I’LL CALL YOU

The White Sox are in first place, so what’s my beef? A vegetarian with a beef, that’s funny. Orlando Cabrera was brought in as the team’s savior at SS. Cabrera is the reigning 2007 AL Gold Glove shortstop.

I’ve become used to watching Juan Uribe at SS for the White Sox on an everyday basis. While Uribe has one of the strongest infield arms I’ve seen, sometimes he’s lazy in the field. I was excited to be getting Cabrera, although I thought we were getting Miguel Cabrera for Jon Garland, until I found out the trade was with Anaheim rather than Florida.

Since the trade, Orlando has had his ups & downs in the field for the Sox. On more occasions than I can count on one hand, I’ve seen not pickup relatively easy grounders, sometimes they were called errors, sometimes they weren’t.

Now the story comes out that Cabrera has called the pressbox to question errors that were credited to him. Orlando is becoming a free agent at year end and is concerned about his reputation as a quality fielder. He has questioned his manager for not backing him up on this. Whether these missed plays are errors or not is irrelevant, the Sox are trying to win ballgames. It is purely selfish on Cabrera’s part to call the pressbox.

Orlando should hone up his skills as a ballplayer, rather than concern himself with his rep. He is a little ballplayer, not a home run hitter, and I’ve yet to see him display he has the ability to bunt. He has failed to move the runners up with a sacrifice on several occasions, today being the most recent.

Then there’s this story…
The Associated Press reports Chicago White Sox 2B Alexei Ramirez ignored the bunt sign and hit a clutch single that set up the game-winner Monday, May 26. “He went from two seconds from being in (Triple-A) Charlotte to being a hero,” manager Ozzie Guillen said of Ramirez. “He did that on his own. I was surprised but (bench coach) Joey Cora told me he’s been working on that in batting practice.”

Alexei Ramirez is a 26-year-old rookie from Cuba filling in for the injured Juan Uribe at scondbase. I think Ramirez is doing a good job at a position he’s not familiar with. Alexei has a lightning quick bat. It was a heads up play the other day on his part, that directly led to us winning a ballgame. Way to go Alexei! And what’s he to think when his prima donna doubleplay partner, a veteran can’t get the bunt down? BTW, Ramirez has shown himself to be an excellent bunter.