By Ricky O’Donnell
Alexei Ramirez wasn’t one of two White Sox players chosen for the All-Star team, but he’s still getting plenty of attention this week, including columns in both the Tribune and Sun-Times. Here’s how they stack up.
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Tribune: “The Skinny on Alexei.”
Sun-Times: “Stick Man.”
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Writer
Tribune: Mike Downey
Sun-Times: Carol Slezak
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Most Famous For
Downey: Married to Dean Martin’s daughter.
Slezak: For saying this about Greg Olsen and his Seventh Floor Crew:
“After listening to all 8 minutes and 56 seconds of this unbelievably disgusting rap, I was shaking in anger and shock. How is it possible for these young men to have such little respect – or is it hatred? – for women? If Don Imus got fired for the comments he made about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, these guys deserve jail time by comparison.”
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Number of words
Downey: 1,038
Slezak: 799
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Best Quote
Downey, from hitting coach Greg Walker:
“I let him be. like to give a guy a week or two to be himself, to see what he can do. I said, ‘I’ll wait a while and then I’ll let this kid know he’s raising that foot of his way too high.’
“Before I can say a word, I see Alexei come to bat and lift the foot about half as high. Then a little lower. And I watch him make other adjustments in the box. I told myself, ‘This is a smart young hitter we have here. This guy is a ballplayer.’ “
Slezak, from the man himself (through a translator):
”My teammates mess around with me. But I’m eating fine. I eat a lot. It’s just my metabolism is fast, I guess. But when weight comes, it comes. I’m just going to keep myself in shape.”
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Number of times Ramirez’s slim frame is referenced
Downey: 3
Slezak: 16
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Most interesting tidbit
Downey: Alexei named his new son Alexi.
Slezak: “Adjusting to cold weather, he said. He never had experienced it before. And he hated it.”
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Week in Review: A sweep over the suddenly CC-less Indians, followed by a four-game split with those pesky A’s.
Week in Preview: Series’ against KC and Texas- both on the road- takes the Sox to the All-Star break.
Fields on the Farm: Um, he has fewer errors than the All-Star Crede, so that’s cool.
All-Star snubs: I can really care less about who makes the All-Star game, but John Danks and Gavin Floyd were certainly deserving from the AL’s best pitching staff.
Beachwood Sabermetrics: A complex algorithm performed by The White Sox Report staff using all historical data made available by Major League Baseball has determined that the Sox are probably going to embarrass themselves while trying to get people to vote Jermaine Dye into the All-Star game.
The White Sox Report: Read ’em all.
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Ricky O’Donnell is the proprietor of Tremendous Upside Potential , a contributor to the Sun-Times’s Full Court Press and a lot of other things.
Posted on July 7, 2008