The Writing is on the Wall

Sox Record: 28-33; The Sox have a -29 run differential.

Place in the A.L. Central and Games back: Third place and 5.5 behind the Tigers.

Most annoying person in the Sox organization: I am openly rooting for Josh Fields to strike out every time he steps to the plate. I'm not sure I've ever rooted against a Sox player like I've started rooting against Fields. I want him to fail... which is really weird considering he's going to be playing first base a lot over the next month with Konerko hurt.

Member of the White Sox I love the most at the moment: Pods. Seriously, I can't get enough of Pods right now. I said it and it feels good. I have no clue where he came from or why he's good, but he is and I love it. I love it like a high school crush or a spring song.

Rhetorical Question of the Day: The Sox went the inverse of what they needed to do on their longest home stand of the season (4-8) and in the process loss St. Carlos of Quinten and Konerko for the next month. They weren't scoring runs before and they'll probably be scoring less in the next month. So what to do?

If nothing else, for the first time since early May, I'm sort of excited about the Sox again. Weird, but true... so why am I pumped about a Sox team that's going to lose more than it wins from here on out?

Because it's the Sox are going to reload. The 2005 team will be a distant memory by April of 2010. Dye and Thome should start telling Kenny where they want to play the last two or three months of the season. Bobby Jenks could easy be dealt assuming he stops blowing saves. Dotel is all but gone at this point. If Jose Contreras has a few more good starts, I could see a team taking a flyer on him come July.

The only two guys I can't see the Sox trading are Konerko and AJ. AJ stays because they don't have anyone else who can catch four or five times a week this year or next year. Plus AJ's the kind of guy who's more valuable to the Sox than he is to any other team. Konerko isn't going any where because he's a 5 and 10 guy (meaning he has to okay any deal) and the Sox can't take the PR hit of trading away a fan favorite.

Shockingly, even if the Sox unload all those guys... they should be in good shape in 2010. Beckham will move over to second at some point (I pray). Hopefully, Cuban#3 (Dayan Viciedo) can take over third next year. Alexei stays at short and Konerko at first. And with so much money coming off the books, the Sox can make a run at an outfielder (Holiday? Jason Bay? Carl Crawford if he some how hits the open market? Chone Figgens?) to replace Dye next year. And the starting pitching is pretty much in place (they'll need to find a fifth, but that shouldn't be too hard to fill). Plus who knows what the Sox will pick up from the Thome/Dye/Dotel/Jenks?/Contreras? deals.

Of all the guys the Sox have to deal, Dye probably has the most value since he's a hell of a player and can hit. He makes too much sense for the Red Sox or the Mets. And if you're the Rays, don't you take a look at Thome? Same goes for the Angels and Rangers.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out... I'm sure I'll have more thoughts as time goes on...

Jake Peavy a Sox?

Sox Record: 17-22; The Sox have a -28 run differential.

Place in the A.L. Central and Games back: Fourth and 5 and a half out. The Tigers have caught a bit of fire... I'll take a look at them in a few days. I'm just happy the Royals are doing what I told you they'd be doing. Losing. But it's amazing what a two game winning streak can do.

Most annoying person in the Sox organization: Gavin Floyd -- he has sucked even if he's tipping his pitches.

Member of the White Sox I love the most at the moment: Paul Konerko who seems somewhat dead set to save this season. Konerko, Dye, and Buehrle are the only bright spots this year and the only reason why the Sox aren't in fifth. I've also got love for Brian Anderson because that means Brent "I'm not a Major League Player" Lillibridge isn't in the majors at the moment.

Rhetorical Question of the Day: So the big news is that the Sox have reached a deal for Jake Peavy. The deal is done so all that we're waiting for is Peavy to give it the okay. Since Gordon Beckham isn't part of this deal, I really really really really really want Peavy to say yes. I want Jake Peavy to be a White Sox for the next three or four years. However, until it happens, I'm going to hold off on the baseball stuff... [that said assuming Peavy says yes today I expect Peavy to start on Saturday against Pittsburgh. Jake is schedule to start on Friday for the Padres and Richard is schedule to go for the Sox on Saturday].

All this said... there are two reasons I want Peavy to say yes:

1) Because it makes the White Sox better in the short and long term. He's only 27 and has been pretty durable.

2) It would be the most awesome fuck you to Cub fans since those glorious days in October of 2005 (also known as the Month Jesus Came Back To Chicago).

Cub fans have been going around for months as if they are entitled to Jake Peavy even though their farm system is worse than the Nationals. To most Cub fans, the thinking was that it was only a matter of time before the Padres gave in and traded Peavy to the Cubs for nothing. Peavy would be wearing Loser Blue, it was going to happen. It was fact in their minds.

But here comes Kenny Williams getting a deal done for Peavy right under the Cubs nose. It's glorious. If Peavy accepts, he becomes a hero to Sox fans for this reason alone. If he turns down the Sox and ends up with the Cubs, he will then have to fear for the health of his right shoulder. Us Sox fans are crazy bunch. Disliking or hating the Cubs is a necessity... Jake should consider that... would he rather pitch for the White Sox and be loved on the South Side because he IS NOT a Cub or would he rather fear for the safety of his right elbow every day he lives in Chicago? Because if he does ever make it up to the North Side, there will be a lot of Sox fans in Daniel Plainview clothing.

Thoughts on the most bizarre between innings promo ever:

Blackhawks - Down 2-0 after losing an absolute heartbreaker on Tuesday night. The Hawks played with and maybe even better than the Wings, but a mistake by Campbell in OT lead to a 3 on 1 Nordic rush... Barker and Khabibulin had no shot at stopping the break. Great passing from the Wings, and everyone heads back to Chicago tomorrow with the Hawks down 2-0.

Is it over? No. But it doesn't look good. The good news is that the Hawks didn't play over their heads on Monday. They can easily come out there tomorrow and play better. The Wings don't have this series rapped up just yet. Let's hope the Hawks come out flying with the energy from the crowd which is going to be loud. Really loud.

But the Wings are also like the older, bigger, faster older brother... the Hawks always get close, but the Wings all end up winning. It's so frustrating. It makes me hate sports. But if we were to beat the Wings... it would feel so good... and that's why I keep coming back for more.

And two game winning streaks.

Sox... and Blackhawks

Sox Record: 4-4

Place in the A.L. Central and Games back: They're behind the Royals. More importantly, the Tribe is(are?) now 2-7. The A.L. Central is gonna be wide open unless someone goes on a 10-1 stretch.

Most annoying person in the Sox organization: No one is annoying me at the moment. Ozzie is pushing it with his "lets have guys who can't hit or walk lead off!" revolving door. And Konerko's non-sucky start has me not disliking him. And Brian Anderson only annoys me because Sox fans think he's the second coming of Micky Mantle (I was going to say Willie Mays be we all know you cannot compare black players to white players in baseball, basketball, or quarterbacks).

Member of the White Sox I love the most at the moment: Jermaine Dye. Congrats to him on his 300th home run. He also set the record for the most consecutive times an outfielder hits the cutoff man with his 1,439th successful to the cutoff man from right field. Seriously, this is the most over looked aspect of Dye's game and just one of the 472 reasons why it's a joy to watch him play baseball. He never seems to miss the cut off man. And after watching Carlos Lee and Magglio in the early part of the decade miss the cutoff man at least once a game, Dye's job in right field over the last four plus years has been an absolute joy.

Number of awkward moments between Hawk and Stone: None that I've caught. I think this booth will some how work if only because Stone used to work with Harry Carey, and I don't care if you're the biggest Hawk hater in the world (and I'm up there), Carey was a 100 times worse those last few years he was on air. And Stonie didn't kill him, so Hawk has that going for him.

Rhetorical Question of the Day: With the Blackhawks, probably the #2 team in my heart*, starting the playoffs tomorrow; I'm going to start a new section here on this fine little White Sox blog...

Thoughts on the most bizarre between innings promo ever: No not the Connie's Pizza race (they changed it after fifteen years of the stoned sausage pizza running in a race against a strung out cheese pizza and happy to be there pepperoni pizza). It started last year when for reasons that no one can explain, the Hawks had a promo between innings at Sox games. The beauty of this promo was it started with a Thome home run, which turned into Towes and Kane finding a baseball at the UC, they shoot the ball!?!, and all of a sudden Nick Swisher is making a fake catch at the wall robbing them of a home run? It really made no sense, but the best part was the game they had where fans had to shoot a baseball using a hockey stick five feet into a net while some poor college intern had to dress in a goalie uniform and cheer them on. But here was the best part of the promo... no one EVER made it. Seriously, it at the 20 or so games I went to, not once did the fan score a goal. Apparently this is the hardest thing to do in life.

So with that in mind, from here on out, comments on the Hawks will go here. And I'm pumped for tomorrow.

* Despite me not really ever thinking about the Bears during down time, I seem to get quite emtional during Bears games. Fist pumps, jumming up and down and other cliche things that you see guys do in Best Buy commercials. I have no clue what my physical reactions will be as the Hawks start the playoffs against the Flames.