Continued...

The Cubs have twelve games to go, the Brewers have fourteen.  The Cubs opponents are three games with Cincinnati and three with Pittsburgh at home.  On the road for three with Florida, and three with Cincinnati wrap the regular season on the road.  The remaining Cubs’ opponents are a combined 60 games under .500 as of this writing. They should win rather easily.  While the Cubs are busy winning their division, they best hope that the Phillies aren’t the Wild Card team.  The Phillies, winners of four in a row and seven out of the last ten, are fresh off a sweep of the Mets.  They trailed San Diego by 1.5 games for the Wild Card race.  Why would it be so bad for the Cubs if the Phillies win?  It’s simple.  Teams can’t play other teams in their own division in the first round.  If the Wild Card comes out of the East, the Cubs would be looking squarely at the Mets in the best of five first series of the play-offs.  With the speed and the power of the Mets, a locked down closer in Billy Wagner, and overall a pretty good baseball team and the reemergence of Pedro Martinez, it would probably be the Cubs’ toughest assignment.

 
White Sox

Congrats to Jim Thome joining the exclusive “500 Homerun Club” on Sunday!  This club contains only 23 members in the whole history of baseball.  The Sox after Thome’s game winning 500th homer, are a  .5 game behind those pesky Royals.  It’s how they can fly by in a head-to-head series in Kansas City that begins this week’s action.  Ozzie Guillen will be around for his latest contract extension until the year 2012. And I’m sure Kenny Williams is at the helm with him at least as long.  Josh Fields has 19 homeruns and 53 RBIs, which gives the Sox some power for the future. Along with a great deal of hope that Fields develops into a premier run producer.  Danny Richar is hitting only .227, but I believe he’ll figure it out.

James Spader won the Emmy for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series; that series being “Boston Legal.” “Sopranos” won for Best Drama.  What more can a man ask?