Random Shots: You May Miss Jay More Than You Think
Random shots while wondering whatever happened to Barry Lyons:
- On Mariotti, I have mixed emotions about him leaving. I've always found his take on some things very insightful. His columns around the 1997 White Flag trade were dead on accurate and probably 90% of his shots at The Chairman were, in my opinion, dead on. The problem with his leaving is Chicago has only one guy left who will tell you the total, unvarnished truth and he's been relegated to web only status by the Tribune and neutered to the point of being a shadow of himself. Mariotti, along with guys like Bernie Lincicome and Mike North serve a specific purpose: You may loathe them, you may think they are idiots, but you never miss their column or their radio show because you can't imagine what they might say next. While I am not a big Jay fan, I think the level of sports writing in Chicago went down a couple of notches. Every town is enriched by the one guy who stands up and tells the Emperor he is naked. Mariotti made a lot of enemies, and in the end, I think his self-inflated view of himself along with the electronic media enabling him might have led to his undoing. And I don't believe for one second he quit because he wants to get into web media.
- Last night's Sox stinker was alarming in several regards. It looks like John Danks may have met his mileage limit for a while and without a clear cut end to the divisional race, he may do the Sox more harm than good at least in the next couple of weeks. If I were Ozzie, I'd seriously consider having him miss a start or two just to get his arm strength back.
- I understand why Ozzie sat Q down last night. It was to give him two full days of rest to get ready for Boston. Putting Swish in left works fine. Junior in Center not that much. And to all of you guys who blog and didn't see it with your own eyes as it happened, Junior is nowhere near as pathetic as Willie Mays was with the '73 Mets. That was one of the most painful things I have ever seen. Junior is bad but not pathetic. BTW, if you want to see the second most painful thing I have ever seen, dig up some 1974 archival footage of the White Sox and watch Ron Santo try to play second base.
- Lance Broadway is much more effective starting than out of the pen. Some guys are like that. Given his lack of versatility, the odds of him being in a Sox uniform next season are dimming quickly.
- Jim Thome is one good dude.
- We've told you over and over again not to count Paul Konerko out just yet. Jeeves sheds some light on it. (Life in the Cell)
- Andrew does a painstakingly well researched piece on how far the Sox have come since April 28th. (35th Street Review)
- I wish all this Cubs vs. Sox talk would cease immediately. Both teams have a long way to go. And as Cub fans well know, just because you lead the NLCS three games to two with one out in the top of the eighth of the sixth game doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to the World Series.
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