The Sox Swept Oakland?

Ronald Reagan was president the last time the White Sox swept Oakland before this week's sweep. The hitting and pitching were great in this series, and the defense was mostly great as well. Joe Crede is making me forget about Robin Ventura, at least with the glove. He is unbelievable out there. In typical fashion, Frank Thomas was 4 for 9 with a bunch of walks, two homeruns, and his team got swept. On to Toronto!

Mackowiak and Ozuna Put Big Hurt on A's

What a game! Frank Thomas hit two homeruns in his return to US Cellular Field, but in typical Frank fasion, he popped out in a cluctch situation. He came up with men on first and second and one out, and a passed ball gave him a man on third base. Then, he hit a pop-up to AJ, and Bobby Jenks struck out Bobby Crosby to end Oakland's tenth inning threat.

On the other hand, the White Sox had no trouble with clutch hitting. Rob Mackowiak hit a game tying two-run homer in the eighth, and Pablo Ozuna drove in AJ on a two out bunt single in the bottom of the tenth. Pablo Ozuna, yes!

The home plate umpire tonight was terrible. He repeatedly have Oakland's pitchers strikes that were chin high and shin low. Meanwhile, Jon Garland, Matt Thornton, and Bobby Jenks were squeezed, which led to Jon allowing all four Oakland runs. Ozzie chewed out the umpire in the second inning and was ejected. However, Ozzie was in the right because that umpire was horrible!

Sox Pound Cubs Thoughts

The White Sox beat the snot out of the AAAA team from the north side 6-1. There was little pressure on the south siders. Our boys are vastly superior to theirs, and the Cubs need to win just to salvage their season. Meanwhile, we are the defending champions, which is something the Cubs have not been able to say since Teddy Rossevelt's second term.

This game was typical Cubs baseball. Maddux repeatedly missed his locations and was crushed by the greatest team that Chicago has seen since the great 2005 White Sox. Meanwhile, Ronnie Cedeno made an error of omission by throwing to first when he could have thrown Jim Thome out at home plate, and Neifi Perez made an error of comission on a throwing error.

Not everything was bad for the Cubs. They managed to get two hits and even score a run against the ace of the World Series Champion Chicago White Sox, Mark Buehrle. That is tough to do. Just ask the Cleveland Indians who have been two hit shutout by Buehrle twice in the last three years. The Cubs were a veritable offensive juggernaut on Friday.

As for the White Sox, Jim Thome hit a bomb while Paul Konerko and Joe Crede each had RBI doubles. Scottie Pods added to his stolen base lead, and Alex Cintron laid down some sweet bunts in batting practice, which was televised on Comcast Sportsnet. It was business as usual because the White Sox rule. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Typical Tropicana Disaster

The White Sox dropped two out of three against the Devil Rays, as usual. For some strange reason, the White Sox cannot seem to ever win in that building. The Devil Rays are still a joke, and they will get swept when the come to Chicago. No worries here!

Sox To Sign Three Coaches To Extensions

The White Sox are going to sign Greg Walker, Don Cooper, and Joey Cora to contract extensions according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Greg Walker has done a nice job as hitting coach. Most notably, he deserves a lot of credit for the devolopment of "Smokin'" Joe Crede. Crede had a long, looping swing when he came to the big leagues, and he tried to pull everything. Now, Crede has shortened his swing and takes a lot of balls up the middle and to right field.

As for Cooper, not much needs to be said. Last season, the White Sox tied with Cleveland for the lowest earned run average in the American League and became the first team since the 1920's to have four pitchers win consecutive post-season games. Under his watch, Esteban Loaiza, Jon Garland, and Jose Contreras have all had ace caliber seasons after having previously undistinguished careers. The guy is a master.

Joey Cora is every bit as aggressive as Wallace Johnson was, and he makes fewer mistakes as third base coach. He is good for probably 30 extra runs a year with his aggressiveness. Furthermore, he is one of Ozzie Guillen's best friends so his job security was never in question.

The future of the rest of the coaching staff is more in doubt. The Sun-Times article quoted Ozzie as saying, "I like all my coaches." However, he also said, "If [Baines, Raines, and Kusnyer] want to come back, they will be back. And then the bench with Raines, I don't know what we want to do there. That's why we'll probably wait on those guys.''

Update

I have not posted in awhile. The White Sox have split 4 with Minny and 2 with Tampa Bay. They go for the series victory tomorrow in Saint Pete.

Thornton or Logan to AAA?- Several White Sox message boards have been debating the future of these two. On WCIU's pregame telecast for tonight's game, Darren Jackson asked White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper about Logan's debacle last evening. Cooper said that they have talked to Logan about last night's game, and the best thing to do is to put him back out there. It sounds like Boone will be getting another chance. I am not sure that this is a bad idea since it will give the Sox a chance to find out how well Logan can bounce back from adversity. Mental make-up is paramount for a big leage pitcher.

As for Thornton, I really do not understand why people are so quick to run him off. He is throwing with high velocity and has been able to get his slider over the plate in most of his outings. It is just a couple of bad appearances that are skewing his earned run average. They should keep Thornton until he gives them a real reason to dump him. He has pitched poorly enough to justify a demotion as of yet. Numbers do not always tell the whole story, and it is important to look at how well a guy is actually throwing the ball, too.

White Sox rained out?

Internet rumors say that tonight's game with the Los Angeles/California/ Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim has been rained out. However, there is still no official word.

Haeger Heads Back To Charlotte

Charlie Haeger was torched last night for 6 runs in 4.1 innings of work. He looked okay at times, and the Angels only had one hard hit ball against him. His problems were due to the base on balls. Chuckmeister Junior just could not seem to throw strikes, which happens sometimes when you throw a knuckleball. I would like to see him get another start, but...

Internet rumor says Haeger has been demoted and replaced by right-hander Sean Tracey. Futuresox.com had this to say about Tracy, "Tracey, 25, was drafted by the White Sox in the 8th round of UCI. In 10 games (4 starts), Tracey has went 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA. In 30.2 innings of work, Tracey has limited opponents to 15 hits while striking out 31 batters (22 walks)." The troublesome thing about this is the 22 walks in 30.2 innings. Haeger has a high AAA walk total as well, but that is more acceptable when you throw a knuckleball. Hopefully, Tracey is not going to pitch too much, and Brandon McCarthy will replace Haeger in the rotation. He threw 4 innings last night allowing 2 earned runs on 1 walk and 2 hits while striking out 3. McCarthy has earned it.

Garcia Goes Eight In Win

The much maligned Freddy Garcia got his stuff together tonight and allowed just one earned run over eight innings. He looked really shaky in the early innings, but he managed to stay afloat and started to dominate as the game wore on. He was pitching with a lead, which probably let him relax more and throw more strikes. This game might have been a big step for him this year.

As for the offense, they scored 9 runs to Cleveland's 1. Kevin Gregg has been dominant as a starter and reliever this year for the Angels, but he was not facing the Detroit Tigers again tonight. He faced the defending champions, and he found out what that was like. Jim Thome, Joe Crede, and Jermaine Dye all hit homeruns. Juan Uribe had 2 doubles and Scott Podsednik walked an amazing 4 times. Brian Anderson was the only White Sox regular to fail to record a hit, and his only positive moment was getting hit by a pitch. Other than that, the White Sox offense pounded the Angels.

Jermaine Dye Is Back!

Comcast Sportsnet Chicago is reporting that Jermaine Dye is finally healthy enought to play again for the White Sox. Jermaine, the defending World Series MVP (yeah baby!), has been sorely missed. While Pablo Ozuna has had his moments, neither he nor Rob Mackowiak can hold a candle to JD, and we will need to score more runs with Contreras out, particularly if McCarthy is no longer available in the bullpen.

Contreras placed on DL

The American League's best pitcher, Jose Contreras, was placed on the 15 day disabled list today with sciatica. This is a bad break for the Sox. Contreras is the hottest pitcher on the team right now, and his injury could disrupt his rhythm when he returns.

Charlie Haeger has been called up from AAA Charlotte to replace Contreras. Comcast Sportsnet Chicago is reporting that Haeger will make one start, and the Sox will then evaluate whether to give Haeger or Brandon McCarthy Contreras's next start. Haeger is 3-0 with a 0.68 ERA at Charlotte. In 43.2 innings pitched, Haeger has allowed 6 home runs and 20 walks while recording 31 strikeouts.

Joe Crede!

When is the league going to learn that Joe Crede is the White Sox's most dangerous hitter in clutch situations? The Royals intentionally walked Paul Konerko in a tie game with a man on second and Joe Crede on deck. This came two days after Joe gave the White Sox an eighth inning lead with an eighth inning homerun off of Elmer Dessens, the same guy who was pitching in the eighth this afternoon. Buddy Bell is a stupid manager, but we'll take it!

Jim Thome had 2 hits in four at bats, and Mark Buehrle scattered two run on seven hits over six innings pitched. Brandon McCarthy picked up his second win of the season, and he looked unhittable, as he usually does when he can get his curve ball over. Bobby Jenks and Matt Thornton bounced back from Friday nights game with their usual smoke, as Sox Thoughts expected. We rule, so let's bury the Tigers.

Cinco de Mayo Nightmare

The Sox lost 5-4 tonight. Jon Garland pitched fairly well giving up one earned run in seven innings pitched. Tadahito Iguchi hit a homerun in the bottom of the seventh, and Joe Crede added on in the eighth to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. Then, the wheels came off. Bobby Jenks and Boone Logan had trouble throwing strikes, and they allowed 4 Kansas City runs in the ninth. In the bottom half of the frame, Jim Thome added a three run homerun, but Rob Mackowiak flew out with 2 men on base to end the ball game.

I am really not that worried about the bullpen's performance tonight. Matt Thornton threw the ball really well in the eighth and to one batter in the ninth, and Cliff Politte retired the only batter he faced. As for Logan and Big, Bad, Bobby Jenks, they have pitched so well that there is not much room for concern after one bad game. This was a bad loss, but I think everything is going to be okay.

Back to Blogging

With finals over, I can get back to attending to my blog. I apologize to anyone who might actually happen to read this thing for my absence. Actually, I apologize to anyone who might actually happen to read this thing, period.

Tonight, Jon Garland is pitching. Jon has reverted back to his old Judy Garland form. Fortunately for him, the Kansas City Royals are not exactly a Major League Baseball team, so this is a good chance for him to get well. It is time for Judy to show the Royals that they are not in Kansas (City) anymore, Toto.


On the positive side, is Joe Crede awesome, or what? The catch he made along the tarp yesterday was incredible, and he makes at least one stop everyday that leaves me speachless. Number twenty-four is finally making me forget about number twenty-three at third base. Eat your heart out, Chris Snopek.