terrific teams.

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