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Baseball in Chicago in early April can certainly be a chilling experience. Chicagoist remembers — all too well — playing Little League games in arctic temps, with the moms in attendance taking turns running to the closest fast-food outlets to bring back hot chocolate.
But it's not just Little Leaguers who have to deal with the joys of early spring in Chicago. The weather caused problems on Wednesday for the White Sox, too.
The high winds that plagued Chicago overnight Tuesday into Wednesday caused a wind barrier to break loose at U.S. Cellular Field. Because of the high winds, a weld broke, and the police had to close a three-block section of 35th Street in case the barrier broke off entirely. Crews had to scramble to re-weld the runaway barrier before fans began arriving for Wednesday afternoon's game.
Not that too many fans actually showed up to the game, in large part because of the brutal weather — 28 degrees and 30 mph wind gusts. And flurries. While MLB probably would have cancelled the game, the forecast isn't much better for the rest of the week, so they decided to make 'em play. We'd be willing to bet that it was one of the first times that hot chocolate outsold beer at The Cell during a game!
Unfortunately, the cold seemed to cool off the Sox more than the Indians, who beat the Sox 8-7, to take the second game in the series. Not exactly the low-scoring, pitching-dominated affair that is usually associated with cold-weather games.
The forecast doesn't look too much better for Today's game ... will they finally get their cold-weather pitchers' dual as Mark Buehrle takes the mound for the first time?
Image via AP Photo/Brian Kersey.
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Never buy Chicago baseball tickets in April. The ones in September are pretty useless as well, usually :)
Obviously a real baseball fan Bill.
I dunno, I seem to remember having NOVEMBER seats in the very recent past.
Obviously a real baseball fan Bill.
I might be wrong, but I think it was meant more of a swipe at the pointlessness of games in September rather than the weather, as the September run-up rarely amounts to the season being extended into October (there are exceptions to the rule, of course).
I love how Sox fans act like their team is the Yankees of the AL Central. Up until 2005 the Sox playoff appearances/record was nothing to write home about. Or, you could pretend like you've had a championship dynasty for the last 30 years.
Woo bOY! BuRn! MIkE SpelED BakwURDs is DumB FUcK!
StEVY PuT OuT THat DAmn CIGaR!
@Mike,
Sorry someone peed in your cheerios again today, but lets face facts... it's killing you inside that the Sox won that series, isn't it? It's ok to admit it, my best friend, who's one of the biggest Cubs fans I've ever known, was at the brink of tears that night. Mostly because we made a huge wager back when we were in high school over who would get one first, but that's besides the point.
And objectively, without any bias whatsoever, I don't think the Sox have a good chance this year. The Twins, Indians, and Tigers all have phenomenal young stars, and the Royals are even looking a little frisky with some new prospects. There will be no "easy games" in the AL Central this year.
Do I think we're the freaking Yankees? No. Do I think if they moved the Sox to the NL Central we would dominate like Godzilla reigning over Tokyo? Totally. (St. Louis looks a little hung over from last year)
But then again I can name seven AL teams that would win the NL pennant for the next three years if they traded leagues.
@Mike,
Sorry someone peed in your cheerios again today, but lets face facts... it's killing you inside that the Sox won that series, isn't it? It's ok to admit it, my best friend, who's one of the biggest Cubs fans I've ever known, was at the brink of tears that night. Mostly because we made a huge wager back when we were in high school over who would get one first, but that's besides the point.
And objectively, without any bias whatsoever, I don't think the Sox have a good chance this year. The Twins, Indians, and Tigers all have phenomenal young stars, and the Royals are even looking a little frisky with some new prospects. There will be no "easy games" in the AL Central this year.
Do I think we're the freaking Yankees? No. Do I think if they moved the Sox to the NL Central we would dominate like Godzilla reigning over Tokyo? Totally. (St. Louis looks a little hung over from last year)
But then again I can name seven AL teams that would win the NL pennant for the next three years if they traded leagues.
I'm over the Sox thing...it killed me at the time, but I got a lot of satisfaction knowing that a lot of Sox fans still weren't satisfied and still hated the Cubs more than they loved the White Sox.
The 2005 Sox would have totally dominated this year's NL central but the 2007 White Sox would be right in the mix with the Cubs/Cardinals/Brewers/Astros for first place. I'm not impressed with the team, but I'm also not too impressed with the Cubs either...they're both pretty similar when you think about it. Lots of offensive, questionable pitching (thanks to the trades Kenny Williams made) a good pen and fiery managers who don't take shit from anyone.
Word on the weird ass trades (Why boot Garcia if you're gonna move McCarthy weeks later?) and I always disliked Dusty Baker because he seemed like he cared more about his players liking him than winning.
But seriously, I think the Sox have a little more speed and defense than the Cubs do, and in the bizarro world where they'd be in the NL Central, they'd arguably have the best staff in the division (whereas they trail the Twins and Tigers in the AL Central). Also, Pujols aside, no one could keep up with our 3-4-5 guys. (I'll wait to see if Soriano can resist striking out as much, DLee can stay healthy, and Aramis can ever find some hustle)
See... calm, rational discussion between Sox and Cubs fans. The hate is a facade, and relatively mild when compared to soccer fans. :-)
Word on the weird ass trades (Why boot Garcia if you're gonna move McCarthy weeks later?) and I always disliked Dusty Baker because he seemed like he cared more about his players liking him than winning.
But seriously, I think the Sox have a little more speed and defense than the Cubs do, and in the bizarro world where they'd be in the NL Central, they'd arguably have the best staff in the division (whereas they trail the Twins and Tigers in the AL Central). Also, Pujols aside, no one could keep up with our 3-4-5 guys. (I'll wait to see if Soriano can resist striking out as much, DLee can stay healthy, and Aramis can ever find some hustle)
See... calm, rational discussion between Sox and Cubs fans. The hate is a facade, and relatively mild when compared to soccer fans. :-)
The Garcia trade made no sense to me, only because Buehrle is as good as gone next year while Garcia has familial ties to Ozzie. Not that that really matters, but i just think keeping Garcia would have been much easier than keeping Buehrle.
the Sox have better defense in the outfield for sure, but i feel pretty confident in the cubs infield. not that the sox don't have a good infield as well.
And also, am I the only one that find the McDonald's ads with Zambrano and Pierzynski a little unbelievable?
I'd think if Zambrano tried the ol' shaving cream in the face gag, Pierzynski (a-hole that he is. And hey, he's OUR a-hole!) would counter with something like killing his dog or lighting Zambrano's bed on fire...
Also, if AJ ripped one of Zambrano's eyebrow's while he slept. that would definitely wake him up. and make him mad.
A.J. can be obnoxious but Zambrano's a sore loser and a poor sport. Gloats when he strikes somebody out or gets a hit and then goes all mucho macho mad man if someone gives him the same treatment.
I too was surprised by that ad though.
while i agree those trades seem odd, it's too early to be second guessing kenny williams' moves. i'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing. we'll see though