Al Lopez's Ghost

It's just another game. It would be nice to win, but even if we do, Cub fans are still gonna be jerks. That's not gonna change. We will win or lose the division based on how we play against our division. There's a lot of games left. I'd actually say Thursday's game is more important, in the sense that Contreras must get better than he has been recently, or it's gonna be a lot harder for us the rest of the way.

Just got a copy of The Game of My Life, a new book by Lew Freedman. He has interviewed 28 White Sox personalities (25 players, plus Chuck Tanner, Roland Hemond and Nancy Faust), and each person talks about his (or her) most memorable game. It covers the 1959 team (Landis, Staley, Pierce, Rivera, Lown), some of the sixties (Peters, Horen, Ward, Melton) through the 2005 team. You might be able to guess Posednik's best game. Anyway, I started reading it yesterday and it's very enjoyable. The publisher is Sports Publishing, L.L.C., I got it on Amazon.

Here's the link to the story. It's working now. http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1015848,062008hood.article

Today's Southtown has an article about a Sox bar at Lincoln and Belden called Halligan's. It's a true Sox bar, owned by a Fireman with southside roots. The link isn't working so I can't post the article itself. The bartenders are mostly Firefighter's daughters who grew up in Beverly, Mount Greenwood, and Bridgeport and the owner bans the token Cub fan waitress from wearing any Cubs gear. So this must be the place. I've emailed the Southtown to tell them the link is broken. Search under Halligan's and maybe the link will be fixed.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jun 18, 2008 -> 09:40 PM) I did not realize this, but entering tonight, Crede's splits: vs. left .100 (5 for 50), .211 OBP, .120 SLG, .331 OPS with 1 RBI, 6 walks, and 7 k's vs. right: .337/.401/.663/1.064 in 175 AB's. 15 HR, 34 RBI, 17 walks, 24 k's. Strange, as his career left/right splits are almost dead even. what I'd like to know is has anyone ever seen Crede's stats for say, the first 4 or 5 innings of games versus the last 4 or 5? It's gotta be way different.

You'd want Owens and his speed for the games in the NL parks, with Swisher of course moving to first. If Owens hits, maybe he can win an extended role. If he doesn't you could explore other options when we get to use the DH. In any case I really can't see Fields on this squad with Crede and Thome.

Today's Denver Post speculates that Pods' future could be with the - believe it or not - Cubs.

So you would play Lofton and sit who? Q? Swisher? Dye? Thome? If Lofton were a second baseman, it would make more sense. So, what I am saying is.... But where would he play?

Loiaza is a mopup guy, someone to eat innings in blowout wins or losses. That's his role, and it's an important one. It lets you save Dotel, Thornton, Logan, and to a lesser extent, Masset for when you need them most. So don't sweat whether he hits 83 or 86. His pitch speed isn't really important.

I believe we have won 19 out of our last 25. Do nothing until you have to.

This is from Scott Reifort's blog. Guaranteed to make you feel good. As rain came down in waves yesterday, Lee Stern, a member of the White Sox board, spotted three lone sailors sitting in the center field stands. "We need to do something for those guys," Stern said. So we grabbed the three, brought them in out of the rain (no need for North Atlantic Training at a ballgame in June) and invited them up to Jerry Reinsdorf's VIP suite to watch the game. The three, one from Chicago, the other two seeing their first MLB game, had just graduated from boot camp and were enjoying a weekend off downtown.

Garza shook off Dioneer Navarro a couple of times, and then throws a gopher ball. Navarro goes to the mound and starts reading Garza the riot act. Garza puts his glove over his mouth and is obviously firing back. Inning over, and they go all Zambrano-Barrett in the dugout. Watch BBTN, it's really unusual stuff.

Let the Pirates pick him up, and he'll hit a couple of game winning hrs against the Cubs.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 08:57 AM) I'm coming up to see Saturday's game. What's the weather forecast for Saturday? Weather.com is showing isolated thunderstorms, high of 88, low of 68. Chance of Sox victory 95%.

Friday night Konerko hit the ball hard three times, including the home run. Before that DJ and Hawk said that PK was having better BPs. Maybe Ozzie saw the same thing. Besides, who ya gonna put in for PK? We're not exactly brimming with hitters on the bench. I do think Ozzie has double standards, but I think the Uribe problem from a couple of years ago was that Ozzie felt Uribe was stringing him along.

Iguchi's range was lacking, and I'm sure it has declined some more. I did have the Padres game on the other afternoon, tho, and he hasn't made an error since last June or something. Still happier with our choices at second without him. Thanks for the homer against Wells, tho, Tad.

I read today that Comcast will be broadcasting a replay of the game in its entirety after midnight.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 28, 2008 -> 11:42 PM) That would be sweet to miss Zambrano. If we both are in first place those will be huge games. Look for bench clearing brawl in first game if both teams are in first. Only if AJ puts his face in the way of a fist.

Today's Sun Times reports that the game will start at 5:05 (central time) and the Fox exclusivity doesn't end until 6:05. Tampa Rays will not change the start time because of a concert booking. So Comcast will run a special ticker until they can join the game. So that will be a little weird.

Cowley raises a familiar name. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/wh...T-sox21.article

It's not really news anymore when Buehrle is hit around - it's news when he's effective. He was 12-13 in 2006 for a team that was 18 games over .500. Last year he was 10-9. This year we all know. Signing him last year to that contract was a sentimental mistake, a bad baseball decision. The best you can realistically hope for is that he will be a little over or under .500, sort of a fourth starter, through the end of this contract. And I think he's a great guy, great in the clubhouse, etc. Just not a great pitcher anymore.

Robin Ventura will sub for Stone on radio this weekend.

QUOTE (ChWRoCk2 @ May 8, 2008 -> 10:53 AM) Is this official? Not posted on any mlb related site. It's in Reifert's blog.

The migraine was no smokescreen - if he could have pinch hit for Ozuna with the game on the line last night he would have. No trade discussion would get in the way of that situation.

Look at the list of starting pitchers KW has traded away: Sirotka, Garcia, McCarthy, Loaiza, Wells, Fogg. If Garland rebounds to form, he'll be the first one to come back and bite Kenny. If I'm a GM, I'd think twice about taking a starting pitcher from KW.