White Sox Season Preview Take 2

I did a season preview way earlier in the year when the pitchers and catchers reported. There was a lot that I didn't know back then about this team. Spring Training doesn't mean much, but it can tell you a lot about how some of the younger players are going to play.

I got a good vibe from spring training this year. The wins and losses don't matter and that's not what I'm talking about. I liked what I saw with Milledge, Morel, and Beckham. With those young guys in our lineup playing at their best we are a good team. Konerko will be solid as always, and the rest of our offense seems like it will be ready to play. Our pitching was great, I'm extremely excited about Johnny Danks and Gavin Floyd. Both pitchers came to our team without experience. Buehrle groomed them and now every year they get better. The pitcher I am most excited about is Chris Sale. When he first started playing last year I knew he was a gamer. I was asking for him to be out there as much as possible, he seemed like one of the few guys who could actually win a game for us. This year he will be better and I look forward to him most likely being a starter next year.

The bad things that I noticed were very few. I remembered a few things. I remembered that Adam Dunn strikes out a lot, and that is an understatement. I also remembered how terrible Teahen is at defense and that is why he didn't get the third base job. Other than those two I can't think of anything that was a bad sign. Buehrle didn't pitch well at the beginning of spring training, but he will be fine in the regular season.

The worst thing this off-season and spring training was the Peavy situation. The worst part was that I thought he would be out for a good chunk of the season, then he made a really rapid recovery and I loved what I saw. Right as he was about to finish his miraculous recovery he started to have tendinitis in his elbow and we are back to square one. Peavy will probably be back around the same time he was expected to with the first injury. White Sox fans shouldn't be worried. He will come back when he is ready and he will be fine.

Okay, now onto the future, where I think the White Sox are going to go this year.
They have gotten some love from some ESPN guys to be a dark horse in the league, and that's the position the White Sox like to be in. They have great pitching, and it will be even better when Peavy comes back. You could argue that this pitching staff is only second to Philly. The White Sox also have added a lot of good things to their offense this year. Our outfielders are going to be better than they were last year, and if one slacks off Ozzie won't hesitate to put Milledge in. Our infield is very young excluding Konerko. Morel, Beckham, and Ramirez are going to need to grow up and play well. Beckham needs to have a bounce-back season, which I think is very possible. I'm not too worried about the offense of the other two. This team is built to win a World Series. I'm not going to drink the kool-aid and say they will win, I'm saying that they are built to win it. If we do everything right and don't have very many injuries the World Series is possible. The twins and Tigers are tough, though and we are going to need to play well in every division game. If they play well against their division, and win the division they have a good chance at going all the way. The way the team is set up with great pitching and a good offensive core, they are built for the playoffs. Stay tuned to this blog for a AL Central preview soon, and for more up to date info follow me (@the_chicago_fan) and my blogs (@tcf_blogs)




I had to post this, since I love all team commercials, like the one goal series and I hope the All in series is just as good.

The 3rd Base Battle

The White Sox have one big problem with their infield. They don't know who will be the starting third basemen. They have four good candidates for the job. They are Omar Vizquel, Brent Morel, Dayan Viciedo, and Mark Teahen. They all have a good chance, and I don't think one guy is running away with it. This is going to come down to the last few days of spring training. This competition is good and bad for the White Sox. It is good, because it will pick the best third basemen and not the one that had a good season last year and will let Ozzie see who has a good competitive spirit. The bad effect on the White Sox is that a competition doesn't always help to have a good locker room atmosphere. I think this group has a couple of mature players, so that won't be a problem but it's something to worry about. I don't know who is going to win this, but I do know a thing or two about each player.

1. Brent Morel
Brent Morel played a little bit last year, but not enough to say that he would be the starter at the beginning of the year. He has great defense and pretty good offense. He impressed a lot of fans last year when he did get to play and one of those fans was me. I was quick to say that he should be in there as much as possible. He has arguably the best defense among all the contenders and also can swing the bat pretty well. I think that qualifies him to be our third basemen, but the other players are also good. The downside of Morel is that he won't always swing the bat well and usually if you are a good fielder you put your body in danger a little too much and injuries could be a problem. I really like Morel to be the third basemen, but the other guys have pretty good arguments also. The defense is the key, if Ozzie wants defense Morel is the best, but if he wants offense it will all depend on who is hitting well at the time because all of the contenders are hot and cold hitters.

2. Mark Teahen
The first thing I have to say is that I didn't and don't like the trade that we made for Mark Teahen, we gave two of our top young infielders for a player who has done relatively nothing to help the team so far, so I might be a little bias while talking about him. He has terrible fielding. When he did play last year before the injury he committed so many errors it made me want to cry. Every time the ball was hit to third base area I would worry. That is not even an exaggeration of how bad he was at defense last year. I don't know if that was normal or abnormal for him, but if I were Ozzie I would be afraid to put Teahen out there with a young pitcher or any pitcher. Teahen's hitting is nothing to write home about, but its probably one of the top 2 out of this group. Like I said before all of these players are hot and cold hitters, so it will probably come down to defense.

3. Omar Vizquel
I liked the way that Vizquel played last year, but he is very old and I don't think he will be able to play as well this year. I was surprised that he could play as much and as well as he did last year and I don't think he will be able to pull that off again. I do like him to be a guy that will go in for whoever is the starter if they aren't hitting well during the game and can play a couple innings every other day. I just don't think that he will be fit enough and young enough to play game after game for the whole summer. If he is fit enough and he has another year like last year then, yes, play him as much as he can handle. I just don't want to push him too hard so that he just gets terrible. He is a good contender for this roll if he can handle it. He is probably the most consistent hitter of them all and he is consistently good.

4. Dayan Viciedo
Last, but not least is Dayan Viciedo. He recently injured himself, but he is one of the White Sox top prospects. If he isn't on the team this year, or the third base starter this year, he will sometime in the future. He is the White Sox utility man, but he is still fighting for this starting job. He has good fielding and good hitting, but like most of the other players he is a hot and cold hitter. He has a lot of potential and if he taps into that this year I think he can do a lot of damage. If Morel or Teahen don't turn out to be stars, I think this guy will. He is a great player that still needs to mature a little, but if he does he will be a great infielder or outfielder. I personally don't think he will get this job, because he will be wanted to be used as a utility man, so that he can go anywhere off the bench.

I thought I would share an AMAZING White Sox video with you that sort of previews the season, and it gives me the chills at the end. Watch it, its a great video.
SOX PRIDE.

Lastings Milledge

This is not one of the topics that I originally planned on posting about today. I was going to talk about the 3rd Base battle or the Peavy situation, then I got a great suggestion that I should post about Milledge and his effect on the White Sox this year and what his effect will continue to be as the year goes on. I still don't know for sure if he will be on the 25 man roster. Lillibridge is fighting for that final position also and today he hit a big home run. The White Sox lost, but that home run may have saved Lillibridge from being run out of the team. Milledge was showing Brent up in every way the whole spring. The race for that final spot was about to be declared over and then today he hit a home run. I'm not saying that that one home run he hit is going to get him on the roster, it will help him get momentum and maybe match up what Milledge has done this whole spring so far. For the purposes of what I say in the rest of this post, Milledge wins this race.
Lastings Millidge has been a relatively known name in the MLB so far in his career, but he hasn't had a good year in a long time. He will not be a White Sox starter on opening day, but as the season goes on he might. I think he will start as their 5th outfielder, but if he continues to dominate when he gets into the game he will move up to the 4th outfielder. By the end of the year I think he can be a starter for the White Sox. I think Juan Pierre might have a bad season, and if he starts to play bad I don't think Ozzie will hesitate to put Milledge in the game as a starter.
This spring he has a .267 average with 2 home runs and 8 hits. That's not a great showing of what he can do, but he has shown if you actually watch the games that he is a great outfielder and can be a very good hitter. He is only 25 years old and has a lot of good years to come and I hope those years are with the White Sox. By the end of the spring I expect him to have around 20 hits 5 or 6 home runs and a good average. That is a pretty good spring showing and will prove to be enough to put him on the roster.
I think that once he is on the roster he won't look back. He will go from the last guy on the roster to being a big part of our team. I have a feeling about this player and our outfielders could use a little pressure to play well enough so that they are not replaced. I think that will be the biggest effect he has the White Sox this year. He might not get to play a lot of time, but the fact that he is always there waiting for one of the outfielders to make a mistake will put pressure on the outfielders to play much better than they did last year and to not make any mistakes. Even by just sitting on the bench he will help our team. That right there is a player.

White Sox Season Preview Take 1

If your first expression of this post title is that you are wondering why I said take 1 I will explain. I plan on making a season preview before opening day. This is the spring training one, so it may prove to be super wrong or be super right.
Tomorrow the White Sox play their first spring training game. They are playing against the Dodgers. This should be a good game. I think both teams have good chances, although I think the White Sox have a better chance. I can't wait for baseball season and that's why I have been blogging like crazy about them and tweeting about them a lot. I really hope they have a good season, because only the Bulls are really doing well and making me completely happy this season.
This year is bound to be good. We signed a pure DH in Adam Dunn. I think last year we got way to caught up in trying to have a speedy team that we forgot that power is okay also. We didn't have an official or pure DH last year and I think this year we do. That will be a huge difference in our offense. The White Sox biggest problems in the past few years have been that they have not been able to get runners home when they are in scoring position. This stresses me out almost every game. I hope this year they have solved that huge problem with their offense.
The pitching last year was pretty good. The starters were all good pitchers and they will again this year. Peavy will be back early in the season, which was not expected, and that will help our starters have a better year as a total. Buehrle will again be the opening day starter. He is a great pitcher and I love him as our ace. Our other pitchers are great also and they end up performing well. You can read more about all of the pitchers in my blog post about when the pitchers and catchers reported. I went into much more depth in that post.
Overall I think the White Sox are going to have a great season. They made a lot of great additions this offseason and kept a lot of important players. I think resigning Paulie and A.J was huge. Keeping them will help our offense and keeping A.J will help keep our pitchers steady with him. He is a great defensive catcher and keeps the game running quickly. This offseason the White Sox improved both their offense and their pitching staff. Improving both of those parts of the team will make this team much better and will give them the edge to win this division.

Pitchers&Catchers Report Tomorrow

Since tomorrow is the day that the pitchers and catchers report, I will talk about them even though this is the start of spring training which is the start of the season. I will post about the White Sox and what I think will happen this season later, but right now I will talk about the pitchers and the catchers.
The first pitcher is one of my favorites, Mark Buerhle, and he sort of made a big deal recently talking about Michael Vick and how he hoped that he would get injured, because Mark is a very passionate dog lover. I don't think this will effect his performance, but nothing really does. He will be the opening day picture for the 11th time, i think. This is a guy that loves playing with the White Sox and loves pitching in general. He is one of the quickest pitchers and I think he will have another great season.
The second is Mark's prodigy, Johnny Danks. Every year it seems like Danks gets better and I think that will continue this year. I like the fact that we have both good lefties and righties. Danks is an important part of our team and works quickly just like buerhle.
The third is Gavin Floyd. Like with Danks he keeps getting better every year and I think he will again this year. Both are young pitchers with promise learning from two greats in Buerhle and Peavy. I expect him to come back better this year and get a couple more wins.
The fourth is Sale. I think the White Sox are getting ahead of themselves with him. They drafted him last year and are ready to start him this year. I think they should keep him in the bullpen for a year or two. He needs time to mature, and we see that with other pitchers. I like his pitching and I think he is a very good pitcher, but he should wait to start.
The final is Peavy. I'm not sure when he is back. Part of me wants him to come back soon, because I obviously want to see him play and pitch for us. The other part of me wants him to get as much rest and rehab as he possibly can so that when he comes back he is better.
I know this was quick, but I will get in deeper later on in spring training.

White Sox Offseason Pickups

The White Sox have made a few really good offseason additions and keeping of people. The first thing is that they kept A.J Pierzynski (no idea how to spell that). He has been a leader of this team for years. He is one reason why our pitching moves so fast. He knows how to call a game well. Sometimes we get mad at him and those are the times where we put in Ramon Castro. But, when we need him he will be there and he will play well.
The next is that we signed Adam Dunn. During the end of last years trade deadline we were looking at him seriously, but we never ended up getting him. The fans were upset because we needed a full time DH. Now we have one because we decided to just sign him this offseason. So I guess it is true that if Kenny really wants someone he will get him. I think he will be a great addition to the team. We need that power in our lineup. Our try to become like all speed last year was a fail and we will have to face the fact that we are a power team. Adam Dunn will help us get that power along with the next guy I am going to talk about.
Paul Konerko resigned with the White Sox this offseason. This is the thing that made me the happiest. He is my favorite player and he is a major leader on this team. If he left, our team would probably fall apart for at least one year. Without him we are lost. We have no leader. Paulie was not only a leader on the field but also in the clubhouse. He is a much needed player. With him still there I think we can still call it the White Sox. Without him they are just not the same team. He is their identity. Their Derek Jeter if you will. We need him and without him you lose fans and you end up losing some games.
The final thing is something that just came up. Jesse Crain one the of the top relievers in the Twins bullpen is reportedly going to sign with the WhiteSox having just lost Bobby Jenks and having a week bullpen last year, this will be a good addition. The best part is that it is us adding a good reliever and the Twins losing one. Hopefully him and Sale (if sale is still in the bullpen) will make this a really good bullpen.
So, overall the White Sox are major winners in this offseason. I'm glad that Kenny realized we needed to make a lot of changes so that this team is a winner next year and we make it back to the playoffs. The people in Chicago really need one good team for once. Just kidding because the Hawks, Bulls, and Bears are good. I meant to say that people in Chicago really need one good baseball team for once. I know the White Sox have done their part by winning the world series, but the other team isn't doing their part so we have to take theirs also. (sorry but I just had to do it cubs)

Whitesox

The whitesox are 4 games back right now. That sounds like a problem from the moment it comes out of your mouth. So, I thought that I would blog about what the Whitesox have been doing good and what they have been doing bad. I will also comment on why I think the Whitesox still have a chance to win this division.
First the bad things the Whitesox are doing. There are some obvious things going on that are bad. Such as bad bullpen, average starting pitching, and failure to bring home men in scoring position. Those are the things that you notice everyday you watch a Whitesox game. There are some things under the surface that I have noticed and perhaps you have noticed. One of them is that everybody near the Whitesox thinks that Greg Walker is a fantastic hitting coach. The truth is he isn't that great. Why do you think our offense can't bring home guys in scoring position? It isn't just because they aren't good baseball players. You see guys who come into our team, who are supposed to be good, but end up playing terrible. They must be used to a hitting coach that will teach them and help them with what they need. Then you also see guys leave from our team and go on to be really good hitters. Maybe its because they get to a new team and a new hitting coach and that coach actually helps the player hit and he becomes a better hitter.
Now the good part. I like this part. Their offense has been better than the beginning of the season. They are actually hitting a little well. They might not bring home the guys they should, but they do hit home runs. The home runs bring home not only the guys on base, but the batter himself. This can produce more runs, but our offense shouldn't be based on hardball alone. Our pitching has also been improved since that beginning slump we had. Glavin Floyd has been the pitcher of the month, Danks has been very successful lately. Buerhle and Peavy are both aces (even though Peavy is out now). Freddy Garcia has been a good 5th man. And since the edition of Edwin Jackson he has been very successful. In each of his games, he has had a good pitching performance. He may not have won, but he still pitched well.
Finally, the reasons why I think they still have a chance to win this division. I think they can win this division because they have that Whitesox swagger that I have always loved. I find it hard to let myself believe that the season is over at any time. But this year I kind of had reason for hope. I didn't really believe that the Whitesox could go to Target field and sweep the Twins. I did think that they would eventually take first place. This may not be true. But, if they ever do get into first place and end up at least 2 games above the Twins, I don't think they will ever look back on not being in first place. I'm not sure if they can get to first place. If they get back to that team that went 25-5 in 30 games they will definitely get first place at a point and win this division. I would like the Whitesox to go on one final 11 game winning streak. That would make it 3 times they have won so many games in a row. The Twins will have to lose eventually.

Trades

First I want to talk about the trades that have already happened. Like the Oswalt, Haren, and Jackson trades. Then I will talk about potential ones.
Okay first Dan Haren. I think that the Angels had to make a move because if they didn't everybody would think they were crazy. So they made a move and got a good pitcher. The person I thought was the best pitcher on the market this year. Then he got hurt. He will not miss any starts, but it just seemed fitting with the way the whole angels season is going. I thought that trade was very smart.
Then, the trade that Philly did to get Roy Oswalt. They pushed so hard for this pitcher. He isn't even, in my opinion, the best pitcher on the market this year. They could have done better, but they could have done worse. I think that Roy Oswalt and the fact that they went out and got somebody will help this team get to the playoffs. I don't think that they will win their division, but I think they will win the wild card.
Edwin Jackson is the trade that I am really confused about. First, why trade a pitcher for a pitcher that both are in the major leagues and about even. Then, your only going to have this pitcher for this year because next year Jake Peavy will be back. So you are spending more money now on this guy for only one year where he might not make a big difference.
Other smaller deals were like Tejada moving from the Orioles.

Now onto the trades that might or might not happen, but have not happened yet.
First, Adam Dunn. He has been the guy that people have been talking about. Everybody keeps saying that he is going to move no matter what. Where to is the big question. The favorite was the White Sox, but they bowed out. Now it could be the Yankees or the Rays. We all know that the Nationals want to trade him. The fact is that they want someone who is a really good prospect. That is why I think he will go to the Yankees, because the Rays aren't going to give up their prospects. Prospects is how they get better, not trading.
Then, there is talk about Lance Berkman possibly moving to the White Sox. There is one problem, getting Lance away from Houston is going to be hard. He loves playing there and doesn't want to leave. This makes sense and might be a huge difference maker for the white sox if they can get him. I'm about 20% sure that this trade will happen.
There was also talk about another Astros player leaving. This is Brett Meyers, but he won't be moving.

Central news. centrally

Today since I had nothing else really to talk about I decided that I would talk about baseball because somebody really needs to because baseball has been no news this year. So I'm going to talk about the two divisions that I know best. The NL and AL central. First I'll do the NL.
NL Central
who will win this division?
I said at the all-star break when I did a blog about the second half predictions that I thought the Cardinals would win. Since then the Cardinals have taken first place. So now what people thought was stupid of me to say because Cinci was playing so well. Now Stl is playing better. Everybody was so caught up in the Joey Votto thing. He really is only as good as an average player having a really good year. St. Louis has a better hitter, Albert Pujols, because you are crazy if you think that Votto is better than Pujols. The Cardinals also have better and more experienced pitching. That is why I thought all along that the Cards would win this division. They are more experienced. I think that the Reds can win in a few years but right now is not their time. Then there are the cubs. I think that they have a pretty good team. Their manager is leaving, but if Sandberg replaces him then the Cubs also have a chance to win in a few years.
AL Central
I always love to talk about this division, because it is my favorite. There is no question who I want to win. I also think that that team can win. Right now the White Sox are ahead of the Twins by one game. They are also four games ahead of the Tigers. I think that both the Tigers and the Twins have a chance to win this division. Right now it is up for grabs. Detroit is just have a rough time now, but they will get hot soon. The Twins are also very dangerous. Lately they have been playing some of the worst teams in baseball. So its a little easier for them. But this division is about to get interesting. In August the White Sox play the Twins and Tigers so much you will be sick of watching the same two teams playing. This division will be decided in August, no doubt. But in the last two years the division has been decided by a playoff game after the regular season. I think that there is a huge possibility that the AL Central will make it three in a row.

Baseball 2nd half predictions

This blog is going to tell what I think each division will do. And maybe at the end some predictions on personal awards, like triple crown, cy young, and mvp. So lets start with the National League.
NL East
This division is going to be a close one. First you have the Braves who are a great team with Bobby Cox in his last year they want him to win it with them. They have a great core of hitters and they are mostly unknown lately until this year. Then the Phillies are always dangerous. Right now they are down, but they can come back up at any point and start playing the way they should be playing. But then you add in the Mets who are having a good year for the first time in a few years. And the Marlins who won the division last year, which surprised everyone, still have a chance to win it lead by the great pitching of Josh Johnson. In the end my prediction is: the braves.
NL Central
Right now the Reds are in first place by a slightly small margin. The Cardinals are in second and I think they can take first place if all the members of their team play as well as they should and can they might be able to pass the Reds. They may need a good 6 game winning streak at some point to put them over the top and give them a comfortable lead. Just because the Cardinals can win first place doesn't mean that the Reds can't keep it. They have Joey Votto and good pitching. They can keep this lead, but in the end my prediction is the Cardinals, because the Reds just haven't had to be good in the second half for years.
NL West
This is the most hectic division. Right now lead by the Padres. The dodgers are always a threat. The Rockies have Ubaldo Jimenez. The Giants are having a good year. That is all just making this race so much more exciting. This is the division in the NL you are going to want to watch and pay attention to. Any one of these teams can win it. San Diego has not been in this situation for years. The Rockies are a usually underated team. The Dodgers are always expected to win. The Giants are having their first really good year in a while. This is the hardest division to predict. I'm going to go out on a whim and say that the Padres will keep their lead and win this division.
Now the American League
AL East
This division is always an interesting one. Probably because it is the division you see the most on TV. Ever since 2008 when the Rays became a contender this division has become more than just the Yankees and the Red Sox rivalry. Now three teams have a chance. The Yankees are in the lead right now. The Rays can win this but I don't think they will. The Red Sox are behind, but so many of their big stars and good players are injured. When all those players come back the Red Sox are a force to be reckoned with. I can tell you who I want to win this division, but I'm not so sure that they will win it. But, I'm going to go with them. I thin the Red Sox will win.
AL Cenral
The division my team is in. Right now the leader is the White sox. The Tigers are only a half game behind and the twins are only 2.5 games behind. This division is going to be down to the wire. The last two years the AL Central has had to be decided by a playoff game. This year might continue that streak. The White Sox were blazing hot coming into the All-star break, if they can continue that Detroit and Minnisota won't be able to keep up. The White Sox have a ton of games against both those teams at the end of the year. If they win many of those series' they will win. But Detroit is a great team with a lot of good players. They can win anytime, too. So this will be a close one. But I will go with my team, the White Sox.
AL West
This is the race that is the least close. The Rangers have dominated. Not many of the other teams have played well, so this division seems easy to me. The Rangers were already hot and then they picked up Cliff Lee to add to their pitching. Now they are going to win this divsion a lot easier. so I pick the Rangers.
Personal Awards
triple crown-right now Miguel Cabrera has a chance to win the triple crown. I don't think he will. There is a reason why not many people have done it and nobody recently has done it. so I think that Cabrera is a great player and a really good hitter, but he won't win this.
cy young- it looks like its obviously going to be Ubaldo Jimenez in the NL. But the AL could change. Right now a lot of people are saying David Price, but now that Cliff Lee is on a good team, he might pick up a lot of wins and just be a better pitcher. So for the AL I just can't say right now.
MVP- this is so hard to pick at the All-star break, because what makes an MVP is the second half, but I think that so far the AL mvp has been Miguel Cabrera and I think the NL should go to Joey Votto. He has the best stats and it would be great to see a guy from a team not really known until this year.

All-Star Game (cont.)

This is a longer version of the blog before about the All-Star game. (I may repeat some things but its been like 3 days. so i think you'll get over it)
10 thoughts and/or problems with the all-star game.

1. The way that they incorporate fans in the vote makes it so that tons of Yankees and Red Sox players are in and some deserving players are not. Players on teams like the White Sox, Royals, Mariners, Orioles. Just because their team may not be the most popular or the best team, doesn't mean that they are bad players. So many people are fans of the Yankees or the Red Sox that all the players from those teams always get voted in. If we have the fans vote, which I like because I can vote then the all-star game shouldn't have such big implications as home field advantage in the World Series. They should do the World Series like all other sports and have the best team getting the home field advantage. The all-star game will still be important and publicized, but the fans won't be voting blindly to have home field advantage.

2. I love the idea of the final vote. Sometimes there is a player that maybe was voted for a lot that deserved to get in, but they didn't. So, you give the fans another chance to get them in. Now in the American League there is always a yankee and a Red Sox player, but the other players have just as much of a chance. I think that even if you do take the fan vote away that they should keep the final vote in for fans. That way they don't feel completely left out in the all-star game.

3. Joe Girardi is kind of getting some crap from people for picking A-rod as his one pick over Kevin Youkalis. But, what do you think would have happened to Girardi if he had picked a Red Sox player over A-rod? Plus, A-rod had a good second half, and other than winning a championship there wasn't much reward to that. This is his reward for having a great post-season for the first time in his career. I think that Joe Girardi understood that and that is why he picked him. He probably also picked him because he didn't want to be mobbed by fans in New York.

4. Stephen Strasburg does NOT belong in this years all star game. I think that maybe next year if he plays well enough to get in he will deserve to get in. This year he just doesn't deserve to be in after only pitching six games. If he had started at the beginning of the year and kept the same pace, I think he would have been in the game, but he is new. He has only pitched SIX TIMES. Ubaldo Jimenez has more than twice as many wins as Strasburg has just starts. The point that some people try to make is that people will watch if Strasburg plays. People are going to watch anyway! They want to see the best players in the league whether or not Strasburg is there makes no difference. Yes, he is an amazing pitcher and probably exciting to watch. But, so is Jimenez. Just because Strasburg had tons of hype around him just suddenly makes him more exciting and a better pitcher. I admit that he has lived up to the hype, but that doesn't mean that he is better than Jimenez. So final answer he does not belong in the all-star game. this year. Next year is a different story.

5. Joey Votto. Yes, he is good. Yes, he got snubbed. That doesn't mean that everybody should freak out. At least he is on the final vote ballet. There is a guy that I can name that didn't make it to the all-star game and he isn't even on the final vote ballet. That is Alex Rios (more about him later). So everyone that freaked out when he didn't make it, just relax. He got so many final votes that he made it anyway. I personally did not vote for him. Not because I don't think that he is a great player. I didn't vote for him, because I picked someone who I thought deserved it.

6. This may not have that much to do with the all-star game, but the guy I'm talking about is in it. Miguel Cabrera. Yes, he is leading the AL in all three triple crown categories, but there is a reason that nobody has won the triple crown since 1967. (Jake Peavy won the pitching triple crown in 2007). Right now he is one of the best hitters, but it is hard to keep up that pace the whole year. If Albert Pujols one of the greatest hitters in this era couldn't do it, then I don't think that Miguel Cabrera will do it. He will probably get some kind of award, but I don't think that the triple crown is going to happen. If it does well then I'm an idiot, but we already knew that anyway.

7. Pauliewood. By now you cannot vote the final vote anymore, but I want to thank anyway that read my previous blog or saw my tweets and voted for Konerko. It means a lot to me. He is my favorite player and I really wanted him to get in. He deserved to get in. He carries the team and led them through a time when they were 10 games back to now they are only half a game back. Paulie is my favorite player of all-time maybe. I have a signed helmet, a bobble head, signed picture, a picture of his grand slam in the 2005 world series and a Jersey of his. Him getting into this all-star game would be just amazing to see that the white sox fans can really push their guy in if they have to. go paulie! and go white sox!!

8. The National League seems to have less controversy than the American League. They don't really have that many teams that are the "popular teams" that get all the votes and then people who's guys don't get the vote are upset. This year, though the whole Votto situation seems to be a little troubling for a usually calm National League all-star team.

9. Alex Rios snubbed! This was the biggest snub I have seen with the all-star game. Not only was he not on the original team, even though he deserved it, he also was not put on the final vote ballet. Instead, Matt Thornton, and Paul Konerko both either are on the team or have their chance. Alex Rios has been the best hitter on our team almost the whole year. He is probably going to win the comeback player of the year award. Yet, he didn't get a chance to play in the all-star game like he should have a chance. It makes me even more mad because he is on the White Sox. That would be like if I were a reds fan and Joey Votto didn't even get on the final vote ballet. It seems just ridiculous.

10. I don't really know what to say. I didn't really plan out each point. I just kind of aimed for 10 and made it, so ya. But I guess all that needs to be said now is that I'm going to watch the game, even though Stephen Strasburg isn't pitching. Number 10 is full of nothing. Yet, couldn't end on 9 because that is such a weird number with no significance. Ten is always a normal benchmark number. So, now I'm rambling just to make number 10 look like I'm talking about something important. By now you are probably bored because this is long. So you don't care anyway. So WATCH THE GAME!!

Boring time.

Right now in sports there are a few things going on. and it seems like in my blogs and other things all anyone ever talks about is the world cup or NBA free agency. Not very many people are even talking about baseball but i guess that is a little important.

There have been 4 no-hitters this year. The pitchers have totally taken over the game. The better pitching you have the better team you have. There have also been some teams to have winning streak of 11 such as the Rangers and White Sox. Yet, thats not what anyone is talking about.
They talk about the free agency of many NBA stars. Leading all these stars is LeBron James. Then there is Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire, and others. This is what people are talking about. But how much can you talk about the same people and where they might go. Eventually the people listening get less interested or they want to hear about something else.

The fact that there may be a super team in Miami. They might have LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Wade. That just seems rediculous, but now it seems like the top option. I think that the better thing to do would be to wait it out, but i don't think that many sportswriters or reporters would agree with me.
Then there is the fact that we almost had a super conference in college football built this year. That would have made this summer sooo crazy that i might now have been able to handle it. But that did not happen and the college football landscape is not completely different.
Finally, the world cup. The USA had made a good run and many Americans were very excited about this years world cup. We won our group and got to the next round and we lost. But, the action continued. Many Americans are still watching. This is the most watched world cup so far. There is a sudden interest in the world cup, but in recent cups there has been little participation from the American people. Now we have many fans. Maybe this will start a little surge for people who want to play soccer well and be in the world cup. Maybe someday America will win a world cup.

Brazil was my favorite team left after the United States lost. Today they suffered a close but not so close loss. They had a good first half, but the second half was too much and they ended up losing. It was too bad. The only team that i like that is left is Argentina. They seem to be on a good path and have been winning games, but I hope i don't jinx them.

Winning streak comes to an end.

The white sox had an 11 game winning streak going until they lost yesterday. It was upsetting for me to even watch. As the white sox kept building and building their streak I was getting more and more excited. I was watching as many games as I could on TV cause i don't have MLBtv. Yesterday I was watching the game and it was 2-0 and almost could have been 4-0 at the end of the first but then our pitching gave up just too many runs for us to catch up. The key to our winning streak was our starting pitching and our good relief. In this game we could see that when the pitching is bad our team just can't catch up. This proves that we were winning because our pitching was dynamite. I don't mean to be putting John Danks down, because he has been a very good pitcher before, but he had a bad game. When he came out, though our relief gave up runs. If they hadn't done that we could have won this game. We have to give ourselves chances to win. We have an offense that is able to score 5 or 6 runs. That means that the pitchers should only give up 4 or 5 or less. This gives us a chance to win. We have one of the best rotations in baseball, but until this winning streak nobody noticed. Now people are saying wow! they have a dynamite pitching staff. With Mark Buerhle and Jake Peavy you are a pretty good team. When you add Gavin Floyd and John Danks who are young assets you are really good. When you add Garcia who has good games where sometimes he is unstoppable and sometimes he is shaky, but that's ok. He won game 4 to win the world series when he was with the white sox before in 2005. Now with those five you are great. Now you add your bullpen which is pretty dominate, you have one of the best pitching staffs in Major League Baseball. When you have an average or even good offense and one of the best pitching staffs in the game, then you should also have one of the best teams in the game. Instead we aren't playing to our potential and we are in second or third place in our division. When/if the white sox wake up they will be the team to beat. Lets see if that happens.