Ok, so I was wrong

pp2

When the Sox hired Ozzie Guillen a couple years ago I about choked. I mean, I was glad they didn't hire Cito Gaston but come on...why always do things on the cheap? I was hoping for a Bobby Valentine or someone who had won before because of his managing, not in spite of it (I am NO Gaston fan, never was).

Ok, so I was wrong. Obviously Guillen is very much the right guy for the job here. The guy not only knows baseball but he respects the game as well, and he has made no secret about who is in charge on that team. No Sammy Sosas on the South Side, thank you.

Anyway, I know that as a fan I will continue to second guess moves he makes over the coming years, and wonder what he was thinking when he did this, or why the heck didn't he do that instead...I think its part of being a fan.

But if he EVER puts Damaso Marte in another game I will question his sanity.

Marte hasn't been good since 2003. In 2004 he started the season off by blowing his first couple save opportunities and surrendering 9th inning leads to, of all teams, the Royals. Not a good way to start the season and 2004 was filled with him dumping gasoline on fires instead of putting them out.

So now its 2005, and its been a great year. I won't lie, I cried when the Sox won the pennant the other night. Those of you who are baseball fans should completely understand that. Not boo-hoo sobbing, but there were tears running down my face.

Anyway...

So this year the pitching has been solid and the bullpen has been good...except for Marte and Vizcaino, both of whom are just horrid. If Marte wasn't walking guys he was hitting them. My biggest beef with Marte is that 6 weeks ago Guillen actually threw Marte off the team! The story was, as Guillen told it, that Marte didn't respect him as a manager or his teammates (showing up late and whatnot) so he was done as a White Sox. Then suddenly Guillen does a 180 and says he is letting the team vote on whether or not Marte would be allowed back, and of course these guys allowed him back.

So game 3 against Boston, we're going for the sweep (Hi, Simon!) and Guillen puts Marte in. I was screaming at the tv...NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! And sure enough, 3 batters later the bases were loaded with nobody out. It took incredible pitching from El Duque to get out of that inning giving up nothing.

So my point? Er...not sure. Ok, how about this? Do you think its acceptable to, as a fan, second-guess a manager and criticize even if overall you think he's doing a good job? Isn't that part of being a fan?

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Guillen will always make moves that will make you cringe, but he has the most important thing that a manger can have IMO. He has the respect of his team and he is young enough to relate to them..Plus, he always has their back.

Nobody will confuse him with Lou or anything, but he's sufficient enough in those areas and has all of the qualities I already listed.

The White Sox have really surprised me because I wasn't sure about any of those starters excpet maybe Hernandez, as far as how well they'd handle the post-season pressure and they'll all been tremendous.

This team reminds me of the Angels in '02.. Not the style of their play but the execution and grit.

No real SUPERSTARS, no stars needed..

pp2

Yeah, thats one thing about this team...every time after a game one of them was asked about the performance they had just given, they immediately began talking about things their teammates did instead. There isn't an ounce of ego on this team, and they all believe in one another. I loved Konerko's comments after winning the ALCS MVP. He said something along the lines of "I am honored to be awarded this, and I know the players who won it before me were great and are legends, but I honestly think this should have been split 4 ways and given to our starting pitchers". That? Is a good teammate.

Another thing about the Guillen move that's finally sinking in with me...if you look at almost all of his coaches (except the pitching coach, Don Cooper) they are all former Sox players. We finally have a setup where our tradition is being both honored and furthered. No, we don't have all the titles the Yankees do...but we've had our share of greatness over the years anyway. The players are onboard with this, and they are playing with the pride of representing the organization and the fans, and I think that's wonderful for a change.

I was surprised by this too. They played poorly for the last part of the season, but honestly once they went into Cleveland and swept the Indians out of playoff contention, I thought they might be back in form. I didn't expect this though.

My experiences as a Sox fan with the playoffs have been horrible. There was 1983, Tito Landrum homering off Brit Burns in the 10th to end that series. There was 1993, Toronto rolling over us. The strike year of 1994 with the playoffs that never were. Then in 2000 we got to the playoffs only to get our brains beat in by Seattle. Every time we got there, our team looked confused, over matched, and just flat-out lost. Every time.

But now? These guys go and sweep the defending champs (and yeah their pitching was down, but still a damn good team) and then go out to California and take 3 out there to beat the Angels in 5. Its like a dream, man. This is so NOT what I expected...or really, most Sox fans I think...and its just great.

The night the Sox won the pennant all these guys were calling the sports talk radio station and saying they didn't want to go to bed. They were all afraid that when they woke up this would have been a dream, and it would be mid-September and Cleveland would be 2 games in front of us lol.