At the Break

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jul 13, 2004 7:33PM

It's the All Star Break, but our local boys got the shaft. Where are Paul Konerko, Juan Uribe and Aramis Ramirez? Instead, Chicagoist will take a look back at the first half of the baseball season and predict what the second half will bring.

When the season began, nobody would have been surprised that a Chicago baseball team was in first place. However, most predicted that team to be the Cubs. Instead, the North Siders sit 7 games back of the Cardinals in the NL Central and 1 game behind San Fran for the Wild Card while the South Siders site 1/2 game up on the Twins in the AL Central.

Good Paul Konerko's return to form after a horrible 2003 Addition of Freddy Garcia from Seattle	Good Mark Prior's strong return from injury means he'll be fresh down the stretch
Bad Magglio Ordonez's injury kept him out of the lineup for 36 games Billy Koch, before he was abandoned in Florida	Bad Injuries to Prior and Wood Maddux has looked very average all season
Biggest Surprise Juan Uribe, written off by the Rockies, has been superb at the plate Shingo truly has been Mr. Zero, with a 1.30 ERA at the break	Biggest Surprise In a rotation with Wood, Prior and Maddux, Zambrano has looked like the ace
Prediction Sox begin to pull away from Twins and win AL Central	Prediction With their rotation whole, Cubs secure the Wild Card

Yes, Chicagoist is going on the record stating that there will be post-season baseball on both sides of town this October! Maybe we really can begin dreaming of our Red Line World Series...