So the White Sox ended up winning by a final of 4-3 over the Rays. The winning streak is now at eight games. The Sox haven’t done that since July of 2010 when they won nine games in a row. But that is all secondary.

The real story of the day was events in the first and fourth inning of the game. In yesterday’s game, AJ Pierzynski had a terrible slide in the game that apparently resulted in a spiking of Ben Zobrist. As I was watching it, it just looked like an incredibly awful slide to break up a double play opportunity. Not like someone intentionally trying to hurt another player. But because AJ is involved, you have to wonder.

Fast forward to today as nothing else happened suspicious in yesterday’s game. Bacon gets hit in the top of the first inning. Nothing happened to any Rays players. Probably because it was the first inning and Bacon wasn’t hurt. Then in the fourth inning, AJ gets hit in the back by Alex Cobb. You might be thinking, um ok why? Is the ball just getting away or is something up.  » Continue reading “The Game Ended Up Secondary As White Sox Sweep Rays”

The wait is over. Yesterday the Sox finally played a spring game. They lost that game. Some players looked good. Others, not so much.

It’s still too early to really make solid judgments about this team, but at least now there are games to start evaluating things. In listening to Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson talk during the game, it was very interesting hearing what they had to say about the prior pitching staff and how the team is behaving now under Robin and his guys.

I am starting to look forward to what happens this season. And listening to the game yesterday just felt so right. Like things in the world are finally right now that baseball is back.  To get you through the day, here are a few stories to occupy your time. Today’s game will be on tape delay on MLB Network (though, that appears to be in the middle of the night)

 John Danks looks like he will be tabbed as the Opening Day starter. » Continue reading “It’s Just One Game . . .”

(l-r) Pablo Ozuna, Cliff Politte, Darrin Jackson, Chris Widger, Neal Cotts, Joe Crede

SoxFest concluded yesterday. It turned out to be a pretty full day. Lots more questions that were similar to what was asked previously. There was also some possible annoyance from some of the panelists about some questions that were constantly getting asked in the same session. Oh, and of course, more digs at a couple of players who are deemed as the ultimate bums.

Like Saturday, I did end up in twitter jail for a time. Fortunately, they let me out after an hour. Just like before, if you have any questions, please ask in the comments. I know the typing may have gotten screwy, especially with auto-correct. Also, be sure you checked out some of the various other publications out there. There were some really good news nuggets and stories people got. Definitely worth your time. Later, I will try to get you links to some of those great stories.

Happy Monday and here are the tweets from the last day of SoxFest 2012:  » Continue reading “Final Day At SoxFest 2012. Now What?”

Tragedy in ONE game, people. Yes, the Monster won the game by a final of 6-5 in 10 innings. That right there was a sweep of the White Sox. It also meant two more games were eliminated on the Tragic Number and it’s down to one game. Given how the Monster has been rolling of late (today was their 12th win in a row), all they have to do is win against the A’s tomorrow or become the biggest fans ever of the PITA Royals to make the White Sox go away. Of course, the Monster still has to deal with the Indians to officially make the post season, but that is another story.

Dylan Axelrod made his first major league start today. Darrin Jackson, one of the radio voices for the Sox before the game described Dylan as a right-handed version of Mark Buehrle. Meaning, Dylan is crafty and doesn’t throw very hard and has really good stuff. When he said that, I was very excited to hear and see what Dylan was going to do. » Continue reading “Welcome To The Show, Kid!”

For my first fan girl experience of going to SoxFest, I had a fantastic time. I didn’t do any of the autograph or photograph sessions. Not that I wouldn’t have minded meeting any of the players, but I have just really never been that type of person. Once in a while, I might seek out an autograph (mainly from an author), but otherwise, I can live without getting my favorite players’ pictures or autographs. Nonetheless, spending time in the seminars this past weekend was amazing. I got to learn so many little tidbits about how things work for the White Sox organization and frankly, it made me like them a little more. With the off season moves I must admit I am impressed and am anxiously waiting for opening day 2011 to begin.

The seminar sessions covered all aspects of the team, from what is happening in the minors, things with the front office, coaches and of course, players both past and present.  Saturday’s seminars were: Next Generation 2.0; State of the Sox 2; Strategic Sox; Inside the Sox: From Draft to the Big Leagues; Feet of Fleet: Sox Speedsters; and finally Sox Sluggers: Past and Present. Sunday’s seminars were: Inside the Sox: From Draft to the Big Leagues; In the Dugout: Sox Coachspeak; Picks that Clicked: Sox Memories; Pitch Perfect: Sox on the Mound; and finally Next Generation 2. While some of the seminars were “repeats” there were different questions asked so they were not really repeating information. Lots of interesting tidbits came about.

Doug Laumann, Rick Hahn and Buddy Bell

On the minors: Buddy Bell made it clear he wasn’t a big fan of what Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune thinks of the minor league system or more accurately, care what Rogers thinks. The guys in the minor league system are more concerned with what Kenny Williams, Ozzie Guillen and other top management think of the players and how they are being developed. Something that Buddy mentioned was that when the baseball writers are ranking the players in a team’s minor league system, the writers are getting that information from people like himself. Bell said that when they give that information, they may not necessarily be giving up information they want out there. In other words, it is kind of a game of talking up your players in hopes of getting something you really want. I think the Braves organization has for years been the master of talking up their players, trading them for what they want and need. Of course, the most important thing when it comes to trades is to know your own players better than the other teams know your players.

» Continue reading “SoxFest 2011 Recap — the minor league system”