Jenks has been talked to about showing up to spring training fat. Ozzy made me laugh with this quote about when your fat and good, you are a good ballplayer, if you are fat and no good, then you are just fat.

Hermanson seems undecided about wanting to play through a season with pain. The trainer says he's ready to get him t hrough it but Hermanson doesn't seem to have the mind to do it at this point is mumbling contemplations of retirement.

Tadahito Iguchi isn't doing well in the 7 hole of the lineup so as of today Ozzy has put him back in the number 2 slot in hopes of getting him out of his hitting slump.

Podsednik as back and feeling good. He almost homered yesterday.

Cintron seems to be a very valuable addition to the squad pitching in just about everywhere and he went 3 for 3 Sunday when I went to see them play the Brewers. Very nice utility acquisition.

Nomo has a shot at making middle relief but so far he's just struggled.

Freddy Garcia is pitching today. Contreras is shaking off a near injury or something.

The world champion chicago white sox seem to have the worst record in the cactus league

I will be attending this weekends games against steroid bonds and then on Sunday against the Royals in Tucson. It's been a fun spring despite the poor showing. I can't wait til' the season starts! My directv MLB Extra innings is all ready to be displayed on my big screen!

Preseason baseball records don't mean anything. They have the best starting rotation in the league. Don't worry about Jenks, he wasn't that great even last year. Cotts is the better closer.

That SOX should win 98-100 games this year easy.

Are you talking about Hideo Nomo or someone else? I didn't know the White Sox picked up a Nomo.

I think their bad record in Spring Training mostly has to do with their minor league pitching that was traded away for Thome and Vasquez. Some of the guys I'm seeing out there don't look like they have any business pitching above A ball. Most of their games are really high scoring on both sides.

I missed this too. Too bad it's not 10 years ago...

Man, Nomo needs to uncover Jamie Moyer's secret.

It wasn't well reported, I came across that Nomo was signed while reading about a game I missed and apparently they acquired him a few days prior.

I think the report came out as "kqweoifa;lk l;kjsd;lkn ;ja;ldjfio[[opjadfk alkdfjl;jk adf"

Hard to see why we didn't hear about it.

You must be the biggest Haigwood/Gonzalez fan I know. Both have a lot of potential, but neither blew up in spring training — they're starting in minor league baseball to begin the season (and that's with the Phillies, a team that needs pitching a lot more than the White Sox do). Meanwhile Boone Logan and Javy Lopez are looking excellent and will probably be on the Sox roster.
And you mean Vazquez? I don't think they traded any minor league pitching for him — it was Chris Young along with Hernandez and Vizcaino (neither of whom are too sorely missed).
The real concern is if Hermanson and Jenks both bomb out miserably (which actually looks possible at this moment).
But beyond that, five starters, Neal Cotts better than ever, Politte, McCarthy, Logan & Lopez and hell, Redding even looks pretty good. There's definitely a potential bullpen problem (1-2 more solid relievers and of course what every team wants, an unquestioned closer, would be nice), but I doubt Haigwood/Gonzalez would answer those questions (maybe in 2007, but not today).

I think his point was that in the spring a lot of minor leaguers pitch to fill innings. Since they traded away some of their better pitching prospects they didnt have anyone who could hold their own while they were resting their staff, and it reflected in their record.

So nothing to worry about once the season starts and their real weapons are firing.

they'll have another solid season, not that i want them to

A.J. accomplished this a very long time ago.

Thinking of waliking up for the game Wednesday afternoon. I've never had a problem getting tix this way in the past. Do you suppose that's not going to be the case now that they are world beaters?

listening to the new radio combo right now, we'll see how this goes. i also had to find 670am on my work radio.

The Mother F in SOX are a bad ass ball club. I don't want to go to nuts early, but I have to say that picking Cleveland to win this division is a bad choice.

The SOX pitching staff may be, I say MAY be, the greatest every assembled. It's INSANE.

I saw big Frank hit his homer yesterday. Good for him. He's a cool player. But, he'll be hurt by the end of the month and miss half the season.

GO SOX

Garcia's getting knocked around a bit. 7 hits and 4 runs after 4 innings. A year ago I'd be pissed, but that WS title is quite a sedative.

It's OK. That's how Freddie is. It's gonna happen.

This the greatest SOX season ever. I am going next Friday and I am LOVING it!

Last year I didn't care that much-- but now, every damn game is going to be a nailbiter.

This is sort of true, but this is not the time to become complacent. I'm probably not as upset because it's only the second game of the season, but Garcia's new "approach" when it comes to throwing like a girl is cause for concern. He's not throwing near as hard, and his breaking stuff was basically spinning up there. The old adage is true, win two out of three, so I'm looking for the series win tomorrow. I'll also be in attendance.

Really? When did he change his approach? I can't see squat right now, I'm only following this in a "Gameday" window from their site.

Shit, Boone hit a home run off of Cotts. Solo shot, it's now 8-1. Ah well...

I've known nothing about it all spring, but Hawk and DJ keep talking about it, he never even cracked 90 on the gun I don't think, 89 was the highest I saw. Seems more like a masquerade for an injury than a philosophical approach to pitching, he did just fine last year throwing much harder. You need to be pinpoint with your control if you're going to throw in the 80's, and he did not have that sort of command. DJ just said that he's not the Freddy of old, he's now focusing on being a "pitcher," with cunning and guile. I call bullshit.

Sox on pace to be 81-81. Thome still on pace to knock 162.





























j/k

Cleveland wins in 11.

Dye out with an injured left calf.

Podsednik 0-13.

Konerko 1-13.













Ain't looking good.

Fasten your seat belts..it's going to be quite a battle this summer...and don't forget the Twins.......

Really, the Twins? Well, no one thought the White Sox would do anything last year...

Ugh, when Konerko hits a slump, it's usually a looooong dry spell...
Pod's may me more bothersome. Yeah, he's the leadoff hitter, but everyone's also waiting to see if he can run like he did before the groin hernia, and so far, he hasn't given us that chance.

Haven't seen the Twins in action this year...will see them here for our opening homestand this weekend....but word is they are pretty good....

Apparently Santana was "rusty" in their opening game (4 runs, 10 hits, 3 walks in 5 2/3 innings), and the Twins lost 3-6, but they are playing the Blue Jays, and Roy Halladay was on the mound. Second game's underway, still scoreless in the first...

Blue Jayus made some good acquisitions in the off season..they will be a threat

Konerko usually starts the season slow. Last year he underperformed for almost the first two months. Fortunately this year Thome's here to pick up the slack.

Regardless it's too soon to say anything of substance. Stats are meaningless until the teams play more games.

I know Jimmy is sure not looking forward to his trip back to Cleveland.....he's gonna be reamed....
still lives here....(wife from here and all)....and aside from one extrra year we gave him a sweet deal. He took the loot instead of staying here and having a street or something named after him....seriously...the guy would've owned the town had he stayed.....
...I think that one year extra wasn't worth the intangible legacy he could've had.....

Twinkies put a beat down on last night.

Really encouraged to see some great situational hitting from Mauer, Hunter, and Morneau. Shannon Stewart is on fire, and I'm loving Rondell White. This lineup should be bumping that runs per game average up which should help a really solid staff.

The rotation hasn't been good yet, but I'm not worried.

Francisco (Cisco) Liriano has struck out 36 and walked 7 in 22 innings of work. He and Santana are going to be a mean, K happy tandem later this year or in 2007. Unless Radke gets hurt again, hopefully we can swing that Lohse for Encarnacion deal, get Liriano dominating in the rotation and the Twins community can stop bitching about Tony Batista.

They have a tough stretch in April with Toronto, Cleveland, Oakland, NYY, LAA, and CWS respectively. If they're at .500 on April 24 when this run is up, I like they're chances at 90 wins.

90 games....Tribe had 93 wins last year and did not make the playoffs.............

Ouch. With the Red Sox, Yankees, and possibly the Blue Jays in the east, that wild card spot's gonna be tough to grab.

I'm being conservative. They're always at their best with low expectations.

Jon Garland.

$29 million.

Wow. This thread is off to a blazing start. Just wait til the other 10 White Sux fans show up. Hell, just wait til the World Frauds are below 500 at the all-star break.

I think there is more discussion about the Twins and Indians here than the Sox. I'm working hard to change that.

I suppose if Pablo Ozuna knew how to play outfield and not misplay 2 fly balls, then the Sox win this game. Furthermore, if Ozzie knew how to play outfielders in the outfield, then the Sox win this game. Garland was on fire until the 4th, but couldn't pitch over mistakes. I'm frustrated, but not going to lose my mind over a 1-3 start. This team will win a lot of games.

Is the only way for you to feel good about your team is to insult and belittle another?

Yeah, it's all Ozuna's fault. The two wild pitches and the 9 earned runs on 10 hits in five and a third had nothing to do with it.

Belittling White Sux fans, which who I was belittiling, has no bearing on how I feel about my team.

Did I say that? No. But Ozuna's miscues opened the floodgates. I said that Garland couldn't pitch over those mistakes, hence the wild pitches and walks and other hits he gave up. Of course the nine runs were all earned, but an experienced outfielder has a better chance of adjusting to the wind and making those plays, that's all. I'm not looking for a scapegoat, the team as a whole looks very rusty aside from game one. They gave that game away, plain and simple, get em tomorrow.

What? Pay the man. How could there be hard feelings? You have a good team. That would be like Oakland fans booing Miguel Tejada.

YUCK. BOO. Bad pitching.

I'm loving Thome, though.

Will they right the ship?

Pitching looks HORRIBLE ahora, no?

Today wasn't too bad, even though they blew it late. YESTERDAY got me concerned. Garland hasn't looked sharp since he pitched to the Angels in October.

Garland = One year wonder = Overpaid under acheiver = 10-18 4.60 in 2006=Kenny Williams trading him for a pound of used jockstraps in July.

So what's the real deal with the Sox? I watched the opening night game, and haven't seen any since. Is there an obvious reason why they're 1-4, or are they just not getting it done?

just untimely hitting and pitchers not getting the job done. i don't expect it to last. the pitchers are all a pretty competitive group with each other, just wait for one of them to have a great outing and the others will all be driven to match that performance. that's how it worked last year, they'll come around. if they're still playing like shit after 25 games, then we'll start worrying about it.

nice win for the cubs today though, good for them. methinks D Lee is gonna get his mvp this year.