ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

If you are a baseball fan in Chicago, today marks your first opportunity to start ignoring your team and focus on the Bears. This is as much a Chicago tradition as deep dish pizza and voting early and often. The Bears' training camp opens today and it's just in time to cure your baseball aches and pains. It's the pain killer everyone is jonesin' for come August. Stronger than a handful of aspirin, the Bears and their questionable offense will gladly replace the Cubs and the White Sox woes in your sports medicine cabinet. This is pain relief at it's highest dose.

The timing is beautiful and a bit harsh for White Sox fans. The Sox have been struggling as of late and today's necessary break in the schedule affords everyone the chance to talk football. If winning isn't in the gameplan for the Cubs and the Sox, then maybe your brain's CPU cycles could be better spent figuring out why in the name of Jim Brown would the Bears want to start Cedric Benson over Thomas Jones. How about that second wide receiver who will compliment Mushin? Do you really need to worry about the second wide receiver in an offense whose primary offensive target had only 4 TDs all of last season? I bet the memories are flooding back.

Take for example the fantastic, league leading (really?) defense that was destroyed by Carolina's Steve Smith. Do you remember our cornerbacks falling besides themselves as Smith barely broke a sweat on his way to crushing our SuperBowl dreams? That should clear up some space in your head. There is no need to dwell on the Cubs pitching problems. The alternative I offer up is the linebacker situation at Halas Hall. Leon Joe is starting over the underpaid and very disgruntled Lance Briggs. You can understand why the man is upset. Afterall, the Bears gave his money to Hunter Hillenmeyer. That should be enough to get you started back on track with football. If that wasn't enough, you should be getting your DirecTV bill any day now. You've all signed up for the NFL Package by now, haven't you?

Welcome back football - Bear Down!

The losing streak continues. It was clear from the onset that the first team to make a mistake was going to lose this game. Unfortunately it was the White Sox. The packed crowd at the Cell last night might have confused Jim Thome's solo home run in the 1st as that mistake, but when Contreras gave up a matching solo homer to Kubel in the 2nd it was clear we were in for a tit-for-tat game. (Check out the box score here) The deal breaker in this game came on an 0-2 pitch that Contreras hung to Jason Bartlett. Bartlett promptly aired it out into the jet stream and over the wall past the outstretched glove of Ozuna for a 3 run blast. Poof. There went the series. I'm chosing to ignore the fact we attempted a come back thanks to Joe Crede. Crede seems to get better and better as the situation gets wore and worse for the ball club. That's a positive. Here are a few more that I struggled to come up with:

• The new arm in the bullpen, Mike MacDougal got a chance to pitch yesterday. He throws pure heat. The gun hit 98 a few times. It would be great if this guy was healthy and could feed on some middle innings.
• Joe Crede can hit in the clutch. I hate using that term, in the clutch. I've been reading a ton about what it means to hit in the clutch (it's a never ending argument with the sabermatricians) Regardless, getting one on Santana who owns us is big. It brought us within a run...
• Alomar caught Contreras last night, and to my surprise it wasn't that bad. He even threw a guy out at second. I would have thought the Twins were going to run the bases on us all night. You know, 40 year old catchers aren't known for their arms.
  

Santana versus Contreras was a great match up to see in person. I've typically been to a lot of Vazquez games this year. This translates to slower games that don't reach the 7th inning until 9:45. Last night's game was practically over by 9:45. It looks like I wasn't the only blogger at the game last night. Check the link out for a more in depth play by play...I just can't muster the energy after that loss.

Come back later today for a quick news and notes post that will cover some messages I have for Oz and Kenny....until then GO SOX.

I'm trying to shake off the rust from my 5 day break. I feel like a White Sox player returning from an All-Star game weekend. Ok, that was rough, but rough is how the White Sox have been playing lately. Everyone can agree that some changes needed to be made after a decent first half of the season. I classify it as decent only because we're in second place, staring up at the amazingly lucky Tigers. I had to say it. The Tigers are lucky. Sure they have talent, and some great pitching this year but being lucky has to be a factor. It was for the White Sox last year. Why is luck treated like another famous four letter word? Three guesses which one I am talking about. It takes a ton of luck to win a division and even more to win a championship. This doesn't mean I am discounting what our Sox did last year, or what the Tigers are doing this year.

Face facts, luck has always been a part of sport. It probably dates back to the days when the last man standing inside the Coliseum in Rome tripped on his sandals and missed that lion's jaws by a few inches! It wasn't his skill at falling down, it was his lucky break. Just like the White Sox's lucky break when it came to 1 run games last year. We're making moves again to see if we can change our recent bad luck.
(pic courtesy of Flickr and danaj)

The Sox got much needed help for the bullpen by acquiring Mike MacDougal of the division foe Kansas City Royals yesterday for two minor leaguers. I know little if anything about this guy. Go here to check his stats. I kept hearing that he can throw fire, but he has been injured. (this from the tv broadcast last night). He has only pitched 4 games this year. I think everyone can agree that those 4 games were enough to prove he was throwing better than Cliff Politte. Sadly, Kenny Williams knew this as well and Cliff was sent home packing this past Thursday. I hope we can get some innings from MacDougal to help rest some of the other arms in the bullpen. Especially Neil Cotts,who gave up a big homer last night. I don't think the bullpen has been unlucky. They've just been bad.  That can cause some tired minds and bodies.

This brings me to my next point. The White Sox trade rumors flying around ESPN, the newspapers, and sports radio is that Fonzi Soriano(you like that one?) will be on the South Side before next week's trading deadline. Read it for yourself here. There are a lot of comments on the blogosphere about this deal. It's fun to see how rumors go from Detroit to the Yanks to Seattle. Clearly, don't believe anything you read online, right?

My feeling on the Soriano trade rumor is this: Learn from the Cubs mistake and get this guy in Chicago. The questions as to what to give up, and what position he should play are really interesting, and I will try to get to those in another post (hopefully before the trade goes thru) The only thing I will comment on now is that McCarthy is what everyone says the White Sox will give up for Soriano. Frankly, I have no idea how we can live with this considering I saw Vazquez blow up again last night against the Twins. We need pitching, and McCarthy can move into our starting line up right now and contribute.

The second move the Sox made was a typical Kenny Williams trade. I'm not the only one who noticed. Welcome Sandy Alomar Jr. back to the club, again. Clearly the Sox think that Widger was the reason why Mark Buehrle was stinking this year, and as a result they brought back good old (emphasis on old) Alomar Jr. I always liked Sandy as you can see by a post from 2004 here. Here is what I am hoping for from this trade: it is a sign that Kenny is spreading FUD across the sports world when it comes to dealing for Soriano.

I think Kenny believes that the starting pitching we have will come around. It just needs some help. Help from a veteran catcher who knows the club really well. It's not like we gave up a ton to get Sandy, so I can buy into this deal. I don't think it should give Williams enough confidence to trade McCarthy (I think he could take Vazquez's spot if we make the playoffs) but it could be enough to satisfy his sweet tooth for sweet deals. We'll see.

How many times can a man yell, GOD DAMN IT at the top of his lungs?
6 times so far tonight as Neil Cotts came in to stop the bleeding caused by another big inning at the hands of Javi Vazquez. It was the 7th inning and Cotts gave up a monster 3 run homer to Mauer.

The White Sox look like they are about to drop another game. This losing streak is making me sick. Head back here for some post game analysis and a preview of tomorrow's game, which I will be attending...and praying we win.

[Game Over - Sox drop another one]
Sometimes you need to just fess up to the music. Take your medicine. Bow down and kiss the ring. Ok, we hold the ring but whatever. You get the point. We were beat down by the Twins. We've lost the last 10 of our last 13 games and it's not because of any big mistakes. It's because teams like the Twins are just beating us at every aspect of this game. The post game is pretty good on Comcast tonight. They pointed out that the Twins are 10 games below .500 when on the road. That didn't look like a sub-.500 road team to me. If you aren't worried yet, then how many more games do the Sox have to fall behind the Tigers before your hair starts to turn white? 10? 12? Right now it stands at 7 and a half thanks to this total beatdown handed down to us by the Twinkies.

Javi did his typical crap job when it came to the middle innings. He gave up another big inning in spectacular fashion by giving up 2 back to back homers to Cuddyer and Morneau. Ozzie thinks he needs to get Javi out of there at about the 5th inning to keep his head up. You know, to get his confidence back. Umm...that's a bit tough. We need to build Vazquez's confidence back up but I am not quite sure taking him out after 5 and two thirds innings is going to do that. Do you know of a starter that wants to pitch only 5 innings? The only positive that comes from this loss tonight is that Kenny Williams might think twice about trading Brandon McCarthy. I don't know about you, but I don't want to see Tracey starting any time soon.

Speaking of Soriano, I would send Pods, Vazquez, and 2 minor leaguers to the Nationals for him. Forget about McCarthy, he should be off limits.

Damn. We need a long, long winning streak to get back into this thing. Congrats to the Twinkies, but don't go thinking we're out of it yet. And keep that BitchSox stuff down to a minimum - you won't go .700 for the rest of the season. It's still early for a third place team to start chest bumpin.

Your best versus our best tomorrow Twins fans...I've never seen Santana in person, so I'm excited. Some former Twins employees are heading out with us tomorrow which should make it fun. Hopefully Contreras has his stuff. We need to win tomorrow badly...

Stay Tuned. GO WHITE SOX.

Crap! I went on a quick vacation and the Sox fell apart.

No worries - I will get back to posting as well as reading up on what I missed from the boards and the other bloggers out there. Anyone care to fill me in?

I know I missed blogging about this series. I was out of town, so you guys will have to forgive me. I'll be back later today with some comments and some links to some blogs that actually covered the games. I'm a bit concerned about our pitching staff...but hey - Brian Anderson is on a 7 game hit streak!

I could write a book about all the trade rumors I have read. They all focus around our pitching. It seems that Kenny has been out shopping a bunch of our starters. When I say a bunch, I mean Vazquez and Garcia. This is troubling to me. Check out the latest rumor out of New York here.

This trade rumor is probably close to being true. We're going to New York, and if we can pull the trade off while we are in the NYC, the Sox can save on the airfare. HAH! Seriously, I think that getting some bullpen help is critical for us. The question everyone has to ask is this: Is a starting pitcher worth a middle reliever? A long reliever? I vote no. I don't care how bad our bullpen is, I think we can let Ozzie balance the relievers enough to find the right combination to get the job done. Besides, did we really need the bullpen in the playoffs last year? Isn't that what we are famous for? Don't we have Bobby Jenks? What's the problem here?

Well, the problem is that our guys have thrown a ton of innings and a ton more pitches. I bet Kenny knows this all too well and as a result is looking to unload Vazquez and Garcia. They both throw a ton. They both have pitched over 100 innings so far! Right now, their reputation is "durable". Maybe now is the time to trade a durable starter to get a few relievers. Notice I said a few relievers. I think if you give up a starting arm, you not only need to get a great reliever, but a great outfielder too. We do need a center fielder. Someone who can field, AND hit. I'm looking at you Brian Anderson...

I like our starting pitching. I think that they just need to focus and keep the ball down a bit more. The guys haven't been very stellar this year. We've given up some big innings. I'd say the only lock in the rotation would be Contreras. Yes, even Buehrle has been rocky as of late. I still wonder if this is just a smoke screen. I have to wonder why no one is asking for Jon Garland. Or maybe they are? Kenny is up to something, and we probably won't have to wait much longer to find out what that is.

Now let’s talk about the rest of the line up. If you haven’t noticed, I am doing these in no particular order. Sorry for the delay, but I’ve got a road trip to St. Louis today and it has taken me a lot of time to get ready for it. This will explain why the rest of my report card is going to be much shorter than the pitching review in my earlier post.

Pods: Pods stole something like 50 bases last year by the break. He has only 29 right now. I know the stat heads hate Pods. He has hit a ton of doubles and garnered his share of walks on the team (38). Sure he has a noodle arm, but has anyone seen us lose a game because Pods hasn’t thrown someone out? He’s playing decent in the field and frankly he is a pretty good lead off guy, FOR OUR TEAM. .353 OBP isn’t spectacular, but I’ll take it for the first half. Score: B

Brian Anderson: Ah, the rookie. What can I say? He has to play center. He’s great at it. His stats are pointless to talk about. They stink. He hasn’t gotten his average over .200 and he strikes out a ton. We need him to do some voodoo magic on his bat. This is a weakness in our team, and while he hasn’t cost us any games, as Ozzie points out, the Sox might need to find someone to platoon with him, other than Mack. Score: C-

Macowiak: Can’t play center. At all. We need to remember we signed this guy as an insurance outfielder for Crede. Playing him out there in center is a bad idea and he proves it every chance he is out there. He can hit, though. He has an OBP of .396. Score:C+

Dye: JD is my hero. He has made a few shaky plays in the outfield, but man can he hit. 25 homers and 66 RBIs. He gets on base like crazy and if you remember anything positive about that last Boston series, it’s JD. The most important part of our three-headed monster. FACT. Score:A

Crede: Joe is the ladies’ favorite at the ballpark. Frankly, I can’t imagine our team without Joe. I hope we can get him signed long term. He has a great glove and is our strongest fielder, period. He has his average recently dipped below .300, but he has hit 16 home runs and 67 RBIs. If Joe can hit above .300 this year, we’ve got problems when it comes to signing him, but we can deal with that later. Score:B

Uribe: Juan had a serious slump at the start of this year. I know he is a streaky hitter, but give me a break. I think the minute Cintron started to fill in for him, Juan started to up his game! He has gotten hot recently and that’s a good thing. If he can settle down at the plate and stop swinging at the first pitch, we can stop worrying about using Cintron more at short. Uribe’s fielding is typical, he sits at the break with 6 errors. Score: C

Iguchi: I firmly believe Tad is the most important infielder on our team. I hear rumors he can hit for power, and I think we might have to start seeing more of it. He is a pretty good 2nd basemen. He’s turned 36 double plays and has only 5 errors. I still think he strikes out too much. And it would be great if he could get that average up to at least another 10 points. Score:B

Konerko: What can I say about Pauly? The captain! He’s super important to our success. He plays first base, and a pretty good one at that. How many times have you seen him do that scoop up to save an out? Tons. He also hits tons. .559 Slugging percentage? Come on. Let’s just go to his score: A

Thome: Another piece of our league leading 3,4,5 hitters. Jim has been what we wished Frank Thomas could be, if healthy - but without all the drama. You know about Thome’s home runs, and his strikeouts. With the stretch run coming, you can be sure Jim will step it up even more than his .414 OBP. Crazy. Score:A

AJ: Ah, AJ. What can you say about a guy who makes the All-Star team based on fan votes. This is the same guy everyone thinks is a cancer, right? Give me a break. AJ started off this season super hot. He was hitting over 3.20(avg) for a few weeks. His OBP is down to .365 and he doesn’t strike out nearly as much as some of our other hitters. As a catcher, I love AJ. He calls a great game. He also doesn’t get enough credit for it. I think if he would catch Buehrle more, we would be winning the division. Yes, I think that highly of his ability as a pitch-caller. If AJ continues his hot hitting ways, it will be very tough not start paying him waaay more respect. Score: A

Part III, and a Yankees series preview is on the way..... GO SOX

Let's take a break from covering Chicago sports so that I can get up on my soap box to complain once again about the Oprah-fication of SportsCenter. I'm specifically talking about the new Make-A-Wish Foundation spots they are running. These stories pull at your heart strings like they were competing in the Strongest Man competition; tugging a 16-wheeler by your teeth. It's clear to me that Disney Corp. realized the majority of young males have been turning to blogs and the web in general to get their sports stories and scores. A fleeing audience doesn't do much for the bottom line. Especially with the advertisers. The logical solution to that problem (half your audience is going online), is to create content for the other half of the household. Namely my wife. In the grand tradition of LifeTime, the Oxygen Network and Lady-Foot Locker stores, you have hit new lows of demographic carving.

Why didn't you decide to go into the WWE direction to capture more male viewers? You know what I'm talking about. Show more bikini destinations-type programming rather than highlights of the WNBA All-Star game. I've got another gem of an idea to boost ratings, and therefore advertising revenue. I can admit my previous suggestion of more flesh in the broadcast might upset the Mickey Mouse boardroom at the parent company, so perhaps you can just add more violence to the broadcast. Show more hockey hits and bench clearing brawls. If that doesn't improve the male demographic in the ratings then perhaps product placements within Sports Center would do it. You'd have to push beer and cars for us to pay attention, and it would be good if you could have a hot model either holding the beer can or driving the truck in question.

I have to ask the obvious question. Is sports not enough for Sports Center? When will all this insanity end? At least tell me you guys are making a significant (millions) donation to the foundation. It's the least you can do. The problem is, I didn't see a URL or a phone number about donating. I also didn't hear any sound bites by your uber-talented talking heads pushing us to help the foundation. Call me cynical, but I hope you aren't exploiting the tough times some of these families are enduring only to tape them and lay down some soft string quartet background music to make us weep for your ratings.

I'm not attempting to turn a blind eye to the worlds problems. Trust me, I know how F'd up things are. I'm just a little put off that ESPN and Disney have to throw it in my face between highlights of the Western Open.

The All-Star game ended in spectacular fashion this year. Thanks to some clutch hitting in the top of the 9th by our very own Paul Konerko, and the game's MVP Mike Young the AL continues its streak of beating up on the National League. Pauly got on base with 2 outs to start the rally. Mariano Rivera held it down for the AL in the bottom of the 9th ensuring that someone from the DH-friendly league will get home field advantage for the World Series. The telecast made it clear that Ozzie's goal was to win this game for the AL. You got the sense Ozzie feels deep down he did it for a specific team in the AL...but no matter.

I want to go on record in saying that I have never liked this new added weight to the mid-summer classic. I just don't think it's fair to decide home field advantage for the World Series in July. Call me crazy but if I'm a St. Louis Cardinals fan or a Mets fan, and my team would end this season with the best overall record in the majors, I'd be pissed.

My logic might seem irrational to some people out there. Yes, I'm a Sox fan and yes I'd like to have home field advantage just in case we get to the World Series, but didn't anyone notice we didn't need it last year?  :)

I can see your blood boiling from that last comment. Relax. I just think that the game has finally crept back to the level of enthusiasm that surrounded it before all the labor problems ruined the game. This new rule was part of the effort to make the All-Star game matter and to rejuvinate the league. Exciting isn't it? It's better than a tie, right?

Overall I liked this game because it moved quickly. I loved the result, and I'm happy to report that the coverage wasn't all that bad. The Fox crew did a decent job giving equal time to both the NL and AL. Now let us get back to the games that really matter. We've got a division to win.

GO SOX!!

I hated report cards when I was a kid. It’s not because my grades were bad. (they weren’t) It’s because I hated being evaluated. Teachers would sit down with each student before the report card was put in the mail. It was as if they wanted to prepare you for the inevitable beat-down you were going to get for doing so poorly. In reality they wanted to tell you the things you excelled at and what you needed to improve upon.

That’s exactly what I am doing with this post. I’m handing out grades for the Sox’s first half of the 2006 season. Remember, there is no crying in baseball:

Pitching

• Contreras (9-0): Jose can get guys out. He is second on the team with 77 strike outs. His WHIP is a 1.18. That’s fifth on the team. He’s first on the team with 10 wild pitches, but considering he hasn’t lost a game yet I think we can overlook that bit. Jose is our rock. He’s been promoted to first in the rotation and I expect him to get his 3.38 ERA down below 2.50 before the end of the year. He missed a few days with a slight injury earlier this season, which would be the only negative I can throw at him. Score: A
• Buehrle (9-6): Mark has shown great promise this season. That’s the problem. He’s supposed to be our best pitcher. He is supposed to be showing everyone a run at the Cy Young. Instead we watched him struggle against the Cubs and the Red Sox recently to close out the first half. He has an ERA over 4.00 and leads the team in innings pitched. I’m worried about him getting tired. He has 54 strike outs so far placing him as 5th on our list. He needs to keep the ball down and work on better pitch selection. Opposing batters have a .440 slugging percentage against Mark. Way too high. Score: C+
• Garcia (10-5): Freddy is one of my favorites on this staff. Especially when he avoids the big inning. We haven’t seen his best stuff, and I wonder when we will. If he waits for the playoffs to pull out the big guns, it might be too late. Freddy has 66 strike outs and has given up 28 walks. He’s got a whopping 4.91 ERA. He’s pitched over 113 innings so far this year which concerns me. He’s only thrown 3 wild pitches, so at least he is learning to control himself a bit more. Oh, he’s also given up the most homers on the team at 20 and he can’t keep guys from stealing bases on him. Score: B
• Garland (8-3): Jon is a tough nut to crack. He started very poorly this season. He’s got an ERA of 5.37 with 55 strikeouts, 28 walks, and has given up 19 homers! The last few starts have been much better outings for Jon, so if he decided to flip flop his seasons this year by starting off slowly, I’m fine with that. He’s got to get that offspeed stuff working again. I’d like to see his ERA dip to something that doesn’t come with a respirator and a heart monitor. Score: C
• Vazquez (9-4): Javi is a great 5th starter for our club. He has already thrown in over 100 innings. He’s got 86 strike outs! That leads the team! He also has given up 28 walks which ties him with Buehrle and Garcia. Not bad right? He has gotten some great run support this year and if it wasn’t for his tendency to give up a single huge inning, he would be our best pitcher. Finally, he’s got a 5.07 ERA which I would have hammered him for here, but man can he get guys out. Score: C+
  

Part II will cover our starting line up. Stick around! GO SOX!

The news just hit - Twins fans rejoice. Liriano is in the All-Star game.
Now maybe the folks over at the Frog want to eat these words about Ozzie.
See - you got your fire-throwing starter in the game afterall. And at the expense of a White Sox player. Now pipe down and let the AL win the game. We're going to need home field advantage this year. HAH!

Oh - and Ozzie named his starter here. (plus the starting line up is out)

I didn't forget about the Red Sox series. In fact, I am so pissed at how we have played against the AL East leading BoSox that I haven't had the words to describe it. I hate losing games and I hate it even more when we lose to good teams. You know why? Because a few months ago when the Tigers dropped a series against the Red Sox and the Yankees, I laughed. See, the Tigers can't beat the cream of the crop in the AL. Well, now I have tasted my own medicine and I don't like it.

I was in the stands on Friday. I took my undefeated record to the upper deck, beer in hand, and waited in great anticipation to see which Mark Buehrle we would get. Thankfully, it wasn't the hurler that was rocked by the Cubs that previous Sunday. It was a light version of that Buehrle instead! Since being named to the All-Star team, Buehrle was looked anything but an All-Star. I'm starting to wonder if he is getting tired.

The game itself on Friday was anything but entertaining. It was painful. We wasted opportunities. The Red Sox had control of the game from the very first inning. David Ortiz was on a one-man campaign to prove a DH should be awarded the MVP this year. He hit his 30th against us that night. It didn't take much effort, just a half hearted swing that drove a line drive over JD's head and the fence. Just like that, we were down 2-0.

I didn't feel good about this series. I don't know why, but the minute I stepped into the Cell I felt that the Red Sox were here to send us a message. I got it loud and clear. I hope Ozzie did too. Speaking of Ozzie, I want to complain (for once) about the lineup on Friday night. We were playing match-up against a rookie pitcher?! Ozuna led us off instead of Pods, and because Gooch was hurt we had Cintron hitting 2nd. It didn't stop there, we also had Brian Anderson and Chris Widger starting. Anderson did great that night. He hit two solid singles and made a great catch in center. It's clear to me he is going to be an exceptional fielder. We just need his bat to awaken.

I expected the real White Sox lineup (except for Tad) in the opener against the BoSox. I think the momentum shifted early on us as a result of losing that first game. Sure, we won the marathon last night (19 innings, go read about it here) but I wanted to win the series. Especially after the Tigers beat up on the Mariners in Seattle.

As it stands the Sox are 2 games back of first place at the break. I didn't expect the Tigers to be in first, but I also didn't expect us to be running away with it by now anyway. Stick around this week as we break down the first half of the White Sox Season. Subscribe to the RSS feed! It's pretty than our design (for now - upgrade coming soon!)

I've seen Javier Vazquez pitch so much this year that I feel like inviting him to dinner. That's how well I know this guy. Vazquez didn't have his best stuff (when will he have his best stuff?!) but thanks to Jim Thome and his 2 monster homer runs, Javi got his 9th win of the year. Go here to read the game recap. It was a perfect night for baseball at the Cell. Dollar hot dogs, a cool breeze and another White Sox winner. We're almost at the break, which means we will get a chance to sit back and over analyze this team's performance this half. Speaking of the break, a lot of people Punched AJ and for the second year in a row we pushed a White Sox player over the hump and into the All-Star game. It was nice of AJ to grab a mic last night and give everyone a big thank you for getting him into the game. I'm happy for AJ. Both for making the All-Star game and for smashing a homer off the Orioles in the 7th inning. We needed it.

I've had some ideas batting around my head recently that I want to get off my chest. I hope I get a chance to post something a bit more in depth on these subjects, but for now here are some things I've been noticing:

1. Everytime Cliff Politte comes to the mound, it's with a 5 run lead. Clearly, Ozzie is seeing what Cliff can do in games we should have a lock to win. Last night was one of those games and Cliff did pretty good. That means he didn't give up any homers, even though one of those pitches was sent to the warning track for out number 2. Cliff is on a job interview everytime he comes into a game. Good luck Cliff, Hermie might be on his way back and your time with this team might be short lived.
2. I'm reading a great book (still) that MikeJ gave me on the history of the box score. I'll get a post up on it soon because some of the analysis in the book talks about the randomness of baseball and how luck really is a big factor in the outcome of games. You don't believe in luck? Read this, about the White Sox pitch counts. Tell me staying healthy and off the DL isn't due in part to some luck?!
3. I've got a question: Anyone notice that Javi is always behind in the count? 2-0, 3-0, 3-1. Sometimes he starts 0-2 but allows batters to take it to 3-2. If we didn't swing the bats as well as we have been...Javi might be 4-9 instead of 9-4.
4. I know Jenks is still throwing fire, but how long before Neil Cotts is a closer in this league? I think he's the most consistent guy we have in the pen.
5. We dropped the first game in the series against the Orioles because the team became a bit deflated when Iguchi was hurt on that collision with JD. The team just seemed a bit dejected to me. Maybe it's in my head, but after seeing Cintron mishandle a throw last night to Uribe on a double play, I can't wait for Gooch to get back into the line up.
6. Anyone want to guess which Mark Buehrle is going to show up tonight? I'll be there again, and will post a follow up to the game and let you know. Leave comments on this one!

That's it for now - The Red Sox are in town tonight for a huge series. Let's show them how it's done. GO SOX!