Chicago Cubs Week In Review

Writer's NOte: Cubs Week in Review will be posted every Friday. White Sox Week in Review will be posted every Sunday. Obviously, any huge news will be chronicled as it occurs, but this way, readers will know when to expect news about their teams.

Could the North Side Be Seeing Stars?

The first wave of All-Star voting results were released this week, and not surprisingly, there were Cubs represented in the top-five of balloting at each position.

What was surprising was that there were three Cubs that were leading at their positions.

Geovany Soto is leading NL catchers by a wide margin, earning about 105,000 more votes than his nearest competitor, Russell Martin of the Dodgers.

In the outfield, Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome are the No. 1 and No. 2 vote-getters, with Ken Griffey Jr. nipping at their heels.

Derrek Lee is currently sitting at No. 3 in the first basemen category, behind Lance Berkman of the Astros and Albert Pujols of the Cardinals.

Mark DeRosa is currently third among 2nd basemen, with Chase Utley lapping the field and Dan Uggla running second.

Ryan Theriot is fourth among NL shortstops, and Aramis Ramirez is third among third sackers. Chipper Jones leads at that position.

In addition to the possibility of having a couple of starters in the field, the Cubs also could have several pitching representatives. Carlos Zambrano is 7-1 currently, and Ryan Dempster is sporting a 6-2 mark. Carlos Marmol also leads ML relievers with 15 holds, and also has 49 strikeouts in 34 innings.

Crane Kenney Speaks

According to rumors circulating around the media in Chicago, security personnel at Wrigley Field allegedly were throwing out fans who were booing beleagured outfielder Alfonso Soriano.

During an interview with media outlets today, however, Crane Kenney said that no changes had been made to the Cubs' policies on security. He admitted that more security has been assigned to the bleachers, which the author did indeed notice at the game Tuesday, but that the only fans being thrown out for speech were those who used racist and vulgar language.

"The rules have not changed in the ballpark, which has consistently been booing is part of the game, and anything related to booing," he told the Chicago Tribune.

He also weighed in on the "Horry Kow" T-shirt controversy, saying that he isn't even Asian, but is offended by the shirts.

As you may recall, earlier this year, vendors outside Wrigley Field selling T-shirts with a Cubs bear logo with slanted eyes and the phrase "Horry Kow" on them were told to desist, as the team was banning them from the park.

The company employing the vendors agreed to stop, but as for yet they haven't, and they are threatening legal first amendment action against the Cubs protecting their "free speech" right to sell the shirts, but the Cubs are confident they will prevail in any lawsuit.

Cubs Holding Serve at Home

Over previous seasons, the Cubs have not used Wrigley Field as an advantage over opponents. This season, however, they have reversed course and are dominating the opposition at home.

They are currently 23-8 at home, the best such mark in the NL.

Certain Cubs are also cashing in on the opportunity to play at home. Derrek Lee has 13 HR this season, but 11 of them have come at home.

After the month of May, the Cubs will have played 34 of their 81 home games. They will need to quickly address their road woes, as they are currently 10-13 on the road this season, and they play 18 of 28 games away from Wrigley in the month of June.

Over the next two months, they play 34 of 54 away from home, with only 10 home games each month.

Observation of the Week

I went to the game on Tuesday vs. the Dodgers. I won't bore you with the details, but needless to say, I had an adventuresome time getting to the park.

My good friend first forgot the tickets in his car at the Metra station, then had a lady at a Currency Exchange print the tickets. We got to the park, only to discover that she had printed the wrong tickets.

Finally, we went to Wrigleyville Sports (go ahead and accuse me of shameless plugging), and they printed our tickets for us. We got our Fukudome bobble-heads, then entered the bleachers, sitting four rows from the field about 10 feet from the left field foul pole. From there, things got interesting.

Fan decorum at the Friendly Confines has progressively drawn lower since the Tribune Company began flooding money into the team after the 2003 season.

With the increased demand for success, people at Wrigley have begun heartily booing players who aren't performing well. This practice has been something featured at the park for many years, but especially recently, it has begun to seem more and more foolish.

For instance, fans in the outfield were booing Soriano for making an out during the game, even though he made a great running catch of a fly ball and also had a decent day at the plate.

Another interesting event occurred during the fourth inning, when the Dodgers scored their only run. There were some "fans" (and I use that term loosely) who were yelling things at a White Sox fan in our section, completely oblivious to the fact that Blake Dewitt hit an RBI single to put the Dodgers ahead.

They were so engrossed in yelling drunken profanities at this guy (who deserved the razzing considering his deliberate flaunting of his South Side fanhood) that they missed another opportunity to boo Soriano for making a throwing error on the play.

It's these kinds of events that give Cubs fans a bad name in baseball circles, such as when Marty Brennaman lit into them when the Cubs were playing the Reds earlier in the season.

What is the point of reporting on these goings on in the bleachers? Well, to put it bluntly, I think that we as Cubs fans should be outraged about this taking over by these "tourist fans" who think the whole point of coming out to a ballgame is to drink copious amounts of alcohol and be obnoxious to anyone and everyone near them.

Now, please don't think I'm assailing the age old traditions of heckling the opposing teams' players or feeling irritated when a player like Jim Edmonds continues to rack up outs instead of hits.

What I am trying to say is that we take it upon ourselves, as lovers of this great game, to try to avoid falling into these traps, and we should assist others in doing the same. It's time to take our park back from these asinine doofuses who are running amock.

Please feel free to share your comments, horror stories, or to call me a complete idiot for feeling so strongly about something that isn't a big issue in your eyes.

Cubs Performance in Previous Week:

Friday 5/23: Cubs 12  Pirates 3

Saturday 5/24:   Pirates 5  Cubs 4   F/14

Sunday 5/25:     Pirates 6  Cubs 5   F/11

Monday 5/26:      Cubs 3    Dodgers 1

Tuesday 5/27:      Cubs 3    Dodgers 1

Wednesday 5/28:  Cubs 2   Dodgers 1  F/10

Thursday 5/29:     Cubs 8   Rockies 4

Upcoming games:

5/30-6/1  vs. Rockies      6/2-6/4 at Padres    6/5-6/8 at Dodgers