Interesting article by Hunter Prichard on "Bleacher Report" discussing who you would blame for the the White Sox "unimpressive season."  As usual, when I mention a story by someone else, it's usually a prelude to me shredding it and this is no exception.  Faulty logic really bothers me.  Some highlights (Mr. Prichard's comments are in italics for those of you playing along at home):

• I don't think this season has been unimpressive yet.  I think a  better word is Inconsistent. To still be in it this late in the season after the way these guys played last year and in April and May of this year, is not unimpressive.  While I think these guys have had some dirt shoveled on them, I don't think that they are buried yet.
• "Williams made a huge mistake this trade deadline by not making moves to get a left-hand bat, a reliever, or a good starting pitcher. Trading Daniel Hudson for Edwin Jackson was odd, considering that Hudson is a young pitcher with potential and Jackson is a young pitcher without potential who's been pretty terrible this season."  What left handed bat was available there, Hunter?  Kenny Williams was totally cock blocked on Adam Dunn.  Luke Scott was taken off the market.  You really didn't expect Kenny to surrender Beckham and Q for Dunn? Kenny did get a fairly good starting pitcher in Jackson and so far, the numbers on him are good.  As far as a reliever is concerned, that wasn't a priority at the time, especially with Chris Sale waiting in the wings. I'll admit, trading Hudson hurt the depth on the organizational pitching chart, but Jackson provides experience which Hudson didn't have.  And don't be fooled by Hudson's numbers for Arizona.  The NL is a pitcher's league.
• "Guillen is a good manager and the White Sox are lucky to have him, but he should know by now to shut his mouth when the media comes rolling in. He has been a huge distraction this season with his talk about Latino players."  Look, Ozzie does what he does.  The players don't really notice or care.  And most important of all, when he does say things like that it takes the focus off the team and puts it on him, which is exactly what he wants when the team is scuffling.  Ozzie is not the first Chicago team leader to employ this strategy.  The first was someone you may have heard of, some guy named Ditka.
• For lack of the better word, the bullpen is shit.  Hunter, you must not read much.  Lately, the Sox bullpen resembles a M*A*S*H* unit.  Thornton and Putz are about to go on the DL.  Bobby Jenks has been plagued by family issues and injuries all year long, but I think in the last two games he has shown you what he's made of.  That doesn't excuse his blown saves against Minnesota and Seattle, I agree Tony Pena is a punching bag, but then again, he's pitched those tough innings that no one else can.  And Sergio Santos is feeling the effects of his first full year of pitching at any level.  I'll admit  this unit has weakened lately, but with the injuries, wacky schedules et. al, they are a tired bunch.  That and the starters average around six to seven innings.
• The AL Central is arguably the worst division in the majors, and with the players on this team, there isn't any excuse if the White Sox don't take it.  While I agree they can't make excuses, I think you are forgetting how good the Twins are.  As for the worst division in baseball, I think you should look no further than the NL Central.

Okay, now that we've straightened that all out, if you want to see what has cost the Sox this year, here's my list:

• Not beating teams in their division: The Sox have sucked against everyone in their division except Detroit.  Losing two out of three to Kansas City and losing all those games early in the year to Cleveland may be the biggest reason this team gets early October tee times.
• Not beating the Twinkies: The road to the AL Central championship runs through the twin cities and unfortunately for the Sox, the Twinkies have planted land mines.
• Clutch hitting: How many times has this team had runners in scoring position only to leave them stranded on the bases?  This has been the achilles heel of this team the last two seasons.  I really don't know how to fix it.
• Starters Struggles: The starters have been okay but not as good as advertised.  The most consistent starter up to a couple of weeks ago was Freddy Garcia, the one starter everyone discounted before the season.  Danks, Buehrle and Floyd have been okay, but not great,  Peavy was dreadful, but now at least we may know why.

        

Steve Phillips has written a column over at Fanhouse where he ranks the top managers in baseball.  His top three?  The Genius, Bobby Cox and Terry Francona. 

I know Steve has a lot of MLB experieince and is far more qualified than I am to evaluate managers, but still, this is what makes sports fun.  I see it a whole different way:

1. Mike Scioscia-Year in and year out, his teams are always right in it.
2. Bobby Cox-How can you argue with his success?
3. Joe Maddon-What he has done changing the culture in Tampa is nothing short of a miracle
4. Ron Gardenhire-Did more with less for a long time.  Now that he has some horses, watch him go.
5. Joe Girardi-Successful in both leagues
6. Tony The Genius-I still think George Will made him into a legend.  If he's so great, the 1983 playoff debacle and the 1990 World Series would have turned out differently. 
7. Ozzie Guillen-If he'd just shut up, people would realize he's really good at what he does.
8. Terry Francona-Doesn't fold under yearly high expectations.
9. Joe Torre-He's come a long way since he managed the Braves, Mets and Cardinals.
10. Jim Leyland-I love the guy, but I can't help but think he's becoming a bit detached like Lou Piniella.

        

You've worked at a company for four years doing good work.  You have an accomplished resume.  You were tight with your department head who has now left the company, leaving his job open.  You are qualified for the position, expressed your interest and even have the recommendation of your outgoing boss.

However, your dream ends when you are told that not only will you not get a chance to take the position on an interim basis, you will not be considered for the position at all. 

Most of us, if we have some money in the bank, would probably resign on the spot.  At very least, we'd be looking for our next gig and mentally check out of our current position.  Because let's face it, no one wants to work at a job that's a dead end.  And nobody wants to work for a company that doesn't even want to consider promoting us.

Enter the classy Alan Trammell.  Told for reasons yet to be explained to anyone outside of himself and Jim Hendry that he was not a part of the Cubs future, Trammell graciously decided to stick around for the remainder of the year as bench coach for Cubs interim manager Mike Quade.  Trammell surely could have walked if he wanted to, but likes Quade and wants to finish out the year offering whatever advice and council he can.  This is what is called "doing it the right way."

There is no clear indicator on why Jim Hendry told Trammell that he wasn't a candidate for the job.  It's doubtful that his unsuccessful run as manager of the Tigers (186-300) played into Hendry's thinking.  The majors are full of managers who failed at one time or another but came back and were successful later (Joe Torre, Terry Francona, Jim Tracy, Jim Riggleman, Manny Acta and Bob Gerin to name a few.)  Trammell is known as a good guy and a good baseball man.  So, why NOT him?

There are probably three reasonable explainations: The first is Quade is a long time Cub employee and Hendry is using the interem job as a gold watch of sorts to reward his hard work and loyalty on behalf of the organization.  The second is there will be a house cleaning at the end of the year and Hendry was telling Trammell he might want to call a relator.  The third is that in the times Trammell filled in for Lou Piniella, Hendry saw something he didn't like.  In any case, it's thanks for playing for Alan Trammell.

You really feel for the guy.  It is conceivable that no one will ever give him another shot at running a team based on his Detroit experience.  It's sad to get a huge opportunity, not be successful and be branded a loser the rest of your life.  I hope someone gives him an opportunity somewhere down the road.

The antithesis of Alan Trammell is Sammy Sosa, who, for some reason, doesn't understand why the Cubs haven't retired his number yet.  According to Sosa , #21 should be "untouchable."  If it were up to Sammy, not only would his number join other Cub greats, but surely they would build him one of those statues to put outside of Wrigley Field.

Not so fast, my friend.

Ernie, Billy and Ron never used HGH.  They never corked their bats.  They never walked out early on their teammates.  They were never an obnoxious clubhouse presence.  To honor you in any way is to acknowledge the steroids you were on and to bring dishonor to all those who played the game honestly.  Plus, you are a self-serving jerk. 

Don't sit by the phone, pal.  You have as much chance of having a day in your honor as Alan Trammell has being the next Cubs manager.  At least he has class.

        

What a miserable weekend for the Chicago White Sox.  Despite heroic efforts from their bullpen, the White Sox tanked in Kansas City, losing two out of three extra inning contests against the under performing yet surprisingly competitive Royals.  The lowlights:

• Despite being told a major rain strom was fifteen minutes away, crew chief Joe West decided to start the game Friday night anyway.  The game went less than an inning, thus rendering Sox starter Edwin Jackson moot for the remainder of the series.
• The Royals, who put the comfort of their four remaining fans above common sense, re-scheduled the games for a twi-night doubleheader beginning at 6:10 Saturday night.  They could have started at four, but the Fox balckout would have knocked the game off local TV.  They could have had a split doubleheader, one game at noon and one at six, but felt that the day game would have been too hot for their fans.  So, they opted for a twi-nighter begining at 6:10 with a day game scheduled for Sunday.  This is totally idiotic.
• The Sox were up 5-1 in the first game Sunday, only to have Sergio Santos give up a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh.  Santos is beginning to show some mileage in this his first full major league season as a pitcher.  Don't get me wrong, the kid has talent, but that high gas stuff from earlier this year is begining to fade just a bit as he compiles innings.
• The Sox lost the first game Saturday night in the bottom of the eleventh with two outs.
• In the middle of the nightcap Saturday, Tony Pena saved everyone's bacon with a terrific seven ining performance.  The Sox won in ten innings.
• Yesterday, John Danks fought himself for six innings before giving way to the pen.  Bobby Jenks pitched one of his guttiest outings ever in a Sox uniform, going three shutout innings.  Unfortunately, a two out, two strike hit by Jason Kendell in the bottom of the eleventh off of Scott Linebrink was the Sox undoing as they lost again 3-2.  The Sox had opportunities in several innings to score runs but didn't.
• In addition to long outings by Pena, Santos and Jenks, both Matt Thornton (forearm) was not available this weekend and J.J. Putz (knee) were not available Sunday after winning game two Saturday night..  Add to that the Jackson debacle of Friday night and the Sox had to play three extra inning games with a pitching staff of about four.  Thank goodness today is an off day.

So, what did we learn this weekend? 

• Joe West is bad at umpiring.  Between starting the game on Friday  and his inconsistant strike zone yesterday, MLB really needs to consider retiring him.  Of course, West is president of the Umpire's Union, so that won't be easy.
• You get to the playoffs by doing two things: Beating teams in your division and winning close games.  The Sox have done neither this year.
• These guys, especailly the pitchers are digging down deep and giving it everything they got.  This may be the series where the tank is about to run out of gas.
• The Sox couldn't buy a clutch hit most of the time in this series.  That's what has been plaguing them since the all-star break and that's what might do them in.
• For all of the bitching people are doing about not re-signing Jim Thome, how about Wilson Betemit?  He went five for twelve with two homers and four runs scored this weekend.  Sox should have never let him, go, right?
• I have gone from "you gotta beleive" to "get the fork ready."  This looks like a spent team that may not be able to mount a furious rally to get back in the AL Central race.  If they somehow do and if they win it, Ozzie gets manager of the century.

        

The not so surprising exit of Lou Piniella as manager of the Chicago Cubs is a telling moment for the Cubs organization. 

I am not going to take any shots at Lou because he is leaving the team to spend time with his dying mother.  If I had the money in the bank that he does and the career that he's had that I wouldn't do the same thing.  The only downside for Piniella is that as part of his legacy, he'll go down as having quit his last two jobs.  I'm sure that he can live with that, therefore the rest of us can too.

I don't necessarily think that he is a quitter.  I think he realizes that this team is in no danger of being competitive and that his mother probably won't last until October.  Rather than be a distraction by taking numerous leaves, Piniella has decided to step aside and be with his mother at the end.  For a man who has spent nearly a half century in baseball, he's missed a lot of family obligations in his life.  He's now at a point where you can be there if he wants to.  I get it, I'm okay with it and I wish him well.

Now, on to the rest of the stuff:

• Mike Quade is a curious choice to act as interim manager. It appears to me that he is being rewarded for his loyalty to the organization by getting to show what he can do the last six weeks of the season.  It is not a commitment, it is probably not even a chance to audition.  It is simply a thank-you present from a grateful Jim Hendry.
• Alan Trammel, it sucks to be you, but no one is ever going to give you another shot as a manager.  Believe me, I know how that sucks.
• The Cubs could have made a positive statement by promoting Ryne Sandberg TODAY and given him the chance to evaluate the team the last six weeks to get a feel for next year.  That would have solved all of the speculation.  By not doing this, Hendry is sending a clear message that he thinks he can do better from the pool that includes Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, The Genius and my personal favorite, Eric Wedge.  It is obvious that Hendry wants to talk to some people currently under contract to other organizations.  If I were Sandberg, I'd be a bit miffed.
• Any Cub coach who doesn't have his resume ready to go out right now is a fool.  None of you boys are coming back. That includes you, Larry.
• A year that was supposed to be glorious under new ownership continues to be a disaster.  The best thing that has happened to the Cubs this year is the Sox winning streak which pushed them to the back of the sports section.

        

• The high and mighty have fallen as America's self proclaimed moral authority Jay Mariotti gets busted for hitting a woman .  Jay is sure to lose his gig at ESPN because of this. He'll obviously check into anger management, issue a contrite apology and hope people will forgive him.  If you are going to preach the way Jay does, you have to keep your nose clean.  He didn't and now he will pay the price as he wallows in obscurity. Congrats, Jay.  Everywhere you go, the Now Gang will be right on your ass.  
• Jay isn't the only celebrity in a bit of hot water   Kids, I can't emphasize this enough.  If you want to be a celebrity you need one of two things: Some common sense or a really good legal and PR team.. (Can't Stop The Bleeding)
• Here's an interesting thought about the great Jim Thome controversy.   If he had signed with the Red Sox and the White Sox would have played against him only seven times a year, would we even be having this conversation?  No, we would not. (Tremendous Upside Potential)
• How 'bout them Bears.  Between dropped balls and a porous offensive line and no depth in the second half, they were beaten by Oakland last night .  If they can't beat Oakland, imagine how much fun the Vikings and Packers will have with them.  It looks like the Lovie Smith Farewell Tour may be over by October.
• The NFL Network has agreed to join more cable systems .  The deal was brokered through the National Cable Television Cooperative.  Unfortunately for me, Time Warner isn't a member so I will continue not to be able to watch the wizardry that is Rich Eisen.
• Proof again that in a weak economy, NASCAR is in trouble 
•  Rick Morrissey jumps on the "Ozzie needs to zip it" bandwagon , a popular evergreen topic of writers and bloggers on a slow news days. 
• The most interesting thing you will read about Hawk Harrelson today .  BTW, Matt Vasgersian, shame on you for the sideswipe last night on MLB.  Making fun of Hawk and Big Hurt was a little unprofessional.  Especially since Hurt has no clue what he's doing.

        

One of my favorite cartoons growing up was the Roadrunner .  The Roadrunner was always being chased by Wile E. Coyote, who invested his life savings in products from the Acme Company.  But no matter what clever trap the Coyote thought up, the Roadrunner always bested him.

Now, you can look at this two ways.  The first being that despite numerous failures, the Coyote will not give up.  The other way you can look at it is, this is a text book definition of insanity that being trying to do the same thing repeatedly hoping for a different result.

When the White Sox play the Twins, it's six of one, half a dozen of another.

Try as they might, the Sox have turned their dealings with the Twins into a parade of drop kicks off a cliff.  Jim Thome Tuesday night.  Losing a 5-3 lead last night.  Fighting the good fight, but in the end still lying at the bottom of the canyon with the Twins standing high on a bluff, smiling and saying "meep meep."  It's enough to crush your soul if you let it.

I thought Ozzie's rant yesterday was right on, that it's not just Thome that's gone, it's Jermaine Dye.  Before that it was Joe Crede and before that Frank Thomas.  Things change.  Rosters change.  Saying one guy would have made the difference is pure speculation tantamount to backseat driving.  How much of a difference would Jake Peavy have made?  Or D.J. Corrasco playing the part of Tony Pena? 

Sure, you can whine, bitch and moan about not having Thome on the team and say "I told you so!" all you want if it makes you feel better.  But be advised that Andruw Jones has as many homers as Thome does this year and he can actually play defense.

I don't have any solutions this morning.  I don't have any wisdom. I just have frustration.  We'd all like to think that with this pitching staff, this bullpen and talent like Konerko, Quentin, Pierre, Rios, Beckham et.al. that this Sox team would be good enough to at least compete with Minnesota.  For what ever reason, these guys are in the White Sox heads. The Twins have no fear of the Sox, battling them at will to a usually favorable result.  I guess you just tip your cap as you make that long fall to the bottom of the canyon.

        

• Buddy Ryan is your typical grumpy old man, but that crustiness is a charm to be sure.  And when holier than thou Tony Dungy came out the other day and said Ryan's son Rex was too crass and crude to be coaching an NFL team, Buddy Ryan called bullcookies .  This whole thing about swearing is out of control.  Coaches swear.  Athletes swear.  Broadcasters swear.  It happens.  How anyone can judge a coach's ability to coach on his language is beyond my comprehension.  Tony Dungy was a successful coach without using swears, where Bob Knight was a successful coach who swore a lot.  It's not about the language, it's about your ability to coach.  I wonder what Tony must think about Ozzie Guillen.
• The Score is about to extend their broadcast rights with the White Sox for five more years.  This comes as a relief to those of us who live outside the area but can still pick up the Score.  Had the Sox signed with an FM station, many Sox fans who live outside of Chicago would not be able to listen to the games.  Take away the games and you take away the passion. Trust me on this one, folks.
• Here's something I want to get off my chest in regards to the above.   Because the younger generation fails to acknowledge AM radio, many broadcast companies are making the migration to putting their news/talk.sports formats on FM.  Here's why this doesn't work.  People listen to what they want to listen to.  If I have to switch frequencies to listen to a ballgame, it's no big deal because that's what I want to listen to.  Putting NTS on FM doesn't really help gain you any listeners because if the audience wanted to listen to it, they'd find it.  NTS sounds crappy on FM anyway.  
• Now the cable companies have joined the NFL in screwing consumers . Someday the NFL may get off their high horse and realize that people aren't going to pay out the backside for their programming, especially during the economic downturn we are experiencing .  Then again, pigs may fly before that happens.  My cable company, Time-Warner doesn't even offer the NFL Network because they two can't come to an agreement.  I don''t hear people complaining.
• Why do people keep bugging Green Bay Packers Mike McCarthy about Brett Favre ?  McCarthy has nothing to do with Favre and hasn't for three years.  Kudos for Mccarthy for walking away.
• It looks like the Caray family is upset with the Ricketts family because the Cubs want to move Harry's statue.  Hey, at least Harry has one at the ballpark.  All Jack Brickhouse got was a stupid pennant.
• Today's List: The best sports commercials of all-time .  On my list would be several of the Mller Lite commercials of the 70's (take your pick: Billy and George, Uke in the upper deck, Marv Throneberry, they were all good), Michael and Larry for McDonald's, Bo Knows and the Frank Howard for Nestle Quick spot from way back in the day (if you can find it on the Internet, please let me know.)  Not on my list, the Albert Pujols spot for Wheaties Gold.

        

Before his four year stint with the Chicago White Sox, Jim Thome was a notorious Sox killer.  In his career, Thome is hitting .302, with 43 home runs, 112 RBIs, an on base percentage of .410, a slugging percentage of .650 and an OPS of 1.060.  There are players who don't have careers that good.

So, it should come as no surprise that Thome was the heavy last night in the Twinkies 7-6 win over the reeling White Sox.  Just as Brett Favre has tortured the Bears for the last couple of decades, Thome has been an Achilles heel for the White Sox.  The difference is that he is one of the nicest guys on the planet and he also used to wear a Sox uniform.

I've already addressed the situation about what if Ozzie had decided to bring Thome back this year.  Hindsight being what it is, you can theorize all you want and it still won't change the outcome.  And, even if Thome were still with the White Sox, odds are, given the same scenario, it would have been someone else breaking our hearts.

On to the bigger issues of the game.  John Danks came out and put his team behind the eight ball, giving up four runs in the first inning.  The Sox crawled back, tied it and led in the bottom of the tenth before Thome ended it.

Matt Thornton was left out on the mound to pitch a second inning because Bobby Jenks was unavailable.  I have said this a thousand times but I will say it one more: As a closer, Matt Thornton is a great set up man.  He has a closer's stuff but not a closer's mentality.  The Sox know this which is why he's never been given a chance to compete for the job.

The loss, the third one in a row that got away, puts the Sox four games out.  It also continues to drill the message in to their heads that no matter if they play inside or outside in the state of Minnesota, they are going to get beat.  This is hard to fix.

Let's put this in terms you understand.  The low point of the season was not June 9th when the Sox were down 9½ games and began their improbable run  to the top.  The low point is now.  Down four games, losing the last three of four to the Twinkies with 43 games left, this is a hole that this team may not be able to crawl out of.  Sure there's the "tomorrow's another game" post game quotes, but reality says this team can't beat the teams it needs to.  And if that's true, warm up Wynonna because this one is over.

The only way the Sox stay in it is if they cinch it up and hunker down and get hot for a couple of weeks. At this point, this team looks out of gas. 

        

You may recall last week's tale of a man, a shirt and an alleged ticked off coach .  Well, the fashion police have struck again, this time stalling the career of a young lady who just wasn't paying attention.

Renee Gork (what a great name) of KKAS tweeted that she was terminated after she wore a Florida Gators hat to an Arkansas football press conference.  She probably would have gotten away with it, to had she not chosen to ask Razorbacks coach Bobby Petrino a question. After answering the question, Petrino said "and that's the last question I'll answer with that hat on."

Having covered crap loads of press conferences, I honestly believe that this was an attempt a humor.  Coaches like to razz people, that's what they do.  So, it is no surprise that Petrino made the comment.  And it would be shocking if he remembered it, Gork and the hat ten seconds after he walked from the podium.

Now, at this point, we don't know what happened, but here's my guess.  Some PR wonk from Arkansas called the PD of the station (on a Saturday) and made him aware of the situation.  He probably embellished that Petrino was upset and asked the station to police their reporters wardrobe, lest the university take action, like canceling their press credentials or limiting their access.  I've had calls like this before from upset PR guys, one or two were they were justifiably upset.  But this wouldn't be one of those calls.

If it were me, I would have told him that I can't be responsible for what people wear on Saturdays and that I would have a talk with her to remind her where she is.  That would have been the end of it right there.  Because, from a legal standpoint, that's all I could do.  And I certainly wouldn't fire an employee for wearing the wrong hat.  Yes, it was ill advised, but it's not like she was wearing a "Bobby Petrino Sucks" t-shirt.  Of course, the types that wear suits that don't understand that the pressure being brought to bear by the PR guy is a self-serving attempt for the PR to become a hero, might freak out.  I've seen that too and found it both annoying and hysterically funny.

To fire her is a joke.  The fact that the station is owned by a small, local broadcast company is very telling.  I guarantee the big boys wouldn't have reacted like this.

I've seen several blogs where people actually think Petrino had something to do with this.  If you really think a coach of a D-1 NCAA football program and a member of the SEC would spend two seconds to get some reporter from a tiny sports station fired, you've never covered sports.

So, Renee, I have two pieces of advice for you.  First, lawyer up big time.  Unless there is some other kind of problems in your file, this is an unlawful termination.  Go after them hard and make sure you name your GM and PD in the suit, both as part of the company and as individuals.

Then when you get your settlement, take my second piece of advice: Buy another hat.