View from the South Side Cheap Seats

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I've kind of been draggin my feet on this season starting, wasn't feeling like I was ready to give up all my time but it's all back: insomnia, chills, goosebumps, elation, anxiety, passion, clenched jaw, desk pounding and the #(*&@^%* are flowing!

It's 2PM and after a lot of tinkering of my walkman's position in order to get an AM signal at my desk I found the suitable spot to be standing in my top drawer left open slightly and just in time as Gene Honda's voice came across the airwaves, up the wires of my earphones, out the speakers and sent chills through my body and goosebumps shooting out on my arms!  Opening day baby!  

How's it gonna go?  CC's record vs the Sox is 14-3. 

Swish is up and out on a 4-3 play, Cabrera walks and steals 2nd, up comes big Jim--really, CLE fans are STILL booing him??!!  A hall of famer that obviously gave you some pretty amazing baseball AND probably did the most charity work in your town out of any athelete who's been there...all he gave to your community and you're still gonna boo him??   Well, guess his feelings aren't hurt that badly...     HR!  Sox up 2-0 top of the 1st!  Woo hoo!

Buehrle's up and 1, 2, 3 Indians down.  WOW!  These seems too easy, I'm scared.

AJ comes up with a double but is left stranded...thanks Juan. 

 ....And then it happens, I was having some serious 2007 Opening Dejavu.  Buehrle crumbles. They bat around and 7 score?  What? He can't get out of the 2nd?  Massett comes in...PLEASE make a better showing than your last couple.  I think to myself, "does he has a chance?" maybe his stuff doesn't look good in AZ but will be OK here?  It's a nice sunny day in the mid 60s in CLE, maybe it'll be different.  :)  It was!  He came through!  He did great! Four and 1/3 innings, 48 pitches, 4Ks, no walks and allowed only two singles (both to Gutierrez). 

In the meantime, Thome hits ANOTHER 2 run homer in the third and the Sox didn't give up, they end up scoring 8 total runs for the day (1 in the 6th and 2 more in the 7th to tie at 7 all!!!)  Bases loaded in the top of the 8th and a really HORRIBLE call at the plate, Crede is called out with a phantom tag.  It SO should have been 9 runs scored! UGH! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!

Dotel comes in, ends up giving up 3 runs by the time the 8th is over.  JD homers in the 9th so the score is 8-10.  AJ gets on base, steals 2nd and it's up to Crede.  Last time he was up at bat he missed a home run by mere feet.  Unfortunately it didn't turn out that way this time.  He was popped up after a few pitches and that was that.

There were some other questionable calls against the Sox today but THE WORST was the phantom tag with Crede at home.  That one hurt. 

I don't want to start out the season with "at least" but I guess "at least" they didn't roll over, they didn't give up that easy, it looked different than last year--TG!  It reminded me of that Sunday night game against  Houston in June 06 where Guch went crazy.  It was definitely a rollercoaster of a day.

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Brandon McCarthy was just put on the 60 DL, KC beat DET

(written March 7 at MDW)

OK...The day finally arrives, the day I take my first trip to Spring Training. WOO HOO

It's actually felt more like a Monday morning than a Friday morning...you know those days where no matter how hard you try and how ready you think you are things are bound to go wrong. From losing my cell phone to the parking lot shuttle not running to my flight being delayed an hour due to weather in Pittsburgh--yeah, it's been one of those days. Somehow I've managed to keep a smile on my face. It's OK. I'm going to Spring Training (I think...)

Maybe one of the reasons I've kept a smile on my face is because Stone Pony himself was calling the game today on 670. I can't tell you how excited I am to have him in the booth this year! He is the best!

Danks is scheduled to be on the mound tomorrow and I look forward to seeing him. He looked good earlier this week.

As everyone's probably noticed I took the winter off almost completely. New job, family stuff and just the general need to chill/recharge, anyway, here we are. Got a big new tv for the away games and a DVR for those I have to miss because of work....but I'll probably have the radio on anyway to listen to Stoney.

Since I've got some extra time to kill here at the airport and I'm over people watching at this point here's a quick recap of my thoughts on the winter moves: Losing out on Torii Hunter, if Kenny would have paid $90 mil for 5 years I would have been pissed. He's good, but he's not that good! I've gone all this time disliking him so I'm happy to continue doing so. I can't bring myself to mention The Legend because I'm as tired of that as I am about those who STILL call in crying for BA. He is not worth what he was wanting. The ONLY good thing that could have come out of him coming back would be that it woulda shut all those idiots up who think he is as legendary as he thinks he is. Funny, guess I'll be seeing him tomorrow in a Giants uni.

If you don't know what we are getting out of Nick Swisher and Cabrera I probably don't want to talk to you.

I'm not so hot on Linebrink (to put it mildly) and I think a lot of other things remain to be seen (who's playing third, center, leading off, who will be the 5th starting pitcher, will MacDougal ever get some confidence or will Kenny be able to unload him somewhere, etc. etc.) What will Dotel bring to the table, this is the year we are supposed to see the benefit of his surgery. Which Contreras will show up? Did Richar hurt himself by not getting his visa on time--probably? Uribe is still here (argh). Is Toby Hall still going to suck? Did we even win any games he started/played in last year? Originally I was excited about the acquisition, that quickly changed after he got off the DL last year.

The Tigers have made some good moves but I think a lot of people are forgetting or ignoring some big off the field items that could impact the team. Sure it'll probably help the D-Train to have IRod behind the plate...he could reimmerge to his old self but Inge asked to be traded (is that ever a good thing when a player asks to leave?), Maggs will be dealing with Congress and Conseco claims, Sheff is a hot head, Kenny Rogers is old (IRod is/getting old) people are hurt (important people are hurt). Again, we'll see. Sometimes chemistry is all wrong, sometimes the best teams on paper suck (Ahem). Plus, you gotta stay healthy....and I'm not sold on their pitching.  CLE will be tougher than DET.

As for the others (KC and MIN), I'm interested to see.  Lots of new faces but that's not to say that they can't play ball, it's just how good can they play. 

It's almost time to board, I'm out. Bring on the Boys of Summer!!

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March 8, Sox vs Giants post game

What's up with all the crazy goatees in the Sox bullpen??
AJ looks like he lost some weight.
Scouts seemed particularly interested in Crede, Fields, MacDougal, Wasserman and Danks from what I could tell.
Mr. March (BA) is in full-effect.

It was a great day. Warm, sunny, White Sox on the field and an air show in the background. I was lucky enough to walk up and score a ticket right behind the scouts and wives (so you know it was a good seat!) I met some very nice people (Sox fans, Giants fans and even some Dodger fans) who all made the day more fun. Thanks to Karen (the Giants fan) who sent me her pictures--which were much better than mine!

I am extra proud to be a Sox fan today.

My afternoon began with a stop at the park to check out the new Legacy Brick Plaza.  It's not completely done yet but they were putting up the monument today and since the sun was out and it's actually above freezing I stopped by to check it out. It's pretty cool, there are all the familiar 2005 WS pix etched on the monument, which is surrounded by lots and lots of bricks. Not all the pieces were visible due to the workers and machinery putting up the monument but quite a few are and I took pictures of the ones from people I know and some of the cooler ones I could get to. Enjoy! (I have to upload one pic at a time so I didn't put all 80 up, if you want to see more, send me an email and I'll send you to my Flickr page.)

I'm also proud, even more so, to be a Sox fan today because our team was selected to play in the Civil Rights Game today in Memphis. Because Both teams (Sox and Mets) are lead by minority managers and GMs they were invited to play one another. Early on it was pointed out not too many years ago they would have never had this opportunity. Special jerseys with only the city names in simple block letters and player numbers and the Civil Rights Game logo (no player names, no team logos) are being worn. Despite the chilly and wet weather, I'd like to be there.

The game is being held in Memphis because 40 years ago Martin Luther King traveled to there in support of striking sanitation workers. He was assisinated the day after he arrived. The National Civil Rights Museum is in Memphis and over the last day players have toured the museum. There was also a round table Friday night. The panel discussion, titled "Baseball and the Civil Rights Movement," included White Sox general manager Ken Williams; Mets general manager Omar Minaya; Martin Luther King III; Ambassador Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz; and Sharon Robinson, daughter of Jackie Robinson. Joe Cowley was on White Sox Weekly this morning and said it was 2 hours that went by like 20 minutes. He said it was pretty amazing. I think it's available on the Sox website. This morning JD held a youth summit.

Interesting fact: Jerry Reinsdorf, who grew up in Brooklyn, was at the pre-season game on April 1947, where Jackie Robinson was first put on the roster. When asked how Jackie Robinson's legacy impacted his hiring of KW and Ozzie he said: "Well, I have a black GM because he was the most qualified guy in my organization for the job...I don't think Jackie Robinson had a great impact on my views of the world because (the way) my parents raised me and people in Brooklyn looked at everybody as equal. What does it matter what your skin color is or whether you go to church or go to synagog, it's what kind of person you are and that's the way my whole life has been." Amen. Good on ya Jerry! :)