Dallas Mavericks - NBA Champions

Congratulations to all the Mavericks - Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, John McCain, James Garner, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise - on winning your first ever NBA championship!

Also, a hearty "Mazel Tov!" should go out to owner Mark Cuban.  Cuban took over a franchise that had missed the postseason ten straight years, but since then the Mavericks have now made eleven consecutive postseason appearances.  Given his team's track record in a sport where it's more difficult to break through and win a championship (even after last night, only nine different franchises have won NBA championships in the last 30 years), I have no doubt that if MLB had let him purchase the Chicago National League Baseball Club, we'd see similar results at 1060 West Addison before long.

Carlos Zambrano Tells it Like it Is

Whoever had June 5 as the day Carlos Zambrano had his first meltdown since being "cured" of his anger management problem - Mazel Tov! You win! Money quote:

We should know better than this. We play like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing. Embarrassing for the team and the owners. Embarrassing for the fans. Embarrassed - that's the word for this team....We should play better here. We stink. That's all I've got to say."

It's good to see that someone on this team cares enough to have the guts to come out and say what everyone in the world (except for maybe the guy who matters most) is thinking. Big Z didn't necessarily have to throw his closer (or was it maybe his backup catcher or his pitching coach?) under the bus for poor pitch selection to Ryan Theriot in the bottom of the 9th inning. But I think that's a good thing. In my last post, I said this team wasn't even "fun" bad, and wondered if I'd have trouble sticking with them to the All-Star break. But considering Zambrano's history of scuffling with a teammate or two, a little internal dissension, especially involving Big Z, could make this snoozefest of a season worth watching after all.

EDIT: So it turns out Big Z wasn't actually angry when he said this, just frustrated. And boy, howdy, do I understand how that feels:

"What I said yesterday was (in) a moment of frustration," Zambrano said, before the first game of a series against Cincinnati. "I apologized to Marmol. Let's move on."

Aw, great, thanks for making with the nicey-nice, guys. So now I guess the Cubs won't have any internal dissension, and after another listless performance against Cincinnati on Monday night, it looks like Snoozefest 2011 is back in business.

Your 2011 Chicago Cubs Early-Mid-Season Review

So why do a Cubs mid-season review now, when the 2011 season isn't half-over yet? Well, we're 1/3 of the way through the season, the team hasn't played even up to my lowered pre-season expectations, and with all of the injuries and bad baseball I'm not sure if I'll still be paying attention to this team when they do reach the halfway point. Through 54 games, the Cubs are sporting a 23-31 record, good for the fourth-worst record in all of baseball, and they just finished a 3-6 homestand against three sub-.500 teams (Mets, Pirates, and Astros) with a flourish, getting swept by Houston, the team with the worst record in the NL. The Cubs have come by their record honestly, too - with a run differential of minus-45 (only two teams in baseball are worse right now), their expected won-loss record is 22-32. So if anything, they're lucky they aren't even worse.

Bulls Season Ends, Conspiracy Theory Season Begins

Almost a year into this blog, and this is my first NBA post, because even though I'm a sports fan I'm just not really into the NBA. I know, I know - these are the best basketball players in the world, playing at a ridiculously high level - what's not to like? Well, the regular season is too long, and too many teams make the playoffs, which makes the playoffs take too long (and why did the Bulls and Heat have four days off between games 2 and 3?), especially considering that the NBA is the least competitively-balanced of the four major leagues (only eight different teams have won championships in the last 30 years). It's great when you're a fan of a "have" (Lakers, Celtics, Jordan-era Bulls), but not so great for everyone else. But last night's season-ending Bulls loss compelled me to write for a couple of reasons:

Cubs Send Tyler Colvin to Triple-A

It's been a rough beginning to the 2011 season for Cubs OF/1B Tyler Colvin. Playing time has been scarce, and when he has found his way onto the field, he's managed a grotesque .113/.191/.258 line (OPS+ of 19) in 62 at-bats. So after Monday's loss to Cincinnati, the Cubs brass decided to end Colvin's misery and give him a chance to regroup in Triple-A Iowa.

In truth, while Colvin posted decent numbers in his rookie season - 20 home runs in only 358 at bats, along with a .500 slugging percentage - there were some red flags, particularly his poor 100/30 K/BB ratio. But it's not as simple as saying he's another Corey Patterson, and that pitchers have figured out that you don't have to throw him strikes to get him out. Looking at Colvin's strikeout and walk totals this year (17/6), the ratio is pretty similar to last year's, as is the percentage of strikeouts and walks per plate appearance (in 2010: 25.3% of PA were strikeouts, 7.6% were walks; in 2011: 25% of his PA have been strikeouts, 8.8% have been walks). The real problem is just that there's no place to put Colvin into the lineup right now to give him a chance to straighten things out at the plate. He can't really play CF. Alfonso Soriano has been the only Cub to show any power (11 HR, no other Cub has more than 4). Kosuke Fukudome has been off to his usual hot April start (.886 OPS) and since he and Colvin are both left-handed hitters, they can't be platooned. What's worse for Colvin is that Reed Johnson, a better defender, has posted a 1.086 OPS (in very limited playing time) and has thus passed Colvin for the 4th outfielder spot.

The good news for Colvin is that each of the Cubs regular corner outfielders have glaring weaknesses: for Soriano - a .293 OBP, with fewer walks than Colvin in more than twice as many plate appearances, while displaying the range and catching ability of a cactus in left field; for Fukudome - the fact that it's no longer April, and he generally hits worse as the season progresses. It's the same limitations that last year, helped Colvin get the opportunity to play as much as he did, and if he hits well in Iowa he'll get another chance to take at-bats from Fukudome and/or Soriano (and Johnson, once he comes back to earth) later in the season.

The worst news, as far as Cubs fans are concerned? As bad as Colvin has been this year, he still has more HR and as many RBI as the guy who's been our primary #3 hitter, and more HR than our primary clean-up hitter too.

It's not a Dream, Illini Fans - Ron Guenther Retires!

Great days in Illini sports history:

October 29, 1983 - Illinois beats Michigan to all but lock up a trip to the Rose Bowl.

March 26, 2005 - Illinois overcomes 15-point deficit to Arizona to advance to the Final Four

May 16, 2011 - Ron Guenther announces he is retiring from his post as Athletic Director after 19 years on the job.

After making brief comments, Bruce Weber and Ron Zook were last seen purchasing large quantities of Pepto Bismol at the thought of actually being held responsible for on-field/on-court results. As for Illini fans, who suffered through Guenther's seemingly endless tolerance for mediocrity, the response was nearly universal:

Cubs to Start Doug Davis Saturday? That Makes Me Happy, which Makes Me Sad.

Good news - the Cubs are putting an end to the James Russell experiment and are going to use an actual major league starting pitcher on Saturday against the Giants!

Bad news - that actual major league starting pitcher will be 35-year-old Doug Davis, who will be making his first big league start since off-season elbow surgery. Davis has a career WHIP of 1.50, which ranks 64th among the 65 active pitchers with at least 1000 IP (side note - our opening day starter is also very close to the bottom of that list). Davis does have a career ERA of 2.98 and career WHIP of 1.19 at Wrigley Field, and was the winning pitcher for Arizona in Game Two of the 2007 NLDS (a/k/a the "Ted Lilly spikes his glove" game), so you could file this one under "if you can't beat 'em, sign 'em" - that's how they got Derrek Lee, after all. On the other hand, if the Cubs signed every "Cub killer" in the major leagues they'd probably have about 400 players in their organization.

It's sad to know that a team with the second-highest payroll in the National League and a (supposedly) vastly improved farm system doesn't have any better options than bringing Doug Davis in as the 5th starter. It also doesn't answer the question of what the Cubs are going to do about their 4th starter Casey Coleman (he of the 1.95 WHIP and 18/20 K/BB Ratio) until Randy Wells and/or Andrew Cashner return from the DL (although it looks like Wells is finally going to start a rehab assignment). On the plus side, despite Russell and Coleman combining to go 1-7 with a 8.16 ERA in their 10 starts, the Cubs are ahead of Milwaukee in the standings, so I guess things could be worse (see - I can be positive!)