Yesterday in an interview, White Sox Starter Jake Peavy said to reporters that I would be willing “if need be” to move to the Bullpen and work from there if the team needs him to. Peavy told pitching coach Don Cooper and Manager Ozzy Guillen that he will do what ever the club needs from him

There are many pros and cons to the move being made. Peavy just a couple days into his Rehab assignment has thrown a short bullpen session and will make a start for Triple-A Charlotte and is set to throw roughly ninety pitches. Ozzy Guillen has said that he would like to stick with a six man rotation and I cant blame him. The starting pitching for the Sox have been up and down with the rise of Phil Humber standing out with a ERA of 2.95 and a record of 6-3, Humber has been the surprising spot in the rotation. John Danks has also surprised a lot of people with his performance. Danks with a ERA of 4.54 and a record of 2-8, has not been the pitcher he was last year struggling to get his first win on his ninth start. Buehrle and Jackson have had Mediocre seasons so far with Jackson struggling to find his rhythm as of late.

With Peavy in the bull pen we would have a Veteran guy out leading the what I call the “young guns” out in the pen which also has had its ups and downs. Sergio Santos had a few blown saves but is just learning the position, I mean the guy was a right fielder just a few years ago and it still in the transition from position player to pitcher not the less a closer. With peavy pitching from the pen you you would always know that you have a solid reliever out there just waiting and pitching in the reliever role his pitch count would stay down and now have such a hard effect on his newly rebuilt arm.

The cons are that with him pitching from the bullpen they would be giving up a (in my eyes) amazing starter. With only five starts this season Peavey is well on the way to having an great season. Either way as long as peavy is healthy and pitching well I will have no complaints. I only hope that whatever the coaches choose works out in the long run for the team.

In Closing the The BP Crosstown Cup Series is just around the corner. Lets root for the Sox to dominate the series and Keep the Cup on the South Side and show the the South Side is indeed the Strong Side.

Go Sox!!!

A Sweep or A Series Win???

A Sweep or a Series Win???

So its been a while since I have put my thoughts of the Sox on Paper. And a lot has happened this season that leaves a lot of people still with question even after asking all the question they feel they need to ask.
One of which being “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?' How come this team that had so much potential to be running away with the the lead in the division has been spending the best part of the season climbing out of a hole that at one point was 9 games back. Now I will admit the Sox have been doing a lot better then they were the first part of the season. Now only trailing the Indians and Tigers by three and a half games.
I was listing to 670 the Score the other day, and the guys on the show were discussing what is better Sweeping every series or just coming away with the series win? Now as a fan we always want to sweep whatever series it is regardless of weather it the Rays, Twins, Indians, Even The Cubs. But lets be real for just a moment. The Reality of it all is that a sweet every series is pretty far fetched. Right now there are 94 games left in the regular season for the White Sox.
If they were to Sweep the Season that would set there record at 127 and 35 a great record that would seal up the division. But very very unlikely. Now lets say we just take the more realistic approach and say that Sox just win the rest of the series here on out still difficult but more reasonable.
The Sox a little over a month ago were trailing 11 games and couldn't seem to get the ball in play if there lives depended on it. Our bullpen is hit or miss, all in all it just has been a tough season for the Sox.
But with warmer weather the bats seem to be making better contact. Carlos Quieten has has earned the Phrase “Hard Hittin” in front of his name batting a .269 with 16 home runs. Paulie is in typical Konerko fashion batting a .322 and 17 Homers.
Adam Dunn in “finally” hitting the ball like he should. The lefty hit a thee run home run to put the Sox ahead of the A's. Ozzy gave the big guy (Dunn) and Alex Rios a couple of days off and it seems to be paying off.
The big suprises for the sox this year have been Brent Lillibridge who has been used as a utility player and is performing amazing anywhere they put him. A few great dives and a robbed home run from Coco Crisp to save the the win for the struggling John Danks. In the Minors a few names being thrown around are Dayan Viciedo who is batting a .313 with ten home runs. Greg Infante who was moved to the bullpen for Triple A Charlotte with a era of 1.32 and 7 saves.
All in all the Sox are making there typical summer push for the division lead. Lets just hope that this push ends up better then last years. And as always....Go Sox!!!

Really?!?!?!

The other day I was on my way to my office when a lady that works in the facility I work at came to me and asked if I was going to a Cubs game in the next few weeks. I informed her that yes I was indeed going to a Cubs game with a friend of mine who is one of the biggest Cubbies fans I know. (He had got tickets for cheap through a friend of his and had no one else to go and so for the love of the game I decided to go against me better judgment and accompany him to the game).
She then proceeded to tell me that on the day I would be at Wrigley field they would not be serving beer at the stadium. Wanting really bad to call her bluff I decided to see where this was going to go. I proceeded to ask why not and she once again that they were no longer able to serve beer at Wrigley Field. I start thinking to myself so you mean to tell me that the ballpark often times referred to as the “The Bar on the North Side with a Baseball Diamond In it” is not going to be serving beer.
Im pretty sure she started to see tones of disbelief in my face as I look at her waiting for the catch. It was then she said what I didn’t really think she would say. Now before I give you her ending to this great story she was telling, let me first say that this lady is and has been a cubs fan for all of her life. She has talked about going with her 21 year old daughter and both of them getting tattoos she however had debated on getting a cub’s logo for her tattoo. Now to me having a teams logo on your body forever is die hard. You can’t get any more dedicated to your team then that.
Now to end the suspense, after seeing much disbelief in my face he proceeded to tell me that they reason for not serving beer at Wrigley field is because they lost there opener.
I couldn’t help but laugh, I mean being a Sox fan for most of my natural born life the fact that a cubs fan has to deal with jokes like that. I almost and I repeat almost breaks my heart.
Yes I have to admit that I am going to be watching a cub’s game with a good friend of mine. I know that as a white Sox fan I should be appalled that I was even invited. I will admit that I would like to once in my life see Wrigley field in person, I would much rather see them play the sox but living in Indiana I have to take the opportunity when it comes.
The original plan for my buddy Paul and I was to try and catch a Cubs game and a White Sox game in the same week if not the same day and take our rivalry even deeper and give us both something to write about having experienced both sides of the coin first hand. That still is a possibility and may still happen but unfortunately not this trip.
In other news how about those White Sox there off to a 7 and 4 start. This is second in the A.L. Central behind the Cleveland Indians one game. The Sox don’t play the tribe until July 22-24. There are a few games between now and then that I'm pretty sure that the Sox can make up that game before the series.
Many players are making strong starts. Paul Konerko is leading the team in RBI’s (12) and Batting AVG. (.381). The Captain is leading as he should. Carlos is off to a great start as well batting a .310 and 10 RBI’s. Juan Pierre is in my opinion is not playing like himself, but for a guy last year who would catch everything hit his way its just not that same. Listings Milledge is not panning out like I hoped he would. I know I know I had high hopes but I thought he would be a great addition to the team. Milledge was sent down to triple A to make room for a reliever.
The Pitching staff has had its ups and downs. Jackson leads the team with 24 strike outs and ERA of 2.89 lowest of all the starting pitchers. Buehrle is Buehrle as usual and Gavin Floyd and John Danks are still trying to get there first wins. Jake Peavy is throwing bullpen sessions no one is real clear as to where he is at in his recovery but being the first to come back from a surgery like this no one knows how things are going to go. Peavy on his good days, is amazing.
Thornton seems to be struggling with the move from Set up man to Closer. He has had 3 save opportunity’s and not been able to close out the game very well. Chris Sale has come in as a relief for Thornton and done OK in his first season in the Majors. With a somewhat of a strong star the Sox seem to be making a decent point that there are in deed “ALL IN”. Lets just hope that this gamble they have taken lands us a spot at the final table. And last but not least…………………………Go Sox.

Even

As I write this I am listening to the Cubs play the Brewers. Baker just hit a 3 run homer to give the Cubs a 5-2 lead. I'm pretty excited. I realized that I needed to write and I figured, what a better time than this. Until this game is over the Cubs are at and even .500. Their record is 3-3. So how was the first full week? Not bad, but not good either. It could've been worse. We could've lost more games, but on the same hand we could've won more. We're not leading our division and that's what matters. We're trailing the Reds and the Pirates. The Reds have been very impressive this first week. The Cubs have shown that they can play, but we haven't seen the leaders that we expected.

We expected a lot from our pitching rotation. We have a strong top three. The bad thing is that currently none of our top three have a W. The good thing is that the young starters on the back end showed great poise. Wells, and Cashner both got W's in their starts and that gave Cubs fans some room for hope until a couple days ago. A few days ago reports came out that the only two winning pitchers that we have are both going on the DL at the same time. Hopefully for a short time, but we'll have to wait and see. Carlos Pena who was supposed to be a great leader on the team missed half of the first week. Carlos Zambrano left his first game with a hurt thumb.

It could've been better. Our strong veterans could've shown up a little more and been a little stronger and maybe we could've pulled out a few more W's. We could've had a first week with no injuries and maybe that would've helped.

It could've been a lot worse. These injuries could've been season ending, like some that the Cardinals have seen so far. So I guess we should be thankful.

The benefit is that we have some more young pitchers who can step up and fill in a little bit in the starting role, specifically Coleman.

The Cubs have shown that they can contend and that if they can stay healthy and everyone can bring their best to the table they can easily be a playoff team. The Cardinals are not showing to be a great team this year, but it's just the first week. The Reds are bringing back memories of the Big Red Machine which would make things difficult for the Cubs. The fact is that it's the first week. I don't want to get my hopes up too high. Being even isn't bad, but it still leaves room for improvement.

I have no doubt that our veteran players will step up and show us what their made of and stand tall and strong. Our rookies have already shown a good attitude and resiliency. I have no doubt that they will continue to do that and bring a fresh energy to the team. I have every hope that this is a great team and that we'll see a good season.

If only our American League counterparts could have something to be optimistic about.

Go Cubs Go!

Opening Day.........Its About Time.

It came and it went, and what do you know the White Sox once again won there season opener. Now the real challenge begins holding the spot atop the AL Central. The twins as of right this moment are losing to the blue jays and the Kansas City Royals are tied up with the L.A. Angles. With Detroit losing to the D@*^ Yankees the White Sox are the leaders. Now I know its only the first game and its still a long season but let me enjoy it while It lasts.
The Sox started the season stronger then most people thought they would be. Know one would have guessed that the White Sox would jump to a 14 to 0 score in 6 innings of the season. Now in football thats a good cushion but in baseball its pretty much a given that you have the game in the bag. The Whites Sox however having a lead that big Manager Ozzy Guillen deiced to pull the starters and let the “Reserves” get some playing time. A decision that almost turned deadly the Indians turned around and scored 10 runs with four in the 6th inning. On 670 am the announcers talked about how Buehrle would still continue to pitch like they only had a one run lead. Someone forgot to tell Buehrle that. He almost failed to notice that the Indians were hitting the first pitch that he kept throwing down the middle of the plate but the Sox still held on and survived.
I was pretty well pleased with the way the bullpen handled the situation. To many ups and downs to call but Ozzy still figured out how to pull off the win. The offensive starter were solid with 2 two run home runs, 18 hits. Adam Dunn went 2 for 4 driving in 4 runs and even chalking up a double. Paulie also went 2 for 4 starting the season strong with a grate plate appearances. Carlos Quintien has returned to the player he needs to be going 3 for 4 driving in 5 RBI'S and hitting a 2 run home run in the 3rd. Lastings Milliedge who barley made the team as it was, had a hit as well but I am still skeptical on this guy. He has a lot of proving to do. I hope he can come and be a decent sub for the outfield.
Ozzy ended up using more pitches then I think he intended to use the pitching staff showed that they were up to the challenge of holding onto a lead even with the other team was Rallying back.
All it all it was a good game for the Sox now all we can hope is that we don't do the same old song and dance and state the season strong to just fizzle out in the middle. I would really like to be watching the Sox playing on into October.

Lets Go Sox

Ready to Rumble

I don't know if you noticed or not. It's possible that it eluded your knowledge. It might be possible that you heard nothing about it. Since you're reading I'm going to assume that you knew. Are you ready for it? Seriously... are you ready? Today was OPENING DAY! Yes I know, how could people not know that. Sadly enough there are those who aren't aware of the finer things in life.

I am a teacher (kind of). In my class I have only adult men. Yesterday I informed them that even thought March 31 fell on a Holiday this year, we would still be having class. A glazed look fell over their eyes and they didn't know what to think. I could tell what was going through their heads. "What Holiday is tomorrow?" "Has our teacher lost his mind?" I felt a little sad when I noticed a big grin on one mans face. He looked at me and said "Obviously we're the only two that know what you're talking about."

Okay, so maybe Opening Day isn't a National Holiday, but maybe it should be! It's a big deal. The best part about this is that this means baseball is in full swing. No more waiting. No more what if's and maybe's. This is it. What the teams have been training for and the fans have been trash talking for. I hope they're ready.

As a Cubs fan the question is always "Is this the year?" Most analyst aren't saying that it is. Looking at the roster and some of the Spring training hurdles the Cubs are being overlooked. This is fair. We don't have a star studded team and we didn't show a lot of consistency or cohesion in spring training.

At this point I do have to mention that we did beat the White Sux, sorry Sox, both times we played them.

The truth is that we can pull it out and compete this year. I feel confident that we have a solid rotation. I'm not thrilled with how things played out with Silva, but I became a fan of Cashner last season and I think he's a great fit. The only question is the consistency of Big Z, but even then we know he'll win a good number of games. Our hitting should be good. With Soriano healthy we know he'll show up. If Colvin and Castro and Byrd show up like they did last year we have a pretty good lineup. Our weaknesses are most likely to be Pena, Ramirez and Fukudome. All of them have proven in the past that they can be very good. If they show up as well we could definitely contend for our division.

I like the combination of veterans and young players. I think it adds experience to energy. Those two things can take you very far especially when there's some good talent behind both.

A Way of Life

Last year the Cubs came up with a new ad campaign. "It's a Way of Life." The "W" in this add is the famous Win Flag that Flies over Wrigley, that is, if the Cubs win. Personally I think it's the perfect add campaign.

First of all, these adds acknowledged the fact that being a Cubs fan is far more than rooting for your team to win the World Series. It has to be or they'd have no fans left. There is something about it that gets in your blood. It easily invades your life.

I'll offer a little example here. Last year I was living in the St Louis area. It was difficult for me to get WGN radio down there. I also didn't have cable or satellite. Because of these factors it was pretty difficult for me to listen to or watch Cubs games. So I downloaded the MLB At Bat app for my phone. This allowed me to listen to any Cubs games no matter where I was.

One day I had gone to the store to get groceries. I was listening to the game on my phone. The Cubs were unfortunately losing. It was in the 8th inning so I did what had to be done. I took the Cubs hat that I was wearing and flipped it upside down. The infamous "rally cap." I wasn't at Wrigley. I wasn't anywhere near Clark & Addison. I wasn't drinking beers with buddies or watching it on TV. I was bringing in groceries from my car. Bags draped over my arms and my phone in my left hand keys in my right and the rally cap on my head.

As I got inside the house I wondered if any of my neighbors had just born witness to this event. Had they looked at me like I was crazy? Did they even know what a rally cap was? Did they just chalk it up to the fact that I'm clearly one of those crazy Cubs fans? The fact is I don't know the answer to any of those questions. I don't know if anyone saw me or not. I was engrossed by the balancing act and listening to the game on my radio. I was to busy wondering, if I was going to let something drop would I let the eggs go or my phone which was serving as the bearer of the Cubs.

As you can see, even in the little things like getting the groceries, being a Cubs fan is a way of life. The other reason I like it is because of the W flag. To Cubs fans everywhere, this symbolizes winning. It's a message about what the Ricketts family is trying to do with the franchise. They are trying to make winning a way of life for Cubs fans. This is important. While I like the names like "lovable losers," and I like cursing goats everywhere. I like using phrases like, "He Bartmaned that one," and convincing people that squirrels can be bad luck. These are all things that come with being a Cubs fan, but they don't have to be. They are things I enjoy about being a fan of my team, but they are not things that I would miss if it meant winning. If it meant watching the Chicago Cubs not only make it to the World Series, but actually watching them WIN!

This is what it's going to mean to be a Cubs fan. It's a Way of life. It is and It's going to be.

Go Cubs Go!