The Trib's Mark Gonzales busted out the tried and true "Always had the skill, now he has the confidence" stock file article today. The subject: starting pitcher Javier Vazquez.

These pieces are a sports journalists best friend-pull a few quotes from observers, trot out some select stats and sprinkle in some classic clichés like "turn the corner" "flashes of brilliance" and "put it all together." Wa-la!

(Actually, Gonzales didn't use any of those clichés, so I'm following another sports journalism dandy: don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.)

Regardless of Gonzales' confidence barometer, I'm looking forward to a great season from Vazquez-in fact I anticipate he'll possibly even compete for the Cy Young. But I do get tired of reading about players talking about their own confidence.

You have confidence? Great! The first rule about confidence club: don't talk about confidence. If you've got it, it'll show.

I know that, as Yogi Berra said, 90% of the game is half mental, but the Sox sure do have a lot of players hung up on confidence or mental issues. Carlos Quentin went to therapy to battle his bitter self assessment. Paul Konerko struggles with similar "too hard on himself" issues. Veteran starter Jose Contreras comes and goes with his shaky self-confidence. Ditto Mike Macdougal, and probably most of the rest of the bullpen as well.

Then of course there's the poster boy for basket cases: Gavin Floyd.

If all these guys capture the poise and buoyancy of teammates like Nick Swisher, AJ Pierzynski and Orlando Cabrera, that whole "show the swagger" tag line might work out. But if the team gets off to a slow start, Ozzie will have to prevent them from imploding with self-doubt.