This from Gallo.......

.....and the NYT.

Black Sox Faction

9/162ths of the season done, and the Sox show signs of life.

Of course baseball life seemed dull and dismal after a typical " '07 Sox " start to the season - a disasterous start by Burelhe and then a bullpen collapse in the opener, and then no offense. Oi vey!

But a five game winning streak placated fans. The team showed the promise that they showed in spring training. Pitching went well - Danks, Burlehe, Vasquez all had outstanding starts, and the bull pen was a real bull pen - not like last year. There was offense - slow starts by Thome, Konerko, and Cabrera were offset by monster starts by Crede, Dye, and A.J. People were getting on base. Defense was great.

And, importantly, Detroit showed signs of falling apart. They started the season 0-7 w/ help from a Sox sweep and are currently 2-8. They play the Sox today, and I think it's important for the Sox to keep them losing. If the Tigers can fall apart the whole season - think '07 Sox or '06 Indians - then the Sox have one less team to worry about in the Central. Can they match Cleveland? The season has 153/162ths to go.

The important thing is is that they are going for it. I think a great deal of the '07 collapse was due to Kenny Williams insistance on going for '09 or '10 with trades for prospects. It seemed that the team as a whole gave up on the season before it started. But this season is the objective since last fall. Now prospects were traded for veterns - and it shows.

The Sox have a long way to go to be considered a contender - but don't forget the '05 Sox (w/ the losses of Ordonez and Lee) were not favoured in anything.

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Delicious foto-a-likes kin be found @ this Twins blog.

Raining Goals

Wow- for a team that domintates the Fire in the post season, the New England Revolution sure were schooled last nite. The Fire scored four first half goals to put the Revolution out by halftime. The secondhalf was an extended lesson in killing off the clock. The Fire now have four points in two games (a win and a tie), and looked great after a so so opener in Salt Lake City last week.

Raining!! Wasn't THAT bad a nite under the elements, but in the second half a lite (at times heavy) rain covered the crowd and made parts of the 15,553 strong hide under the overhangs of the upper deck. The 15, 553 were loud and strong, especially after the Fire took such an overwhelming lead. Not a bad crowd for a Thursday Nite game; although smallish for an opener. However, this was one of six games scheduled for Thursday Nite games on ESPN2- three hom and three away. I was thinking that because of the nite and because of the rain the crowd would be lite - but it filled out well.

And Section 8. In fits and starts last season they tried to fill out the section next to Section 8's alwayts filled standing room only crowd - for this game, they seem to have made the move to force another section into standing. My guess is that they will be successful - although rainy weeknite games are always where Section 8 diehards shine (they make a bigger % of the crowd than a weekend game, and thus cut through the ambient sound better- it's easier to aurially dominate a crowd of 14k than in a crowd of 21k), the spillover section had it's own leader and stood the whole match. I'm sure over the winter the leaders of S8 and Fire officials brainstomed on how to add that section to the standing areas - initial indications are good.

And the Fire played well. Up 4-0 @ half, although they did play a mna up after new England had a red card ejection after five minutes. But the offense was continually attacking and had many attempts on goal. Blanco - although he did not dominate proceedings as he ofetn did last year - had many beautiful touches, including those backheel passes that the crowd loves so well. Forward Thomas Frankowski, the new signing by the team, had two goals. Justin Mapp attacked well.

Good home start. More to come.

foto Sun Times