ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

I swore off baseball this year after the Sox crapped the bed against the Twins last week. I'm getting a lot of shit from White Sox-Nation about that. I'm even getting it from our very own MJ. "Fair weather fan, like all White Sox fans." Yea, I'm afraid I don't have the stomach to sit through this team's struggles anymore. That magic number was stuck on 5 for a week. It was pathetic that we couldn't get a win in Minnesota. Listen, I understand that their stadium is crap, but you can't use that as an excuse. We looked like we had it figured out that last game up in the garbage-bag, but we blew a 5 run lead instead!

Wha?

So I had that glass of vodka Ozzie recommended and said to myself, Good night Irene. Those little piranha got us again. Good luck to them. What else could I do? Tip my cap and chalk this season up to a bit of overachieving and a ton of what could have been! Does that makes me less of a fan? In some people's eyes, for sure. But I am tired. I'm so VERY tired of having to watch a team stumble in the last 2 weeks that I don't know if I can muster the energy to watch these last two games of the season....but I couldn't help myself...

 I was stuck in class last night when I noticed the score go up on the game-cast. It's hard not to get excited when this happens:

The Cuban Missile strikes again! I couldn't believe it. There is a slim bit of hope on the horizon for this team. The Twins are back in Chicago for a do-or-die playoff game tonight. I guess I've got just enough energy to lift my fat ass back onto the bandwagon. Good luck to Johnny Danks. He goes on 3 days of rest and faces the Twin's Blackburn....the same Blackburn that Ozzie threw under the bus when he beat us last week in Minnesota. Ugh, lets hope it doesn't bite us ALL in the ass.

I haven't posted anything about the White Sox for weeks. You know why? Because the world is going to hell, I was close to losing my job, and well, shit my house is a mess. But you know what? I want to to vent a little, and I'm going to take it out on the White Sox.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!

We had a 6-1 lead in tonight's game against the Twins in that God-forsaken garbage bag of a stadium and we blew it. The Sox have nothing left. I am so disappointed in this team. I know that no one expected us to win the division, myself included, but this is completely out of hand. We had a GREAT chance at winning this division because our pitching was 1000% better than ANYONE expected this season.

The offense has been HORRIBLE, and if it wasn't for Quentin we would probably be buried in 4th place like all the pre-season predictions. This team is not balanced. We can't run the bases, our defense had to be the WORST I've seen of any Sox team in recent memory and our "big boppers" have been no bigger than a rabbit turd. If anything it was a struggle the entire season. It's true what they say: good pitching always beats good hitting. I would have settled for mediocre hitting on the South Side. Am I taking this sweep hard? You damn right I am. The White Sox make too many excuses for why they can't beat a Twins team that will most likely get swept in the first round of the playoffs this year. The Twins aren't that good of a team. They have speed, which is important when you play on slabs of concrete, and some timely hitting. Shit, they have solid hitting...who am I crapping. They have guys who make contact, and GOOD contact. Not this little "duck snort" bullshit I've been forced to endure from the likes of Thome, Konerko, and Swisher. Dirty 30? How about Pathetic Pauly, or Hit-it To-Me on the first pitch?

We wasted 2 good outings by Buehrle, and Floyd. Vasquez is a lost cause, so that first game isn't a surprise. He is a mental midget. The Rex Grossman of the team if you will. 

Carlos Gomez beat us tonight? Seriously? He went 4-4 tonight. We just lost this division because no one on our staff knew how to get Carlos Gomez out.

Great. Nice work guys. I can't handle it anymore. So much for October basball. The Royals are heading to the garbage bag next and they won't throw Grienke. The only pitcher they have who could beat the Twins, and he sits. Why? Because the Royals want to save him for next year? What a bunch of crap. The Sox on the other hand come home and face the Cleve. Oh! And guess what? Cliff Lee, this year's (so they say) Cy Young Award winner is pitching the third game against us. 

I need a drink.

I was getting comfortable and I wasn't alone. The radio guys in this town started taking about magic numbers yesterday. I think it is a bad thing to talk about magic numbers when you are still in the double digit range. But I guess you have to forgive the sports media in this town. It has only been 100 years since both the White Sox and the Cubs have been this close to making the playoffs.They're excited, but they might be counting those proverbial chickens before they hatch. My biggest fear is that both teams lay an egg. The Cubs are struggling as of late with an abysmal 2-8 record in their last 10and the White Sox are just as bad at 4-6. Both teams avoided the June swoon, but this might turn into the September to remember - for all the wrong reasons. I'm afraid of a collapse.

Not so much for the Cubbies. They are in one of those slumps you just shake off. You know what they say! It's always better to slump now rather than in October. The White Sox went through the exact same thing in 2005 and that turned out ok. The Cubs should still make the playoffs. They have great pitching, great defense and they eventually will realize that Derek Lee needs to be moved down in the order. The White Sox on the other hand, are hurting both mentally and physically. Ozzie has started to tag players as if they were specemens who belong in storage. It started with Joe Crede. Guillen has no confidence in Crede because of his bad back. It doesn't seem to be stable even after surgery. The amount of errors the traditionally solid fielding Crede committed skyrocketed this year. That was the first sign. The fact he couldn't get out of his rehab stint in a week was the second. Ozzie tag: Broken. Next we saw Carlos Quentin crack his wrist against his bat. I don't believe that story for a second, but it doesn't matter. Quentin was the engine that drove the White Sox this year. He of Lego-like-hair and tremendous power at the plate was a young version of Paul Konerko! He still leads the league in home runs! He was in the running for MVP. You don't lose an MVP and sleep walk into the playoffs. That's not going to happen. The injury to Quentin just quickens the pace of this wilting team's offense. Ozzie Tag: Cracked. And then there was last night's injury....

The White Sox are home this week hosting the troublesome Blue Jays. I say that without confidence because I spent the morning trying to find the Sox's current record against the Jays this season. It isn't as easy as it sounds. You'd think one of these sports blogger-type-geeks would get to writing an easy to use stat searching interface. Maybe this is something Google would like to do. They like data, they like simple searches, and they have tons of cash. Maybe I'll just do it. But I digress...

I seem to recall the Sox got swept in their previous meeting with the Blue Jays while visiting Toronto. A quick glance at the bottom of this awesome head-to-head page from CBS Sportsline proves my memory isn't failing me. The Blue Jays have the White Sox's number. That number would be 6-0. The Toronto Blue Jays are undefeated against the White Sox this year. If you take a look at the right column of this head to head page you'll notice that the Blue Jays have us beat on every pitching stat known to man. That explains the majority of the reasons why the Sox just can't get a grip on the Jays. It actually gets worse when you dig deeper and examine what the White Sox record is against the AL East. The Sox are 13-22 against the AL East this year. That doesn't bode well for us if we get matched up against this year's Cinderella, the Rays.

I missed the first game yesterday afternoon as I was running around getting the house ready for our new addition. Javi Vasquez dropped another game in which he had 5 strike outs. He only gave up 2 runs, but that was enough for the Jays to win the game 3-1. I feel bad for Javi. The team just can't score when he pitches. The second game of the double header was a complete joke. Not only did the Sox pitching explode, but we sustained yet another injury. This time it was the hot hitting Paul Konerko. Pauly was actually lifting himself out of that season-long slump. He was batting something like .350 since August 1st. That is a complete turn around from the pathetic start he had. And then his knee gave out on him. Pauly slipped on the grass last night and strained his MCL. Ozzie gets to put Konerko on the shelf next to his other power hitter. Ozzie Tag: Done. I hate to say it, but this could be it for Pauly as a White Sox player. Even if he doesn't get cut or traded, he doesn't start next year. You just get the feeling that Konerko is breaking down right before our eyes. It's like that weird Black and White face progression trick in the Michael Jackson video. Pauly started off a baby, and ended up a shriveled up old prune. The Sox lost the night cap, thanks to rookie pitcher Clayton Richards, 8-1. This kid isn't ready and we're in the middle of a playoff race. What the hell is Ozzie doing? I'm hoping he takes Richards and put's him on the shelf too, this time with the tag:Half Baked.

The Sox attempt to reverse this 2 game losing streak tonight against the Jays. Maybe tonight we'll see some changes in the line up. I'll be back later today with how I would fill out the lineup card tonight.

Go-Go-White Sox!

Time to shake the rust off kids! It's football time. There is going to be a lot to talk about and analyze this season and I'm going to start with the pre-season questions I need answered before I will be comfortable with this team. None of this should be new to any of you, but you can consider this as an airing of grievances.

1.  Can Kyle Orton carry the offense? I don't see how else to put this, but we have some problems on offense. There is no question that the offensive line is going to suck. The receivers are anything but spectacular, and the running game is left to Kevin Jones, a former Lions running back who was cut because of knee issues and a 2nd round pick out of Tulane. If we are going to be successful on offense, it starts with the cliche, the quarterback. We need an EPIC performance from Orton. Not only because I've been waiting my entire life to see a competent quarterback in a Bears uniform (my apologies to Hardbaugh and McMahon) but there are no other options. We need a quarterback that has the ability to overcome the pass rush of an opposing team's defense just as much as the inept play calling. Ron Turner is not your friend Kyle. Listen to the play he calls, and then call your own play when you know it will just end in a 2 yard gain when we need 7. This is a lot to ask of a quarterback. It isn't realistic to expect Orton to do what quarterbacks like Brett Favre have done recently - win with no help. Shit, win with true obsticles! Nope, I don't think Kyle has that special quality to overcome the ineptness of his organization.But like Lovie says, Kyle is our quarterback. That will have to do.
2. Is the defense as bad as it looked in the preseason? Only time will tell, but it doesn't look good. First, the face of the franchise held us hostage for more money AFTER he had neck surgery in the offseason. We gave it to him because not only does Urlacher play his balls off, but we don't really have that much stability on defense. Who would have taken his spot? I didn't see the Bears draft a middle linebacker this year. Regardless of the team politics, the linebackers are probably the healthiest and best part of our defense. Hillenmeyer, Urlacher, and Briggs are great together. Hillenmeyer is underappreciated in the group, but he does a solid job on the outside. Briggs is our best linebacker. I base this simply on the number of plays he makes, his health, and his his age. Besides, Urlacher plays so damn hard he has to be wearing down. No one can keep up the pace he has been on. The back problems were an early indication of this. Now he has a neck issue. Briggs has to prove that the big money he got was warranted. The defensive line is still anchored by Tommie Harris. Harris is an amazing talent, but he has to stay healthy for the defense to be relevant. That initial push up the middle has to come from Tommie Harris. The game planning people make for the Bears includes heavy double teams for Tommie Harris. Off the edge we have Ogunleye, and opposite him the forgotten Alex Brown. Brown has solidified his position as a starter, reclaiming the job from Marc Anderson who proved to be a freak 2 seasons ago with all those sacks. The more I look at the line, the more my confidence increases that what we saw this preseason wasn't the real D. Then again, remember what Frank Gore did against the first team. It wasn't pretty.
3. Can Matt Forte be a difference maker? I vote yes. He can catch the ball out of the backfield, and he seems to always be falling foward. He actually gains yards on the ground! This is important for a Bears team that cut the ineffective Cedric Benson in the offseason. Benson had a lot of problems off the field, but even bigger problems on it. He just wasn't that good. I don't know if it was the play calling or his motivation or both. If it was the play calling, then Matt Forte is going to look just as bad. I guess the reason why I think it won't matter is because he has the ability to be creative, regardless of the horrible calls. This is something Cedric Benson was never able to pull off. I'm expecting big things from Forte, and like the defense back in Orton's rookie season, I think Forte is going to be real reason we win games.
4. Will Ron Turner finally figure out how to run an offense? No. Next question.