PHOENIX—Spring Training is always fun,and with the weather a bit better the past few days,it helped. The White Sox have very little competition in camp.The starting rotation is set and the bullpen as well. The addition of J.J.Putz should make the pen much deeper and should help a guy like Scott Linebrink. Bobby Jenks is an early concern since he has been lit up,but it’s still early. Gordon Beckham looks comfortable at 2B and will no doubt bust out of his slight funk at the plate.Jake Peavy was dominant in his weekend start.
***The Cubs have had some good and some bad,but some things Lou Piniella can build on. First up, I have to agree with Lou that Starling Castro,while very talented, does not appear to yet be ready,but after a month of two at Iowa,could help THIS season. Alfonso Soriano has not looked good so far either in LF or at the plate,but he could break loose at any time. Ryan Dempster has been pretty good,Carlos Zambrano has good stuff,but I saw him have a tough five run inning against the Giants. Randy Wells was almost unhittable until Sunday when the Angels got to him for three runs. The bullpen will have lots of pressure on it. Carlos Marmol is the closer-period,and simply must throw strikes. John Grabow will be a key set up man. Question is,will Sean Marshall start or return to the pen as a left handed middle guy?
***Alex Ovechkin on the Washington Capitals deserves a big time suspension for his cheap shot on the Blackhawks Brian Campbell that caused a broken collar bone Sunday. That said, do you trust Gary “Beavis” Bettman to issue the correct ruling on this? Not me.
***The Blackhawks were a bit lucky over the weekend,as they lost twice,but lost no ground to San Jose in the battle for the top seed in the West. Sunday,the Hawks blew a 3-0 lead to Washington and lost 4-3 in overtime, but San Jose fell to Anaheim 4-2 in regulation play, meaning that the Hawks got a point and the Sharks got none.
***The Bulls are falling ore and more out of the last playoff birth in the East. Charlotte,Miami and the Milwaukee Bucks all keep winning.The Bulls have lost 7 in a row and with Derrick Rose,Joakim Noah and Luol Deng all hurt, there is little offense.
LES