Notes From A Weekend

Believe it or not, there's a lot of Cub fans out there willing to give the White Sox their propers. Unfortunately, they usually have to have ingested 7 or 8 beers before doing so.

Normally, I'm all for watching bootleg copies of movies. But if friends offer to show you the latest Star Wars, turn it down. No way it plays on the small screen the way it does at the theater. (Still haven't seen it)

I'm not cackling with glee about Mark Prior. I feel sorry for the guy--he has every pitching gift under the sun bestowed upon him, and just can't stay healthy long enough to using it. Here's hoping Mark eventually stays healthy, preferably in Yankee pinstripes.

There are maybe 4 or 5 attractive women who work for my firm of like 200 people. I met one of them at the party I was at Friday, and I'll be damned if I can remember her name.

France rejected the EU Constitution. They're bitter because they don't get to be the creme de la creme of Europe anymore. Boo hoo hoo. For all the shit I say about Rumsfeld, he did get it right when he referred to France as part of "Old Europe."

Saw Mark Giangreco in Osco up on the North Shore Saturday afternoon. He looked really hungover, and pulled the typical "I'm a star" act of wearing his shades indoors. He's a lot taller than I thought, and I had no clue who he was until my buddy Henry told me.

Riding your bike down Lake Shore Drive at 6 am on a Sunday morning with nary a car in sight is one of the greatest experiences you can have. The silence was deafening, punctuated only by whoops of glee as people ride under tunnels, which sure beats bleating horns.

I imagine that for NASCAR fans, the finish of the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday night was about as dramatic as the finish of Monday afternoon's game was for White Sox fans. C'mon Timo!

White Sox Weekly Rewind: Week Eight

Record For Week: 2-4. Record For Season: 33-17, First Place, AL Central.

The Good: Pitching is still the name of the game. Buehrle gobbles up 9 innings on Tuesday night and keeps his foot on the Angels' throats long enough for the offense to scratch out one more run in the 11th inning. Garcia turns in a solid start the following night. Dustin Hermanson is still the real Mr. Zero and has yet to allow a run this season. Konerko has somehow managed to raise his batting average 50 points in the past two weeks. Frank Thomas makes his return to the lineup in front of what should be a packed house at US Cellular this afternoon.

The Bad: Brandon McCarthy just might not be ready for prime time yet, as his 6 ER, 3 BB in 5 innings Friday gives him the loss and a plane ticket back to Charlotte. The team scored 15 runs in the past week...Texas scored almost that many off them on Sunday. Jon Garland looked like the Judy Garland of old with one bad inning of work yesterday. The consensus among the Chicago baseball observers I was guzzling Heinies with on Friday night says that he'll finish the season 16-12 in spite of his torrid start. Crede's not hitting (if you take out his 2 hot weeks to start the season, he's below even last year's pace), Dye's not hitting (and not really fielding well either, and before his 3 hits yesterday, Juan Uribe had exactly 4 in his previous 13 games. It's gonna be really hard for Scott Podsednik to keep swiping bases if he can't get to first.

Ahead: Vs Los Anaheim, 5/30-6/1. Vs Cleveland, 6/3-6/5.

Thoughts: There's a lot of folks just giddy at the prospect of the Big Hurt's return today, many of who think that he'll spark the offense back to life. I'm not so optimistic--I think he'll see a lot of pitches and wear opposing hurlers down, but I'm not looking for him to just start teeing off with 500-foot H-bombs. Plus, he still can't run with the gimpy ankle and could turn into a liability clogging up the basepaths, especially with DP-prone types like Konerko hitting behind him.

The Gomerfication Of Ilk

Although I haven't quite gotten to the point where I'm ready to watch race cars go round and round in circles, I am going to watch guys who race cars in circles play softball in July.

Oh yeah. Jennie Finch will be there too!

Not-So-Bright-Ideas

Here are some names my firm WON'T be using for our new software, taken off an actual whiteboard after a brainstorming session:

Upchuck
LaProTra
BidBitch
Pay Dirt

There's about 30 names that will be considered. Most of which are stars or constellations.

Geek alert.

David Wells Lite?

Check out this picture of Bob Wickman, who CNNSI decided is one of the comeback players of the year. My back hurts after looking at it for just 5 seconds.

Wickman sure didn't look solid in his outing against the White Sox in the second game of the season. It was like batting practice for Konerko and Dye.

I'm A Pepper, You're A Pepper

Every year, I always try and come up with some grandiose summer project to keep me amused in between work and chores and watching the White Sox fritter away the division. Past projects have included learning how to play bridge (played exactly twice), crewing on Rob's boat (which I still do, but only about 4 times a year) and training for marathons (which usually gets ixnayed by about July when my knees turn into mush).

So this summer's pursuit? I'm going to grow hot peppers on the deck.

For the low-low outlay of 23 bucks, I walked away from Home Depot last night with 2 banana pepper plants, 2 habanero plants, 2 "garden salsa" plants, a cayenne plant and a jalapeno plant...plus a big sack of potting soil and 2 large pots. Assuming the weather stays nice tonight, I'll go out on the deck, swill a couple Old Styles and put the pepper plants into the pepper pots.

Assuming I do it right, come fall I'll have all kinds of peppers to dry and then bottle into Tippling Ilk's hot sauce.

But knowing me, come September I'll just have 2 big pots full of dirt with a couple little green plants sticking up.

From The Other Side Of The Fence...

Pearly Gates takes a look at the Sox-Halos tilt out in the OC.

White Sox Rewind: Week Seven

Record For Week: 4-2. Record For Season: 31-13.

The Good: Garland and Buehrle shut down the mighty Rangers offense on back-to-back days. Delucci, Blalock and Teixiera always seem to give me the jitters, and they shot their whole wad Monday night teeing off on El Duque. Oh yeah, and we took two out of three from the Cubs. There are few things in life more glorious than marching into that urine-soaked hellhole and winning a series and silencing the blue sheep fans. Brandon McCarthy was just sensational yesterday. Juan Uribe has a little fun with Derek Lee and gets Dusty all frosted and frustrated. Dye and Konerko are both hitting!

The Bad: Ozzie yanked McCarthy too early yesterday and replaced him with the downright dreadful Luis Vizcaino. That cost us the game and the shot at a sweep. El Duque's on the DL...yes it was inevitable. Just prior to landing on the DL, Hernandez struggled in his outing last Monday, walking 6 in the first 2 2/3rds innings.

Ahead: Vs LA Angels of Orange County, 5/23-5/26. Vs Texas, 5/27-5/29.

Thoughts: The Left Coast is never good to the Sox, but the Vlad-less Angels aren't hitting at all and still leading their division (sound familiar?). Texas is, well, Texas.

Can Do!

Oil Can Boyd said last fall he could still cut it as a ballplayer.

The Brockton Rox (huh?) gave him a shot.

Not sure what I think of the Elton John-esque look he's sporting though.

Preakness Picks

Courtesy of the guy they call "The Beav" on the street:

Well the Derby was quite a race, if you had a winning ticket. My topthree finished 3-4-6. I wanted and expected a fast pace, but wasn'tlooking for the 3'rd fastest opening fractions in Derby history.Spanish Chestnut led the field around with a suicidal pace and as aresult the horses came home in some of the slowest final two quartersever. Each final quarter was 26+ seconds; that's really slow. Horses near the lead finished even slower. Bellamy Road, the next superhorse, could barely keep straight as he slipped 5 positions in thefinal 150 yards.

Give Giacomo and Closing Argument credit for hanging in there down the stretch, but I think there will be a different set of horses in thetop two come this Saturday when the triple crown trail stops atPimlico. Again, there is quite a bit of front running speed in this race, but the jockey's surely learned something on Derby day. Scrappy T, HighLimit, Going Wild, and High Fly look to be the quickest out of thegate but none of these absolutely need to have the lead. Newcomer,Hal's Image will be close as well if he gets a clean break and lookfor Greeley's Galaxy to be much closer to the front in the beginning.If you are counting, that makes 6 horses that want to be up thereclose. This could definitely cause some traffic problems as they bunch around the far turn.

Sitting as stalkers, Afleet Alex, Closing Argument, Sun King and Wilkowill be chomping at the bit waiting for their Jockey's to say go. If any one of these four is blocked in traffic, their chances could beover very quickly. I believe, Afleet Alex has the fastest gear, butneeds to be clear on the final turn to display his magnificent turn of foot. Young jockey Jeremy Rose will be anxious to gun it first,hopefully we waits long enough. If you can't already tell, Alex is my top choice. I see him darting past the leaders at the top of the

Hopefully he has enough in the tank to continue to pull away. Theworst part about betting on Alex is that he will be 3-1 at the verymost, so Derby like paydays won't be repeated.In order to spice up the payday, we need to find the second placehorse. I haven't talked about Galloping Grocer, Malibu Moonshine,Noble Causeway, or Giacomo because I don't think any of these closerswill be presented a fast enough pace scenario to make a late impact.Being the Derby winner and finishing a strong fourth to what hasturned out to be a nice California crop in the SA Derby, I have to consider Giacomo the best of these, but still can't see him negotiating traffic and the tighter turns at Pimlico like he did onthe first Saturday in May. He'll have to go very wide, and by thetime he straightens out, the aforementioned stalkers will be too far ahead. The Preakness is a 1/16 of a mile shorter and the wire sneaksup about 70 yards sooner in the stretch.

Currently the 15th horse waiting for someone to drop is Golden Man. He fits into the stalker style and has been improving against weakercompany his last couple of races.Once the Post Positions are drawn on Wednesday, I'll send my top 3.Hopefully we'll cash a ticket this coming Saturday

The Dorkiness Is Strong In This One

To commemorate the opening of the final Star Wars movie last night, here's some random Star Wars-related facts about me and my lifelong love affair with George Lucas' flicks:

-The first time I saw Star Wars was at the old Empire Drive-In in Webster. I was about 2, and fell asleep for most of it, but remember Vader and Obi-Wan duking it out with lightsabers on the big screen.

-I saw it again a few years later on TV, and started bawling at the end. The ending to Episode IV is by no means sad, but I was just upset that such a cool movie could possibly end.

-I still get grossed out when the little red monster pops up in the trash compactor. Up until about 5 years ago, I'd avert my eyes every time it happened just out of habit.

-In 1983 when Return Of The Jedi came out, I was Darth Vader for Halloween. I had a dorky plastic mask, a rubber cape and wore my silver moon boots--but damnit, I had an authentic lightsaber that whistled when you whipped it through the air, which broke the following summer when I used it as a baseball bat.

-I have no clue what happened to all my Star Wars toys, but shit, I had just about everything. I had an XWing, a Battle-Damaged TIE fighter, Snowspeeder, Dagobah Playset, Endor Playset, Millenium Falcon, and even the freaky 2-pod red ships they patrolled the Cloud City with. (I remember buying the latter for 5 bucks at a garage sale and thinking I was king of the world because NOBODY else had it. Most of my friends didn't even know what it was though.) I had tons of action figures too.

-The best place to buy Star Wars toys was the Western Auto on Main Street in Williamson, NY. Better than Ames, better than Toys R'Us. My sister and I used to beg Mom to take us to my Aunt Linda's house since she lived right near there. We'd promptly sneak over to the store and waste our allowances on Star Wars swag.

The Softening Of America

One thing that's been grating on me over the past few years is how overly safety-conscious everyone's become the past few years. There's a line between being safe, and being paranoid...and it seems like lately that line's getting more and more blurred.

I didn't realize that a handful of Chicago suburbs have banned sparklers, and Palatine joined that list last night. The killjoys there say that sparklers CAN reach temperatures approaching 1800 degrees, and CAN cause fires if they come in contact with flammable materials.

Back in the Big Scary 1980s, before kids played baseball with soft-core balls and every garage had a set of Jarts in it, me and the other kids in the 'hood got to play with sparklers every Fourth Of July. No one ever got burned, and no one's house ever got burned down. Our parents kept a close eye on us, and told us that sparklers were NOT TOYS, and NOT SOMETHING TO GOOF AROUND WITH.

But nowadays, seems like Mommy and Daddy Suburbanite don't want to teach their kids right and wrong and safe and unsafe anymore. So instead they just ban stuff.

This Date In Baseball History

There's still hope for Willie Harris:

34 YEARS AGO TODAY (May 17, 1971):Washington OF Tom McCraw "slugs" a 140-foot home run against the Cleveland Indians. SS Jack Heidemann, CF Vada Pinson, and LF John Lowenstein collide on his short pop fly to left center, and McCraw circles the bases before the ball is retrieved.

Should be back with more later. Busy day, but not very eventful. Make any sense?

White Sox Rewind: Week Six

Record For Week: 3-4. Record for season: 27-11. First place in AL Central by five games over Minnesota. Wow. First time this year we've had a losing record over the course of a week.

The Good: With the exception of Sunday, the team was at least in position to win every game they lost last week. Scott Podsednik has more stolen bases than some teams do at this point--and stole 4 in a game twice last week. Carl Everett comes up to the plate all gimpy-like Friday and rips a worrmburner to score two runs. Jose Contreras has two good outings in a row--AND ONLY ONE WALK YESTERDAY! In spite of cold temps and a never-ending threat of rain, the fans finally came out to US Cellular this weekend..even without the chance to boo Sosa.

The Bad: Well, the glorious 37-games-with-a-lead streak is finally snapped, and we've got double digits in the loss column. We lost 2 of 3 to Tampa Bay, the perennial whipping boys in the AL East. Paul Konerko's slump is not over...and the frustration really showed yesterday when he smacked his bat into the dirt after whiffing for the second time as part of an 0-fer afternoon. Freddy Garcia was pretty dull in his last two outings. Neal Cotts and Luis Vizcaino are not getting guys out--Jon Adkins, anyone?

Ahead: Vs. Texas, 5/16-5/18, at Chicago, 5/20-5/22.

Thoughts: Texas is tough and likes to score. So if there's any time for us to start dropping atomic home run balls, it's now. Of course, most Sox fans are already sporting 10-inch hardons for the weekend tilt at Wrigley. We could lose the next 3 in a row and no one would care...as long as we beat the Cubs!

True Story

We hit the White Castle on Cermak after the Sox game Friday night--about 11:00 or so. Sack of 20 burgers (there were 4 of us), fries, and Diet Cokes.

The enterprising folks who work the soda machine there put rum in the Diet Cokes before giving them to us. I swear to God. I know the taste of Bacardi when I see (er, taste) it.

Not bitching at all, mind you.

Chit Chat

Yours truly did a chat this past week with Rich Lederer and Bryan Smith at BaseballAnalysts.com about the Pale Hose. Transcript can be found here.

Also particpating in this chat was a guy who goes only by "The Cheat." Cheat has a lot of great insights and runs a killer blog at Southsidesox.com. Unfortunately. The Cheat likes to sleep a lot...and isn't up during the day at all to chat, so this took a lot longer than expected.

Befuddled and Flummoxed

I don't watch American Idol, but I can't avoid reading about it at least once a day on one of the 10 bazillion different news websites that I visit.

Seems like every week, there's some kind of stink being raised about something. This week's burning issue (from CNN.com):

"The dial-in phone number for Carrie Underwood was displayed on the closed-captioning for all the contestants, possibly aiding her survival. The correct numbers, however, were shown with on-screen graphics and announced by Seacrest."

This is a tinfoil hatter if I've ever seen one...for one simple reason: American Idol is a MUSICAL TALENT show! How many hard of hearing folks are going to watch it? Their closed captioning is sure to mangle the lyrics and Simon Cowell's snide comments.

Just tell me what Paula Abdul's "distinguishing characteristic" is and cancel the show already.

Excuses, The Sequel

Oh no. Sammy Sosa's foot just happened to start bugging him last weekend.

Sammy just happened to get put on the 15-day DL last night.

Sammy's new team just happens to play the White Sox later this week/over the weekend. Sox fans hate Sammy with a passion...even though he's an Oriole, he is to many of us the epitome of All Things Cub.

Yeah, he's a Gladiator alright. Grit your teeth and DH, jackass.

The Taming Of Carolyn

Actual email that showed up in my inbox a little while ago:

You are about to read the actual confession of a married person who has
committed adultery by using the Internet to cheat on their spouse. Pay
attention, because we're also going to show you how to catch your lover
if they're cheating on you.

Carolyn M., 33 of Lancaster, CA, is a married stay-at-home mom, who
uses the Internet to have online cybersex affairs.

Interviewer: Why did you start using the Internet to cheat on your
husband?

Carolyn: Because the Internet makes it so easy to cheat. I really love
my husband, but the temptation of the Internet is so overbearing that
sometimes I just can't help myself, I'm addicted.

Interviewer: Can you define "cybersex" for us?

Carolyn: Using a computer, a keyboard, and your imagination to have sex
with someone that you can't see, touch, or smell. It can be very
exciting and fulfilling, or it can be boring and annoying. But I love it.

Interviewer: Do you feel that engaging in cybersex is the same as
cheating on your husband?

Carolyn: Yes, I do believe that I'm committing adultery every time I
connect to the Net and have cybersex with someone. I don't ever feel
guilty however because it's not really happening, it's fake, but yet I
still feel like I'm really having sex with someone new and fun. It's very
intimate and I believe that I'll continue having cybersex for as long as
I can.

Interviewer: How do you meet your cybersex partners?

Carolyn: Usually message boards, or I just enter chat rooms that I find
through various search engines. Honestly, it's the easiest thing to do.
Sometimes I find myself having cybersex with someone within 3 minutes
of connecting to the Net. It's crazy.

Interviewer: How often and when do you have cybersex?

Carolyn: Honestly, whenever my husband isn't paying attention.
Sometimes I actually participate in cybersex when my husband is in the same
room that I'm in. He'll be watching something on TV and I'll be in
cyberspace having a threesome with two guys that I just met. It's funny how he
has no clue as to what I'm doing. But I mainly do it when my husband is
at work, or when he goes to bed. I tend to staup really late at night
because that's when the chat rooms get very hot if you know what I
mean.

Interviewer: What excuses do you give your husband so you can go online
and have cybersex?

Carolyn: I just tell him that I'm bored and going online to look at
clothes, or to check the weather, or to see what movies are coming out
soon. Or I just tell him that I'm emailing some friends, or my mom. He has
no clue. It's kind of sad how clueless someone can be.

Interviewer: Do you ever plan on meeting your cybersex "partners" in
the real world?

Carolyn: Yes, I plan on this. Many of the men that I meet want to meet
me in person, and want to of course make love to me for real. I think
that one day I may be tempted to actually go out there and meet one of
these guys who I trust. Cybersex can be fun, but taking it to the next
level is inevitable. I really believe that 90% or more of the people who
participate in cybersex affairs will eventually have sex with someone
they met online in the real world.

Interviewer: Do any of your married girlfriends use the Internet to
cheat on their husbands?

Carolyn: That's funny that you ask because three of my friends who are
married have tried cybersex at least one time.


Interviewer: Did you know that there is a program out there that your
husband could secretly download onto your PC that would allow him to
read all of your emails, instant messages, chat room conversions and the
websites you visit? Basically, he would know everything that you do
online.

Carolyn: No, I didn't know that.

Interviewer: Does that scare you?

Carolyn: Yes, I don't want my husband to ever find out what I'm doing
online.


If you ever find yourself suspicious that your lover is using the
Internet to cheat on you, then you should visit the site below to see how
you can record everything that they are doing online.

Gift Horses And Mouths

Part of my birthday present from the better half: tickets to see U2 tonight.

But after reading this, I'm really thinking maybe I don't want to.

Last time I saw U2 was May of 2001. They'd just come off kicking major ass at the Grammys, and were in the process of reapplying for the job of best band in the world. Their show was 2 1/2 hours of the new stuff off of "All That You Can't Leave Behind" and great old stuff like "Out Of Control."

Now they're playing almost everything off of their pretty mediocre new album, along with the typical assortment of Joshua Tree/War/Unforgettable Fire hits and one or two rarities for good measure. Plus, Bono's even preachier than he was last go-around.

So we'll see.

White Sox Rewind: Week Five

Record For Week: 6-0. Record for season: 24-7. First place, AL Central, still the best team in baseball and believe it or not, the national media is taking notice. Shit, there was even an article about the Ozzman himself in the Old Grey Rag.

The Good: The creative ways this team finds to win games never ceases to amaze me. If you can't hit against a closer with a funny name who can't find the strike zone, just let him walk you with the bases loaded. I'm not sure if Paul Konerko subscribes to Mark Grace's slumpbuster theory or not, but he sure woke up over the weekend. Nice to see Jermaine Dye stroking as well.
Jon Garland pitched like the 2004 Jon Garland on Saturday and still walked away a winner.

The Bad: Juan Uribe botching routine plays in the finale against Toronto. Other than that, can't really bitch.

Ahead: At Tampa Bay, 5/9-5/11. Vs Baltimore, 5/12-5/15.

Thoughts: The Devil Rays suck, but always seem to give the Sox fits when they square off at the Trop. Baltimore's out in front in the AL East and wil provide a true test for the team as to if they can truly hang with the big dogs. More importantly with gorgeous weather on tap for the later part of this week, this is a true test to see if Sox fans will start showing up.

Fun Facts

I didn't know I shared a birthday with:

1) St Peter Canisius
2) Don Rickles
3) Toni Tenille
4) Bobby Labonte

I knew Harry Truman, Alex Van Halen, and Enrique Iglesias (born in the same year) but that was about it.

I also didn't know that the following things besides V-E Day also happened on May 8:

1) The first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (1877)
2) The Evil CCCP Empire announced they'd boycott the 1984 Olympics
3) Richmond was named the capital of the Confederacy (1861)

The wedding I went to last night turned out to be a blast, by the way. Even though at 3:00 I locked myself out of the house, had to call a locksmith, wait for him for an hour to show up and pay him $110 for 25 seconds of work and then sat in traffic for 2 hours to get to Naperville.

Psssst...

Hey kid, wanna maybe make some money?

Take Sun King across the board in the Derby.

A Pirate Looks At Thirty, Part Two

While walking the pooch last night, I walked past some wet cement just outside the fence that surrounds the havily fortified Ilk Compound. In one last desperate attempt to cling to my rapidly fading youth, I picked up a stick and scribbled my initials in it.

Got home from the office today, walked the pooch again. Cement's still there. My initials were gone. Boo hoo, sniff sniff.

I was out on the deck talking over the rail to Neighbor Girl on Sunday afternoon about hitting the big 3-0. Neighbor Girl is a leggy, willowy 32 year old who is a ton of fun to talk to, even though for some reason I get grade-school-crush nervous whenever I see her and it totally shows up when I talk to her.

NG tells me that my 30s are going to be the best years of my life, because I'll "finally be secure in who I am." In a way, that kinda scares me. I've spent the past 12 years doing a ton of soul-searching, and gone through more metamorphoses than the dude in Invisible Man. I've been a shy and insecure geek, a cocky young Turk strutting around the trading floor with a lot of people wanting to kick my ass, a sensitive wanna-be Romeo, a bartender who lent a sympathetic ear to the denizens of Lincoln Park, and now I guess I'm just a typical Yuppie with a taste for loud shirts and nice shoes who has a bizarre affinity for poker and baseball. Am I secure in that? Not really. Am I going to re-invent myself? Probably not. Am I sure of who I am? Hell no.

Been Around The World And Found...

...the further away from Chicago you live, the more looney you are.

Plainfield survived a tornado and me speeding through it at 90 MPH numerous times, but can it handle a guy with a serious case of the beer muscles?

Shit, after 10 beers the craziest thing I've done is gone all in with a suited 4-10.

Excuses, Excuses...

Lynndie England was apparently deprived of oxygen at birth. As a result, her neurons, rods and cones were apparently so out of line that she wasn't thinking rationally when she listened to her Army buddies and force Iraqi POWs into humilating behavior, and then posr for pictures with a big shit-eating grin on her face and a Marlboro hanging out of her piehole.

Ohhhkayyyy.

Jennifer Wilbanks disappears off the face of the earth and into thin air. A massive nationwide (wo)manhunt ensues, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime for police, and dominating the cable news channels for a week before she finally turns up in Albuquerque. All this because she got cold feet about getting married. Legal experts are split on whether or not she should be prosecuted for her actions...with one pundit saying that "she was completely oblivious to what was going on." Come on buddy, don't you think a pretty attractive 32-year old who goes up missing doesn't know about the stir she's gonna create?

Ohhhkayyyy.

Twinkies reliever Juan Rincon plays dumb, saying he'd never knowingly ingested any performance-enhancing substances that could jeopardize his career of fanning way too many White Sox. He's a professional athlete, for Christ's sake. He's got a highly-trained staff to consult before he goes popping cold medicine or getting shots in his ass...but apparently he didn't do it.

I've made my share of excuses in life...and the truth has always caught up with me, and I've had to face crappy consequences as a result. I've learned plenty of filthy lessons the hard way. Here's hoping that Lynndie, Jennifer and Juan learn as well.

White Sox Rewind: Week Four

Record For Week: 3-3. Season: 18-7. Note: This is still the best record in baseball...and whaddya know? We were the lead story on Baseball Tonight last night, and even got some props from McPaper.

The Good: Team bounced back nicely from their first 3-game losing streak of the season. You all can put me squarely in the "Jon Garland finally turned the damned corner" camp that I've been wanting to join for the past 3 years. He seems confident instead of cocky, and I think that's making a world of difference. Even one win in Oakland is great given our propensity for major suckage there. Crede's still hitting well, and plays a decent shortstop. Chris Widger's been solid off the bench. Even with his bum toe, AJ Pierzynski's hitting well.

The Bad: The umps in Oakland sucked as Hunter Wendlstedt continues his one man vendetta against Ozzie Guillen. Every now and then, our defense just takes the night off. Buehrle struggled against Oakland's struggling lineup and had one crap inning. Balking in a run should be grounds for a huge fine in kangaroo court. If you're gonna load the bases and then not score, why bother loading them at all? Konerko thinks it's 2003 again and decides to hit the ball hard, but right at everybody.

Ahead: Vs Kansas City, 5/3-5/5. At Toronto, 5/6-5/8.

Thoughts: Even when they're at their worst, this team somehow finds ways to win or stay really competitive. While "really competitive" ain't gonna cut it when the whip comes down later in the season, it's still better than watching them pop and tap away....at least they get men on base. I'd like to see us pummel KC in our usual fashion, but Toronto has played well against their tough opponents in the AL East and should provide a challenge.