A lot of people make a big deal out of this series.  One side hates the other and it’s common to see “Cubs Suck” or “Sox Suck” t-shirts all over town.  To me, it’s not that big of a deal, especially this year when both teams are struggling.  The White Sox are currently 30-34, in 3rd place, 4.5 games back in the AL Central.  The Cubs are in 4th place in the NL Central at 30-30, 3.0 games out of first place.

I think my attitude has something to do with growing up in a neighborhood made up predominately of White Sox fans.  I grew up a Cubs fan, but I never hated the White Sox.  If anything, I ignored the White Sox.  On the rare occassion when I watched a White Sox game (on WFLD, channel 32 in Chicago), I cheered for them, but it really didn’t matter to me.  How the White Sox did didn’t impact the Cubs, so I really didn’t care whether the Sox were winning or losing.  Maybe that’s why the media-created rivalry between the Cubs and Sox really doesn’t resonate with me.

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Will Carroll from Baseball Prospectus is reporting that Jake Peavy’s ankle injury is going to keep him out the rest of this season.  That report conflicts sharply with what the Padres are reporting.  According to the Padres website, Peavy should be back in mid-July. 

Of course, the only reason this has any interest to Cubs fans is because many fans (including me) were hoping that the Cubs would trade for Peavy before the July 31 trade deadline.  If Will Caroll is correct, there won’t be any trade.

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Speaking of trades, Crane Kenney from the Tribune Company seemed to indicate that the Cubs were in a position to take on a smaller contract prior to the trade deadline.  There had been some speculation that because of the impending sale of the Cubs, they would not be in a position to take on any additional salary.

In an interview on WGN with Steve Stone and Dan Kaplan, Kenney spoke specifically about the possibility of the Cubs reacquiring Mark DeRosa.  Kenney DID NOT suggest that the Cubs were interested in trading for DeRosa, but he did say that the team could take on a contract like DeRosa’s since it is a relatively inexpensive contract (about $2.5 million left this year) and the contract is up at the end of the season.  That’s encouraging.