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Showing posts with label Chicago White Sox. Show all posts

Monday, 22 August 2011

Hey White Sox! How about a little urgency?

On July 20th, the White Sox took a 3 1/2 game lead in the A.L. Central. They had the arms, the bullpen and the lunatic manager to keep them steady.

They also could have used another bat, but that's nit picking.

They had a 5 game winning streak not long after that but it looked like they were going to be locking horns with the Twins all year for the Central (especially with the collapse of the Tigers.)

Well in less than a month, they have dropped 7 1/2 games in the standings as they sit 4 games back of the Twins, including an extra inning loss on a Jim Thome homer... the same Jim Thome who sunk the Twins in a 2008 one game playoff as a member of the White Sox.

Let's get going White Sox!

I made it clear that I am rooting for you and I would like to see more October games in the South Side.

But for general baseball fans, a tight pennant race is good for the game. Two teams going back and forth right until the last day makes the last weekend super cool and frankly it will be only time that baseball attention will turn to the AL Central this year.

Win today and it will be a 3 game deficit.

Lose? And you are looking at 5 games back and a chance for 6 back if the Twins complete the sweep.

And let's face it... the Twins will get WALLOPED by the Rangers, Rays or Yankees in the playoffs. So basically if the Twins run away with it, there will be no reason to pay attention to the AL Central until 2011.

So let's go White Sox.

Floyd vs. Liriano tonight. Put it on the boaaaaaaaaard. YES!

Sunday, 21 August 2011

Is Omar Vizquel a Hall of Famer without a qualifier?

Last night Omar Vizquel drove in the go ahead run in a game where the White Sox would ultimately lose in extra innings to the Mariners.

I was watching the game and the graphic above caught my eye.

Omar Vizquel is tied for 50th on the all time hit list.

I had to rub my eyes for a second to make sure I didn't see that incorrectly.

There have only been 49 people with more hits than Omar Vizquel in the history of the major leagues.

Only 2 players in the history of baseball who are eligible for the Hall of Fame have that many hits and are not in Cooperstown.

Vada Pinson and Harold Baines, who was Vizquel's teammate in Cleveland and now is one of his coaches for the White Sox.

Now earlier I wrote about how if Harold Baines got 7 more hits in each of his seasons, he would have had over 3,000 hits and be in the Hall of Fame.

With 117 more hits, Omar Vizquel could pass Baines.

But Baines was a pure hitter. He was a DH for almost his entire career and even as a hitter, he very rarely was considered to be one of the elites.

Vizquel has been one of the elite shortstops for a generation.
He has the 11 Gold Gloves to prove it. When I wrote about who should be in the Hall of Fame in 2007 and 2009, I put Omar Vizquel on the edges saying in 2007:
"His Offensive numbers haven't even come close, but has there been someone who has been such an overwhelming DEFENSIVE prescence as Vizquel for the past 17 seasons? That should count for something!"

And in 2009:
"His defense was so good he might make it in. It would be nice if he was more of a threat with the bat."

Well if he can be listed among Hall of Fame names in the hit column with pure hitters, then maybe he belongs in!

And Luis Aparcio and Ozzie Smith and Bill Mazeroski are all in the Hall mainly for their gloves... and Vizquel has surpassed them in the hit column.

This is his 22nd season and his 4th decade in the bigs and can still pick the ball. And while his .276 average isn't making Josh Hamilton nervous yet, it does show that he probably has a few more years left.

Maybe even 251 hits.

Either way, consider myself sold.

Omar Vizquel belongs in the Hall of Fame.

I say it and I stand by it.

Why am I rooting for the White Sox?

Anyone who reads this blog (and I know I do) you know that I am a Red Sox fan, but I also follow each race and inevitably I root for a team in each race.

The Giants are my second favorite team, so I always root for them.

And there are teams like the Cardinals, the Braves and the Angels that I don’t really like, so I’ll root for someone to beat them.

And of course I always root AGAINST the Yankees.

I have no reason to dislike any team in the A. L. Central, so logic dictates that I would be rooting for the team that has the most compelling narrative for their fans.

With the crushed city of Cleveland getting no relief from the Indians and the Royals clipping coupons, the race is down to the Twins, the Tigers and the White Sox.

You’d think I’d be rooting for the Twins. After all, I rooted for them big time in 1987 and 1991. The Twins winning would contiue to be a gigantic middle finger to the threat of contraction 9 years ago.

The Twins have won 5 Division Titles in the past 8 seasons and missed another Division Title in 2008 when they lost a one game playoff 1-0 to Chicago.

Plus with stars like Mauer and Morneau and the team playing outdoors, it makes the Twins the obvious choice for me to root for. (Not to mention that my current boss, Craig Kilborn, is from Minnesota and is a life long fan.)

Or maybe you'd think I'd be rooting for the Tigers...

The city could use a pick me up, the team was potentially cheatedout of a playoff spot last year. Plus they are a traditional team with great old unis... and play for a city that let's face it has seen better days.

Plus Jim Leyland is a borderline Hall of Famer as of now. Maybe another trip to October would clinch a ticket to Cooperstown.

And as I said before, I would have no problem seeing either of those teams going far in the post season.

Yet strangely when either one of those teams play the White Sox head to head... I find myself rooting for the White Sox.

And when I see the White Sox gain a game in the standings, I give a little fist pump.

Of the three contenders, I want to see the White Sox win the American League Central.

It isn't because I picked them at the beginning of the year.

I picked the Yankees to win the Division as well and you don't see me cheering them on!

And it clearly isn't because of a Post Season drought as they won it all just 5 years ago.

I guess I like how Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen do business. I like that come trade deadline, Kenny is not afraid to trade off young players.

Maybe it is because Kenny knows that there is no time like the present to have the White Sox contend and steal as many casual Chicago fans as possible.

Or maybe it is because he himself was a heralded prospect who never turned into a star player and he knows that sometimes a big league definite is more valuable than younger potential.

And I have not been shy in saying what an Ozzie Guillen fan I am.

I like that he is a little crazy, is the face of the team and guess what? If he wins a few more divisions and another pennant, he might be putting together a Cooperstown resume.

Wouldn't that be an amazing day in Upstate New York seeing Ozzie enshrined?
He's not there now (although he HAS matched Hall of Fame managers Earl Weaver, Leo Durocher and Whitey Herzog in World Series titles) but I want to see him pad his resume.

Maybe I am rooting for the White Sox because I have a soft spot in my heart for their fans.

As I wrote in my "Why Doesn't Anyone Love The White Sox?" post a few years ago, the South Siders get such little love that it is kind of startling.

If you meet someone from Chicago, it is almost assumed they are a Cubs fan. It's more pronounced than even the Yankees and Mets disparity in New York.

There is nothing cute and cuddly about the White Sox and if you have rooted for them over the years, you are clearly not a front runner nor doing the fashionable thing.

And I am guessing a lot of them are enjoying the possibility of making the post season AGAIN while the Cubs are imploding.

Or maybe I am rooting for the White Sox because I want SOME kind of Sox in the playoffs!

Whatever the reason is, I am hoping the playoffs go through Chicago in the American League. Baseball is emotional and logic sometimes is thrown out the window.

All I know is the White Sox were playing the A's last night... and I am hoping the A's win the West... yet when I saw it was a Sox win, I gave a little fist pump.

Let's go Sox (Red and White)

Saturday, 20 August 2011

An open letter to Ozzie Guillen

Hey Ozzie. It’s your pal Sully here.

You need to RELAX a little. Not too much… but people are already writing that you may have worn out your welcome in Chicago, and we can’t have that happen.

I know there are a lot of people in baseball who are NOT Ozzie Guillen fans and think you are a disgrace to baseball.

I am not one of them.

I am a big Ozzie Guillen fan. I think you are great for the game. Yes we need to stoic classy manager types like Joe Torre, Mike Scioscia and Terry Francona.

We need the crotchety old men who will bark at an umpire to death like Bobby Cox and Jim Leyland.

We need the cerebral managers like Ron Gardenhire and Joe Maddon.

We need the former players who manage on instinct like Bruce Bochy and Dusty Baker.

And yes, we need the managers who very well might be insane.

That’s where you fit in… even more than your crosstown rival Lou Piniella, who is bonkers as well.

It’s nice having a totally unpredictable, attention grabbing, unorthodox manager whose character defines the team.

But you need to tone it down… at least to the point where you and Kenny Williams are no longer trying to fight each other!

Ease up on the Twitters and tell your son to do the same.

Have the colorful quotes and push your players hard… but have SOME self preservation.

Think about the amazing legacy you can leave behind in Chicago.
You lead the White Sox to the only World Series title the city has seen in the past 93 years.

But it was more than just a World Series title… it was something very unique.

Your White Sox were the best team of the regular 2005 season and went 11-1 in the post season… a mark achieved only by the 1999 Yankees in the 3 tiered playoff system. And THAT team had future Hall of Famers like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and pending steroid backlash, Roger Clemens. Not to mention stars like Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill, David Cone, Andy Pettitte et al.

Who were the Hall of Famers on the 2005 team?
Frank Thomas?
Yeah he was on the team but only played 34 games and none after July 20th. He wasn’t on the playoff roster.

But the rest of the team was filled with good players but nobody who would even crack the top 5 in the MVP vote nor get any first place votes for the Cy Young Award.

This was a manager’s championship.

Assuming that the likes of Paul Konerko or Scott Podsednik don’t make it to the Hall of Fame, the 2005 World Series title has a very significant uniqueness to it.

Almost every single World Series winner from the 1903 Boston Pilgrims to last year’s Yankees has featured either a Hall of Fame player or a sure fire Hall of Fame player for some of the more recent ones.

The exceptions…

The 1981 and 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers, who had a Hall of Fame manager in Tommy Lasorda.

The 1984 Detroit Tigers, who had a Hall of Fame manager in Sparky Anderson.

The 1997 Florida Marlins (assuming Gary Sheffield DOESN’T make the Hall of Fame) who had a potential Hall of Fame manager in Jim Leyland.

The 2002 Anaheim Angels whose manager, Mike Scioscia, is building quite a resume.

The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies, where it is too early to determine the Cooperstown prospects for Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and evidently Jamie Moyer.

That’s 7 World Series out of 105 where there was no Hall of Fame prescience in the active line up or rotation… which means 7 extra ordinary managerial displays.

Including YOU Ozzie.

Now I am not saying you are a Hall of Famer… But you have the World Series and another Division Title on your resume in your seven years managing the White Sox. Win another pennant and some more division titles and maybe you’ll get some consideration.

Plus by the time the White Sox have put another pennant contender they will have almost an entirely different team from 2005… so Ozzie could have a two distinct White Sox pennant contenders, a la Lasorda in 1981 and 1988 with the Dodgers.

Maybe the Hall of Fame right now is a reach, but take a look at the outfield wall in U.S. Cellular Field.

They honor White Sox legends out there. Nellie Fox, Luke Appling, Minnie Minoso, Luis Aparcio, Carlton Fisk, Ted Lyons and Billy Pierce are all immortalized and none of THEM delivered a World Series title.

Heck you might even get a statue… and have it in that choking position.

You can have a permanent place of adoration in the city of Chicago.

Just don’t self destruct. Don’t have what happened to Billy Martin happen to you. He could have been the Yankee manager for life… or the A’s manager for life for that matter. But he let his demons get the best of him at each turn.

And yes, even with a World Series title you can go unemployed for a long time. Don’t believe me? Ask Cito Gaston.

So seriously… be intense and be Ozzie.
You can be one of the great figures in White Sox history!

Just don’t go out as a joke.

Your pal,

Sully

Wednesday, 3 August 2011

Edwin Jackson looked good for someone nobody wanted

I am hard pressed to think of a single writer who thought that Edwin Jackson was actually coveted by the White Sox. Everyone seemed to think he was going to be dealt to Washington and somehow the White Sox were TRULY lusting after Adam Duun.

I am equally unable to find many people who thought it was a good deal.

But 7 strong innings from Jackson today sunk the Tigers below .500 in August and putting them 8 games out.

More or less the Tigers are done.

And if Edwin continues to pitch well, the White Sox might have a stacked rotation going into October.

May EVERY bad trade work out like this!

Tuesday, 2 August 2011

Scout Chris Sale

The White Sox might have a secret weapon called Chris Sale this pennant race.

He was in college earlier this year and shot right through their farm system.

Now he is in the big leagues and the White Sox are hoping that batters who have never faced him before will whiff and teams will not have scouted him and have no game plan against him these last 2 months.

Basically they are hoping he could be the White Sox's answer to Francisco Rodriguez in 2002 when he threw just a handful of innings before exploding onto the post season stage... or maybe like David Price who came out of the pen to shut down the Sox in the 2008 ALCS with less than 10 innings of big league experience.

Here's a tip for the other 29 teams... SCOUT HIM!

Have a game plan.

Figure out where to hit him.

I don't know why I am telling you this because, as I said before, I like the White Sox and am rooting for them in the AL Central.

But there's no reason for you to be caught with your pants down. You've got scouts. Send them to the Chicago game.

Chop chop.

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