Category Archives: Uncategorized

April 25, 2011 · 11:37 pm

I almost forget how to write an entry after a win. Or: !!!!!

I am so out of practice with how to write a blog after a win that I almost don’t know what to say. Mostly, I’m just happy that I get to use my winning tag instead of my losing tag.

It was an exciting night at Yankee Stadium (for the southside): Humber carrying his no-hitter into the 7th, good defense, good offense, and some solid outings by the bullpen. It was nice to see the pinch running grabbing that insurance run (Good to see you again, Brent Lillibridge!), that 3-6-1 double play in the 9th and just some of the utter randomness we witnessed tonight. Like Ramirez’s infield fly-ball single – say what?! – that you kind of had to see to believe. I was actally surprised that there was no way to get that down as an error. I hope mlb.com puts up a copy of that at some point.

happydance.jpgI don’t even care that the amount of excitement I am feeling over actually winning a game is a little excessive. We’ve had a rough go of it lately – I’ll take all the good I can get.

Now we just have to figure out how to do this two days in a row.

And, tomorrow, I will be sitting at home, trying to use the power of my mind to *will* Gavin Floyd to remember to keep breathing and try to stay calm. He can do it, as long as he doesn’t beat himself.

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April 24, 2011 · 11:20 pm

New town… Will anything change? Or: And, the road trip continues.

So, one of the blessings of having easter dinner with a house full of people that are Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Pirates fans, is that – since I lost the fight for the remote – I didn’t have to watch the sweep that took place in Detroit today. I read a little bit about it online (as much as I could stand to) and, ugh.

The downside was all of the teasing that I had to endure about the White Sox and their rather abysmal season.

Well, you win some, you lose some.

So, the road trip continues tomorrow and, I really hope that things get better.

However, I’m worried that we’re going to end up seeing more of the same.

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[image links to the original location at http://macleodcartoons.blogspot.com%5D

This was originally posted by a Red Sox fan after a loss to the Yankees, but I think the sentiment applies and I really hope that it is not prophetic.

Happy Easter, y’all.

I hope things look brighter for the Sox tomorrow. It is still April and – even though it takes more and more effort every day – I can still be glass half full for at least a few more days.

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April 24, 2011 · 11:04 am

Happy birthday Omar and Happy Easter everyone. Or: My glass is half full today.

Happy Birthday Omar Vizquel!
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I love me some Omar Vizquel (obviously), and I hope that he has a very happy birthday. If he wanted to play, I’m glad he’s in the starting line-up, and if he didn’t, I hope that he still has a good day anyway.

Also, to everyone else, happy Easter/Sunday/Chocolate Day/day where you are not at work/day full of baseball games (pick whichever applies to you).

And, obviously, my telepathy made it to Detroit today, because the starting line up is all sorts of random today. Pierre7, Vizquel4, Quentin9, DunnDH, Ramirez6, AJ2, Teahen3, Lillibridge8, Morel5 with Danks pitching. It’s weird and wonderful and it will be strange not to have Konerko out there, considering he’s been such a fixture recently, but everyone deserves a day of rest and I look forward to seeing him back out there in NYC.

In honor of Omar’s birthday, I’ve woken up on the optimistic side of the bed today and my glass is half full. (And, depending on how the day goes, it may be a wine glass and it may be half full multiple times today.)

I hope that the boys can pull it out today. For Omar, for themselves, and even a little bit for us.

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Go, team!

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April 24, 2011 · 12:45 am

Second verse, same as the first. Or: Ignorance is bliss.

So, I was out of town today and – from the inning-by-inning text updates that were making their way to my cell phone throughout the afternoon – it seemed like a good day NOT to be watching the White Sox play. The score seemed so scary that I’m afraid to even read the recaps today, now that I’m home.

Now, in the spirt of not dwelling on the fact that the White Sox got their butts totally whipped today in Detroit, I will spend exactly one sentence reiterating that I still think the starting line-up and batting order could benefit from an extreme makeover (even if only temporarily) and then I will move along, because – sadly – no one from the White Sox organization has asked my opinion on the starting line-up.

Let’s move along to happier things, shall we?

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Like oceans. And mountains. And sunshine.

And, instead of ranting and raving and generally waving my hands around dramatically about the current sad state of affairs that is the Chicago White Sox, I am going to remain calm and hope that tomorrow brings something better. I’d say it couldn’t get worse, but at the moment, I’m not going to tempt fate.

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April 22, 2011 · 9:44 pm

I am getting used to this. Or: I think this rut is getting comfortable.

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I feel like Charlie Brown can describe anything I want to say better than I can.

On a wet and cold and windy and miseable night in Motown, the White Sox momentum came to a dead halt. Again.

There are some pretty abysmal statistics floating around in the White Sox offense, with certain members of the line-up 0/15 and 4/38 in their most recent plate appearances. And, yeah, there is a whole host of other things I could expound upon, but tonight. I’m just going to hope that the Sox defrost overnight and pull things together overnight.

I would really be a fan of seeing some unfamiliar faces in the line-up tomorrow and seeing the order get shaken up a bit. Because things really aren’t gelling right now, so why not try something new?

What’s the worst that could happen?

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April 21, 2011 · 10:15 pm

And the pendulum swings the other way. Or: Snapping a losing streak.

pendulum.jpgIs the momentum shifting, finally? Oh, I certainly hope so. It’s been rather depressing to not only be losing, but to be practically giving things away. It is very possible that, given the quality of the Rays’ and Angels’ roster, we still would have lost even if we were playing better. But, at least we might have looked better doing it.

I really hope that tonight might be a little bit of momentum swinging in the other direction. But, I said it after a loss and it’s just as true after a win. It’s still only April. There’s still a lot of ball to play.

I was thrilled (as I said earlier) to have Omar Vizquel in the starting line-up tonight. I was watching the Fox broadcast and the Tampa announcers were spouting some pretty ridiculous stats about the difference in wins and losses and hitting percentages when he’s in the starting line up v. when he’s not – in past seasons.

And, really, I am wondering (casually, because I didn’t do the research) if the same would hold true this season. I’m biased in his favor because, essentially, he’s a rock star and there’s no telling me any different. He is a walking, talking highlight reel. And, more than that, he’s pretty darned consistent and we could sure use some of that floating around right now.

It was also nice to see Gavin (thank you for not disappointing my faith in you) Floyd and the rest of the pitchers hold it together. It’s a nice feeling to have more good things than bad things that I want to say about the game for a change, but I’ll spare you the re-hashing of the game just to satisfy my own whim. Instead, I will leave you with a small Omar Vizquel highlight reel in photographic form.

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I then tuned into the Indians/Royals and arrived just in time to see Getz steal 2nd and get landed on (pretty solidly, there will probably be footprints on his back tomorrow) by Everett. And, then watch him steal third to get into position to get the Royals on the board for the first time off of Francoeur’s single in the bottom of the 8th. Pretty exciting final inning at that game tonight – moreso if you’re a KC fan, watching them pull it out in the bottom of the 9th.

Now over to the OtherSox/Angels game, scoreless in the third. Time to enjoy some West Coast ball.

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April 21, 2011 · 8:02 pm

Oh, right. Baseball is fun. Or: OOOMAR!

omar-vizquel.jpgI am going to say it. I don’t care if we are only in the 4th inning and the Rays have just scored twice to bring the game closer, 5-2 ChiSox (I won’t lie, it feels nice to type that). It honestly doesn’t matter (to me) what happens from here for the rest of the game. There has been pitching (when Gavin remembers to breathe), there has been defense, and there has been offense – from both sides (but that’s not new for the Rays these days).

Also, I have been obnoxiously whining to anyone who will listen (and even to people who won’t) that I’ve wanted Omar Vizquel to start (because he is amazing) and he’s in the line-up tonight and he’s sure earning his salary tonight. I also wanted to see Lillibridge in the line-up (remember home run 10,000 anyone???), but I’m not going to be picky.

There’s been some great stuff from the Rays tonight, with pretty much every inning ending with Fuld catching something (sometimes while having a conversation with the security guards) in left field, and it’s nice to see Johnny Damon’s smiling face back in the lineup (even if he ends up being the death of us tonight!)

It’s not perfect. But, thank goodness. It’s (so far) a good game and ChiSox baseball is fun again tonight.

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April 20, 2011 · 9:22 pm

One! More! Time! Or: A picture is worth a thousand words.

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This is going to be a long season, methinks.

Again, I got home just in time for the last inning and missed pretty much everything there was to see.

If anyone has today’s “glass half full” thought for the day, I would certainly appreciate it.

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April 19, 2011 · 9:05 pm

I’m starting to get used to this. Or: Nothing new to say here.

Well, unfortunately I don’t have much new to say after today’s loss to the Rays. The score was 2-1, but I don’t know that it was even that close.

Phenomenal job today by James Shields. Good, sharp game. And, a really charming interview at the close of the game. A solid complete game that took him over 1000 career innings. Well done. There’s nothing to be done but to applaud his effort today.

Not a bad outing by Danks, we’ve certainly seen worse lately, but there was just the same usual problems plaguing us tonight. Some questionable defense, some less-than-desiable offense, and just a general feeling that there is just something missing that is preventing this team from feeling like a cohesive unit. Sometimes, it just seems like 9 guys hanging out in the grass. There was actually a really great running and sliding catch where I was actually surprised that Rios and Pierre didn’t smash into each other. And, it’s disappointing that the defense has me feeling this way.

I would love them to win, but I don’t even really need that. I would just like them not to give things away. Even games where we lose can be fun to watch, if they’re good, quality ball.

Oh well. In an effort to be positive, I would like to point out that there was one bright spot tonight.
jesse crain.jpg“Hello, my name is Jesse Crain and I will be auditioning for the role of closer.”

Two good outings in the last three games. I’ll use that to fill up my glass a little and try to keep it half full.

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April 19, 2011 · 2:34 pm

Reaching the goals. Or: Is the glass half full?

I’m listening to The Danny Mac Show [Podcast] while at my desk.

I am sure that I will have something more to say after the Sox @ Tampa game tonight, but this particular exchange from this morning’s show made me laugh out loud for real. Bill Melton is on the phone and, after some poking fun at Bill about how they (the hosts) will come after Bill if he starts to get down on the Sox on the air during this slump – like certain other Chicago sportscasters have been known to do – this happens:

Bill Melton: “Don’t worry about it. I’m not concerned about that. We’re doing exactly what we said we we’d do – staying close to Minnesota.”

Yes. Yes we are.
goldstar.gif I feel like this statement deserves a gold star.

Making light, putting things in perspective, and then going on to remind us that there is still a lot of baseball to play.

It’s a little snarky, but – to me – it’s also keepin’ the glass half full. And, this is not a bad thing right now. I hope things start looking up, I would like a few less bumps in the road, and I would like if my team were in it for the duration, but for the moment, I’m just going to try to look on the bright side.

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