A little competition this year

Dave Wegrzyn, Cubs Superfan

I hate this series, because for the last few years, the sox have had the better team. Yes, I just threw up in my mouth just admitting it. Watching this series is basically like a guy trying to pick a chick up in the bar. In this analogy let’s call the guy a cubs fan while the chick is the sox fan. The guy spends all night buying her drinks and then happens to go to the bathroom late in the game, comes back to the bar and finds out that she left with some other guy. So he invested all this time and money and came away with nothing, while some other guy just swooped in and stole the prize. I think sox fans can honestly agree that when they won the World Series, just like the cardinals last year, they did not have the best team in the majors that year, yet they peaked at the right time and made things happen. But you know what, they made better moves, never invested a ton of money in two guys who have pitched a combined 3 games in the last two years, and in general, won with players who play well as a group. Yup, I just threw up again. You know what, instead of bad mouthing sox fans about William Ligue Jr, I am going to throw out a small wager with someone this year on the south side, and my dad does not count because I would lose that bet every year to him. So here it is…..I have an email set up for people to critique my blog, send me funny things that I might post and in general, see if anyone really cares. I am going to one of the games at the cell because my father-in-law got tickets. I was super excited when I found out I had a ticket until I realized it was at the Cell. Anyway, here it is. Let’s assume that both teams are 0-0 right now. I say that by the time I come to the Cell, I believe the date is either the 23rd or the 24th, but I will check on that, the cubs will have a better overall record then the sox. The bet is a beer and a sandwich of your or my choice. I know, really making it interesting. But maybe I will have to eat my words that day at the cell. So email me at thecubsblog@yahoo.com. You obviously have to be going to the game for this one to work. Otherwise, if you live in the wriglyville area, I can eat my words and buy you an overpriced beer while my wife complains about my gambling and how I never win. Let’s have some fun this year.

Crosstown Classic

Jake Baskin, Sox Superfan

Finals are crawling to an end, and I can think of no better way to welcome the start of summer vacation than a sweep of the cubs. Normally for this series, since I live right in enemy territory, my dad and I would walk up to Wrigley, try to hide our Sox gear while scalping, err… I mean legally purchasing, tickets, then out-cheer Cubs fans for the whole game. I don’t know about you guys, but I particularly love attending a Sox away game and watching the dread on the home team’s fans as the Sox win, especially when that look is on the face of a Cubs fan. Sadly, I won’t be home in time to attend any of the games, but I’ll be heckling in spirit. In my view of Chicago baseball, a night that ends with a Sox W and the L flag being raised over Wrigley is a 2-0 night, hopefully by Sunday evening I’ll be looking back on a 6-0 weekend.

Weekend fun will be here soon

Rob Page, Cubs Superfan

Well…well…well, what do we have here? A Cubs fan leaving a post on a Sox fan blog?!? Your eyes have not deceived you. I thought since we get to take at least 2 out of 3 from you guys this weekend I would stop by. I’ll be sure to post again before the series begins and drop a little knowledge on you Sox fans…we all know you could use it.

It’s Time for Walker to Walk

Stu Weiner, Sox Superfan

I know that many Sox fans will disagree with me on this one, but I have to speak my mind. I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs that when a manager or supervisor does not succeed at his job in the business world, “he gone.” A coach is equivalent to a supervisor. A hitting coach’s job is to work with the players to make them better hitters. He needs to work with the youngsters to develope their talent, and he needs to work with the veterans when something goes wrong. In Greg Walker’s case, he is failing in both areas.

Something is wrong when the hitters have been in a year-long slump. Something is wrong when the KC pitchers, who possess the worst ERA’s in the league, all look like Cy Young against the Sox. Something is wrong when for so many years, other teams can score off of, or even beat, Santana of the Twins – but the Sox have trouble scoring even one run off of him. Something is wrong when so many players are having terrible years at the plate – not just bad years, but horrendous years. Something is wrong when only 1-2 players are hitting over .250. Something is wrong when the team has a .220 batting average.

I heard one of the “clowns” on the national broadcast of the Sox game a few Saturdays ago bring up the subject of Greg Walker. He said something like, “It’s not Greg Walker’s fault if the players are not hitting. After all, he is not the one swinging the bat.” That is NOT my point. He is responsible for finding out why his “students” are not swinging the bat. One of his primary jobs is to analyze what is wrong – are the batters dropping their shoulders, have they changed their batting stance, are they standing too close or too far from the plate? And the his job is to fix the problem. So I disagree totally with that announcer’s assessment – Yes, it IS Greg Walker’s fault. He is not performing his job in a satisfactory manner, and he needs to be shown the door.

I don’t want to hear anymore about our injuries. All teams have injuries. We still have Dye, Konerko, Iguchi, and Crede in the lineup every day – and none of them are hitting well. They may have a good game or two, but then they go right back to where they were. I know that Molina is known as a defensive catcher, but to be hitless in the major? Come on – give me a break. I’m not even sure if Greg Walker knows who he is. Have they met?

We cannot continue to waste good pitching performances. We cannot expect to continue to win when we only get about 16 hits in a 3-game series against the last place team with the worst pitching staff.

Small ball and experimental lineups

Cait Higgins, Sox Superfan

I got really emotional watching the opening video this weekend. I don’t know why it hit me really hard this weekend. I just love this team so much. There is nothing I love more than going to a game and seeing my boys play! I just enjoy watching these guys, who have so much passion for the game. They are so much fun to watch. There is always something going on. We are Chicago baseball. You can’t argue with that!

I had the joy of going to all three Sox vs Kansas City games this weekend. One of my best friends, Jen, invited me to go with her and sit in her seats. Not only were they awesome, but I had the pleasure of talking with Soxman and BatBoy the whole game! That was pretty exciting, but not as exciting as the return of the 1-run ballgame! Garland had some stellar pitching, and we were able to hold the Royals to nothing until the ninth. Unfortunately, we were not able to get more than two! As Ozzie says, “A win is a win” any way you look at it. I think Friday night was good for our confidence; just what Jon needed!

Saturday night was frightening. These two days are the reason I hate playing the Royals. The fans expect them to dominate because they don’t have a good record. They always seem to make it a game against us. Nice back-to-back hits and clutch hits let us pull it out and win in extra innings. It was pretty rough going there for a while. I’m happy for Ryan Sweeney, getting his first ever big league home run! I got to meet and talk to him for the past couple of years at Sping Training. Not only is he super cute, but such a nice guy. I think he has wonderful potential. Before today, he was really getting it done when we needed him. I’m going to be sad when they send him down, but I know that he’ll be back when we extend the roster this summer.

One major disappointment of today’s game was the experiment that Ozzie had going at the end of the roster. Juan got it done in the second spot yesterday, and it worked out great! I hated seeing three rookies at the end of the order, batting behind Iguchi. As I said before, I really like Ryan Sweeney, and I think he’s been getting it done pretty well (except for today with bases loaded… but it didn’t help that Iguchi struck out before him). I’m STILL waiting to see Molina get it together and get his first big league hit. COME ON. If this was Brian, he would have been sent down faster than you could blink an eye. I understand that Toby Hall is hurt, but that just means that he has to step it up and work a little harder in his at-bats. It’s the middle of May, and he has an .000 batting average, with plenty of opportunities. Regardless of if the pitcher was a lefty, AJ should have been playing. He has come up with some big hits this whole series, and we have a day off tomorrow…. for the third Monday in a row. I understand how hard a catcher’s job is, but after Molina went 0 for and we’re in the 8th inning and are desparate for runs, PLEASE put in AJ to pinch hit. He would only have to catch a half inning. I am still kind of on the fence with Terrero. It’s not even fair to say he’s hot and cold, because the only thing he has done since getting called up is hit a home run. I’d rather have Sweeney stay up and him go down, but Ozzie’s already said that isn’t going to happen because he wants Ryan to play every day.

Finally, I think the entire major league umping staff needs to be washed out. How about we start over? The ump last night was almost TRYING to give the game to the Royals. And how about Mark Tehan getting called safe at first, but Ryan Sweeney getting called out on a play that was eerily similar. Last night and this afternoon, the strike zone seemed to move from player to player. Last night, Sweeney got called out, but Thornton gave up a walk on the same pitch. It was unbearable to watch them getting all the calls and having none of them go our way. This has been going on all season. When we’re in Minnesota and Hawk is talking about how inconsistent the Umps are, you know it’s bad. He almost never says anything about the Umpires, and on the last two games we played them, he was talking about how there was a 25 inch plate! It’s not only our games, either! I’ll watch almost any game just to watch baseball, and I’ve noticed that the Umpires in others have been missing calls all over the place! We were watching the Pirates beat the Cubs in the 15-inning game (my dad is from Pittsburgh, so we always root for them… especially when they are playing the Cubs), and we noticed TONS of missed calls, and most of them were in the later innings when the runs really mattered.

We’ll see how things go with the Rookies and the Umps go the rest of the season. I’m not really looking forward to a day off, but we need the rest with the Yankees coming into town. Hopefully the next blog wont be so bi-polar and it will be complete happiness from beating the Yanks blind! Till next time, Sox fans

Great pitching

Michael Bottigliero, Sox Superfan
This has been an outstanding string of performances by what is looking to be one of the best five man rotations in baseball. I have all the confidence that these five can go out there and pitch with the best of them and take us deep into the playoffs. Thanks to Garland, Vasquez, Buerhle, Contreras, and young Danks for stepping up and getting us into position to win just about every game. Now if the offense can follow suit and produce then we will be an extremely difficult team to beat. If they start hitting up to their capabilities and keep some runs coming in until Thome and Pods are ready then we will be potent. Thome could be back for the Yanks on Tuesday but I think they should wait a week and definitely leave Pods out until June- he needs his legs. In the meantime I will be hoping for a sweep of the Royals and a Sox victory against the Yanks when I attend the game on Tuesday night- Go SOX!

Now THAT’s What I’m Talking About

Stu Weiner, Sox Superfan

Finally! Small Ball! It’s about time. Two stolen bases resulting in two runs. Ozzie finally realized that this team just cannot hit right now, so we have to manufacture runs. An outstanding performance by Contreras combined with some small ball. That’s what it is going to take until the hitters wake up. Somehow we managed to go 4-4 on this road trip with very little hitting. We should actually have gone 5-3 if the bullpen had not thrown away a wonderful pitching performance by Javier Vazquez.

By the way, can anyone explain to me why he was pulled from the game? He threw 107 pitches, but he was shutting down the Twins. Big deal! How much worse could he have done than the bullpen? Does anyone really feel confident with our bullpen right now? Look at their ERA’s! Except for Aardsma, the ERA’s are horrendous. Bobby Jenks has a lot of saves, but look at his ERA. He almost blew the game the other night. If he does not strike batters out, he is in trouble.

It looks like Konerko may be coming around, but he still has a long way to go. And what is the matter with Jermaine Dye? We have three guys hitting above .250 – and one of them is on the DL while another only has a few at bats. How long can this go on? I ask once again – is Greg Walker working with these guys to find out what is the matter? If not, bring in somebody who can figure it out. Dye, Iguchi, Crede – they certainly have something to play for – it’s called free agency. If that is not an incentive, I don’t know what is.

But on a more positive note, I once again express my pleasure for the return of small ball. Don’t stop now.

Not sure what to say

Cait Higgins, Sox Superfan

How did we pull that one off? I’m in disbelief.
We finally strung three hits together, we give our starting pitcher a three-run cushion, and what happens? The bullpen blows it. I’m not sure what else to say. I mean, Javy pitched extremely well. Our bats woke up with AJ’s beautiful slap shot into center, Erstad scored on an error. Those seem like ingredients for a pretty good game.

Not good for a team who has relied on the ‘pen as of late. Can’t blow it against the Twins.

Livin’ on a prayer, and the long ball

Cait Higgins, Sox Superfan
The birds are singing, the weather is getting warmer, the smile on my face is getting bigger. Oh, it must mean that school is over. I apologize for my lack of updates, but I just finished up final exams last week. Also, I’ve been pretty unhappy with the way things are going with our club.

It’s a stretch, but somehow I wanted to tie in Bon Jovi’s appearance on “American Idol” this week to the Sox and baseball in general. Every time I hear one of Bon Jovi’s songs, I can’t help but think of going to the Sox games. Whether it is hearing “Livin’ on a Prayer” in the 9th when we’re down, or “Have A Nice Day” when we help someone stellar like Jon Papelbon blow his save in the 18th inning… Ah such nice memories.

Anyway, the other thing that I am trying to remember from the last few seasons is our hitting. I love home runs, and it’s great to see our guys getting their numbers up there. But, it doesn’t help much when there’s no one on and the homer is a two-out solo shot. We are living and dying by the small ball. Usually, it would be an excellent game if Paul and Jermaine hit one a piece, or if Jermaine hit two and A.J. hit one, etc. This season, it’s not enough. Our pitchers are giving up more home runs than we are getting, and that is a huge problem. The other problem? The other teams are able to string two hits together to get two on when they hit the long ball. In the last two years, our specialty has been one or two run ballgames. That is partially due to the excellence we have had in our rotation and the bullpen. We were able to get the win when we had only scored a couple off of homers. This year, it seems like our pitching staff can’t do anything BUT give up the long ball. One of the things I was most unhappy about on the offseason was getting rid of all our pen pitchers. Neal Cotts didn’t have the best year last year, but I really think that having someone like him in the pen would have changed things around. Same with Brandon. I think that he had great stuff, as a reliever. Apparently he isn’t so good as a starter! The worst trade of all this offseason: getting rid of Freddy Garcia. I’m going to be honest. He was probably my least favorite pitcher in the rotation, because I would get an ulcer every time he pitched, due to the ability to walk the bases full and then strike out three in a row. He may not have posted his best numbers last season, but guess what! He had what, 16 wins?

Anyway, it is no use dwelling on the past and what could have and should have been done differently. What we need to focus on now is waking the bats up. There is no excuse for having two on, no outs, and getting nothing done in the inning. Mr. Crede needs to get back into ‘05 form with that amazing clutch hit that he always seems to come up with. I’m looking forward to the return of that. We’ve got two more chances for the Chicago White Sox of Bridgeport to take out the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this weekend. Let’s give them a little something that will have them thinking it’s the ‘05 ALCS all over again! Let’s go Sox!!

Like Hawk says, we just have to wait out this little virus and let it run its course. It happens. There are other teams that are hotter than us right now, like Cleveland, the Angels, the Mariners, and the Red Sox. It will have to be our duty to pick it up when they fizzle out in June and are left in our dust come the end of July. I would MUCH rather have a slump between April and early May than in August.

Power Outage

Michael Bottigliero, Sox Superfan
When I was getting ready for a great ‘07 Sox season I never imagined a start quite like this. With a fresh start and renewed enthusiasm, success was almost a foregone conclusion. Instead I see the lineup as lethargic and very much reminiscent of last season- quite susceptible to hitting funks and when they are, the whole team finds it contagious. I have seen players go cold and search to find their way out of it, but the entire team?! There were times last year and now this year when I watch this team and cannot imagine them scoring runs. Even with all of this negativity I still can see them climbing out and making a run this summer. If this is going to happen then there are a few factors we need to look at first:

1. Injuries. The main components of our offense are missing. Podsednik atop our lineup is a spark plug who can get on base and cause opposing pitchers and defenses problems. Thome is the true power factor on this team, makes the lineup very balanced with the left handed stick, gives other players better pitches to see with his presence, and takes the pressure off the other bats. This does not absolve Paulie and Dye of their responsibilities to pick up the torch when Thome is not there and lead this team but it makes us realize how much more potent they are with him.
2. Roster moves/offseason acquisitions. We knew Podsednik was hurt in the offseason. We also knew that this team is VERY slow without him. Why did we not pick up some speed? Instead of picking up Erstad who, as I previously blogged, is on the downside of his career and only a financial band aid in the outfield. I am not saying we should have overpaid for a guy like Soriano, but we could have picked up Juan Pierre(7.5mil), Kenny Lofton(6mil), or Dave Roberts(5mil) and had increased team speed and stolen bases. I would rather have Brian Anderson in center field. At least give him some experience and opportunity(only 17 ABs this season). I’ll take his potential over an aging vet any day. Four letters for the Sox- SLOW!
3. Pitching. The lone bright spot. Our starters have been able to toss quality starts, just not good enough to win. If they can persevere through this bumpy start then I am sure they can carry that through the year and finally put together a few great winning streaks. How about John Danks- only four runs scored for him all year!

If the Sox can come together on a few of these points and fix the others they can be great this season. Now lets get those bats heated up, pick up the slack for the injured or slumping, and score some runs! Lets get aggressive on those basepaths, sacrifice some runners, and play to win!