jerry owens gets waived

im sorry to say it, but its true. 'general soreness' jerry owens has been waived by the white sox. i guess all those KOs, weak hits, and the sore groin that earned him the nickname 'general soreness' finally did him in.

the guys over at south side sox had a "memorial" set up in honor of jerry. you can see it here.

only 5 more days to go till opening day...>:[

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

fun with names, the white sox edition

my friends over at more hardball have been doing a series called 'fun with names' as of late. basically, they take certain players with poke fun-able ( i know thats not a real word, but i harbor a complete disregard for proper english , as is evidenced by my primeval writing style, so screw you english majors!) last names and photoshop the appropriate object to match the players last name into the card.

well, in their most recent entry, my beloved chicago white sox were chosen as the target. obviously, i cant copy-paste the whole entry here, but i will provide the link where you can view my boys in black-and-white right here.

enjoy!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

gold gavin

though spring training has been otherwise dismal, some good news surfaced!!

gavin 'pink' floyd, one of our best pitchers inked a $15.5 million dollar deal for the next 4 years, today. this is key, as next to 'miracle man' john danks, mark buehrle, and bobby jenks, gavin is a critical part of the rotation, and got us wins in some big games.

gavy was one of 3 players who were elligible for arbitration, the other 2 being the miracle man and q. now that 1 of the big 3 is secured, time to focus on the other 2.

in kenny i trust.
GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

camelback ranch

ok, i know ive been slacking, but i've been kinda busy this week. i had a test in bio which prevented me from writing an entry about my boys in black.

since im on spring break, my uncle decided to treat me to a baseball game. no trip to phoenix is complete without a baseball game (when its in season, of course). we decided on camelback ranch, as i had not yet been there, and i wanted to see if it was really all the hype.

the facility is nice, but i dont know that i would have picked glendale, or that particular design for a ballpark. for 1 thing, glendale is a little out-of-the-way, and the stadium is located in kind of an isolated area. but im probably speaking too soon cuz knowing arizona, they never stop developing. within a few years, there will be more houses and shopping malls surrounding the park. personally, id disapproved of the sox moving north cuz 1 of the reasons i chose to go to u of a was to be near the white sox for spring training!! it should also be known that before hightailing north to phoenix, the sox had a contract worked out with the tucson park district about staying in tucson electric park (to which i have yet to pay a visit) all the way till 2010. since the sox broke their contract, they worked out a deal to reimburse (sp?) the tucson park district for what the remainder of the contract was worth. if they hadnt done this, the city of tucson could have sued the white sox for a breach of contract, which is totally legal. i know, i know, kenny (thats our gm, for those of you unfamiliar with the white sox management system) had his eyes set on phoenix for a while, but it would have been economically, and legally less of a hassle to just wait until the contract expired, and dont bother to renew it. although i know a lotta players make their offseason homes in phoenix and it is a far drive to and from tucson (its 2 hrs going there and to come back is another 2 hrs), i wonder if tucson electric park is located in a dumpy area, and maybe kenny really wanted to get outta there just cuz of the neighborhood.

but enough legalspeak bitching and on to BASEBALL!!! todays game was white sox vs. texas rangers. and no, josh hamilton was not playing, so carlos quentin couldnt eat him (see 'hopped up on hamilton' for this one (note-each word is a separate image), courtesy of the ever-amazing carl skanberg). i got to see my boys stretching and doing batting practice.

before the game, however, some team in the white sox minor league organization won some championship, so the sox honored them. while the team was honored, i was taking pix of my boys engaged in some roly-poly-style-stretching

this over here is the team that the sox were honoring.

and this below is my boys doing roly-poly stretching :)

first 1 on the right is paulie, all curled up and rocking back and forth like a japanese wobble toy :)

this next one was ba. he was literally going head-over-heels during his stretching routine. as the guys at south side sox might suggest, the 'honies' (or alternatively spelled "honey's", basically a slang term for cleat chaser groupies) that ba likes to pick up after games are gonna have a good time taking advantage of his flexibility (and wallet, among other things).

finally, my favorite stretching pic.

aside from that gorgeous man in the middle on his knees (none other than my boy, carlos quentin :D), i liked the groupshot of jd getting a real rubberband man workout from the trainer along with ba.

the game itself was a thriller. our miracle man, john danks, got the start for us. the sox were down 3-1 at one point, but came back to win 8-4 after consecutively scoring a run in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. the 9th inning was the best cuz my boy q, after having a rather dismal game, got a rally going. he hit a double, and then scored on 2 subsequent singles, tying the game 4-4. after the pitcher walked the bases loaded, ba came on and hit a grand slam. it was the 1st grand slam id ever seen live. i was glad i went.

as for the stadium in general, the food isnt too bad. for lunch, my uncle bought me a hot dog with all the fixin's. basically, that was a vienna beef hotdog with relish, onions, gardinia (at least i think thats how you spell it. its that italian hot pepper salad that you find in the grocery store in the glass jar), cheese, chili, jalapenos, and finally ketchup and mustard (although i didnt put mustard on mine. i dont like mustard). it was messy, but it wasnt bad. id definately have it again. for dessert, i had this italian ice dessert, i think its called 'sorbeto'. it tastes like a popsicle, and was actually kinda refreshing. it got rid of the peppery aftertase left behind by the hotdog.

the giftshop was REALLY CROWDED!!! they were selling the st. patricks day green jerseys of various players. the special was of my boy quentin. well, the man does have some irish roots, so it was appropriate (i remember reading a tribune article about him, and that little tidbit was mentioned, among other things). my dad went to the game on tuesday, and told me that in the team store, you could find a manny's-dreadlocks wig, complete with bandana. i couldnt believe it, so after the game, my uncle and i went to the team store and fought the crowd to see if we could find it. unfortunately, the store was sold out of those wigs, but thats ok. the next time i go to camelback ranch, they'll probably be in stock. i dont intend to get 1, but i just wanted to see it cuz i couldnt believe they existed.

that was my day at camelback ranch. i would love to go back in the near future :)

GO WHITE SOX!!!

tamtam

day off

the sox had the day off today, but camelback ranch was buzzing with excitement! for one, dayan viciendo turned the big 2-0 today (*sighs* he grew up so fast during his time with us!), and jose contraras flew over to miami to be sworn in as a us citizen. congrats to both men.

in other happy news, mark buerhle returned to camelback ranch. he'd been in MO cuz his wife had a baby girl, and he wanted to be there for the birth. good to have him back.

i've been thinking about the free webcasts the sox have linked on their website (which i catch whenever i can. i usually find the link to the free webcast on southside sox). there's this 1 announcer, i think its bill melton-but if not its the announcer with a real heavy chicago accent, who has alot of fun with alexei ramirez. the guys at south side sox pointed this out initially, and at the next game i watched i listened for this, but this announcer cannot pronounce alexei's name!! rather than 'ah-leks-ee', this announcer pronounces alexei's name is 'a-less-aye'. me, im speechless. the guys at south side sox were poking fun of the announcer for whenever alexei would come up to bat, they would say 'alice is up to bat' cuz those guys commented during the game. it is amusing, but really, alexei is not a difficult name to pronounce. MY REAL NAME is a heluva lot harder to pronounce then alexei's, so there is no excuse for messing that up.

(sorry, having some formatting problems here!)

before i sign off, i'll put in a final quote from rosenblog, written by steve rosenbloom of the chicago tribune.

Lemme get this straight: Cubs manager Lou Piniella said early in spring training that he wanted his players to “tone it down’’ in terms of intensity in spring training and then gets mad over losses in games that don’t mean anything? And people think Ozzie Guillen is psycho?

i know, its about the cubs (rosey is a big cubs fan, but he'll bash them when they do bad). but still, i thought i would put this in, just cuz i found it funny.

GO WHITE SOX!!!

tamtam

sox vs. australia

today, i was able to watch some of the sox vs. australia game before i had to run off to english.

i got to see q for the 1st time this spring training!! he went 1-3. kinduva bad day, but compared to the rest of spring training, its not too bad.

bff ba had a good day today. i saw him wack a home run over the left-center (i think, i dont remember) wall. as the folks at south side sox like to joke, after the game, ba went for the aussie wives (ba is rumored to be pretty promiscuous. so is q, allegedly, but it hasnt been confirmed for the latter).

as i was watching the game, i noticed how dead camelback ranch was. im serious!! there were only like 50 people in the stadium, at most!! man, this economy really truly spares no one. not even the sports industry.

in short, sox win. hope the same for tomorrow.

GO WHITE SOX!!
tamtam

sweep in vegas!

hi-yo!

this just in, the sox swept the cubs in vegas!! i saw a bit of today's game. it was ok, but then i had to run off to class, so i didnt get to see the rest of the game. but our guys won, so it doesnt matter.


the other half of the sox was broadcast over mlbtv. i caught a bit of the free broadcast but i had to run, so i only saw a bit. our boys lost that game 4-5 to the dodgers and manny the diva.


in the meantime, i did see the game last night. i would have blogged throughout the game, but i also had to finish my calculus homework >:[, so homework came 1st. it was my 1st baseball game on tv in a long time, and i was very happy to see it. unfortunately, it was bob brenly and len kasper, the cubs guys, telling the game. i was hoping it'd be hawk and stoney (that would be steve stone), as i have yet to hear those 2 (im so used to 'dj' darren jackson and hawk calling the sox games).


i was impressed by the sox last night, aside from winning in a bottom-9th tiebreaker thriller. aj caught a good game, and tdogg (my new nickname for tyler flowers) looked ok in the 1st game ive seen him in. miracle man john danks pitched well, giving up only 3 hits in 3 innings. paulie, wilson betemit, and michael restovich all hit homeruns, and the sox won 7-6.


to sign off this post, i'll conclude with a colorful quote by ozzie upon returning to vegas


"I just told my wife I never thought I would come back to Las Vegas in my life and be the manager of a ballclub. That's a lot of years ago," said Guillen with a laugh. "I've been pushing for this game for a little while."





we love you ozzie!!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

game tonite!

finally!!

there's a split squad game against the cubs tonite at 8 (my time), but i think its a rebroadcast cuz 8pm is kinda pushing it? it'll be on wgn, and i'll be sure to watch it.

before my wireless goes out for the billionth time today (i seriously don't know whats wrong with my wireless card-it keeps losing the signal!), i should also say congratulations to mark buerhle and his wife who gave birth to a baby girl. best wishes to the buerhle family. full story can be found here.

bye everyone!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

splits!!

sorry i havent written in a few days. i've been kinda busy with school and shit like that >:[.

the sox are on a split-squad game today. 1/2 the team is in vegas, the other 1/2 is in phoenix. most of the regular starters are in vegas (jd, aj, paulie, etc), while jim thome, q, and most of the bench guys are in phoenix. i dont think buerhle is with the team today. he left sunday's game early to be with his wife who's about to have their 2nd baby.

octavius-whatever you do, DONT FUCK THINGS UP!!! even in split-squad spring training, you're still giving the fans a heart attack whenever you go up to the mound. ive come to wonder...who makes you retreat to your happy place faster, dotel or the cubs' fukudome? oh, who am i kidding. fuck the cubs, at least our guys can HIT!!!

q got his 1st hit of spring training on sunday, which was the opening day of camelback ranch. it was a double. its a good start, but when will he start hitting home runs?! i miss q's home runs, as well as that wimpy cross he used to make as he crossed home plate.

but to be honest, it totally blows following the white sox from out here in AZ. not only do i not have comcast cable (dorm doesnt provide it), but the score won't broadcast the games over the internet! some shit about 'copyright infringment from MLB' >:[. i do get wgn though, so i am careful to watch the broadcast schedule for airing games (its mostly cubs that are on, but i think a sox game is coming up soon!)

if i find the results of the game, i'll post them here.

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam