Antonio Osuna

I was at both of those Marlin games at the Cell in 2004. It was a great time. I got a McKeon authograph, as well as a Billy the Marlin autograph. The Marlin fans I met there were, to a man, stand-up guys who I enjoyed being with. The Marlin fans who go to school with me are also, to a man, stand-up guys.

That's what happened at the ALCS. Outside of Game 1, I saw a guy with a stack of tickets about an inch and a half thick, looking rather grim-faced as there was only an hour left before the first pitch. In the upper deck, there were a not insignificant amount of empty seats, which I assume were unsold scalp. I managed to get ALCS tickets online. Hopefully I manage it again. If not, let's hope the scalping bubble bursts again.

Hopefully the increased supply after tomorrow means that the price will go down. Hook or crook, I'm going to Game 1. If all else fails, I'm going to be outside the park the whole time.

This is essentially Man Soo's retirement now that he's done being the all-time HR leader in his homeland. I'd say it beats living in a home or Boca Raton.

Man Soo Lee really enjoys his life. Either that or he fakes it really, really well.

I really regret not going. I went to bed at 2:30, but was so hopped up on caffine and, well, joy that I couldn't get to sleep for hours. Then I had to wake up at 7:15. The few hours of sleep that I got were essentially useless. It would have been much more rewarding to take the short trip to Midway. Props to all those hardcore enough to show up at the airport at that early hour.

Anyone remember that article that our Cubbie-loving Governor "wrote" for Yahoo a few years back? The one that ended in "I wouldn't wear a Sox cap even if they made it to the World Serires"? The one that he officially blamed on a rogue ghostwriter? I wonder if he'll be sticking to it. I'd actually respect him more if he did; he's the phoniest bandwagoner ever. I'm very proud of my fellow Sox fans for booing him when he tried to throw out the first pitch at the Cell.

Remember, we're not in Detroit. A friend of mine called me after the game, saying he went to the park near the end of the game to see if anything was happening. There was too much background noise for me to hear him, so apparently there was something going on there. Here in Hyde Park, it was pretty quiet. There was one guy who kept driving around with one of those horns that play songs, beeping it over and over again.

I'll never call you a bum again, Crede. Promise. You've just joined Herbert Perry in the "Third Basemen I'll Never Criticize" club.

Casey Kotchman. Fun fact: Casey Kotchman will only have one AB in this inning. He cannot mathematically come up to bat again, for if he does that means the Angels have scored 4 runs. Somebody might want to check my math, though.

If there's one thing we're not good at, its getting runners in from third with no outs. Ridiculous.

Let's get a pile of insurance and turn Neal Cotts into a trivia question answer for the ages.

5 outs away, for what its worth.

We better see the bullpen in the bottom of the 8th.

Here comes K-Rod. Talk about going from the frying pan to the deep fryer.

This has been a heartbreaking game.

Looks like somebody wants Byrd available out of the bullpen for Game 7.

There's that "Byrd flu" again. Let's hope the Angels catch some sort of virulent tropical disease that's worse.

This is the first time he hit a ball past the infield, I believe.

21-16 we're winning the pitch count war.

Its my understanding that we scored in the first in every ALCS game we've won.

Resist the urge to hit into a double play, Paulie.

There's a young Japanese gyroballer who said he was interested in playing for the White Sox before this season, right after we signed Iguchi. According to Wikipedia, Greg Maddux throws a gyroball.

The White Sox AL Central Champions hat is the #1 selling item. Unfortunately, it is now out of stock.

I actually felt really good about the Jose/Byrd matchup the first time around. Perhaps I shouldn't have been; the Sox tend to do poorly against veteran junkballers. But the fact remains: the pitching matchups that favor us (Jose/Byrd, Buerhle/Washburn) we have either lost or won narrowly. The pitching matchups that favor Anaheim (anyone v. Lackey and Santana) we have won in a rather amazing manner. But we will now be faced with two matchups that once again -should- favor us. Can we finally hit a veteran junkballer not named Wakefield or Moyer? Can we pull an August 18, 2003 against Washburn?