Implosion

So I'm sure you've all heard by now, but the Sox blew it in the 10th last night in the last game against the A's.

AGAIN


















This has been an incredibly grating series. Not only have the games been going into extra innings, but the reason they've been going into extra innings is because the bullpen's been giving out.


In the 9th, Ozzie went and visited the mound several times in the same inning (though to his credit, he did manage to manipulate a loophole to a rule in the baseball rule book that I'm pretty sure nobody knew was there), and changed the pitchers so frequently, he made Cardinals skipper Tony La Russa look like he knew his shit (he's (in)famous for changing his pitchers frequently). And at this point, I'm sure La Russa DOES know his shit better than Ozzie! And that's just shameful.











Over the last three games, our bullpen has been hemorrhaging runs like a hemophiliac with a missing limb. 5 runs were given up over the course of this 3-game series, and the Sox are up to their 6th blown save this year. We have no decent setup men, and our closer is nonexistent.

Naturally, Ozzie didn't take this situation too well(hopefully, the video shows up):







So now that our bullpen's falling apart, what do we do?

Well, Oz-n'-Coop better start working their current pitchers, or have Kenny send the scouts out to pay the minors a visit, cuz this can't go on any further. Even an idiot who knows nothing about baseball knows that you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning the World Series if you're bullpen is imploding!

You know something? In spite of his assery, I miss Bobby Jenks. At least he was a consistent closer (even though he was starting to fall off the cliff in 2010).


















(Cartoon by Carl Skanberg)

Yep. Somewhere, that dustmop is watching his ex-team implode, and is laughing his ass off.















Yeah, yeah. Laugh on, you fat dustmop.

Tomorrow we're playing the Angels at home. Will things finally click for us in this series? Stay tuned!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

News News News

I'm baaacccckkkkkk!!!! Guess you know what my New Years resolution is gonna be (hint: it involves spending more time blogging about the Sox).





















Oh what a chaotic year its been. We brought in the disgustingly-dreadlocked Manny Ramirez in the second half of the season, and he was meh. We also did rather substandard (though not as bad as KC, Detroit, and Cleveland. Those guys REALLYsucked balls!). If there is a good sign in the end of this season, its that we finished in second place as opposed to last (*ahem* KC). Also, the Twins got wiped out of the playoffs in the first round, so that was some comfort and joy to us beleaguered Sox fans.





















The offseason has been a rather busy one by any standard. When GM Kenny sees a player he likes, he wastes no time in getting the said player to come and sign with the Sox.

Take Adam Dunn, our most high-profile signing this offseason. Though he is known for his tater-mashing [basically, he hits alot of home runs], I was not sure if signing him was a good idea because Dunn can't play. He used to be a first baseman, but now all he can do is DH. The Sox already had 3 DHs (does the term "musical DH" sound familiar?), so I questioned Kenny's wisdom in acquiring another one. How useful Dunn is to us this year remains to be seen.
























We also got rid of that fat dustmop, Bobby Jenks.



















From what I'd been able to gather about the Sox, Jenks was really starting to stink up the place. Plus, he and Ozzie were engaged in a bitch-fight, both in person and on Twitter. I don't blame Ozzie for wanting him out. My manager's got already a difficult job to do, and he doesn't need a smartass harping on him all the time. If Ozzie wanted to hear harpies, he's got his kid's Twitter feed to follow.





























In a bit of joyous news, my beloved Carlos Quentin got re-signed by the Sox.




















$5.05 million for one more year, just avoiding arbitration. Also, one more year of me seeing my favorite player on my favorite team.

Also re-signed: Miracle Man John Danks ($6 million) and Tony Pena ($1.6 million)




























In a bit of non Sox-related news: MLB's favorite shit-on-a-stick, Milton Bradley got arrested on a felony charge.

























Apparently, he threatened some woman out in CA. Last I checked, Bradley is scheduled to be in court on Feb. 8. Given Bradley's psychotic personality and colorful history in baseball, I'm pretty sure he's kissed his entire MLB career goodbye.

Before I sign off on today's post, I would like to have a final say about the recent tragedy that took place in my city of Tucson, AZ, in which a deranged, drug-addicted young man opened fire on a crowd of people who had gathered in a grocery store parking lot to meet a local congresswoman. 20 people were injured, including the congresswoman (Gabrielle Giffords), and six people died, including a nine-year old girl. I mention the nine-year old girl, named Christina Taylor Green, because she had a connection to baseball, the sport I love so much. As it turns out, her grandfather, Dallas Green, was a manager for the Philadelphia Phillies and led them to a World Series victory in 1980. Christina Green's father was a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the young girl herself played on the local Little League team out here in Tucson. What happened a week ago on Saturday was truly a tragic incident. May all those affected by this tragedy find ways to heal and overcome the pain from this incident.

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

Spring Fever

With Spring Training just around the corner, we still have a few things to take care of before the season starts.

For 1 thing, we have new positions for some of our favorite players! Gordy Beckham will be moving from 3rd to 2nd base, and my beloved Carlos Quentin (who has recovered from plantar faciitis, a sore knee, a sore back, and his infamous wrist injury from 2008, and looks ready to go) will no longer be relegated to left field. Now, my boy will be manning right field. As for our favorite dustmop, Bobby Jenks, he appears to be satisfied and healthy for the upcoming season.

Oy, I am just bursting with excitement at the prospect of seeing all my favorite players again!

Speaking of players, looks like Johnny Damon will not be joining the White Sox this year. According to whitesox.com, Kenny has withdrawn his offer, a reported 1-yr, $6 million contract, from the devil himself, Scott Boras. Kenny says he's waiting for the price of Damon to go down before he reconsiders courting Damon, but it's known that Kenny and Boras aren't exactly on good terms. The two have had issues in the past (and since Boras is the devilish king of sports agents, it's a wonder how not every GM has a target painted on Boras' back), but they appear to be reconciling.

That's all for tonight! More to come as the info becomes available!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

Thome or not Thome

So in the course of this busy offseason, we have aquired Omar Vizquel-a 43 yr old wonderboy, avoided arbitration with that fat dustmop Bobby Jenks (although he reportedly slimmed down alot since the end of the season, so now I might have to just call him a dustmop. Wonder if Bartolo "Fatso" Colon took any hints too) and my boy Carlos Quentin. JD might be going to the Cubs (NOO!!), and we officially have no DH now that Thome is gone.

But this gaping hole at DH is precisely the topic for today's post.

"Big League Stew" says that Ozzie intends to use a rotation of Vizquel, Mark Kotsay, and newcomer Andruw Jones in the DH slot. The reason for this, according to the Sun Times, is that if needed, Vizquel, Kotsay, and Jones can pick up a glove and play defense. Thome will be 40 in August, and is clearly well past his playing days, but was our most productive hitter over the course of the mediocre 2009 season. Now that the Dodgers have released Thome, and no one has picked him up so far, big Jim just might come back to the AL central, but as a dreaded Twin or Tiger.

As a loyal White Sox fan, I would excore Kenny Williams to pick up Jim Thome. But reality says that even if we did pick him up, where would we put him? With the whole concept of a rotating DH, Thome might sit on the bench for days at a time, and then get grilled by the media for not playing. And as even the most dimwitted of economists knows, it's never a good idea to waste money on something that doesn't produce its value.

BLS speculates that because the Sox don't look like they want Thome back, we just may as well have traded away our shot at winning the AL Central. Of course, it's early in the season, so there is still the possibility that we'll be fine, provided Alex Rios, my boy, and Mark Teahan all have career seasons. If not, Kenny's got some explaining to do...

Yet in spite of all these concerns and unknowns, I trust Ozzie and Kenny. Don't forget, there's still Spring Training, so if our rotating DH doesn't work out as planned, it's still not too late to go after Thome!

GO WHITE SOX!!!

tamtam

crucial updates

hi everyone!

it's been a while since i've written last, but i've been busy with class.

so lets see, whats been going on in white sox nation...well, diva jake peavy finally got around to starting for us. he did good, but unfortunately, it was too little too late. yeah, my white sox are completely eliminated for any hopes of playoff contention. what a dismal season indeed.

but because its not over till its over, we can still have a decision over who can clinch the AL central. as of yesterday, it looks like detroit is gonna win the AL central. its a damn shame, but given our underperformance this year, the punishment is more than fitting for our lack of effort.

in a weekly post on my other site, more hardball, there came the stunning revelation about 2 weeks ago that my GM kenny williams had given not just himself, but also all the coaches on our staff, contract extensions. now, if we'd had a good year, i would be ok with it. but since we had a crappy year, white sox nation is looking at kenny like he's bonkers. earlier in the year, he threw jim thome and jose contreras under the bus (and out to the NL west), with paul konerko, JD, and the dustmop soon to follow. isn't it common sense that rewarding failure breeds more failure? someone better tell kenny that there's no bailout coming from obama, even though he and kenny are BFFs. besides, most of our coaches have been with us since 2005 and are past their expiration dates. some fresh blood wouldn't be a bad idea.

and in other news, obama has flown to copenhagen on our tab to appeal to attempt to bring the 2016 olympics to chicago, only to be bitch-slapped by the olympic committee and denied. though i am from chicago, i am quite overjoyed at our failure because it is no more than a giant payoff for the daley cronies and union thugs.

thats it for now.

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

BOOYAH!!!

yet another busy week in white sox nation!

first the trade deadline was this week, and in a shocking twist, my gm kenny williams picked up journeyman mark kotsay, AND san diego diva jake peavy! yes, you read that right! jake peavy has come to the white sox! it took 3 different tries, a bunch of minor-league players, and 1 pissed off pitcher before that diva finally agreed to come. now comes the performance-peavy has to prove that for all the trouble it took to get him here, he's not a bust. if peavy turns out to be a bust, then kenny's got alot to answer for.

my dad was telling me that the reason peavy came over was so that kenny could get rid of jermaine "JD" dye. but in last night's game, i saw JD sitting in the dugout next to ozzie. i guess that rumor was false. but still, you can never have enough aces.

speaking of last night's game, my sox had the game of the week by ass-raping the yankees 10-5. in a strange twist of the lineup, dj "tabasco" carrasco got the call to start instead of gavin floyd (who's pitching tomorrow). john danks started thursday and won, so yesterday would have been BHB. anyway, carrasco got off to a bit of a rough start by giving up 3 runs to the yankees in the 1st. but in a happy turn of events, the sox roared back, putting up 1 run in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, 2 more in the 5th, and after the yankees tied it up in the 5th, my boys in black-and-white unleashed a torrent of runs in the 7th-tacking on 5 more.

indeed, the 7th inning was what sealed the yankees doom. ozzie ordered a double steal in which jayson nix stole home and chris getz stole 2nd. then, we just lit up the pitcher, hitting small ball but piling on the runs. posada, the yankees' nail-painting catcher, couldn't catch anything that came his way from the infield. as a joke, my brother told me that i should play for the yankees, since i would make a better catcher then posada, and i'm relatively inexperianced.

has my boy carlos been on a hot streak or what? he hit a home run in MN, and hit another home run yesterday. my boy also hit some RBI doubles, and caught the game-sealing popout.

dustmop bobby jenks was nowhere to be seen. my dad told me that he's been out sick, so linebrink closed the game out in place of him.

my dad told me that raping the yankees like this was the best thing to do, cuz the yankees spent so much money to get all these guys, and most of them have been ok-not the best, just ok. it's more of a revenge thing. it appears that it's a birthright for almost anyone born outside of new york to hate the yankees. that whole AL east is so overrated.

tomorrow i'm heading off to california with my uncle and brother! my uncle promised to take us to LA for vacation, so we're going tomorrow and staying for a week. i'm really looking forward to this trip, but i won't be able to write for a week cuz im not bringing my computer. its just too much of a hassle to crate along.

bye everyone! i'll write when i get back from LA!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

good-bye BA

has this been a busy weekend in the white sox nation!


first, we almost get swept by the tigers-no thanks to our once-untouchable closer bobby jenks. that fat dustmop blew TWO saves in the series! 1 is already bad enough, but TWO?! what is wrong with that guy? my dad speculates that jenks is hurt, but he's trying to play through the pain. well if jenks really truly is hurt, take him out and put d'oh-tel in as the closer, for now.


second, and here's the bombshell, kenny williams makes a shocking trade. in comes journeyman mark kotsay, out goes none other than the ladies' man himself, brian "BA" anderson. one of the bloggers on my widget hoped that the red sox can fix up BA where the white sox couldn't-including teaching him to be more patient at the plate.




good-bye, BA. you've served your time here in chicago well. you will be missed on rush street (well, maybe carlos can fill in for you over there. i hear he's a big ladies' man too), if not by the fans themselves. hope the "honey's" in boston are just as nice as the "honey's" over here.




as for mark kotsay-i say, welcome to chicago. i hope that your stay here is pleasant, and productive.


this is kind of off-the-wall, but if my memory serves me right, kotsay used to be one of the religious ballplayers. basically, he used to cross himself before going up to bat. he's not the only one-a bunch of other ballplayers are like that (on my boys in black-and-white, its aj, carlos, and pitchers carrasco, d'oh-tel, and another one who's name i can't think of right now). i know for sure that he used to cross himself before batting when he played in oakland, but whether he kept that up, i don't know. the TV networks aren't too keen on showing religious players in the act. my whole point with this is that certain player have certain at-bat (or, in the case of pitchers, before their first pitch) quirks that i notice and remember. some are unique (like nomar's glove routine, and papi ortiz's spitting clap), and some are distinctive (like players crossing themselves). but when some of them fall off my radar for a while, and then resurface, i have to wonder if anything's changed. in case you're wondering, i don't have a problem with religious ballplayers. i believe that their job as ballplayers takes precident over anything they do.


good night everyone. im going to bed.


GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

up and down

hello!

our homestand was absolutely miserable. after contreras got us our win, we dropped the next 2 games to the tigers. 1 of those games, as it fell, was an extra-inning affair (we lost it in, i think, the 15th). it would have been worse if we'd lost yesterday, but through some miracle, we managed to win. what happened was that gavin floyd and his BHB got the call to start. BHB pitched pretty well, and by time he'd left in the 8th, the score was 3-1 in favor of the white sox. scott linebrink did setup and bobby jenks (who's been struggling lately) was called in to close. with 2 outs, he gives up a 2-run homerun to curtis granderson in the top of the 9th.

yeah, not cool.

come the bottom of the 9th, tigers closer joel zumaya was called up to finish this game and take it into extra innings. from his first pitch, the white sox had grabbed him by the balls and didnt let go till the game was over. zoomie loaded up the bases (his first pitch was a double by BA), and it was none other than podsie-pan who brought in the winning run on a single. podsie, who is notorious for not coming through in the clutch, raised his batting average a little bit by bringing in BA. the final score was 4-3 in favor of the white sox.

today, my boys went north to milwaukee, otherwise known as beer city, to play the brewers. thought the game is currently in progress with the sox winning 2-0 in the top of the 6th (runs scored in the 2nd by alexei and aj, respectively), it has been a strange game. in the first inning, podsie-pan got caught too far off the bag by jeff suppan, the pitcher who has no range of motion. but aside from that, it must be a full moon or something cuz the officiating crew seems more than a little lost. in the 4th inning, podsie stole 2nd, but was called out cuz he went off the bag. on the replay, it didnt look like that was the case (at least as far as i could tell). also, in the 3rd, there was another controversial call. one of the milwaukee players, i dont remember his name, tried to lay a bunt, and it landed in the dirt right in front of the plate. i thought it was fair, cuz for what little official rules i know about MLB, i know that in the infield, anywhere between the white lines, its fair. it would have been a double play, but the refs ruled it foul. naturally, i screamed at the tv screen that the refs needed their eyes checked.

breaking news! clayton richard was pulled in the bottom of the 6th after overthrowing josh fields to land beer city's own beloved tattooed fatass, prince fielder, at 1st. pidgeon-toed octavio d'oh-tel comes in to pitch, and gives up a double to milwaukee's corey hart. fielder scores (who knew that fatass could run so fast!). milwaukee leads 2-1. hey, there's a reason we in chicago call him "d'oh-tel".

speaking of "d'oh!", guess who's getting walked just now? yep, jason kendall. i know the fine folks at "more hardball" recently dedicated an entry to this fella.

breaking news! hart scores after pitcher jeff suppan singles. it was supposed to be a popup, but alexei and podsie had a chicago cubs moment where the ball dropped between them (the cubs are famous for this). kendall just scored after mcgehee singles. brewers lead 3-2.

will this inning ever end?

finally its over. i'll be back later once the game is over for any final thoughts.

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

sweep?

well, we all hope. but the last i checked, the angels were winning 3-1 in the 7th.

as of last night, we have guaranteed our winning of this series!! fat bartolo pitched spectacularly and jayson nix came up with 2 solo home runs. the score would have been alot more cuz we had the bases loaded twice, but failed to hit the grand slam.

for most of the game, it was a pitchers duel between fatso and joe saunders, the angels starter. then in the 4th inning, we got on the board with an RBI and jayson nix's 1st solo to put us up 2-0. but in the 6th, the angels got a solo run of their own off the bat of torii hunter. finally, after 6 and 2/3 innings, fatso was pulled and matt thornton came in to finish the job. we scored 2 more runs-one of which was another home run by jayson nix, and the angels got another run in of their own before scott linebrink came in to get the save for us. our normal closer, bobby jenks, is out with the flu.

there were tons of spectacular defensive plays on both teams. alexei showed us once again what an amazingly athletic man he is, and old man paulie konerko managed to get a ball outta the dirt just in time to catch a speedy angels hitter. as for the angels, mike napoli made some pretty good blocks behind the plate. the final score was a more reasonable 4-2 in favor of the white sox.

today, gavin floyd and his BHB got the call to start. he did ok till the 7th, when he gave up 2 runs. i just checked the final score and its angels 3, sox 1. jered weaver was the angels winning pitcher.

update on carlos~its plantar faciitis that crippled him on monday, not a hamstring as i first reported. this is painful, so if he wants to play, he better get those cortisone shots ready.

and in other news, the chicago slubs (what i call the cubs now) ace carlos zambrano got suspended after bumping the ump and went ballistic in the dugout. what happened was that zambrano threw a wild pitch that went off of catcher geo soto's glove. soto recovered just in time to throw the ball to zambrano at home plate to catch nyjer morgan and keep him from scoring, but the ref ruled him safe. zambrano, notorious for his hot temper, got into an arguement with the ref and bumped him (it was more like a brush-up then a full-out bump). after getting tossed, zambrano went into the dugout and trashed the gatorade dispenser (which earlier in the week, fellow slub pitcher ryan "the canadian" dempster also trashed after a bad outing. i wonder whose idea it was to put that damn thing in the dugout in the 1st place cuz its obviously becoming a magnet for angry pitchers!) with a bat. he was finally stopped by lou pinella who pulled the bat out of ballistic zambrano's hands.

thats all for tonite! tomorrow its off to KC to play the royals!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

rollin' rollin' rollin'

hallo! hope your memorial day weekend is/was awesome!

we've won our second series! unfortunately, a sweep against the pirates was not in the cards for us. our lone ace mark buehrle was out on the mound for us, and while the game was on comcast (i dont have cable, remember!), by all accounts, buerhle pitched a great game. unfortunately, bobby jenks and his dustmop beard blew the lead and gave up a 2-run hr to give the pirates the win. final score was 4-3.

tomorrow, we head out to LA to play the angels. i dont think they're as intimidating as last yr., but vlad guerrero is always a force to be reckoned with.

in other news, BA hit a home run, alexei is on his way back, and my boy is still having problems at the plate. real mixed bag, eh?

speaking of "eh", here in my home city of chicago, the city's gone crazy cuz the local hockey team, the blackhawks, are close to going to the stanley cup. now i know this has nothing to do with the white sox, but since the sox game wasnt on, i got my sunday sports fill watching the blackhawks get pummled by the red wings 2-0. i dont particularly care much for hockey (i love to play it-well, floor hockey cuz i cant skate, but watching it is kinda boring), but it was better then watching those pathetic losers on the north side known as the cubs! plus, my uncle came to take me, my brother, and my dad to see "terminator salvation", so i was out all day (i think the 1st terminator was the best 1. nobody beats ah-nuld as the cold killing machine)

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

im back!

hi everyone! specifically to gm-carson and burton, my 2 associates at more hardball, since they're the only two people who actually bother to visit my blog regularly.

i just finished my finals and in the midst of packing up to leave this dingy dormroom for the summer, i thought id take a moment to post my regular rambling opinion-heavy analysis of the white sox.

i checked up on the score yesterday when gavin floyd and his BHB got to face carl "american idle" pavano. we got womped 9-4. as per custom, i was cruising the boards at south side sox for any notable analysis, and 1 user (i believe it was 'the cheat') colloquially referanced an older article about gavin floyd in which the writer, phil rogers of the chicago tribune's sports dept., wrote that gavin floyd had managed to go 12 games without "looking like a doody". fast forward to this year, and gavin floyd has managed to look like a doody in 5 of his last 7 starts.

today, clayton richard got the call to start. after enough pressure (though i wouldnt be surprised if a few threats probably worked their way in there amongst the angry emails and letters-NONE OF WHICH I SENT!!) ozzie and kenny finally demoted jose contreras. only instead of dumping him in the minors, the sox desginated him for bullpen duty. clayton richard is contreras' replacement. he had a good day, but in the 5th, he started to lose it, so dj "tabasco" carrasco-1 of our more effective setup men-came out and got the win for the sox. the great bobby jenks, who was fined a mind boggling $750 for throwing at ian kinsler's ass, came out to get the save (note to bobby-you might wanna shut up about throwing at batters. vito corleone put it best when he told sonny "never let anyone outside the family know what you're thinking").

as for any other notable highlights, jim thome hit 2 2-run home runs, and our offense finally woke up with corky miller (or "q!orky" as the SSS'ers refer to him-q! was derived from none other than my boy carlos) hitting some singles. gaahhh, i hope 'corky' isnt corky's real name. i mean, of all the names to name your kid, why that. anyway, back to the subject at hand-must remember to write coherantly!-im almost afraid to wish that this win's momentum should carry us to victory tomorrow cuz whenever i say that, we get blown out badly. so, i'll say instead "good luck boys!!"

in other news, perhaps the biggest crush is that my boy is out with a sore heel. he won't be back till friday. one of the commenters on southside sox remarked that he saw my boy with a half-smile on his face and assumed that he was on some heavy-duty painkillers. to that, another poster replied that he'd been laid. DAMMIT! shouldn'ta wrote that! bad images forming in my head. YAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

thats all for tonite folks!!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

pain in the ass

before i write my daily white sox post-game analysis, id like to give a big hearty HOORAAAYYYY!!! for my fellow sports-blogger associates gm-carson and burton over at more hardball. they've been gone for a week and just when i thought they'd abandoned more hardball, they came back and posted a new entry (they said it was technical problems). well its about damn time you guys came back! i was starting to think you'd forgotten about kicking baseball's top stories squarely in the nuts! (aside from whats going on with the phillies)

and now, to business.

SOX WIN!! SOX WIN!! the miracle man john danks got right back in form with a career high 10ks and 1 run on 4 hits.

my boy carlos had a pretty good day too. he drove in 1 run on an RBI-double, hit a second double, and scored twice-1st when jd hit a double that brought my boy home, and the second time was when paulie hit a sac-fly that sent my boy nearly plastering the rangers catcher jerrod 'salty' saltalamacchia at home plate (though my boy had to retouch home plate cuz the ref wasnt paying attention when he slid home the 1st time around). he also got hit by a pitch-yet again. i tell ya, either he should have a special uniform with a target painted on it or change his stance cuz there are better ways to take 1 for the team, most of which do not include being a masochist!!














aside from my boy, our game was shaky. we had the lead twice, and then we lost it. but the rangers were only able to tie the score, never get ahead.

but the highlight of the game was at the end when the great bobby jenks came on to get the save. after striking out the 1st 2 batters, bobby let his 1st pitch fly at ian kinsler's ass. he wasnt hit, but the ref came out to warn bobby, and hawk (our announcer) almost had a heart attack in the booth because he was so mad and yelling at the ref. as i was cruising the forums at southside sox for any other postgame analysis, i duely noted that someone wrote in regards to bobby's beaning that "they better get the diffribullators (sp?) ready in the broadcast booth!" because hawk was so pissed. but hawk wasnt alone; i and the rest of white sox nation were equally angry and thought that the ref was being harsh cuz pitchers are typically warned when they intentionally bean batters. even ozzie came out to argue (it was his 2nd time out to argue with the refs. the 1st arguement was about my boy's slide home), and since i saw this ref had a short fuse, i thought for sure ozzie was gonna get tossed. but thankfully everyone's temper was in control, and nobody got tossed.

tomorrow, that fat tub-o-lard bartolo colon gets the call to start. the rangers starter is vicente padilla, and i hear he's pretty good. but today's win should give us the momentum to win this series-especially since we have a more mediocre pitcher on the mound then jose contreras!

ibis, get the air fresheners ready and stock up on laundry detergent. this could be a long one.

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

streaking

hey hey!

last night's game was rained out. no surprise there-the sox are a magnet for rain delays and games getting called cuz of bad weather (i think we lead MLB in the number of games called due to bad weather).

but today, it appears that an extra day was all we needed to retool and get back in the swing of things. mark buehrle got the call to start tonight, and as im seeing on whitesox.com, its in the 9th and the sox are ahead 6-0. mark buehrle is set to pitch his 1st complete game of the season :).

actually, scratch that last line. this just cleared the wireless and that the great bobby jenks has come on the get the save.

steve rosenbloom, a chicago sports writer who writes satirical columns about chicago sports, wrote that since ozzie guillen came to chicago, when the team is in a slump (especially early in the season), we have become accustomed to raging expletive-filled tirades directed at players, coaches, the media, whatever unfortunate soul happens to get caught in ozzie's way. but this year, rosenbloom wrote that ozzie lobbed a verbal handgrenade into the locker room-the stage has been set, but the pin and handle havent been pulled off yet and thus no explosion. the guys at south side sox have been speculating that ozzie has gone soft-looks like mariotti finally had a muzzle put on our crazy manager (a chicago sportswriter who was infamously called a "fag" in a tirade by ozzie).

breaking news! sox win 6-0!! THE LOSING STREAK IS OVER!!!! let the winning streak begin :).

now for something not-white sox related. its been spread and digested allover the news and blogosphere that manny ramirez, LA's diva has been suspended for 50 games for popping positive on a drug test. the substance: hcg, a testosterone enhancer. of course, i wasnt surprised cuz im a natural cynic and figured manny was secretly juicing but found a way to beat the test. looking back on it, it could be a factor in explaining why the dodgers didnt sign manny to a long-term deal. manny claims that he got the stuff from a doctor for a "personal health issue", but as rythm on south side sox humorously commented:

I have a few guesses as to this "personal health issue"
1) he was prescribed medical marajuana

2) he was having problems in the sack, and the boner pills tested positive for something

given that hcg is a testosterone enhancer, the latter doesnt sound all that far off.

sox win, gotta get back to studying. economics final tomorrow, and my calc/bio final on tuesday. wish me luck!!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

resurrection

after today's win, all i can say is that the white sox have resurrected their season. from looking like they were gonna end up at rock bottom to establishing a strong effort to get back on top



since today is easter (for my non-orthodox christian friends and readers-ours comes next week), i thought id put up my spin on our new team rebirth.

this is an orthodox christian icon that depicts jesus raising the dead. i thought it worked perfectly for our situation, so i spliced the saints heads in with the heads of jd, my boy carlos as jesus cuz he got the team going, bobby, jolly jim, ozzie, ba, d'oh-tel, jeff marquez (don't worry-he's in hell along with ozzie :)), paulie, aj, john danks the miracle man, and finally that fat tub-o-lard bartolo. i originally had that fat tub-o-lard bartolo up as jesus, but the more i thought about it, the more my boy carlos made sense as the resurrector. since i know the orthodox church is gonna go after me for this, let me just put my disclaimer up:

ATTENTION BISHOPS, PRIESTS, AND WHOMEVER THIS MATTER MAY CONCERN: THIS IMAGE IS NOT MEANT TO MOCK ORTHODOXY. IT IS PURELY FOR ENTERTAINMENT!!! AS A DEVOUT ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN, I'M NOT MOCKING ANYTHING ABOUT MY FAITH!!



that said, i hope you all had a happy easter and 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

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 >:[