Category / Baseball

by jim

Which Way To Kane County?

The rumor around town is that the Cubs are about to move their Single A affiliate from the Peoria Chiefs to the Kane County Cougars, which I see was a smart business move.  The Cubs have benefited for years in attendance by having their minor league affiliates close to home, and moving from Peoria to 35 miles west of Chicago should help even more.  Not to mention the ability to send a player on a rehab assignment while still keeping him close enough to the big league facilities for treatment.

While I know it won’t happen, mostly because it would make too much sense, I would like to see the White Sox move to take over for the Cubs as the parent club for the Peoria Chiefs.  Downstate seems to be mostly split between the Cubs and the Cardinals and the White Sox don’t seem too concerned about it.  While the Cubs enjoy the busloads of fans coming in from Iowa or Peoria, the Sox seem content to keep their minor league affiliates at an arms length, with the closest one being in… Virgina?  Or maybe Montana.

by admin

Playoffs?

As hard as it may be to believe following this weekend’s disaster in Kansas City, the time has come to start preparing for the post-season, and the White Sox have done just that by sending out their post-season invoice to season ticket holders.  The first thing that jumps out at you is the $30 non-refundable fee just for the privelidge of purchasing these tickets.  Sadly, that has become normal at this point.  The second thing that seems a little off is the seat locations.  My normal seats are down the first base line, but for any potential playoff games, I will be down the third base line.  Not a big deal for night games, but the sun can make that an unpleasant location to sit for day games.  On the plus side, I am closer to the field for all of the games than I am normally.

While the ticket prices themselves are increased from the regular season (and are set by Major League Baseball, not the White Sox), it is nice to see that the parking fee is the same for all series.  I’m sure the posted price will be increased for the fan off the street, so it is one additional perk for us season ticket holders.

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#367 – Sean Tracey

Name: Sean Tracey

Rank: 367

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2006

Sean Tracey’s White Sox career nearly came to an end on June 14, a mere 6 days after it started.  After AJ Pierzynski had been hit by 2 pitches and with the White Sox down by 8 against the Rangers, Sean Tracey was brought in to the game with one mission: retaliate against Hank Blalock.  Tracey threw to inside pitches to Blalock, before getting him to ground out.  He was quickly removed from the game, berated in the dugout by manager Ozzie Guillen, and demoted the next day.  He returned later in the season, and then his career actually did come to an end.

Tracey’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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Single Game Pitching Leaders

Monday we looked at the single game leaders in offensive stats for games I have attended.  Let’s look at the pitchers, keeping in mind that in some cases, leading a category can be a bad thing.

Innings Pitched

Name Total Date
45 with 9 Most recently on 4/28/2012
Hits

Name Total Date
Homer Bailey 15 7/26/2008
Jose Lima 13 5/2/2000
Glendon Rusch 13 5/12/2003
Carlos Silva 13 4/23/2006
Mark Buehrle 13 7/2/2006
Carlos Zambrano 13 8/14/2007
Tommy Hanson 13 6/22/2010
Gavin Floyd 13 9/9/2010
Edwin Jackson 13 9/11/2010
Roy Oswalt 13 7/3/2012
Runs

Name Total Date
Mark Buehrle 11 7/2/2006
Jeff Suppan 11 4/30/2008
Roy Oswalt 11 7/3/2012
Jose Lima 10 5/2/2000
Clay Hensley 10 4/16/2007
Earned Runs

Name Total Date
Mark Buehrle 10 7/2/2006
Continue reading →
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Single Game Batting Leaders

We’ve looked at the single season and career leaders for games I have attended, and I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the single game leaders.

Home Runs

Name Total Date
Sammy Sosa 3 6/5/1996
Moises Alou 3 7/4/2003
97 with 2 Most rcently on 8/4/2012

Hits

Name Total Date
Scott Rolen 5 4/22/2007
Mike Fontenot 5 6/25/2007
Mark DeRosa 5 9/17/2007
Alfonso Soriano 5 5/17/2008
Derrek Lee 5 6/28/2008
Ryan Braun 5 8/2/2010
Prince Fielder 5 8/2/2010

Runs

Name Total Date
Chris Burke 5 6/13/2006
Gary Ward 4 8/14/1984
Paul Konerko 4 6/28/2002
Continue reading →
by admin

#368 – Steve Mura

Name: Steve Mura

Rank: 368

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 1983

Steve Mura came to the White Sox from the Cardinals following the 1982 as a free agent compensation pick after losing outfielder Steve Kemp to the Yankees.  Mura opened the season in the bullpen, and nothing good to say about manager Tony LaRussa or pitching coach Dave Duncan.  “I’m not doing any good throwing 5 minutes of batting practice,” Mura said to The Sporting News. “I wish they would make up their mind and trade me or something instead of letting me rot.”

After 6 appearances, they did do something: demoting him to Triple A, where he went 3-11 with a 4.82 ERA in 19 starts.  The following season, he competed for the 5th starters role, and even LaRussa conceded that he was much improved.  Unfortunately for Mura, he was released towards the end of spring training.

Mura’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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The Geovany Soto Era

Lost among the hubub of moving Ryan Dempster at last week’s trading deadline was the Cubs cutting of ties with Geovany Soto, the disappointing backstop who had, at one time, held such promise.  After getting brief cups of coffee the previous three seasons, Soto broke through in a big way in 2008, making the All Star team as a rookie and earning the NL Rookie of the Year award while helping the Cubs capture the NL Central title.  Unfortunately, it all went down hill from there, for both the Cubs and Soto.

In 2009, Soto’s numbers dropped across the board, finishing with a .218 batting average and only 11 home runs, as the Cubs dropped 14 games from their win total the year before.  To add insult to injury, it was revealed in July that Soto had tested positive for marijuana during that spring’s World Baseball Classic and had been suspended from international play for 2 years.

The 2010 season was a bounce back year for Soto, but not the team.  Soto improved his average to .280 and managed 17 home runs, but the team fell even further, finishing 12 games under .500.  Last year, Soto fell off again, still hitting 17 home runs but with an average of .228 and he “lead” all NL catchers with 13 errors.  This year, amongst the rebuilding, Soto fell even further, battling injury to hit .199 in 52 games.  His era or the north side officially came to an end last Tuesday when he was traded to the Rangers for a 24 year old minor league pitcher who has a career mark of 27-43 in 6 seasons at Double A or lower.  Oh, and either a player to be named later or cash.

Soto’s numbers in a Cubs uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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#369 – Tim Fortugno

Name: Tim Fortugno

Rank: 369

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 1995

Tim Fortugno joined the White Sox prior to the 1995 season after being claimed off waivers from the Reds.  He had a tough time in the bullpen, but did manage to make his way into 37 games before being included in the July 27th trade that sent Jim Abbott back to the Angels for McKay Christensen, Andrew Lorraine, Bill Simas, and John Snyder.

Fortugno’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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Goodbye Mr. Dempster

In August of 2003, while the Cubs were making a run that would eventually take them to the NLCS and a mere 5 outs away from their first World Series appearance in nearly 60 years, Ryan Dempster blew out his elbow as a member of the Cincinnati Reds and underwent Tommy John surgery.  Following the season, the Reds, fearing that the one-time all star was done, released him.  In January 2004, the Cubs took a low risk flyer on him, knowing he would spend most of the season rehabbing and hoping to capture lighning in a bottle.  Nearly 9 seasons later, I guess you could say it worked out.

Dempster joined the Cubs in August, one year after his elbow reconstruction, and, for the first time in his career, worked primarily out of the bullpen.  Dempster returned to the starting rotation in 2005, but after 6 starts, he was named the closer after LaTroy Hawkins continued to struggle.  He would prove to be one of the premiere closers over the next three seasons.  In 2008, Dempster finally moved back to the starting rotation, surrendering the closers role to another former starter, Kerry Wood.  Dempster excelled and lead the Cubs to their second straight division title.

As the Cubs fortunes went south following the 2008 season, Dempster remained one of the few bright spots, especially this year, where he is among the league leaders in ERA despite getting little to no run support.  Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, the time to say goodbye has arrived.  Ryan Dempster has been traded to the Atlanta Braves Los Angeles Dodgers New York Yankees Texas Rangers, where he will be reunited with former battery mate Geovany Soto.

In Cubs games I have attended, Dempster is second all time with 13 wins and 68 appearances and tied with Joe Borowski for first all time in saves, with 14.  Dempster’s numbers in a Cubs uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →