Quentin is awesome, but I didn't know he was as strong of a baserunner as he's showing so far this year. He took three extra bases today (advancing on a throw on his single -- he came around to score on a single -- and going from first to third on a wild pitch that didn't get that far away and a bad throw by Shoppach), and he's maybe taken seven or eight extra bases overall when not expecting it.

Carlos Quentin hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning

Oh yeah? Well, this is what Eric Byrnes has done since signing his contract extension on 8/7/2007:

87 GS, 350 AB, 8 HR, 29 BB, 48 K, 26 SB, 14 GIDP, 0.229/.302/.366/0.666

Yup, 0.666 OPS. If that doesn't convince of the devil in Jeff Moorad, nothing will.

The White Sox honored former catcher Carlton Fisk in a pregame ceremony. Fisk was recently named an ambassador for the team.

Whose cap does Fisk wear in the HoF?

But the ambassador line reminded me of a story from long ago ... Illinois (at the State Fair I assume) used to have a contest to be the Pork Princess (or Illinois Miss Pork or something like that) -- a teen (or younger?) beauty pageant. Eventually, someone decided it was sexist to only allow girls to compete for this prize. So they instituted the Illinois Youth Ambassadors for Pork.

Heck, a web check suggests it may have been Iowa

BPro had a pretty good article on the Sox yesterday that might have been behind the subscriber wall. Another victory, and it's freely available on Sports Illustrated.

Is this 8 straight since Ozzie's little rant?

It's gotta be the dolls.

The dolls were in Toronto. The uproar took a few days to get going, and Ozzie's rant -- it's so hard to distinguish between rants -- came soon thereafter. Guillen went off, I think, before game 2 of the Twins series that followed Toronto. They lost that game, but have gone 11-3 since.

TCQ

most underrated manager in baseball is Ozzie Guillen, this guy could smoke the vast majority of managers in baseball, but because he's somewhat crazy he gets picked on. If my team ever gets rid of the best manager in my lifetime and tries to replace him, I hope Ozzie Guillen is on the short list (yes I would rather have Ozzie than Whiny ass Bob Cox, idiot for life Lou Pinella or incompetent outside of one team, Joe Torre.)

#9: You, sir, are obviously an analytical genius.

most underrated manager in baseball is Ozzie Guillen, this guy could smoke the vast majority of managers in baseball, but because he's somewhat crazy he gets picked on.

I'm pretty sure Jim Leyland could smoke Ozzie.

#11: brilliant.

Fisk was recently named an ambassador for the team.

Fisk as ambassador. Well, if anyone can be convinced to root for the White Sox by being berated and crabbed into it, he's the man for the job.

Heck, a web check suggests it may have been Iowa

Back in college I knew a pretty girl from Iowa who was Pork Queen. She agreed that she could see the humor in it, although she herself didn't think it was funny.

I'm pretty sure Jim Leyland could smoke Ozzie.

Without a filter!

Fisk is a Red Sock in the Hall of Fame.

most underrated manager in baseball is Ozzie Guillen, this guy could smoke the vast majority of managers in baseball, but because he's somewhat crazy he gets picked on. If my team ever gets rid of the best manager in my lifetime and tries to replace him, I hope Ozzie Guillen is on the short list (yes I would rather have Ozzie than Whiny ass Bob Cox, idiot for life Lou Pinella or incompetent outside of one team, Joe Torre.)

I'd rather have Davey Johnson than any of 'em.

I'm pretty sure Jim Leyland could smoke Ozzie.

!

Eight straight for the Chisox? Squirm, Mariotti, squirm.

The Indians are shortening my life-span at this point. I'm a big sports fan and I don't think I've ever felt involved with a season that seems such a letdown. It's one thing to be an awful team (The Browns have seen much, much worse), but to watch a team that easily could have been a contender just morph into mediocre crap is disheartening. And Quentin is one of the reasons. Shapiro, who I still think is good, got caught being complacent with a low payroll team. With our salary limitations, we should be risk takers but instead of trading for a guy like Quentin (who many of us pined for) he sat on his hands and let us trot out the DeMicheals platoon. Instead of giving Marte an opportunity, we are stuck watching Wedge treat Casey Blake like he's some irreplaceable David Wright clone. I know it might be irrational, but I'm close to advocating for a CC trade just to shake this team up and add talent.

#18, what's the deal with all the offensive struggles in the Indians' lineup? Garko, Cabrera, Blake, Peralta, Dellucci, Gutierrez, Hafner....all of them having absolutely terrible offensive seasons so far. I can see some of those guys slipping a little bit in the natural ebb and flow of things, but 7 of them? What the hell's going on?

I like that Ozzie was thinking about quitting about ten days ago and now the Sox are in a better position than anyone else in MLB.

I'm still holding back on declaring this White Sox team "for real", even though Carlos Quentin and John Danks make it worth watching all by themselves.

My main concern is the utter lack of organizational depth. If someone goes down (and they have several older and/or injury-prone players in key roles), they're totally screwed. They don't have anyone waiting in the wings other than Josh Fields, and he's been hurt and struggling this year.

On the brighter side, JRE, it would seem this team doesn't have to be "for real" to take the division. 90 wins wasn't good enough in '06, but 85 might get the job done in '08.

You have a point there, Doc. The White Sox are currently the only team in the division with an OPS+ and an ERA+ of 100 or better. (The only other teams in the AL that can say that are the Red Sox, the Rays, and the A's.)

I still think there's a really good chance that the Indians will snap out of it and take over the division, but the bar for winning the division has been lowered quite a lot.

I still think there's a really good chance that the Indians will snap out of it and take over the division, but the bar for winning the division has been lowered quite a lot.

If the Tribe couldn't hit Buehrle as bad as he's been scuffling, then I don't like their chances for snapping out of it.

Smiling Joe,
I'm not sure what the hell is going on. Blake, Cabrera and Gutierrez were predictable to struggle, and Garko kind of is who he is, but Delucci, Hafner and Peralta should be a lot better than they are. Hafner is the true killer though. I read Bill Simmons yesterday and while I stood up for Hafner before, even I now have my doubts about his PED use. Something is seriously wrong with him that at this point can't be explained by age, weight or injury and his contract may haunt us awhile. It's hard to imagine a guy going from 3 consecutive years of 160+ OPS+ to 118 and now 84. Aubrey's looked pretty good in a few games, but he's Rich Harden-brittle despite his talent and there's a logjam b/c of Hafner.

Indians closer Joe Borowski will be activated from the 15-day disabled list Friday, manager Eric Wedge said.

Nooooooooooo

I read Bill Simmons yesterday and while I stood up for Hafner before, even I now have my doubts about his PED use. Something is seriously wrong with him that at this point can't be explained by age, weight or injury and his contract may haunt us awhile.

Not sure what to make of him anymore either, he's never really recovered from that broken hand, has he? Most shocking of all, he was dropped outright in my fantasy league, no trade value whatsoever.

we are stuck watching Wedge treat Casey Blake like he's some irreplaceable David Wright clone

Blake is a really likable person who done great for himself with (comparitavely) very little talent, but I will never understand why he is valued the way he is by the Indians.

I read Bill Simmons yesterday and while I stood up for Hafner before, even I now have my doubts about his PED use. Something is seriously wrong with him that at this point can't be explained by age, weight or injury and his contract may haunt us awhile. It's hard to imagine a guy going from 3 consecutive years of 160+ OPS+ to 118 and now 84.

It's as wierd as a guy hitting 60+ home runs at age 26, then hitting 33, 23, 26, 8, 13, 9, and 5 home runs at ages 27-33. Why did Maris stop taking HGH, anyways?