TLAK

QUOTE(Tmar28 @ Feb 13, 2005 -> 12:47 PM) you lost by a minute except you have a link i'll call it a draw I think we need a merge.

Sox.Com Press Release

Here's an earlier photo.

I just replayed the 9th inning from the Cleveland game where he gave up the 3 run homer to Lawton and blew the game on MLBTV. The Indians used 6 consecutive LH hitters against him. Oz needs to use the rest of the bullpen to get the other manager to burn out his bench before the 9th or else use Marte to force a PH righty in those situations. Then the Gong Show. Look at Shingo's splits: Split ERA G IP H R ER HR BB SO vs Left-handed Batter 4.45 52 28.1 23 15 14 5 11 19 vs Right-handed Batter 0.53 57 34 17 2 2 1 10 31

Juggernaut you get me so confused my head spins. Here is the Sox schedule by month. The 19's this year are actually Detroit and Cleveland. I'm hoping for 92 wins and feel that to make the playoffs they will need to go about 45-29 in the division. This leaves them 47-41 against the rest of baseball. 92 will only hold up if enough come against Minny to hold them down. They have to play good ball all year to win 92. Go 1-8 Vs somebody like Oakland and it's too much to make up. I look forward to a fun season where all the games have meaning. Opponent Total APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT Anaheim 10 6 1 3 Arizona 3 3 Baltimore 8 4 3 1 Boston 7 4 3 Cleveland 19 6 3 4 4 2 Colorado 3 3 cubs 6 3 3 Detroit 19 4 1 3 3 8 Kansas City 18 3 3 3 3 6 Los Angeles 3 3 Minnesota 18 5 6 7 New York 6 6 Oakland 9 3 6 San Diego 3 3 Seattle 9 3 6 Tampa Bay 6 3 3 Texas 9 6 3 Toronto 6 3 3 Total 162 24 29 25 26 28 28 2 Off Days 20 3 2 5 5 3 2

I have a Buddy who is a big cub fan and Sox basher. He sent me this image with "Sox announce new wristbands. The first 10,000 fans will receive these commemorative wristbands. -- Oh wait, they did this last year." I thought it was pretty imaginative, for a pud.

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Feb 11, 2005 -> 10:52 AM) The White Sox enjoyed a mini revival under Manager Jimmy Dykes. The original owner Charles Comiskey died in 1931 and the franchise was bottoming out. Comiskey had rebuilt his franchise into a winner once in the WW1 era and was confident he could do it again. Alas, it was not to be. The Black Sox scandal just buried the organization. His son J. Louis Comiskey did a good job of making the Sox competitive again. Dykes was a big part of it. Unfortunately the Sox couldn't quite get over the hump (sound familiar?) and J. Louis died in 1939 IIRC. The Sox had decent teams in 1940 and 1943 but the widow of J. Louis was penurious and by the late 40's the White Sox were again a near comatose franchise. Then the Chuck Comiskey (grandson), John Rigney, Frank Lane team took control and the White Sox ultimately won a real pennant. That's a story for another time I guess. By the way, absolutely great post by TLAK. Thanks to all for the compliments. Yossarian, I think the problem with Charles Comiskey is that he was a creature of an earlier era. He was born in 1859 -before the Civil War- and played in the 1880’s. By the 1920’s the good teams had gone big league, spending money on unproven talent to make money later, developing players. Comiskey regarded the White Sox as if they were traveling musicians, which is how they had put teams together in the 80’s and 90’s. Like you would put together a good 16-inch softball team today. Before the farm team system and player draft, clubs would find a guy they liked and reach a gentleman’s agreement with a minor league team to play him in return for handling part of his salary, which was pennies. The minors would also find guys on their own, develop them and sell them to the bigs. Some teams had scores of players on the come plus scouts covering every little Podunk Junction looking for talent to sign before anyone else got wind of them. A lot of money. The Old Roman resisted all this, the young talent he got were guys everybody else rejected because he wouldn’t spend a nickel unless the fellow was on the roster. Even on the big team, his cheapness was legendary and, I believe, was a major factor in the Black Sox scandal. Again this was a throw back to the pre-major league days, when he was treated that way and everybody treated players like that. Comiskey was just as unsuccessful using the methods of the 1890’s in the 1920’s as Bill Veeck was trying to use the methods of the 1940’s in the 1970’s.

QUOTE(Leonard Zelig @ Feb 10, 2005 -> 05:18 PM) Will somebody please explain why Everett is called Jurassic on the site? I think this was the story that did it, remember this was the period when Eastern media were demonizing him. Vintage SI article

With little going on until spring training, I’ve been reading up on Jimmy Dykes, a White Sox manager from 70 years ago. Dykes autobiography is “You Can’t Steal First Base”, out of print but easily find-able on the web. A lot about Jimmy reminds me of Ozzie Guillen. Dykes was a better ballplayer than Oz and starred on the great Philadelphia A’s World Series championship teams of ’29 and ’30. At age 36, he was sold to the White Sox after the 1932 season in what amounts to a salary dump. He played 6 seasons with the Sox, becoming player manager in 1934. He managed them into 1946, getting fired after 30 games. He was 899 - 940 overall with the Sox, despite some very bad teams. He later managed 5 other teams, ending in 1961, but never won a pennant. Jimmy Dykes demanded that his players keep their heads in the game and got rid of guys who didn’t. The talented Zeke Bonura drove him nuts. One time Dykes called on him to sacrifice and Zeke stood there staring dumbly at the 3rd base coach. After several repetitions, Dykes finally climbed to the top step and shouted ‘BUNT, B-U-N-T”. Zeke got the bunt down and Dykes laid down on the dugout bench and sobbed. Dykes traded him to Washington. When the Senators next came to Comisky his coaches asked if they should change the signs, Jimmy said, “He didn’t know ‘em when he was with us. Why should we change ‘em now?” During the game Bonura reached third. A mosquito landed on Dykes nose so he swatted it away with his scorecard, the Sox steal sign, Bonura took off and bowled over the catcher. Ozzie doesn’t take guff from anyone, getting suspended for his run in with Hunter Wendelstedt, son of famous umpire Harry Wendelstedt, when he told Hunter he was not a pimple on his fathers behind. During the suspension, he called Wendelstedt a liar and got suspended again. Dykes earned a suspension for ‘abusive language’ to an umpire. He appealed to the commissioner “I may have sworn at him, but I was telling the truth”. One time Jimmy Dykes was stalling a game and changed pitchers, he slowly walked to the mound to get the ball. Umpire Cal Hubbard waved to the bullpen for a lefty. Dykes protested he wanted a righty but couldn’t risk a forfeit because the Sox didn’t have the $1,000 fine, so he went with the Ump’s pitcher. Umpire Joe West did almost exactly the same thing to Guillen, prompting Mark Buehrle to tape large L and R’s on Ozzie’s warm up jacket. Jimmy confronted a player who blew curfew “What time did you get to bed last night?” The player answered “I was in bed by midnight.” Dykes said, “Who’s bed?” Jimmy Dykes said, “When you're winning, beer tastes better.” Ozzie's version is ‘When you win the beer tastes better”. On his years managing the White Sox, Dykes summed it up as “I’d had fun everyday”. Ozzie says ‘Winning is fun and fun is winning” Jimmy Dykes died in 1976. I hope Ozzie gets the pennant that always eluded Jimmy, that he keeps having fun and we keep having fun along side him.

Welcome home Heather! I think the plan is to say El Duke is one of the big three, manuever him around so he gets big starts, but at the same time see that he gets most of the off days. If healthy then Mark, Freddie and Jon should be around 200 innings, El Duke around 150 and Jose will depend on how well he goes.

As a Catholic on this Ash Wednesday, I just want to thank God for not putting meat in beer.

QUOTE(JimH @ Feb 9, 2005 -> 08:30 PM) Notice mine was in green, his wasn't. Mine should have been green too.

QUOTE(quickman @ Feb 10 @ 2005 -> 01:08 AM) Your so sweet. QUOTE(JimH @ Feb 9, 2005 -> 07:13 PM) I Love You Get a room.

Bad for the Sox, good for Grilli. He didn't figure to break with the team and would have been AAA insurance. The Tigers starters figure to be Mike Maroth and Jason Johnson as locks, then probably Jeremy Bonderman, Wilfredo Ledezma and Nate Robertson. I consider Maroth and Johnson to be nice MLB pitchers and the other guys promising but erratic -except against the Sox. If Jason shows he can keep the Tigers in most games, which is basically what he did last year, I think he will have a chance to stick. Alan Trammel has shown he will move starters in and out looking for a hot hand. MLB minimum beats AAA money any day of the week. Smart decision by Jason, I hope he does well against everyone but the White Sox.

QUOTE(ptatc @ Feb 8, 2005 -> 06:35 PM) As I recall the I Rod contract did stipulate that if he was on the DL due to his back prolems. I think the Maggs contract specified the left knee. Let's be cynical...what if his knee is hurting and he doesn't want to blow the contract. He just twists his ankle and the team puts him on the DL due to it and not the knee. I've seen patients who break a bone in thier ankle on an ATV on Sat. wrap it up, sneak into work on Mon and claim workers comp so they lose money. I'm not saying he would but if I was the Tigers I would watch everything closely. 75-105 million is alot of money. Side bar, my brother was a plumber building a hospital and the GC started having all the trades do Fue Shung or whatever its called, first thing in the AM. You know you have to stand on one foot and stretch, then the other etal. Everyone thought it was just BS until they found guys all torn up from softball or brawls couldn't do it. Doh!

QUOTE(silver and black @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 10:27 PM) Little o-t, but what will we do with O-E-O sound bit? Play it when he walks back to the dugout after a K.

Any one hear anything about Jason? It's been 10 days since he was designated. Nothing on Roto, or MLB transactions. I don't see him making the team outright, but he he could be pretty handy to have in Charlotte if somebody gets hurt.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Feb 6, 2005 -> 10:49 PM) where the hell is addison? Its around Rte 83 and the Ike. Juggs: The old home plate is across 35th street in the parking lot, it's still there. You're right that the new park was indeed turned to fit the property, and IIRC the decison was made by the Illinois Authority, rather than the Sox. It would be cooler to see the sky line over the OF walls, but I hope the team plays well enough to focus our attention on the field.

Thank you for clearing that up Heads22.

Rather than a couple of players, I think the key will be team aggressiveness at the plate, on the bases, in the field and on the mound. They must not sit back and wait for a rally. They have to go for every run they can get, any way they can get it. They still have pretty good boppers in the order and some days they will carry the team. But the Sox should no longer lay back and wait for it. Lead off walk, steal, bunt and fly ball = run. Playing this way will get the hitters better pitches to hit and make the power they still have even better. Distract pitchers, get fielders watching the runner instead of the ball. Force mistakes. On defense they shouldn’t automatically take the safe play and trade a run for an out because that might be the run that beats them. Run down gappers and challenge runners going for two. Because this aggressiveness will lead to mistakes, players not directly involved need to be where they are supposed to be to backup throws. Hold runners close, throw behind them, use pick off plays and pitch outs. Bring the infield in early. Cut down the lead runner. Starters need to worry about the guy at the plate and put stuff on every pitch. If they hit it, somebody will probably catch it, you can’t catch a walk. In close games use the whole bullpen to get the best match ups. Don’t use a guy just because “that’s his inning”; go with the guy who has the best shot against the hitter. They key is to play baseball.

QUOTE(Steff @ Feb 4, 2005 -> 08:08 AM) Why in the hell would the Marketing guy hire the radio personality...??? I know from Will's own lips that he was an employee of the Sox, but I assumed the marketing department part on my own. My reasoning is the faces and public voices of the team would certainly fit in the Marketing guy's brief. I still think I'm right, but you have a lot better connections than I so if I'm off base let me know where the responsibility actually lies.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Feb 3, 2005 -> 07:51 PM) One time, I dreamed that Paul Konerko was talking to me and my mom in Serbian and then Shingo came and started punching me.....dead serious. Do you want to talk about it? I know a guy.

QUOTE(Man Of Steel @ Feb 3, 2005 -> 03:45 PM) Sosa is good, people just rip him because he was a cub Hes going to help out the Orioles big time this year, watch He'll be the best bat corking, roid taking, wife beating, selfish cheating liar on the Orioles. At least on the days he shows up.

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ Feb 3, 2005 -> 04:09 PM) how about Carmen Dafelco? i think he would do great as the pre and post game for the sox. hes a huge sox fan. i remember he did some games befor. he would like to do it too. i think the only thing in the way is that he does the bulls pre and post. so how bout Carmen? The pre-game guy is an employee of the White Sox, so Brooks Boyer will actually pick him. I could live with Defalco but there a zillion minor league guys who would kill for the job and do it for next to nothing. Brooks has done a good job so far, this will be a big decision -one of the 'voices' of the White Sox.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Feb 2, 2005 -> 10:53 PM) He pitched last spring. I saw him pitch a game and he was nothing but god awful. I would never ever want to see the guy pitch another game with the Sox. Prior to that performance I saw Ozzie had said some good things about him but he was done after the outing I was out. Horrible fastball and throws absolutely nothing but junk. When I say horrible I don't refer to the velocity, but more the lack of movement mixed with terrible velocity and well everything else he threw happened to roll and get crushed. Wow! I've never seen you so down on a guy, he must have really stunk it up. Could the infamous dry air in Arizona have done him in? Another junker, Shingo Takatsu, looked pretty bad there too.