Wood retires from baseball, but the Sox retire the Cubs

May 18th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, Opinions, Video

What a game? After traveling across country twice in the past 3 days, the Sox couldn’t be blamed if they came out a little flat.

Not only did they not come out flat, they came out swinging. Especially Paul Konerko, who continues his career assault of the Cubs. The Captain hit an early 2-run home run, and the Sox were off an running.

Well, that’s what I thought they would do. That was only run the Sox scored until Gordon Beckham’s home run in the 8th inning.

After having his 4 base try stolen from him on Thursday, the 2nd baseman muscled up and made sure no one grab his 3rd of the year.

Scary happenings. Konerko took a Jeff Samardzija fastball off his head, in his next at bat. Konerko is alright, but it was a scary moment. Konerko has had a lot of success in his career vs. the Cubs, but I doubt if it was anything more than a pitch that got away.

The Sox won’t have Kerry Wood to push around anymore. Wood faced one batter, striking out Dayan Viciedo, than retired after the game. It was a great run for Wood, who will always be known for his 2o strikeout performance against the Astros in 1998.

I’ll always remember when he was supposed to team with Mark Prior to form a formidable Cubs rotation. Yeah, that didn’t happen for very long.

Hate to say I told you so, but do you see who the Sox closer is now? It’s none other than Addison Reed. The former SDSU Aztec picked up his 4th save of the year.

Before Reed put the game away, how many of you were screaming for Alex Rios’ head, after he dropped the last out in right? I know there was a high sun, but giving Darwin Barney a double was horrible scoring.

Have you seen the Windy City rivalry commercials, starring Nick Offerman of “Parks and Rec“, and Craig Robinson of “The Office”?

Here they are, they’re pretty funny.

Take a cue from this ad Sox fans and get out to one of the final 2 games. The weather is great, and the Sox should win at least one of them.

Only 34,000 showed up today, making it one of the smallest crowds in the history of the rivalry.

I am glad that 30,000 of you were Sox fans.

1 Comment »

Sox and Cubs ready to mix it up, again

May 18th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, Opinions

The Crosstown rivalry, or Windy City Rivalry to some is finally upon us. I’m sure it’ll still be a drunken bash for most Cub fans, who are putting up with a team that just isn’t that good. It’s not like the White Sox are bashing teams into oblivion either, but they do have a better team than the lovable Cubbies.

Cubs pitchers could be in for a rough 3 days, unless the recent cross country travels hurt the Sox.

Alejandro De Aza is a hitting machine. In May alone, he is hitting close to .400.

The Cubs favorite guy, A.J.Pierzynski is hitting at a .538 clip over his past 3 games (through Wednesday). Hum, getting hot just in time for a series against the Cubs. Pierzynski is also a catching machine, having caught over 1000 innings the past 10 years.

Where is Michael Barrett now?

Cubs pitchers best be careful with Adam Dunn this year. Not only is the big man hitting again, but he has rediscovered his power stroke. His 12 home runs are 1 more than he hit all of last year. Of those 12 bombs, 5 have been hit in the 1st inning.

Paul Konerko is also heating up. But has he ever really cooled off? Either way, the Sox 1st baseman is revving up for the rivalry by hitting .314 in May, and .500 the last 3 days (Through Wednesday).

The rumbling is barely audible, but could Konerko be a Hall of Famer? His numbers are starting to look real good. This may be a low blow, but is there anyone on the Cubs, right now, who will get into the Hall?I’m talking without a ticket.

One more Konerko note. He has hit 6 homeruns against the Cubs the past 5 years, that includes no at bats against the team in 2008. I think the Cubs fans should cheer that guy, as he is a Chicago icon.

The pitching matchup is one for the ages–haha. The 3 Sox starters include a guy who’s thrown a perfect game, a former Cy Young winner and very wealthy lefthander. The Cubs throw a tight end, a comedian and a guy who refuses to pronounce his name correctly. it should be Mal-holm, not Mall-hall-em.

Jake Peavy is 6-2 all-time against the Cubs, including 3-0 as a member of the Sox.
Danks is 2-1, but, even I’ll admit, he’s not pithing like the guy we have come to know, and love.
Even Humber has a win over the Cubs, and he has won only 12 games his entire career.

The Sox have won 5 of the previous 9 games at Wrigley, and 11 of the past 18 meetings altogether.

I forgot to mention, it’s also the first time Ventura and Sveum face off against each other. There aren’t many, but one positive Cubs note. Ventura lost the only 3 games he played at Wrigley back in 1998, so he’ll be looking for his first win as a member of the Sox, at the friendly confines.

Dale Sveum. He was never part of the Cubs/Sox interleague series, but he once played on the South Side, right along side his teammate, and pal Robin Ventura.

Sox should sweep, but they’ll at least win 2.

Drink up Cubs fan.

No Comments »

Heavy hearts for the South Siders, who won a game but lost a friend

May 18th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, Opinions

I have no idea what MLB was thinking. On Tuesday, the Sox played the Tigers at the Cell. On Wednesday, they started a two game series in Anaheim. Friday they pay the Cubs at Wrigley. What did the Sox do to Bud Selig, and company?

The Sox got mixed results in their 2 day, west coast swing. Gavin Floyd was knocked around the first day. Well, the Angels were on a mission, I guess. One day after firing long-time hitting coach Mickey Hatcher, they came out and actually hit the ball. 7 runs for the Halos, including home runs by Albert Pujols (A rocket), and Vernon Wells.

That was Floyd’s first bad start since a month ago vs. Baltimore. The 7 runs allowed by Floyd are the most he’s allowed this season, plus it’s just two runs less than his total allowed in his previous 6 starts. Either Floyd was off his game, or the Angels were on theirs. After the game, Manager Robin Ventura said the cross country trip had nothing to do with the Sox problems on the field Wednesday. I think, in Floyd’s case, it did affect him.

Are Dayan Viciedo and Paul Konerko crushing the ball, or what? In the 2 games, the Sox sluggers combined to go 9-15, with 2 home runs and 5 RBI. Viciedo has finally woken up, just in time to find a comfy spot on the Sox bench as interleague play starts.

Nice to see Jesse Crain back on the hill. Crain, who hurt a side muscle midway through the spring, came back to throw 2 perfect innings Wednesday and Thursday. His pickoff of lightning quick Mike Trout in the first game was a thing of beauty.

Thank goodness the Sox kept Chris Sale in the rotation. The lean lefthander can bring it, striking out 7 on Thursday. And other than Albert Pujols and maybe, Mark Trumbo, the Angels had no answer for the guy.

Can’t wait to see what Sale will be like with a little more experience under his belt. He still throws too many pitches, but that’ll be corrected in the future. Thursday, he threw 102 before leaving in the 6th inning. With that many pitches, he should have been in the 8th inning, at least.

He is a hard worker, so I can guarantee that’ll change as he gains more experience.

Gordon Beckham has no luck whatsoever. He went 0-5 on Thursday, but should have had a home run. His long ball attempt was taken from him by a leaping Vernon Wells.

Had a great two days working the games. Met a couple die hard, great Sox fans in Joe and Bea. Me, not always being the sharpest gus, asked her if she spelled her name, B-e-e. I’m sure it was either that, or wasp. Bea was kind enough to correct me.

Joe is a long-time Sox follower, think 60 years. He has seen the best, and worst, the Sox have had to offer over the years. They are 2 good, loyal fans, who just love their guys.

And thank you Bea for the Peter Bourjos bobblehead doll.

Finally, I want to talk about Kevin Hickey. The Sox special instructor passed away on Wednesday.

I worked around Hickey the past 9 springs, and found him to be, not only a great man, but a true Chicago White Sox.

There was never a day when you couldn’t find him doing something to make the team better. There was no project beneath him, no task too small. He was funny, friendly, and a pretty good ball player too. You will be missed by everyone you touched, Mr. Hickey.

R-I-P

No Comments »

Sox are down & up…then up & down

May 15th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, Opinions

If you only watched the final 5 innings on Monday, and the first 5 innings on Tuesday, you would have left with a huge smile on your face. You see, in those 9 innings, the Sox scored 11 runs. Monday they actually came back from an early 3 run deficit, twice, to win.

Game one was quite a surprise, as they battled back against Drew Smyly, who hadn’t allowed more than 2 earned runs in his previous 6 starts. The 4 runs the lefty allowed were just 2 less than the combined runs he’s allowed all year.

I wonder if opposing teams have received the memo? Give Adam Dunn a pitch to hit anywhere near the hitting zone in the 1st inning, and he’ll park it. For the 5th time this year, Dunn hit a bomb in the Sox’ opening frame. Dunn’s 12th gave him one more than he hit all of last year. If he keeps this pace Dunn will end up with than 50 home runs.

Is Dayan Viciedo breaking out of his season long slump? The right fielder sure did some damage in the 2 gams against the Tigers. 4-8, a home run and 5 RBI for the guy in the 2 games. Plus, he came with a few feet of hitting a game winning home run on Tuesday, his long drive dying at the wall.

If memory serves, this may be the 2 worst back to back starts by Sox starting pitchers this season. John Danks had his shortest stint of the year, going just 3 innings, allowing 5 earned runs. Danks ERA is at a whopping 6.46. I can promise you, the Sox didn’t project that when they signed him to that rich 5-year deal this past off-season.

Jake Peavy was a different story. He pitched like he has all season, awesome, for 5 innings on Tuesday. In the 6th an impostor came out. He looked like Peavy, but it couldn’t have been him.

This Peavy faced 7 batters, giving up 2 walks, 4 hits, with 2 leaving the park, while also hitting a guy. Peavy came in with a 1.76 ERA, but left with at 2.65.

I would bet anything that one of the first 2 questions asked of the guy, after he game, was about his health. When you have as many health issues as he’s had, it’ll always be in the back of people’s mind until he can put together back to back healthy seasons.

After relieving Peavy, Will Ohman hit a guy, than gave up a bomb to Austin Jackson. He retired the next 2 batters.

I still don’t understand how a reliever comes in the game, gives up runs that the starter left on base, then gets out of it. Never have, never will.

Payback is a bitch as Nate Jones did the same thing to Ohman. In the 7th, the first 2 guys reached. Jones came in and gave up hits to the first 2 batters, scoring Ohman’s runners. He then got out of the inning.

Back to Danks. This is 2 years in a row that he has struggled. Last year, the team did him no favors in many games. This year he is just plane out of sync. I 100% believe that it is the pressure of the big contract. Not excuses, just what I believe.

The struggles of the bullpen belies the great outing they all had on Monday. Relieving Danks in the 3rd, four relievers combined to pitch 6 innings, with no runs and just 3 hits.

A.J. Pierzynski has rediscovered his stroke. The Sox catcher went 6-9, with 3 RBI in the 2 games. That includes a 5-5 night on Tuesday. Only the 2nd time in his career that Pierzynski has had 5 hits in a game.

I do believe that one day Tyler Flowers will be the Sox starting catcher. It could be next year, or maybe even sooner. I hope he doesn’t try and match Pierzynski, who may be one the most durable receivers in MLB history. He is also as clutch as they come. Flowers will have a near impossible act to follow.

I don’t think Ed Farmer or Darren Jackson like Jose Valverde’s act much. His gyrations didn’t sit well with the Sox announcers. I don’t know, but maybe Valverde’s histrionics forced him out of the game in the 9th with an injury.

Fun stuff.. Sox overcame a deficit to win on Monday. Tigers overcame a 6 run margin to win on Tuesday. These 2 match up so well.

They don’t meet up again for 2 months.

For the Sox, they now head out to California to play the Angels. What is MLB thinking? Play a day game in Chicago, fly to Anaheim to play 2 games against the LAA, then back to Chicago to battle the Cubs.

Absolutely stupid scheduling.

No Comments »

Royals had their fill of Phil, but loved the Sox pen

May 13th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, Opinions

Good news. After 3 real bad starts, Phil Humber pitched great!

Pitching in to the 7th inning, Humber only gave up 4 hits and 1 run, while striking out 7.

The bullpen was another thing.

Matt Thornton is going through a bad stretch right now. relieving Humber, Thornton came in with a man on, and 2 out. He proceded to give up a walk, a wild pitch, followed by the game winning 2-run double.

In his last 2.2 innings, Thornton has allowed 6 earned runs. Might be time to sit him down for a spell. I bet it is something so small, his problems, and all. It’ll be figured out, but it is frustrating to watch right now.

Addison Reed came in with an ERA of zero. After allowing 6 earned runs in the 9th inning, his ERA ballooned to 5.23. Yikes! First bad outing for the guy, but it was bound to happen sometime.

That hellion Nate Jones got a warning from umpire Joe West. Jones allowed a home run to Jeff Francoeur, then came inside to Eric Hosmer, and out came the warning. At least West didn’t overreact. Stupid warning.

Where was West last year when the Royals were using the Sox as target practice. By himself, Bruce Chen hit 4 Sox players last year, nary a warning. Thankfully West stopped everything before they got out of hand. Geez!!!

The Sox offense went dry, who got 9 hits, just none consecutively.

I thought the Sox would have a good day once Danny Duffy left with an injury in the first inning.

Who knew Luis Mendoza was gonna pitch as well as he did. Mendoza allowed just one run in just over 5 innings.

Sox better watch out, the Royals are just 2 games behind them. However, the Sox are just 2.5 out of first.

Sox get another look at the Tigers tomorrow. Thankfully, Justin Verlander pitched on Sunday so they won’t see him.

No Comments »

Lately Floyd has been pitcher perfect

May 13th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, Opinions

Where are all the guys that wanted to dump Gavin Floyd? You know, if Jake Peavy wasn’t around, Floyd would be your de facto ace.

Floyd continues his early season surge, helping the Sox take down the Royals 5-0 in game 1 of a the 3 game series.

In his last 28.1 innings, Floyd has allowed only 4 runs. Good for him.

If people would stop pitching to Josh Hamilton, Adam Dunn might be leading the league in home runs. The big man hit his 11th of the season, on Friday.

4 of Dunn’s 11 home runs have come in the 1st inning. Nothing big about that, he just takes advantage of pitchers early.

I a span of, what, 5 days, Chris Sale went from starter, to closer, to starter again. He had a tough 1st inning on Saturday, as the Royals gave it back to the Sox, winning 5-0.

Sale should be in the rotation until his arm falls off.

That bottom of the Sox line up sure is struggling. Ramirez is hitting .199, Viciedo is at .202 while Morel is at .179.

Heard that Morel has a bad back. What is is it about Sox 3rd baseman and bad backs? That exact injury is what ended Joe Crede’s career.

The Sox announcers were waxing nostalgic about Jermaine Dye. That’s all I have to say about that.

I’d like to think Addison Reed is the new Sox closer, but that Nate Jones has a live arm. It wouldn’t surprise me if he gets a few chances as the season goes along.

Fron the obvious category, Paul Konerko is the unquestioned offensive leader of the Sox. He doesn’t lead in home runs or RBI, but it’s only May.

The season 34 games old. Do the Sox have an identity yet?

They are still just 2.5 games out of first, so if they find one they may be able to grab ahold of the division.

No Comments »

Sox salvage a tough trip

May 11th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, Opinions

Nice recovery by the White Sox. Loser of 3 straight, including a doubleheader to the Indians, the Sox won the final 2 games. They won 3 of 7 games on this trip, but it could have been worse. Well, it could have been better, but still.

John Danks showed how great a pitcher he can be, nearly shutting down the Indians for 7 innings. The bullpen came in and helped the Indians tie the game, but Tuesday night belonged to Danks.

I bet he was feeling a lot better answering all the media’s questions.

I wonder where the Sox are going to pitch Chris Sale. Elbow tenderness helped move him out of the Sox rotation, and into the back of the Sox pen. Now he is set to get an MRI after one night in the pen. They say it’s only precautionary, but an MRI is an MRI. They don’t send guys in for things like this unless they think there could possibly be something wrong.

Sale wasn’t his dominant self on Tuesday, and was pissed when he game up the game tying single to Carlos Santana.

One guy who is healthy is Addison Reed. Glad to see the Sox finally took my advice in making Reed the closer, for now. Sale will be in the mix, if he is healthy. Reed, to me, is the best option.

Alex Rios didn’t like Chris Perez’ antics the last time the two met. I liked how he showed him how he felt on Tuesday, lining the eventual RBI triple into the gap in right. Rios has been quietly consistent all year.

Same could be said for Adam Dunn, who hit his 10th home run of the year on Wednesday. If Josh Hamilton wouldn’t be hitting 4 out, Dunn would be the AL leader in home runs. Dunn is another 2012 success story.

The biggest story has to be the return of Jake Peavy. Peavy may be the best pitcher in baseball through the first month and a half. He threw another great game, improving his record to 4-1, while lowering his ERA to 1.89. Say what you will about Jered Weaver and Felix Hernandez, but Peavy has been everything and more.

I don’t remember the last laugher the Sox played, but Wednesday was one. The Sox have a potent lineup, and they proved that by sending 10 men to the plate in the 4th when they scored 6 runs.

I wonder how long a team can go with a guy who is unproven, and struggling. Dayan Viciedo has been scuffling all season, but since Morel and Beckham have been doing the same he has fallin’ between the cracks.

I think if those 3 guys were hitting at all, we would be talking about the first place Sox, instead of the 3rd place Sox.

All the teams better watch out, as my 2012 sleeper, the Kansas City Royals are starting to get their act together. They are just 3 games back of the Sox.

The Sox will see just hom competitive the Royals can be when they host their Central Division rivals starting Friday at the Cell

No Comments »

Take 2–that’s exactly what the Indians did to the Sox

May 8th, 2012 Bill Mahoney Posted in Main, News, Opinions

Sitting here listening to John Danks pitch against the Indians, made me think about the yesterday’s double header loss to the Tribe.

What is wrong with Phil Humber? Since his perfect game three weeks ago at Seattle, Humber’s ERA is a whopping 13.74. in two of those game, Humber has allowed 8 earned or more. He is pitching from behind to most hitters as his 11 walks in his past trio of starts will attest.

Humber has has past arm problems. I am not saying he is hurting again, but his stats over the past few weeks don’t seem like they are being thrown by a guy who is completely healthy.

The telling thing about yesterday is Humber only faced 18 guys, while throwing 62 pitches in allowing 8 earned runs.

Yikes!

I know I have been pulling for Brent Lillibridge to get more playing time, I just didn’t think it would come at the expense of Brent Morel. Morel is off to a horrible start offensively, hitting just .180 coming into Tuesday’s contest.

Lillibridge has been at 3rd quite a bit over the past 3-4 days, but his offense is lagging as well. He is hitting .161. 3rd base has been a hole since the departure of Joe Crede. I hope Jeff Manto is able to get Morel on track, because he can sure pick it at the hot corner.

It just goes to show the adjustments the league made this year to Morel. It’s now his turn to make adjustments.

I have no idea who Jose Quintana is. I’m glad the Sox do, because he pitched fantastic after relieving Humber in game one on Monday. He threw almost 6 innings of 1 hit ball while striking out 3. I know Quintana wasn’t on the spring roster. Some guys get overlooked, but like Quintana can pitch.

Quintana’s one day heroics didn’t stop the Sox from sending him back to Charlotte on Tuesday.

Sox made a valiant effort to get back in to Monday’s game, scoring 2 in the top of the 9th, making it a 2 run game. They actually had the tying run at the plate, but Nick Hagadone retired the final 3 batters for his first career MLB save.

Cleveland is full of no names like Hagadone, but they still sit atop the Central Division.

Indians won game one 8-6

They increased their lead by taking the 2nd game from the Sox, as well.

Eric Stults, who was one of the final roster cuts, made his first career start as a member of the Sox a good one. 2 earned runs over 6 innings should get Stults another start.

They couldn’t get Stults the win ’cause the Sox couldn’t solve Josh Tomlin, who struck out 8 in his 7+ innings.

From now on, the Sox should pitch around Asdrubal Cabrera, who went 4-6 in the doubleheader.

Nice to see Gordon Beckham hitting in the two spot. I think, in time, he’ll flourish in that spot.

How bad off would the Sox be without Alejandro De Aza? De Aza is hitting .391 over his past 6 games, with 2 stolen bases. He also plays a strong center field.

The Sox have to be frustrated with Matt Thornton. Thornton gave up a game winning blast to former Indian Jhonny Peralta on Friday. In game 2 yesterday, he suffered the loss after allowing the Indians to score a run in the top of the 9th.

His success, or lack of, is startling to me. The man can thrown the ball through a wall, and he works his tail off every day. Thornton has allowed a run in 4 of his past 6 appearances for an ERA of 10.80. Mind you, the main culprits have been the Tigers and Indians, who have seen a lot of the big left hander the past few years.

Indians won the night cap, 3-2.

Sox trail the Indians by 5 games, but the Tigers are 3 back. I do not think the Indians will be there in the end, but they sure do get off to fast starts, in what seems like every year.

Danks still has a 2-0 lead in the 6th, so right now things are looking good.

No Comments »
« Older Entries