Category: Uncategorized

Ze Frank gives a wrap-up of the current U.S. political situation in the form of a baseball broadcast.

Watch the video. It’s kinda funny.

I was a little concerned after beating NY & DET and with MIN & DET coming up the series with KC might be overlooked. Sometimes when feeling good about recent wins and looking forward to upcoming challenges, the present gets lost in the shuffle. Nice to see the White Sox came to play versus the Royals, at least in the first game of this four game set, 12-2. It was a scoreless pitching battle between Jon Garland & Mark Redman until the Good Guys broke it open with an eight run 4th inning. Two notables from that 4th inning: Paul Konerko scored from 2nd base on an A.J. Pierzynski single to left (he didn’t score from 2nd on a double in the middle game against the Yanks) & A.J. scored all the way from first on a double to the wall by Joe Crede (a double clutch by Angel Berroa helped a huffing Pierzynski get in there). Even though the Royals aren’t much of a team, it’s nice to see Chicago take care of business. After beating the Tigers a major step backwards would be taken if the Pale Hose didn’t beat up on KC. And no matter how bad your opponent is, you still gotta go out there & do it! Detroit beat Josh Beckett & the Red Sox to maintain their lead. Tonite the nibbler Javier Vazquez takes the bump for Ozzie, I’ll get plenty of rest before heading out there.

I’m back.

I spent last week visiting relatives in the Rockford area. The closest I got to anything sports-related was a tractor pull at a county fair. Maybe it’s not sports but jeez, a lot of people take this form of competition pretty seriously.

I wasn’t able to convince anyone to go to a Rockford Riverhawks game with me. Better planning on my part would have served me well.

Anyway, many thanks to Teddy B and DonS for taking up the slack while I was gone.

-tbz

When I got to the Cell I noticed Alex Cintron was in the lineup rather than the hot hitting Tadahito Iguchi. With the White Sox trying to catch Detroit, I was like, what’s Ozzie doing? There is a huge difference between a 2-1 series win and a three game sweep. Well Senor Guillen knew exactly what he was doing as Cintron lined a triple to right-center in the 1st inning, and scored on a sac fly off the bat of Paul Konerko to tie the score at one. Things looked pretty good for the Good Guys as Zach Miner threw 28 pitches in the first frame, it would’ve been alot worse than a tie if not for three sparkling plays in the field, two by Curtis Granderson & one by Carlos Guillen. Then Cintron lined an 0-2, two out, 2nd inning, bases loaded double, giving the Good Guys a three run lead, and they never looked back. Freddy Garcia was backed with seven runs enroute to his 11th win, 7-3. MacDougal, Thornton, & Jenks preserved the win.

It was good to see my buddy Steve back at the ball yard. Steve just got back from a Jay Buckley baseball trip in which he saw games in Arizona, San Diego, Anaheim, LA, & San Francisco. He said it was his second baseball trip with Jay Buckley, who is the best in the business. Also met Joe Crede’s future brother in law, great guy, we’re going to meet up in KC over Labor Day weekend.

Taking the L to the Cell I got a call on my cell saying NickyV went to Emergency with pneumonia. He’s had a cough for two months now, I’ve been telling him he needed to get Z-pack, but his doctor said it wasn’t a virus and his cough needed to run its course. Now NickyV’s on Z-pack and his cough should be gone in five days.

Also got a call from CLuke indicating I was a White Sox jinx, he was wondering if I only was at the game the Sox dropped to NY. I told him I was at all three NY games, plus the Contreras game, and said KC was coming to town so it would be soon safe for him to keep his winning streak alive & come out to a game. CLuke accepted my challenge and came out to support Mark Buehrle against Detroit. I pulled out a Baseball Prospect book CLuke brought to the game, the Tigers scored three off Mark after Juan Uribe missed a basehit & then fed Tadahito Iguchi a little late on a sure DP grounder, and the book went back into the bag for the duration. The Pale Hose scored four unearned runs off Kenny Rogers to edge the Tigers 4-3. Newly acquired Mike MacDougal, Matt Thornton, & Bobby Jenks were lights out over the last three innings. It was nice to see Buehrle get back to form, striking out 7 over six innings, while walking none. Ozzie Guillen lifted big Mark before the game got away, MacDougal picked up the victory.

Got only three hours sleep the night before the last game versus the Yanks, then a 1 1/2 hour rain delay, and then 113 pitches thrown by Javier Vazquez thru five innings. Sox scored four times in the bottom of the 2nd off Mussina, two unearned runs thanks to ERod’s 19th error at 3rd, Giambi cut the lead in half with a two run blast in the top of the 3rd. Brandon McCarthy was sharp in relief despite allowing a two run shot by Melky Cabrera to cut the lead to one, thank goodness Scotty Pods plated Brian Anderson with another insurance run before Melky’s drive. Matt Thornton & Bobby Jenks closed out the Bronx Bombers to preserve the 5-4 win. It was one of the toughest games I’ve had to endure, winning ugly, indeed! I honestly thought I was going to fall asleep on the L on the way home.

Went out to the Cell recently to see the Good Guys get swept by the Minn Twins, but nothing really to write about there. So lemme tell you about a couple of heavyweights going toe to toe in the first two games between the Bronx Bombers and the Pale Hose.

In the 1st game Paulie Konerko took Mariano Rivera over the right-centerfield fence for a 9th inning game tying shot. Jermaine Dye plated the game winner off Yankee reliever Scott Proctor in extras to give Bobby Jenks the W. Ozzie decided the game was important enough to leave Big Bad Bobby out there till it was a White Sox winner.

Then the Big Unit had a no-no going, lost it, and the Sox came back from a 7-0 deficit to close to 7-6. But it wasn’t to be as Mariano Rivera got Jim Thome to bounce to Robinson Cano with runners on 1st & 3rd to end the game. I was calling for Scott Podsednik to bunt up Brian Anderson with the tying run in the 9th to give Tadahito Iguchi a shot, but the skipper didn’t call for the bunt (Scotty Po K’d). I may be crazy, but I thought Po should’ve bunted with two strikes when ARod moved back. Scotty would’ve had an easy single if he just could’ve put down a bunt and you never know, Alex might have thrown it down the rightfield line.

It was great to be there for the first couple. One more game to go. Looking forward to being a part of the soldout crowd again for that one.

LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

With Francisco Liriano ailing for the Twins I’m actually rooting for Minnesota against Detroit. 8/21-24 I’ll be in the Motor City to see the ChiSox battle the Tigers, can’t wait.

Despite rumors involving Alfonzo Soriano and Miguel Tejada, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim stood pat as the July 31 trade deadline came and went.

My reactions:

Overview of 2006, to date: The Angels are last in the AL in fielding %–age, and first in errors. As long as that
continues, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are going to have a tough time finishing much over .500. I wonder if
adding a bat would be “attacking the wrong problem.” While there are teams that hit better than the Angels (lots of them), the Halos win with pitching and defense — and a highly productive farm system. I’m comfortable with that.

The Angels present roster has 15 farm system products, 7 free agents and only 3 guys they traded for. They got Adam Kennedy for Jim Edmonds (maybe THAT will make you swear off trading) and got Maicer Izturis and Juan Rivera for Jose Guillen ( a better deal). Each of those two trades was getting rid of a bad attitude and, in Edmonds’ case, losing a clubhouse problem. Point being: The Angels don’t trade much. So the lack of a deal is not a shock.

Despite what I said earlier about “attacking the wrong problem,” I’d take that Soriano of Washington. He can play whatever position he WANTS to play. Maybe I’ll feel different tomorrow, but he looks pretty good after about EIGHT Frosty Old Style’s. If Alfonzo Soriano would agree to a long-term deal, that would be enticing. But I prefer to pursue it over the winter, not now.

Nick T says: “…the Angels were smart to walk away from Tejada. Why spend the price of a top SS, only to play him at 3B? They wouldn’t make it without Santana.” and “…they send out a good pitcher every night, so they have a good chance to win. I think they’ll win the division.”

About Tejada: I agree 100% (word-for-word) on Miguel Tejada. He’s a great player and would fit right into the Angels’ lineup. But he doesn’t want to play 3B. So, for ME, that settles it. I’m not sold on swapping pitching to begin with and Ervin Santana is my favorite Angel pitcher to watch. But all of that is secondary. If Tejada doesn’t want to play 3B, that ends the discussion. I’m glad Bill Stoneman agreed.

About the division: I don’t think the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will win the division. As I said previously, the Angels are last in the AL in fielding percentage and first in errors. I say Oakland wins the division. I hope to “stand corrected.”

In conclusion (finally, right?): I’m glad they didn’t swap Howie Kendrick. I’m glad they didn’t swap Brandon Wood. I’m glad they didn’t swap Ervin Santana. And I’m glad they didn’t swap Kendry Morales.

What do others think?

DonS.

Eight women on the Illini softball team got Academic All-Big Ten awards last month.

To receive the award, players must be in their second year and have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.00.

Special kudos to brainiac Laura Zobrist who is an advertising major on campus and outfielder at Eichelberger Field. This is her third such award.

I remember earlier this winter telling everyone at the Illowa APBA rookie draft that “Paul Maholm will be as good as Zach Duke”.

Well, right now I’m pretty much on target but not really in the way that I thought.

Right now, Maholm’s .394 OBP is higher than any other starter in the NL. (h/t Honest Wagner)

Good thing I didn’t listen to my own advice.

Too bad no one else did.

And as for my Zach Duke comparsion, I was really high on Duke last year when he first came up. By the end of the season, I reconsidered my position. However, I did think he’d have a better year than this.