Yer Out!

April has been a terrible month for the White Sox.

We've traded places with the Cleveland Indians as being the new cellar-dwellers of the AL Central (who'da seen THAT coming?), and now Ozzie has been suspended for-what else-something he said on Twitter.





















As I've said before, Ozzie and Twitter are a match made in hell if you're Kenny Williams and the White Sox PR department.

What happened was that during the first inning of the Sox-Yankees game on Wednesday, Paul Konerko was called out on strikes, and Ozzie didn't like that. He thought the ref got the call wrong (he was right, by the way). Ozzie went out to argue the call, got into a fight with the ref, and promptly got tossed.



But that's only the beginning. After being tossed, in a bit of foreshadowing for what was to come from the MLB brass, Ozzie wrote on Twitter "This one going to cost me a lot money this is patetic" . He then took a shot at the ref who tossed him by writing "Today a tough guy show up a yankee stadium". I'm no mind-reader, but I'm willing to bet that it was this last tweet that got Ozzie suspended. Also, apparently, it's against the rules for a manager or player to go on social media during a game.


















(Cartoon by Carl Skanberg)

Now Ozzie won't be gone from the game long-just 2 games will suffice-but he's gonna miss the first 2 games back home in Chicago against the Orioles. I've also read that he's been hit with a stiff fine too, but I don't know if it's true cuz I haven't seen any money amount listed.

Hopefully, May will be the start of a Sox turnaround.

Before I sign off for the night, let me just say that I was surprised to see Bartolo Colon still pitching. I thought he'd all but dropped off the map after the Sox let him go. Maybe the clubhouse buffet table in New York was too good to refuse.



Ahh, the memories of poking at the pitcher I lovingly used to call "Fatso".

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

Say-J

We won! And we have my catcher AJ Pierzynski to thank for that!























Here's how the situation went down: In the bottom of the 7th, and the Sox had the bases loaded. Alex Rios was on 3rd, Paul Konerko was on 2nd, and my boy Carlos Quentin was on 1st, having been walked. AJ gets up to bat, and rips one out to the wall, avoiding the glove of Sam Fuld (who had an amazing catch earlier on in the game). The game, which had been tied 1-1 at that point, swung in favor of the Sox with Rios and Konerko coming in to score. The Sox managed to hold on to that lead for the rest of the game (even after Chris Sale gave up a solo shot to Felipe Lopez in the top of the 9th).

























Pitcher Phil Humber got the call to start today. He did pretty good, giving up 1 run in the 1st, but only 4 hits and 4 K's over 6 innings. I'll say, if Peavy ever gets better, he's got some stiff competition from the new guy.

































There was a bit of a scuffle in the 9th after Lopez hit his solo home run. He and AJ got into a jaw-off and had to be separated, but no fights broke out. Aw damn. It would have made my multitasking so much more interesting, as I was writing a paper and watching baseball at the same time.





























Before I sign off, I mentioned earlier that Sam Fuld had an amazing catch in the game. Below, I've included it for your enjoyment. Though I don't like the Rays, I had to admire Fuld's scrappiness. He really hustled to get there, and his athleticism even elicited a borderline curse from Hawk!



**EDITOR'S NOTE: This video is from Tampa Bay. You won't get to hear Hawk yell "You gotta be bleepin' me!"**

Tomorrow's the final game of this series. Let's win this damn series once and for all!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

Opening Day

Sorry I've neglected this blog for so long! But with today being Opening Day, I had to post at least a few words!

We kicked off the season, at home, against the Cleveland Indians. Mark Buerhle was our starter. Unfortunately, the game aired on ESPN 2, out of my region, and while I was in class (THANK YOU CABLE TV!! *sarcasm*).

Fortunately, there is the recap! And with recap comes highlights!

Only today, the first day of a new season, Mark Buerhle made the play of the year. In the 5th inning, Buerhle knocked the ball with his foot, chased it past the 1st base line, and managed to swipe it and hike it, almost, between his legs to a barehanded Paul Konerko at first base to get the runner out.

Here is the video. It's incredible!



Thank God that Mark Buehrle is on our team. Maybe he should consider a second career as an infielder (or a football center) after this play!

In other news, my boy Carlos Quentin made it to base his 1st 3 at-bats, Gordon Beckham was swiping bases left and right (well, left technically cuz that's where 3rd base is!), JJ Putz did setup and Matt Thornton closed out.

End result: Sox win 6-0 over the Indians.

What a way to kick off the 2010 season!

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

bartolo's blues

usually, i dont write about stories relating to the white sox here "cells bells" that were previously featured on other websites, as i like to keep my stories about my boys in black-and-white as close to my original perspective as possible. but today is an exception.

rick chandler over at "sports by brooks", a sports gossip site who's catchy headline caught my eye in the white sox widget on my page, has posted an unusual piece regarding the whereabouts of fat bartolo. according to the story, fatso is due to start pitching in charlotte tonight for rehab, but no one has been able to get in contact with him and he hasn't been seen in days!

what's ozzie's explanation for his employee's sudden disappearance?

“I worry about Colon because Colon was a big-time Michael Jackson fan,” Guillen said. “He might [watch] the TV and cry all day long. Maybe he is in L.A. at his funeral, because I can’t find him. When he gets to Charlotte, Oney (Guillen’s son) will call me to say he’s there.

“Nobody knows how big of a Jackson fan Colon was. I’m serious. He might be depressed a little bit.”

and there's no mention of fatso scarfing down a tub of haagen daaz as he watched the funeral extravaganza (see my other blog "the pen is mightier than the sword" for my final opinion on michael jackson) and mourned the loss of his idol.

that said, fatso's agent told reporters that his client would pitch tonight in charlotte, but this remains to be seen.

you can read the whole story here.

before i sign off this post, i must congratulate paul konerko for his monster night 2 days ago where he hit 3 home runs in 1 game against the indians. CONGRATULATIONS PAULIE!!! YOU'RE NOT WASHED UP JUST YET!!!!

also, my journalistic duty must report that we failed to sweep the indians a second time. today's pitcher, clayton richard, was rocked by the indians in the first few innings. the final score was 10-8 in favor of cleveland, but we took 2/3 so it was all good. our next series is saturday against the twins (or twinkies, as my dad likes to call them). starting pitchers will be john danks for us, and nick blackburn for them.

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

still kickin'

hey-yo!!

i've been a little busy for the past couple days. the tea party on wed was hot and crowded. you can read my account of it here.

though we've had some bumps along the way, the white sox are still alive and kicking!! my boys paulie, carlos, jd, and lilibridge (or as the guys at south side sox lovingly call him "lilly-bridge") have been hitting homers and getting the job done. though they lost the series in detroit, they've come out pretty strong against tampa. they took game 1 and won today, but that fat tub-o-lard bartolo colon lost it for us on fri. and i thought he was on the rebound!!

now, on a totally non-white sox related matter, how bout them yankees? they SUCK!!! every team thats played them has been shelling them badly. hell, even little nicky swisher was brought in to pitch an inning cuz the bullpen got shelled-and nicky was the only pitcher who didnt give up a run. With regards to the latest blowout, i heard that the fans were chanting "WE WANT SWISHER!!" looks like nicky got it made out there in NY. too bad he wasnt this good during his time with us.

good night!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

rainout, ozzie spills his guts, and guess who's back!

hey-yo!!

today's game in detroit was rained out. that sucked cuz our miracle man was due to start. but tomorrow the newly-svelte jose contreras is due to take the mound. hope he has a better game tomorrow. this trip for us in detroit has been pretty good so far. paulie and jd went back-to-back for record-setting home runs, my boy q hit 2 home runs in the same game, and buerhle got his groove back.

so to fill out this rain-delay, i came across a funny Q&A segment featuring none other than ozzie guillen, our crazy manager.

in this Q&A, ozzie revealed that he would like to interview fidel castro, hugo chavez (who's regime he is currently displeased with), and barack obama. ozzie also is very superstitious: when the team is on a winning streak, he doesnt change his clothes (including underwear), and after a 10-gm winning streak, he claims "my locker doesnt smell too good". i gets thats a good way of picking who he wants to talk to in the media on a given day: interview ozzie by his locker and the ones left standing get to give the interview XD. other than being disgustingly dirty when the team is on a winning streak (i'll bet there are times his wife just wishes the team would lose so she can wash ozzie's clothes and send him off to bed/work smelling CLEAN!!), ozzie reveals that he dreams about shakira and considers sox fans the smarter chicago baseball fans ("sox fans actually care about baseball...cubs fans only go to get drunk."). the Q&A, conducted by es-pun's jim caple, can be viewed in its entirity here.

finally, a story which broke this morning, and has been thoroughly digested by people all over the sports blogosphere (well, specifically at south side sox). scott podsednik, known affectionately as 'podsie-pan' (see here for clarification-its old, but its perfect timing too!), went from being a speedy catalyst to being a putzy crunk, and bounced around the majors for a few years. since his fielding has declined considerably since his time with us, the sox signed podsie-pan to a minor league deal. i guess they'll bring him up when general soreness jerry owens, brought up when ba starts to suck, goes down with another sore groin. basically, podsie-pan is now the backup to the backup to the backup.

thats all for tonite!! im going to a tea party tomorrow here in tucson, so i may or may not be able to catch all of the sox game on wgn. but if i miss, the next televised game is on saturday. thank god for south side sox to break things down for me when i cant catch the games.

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

another day, another game down the toilet

im sitting here, at my desk, in front of my computer, in my dingy dormroom at the unholy hour of 11:54 pm, surrounded by unwashed dishes, garbage, and empty cans of red bull, coffee cups, and cigarette butts (just kidding-i hate red bull and coffee, and i sure as hell dont smoke). what am i doing in this condition this late at night?

im thinking about my white sox. frankly, they're making me quite depressed.

i dont know what is wrong with them?! they cant hit, they cant pitch-the bullpen was a complete joke, giving up 7 runs in the 7th inning. the final score was an ass-raping 12-5 in favor of the twins. i'd hate to be a journalist interviewing ozzie right about now-every word that comes out of his mouth is liable to be a curse word, and i'll bet he's taken to going tasmanian devil on his office or in the locker room. i know its early, i know that april is usually a sleepy time for stats, but this is utterly pathetic!! i'd hate to think it, but by going svelte-i think contreras (our pitcher) has lost his control or velocity. he gave up a few runs over the course of his 5-innings pitched.

as for any highlights, looks like my boy carlos is getting back in the swing of things-no pun intended. he hit a solo HR in the bottom of the 7th. maybe his new wrist hasnt killed his power after all (or at least not a whole lot). paulie also hit a home run in the 3rd that gave the sox the lead (which they squandered).

thats the scoop from this end of the blogosphere. tomorrow the game is on fox. i might be able to catch the game, but if the game is as pathetic at today's, im turning it off. lets hope tomorrow's game is better than today's.

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

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 >:[