No room for tight collars in merry old Land of Oz
For a full three hours before the White Sox were to take on the best team in the American League, the screaming in the locker room could be heard throughout the cavernous hallways beneath the ballpark.
But the noise from the White Sox' clubhouse was no fight among teammates, no argument over official scorer's calls or failed execution.
No, in the world that is Ozzieland, it was the antics of about a dozen teammates feigning outrage that recent call-ups Chris Getz and Jason Bourgeois had to suffer the indignity of sharing a locker in a big-league dressing room.
It was loud. It was obnoxious. It was hilarious. And it was a typical pregame for a team that doesn't seem to feel pressure.
While some clubs this time of year are squeezing the sawdust out of the bat handles and butchering groundballs to lose games, here's Juan Uribe screaming about players association rules, normally mild-mannered Jim Thome up in arms over the entire affair, and Nick Swisher taking inventory of an empty locker next to A.J. Pierzynski's stall ... before reporting to the manager the contents.
And, of course, Ozzie Guillen fanned the flames as soon as he saw an opportunity to make matters much worse for embattled clubhouse boss Vince Fresso.
All, in the name of keeping it loose at the most tense of times.
"This is the most fun I've ever had on a team," Ken Griffey Jr. could be heard telling a teammate. "I've never laughed this much at the ballpark in my life."
The laughing belies the month and the process, when some teams go to pieces under the weight of great expectations, or even worse, none at all.
But this has been, and will continue to be, the Sox' madness within their method.
"It's too long a season," Swisher said. "You've got to have some fun, and this is a great place to have some fun."
It may, at least partially, explain how the Sox quickly overcame the loss of Carlos Quentin, winning three straight after losing their MVP candidate before dropping the finale to the Angels 3-2 Sunday on the South Side.
But lest you think the unpredictable Guillen admires his players for surviving adversity, think again.
"No, I'm not proud of them. That's the way they should react," Guillen said. "We can't sit around and say we miss Carlos.
"We do, of course. I'd rather have him if I could, but our offense is good enough to win without him. We have a lot of good players here and we should win."
They didn't Sunday, but they still extended their first-place lead this weekend, and there was no look of defeat in the postgame clubhouse.
Anger, maybe. Aggravation, absolutely. But not despair, and certainly not pressure.
"We competed very well against one of the best teams in the game," Guillen said. "I like the way we're playing right now, and that's good, because every day is like a playoff game for us now."
You just wouldn't know it by looking at them.
Danks a lot
Coming off a couple of tough outings, John Danks was sharp Sunday, allowing 2 runs in 5 innings, walking one and striking out seven.
"My command was a little better today, though still not as good as it was when I was pitching lights out earlier this year," Danks said. "I know I can get back to that, and I'm going to get back to that.
"My teams needs me to do that, and I will."
Before the game, Ozzie Guillen was talking about giving Danks a breather but said he saw enough Sunday to change his mind.
"I feel great. I feel strong. I'm not tired," Danks insisted. "My changeup was much better today. It really bailed me out a few times.
"I felt like I was close today to being back where I was. I let my teammates down the last couple times out, and this is no time for that. I'll be better. I have to be."
Best stat
Paul Konerko homered for the third straight game, the first time he has done that since Sept. 4-7, 2005.
Konerko is hitting .421 in his last 10 games and .374 in the last 26, raising his average from .214 on the day the Sox acquired Ken Griffey Jr. to .247 Sunday after going 2-for-4.
The receiver
Kyle Williams, son of White Sox GM Ken Williams, had a nice night Saturday for ASU in the Devils' 41-17 win over Stanford, catching five balls for 44 yards and 3 key first-down grabs.
Sight seeing
There was no shortage of applause Sunday on the South Side when the scoreboard showed a Cubs' 3-1 ninth-inning lead turn into a 4-3 defeat.
Best quote
Ozzie Guillen on minor-leaguers today: "We create babies in the minor leagues and get babies in the big leagues. They need to fail in the minors to learn how to handle it, but teams won't let their top prospects fail, so they get to the big leagues and fail and don't know what to do with themselves."
And finally -
Cubs broadcaster Bob Brenly: "I didn't think the day would ever come that we'd say we were happy to see Jason Marquis take the mound."