Radio Daze

Mike Steadman, Sox Super Fan

I miss John Rooney…and I mean it in the most professional sense. I listen to nearly every White Sox radio broadcast, sometimes with Hawk and D.J. muted, sometimes with the TV off. And thanks to satellite radio I have also listened to many other radio broadcasters across the major leagues.

Therefore I am confident in my opinion that Rooney is the best play by play man in the business. He called White Sox games from 1989 though the last out of the 2005 World Series. By the way, every Sox fan should have a recording of his call of that last out…along with the Uribe pop fly play earlier that inning…”Did he catch it? Did he catch it? He caught it!” Classic stuff. Well going into the 2006 season the games moved down the dial to 670AM and Rooney and Score radio could not agree on a contract. Their cost-saving replacement was broadcast rookie Chris Singleton who stepped into the booth with Ed Farmer taking over play by play duties.

“Farmio” and Singleton were together for two seasons. It was a rocky marriage. Listening to their broadcasts were cringe worthy experiences. They were full of uncomfortable silences and passive-aggressive arguments about a host of boring topics ranging from Notre Dame football to Barry Bonds. It was weird. Before this season Singleton left for ESPN and Steve Stone has joined Farmer in the booth. The two former White Sox pitchers get along well and seem to be having fun up there. It is an immensely improved production and Stone has to be one of the most astute commentators on the game around today. So things are thankfully looking up in Sox Radioland.

John Rooney had no problems getting a job after 2005. He returned to his native Missouri and has been in the Cardinal radio booth ever since. He was fortunate enough to call two championships in a row as the Cards prevailed over the Tigers in 2006. Tough to know why the Sox franchise has a penchant for letting go of announcers when they are at the top of their fields (Harry Carey as another example). Maybe they don’t realize the marketing value of having quality announcers describe their product. I don’t know, maybe it doesn’t matter to the majority of fans. But John, since I’m pretty sure you’re reading this, you are missed. As a broadcaster I mean.

All about IT

Michael Bottigliero, Sox Superfan

We are coming in to June Sox fans and I have some good feelings about this team.  There have been some ups and downs with much more positive aspects than ‘07.  We have witnessed a team that is in first place through the first two months and there are multiple reasons for it. 

Pitching:  Our starting five of Vazquez, Buerhle, Contreras, Danks, and Floyd could be the best in baseball.  These five have held a steady hand and though they have not put up amazing stats, have kept us in almost every game.  The pen has been very lively with youth and veterans.  Masset, Thornton, and Jenks were great youth pick ups by Kenny with Logan being a home grown product.  Gathering Dotel off the free agent scrap heap and the media’s “so called overpriced” Linebrink were equally huge moves.  The depth is there for spot starts, long relief, bridges, setup, and saves.

Depth:  When injuries appear, the bench is ready to produce.  Kenny has taken alot of abuse (from me as well) but built strength through depth.  Everyone has to remember just how long a full season and hopefully postseason is.  When Uribe went down, our Cuban Missle was ready to launch.  Ozuna and Anderson are there to pick up any slack and we have not even seen youngsters Jerry Owens, Josh Fields, or Danny Richar.

Ozzie:  This guy just flat out can manage.  He knows how to motivate.  He can take blame off the team, deflect it to himself, and shoulder the load of bad attention.  He builds a tight clubhouse and winning atmosphere.  He knows his team and is never afraid to make a move.  He is charismatic and while most Sox fans love him, there are many who love to hate him- thats how I want my Sox!

There are still some things I do not like about this team as I have mentioned in previous posts, but they do have what it takes to win, least I forget good team defense.  Once our boppers start to produce as I am watching Cabrera, Crede, and Thome break out of slumps in our 4-1 lead in the 7th, you can put it on the board, YES!

Sox batting is offensive

Michael Bottigliero, Sox Superfan

I will be the first to admit I did not think the White Sox pitching would be this good.  Our starters and bullpen rank near the top of MLB with a great mix of youth and veterans.  On the other side, I never would have believed this team would struggle so much at scoring runs.  To watch is quite offensive to the eyes.

Through almost a third of the season our Sox are 20th in runs scored, 27th in hits, and 26th in batting average.  You can see more hits from the Windy City Rollers- Chicago women’s roller derby league.  With all the big hitting names on paper like Dye, Thome, Konerko, speedster Cabrera, and youth with Swisher and Quentin, most would think they would rename our field the “launching pad”.  But yet there are multiple reasons why this lineup is not producing:

1. Veteran inefficiency.  Our big boppers have not been producing.  Konerko and Thome have been batting below their weight for most of the season.  Dye has been up and down.  Pierzynski has been our lone steady veteran.  Somebody please feed some Viagra to these slumping bats!

2. .300 hitting.  Not one White Sox is batting over .300.  While we have some decent OBP and hitters are getting themselves into walking situations, our strikeouts and double plays are killing us.  Thome is on pace to K over 150 times and four others are well on their way to 100 for the season.  That is not discipline.  We could use one or two contact hitters to work the count, frustrate pitchers, and get more chances by putting the ball in play.  The ball off our bats either end up as routine plays or home runs- does not put stress on opposing defenses.

3. Lack of speed.  Has someone taken our players and replaced them with turtles?  With the exception of Cabrera, there is no player on this team to put pressure on opposing batteries, steal bases, and create chaos on the basepaths.  We are missing that key leadoff man to start off a game right by turning a single or walk into a double or triple by stealing.  I do not know if Jerry Owens is the answer or how much the Orioles would want for Brian Roberts- but I do know we need a Podsednik on this team.

So while Ozzie continues to tinker with this lineup and try to find a good combo, I will sit back and wait for Konerko/Thome to heat up or for Kenny to get up and do something.  It would be (and is a) shame to let this great pitching go to waste. 

Memorial Day + 1

Mike Steadman, Sox Super Fan

With about a third of the season complete Memorial Day serves as a good point to make some evaluations and judgments on a team’s performance and outlook. And for the Sox it has been an interesting 50 games to say the least. Before season’s start I pegged the Sox as a slightly above average club that stood little chance of competing in the toughest division in the sport. The good vibes emanating from the southside are mostly due to the unexpected putridness of the AL Central that has the Pale Hose sitting in first place with a three game cushion. Cleveland has been bad and Detroit has been worse. These are developments I did not predict as April began.

My biggest concern about the team has proved instead to be their greatest strength. I thought the loss of Jon Garland (traded for shortstop Orlando Cabrera) would severely affect the quality of the starting rotation. Lined up after Javier Vazquez and Mark Buehrle was an aging pitcher coming of a disastrous ‘07 (Jose Contreras) and two inexperienced and unproven hurlers (John Danks and Gavin Floyd). On top of these concerns GM Kenny Williams had to totally rebuild a bullpen that had several gaping holes.

In a word the pitching thus far has been fantastic. The rotation has given the team a quality start nearly every game, and Gavin Floyd seems destined to finish off a no-hitter by season’s end. The bullpen has been anchored by the ever dependable Bobby Jenks and expensive free agent Scott Linebrink. But too many sterling pitching performances have been wasted by inconsistent offensive play. Outside of the unexpected all-star caliber performance of Carlos Quentin the White Sox lineup has struggled to produce. And what is troubling about this trend is the concern that several players may be on the downside of their careers. Can Jim Thome and Paul Konerko rebound from bad starts to begin driving in some runs as the season progresses? Will Nick Swisher start getting on base and move his batting average clear of .200? Does this team have any speed or any ability to manufacture runs when the power goes cold?

The answers to these questions will determine the outcome of this 2008 season. Thanks to nothing short of tremendous luck the division is there for the taking. 90 wins might be all it takes to get into the playoffs. In my opinion starting pitching is the most important aspect of the game…and if the Sox rotation can continue impressing the odds for October baseball on the southside are pretty darn good. Hopefully the bats can start doing their part.

Let’s Keep This Clean

Mike Steadman, Sox Super Fan

“Superfan”…such high praise it is. “Super” is certainly a prefix never used in my case before. No one has ever referred to me as “Superstudent”, “Superemployee”, and most certainly never “Superboyfriend”. So I would like to thank the kind folks at NBC-Universal for this honor and this platform. When did those companies merge anyway? I must have missed the business section that day. Anyway, back on point, there are few things I enjoy more than talking southside baseball and we should have some fun doing just that. Of course Sox baseball is far more than what merely happens on the field. Its about us as fans…our shared experiences following this team of ours. You know, instead of doing more constructive things with our time.

And for myself I am only one tiny part of that mighty cadre which makes up White Sox Nation. A proud and diverse bunch we are. From international celebrities like Steve Dahl, Dennis DeYoung (the guy from Styx), Dr. Dre (well at least he likes our hat), to those in the seats of power like Richie Daley, Mike Madigan, and Tim Foley (the union guy from those radio spots), to regular old “Joe 12-packs” like myself we Sox fans are a tight-knit and respectful bunch. Well usually respectful anyway. But I am proud to say it has been almost a full six years since the last on field attack of an opposing first base coach. Let’s keep that streak alive Nation!

Well I do look forward to posting my rambling thoughts for all of you. Perhaps sometimes I will even discuss the actual performance of the team. But for now I will wrap this up. Buerlhe is going tonight and if he is on it might be over before sunset.

Back to .500

Don Higgins, Sox Superfan

Unfortunately, I had to start the title of this with the word “back.” The very fact that we are sitting in this spot is incredible. Personally, I’m giving all the credit to Gavin Floyd (even though that last start…eh, we won’t talk about that) and John Danks. Where did that come from? We saw last year that Danks could keep up with them, but Floyd? I like it!

Carlos Quentin has really shown us his stuff too. We needed a little spark and I think Carlos is the one to deliver. I think he needs to not bat second however. Quentin was tearing it up when he was batting lower in the order. Let’s put him back there.

What about the rest of the guys? I think it’s a good idea to let Orlando Cabrera bat lead-off. I wish Thome would stop striking out every other at-bat. Konerko is starting to turn it around. It’s nice to see Jermaine Dye get his stride back. AJ Pierzynski continues to be the most solid hitter in the lineup. Swisher batting seventh is a great move. He needs to be protected for now. Coming into the season, we all had questions about Crede’s offense. That seems to not be a problem, but his glove as been inconsistent (for Crede at least). I’m sure he’ll come around. As for Juan Uribe, I just wish could could get over .200. Would that be too much to ask?

Octavio Dotel is continuing to not make me happy. Ex-Royal factor again, anyone? On that note, I’m glad to see Mike MacDougal gone and Ehren Wassermann up. Then again, I’m a little biased toward Mr. Wassermann’s delivery. It’s nice to see Nick Masset and Boone Logan be pretty much solid. We haven’t seen much of Matt Thornton this year (which I’m okay with) and I continue to have questions about Scott Linebrink. Hopefully it won’t end up like it did last year…

All in all, I think we are fortunate to be sitting at .500 due to everything we’ve gone through. I haven’t given up on them yet, and I don’t think any of us should. The umpires are just as blind as ever, but maybe the breaks will turn around. We could use them. Small ball works. Let’s get back to the grind.

Ozzie’s first rant of 2008

Cait Higgins, Sox Superfan
Finals are over! Back to the good stuff. I felt compelled to write today on the heels of a 5-game losing streak and Ozzie’s first rant of the ‘08 season. It’s been a hard 5 games. Losing two to the Twins and dropping into second place is tough. Then, going in to Toronto and dropping three in a row to them has been almost unwatchable.

Our pitching has been very good. . Our hitting hasn’t been able to come around. Of course, it doesn’t help when the umpires blow a call that wound up being the difference between us winning and losing the game. It really irritates me when four men on the field that have the job of making routine calls fail to come up with the correct ones. Yesterday, poor Jose pitched an excellent game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get much together in the way of hitting, but the blown calls are our kryptonite.

Carlos Quentin has been outstanding. All season, but especially in the past couple of games. It seems like he is the only one who can get the bat on the ball. Toby Hall just hit a double, so I am pretty excited. Let’s hope that this game ends well. I don’t want to be one of those “stupid fans” who believes their lineup is better than Ozzie’s ;).

Before the game yesterday, one of the guys put blow up dolls in the clubhouse. Everyone thought it was pretty funny. Except the sports media. Of course they will use this as leverage against Ozzie and how he isn’t qualified to be a manager because he’s outspoken. Sorry, he has a World Series ring, and he got it the second season he was with our club. When I read about the blow up dolls, I thought it was pretty funny. That’s Ozzie. Those are our Sox. Do whatever helps keep the clubhouse loose.

Let’s talk about Ozzie’s rant. H’s been getting some heat from the media for “ripping on” Chicago fans. To correct them, he is ripping on Cubs fans and fans that complain and complain about who should and shouldn’t be in the lineup. As if they can do anything to change it. I liked Ozzie’s quote where he said that he would love to take everyone’s advice, if only they had 50 roster spots. I didn’t like that he said Chicago fans in general forget- that they were the best team a couple of days ago and that we abandon ship when everything goes south. I did like how he said that the media forgets, because they do. We have all seen how much the media bias favors the Cubs in this town. Ozzie knows it, the fans know it, the Sox know it, and the Cubs certainly know it.

Here’s a great quote:

” ”We won it a couple years ago, and we’re horse[bleep],” Guillen said. ”The Cubs haven’t won in 120 years, and they’re the [bleep]ing best. [Bleep] it, we’re good. [Bleep] everybody. We’re horse[bleep], and we’re going to be horse[bleep] the rest of our lives, no matter how many World Series we win. We are the bitch of Chicago. We’re the Chicago bitch. We have the worst owner — the guy’s got seven [bleep]ing rings, and he’s the [bleep]ing horse[bleep] owner.” ” - Chicago Sun Times, May 5, 2008.

I’m really happy to see the return of Ozzie of old. Hopefully this changes the course of the season. Get our train back on the tracks. Let’s go White Sox! Don’t worry, Ozzie, you have fans that will live and die by this team. I’ll be out there supporting you guys no matter what you do.

Until next time, Sox fans!

‘07 Sox Revisited

Michael Bottigliero, Sox Superfan

Hello Sox fans!  This is my first blog of ‘08 and I am ready for some baseball.  I was very happy to see our White Sox in first place though I believe this was due to not only being the division’s lone team with an above .500 record but also to the slow start a few AL Central favorites crawled out to.

Coming in to May I am very worried.  This team added a few new faces but I still see a lot of the bad offense we experienced last season.  The line-up is still leaving way too many runners on base and not coming up with timely hitting.  There is still a lack of overall team speed, as evidenced by their stolen base total- 8 out of 13 attempts, better than only the Nationals.  There are also too many hitters who get off to slow starts.  Asking Joe Crede and AJ Pierzynski to lead this team is a bit much.  Our veterans need to step up and rally around the great play of Carlos Quentin and the entire pitching staff.  The more we waste quality starts, the more frustrated our staff will become.  I just want to say I have enjoyed the way our starters, especially John Danks and Gavin Floyd, have pitched and hope they can keep it up- get us some speed Kenny!