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. ^_^