Easier said than Dunn

Ah, the White Sox. Still hangin' in there with their eternal 1.5 game lead over those evil, evil Twins. I'm glad to see the Sox stay on a roll when they need to, and they definitely need to. One team has to give as far as being on a roll goes, and that team better be the Twins. Seems like they find any random way to win that they can, just ask Joe Maddon. Even when they no longer play in a dome, they still use a dome to their advantage to win. It's disgusting is what it is.
But the Sox shall keep rolling and hopefully the Twins stop their crazy streak. Going to Baltimore for four games certainly helps.
Since I haven't been blogging since the trade deadline, I want to share some thoughts about that as well. I can't believe how eventful it was! Berkman to the Yankees, Lilly and Theriot to the Dodgers, even going back to Cliff Lee to the Rangers. But what of the Edwin Jackson trade?
I actually like it. Of course, i would have been a bit more excited to get another bat in the lineup as our pitching staff is doing really well. The only reason i'd want the extra bat is, well, Mark Kotsay. But today he helped us win (twice if you think about it), so maybe that's a sign of things to come? I'm just glad Kenny didn't go through with the Dunn trade because getting rid of Beckham or *cue Left 4 dead tank music* Viciedo would be a bit too much. I'm all about winning now, but why not win later too?
Jackson pitched pretty well yesterday, given that he got out of the many jams he got himself into. the important column is the run column. As long as the number for the Sox is higher than the number for the opponent, then you've done your job. However, i would rather just see him shut people down, because I don't think you can get out of situations like that every time. But if he can, i'll take the extra WHIP on my fantasy team (I had him before he came to the Sox. Got a no hitter out of him, but I lost in Walks that day for sure).
So now Dunn is placed on waivers, and its a long shot for the Sox to get him that way. But for the price, as I said. I think we're better off. This team has been working well so far, and things will just keep rolling, whether the Nasty Nats want to help us out with that or not.
Taking 3 out of 4 from Detroit is good, and that puts them all but done. After Bobby blew the save i was just hoping someone would come through so i didn't have to do an "I hate Bobby" blog, and Kotsay did. But still, Bobby is in the doghouse for that one. I'm not sure that there has to be alot of drama for the closer situation, but i'm sure Thornton or Putz may get a chance, especially with the twins coming to town very soon. I'm sure Ozzie has faith in Bobby, and I do too, but who would want to risk it when these games go on unless you're absolutely sure?
So now, on to Baltimore. The Buck Showalter era has proven to be good for them so far, but I can see another 3 of 4 series in our future. At least I hope so.
I want to close by saying "don't stop now, boys!", but alas, you all hear that way too damn much.

First Place and my love-hate relationship with the all-star game

Ah, I saved my only positive blog for last. In a world where Salary Caps and Lebron James take overall precedence, it's nice to know that somewhere in the world, there is a hot baseball team worth mentioning.
And that team, my friends, is your first place Chicago White Sox.
I am still in shock that we got to this point. Nobody thought at the beginning of the season that we could even possibly make a run like that. I am loving every minute of it, and I really think we can keep going. Konerko and Rios have had an amazing first half in general. Our starting pitching has turned it around in an almost impossible fashion, getting their combined ERA lower and lower by the day. And when the rest of the team began to hit, it just spelled disaster for the opposition.
As the first half is in the books, I am not only reflecting on what an amazing run we made to get into first place by the break, but also looking forward, knowing we have to get right back to work, as we start a very important road trip with 4 games at Target Field against the Twins. The Twins are always a pain, so don't let the fact that they're in 3rd place now fool you. If we could win 3 out of 4 here, or even split, we could still be in a good position here. Target Field is certainly no Metrodome, thank god for that. I look forward to this series alot and hope we can stay in first place the rest of the way!!
I have pretty much a love-hate relationship with the All-star game. I love the idea of having all the awesome players in one place, but I really am not a fan of how the teams are constructed. Popularity contest + the "everybody gets one" thing kind of screws up what the game is supposed to be about. I'm sure Ty Wiggington has had a good year....for the Orioles. And if i'm a Mariners fan..."Hey look the only one from our team is Ichiro...again..." (after Cliff Lee had gone to Texas that is...). I also don't like how it determines home-field for the World Series, and no, I'm not just saying that because the NL won. i don't like it because it takes away from the novelty of the game. it's just supposed to be this fun thing for the kids to watch and for baseball fans to see as kind of an official halfway point of the summer. I just think that this is another victim of something in sports losing its fun. That has been happening way too much lately. It's actually kind of sad.
So much for the whole blog being a positive one, but hey, like I said, our Sox are in first place, and life is good. Just gotta keep it up in the second half, boys!!
Now on to watch the ESPY's...yeesh...

I miss playing NL teams...or do I?

How sad that interleague play is over. Those Kansas City Royals give us problems all the time, and this series was no different. I was very excited about the pitching matchup today with Greinke going against Peavy, and it did not disappoint. The Sox bullpen, however, that was the part that kind of disappointed.
But it wasn't all bad, the Sox actually engineered a really epic almost-comeback thanks in large part to that 3-run triple from Lillibridge. How wonderful and random. I was really hoping we would score in the 8th so as not to have to face Joakim Soria, but it didn't work out that way, and Soria shut us down for good.
I liked the way we totally got back into this game tonight, though. These boys are tough, and they know how close this AL Central race is going to be from here on out. I mentioned in my last blog that I don't like to scoreboard watch, but when we're still only 2.5 games out, I can't help but try and take a peek at what our little Twins and Tigers friends are up to. Their series against each other went pretty much how I wanted to, with one team taking 2 of 3. Now with us playing another really hot team in Texas, we need to focus on winning these games so as to not fall back down to where we were. The Twins begin a series with the Rays tomorrow, and the Tigers will begin a series with the Mariners on Friday. Seems like all three AL Central contenders may have their work cut out for them, so it will be an exciting weekend for baseball (although it's also going to be an exciting weekend of NBA free agency as well...).
So I thought that being back in the AL would not be a big deal, but this series made me question that theory. Were the Sox just hot because they were beating up on the bad teams? I still think they were playing some good baseball against KC, they just always seem to give us trouble. Hawk even mentioned that last year we lost more games to KC than we did to the Tigers. Very strange. On the other hand, we have been playing some good teams and beating them. Such is the beautiful thing about baseball. The game changes constantly and it is up to us as fans to try and keep up. Right now, just as well, it's up to the White Sox to keep up with these teams in their own division by beating teams no matter what league they're in, no matter what division they're in. I hope during this off day they can reflect on how they almost came back to win this game and held on until the very last out. I'm pretty split when it comes to momentum affecting things, but i think and hope that this is one of those times where it does. These Rangers are tough, and they will come out fighting to keep their first place spot. It will be quite an awesome weekend like I said.
...At least I know Jerry Reinsdorf has other plans for this weekend. ^_~

Crosstown part 2

Well, the coveted BP crosstown cup belongs to the White Sox, and the Crosstown classic, as well as interleague play in general, has come to an end. But what would a Sox/Cubs series be without a little drama right? and what would a little drama be without Carlos Zambrano?
I thought what he did was childish and terrible. I can understand being frustrated with your "dead ass" team (as Bob Brenly so graciously put it), but if you give up a home run when the hitter is behind in the count like that, you can't totally blame someone else for that. Especially not Derek Lee. If you have a problem with someone on your team, you have every right to confront them about it, that's what a person in a leadership role like that would do. However, you certainly don't have the right to yell and scream and freak out after a bad inning, and get in your teammates' face. That's just not being a very good teammate in my opinion. I'm glad he got suspended, and i'm glad that even when he gets back he is going to stay in the bullpen. He i s good enough to be a starter, but he has to earn that role back. Unless Jim Hendry actually finds someone that wants him. The Cubs are just in a bad position financially in general, and that just makes things harder on them.
Now, on to a much more awesome story...The Sox only being 1.5 games behind in the AL Central!
This might be the earliest i've ever begun to "scoreboard watch", but it has happened. A few weeks ago I figured there would be no way I should even be caring about the Twins and the Tigers, but now I am watching closely making sure they both lose...
But that's impossible for the next 3 days because they are playing each other. -_-
Back to that series against the Cubs, I loved the starts we got from Peavy and Freddy for sure, and even with a bit of shakiness from Danks, our starters still have an ERA of around 2.29 since the winning streak (and 2 losses to the Cubs in between) began. The offense continued as Gordon even put himself on the score sheet a few times, and Quentin and Paulie continue to hit home runs like crazy.
But will this continue now that we don't have the little old NL to beat up on anymore? i mean, we are playing Kansas City now for 3 games, but then we go to Texas, and that certainly won't be easy, because they're the only team as hot (if not hotter) than us. I'd like to believe that this wasn't just a case of NL ownage, and we can at least take 2 of 3 from KC, and Texas. if we can just continue to win every series from now until the end of the year, this division will be ours for the taking.
So let's start with a great game against the Royals, boys. I think Buehrle can get the job done against....uh oh, wait. Is this a pitcher we've never seen before? At least i've never heard of him. Regardless, I think we can get the job done and keep this little AL Central race of ours very interesting. my pick to click tonight shall be...Carlos Quentin.

3 sweeps in a row!!!

Wow, those Sox are hot!!

I found myself repeating over and over again about the same reasons that they were losing, and now i'm finding myself repeating over and over again the same reasons why they are winning.
But I still must must must talk about how much I loooove this pitching staff! Gavin had another outstanding game today, for sure. Unfortunately, as usual, he did not get the win to show for it, but he had a spectacular performance nonetheless. The starters have been going long, conserving the bullpen (please no more Scott Linebrink...) and Bobby has been totally solid in nailing it down. Our starting 5 have been nothing short of amazing, and that's the staff I knew they could be to win this lovely little AL Central.
Speaking of the AL Central, the twins just got swept by...the Brewers?!?!? Mwahaha! That leaves the Sox just 2.5 games out of 1st place now, and 2 games behind the Tigers (would have been 1 if the Mets beat them...dang.). Now this is looking like the AL Central that everyone predicted, and it's going to make for a really exciting second half if we can keep it up and stay close. I'm gonna have alot of fun cheering for my Sox and hatin' on the Twins and Tigers like I always do. ^_^
Now the next thing I must must must talk about. Carlos Quentin. His bat and his home run swing have come back from the dead, and it's about time. He has been crushing the ball, hitting 2 homers last night and 1 the night before. I'm oh so glad he is starting to come around again, as that is another key to the Sox success, and will be for the rest of the season. Paulie also found his home run swing which was missing for a bit, and his average has been staying hot right along with the Sox themselves.
Ah, and now we start the Southside version of the Crosstown classic, er, the BP crosstown cup (great timing on that advertisement, guys...). The pitching matchup tomorrow will be Peavy vs. Zambrano. In other words, very entertaining. Big Z tends to do well against the Sox, but if Peavy is on like he was in his last start, the Cubs may be in some trouble. I just hope we keep this going and get even closer to those Twins. All I know is, this will be quite an awesome weekend!!!

6 in a what?

6 in a row, silly. That's how many games we have won. How awesome does that feel?
I do understand that these sweeps were of really bad teams, but I already mentioned several times how we are wining the games that we are supposed to! And that is a really good thing. I'm not getting so insanely excited that I can't contain myself, but I am feeling pretty good about how the Sox have been playing here during this streak of awesomeness.
Besides, the 1 day out of every 5 that the Nats are actually supposed to win for sure, we beat them too. And that was an awesome awesome game by the way. Gavin Floyd showed the world (or at least the MLB Network audience) that he's the man too. He might not have had as many K's, but he still showed some dominance out there, as he did in his previous start against the Cubs. He, along with the rest of the staff, is starting to show why I, along with many others, picked them to win this division. Everyone's ERA is nice and low, and when your 5th starter dominates as well as your big names like Danks and Peavy, then I would say your pitching staff is in mighty good shape. I was a bit worried about Peavy's start the other day but he proved me wrong. I was hoping the injury wouldn't affect him, and they way he pitched that day, it really didn't seem like there was any injury to that shoulder at all. It was really a beautiful thing.
Now the interleague test becomes at least a little bit tougher, with a very good team from Atlanta coming to the ballpark tomorrow night. I like Jason Heyward, as everyone does, and since every one of these pitching matchups is awesome for these games, it will come down to the offense. If our pitchers can shut the kid down, and Rios, Quentin, and Paulie still stay hot, then I think this streak can continue. Either way I know these games will be really fun to see, and if we can beat these Braves the way we beat up on the Pirates and Nats, Then maybe more people will start realizing this team is for real, and I will feel much better about it too.
I also anticipate a huge ovation for the Sox when they take the field tomorrow night. An 8-1 road trip is pretty freaking good, especially because the 1 loss was still almost a no hitter from your starting pitcher. I remember back in 2000 when the Sox had a similar awesome roadtrip and they got a standing ovation when they returned home as well. I can see that happening again, and I can see the division championship that followed happening again too. ^_~
Keep it up, boys!!

Why Stephen Strasburg is so cool

I hate when i really like a song, or video game, or something like that, and then it gets obnoxiously overdone/overplayed. It happened with Blink 182, it happened with Pokemon, and my God, it's happening with Stephen Strasburg.
This is one of the coolest stories inn baseball, i think. A team like the nationals is finally getting something to be excited about, and the kid has not disappointed yet. But I hate the way ESPN is giving him the Brett Favre treatment now, and even my beloved MLB Network had a countdown in the corner of the screen today for how many hours were left until his third start. His first start I can understand, but his 3rd? yeesh. I hope Hazel Mae didn't have anything to do with that one. it was probably Mitch Williams, he's silly like that.
But the off the field hoopla that surrounds him isn't why I think he's so cool. I think he's so cool because I watched his first two starts, and he is just a really really good pitcher. That's pretty much what it comes down to. He is human, he makes some mistakes, and then he adjusts to them. he just has some nasty nasty pitches that I have a feeling some of our hitters are not going to even see go by them. His velocity is awesome, his control is awesome, and i already know it from watching the actual games, not by watching the constant lovefest he gets from the networks. I think he's worth talking about in this blog once, but i'm not going to write about it every single day. He just happens to be playing against the Sox tonight, so i figured it was worth mentioning. I think we are all smart enough baseball fans for us to see for ourselves what he can do, so so let's just enjoy one of this year's coolest stories and leave it at that, ok?
Now, onto another cool baseball story, the White Sox finally turning things around!
As I said in earlier posts, i think the Sox have ben playing some great baseball, whether the Pirates just plain suck or not. We took advantage of their mistakes, and played the way we were supposed to against them. Good pitching, good hitting, and Bobby Jenks closing it out. I was very excited.
Now tonight we have o face the aforementioned Strasburg, and obviously it's going to be tough. Not only do we usually have problems with pitchers we have never faced before, but this pitcher is much better than the other new faces we've seen. I was originally looking forward to Buehrle going against him (would have been about an hour and a half long lol), but because of unforseen Peavy injury we get Gavin going tonight. I still think it's a good matchup, as Gavin is coming off of a stellar start against the Cubs.
I'm also interested to see if Viciedo plays at all tonight, as he was called up from Charlotte and Jayson Nix has gotten the boot. Probably for the best, as Nix just couldn't seem to get things going after that pinch-hit grand slam when he came in for Mark Teahen and his broken finger (I still haven't heard when he's coming back, either...hmm...). Viciedo looked good during spring training, so we'll see if that's an improvement from the struggling Nix. It will be weird seeing another infielder with the number 24 though...^^;
This will be very fun to watch and I hope the Sox can beat this kid! My pick to click tonight shall be...Paulie.

Man, are the Pirates bad...

Nothin' like playing a really bad NL team to start up a steak here.
I'm not taking anything away from our dearest White Sox, for they have been playing some good baseball. It might be easy to lose sight of that when you see how bad the Pirates are (mainly in tonight's game), but you have to love the fact that Quentin got a couple of RBI's, Juan Pierre continues to own the basepaths, and Paulie continues to raise his average.
But the real thing that excites me? is that we haven't had to use the home run lately to win. This is what Ozzie and Kenny planned to do, and whether or not they get into all these little reality-show-like tiffs with each other (oddly enough my favorite channel ever MLB network will actually have a reality show about this...), they have always agreed on that type of play. It happened in 2005, and it seemed to work pretty well if I do say so myself. Everything seems to be clicking together in that respect, and I hope it continues.
And another thing I wanna say (a little Lou humor for ya there if you heard that sound clip of him complaining about Stone Pony complaining about him not playing Tyler Colvin enough...) is about the pitching. I read an interesting article in the Tribune today about how D.J. Carrasco has noticed that the bullpen has been struggling a bit for the Sox without him. I, like Ozzie, give Carrasco TONS of credit for his performances last year, but I also know that the way we built this pitching staff, we shouldn't have needed a long reliever like that. He would have been wasting away only coming in every once in a while and perhaps he wouldn't stay as good. The way the pitching has actually been was a different story, as the starters hadn't gone very long. But lately things have been turning around for them too, as Danks had a long outing today, and let's not forget Gavin's from the other night.
Basically, I like seeing this team be the team it's supposed to be. Hopefully we can get back up to .500 and at least make a run for this thing. I know everyone is calling the Ranger and still complaining because "the Pirates suck". They do suck, but that's why we need to win these games above all else. These are the teams we are supposed to beat, and if we start winning, then the overall feel in the clubhouse and the ballpark will be a very good thing, I promise you.
So can we sweep the Pirates tomorrow? I guess we'll find out. ^_^

Late postgame show cancellations

Well, I don't think anyone expected that, huh?
Gavin Floyd and Ted Lilly were both amazing, and these three crosstown games have been pretty good for the most part. Game 1 was very very anticlimactic purely based on the fact that the Stanley Cup victory celebration was still running wild around the town, but both teams provided some unusual offense, and the Sox prevailed off of Wells just a bit more. I didn't see much of that game, so I can't provide any in-depth Steve Stone-like analysis (plus I really don't want Lou do go off on me for doing so ^_~).
Yesterday's game was a bit better pitching-wise, and I knew it would be a good matchup considering how surprisingly good Silva has been this year and how good Buehrle is against the NL in general. The Sox held their lead and Bobby came in to save the day, and although he did give up 1 run, i'm glad he came through when we needed him.
Today was...very weird. I didn't expect the no hitters to go that far, and once Gavin gave up that first hit to Soriano, I just hoped to God that the Sox would get a hit of their own, so as to not have to go through the agony of hearing about it from the Cubs fans of the world. Luckily, Juan Pierre was the man. and where Shawn says he never gets on base, he sure did get on base in the top of the 9th. I thought we had a chance to win, but it turns out that walking Rios to get to Paulie was a good idea after all.
I love the way the Sox and Cubs play each other. They know how intense it is, especially in a season where neither team will likely make the playoffs, so this is kind of like the glory series for them. The first round of games were awesome to watch and I hope it keeps up when we return to the Cell. I like interleague play in general, and I know I touched on this before. It's kinda cool to see teams that wouldn't normally play each other, and i'm all about the random aspects of sports.
By the way, the two reject NL teams this weekend were the D-backs and Cardinals. hehehe.
Anyway, as for the Sox, time to move on to play the Pirates. Hopefully that will be time to get some more wins, as we've been turning it around a bit as of late. Good old Freddy will have a chance to get another win. Should be good.

Sox issues switching places?

Well, for all the complaining I did about the Sox offense, it seems that that tables have turned, and it has been the pitching that has disappointed me as of late. I haven't watched as many full games lately because of the Blackhawks madness, but I watch MLB network pretty avidly, and I have seen the highlights of these lame games. Not to mention the games I get to be at the ballpark at and they screw up.
Danks is known for being our really good pitcher who gets no run support. I can understand giving up 4 runs, but i feel like his 5 or so innings pitched was a bad thing because of our holes at the long reliever position. Ozzie said himself that he didn't think he needed any help in that respect because you have 5 guys who can go at least 6 or 7 innings every game, and then you put in Santos or Pena for an inning, then set it up with Thornton or Putz, then close it out with Jenks. Well, that seems to not be the case lately as our starters have had very short outings, and aside from the game that Buehrle got ejected from, the bullpen has sucked it up when we were in need of help.
Now as far as tonight's game went, Masterson was 0-5 coming in to this game, and we only got 1 lousy run, which was of course a solo home run. I had mentioned in a previous post, that Mark Teahen was particularly good against Masterson, but sadly he is on the DL with a broken middle finger.
I don;t wanna rant about the Sox too much, perhaps i'm taking my Hawks anger from these last 2 games out on the fact that the Sox suck too. But all I know is, i'm tired of the lack of offense, and now the crappy pitching. Unless of course, you are Freddy Garcia. ^_^ How about that, huh guys???

2 other side notes before I finish this rant:
1) The NL really stuck it to me right after i was talking about pitching being back by having a bunch of high scoring games...
2)...and the AL almost proved that pitching was back for at least 1 day...but Armondo Gallaraga got robbed of that one...even though I don't like the Tigers very much at all (or any team from Detroit), that was still a very sad thing. I did just hear that Jim Joyce was from Toledo though...hmm....(MAC day reference...)

Pitching is back...in the NL

It's the new hot trend...it's what all the cool kids are doing...
It's pitching. and it's back in the National league.
I am making this post in light of the perfect game by Roy Halladay. One of our contributors, Shawn, is an avid Phillies fan, and is very happy about this. i think that the Doc is the best pitcher in the league, by far. And by in the league I mean all of baseball. But his perfect game got me thinking...
I remember watching alot of MLB network, and watching about how the 1960's was a dominant era for pitching. I feel like this feeling is back, but only in the NL. Where pitchers like Halladay and Lincecum and Jimenez are owning their opponents. In the AL, they still have alot of high scoring games, because of the DH. But in the NL, I have noticed alot of low scoring games lately, and even though i'm a Sox fan, I kinda like it.
The only issue here is the question of whether or not this has to do with the strict testing for steroids that has happened lately. As much as I don't want to think that is the reason for this dominant pitching, I can't help but be opened minded to the idea. After Manny got suspended for 50 games last year, other players all over baseball must have been more weary of their own situation.
Howevr, the pitching also kind of speaks for itself, as we have already seen 2 perfect games and a no hitter, not to mention that the 2 perfect games were in the same month!! And not only that, but there have been a plethora of one hit shutouts, not only by Lincecum, but by other NL pitchers who have proved to be dominant. As much as I am a Sox fan, I keep re-iterating that I love the NL this year, as it's noth the same boring teams that are awesome. And for the first time in a while, I truly think they can win the all-star game, and get the home field advantage in the World Series.
So this cool new trend might be a short lived fad like Pogs, Furbys, and crazy bones, but all in all, it makes for a much more fun baseball season, at least through these first few months.
So congrats to the Doc on his perfect game, and let it be known that I think the old school way of baseball is awesome, as it was in the 60's with the likes of Gibson owning for the Cardinals. I still wish the Sox well, but I know that come all star time it might actually be a competition unlike the last few years...

A weird one in Cleveland...

I love when Ozzie gets ejected from the game before I even wake up in the morning.
A very early start must have meant that the umpires couldn't get much sleep last night, either. At least I had an excuse, I'm freaking out about the Blackhawks. ^_^ But those balk calls were...well...I hate to sound like Hawk, but they were pretty bad. Especially that second one. And as Buehrle threw his glove on the ground in disgust, he got ejected as well, which was sad because I think he could have gone at least 7 innings, get the win, and go to Tampa Bay a happy human. Instead, I now was worried because our bullpen had to come in very early.
Williams wasn't too good, but he was really just there to give Tony Pena some extra warmup time. Pena then came in and did an amazing job, and Hawk and Stone Pony mentioned that his performance picked up the whole team, and I completely agree. Props to him for coming in on such a weird moment's notice and getting it done.
The offense was nice too, scoring the 5 runs we didn't need at first, but then ended up needing by the end of the game (more on that in a bit...). Teahen continued to produce where Carlos Quentin couldn't. After Quentin struck out with the bases loaded, Teahen got a nice 2 run single to increase our lead. It was also nice to see Kotsay put one on h board, and the offense in general seems to be clicking a bit more lately which will obviously help alot going into this next series against the Rays, although the Rays' pitching is pretty sick.
Matt Thornton had another nice appearance, but then Bobby came in. I expected him to be a little shaky, maybe a walk here and there, maybe give up 1 run just to make us Sox fans squirm. But instead, he cut our lead from 4 runs to just 1, and luckily he got out of it before it was too late. His appearance against the Marlins last week was outstanding, but then today he was terrible. It kind of personifies how the team is as a whole, but hopefully now that the offense is consistent, Bobby can be a little more consistent. He really just got lucky that we scored 5 runs.
But like I said, it sucked that Buehrle couldn't get the victory, because I really think he would have this time, because the offense actually scored the 5 runs we usually need. Then again, maybe the offense scored because they were fired up after Ozzie and Mark got tossed. I suppose we'll never know, but like I said, my key to this game was Tony Pena being clutch.
Now, off to Tampa Bay...eek...

No Teahen party for Masterson

(I can't take credit for that one myself, as Bill melton used that joke last year when we played KC in reference to how well Teahen hits against Mark Buehrle...)

4 runs in the first inning? We must have been playing Justin Masterson and the Indians. I had mentioned in my blog yesterday that I wanted to beat up on these bad AL teams like we are supposed to, and i'm glad we did. Especially because I also almost forgot that the Twins will be playing the Yankees these next few days, so if there was a good time to gain some ground it would be now. With Peavy going tonight and Buehrle going tomorrow, I hope we can continue to give this unusual run support and help a bro out. Sweeping the Indians would be a great thing, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. Let's focus on tonight first.
but even before I focus on tonight, I want to share some things I liked about last night. getting runs early is obviously helpful, especially when you know your offense is so off and on. luckily, those 4 runs were all we needed to support another good outing (besides maybe a bit of a high pitch count) by John Danks. But the other runs were good to see too. Especially because Mark Teahen got it going, after I was complaining about him offensively (maybe he knew I wanted Crede back ^_~). But that 2 run double in the first was a nice way to get the rest of the team going too, even Beckham who had also been struggling got a couple of hits for himself. Ozzie knew Masterson struggled against lefties, so it was only natural that Pierre and A.j. both got hits to start with as well, and that can also be taken into account for Teahen's big night. I'm glad Danks did well once again and we actually gave him a win to show for it.
as far as tonight goes, Mitch Talbot has been pleasantly surprising for the Indians so far this year, so the pitching matchup tonight will prove to be a fun one I think. And since the key is run support, that does kinda scare me. we might not need 7, but we might need 4. looking at the offense lately (besides Sunday of course) I think we can do it. I have faith that Peavy will keep it together too, and maybe we can get a nice little streak going before we head down to Rays land. Let's gain some ground on those Twins while we can, boys! My pick to click tonight shall be...Alexei Ramirez.

Series win a good thing?

As the Blackhawks swept the Sharks on the west side, the Sox hoped to also have a fish fry of their own over in the South side. However, Freddy giving up 4 runs in the first inning was a pretty good indication that it wasn't going to happen.
The first two games against the Marlins were refreshing to see for us Sox fans. it was really good to see Buehrle and Floyd have nice outings, and see the Sox giving them some run support. Quentin is starting to come around at least a little bit, and Rios is continuing to impress. The Sox website is trying to get fans to vote for Paulie and Rios for the all-star game, and I agree with it that if they send anyone from our team's offense, it should be them. I know fans don't get to vote for pitchers, so I also hope that John Danks gets some recognition too, because he deserves it. the W-L stat has always been very decieving for Danks, as the lack of run support is an obvious issue (and Matt Cain of the Giants can now sympathize with that after yesterday, losing 1-0 to the A's with that run being an unearned one). I know the all-star game is far away, but MLB does a nice job of getting crazy fans like me to think about it early.
I would also like to give Bobby Jenks some credit for Saturday afternoon. I really liked his velocity, and his nice 1-2-3 inning notching the save. Getting runs is hard for the Sox at times, but it's good to know that when we do, Bobby at least has the capability to hold the lead for us if he could keep up his velocity, even after there was some question as to whether or not we should hand the ball over to Matt Thornton in the 9th inning.
The Sox seem to do well against these NL teams. I like interleague play because it's cool to have these random matchups, plus there are always the two "reject teams" in the NL that don't get to participate. I wonder if Bud Selig's proposal for teams to switch divisions if they want to could also entail switching leagues, as his Brewers did not too long ago. if the Sox can only generate a consistent offense against NL pitchers, maybe that wouldn't be so bad...but i'd really rather beat up on bad AL teams anyway. Like for example, Cleveland! Hopefully we can get a few wins together down there before having to go to Tampa Bay and another terrible dome with an awesome team. My pick to click tonight shall be...Alex Rios.

A crazy 3rd base idea...

After last night's game, a thought had occurred to me. I started thinking about somebody I hadn't thought of in a while, because there hadn't really been reason to think about him. I give credit to my boytfriend who mentioned this person on the phone last night and kind of sparked my idea.
So, at 3rd base we have basically 2 choices as of right now. Mark Teahen, who can't hit, and Jayson Nix, who can't field (last night alone was even a good enough example of that). Now, I have a solution, and those of you that know me probably know what i'm going to say...
...what would we have to lose if we signed Joe Crede?
I know the main issue, and yes i did think of it, would be his chronic back problems. But perhaps not having played yet this year and getting the extra rest could be helpful for that. Crede has a career bating average of .254, and while that doesn't sound extremely great, it can be put in perspective by going through the Sox lineup and looking at their averages. Teahen himself is only hitting .221. The biggest thing isn't even the batting average, though, although it would help. Defensively Crede has obviously made a name for himself with this team, and would definitely be a better fit than Nix over at third.
I know it sounds crazy, but i'm running out of ideas on what they can possibly do to make this team better. Last night was another frustrating one that was brilliantly pitched by John Danks with no run support for him whatsoever. Even moving Beckham to the 9th spot didn't help anything as far as he goes.
Hopefully with Peavy going tonight we can continue alternating losses with wins as we have been doing alot lately, meaning we would have to win tonight. Hopefully instead of continuing the trend after that, we can just win a few in a row, (especially to an NL team...). Peavy has been outstanding lately so i look forward to this one very much. My pick to click tonight shall be...A.j.

Another series lost to a bad team...

The Sox still have all the same issues. That sentence was sitting on my screen for a while as I tried to figure out what else to really say about it. I feel alot like Rongey in the sense that i have to repeat the same thing every show (or in my case, blog), but i'll try to mix it up at least a little bit. I only saw bits and pieces of these games, but from what I saw the same things have been happening as they have all year. Friday's game was another strong start from Buehrle...for a while. One could argue that Ozzie left him in a bit too long, but I agree with him as far as the theory that (and i loosely quote Ozzie) no matter how good a starting pitcher is, if he makes 1 mistake, it's game over. That's pretty much what happened on Friday, and kind of what happened today as well.

The hitting on this team is still bad, and even though i feel like a broken record saying it, it's still the main issue. And I know i've said this before too, but as I anticipated Rios being the defining factor on this team, he has been very very good (notably his 12 game hitting streak, and today's game) and the rest of the team is under performing to say the least. It used to be the pitching and the offense, but now it's mostly just the offense. i really don't like looking at the beginning of the broadcast and seeing that most of our lineup is hitting in the vicinity of .160 .190, and the occasional .250 if we're lucky. This of course is besides Paul Konerko and Andruw Jones I believe, who actually have pretty decent averages. Is Greg Walker to blame? I still agree with what Gordon Beckham once said in that Walker isn't the one going up there and swinging the bat. but from the higher ups perspective, apon seeing these terrible batting averages on paper there are only 2 people to put the blame on, and that is Walker and Kenny Williams. Kenny put together a really good pitching staff, but we absolutely need the Quentins and Beckhams of the world to hit up to their potential to support them. i know they can come around, but the "it's still early" thing isn't going to fly anymore because May will be over before we know it.
I'm still happy with the way Peavy is throwing now, as last night he had another nice start (almost a complete game, even). This pitching is good we just need some run support for goodness sake. It doesn't get a whole lot easier tomorrow when we begin our 3 game series with Detroit, but if we can get the bats going, these games can prove to be very important if we don't want to consider ourselves out of the AL Central race already. Freddy will pitch against his former team (for a few minutes anyway) against Rick Porcello, who hasn't had that great of a start so far. I really hope we can take advantage of that.

after this series against those Tigers, we come back home to play a lowly Angels team that is even struggling to keep up with Oakland AND Texas, so if we can get a series win in Detroit before that, it could be the start of a nice little streak for us.
On a non Sox related note, I must praise the National league for a second and how unbelievably random it is. The Reds and Padres are in first place in their respective divisions, and the Nationals and Marlins are looking to hold their own in the Wild card hunt against the Giants (my original Wild card pick, however I had The Rockies winning the division...). This should be a fun MLB network year for me. ^_^
So hopefully this series against Detroit goes well. Let's give our starters some run support, boys!!!

Target field debut and other Sox tidbits

Well, many many many things have been going on with our dearest White Sox since I last got a chance to blog. Jake Peavy must have heard what I said (well, and what everyone else was saying) and he has gotten worlds better. I listened to an interview with him on the Saturday morning radio show "hit and run" on 670 the score and got some insight. The biggest thing was that he and Coop actually watched old tape of him pitching for the first time after the series against the Rays. After that first inning against the Rangers in his next start, he seemed to have found his old edge, and his next 2 starts after that were very very good. It's good to see him back in his usual form, which is why we got him in the first place. I feel alot better about our starting rotation, aside from Gavin. He has been struggling alot the whole season so far, and I hope he can get back to his usual form. The Sox need to also hit alot better (aside from a few games here and there where the offense explodes) to support our pitchers when they do end up doing really well. A perfect example of this is Danks's last two starts, including today. He is our best pitcher so far, in my opinion, and the way he's been pitching he shouldn't have a loss let alone two. Our team's batting average is probably still last in the AL, with Rios being the only one hitting over .300 in the lineup today. The thing i'm most sad about it Beckham's hitting performance (or lack thereof) so far. I hope he can find his groove because I know how good he can be, maybe the pressure was a bit too much for him as he instantly became a star on this team after his rookie of the year-like performance last year.
The issue of Bobby as the closer was a hot topic this week as well, after he blew the save the other day i was thinking Matt Thornton would have to be the new man. I am however glad that Bobby got another chance yesterday an came through against a Twins team that almost always kills the Sox. i guess we'll just have to see how things play out with Bobby over the next few weeks, and see if Thornton needs to come in and take over if Bobby loses his control again.
I am very very pleased with Rios, as his awesome 12 game hitting streak just came to an end. At the beginning of the year I aid him hitting was going to be the key to the team's success, but even though he is delivering there are other unforeseen issues with this team that Rios can't control. I also am happy about Konerko and his league leading home runs. I just hope we can win some games here and improve our 8 games back situation, because if we're still out of it by the end of June, I dunno where Paulie will end up, but it might not be here.
these past two days have been special to me especially because of the fact that we were playing in Minnesota and we weren't in that awful awful dome. I might be the only one who hates it as much as Hawk does. My favorite part of the broadcast today was when they showed Hawk in the booth setting off the detonator to blow it up. I went there in person last year and it was even more awkward and ugly in person as it was on TV. I'm glad it' gone, and Target Field is actually a really pretty looking park. And I love how we won our last game at the dome and our first game at Target Field. Now that's something.
So now we are off tomorrow and then it's off to Kauffman stadium for 3 against the Royals. That should hopefully be a good series for us, as the pitching matchups look like they are heavily in our favor, especially in the first two games with Buehrle and Peavy starting. I know i've said it alot so far, but if we can get the bats going, we'll be fine. ^_^

The Peavy puzzle

I'm not sure why he hasn't been good, either. I know you're wondering if you're a Sox fan, and I really don't know. But tonight, he goes against Rich harden and the Rangers to try to even the series and still have a chance to win it. Both Peavy and harden are 0-1, with Peavy's ERA a few points higher. If the Sox can do that timely hitting thing, it would be very helpful. I heard run support was a good thing.
I didn't see alot of last night's game because I was trying to flip between the Bulls and the Wings/Coyotes game as well. But what I did see from Buehrle, I liked. Matt Treanor kind of owned him, kind of the way his wife owns in the volleyball court. But other than that, Buehrle did alright i thought. the hitting was what made me mad in the 5th and 6th innings, when we had our best chances to score and failed to do so. The bats have been heating up a little bit, but it just hasn't been at quite the right time. Even our dear friend Mark Teahen got a hit as he came in to pinch hit for Nix in the 7th, but Juan Pierre grounded into a double play to kill that chance as well.
So basically, we have improved from not hitting at all, to getting on base but not hitting after that. It's progress, but hopefully tonight we can get that timely hitting going too. I hope Peavy can pitch well and get that Cy-Young-like command back. I don't anticipate him winning the Cy-Young again or anything like that, and I didn't expect him to even when we got him in the trade. I just expected him to be a little bit better than he is now. Hopefully tonight he can start working his way back to a nice, low ERA. and what better way to do it than to get your first W?
Should be a good matchup tonight though regardless. My pick to click tonight shall be: Omar Visquel.

The craziest day: part III.

The third and final installment of this mini series of random ranting blogs is dedicated to my dear friends, the Chicago White Sox. After winning their first game against Seattle the night before, Saturday's game looked pretty good for us as well, as Freddy looked like he was pitching a great game. As I mentioned before, I was at work at the amazing Blackhawks game, so i only got to see bits and pieces of Saturday's Sox game, since it was a 3:10 Fox start time.
I saw that we were winning most of the way, and i was very excited, especially while at the same time being very antsy about the Hawks. But as the Hawks game ended in very awesome and very dramatic fashion, the Sox were in a position to also need such a dramatic victory.
Enter Paul Konerko.
Some of the regulars over at the Hawks stadium club also go over to my other place of work, the Sox stadium club. So in the midst of an amazing Hawks celebration, I watched the 9th inning attentively with them, hoping that some of the Hawks' energy could channel itself to the South side. Then, with 1 out, Paulie delivered. His 7th home run of the season tied up the game, and it was off of David Aardsma of all things. All the fans cheered with me even more as my euphoria level rose even higher.
Then I watched Quentin's at bat. I think this was a HUGE at bat. When he got walked i was just hoping for a nice double from Rios so we could be in a 2nd and 3rd situation. But what i got, was much more than that. One of the Sox/Hawks regulars said "here comes the walk off from Rios, guys" and i responded, "oh man wouldn't that just be ama-HOLY CRAP!" and that's when he hit it out of there. The Sox won their first series of the year and would go on to sweep the next day. All the fans now had even more reason to celebrate, and I knew the day could not get any better. I wasn't planning on driving back to Dekalb that night, but it's the days like this that are really worth a good celebration, so i did.
So, the day I never expected came to an end. Dan Lefevour started the day as a Chippewa and ended it as a Chicago Bear. Kaner and Hossa started their day with a series tied at 2, and ended it as the heroes of an incredible finish to take a 3-2 lead. and Konerko and Rios started the day not having won a series yet, and ended it as heroes of an incredible finish of their own.
it's the days like this that remind me of why I love sports so much. That feeling I get when the unexpected happens, the things you just can't explain. That is why I love every minute of it. Chicago sports fans like me all had a reason to celebrate that day, and it is a day i will remember forever.

The end. ^_^

Chief Wahoo's broom

I'm not even really sure where to begin on this one. This series against Cleveland was most definitely one they should have won. Nobody in Cleveland even cares about baseball right now (see my Bulls blog later for why...). Saturday's game was empty at the beginning, but because of a special promotion from the across the street neighbor, "The Q", anyone at the Bulls/Cavs game could being their ticket stub and pay $5 get into the remainder of the game over at the Jake (or Progressive field or the not as-much-of-a-mistake by the lake or whatever they call it now...). So their attendance pretty much tripled with drunk Cavs fans that were like "oh man yeah we should go to the Indians game, bro!! I heard Lebron is gonna play second base!!"

Anyway, there were just alot of things wrong with the Sox this weekend. The offense is still the main issue. I feel like i'm repeating myself alot but I just don't know why the offense is always so bad at the beginning of the year. Andruw Jones, who was showing signs of life in his bat, kind of quieted down, but I still think he should be in every day. The Indians really don't have any outstanding pitching (well, not anymore) so we shouldn't be limited with the offense. Hopefully this homestand coming up will get them back on track, and maybe the first off day of the year today will help them out too.

The pitching hasn't made me too mad for the most part, but Gavin's performance yesterday was just terrible. I came into the season being so psyched about the starting pitching, and I know Gavin can be much much better than he was in that game yesterday. He just didn't have any sort of command at all it seemed like. Hopefully he'll straighten that out before he starts again on Friday against the M's, who I also thought were going to come out with an awesome start, but are under .500 (and the A's are in 1st so far? that's messed up). So if Gavin has the stuff that I know and love, he should be fine next time out.

Freddy is skipping his start because we have the off day anyway, and I think that might be a good idea after his last time out being a little rough. Plus, Buehrle has been known to pitch well against the Rays. ^_~ I hope the boys can forget about getting swept and just focus on sweeping the Rays. The Rays themselves are the opposite and have completed a sweep themselves against the Red Sawks in an unusually early game this morning (10am central time, just as I was waking up they had it on MLB network). All I know is, this should make for a good series. I just hope the Sox come out on the better end of it.

the curse of the pitcher we haven't seen before

It happens almost every single time. Some no-name pitcher from a mediocre team (although in the Jays' defense they have gotten off to a very good start) comes in and we make him look like he's, oh I dunno, Roy Halladay or something. Last night was no different, as the Sox had no hits at all until Rios hit that home run in the 8th inning. When AJ was up to bat before that, he of course was involved in a weird call, as the ball clearly hit the ground and not his foot but the umpire still awarded him first base. Maybe that messed with Romero's head a little bit. Maybe. But either way this whole thing is freaking me out now. What is it about pitchers that we haven't seen before? luckily as for tonight, Morrow has pitched against us before (maybe not against everyone on the team, but most of them i'm sure). So maybe we can get the bats going tonight and still have a chance to win 3 out of 4.
The night before was yet another extra inning affair, in which Mark Teahen was a stud. It was good to see him "coming through in the clutch" (as they say...) and getting that RBI triple. You can imagine my happiness when i found out later that he is Canadian...I feel like we will see him doing the shoot the puck during the playoffs for the Hawks. ^_~ That night was the second time that Peavy didn't have the velocity that he is capable of. Hopefully he gets that back for his next start against Cleveland on Saturday.
Tonight, Johnny Danks on the bump. He has been known to not be so hot in the dome north of the border, so hopefully that can change tonight. I would really just like to see this offense get going. I feel like Opening day was just kind of like a tease as to what this offense can do. But I will say this, I think Andruw Jones should be in the lineup every day. He has been impressing me alot with his bat, and I think that could help get a little oomph in the lineup. So hopefully tonight will be much better than last night. My pick to click shall be: Juan Pierre.

avoiding the sweep

That series against the Twins did not go quite as i thought it would, but there were some positives as well as the negatives (the negatives really just being the hitting). Danks, Freddy, and Buehrle all threw the ball well for the most part, which was the biggest thing i saw to stay hopeful. Once the bats get going I think we'll stop dropping 2 of 3 and maybe start winning 2 of 3 for once.
The most impressive and surprising moment was on Saturday when Linebrink came in with the sacks packed with Twins and nobody out. When i saw him coming out of that bullpen all i could think was "oh no..." but then by some miracle he got all 3 outs without giving up any runs!!! It was very awesome and i take back the bad things I said about him for now. It was sad that Freddy made one lousy pitch to give up that home run to Kubel, but otherwise he did an awesome job.
Yesterday's game was a little scary toward the end, but I really like that Andruw Jones came off the bench and was clutch when we needed him to be. and Bobby got into some trouble as well, but luckily JJ Hardy thought he could make it home on that Thome double since it was in left field but was out from here to South Bend. I have to give Thome credit, he was a great guy and just ended up being another AL Central casualty for going to the Twins like Joe Crede was last year. But I thought it was cool to see him hit it over there to left, but i'm sure I wouldn't have thought it was it was cool if Hardy actually scored. So Buehrle ends up being the only starter with 2 victories...or, the only starter with 1 victory...yeesh.
Tonight hopefully Peavy can stop the Blue Jays, who are off to a really good start somehow. my pick to click tonight shall be...Mark Teahen.

one series down...

The opening series has come and gone, and the Sox have dropped 2 out of 3 to the Indians. Last night's game was close for a while, but once again the bullpen and offense were to blame for this extra inning loss to an Indians team that, well, just isn't very good.
Gavin Floyd looked like he was doing very well from what i was able to watch, but this offense is just never able to pick up the pitcher in these early games, and it's been that way for the past few years at least. The cold weather can be to blame, or the fact that the new members of the team haven't gotten used to hitting in this ballpark yet, but whatever it is they usually figure it out after a frustrating couple of weeks. This Sox pitching staff is too good to let this happen this time around, though. Tonight when Danks faces Liriano, I anticipate a very low scoring game. Even the coveted "man who invented hitting" Joe Mauer hasn't fared well against Danks, most famously so in the 1 game playoff back in 2008.
At Soxfest this year, i had decided to jump on the Mark Teahen bandwagon (which is about as empty as I thought it would be). I can't tell if I think he's bad at defense or if I just miss a certain other third baseman's defense from long ago. I feel like Teahen should be diving for the ball the way Crede used to, which i'm sure attributed to his back issues and the fact that after three games have been played this season, he is still not on a team. But i'm just so used to a third baseman doing that, I guess i've just been spoiled over the years.
Tonight should be good if we can get the bats going. If the Twins have a lead late, at least it won't be so scary now that Nathan is out, but still we should be careful. Hitting with runners in scoring position, quite the concept in april for the Sox, but obviously it's what we need to do. Danks will do well undoubtedly, so let's have his back, boys. ^_^
My pick to click tonight shall be: Gordon Beckham.

Buehrle is a stud...but should I worry?

I feel terrible about not having any time to blog about opening day, but for those of you who don't know me, I work at the United Center and US Cellular field (which I still like to call Comiskey Park), so I have been working every day since Saturday. But I would like to share some sentiments about the home opener for my beloved White Sox.

I was very very impressed by Mark Buehrle. I still can't get over that play he made in the 5th inning. It is easily the play of the year, even though it was on opening day. Also, I was very glad to see him throw 7 scoreless innings. I really really really believe that the Sox have the best pitching in the division and Buehrle is the key to that starting pitching staff.

Tonight on the other hand...i'm not too upset with Peavy's performance as I am with the Sox offense. Paulie has shown some unusual April offense, hitting 2 home runs in the last 2 games, but tonight's game showed that the cold weather calls for some cold bats in the Sox lineup. I really can't blame Peavy or the rest of the pitching for this one. hopefully tomorrow will be better and the Sox can win their first series of the year against a lowly Indians team...More to come tomorrow (if I have time, that is.)

A Slimmer Zambrano Not Good for the Cubs

After the offseason Zambrano reported that he lost 30 pounds. There were a few jokes about him, specifically about if it was him in a certain picture, but the reality of it was that he realized that he had to do something and was able to set his mind to it. He worked out and ate healthier so that he trimmed about 30 lbs off his body. There was excitement that the Cubs #1 pitcher was more focused, more in shape, and getting ready for the next season. That excitement took just longer than one inning to die. Zambrano only had one strikeout while letting up 8 runs before being pulled in the 2nd inning, which earned him a crazy 54 ERA. Then in the 7th Jeff Samardzija faced 7 batters and allowed 6 of them to get to home plate. The combination of 12 runs that were gift wrapped to the Braves were just too much for the Cubs to overcome. The Cubbies lost 16 to 5 in their season opener in Atlanta. True you cannot blame the pitcher for everything, but I'm at least blaming this game on the pitchers, specifically Zambrano and Samardzija.


I just wish that a Gatorade machine would fight back and take a bat to Carlo's head.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Twas the night before opening day...

i seriously feel like a little kid on Christmas eve here. So hopeful for what's to come, so much anticipation. I can't wait to see the ballpark fill up tomorrow. Hearing Nancy play on her last opening day (so sad...), Seeing the Pirates/Thunderstruck video, seeing Mark throw that very first pitch of the year. I probably won't get much sleep tonight. Baseball is here. I'm even watching the Yankees/Red Sox game right now because it's baseball, and it's on (and it is a really good game so far by the way).
I will say this, the invention of MLB network has both calmed down my anticipation during the offseason and increased it. I had access to baseball all year, but lately I have just been wanting to see some games. I think it's because of the show 30 Clubs in 30 days, which is an in depth preview of every single team. When the show began in early March, the itch to see these teams in action grew and grew, and now that i am watching a game I just want it to be 1:05pm tomorrow right now.
The anticipation of a new season is what makes opening day so great for any sport, but something about baseball's opening day is just magical to me. I can't even really explain it.
I'll try to get some sleep soon, with visions of world series trophies dancing in my head. ^_^

on the Linebrink of being a good bullpen

I watched the spring training game against the Angels the other night and I haven't had much of a chance to talk about what I saw. Danks threw the ball well, as all of our starters have done throughout the spring, aside from one shaky Floyd start and one shaky Peavy start. Our offense was awesome too, scoring 7 runs very early in the game.
And then...the scenario that seems all too familiar to Sox fans since 2006. The bullpen came in and blew it. I know the game doesn't count since it's still spring, but spring is almost over, so I feel like what we are seeing should be how the team is going to be, generally. Obviously, being at a major league park rather than some touristy little ballpark in Glendale is going to make a difference too, but still. The starters are all playing, the pitchers are getting more innings of work, and the bullpen is being tested in intense situations.
Linebrink is like that thing no one likes to talk about, but can't deny its existence. This White Sox team has every reason to be favored in this division (although more people are favoring the Twins...), but still when Sox fans see him running out of that bullpen, or even when they see that he's warming up at all, you will feel the collective "aw, crap..." throughout the ballpark. I really feel like if he didn't have the contract we gave him, he could be in the minor leagues, or even maybe traded to some other team, perhaps in the National league. He'll have to step it up for sure, because these starters are way too good to have their wins erased by a bad bullpen.
I didn't see the game yesterday against Oakland, but it was good to hear that Buehrle had 5 scoreless innings and Quentin went deep. And Bobby got the save too, which was also nice to hear, because he had been shaky early this spring but seems to have gotten himself together of late.
I just keep thinking that 5 days from now this very moment, I could be seeing the scoreboard go off with fireworks and be getting ready to celebrate an opening day victory. I can't believe it's already almost here!! ^_^