By Soxman and Paul M. Banks
These are unconventional times and therefore require an unconventional Sox Exchange/content schedule. I’ll be back with more Ozzieisms and my exclusive with Steve Stone discussing Chicago’s pennant race on both sides of town in the next couple of days. But for today, I’ll give you an opening statement by the Soxman…followed by some of the most apt quotes describing the current situation from Sox players whom I interviewed this past weekend.
No White Sox fans, today there is no time for a witty exchange of statistics, questions, or rhetoric. Today we are focused on one thing: VICTORY.
It’s not the way any of us wanted to see this season end, but I’m done “crying over the spilt milk†of missed opportunities, a bullpen that can’t throw strikes, or even blown calls by umpires. I’m not even going to comment on the “sour milk†of the past weekend.
I’m supporting my team with my eyes on a victory, one pitch at a time, and one play at a time. It’s not over until the final out is made. So until the box score says otherwise, Soxman will stand with his team focusing on one goal, going the distance, one step at a time.
As Rocky Balboa once said: “I ain’t heard no final bell.â€
Neither has Soxman.
By the time this statement is posted, the game will likely be underway and our fate will be tilting in one direction or another.
I live and die with my White Sox, to the end.
Hats off to Mark Buehrle and Paul Konerko, the faces of the Sox franchise for stepping up when it matters most.
Mark Buehrle: Coming off a 121-pitch outing, Buehrle was THE MAN. He allowed one run and nine hits in seven innings, struck out six and walked one, throwing 111 pitches. Konerko blasted 4 homers in his last 24 Abs including 3 in the last two days.
Now..back to business. Go White Sox.
Soxman
I covered the Friday and Saturday night games at the Cell and found an emotional clubhouse. It’s pennant race time! Here are some of the better sound-bites from players and manager Ozzie Guillen. This weekend, Paulie definitely showed me why he is truly the Captain of this team. He was calm and poised; a veteran clubhouse leader who had more to say to the media than any other player. He has as much juice with his teammates as Olin Kreutz (also a team captain) does with the Chicago Bears.
Scott Linebrink
When asked if there was any internal finger-pointing going on in the White Sox clubhouse…
“I don’t think that happens at this stage. We still have a chance to make the playoffs. Maybe if we were 20 games back with 10 games to play or something like that. But at this point we can’t afford to do that, we got to stick together as a team. We started this thing together and were going to finish it.â€
Â
Paul Konerko
On the ugliness of some recent losses, and how that momentum may not necessarily carry over into a prospective playoff series…
“These are the toughest ones, in games like this {people say} they don’t look like a playoff team, but the fact of the matter is- we can still go to the playoffs and if we can just get there, we saw it a couple years ago and you see it with a team every year if you can just get there then the playoffs are a whole ‘nother ball of wax. Everything kinda resets and it could change, so you just keep fighting until they say you can’t fight anymore.â€
On the intensity of the pennant race’s home stretch…
“All of these games have been big for so long now, cuz it’s been such a close race for the last three weeks. And you’re into the mode of every pitch of every inning of every game being dialed-in on.â€
On the big picture, win-or-lose….
“One of two things is going to happen: either it’s going to turn and we’re going to be hot and it’s going to be good or it’s not and we go home. It’s as simple as that. No one’s going to die, and likewise if we make it, no one’s curing cancer. We got to look at the big picture here and just hope for the best and go out there and go get after it.â€
Â
Nick Swisher
“We’ve worked too damn hard to let this thing slip out of our fingers.â€
Â
Ozzie Guillen
At the beginning of Saturday night’s post-game press conference….
“That’s a shock when the media has nothing to say.â€
On the fact that the Sox still control their own destiny after losing 5 in a row the final week…
“Just lucky or nobody want to take it. And for us to take it we have to want it and fight through it…I want to see- get it done.â€
On the big picture of the pennant race (from Saturday night)…
“We’re so lucky. I don’t think they {his players} realize how lucky we are right now. To get swept like we did and lose another series and we still have a chance to win this thing…Its unbelievable we have to go to the last day of season, Now I look like genius, I told you guys that we are going to fight all the way to the end and HA HA!!! I guess we are. Hopefully, we play better tomorrow.â€
Leave a Reply