More Volunteer Corps Photos

Thanks, JK, for alerting me to the game being on WGN! Since I'm still onsite at a client's location and might not get home for the start of the game, I just used my iPhone to program my DVR to record the game. Gotta love technology when it works :-)

Go SOX, get a win streak going, and take this division!

Peggy

Two hours to game time and a Sox winner. I'll be WGNing it so will check back later.... Go Sox'09..j.k.

I'll be WGNing too - - but I've felt guilty for being fairly absent as of late. Just hope that Scott doesn't forget about us bloggers and go completely 'twitterpated' (for those of you that remember Bambi)

I will not make it to the end as I have to work tomorrow, but will be with you guys in spirit. Let's pick up an game tonight!!

Kris, refresh my memory on "twitterpated" Bambi is one of my fav movies and I can't place it.

Wow, I can't believe that I almost for got about the game! But, better late than never, right? Hopefully our boys can pull it off and start this series off on the right foot. Go White Sox!!!

Haha, way to go AJ and Paulie in getting us the lead back!! I'm off to bed, but hoping and praying that we can hold onto it for two more innings. Let's go Sox!!!

Tuning in just now. Yay faith discussion! lol Keep doin what you're doin boys, don't change on account of me!

Game just now got over and Sox win. The first base umpire tried to cheat us, but Bobby managed to get us out of what was looking scary.

Nice analogy about twitterpated, Kris. I hope not, but I expect that to happen at some point too.

Jen, think Flower ( the skunk).

One more time: good Win Sox. Now can we please win tomorrow and get back to 500?.... I think we can, I think we can, I think we can.... j.k.

Here's hoping we get Round 2 tonight. Keep playing tough guys. Go Gavin and Go White Sox!

Jen, to be more specific: Wise old Owl was telling adolescent Bambi, Thumper and Flower that they needed to watch out or they would become twitterpated when some "lovely young thing" strolled by. You start walking on air and BAM, you're twitterpated.... Something like that anyway. And speaking of anyway....

Go Gavin and go Sox'09. Win this one and we're back to 500..... Later all... j.k.

Happy birthday to Gordon and good luck to our guys tonight!!

Linebrink is a stud! He worked a scoreless 7th inning! That's good. Come on Boys, Batista is not a good pitcher, get to him and take this game. There's still time..... Go Sox'09.j.k.

It's still their starter, but we DID get a run by a HR from our possible ROY.... Go Sox...

Last chance, down 3-1.... Come on Boys, thrill us..... j.k.

Haha, a nice b-day present for him. Now we really need a heck of a ninth if we're gong to pull this off...

Oh, and btw, I hope that Gavin's okay.

We continue our win one, lose one series. Ten games now and counting.... We win tomorrow behind JohnnyD...... It was good to see JD and Rios get a couple hits and nice to see Line not give up any runs, but..... Will we get back to 500 this year?... Come on Sox'09...j.k.

Unusual start time for todays game; 3:40 PM. That's good news for those of you in Chicago (5:40), you'll be able to watch and cheer. I will be in Phoenix for the day, so I won't be able to root our Boys on to victory. I'll see you all later after we win today.... Go Sox'09..j.k.

Ah, it's nice to finally be able to see the boys play again. It's also nice to see we have a lead. But we can't stop at one, let's get more. Go White Sox!

PK's double would have been out at The Cell.

Atta boy, Kotsay!

Need a clutch hit, Pods.

For once the ball bounces the right way for us. :) Atta boy Kotsay!

Hi Josh. I'm back from Phoenix and it's 3-0. You're doing a fine job. Keep it up Boys,.... j.k.

Hi JK. Hope your trip was okay. Let's bring home a winner. Go White Sox!

Alexei-Getz-Kotsay! DP! Let's put a few more on the board.

I'm gonna have to go back and watch the first 5 innings after the game is over, but it looks like JohnnyD is doing his job! Keep it up and go Sox'09....j.k.

Well, Beltre's homer does away with the shutout. Work hard Danks. Get these next two outs so we can get you more runs.

Way to fight back Danks. Now let's get some insurance guys.

That was quick. Let's get 3 before they get 2. No drama Jenks. Go White Sox!

Yeah, more runs would be good!!!! j.k.

Ok, let's get 3 before they get 1. :(

2 to go.

1 to go.

Nice! Pitching over the lead off double. How about one or two runs just for the sake of insurance? Go Sox'09...j.k.

All righty, Big Bad Bobby's coming out. Let's go Sox!!!

Ick. Not a fun way to start things off; all Pods could do there was stand and look. Danks had a really good effort today, so lets hope Bobby can hold it from here on.

One to go...

Gah. Grrr. Arrrgghhh. *facepalm* Well, we're looking at extra innings if he can somehow hold it.

My internet cut out on me right after we got the 2nd out in the 9th. In a way, I'm kind of glad I didn't see the 2nd homerun. Let's dig deep guys. Go White Sox!

Hi Vickey, where you been? Come on Bobby, three up, three down.... Go Sox'09..j.k.

Didn't post the first two times, and now we're tied. I guess Danks needs to go NINE to get a win...... Come on Boys......

Still won't post, can we get it to the 11th?????

18 minutes ahead?? A new record... Go Sox

We only need 1 guys. Go White Sox!

Good start, Getz. Move him over Rios.

Hey there jk. Didn't get here till the last couple innings because I had my evening fitness classes.

Ok, let's go get 'em boys!

Yup, I'm with you there, Josh. If he doesn't win ROY, there is something seriously wrong.

Dare we hope that Dye can pull this off?

Hi Vicki. I must have missed you during my connection lapse.

We gotta hold them. Go Go White Sox!

Nope. Back to the grind.

Nice play Becks. He has matured well at third this season.

Come on Sox'09, Go home happy!!!! Now is the time. Go Sox, j.k.

Oh we really need a clutch hit right now!

Now we need a clutch out. Come on Williams.... and Go Sox'09..... j.k.

Lucky thirteenth!!!!! Go Sox...... j.k.

Dig deep guys. Go White Sox!

All we need is one run? Is that too much to ask for? This season, it apparently is.

We need to turn two.

All we need is one good out right about... now?

14 can be a lucky number, right?

Not lucky for us, hopefully it won't be for them either. We need the 14th.... Go Sox'09....j.k.

More no posting for me..... Top of 14th and top of our order coming up.... Get it DONE..... j.k.

"More no posting for me..."

We know it's been a long game when JK's dyslexia pops up. :)

*Oops. Actually, I think JK meant what he said. It's getting late for me too.

Tried to say that MLB wasn't allowing me to post, but now I'm worried for this game we should have already won...... If it's Line, please pitch well..........

Boy, are these silent bats sounding familiar. Been the story of our season to this point.

14 innings in Seattle again. I could make the Sleepless in Seattle joke but hey, it was an early start out there today so that doesn't really fit tonight does it?

Frustrating year. But when I think of Beckham and Getz, I feel a little better about what we have learned this year.

Whether we win or lose tonight:
Alex Rios is I believe now 5 for 81, that's right 5 for 81 since joining the SOX. Perhaps the worst hitter I have ever seen in a SOX uniform.......Bar none.
Yet again our over weight, over paid and supremely over confident drama queen bum of a closer has wasted another sterling performance by one of our starters and snatched no less than a tie and most probably a loss from an almost certain win. And please don't tell me that's why we play the games. Bill Hall couldn't hit worth a **** when he was on the North side, had 1 (that's right 1) HR coming into the ninth tonight and BJ throws a batting practice fastball that ends up in the seats. I've seen enough of this bum. My sincere hope is that next year Matt Thornton is given the closer's job and BJ is traded.

Linebrink has no chance in this inning.

And it ends in 14 in Seattle again.

Poor clutch hitting but this one falls on Jenks. He had a second chance to get the save and couldn't convert it.

The guys will certainly be happy to be heading home.

Yup, saw that coming a long ways away back in the bottom of the ninth. Night all. Have fun at the tweetup for those who are going and I'll be with you in spirit!

We got what I expected from Line.............. Later everybody, much later....... I'm done! Go Sox.....'10.........j.k.

Buster,

If Rios is the worst hitter you have seen in a Sox uniform, then you are either very young or just haven't seen enough games.

He's in a terrible slump but has been to the All Star Game twice so you have to give him more than the 81 at bats you noted.

And when was Bill Hall on the North Side? Unless you call I-94 in Milwaukee the North Side of Chicago???

And Jenks is severely underpaid right now. But even with a subpar season this year (and it has only been subpar in the last month or so), he'll be due a huge raise next year. That is why he might be traded. But only if someone is willing to give him the raise that arbitration will certainly award him.

TC,
So tell me who has ever donned a SOX uniform and is a worse hitter than Rios? This clown makes Joe Borchard look like an All Star. BTW during his slump he has made $1.1M, more than most people (and a lot of ball players) make in their lifetime. If he is such a great talent why did Toronto put him on waivers? Methinks they realized that they had given him a hugely inflated contract for 1-2 good years of performance and he was just showing up collecting paychecks.
Bill Hall has played his whole career (until this year) in Mil. Yes, I do consider the North side up I-94 to brew town. And yes, except for 06 Hall had an un-impressive career up there. And up until last night was having one in Seattle this year.
Finally, Jenks has 6 blown saves and 4 losses. These have not all come in the last month or so. Even if he converts only 60% of all these blown opportunities where does that put the SOX in this year's race? When outstanding closers in ML baseball are discussed, this bum's name never comes up. I don't wonder. I for one have seen enough of him and his drama.

I want to believe the things I hear from our leaders.... "We want to contend every year". "We'll be fine when the weather warms up". "Just wait for Carlos to come back and we'll be fine". " Our starters have the most quality starts of any staff in the AL". And my favorite one this year: " We have the best pen in the League" That from Hawk several times earlier this year.

I'm frustrated and disappointed like the rest of you. What I'm most tired about is all the comments from Kenny, Ozzie, Hawk and others that make it look like we have a team that can compete. On paper maybe, but not when it counts. At the start of the season this looked like a rebuilding year, but that notion was Poo-poohed by Kenny. So I went along. We all went along. Turned out that we were taken for a ride instead. Now this doesn't affect me too much since I'm in Tucson. But what about all you folks in the Chicago area? You may have spent hard earned dollars going to see games that turned out to be meaningless. Maybe that money you forked over should be rebated back to you for your support.

We've all heard that Ozzie wants to play "small ball". Fundamental baseball that will score us runs even when our big boppers are struggling. But we've heard this same story for the past four years, and now we're supposed to believe it for next spring training? I for one will believe it when I see it.

Like I said, I'm frustrated and disappointed. There's so much more I want to get off my chest, but we are down enough already, so I'll keep my peace. I hope we can win a couple games in a row and somehow finish the season over .500, but I doubt it. There is something missing from this group of guys we call our Team. Fix whatever it is so we can come back stronger next year...... Go Sox'10..j.k.

I'll address a couple of things from both Buster and jk.

First of all, to Buster. I am in agreement with you on Jenks. I won't go so far as to call him a bum, because he's had four-plus quality seasons out the 'pen for us which is longer than most quality closers last (other than freaks like Rivera and Eckersley). And the "drama" is not his. The "drama" comes from the fans and media who expect perfection from their closers. But, as I said, I agree that his effectiveness with the Sox is up and he should move on. Unfortunately, we could have gotten more for him a year ago but we can't look backwards.

As far as worse hitters, we've had the aforementioned Borchard, Luis Torrerro (who is now an average hitter in the Northern League), Ron Karkovice, Mike Caruso, George Foster (yes, he played for a month or two with the Sox in Hawk's year back in '86 and was brutal and totally washed up) and Sap Randall to name just a few.

Again, I'm not trying to defend Rios. He has been awful. But we have him signed long-term and have to make the best of it and hope that he can get himself back to being the kind of player that made two All-Star teams and hit us like we were throwing 16 inch softball size baseballs up to the plate.

And I agree that Bill Hall is not a great player. Never said he was. I only said that he never played for the Chicago National League ballclub.

And jk, like all the rest of the Sox fans I am disappointed. But I am not mad. I didn't expect this team to win the division. But I did think that, if relatively healthy, they could win 85 or 86 games. I certainly didn't expect the division to be as bad as it is. I though Cleveland was going to have a breakout year. Shows you how much I know.

And if fans were to demand rebates, then 22 franchises would be giving back a whole lot of money.

We aren't alone in our disappointment. I look for some new faces next year and hope to see some improvement.

If it were up to me, Dye would be gone and, for the right price, Quentin too. I like our infield and like our catching if Flowers will be ready by 2011. We're locked into Rios and Scotty Pods can't play a lot of defense but how do you not bring him back after the year he has had at the plate. Certainly, unless a true leadoff hitter is acquired, Pods has to be back.

The bullpen needs a real housecleaning. Keep Thornton, Carrasco, maybe Dotel and find all new ones either from the system or elsewhere.

The first four starters are solid. Give Freddy and others a chance to fight for the fifth spot.

The key, though, is to not dwell on the past but look at the present. Forget about what we did or didn't do this year and think about how we can win next year and the year after that.

Until Jerry makes a change, Kenny is the GM. And until Kenny makes a change, Ozzie is the manager. I don't worry about those two positions. They are not nearly as significant as the ones that take the field and swing the bats. GM's and managers are very overrated. Yes, good ones make a difference but they never win a title alone. Concentrate on the players and their performances and not the GM's trades or the manager's handling of the bullpen.

Okay, enough of my rant. Let's try to cool off KC. And as far as a winning season goes, sure it would be nice but in the big picture it really means absolutely nothing. How many people remember a final record in baseball??? all they remember is post-season appearances. If you don't play in October, there really is no difference between 82-80 and 79-83.

Where is everyone tonight? Kris wanted me to let everyone know her computer has been taken by the geek squad so she won't be on for a few days. She hasn't left us, just computerless. Let's get a win boys. we really could use some positive baseball vibes.