An ESPN article lists the 10 biggest story lines in baseball's second half. This is one of them:
4. Ned Yost vs. Lou Piniella, discuss
The most fascinating of the division races figures to be in the weakest division, the NL Central. Milwaukee is trying to get to the playoffs for the first time in 25 years and enjoyed a dream first half, with Ben Sheets and his fellow china dolls all healthy at the same time. But Bill Hall's turned ankle and the Cubs' 12-4 run down the stretch to the All-Star break have heightened the concern for the Brew Crew faithful. Piniella spent the first half of the season discovering guys such as Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, Carlos Marmol and Felix Pie while trying to make a right fielder out of several left fielders and seeing if he can afford to play Cesar Izturis and Koyie Hill on the same day. The Cubs can make the 4½-game difference vanish in a hurry, especially if GM Jim Hendry adds a pure right fielder or a catcher who can hit and handle pitchers.
Yes, the Brewers always seem to catch the injury bug (Jenks, Sheets, JJ, Weeks...). But isn't this guy propping the Cubs? The same Cubs that built their team around Mark Prior and Kerry Wood?? I also remember Ramirez and Lee missing a number of games the past few years. Then again, "this guy" would be Phil Rogers...who also works for - surprise - the Chicago Tribune.
4 comments:
I would bet that the bear in the picture definitely believes in the "curse of the goat."
I don't exactlly know about the "pro-Chicago" slant that you are implying in the article, and I'd definitely have to disagree with that. One of the headlines asks, "How much would the Cubs be worth if they were a good team?" referencing their imminent sale. Also, one of the other stories basically backs Braun for ROY, especially since he's batting 3rd surrounded by other "good hitters." The whole piece does just as much to prop up the Brewers, especially considering they are mentioned as potentially 2 of the 10 biggest stories in baseball.
I thought the "Ned Yost vs Lou Pinella" story line sounded more anti-Brewers than pro-Cubs. By ripping on Ben Sheets' health, he made it sound like the Cubs never get hurt. And the "The Cubs can make the 4½-game difference vanish in a hurry" quote sounds like he EXPECTS the Brewers to roll over and die in about a week. Yes, he did prop Braun in another paragraph.
It's just that Sheets ACTUALLY HAS been at least a little bit injury prone (I AM LITERALLY POUNDING ON WOOD RIGHT NOW....) lately though, right? I agree that the tone of that one part sounds like your typical Cubbish Rubbish, but overall I thought the entire piece showed a lot of respect to the Crew, and it seemed to me they were mentioned just as often as the Yanks & Sox were as the top stories in baseball.
.....I just think it's OK to call out Sheets' health (MORE POUNDING!) because it protects you from that sort of retarded obliviousness in becoming one of those Cubs fans who STILL wear the Woods & Prior jerseys to games, even though they haven't been relevant since like '98. Again, it would be similar to seeing someone sporting an "Eldred" jersey at a Brewer game.
Lastly, speaking only for me and as a Brewer fan, if I were writing something like that I would definitely throw a couple of shots toward the Cubs into the article, but I might not include other stories about how good the "other team" was like he did. But I guess overall I am with you, screw him anyway.
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