Preseason Game 1 Thread: March 5 vs. White Sox, 12n

Baseball is HERE! Thank the gods!

While I have my fair share of trepidation regarding the upcoming season and the pending change of ownership, there are REAL, LIVE GAMES being played, and that is the best news I've heard in a while.

The Dodgers match up with their Camelback Ranch cohabitants for the inaugural game of 2012 Spring Training today. This will also be the first game in quite a while that someone other than Ozzie Guillen will be signing the lineup card for the Sox. We wish nothing but the best of luck to Robin Ventura in the upcoming season. I liked him as a Dodger, and I like him now.

That said, we here in LA are hoping to break him into his managerial career with an appropriate beat-down*.

Photo: AP
*Figuratively speaking. We don't endorse violence**.
**We do endorse posting photos of particularly amusing violence.

Another Dream Team in Florida?

From "Guillen departure ends South Side madness, brings South Beach jolt" by Jon Heyman at SI.com:

The Marlins are about to have the big-name marketable manager they have craved as they head into their new stadium. The White Sox are rid of their headache.

Ozzie Guillen will become the face (not to mention the mouth) of the Marlins as soon as their deal to hire him is completed. The White Sox, surely growing weary of Guillen's continuing public protestations about his contract situation and inability to get along with White Sox GM Ken Williams, announced it had allowed Guillen out of his contract Monday, and are expected to receive minor players in compensation from the Marlins once they sign him.

The Marlins desperately wanted a marquee man to manage their team, one that can help market their revenue-challenged team. And Ozzie should be perfect for that. He's funny in two languages. And now, he is about to become the star of the South Florida show, which is what the Golden Beach, Fla., resident wanted all along.

So the NL East just got a little more obnoxious. What if the Marlins make a run at Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder, as has been speculated? And if Bryce Harper joins Stephen Strasburg on the Nationals, that division could really grab a lot of headlines in 2012. And that's before the Mets' ownership situation gets resolved.

White Sox Despairing Over Far Less Than Dodgers' Plight

From "At midpoint, Sox's glass half-empty" at ESPNChicago.com:

Ozzie Guillen unwittingly gave the epitaph of this year's Chicago White Sox team before another Lazy Sunday on the South Side.

"We got a horse(bleep) team, but we got good people that play as hard they as can," the White Sox manager said before the team's 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

After the game, Guillen channeled good friend Carlos Zambrano with a more pithy summation of his team.

"We sucks," Guillen said to a couple reporters, flashing a gallows grin as he finished up his press conference.

Now that "All In" has been ultimately disproved, here's a new tagline for marketing guru Brooks Boyer's crew: "Nice Guys Finish Third. Maybe Fourth."

It's one thing after another with this band of misfit toys. Forget "Go Go White Sox," the theme song for the first half seems to be one long note from a sad trombone.

At 44-48, the third-place Sox are 70 games away from a merciful ending and another change in philosophy for an organization that can't make up its mind on how it wants to ultimately disappoint its fanbase.

The White Sox have a $128 million payroll (as opposed to the Dodgers' $120 million), but you'd think they'd never been four games under .500 before. You should try the lame-duck owner thing, guys. Just think how Ozzie would react.