CWSGuy406 Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 It's good to see the Sox actually get some good publicity, of all places coming from the Tribune. Rick Morrissy writes an article about Ozzie Guillen and the good day of White Sox Baseball (Actually, I have no clue what the article is about, I'm going to read it after I post it.) Rick Morrissy Article And Phil Rogers writes an article about how Paul Konerko is perhaps catching this fire from manager Ozzie Guillen. Way to go Pauly, turning heads already! Phil Rogers Article I hope this hasn't already been posted, if it has, feel free to merge/delete, mods! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerhead johnson Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I ain't registered, mang. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWSGuy406 Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 hammer, just asking because I truly don't know, is it legal, or OK for me to post the stories? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerhead johnson Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 hammer, just asking because I truly don't know, is it legal, or OK for me to post the stories? It's illegal, I'm sure. But then again, so is my signature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWSGuy406 Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 OK then here goes - first the Rick Morrissy Article: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hugs for all: Ozzie debut ends happily April 14, 2004 It's early yet, and the differences will become apparent soon enough. But we can say this with some certainty: Jerry Manuel never hugged this much. If you were anywhere close to Ozzie Guillen during the White Sox's home Opening Day ceremonies Tuesday, you were in danger of getting the life squeezed out of you. Carlton Fisk, who opted for a White Sox cap, got hugged. So did Luis Aparicio and Chico Carrasquel, Guillen's fellow Venezuelans and fellow former Sox shortstops. Fisk got another hug on general principle alone. Mayor Richard M. Daley would have received one too, if he hadn't been in the second row and if it wouldn't have looked like a political shakedown. So much love. Guillen says he's not the show here, but surely he knows better than that. He received the biggest ovation during introductions Tuesday. According to the Sox's marketing campaign, nothing has changed from last season except everything, meaning Manuel is gone and Guillen is in his place. In Guillen's mind, this is where the hugs stop and the accountability begins. "They lost last year because their play was poor, not because of Jerry Manuel," Guillen said. "They had great talent. They didn't need a manager last year with the talent they had on the field. That's an excuse. They have to do better than that. "I told them the first day in the meetings: 'The talent Kenny Williams put on the field for you guys? You should have won that thing. … You want to win? Play better and don't make the manager make any moves.' I respect Jerry Manuel as a man. That's excuses." Guillen already has had his fill of excuses, so he has done something about them. "If we lose, what excuse are they going to make now?" he said. "[Jon] Garland can't pitch because Jerry won't let him pitch past the fourth inning? Well, now we're going to see. Now I have Garland [going longer]. Now he has no more excuses. "Oh, Jose [Valentin] was hitting second or seventh, playing center field or left field or shortstop. Well, now he's the shortstop and we'll see what he can do. "Frank [Thomas] was hitting third, this guy wants to hit fourth. OK, here's where everybody's going to hit. Now, what are you guys going to do?" A lot, as it turned out Tuesday. All those bats that went to sleep at times last year were fully caffeinated in a 12-5 victory over the Royals. Valentin, batting second, had a two-run double. Paul Konerko, who was colder than a miser's charitable arm last year, homered. So did Juan Uribe. No excuses. Just fun. Konerko was struggling with his swing early in spring training, and it was a good thing Guillen was on hand to give him technical, inside-baseball help. "He'd just laugh and say, 'You're terrible. Get over it."' Konerko said, smiling. "… With Ozzie, from Day 1, it has been great. It has been a party." Valentin and catcher Miguel Olivo each were thrown out trying to stretch hits Tuesday. You don't have to make excuses when you're being aggressive. Want something to worry about? Esteban Loaiza gave up four homers to the Royals. He gave up 17 all last season. You want something to make you feel better? When the Sox hit like they did Tuesday, with 12 runs on 14 hits, it doesn't much matter. It can be 43 degrees, as it was Tuesday, and it doesn't matter. That's when baseball's fun. You can have Ray Romano filling out the Sox's lineup card, and it won't be enjoyable if they can't score runs or pitch well. It wasn't enjoyable last year for the Sox. "The team didn't have fun," Guillen said. "It was all business." "You didn't see many smiles throughout the course of a ballgame," Williams said. Victories produce smiles. Guillen will be a failure if the Sox don't win, simple as that. He knows it. Fun goes as far as the next losing streak. "My players make a difference," he said. "They don't play good because of Ozzie. They play good because they start believing in themselves." The burden's on Guillen too. People want to know if he's more than a rah-rah guy. They want to know if he can make the correct decision at a crucial time. They want to see his baseball acumen. "I might get the biggest cheer today and the biggest boo in July," he said. All he has to do is make the underachieving Sox achieve. What pressure? Email: [email protected] Copyright © 2004, The Chicago Tribune --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This has to be the best line I've seen in awhile, it cracks me up, I laughed out loud at my computer. This is what Ozzie said after PK struck out, LOL! "He'd just laugh and say, 'You're terrible. Get over it."' Konerko said, smiling. "… With Ozzie, from Day 1, it has been great. It has been a party." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWSGuy406 Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 And here's the Phil Rogers Article! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Konerko catching Ozzie fever April 14, 2004 Paul Konerko was angry. He had left two runners on in the third inning, striking out when the underwhelming Darrell May threw a good slider, and briefly tried to convince umpire Eric Cooper he had foul-tipped the pitch. It was the kind of scene that played out often during the 2003 season, especially in the first three months. But it's a new year and maybe it's the old Konerko too. This time around, there was no beating himself up over the strikeout. Instead he lined a 2-0 pitch from May over the left-field wall the next time up, turning a 4-4 tie into a 7-4 lead for the White Sox. It doesn't seem Konerko needed long to get a grip on Ozzie Guillen's cardinal rule—that is, have fun. "Guys with negative attitudes are bad for the team," Guillen said Tuesday. "If you make an out and you want to cry, then go inside the clubhouse and cry. I don't want you crying in my dugout." You can't get much more positive reinforcement than Konerko received after his three-run homer. The sounds of "Paulie, Paulie, Paulie," washed over him as he reached the dugout, prompting him to acknowledge the U.S. Cellular crowd of 37,706 with a quick curtain call. "That was a great feeling," Konerko said. It was a nice moment in a successful home opener for the Sox, who entered the season with both the upper deck and the expectations they carry lowered. Wouldn't it be something if the 12-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals were indicative of the season to come? What if Jerry Reinsdorf took out too many seats? Kansas City and Minnesota have replaced the White Sox as preseason favorites in the American League Central, but the reality is it's a wide-open division the Sox can win. A productive Konerko would make it a lot easier for Guillen to be an overnight success as the White Sox's manager. He appears to have shaken his hitting demons, batting .370 with six runs batted in thus far. It's only seven games, but it is a nice trend. "I have a good approach going right now," Konerko said. "It's not too much about what pitchers are trying to do to me. … Hopefully, the ball just runs into what I'm doing. That's what I'm working on." As it has been since Carlos Lee arrived in May, 1999, this is a team built around baseball's most long-standing foursome—Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez, Konerko and Lee. Those four right-handed hitters combined for 120 home runs and 458 RBIs in 2000, allowing the Sox to run away with the Central. But when one or more of them has struggled—as Konerko did last year, hitting .234 with 18 homers and 65 RBIs—the entire lineup has suffered. Former manager Jerry Manuel never got his hitters to work counts and manufacture runs. Guillen is determined to have a team that keeps opponents on their toes. While he would love for the White Sox to have their fifth consecutive season of 200-plus home runs (with the New York Yankees, they have a chance to have the longest such streak in history), he knows they must have other ways to win games. That's why Guillen didn't bat an eye in the first inning when Jose Valentin was thrown out at second base trying to leg out a double (Juan Gonzalez made a perfect throw, but it appeared umpire Chuck Meriwether missed the call) or when Miguel Olivo was an easy out at third, trying to stretch a double in the third inning. With only one out, Guillen didn't mind Olivo taking a chance. He would have been in position to score on a sacrifice fly or even a grounder if he had gotten to third. "Jose's ball was supposed to be a double," Guillen said. "If he stops at first base, we'd be a station-to-station team and that's not my game. Olivo, he was the second out, if he was the first or the third out, then it's different. But I want them to do that. I might be criticized for that [aggressiveness] but I'll take the blame." You wouldn't figure Konerko to take the extra base too often. But he's the only active player who has an inside-the-park homer for the White Sox, so you never know. Olivo, who is probably the fastest catcher in the game, proved that by scoring from second base on a strikeout for the Sox's final run. He broke for third when the ball skipped past Kansas City catcher Benito Santiago after Valentin swung through an outside curveball from Jamie Cerda. Olivo sped around third when Santiago made an off-balance heave toward first base and scored without a throw when first baseman Mike Sweeney couldn't make a clean pickup at the other end. Call that an OR—an Ozzie run. "I don't want to play the way we have in the past, waiting for Frank to hit a home run, or Carlos," Guillen said. "I know we have power, but I don't want to play that way. … If something happens on the basepaths, you can blame me, but that's the way we're going to play." Konerko and the other guys in the middle of the order can make it easier on everybody, Guillen included. Email: [email protected] Copyright © 2004, The Chicago Tribune -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Both are pretty good article, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerhead johnson Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Honda Civic Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Hammer -- You, and everyone who isn't already, should sign up... It's free-- I don't get any junk mail I can tell is coming from them-- Registration doesn't take long -- And tons of articles from there get posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerhead johnson Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Hammer -- You, and everyone who isn't already, should sign up... It's free-- I don't get any junk mail I can tell is coming from them-- Registration doesn't take long -- And tons of articles from there get posted. Sounds like a plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sox-r-us Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I do not understand this Trib bashing....I have seen the Sox on the top of their headlines so many times I have given up counting The Trib gets an unfair rap of being biased against the Sox in my mind. I have not seen much evidence to prove the theory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 The Trib really gave the Sox their due props today. Several good, upbeat articles and a photo section from today's game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSoxShuf Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 The Trib really gave the Sox their due props today. Several good, upbeat articles and a photo section from today's game. due to the face the scrubs were not playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NUKE_CLEVELAND Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 The Trib really gave the Sox their due props today. Several good, upbeat articles and a photo section from today's game. It's about time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I do not understand this Trib bashing....I have seen the Sox on the top of their headlines so many times I have given up counting The Trib gets an unfair rap of being biased against the Sox in my mind. I have not seen much evidence to prove the theory IMO they get much better coverage than they do in the ST. Plus there is the bonus of having a real live newspaper to read, outside of the sports section. The ST is a rag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnB Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I was also really happy with the sun-times today, i think they had 5 solid pages of white sox, before they even mentioned the cubs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moochpuppy Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 The Trib really gave the Sox their due props today. Several good, upbeat articles and a photo section from today's game. It was, after all, the Cubs day off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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