Recently in Chicago White Sox Category

A seemingly routine fly ball off the bat of White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski in the eighth inning of Thursday's game ended with an opportunity for Steve Stone to rip Alfonso Soriano and the Cubs.

As Soriano moved into position to catch the pop-up, he misjudged it, dropped it and allowed Pierzynski to reach third base and Gordon Beckham to score.  

Stone, the former Cubs broadcaster and Current White Sox color analyst, took the opportunity to point out, "That's what you get when you put a designated hitter in left field."

Stone also criticized Soriano for his lack of enthusiasm in retrieving the ball after he dropped it.

The play marked Soriano's 11th error of the season in left field.

Stone refused a contract extension with the Cubs in 2004 amid controversy fueled by his sharp criticism of the team.  

Stumbled upon this footage of the best soccer game ever played, a spirited contest which ends in somebody getting kicked in the face on the way off the field. Not real sure what the deal is, but here's the handy Google translation of the summary, just to further cloud the moment:

Defender Sergio Jauregui, Blooming, we applied a flying kick disqualifying Uruguayan striker Leonardo Medina in the classic to the East Petroleum. The former Hurricane is horpitalizado.

So there you have it. But crazy Central American ninja players aside, seeing footage like this reminds me of maybe the most classic karate kick sporting moment of all video time: the Flying Izzy Alcantara.

Alcantara was a cup-of-coffee slugging outfielder for the Boston Red Sox around the turn of the century - this one, that is - who spent his fair share of time with the Triple A Pawtucket Red Sox. (Fun fact: Alcantara hit his first Major League homer against pre-juicing White Sox hurler Jim Parque in Chicago in 2000).

A prototypical quadruple-A player, Alcantara lost his shot at playing in the minor league all-star game in 2001 after this spectacularly nutty moment against Scranton Wilkes-Barre:

So remember, kids, keep the karate in the Cobra Kai dojo and off the diamond and field.

In just over a calendar year, White Sox third baseman Gordon Beckham has gone from playing against Kennesaw State to playing on the same diamond with the most storied franchise in the history of sports. But as far as first impressions go, Beckham has to be happy with the one he made on the New York Yankees.

In his first series against the Bronx Bombers, Beckham played an integral role in each of his team's three wins. For the series, he went 7-for-19, had 7 RBI and scored three times. Five of his seven hits were doubles. It was more than enough to turn some a few heads in the opposing dugout.  

"I got a chance to talk to him quite a bit, " Yankees captain Derek Jeter said, "because he was on second base all the time."

So what did Jeter have to say to the former Georgia Bulldog?

Ozzie Guillen was asked to share his thoughts on yesterday's David Ortiz steroid revelation. It was classic Ozzie before the series opener against the Yankees as he launched into a rant about the infamous 2003 list:

"Can somebody in baseball, please, we're all begging people, get that stupid list out and move on. This is ridiculous. This is embarrassing. This is a joke. Whoever is there is there; get them out and that's it. We're going to continue being alive, we're going to continue playing the game. But sitting here every freaking day, every manager, every player, responding to the same question, it's getting tired. It's old. Come on. If you're going to divorce me, divorce me right away. Don't say you're going to leave me. I'm serious. If you're going to talk every night, 'I'm going to divorce you,' no, get out of my house. Every week we've got to come up with this thing."

BY MIKE HALL The Big Ten Network

My family is made up entirely of White Sox fans. A few years ago we created a season-long game where we all pick "a guy." At the beginning of each April we choose a White Sox player, and for the rest of the season, that player is our guy. When he does something well, we give the family member credit as if they were the one who did something positive. Its like our own uber-simplified form of fantasy baseball. My mom may not know much about the south siders, but she knows that, as she'd say, "Thome's my homey!"

This year the rest of my family chose the following players- Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski, Jermaine Dye, and Carlos Quentin. The common trend is that they're all position players. Except for me and my guy.

Every year we've done this game, I've chosen a guy who will only take the field every fifth game. And its just about a Hall family consensus that I've won our game every year. Why? Because my guy has always been Mark Buehrle.

People are often confused on how to spell his last name. As we know from Thursday, its simple: just seven letters... P-E-R-F-E-C-T.

(AP Photo)

As part of U.S. Cellular Field's Asian Heritage Night on Tuesday, there was plenty of singing, dancing and banging of drums to celebrate Asian culture.

On the field, however, White Sox rookie third baseman Gordon Beckham was giving fans plenty of reason to do some singing and drum-banging of their own -- namely the singing of Beckham's praises and banging of the drum for him to be considered for the American League Rookie of the Year award.

What -- too soon?

Sure, the season is barely past the midway point.

Sure, those of us in the Chicago media have a tendency to aggrandize players on a hot streak and completely vilify those who struggle.

Sure, he could get worn down in August -- in which case I'll hope no one remembers that I wrote this.

And yes ... with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, a man on first, his team down by a run and a chance to be the hero Beckham, who had been perfect at the plate all night, grounded out weakly to the pitcher to end the game.   

But for those 23,319 fans who watched Beckham go 3-for-4 and make a couple of solid plays in the field, there was little question of whether he should be considered.

Disco sucks! Disco sucks! Disco sucks ...

It's perhaps fitting that on the weekend Steve Dahl announces a return to the airwaves we "celebrate" the 30th anniversary of Disco Demolition Night

The brainchild of the WLUP disc jockey Dahl and White Sox owner Bill Veeck's son Mike, the idea was to have a death to disco movement between games of a Detroit Tigers-Sox doubleheader at Comiskey Park in 1979, but it quickly turned into what amounted to a mob scene, culminating in a bonfire of disco records and a canceled game.

And here's a clip of the live broadcast when Dahl blowed up disco, real good ...

Dahl likes to take credit for hastening the death of disco through the riot scene, the flashpoint of a groundswell of anti-disco fervor creeping through the streets of middle America. It was a music morphing into other things by 1979 anyway, but the near-riot scene surrounding the event - and national attention it garnered - certainly left a lasting impression.

Ed Farmer, the current voice of the Sox on radio, was on the mound for Game 1 that infamous day for the below-mediocre South Siders and remembers the chaos bubbling to the surface even before the on-field mayhem began:

"I pitched [3 2/3] innings to finish the first game, and I would be throwing, getting the signs, and a 45 record would fly by the mound. Someone would toss it from the lower deck or the upper deck and it would fly through and on to the field right past you."

"You are talking about a famous moment in the city of Chicago. Things took place in that stadium that never happened before or after."

Ken Kravec, then a left-handed pitcher for the Sox and now a special assistant to Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry, remembers the night as the pitcher warming up to start a Game 2 that would not be played:

"One thing I recall, when I walked out to the bullpen mound to warm up for the second game and I was looking around the stadium, you couldn't see any aisles. I just remember the amount of people. There were like 10,000 or 15,000 people outside the stadium and another 50,000 inside the stadium, if not more."

"We went out there for about a minute. And then after that, the fans stormed the field. I never feared for my life, not at all. Once they came on the field, it was fine. I just grabbed my hat, walked off and nobody hassled you."

So for the admission price of 98 cents, Dahl and broadcast partner Gary Meier brought their anti-disco "The Insane Coho Lips" fans to shout to the world that "Disco sucks!" and put some butts in seats for a sub-.500 team. What they came away with was a place in Chicago and promotional history, a Veeck family name blacklisted for decades in Major League Baseball and scene that will never be repeated in major league sports.

Not bad for a half-time show.

What exactly was Dahl thinking going into his brush with destiny? Well, the man himself interviews himself for the Tribune, the only print chat he submitted to (must be the softball interviewer).

Still not sure about that anti-disco army uniform, though. Might not catch on.

(AP Photo)

He's considered by many to be among the premiere pitchers in the major leagues, and he may be trade bait.

Toronto Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi has spoken to his ace, Roy Halladay, about the possibility that he might be traded this season.

"We're not inclined to move him," Ricciardi told ESPN's Buster Olney, "but we're going to see what's out there,"

Halladay has a no-trade clause, however, that limits where the Blue Jays could potentially send him.

Last year the big pre-trade deadline name was CC Sabathia, who went to the Milwaukee Brewers mid-season in exchange for outfielder Matt LaPorta, pitchers Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson, and Michael Brantley.

Was the deal worth it? Brewers fans certainly thought so at the end of the 2008 regular season when the team made the playoffs. LaPorta is the only one of that trade currently on the Indians' roster, and he's batting .190.

So, Chicago baseball fans - would you trust Jim Hendry and Kenny Williams to give up a truckload of the right prospects to see Roy Halladay wearing black or blue pinstripes?  Would you want them to?

What we worry? Lou Piniella and Ozzie Guillen won't be winning any popularity contests with players anytime soon.

For all the controversy over Lou Piniella's role in the abysmal Cubs season so far and the omnipresent mouth of Ozzie Guillen calling out current and former players alike, these are two guys that players want to play for.

The ultimate "players' managers" in a game that respects and demands strong managers that knew how to play the game on the field. Right?

Yeah, not so much.

Sports Illustrated surveyed 380 current Major League Baseball players for the issue on newsstands Tuesday to see which managers they least wanted to play for, and it wasn't a close, umm, win. Twenty-six percent of the responses pointed to Sweet Lou as the most sour excuse for a major league manager, while 21 percent said Ozzie was no great shakes. That put Chicago's skippers tops on the bottom list.

Next closest? Tony La Russa, coming in 16 percentage points better, so to speak, than Piniella with 10 percent of players saying no thanks to playing for the Genius.

Makes you wonder how the poll went in the Cubs and White Sox clubhouses. Is it possible to have 101 percent of the vote go against you?

"It was a cutter that cut too much."

That's Carlos Zambrano's story and he's sticking to it. The  Cubs ace said he was certainly not throwing at DeWayne Wise in the sixth inning of Sunday's game at U.S. Cellular Field one pitch after Chris Getz stole home.

"In that situation I don't want to get myself in more trouble," Zambrano said after the game. "I want get out of that situation and pitch my six innings or seven innings."

Wise saw it differently, however.

"I (thought) that he would probably hit me right there," said Wise in the White Sox clubhouse. "That's Zambrano being Zambrano."

As Wise took his base, he voiced his displeasure while traveling the basepath and exchanged words with Zambrano. Wise paraphrased, telling reporters he advised Zambrano, "That wasn't right."

"I don't know why he was like that," said Zambrano. "I wasn't even looking at him. I heard what he said, but I didn't understand what he said. I heard that he was talking to me. I turned around and said, 'What'?"

That's when umpires stepped in and managers stepped out, avoiding further benches-clearing conflict.

Both benches were warned the next inning after Sox starter John Danks biffed Cubs leadoff batter Ryan Freel.

One thing is for sure -- this won't certainly won't endear Zambrano to White Sox fans. No matter how much Guillen sings his praises, Sox fans tend to think "Zambrano being Zambrano" is getting old. 

But Z has said in the past he hopes to play for the South Siders before his career is over. With incidents like the one in Sunday's sixth inning, he certainly isn't winning any fans on the South Side and, considering his line (5 1/3 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) he may soon find himself losing fans on the North Side.