If you’re staying up late three of the next four nights to watch the Cubs in San Francisco, here are a few things to know about the Giants:

Be patient — 3.90 BB/9

For the Giants, both the rotation and the bullpen are to blame. Both walk more than almost every respective team. And combined, the 3.90 BB/9 is worst in baseball.

It’s also the best way to reach base against the Giants. Opposing teams are hitting only .237 against the Giants, so walking really may be the Cubs’ best option.

The Cubs will miss the Giants’ most wild starter: Jonathan Sanchez. But, besides Madison Bumgarner, who only walks 2.31 per nine, the rest of the Giants’ rotation isn’t much better than Sanchez. Even Tim Lincecum (3.44 BB/9) isn’t having his best season.
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Headlines with a Chicago slant

White Sox 3, Orioles 4: Sometimes a team can catch another team at a bad time; it’s happening right now with the White Sox. The Orioles are one of the worst teams in baseball. Mark Buehrle was quite blunt about that. But he losses me after that. “You look at their lineup and wonder how that team is that bad,” he said. No, I don’t wonder about that; 111 games, to this point, show you how they’re bad. It’s just one of those things.

Beckham lost, too: When it happened, Gordon Beckham had a more hopeful outlook for what turned out to be a strained groin: “After I dove for that ball, I thought it was my (protective) cup pinching my leg. But it started getting a little tight.” The injury is not expected to be serious, but any games without someone coming off a .410 wOBA month is too long.

Reds 11, Cubs 4: Redleg Nation had mucho celebratory sombreros to pass out after this one. While the Cubs continue to do whatever it is that they’re doing, the Reds took a two-game lead in the division with the sweep and a Cardinals rain delay.

Minor Bears news: Mike Teel (he’s the non-veteran fourth string QB the Bears signed a few weeks back) is out; Zeke Markshausen, the undrafted rookie wide receiver from Northwestern is in. The Bears have already seen Markshausen: he was part of minicamp. So don’t expect any surprises.

For more rather meaningless Bears news, check out Bears Brain Trust.

For a brief roundup of scores and news from the non-Chicago teams that matter, continue reading.
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Welcome: The same Bears questions

If Brett Favre really does retire, it’s a good thing for the Bears. With Tavaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels on the field, two games on the schedule just became significantly easier. Football Outsiders Almanac 2010 had the Vikings at about 8-9 wins with Favre; imagine what that projection would look like now.

Still, there are too many problems with the Bears to guarantee them one of the top two spots in the division and a playoff berth. Favre retiring doesn’t mean …

• Mike Martz’s offense any more familiar to Jay Cutler.
• Cutler is a better fit for this offense.
• Brian Urlacher can stay healthy.
• Urlacher can be an effective player, even if he is healthy.
• Tommie Harris doesn’t suck.
• Julius Peppers can make up for Harris, if he is the Harris of the last two season.
• The offensive line can hold their blocks for the deep seven-step drops Martz’s offense requires.
• The wide receivers will be in the right place — the elusive spots in Martz’s offense that people talk about.

There are more things Favre’s supposed retirement doesn’t assure. But if he’s gone, the Bears’ questions become much less noticeable against the Vikings.

Headlines with a Chicago slant

White Sox 12, Tigers 2; White Sox 1, Tigers 7: Mark Buehrle’s warning came true in game two. After game one, the Sox starter said, “It could have been an ugly game. I didn’t have good command and fell behind early.”

When Jeff Frazier, Ryan Raburn and Danny Worth are on the opposing team it’s hard for things to get ugly. They managed to do it early against Carlos Torres though.

Brewers 4, Cubs 3: Compared to Casey Coleman yesterday, it was a much better debut for Thomas Diamond.

Blackhawks sign prospect Makarov: With all this extra money, the Hawks don’t just have to give players like Igor Makarov a spot on the roster. Even the most expensive young guys, i.e. Kyle Beech, are possible candidates.

Bulls opener in OKC: Hot off spending the summer together on Team USA, rumors of Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant forming a super team in Oklahoma City begin.

For a brief roundup of scores and news from the non-Chicago teams that matter, continue reading.
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With the help of FanGraphs and Win Probability Added (WPA), a sentence-long recap of the night’s White Sox and/or Cubs game. Sometimes longer … but usually not.
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The Detroit Tigers have fallen off the face of the AL Central in recent weeks. Just don’t blame Miguel Cabrera. Here are three things you should know about the Tigers:

Miguel Cabrera’s doing it all — .351/.429/.660

Miguel Cabrera is in the race for the traditional Triple Crown: He’s No. 2 in average, No. 2 in home runs and No. 1 in RBI. But he’s in a similar position for the “slash” Triple Crown, three stats that are more telling and important then traditional numbers.

Obviously, his average is No. 2, but he’s also No. 2 in OBP (.429) and No. 1 in SLG (.660).

You can probably figure out from this that Cabrera leads the league in OPS (1.088).
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Welcome: Non-Stanley Cup-winning goalie Marty Turco

I hate that every time someone wrote or said something about Antti Niemi, they had to put “Stanley Cup-winning” in front of his name. Even now after the the Blackhawks decided to walk away from Niemi and the one-year, $2.75 million extension decided by an arbiter, there it is: “Stanley Cup-winning.”

Now that the Blackhawks’ goalie story is complete and they have signed Marty Turco to a $1.3 million deal, “twice-as-expensive” Antti Niemi or “still relatively unknown” Antti Niemi would be a more significant way to describe him. Because even though $2.75 million is probably a fair price for Niemi, the Stanley Cup-winning goalie isn’t worth twice as much as the reliable Turco.

“Stanley Cup-winning” is accurate, of course, it’s just not the most important factor in deciding to keep Niemi or not. It would have been a mistake for the Hawks to re-sign Niemi just because he won the Cup with them last season. Compared to the ruthless, rational decisions the Hawks have been forced to make this offseason, this would have been the opposite. If the front office thought Niemi was twice good, even nearly twice as good, they would have pulled the trigger, moved another player or two and signed Niemi.

They didn’t think Niemi was any of those things.

The Hawks didn’t let a few good weeks in the playoffs overrule that Niemi has only played in 61 total games and that we still don’t know how consistently good he can be. Teams that make decisions based on the past, especially small sample sizes in the past, usually come to regret them.

“Generally, playoff runs are money in the bank for goaltenders,” writes The Score’s Jonathan Willis. Front office decision-makers in all sports tend to over-emphasize playoff runs, allowing good, recent playoff performances to overrule other factors (experience, the player’s age, health or how good they really think he is).

With Niemi, this didn’t happen with the Blackhawks. And I think they’re all the better for it.

For a brief roundup of scores and news from the non-Chicago teams that matter, continue reading.
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With the help of FanGraphs and Win Probability Added (WPA), a sentence-long recap of the night’s White Sox and/or Cubs game. Sometimes longer … but usually not.

Milwaukee Brewers 18, Chicago Cubs 1

Courtesy of FanGraphs

Least Valuable Pitcher: All of them, but specifically Randy Wells -28.1% WPA (Win Probability Added)
Most Valuable Hitter: Starlin Castro 2.1% WPA
Least Valuable Hitter Tyler Colvin -3.5%

Yay, Starlin Castro!

In the crucial race for the third place in the National League Central, the Brewers lead the Cubs by a game and a half. So here’s three things, slightly more specific than their hitting is good and their pitching is bad, you should know about the Brewers:

The Brewers’ best are about as good as anyone in baseball — average wOBA is .385.

Only the Nationals have three players (Adam Dunn, Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham) with a higher wOBA (Weighted On-Base Average) than the Brewers’ “Big 3” — Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and Rya … Rickie Weeks.

Oddly enough, Ryan Braun isn’t included in this season’s “Big 3.” Not because he sucks; his wOBA is .348, even if some are concerned about his power. Weeks is just having one hell of a season. His .383 wOBA is second-best for a second baseman, behind only Robinson Cano’s .408. And .408 is crazy good, so Week has nothing to be ashamed of here.
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