Chicago is the largest city in Illinois and the third largest city in the United States, although it still hasn’t really accepted that Los Angeles is larger. The name “Chicago” derives from an Indian word meaning “wild garlic”, which residents eat by the handful, thereby leading to the city’s popular nickname “The Windy City”. Chicago’s extensive suburbs, which reach into Indiana and Wisconsin, are known as “Chicagoland” because it was the dumbest name the marketers could think of on short notice.
Chicago is the only city to maintain baseball teams in both the American and National Leagues in every season of both leagues’ existence. The American League team, the White Sox, is best known for selling the World Series in 1919. The National League team, the Cubs, is best known for not winning a World Series since 1908 and not winning the National League since 1945. Fans of both teams are always eager to talk about this, so be sure to ask them about it. The Chicago Bears have not won the Super Bowl since the famous 1985 club, and the Chicago Bulls have never won a title of any sort without Michael Jordan. I’m just pointing this stuff out. They just won a hockey title, but who cares?
“Chicago” is also the name of a band, which has released 32 albums, which mostly just have numbers as titles, as the band has basically given up on quality and decided to emphasize quantity. Chicago is also well known for its Second City improvisational comedy group; for its name, see above about Los Angeles.
Chicago’s best-known item of cuisine is the Chicago-Style, or Deep-Dish, pizza, which was developed when it was determined that the usual types of pizza didn’t contain enough carbohydrates and cholesterol. The Chicago-Style hot dog, meanwhile, was invented by someone from Chicago who had heard about hot dogs but never actually seen one. No known element of Chicago cuisine features vegetables as anything other than a garnish or topping. One of the most popular restaurants in Chicago, which I am not making up, is a Mexican restaurant owned by Skip Bayless’ brother.
During Prohibition, Chicago became home to numerous criminal organizations. The city swiftly became famous for its corruption, violence, and utter disregard for the law. However, the city had already been corrupt and held utter disregard for the law; see above about the 1919 World Series. The economy of Chicago has never really recovered from the 21st Amendment.
JC’ed from the last thread.
I concur about Spike’s sheer dominance of the last thread; his comments at 181 and 187 were incredible — though I gotta give credit it where it’s due to justhank for the Baby Huey reference, of which there cannot ever be enough.
Plus, France got eliminated from the World Cup today. It’s a good day to be a Francophobe!
People are bitching about Strasburg being on the NL All-Star squad. I dunno, but since “the game counts,” I want him on the NL side of things.
Baby Huey is a spectacular mental image. In case anyone is unfamiliar… http://www.watchyoursetup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/baby-huey.jpg
Not to mention THIS Baby Huey.
“Chicago is the only city to maintain baseball teams in both the American and National Leagues in every season of both leagues’ existence.”
Is this true? I thought the whole thing with that large “oldest continuously operating” sign at Turner Field was that the Cubs (then the White Stockings) had to break for a couple of years after the Great Chicago Fire.
Wait, never mind, that was before the National League. Ignore me.
*pops up* Yo. 🙂
Anyone realize Atlanta leads the NL in runs per game? That almost came out of nowhere!
Back in the mid-’90s, Frank Thomas was starting an urban record label & his people brought over a group of music-convention attendees to sit in his luxury box for a Sox game vs. Kansas City.
I walked through the hallway where the boxes connected & checked out all the old pictures of old White Sox.
I remember thinking, “Lotta Luke Appling here, lotta Nelson Fox, lotta Bill Melton. Happy Felsch? Not so much.”
Gee, I wonder why? 😛
If I had gone to elementary school with a kid named Happy Felsch, he would have hated my guts.
JoeyT, the White Stockings team at that time was in the National Association. The fire was in 1871, and the White Stockings missed 1872-73, but the NL didn’t begin operating until 1876.
You can keep Chicago-style pizza. I’d love to eat at Rick Bayless’s place, though. Hard to believe that a man who loves his work as much as he seems to is related to Skip the sports-hating sportswriter.
This is the series where I wish I had shelled out an extra $20 for MLB.tv premium, so I could listen to the away announcers. If you think the Braves’ TV guys are bad, try listening to the Sox’ guys for an hour.
So I had to vote “No” on the poll about Chip Carey being the dumbest announcer on the planet. Not because he’s not ONE of the dumbest announcers on the planet, but because someone gave Dominique Wilkins a microphone and told him to talk into it at Hawks games.
Just thought I should clairfy.
Just to back up sansho, you have it backwards, Mac. Skip Bayless is famous for being Rick Bayless’s brother.
I would kill a stranger to eat at Topolobampo; Bayless is likely the greatest chef of Mexican food in the U.S., and the guy who legitimized Mexican as a possibility for high cuisine.
Bayless’ restaurant is great. Best Mexican, and probably the most authentic, I have ever had.
I drove through Chicago last week at rush hour and will probably never get those two hours of my life back. The Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Oak Park are pretty cool though.
Let’s go Braves.
Saito actived–Kimbrel sent back to Gwinnett.
good to have Saito back today
Why Kimbrel??
Kimbrel went down because Bobby doesn’t trust him yet and they want him to get innings.
Apropos of nothing: Medlen’s been pretty freakin’ awesome for us this year. 1.6 BB/9, >4 K/BB, whip of 1.13….so awesome, and he got here with so little fanfare that even though I follow the minors, him being this good really was a surprise. But not anymore.
I just don’t understand why Kimbrel was up in the first place. At least this last time. He obviously wasn’t going to be trusted to pitch much. Why not leave him in Gwinnett, getting regular work, and have some stiff up here to not pitch?
I just realized that Dayton would almost certainly trade Alex Gordon to get Francoeur.
Im not saying that Kimrbel is better than Moylan, but I certainly dont see how you could trust Moylan or Chavez over Kimbrel at this very moment. Either way Jurrjens will be back in about two weeks and Chavez will be gone then. Kimbrel wouldve only stayed two more weeks, but quit kicking this kid around and leave him somewhere
#13 You can put it on the boarddddd, yes.
How can anyone ever think that’s a good catchphrase?
Y’know, the more I think of it, the more I think it’s going to be very hard for the Braves to do anything at the deadline. Nate will in all likelihood regress upwards for the rest of the season, and it would be a bitter pill to have to pay for his doppelganger in DDJ with both money, prospects, and a roster spot. Alex Gordon makes sense as a 3B down the road and a 5th OF bench bat over Conrad, but he’s a lefty too, and this team absolutely needs a RH PH option. We won’t know if we are going to get the good Diaz back or not by the ASB. It’s a tricky needle to thread, and none of the choices are cheap or precise fits.
Why panic now? Market is too high to buy. More teams will dump talent as season goes by.
I’m not panicking – but anyone who thinks we are a mortal lock to win the divison or WC as currently constructed is fooling themselves. We’re an injury/slump or two away from mediocrity.
If the Braves do make a move, it needs to be for a “star” type player, imo. They have guys that are “good enough”, so it doesn’t make sense to go out and give prospects for another “good enough” guy just to have one. I’ve never thought much of McLouth (except that he had a cool last name), but if his replacement is going to be DDJ, then I’d rather just hang onto McLouth.
Especially since the Royals will be selling high. Look at what happened the last time we bought high for a DDJ-type player: McLouth.
I mean, adding a RH bench/LF platoon player if Diaz underwhelms in the near-term wouldn’t be a bad thing, but otherwise, short of swinging a deal for Cliff Lee, I don’t think a move is necessary. Frankly, I doubt Atlanta will be very active.
Let me preface this by saying I don’t believe it, yet anyway, but there is a pretty good argument to be made for acquiring on Cliff Lee.
You get a great lefty starter, which we don’t have
You get insurance should Jurrjens not come back strong this year
You get 2 first round picks in a very strong class next year
You get Medlen back as your long guy, so you can quick hook Lowe or whoever during important stretch run/playoff games in the event of a poor start
I am unconvinced that Lee could bring enough marginal wins over Medlen as a starter to make it worth it, but you’d love to have him in the postseason.
ATL lineup:
1. Prado 2B
2. Heyward RF
3. Chipper DH
4. Glaus 1B
5. McCann C
6. Escobar SS
7. Infante LF
8. Cabrera CF
9. Conrad 3B
What the hell is wrong with Omar?
Spike hits an important point on the side.
Whoever you get, you have to filter in how will Bobby use who. That is, if you bring in Cliff Lee, do you move Medlen to the pen, or Lowe? (I think Medlen needs to make the move for innings protection, actually).
No reason to get a right handed platoon lf until you get a read on Diaz.
They won’t trade for a “real centerfielder” until after they see if a Melky / McLouth tandem might get it done.
As full of pitching as our system is, I don’t really see going for Lee. Maybe the catch is that you send out Delgado and Robinson Lopez and get back the 2 picks and replace their talent next year in offensive players and farther down in the system.
What if Lee accepts arbitration? Two prospects for 2 draft choices may not be good idea.
Mac, no one has said this yet, so I’ll say it: Your write up on Chicago is pure genius. Great stuff.
If Lee accepts arb then you get another year of Lee, which may not be too bad if Chipper decides to hang up. Besides, who knows what Liberty Media will do if we actually make it to the post season and start bringing in postseason revenue? The Braves are tops in the NL with a payroll around $85 mil. What could Wren do with another $10-$20?
Minor and Teheran will represent the Braves in the Futures Game. Cool beans.
31 — Nothing. He’s starting in LF.
Am I the only one who wants to trade JJ? I would offer him and a prospect for Lee. Call me crazy, but I don’t think JJ’s peripherals look good for his future. Also, I suspect his trade value is quite high right now.
Flame on!
I’ve seen Mike Lowell mentioned. It would be kind of a Jim Thome to the Dodgers signing though, designed specifically for the postseason.
As for Cliff Lee, that would be a trade to not only work well in the regular season in terms of wins, but it would also mean we can throw Lee, Hanson, Hudson and maybe Jurrjens out as a playoff rotation if we get that far. In terms of giving Bobby the best chance to win it all, that’s the trade.
Plus, it keeps him away from other contenders, and gives us a left handed starter to help neutralise Utley and Howard down the stretch.
So much for Arizona State being the #1 team in the CWS.
33,
There’s like zero chance Cliff Lee would accept arbitration if he’s healthy, and if he did that probably wouldn’t be a bad thing for the club that offered it.
Especially with his massively below market contract.
PRADO!
Fear!
Dammit, Heyward.
Dammit, Chipper.
You can’t stop the Prado.
Vote for Prado!
Wow… that might be one of the worse drag bunts I’ve ever seen.
Thanks for being you, Juan.
Yeah, Joe, keeping Juan Pierre off base has always been reeeeeeeal difficult.
Rios has an odd batting stance.
I know you were all worried sick about me having to listen to the Sox announcers, but no worries: I found that the Braves’ radio feed matches up perfectly with the TV action.
Alex, for the record, I’m with you concerning JJ.
Joe forgot we were in an AL park and was about to say “At least we cleared the pitcher”.
Brooks!
Conrad can do it all.
Edit: Seriously, vote for Prado for the All-Star Game if you haven’t already.
Brooks “Robinson” Conrad.
Lord help me, but I’d rather have three Chips in a booth than listen to Hawk Harrelson anymore.
Yuck.
Freaking Hanson has no damage control. When things go bad, he crumbles.
Hanson seems prone to implosions.
Argh.
Sheesh what an awful inning. Way to piss away a 3 run lead.
edit–At this rate, we might get the pleasure of seeing Chavez pitch.
Yahoo says 2 singles to shortstop and 4 “shallow” singles. Have they been bleeders or just poor defense?
Hanson has nothing right now but he has had some rotten luck.
They’ve hit a lot of balls hard this inning against Hanson – even foul balls. The sad thing is when they hit it poorly the White Sox have hit infield singles. Conrad saved one infield single on a great play – that seems like hours ago.
They’re locked in on Hanson tonight. I don’t think I’ve seen one swing and miss all night.
KK all over again.
What a frustrating half-inning to sit through, watching that 3-0 lead evaporate. Ugh.
Tommy got no help from the defense, the umpires, or random luck that inning.
I’m listening to hawk harrelson. Is he worse than chip? This may be a battle of the two worst announcers.
@70–don’t know, but I’m happy to have EJ Jr on the tube tonight
edit–thanks Mark
Of course I guess it doesn’t help that Hanson is getting absolutely nothing outside from the ump. Still I just don’t think he’s fooling anybody. =/
No excuses for Hanson, he’s getting hit hard by a bunch of .250 hitters.
Vizcaino+ too much/little for Lee?
That’s an easy trivia question. Randy Johnson.
I think the workload from last year is wearing on Hanson a little. I do somewhat subscribe that Tom Verducci theory about young pitchers upping their workload by over 50 pro innings from one year to the next, and Tommy did that from 08 to last year. He looks a tad off this year, still good, but the location just doesn’t seem to be there vs. the end of last year.
I don’t think 1 of the big 4 minor league pitchers is too much for Lee if the Braves are in contention at the end. I think teams are looking to dump salary, and if the braves can take on some money, I think you can make a deal without sacrificing the farm.
Also, it has been a really, really weird night for Hanson. He is getting no breaks at all.
Strange.
The baseball gods have spoken. The Braves cannot win this game.
I don’t think Hanson has it tonight.
Goodnight.
At least he never left any pitches up tonight….
that ball in shirt was probably an omen of things to come …
When he’s bad, he’s really bad, isn’t he?
Time to get Hanson out. No point in more innings for him tonight.
I can’t believe there was no one up in the bullpen!
Would be a good night for Chavez to eat some innings.
Ballgame. Season’s over. Nothing to see here. Everybody—go home.
Would someone tell me why Hanson’s still pitching?
White flag being readied. Say it ain’t so. 6 runs is not insurmountable in this park.
Chavez is in. But we don’t have a plane to catch. What does that say?
@89, As of the Quentin AB, there was *nobody* warming up in the ‘pen.
Hanson’s got ace material but his career so far has been pretty hit or miss.
He just made Kawakami look like Cy Young.
And the Mets are up 10-0 in the 3rd.
On the bright side we started the Tampa Bay series the same way. Although KK was pitching that night and not our “ace”, so that blowout made more sense
What is that, the 19th infield hit for the White Sox tonight?
74,
Vizcaino is a top-50 pitching prospect at this point, which is roughly a $16 million commodity. Cliff Lee makes $1.5 million a month, so he’d have to be worth ~4 wins over the 2nd half or ~3.5 wins over the final two months to be a $16 million commodity to a contender. As well as Lee is pitching, I don’t think it’s a stretch for the Mariners or a club trying to acquire him to assume that kind of production, so Vizcaino sounds about right.
Interesting to watch the Braves try to hit Danks tonight – Danks’ fastball is pretty good, but clearly it’s the presence of Danks’ changeup that keeps the Braves from getting comfortable against the fastball.
Hanson was first pitcher to allow 9+ ER, 13+ H with 0 K since Pat Rapp on April 22nd, 1997.
I hate these games. Not just the losing, the having to wait five innings after the Braves get a bullet put in them to write the autopsy report.
Bobby saved the KK game, he left Hanson in way too long
Hey Mac – looking on the bright side, Chavez at least has looked pretty good and, at a minimum, has saved wear and tear on our bullpen.
This is first game after the break, very good start Hanson!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Btw, Martin Prado who came from Venezuela has an english name^.
Give Chavez the thumbs up for taking one for the team and looking decent while doing it. Unfortunately Bobby will again become infatuated with him but tonight he did the mop up job well
Well now we have to win, or we ruin our perfect record with 5 or more runs.
aaaand the McCann HR will put an end to the Braves’ win streak with 5+ runs scored.
Rally killed.
putter, nope he’s only here till Jurrjens gets back. Unless KK gets traded, which I doubt happens
Is it too late to call the seven run ninth?
Yunel started another rally with the groundout.
Okay guys, the reason Bobby had to try and stay with Hanson is that the bullpen went 7 innings on Sunday. The bullpen has been worked pretty good since the LA series and in order not to burn them out, Bobby had to try and get Hanson through some innings. I don’t care about the day off yesterday, two games of 6 or 7 innings out of the pen in 3 days is not good.
If that ball doesn’t go in Conrad’s shirt, this game is probably 6-4.
Also, if 18-7 with a 3.08 ERA is ‘hit or miss’, over 35 career starts going into tonight, then I will take hit or miss all day long. How good is Hanson’s career line if you take out his first game against the Brewers, the Cincy miracle start, and tonight’s games?
102 – excellent point. They will never get mentioned, but those 4.1 innings from Chavez tonight were ‘professional’ innings. Kudos to Chavez, for once.
Cheap way to lose the winning streak of 5 or more, unless we rally, and I ain’t giving up hope just yet.
well hello Mr Lillibridge.
who would you rather have hitting in a big spot. Brandon Hicks or Brent Lillibridge?
I’m sad to see the streak end on such a crappy game.
And Brent Lillibridge is in the game. Who do the Chisox think they are, the Royals?
Im also convinced that Melky is the worst two strike hitter Ive seen
well the worst 1-2, 3-2 hitter Ive ever seen
so, barring a miracle, the braves 5-run streak is over.
Super-quick recap is up.
Thanks for blowing the streak, Tommy.
I cannot really complain about anything Prado does, because all he does is chew bubble gum and hit line drives, and he has been out of bubble gum all season, but it would have been nice to see him at least take a pitch there.
Crappy game, but they happen, so just go get them tomorrow.
The White Sox just seem to have our number, they made us look bad at Turner in those two before the season, now tonight.