Chicago - A message from the station manager

Pitch Switch

By Roger Wallenstein

Pitchers are odd creatures who have chosen an exceptionally challenging and difficult task. We ask them to hurl an approximately five-ounce sphere with a circumference of about nine inches up to 100 miles per hour with accuracy and movement. Some attempt to perfect a more leisurely approach of dips and curves at a slower speed, all destined to trick the foe into a mind game of guessing.
A batter stands at home plate every other inning or maybe once in three innings. No such luxury for the poor pitchers. Nothing happens until the ball leaves their hand either from the right or left side. Whether the ball winds up in the catcher’s mitt for strike three or in the centerfield bleachers, there always is another batter striding to home plate. The job is not to be envied.
Last weekend’s three-game series between the Cubs and Sox portrayed this drama with clarity and suspense. The Cubs’ Alec Mills and the Sox’s Reynaldo Lopez excelled at the craft of major league pitching. Mills used an assortment of slow stuff Saturday for 8⅓ innings, blanking the team that had scored 17 times 12 hours earlier. Lopez transformed the game on Friday night by retiring all 14 hitters he faced. The enforced moratorium enabled Lopez’s mates to slug the ball all over The Grate, overcoming what was initially a 6-0 deficit.

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Posted on August 30, 2021

U.S. Open Begins Under Match-Fixing Shadow

By Ibrahim Naber/THE CITY

When the U.S. Open starts Monday in Flushing Meadows, the prospect of fame and prize money will attract some of the world’s top tennis players, with $2.5 million awaiting winners of the finals and $75,000 for those eliminated in round one.
But athletes can face another temptation in the high-stakes world of Grand Slam tennis: In the past year, both Wimbledon and the French Open were marked by suspicions of match-fixing flagged by monitors hired to insure the integrity of the sport.
Match-fixing is the deliberate manipulation of sports events, involving betting on previously agreed wins, defeats or even just individual games in a match. A boom in online sports betting is raising the potential earnings and stakes.
Two matches last month at Wimbledon 2021 – the most important tennis tournament in the world – remain under suspicion of match-fixing. Several betting providers raised the alarm about conspicuous abnormal betting patterns, as reported by the German newspaper Die Welt.

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Posted on August 30, 2021

TrackNotes: Bite A Nose

By Thomas Chambers

I wonder if Carly Simon knew of what she sang in my context, but when anticipation is fulfilled as it was with Saturday’s Travers Day racing festivities, it was the good old days.
We had dramatic performances, a sad but not deadly development, savagery, and demonstrations of just what makes up champions.
I’ll get this out of the way. Honestly, I was curious to see if Bob Baffert, who had two runners on the day, was in Saratoga. Thankfully, he wasn’t, and all seemed primed for enjoyment. He didn’t win a race either.

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Posted on August 29, 2021

Dalton vs. Andy Dalton

By The Vs. Affairs Desk

Compare and contrast.
DALTON: The cooler, not the bouncer.
ANDY DALTON: Neither cool nor bouncy.
*
DALTON: Pain don’t hurt.
ANDY DALTON: Owww!
*
DALTON: Studied philosophy.
ANDY DALTON: Should be more philosophical about the job he’s about to lose to Justin Fields.
*
DALTON: Lives on a farm.
ANDY DALTON: Plays for a shitty team.

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Posted on August 23, 2021

A New Complaint

By Roger Wallenstein

We have to vent. Frustration builds up and boils over the top. An outlet is required. Point the finger at those we think are messing up? Without a doubt. We are human. Complaining is part of who are.
Of course, there are those of us who go overboard by moaning with just about every breath. And too often the vitriol becomes biting, mean and nasty, or worse. As long as we don’t hurt anyone else, in the best of instances, a blustery dose of criticism targeting someone else or a situation should provide a respite, a taste of relief, alleviating rancor and making us feel better. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Let’s take the case of the Chicago White Sox, who, despite leading the American League Central by 9½ games this morning, receive their share of pointed criticism. After Saturday’s 8-4 loss to Tampa Bay at the ballpark they call The Trop – it should be The Flop – left-handed pitcher Dallas Keuchel was on the hot seat.

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Posted on August 23, 2021

Baseball Fever

By Roger Wallenstein

Play catch. Have a catch. Doesn’t matter what you call it, the game was on full display last Thursday in Iowa.
I’m not sure just when humans began throwing a sphere back and forth in a friendly manner. Maybe a rounded rock was the first missile, but for our purposes we’re talking about two people, each wearing a glove, and a ball covered in cowhide secured by 108 stitches.
Playing catch, the linchpin for W.P. Kinsella’s book Shoeless Joe, which, as we all know, morphed into the film Field of Dreams, deserves more than a shallow perusal.

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Posted on August 16, 2021

TrackNotes: No Thanks A Million

By Thomas Chambers

Let’s take the Highlights for Handicappers Quiz.
Which of these are real horse races?
1. The Mickey D.
2. The Beverly D.
3. The McCaskey Handicap (for old maidens non-winners of any over 35 years).
4. The Mr. Submarine Mile.
5. The Bruce D.
6. The Davey Deals Dash.
7. The Mr. D.
8. The NotoriousBS D.
9. The Wrecking Ball Futurity.
In a paean to massive ego and abject betrayal of personal history, and a lesson in The Art of the Sellout, Arlington Park will conduct its last Big Day of Racing Saturday, on what used to be called Million Day.

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Posted on August 14, 2021

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