I don't know about anybody else but I thought this past weekend was a great weekend in Chicago sports.
The Cubs took two of three from the formerly first place St. Louis Cardinals, and in St. Louis no less. The starting pitching was great (Zambrano and Dempster both picked up wins. For Zambrano it was his first win as a starter since June, and for Dempster, it was his 11th win of the season, and 3rd straight winning start.). Dempster has been very consistent as a starter the last three years. His win in yesterday's ballgame gave him at least 11 wins in three straight years, including 17 in 2008. It was nice to see Derrek Lee heat up over the weekend with 4 homeruns, and eventhough the bullpen didn't pitch great in the ninth inning yesterday, Sean Marshall pitched very well (3 innings pitched, 0 runs over the weekend), and Carlos Marmol recorded back to back saves. Marlon Byrd continues to impress as well. He had 4 hits and an RBI in yesterday's game. The Cubs have had a miserable season, and just about everybody has had stretches of poor play. That is why it is so frustrating that they can win 2 of 3 against St. Louis on the road, but be swept by teams like Milwaukee, Colorado, and Houston. Let's hope they keep their newfound momentum going for the series with San Diego.
For those of you who are White Sox fans, this was actually a devastating weekend. The Sox lost 2 of 3 to the Tigers, and they blew late inning leads in both games. The White Sox continue to struggle in the back end of the bullpen, with Jenks blowing quite a few saves recently, and even J.J. Putz blew a late inning lead on Saturday night. To make matters worse for the southsiders, the Minnesota Twins, who had just beaten the Sox 2 out of 3 to take a 1 game lead in the A.L. Central prior to the weekend, swept a 3 game series against Oakland at Target Field in Minneapolis. That puts the White Sox 3 games back of the Twins going into their 3 game series in Minneapolis this week. It's far from over Sox fans, so hang in there. At least your baseball team is within striking distance.
The Chicago Bears preseason got off to a rocky start overall against the San Diego Chargers this weekend. The final score was 25-10, which doesn't really matter. The worst part was the injuries to several Bears players, including backup QB Caleb Hanie (shoulder), Safety Craig Steltz (ankle), Safety Major Wright (finger), and LB Hunter Hillenmeyer (foot). The starting offense looked good in their only series, generating a field goal. Cutler completed his only two passes to Johnny Knox for 47 yards, and Devin Aromashodu caught 4 passes for 78 yards and a touchdown. The starting defense did give up a touchdown in 3 series, but the other 2 series they forced punts. The results from preseason football games mean absolutely nothing. I mean, last year the Lions went undefeated in the preseason before going 2-14 in the regular season. Eventhough they lost the game, I think the starting units got off to a decent start. Aren't you glad football is back?
The best part of the weekend for me was Scottie Pippen being enshrined in the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame. Scottie was one of my favorite players growing up (a close second to Michael Jordan, of course). I still don't think people understand just how good he was. During the 1994 season (the year he led the team when MJ retired), he average 22 pts and almost 9 rebounds per game (8.7). He could score in a variety of ways. The bank shot from the wing was always my favorite Pippen shot. He had that perfected, and it seemed like he always knocked in 2-3 of those each game. He could handle the ball, drive to the hoop, he was a great passer (5.2 Assists per game for his career. Pretty good from the small forward spot). The best part of his game was his defense. He would guard the best player perimeter player on the opposing team every night, including point guards. I remember in the 96 playoffs (the 72-10 season), he defended Gary Payton at times during the Finals when Ron Harper couldn't. He also shut down Grant Hill, Glen Rice, and several other very good players who needed to score for their teams to win. He averaged 2 steals per game for his career, which is fantastic when you play as many as Scottie did. I also saw several hi-lights of Pippen's career, including his 1994 All-Star game MVP, and that infamous dunk on Patrick Ewing during the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Pippen was a great player, and deserves very much to be in the Hall of Fame. Great memories of great basketball with Pippen going into the Hall.
I am looking forward to this week. Hopefully some good baseball games, and the Bears playing the Raiders at home on Saturday night. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment