Muscatel

The AL was 10-4 last night. Don't know if this has been the history of interleague play, but the AL is sure on top this year.

Go to the MLB section of espn.com and under standings you can look at a team vs. team chart that shows how the AL has done vs. the NL. I looked before last night's games and I think the AL had won about 57 percent of the time.

Hangar, you really are obsessed with this. I can see that nothing is going to change your mind, even facts, so I'll leave you in your own little world.

I found Hangar’s count to be inaccurate on other occasions when he was doing his media watch on WSI. But I also question some of his other claims about bias and how the “Cubune” frequently buries negative stories about the Cubs. That came up yesterday, when either Hangar or one of his supporters mentioned the murder of the fan outside Wrigley Field as evidence, noting that the paper uses “Lakeview” instead of “Wrigleyville” to protect the franchise. So, on company time, I went to the library today to check it out. The shooting took place on Thursday, May 6, 2004. In Friday’s paper, a story appeared on the front page of the Tribune Metro section, not on page 5 as someone said yesterday. The headline said “Pedestrian fatally shot near Wrigley.” On Saturday, May 8, the Tribune had a front-page story – front page of the newspaper, not the Metro section -- with two photos and a graphic showing where it happened and the headline was “Suspect charged in killing near Wrigley.” In scanning the story, “Wrigleyville” was mentioned at least four times and I didn’t see “Lakeview” once. Note: I only scanned the story quickly, so I’m not claiming this is fact. On Sunday, May 9, a story on the front of the Metro section said “Volatile mix at Wrigley a worry,” and the story talked about all the drinkers in the neighborhood after games and the problems they can create. Now, I saw “Lakeview” used twice in that story, but one of them was a direct quote from someone from Citizens United for Baseball in Sunshine, a group opposed to night games at Wrigley. That means some people in the neighborhood call it “Lakeview” too. Rick Morrissey also had a column on the front of the Sunday Sports section under the head “Wrigleyville a neighborhood, not a theme park” That’s four stories in three days, all prominently displayed. I don’t see that as an attempt by the Tribune to bury a negative story about the Cubs. I was looking at Chicago city editions, so story placement may have been different in suburban editions – where people expect to see news about their suburbs. Were the stories biased in the way they were written, worded to protect the company’s image? That’s something individual readers have to decide (sorry, I can’t reproduce the stories here). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and when the beholder is as hell-bent as Hangar is to prove his point, then only a fool would take what he says as gospel. It’s his perception, and that perception may be warped by things that none of us know anything about. I don't have time to check all of Hangar's alleged "facts," so I guess the best thing is to treat them for what they are -- rants.

There is a logical explanation about Hangar's inability to count stories correctly -- he's from Chicago. This is a long-standing tradition that is usually celebrated on election days.

This is an interesting discussion that attracted me first as an observer and now as a participant. I’m disappointed that weekend stories weren’t counted, because that surely affects the outcome. If this were a lawsuit, a judge might throw out the case if there was such a glaring oversight. I don’t get the S-T, but Saturday’s Tribune had three Sox stories and three Cubs stories. Results of the Friday games for both teams started on the front Sports page and the others were on page 3. Sunday, in what some may see as more evidence of favoritism, the Cubs won the story count 4-3 because the Trib ran one about the return of Mark Prior and a sidebar about his previous “comebacks.” The number of stories may not be the only indicator of whether there is bias. The story on the Sox’s 8-6 win was on the front page of Sports, and the Cubs’ 9-3 loss was on page 3, so the Sox got more prominent play. But the story of the Cubs game was negative in tone, so did the Trib “bury” it on page 3 to minimize the impact on ticket sales (which some believe is the case) or just relegate the Cubs to their rightful place? You decide. Here is the top of the game story by Paul Sullivan, which ran under the headline “Home turns sour on skidding Cubs.” I challenge anyone to find evidence of pro-Cubs bias in this excerpt: The blue “L” flag waved in the wind from the center-field scoreboard Saturday after the Cubs’ 9-3 loss to Detroit, just as it has after every game on the current homestand. The Cubs have lost five straight and 10 of their last 12 at Wrigley Field despite near-sellout crowds every day. “It’s embarrassing,” second baseman Todd Walker said. “It’s not fun to go out there and lose every day, especially when you’re giving your heart to it.” The Cubs were one game ahead of last-place Pittsburgh in the NL Central with the third-lowest winning percentage in baseball. Since April 20, the day Derrek Lee went on the disabled list, the Cubs are 17-36, the second-worst record in the majors in that span. Kansas City was 16-37 after Saturday night’s loss at Houston. Mark Prior returns Sunday, but instead of trying to save the season, his main task will be to help keep the Cubs from enduring an 0-6 homestand. Wrigley somehow has become the home away from home for almost every team the Cubs play.### And another thing …. The Sunday Trib also had a story on page 4 about how most pitchers don’t come back from torn labrum surgery. Kerry Wood was prominently mentioned in this story since that is his injury, but so were several ex-Sox pitchers who went through the same thing. Is this a Sox or Cubs story? Or in the intricate world of media watching, does each team get a point? I'm asking, because there are probably several stories like this during the course of a season. Depending on who is doing the counting they could end up in the wrong column.