WATCH THE KILBORN FILE! (Keep Sully employed!)

Alas The Bonnie Hunt Show is over and I still miss it... but Sully has to work and feed his kids and wife.

And guess what? I landed on two feet on the new Fox talk show The Kilborn File hosted by Craig Kilborn.

It's a fun solid 1/2 hour of comedy with headlines, a power panel, current event comedy and guests (whose interviews are produced by your pal Sully.)

But don't take MY word for it.

Gawker loves what we are doing.

Check us out.

OK, back to baseball.

See you Monday, readers...

I am taking the weekend off and going away with the wife.

I will be typing a TON of stuff over the All Star Break, but have a good weekend, friends.

I predicted Bengie Molina's triple

Last night was a super rotten night for the Red Sox and their fans... but I at least had a prediction come true and had at least something fun happen in an ugly loss.

My wife and kids are up north for a few days so living like a bachelor, I decided to swing by Sonny McLean's in Santa Monica and watch the Red Sox game with my people.

The Sox were tied when I showed up and in the middle of a rain delay. Then Beltre homered for the Sox and briefly there was a lead.

And then I got some company.

My good friend, writer for the Santa Monica Free Press and former 5th grade classmate Kenny Mack arrived.

And the second he showed up, the Red Sox blew the lead.

He blamed himself.

I just relay the facts.

The game was ugly for so many reasons... not the least of which was the number of players wearing #50 and higher.

With all the injuries on the team it looked like a split squad spring training game.

There were too many Eric Pattersons, Kevin Cashes, Ryan Shealys, Felix Doubronts, Fernando Cabreras and Dustin Richardsons for my taste.

I kept thinking "Where's Beckett? Pedroia? Buchholz? Ellsbury? Varitek? Martinez?" and expecting the answer to be "Oh they are on the squad playing in Jupiter."

The Sox put a few feeble rallies together but couldn't cut the lead down.

And up stepped Bengie Molina.

His Grand Slam turned a tie game into a 4 run hole and by the look of how his uniform fit, he had also experienced a few Denny's Grand Slams since coming over from San Francisco.

The NESN broadcast showed he had doubled, singled and hit the grand slam.

I said "Watch. He's hitting a triple here."

Kenny witnessed it. As did the people at the bar.

Now last year I wrote about Bengie Molina's ability to triples. He had 5 career triples (in 4,997 plate appearances) going into that at bat.

"He's going to do it" I yelled.

And then it happened... a drive to center field into the triangle... a place where anyone could run out a triple.

And it bounced off of Patterson's glove in centerfield and it was off to the races with Molina.

I think James Caan in Misery would have been lighter on his feet than Molina.

And there he was on third.

And I called it.

Now granted I was calling it somewhat tongue in cheek. But hey! I'll take the credit.

The only question was was the official scorer going to call it an error or a triple. Kenny was convinced it should be called an error.

I kept thinking "Come on scorekeeper! Give him the triple!"

And he did.

I thought of the scene in 1776 when the anonymous Judge Wilson realizes his yes or no vote would determine whether or not America would have its independence. He votes yes because he couldn't take the responsibility of saying no.

That was the scorekeeper. He didn't want the responsibility of denying Bengie Molina the triple and the cycle.

(Trust me that analogy makes perfect sense.)

Oh well... this season is slowly inching towards "Lost cause ville"

Go to 5:00 of this clip and keep in mind that one "no" vote from a state would kill the Independence movement. It's a great (albeit not letterboxed) scene. Then you will see how brilliant my analogy is.

(Trust me.)

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

My wife and I will inevitably have this exchange today

At one point today I will say "The Red Sox and the Yankees are starting soon."

To which my wife will say "I thought they played yesterday."

And I will say "They did. And they are playing again today."

And she will ask "Why are they playing again?"

And I will answer "Because they play 3 games series with each other."

And she will shake her head and say "They should just play one game. It's too confusing."

This exchange has happened every single time the Red Sox and Yankees have played during our nearly 7 years of marriage.

And we'll have the same conversation TOMORROW when the Sox and Yankees play again.

You would think she would have detected a pattern by now.

(Actually it is a FOUR game series this time... I have a feeling Monday will spark an even more confusion.)