Media criticism

Snark is the blogging equivalent of pennies:  easy to throw around, but no matter how much is thrown, it doesn't buy much.  Using too much of it in one place is a real jerk move, but when one just don't have any currency more valuable to offer, for a short while you can make due with each.

That weak analogy aside, let's snark up the Cubs sports media.  From the headlines at the Sun-Times, I learn...

Bench player doesn't mind the opportunity to play every day

Pitcher has a tired arm, therefore he will rest it.

Player would prefer not to hold an unflattering record.

The latest article from Phil Rogers also discusses the Cubs interest in Mark Teahen. I still can't fathom why the Cubs would be interested in a player with a 98 and 91 OPS+ the last two years. Rogers suggests that Felix Pie for Teahen would get the deal done or Mike Fontenot and Ronny Cedeno. I suggest that Phil Rogers finds a new profession and the Cubs actually acquire someone who might help the team.

The best part of the article though is the poll at the bottom of the page.

From this morning's Tribune and Steve Rosenbloom...

If you're rating the last 10 games for each team, the Sox get more style points than the Cubs. Sure, the Cubs went 8-2 while the Sox went 7-3, but the Sox did that on the West Coast, while the Cubs were at home.

Sure, the Cubs played better, won more games, faced teams with a higher combined winning percentage (.488 to .455) and outscored their opponents by a wider margin (+27 to +13), but the White Sox did it while they were sleeping with their road groupies and the Cubs players got to sleep in their own beds. That makes all the difference in the world...because this is the NBA all of a sudden.

The Sox also did it against the one good team that either team played, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California of the United States of the Northern Hemisphere of Earth,

Haha, see what Steve did there? He took a joke that's three years old and recycled it.

coming back in the last two games to get a split.

Wow, the White Sox split a four-game series on the road versus a good team that just got back its best starter for that series and is still missing Kelvim Escobar, Howie Kendrick and Chone Figgins. That's incredible work there by the White Sox. I mean they managed to play .500 baseball versus a depleted team. Print up the playoff tickets for winning 5 of 6 against two teams with winning percentages at or below .400.

To be fair, The Cubs did play against some lightweights in the last series, the just-below .500 Pirates, the woeful Padres and the Diamondbacks, who just happen to have the best record in baseball.