Greetings not from Section 416, but from Car K on the 15:30 Edinburgh-to-London train. Your faithful correspondent is on a two-week holiday away from Chicago -- and its killing him. Things have gone terribly wrong, and I dont just mean the recent pair of tough losses to the Cardinals that ended the Cubs 11-game winning streak.Being away from my sweetheart, friends, regular bartenders and Chicago is always rough. But missing any of this seasons action has turned out to be tougher than Id anticipated, even if being abroad during the baseball season isnt the utter disconnection it once was.When I first studied in Ireland in the early 1980s, Id get the baseball scores a day late, via the International Herald-Tribune; and no box scores either, just line scores. As recently as 2003, I had to learn of Kerry Woods NLDS victory over the Braves via a phone message from a student. The landlady in my Oxford B&B told me Caroline rang to tell you that Chicago beat Sri Lanka. A cricket test match, I thought -- or perhaps we beat Atlanta.Nowadays, the minute I wake up six hours ahead of Chicago time, the ever-giving gift of the geek geniuses (aka the internet) lets me check the prior days score on my phone before getting out of bed. Then I read the local beat writers and columnists, the play-by-play game account, the blogs, ESPN.com and the Twitter chatter.If theres any time left in my day, I go to a museum or a play, visit my friends or do some other tourist thing that brought me across the Atlantic. Occasionally check the Twitter chatter again. Then maybe just one more time after that.And theres the rub.I cannot get chatter abroad; live conversation about the Cubs virtually doesnt exist here.Theres no one to dissect the game details with, no one to help me comprehend the bullpen injury flow chart, or the crazy roster squeezes, much less the Tommy La Stella drama (the Cubs version of the South Siders Adam-and-Drake LaRoche soap opera?).Dublin, Cork, Edinburgh and London are of course full of Americans during tourist season, and some folks who live on this side of the water do follow baseball, but that doesnt mean youll automatically connect with someone to talk Cubs baseball with the way you can in the Windy City.Brian and Peggy, whom I met at my Dublin hotel bar on Custom House Quay, are from Boston and keen to talk Red Sox, but admitted to knowing little of the Jorge Soler saga. Milwaukees Kaylie and Aaron, over a pint in a pub on the Western Road in Cork, for some inscrutable reason were more interested in talking about Packers vs. Bears than Cubs vs. Brewers.My oldest friend in Dublin did her best, but being asked. So, how are the Cubs doing this season? by a White Sox fan who emigrated back to Ireland in the 1970s wasnt gonna cut it. I despaired of finding anyone to talk Cubs with.And then it got worse.I suffered an unprecedented loss, one that obliterated my chances of randomly meeting a Cubs fan to talk about how crucial Dexter Fowler is.I lost my Cubs cap.Every year, on Opening Day, I buy a new cap for that season. This year, it was a replica 1918 cap. In a minor rainy squall, a gust of wind tore it off my noggin and deposited it in a 20-feet-below-grade front yard on Lombard Street in Dublin.Id have needed a fishing rod and reel to retrieve it, and a Twitter plea for them came up dry.So, there was no way that a fellow Cubs fan in the Easter Rising exhibit at the National Museum of Ireland might spot my cap and say. To heck with 1916, this is the year. No one in St. Patricks Cathedral would tip her own cap and say, Joe Maddon is my personal savior. I was not visibly a Cubs fan, and so it was unlikely to randomly meet any other Cubs fans who might have some insight into whether the Aroldis Chapman deal was a moral failing.I sought a new cap immediately, to no avail. The souvenir shops had plenty of Irish Drinking Team caps, complete with bottle openers built into their bills, but the only actual MLB baseball gear available on OConnell or Patrick streets was, of course, New York Yankees caps. And its not safe to assume someone in a Yankees cap will want to talk about Starlin Castro and Adam Warren.The Yankees are the Manchester United of baseball. Americans who know nothing about Premiere League football sport a Man U kit, and Europeans who dont know a double play from Abner Doubleday recognize the Yankees brand and logo. Ive seen a couple dozen people wearing Yankees caps since my Cubs chapeau pulled a La Stella, and not one was worn by someone Id feel right approaching to chat about whether Jake Arrieta will get his control back.Well see if I have any better luck in London, where perhaps the metropolis will include a few North Siders also missing the homegrown, albeit unfamiliar, feel of a 10-plus-game NL Central Division lead.With any luck, the Cubs will still be rolling along when I return, and I will surely have some fellow fans to talk about the game with in person. I kind of pity the first person I see wearing a Cubs hat on the Blue Line in from OHare. 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Wholesale Air Max . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. CHICAGO -- The New York Yankees enjoy putting on a show for the Fourth of July.A holiday winning streak will be on the line when the Yankees open a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Monday afternoon. The Yankees have won four consecutive games on July 4, and they are 6-1 on Independence Day since 2009.The days leading up to July 4 have not been as kind to the Yankees (40-41). New York narrowly avoided being swept on the road by the Padres thanks to a 6-3 victory Sunday in San Diego.Meanwhile, the White Sox (42-40) will return home after winning the last two games of a three-game series against the Astros in Houston. The White Sox have won four consecutive series against the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins and Houston after a miserable stretch in which they lost 26 of 36 games.Our guys are pitching well, White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. (On offense), youre opportunistic where youre getting some runs. During the rough stretch, we were leaving a lot of guys on third base.Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia (5-5, 3.17 ERA) will make his 14th start of the season Monday. The 35-year-old southpaw thrived in May and early June but has struggled as of late.In his past two outings, Sabathia surrendered 11 earned runs and two home runs in 11 1/3 innings. He allowed only 16 earned runs and two home runs in his first 11 starts (65 1/3 innings).If any opponent can allow Sabathia to forget his recent downturn, it might be the White Sox. Sabathia is 19-5 with a 3.68 ERA in 34 starts against the White Sox during his career. That includes a 10-1 record with a 3.dddddddddddd28 ERA in 17 career starts at U.S. Cellular Field.The White Sox will counter with veteran right-hander James Shields (3-9, 5.85 ERA). Like Sabathia, Shields enjoyed success early in the season, but a four-start tailspin inflated his ERA.Even so, Shields past two outings provided a glimpse of hope for the White Sox front office, which acquired the high-priced veteran from the Padres on June 4 in exchange for right-handed pitcher Erik Johnson and teenage infield prospect Fernando Tatis Jr.In four starts from May 31 to June 18, Shields allowed 31 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings. He recovered June 23 to limit the Red Sox to three earned runs in five innings, and his progress continued when he limited the Twins to one earned run in 6 2/3 innings on Wednesday.The Yankees have beaten Shields more than any other team in his career. He is 10-16 with a 4.15 ERA in 31 career starts against New York. In those 31 starts, he has allowed 30 home runs.Yankees left-hander Andrew Miller said plenty of time remains for the team to make a run at the postseason. New York is seven games back of the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the American League East, 3 1/2 games behind the second AL wild-card position.We were the team that was in first place all year until whenever the Blue Jays (passed us last season), Miller told Newsday. In an ideal world, youre hot at the end of the year. ... If we can finish hot, well put ourselves in position to make the playoffs. ' ' '