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Paul Sullivan: Sunny forecast for the White Sox after years of gloom and doom
- Story by
- Paul Sullivan: Sunny forecast for the White Sox after years of gloom and doom
(Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS)
CHICAGO — Wednesday afternoon's forecast at Rate Field is sunny with a high probability of lunacy.
The Chicago White Sox are back on the South Side for the first time since the end of the regular season, hoping to clinch a postseason series at home for the first time since beating the Cubs in the 1906 World Series.
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The Sodfather was busy grooming the field Tuesday afternoon, and the MLB postseason logo was painted near the dugouts. Some players worked out in their "Celibate for Sean" T-shirts for Sean Burke, while others threw around footballs, kicked soccer balls or just shagged batting practice flies in the sunshine.
It was a wonderful afternoon, and even outfielder Tommy Pham was in a good mood, or at least a better mood than he was on Monday night when he berated a Chicago Sun-Times reporter after manager Will Venable's news conference and insisted the reporter would be "blackballed" in the Sox clubhouse.
But more on that later.
The Sox are a tight-knit bunch and, as Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said last week, more like a college team than a professional baseball team. They wore the "Celibate for Sean" shirts after Anthony Kay spouted the slogan for the Sox starter, the only member of the regular-season rotation who is still in the same basic role in the postseason.
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Burke told Sox beat reporter James Fegan in Houston, "I don't have family, no girl, no kids," and he hasn't heard the end of it since.
"I think they just took it and ran with it," Burke said of the T-shirts. "They understand the quote kind of got cut off. It was originally 'no family of my own,' or that was the intention behind it. It's cool, everybody thinks it's funny and it's kind of got the guys together."
Davis Martin was wearing one of the shirts, which were made by the "Foul Territory" podcast. Are they actually living up to the shirt's slogan?
"I haven't talked to my wife about it yet," Martin said. "We'll figure it out. This is a team, right. We're basically a bunch of friends that form a baseball team. I know people joke that we're very college-like, but we have fun with each other and enjoy messing with each other, and if something goes viral, we don't shy away from it."
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While Burke and Braden Montgomery received the most media attention for their starring roles in the Game 2 win on Monday in Cleveland, it was Pham who got the most social media attention for posting that Sun-Times reporter Jeff Agrest, who was covering the series, was a "real loser" and a "click bait reporter" who misconstrued his conversation with commissioner Rob Manfred.
Pham spoke to the media in front of his locker Tuesday in the role of clubhouse veteran, while Agrest stood several feet away from the pack. Pham talked about his fantasy football team and said he told Manfred about a clip that interspersed the video of him pimping a would-be home run in Game 1 with Wesley Snipes doing likewise in the movie, "Major League."
"We got a real laugh out of it as a team," he said.
He didn't mention the elephant in the room — his postgame confrontation in the media room with Agrest.
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Pham wasn't laughing Monday after his pregame conversation with Manfred was featured in Agrest's story under a headline "White Sox' Tommy Pham 'confronts' MLB commissioner Rob Manfred about baseballs."
The story said Pham was "probably half-joking and half-serious" when complaining about the baseballs after his would-be home run stayed in the park and ended with a great catch at the wall by Cleveland left fielder Angel Martínez.
Pham, who also spoke to Manfred in Houston and has a good relationship with him, grew upset when the story was picked up on social media, making him appear angry instead of kidding with the commissioner. Pham notoriously slapped Joc Pederson once over a fantasy football dispute, and that story has been impossible for him to live down.
So he walked about 100 yards from the clubhouse to the media room to find Agrest. Venable had just ended his news conference when Pham walked up to Agrest as many other reporters, media relations employees and MLB reps watched.
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"I don't tolerate disrespect at all," Pham told Agrest as he stood next to the sitting reporter. "Don't be f−−−−−− making stories for clickbait for me."
Agrest told Pham he didn't do that.
"You f−−−−−− did that today," Pham replied. "You're blocked now. Nobody is going to f−−− with you in that locker room now for your clickbait-ass story. That's bulls−−−. You know everything I said to Rob today was (said) jokingly. F−−− you, man. You're blackballed in our locker room now."
Venable stood next to Pham, then walked out of the media room with him. The manager is a fan of Pham's and told me last month the veteran is misunderstood.
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"You really never know until you know somebody, and I've known Tommy from the past," Venable said. "He's a really good guy and speaks up and is honest about his values. He's got really good values that are in line with my values and in line with the organization's values. We love him."
Two eyewitnesses confirmed that Manfred never thought Pham was serious during their conversation about the baseballs, and both said the story's narrative about a confrontation was inaccurate.
After Pham spoke to the media Tuesday, I asked him if he was still upset by the story or whether they'd settled things.
"I said what I had to say, that's pretty much it," he said, walking away.
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Agrest declined to comment.
Never a dull moment in Soxville.
Things were seemingly back to normal on Tuesday, as the Sox prepared for their biggest game of the season.
The Sox are a feel-good story that's starting to catch the attention of casual baseball fans, and they don't need any distractions as they try to move on in the postseason.
Turn off the phones, stop reading the internet and forget any past grievances.
Sunny days are back on the South Side.
Soak it in.
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