Gregory Pratt

I went through the Sports Illustrated commemorative edition of the White Sox in 2005. It was lost in an old bag that I recently had to go through to find some things I'd stashed in there that I had to return. (Old books. Seriously!) In it, there's a look at Ozzie's days with Montreal where it says he once turned in an end-of-the-year-player-review by only reviewing four players because "they're the only ones that can play." That is how he must feel right now. Can't say I blame him. This isn't his type of team. Or any manager's, really. Power relievers that have no power or control; power hitters with no power; a lineup with no speed; hitters who don't know how to bunt. Anyway, I thought it was pretty interesting.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jun 13, 2007 -> 02:32 PM) Enjoy the park. It's beautiful. Alas! Beaten to the punch by thou!

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Jun 13, 2007 -> 02:30 PM) I am glad I decided not to go to the Philly series. Too bad I have tickets for Pitt. PNC is beautiful. Go enjoy that!

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 13, 2007 -> 02:22 PM) Its not like he was our 9th OFer or anything... Dye Podsednik Anderson Sweeney Erstad Ozuna Mackowiak Terrero When you are down to that level, its not going to be pretty. Yeah, I know. I'm disappointed that anyone would think that anyone thinks Owens is a viable future player.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 13, 2007 -> 02:18 PM) At least I found the only manager worse than Ozzie....the National League Ozzie. Tony LaRussa? They're not idiots. I'm sure neither one of them genuinely believes that Owens is a genuine major leaguer.

Uribe was all right. I'm not mad at him for his play. It was a high slow chopper.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ Jun 13, 2007 -> 01:28 PM) Owens really does not need to be in the major leagues

Well, yeah, that was the point I was making. I listed a few guys who are perceived to be "trouble" and said, "He's nothing like these guys. Whereas they're loudmouths at worst, he's a potential killer and a thug and an idiot."

Contreras could never pitch out of the bullpen. He's got too much of a pre-game schedule.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jun 13, 2007 -> 01:10 PM) Are those comments by Lasorda or something? I'm confused. Ozzie Guillen's out of control again. Yes they're by Lasorda.

I hate the Philly Phanatic. In fact, I am not very happy about mascots in general. I think they take away from the game on the field. One of the worst incidents was perpetrated by the Phillie Phanatic. The Dodgers were in town to play the Phillies and somehow, it got ahold of one of my jerseys. It took the jersey, put it on a dummy and ran over the dummy again and again. That type of a display should not be shown in ballparks, especially in front of children. It exhibits violence and disrespect. I pulled the Phanatic aside and said, “Why don’t you run over a dummy with a Phillies jersey?” I called the front office of the Phillies and told them how I felt. They can play with kids in the stands, but running over the dummy was simply wrong, and that kids would get the wrong impression. Apparently, they didn’t care. The next time we were in Philadelphia, I confronted the Phanatic. I told it not to use my jersey anymore, and so the next time he did, I was forced to act. I went right up to it and body slammed it to the turf. I often wondered how it got my jersey, and then I found out how. Steve Sax would give it the jerseys because my players thought it was a funny thing to do.

Danks swings better than Uribe and Owens. Owens is brutal. What happened with Buehrle and the fanatic?

Bad pitcher versus bad offense. How thrilling

IMO, that's a fluke.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 13, 2007 -> 09:34 AM) I'll have to disagree with the bolded part. This team has tons of talent. That's part of what makes it so frustrating. Everything else, though, I have to agree. Even if this team were playing to its potential! (whatever the hell that means), it'd still be a one-dimensional team because we have so many slow guys so we can't put on hit-and-runs and we can't steal bases and we can't stretch singles into doubles or hit too many doubles and we need a homer or an extra base-hit + an outfielder to fall down to score runs.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 13, 2007 -> 07:40 AM) All I know is, all of these things... is directly the fault of George W. Bush and his neo-con adminstration's policies. There's a lot of little things simmering, that's for sure. I'm glad to see you finally criticize the Administration.

Nobody has the right to not be offended. I do think it's a little classless to be so loud. Can't get too excited over this.

This is a non-story. Baseball players being a little uncouth? Why, I never! QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jun 13, 2007 -> 06:21 AM) The Article clearly stated there wasn't any racist being said. What does DJ have to do with this? Did you mean Dye? So you think the 5 white guys at the table would be making racist comments if JD wasn't there? I remember Pierzynski teasing JD last ST by telling him something about "oh, I'll speak to you in Ebonics if you want." (It was public, in the news.) They were, of course, playing with each other. If there were racist things being said, my guess is they'd be in good -- if maybe inappropriate -- humor. Unfortunately anytime race gets involved, someone's bound to get offended. If it is indeed true that there was nothing racial said at all, then I'm even more amazed that anyone would make a big deal about a f*** or a s*** or a goddamn. There are so many whiney people on this Earth

He'd probably still be pretty expensive. TB is nuts.

Oh, I agree. But I'm just saying a. Josh Fields is not and will never be Alex Gordon and b. Ozzie isn't the first or the last or the worst or the only manager to play veterans over rookies. It happens all the time with almost every manager.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 13, 2007 -> 12:36 AM) Or he could just f***ing play the future of the franchise everyday at 3B. He's going to f*** around with Fields for the rest of the year and by the end of the season they still won't know what the f*** they have in Josh. This is exactly why I don't want Ozzie around when the rebuilding starts up, he has a set way of dealing with struggling rookies, play the s***ty vet who can't play worth a lick every other day until the rookie starts to get pissed off then claim he has attitude problems and send him back to AAA. I don't give a s*** if Fields can't hit a fastball right now or when he takes a s*** in the clubhouse it smells up the place with Joe Crede about to go under the knife I want Fields at 3B everyday, that's the only way they're going to know if they have something in Josh. Enough of this playing vets over rooks bulls*** Josh needs to play every day to prove he can hang at the highest level. Every manager does that. Especially with struggling rookies. I let Josh play. I think Ozzie will, too, but I'm just saying he won't be the first. Not just Dusty Baker but Ron Gardenhire.

There's a case for both but I prefer Buehrle's, both because of Less Batters and because he's a White Sock.

BULL! (Maybe I'm an idiot, or misreading, but I see Buehrle's game as the top game there. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

George W. Bush does things just because he believes it's "The Right Thing to Do." Bin Laden does it. Paris Hilton...doesn't. But the point is, people do "the right thing" very, very often in high office. It's not always the right thing, but they believe so. Not always, but it is more often than you think. I love Reagan's four famous words. I admire Reagan in a lot of ways.

Just so we're clear: Ozzie is a big part of the average fan's love of this club. People love Ozzie. So if we're talking about attendance + moves that might hurt it, Ozzie is paramount. One must imagine Ozzie managing. QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Jun 12, 2007 -> 10:59 PM) I'll blow my brains if Jenks is dealt this season. I'll hold you to that.