Image of...Greatness?

The White Sox enjoy another convincing win. They retake sole possession of first place. And the once-suspect offense clobbers four more home runs to add to their major league-leading total, forcing even those Central Scrutinizers of the South Side, Tribune sports, to admit the game was a "home run parade" for the club.

You wouldn't know it from Mark Gonzales' lede in his game story. After pulling out his magnifying glass to find the weak spot in an otherwise stirring win for the White Sox, his calloused hands typed this gem:

Mark Buehrle got picked on at home Monday night for one of the few times this season.

And it gets so much worse from there. In just another example of snatching joy from doom, what's the subhead on Gonzo's game story?

Quentin hits another HR, defends image

Hmm...sounds like quite a scoop. Wonder what the dirt may be. Quentin has been found to be dropping his vulnerable left elbow over the plate to score more of those coveted hit-by-pitches? His rebuilt shoulder includes tendons culled from a newborn calf? His fabulous coif is the product of visits to the Hair Club for Men?

Nope, apparently this is yet more Gonzo Journalism, where he inserts a fake ("testing the GM's patience") storyline to keep the negativity fresh. Nowhere in his story (a game story, mind you, about a first-place club clobbering four homers and trouncing its opposition) does he reveal what "image" Quentin is defending.

It's truly guesswork, because no one at the Chicago Tribune Watch studied Gonzo Journalism while in J-School, but it appears that the "image" Quentin must defend is his tendency to provide guarded answers to questions.

Scandalous.

How many statues of a certain Flintstones-aided home run champ from the north side's past would already stand outside of The Shrine if that was the only image scrubbing he had to do?

Only in the Tribune's twisted world can arguably the clear-cut AL MVP through August 19, who just happens to play on the South Side, be feted with such a weak-kneed knock of a headline?

In the article, Gonzo mentions that Quentin has reached safely in 13 straight games, has been hit by 20 pitches, and has only had two streaks of two straight games without a hit all season long. Oh, and he's the top home-run hitter in the majors.

The only "image" portrayed in Gonzo's own copy is that of an MVP. Quentin has to defend that? From what? From who?

From the Tribune, of course, which consistently does a horrible job of acting indifferent to--much less objective toward--anyone on the South Side outplaying a cuddly Cubby.

Think this biased fish wrapper will give one-tenth its space and attention toward pushing Alexei Ramirez for AL Rookie of the Year as it will (and has) done so for fellow employee Geovany Soto in the NL?

--Brian Dykes and Brett Ballantini

Gonzo Journalism

We'll give White Sox beat writer Mark Gonzales the benefit of the doubt. After all, last night's comeback victory ended just after midnight, apparently well past the bedtime of the hard-core former West Coaster.

How else to explain this, the most inappropriate lede in a season (still just two-thirds over) filled with them.

The White Sox's best cure for shaky starting pitching Tuesday night was power, relief pitching and defense.

Yes, you read it right, Gonzo wrote "Tuesday night," so he was talking about the breathlessly exciting, never-say-die, down-to-the-last-two-strikes thriller that could very well spur the White Sox on to a great run during a tough homestand and halt all the bad juju that's been overwhelming the team since the All-Star Game.

But what's worse is how lazy the lede is--again, a Gonzo trademark. You can tell this is simply rewritten from the Sox Dis 101 book of ledes the Tribune commonly culls from. Care to guess what the original lede was before Nick Swisher won the game with a two-out, 14th inning shot? Maybe it was "The White Sox were again done in by shaky starting pitching Tuesday night." Or "The White Sox are finding that there is no cure for shaky starting pitching."

Either way, it's bad writing. On the other hand, it's no wonder this sort of pedestrian fare is rarely corrected and never improved upon, because it runs rampant through the entire newspaper.

And considering this sentence was written well before extra innings and some time before Gonzo got all sleepy on us, the copyeditors at the Tower are snoozing in their hamster wheels, too:

Floyd threw seven consecutive pitches to start the game, and Polanco cranked a 3-1 pitch over the left-field fence to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

As opposed to how starting pitchers usually start the game, by throwing...consecutive pitches? Seems he meant that Floyd threw seven consecutive balls.

If it was a matter of Matt Thornton tossing seven consecutive balls in the 13th, perhaps the gaffe might be more easily forgiven, in the rush to turn his story in. But this sentence was virtually the first game action writing Gonzo did last night, and he was apparently indulging too heavily in free press box popcorn to bother reading over his own writing to see if it made any sense.

Then again, it hardly matters. In the eyes of Chicago's media leader, last night's win was just another ho-hum, come-from-behind, down-to-the-last-two-strikes, 14th inning victory, right?

--Brett Ballantini

Yes, South Side, the Sky is Falling!

Since the All-Star break, the Tribune has been writing its White Sox game stories with a sense of inevitability.

No, not the inevitability of the White Sox winning the AL Central, but rather the team losing its lead. Day after day, win or lose, the length of the White Sox's division lead is prominently mentioned in the game story, if not in the lede.

But Sunday's writeup by Mark Gonzales is the best yet. His entire story addresses the incompetence of the White Sox bullpen and GM Ken Williams' growing impatience with the team. This after a second straight heart-stopping win, against arguably the White Sox's most formidable division opponent in front of record-setting crowds in Detroit. Two come-from-behind wins, the first with the team down to its last strike, and this is the ChicagoSports headline for Saturday's game story:

White Sox escape again, but test GM's patience
Short-handed bullpen gets in and out of jams

And in case you feel that a zealous Cubbies-fan copyeditor slapped that hed on Gonzo's otherwise life-affirming White Sox game story, here's his lede:

The White Sox and opposing teams are testing general manager Ken Williams' patience.

Here's the funny thing: Nowhere in the story does Gonzo actually address Williams' supposed frustration. Williams is portrayed as "less than giddy" about trade prospects and once again acknowledges that he may be criticized for not making a deadline deal (hmm, think the Tribune's own "baseball expert" Phil Rogers might be among the loudest critics?), but Gonzo offers nothing about the supposed frustration Williams is feeling about his team.

A better guess is that Williams is proud as hell of the team he masterfully pieced together, sitting solidly in first place at the end of July against all odds and every "expert" prediction.

Reality doesn't prevent Gonzo from following he and Tricky Dave Van Dyck's typical pattern for White Sox stories, seizing the negative from the positive.

The entire context of Gonzo's story is negative, with statements like the Sox gathered enough resources to pull out a victory...despite knowing their depth will be stretched past Thursday's 3 p.m. non-waiver trading deadline being extremely typical.

Gonzo inserts only three--yes, three--positive statements about Saturday's potential coffin-slamming win at Detroit.

The first comes buried three paragraphs into the story, after three negative cracks on the White Sox, acknowledging that Octavio Dotel and Bobby Jenks closed the door on the Tigers and helped the White Sox "keep" their 3 1/2-game lead over the Twins.

The last two positives come, predictably, at the end of the story. where Gonzo drops all this trading deadline and DL grumbling to actually report game facts in his game story. The second to last paragraph addresses Chicago's mastery of Tigers ace Justin Verlander--no small mental chip to have on your toughest division opponent, although tellingly Gonzo manages to choose that space not to editorialize. The last paragraph recounts back-to-back homers by Carlos Quentin (picked up by Williams in the free-agent steal of the season) and Jermaine Dye (extended by Williams and an MVP candidate despite everyone's assessment that the right fielder was washed up).

That's it. Thanks for playing, White Sox. Being in first place with a better record (.578, 3 1/2 games in first) than our Cubbies (.577, tied for 1st and falling), is merely a bigger excuse to spotlight your supposed shortcomings.

--Brett Ballantini

No Respect Roundup

There's been a trend of late in the Tribune Sports section. It's not anything new, just the typical downplaying of White Sox success that we've all come to understand is part of the Tribune's mission. But in the course of a seven-game winning streak, the Tribune's distortion of reality has become more glaring and obvious that usual.

First, a pop quiz: Which Chicago baseball team in first place on Sunday was ranked No. 1 in Phil Rogers' latest "Power Poll," and which Chicago baseball team in first place on Sunday was ranked No. 10? Here's a hint: The team that was in first, but ranked 10th, has defeated a division rival ranked ahead of it in the "Power Poll" twice this week.

More disturbing is the victory-snatched-from-defeat theme of White Sox story ledes that have been popping up in the paper throughout the winning streak. All the writing comes courtesy of Mark Gonzales, with the exception of Monday's story, written by Dave "Tricky" Van Dyck.

Wednesday's 6-1 win vs. the Angels:
Ozzie Guillen looked like a genius … for at least one night.

Thursday's 4-3 win vs. the Angels:
Jim Thome took a big load off his White Sox teammates and himself Thursday night.

Friday's 2-0 win over the Giants:
Manager Ozzie Guillen believes Cuban import Alexei Ramirez should have more home runs despite the lack of playing time and getting acclimated to playing in cold conditions for the first time.

Saturday's 3-1 win at San Francisco
There was plenty of traffic on the basepaths Saturday night. But Mark Buehrle topped Barry Zito when it came to escaping jams, particularly in avoiding the big innings that have inflated Buehrle's earned-run average.

Sunday's 13-8 win over San Francisco:
Earlier this month, the White Sox were mired in a six-game losing streak, dealing with a blowup doll controversy and facing questions about their feeble offense.

Monday's 4-1 win vs. the Indians:
If the White Sox need any more ammunition to show doubters this may be a special season, it came Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field when they beat Indians ace C.C. Sabathia.

Yesterday's 7-2 win over Cleveland:
After the White Sox were held to one hit through five innings and were on the verge of watching a sterling effort from Javier Vazquez go for naught, Jermaine Dye couldn't be blamed Wednesday night for spiking his bat and pumping his fist after solving nemesis Paul Byrd.

Keep in mind, these aren't random tidbits culled from the body of each game story. These are the ways the writers chose to begin the story, the one lede they arrived at out of all the possible directions their reports could have taken.

The lede establishes the tone of a story, particularly when it's a game result. We often begin reading having already seen the result the previous day. So the lede in game stories shapes perception--and, unfortunately for Tribune writers, exposes the author's biases, pro or con, toward players, teams, and game circumstances.

I wouldn't blame some skepticism at the start of the White Sox's winning streak, although leading with negatives night after night is still a bit harsh. But look at yesterday's story--the White Sox are the hottest team in baseball, in first place with a bullet. What does Gonzo trot out? How feeble the Chicago hitters were for five innings. That Javier Vasquez was about to have (another) great effort wasted. That Jermaine Dye is so weak that he had to celebrate "solving" Paul Byrd.

In every case, reading the lede exposes that the writer presumes the White Sox can't be for real, that they have no business in first place or finding any sort of success, even just a quarter into the season.

This organizational attitude, which encourages a Tribune writer to dismiss the achievements of the crosstown team even at the cost of his own credibility and the paper's status, permeates Tribune media. It's as if there's a memo circulated every season, reminding writers who signs their checks, contributes to their 401(k)s, and stands to enrich them once the Cubbies are finally sold off.

--Brett Ballantini

Back to Baseball

The White Sox have flown out of the gate, resting comfortably in first place at 11-7, already 2.5 games in front, and 4.5 and 5 games ahead of supposed world beaters Cleveland and Detroit. This in spite of a .242 team batting average and two starters, Paul Konerko and Juan Uribe, batting well south of the Mendoza Line.

So, naturally, it's time for a White Sox mailbag that accentuates the positive, right? That's not how ChicagoSports.com is posing it:

Mark Gonzales' White Sox mailbag
The Tribune's White Sox beat writer answers reader questions throughout the season. This week, Joe Crede's durability and whether the Sox will re-sign him, the disappearance of Ozzie Ball and a struggling Paul Konerko

--Brett Ballantini

Vast Depth of Logic

Last night on ChicagoSports.com, White Sox beat writer Mark Gonzales weighed in on what is clearly the most glaring issue tormenting Chicago's first-place team: its lack of outfield depth.

Actually, the article was a sort of bizarre, a let's just focus on the "young" outfield depth of the White Sox, piece. It's the kind of story that is meant to fill space, random or not; Gonzo could (and should) easily have called this, "Checking in with Ryan Sweeney."

Anyway, Gonzo points out that of a young outfield corps that once numbered Sweeney, Jerry Owens, Brian Anderson, and Chris Young (or, in Phil Rogers parlance, ChrisYoungChrisYoung
ChrisYoungChrisYoungChrisYoungChrisYoungChrisYoung
ChrisYoungChrisYoungChrisYoungChrisYoungChrisYoung ChrisYoungomigodChrisYoungisn'tontheSoxanymore), only Anderson is currently on the White Sox roster.

Baseball fans, sabermetricians, bus drivers, statue sculptors, and even politicians put down their newspapers, shake their tiny fists, and cry out: "So what?"

While there's nothing overt about Gonzo's piece, there's an inherent bias in this filler with a "White Sox outfield not so deep anymore" headline. Because in truth, well, yeah, the White Sox outfield is extraordinarily deep. Its cast includes:

• Jermaine Dye, entering Tuesday's action as the 10th-leading hitter in the AL
• Nick Swisher, an on-base monster, instant clubhouse leader, and fan favorite
• Carlos (don't call me Mini Canseco or Baby Bichette) Quentin, he of the home-run swing and mind-boggling arm
• Alexei Ramirez, whose across the body throw from center to second this afternoon left mouths agape
• Pablo Ozuna, like Ramirez a super utilityman with wheels
• Anderson, one-time wunderkind now squeezed for ABs after a terrific spring
• Owens, who's dropped three or four spots on the depth chart simply because everyone else is playing so well

Countless times the Tribune has taken White Sox GM Ken Williams to task over having dealt Young to Arizona for Javy Vazquez (a pitcher the Tribune's so-called baseball expert, Rogers, predicted would be the best in the AL Central this season). Yet not once, even in this early season, has the paper extended kudos to Ken for having acquired Quentin from the Diamondbacks.

Of course, Gonzo recently made mention of the trade, noting that Quentin cost the White Sox their top hitting prospect--you know, single-A first baseman Chris Carter.

Coming soon: A Trib expose on how the Quentin deal gutted the White Sox's minor-league depth at first base. The horror!

--Brett Ballantini & The Lone Ranger

Picks to Click?

Throughout the 2007 season, you'll recall there was constant talk from Tribune White Sox beat writer Mark Gonzales about the White Sox keeping players through their walk years. This wasn't in order to compete and win in 2007 as much as it was that by losing free agents, the White Sox would receive those apparently coveted sandwich picks in the amateur draft.

It was sort of funny to read, because sandwich picks became Gonzo's pet project in 2007. (Don't re-sign Jermaine Dye--you'll get picks when he leaves! Trade Mark Buehrle? But what about those picks?) You'll recall that after the World Series, every White Sox notes column by Gonzo seemed to be peppered with tidbits about performance incentives, like "Jim Thome's 500th at-bat will reap him $250,000" or "with his 30th home run, Paul Konerko gets a Harley." Sandwich picks were Gonzo's incentive clauses of 2007.

Yet because the White Sox are having trouble dealing Joe Crede, one of those popular free agents in his walk year, the Tribune's angle is curiously altered. In Gonzo's recent "Joe Crede vs. Josh Fields" feature, there was no talk of, "be cool, Sox fans, if Crede plays out the year and Scott Boras sends him to the Blue Jays as an international bonus baby, no biggie...sandwich picks!"

No, according to Gonzo, if Crede plays out his contract with the White Sox, "the Sox face the prospect of receiving no compensation besides draft picks if they cannot trade Crede before he becomes a free agent in the winter." (In other words: Sandwich picks? Yawn. Boy the Sox are lame if that's all they can get.)

The Tribune: All the news that suits it.

--Brett Ballantini