Before we do that, though, let me just note that the Canucks really piled it on the Sharks last night. I fell asleep before it was over, and it was 3-2 Vancouver last I knew. When I woke up this morning, I found out the final was 7-2, (obviously) Vancouver wins. It might be over early out west. And good for Vancouver. They've been a team for 40 years (a fact that is trumpeted at center ice at the moment) and made two trips to the finals. First a fluke team that got it's lunch handed to them by a very strong New York Islanders team (part of their four-in-a-row dynasty) in 1982.* The return engagement was in i1994, where they ran into a team of destiny in the New York Rangers. This, though, was a much better showing than their first New York trip. 1982 was a a pretty unceremonious sweep, none of the games being very close. 1994 was a seven-game dogfight. The Rangers won by a combined score of 21-19. But, alas, the Rangers had a curse to break. Now it seems to be Vancouver's turn, and they won't have to deal with a New York team to break it.
*1982, it should be noted, is a special year for Wabash College as well. That was the year Pete Metzelaars and crew led the basketball team to a national championship. Now, on to the Cubs. They managed to hold on last night, winning 7-5. I didn't see most of the game, but Brenley mentioned Jeff Samardzija* pitched well and picked up the win. Samardzija, as you may be aware, played tight end for Notre Dame, which is cool. But it might have set him back a bit as a pitcher, as witnessed by his many trips to Iowa. I always thought he was going to make a fine closer, but then Carlos Marmol showed that was going to be a lost cause. Besides, Samardzija wanted to start. Which required another trip to Iowa, and he had so much success he's back in the bullpen. Still, as Brenley noted, it might not look pretty, but he has been getting the job done, so good for him. He's also one win behind Carlos Zambrano for the Cubs lead, which highlights one of the many problems the Cubs have this year. *How that poor kid ever learned how to spell his name astounds me. I'll bet he was a spelling bee champ. Maybe the story of the night, though, was Alfonso Soriano's continued ineptitude with the glove. You may remember he broke in with the Yankees at second base, and he hit a ton. But, he cost the team too many runs with the errors he made. This continued when he was traded (for that reason) to the Texas Rangers, who in turn traded him to the Washington Nationals. His stint in the capital was only notable* for finally being moved off the infield, which had been bandied about for some time. He stayed in left when he got to Chicago, and he showed he can throw runners out. He led the league in outfield assists in Washington, and I know (until recently, anyway) watching him in Chicago I expected runners to be cut down if there was any play at all out of left. But I still have to wonder why he bothers to bring a glove to the ballpark. His ongoing series "Adventures in the Outfield" continued last night on a routine ground ball. You know it's not a good sign when a ball that's hit a couple feet in front of the plate turns into an outfield circus. *He actually was pretty decent, but most people seem to totally forget his year in Washington, and sometimes his stop in Texas and just remember his time with New York and Chicago. I guess that's the power of the "money franchise." I guess I'm just curious how he has never turned up as a DH. Clearly he can hit, that has never been an issue. In 2008, he was very clearly the most exciting lead-off man I've ever watched, and he started off plenty of games with homers. But his defense has been atrocious no matter where he's put. Maybe it's time for him to take the Jim Thome route and not even have a glove at the park. Comments are closed.
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