sox vs cubs, the spring training edition, round 1

today, the chicago white sox were ass-raped 13-0 by the rival chicago cubs. adam russel got lit up in the 8th for 6 earned runs and marquez, the starter, wasnt so good either.

and to top that all off, our ever-outrageous smartass manager ozzie guillen picks a war of words with ted lilly-the cubs pitcher. check out this quote (courtesy of the chicago sun times joe cowley)

MESA, Ariz. - Ozzie Guillen doesn't need a talk with Ted Lilly. As a matter of fact, the White Sox manager wasn't looking for an apology, a chat or even an acknowledging glance from the Cubs' left-handed pitcher.

But a "little thank you'' on Saturday morning, that would have been nice."He should say at least a little, 'Thank you Ozzie,' '' Guillen said, when asked about Lilly's Friday "Sure, I wouldn't mind [seeing Ozzie]'' comments to reporters.

When asked why a thank you, it was classic Guillen."Because of what I was doing when guys were making $60,000 and $70,000 a year and now they're making $10 million,'' Guillen said. "Back when meal money was [bleepin] $10 a day and now it's $80.''

ozzie, ozzie, ozzie. you never fail to catch america's attention with your brashness. you're crazy, but you get the job done, no matter who you piss off (mariotti-beware!).

maybe tomorrow will bring better fortune (and a win!!)

GO WHITE SOX!!
tamtam

jim leyland not smoking

i forgot one last picture from last night!

this is detroit tigers manager, the notorious chain-smoking jim leyland. i guess he's gettin' serious about trying to quit smoking, so to get his mind off the cigarette cravings, he's taken to levitating balls instead whenever the nicotine itch strikes him. the more the craving, the stonger the force, and thus the higher the ball. may the force be with you.

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

odd pictures in baseball, round 1

much like many of my contemporary (and rival) sports bloggers, i figured i'd get some funny looking pictures from around the league and make smartass comments about them. thats the bell and round 1 is underway!

i'll start with john danks of my white sox. aside from carlos quentin and alexei ramirez, danks was our miracle man. he pitched in the 1 game tiebreaker against the twins which won us our AL central title. however, if your pitching arm is fused to your back, it gives a whole new meaning to the term 'miracle man'.

the next target of my sharp-witted keyboard is placido polanco of the detroit tigers. its well known that placido has an abnormally large head. in fact, carl skanberg put it nicely when in his famous 'palehose' comic strips, the main character, don guillote, said in referance to polanco's head 'nothing this big and freaky can remain harmless forever!' the original comic can be viewed here. in the meantime, there's polanco and his freaky large head, looking more and more like jason statham.

my mom always used to complain about how boring baseball was. aside from the length of the games, the redundancy of a pitch and then a subsequent swing by the batter was just too boring in her opinion. obviously i didnt agree with her. if i did, i wouldnt be obsessively following the white sox like i do. in the mean time, this photo was taken at the cubs-rangers game in surprise. i guess my mom isnt the only one bored by baseball.

in that same stadium, the stands were crowded full of fans.

the cubs lost their appeal a long time ago. i guess all those chokes had something to do with it. CUBS SUCK!!!

up next to the chopping block is the florida marlins. this peep-hole-snooping-style shot all but speaks for itself. i can just imagine the conversation between these 4 players (hanley ramirez-2, anibal sanchez-19 (guy with the arm on the back of eulogio de la cruz,-45), and renyel pinto-37). pinto: "he's going past 2nd base! hanley, move your head!"

hanley: "naah. the view is good just here"

*pause*

sanchez: "hey eulogio, care to ride the pine?" [puts arm on de la cruz's shoulder]**

**thanks to the sports hernia for help with this one!

finally, the end! my final target of the night is none other than don zimmer. up until recently, i thought this guy was dead (no, really! i did!). he was said to have been a great ballplayer, but the only thing i remember zimmer for is getting flung down like a sack of rocks during that 1 fight with pedro martinez back in 2003, when old man zimmer worked for the yankees. here he is, back from the dead, none other than don zimmer, toasting in the warm florida sun and looking for his missing dentures.

*picks teeth* "ouch!! crap, thats right! i havent got any teeth! dammit! where did i put my teeth again?"

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

game 2

sox win!!

unfortunately, the game was neither broadcast over the sox website, nor televised. but from what accounts i've been able to gather, the sox had a good game. gavy pitched well, our bats were productive, and the baserunning was on cue. since the game was here in tucson, i would have very much liked to go, as hi-corbett field is w/in walking distance of my school (its a long walk, but its do-able). unfortunately, thursday is my busiest day. i had classes all day today.

here's a funny quote by our ever-outrageous smartass manager, ozzie. courtesy of southsidesox

"I hope I die on the field. I hope when I walk to change the pitcher, I drop dead and that's it. I know my family would be so happy that it happened on the field. They wouldn't feel bad because that's what I've always wanted to do. You die on the field — good luck, get him out of here, next man."

as someone on sss posted: 'ozzie discussing his death: not a good sign when your manager is suicidal after the first game of the season'. (sorry everythings so crowded-having some formatting problems here)

but thats our ozzie. the bold, outrageous, smartass, occasionally annoying, yet oddly lovable ozzie guillen :)

GO WHITE SOX!!!

tamtam

final thoughts on todays game

todays game was probably the most pathetic opening game i've ever heard.

ok, yeah, today was the opener so its still kinda early to rip on the sox, but my god! getting whuped 12-3 by any team is an embarrassment!! we had the lead going into the 3rd, then octavius blew it. shame on you, octavius!! guess we weren't ready after all.

aside from our pitchers not being able to pitch (we gave up 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th alone!!), our hitters couldnt hit!! q went 0-3, jd went 0-3, and our backups weren't any better. flowers made some serious throwing errors. i guess those pecota projections that had us finishing 3rd or last or whatever, i guess they were on the right track. we looked horrible.

but there's always tomorrow. tomorrow we play the rockies, down here in tucson, i believe. i would really love to go to the game, but thursday is my busiest day. i'll listen to what i can of the game if its available.

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

updates, part 2

1:45-top of 3rd. scott shields pitching for angels. thome is up to bat. strikes out. jd up next, 0-for-1. pops into shallow right. alexei ramirez up next. 2-for-2 at this at-bat. lines out to 3rd.

1:50-bottom of 3rd. new pitcher for sox-the pidgeon toed octavius comes up. terry evans up for the angels. KO. brad koon up next, hit by pitch. niley (i think) stacia is up-koon steals 2nd. pops fair in front of q and koon scores. 2-1 white sox. abreu is next, walks. kendry morales comes up to bat, but abreu caught on fielders choice. 2 outs with runners on the corners. napoli gets a double to left-center, angels score 2 more runs. 3-2 angels. brandon wood up to bat. pops out to jerry owens all the way out at the warning track

2:04-KO on ben brussard. arodondo pitching for angels. josh fields bunts and it rolls foul. top of 4th. 1-1 count on fields. lineout to third. 2 outs. chris getz steps up to the plate. KO on check swing. angels being very efficiant today

2:10-shawn rodriguez thrown out by getz. matt thorton and his out of control arm are pitching. bottom of 4th. kerry evans at bat, base hit to centerfield. brad koon is back. still hanging in, fouling off pitches. chopped to shortstop, fielders choice.

2:19-rich thompson pitching for angels. top of 5th. jerry owens leading off. 3-1 count on owens. 3-2 count on owens. groundout. aj number 2 hitter. fly ball to center, popout for aj. quentin up 3rd. 0-for-2. flies out to center. 1-2-3 inning.

2:25-randy williams lhp, tyler flowers c, 3b javier castillo; changes for bottom of 5th. hinely stacia up 1st. doubles to left over castillo's head. chris pettite for angels. bouncer to pitcher, and rundown btwn 2nd and 3rd for stacia. 1 out. kendry morales batting next. hops out to castillo, pettite held up. hank conger bats in place of mike napoli. KO. 0 runs, 1 hit, no errors.

2:34-thome up to bat, pops out to pettite in center. thome 0-3. jd is next. angels have freddy sandoval at 3rd, luis figueroa is at ss, terry romels at 2b; changes. jd 0-2 right now. lines out to the pitcher. alexei swings at 1st pitch, strike. pops out to left field. yet another 1-2-3 inning, sox bats have quieted down alot

2:39-figueroa up to bat for the angels, ehren wassermann up to pitch for the sox. figueroa lines to left for a base hit. sandoval up next. stolen base for figueroa and throwing error on flowers. KO sandoval. no balls and 2 strikes on johnson. KO. kerry evans next. figueroa at 3rd. scores after wassermann's wild pitch. KO next batter. end of the 6th inning. angels up 4-2.

2:52-start of 7th. fransisco rodriguez (NOT k-rod!!) to take the mound for the angels. error on 2b brown for brussard. next batter, javier castillo. popout to 2nd. next batter, hicks, gets a double on a long shot to center. runners at 2nd and 3rd. fly ball to center, sac fly from owens. broussard scores, 4-3 angels. flowers up to bat, KO looking. time for the 7th inning stretch.

update, part 1

class got cancelled today! updates for as long as i can
all update times are in arizona time

1:37-napoli leads off for the angels. bottom of 2nd inning. 1 hopper stopped by fields and thrown to brussard. jd catches a fly on the warning track from brandon wood. sean rodriguez is up. sox have righthander warming up. hops out to getz

bad news

uh-oh, bad news!!

at 1, i tuned into the score to listen to the sox game. unfortunately, due to some stupid regulation thing, i can't get the games!! the score is not legally allowed to broadcast the games over the internet. i guess, i'll just be stuck having to check the whitesox homepage for the latest news.

i'll update here as often as i can throughout the day over the course of the game.

GO WHITE SOX!!
tamtam

**UPDATE**i CAN get gameday audio over the internet via the white sox website, but only the los angeles angels radio network carries the game. based on this newfound info, the sox have just scored 2 runs off a pierzynski at bat w/ q coming up to bat at the top of the 2nd

lineup

lineup for today's game

Jerry Owens
CF

AJ Pierzynski
C

Carlos Quentin
LF

Jim Thome
DH

Jermaine Dye
RF

Alexei Ramirez
SS

Ben Broussard
1B

Josh Fields
3B

Chris Getz
2B

GO WHTE SOX!!
tamtam

tips for tomorrow

this just cleared the wires at south side sox!! sorry-im having some formatting problems with the schedule. the times were lined up in a chart, and i couldnt get it to cross over to here.

oh well, i at least got the basic info. i'll post the rest of the dates, times, and broadcast carriers as the games come up.

here's whats on the stove for tomorrow:

Wednesday, February 25
@ Angels
2:05 PM
WSCR 670

the score 670 am is gonna carry the game. i have the link on my blog, but if you can't access it from the side panal for whatever reason, click here. to listen to the game, click the 'listen live' icon at the top right corner of the webpage. the browser will load and streaming will begin almost immediately.

hope this helps!

GO WHITE SOX!!
tamtam

the hawk's car?

i know, hawk probably drives a better car than this but still, ya gotta love the license plate!

photo courtesy of south side sox, which in turn, got it from homerun derby

GO WHITE SOX!!

tamtam

1 more day!

the official start of spring training is only 24 hrs away!!

GO WHITE SOX!!
tamtam

wednesday's projected lineup

hey-

just cleared the twitter from joe cowley at the chicago sun times 'bout 2 hrs ago:

Starters for the Cactus League opener will be Owens, Dye, Quentin in the OF, Fields, Ramirez, Getz and Broussard in the infield.

starting pitcher:

Jim Thome will DH and Pierzynski will catch Clayton Richard.

GO WHITE SOX!!

tamtam

sox vs angels, opening day predictions

dear readers,

instead of watching the oscars, like everyone else right now, im blogging about sports. although, now that im on it, let me be honest in that i didnt think americans liked indian movies all that much, but when i saw the bit that i did, 'slumdog millionare' was practically sweeping the board! for those of you who don't know, 'slumdog millionare' is an indian movie. well, its not authentically indian cuz this film was more like a collaboration between the american and indian movie industries. this isnt the 1st time america and india have joined up to make a movie; 'gandhi', about the life of mohandas 'mahatma' gandhi was, i think, the 1st time hollywood and bollywood worked together to make a movie.

but enough about indian movies, and onto sports. the 1st spring training game is on wednesday. its gonna be sox vs. angels, and im pretty sure its taking place at camelback ranch. i'm practically dying from excitement over here in AZ!! i've been dilligently scanning the tv listings for wednesday, and it doesnt appear that im gonna get the game (or any other baseball game, for that matter!), but then again, thats in 3 days so stuff could change till then.

naturally, i will cast my fate with my beloved white sox. im confident that they will win game 1. i can't find the starters for game 1 (and i probably won't know till wednesday), but i bet it'll be buhrle cuz he's 1st on the pitching rotation. buhrle's one of our best, wait, he IS our best pitcher. i trust that he will do a good job. i expect him to go 7 or 8 innings, have octavio do setup, and jenks will close out the game for us. like i said, i dont know the stats side of sports (or find it remotely interesting for that matter), so i'll keep things nice and general. i predict at least a solo HR from jim thome, and 1, if not more, from carlos quentin (who's team picture day mugshot continues to remain elusive >:[ ). alexei will get at least 1 steal, probably in the 4th or 5th, and dayan will get a double in the 6th. aj will likely have a down day, going 1 for 3, and paulie will hit some singles.

like i said, these are merely predictions. i don't expect the game to follow exactly as i predicted, but it would be good if it did (and just a wee bit creepy as well, given how specific i went on some players).

good night, and GO WHITE SOX!!!

tamtam

picture day

dear readers,

today was picture day for all the baseball players. the white sox' mugshots are slowly coming up on yahoo sports, and though not all the players have been uploaded, so far they're looking good.

jd (shown left), jeff marquez (below and on the right side of the blog-sorry, having some formatting problems here!), and the ever adorable pidgeon-toed octavio dotel (lovingly referred to by me as 'octavius do-tell'-thank 'dj' darren jackson for coming up with that one; shown below and left) looked cute in their mugshots, however, like always, there are always a few anomolies.

such an example was bartolo colon. until i saw bartolo colon's mugshot, i didnt realize how fat he really was (plus, he needed to shave). its like this: you just know picture day is not the right time to be photographed. until mom fixes your hair and reminds you to smile, you just know that something's gonna come up and the pic won't come out nice. yeah, that tub-o-lard you see below is the infamous bartolo colon. not that i dont have anything against the big fella, but given that this pic is goin up on the white sox website and soon enough it will adorn entries on countless sports blogs all over the blogosphere, make at least a half-ass attempt to look nice.

speaking of half-assing looking nice for the team pic, i wonder if q (that would be carlos quentin-that hungry fella who's biting his bat in the picture below) remembered to smile for his team pic. normally he does not and that bugs me cuz he's got a really cute smile (plus he's a total cutie when he smiles). this year he's got some reasons to smile in his team pic-he's a happy newlywed, he's virtually cemented his legacy here in chicago, and he's got good dental work (im a dentist's kid-the first thing i look at is people's teeth!!). if he didnt, im gonna whup him (just kidding-i wouldnt whup my favorite baseball player-he's huge and i would likely die from that fight)!! i promise that when his mugshot goes live, i'll post it here too.

speaking of q, his bff brian anderson (lovingly called 'ba'; and i can honestly call ba q's bff cuz everywhere q goes, ba's always with him: wedding, some bar with john danks and a woman who looked suspicously like q's new bride) went live. to be honest, he looks like he's getting the shocker or something else up an unmentionable orfice. just not comfortable at all. but then again, i heard ba gets more ass then a toilet seat so why should this be a surprise? ---------->

there were also some surprises. paulie shaved his goatee! i knew from pictures that paulie had shaved his beard, but i didnt think it was permanent! he doesnt look bad w/o the beard, but to be honest, it looks...different. might take a little getting used to.

now its aj's turn. i cant go an entry about the white sox without a piece of aj. i call this man my dad's twin cuz if you saw a picture of my dad 30 yrs ago and aj today, you would see a frightening resemblance. i know aj went bleach blonde again-i saw that in spring training videos. im a little torn between which picture i should upload of aj-the one where he looks like he's about to kill someone (see below)

or the more friendly one. (see below)i guess i'll upload both.

jim thome was looking jolly. didnt appear that he slept much cuz his eyes are all bloodshot. or...it could just be the dry arizona air. judge for yourself cuz i dont figure thome to be a drinker. -------->

now to the pitchers: first on my hitlist is the great bobby jenks (see left). he's earned a reputation as an untouchable (almost) closer who will shut down the opposing batters. unfortunately, dying your beard bleach blonde for the team photo probably wasnt the smartest thing. it appears that a dust mop has settled on our closers' chin and it aint goin anywhere anytime soon.

the second target on my pitcher list is ehren wassermann. this guy was a rookie last year and was injured most of the time, if my memory serves me right. normally, i wouldnt care 1 way or another about this guy, but when i saw his picture, i knew there was some material there. to be honest, i feel a little bad for poking fun of his picture cuz he looks absolutely terrified in it, but it was sitting there, ripe for poking with my sarcastic pen (well, keyboard more like), screaming 'pick me!' so i did. at least its nicer than joba chamberlain's now-infamous up-my-nose team mugshot (or as someone on 'big league stew' commented 'joba being asked: "how's life now that johnny damon has moved into your garage?"').

i guess i'll be signing off for the night. if carlos quentin's picture doesnt go live by midnight tonight, i'll put it up for sure tomorrow. i'll be monitoring the search engines till midnight. after that, it's goin up tomorrow. he's the only 1 im waiting on.

good night and go white sox!!

tamtam

**update**-looks like q's picture isnt coming up. I CANT FIND IT ANYWHERE!!!! looks like you guys will just have to wait a little longer >:[

spring training jitters

dear readers,

i know, im a nerd. i get giddy at the thought of spring training. i always eagerly look forward to spring training each year, and this year is no exception. however, this is my first year away from home and since im doing bad in 1 of my classes (calculus is a real kicker), i desperately need something to cheer me up, or if not cheer me up, at least give me something to look forward to. i hate calculus with the passion of a carlos quentin at-bat

sorry. i had to do that.

one week till the 1st game. i wonder who its gonna be against. i hope the sox come out swinging, but im still mad that they opted out of tucson and high-tailed north to phoenix. there's alotta people from IL down here in tucson, and that translates to lots of sox fans!! plus, tucson electric park is just a bus ride away on the tucson bus system. oh well, i can still go to baseball games on the weekends at tucson electic park cuz the diamondbacks are still there, but being from chicago, i like the sox better. i'll still get my baseball fix, but it wont be with the team i wanted to see. i hope the cheap-seats at tucson electic park are cheap (i'm thinking $10-$15 at most, but i've never been there before so i dont know). i can't be goin every weekend if i cant afford it.

thats a story in progress.

ARRGGGHHH!!!!! the wait is excruciating!!!
tamtam

spring training

dear readers,

spring training is just around the corner~and im super excited!! although yeah, im a total nerd cuz i love sports, but this time of year, baseball runs my life. although im a little disappointed cuz i was hoping to see my beloved white sox here in tucson (before they opted out of their contract and high-tailed north to phoenix >:[ ) and the thought of going to tucson electric park for spring training games (when i could~im in college, remember?) was one of the reasons i made the choice to come to the u of a where im currently a student. unfortunately now, i'll have to brave a 2-hr drive north to phoenix to go to camelback ranch, but thats ok. i have wgn in my dorm room so i can watch the games on tv if they're on. also, come spring break, i'll have to check the schedule to make sure that there are some homegames so that i can go to at least 1 game. no trip to phoenix is ever complete without going to a baseball game (we used to just come to phoenix on vacation during the summer, right when baseball was in season).

i guess i have some predictions for spring training, although let me be upfront: i have very little knowledge or expertise on the stats/math side of sports. i predict that the sox will be ok-not spectacular-just ok, but once the season starts, the sox are gonna be good. provided they can be healthy, i think the sox stand a pretty good chance of winning the AL central again and maybe advancing to the world series :), but thats for the regular season, and this is merely preseason. i think dayan viciendo will prove his salt to ozzie and company, and i have good hopes for the rest of the newcomers to the southside. i also look forward to more 'palehose' comic strips from the great carl skanburg in this upcoming season.

im as giddy as a schoolgirl at the thought of spring training! im so excited!

GO WHITE SOX!!!

tamtam