I’m glad Ozzie is saying this, not that it will do any good.

But I’m sure the offense will do better against Slowey tomorrow. Afterall, sweeps are like the hardest thing in baseball to do. It’s even hard to sweep a bad team like the Royals.

looking at the scoreboard and watching the opportunities dwindle.

And some of you will love this quote by Ozzie…

Link:

“Defense and pitching, that’s the philosophy I believe in,” added Guillen of Gomez’s catch. “The Ozzie Guillen philosophy worked for somebody else tonight.”

“The great thing about baseball is that there’s a crisis every day.” ~Gabe Paul

"Give me a White Sox fan any day. There’s a team that has hosed its fans more completely than nearly any other, and that includes two terms under the best and most fan-friendly owner in history, Bill Veeck.

Do you hear them whining endlessly about how God wants them to suffer? Do they bore you with tales of Shoeless Joe Jackson, or Luke Appling, or Wild Bill Dietrich, and how each one has cursed them from beyond the grave? Do they go on and on about Arnold Rothstein and Charlie Comiskey and Chick Gandil and how they robbed their great grandfather of a two-day bender back in ’19?

Of course not. They say, "The Sox? They stink. Another beer over here, Hap.‘’ They don’t long-suffer, and if they do, they don’t do it loud enough for the rest of the neighborhood to hear. " — Ray Ratto

I believe that the White Sox have suspended hitting so they can devote their full attention to the looming crisis on Wall Street.

Q’s injury should not have been terribly detrimental to this team.

Sure, he was our best hitter, but there was a time when our 1-9 batters (give or take a couple) could get the job done. We didn’t NEED Q, for all intents and purposes. When he was benched for forearm soreness, our offense continued to dominate.

However, the need for Q has become apparent. He has been gone since the first week of September, and we are all aware of what September has looked like.

Q’s absence has not only removed a big bat from our line-up, but it has sucked the soul out of the team.

Watching them play each night is like observing at a dead body in a coffin – you recognize the figures, but something definable is absent.

I cried a lot on September 5th (Black Friday) when Q’s wrist news broke. I even wrote a fanpost that night to ease my mind (and maybe others’).

I loved to believe that the team could carry on, and maybe that spark is still on the verge of being lit (runnnnning out of time here, fellas!)….my hope hangs on til the last fucking pitch….(not to say my purple blanket and kool-aid will not be pressed, mixed, and ready)….

But at the root of it all, Q took the team’s soul and all the magic with him.

Probable Starters: Gavin Floyd (194 2/3 IP, 4.67 RA, 1.24 WHIP, 133 K) vs. Kevin Slowey (156 2/3, 3.91, 1.14, 120)
Pythagorean Record: Chicago, 86-71 (777 RS, 696 RA); Minnesota, 87-71 (813 RS, 726 RA)
Hit List Rankings: Chicago, #7; Minnesota, #12
Prospectus: This is the one race left in the American League with some drama attached to it—as much as Rays fans may want the division title, calling their race to remain ahead of the Red Sox dramatic is overdoing it, seeing as they already have a seat in October reserved for them. This is also the final game between these two on the schedule, and with the White Sox losing the first two games of the series, they have seen their lead cut to just a half-game. Things won’t get any easier for the Sox this weekend, as they’ll face off against the Indians for a three-game set; during the first half, that was the stuff that cakewalks were made of, but with the Tribe posting a 38-26 record (and plus-36 run differential) since the All-Star break to get their record back to .500 just in time to try for a winning season, the White Sox may have their work cut out for them.

As far as tonight’s game goes though, the implications are huge for Minnesota’s own chances. Their playoff odds sit at 38.4 percent against the White Sox 61.6; with the wild card coming out of the AL East, it’s win or miss October for both of these clubs. If they were to lose tonight, giving the Pale Hose a 1½-game lead in the Central, their weekend against the Royals would become that much more difficult. After all, the Twins are one back in the loss column to the White Sox, and Chicago may have to play a makeup game against the Tigers that could factor into the division race; if the Twins were to lose tonight, that would make the White Sox’s job easier, while a Twin win would not only put Chicago behind, it would mean we would get a chance to see some Monday regular-season baseball with playoff implications. The teams have been evenly matched all year, with the White Sox winning eight and the Twins taking nine of the 17, with Minnesota winning the last three, and five of six during the second half of the season. Look no further than Chicago’s inability to sustain their first-half success against their rivals for the reason they are in this position tonight.

i need to know now if the sox are going to win or not

The outcomes of the first two games mean that tonight’s contest takes on a season’s worth of importance to the two squads. Right now, the Sox still have an edge on the Twins—they hold a 61.6 percent chance of winning the division, and the Twins are at 38.4 percent. That number doesn’t mean much, though, because we know that tonight one of the teams has to win, and the other lose.

If White Sox win: White Sox 86.4 percent, Twins 13.6 percent
If Twins win: Twins 62.6 percent, White Sox 37.4 percent

This may be the biggest game of the season in terms of playoff expectation; it’s certainly the biggest game left between contenders, short of a potential one-game playoff next week. If the White Sox win, they become about a 7-1 favorite to hang on and win the the division. If they lose, the Twins swing to about a 3-2 favorite; I suspect that’s even a bit low, as the system isn’t capturing that this Twins team is better than the “full-season” version that was leading off Carlos Gomez, playing Michael Cuddyer, and starting Livan Hernandez.

In any case, tonight’s game is must-see baseball. With Gavin Floyd facing off against Kevin Slowey, the pitching matchup is even, although the Sox could benefit from Slowey being a fly-ball pitcher, one who’s also a bit homer-prone. They also have a very fresh bullpen, with neither Matt Thornton nor Bobby Jenks having pitched since Sunday. Really, though, the game is a coin flip, and one with tens of millions of dollars on the line.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8119

have been yukking it up reading ours over the past 12 hours.

BWAHAHAHA!

Police Allege Flatulence Battery

SOUTH CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) — A West Virginia man who police said passed gas and fanned it toward a patrol officer has been charged with battery on a police officer.

Jose A. Cruz, 34, of Clarksburg was pulled over early Tuesday for driving without headlights, police said. According to the criminal complaint, Cruz smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and failed three field sobriety tests before he was handcuffed and taken to a police station for a Breathalyzer test.

As Patrolman T.E. Parsons prepared the machine, Cruz scooted his chair toward Parsons, lifted his leg and ‘passed gas loudly,’ the complaint said. Cruz, according to the complaint, then fanned the gas toward the officer.

‘The gas was very odorous and created contact of an insulting or provoking nature with Patrolman Parsons,’ the complaint alleged.

He was also charged with driving under the influence, driving without headlights and two counts of obstruction.

Cruz acknowledged passing gas but said he didn’t move his chair toward the officer nor aim gas at the patrolman. He said he had an upset stomach at the time, but police denied his request to go to the bathroom when he arrived at the station.

‘I couldn’t hold it no more,’ he said.

this being my rookie year, i was just kinda wondering

Coletti wanted him 2 years ago. After Rent-a-Manny is over who knows?…

my buddy out here says he’s got quite a collection, including a Frank Thomas rookie card.

I’m working on getting my hands on that as we speak.

An anonymous clubhouse insider told the Seattle Times that Mariners teammates were so annoyed with Ichiro Suzuki earlier this season that they considered beating him up.
“I just can’t believe the number of guys who really dislike him,” said the insider. “It got to a point early on when I thought they were going to get together and go after him.” The coaching staff and then-manager John McLaren intervened when one player was overheard talking about wanting to “knock him out.” Perhaps the goal would have been to knock him around like the rest of the league has done to Carlos Silva this year, but given Mariners’ hitters reputations, it’s likely that the team could land several blows and still not do any damage. It’s not as though Richie Sexson had a chance of making contact.

Source: Seattle Times

Haha.

i predict the sox will make the playoffs but will lose in the ALDS.
i predict the sox will make the playoffs but will lose in the ALCS.
i predict the sox will make the playoffs but will lose in the world series.
i predict the sox will win the world series.

DAMN DOES IT FEEL GREAT TO BE RIGHT!!!!!!!!! IN ALL OF YOUR FACES!!!!!! EVERYBODY CAN SUCK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I now feel dumber.

http://www.southsidesox.com/2008/9/2/605997/sox-minor-league-update-wh