6 and 1/2 weeks

11-3! Where were these guys 6 and 1/2 weeks ago? Lee goes 4for5 and drives in 6, Uribe gets 3 hits and scores 4 runs, Gload drives in 2, Borchard homers, and Garcia pitches 7 scoreless innings. Of course, Valenitn goes 0for4... I guess I'm still mad at him for single-handedly losing that mid-week matinee game game against the Twins back in July. In 2005, I hope he winds up with the Cubs.

And on top of the good news of the Sox big win, the Cub lost. Whoo-hoo!

The other big baseball news is that the Montreal Expos are moving to DC next year. I'm surprised, not only because the O's and Angelos are only 40 minutes away, but because baseball has failed in DC in the past... twice. Since the Texas Rangers apparently own the rights to the name "Washington Senators", I wonder what the new team will be called. Truth be told, that's a pretty boring name. The new team will be called something hip, edgy and marketable, like the "River Cheetahs" or maybe "Mighty Eagles". That might be a good one- the Mighty Eagles. Their mascot could be the head of a bald eagle on the shirtless Rambo style body, complete with a tatoo that says "The American Pastime kills terrorists!" holding an M-60 machine that shoots baseballs. They've already got a theme song in place, John Ashcroft's "Let The Mighty Eagle Soar", which could be played on the huge scoreboard video monitor before every game. Damn Canadians don't deserve a baseball team anyways - hell, them Quebecers is practically French! U-S-A! U-S-A! (That was sarcasm).

On a lighter note, I spent a good chunck of the evening watching baseball, consuming internet porn, and drinking a few ice cold Old Style tall boys. Ah, America!

Forgot to mention that during my vacation about a month back, I spent an afternoon at the batting cages. I haven't even attempted to hit fast pitching in about 10 years or so... Even when I did play ball, in Little League, during high school tryouts, and college intramurals, I was always a rotten hitter. This time, I approached it differently. For one thing, I'm older now and no longer am afraid of being hit by a pitch. Maybe I've just forgotten the pain associated with it... My bat speed is slow, so I just choke up about halfway up the bat, then lower the bat to get around quicker, looking almost like Pete Rose. My wrist speed is OK. (Too bad some coach never took the time to show me this style. Makes you wonder why none of these pansy-ass millionaires hitting .210 bother to choke up. Ty Cobb choked up AND batted with his hands apart... and had a lifetime average of .367! Nah, all these rich guys today just want to hit homers, be on Sportscenter, go back to their hotel and bang their girlfriends.). So I was making great contact at pitches coming in at 50-60 mph, I moved onto the 60-70 mph cage and did very well there, too. I've always had a great glove and am still, at 35, fast as all hell (and a smart baserunner). So I think maybe I'll be lookin to join an over-30 non-competitive league next year. It's about time....

Course, I'll still play softball...

There's a debate tonight between "Evil" and "The Lesser of Two Evils". Since IL isn't a swing state, I'll be the marytr/patriot and vote Socialist. Long live Eugene V Debs! Workers of the world unite!

The Cheat's Sox Blog (link at right) has a great piece today about Carlos Lee and why the Sox shouldn't trade him. The Sox have about 6 guys taking up more than 50% of their payroll. Two of those- Contreas and Buhrle would, I think, be more likely canidates to play elsewhere. Konkerko's a stud and Frank Thomas is a team leader, so they'll be around... give it a read...

Odd story on the Cleveland Indians from last night. Apparently rookie pitcher Kyle Denney was shot while riding on the team bus as the Tribe was going from Kaufman Stadium to the airport . There's no motive, no suspects in custody (the bullet came from outside the bus.). But here's the weird part (from CNNSi);

"In Cleveland, The Plain Dealer reported that as part of a rookie hazing ritual, Denney was wearing a USC cheerleader's outfit, including high white boots, on the trip to the airport.
'Our trainers said the boots may have saved Kyle from further injury,' said Indians spokesman Bart Swain said."

See my post from last week - Sept 22 - regarding the same type of hazing behavior from the Minnesota Twins. I guess dressing up the rookies in goofy outfits ain't much of unique or secret hazing ritual...

Today is the greatest

Not really...

Sox lose at Detriot last night, 6-4. Gload has 2 hits, Konerko drives in 2. The pitching line on Contreas is typical - 5 2/3rds IP, 2 Er, 4 walks and 7 strike outs. Garcia on the hill tonight. Still 2 games above .500, like it matters...

Looking at the Sox depth chart, and looking ahead to 2005, the only weaknesses I see are at catcher, and middle infield. The outfield of Borchard, Rowand and Lee looks good. Maybe Lee gets traded? Everett can take over one of those slots. Crede at third and Konerko at first. Thomas at DH. Hopefully Uribe will hang around and play 2B or SS. With Valentin gone, that really only leaves 2 holes. What am I missing.

The pitching, well, that's a different story... I just can't believe that Marte will be around another year... When your staff aces are Buehrle and Garland, well, that's trouble. Takatsu is the closer, but if Marte goes, who's the set-up man? Lotta work to do here...

Got paid yesterday, paid some bills, and am immediately poor again. Yesterday was the first day this fall that the winter chill was in the air. It's a full on harvest moon out there...I gotta get some action this weekend. I'm a caged animal, I tell ya.... Ready to bust like an overfilled balloon.

The blogger at Exile In Wrigleyville (link at right) mentions REM's oft overlooked 1985 album of outtakes - "Dead Letter Office" as music to write to, which is really creepy, as I was listening to the latter half of that album on the train in this morning. "Walter's Theme" and their cover of "King of the Road" are among the boys from Athens finest moments... And I don't even like REM.

SoxFest is set - Jan 14-16 at the Hyatt, 151 E. Wacker.

No new tale

Another Sox loss last night- 4 to 2 at Detroit. Grilli looks awful, but goes the distance. He's now 2-2. The Sox line-up is baffling- still full of regulars. Gload got 2 hits to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Crede homered. Where are the rookies? Why is Valentin still playing? Frustratin, I tell ya... Looking at the Sox depth chart, it seems to me like they're almost there. They need pitching, and it should be a wildly interesting off season...

I think every sports fan is Chicago is preoccuipied with the news surrounding the season-ending knee injury to Bears QB Rex Grossman. He's looked good and this was his year to learn. So now that year is 2005? Square one. Again.

Links are slowly being restored after last weeks' debacle.

I've started in a new book, Charles Dickens' "Hard Times". Nothin like 1840s English mill towns to brighten your day. Just a few pages in and I'm already looking at reading another one of his - "American Notes", which is non-fiction, I think, and sounds great. I'm also in the process of finishing up my advance copy of the biography on George Halas which comes out later this year. Since I finished the somewhat disappointing "Slabs of the Sunburnt West", I can't decide if I should start in on another Carl Sandburg book, likely "Good Morning, America", or just re-read some of his older ones...

I'm going out for a beer after work. Nothing too exciting, but I'll see if I can can lay some more groundwork. I've haven't had sex in almost a month. But I think this dry stretch is about to come to an end - I've got full moon fever!

I'll try to start getting those minor league wraps up this week.

Excuse me, is that a beker in your pants, or are you just glad to see me?

Never a dull moment. Friday I spent the early evening hours perusing the stacks of knowledge at Powell's on 57th. I found a gem - Nelson Algren's collection of short stories - "Neon Wilderness" for $5. The cute 20-year old goth-like chickie working the register had a rack to die for. She kinda reminded me of a goth-like Tina Fey, with bigger boobs and a stud piercing beneath her lower lip - just beggin to get creamed. Whoa!

Had a huge pasta dinner and went to Jimmy's (as promised yesterday, below) around 9. We drove up from 59th and the Midway, and parked on Woodlawn, just south of 55th. Where we parked, there was a sign there that looked like maybe we had parked in some sort of restricted zone. Turns out, it was a historical placard, commerating the residence of Enrico Fermi - the father of modern physics, Nobel lauerate, and Sox fan - who lived at 5538 S. Woodlawn during the late 1930s - when he was working on the Manhattan Project, which led to the first controlled nuclear reaction (under the bleachers at Stagg Field), Hiroshima, the Cold War, blah blah blah, you know the rest of the story... Only in Hyde Park, only at the U of C. So Jimmy's is the kinda place where"everybody knows yer name" so to speak. Its a classic, all-time great bar. When we walked in at 9 on a friday, every stool at the bar was filled with tradesman. The half dozen or so tables had a mix of students... We sat near the bathrooms and drank, to my dismay, and at my cousin's choice (he was paying) -- Bass Ale. In a setting like that, I would've preferred a good Old Style or a Budweiser, but when you're not paying... The other two rooms were about half filled. No new news to report. If I had more time, I would've used some million-dollar lines on the poor female Maroons, like "Wanna go back to my room and see my proton ecelerator?" Or "Let's make like Fermi's atoms and split outta here" or "How many Nobel laurates does it take to screw in a light bulb?" You get the idea... So, like I said, no action, but I'll be making a return visit in the near future...

Isn't this a blog about baseball? The Sox are so awful, I've kinda forgotten at this point...

I have made unconfirmed plans to attend spring training next March in Tuscon. Can anyone recommend some fine UA escorts to give me a GF experience in the comfort of my hotel room? This is one time when the Internet is no help. I wonder if Fermi had similiar problems...

Time Vol. 3

The Sox won another exciting game last night - 3rd in a row. These late-season victories would be thrilling if they were still in the race... The bats come thru again, with Crede leading the way - a 3-run homer in bottom of the 9th wins it. He also drives in 4. Other homers by Rowand and Gload. Contreas gives up 4 runs in 5 innings, striking out 7. Not good, but still better than anything Loaiza has done lately.

More snores available tonight on the south side.

On a personal note, I didn't get to do much yesterday because I had a family emergency that took up the whole afternoon. Spent the evening adding some support to the kitchen countertops in preperation for the new dishwasher, which was installed this morning.

I'll actually be on the southside this evening, but not at 35th and Shields. I'll be looking to hook up with naughty librarian types from U of C, cutting loose on a beauitiful friday night at Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap. Yeah, sure. Maybe I could give one of these future Nobel Lauretes something to write about in their dissertation.

I finally finished up "A Confederacy of Dunces". What a great book -- hilarous dialogue, conflict, strong characters, and overall just a very entertaining read. I'll finish up the biography on Papa Bear Halas before moving on to something new this weekend. Last night I also finished up Carl Sandburg's "Slabs of the Sunburnt West", which I didn't like as much as some of his others - like "Smoke and Steel" or "Cornhuskers", but I can always pick out some stuff of his that I really love. Maybe I'll find my next read tonight at Powell's on 57th... Though I already have a huge stack of unread classics paitently awaiting to be spread opened, and sucked in...

Recovering

...from a long night.

Grilli looked like crap again, but the Sox bats save face in a 7-6 win. Valdez, Crede, Gload and Konerko each get 2 hits. Beyond that, get your Sox news elsewhere.

Meaningless, 4-game, long weekend series with KC begins tonight.

My evening was delightful - spent dining al fresco, under the stars in Greektown.

I'm on a large coffee this AM. Lots to do today...

I'll try to have most of the links restored by this afternoon...

Good news, bad news

Apparently, a "bug" got into my blog yesterday afternoon and wiped out my template. I've recovered and reposted all the daily entries, but the links are (temporarily) gone. I'll try to have them up again by the end of the week.

As a result, I'm probably not going to get to the minor league round ups this week as I had promised. Nor will have the opportunity to discuss Nelson Algren or the 'Chicago Boys'.

I did have lunch yesterday with my pal who works for the Twins. He was pretty happy that he'll be working into October... He didn't provide too many details about the post-division antics. Maybe there weren't any? He did offer up a nice nugget of hazing activities that the veteran players subject the rookies to as they're called up every september. According to Twins tradition, the rookies are forced to wear a costume on the first day/night of their first road trip. The get-up is carefully chosen (this year by Koskie) to reflect a player's characteristics. If they have no ideas - its just a dress. Anyways, the rookie has to put on this outfit, wear it on the plane, on the bus, and into the hotel, where they're not allowed to go up to their room, but taken instead out to dinner in the costume by the vets... So, not much, but its something, I guess.

There was a game on the southside last night, and the Sox won it. Maybe they're looking to finish the season above .500? More thrills tonight at 35th and Shields. Game time is 7:05.

The horror!

There was some fairly awful carnage on the south side last night. The Twins have beat the Sox 7 in a row, including 8 of the last 9 in Chicago. As a bonus to an already wounded Sox heart, the Twins clinched the division last night. Additionally, its the first time in the Twins 44-year history they've won the division 3 straight seasons. So much for contracting Minnesota. I still go back to where it all fell apart - the season tide turned on July 26 when Torii Hunter plowed into Burke at the plate to score the winning run... Last night the mess started early with Buehrle giving up 2, 2-run homers in the first... The Twins never looked back. Gload had two hits, and Valentin drove in 2. Is Valentin going to be back next year? Garland faces Lohse tonight - get your half-price tickets now! Shockingly, there were actually 22,000 souls at the ballyard monday night who had nothing better to do, or weren't football fans.

Speaking of the monday night game- did anyone catch the nice halftime piece on the Vikings' week of practice? It was a very well-done behind-the-scenes piece. But I still hate the Vikings.

I'm having lunch with my pal from the Twins today, so I might be able to pass along some nuggets. I hesitate to release any juicy info, for fear of my's pal job and safety. Truth be told with the Twins there ain't much- they're not the Yankees. Thus, on the road, the hotel bar is rarely crowded with groupies. From what he tells me, they're pretty well-behaved. Last night could be an exception.

Last time he was in town, he did tell me a funny story about a mid-season traffic jam in KC. The Twins were on the way to either the game or the airport, and got stuck in some horrific back-up on the highway. As the bus creeped slowly along, they discovered the source of the problem was a stalled pick-up. A few of the Twins coaches, one of whom is an ex-auto mechanic, ordered the bus to pull over, and a few of the Twins coaches got off the bus and within 10 minutes, had the pick-up off and running...

Like I said yesterday, I'll be spending a good chunk of the next week on the southside - specifically Hyde Park - to see family in town from Cali. I was there over the weekend for the book fair and picked up some good, cheap stuff, including a new copy of "The Brothers Kamarzov", which I've been wanting bad since finishing up "Crime and Punishment". I also found a $5 deal in a mini-biography of great economic philosophers - detailing their lives, times and theories. Since I'm in this business, and don't have an MBA, I figured I should know at least a bit about them. 3 of the 6 profiled I've heard of before - Karl Marx, Adam Smith and John Keynes. Should be thrilling.

I was also thrilled to come across a gem of a find in the rear poetry stacks of Powell's on 57th - a very thin book of James Farrell's poetry. Anyone reading this probably knows Farrell is the famous writer of southside Irish stories from the early part of the 20th century. He is to the southside (and Garfield-Washington Park areas) what Bellow was to the north (and Humbolt Park). Of coruse, Bellow eventually moved to the southside - living for many years at 59th and Dorchester, and teaching at U of C - winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1976 for such classics as "Humbolt's Gift", The Adventures of Augie March", "Herzog" and "Seize the Day." I read Farrell's collection of short stories set on the southside, called "Chicago Stories", earlier this year and loved it. Though he's more famous for his "Studs Lonigan" trilogy - Farrell began his literary life as a short story writer (and a U of C drop out). Lots of comparisons have been made between Bellow's famous character from the northside, Augie March and Farrel's southside Lonigan. I've read and greatly enjoyed "Augie March", but am saving the long long Lonigan trilogy for the rapidly approaching dark winter months. I didn't know he had any poetry, and was excited to make this discovery. My joy turned to disappointment when I got to the register and realized the book was $20! Apparently, a rare 1st edition... So Farrell's poetry will have to wait.

The weather is great, but I won't be out at Comiskey tonight - I have to buy a dishwasher and work the night job.

Tomorrow I'll try to begin the minor league season wrap-up... And maybe some commentary on the "Chicago Boys" - the U of C economic influence on Chile from the 1960s to 80s. That or something on Nelson Algren.

One other note (and nerd alert) - the numbers crunchers from Baseball Prospectus are hosting a "Ballpark" feed/patio party at Comiskey on Saturday, Sept 25 beginning at 4:05, before the 6:05 start time for the Sox/KC game. $31 gets you all the food, beer and baseball conversation you can handle. And a ticket to the "game."

I dunno

So far this blog has been more about the Sox and less about sex.. That's OK, I guess. But with the Sox season over, maybe I should change topics.

The Cheat's Sox Blog, link at the right, is doing amuch better job day-to-day...

I few things I promise:

--Minor league season-end wrap-ups beginning this week.
--a review of some of the bars in the neighborhood
--more analysis of key stats
--a short bio of yours truly

I'll try to start posting some pictures, too...

In the meantime, the Twins come to town for some meaningless end-of-season games this week. Too bad, as early on this was the series all Sox fans had circled on their schedule. The weather is going to continue to be near perfect- which is all th more disappointing, as Comiskey Park would've been jammed if the Sox had a chance.

I spent all of Sunday on the southside and have relatives coming in town the next two weeks- so I'll be down there a lot more...

How bout that Bears game!

Bad gets worse

Another big loss... The Sox were outscored in this series with the Twins 26-4. No bright spots here...

I'm not going in-depth anymore on the games in 2004. For some more expanded commentary than you'll get here, check out The Cheat's White Sox Blog - the link is posted in the right hand column here. Today, he has a great piece on Timo Perez. There are no great rookie performaces to speak of... so I won't... Maybe I'll start focusing more on sex, less on Sox...

Speaking of the Twins, I talked to my pal who works for Minnesota and it looks like there's actually a demand for tickets for next week's series, which is apparently coming from the players' families. Plus, if I get tickets and they go unused, he has to pay for them - which is not cool. So, it looks like I will not be going out to the game next week. All the better, as the girls from the neighborhood have retreaded indoors - behind the counters of retail outlets...

Why bother

I'm not going to bother to give my impressions of the Sox "games" for the rest of the season - its too depressing. I'll try to keep my rhetoric focused on the players performances, specifically the minor leaguers brought up...

I didn't see last night's game, so I won't comment too much. Garcia's line looks like he did awful. Davis got 2 hits, Uribe drove in 2...

Expect more of the same tonight...

The good news on the southside? The Marlins beat the Expos in front of 5000 on a beauitiful day...

I posted some more Sox links. Enjoy...

NOT an off day

Even though the Sox had an off day, there was baseball at new Comiskey Park yesterday. Under the sunshine, some 4000 people plunked down their $15 to see the Marlins beat the Expos 6-3. The two goliaths go at it again today in what promises to be another epic clash of super-power titans TO THE DEATH. ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The Sox head into the rollerdome tonight to face the first place Twins, who extended their winning streak to 6 last night with a victory over Detroit. The Sox are now 10 and 1/2 back. Even if they win all their remaining games against Minnesota, which they won't, they'll still be 4 and 1/2 back. Forget it. Garcia faces Santana in what should be watchable since there is no football on tuesdays. Not even Canadian football.

I emailed my buddy with the Twins to get my comp tickets for next week. I'm planning on going on wednesday, but we'll see...

So I'll try to start wrapping up some of the minor league teams seasons this week...

I'm really enjoying the hilarious dialogue in "Confederacy of Dunces", but still can't warm to the main character, whom I assume will be played in the forthcoming film by Will Ferril. I wonder who will play Jones. Maybe Chris Rock?

Here comes the National League

I've been off on vacation for the past 9 days and haven't been able to post from home, since searchmiracle.com has taken over my machine. I'll try to keep posting from work, but there is only so much I can do - Big Brother is watching!

The next two afternoons should be interesting ones down at the southside ballyard. As you know by now, thanks to the threat of Hurricane Ivan, it's the temporary home of the Florida Marlins. So for Cub fans who didn't get their fill of the defending World Champions from South Florida over the weekend (or last year's NLCS, for that matter), you'll have two more chances to see the fish in action. Both matinees, both against the formerly Montreal Expos soon to be Las Vegas Tumbleweeds or Virgina Squires... It's an interesting match-up, and if I hadn't just taken more than a week off, I'd be there. Tickets are only $15 and it's general admission. Weather should be perfect both days.

I suppose I should mention the Sox, but why? At 10 games back of the division leading Twins, and as I said 10 days ago, its all over for 2004. Let's look ahead to 2005. I'm thinkin bout makin a trip down to AZ for spring training...

Later this week, I'll try to wrap up some of the Sox farm teams seasons, since a few of those are over... To that effort, I need to find some good free links that provide scouting reports on the minor leaguers the Sox just brought up.

Enjoy the newly posted links. I try to keep them short and sweet. I'll put up a few more in the future..

Technicial difficulities

I'm on vacation this week, and not able to post from home, since searchmiracle has taken over my computer.

More later. Sorry.

We're #2!

One Thing

One thing you can say about the Sox- they've been inconsistent; win one, lose one, win one, lose - for weeks. Such was the case thursday afternoon at the southside ballyard, as Mark Redman found a groove for the A's, and Contreas gave up 4 runs in 5 innings. No real bright spots for the Sox, other than Konerko, who had two hits.

The lowly Mariners are in town this weekend... Should be good for a few yawns. Minnesota beat Texas 2-0, to extend their lead over the Sox to 9 and 1/2. It's over over over...

DOWN ON THE FARM:

(AAA- Charlotte Knights): The Knights split a pair at Richmond. In game 1, Bobby Smith (2B) gets 2 doubles. In game 2, he gets 1.

(AA - Birmingham Barons): Barons starter Heath Phillips is shelled for 11 hits and 7 runs in 5 innings.

(A - Winston-Salem Warthogs): Sean Tracy gets the win in a 12-2 Hog victory over Kinston. Field and Sweeney each get 3 hits. Brian Becker (DH) drives in 5 runs. Rogowski is 2for2 with 3 runs scored.

(A - Kannapolis Intimidators): A good outing from Byeong Hak is wasted as the KI's lose 2-0. Hak held the Alley Cats hitless throught 4, and gave up only one run in 5 and 2/3rds. Chris Young was 2for2 with 2 doubles.

(Rookie - Great Falls White Sox): Collaro Watch; 1 for 5, but had a run scored. Scott Martin was 3for3 and drove in 2. Boomer Barry drove in 4. Decent outing for Eric Everly who strikes out 6 and gives up just 1 run in 5 IP.

I'll start posting some links over the weekend now that I'm getting better at working this blog page...

I had sex last night, but not what could be called good sex. It was more like masturbating inside a vagina. But, I'll take what I can get.

Fading?

Even thouh the Sox came back and won a thriller last night, I still think they're out of it...and I'm not going back on that.

The pitching staff gave up some runs early again - Grilli looked better, but still gave up 3 runs in the first two innings. And while his final line looked bad, it was an improvement over his last outing, and he showed a great pick off move to second base... Rowand drove in 2 and Burke is on a mini hot streak - getting 3 hits last night.

Not sure this matters, but the Yankees beat Cleveland. The Twins beat Texas. So the Sox are still 8 and 1/2 back, 1 game under .500 - the same place they've been for a week, which is why they're toast.

I'll be anxious to watch Contreas this afternoon. He faces Mark Redman, who is struggling...

DOWN ON THE FARM:

(AAA- Charlotte Knights): Torres did his job as a leadoff man, going 2for3 with 2 runs scored. But the Knights lost a heartbreaker, 5-4.

(AA - Birmingham Barons): Sasser continued to look good - with a double and an RBI in a 4-2 loss.

(A - Winston-Salem Warthogs): Molina (C) homered in a 5-4 loss at Kinston.

(A - Kannapolis Intimidators): according to their site - "Jake Whitesides was a one-man wrecking crew for Kannapolis. The right fielder hit his first Intimidators home run, a two-run shot in the seventh and cleared the bases with a three-run triple in the eighth finishing the night 2-4 with 3 RBI." Sadly, they left the bases loaded in the 9th and lost 9-8. Also - "The Alley Cats roughed up Kannapolis starter Charlie Haeger (0-3) for eight runs, three earned in his six innings pitched. The visitors also took advantage of a season-high seven Intimidators errors." Nuff said.

(Rookie - Great Falls White Sox): Collaro Watch - only one hit, but that one hit was a three run homer, which was the difference in a 10-7 Sox win. Chris Kelley (1B) was 3for5 with 2 RBI. Hansen also had 3 hits. Bakker had a rough outing- giving up 5 runs in 4 and 2/3rds. But he did strike out 6 while walking only 1.

I've been doing a lot of reading lately, finishing up "Michaelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling", which was great. Who would've thunk it that Julius II was a warin n whorin kinda pope? Not me. I've seen the Sistine Chapel in person and it is one of the most amazing human created things ever - and I'm not a fan of religion or that kind of art. The book also taught me a lot about Michaelangelo.

I started in on "A Confederacy of Dunces" this week. Not sure how I missed that one in college. 100 pages in, I despise the main character, but the writing is outstanding - very descriptive and entertaining. It's being made into a movie with Wil Ferrill in the lead...

Also, I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of an upcoming biography on George Halas. A friend in the biz threw it my way saying it was the best non-fiction book they've ever read. And I'll agree its an entertaining read, but the author has a style that's all over the board, and I'm not sure I like it. We'll see - I'm only about half way thru it.

Yesterday I stumbled across some erotica and sex blogs. As soon as I find some good ones, I'll post the links...

Game? What game?

There may have been a baseball game last night at Comiskey Park, but if there was, I didn't see it - I was too busy drinking. People can say what they will about Wrigley being a big social scene, but I think Comiskey Park was the original "World's Largest Outdoor Saloon", and it still is.

Started tailgaiting in Lot C around 4:30. Had some food and a few beers and got to our seats in the left field bleachers just as the game started. With the weather being as perfect as it was, I'm surprised there weren't more people at the game - less than 20,000. The stadium just looks so great - the Roger Bossard field looks perfect, the sightlines are perfect, there's a lot going on there.

I didn't watch much baseball, mainly talked to co-workers and looked for "girls from the naybahud". Apparently, Diaz is not up to snuff in the show - giving up 6 runs in the first three innings. He did strike out 5, so he's worth keeping an eye on for 1-2 more starts this year. Lee is healthy again- he homered and drove in two for the Sox.

After the game, we went down to the Bullpen Bar under the right field stands and drank some more. It's a nice place, and was fairly crowded. One problem - guys seem to outnumber the ladies about 10-to-1. Another problem, most of the ladies in there were pretty ugly. So, I wasn't going to waste my magic on these bottom-feeders.

Got home at 1 am. Slept for about 3-4 hours and went right back to work.

The Sox loss pushes them 8 and 1/2 back since the Twins won. And how bout the Tribe, taking out the mighty Yankees 22-0! As much as I dislike the Indians, it's nice to see the Bronx Bombers lose like that...

So I'm going to officially say the Sox have now ended any remote chance they had of winning the AL Central. They'll finish out the season, but more than anything, it would be good to give the call-ups that came up today some experience that can be used next season.

Tonight the Sox play again - Grilli tries to find his groove against Barry Zito. I'm taking the night off to rest. Ah sleep, peaceful sleep.

DOWN ON THE FARM:

(AAA- Charlotte Knights): beat Norfolk 9-6, but their website is so goofed up, I can't get any other info.

(AA - Birmingham Barons): won 7-3. Martel was 3for3. The line on Meaux isn't too inpressive - 6 IP, 2 earned runs, three strikeouts and 4 walks.

(A - Winston-Salem Warthogs): pounded out 11 hits in a 7-1 win. Amador (2B) homered, and Whisler gives up just 2 hits and no runs in 7IP. He struck out 4 and walked 2.

(A - Kannapolis Intimidators): had a 5 run 8th and beat Hickory 8-4.

(Rookie - Great Falls White Sox): had an off day...

I might get back to the south side ball yard one more time this year - for one of those games against the Twins. Otherwise, it'll be 2005...