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Moronotti flip-flops stance on Sox as expected...


Jabroni
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http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay21.html

"No joke: Sox definitely won't choke"

June 21, 2005

BY JAY MARIOTTI SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

 

You are a White Sox fan. You put worry on your hot dog with mustard and onions. You are a tortured soul, haunted by an ingrained paranoia that involves throwing a World Series since last winning one. Your team could have 100 wins by Labor Day, not beyond conception, and you'd fear the whole thing would crash in some sort of Disco Demolition/Tito Landrum/White Flag redux.

 

You sit in the house of comebacks and think it's a house of cards. You live in a world where the impossible is possible -- Michael Jackson is acquitted, the Red Sox win the Series, a Kiwi beats Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open, a squeaky-voiced singer sells millions of records with Coldplay -- and you still figure you're being suckered. You hear Darrin Jackson say the Minnesota Twins will have great difficulty catching your boys, and you insist he's jinxing them.

 

They should have Yoga Night at the ballmall. Or Valium Day. Because if you really want the honest poop from someone who would confirm any reason to freak out, I will state for the record today, on the bosom of Hawk Harrelson, that the Sox are crash-proof in this regular season. You may as well sit back and enjoy the next 3-1/2 months. They are not going to miss the playoffs.

 

Hear me? The aren't choking. Got that? They'll be playing in October.

 

Now I'm not making promises beyond that. As stated before, they need to be very active in the trade market -- another bat, another starter, another reliever -- and push that payroll beyond $80 million to survive an American League postseason that will include monster competition. I also realize there are forthcoming struggles in the second half. The Twins have the reigning Cy Young Award winner, a proven closer and gifted players in their everyday lineup. The Cleveland Indians have a terrific bullpen, a potent lineup that finally has awakened and enough quality starters to be dangerous. The Sox have 13 more games against the Twins, 10 against the Indians and still haven't played Boston or the Yankees.

 

Yet the stress brigade needs to chill. Numbers, after all, are numbers. After Monday night's 11-8 marathon win over improving Kansas City, the Sox are 47-22. If they slumped and turned to .500 stone the rest of the way, they'd still win 94 games. Even if they have been playing unbelievably over their heads, as we all suspect, they have mastered the art of team baseball -- starting pitching, speed, smarts, manufacturing runs, pushing the right buttons, all the things we laughed at in spring training -- to the point they're too far ahead of the game to gag as Chicago teams do.

 

As presently constructed, I don't yet see this club playing with bunting on the railings a few days before November. But when you see A.J. Pierzynski complete a Saturday rally with a defining walk-off homer and Aaron Rowand follow the next night with a late game-winning hit on national TV, you realize these amazing things have been happening for quite some time. As more tape is added to a lengthy highlight reel, the clubhouse cliches sound more believable.

 

''It's White Sox baseball,'' Ozzie Guillen said. ''We've been seeing this for a little while. It feels like something special is going to happen. We're used to this.''

 

''I definitely think we have a great chance,'' Pierzynski said of the postseason. ''One through 25, we're pretty solid. People bring up question marks about us, but we don't see it. We're not beating ourselves, and we do the little things very well. We don't quit. When the ninth comes, we say, 'Let's find a way.'''

 

Key stance by Williams

 

As the Sox collect wins at the same frequency as Frank Thomas collects homers, my thoughts turn to Kenny Williams. For all the buzz about Ozzieball, Williams made a very important leadership stand over the weekend. OK, so he's helpless when it comes to the flighty machinations of his boss, the Rev. Jerry Reinsdorf, who apparently aspires to be Bill Veeck late in life. Thanks to a license obtained online from the Universal Life Church Monastery of Modesto, Calif. -- I wish I were lying about this -- Reinsdorf is performing marriage ceremonies on the ballmall's Fan Deck for couples desiring the scratch-and-spit ambience of a U.S. Cellular Field wedding.

 

Maybe this makes him a candidate to relocate to Vegas and work at the infamous Little White Wedding Chapel, the place to be whenever Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Dennis Rodman or even Tom Cruise wants a quickie.

 

''Speak now or forever hold your peace,'' the Rev. Jerry will say.

 

''This is a same-sex marriage. Will Carl Everett get mad?'' someone might reply.

 

The owner's unique hobby aside, what we're finding out about Williams during an eventful, wildly successful season is that he's the resident rock. He's the one watchful soul who is keeping an equilibrium and not letting anyone get out of control about a start that is exactly that: a wonderful start.

 

Just call him 'wary sheriff'

 

The general manager has every right to float in a euphoric haze with the rest of Soxdom, having pulled off an astonishing offseason makeover and watching his bold creation manufacture magical late-inning wins. But rather than bask, he plays the role of a wary sheriff, realizing no one recalls who had the majors' best record in mid-June. As he has stated often, Williams' goal is to purge ''1917'' from the franchise consciousness, his way of saying he wants to beat the Cubs to the punch and become the first Chicago ballclub in eons to win a Series. But he also knows that won't happen this fall without a certain focus and professionalism.

 

And last week, he heard some things from his hired hands that he didn't like, things he had no reason to like. Just as we give Williams props for recognizing the failures of his first four seasons and revamping the franchise's culture, we credit him for instantly snuffing out the needless headline-grabbers.

 

As if everyone was auditioning for a talk show on the Sox' new radio home, a blitz of controversial opinions rocked the city. Everett condemned homosexuals and ripped fans, among other rants. Buehrle insinuated that a veteran Cub pitcher with plenty of success -- an apparent cheap shot at 311-game winner Greg Maddux -- uses an illegal substance. Then Guillen, only a week after accusing Angels pitcher Brendan Donnelly of illegally going to his mouth on the mound, followed with a typical Blizzard of Oz contradiction: It's perfectly fine to cheat as long as a pitcher get away with it. ''I'll help them cheat,'' he said. ''As long as they win games, I hope they cheat.''

 

We all were looking for muzzles. Williams provided them, thank you very much.

 

''There is a way you choose to win and have success, and, honestly, we have slipped in that area in the last week,'' he said. ''I prefer us to handle it with style and a certain amount of grace. We should leave world politics and all the other trappings that none of us is qualified to expound on -- we should leave those alone and focus on baseball."

 

Soothing words, soothing results. What more does a Sox fan need to believe?

He does make a great point about DJ's jinxes. Damn, everyone seems to know that DJ is a moosh. :lolhitting

Edited by Jabroni
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I'm still holding my breath. Too many things can happen in sports. The US Open was over Saturday Night. A couple injuries and we're watching the Twins and the Indians in our rear view mirrors.

 

The team is starting to make believers of the doubters. One by one. I don't expect anyone but the rapid fans to believe that this team was going to be the best in baseball. They are the surprise team n doubt about it.

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As stated before, they need to be very active in the trade market -- another bat, another starter, another reliever --

 

I am convinced that Mariotti never watches games, he only reads boxscores and messageboards.

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QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jun 21, 2005 -> 11:13 PM)
He just wants to push the idea of spending a lot of money so he can bash Reinsdorf later in the season if he doesn't do it.

Once again I present to the good people, the Jay Mariotti School of Thought;

 

"Ooooohhh Ken Griffey Jr. makes over $60 million over the next 4 seasons. He must be a great player. JR is a douchebag if he doesn't trade for him"

 

"Joe Randa? How much does he make? Typical deadline acquisition from KW and JR."

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Once again I present to the good people, the Jay Mariotti School of Thought;

 

"Ooooohhh Ken Griffey Jr. makes over $60 million over the next 4 seasons. He must be a great player. JR is a douchebag if he doesn't trade for him"

 

"Joe Randa? How much does he make? Typical deadline acquisition from KW and JR."

Some people here actually think that Griffey would be a great acquisition. :puke

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Moronotti is a typical chicken s*** columnist. He'll make the prediction now that we'll make the playoffs?? Now that we can go .500 here on out and still make it?? That's not even a prediction it's almost a fact. So thanks for pointing out the obvious there Jay..you're a real risk taker.

 

I think it would be actually painful for him to just write an article that is 100% positive. There's something inside him that just says ...let me be a dick just a little bit. Let me bring up Everett, Buehrle, Guillen, Reinsdorf, which I already wrote about, but need something s***ty to say here.

 

Let me say they need a starter, reliever, and a bat so later, if they lose in the playoffs, I can say..."I said they needed to get blank "

 

How about having some f***in accountability instead of just saying...they'll make the playoffs. Anybody can say that now. So it means nothing.

 

How about the sox will win the ALCS or the world series? How about the sox won't make the playoffs. or they wont win the ALCS? How about something, anything, to get you from talking s*** from the middle of the fence and jump down to one side of it. We don't care if it's not OUR side..in fact we'd probably like it better that way...just pick one.

Edited by Controlled Chaos
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May 25 - Ozzie's ranting is a cry for respect

June 6 - Ozzie needs Big Frank, like it or not

June 14 - Truth be told, Sox need bold deals

June 16 - Everett's Big Mouth not what Sox need

June 21 - Sox definitely won't choke

 

BANDWAGON

a popular trend that attracts growing support; "when they saw how things were going everybody jumped on the bandwagon"

 

Sense a pattern here? ;)

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QUOTE(sayitaintso @ Jun 21, 2005 -> 10:50 AM)
I would love it if Marriotti could stay with a team for an entire year. He is a band-wagon jumper.

 

Only if that team is in China. Maybe he can move there and insult everyone in his path there. Im sure the Communist regime will appreciate his candor and non-bias.

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He is not a band-wagon jumper. Don't you see his sarcasm in this piece? It's yet another hatchet job to difuse the excitement White Sox fans are feeling.

 

He's an unhappy Cub fan who is jealous of what you the White Sox fan are feeling right now. So in the midst of your celebration of homer happy Monday night he throwing cold water on your head by mentioning every negative thing that's occured he could think of. That's not a band-wagoner. That's a Grinch. He would like nothing more than to steal this season from you.

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QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Jun 21, 2005 -> 10:59 AM)
He is not a band-wagon jumper.  Don't you see his sarcasm in this piece?  It's yet another hatchet job to difuse the excitement White Sox fans are feeling.

 

He's an unhappy Cub fan who is jealous of what you the White Sox fan are feeling right now.  So in the midst of your celebration of homer happy Monday  night he throwing cold water on your head by mentioning every negative thing that's occured he could think of.  That's not a band-wagoner.  That's a Grinch.  He would like nothing more than to steal this season from you.

 

I tend to think he is starting to run behind the bandwagon right now. He always catches on before its too late. He isnt on the bandwagon, but he is getting close. If the Cubs get demolished next weekend, he will be driving the bandwagon. He did the same thing when the Cubs went to the playoffs in 03, it is just taking him a little while to fall off the Cubs bandwagon.

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i don't know how you guys deal with him on a regular basis. whenever i see him on around the horn, i turn the channel. he's so slimy. i put the show on, a topic is being discussed by some other blowhard, and mariotti starts making that, "you're a moron and here comes the right answer as soon as you shut up" face. he really needs to get the clap.

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QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Jun 21, 2005 -> 11:04 AM)
I tend to think he is starting to run behind the bandwagon right now.  He always catches on before its too late. He isnt on the bandwagon, but he is getting close. If the Cubs get demolished next weekend, he will be driving the bandwagon.  He did the same thing when the Cubs went to the playoffs in 03, it is just taking him a little while to fall off the Cubs bandwagon.

 

When you see him grab the bandwagon to jump on, stomp the hell out of his hands. That will keep him off the bandwagon, and keep him from typing for a while. :)

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QUOTE(YASNY @ Jun 21, 2005 -> 11:11 AM)
When you see him grab the bandwagon to jump on, stomp the hell out of his hands.  That will keep him off the bandwagon, and keep him from typing for a while. :)

 

I was planning on chopping off his fingers so he cannot grab on and he also cannot type. 2 birds, 1 stone.

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