Obstacles along the way

I've had a pretty good idea about my second story since well, story one.  James Augustine's career struggles pose a very good story that I think will interest a lot of people. I wasn't too worried about getting people to talk to me considering my family used to live down the street from the Augustine's and our families know each other. However, it's getting hold of people outside of the Augutsine's.

I know for a fact I'm going to have a problem talking to his agent. He already told me that he is really busy and would more than likely not give me an interview. I'm used to being rejected for interviews so I guess it's not a huge deal but it would be a good source for the story. I'll just have to make it work. 

It is difficult that my main source and well, the focus of my story is in another country right now but he has been nothing but cooperative and willing to help. If I have to have a phone interview at three in the morning, then so be it.  I cant sleep these days anyway. 

All in all I'm not too worried about story two. Everything is going to come together nicely and I don't think I'll be as stressed about it as I was for story one. 

It's wise to be patient, will it ever happen?

Sorry for the pun, but as I said before, Dewayne wise said himself he needs to be more patient at the plate, and even though we're only 3 games into the season, he needs to follow through.  Wise started as the leadoff but it didn't last long. Actually, only 8 at-bats. After a second 0-4 night, Wise was pushed down to the 8th spot. Even though they lost on Wednesday, Wise redeemed himself a little defensively. However he was still booed as we went up to the plate which was kind of unexpected in my opinion. Here come the bipolar Sox fans.

Yup, my brother is one of them. Loves the Sox when they play well, hate 'em when they're in a slump. A nicer way to put it would be fair weather fans, if you will. Just wait, once the Sox learn how to use their bats and Ozzie learns to use Jenks for only save situations, everything will be peachy keen. You think Ozzie would know by now that Jenks always gives up base-hits and home-runs in  non-save situations. It's been how many seasons? 

Anyway, in no means is Wise the only one who needs to step up his offense. The whole team started off slow. If it wasn't for Fields' bunt and Thome's home-run we more than likely would have lost the opener. But that's how the Sox play, they wait until the last minute when you've given up and (well, not so much now) occasionally come back.  Hopefully they'll step up their game soon, they had all of spring training to screw up (which they did). If not, it's going to be a loooong season. 

Spring Training Slump: Get it out of your system

Spring training games are definitely not as important as the regular season, however fans like me prefer to see their team win during spring training AND the regular season. This has not been the case for my beloved White Sox. What's the deal?

When I flew in to Arizona March 19, I came right in the middle of a Sox slump. At that point they had lost five consecutive games and made it 6 against the Cubs on March 21. That was just plain brutal. I actually left the game early because I couldn't watch it anymore. Granted it's spring training, but it's still not to be taken lightly.



The players know they have things to work on, but will they get this out of their system before opening day? Dewayne Wise was the only one who really opened up on specifics of what he needs to improve in his game. He told me that offensively, he needs to be more patient at the plate and try to get on base more, and defensively getting jumps on balls. The whole team needs to patient at the plate and get on base more. That, and some defensive mishaps (I'm sorry Fields, but you really need to dive for those line drives at third) are basically why spring training wasn’t pretty. We had the worst of both worlds.



The Sox ended spring training with a 16-20 record, tenth in the Cactus League. Fantastic. Now that they came back healthy like they were worried about, hopefully they left their poor game behind.