The White Sox thread

chisox are past due for a bitchslap, & bitchslaps are what oakland's here for. a's take 2/3, at least.

no yanks, then?

Preach on, John.

Jermaine Dye is just crushing the ball right now...

Favorite things about the Sox game last nite:

1) During the two hour rain-delay, they were broadcasting other games on the centerfield scoreboard. At one point, they threw on the end of the Marlins/Brewers game. When Carlos Lee came up to bat in i guess it was the 8th, the scoreboard operator kept playing that galloping-horse sound effect that they always played when he was with the Sox. Nice.

2) Some guy wearing an official Marlins jersey who had the name Bartman stitched on the back. Too funny. I wish I had brought my camera.

3) exploring the "Fundamentals" area during the rain delay. First chance I'd had to check it out. Very, very cool.

3) JD's grand salami.

Least fave:

1) Cutting beers sales off in the 4th. Boo!

wow Frank just hurt that ball real bad...

PODS!

foul!

Chi White Sox Inning Summary

- P. Ozuna grounded out to shortstop
- T. Iguchi struck out swinging
- F. Thomas walked
- P. Konerko walked, F. Thomas to second
- C. Everett struck out, reached on wild pitch, F. Thomas to third, P. Konerko to second on wild pitch
- End of Inning (3 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors)
- J. Dye walked, F. Thomas scored, P. Konerko to third, C. Everett to second
- A. Rowand singled to center, P. Konerko and C. Everett scored, J. Dye to third
- C. Widger singled to right center, J. Dye scored, A. Rowand to second
- J. Uribe struck out swinging

Ugly.

Sucks to be Jermaine Dye - getting a walk, RBI & a run after the inning had ended.

CC Sabathia, what is your problem dude!?!?!?!

White Sox take series despite Podsednik not reaching base in 5 PA today (in Flushing we call that a REYES).

I almost crashed while listening to the call of Rowand catching the final out today.

why? was it a ball that against a much, much, much lesser centerfielder might've fallen for a TRIPLE??

ihttp://www.vervemusicgroup.com/docs/wallpaper/bernie.jpg

So will the Griff end up on the South Side? Junior has already cleared waivers, so if the Sox can make a deal, another team cannot block it.

If they are serious about winning it all this year, I think they might have to make this move. It isn't like they would have to give up much, as I think the Reds would be happy to be free of his contract for next year (which I think is the last year of his mega deal).

Apparently Rob Neyer's latest column likes the Sox' WS chances, Griffey or not.

i thought griffey's contract ran thru 2008 or something, can we get details on this? if it's up next year, why wouldn't the yankees make a move for him? he plays a mediocre but still passable centerfield, yes?

"why wouldn't the yankees make a move for him?"

Even if Griff only has one year left on his contract, I bet it is for somewhere between 12-14 million bucks. It is still a good size hunk of change for one season. I'd imagine there is more leeway in the Sox budget these days in comparison to the Yanks. Maybe I am wrong, but I have to figure the NYY are about topped out on salary.

well yeah i think so too, but they're spending that on bernie this year & he comes off the books next. adding griffey could w/ a large helping of luck close the gap and push them into the postseason, as well as provide them w/ a CF for next year while they await cabrera or a veteran option.

"while they await cabrera" LOL

orlando is moving to CF?

back to CWS content: how hot is the closer seat?

meh, i don't think there is any CONTROVERSY. Dustin is pretty much the guy. The only issue is his back, and pitching on multiple successive days... That's the only reason some other guys like Marte have gotten in there from time to time.

cabrera just turned 21, it's not exactly inconceivable that he might find the stuff to become a passable major league centerfielder over the next 2-3 years.

Except for the fact that he's not exactly the most mobile dude. At age 21.

Still better than Bernie, tho. (Also qualifying as Better Than Bernie: Oscar Azocar, Ty Cobb circa now, Eric Gregg.)

And, yeah, Herm is the go-to-guy, except when he can't be gotten to because of some serious back issues that (from what I heard) would've been operated on were it not for the ChiSox doing so well.

hermanson's performed like crazy, yes, but he was prolly the 5th best reliever the sox brought out last night. ERA can be a pretty shit indicator of reliever perf., and hermanson's peripherals are ass. it's only so long before he's exposed - i hope no one in white sox land (other than hawk hawkinson obv) truly thinks he's elite closer material.

re cabrera's d, not having espn puts me at disadvantage, but i don't recall ever reading anything about him being anything (or much) worse than an avg centerfielder, so i'm not going to bank everything on a couple lowlights i didn't even see.

Yeah - Herm might be having a great year, but I think he's on the Todd Jones juice, and will undoubtedly leave skidmarks if inked to a lucrative multi-year deal because HE GOT SAVE.

"That's just ignorant, man. The thing that made me mad is to talk about a guy [Alou] who worked very hard to be where he is, and then some idiot makes some comment and don't know what he's talking about."
--White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, on the controversial comments made by Larry Krueger (Newsday)

"It's ignorant. It's just ignorant. You have someone dealing with the media, dealing with people, to say something like that, that's ignorant, man."
--Guillen

"Hey, everybody, this guy's a homosexual! He’s a child molester!"
--Guillen, in jest, harassing a clubhouse passerby just moments later

According to the original story (also portrayed inaccurately and threateningly, IMO) in Newsday, it was NOT a passerby.

Here is what apparently transpired, with a helping of innuendo and a barely veiled threat to Ozzie to "keep his mouth shut" (hard to read the thing as anything but racist).

But what Guillen said last night falls into an entirely different category. No more than a minute after the pens stopped scribbling his comments about Krueger, Guillen recognized a man standing outside the White Sox dugout. He smiled and waved. Then he addressed his adoring audience.

"Hey, everybody, this guy's a homosexual!" Guillen shouted. "He's a child molester!"

The man being so addressed took no apparent offense. The two men hugged and laughed. But the feeling that lingered was of a comedian who had remained on stage for one joke too many. The juxtaposition of righteous indignation followed almost immediately by incredible insensitivity would actually have been funny if it had not been so uncomfortable. And hypocritical, not to mention offensive."

The article contradicts itself, first of all. Guillen is saying that the same guy he hugged - a friend, obviously is "a homosexual and child molester." Well, why would he say an awful, "offensive" thing like that about his friend? You don't think he's mocking the media and the tabloid tactics they use against players and managers, do you? No, that couldn't be. I mean, that just isn't done, so what we have to do is take his quotes out of context and put an entirely ridiculous spin on them, spicing the whole thing with a veiled threat to Ozzie to "keep his mouth shut".....or what, Mr. Matthews? You'll see to it that more garbage gets printed about him?

This had nothing to do with homosexuality, "codes of culture" or whatever, and the writer knows that. It had everything to do with the veiled threats and innuendo made by some people in the media. Guillen's mouth is "his own worst enemy" only if the media decide to make it so. Typical New York attitude: "it IS so if I merely SAY it's so". Sorry, but I'm not offended. I guess that makes the writer's take on it entirely subjective, as hard as it may be for him to swallow.

ihttp://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-spwally094376867aug09,0,3553996.story

and then there's something i read on btf where he made a comment (in jest) about freddy garcia being gay. seriously...is ozzie 6 years old?

panic on the streets of chitown?

http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg181.html

That columnist seems to making a case for the "Podsednik for MVP" camp, as they have suffered without him.

how long had he actually been hurt before they put him on the dl? b/c it seems that some time in late july he hit a wall and became quite catchable.

If the lead can be whittled to 7 games by Labor Day... God knows what Ozzie will say.

He might slag off Magglio! Again!

not the best inning for RJ

I was there. That was completely crazy.

What the fuck?

Rally panties?

This behavior came to mind Sunday, when White Sox outfielder Timo Perez went to unusual lengths to try to help the team end a season-worst seven-game losing streak.

Perez decided to hang a pair of women's black panties--"extra wide" black panties--in the Sox's clubhouse at U.S. Cellular Field. The Sox went out and ended their streak with a 6-2 victory over the Yankees.

Perez wasn't around to discuss the, well . . . unmentionables, but teammate Aaron Rowand did.

"We had the `Rally Panties' up today," Rowand said. "A woman's undergarment--a large undergarment--was our rallying flag."

So while the Angels had their "Rally Monkey" in their 2002 World Series championship season, the innovative Sox offer up "Rally Panties." Whatever works, I suppose.

Rowand said he would have chosen a less titillating tactic to end the losing streak. "I almost changed the CD in my car on the way to the ballpark, but I decided not to," he said.

Bill Veeck would be proud.

Bill Veeck would incorporate them into the uni.

The White Sox are so losing in the first round of the playoffs, it's not even funny.

how so? the AL looks way too tight for me to be comfortable saying anything like that.

Well, that mediocre offensive attack definitely helps make MIR's prediction look pretty solid.

It's looking like they're going to limp into the playoffs, which normally isn't a good sign. They've played .500 ball over the last month+, and their Pythagorean record is starting to catch up with them -- five games over their expected W-L record, down from seven or eight at their peak. Chicago, LA, Oak, NYY, Boston, and Toronto are all within two or three games of each other according to Pythagoras, which is a better indication of how good these teams actually are. Like Dave said, the lack of offense is largely to blame.

The pitching is still solid (3rd in MLB ERA), but Garland and Buerhle have dropped off from their strong first halves, and Garcia's been a bit inconsistent. To get all Bill Simmons for a moment: if your life depended on it, would YOU want Dustin Hermanson closing out Game 5 of the ALDS? LA and Oakland have a better front three right now, and that's crucial in the playoffs, particularly in the first round when you only need three starters. Boston (if Schilling pitches well) and arguably Cleveland also have starting pitching from their front three right now.

yeah, those are good points, but all of those teams (poss exceptions of anaheim & oakland) are flawed enough that, combined w/ the randomness of the short series, i wouldn't be eager to bet against them.

[xpost]

And don't forget about El Duque's skidmarkery. And Contreras isn't all that reliable either - he's been godlike this month (aside from an average WHIP), but his July and June look REAL scary. Also: the team OBP of .320 is only better than the M's and the Royales, and tied w/ the Pierats.

and i'm sure their SLG is heavily cell-aided. RHH must hit more opposite field home runs out of that park than any other.