The Morning After: Sox Close In, Cubs Blow

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jul 5, 2010 3:39PM

Sox Win, Close In On Twins
The Sox' comeback summer continues as after yesterday's 5-3 (comeback) victory over the Rangers, they now sit just a game back of Detroit and Minnesota who are tied atop the AL Central. The Sox struck first last night on a Mark Kotsay double in the second but still found themselves down 3-2 after five innings. In the top of the sixth, Carlos Quentin doubled in the tying run and, with two outs in the inning, Alexei Ramirez broke the tie with a two-run shot, putting the Sox on top for good. Mark Buehrle gave up all three runs but pitched seven innings for the win, his seventh on the year. J.J. Putz and (newly-anointed All-Star) Matt Thornton combined for two innings of scoreless relief to secure the win. After the game, Ramirez said, "We are very excited to be where we are." That seems to be an understatement. The Sox are now back at home where they'll open a three-game series against the Angels tonight (6:05 p.m., CSN+).

Cubs Blown Out By Reds
Look, I'm not going to lie. I'm one of the few - if not the only - Cubs fan on staff. And watching this team has been painful, like sticking my face in a meat grinder day after day. Making matters worse is the White Sox humongous comeback from a start that was equally awful to the Cubs. But they've turned it around and now Benjy and Sudo won't let me hear the end of it. This team is old and blows. Ricketts is too busy counting all that money from merchandise and ticket sales to give a damn and Hendry's current work as GM can be considered "disastrous" at best. If Jim Hendry signed LeBron James for the Cubs, it still wouldn't undo paying Milton Bradley $30 million dollars. Hell, right now, he's probably figuring out a way to deal Colvin and Castro away in a deal to land Livan Hernandez and then use any additional money to sign Barry Bond's shell to a short-term contract for the second half of the season. Seriously, who the hell is running this team? Mr. Burns? Is Hendry on the phone trying to figure out who he has to give up for Mordecai Brown, Gabby Street, and Pie Traynor? I've stuck with them this far, hoping to see a spark. And why not? If the White Sox can do it, surely the Cubs have enough experience on this roster - D-Lee, Dempster, Soriano - to produce some sort of turn-around. At least, you'd think so given the payroll. But halfway through the season and the team has showed no fire or desire to win at all. It's one thing to blame the front office for asinine moves but the players have to share the blame here. Too many baserunners stranded, too many missed opportunities, too many one-out two-on double play ground balls. I'm tired of wasting my time watching this team and even more tired of forcing myself to write half-assed recaps of their games. So until they turn it around, I'm sticking with just a score and the usual link to the official wrap-up/boxscore. The sad thing is, I doubt anyone will notice. (Though I highly recommend this Mad Libs-style recap Bleed Cubbie Blue came up with.) So, for today:

Cubs lose to Reds 14-3. They start a new series in Arizona this afternoon (3:10 p.m., CSN).