Diary of a Chicago Sports Fan

Image Courtesy of Bing

White Sox ace emerges, Cubs still waiting for theirs, and Roy sets a screen

The White Sox ace has shown up again. Jose Quintana continued his resurgence, pitching 8 innings of scoreless ball against the Kansas City Royals. The result was a 6-0 Sox win. The victory raised the Sox record to 14-11. In addition to Jose Quintana coming on strong, the Sox are getting some hitting.

He keeps going and going and going

Avisail Garcia continues his hot streak, going 2-2 to raise his average to .382. Geovany Soto had 2 hits and 2 RBIs. If the Sox get hitting out of the catcher”s slot that's a huge bonus. The Sox have been one of MLB's surprise teams this spring, but could use another outfield bat. It would be ironic if the Sox were buyers instead of sellers at the trade deadline.

But a win is a win

The Cubs once again didn't get a quality start, but still managed to slug out an 8-3 win over the Phillies. Jon Lester went 5 innings, giving up 3 runs, 2 of which were earned. The fact Lester walked 5 men in those 5 innings is not a good sign. There were however, some good signs.

Here come the bats

Kyle Schwarber had the big hit for the Cubs, a three run homer that put the Cubs up 5-2. Javy Baez also had 4 hits, including a triple and homerun. Javy has his average up to .269.

Four innings, three guys, no problem

The Cubs bullpen locked the game down after Lester left, going 4 scoreless innings. Carl Edwards Jr. had 2 of those scoreless innings and Hector Rondon and Wade Davis each had one. After a couple of hiccups early on, the Cubs bullpen is emerging as a strength.

At least he left the uniforms alone

The Manny Machado/Orioles vs. the Boston Red Sox feud continues. Chris Sale threw behind Machado last night. Machado was understandably upset and let loose with a profane tirade after the game. Sale said he wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Chris Sale is a great pitcher but a strange dude. I don't think all of Sale's behavior can be covered by the word, “competitive”.

Now that's a screen

Former Portland Trailblazer guard, Brandon Roy, was shot in the leg while shielding kids from gunfire. Roy still knows how to set a screen.

Little Big Man

And finally, the Boston Celtics went up 2-0 over the Washington Wizards with a 129-119 overtime win. Isaiah Thomas went off for 53 points . Thomas had 29 points in the 4^th quarter and overtime. It seems like defenses should be able to stop Thomas because of his small size, but it's not happening. This Thomas is making the old Pistons guard, Isaiah Thomas, the other Isaiah Thomas.

More next time.