Battle of Chicago: White Sox Return Favor and Sweep Cubs

Broom sales are at an all-time high in Chicago right now. 

The Chicago Cubs swept their cross-town rival White Sox last weekend at Wrigley, and the Sox returned the favor this weekend on the south side. 

As dominant as the Cubs looked at home, the White Sox held serve on their home turf and looked just as dominant.

Aramis Ramirez was the hero for the Cubs when the series was at Wrigley. It seemed as if he hit home runs during every at-bat. He even hit a walk-off homer in the series opener. 

As hot as he was a week ago, he was ice cold for the rematch. Ramirez went 0-13 in the three-game series and came up empty in some clutch situations.

In the ninth inning of Saturday's afternoon game, the Cubs were trailing by one, with a runner on third and one out. Ramirez weakly grounded out, failing to bring the runner in. The Cubs couldn’t cash in with two outs, and they dropped the second game to the Sox.

In the series finale, the Cubs let Sean Marshall take the ball to try to avoid the sweep. Marshall is filling in for Carlos Zambrano, who missed his second game due to shoulder concerns. 

Marshall pitched very well through seven innings, allowing only three runs. In the eighth inning, the Cubs went to another Iowa Cub who was just called up from the minors, Jose Ascanio. 

Ascanio got the first two outs rather routinely, but then walked Jermaine Dye and gave up a tape-measure home run to Jim Thome.

The Thome blast made the score 5-1, seemingly out of reach. All five of the White Sox runs came via the home run on Sunday. 

The Cubs were putting together a bit of a rally in the ninth, with the first two runners reaching base. But Jim Edmonds hit a rocket right at first base man Nick Swisher, and Mark DeRosa was doubled up at second. 

Shortly thereafter, the Sox fans began the chants of “SWEEP, SWEEP”. Daryle Ward grounded out, and the series was over, with each team earning a sweep.

Both Chicago teams have been dominant at home, and less-than-impressive on the road (even in their own cities). They are both currently in first place at the midway point in the season. 

There is still a lot of baseball left to be played, but it would be great to see this series, which is tied at three a piece right now, decided in October, with more than bragging rights on the line.