Tag: White Sox

Hot & Sticky was the night as I boarded the L, heading South to the Cell. Cubano Jose Contreras would be on the hill as the White Sox looked to sweep the KC Royals. This was perfect weather for Contreras, who knows hot with humidity, growing up on Cuba. It was also perfect weather for rashes, which is what I liken the White Sox offense to, it’s like a bad rash that keeps on spreading. With Joe Crede out with a bruised wrist, Pablo Ozuna was at the hot corner, he had two hits, but was robbed of a third by the official scorer. Bob Rosenberg must’ve thought Gil Meche had a howitzer for an arm, if he thought Gil would’ve gotten Pablo at first, if he hadn’t bobbled the ball.

Everybody was getting into the act last night. There was a pretty even distribution up and down the lineup, with the exception of Paul Konerko & Carlos Quentin, who were hitless and didn’t contribute to the scoring. Paulie is currently below the Mendoza Line at .199. But who was that blur streaking to third on a Jim Thome basehit? It was Konerk, nailed there, but close, and he actually beat the throw, but pulled his lead foot back rather than jamming it and was tagged out. Still it was aggressive baseball and moments later Thome’s beautiful hook slide delivered himself safely to third on Jermaine Dye’s double to left. All that action happened in the 4th inning, an inning which saw four Sox runs put on the board.

After the night before’s 15 inning game, the bullpens were strapped for both sides. The starters would have to go long, which didn’t look good, especially if you were watching KC’s overpriced starter toil against Chicago. Meche would give way to Joel Peralta in the 6th after throwing 115 pitches, trailing 5-1. Thome would nail Peralta for a 7th inning solo shot, that proved to be the icing on the cake.

Matt Thornton & newly dubbed short man Nick Masset worked the 8th & 9th, in relief of Contreras. Jose didn’t have his A-game, but it was good enough for a White Sox Winner! Masset surrendered a meaningless 9th inning homer to Mark Teahen to make the final 6-2.

Alexei Ramirez was once again brilliant in the field, mostly using his glove on this night to thwart potential Royal basehits. Ramirez has shown range to both his left & his right and is as quick as a cat. There is no doubt he will win a Gold Glove. I don’t know if he’ll win one this year, but looking over his competition in the AL, it’s very possible.

There was a nice breeze cooling us off behind the plate last night, Steve, Dick, & Bea were there, along with 600 dogs. It was Dog Day out at the ballyard, 600 dogs brought their owners to the game. They got to parade around the field prior to the contest, got to sit in a specially designated dog area, were given plenty of doggie treats, and lots of water to keep from overheating. Alot of the dogs had on Sox stuff, one even sported sunglasses.

Had a nice time catching up with my friend who sells me veggie hot dogs down the rightfield line. Other vendors selling me stuff were Hot Chocolate Jackie (Italian Ice), Bill (beer), Tracy at Caramel Corn Mike’s (he’s gonna be mayor someday) stand (Gatorade), also got a pretty smile from Tammy at the meat hot dog stand. Even said hi to cameraman Dave Cialla & the people at the Elotes stand (corn for all you gringos out there).

Steve gave me a freebie for the start of the four game homestand opening Friday night against the Minnesota Twins. The hard charging Twins are coming to town. No time for basking in the glory of a Royals sweep, these guys may be rebuilding, but they’re still pretty tough, and they mean business. Ron Gardenhire will have his guys ready to play ball. Hopefully the Sox will rise up to the challenge.

Tony celled me up at the Cell Tuesday night to say, he was coming to town from Florida. He comes to town about once every five years, never in the summertime. We’ve been friends ever since he lived across the alley from me in Chicago when we were kids. Playing wiffleball was our bond then, along with playing APBA Baseball, Strat-O-Matic Baseball. He’s cool, even though he’s always been a Cub fan, and my heart has always been on the Southside. Tony used to wait for his heroes to drive down Berteau from Wrigley on their way to a local steak joint, stop signs provided the perfect autograph opportunity.

He got off work early enough Wednesday to make it to my house from O’Hare in time for us to grab some Thai, and head out to the Cell. It was Navy Night at the Cell, there was a fly-over as I was buying our tix, we quickly entered the ballpark, and took our spot behind the plate. It soon became obvious there were a couple of seats just in front of where we stand, so we put our butts down, had no idea how long it would be.

KC DH Miguel Olivo homered off John Danks in the second inning to open the scoring, then tacked on another when Mark Teahen knocked one over the wall in the 4th, 2-0 Royals. But Jim Thome got ahold of one with a runner aboard in the bottom of four to even it up at two.

I told Al & his wife (friends of Dick & Bea, not Al from Al & Anthony, father/son fame) the Sox were gonna score twice in the 5th. It looked like my prediction had a good shot, especially after Joe Crede ripped one out. Then Alexei Ramirez walked, with one out A.J. Pierzynski singled, and Carlos Quentin hit a hard grounder to SS Esteban German that handcuffed him. German then chased the ball into short rightfield, Ramirez hustled all the way in from 2nd, beating the throw home. However “safe” was never ruled and Alexei was ruled out on appeal. Paul Konerko popped out with 2nd & 3rd with two outs to mess up my prediction of two runs.

The White Sox bullpen did the job. Nick Massett looked sharp coming on in relief of the starter to get out of a jam, followed by Matt Thornton, & Scott Linebrink. That brought on Bobby Jenks to close it out, I stood up to root him on, which was a major mistake. John Buck & pinch hitter Alberto Callaspo singled to open the 9th, Joey Gathright was brought on to run for Callaspo, Esteban German two-strike bunted the runners up, and David DeJesus delivered with a game tying two RBI single. Jenks settled down and worked a scoreless frame after spitting out the lead. I learned a lesson, not to get up and ready to bolt the park before the 3rd out is made.

Royals relievers Ramirez, Soria, & Yabuta each worked two scoreless innings, while Boone Logan & Octavio Dotel worked five innings without allowing a run. A fan stood up and yelled, “Not Boone Logan” to Ozzie Guillen, when Guillen signaled for his young southpaw. But the pen did the job. There were some defensive gems, Joe Crede grabbed a shot barehanded, while playing, might’ve injured his thumb, but threw out the batter, before having to leave the game to have his thumb examined. Alexei Ramirez, did he even use gloves growing up in Cuba? Alexei made five barehanded plays in the game. Not to be out done, KC’s Alex Gordon dove over the tarp down the leftfield line to turn a foulball into an out.

Rain fell, rain stopped, Hot Chocolate Jackie (selling Crackerjack & whips) went home, Caramel Corn Mike cleaned up his stand, the pops Terry brought us were all gone, and Roland & his four friends made their way from their rightfield seats to join us behind the plate, as the game entered the 15th inning, after a second 7th inning stretch in the bottom of the 14th inning.

The White Sox were down to newly re-acquired Esteban Loaiza, while the Royals were forced to bring on Jimmy Gobble. Gobble walked Carlos Quentin and up stepped Paul Konerko. Tony exclaimed, “Paulie’s hitting .198. He weighs more than that!” A few seconds later everybody was chanting, “PAULIE PAULIE PAULIE”, as the ball disappeared into the night to left, 6-4 WHITE SOX WINNER, YES!!!

Ozzie Guillen called GM Kenny Williams out, saying the Sox needed some offense. This after the club dropped three of four to the first place(?) Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays. Which was perfect fodder for Sun Times columnist (weasel) to once again suggest Ozzie needed to be fired, but what then would Jay have to write (whine) about? Guillen’s latest tirade couldn’t have come at a better time, focus was taken off the players, the pressure too.

It looked like a different ballclub playing host to the KC Royals & Zack Greinke. Greinke has gotten away from his junk and gone with his fastball, which has made him successful of late, but not tonite, not against the White Sox & their fastball hitting team.

With a man aboard in the 1st inning Carlos Quentin (after his day off, plus the off day) responded with new found energy & a big fly. Then Alexei Ramirez hit a perfect doubleplay ball to the shortstop, it was hit hard, elluded him, and Alexei was credited with a double. Orlando Cabrera hit a slow bounder up the middle, which plated two with the infield playing in. The next batter A.J. Pierzynski plated two more, rocketing one over the rightfield wall. What lack of offense was Ozzie talking about? The score was 6-0 Good Guys before we were even able to settle into our seats, or find a comfortable wall to lean on behind home plate, as the case may be.

It would’ve been a tough play for secondbaseman Alexei Ramirez to have thrown out Joey Gathright, even if he had fielded the grounder cleanly, which he did not, on which play he was credited with an error, KC scored two unearned runs as a result.

The Sox offense got those two runs back in the sixth when Nick Swisher & Alexei Ramirez hit solo shots, in between homers Joe Crede popped out. Al was just bemoaning the fact that Swisher was batting .200 when Nick whacked one good to right.

Mark Teahen homered after Miguel Olivo doubled in the 7th for the only two earned runs off Gavin Floyd of the evening to make it 8-4. The Royals, in the 8th, off Octavio Dotel, cut it to a three run lead when Alex Gordon singled home David DeJesus from 2nd base, after DeJesus had stolen second. But the Sox made the final 9-5 when Alexei Ramirez picked up his third hit of the game, an 8th inning single to shallow leftfield, scoring Jermaine Dye without a throw from DeJesus. Dye had singled & Crede had walked before Alexei’s single. A.J. Pierzynski also had three hits for the Pale Hose, as did David DeJesus for the Royals. Bobby Jenks was called on to close it out for the Good Guys in black.

Despite threatening weather, it did not rain, and I was VERY glad I was there, as EVERYBODY was there (Al, Anthony (newly fractured elbow), Tade, Steve, Roland, Dick, Bea, Caramel Corn Mike, & my latest sweetie Hot Chocolate Jackie (selling beer tonite)).

The White Sox are in first place, so what’s my beef? A vegetarian with a beef, that’s funny. Orlando Cabrera was brought in as the team’s savior at SS. Cabrera is the reigning 2007 AL Gold Glove shortstop.

I’ve become used to watching Juan Uribe at SS for the White Sox on an everyday basis. While Uribe has one of the strongest infield arms I’ve seen, sometimes he’s lazy in the field. I was excited to be getting Cabrera, although I thought we were getting Miguel Cabrera for Jon Garland, until I found out the trade was with Anaheim rather than Florida.

Since the trade, Orlando has had his ups & downs in the field for the Sox. On more occasions than I can count on one hand, I’ve seen not pickup relatively easy grounders, sometimes they were called errors, sometimes they weren’t.

Now the story comes out that Cabrera has called the pressbox to question errors that were credited to him. Orlando is becoming a free agent at year end and is concerned about his reputation as a quality fielder. He has questioned his manager for not backing him up on this. Whether these missed plays are errors or not is irrelevant, the Sox are trying to win ballgames. It is purely selfish on Cabrera’s part to call the pressbox.

Orlando should hone up his skills as a ballplayer, rather than concern himself with his rep. He is a little ballplayer, not a home run hitter, and I’ve yet to see him display he has the ability to bunt. He has failed to move the runners up with a sacrifice on several occasions, today being the most recent.

Then there’s this story…
The Associated Press reports Chicago White Sox 2B Alexei Ramirez ignored the bunt sign and hit a clutch single that set up the game-winner Monday, May 26. “He went from two seconds from being in (Triple-A) Charlotte to being a hero,” manager Ozzie Guillen said of Ramirez. “He did that on his own. I was surprised but (bench coach) Joey Cora told me he’s been working on that in batting practice.”

Alexei Ramirez is a 26-year-old rookie from Cuba filling in for the injured Juan Uribe at scondbase. I think Ramirez is doing a good job at a position he’s not familiar with. Alexei has a lightning quick bat. It was a heads up play the other day on his part, that directly led to us winning a ballgame. Way to go Alexei! And what’s he to think when his prima donna doubleplay partner, a veteran can’t get the bunt down? BTW, Ramirez has shown himself to be an excellent bunter.

The White Sox swept both the Giants & the Indians, before the Angels came to town. Los Angeles took the first two games of the three game set, but put away those brooms. Carlos Quentin hit a two run homer in the third inning, Gary Matthews, Jr. hit a fourth inning game tying two run shot, and then Quentin knocked another over the wall to leadoff the bottom of the 9th, a game winner. The home runs were Carlos Quentin’s 13th & 14th of the year, which leads the AL. John Lackey was the tough luck, complete game loser, while Scott Linebrink got the win in relief of Jose Contreras. Contreras had his A game going on. While the White Sox won’t close out the season at 140-22, they still are doing pretty well. LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

Even though this series was played in Chicago at the Cell, I’m in Wisconsin for the Memorial Day weekend. So I’ve been watching these games over my laptop, using Slingbox & TIVO.

Rookie Cleveland lefthander Aaron Laffey was locked in a pitcher’s dual with Mark Buehrle last night. Toby Hall got his third hit of the game to lead off the bottom of the 8th. Then manager Ozzie Guillen took over by sending Brian Anderson in to run for Hall. Orlando Cabrera tried to bunt the runner up, but failed, striking out, this after dropping a throw on an attempted steal, didn’t endear me to OC. No matter, Guillen put up A.J. Pierzynski to bat for Alexei Ramirez, who’d had a pretty game with the stick, himself. A.J. Pie sent a long flyball to the track in center, Grady Sizemore’s throw to second was too late to get Anderson, who tagged up on the play. Minutes later Kenny Williams’ latest find, Carlos Quentin plated Brian with a single to left, taking 2nd on the throw home. Jermaine Dye knocked in Quentin with another hit. Bobby Jenks held the lead for Scott Linebrink. Linebrink got the win in relief of Buehrle. Buehrle battled all the way, without his normal pinpoint control, walking four through seven innings of work. Back-to-back Broom Series, I can get used to this.

Rather than watching this game in person, I caught it late night via TIVO using Slingbox over my laptop. I had to endure the Hawk & D.J., who aren’t quite as bad when we’re winning. I’m up in Waupaca this weekend, so no games in person till the next homestand. LET’S GO SOX!

Indian rookie firstsacker Michael Aubrey hit his second career homer to put the Tribe up one-zip. Joe Crede hit a broken bat flyball over the leftfield wall, only to have David Delucci snatch it back for the second out in the fifth, preserving Paul Byrd’s no-hitter. The very next hitter Nick Swisher broke it up for real with a sharp single to right.

After being hit with a pitch his first time up, then walking in his second plate appearance, there was no place to put Jermaine Dye when he stepped to the dish in the 6th. The Good Guys were trailing two to nothing with runners on 1st & 3rd as Byrd fell behind Dye, had to come to him, and Jermaine made him pay with a towering three run bomb to left. Soon Byrd had flown the coop, without his 100th career win, replaced by Jorge Julio.

Joe Crede rocketed a line drive out of the reach of Delucci for an RBI two base hit, Nick Swisher walked to fill the bases, and then Alexei Ramirez was robbed by Ben Francisco of a bases clearing double, and had to settle for a sac-fly. And the White Sox had to “settle” for five runs in the 6th.

Jermaine Dye turned around a Julio fastball for his 2nd homer of the game, the overflow crowd chanted J.D. until he came out for a curtain call. Lefty reliever Craig Breslow was brought in to serve up a blast off the bat of Jim Thome, who seems to be getting hot.

Boone Logan was called upon to close out the 7-2 win, but was replaced by Scott Linebrink with two on and only one out in the 8th, Linebrink did his job. The Sox turned it over to Matt Thornton, who pitched a scoreless 9th.

There were chants of, “LET’S GO WHITE SOX!”, as I walked down the middle of 35th to the L. This will be my last time visiting the Cell in May, won’t be there again till June, as I’m going to Waupaca tomorrow for the Memorial Day weekend. 5/22 will be Welcome Back Carlton Fisk Night. Hopefully the winning streak will still be going on when I venture back down to U.S. Cellular Field.

Rode the L to the Cell last night to welcome our returning conquering heroes back to the Southside of Chicago. The White Sox were returning from a very successful Westcoast roadtrip, which saw them close it out by sweeping the Giants.

It was crowded behind the plate as Tade, Al, Anthony, Rob, Vicki, and myself showed up to see Jose Contreras matched up against C.C. Sabathia. Mike, the caramel-corn guy, came by to say, he had Sabathia on his fantasy team and he was on FIRE!

Sure enough, Sabathia K’d the side in the first, which was expected. But what wasn’t expected was the screamer Carlos Quentin sent flying 415 feet over the centerfield wall, in between the strikeouts. Then Jim Thome, don’t tell me about the lefty-lefty matchup, knocked one out to give the Sox a two run lead after two.

Later in the game Alexei Ramirez, filling in for Juan Uribe, booted a grounder that would have ended the inning, but instead allowed Grady Sizemore to bat with the Tribe down by one. Last year Grady would’ve parked it, but not this time, as he struck out to end the threat.

The bullpen was great again, with Matt Thornton getting a comeback doubleplay grounder, Octavio Dotel striking out the only batter he faced, and Scott Linebrink & Bobby Jenks throwing scoreless innings. All the while the Sox offense tacked on a couple to make the final 4-1. Pablo Ozuna drove in a run with a soft single to right with the bags juiced and Nick Swisher didn’t swish, but rather hit a grounder that drove in another. Ozuna was in for Joe Crede who was tossed after arguing that home plate is not ten feet wide. In two at bats Crede was called out on a ball six inches off the inside corner and then on a pitch six inches off the outside corner. He was ejected when he said, “Mr. Umpire, Sir, I beg to differ”.

Jose Contreras was in control of this game from the start, setting the tone, and you really got the feeling right for the start that he was not going to lose it.

Maybe the White Sox will win all of their games from here on out, what are the odds? What are the odds the Bulls would get the #1 pick in the NBA Lottery Draft with only a 1.7 percent chance? Being a season ticket holder for over 30 years I’m very excited about the possibility of getting point guard Derrick Rose!

A couple of lefties who’ve been getting clobbered this year faced each other for their respective clubs Saturday night, you guessed it, a pitcher’s duel. Mark Buehrle (1-5) for the Sox was matched up against Barry Zito (0-7) for the Giants. After two innings Chicago was leading 2-0, it looked like it was going to be easy, but those were the only runs Zito would allow through five innings of work. Barry dodged lots of bullets, allowing eight hits and six walks, but only two runs. San Fran scored a run in the 5th to cut the lead to one, but Chicago added an unearned run in the 6th and held on for a 3-1 win.

Mark Buehrle hit a basehit off the rightfield wall for a single. And he looked sharp on the hill. But once again it was the bullpen doing the trick as Octavio Dotel struckout the only batter he faced, while Scott Linebrink & Bobby Jenks worked the final two innings of scoreless baseball.

On to Sunday, break out the brooms! Matt Cain was pitching a no hitter against the Sox as the game entered the top of the 5th. Although still relatively early in the game, a no-no is always a definite possibility with Cain’s stuff, and a 1-0 lead on the strength of a Rich Aurilia homer was looking tough.

Just about the time I noticed the no-no was when the Sox bats woke up. First Joe Crede hit a 5th inning shot to knot the game at one, Orlando Cabrera broke the tie with a solo blast of his own the next inning, followed by a two run drive off Carlos Quinten’s bat, and then Cabrera did it again the next inning with a man aboard, to make the score 6-3 heading into the bottom of the 7th.

It was bullpen time, which early in the year meant trouble, but lately has meant lights out for the opponents. This time however, the pen couldn’t hold it for Sox starter John Danks. Erhren Wasserman was tagged for two runs and Matt Thornton let in another. Tied at six was where the game stood through seven.

Nick Swisher’s bases loaded two out bloop double to left alluded the leftfielder, clearing the bases, which once again put the game on easy street, as Octavio Dotel was brought on to preserve the victory, leading 9-6.

Dotel must’ve been listening to Take A Walk On The Wild Side, as he walked the bases loaded with nobody out. Ozzie Guillen summoned Nick “Houdini” Massett to get out of the jam, and he did, preserving a one run lead, 9-8. I guess the White Sox hitters aren’t fans of the Beach Boys as they scored four insurance runs off closer, brought in to keep the game close, Brian Wilson, which allowed Sox closer Bobby Jenks to sit back down, and watch Nick Massett to finish this one off 13-8.

Get out the brooms, Good Guys Sweep!