Results tagged “sox”

The Cubs offense, impotent for so much of the 2009 season, took out its frustration on the lowly Pirates last night, smacking eight straight hits to start the game and give starter Ryan Dempster a 7-0 lead before he threw a single pitch; the Cubs won by a 9-4 final. Skipper Lou Piniella echoed the thoughts of most Cubs after the game when he asked, "Where's that first inning been all year?" Elias says the feat of opening a game with eight straight hits has been done five times before last night, once before by the Cubs (against, who else, the Pirates in 1973). Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, and Kosuke Fukudome each had two RBIs and Mighty Micah Hoffpauir had a homer in the fourth. Dempster surrendered all four Pirate runs over the course of his 6.1 innings in the winning effort while four pitchers from the bullpen - none of them Kevin Gregg - held the lead. The Cubs and Pirates finish their series with an 11:35 matinee today (CSN).

On a gorgeous day like today, it's hard not to turn thoughts away from the hardwood action to action on the diamond. The 2009 Major League Baseball season begins two weeks from tonight and both the Sox and Cubs get underway two weeks from tomorrow. We've been watching old clips of games to get pumped (seriously, Benjy won't stop watching his 2005 World Series DVDs). But then we stumbled across some great treasures on YouTube. Enjoy some classic commercials and one seriously bad/awesome bonus video after the jump.

While the current tumultuous economic climate has several Major League Baseball teams planning to offer discounted concession items and value deals to fans in the 2009 season, the Cubs and Sox are not among those teams. Instead, it appears as if the pair of Chicago teams will keep their concession prices right at 2008 levels. The Cubs use Levy Restaurants for their concessions; team spokesman Peter Chase said, ''We always have an ongoing dialogue about different promotions and offers for fans, but at this time we don't have a new discount program in effect."

We're just a few hours from the Sox-Twins playoff game, so here's a little something for the Sox fans to get you pumped up. As if you needed something to get you excited.

• It’s been a busy weekend for crime and violence, unfortunately. So busy that we’ve had a hard time keeping track of the shootings and stabbings. WBBM has a tally: two police-involved shootings and several fatalities.
• A woman was stabbed to death in Lincolnshire yesterday. It was the first murder for the affluent suburb in 20 years. [Trib] UPDATE: Lincolnshire police have named the husband of the victim as a "person of interest." [Trib]
• 8-year-olds are now being told to take cholesterol drugs to ward off future heart problems. What about eating right? [S-T]
• $1 million bond was set for the man charged in the fatal hit-and-run accident that took the life of a 78-year-old woman on the South Side last Wednesday night. [S-T]
• In more upbeat news, seven Cubs players have made it on to the Major League All-Star roster for the July 15 event. The White Sox have had two players named to the American League team. [WBBM]

Oof, we just had a second where we thought it was Friday. But it's not! It's only Thursday. Time for some things that are awesome.

Major League Baseball's annual election results will be announced today, and a couple of former Chicago players hope to cross the magic threshold from paying customers to inductees in Cooperstown. Voted on by the Baseball Writers of America, players become eligible five years after retiring and must receive votes on 75 percent of ballots.