KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Scott Podsednik knows that the chances of him being named to the All-Star Team are slim.
But if his name is called Sunday afternoon, what a story it would be for the White Sox outfielder.
"I told myself that I would like to win one more World Series and make at least one more All-Star Game, so it would feel good,'' Podsednik admitted on Saturday. "Especially with the road I took to get here, being at my house at the beginning of the season in April, and then in July, being somewhat considered for an All-Star Game would be pretty special for me.''
There is no question that Podsednik has re-invented himself - on and off the field since the Sox signed him to a minor-league deal back in April and recalled him in early May. Before the afternoon game with the Royals, he detailed that change.
"That's the biggest difference in my game from two to three years ago to now, I used to play the game with a lot of anxiety,'' Podsednik said. "I pressed, I tried to go out and make things happen. I tried to take all the things I've learned in my years in the big leagues and make myself better. That's what has helped me the most, to find the ability to go out and play the game at a relaxed level. Just let my talents and abilities come out without trying to make it happen. That's the number one thing.
"A big step toward that was the spring training game I played against the Sox near the end of camp. The Rockies had told me, 'You're not going to make this club [just before the game],' and from there I had nothing to lose. I went out, had fun and played the game really relaxed. A light kind of went off and I told myself, 'Hey, you need to figure out how to take the field that relaxed day in and day out.' ''
Podsednik had two hits off Mark Buehrle that day, but more importantly showed Sox general manager Ken Williams he could still play.
Now, he has become the catalyst as the Sox leadoff hitter, and is receiving praise like, "I think God sent Podsednik to us'' from manager Ozzie Guillen.
As far as Podsednik was concerned, however, he's just finally having fun.
"That's the thing - I'm genuinely having fun out on the field,'' Podsednik said. "I've learned how to create the games inside the game that have really helped me, really breaking the game down to kind of its simplest form - putting the bat on the baseball and trying to outrun the ball to first, things of that nature, not letting balls fall in out in left field. I'm just having fun out there playing and it's helping me.''
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The timetable on Carlos Quentin returning to the starting lineup is still a bit blurry, but for the first time in over a month, the White Sox now have a starting point with their All-Star left fielder.
Manager Ozzie Guillen announced on Friday, that Quentin was sent out to Class AAA Charlotte and was scheduled to play three innings with the Knights on Saturday.
The 2008 MVP candidate has been on the shelf with Plantar Fasciitis in his left foot since May 26, and said two weeks ago that even if the tendon in the foot holds up the rest of the season, he could be facing offseason surgery when the curtain falls on 2009.
Guillen and the organization want to make sure that he just gets to the end of this season without any setbacks.
"We'll see what happens,'' Guillen said. "I'm very optimistic about his improvement. But in the meanwhile, I have to see it first, then I'll get excited.''
While Quentin could join the team right after the All-Star Break, Guillen hopes that Quentin is honest with where he's at during his rehab, and the club has its guard up on when to bring him back.
"He should play a little bit more to see exactly where he is,'' Guillen continued. "I know when you send any player from the majors to Triple-A, they get anxious to get back here.''
Before going down to injury, Quentin was hitting .229 with eight home runs.
Shortstop Alexei Ramirez had to leave the game in the eighth inning with an injured finger on his right hand. According to manager Ozzie Guillen, he will miss at least Thursday's game in Kansas City, and will be re-evaluated based on what x-rays tell them Thursday afternoon.
The injury first occurred on Tuesday, fielding a ball in batting practice.
Guillen said he was hoping it wasn't serious. If he does have to miss some time, the Sox have options with Jayson Nix or even moving Gordon Beckham to his natural position of shortstop.
CLEVELAND - Mark Buehrle's one and only job is to take the baseball and go to the mound every fifth day.
He was thankful on Wednesday about that being his only job description.
"We're playing good right now and that's always good,'' the face of the starting rotation insisted, when asked about the pulse of his team. "It's fun when you come to the park, and we feel like we're going to win every game. But I still can't forget that we've gone back and forth. We've had a good week or two and then it seems like we can't win a game and nothing goes right. I really don't know.''
Yes, the Sox had fun beating up on the sinking Indians, but Buehrle isn't stupid. He's glanced at the schedule, and knows that post All-Star Break is when pretenders and contenders will be separated.
That means six more games up in Minnesota after the Break, as well as eight games with Boston, three in New York, four with the Rays, and two West Coast trips which have always been dream killers for the South Siders.
The one week that caught Buehrle's eye, however? Hell week, starting Aug. 24. The Sox travel to Fenway for four, three at the new Yankee Stadium and then three in the House of Horrors that is the Metrodome, only to come home and play a Sept. 3 make-up game with the Cubs, and their rat friends, at Wrigley Field.
"You look ahead and see the schedule, yes, it's not in our favor,'' Buehrle admitted. "We've got a tough schedule ahead of us, but we have to figure out what we're going to do by the [July 31] trade deadline, before the schedule gets tough like that. I don't know if [general manager Ken Williams] will put that in the picture when he decides what we're going to do.
"It's every other week with us. We play good and we're buyers, we play bad and we're sellers. I still think, I mean I don't know what Kenny is going to do, but it still seems like it will come down to how we play here the next couple weeks before the trade deadline and that will dictate what he's doing.''
What would Buehrle do?
"Well,'' he responded, "that's why I pitch every five days and let Kenny deal with that.''
His manager's take on the ballclub and where it is, well, that isn't much different. Ozzie Guillen isn't ready to go out and start printing playoff tickets just yet.
"When Kenny asked me about it, I was honest about it,'' Guillen said. "I said, 'Well Kenny, you got to give me another week to be honest with you because right now I'm confused.' And I told you guys in the media, I'm confused. I don't hide anything, that's my problem. I'm confused. One day we play good, three days we play bad. Of course I have to be confused, we were like 10 games under .500, that's not a good team. Or we a good team playing real bad.
"Little by little, we've started to hit better, the kids start contributing a little bit more, and they take the heat away from the big boys when they start doing more. Then [John] Danks and Gavin [Floyd] and [Clayton] Richard are starting to contribute by pitching well. To have Jose [Contreras] come back and pitch the way he has, it's like we traded for somebody. The ballclub right now is great. How long are we going to be great? Hopefully from now until November. That's my goal.
"My goal is to convince those guys we can win. My goal is to make those guys believe every day there's nobody better than us, even if they are.''
CLEVELAND - If Cubbie fan ever hoped - or feared - to have Ozzie Guillen switch sides of town and become the manager for their "Lovable Losers?'' Well, it would come with a few demands and at least one death.
The Sox manager addressed that without pulling any punches on Tuesday.
"I never be in Wrigley Field [as a manager],'' Guillen insisted. "I don't give a [crap]. I can't I say I don't like Wrigley Field? Why can't I express myself? It's like I don't like to eat chicken. Why I should I have to like Wrigley Field. Whoever gets upset about that? [Bleep] them. I don't like Wrigley Field. What's wrong with that? I don't say I don't like the Cubs. Just make it clear. I don't say I don't like the Cubs. I don't say I don't like the Cubs' organization. I just hate Wrigley Field. I wish I could do something about it. The Governor of Chicago, please, build another one. I don't' know why people make such a big deal that I don't like Wrigley field. I don't work for Wrigley Field. [bleep] it.
"First of all, to manage the Cubs, Jerry Reinsdorf has to be dead. Second, to go to that job, ... I'm not going to manage at Wrigley Field. I might manage the Cubs. No, not Wrigley Field. I hate that [bleepin'] place.
"Now I hate a couple guys working for the [bleepin] Cubs. And they have nothing to do with the front office.''
Oh Larry Rothschild, c'mon down.
CLEVELAND - Jermaine Dye is well-versed in the trade rumor department.
So with a Bay Area newspaper reporting that the White Sox outfielder is on the radar of the San Francisco Giants and their general manager Brian Sabean, Dye continued to deliver his own company line on Monday.
"I'm not talking about trades,'' Dye said.
When asked again?
"I'm not talking about trades,'' was the response.
The Giants are not one of the six teams in his no-trade clause, but the New York Mets, who are also starting to shop for a bat, are.
What Dye would talk about, however, is the fact that as of last week, Sox Gm Ken Williams stated that he was not a seller. An assessment that Dye not only agreed with, but he was also hoping that he and his teammates could persuade Williams to get some help and be a buyer.
"We shouldn't be, we're still in it,'' Dye said, very matter-of-factly. "We're only five games out. What do I think about that? [Williams is] evaluating the club and right now he feels like right now we're still in it. That's what we feel in this clubhouse. This division is still up for grabs and we feel like we're going to do whatever we can to win this division and put ourselves in a good position around the All-Star Break.
"Hopefully, he'll look at that as whatever we need to make this team a little bit better, maybe he'll go out and do what he's known for doing. He's known for making his club better and hopefully giving us a chance to win a division again.''
Now we're being told that Ozzie was teasing Sox PR because he doesn't like Nancy playing the organ.
Ozzie Guillen is teasing Lou Piniella from the dugout after Milton Bradley's first-inning single, pretending a baseball bat is a gun and then grabbing a towel and pretending to hang himself. Classic Guillen.
Here was what manager Ozzie Guillen said about the Milton Bradley incident:
"That was awesome,'' Guillen said Saturday morning. "We made him pissed. That's not too hard to do. I just saw it, and after that it disappeared. Everyone handles the ballclub different. Lou handled it the right way because you've got 25 guys you've got to respect. You're not a manager for one player. It's all about the team. He did what he was supposed to do. He showed the team that Lou cares about his ballclub. It was good to keep [Bradley] quiet and everything was on the down-low the way it should be.''
The message has been sent to Alexei Ramirez.
What he does with it now, that's on him. But he might want to take it to heart, considering that Ozzie Guillen is the sender, and inevitably can be the executioner.
Upset with what Guillen called "lazy'' defense in Thursday's win over Los Angeles, including a defensive lapse that allowed Los Angeles to tie the game in the seventh inning and extend the game to the 13th, the White Sox manager called Ramirez out following the marathon, and then made it a topic for discussion on Friday.
"One thing about it, I don't care if he hates me or if he loves me, but this kid has an unbelievable future,'' Guillen said of Ramirez. "This kid can be one of the best in the game. My job is to get him there. How I'm going to do it, we'll see how, but I learned that from [Braves manager] Bobby Cox. When Bobby Cox told [former Atlanta outfielder] Andruw Jones right in his face, 'I [benched] you because you're better than that and you're going to be a superstar.' I think this kid has the same tools to be [a star]. If he doesn't play the game right, he's going to have a tough time playing for me.''
Guillen was asked if he had personally spoken to Ramirez about that, specifically the idea that Ramirez takes his offensive miscues out to the field with him at times, and said he had been spoken to before about it. Not only spoken to, but spent a weekend series on the bench because of it back in May.
"I should [talk to him again], just to get it out of my system,'' Guillen said. "But I'm going to let him go because I might say the wrong thing to him and all of a sudden we might create a monster. I hope he reads the paper. My coaching staff will take care of that and we'll see after that. It's not because I hate the kid, it's not because I'm picking on him. You all saw the way he went about his business after he made an out.
"I want him to be the best shortstop he can be. Alexei Ramirez is not going to be winning batting titles, he's not going to win RBI titles. The only thing this kid can do is win Gold Glove. And I know he has a chance to win a Gold Glove. Well, play like a Gold Glover.
"When I made a statement in January that this kid should be one of the best shortstops in the game, one of the best shortstops for the White Sox, I meant it. I meant it because I've seen it. That's why it's my job, Joey Cora's job, to get this kid in the right place for the rest of his career.''
Cora, who works with the infielders on defense, as well as bench coach, did make it known that Ramirez had received the criticism from Guillen, and was spoken about what he did in the win.
"The information has been given, no doubt about it,'' Cora said. "I think he's played, for the most part, he has played good. But when the ugliness shows, it shows very, very ugly. Has there been a lack of focus? No doubt about it and he knows it. He should be a guy out there that is the best player on our team. He has the potential to be the best player on our team, no doubt about that. At times he gets frustrated because of his offense and he takes it to the defense, and when you're a shortstop as good as he is, that can't happen.''
What happens next? Well, that's on Ramirez.
It's not like the Sox don't have options, considering prized rookie Gordon Beckham has played most of his life at shortstop until the switch to third this season.
"That's up to him,'' Cora added, when asked what's next. "It's like giving up at-bats. Sometimes you go up there and give up an at-bat. Well, he goes out there and gives up a defensive play that shouldn't be given up. That can't happen.
" He's young and he hasn't had as much experience as we all think, at least not on the big-league level. This is his second year, so hopefully he learns from this experience. He knows he's a great shortstop, he can play defensively with anyone else in this game, but it's a matter of taking a little bit more pride in it.''
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