JUGGERNAUT

The guys at ESPN don't know s*** about the Sox. They prove that every year & every time they open their mouths to comment on them. Konerko leads the team in R. Frank won't clog the bases any more than Koney does. Their jobs are to "clear" the bases. That's worth the cost of their "clogging" the bases. If Reynolds did his hmwk he'd realize that Frank has a higher % of db's per ab's then any player on the Sox. On this team with Pods & Iggy getting on base that's going to equal more runs. If I were Ozzie I would set it up as follows: 1-Pods 2-Iggy 3-Everett\Thomas 4-Thomas\Koney 5-Koney\Dye 6-Rowand 7-AJ 8-Crede 9-Uribe When Everett sits Thomas hits 3rd. When Everett plays Thomas hits 4th. When Thomas sits Everett hits 3rd & Koney hits 4th. Dye never hits better than 5th. Everett-Thomas-Koney is a much stronger middle than Everett-Koney-Dye. Frank needs to be able to run good enough to hit doubles. Now that he's expect to miss NL play that's his bar for recovery.

I don't think it's all bad. Frank ran hard on Friday. That's what Herm wanted to see. They can treat the pain but they need to know what the threshold is. That can only come from Frank's willingness to run hard. He's showing that willingness. Pain & growth go hand in hand. So as much as it hurts the tendon is getting stronger. The Sox can use Frank at DH exclusively after Jun 12th. No more NL games after that. That lowers the bar for Frank's recovery.

That analysis makes NO SENSE whatsoever. Here's why: 1) It completely ignores the impact a healthy Frank Thomas will have on this team when he returns. Whether that be June or July it's definitely going to impact the team's OBP & SLG as well HR, R, & RBI. 2) Next it doesn't bother to look at how Garland has performed in his career month to month. If Garland does fall back to earth it's going to be something that resembles his career m-2-m #'s. The same can be said for all the pitchers. FYI: Garland owns a 3.66 era in May over the last 3 yrs. It's traditionally his best month. 3) It completely ignores the bullpen changes. 05 SP era (2.84), RP era (3.83) vs 04 SP era (5.17), RP era (4.31) Even if you make the claim the SP will fall back to earth to a 4 range era there's no reason to believe the RP will get worse. If anything we can expect it to get better. 4) It completely ignores the defensive improvements. Do I need to tell you were the White Sox ranked in DP's last year? They rank in the top 5 this year. 5) It completely ignores the intangibles (SB's, SH's, & SF's). Again all categories in which the White Sox are among the leaders this year & were no where close to that last year. 6) It ignores what the team is doing in RON situations. http://baseball.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batt...Type=2&type=reg RON .289A .325O .466S, 249AB, 76R, 72H 14DB, 10HR 116TB 71RBI, 19W, 16SB Let me give you the season totals so far: TOT .258A .298O .398S 643AB, 86R, 166H, 28DB, 1TP, 20HR, 256TB, 81RBI, 39W It's pretty obvious looking at the stats & watching the games that this team is getting it done in RON situations. Why should we believe this won't continue? 7) The R leaders: PK 11 (OBP 329), AJ 10 (OBP 283), JC 10 (OBP 343), SP 9 (OBP 383), WH 6 (OBP 429) 8) The Sox are 4 gms up on the Twins & 7 gms up on Det, Cle. You seem to have forgotten the miserable months of Jul & Aug in 04 when the Sox went 18W-28L. I didn't. If the Sox win 20 games in April that puts them on pace for 90 wins based on what they did the remaining 5 months in 04. There's no reason to believe they can't match that level of performance the rest of the way. 9) The Sox bench: 12 R, 5 RBI, 24 TB Harris has 6 R in 19 AB. Best % on the team. He's not going any where & as a sub Ozzie's able to marginalize him vs LH. The results: .500 / 1.000 VS. RIGHT: .353 / .774 10) Marte - so far in Apr he's as tough vs RH as he is vs LH. That's evidence of Marte 2003 who was dominant in the AL. They could concievably end Apr being 6 gms up on the Twins & 10 gms up on Det, Cle. Do you have any idea how hard it is for teams to make up 10 gms? So I emphatically disagree with this HofC analysis. It's just pessimistic BS. This team is 15-4 because the team is getting it done in RON sits & has the talent to keep that going. I disagree with the fall to earth belief in the SP. You have to see evidence of that first. So far I see a staff that has been made substantially better playing behind a much better defense. I don't see reason to believe that will change to a .400 winning %. And once again I will remind you of 1). As long as Frank is hitting on all cylinders going into Aug (when we play the Twins again) the White Sox are in no WAY going to post a .400 winning % in those final two months. By then they may have ridden this wave so high that Cle & Det can't hope to climb back into it. There is only 1 thing that will keep this team out of the playoffs: injuries. As long as the team remains healthy it should make the playoffs & as you said it may be designed to win in the playoffs. The past ALCS winners have proven that you need power, pitching, & defense to get to the WS. The emphasis on power. If Thomas can be our version of Ortiz we have all 3.

Zito has a 2.25 era at home this year, a 3.06 era vs CHW the past couple of yrs. He's going to be tough to beat. Garland will need another quality start to get it done.

Not in the first 19 games. We were 13-8 (7-1 in 1 run gms) in Apr, & followed that up with 16-12 (6-3 in 1 run gms) in May. But there's a big difference betw 04 & 05: era. 05 Apr (3.12) vs 04 Apr (4.35). 05 Apr (.258A, .697 OPS) vs 04 Apr (.281A, .829 OPS) Not too many 1 run victories behind quality starts in 04.

This will be the Sox toughest test to date. Tougher than the Twins series. Mon: LH Barry Zito (0-3, 6.94) vs. RH Jon Garland (3-0, 2.57); Tue: RH Rich Harden (2-0, 0.44) vs. LH Mark Buehrle (3-1, 2.61); Wed: RH Kirk Saarloos (1-1, 6.30) vs. RH Freddy Garcia (2-1, 3.21). Wed game is a day game so expect the subs again.

With respect to heckling & obnoxious fans I find it hard to believe these are White Sox fans. I know you think I'm just trying to clean off the eggs being thrown at my team in this thread but I'm talking about experience. I've been to over a 100 games in the past 5 yrs & I've yet to see real White Sox fans behave like this. I'm talking about the fans who wear Sox apparel to the game. They are clearly visible. The hecklers, smokers, & obnoxious fans in the sections I've sat in (1B & OF) are always fans of the other team. I've yet to attend one game where that was not the case. Sometimes you can quiet them down by talking baseball. You can respond to their hecklers with stats supporting the Sox & at the same time knock their team down a peg or two. I've actually witnessed times when this has quiet them down. As for my own crowd well it varies with the people I go with. None smoke cigars but some smoke cigarettes. They try to do it so it doesn't offend anyone. Like blowing the smoke directly up & holding it away from people. They always wait for an inning to end to get food. The kids are pretty good in that respect as well wrt to potty breaks. Despite all the b****ing & moaning in this thread the bottomline is that we need the fans. We rank among the worst in attendance in the league. That's not all about winning & losing because we have finished 2nd 4 straight yrs. If you look at the attendance of 2nd place divisional winners over those yrs our attendance looks worse. I think we need Bugs, Taz, Porky, Daffy, Batman, & Wonder Woman, & the rest of the DC & WB characters that we can borrow from Great America to capture the attention of the family fan ticket. The best way to cultivate a fan base is to grab them while their young. Boyer(sp?) should give GA a call.

Tonight the Sox will go for the major league consecutive games led record. They are tied w COL at 19. The Sox are now 9-1 this season in 1 run games. That's a polar opposite from their performance in such games from 2001-2004.

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/mlb/white-sox/ Thomas calls recovery 'Really frustrating' Thomas: "This is excruciating. After I run, it's just really, really sore. I ran the other day, and I ran hard, and it was really sore. I don't know what we're going to do now. Hopefully, we'll come up with something." McCarthy call-Up on tap if Contreras can't pitch Sox out to change luck in Oakland A�s starters to offer season�s toughest test White-hot White Sox arrive against slumping A's If we win 20 games in April the worst we can do is 90 wins. Right now Thomas getting hot in Aug & Sep is what the team will need the most. No need to risk that now.

For those who don't know, Marte faced a BL, 1 out sit in the B9th last night. A pitch got away from AJ. Marte quickly covered the plate. AJ flipped him the ball. He absorbed a collision from Diaz who was trying to score from 3B. Diaz came right into Marte's leg. He held on to the ball for the 2nd out. With RISP, 2 out he then struck out Marrero to end the inning. After Rowand gave him the lead in the T10th he had an easy B10th to earn the win. The White Sox should put together a media spot on that play. Show Marte at home plate & then show the strike out. That's better stuff than a hollywood script. It's tailor made for the Sox Pride campaign.

@ KC W3-2. RISP, 2 out LOB: 5. Marte 2W-0L on the year. Contreras: "I felt it pull a little bit. But right now, it feels OK. No big deal." ************************************************** How Marte earned his 2nd win: B9th, BL, 1 out. WP, Marte quickly covers plate, Diaz tries to score, AJ flipped the ball to Marte who then absorbed a collision from Diaz for the 2nd out. Marte then struck out Marrero to end the inning. That in my opinion will be the defining moment for the 2005 White Sox. One of your best RP's absorbing a collision at the plate to get the win. He still had RISP, 2 outs to get out of the inning & came back to get the strike out. Boosting his K/9 to nearly 11. ************************************************** Marte is showing strength vs RHers this year: Pitches 1-15 15AB .200A .400O .333S Pitches 16-30 11AB .182A .250O .545S vs. Right 17AB .176A .333O .412S vs. Left 10AB .200A .333O .400S But the bigger story in the pen is Politte: Pitches 1-15 15AB .067A .211O .067S Pitches 16-30 11AB .182A .182O .273S It's only April but Marte, Hermanson, & Politte are proving to be make the White Sox pen one of the best in the majors. As for the other 3: Vizcaino: Pitches 1-15 24AB .208A .240O .250S (amongst the best in the AL) Pitches 16-30 12AB .333A .429O .333S (Ozzie will learn) Shingo & Cotts are too bad to list, but I've seen progress of late in both. The bullpen is not the best yet but it is quickly maturing with confidence towards that goal. They can reach that goal. The talent is there. If that should happen we could very well see the first 100 win season in Chicago in the modern era of baseball. It's great to be a White Sox fan right now.

With 18 wins in Apr worst case is 88 wins. Best case 100+. Other teams have done it. Oakland's done it with less talent than we have. It's entirely possible we could finish with the best record in the majors. That's enough optimism for me

I wish they had a call-in segment because I would have given them something to chew on. We are on pace for 18 wins in April. If the next 5 months prove to be nothing more than 2004-esque we still finish with 88 wins. Looking at the standings in the ALE, & ALW that looks to be wild-card territory this year. So Brantley's an idiot. Now who really thinks this team will play no better than the 2004 team the next 5 months? I sure & hell don't. We'll get a fired up, hungrier than ever Thomas back in late May. Even if the pitching falls back to Earth if Thomas can play those 5 months that alone will make us better than the 2004 team. That alone is worth 5 wins more than the 2004 pace. That puts us at 93 wins. Now we're likely to win the division. You can't win a division in April but you can jump ahead of the pack to where injuries are the only thing that can keep you from winning. Eighteen wins in April will put us there.

On the ChiSox he's 3rd in RBI & 6th in TB. Pretty damn good for a 9 hitter.

ESPN is pissing me off. I can't believe their lame arse comments about our team. Some simple math even the guys at ESPN might understand. Win distribution: SP 10, RP 3. Projected Apr: SP 14, RP 4 2004 monthly: May SP 12, RP 4 Jun SP 9, RP 3 Jul SP 9, RP 2 Aug SP 10, RP 2 Sep SP 13, RP 6 Tot: SP 53, RP 17 = 70 wins If the team plays no better than the 2004 team the next 5 months it's still on pace for 88 wins. What's the likelihood of that happening? Slim. We should get Thomas back before the chi-town series starts & we have a much better rotation & bullpen than 2004. This team is capable of winning 100 gms this year & until we see evidence on the field to the contrary ESPN should just shut it's mouth if it doesn't have anything good to say about the ChiSox. In honor to the White Sox when this team racks up 50 wins going into JuL the guys at ESPN should put together a theme of crow being served around the table.

They learned nothing from drafting Spellman. Benson is a problem child RB. Williams is a proto-typical WR with stardom written across his resume. The Bears should have drafted down a few spots & used that pick to get Williams.

Excuse me? When did Ozzie trash Maggs? I've never heard one statement from him trashing Maggs' talent as a baseball player. In fact, Oz never said a bad word I've read that trashed Maggs as a person .. UNTIL .. Maggs started publicly trashing Oz. As for Lee the only negative thing he said was in reference to the play at 2B vs the Twins. Since then Lee has played harder for the Brewers. You don't hear any of this s*** from Lee. In fact in Lee's case you hear about all the talent the Sox were able to get in trading Lee. Lee's value was only increased in the league with those reports. I disagree with the assertion that if you leave Ozzie he's going to trash you. One player does not constitute a rule. Did he trash E-LO, Flash, Miles, Reed, & Valentin? And then there's the gas bag pc of s*** kotek boy. Bearing his all as well: http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay23.html "the White Sox are playing their most fun, cohesive, meaningful baseball in years. I don't care." This coming from a nationally known sportswriter from the 3rd biggest market. That's completely classless. If I were his editor I'd fire him on the spot if he didn't print a retraction. I can't think of a bigger diss of a team than this. There are plenty of worthy columnists that can fill that spot & help sell more papers than Kotek boy. There's no mistake here. They have proof-readers. He approved that. That wasn't off the cuff. There is some merit to criticism of Ozzie but Moronotti doesn't come close to mentioning the real cost of his rants. The Maggs-Ozzie thing is personal. The Ozzie-Cub hatred thing is personal. These rants don't cost the White Sox. They only help fuel a fan base that for the most part wants to hear tough talk from the Oz. But what he's said about Lee & Olivo does hurt the Sox. Ozzie's comments amounted to calling Olivo a terrible play caller & Lee gutless. That's not personal. That's baseball related. That hurts the White Sox. Whenever a manager talks poorly about ex players it hurts the franchise's trading status. You want the league to believe you nuture the best most marketable guys in the league. That enhances not only their individual value but more importantly the organizations. Ozzie's comments diminished that. That's what JR & KW need to stop. Olivo is a prime example. I still remember the Boss' comments in July. How Olivo was described by the media as an all-star in the making. Here you have the most influential man in MLB crediting the talent you have. Why tarnish that? Sometimes speaking off the cuff hurts more than it helps. Lee answered Oz's reference to being gutless with the hard slide into Walker. That one play was like damage control. I'm not a pyschologist but I will agree with the assertion that Ozzie is too caught up in the Sox inferiority complex. He's automatically on the defensive when it comes to trades, comparisons of players, etc. The best trade for any organization is one that helps both teams. This is common sense & everyone knows it. Even Ozzie. He needs to remember that.

It's also affecting how they pitch to him as well. His name is striking fear in the hearts of pitchers because they know if he gets on they'll need a great play or a great pitch to keep Guch, Jurrasic & Koney from an rbi. If they throw a WP or PB w Pods on 3rd, it's like a gimee in golf.

He speaks from the heart & the player's respect that. Consider his comments on Monday with respect to Thomas & how he felt sick to his stomach. The players hear that & know it's heartfelt. Now compare that with Maggs. The bottomline is (and I'm not afraid to say it) this team can win 20 games in April. That's unbelievable. He must be doing something right.

Last night was a message to the rest of the league: this team is not just built on pitching & defense. The talent is there to hit as well. If the opposition makes a mistake we will pounce. That's what happened last night. This is a tracking thread. The links are included so that you can look at them weekly & see how the Sox compare to the rest of the league. I firmly believe now they will lead the ALC in TB before it's over as well. Watching, reading, & just absorbing everything there is to know about this team is a fan's dream right now. The Sox look like a 100 win team. Mark mentions the team needs a losing streak to see whether it's good or not. Well that's not coming any time soon. This team is more poised to go on a thumping tear than a losing streak. J Uribe: He's heating up. Now 6th in TB (20), & 3rd in RBI (10) on the Sox. DYK? 1919 was the last time the Sox held the lead in their first 17 games. Colorado owns the ML record (19 gms in 2003). That's soon to fall. Start saving for the playoff tickets now.

I want to add that although Uribe is struggling at the plate he's still been pretty effective at moving runners over. That's something Val could not do. His DP & sacrfice bunt to move BOTH runners into scor pos for Pods was very important to Thurs win. The Sox are 7-1 in 1 run games. Over 1/2 their games. Uribe's played a major part in that. I wish they recorded inning ending DP's because I'm sure the Sox would lead the league in that category. They are only a few DP's away from leading the league as it is. But inning ending DP's are the most important. Especially when there is a runner on 3rd. The Sox have had a few of those sits & Uribe has come up big in them.

I learned a lot in today's columns: 1) The $70M offer sounds more legit. The $10M deferred does as well. I have no problem with the Sox setting there best offer at 70M/5 yrs w 10M deferred. Especially in light of what Delgado, Vlad, Drew, & Beltre signed for. Would any of those teams have made such an offer to these players after they went down with a knee injury? I don't think so. 2) Ozzie lobbied the Sox to put Maggs on 40 man roster in 1997. That's a big deal in my eyes. 3) Maggs lobbied against Ozzie being hired as manager. There must be something between them (possibly off-season Venezuela stuff) to cause that to happen. What a stark contrast to Belle, Burks, Johnson, Lee, Miles, Olivo, Jimenez, Alvarez, Fernandez, Foulke, & all the other ex Sox greats.

I think I included links to all the stats that define why we are 12-4. The intangibles have made a difference as well. The fact that we are only lagging a little behind the Twins in TB means are offense has been struggling but still effective. But if you were to narrow it down to one element of the game as to why the Sox are 12-4 I believe it has more to do with run-saving, jam-ending DP's than anything else. A timely hit does nothing to boost a pitcher's confidence but a rocket off the hand of Uribe does. Just about every arm on the team has benefited from one of these DP sits. Hermy yesterday was a prime example. If that DP isn't turned that's likely a bigger inning & a possible loss. The same can be said about many games this year. For me that's a really good thing, because that's something you can count on. It's a part of the dimension of the player. What's more is that the C's & pitchers will pick up on. Maybe even call the game to lean towards it. Having veteran experience in that dept helps as well. As for comparing him to Val there is none. Unless you look back to 2000. 2000 J Val 456A, 118DP, 36E 2003 J Val 395A, 96DP, 20E 2005 Uribe 54A 12DP - on pace for 540A, 120DP's This is just my opinion, but when a guy plays beyond the range of his talent he's prone to more errors. I would say that definitely described Valentin in 2000 & applies to Uribe in 2005.

Maggs has to be one of the dumbest ball players to play this game. Right now he is begin to come under scrutiny for a mysterious hernia problem. Some are thinking he's making more out of it than is really there to draw attention away from his knee problem. The contract can only be voided if he's on the DL for the knee problem or if he finishes the season on the DL for any problem. Since it's only costing the Tiggers $6M this year there's $69M riding on this. So what does he do? He continues to talk about his former team to such an extent that it's blatantly obvious to any one that he'd rather be playing in Chicago than Detriot. That's not exactly going to help build endearment from Tigger fans or management & considering they both are having doubts about his integrity & health that's something he really needs to do! As for Ozzie it's a no lose sit. The tougher he looks the better he looks. I can't believe I'm reading the stuff I am today pointing out to me just how stupid Maggs is. I'm glad he's gone. He's got some numbers that I think help explain why the Sox had trouble scoring runs consistently: (02-05) RON 3rd: .243A, .295O, .324S, .619OPS RON 2nd, 3rd: .217A, .269O, .478S, .747OPS RISP, 2 out: .296A, .405O, .485S, .890OPS (03 - His last good season) RON 3rd: .100A, .167O, .100S, .267OPS RON 2nd, 3rd: .111A, .100O, .222S, .322OPS BL: .286A, .286O, .500S, .786OPS RISP, 2 out: .263A, .364O, .421S, .785OPS When you're looking to pay a guy $15M a year you expect that guy to be the team leader in these sits. Maggs is/was never that guy. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlbhist/players/...=5889&year=2003 Take a look at Sox Losses vs Maggs hitless streaks. Apr 2 143A - Apr 11 308A : Sox 6W-4L ********************************** Apr 12 302A - Apr 30 280A : Sox 7W-10L May 1 295A - May 14 271A : Sox 5W-7L (That kind of a drop = hitless streaks) May 15 278A - Jun 11 267A : Sox 10W-15L The Sox were 22W-33L during Maggs weak hitting period. ********************************** Jun 12 268A - Jul 4 280A : Sox 13W-8L Jul 5 282A - Jul 30 327A : Sox 14W-8L Jul 31 323A - Aug 6 311A : Sox 4W-3L Aug 8 315A - Sep 28 317A : Sox 26W-22L He illustrates the BIG problem w the past teams: high dependancy on offense to compensate for great weakness in pitching & fielding. Defense is best measured by runs saved rather than runs given up. Runs saved is a measure of talent where as runs given up is a measure of sure hands. I'd rather have the talent over the sure hands.

I just want to plug my idea again of the White Sox cross-promoting with Great America. Bring the Looney Tunes to the games to boost family attendance. Bring the Sox players to Great America to boost family attendance. It seems to me they both can help each other out. As to the 7 yr old, Jim no offense but you were too nice. I've had similar situations with my family though they weren't 10 yr old boys with the happy feet they were teens. I've found it's best to be stern & direct. "Your kicking the seat. Knock it off." That usually takes care of it. But sometimes unrully Cub fans are behind us so you have to follow it up with "Either knock it off or I'll have you thrown out of the park." I've never had a problem with Sox fans but I do occassionally have problems with Cub fans, Red Sox fans, & Yankee fans that attend Sox games. I have an extra thing I add for obvious Cub fans (Wood jerseys are a dead ringer). "You are allowed to sit in that sit because we Sox fans take pity on you Cub fans. It takes just one motion to an usher by a Sox fan & you're out of here." Now of course my party's Sox apparel makes us dead ringers for being Sox fans. Seriously I've never needed to get physical over a kicked seat. "Knock it off" has been pretty effective. Where it gets physical is when there are hecklers (Cub, Red Sox, Indians). I guess I just always sit where the opposing fans do (OF, 1B). It's never gotten to push & shove but a little shouting & standing up. I'm trying to enjoy the ballgame & anything that gets in the way of that is something I'm going to deal with. Usually a good put down against the other team quiets things down