Author: horse-racing-free-tips

The Chicago Cubs are on a mini two game winnings streak at the expense of the inept Washington Nationals and is this cause for optimism, or do we throw in the towel for the 98th year on the Cubs.

Yes the story has been told far too many times about the last Chicago Cub’s team to win the World Series in 1908 and most sportsbooks have them at 50-1 to win the October Classic, while their South Side neighbors the White Sox are 3-1 to repeat.

Yesterday things got so bad at Wrigley that a drunken female fan through a ball from the stands, that just missed taking the head off of slumping Jacques Jones.

The Cubbies now invite flame thrower Kerry Wood back to the nest on Thursday and considering that have been without Wood, Mark Prior, Wade Miller and Derrek Lee, for an extended period, 12-22 is not that bad.

Wood seemed to be realizing his potential when he made the All-Star team in 2003, finishing with a majors-best 266 strikeouts and a 14-11 record. But he went just 8-9 in 22 starts in 2004, spending nearly two months on the disabled list.

Last season he was 3-4 with a 4.23 ERA in 21 games. Wood made three trips to the DL, missing about three months, and even pitched out of the bullpen for the first time in his career, making 11 relief appearances, because of shoulder problems.

Wood’s rehab was pushed back after minor knee surgery in early March. He made two minor league rehab starts and threw 85 pitches in five innings for Triple-A Iowa on May 12.

The Cubs so have a starter hitting over .300 with Todd Walker the closest at .298 and Juan Pierre has been awful from the leadoff spot. His on base percentage of .276 is downright embarrassing and multi-million dollar a year players Jones and Aramis Ramirez have combined for just 34 RBI’s.

They travel across town this weekend and hopefully they learn a thing or two from the White Sox and maybe Dusty should takes some notes on how to manage by Ozzie Guillen!

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I mentioned in this space recently that I thought Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire could be the first to get the axe in the 2006 MLB season, as his team is grossly underachieving.

There were reports of lack of discipline in the clubhouse and on the field last year and it looks like things have gone from bad to worse this year. On Sunday the Twins scored 7 runs in the first inning, to answer the 3 that the White Sox had posted in the top of the frame.

Then the Twins allowed the defending World Series champions to storm back for a 9-7 win and in the process get nailed on a embarrassing triple play in the 6th inning. With Nick Punto on second and Shannon Stewart on first, the Twins Luis Castillo popped up a bunt and a charging Paul Konerko made a shoestring catch.

How in the world could Konerko right himself and throw to first for a double play and then second baseman Tadahito Iguchi fired to Juan Uribe at second for a triple play. The first rule of thumb that a little league player is taught on a sacrifice bunt, is to make sure the ball hits the ground before taking off.

What is heck were Punto and Stewart thinking and why did Gardenhire not sit their butts down on the bench. Sunday’s game was also the first time in AL history that a starting pitcher (Mark Buehrle) allowed 7 runs in the first inning and won a game.

Scott Baker was the latest Twin to get roughed up for Minnesota, whose starters have a collective 6.51 ERA, the worst in either league! The Twins needed a strong start from Baker, especially with everyone else in the rotation not named Johan Santana still struggling to find their form. Before the game, righty Carlos Silva was sent to the bullpen temporarily to give him more time to straighten himself out.

Budding star lefty Francisco Liriano will fill his spot for now as the starters are an embarrassing 13-21.

In eight starts, Silva is 2-6 with an 8.80 ERA and 74 hits and 15 homers allowed in 46 innings. After going 14-8 with a 4.21 ERA in 2004, his first year as a starter, the righty pitched through an injured right knee and was picked as Minnesota’s most improved player in 2005. He went 9-8 with a 3.44 ERA in 188-plus innings and led the majors with the fewest walks, 0.4 — per nine innings.

The Twins are a horrible 7-14 in their own division and now head to Motown to face the surging Tigers, who are the most improved team in baseball. After that they face the Brewers in Milwaukee and a embarrassing road trip, could spell the end to Gardenhire’s regime in the Twin cities!

Bob Acton

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Any time you start think about investing money in a defending World Champion you do so with a great deal of risk as Las Vegas linemakers are going to make you pay a premium to back them.

Case in point is the Chicago White Sox who stunned the world last year when they knocked off the Houston Astros and stormed out of the gate this year, in impressive fashion.

In recent days though the Ozzie Guillen led team have shown some cracks in the armor and when this happens, you can usually look at the pitching staff as the culprit. They have now lost three in a row and both Jose Contreras and Freddy Garcia were both lir up pretty good by the Cleveland Indians.

Garcia leads the team with 7 victories but those numbers are very misleading and this guy barely gets his fastball past 85 mph on a good day. His ERA is 4.57 and he has given up 74 hits in 69 innings. Meanwhile John Garland as usual is giving up a plethora of homeruns, but he is also not striking anyone out with just 33 K’s in 63 innings.

Chicago returns to the friendly confines of US Cellular Field this weekend to host a Texas team that is surging and leads the AL West. The White Sox have lost five of their last six games to the Rangers (28-25) overall, but have won four of the last five meetings at U.S. Cellular Field.

Texas has won five of its last seven contests and leads the AL West by 3 1/2 games over Oakland.

Jon Garland (4-2, 6.25 ERA) is 1-0 with a 2.75 ERA in three home starts this season. He won on the road Sunday, despite allowing five runs and seven hits in six innings of a 7-5 victory over the Blue Jays. Toronto hit three home runs off of Garland, increasing the 26-year-old right-hander’s season total to 16 homers allowed — the second-most in the majors.

The Rangers open their 10-game road trip with 24-year-old right-hander Kameron Loe (3-5, 4.48) taking the mound on Friday. Loe is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in two career games against the White Sox.

Garland will have his hands full with the red hot Texas hitters, especially Mark Teixeira who is 10-for-28 (.357) with two homers and three doubles in his last eight games, and is 7-for-16 (.438) with two homers, three doubles and 11 RBIs in his career against Garland.

I look for the White Sox to continue slumping and must lean to the Rangers tonight!

Bob Acton

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