Anyone subscribers to Sports Illustrated are familiar with their "The Pop Culture Grid" they do featuring 4 sports athletes and their answers about pop culture, or just random questions. This weeks issue that I received today including our very own Carlos Quentin. Here are the Questions, and His Answers

SI: Miley Cyrus should really....

Q: Keep her clothes on (In response to her Vanity Fair picture, in which I completely agree)

SI: Best Mother's Day gift ever given?

Q: Coupons for chores I'd do. I was 10.

SI: Favorite show on the CW?

Q: Smallville

SI: Worst candy of all time?

Q: Abba-Zaba

SI: Favorite TV judge?

Q: They're all the worst.

Just thought I'd share that for all those newly crushing Q fans.

Another stellar performance tonight on the road in 7 Innings, 1 Hit (No Hitter into the 6th), 1 ER, 1 BB, & 7 K's.

His ERA is down to 2.72 after a rough 1st outing (that hasn't been made up yet due to ANOTHER suspended game), he's given up only 1 HR in 36.1 innings, batters are hitting only .234 against him, while walking only 5 and striking out 25.  He's absolutely on a TEAR.

I understand all these problems you guys think and know the Sox have right now. MY advice be patient. I cannot see this team finishing even close to as bad the 07 team finished. In fact this team reminds me a lot of that “good” Cubs team last year that made the playoffs. The 07 Cubs, not a great team by any means, started out with a horrible offense and finished April with a very similar record as the 08 Sox, they turned things around and took the division. The AL Central is not what it was (I do not know why, but it seems weaker than last year) Im not saying its NL Central weak (Although its solid this year), but It looks like everyone is going to beat up on everyone else in the AL Central. So,relax, Thome will come around, Quentin is a stud, and Dye and Paulie will start hitting more. Also, I can see the Sox trying to get Brian Roberts from the Orioles. I guess the point to my post is, things can only get better and it is really early in the season. The Sox are still my pick to win the division. F#ck the Tigers.

we're getting close to the draft now and coverage will be coming out in earnest. figure it's time to have a spot to talk the draft a bit and let people get familiar with some of the names who will be bandied about for the sox at the 8th spot. (if you agree, please 'recommend' this post and it will stick near the top and i'll promise to update it with more coverage over the coming days/weeks. if the diary, er, fanpost gets too many comments in it, I'll create another fanpost to continue discussion).

to start things off, here is john sickels' top college hitters and pitchers lists.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2008/5/6/481389/top-college-hitters-for-th

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2008/5/8/482628/top-college-pitchers-in-th

and here's a link to a mock draft currently ongoing at his site, as well.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2008/5/7/482037/milb-mock-draft-pick-21-de

college ball blog; direct link to draft coverage:

http://thecollegebaseballblog.com/category/mlb-draft/

baseball america's draft site

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/draft/

milb's 2008 draft reports (with videos)

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/events/draft_report/y2008/index.jsp

As Ozzie rants the house is crumbling. Oh had he only ranted louder in the off season while KW was making these less than stellar moves. The Sox need two things to happen to stay in this race.

1) Make major moves.

1a) Cut Jim Thome. The time has come. He has no trade value and why in the world would you give him another contract? Put JD in the DH spot and start shopping for an outfielder. The biggest problem with shopping now is that they will be forced to cough up a pitcher. They have nothing else to offer. Maybe give Fields a chance in Thome's slot. The only thing to look forward to with big Jim are the banners egging him on to 600 homers over the next few years.

1b) Everyone was complaining about Podsednik and Erstad?? Nick Swisher hasn't exactly set this team on fire! When I think about the outfield the Sox could have had I shutter. The White Sox realistically could have had a Cabrera, Fukedome, Quentin outfield! The Yanks would have easily surrendered Melky for Garland and KW should have paid Fukedome. That would have been an unbelievable set of moves.

1c) Uribe, Cabrera, & Ozuna. About the only thing remaining to be figured out here is which one is Moe, Larry, and Curly. What a shame/waste to have only gotten OCab for Garland. We lost out on greater possibilities there. What do you do with these guys? If this organization stays with these three amigos they will sink with them.

2) Pray that the AL Central morphs into the NL Central. If this division bogs down near .500 they may stay alive for an extended period of time.

I leave you with the lineup that should have been,

C: AJ; 1B Konerko; 2B Iguchi; SS Eckstein; 3B Crede

LF Quentin; CF Cabrera; RF Fukedome; DH Dye

Howdy,

Just taking an assessment of those SSSers that live in the south end of the land of fruits and nuts (sorry Toonder), if any of y'all are going to the upcoming LAA/LAD series. I'm going to make it to at least one of the LAA games, but I'd be more than willing to sit in the 5/405 parking lots for the LAD games if I was going to be meeting up with folks (don't want to get shanked alone!).

What say you?

I was skeptical of the naysayers last year when they said the Sox lineup was getting old and starting to underachieve.  Then, 2007 ended and I thought it couldn't get any worse.  After tonight's 2-0 loss to Toronto, I'm starting to think the Sox just might be a lineup that's getting old and underachieve too consistently.  Sure, we knew Crede and AJ were going to come back down to earth, but no one has picked it up in their place since the opening game of the Yankees series where they stranded 13 runners.  I can handle a couple games here and there where pitchers have our number, but when we start calling these games similar to Greg Smith, Sonnanstine, Burres, and Marcum, where do the Sox draw the line?  The first month saw a game get taken from us in Cleveland, a blown save with 1 strike to go get away from us, and a dumb squeeze play take 3 wins away from us.  The Sox could've easily been 17-10 in the month of April.  But it seems the team is regressing more and more and not backing what has been a very solid rotation and decent bullpen up to date.  If this offense doesn't "bounce back" like it was supposed to all last year, a fire sale could be imminent even before July 31st gets here.  This is not White Sox hitting we're seeing, and if it continues, the season may be gone by the end of the 10 game west coast road trip...

How worried should we be about Bobby Jenks' in 2008?  Although much has been discussed about his decrease in velocity, I'm more alarmed by the following numbers:

2005: K/IP = 1.27, BB/IP = 0.38

2006: K/IP = 1.15, BB/IP = 0.44

2007: K/IP = 0.86, BB/IP = 0.20

2008: K/IP = 0.51, BB/IP = 0.43

While his walks are on par with his carrer numbers (2007 seems like an outlier), the strikeout rate is plunging dramatically.

With 2 blown saves already this season, at what point might Ozzie actually have to consider a closer-by-commitee as in 2005??

I am no longer a proponent of videotape.  I just viewed a DVD of one of my fantasy camp games in January, andI have to say, even after a Sox "W" today, I am mortified and depressed.  I thought I was hot shit, especially in the game I hit my lone 3-bagger, and especially thought I was a dandy at 3rd to the point that JC himself envied my abilities.

Ah the cold slap of reality against the face.  I looked like I was carrying a piano on my back at I slid into 3rd with a Paulie/Thomer/JD/AJ (etc., etc.)-style 3B.  (The one cool thing was seeing Fregosi dust me off, laughing.)   And my fielding, though adeaquate, exhibited none of the smoothness and effortlessness I imagined I projected.  And my hitting stance looked tentative and jangly, my hips swaying to and fro, not at all locked in.  After my Oz-like pantsing of my imagined talent I almost called and cancelled my reservation for next year's camp.

Since we talked last year (or early this year, I forget) about our own baseball playing experience and alleged acumen, my question is:  Have any of you seen yourself on tape (not in a pornographic sense)?  Was it a humbling experience?  How did you adjust? 

winningugly, indeed.

I always like to check out the SBN site of the opposing team as one of the proprietors of DRaysBay, so I've been lurking around South Side Sox for the last weekend or so. I was disappointed to check it out today and see that a member of the SSS community had some rather unflattering things to say about Tropicana Field. Since this opinion is neither unique nor entirely incorrect, I thought it would be fair for me to at least offer my two cents on the Trop.

First of all, to make things clear, I'm not arguing that Tropicana Field is a good ballpark. It is probably among the bottom five in Major League Baseball, and if not that, certainly the bottom ten. It simply is a dated facility that hasn't stood the test of time, but I think that a ballpark of the Trop's caliber ranks so lowly among MLB facilities is a testament to how much better ballparks have gotten over the last 18 years. A user in the earlier SSS diary noted how he had visited Tropicana Field ten years ago for one of the first ever series at the ballpark, and I've got to say that the Tropicana Field he observed was a dump. But I invite him to come back down to the Sunshine City in the Sunshine State to give our stadium another try. The investments that new owner Stu Sternberg have put into the stadium over the last two years have been immense, and it has really made all the difference. The ballpark is no longer drab, but vibrant with a paint scheme that reflects the team's new identity. New scoreboards have been put in, amentities have been increased dramatically, the outside has been landscaped, and you can still sit in comfort and watch Major League Baseball at 72 degree temperatures, for every game.

I've been to Comiskey Park in Chicago, and I've been to probably half of the stadiums currently in service around the Majors, and the Trop does rank relatively low. Comiskey itself wasn't a great ballpark before the renovations over the last five years, but those changes have made all the difference. I went to a game there in '06 and found the stadium to be excellent. It definitely compares well with Tropicana Field, and since Chicago actually has a mass transit system worthy of civilized folk, it was easy to get to. I only wish that Tampa Bay had any system of which to speak. But the fact of the matter is that Comiskey is only one year older than Tropicana Field, and prior to the renovations, it was an outdoor Tropicana Field. The era in which the two stadiums were built, just before Camden Yards, hinders the flexibility both teams have in bringing their stadiums up to the standards of the new "retro" ballparks. With Tropicana Field, it is all but impossible to work within the constraints of a dome to bring the stadium up to 21st century standards. Hence the new ballpark proposals.

So while Tropicana Field isn't a great ballpark, it takes far too severe a beating from opposing fans. It is entirely serviceable as a major league stadium, and going to probably three dozen games a year there, I've grown to appreciate it. It may not be perfect, but it was the stadium that fulfilled our area's Major League dreams. It did its job in bringing a team to Tampa Bay (eventually), and for that reason it is a place that means a lot to me. It might not be the crown jewel of the league, but it is too often trashed excessively.