Tag Archives: optimism

So, two in a row. Hasn’t happened much lately, and it really is a reason to be excited these days. And, fine, there are teams elsewhere in the AL and (presumably) in the NL that would laugh at the ChiTown fans being excited about a 2 game win streak, but we’ll totally take what we can get.

There was some good stuff to talk about today. Firstly, sad that Buehrle wasn’t able to get his win, but it was nice to see Santos put one in the win column. He’s been a little bit of a bright light in the midst of our early bullpen troubles and it was neat that he got to pull out the W today.

W-L: 1-0; ERA: 0.00; SV-SVO; 3 for 3 – 15 scoreless innings

AWESOME

However, that being said, Santos’ solid outing (striking out three, only walking one and sporting a fantastic pink necklace) is not actually what I have chosen as the highlight of this game today.

The highlight of the game today is, without a doubt, Paul Konerko’s pink cleats. I was scouring the depths of the internet for a photo of them, but I have sadly come up empty.

Instead, I will link you to the following clip. This is the play that put the White Sox on the board for the first time today, it was the last play that I got to see before I headed out for work (it is becoming increasingly apparent that my work schedule is completely nonsensical, isn’t it?), contains some questionable fielding that was – for once – not courtesy of the White Sox, and, of course, featuring the awesome pink cleats of awesomeness(tm). [click here]

Happy Mother’s Day (what’s left of it) and let’s see if we can keep this momentum going tomorrow in LA – a heavy feat, but if we need extra help, I’m going to send a request to Paul Konerko to break out the pink cleats again.

Hey, it couldn’t hurt!

It’s easy to be optimistic today. Especially when your scoreboard looks like this:

The bats were on fire tonight. Just like the expected AL Central standings are upside down, the batting order decided to stand on its head, too. The bottom 3 guys were smokin’ out there. It was nice to see. Not that I can explain what lit the fire under the butts of Morel, Beckham and Rios, but I’ll take it. They went 6-for-6 with two doubles and two RBIs and who would have thunk it? There was also some better-than-average defense, so that was a plus. (There was also some great defense by the Mariners… I’m still smarting a little from the home run that they stole from Pierzynski).

[Also, as a side note, I apologize to Mariners fans everywhere – and to the man himself – but I really can’t help but giggle and think of board games every time I hear Milton Bradley’s name.)

But, today’s chosen positivity comes from Gavin Floyd. Who I kind of love like Catherine (of “The Wizard of Ozzie“) loves Mark Buehrle, even though I want to shake him and tell him to just calm down and breathe a lot of the time when I watch him pitch.

He was, again, pretty rock solid – with the notable exception of the 2nd inning – and was really in a zone tonight. It was a pleasure to watch him work his stuff for the first game I was able to catch in a long time.

99 Strikes. Awesome.

The game today was MLB.tv’s free game of the day (which also meant I could listen to the Seattle feed – bonus!) and meant that I could catch the game at work. Which ain’t too shabby.

So, all in all: Watching a baseball game at work, watching the Sox grab a win, watching Gavin pitch a great game that was actually supported by the rest of the team, and some surprise action from 7, 8 and 9.

Edited to say: In fact, it was such a generally solid and cohesive outing all around that I am going to give everyone a gold star tonight. Go, team!

It was a good Saturday night.

Finally, a win at The Cell. It was a nice surprise to load up GameDay around the 7th inning and see that we were winning. And, then to tune in again at the bottom of the 8th, and bite my fingernails a little bit throughout the top of the 9th.

So, yes, of course it’s a little easier to be positive today! But, if I was going to focus on one thing to be positive about, I think its time to talk about Sergio Santos.

3 saves in as many opportunities, he still has a 0.00 ERA (though, everyone who saw the game in NY knows that he owes that, in part, to Brent Lillibridge), and just generally coming out and getting the job done.

It is nice that we, as a collective unit of White Sox fans, don’t have to cringe every time we go to the bullpen in the 9th inning. Sure, the beginning of the season means that we’re all probably a little on edge, but at least we have someone that is proving to be up to the task.

Go, White Sox!