Sox Beat Mariners

Tonight's game was a laugher, 11-3. Jermaine Dye hit one opposite field line drive home run and a bomb to left. Tadahito Iguchi added a bomb to center, and Joe Crede hit a liner out to left. Javier Vazquez was unhittable until the seventh, but Boone Logan was absolutely terrible in relief. I think he is behind Matt Thornton and Neil Cotts at this point. Tomorrow the Sox will look for the series win in the finale.

White Sox Waste Anderson's Heroics

Brian Anderson hit a homerun for the second day in a row, and this one was the biggest of his career. With the Sox down one in the ninth, he hit a 1-2 pitch over the left field fence for a two out game-tying homerun. Unfortunately, Brandon McCarthy gave up an RBI single to in the eleventh to lose the game.

Just like last year, the Sox could not manage to stretch their winning streak to nine games. The Sox have several eight game winning streaks last year but could not make it nine. Hopefully, this portends good things to come.

I almost forgot to mention that the Bulls lost. What a night!

We Rule

I have been busy all weekend writing a paper for school so I will keep this short. We still rule. Oh Yeah! I almost forgot to mention that I called Brian Anderson's homerun in Friday night's post. The kid's swing seems to be coming around.

Big Jim

Game Recap-"You don't tug on Superman's cape.
You don't spit into the wind.
You don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger,
and you don't mess around with Jim." -Jim Croce

I think that pretty much sums up tonight's White Sox game. Johann Santana was cruising along until Big Jim Thome came up in the sixth inning. One flyball to over the centerfield fence later, the score was 2-0 in favor of the Good Guys in Black. This seemed to knock the wind out of the Twins sails, and by the time the smoke cleared, the White Sox had tacked 5 runs on the board against the Twins bullpen to win 7-1.

Sox in First- I have not had an opportunity to post here in a few days, so let me add that the White Sox are now in first place by 1.5 games over Cleveland. What does this mean? It means that the White Sox are back where they should be. They are the New York Yankees of the new millenia.

Brian Anderson coming around- Anderson had a couple of hits in the KC Royals series, and he had an RBI fly-out tonight. More impressive was that he jammed himself once tonight, which means that he is starting to get around on some pitches. He should come out of his slump soon. I am predicting he hits a homerun before the Twins series is over.

Play of the Night- Tonight's best highlight occurred during Comcast Sportsnet's pregame show. They showed a sweet White Sox World Championship recliner in front of Paul Konerko's locker in the White Sox clubhouse. A.J. Pierzynski had added his professional wrestling belt and a crown to the chair. It was said that the Sox player's had been calling PK "Barry" because of the recliner Barry Bonds insists be kept in front of his locker in San Francisco.

Before anyone (as if people will actually read this) freaks out about PK becoming a prima donna, I should point out that this was a promotion by the Sox. PK has not had a recliner stipulation added to his contract a la Barry Bonds. As Chuck Garfien pointed out on the pregame show, the difference between Bonds and Konerko is that Konerko has 5 more homeruns.

What Was Three Is Now Two

Last night, the White Sox moved into a two-way tie for first thanks to their defeat of Kansas City and Cleveland's defeat of Detroit. Sunday's game had moved the White Sox, Indians, and Tigers into a three-way tie. Hopefully, Saturday was the last time the Sox will have to look up at someone in the standings.

Jose Contreras was masterful Monday. Off the top of my head, I believe he only allowed one hit before he was relieved by Boone Logan. Boone looked good, also.

The story of the night was that both Brian Anderson and Scott Podsednik had hits for the White Sox. It is high time that the outfielders stop hitting like middle infielders.

Sox Best Jays

The White Sox took two out of three over the Blue Jays this Easter weekend, and this means the Pale Hose have won their last two series.

Friday nights game was ugly as the Sox jumped out to an early 5-2 lead, only to relinquish it falling 13-7. On Saturday. Mark Buerle allowed just two earned runs while Paul Konerko cracked two taters to win 5-2. Today's contest was a 6-4 rain shortened affair which saw Freddy Garcia allow 4 earned runs to score in a rain soaked fifth inning.

What does it mean?- This means the Sox have pitched better in each of the last two games. Buehrle was masterful, and Garcia's 4 earned runs were due mostly to the wet conditions on the field. Prior to the fifth, Garcia had shut the Blue Jays down.

This is probably the most important thing to happen to the team this year. The pitching has been the biggest question mark because the bullpen has been atrocious. In the past two games, the starting pitching has taken the pressure off of the bullpen by pitching well. This is critical for the White Sox to return to the playoffs. The starting five needs to start pitching at least six innings in every ballgame.

White Sox Outslug Tigers

White Sox 13 Tigers 9- This was the first game of this series that I was able to watch, and I was rewarded by seeing the White Sox complete a sweep of Detroit. Detroit still sucks.

Tadahito Iguchi and Jim Thome homered in the first, and Alex Cintron added a pair of triples. However, the story of the game from a Sox fan's standpoint was the craptastic pitching of Jon Garland. Garland's changeup was good today, but he left to many fastballs up. Even worse, his curveball did not have much bite to it today. This was an ugly afair. The bullpen continued to suck as well. Matt Thornton and Brandon McCarthey were both repeatedly tatooed by Tigers pitching.

The good thing is that the Sox hit well with two outs and successfully put several rallies together. If they can continue to hit like that, they will have time to find their pitching staff. I still think this is going to be a good season.

White Sox Won Yesterday

I have been busy and unable to post in the last two days. The White Sox picked up a win yesterday over Detroit in what was Detroit's home opener. Jim Thome hit yet another homerun, but more importantly, Freddy Garcia must have pitched better, although I was unable to watch the game. I will probably not be able to watch tomorrow either, so hopefully, I will read about a White Sox winner tomorrow on White Sox Interactive.

Ace in the Hole

White Sox 3 Royals 1- For the first time all year, the White Sox starting pitcher pitched the way this staff was expected to pitch. Mark Buehrle threw a KC masterpiece in dazzling Kansas City's pitchers to the tune of zero runs scored over eight innings pitched. The Royals hitters will need to order a lot more wood after all the bats that were broken by Mark Buehrle's cut fastballs. Big, Bad Bobby Jenks gave up the lone run in picking up his first save of the season, and Jim Thome hit a homerun that still hasn't landed. Oh, it just landed on my head as punishment for using that overused cliche.

Tomorrow, the third series of the season begins in Detroit with the Sox hoping to pick up their first series win of the season. A year ago, the White Sox made a habit of winning the first games of series, which put a lot of pressure on their opponents, and they hope to do so again tomorrow. However, I do not like this pitching match-up between Freddy Garcia and Jeremy Bonderman. Bonderman has magnificent stuff, and Garcia does not seem to have much right now. It will be interesting to see if he and Don Cooper have managed to iron out his problems in time for the game. Here's to a momentum gaining brawl, 2000 style, and a White Sox winner.

Speachless

After the White Sox lost again today, I really do not have much to say. I am just numb at this point. They are playing really badly. Just when I cannot fathom it getting any worse, they lose a game like today. They took the lead in the top of the eighth and gave it right back in the bottom half.

The most frustrating thing is how they are losing. This team is supposed to be the reigning World Series champions. One would assume that this means that the players that were on the team last year are pretty good. If this team were to struggle, a rational person would expect the struggles to be due to newcomers. However, so far we have seen Buehrle, Garcia, and Garland all pitch poorly to start games, and tonight Cliff Politte blew the one run lead. I do not know what else to say. This is so frustrating.

Royal Butt Kicking

Royals 11 White Sox 7- The Sox got off to a fast start this evening playing vintage Ozzie ball. Pablo Ozuna led off with a base hit and immediately stole second. This ignited the Sox, and when the dust cleared they they spotted Jon Garland a 6-0 lead. Things were looking good for our Sox.

Then, the wheels came off. Jon Garland's pitches found too much of the plate all night long, and he was unable to finish the sixth inning. This is the third time in four starts that a White Sox starter has failed to pitch at least six innings. Garland allowed nine earned runs in 5.1 IP, and Matt Thornton was not much better in relief giving up two in 2.2.

The Next Steve Sax?- Am I the only one that thought Pablo Ozuna was reminiscent of the Steve Sax experiment in left field? He looked like he had never fielded a fly ball in his life. I know it was windy at Kauffman Stadium, but I was having some serious flashbacks to Saxxy watching his not so stellar fielding display.

On the plus side defensively, Rob Mackowiak probably made the catch of the year in only the fourth game of the year when he laid out to make a catch down the right field line. It reminded me of a catch that Jermaine Dye made when he slid into the wall in foul ground last year. (I wish I could remember who JD made that catch against.)

Mackowiak was also involved in at least one negative defensive play when he was out of position in backing up Brian Anderson as Anderson attempted a sliding catch. By allowing the ball to get by him, Mackowiak gave up at least one extra base. I could not help but say to myself, "If Jermaine Dye is healthy, he gets that ball." Oh for the days of Scottie Pods and JD in the outfield! Hopefully, they will both be in the lineup tomorrow.

Today was bad, but tomorrow is another day. I hate Mike Sweeney! (However, much like Jim Thome, I would love him if he were on our team.) At least there are still 158 games left to be played. Let's go get them tomorrow!

Indians 4 White Sox 3

Fortunately, I missed today's debacle. I guess AJ Pierzynski popped out in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded, and Boone Logan gave up the game tying homer to Travis Haffner. Jason Michaels drove in the winning run off of Neal Cotts. At least, that is what it sounded like happened from listening to WSCR this evening.

Kudos to Comcast Sportsnet

After my scathing remarks in an earlier post, I must admit that Comcast Sportsnet did a much better job with the ring ceremony today. Pat Boyle did a nice job of shutting up and letting the picture on the screen do the talking during the ceremony. They also showed the entire video montage from the other night. Chuck Garfien claimed the footage was dropped on Sunday because of ESPN. At any rate, today's coverage was much better.

The streak is over. Indians 8 White Sox 2

Aaron Boone was 4 for 5 and Jake Westbrook pitched brilliantly in defeating the Sox today, but the story of the game was that the streak is over. For the first time since the final day of the 2004 season, the White Sox are not going to end the day in first place in the American League Central division. The Detroit Tigers will take over first place courtesy of their victory over the Kansas City Royals yesterday and their day off today. The Twins can join Detroit atop the standings with a win over the Toronto Blue Jays tonight.

The story of this afternoon's affair, from the White Sox perspective, was Freddy Garcia. Last year's winner of the fourth game of the World Series was unable to top ninety miles per hour on the radar gun, and he relied heavily on curve balls and the the occasional sinker. He did not have good command of either, which is a necessity if you are not going to throw hard. It was an ugly affair, and he is going to have to pitch better if he does not want Brandon McCarthey to take his spot in the rotation. It will be interesting to see how he does the next time out.

On the positive, Jim Thome his a towering homerun that nearly made the councourse. The ball fell just shy of the section 102-103 sign atop the right field seats. Jim Croce once said that you don't mess around with Jim, and this appears to be true. Thome is on pace to whack 162 homeruns.

Comcast Sportsnet Drops Ball on Banner Ceremony

Last nights, I watched the White Sox unveil the new championship banners, and it was definitely a tear jerker. It brought back a lot of memories, and I still do not quite believe that it happened. Nothing could have ruined the moment of seeing the banners and the defending world champions for the first time.

However, Comcast Sportsnet did their all to try and blow it for me. They aired a one hour special in which they showed the banner ceremony. This was a really nice idea for those of us who could not make it to the park. Everything ran smoothly until the announcing of the starting lineups. They did not join the festivities until White Sox public address announcer Gene Honda was on the sixth batter of the Cleveland lineup. This only slightly bothered me. What I really wanted to hear was Gene announce the White Sox. I was curious to know if he would say "your World Champion Chicago White Sox," or perhaps "your 2006 Chicago White Sox." Either way, I am sure that moment would have sent chills down my spine. Instead, we were treated to Pat Boyle speaking over Honda and saying, "Gene Honda is now announcing the White Sox." Did Comcast Sportsnet miss the memo that they are supposed to be the eyes and ears for those of us that cannot be at the park? In other words, the events at the park are the important events and not the ramblings of Pat Boyle? Would it have been too difficult for Boyle to shut the hell up and let us hear the official introductions from one of the best in the business?

After the Pat Boyle fiasco, I decided that getting to see the new video montage and the new banners would more than make up for it. Comcast did a nice job of showing the first part of the video and then cutting away to the revealing of the first banner. However, they then preceded to drop the ball again. They failed to return to the rest of the video, and we were instead left looking at the three remaining sheets for a couple of minutes while we waited for them to come down. Staring at white sheets is definitely compelling television. Could these people have been anymore inept? Did it not occur to them that the viewing audience might like to see the rest of the video presentation since we could not be at the ballpark to see it?

Once again, they were supposed to be our eyes and ears at the ballpark, and they failed miserably. They have two more opportunities to correct their mistakes with the ring ceremony tomorrow and the presentation of the trophy on Wednesday. They have an opportunity here to regain some good will from the viewing public by putting on a better presentation than Sunday night, but I have my doubts that they are up to the task.

White Sox Win Opener

It is 1:13 in the morning, and I am very tired. I will try and make this brief.

Final Score: White Sox 10 Indians 4
Last opening day, I said that I was glad the Sox won because you can't go wire-to-wire if you don't win the first one. Last year the Sox went wire-to-wire and won the World Series. Once again, the Sox have won the opener. Will history repeat itself? Our Sox look damn good so far.

Tonight's heroes were most of the team. Thome hit a homerun that was longer than any homerun hit by the Sox last year. I guess it is safe to say that he was a good aquisition. Both Brian McCarthy and Matt Thornton, aquired for Joe Borchard, threw the ball really well tonight. It remains to be seen whether Thornton or Borchard will log more strikeouts this year. Brian Anderson had a double and two RBI. That is pretty good for your first opening day. Other hitting stars included Tadahito Iguchi, AJ Pierzynski, Juan Uribe, and Jermaine Dye. I am sure that I left out some others who contributed as well. The Sox basically just beat the Indians into submission.

The only bad spots were the performances of Mark Buehrle and Clif Politte. Buerhle pitched well in the first, second, and fourth innings, but he gave up three runs in the third. Politte struggled in his one inning of work, and he allowed one tally to cross the plate. However, if somebody had to struggle, I am glad that it was these two guys because they have a proven track record of success. There is not much room to worry about tonight's game.

Injury Report: Scott Podsednik left early as a precautionary measure after the rain delay. Ozzie did not want him to risk reinjuring his groin on the wet field.

Updated Standings: 1. White Sox 2. Royals 2. Tigers 2. Twins 5. Indians

Rain Delay Thoughts

Well, the Sox are on a rain delay on opening night. What a bummer! It looks like I have some time to kill.

So far, the Sox have looked pretty good tonight. They batted around in the top of the third. Mark Buehrle gave up a three-spot in the bottom half, but he hasn't really looked that bad.

The highlight so far has been Brian Anderson. The youngster is one-for-one with a double in his first season as a regular. Of course, it will not count if the game is rained out, but he did put a real nice stroke on the ball. Regardless of whether his double will be officially counted, I believe it was an important at bat because it should give him confidence that he belongs at this level. Color me impressed with him so far.

They are saying the game may restart at 10:30. Hopefully, there will be more baseball tonight.

Thome + Ozzie Ball = 10 Runs

Finally, spring training has come to and end. The games count starting tomorrow. It is time for the Sox to begin defending their World Series crown.

As for today's spring training finale, the Sox were victorious over the Atlanta Braves by a count of 10-5. It was Ozzie Ball at its finest as the Sox scored just one of their ten runs via the long ball.

The Sox got off to a fast start in the first on a Jim Thome home run, but it was all for naught when Jon Garland allowed two tallies to cross the plate in the bottom half of the frame. Garland struggled today allowing 11 base runners in just 5 innings of work. He did not throw very many fastballs early in the game, but he threw more later when he was in jams. This leads me to believe that he took the hill looking to find command of his curveball. He was never successful in getting the curve over the outside corner, and he found himself behind the count all day long. This is not too worrisome as long as he was just working on his pitches, as it appeared.

As for the offense, it was a great display of Ozzie ball at its finest. The Sox stole four bases today, including a nifty one by Pablo Ozuna. Ozuna had just stolen second base when the Atlanta fielders were just kind of mulling around on the infield. Pablo looked around and noticed that no one was standing near third. All of a sudden, he just took off, and the Braves just stood there helplessly because there was no one covering third. It was a sweet, heads-up play by Ozuna. He also chipped in earlier in the game when he drove Chris Widger in on a squeeze bunt. The other steals were accomplished by Rob Mackowiak and Alex Cintron.

Player of the game: Pablo Ozuna. Little Pablo was 2 for 3 with the aforementioned Ozzie ball moments.

White Sox paga mucho dinero a Jose Contreras

The White Sox re-signed right hander Jose Contreras to a 3 year, 29 million dollar contract extension today. The move keeps Contereas with the Sox until 2009 and includes a no-trade clause for 2007.

My take: This is a good move for the Sox provided that Contreras is actually 34 years old. However, when he was with the New York Yankess there was speculation that he might actually be much older than that. I am not to keen on the idea of signing a 45 year old pitcher to a three year deal.

With that being said, if Contreras is 34 years old, this move represents a good step for the White Sox organization. Pitching wins championships, and this move shows that the White Sox are continuing to advocate that philosophy. Hopefully, the Mount Rushmore of the South Side will continue to dominate for years to come.

Sox Thoughts

This is Sox Thoughts. It is my new blog for posting my thoughts about the Chicago White Sox. I will try to blog as often as possible about Sox games and roster moves. Hopefully, this will be another great season of White Sox baseball. The season starts tomorrow, so let's "sit right back and strap it down."