ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

No one ever said this was going to be easy. That's the understatement of the year, if not the century for White Sox fans. Congratulations are due to Kenny Williams, The Chairman, Ozzie and the rest of the Pale Hose clubhouse. I was shocked that the White Sox had a chance of seeing the post season. I'm at least honest about what my expectations were at the beginning of the season. Who in their right mind thought this experiment undertaken by Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen would work?

This team has won games in many fashions as a result of the retooling of 2005. We scraped by, won on the road, and even blew out a few teams. We also lost many games in many different fashions. Soxtober was not a pretty month. We started seeing errors and a bullpen that came back down to earth to blow saves. We've seen walk off home runs kill us. Occasionally, we saw this team get swept (both home and away). Whatever. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that Cleveland doesn't make the playoffs.

This way I won't have to waste a half-day at work to catch an afternoon game against the Angels. It seems Fox has dibs on what gets televised in the PM -- and surprise, surprise, it's either the Red Sox or the Yankees. Bastards.

Congrats to the White Sox!

I realized that after turning 25 (this was awhile ago) it was becoming harder and harder to eat without consequence. My days of eating 4 Big Macs and running it off in a half hour game of horse are long gone. This shouldn't be a shock to anyone who frequents the blogosphere. The majority of our trackback spam and comment spam comes from diet pill pushers. It's a big industry which is ripe with scams. I think I've found a new diet that can compete with all these pill pushers: White Sox baseball.

That's right, I've been losing weight. If you're in Chicago, and you're a tad overweight, try my new White Sox diet. It's easy. There is absolutely no work involved. Have a seat in front of your favorite bar, or relax in that leather recliner in your basement and flip on the White Sox game. That's it! Watch the pounds melt off as the Sox strand, count em, 12 runners on base. Feel that muffin top shrink back to it's teenage levels as the Tigers walk 7 batters. I tell you, this is the diet of the future. Imagine how much weight you'll lose if you continue watching? If the game isn't painful enough, or you have that much weight to lose, try waking up in the morning and reading a paper. Perhaps you have enough time to watch the 30 second clip of the games on the morning edition of Sportscenter?! It's a perfect weight loss strategy. It's better than having a full blown heart attack like this guy.

Whew! That was a collective sigh of relief coming from the Sox Nation. Some people even think the White Sox have a chance to hold onto the division! 4 games is all it will take? If you mean we need to sweep the Tigers to stand a chance at winning this division, then I agree. We have no choice but to beat the Tigers into next year. Yes, we might be able to breathe a bit easier thanks to Buerhle and Pauly, but we have a ton of work to do. It's good to hear that Buerhle has his stuff back. I'm impressed that the faithful hit the game so hard on a rainy Sunday,  with the Bears at home even!

Here are a few things I noticed about the Twins series:

• A lot of complete games. Buerhle went the distance yesterday, and Contreras finished his gem up all by his lonesome the other night. Garcia probably could have gone the distance too, but Ozzie realized that the kid had lost some velocity.
• Was that AJ in the 3rd spot in the batting order the other night? Wow. Talk about trying to send a message to Carl Everett.
• Joe Crede is on fire. Tell me this rubs off on some of our other hitters, because if Joe Crede can do it, there is no excuse for Aaron Rowand not to.
• We are still leaving a ton of men on base. Especially when they are in scoring position. This is our last week, and we have to figure out a way to get the bats hot in the right moments of a game. You know, like when there are no outs and men on 3rd and 2nd. Is it too much to ask for a single?

Finally, thanks to the Indians and their bush-league outfielder, they choked and lost last night to the Royals. So much for sweeping KC right? I could have sworn they were supposed to sweep the Royals on their way to sweeping us to finish the division in first. Perhaps this hiccup was good enough to let the White Sox stay ahead. We'll see.

Going into Sunday afternoon's game against the Bengals, I was giddy. This was the game that would prove if the Bears were for real. We had a lot going for us. It was a home game. The defense was spectacular in the previous outing against the Lions. We are healthy. There haven't been a rash of injuries as in previous years which stymied our efforts. After a single blow out, the Bears were on their way to the NFC North title. Then the Bengals came to town. They brought a Moss-like receiver in Chad Johnson, and a quarterback who is actually fulfilling the promise the organization touted when he was drafted. They didn't stop there. They brought a defense that made us look flat footed the entire game. The only spark we had was Thomas Jones. It took us almost an entire half to figure out that Dan Marino wasn't our QB, and maybe running the ball would be more effective. I haven't read the papers yet, but I can imagine how bad the reviews must be. There will probably be calls of, "Where was Benson?!" as well as calls for the head of our offensive coordinator. What was Turner thinking yesterday? This will fill the week with tons of material. Let us all be thankful that we didn't see Jeff Blake yesterday. The last thing we need is a revolving door of quarterbacks. Notice, it's not a controversy if you have to go to the backup.

There were positives in this game. The defense did a pretty good job covering Johnson for most of the game. The 2 touchdowns he did manage to catch were spectacular displays of his natural abilities. He totally blew Vasher off the line on the play, and I believe it was Peanut Tillman that was burned on the first TD. It took the defense awhile to get to Palmer. He had great protection for most of the game. I give credit to Wally for laying him out a few times, but overall the line didn't get a chance to prove it was a first rate pass-rushing unit. This is probably because they aren't. I still can't get down on them, because with 5 turnovers, the defensive unit was on the field a ton. For the most part (the first half) we held them to 10 points. On offense, Mushin did a nice job when the ball was there. If he could throw the ball to himself, we would have won this game.

Turnovers obviously killed us. Orton was horrible. There is no denying it folks, he is a good quarterback -- but he's no Ben Rothlisberger. Some of the blame for his performance has to be placed on the coaching staff. Who in their right minds would start a game like this off by throwing the ball so much? Especially after the first, or maybe even the second pick! Stop throwing the ball. It's not like we were down 21-0! It was only 10-0 and the Bears could have built momentum up with some of that powerful running Thomas Jones did before the end of the half. Finally, the kicking game seems to be an issue for us. Doug Brien was craptacular again missing an early 40 yard kick. It's a good thing he was driving down to the stadium after practices this week to “get a feel” for the wind inside the stadium. Way to put forth the extra effort Doug, now tell us how many you actually made during that extended practice. My guess is he made only 40% of them. Which means Orton and Moose better find their chemistry quickly and Lovie better have some words with Ron Turner. I don't want to see another Illini-like performance from this team.

How would you feel if you were Thomas Jones? Would you be happy the Bears drafted a stud running back to eventually replace you? Ludicrous. That's a stupid question. It turns out asking Thomas Jones if his recent surge in performance can be attributed to the pressure he feels from Cedric "I'm not Ricky" Benson is also a stupid question:

 "Cedric Benson has nothing to do with my game whatsoever," Jones said. "I've been in the NFL. This is my sixth year. I've been running the ball ever since I've been playing football, before I knew Cedric Benson. And I'll continue to run the ball, whether I'm here or somewhere else."

Ouch. Trouble is brewing in the Bears backfield. This can only be a good thing. Wait for it: Competition is good! Having guys not like each other can get a tad scary on a football team (ie Owens and McNabb) but it does usually raise each man's game-time efforts. Cedric is going to bust his butt to get the majority of the carries. He's younger, faster, stronger and clearly more arrogant than Jones. He also held out and surely feels that if he was in camp on time, the job would have been his from day one. Thomas Jones, on the other hand, is a guy Chicago was disappointed with when he was added to the team. I remember everyone asking, “Who is this guy?”. It wasn't like he was Curtis Martin or Edgerrin James!

In fact, after watching his brother beat up on us last year in the Cowboys game, we wondered if Angelo got the wrong Jones. That's got to burn this guy up. That's why he is already laying the foundation to get the heck out of town! Whatever happens this year, I expect Cedric to eventually overtake Jones. Everyone feels this way except Jones. If Jones can put together a great game like last week's I might have to reconsider that move. Could it be a bad thing to have a 1-2 punch in the backfield? It's not like fantasy football. Real football platooning has its advantages. The team still gets both man's points and yards. Maybe this has been the real missing link for the Bears? I won't take that bet, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong. For now go enjoy your weekend knowing that you aren't the only one in the world who doesn't like the guy he works with.

The White Sox blew another game at home. What a total disappointment. If it hasn't sunk in yet, it will after you see this game's highlights. We must have stranded 10 men on base. I know we blew it with the bases loaded in the ninth. That was after we stranded 2 men in scoring position the previous inning. What does this team have to do to get rid of the stench of losing? Should we be sacrificing goats or something? Maybe we can promise the deities above that Ozzie will retire if we go to the World Series. Maybe that would make things right? Where exactly can this team go? The lead is down to 1.5 games unless the Royals (thanks for the effort tonight KC) come back and beat the Indians.

We all know it's not going to happen. Karma is a bitch. McCarthy did a great job today, and the kid has a great future. Bobby Jenks on the other hand, I'm no longer sure of. Ozzie has given this kid 3 straight games to do something. DO SOMETHING. The only thing he seems to do is play the part of Kyle Farnsworth. Sure, he throws heat, but it doesn't matter when you can't get a guy out. It's worse when you can't throw strikes and end up walking the lead off man.

Things have fallen apart. We can't steal bases any more. We have no clutch hitting. We walk lead off hitters. We have had massive breakdowns in the field. Even when a starting pitcher comes out with good stuff, the opponent does enough right. They seem to catch the breaks we did at the beginning of the season. Karma is a bitch I tell you!

I'm disgusted with the White Sox. The only thing they have done right this week is take my money and deliver my “playoff” tickets. Nice Job fellas. Nice Job.

I just got back from an evening playing volleyball. You read that right. I not only write about sports, I actually participate.

I just wanted to give it up to my new hero, tonight's savior, the man on the hot corner:

Joe Crede.

Let's go White Sox. Get this done already.(I woke my wife up screaming at the top of my lungs - so hurry it up)

Let me start by saying, I hate the Indians. I think I hate the Indians more than I hate the Twins. With that said, they look and play like we did in the first half of this season. It is very, very hard to stay positive about this White Sox team after seeing the Indians up close. America's hottest baseball team came into the Chi and took the win from us. They flat out reached up and took it off the shelf as if it was a can of corn. It was in fact creamed corn thanks to a pathetic few weeks of uninspired baseball by the pale hose.

The Tribune has started to count down a magic number for the wildcard. How the mighty have fallen! Forget the wildcard Sox fans. We need this division or we need to get out of the way. I think yesterday's game is another example of why we have faltered at the finish line. I can't blame it on being tired any longer. The real truth is that Garcia, Buerhle and to a lesser extent John Garland have fallen down to earth. They aren't able to keep the ball down, and they all seem to get behind batters more often. Their stuff just isn't as good as it was. Sure, you can blame it on the cold bats during the last losing streak. You could also say that the errors (which I have said) and lack of concentration is causing us to lose grip on the division.

If you were making a pot of misery soup all these would be great ingredients. The soup is bitter and cold and it lacks something. What it lacked, it seems, is some spices. Everyone knows who had the spices Columbus was looking for on that famous voyage across the pond. It was the Indians.

I love being able to thump my chest. Yesterday was a great day. It was a Monday following a monster Bears win. Those are like payday Fridays, they just put a smile on your face. The stories in the Monday morning papers are all positive. This is a rare thing for Bears fans to experience. Normally, we wake up and read about how crap our performance was. If you ever needed a reminder why we do this, Sunday's game against the Lions was it. It's so much more fun to write about the positives than the negatives. That's why I'm forgoing my usual revue of the game, and just giving everyone an A for a job well done. Everyone, except for Brien. He gets a B- for missing some kicks.

Hope springs eternal after a powerful performance from our defense. Orton didn't make any mistakes, and in fact knows where his bread is buttered.(That would be Mushin!)

That's half the battle. The other half of the battle is winning this division and proving that the Bears are once and for all on the right track. I think we can do it. I know many people think that 8-8 is good enough to win the division this year. They base this on the fact our two playoff teams have started the season with an 0-2 record. Green Bay and Minnesota will snap out of it kids. Don't bet the farm that 8-8 will do the job. If it does, you'll be happy to know that I have the Bears going 8-8 this year. Take my advice and hold off buying those playoff tickets. For now, you should focus on the fact Thomas Jones isn't laying down for Cedric Benson. Kyle Orton isn't buying into all the rookie QB nonsense that we read about year in and year out. Finally, Lovie and Chico seem to have finally put together a healthy defense that executes with reckless abandon. The Monster is brewing inside these guys. How many more wins will it take for it finally come out and own the Midway again?

I just stepped off a flight from Baltimore. Maryland is beautiful, folks. You know what else is beautiful? Seeing the scroll on TV pop the score for the Bears Game. 38-6. The Bears destroyed the Lions from the look of it. I glanced at the box score to see that my back-up running back, Thomas Jones rushed for over 135 yards and 2 TDs. It's a good thing I didn't start him, right? Nice one.

Thanks to my Tivo and tommorows highlight reel I will actually get a chance to see the game and comment. Until then, I highly recommend the crab cakes in Maryland. It's a shame your football team plays like one. Ooohhh Yea!

Back in a few

Who wants to buy some playoff tickets?! White Sox playoff tickets go on sale tomorrow(today!). Would you buy them after watching the Sox blow a 5 game, errrr, run league against the Royals? What is going on? Why is this team faltering so bad? I think I know why, but then again I'm not the smartest guy around. Let's go over some of the reasons:

• The White Sox are playing horrible defense. 3 Errors last night? What a joke. We can't be that tired. You'd think we would be able to concentrate. Pods is starting to show why many in the land of Miller thought he was overrated in the field. Since the All-Star break the Sox have tallied over 25 errors...I think it might be more like 30!
• The run production has been crap. This is the consensus problem. We hit a stretch where the bats have been cold. Carl Everett thinks he is doing fine. He doesn't believe in evolution or in a slump. Good luck with that Carl.
• The Indians. You think no one has been looking over the shoulder? You're nuts. The Indians have scored 701 runs putting them in 4th place in the AL. I know the Rangers have scored a ton of runs (792) and it means squat to them because of their pitching, but the Indians are super confident. It has to make our guys nervous. If it doesn't, it should. Perhaps the Indians recent run forced the Sox to play a tad bit tighter...
• Ozzie ball has gone south for the winter. Where is the great hustle? Where is the focus and drive of Ozzie ball? Where did the hit and run go? Where did the smart base running go? What happened to taking a pitch? Last night even my wife noticed Jermaine Dye lallygagging in the field. He didn't even attempt to throw the ball into the cut-off man on that 7th run scored. He looked defeated. Done. The guys are getting down on themselves and as a result their effort has gone WAY DOWN.

There are a ton of other nasty things I have noticed, just like our exiled friend. Let's hope this doesn't keep the fans from attempting to buy playoff tickets this afternoon. I can see a low ticket sales number having a horrible effect on the team, and this organization. We need the fans to lead the way with confidence this afternoon. Go get your tickets.

It's the $50,000 question: Should White Sox fans hit the panic button? Sure, why not. I think we can freak out a little bit. The lead is down to 5 1/2 games. The Indians are playing GREAT baseball, and the Sox have faltered a bit. Our record against first round opponents is something like 12-19. That doesn't make me sleep any better at night. I'm nervous, and you should be too. The Angels swept us and made it look easy. Yea, I know we should have won Friday night's extra inning game, but we didn't. I doubt that will be the game we look back at if we blow it. What concerns me the most are the coming games with Cleveland. I guess if we are truely for real, we will find out. All we have to do is continue to beat up on our own division. No one can take that away from us. Let's hope Ozzie has given enough rest to the guys to get us on another run. I wonder what Scott thinks of our chances now... 

I want to go on record in saying, this division is ours. Get ready Chicago, the Sox are going to the playoffs.

Well, it's finally here! Our first loss! I didn't think it would take long, but I will say that I didn't think it would happen on the first game. I thought the Bears could win this game. The odds were against them, literally, but I figured all those great changes would make a difference. I was clearly wrong. So let's get right to it, shall we?

• Defense - I love the look of our defense. I like the pressure Wally put on the QB. I like the massive hit Briggs leveled on Ramsey to knock him out. I like Urlacher's amazing speed. What I don't like is that this supposed “Top 5“ NFL defense can't stop the run. At all. Even the backup was running for good gains. Portis looked like a Pro-Bowler. Maybe he is a pro-bowler? I doubt it, but he should send half that bonus check to the Bears. For that matter, so should every running back that runs for more than 100 yards on us. I'm not one for excuses (or logic, some would argue) so the offense not moving the ball, and thus leaving the defense out on the field to tire out is not an excuse. Lovie is a defense master mind. So is Chico. That's their story, right? I guess I am expecting too much from this unit -- which is unfair. I'll admit it. I expected them to score a touchdown. I think it's the only way we win games like this. I know it's sad...overall the Defense looked great. They also left the game without any massive injuries, which is a victory in and of itself.
• Special Teams -- I guess we'll have to wait for next week to see Doug Brien. The Bears never kicked a field goal against Washington. This is disappointing for many reasons. First, it would have been great to see Doug kick in a super-duper-loud facility. Those hogs are wild out there! The punt returns are going to be an issue this year unless someone steps up. Berrian stinks and I don't think having Bradley return kicks is wise. I like him opposite Mushin, so I hope we find someone who isn't afraid to return kicks for next week. We get to find out how well Lovie and staff can prepare a team from this little nuance. Find a returner gentlemen.
• Offense -- The big O, Kyle Orton, exceeded his expectations. Everyone is gushing at how he didn't have a panic attack. Fans, media, and coaches are all half-heartedly praising Orton for looking good in the pocket. No signs of happy feet. He has poise. That's great if you want to sell a pair of jeans, right? It's not so great if you want to score touchdowns. The running game was horrid, and everyone is expecting Cedric Benson to get at least half the snaps against the Lions this week. Cedric came in for 3 carries and gained 10 whole yards. That's not bad for a guy who just joined us 2 weeks ago. I suggest Jones get used to third and long situations where he can catch out of the backfield. Muhammad is clearly the most talented player we have on offense this year, and I hope we find a way to get him the ball more. He caught 6 passes for 59 yards. Not bad considering you have a poised-rookie QB back there. Oh what I would do for a rookie QB like Pittsburgh had last year...
• Coaching -- I'm going to take it easy on the coaching staff today. I don't like the discipline of this team. The penalties are horrible. The 3 offside calls in the fourth quarter effectively killed any chance we had to score, and win this game. I have to pin this on Lovie's attention to detail during practice. How they rebound at home against the Lions is going to be a telling story. Will we be able to keep the penalties to a minimum? As for our new offensive coordinator, I can say I wasn't surprised. Some of the plays called were aggressive, others were straight from the Schoop playbook. I think Turner will figure out what works and what doesn't work by game 3 or 4. That also depends on how well Benson does. I think the running game needs massive help, and without it -- this staff is screwed.

That's it kiddies! Join us next week for the home opener!

The White Sox are famous for very little. We have a storied past that includes one of the biggest scandals in MLB history that isn't steroids. We also have a riot that took place in the middle of center field back in the 70's. Thankfully we aren't known for losing, or more precisely we aren't known for not winning the World Series. We have the Cubs for that last one. Think about it. We haven't seen a title in little under a century, we burn disco records, and we had a team that was on the take worse than Pete Rose. This is the White Sox's legacy. I wish it wasn't true, but I think we can finally add one more item to this list: our attendance, or lack thereof.

I should have started a counter on this site. Not to gage my lousy traffic numbers, or the fact that White Sox fans are fewer online than they are offline. No, I should have started a counter to keep a tally on the number of articles written on a White Sox game that didn't include a wry comment about the attendance. It never stops. Stories on the White Sox are always followed by that bittersweet reminder that yes, we won, but no one was there to see it. The Tribune has a new article today dedicated to the lack of attendance at last night's 1-0 victory over the Royals. We all know the typical excuses, and if you don't, then go read them in the paper.

It seems that Ozzie and the team are deflated a bit by the lack of attendance. I'm hoping that this doesn't start to effect the team mentally. We need to get healthy for this playoff run. No one believes the White Sox have a chance in the post season. Even our own writers are skeptical. Phil Rodgers has come up with a craptacular “formula“ to predict success in the playoffs. Magically, his new formula predicts the A's have the best shot in the AL and our White Sox are tied for 3rd place with the Indians. What a bunch of crap. He even goes as far as telling us he is full of crap when he says no one can predict what happens in the playoffs -- yet he still tries. The words “balanced team“ seem to be the key to success in the coming post season. We'll see.

As for my attendance at the park, I didn't make last night's game for two really good reasons. First, my car broke down. Seriously. I had to get my old man to rescue me from the train station. Secondly, it's the Royals! I am tired of seeing the Royals. I've already seen the Sox play the Royals twice. The first time was actually IN KANSAS CITY. Ugh. I can't bear to watch these Royals. It's just not a draw. What would increase attendance at these games? I'll offer up a solution that will never happen: tear down the ballpark and build a new ballpark in the Loop.

I know it's crazy talk, but I personally think people don't go to Sox Park because of it's location. God love the South Side and all, but people just don't make the trek out there. I love the changes they made to the park, so I'm not pinning it on the sterile, concrete slab constructed building. Pick the building up and move it into the Loop. The South Loop, or West Loop would provide downtown appeal to the ballpark. It would also add downtown customers willing to play hooky to catch a game. Personally, it's the biggest mistake the city, Reinsdorf, and Mayor Daley (a Sox fan) have ever made. It's the old real estate adage all over again: location, location, location.

With that...let's get ready for some FOOTBALL! Go sign up for our pick em league! Both our readers have signed up and now I am looking for complete and random strangers to join! Follow the instructions in this post, and come have a laugh with us during this Bears' season. It's free, too!

The magic number is down to 17. I promised myself I wouldn't talk about this until it got to single digits. I am breaking that promise because the Sox of early summer '05 have returned just in time. The timely hitting, stealing, and superb pitching have returned as well. Just in time indeed. The team is still a bit banged up. In your best Wannie voice, “Crede's got a finger. Aahh, Pods got a back. Daaa, Hermie's got a back.” Things couldn't be better right?

McCarthy, the young 6th man in our starting rotation pitched another great game in yesterday's Boston make up. There seems to be some rumbling here in Chicago, as well on the blogosphere about Ozzie's bunt crazy offense:

" That is stupid baseball. Especially in the top of the fifth inning, against the Red Sox at Fenway.”

When you put it like that, I guess I have no choice but to agree. Especially with the first part (the game was in the 5th.) I don't particularly think it matters that the game is in Fenway. Why should it? Do we hit better in Fenway than in Sox Park? Would this have been any better of a play at home? I doubt it. The fact remains, the madness is the main reason why this team has been able to win. It defies baseball logic. Especially the new Moneyball logic that says outs are precious commodities. The other half of the Moneyball equation was that runs are more precious, and to this WhiteSox team they are even more rare!

Finally -- we drafted our teams last night -- and frankly, mine sucks. I did get Vick and Moss, but I made 2 massive mistakes (in the eyes of the league). I drafted Ricky Williams late(11th round) and I drafted 2 defenses (Indy and Carolina). I could have used the late D pick to get another running back. I am currently stuck with Stephen Jackson from St. Louis. Let's hope he gets to the end zone this year.

Back in a few. Oh, and dont forget to sign up for our pick em league. I noticed that all you bastards are late....hurry up. The season starts Thursday. Spread the word to your friends and fam too.