Chicago Sports Roundup for May 17th, 2013

Cubs

Anthony Rizzo doubled and scored today.

Today the Chicago Cubs fell to the New York Mets 3-2 in what was a pitcher's duel from the start. Despite a rare quality start from Edwin Jackson the Cubs fell due to another pitching gem by Matt Harvey who pitched into the 8th. His ERA sits at 1.55 for the year and he has to be in the running for the NL Cy Young.

The Cubs are 17-24 on the year and try and get back on track tomorrow at the Friendly Confines (1:10 ET). Scott Feldman (3-3) will face off against Jeremy Hefner (0-4) in game 2 of a three game series.

Sale looks to match his outing from last time

White Sox

The Chicago White Sox had a nice 5-4 win yesterday against the overrated Los Angeles Angels and play them tonight in Anaheim at 10:05 ET. Chris Sale(4-2) takes the hill after nearly pitching a perfect game in his last outing. The Angels will roll out C. J. Wilson (3-2) to take the challenge.

Jennings enjoyed the best season of his career.

Bears

News was light today in regards to the Chicago Bears but cornerback Tim Jennings was selected as the 69th best player in the NFL today by NFL.com. Jennings tied a franchise record with 9 interceptions last year in an impressive season opposite Charles Tillman. Both Tillman and Jennings made the pro bowl as starters.

Derrick will be back next year... right?

Bulls

The offseason begins for the Bulls who were eliminated on Wednesday by the Miami Heat. Questions are plentiful as the Bulls need to decide on what players to bring back and which to let go. The likes of Nate Robinson and Marco Belinelli may be gone due to a tight cap space. One could argue that a major offseason acquisition for the Bulls will be a healthy Derrick Rose. It's all up in the air from there.

Stalberg may be a healthy scratch from now on.

Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks enjoyed arguably their best playoff game on Wednesday in a 4-1 domination of the Detroit Red Wings. The Hawks looked faster, fresher, and just plain better in all phases. Dave Bolland looks great in his return from injury as he had many good scoring chances and clearly got under Detroit's skin.

Before game one it was announced that Coach Quenneville was benching Viktor Stalberg who had played all but one game during the regular season. It's believed that Q wasn't happy with Stalberg's production and figured that the return of Dave Bolland was the perfect time to send a message. Stalberg is in the last year of his contract. The Hawks play the Wings in game two tomorrow at noon at the Madhouse. 

Chicago White Sox: Team of Destiny?

By Darren Zaitlen

As the Chicago White Sox try and sweep the Seattle Mariners today, one can't stop thinking of the possibility that this team is destined to succeed.

How else can you explain all the things that have fallen into place for this team?

After a terrible 2011 campaign that saw the White Sox go "all-in", a 2012 season of "let's hope we compete" has worked wonders for the Sox.

They no longer have the enormous distraction of Ozzie Guillen, and players who had a terrible season under him last year are succeeding mightily under new manager Robin Ventura.

The selection of Ventura as manager seemingly came out of a hat due to his lack of managerial experience. However, Kenny Williams looks like a genius as Ventura's personality gels perfectly with the players on this team.