Pants Rowland

I typically couldn't care less about the Cubs and their fans. However, they have a ton of casual followers and sometimes it's tough not to roll my eyes at the dumb random baseball "trivia" they regurgitate. It's a lot like the silly stuff on the jumbotron at Sox Park. It sounds intelligent but it's really useless and meaningless. Len tends to cite crap like that too often. But I digress. Len is fine on TV but TA's walkoff notwithstanding, he is a pretty mediocre radio play by play man. Way better than Conner McKnight but both of them have a bad habit of tripping over their tongue before telling you what happened. Too often you don't know if it's a strike/ball, flyout/HR, or a pop foul is playable or not. until well after the play ends. The best guys get to the point quickly and then fill in the blanks. I think Len does a lousy job of it.

He's brutal but I will say I'll take him over Len Kasper any day. There is something about Len on the radio that really pisses me off. The order of information and the way he delivers it sucks in my opinion. He also quotes stupid stats about random immaterial things happening in unison for the first time in 106 years. It's that dumb stuff that appeals to Cub fans.

That's what good managers do.

Jeff Healey too.

I have not read the article yet, but I have noticed what appears to be a high percentage of young Sox position player callups making an immediate positive impact this year. I can not recall anything like it in my 40 years of watching the Sox, even during the Himes era. It is like the 2000s Twins the way every random dude comes up and contributes. It may be all drafting and good trades, but I am curious if Chris Getz also has played a significant role in his revamp of the player development side of the organization. We seem to be producing better all around ballplayers and not just the good body natural athlete guys that flopped here (and sometimes found success elsewhere after struggles) in the past.

here comes the bunt....

Has anyone asked the question if Tony instructed Yermin to get up there and swing early in the count? In other words, if the unwritten rule/missed sign was to take on 3-0, was Yermin also ignoring instructions to swing 0-0, 1-0, and possibly 2-0? I only ask because I can sort of see Tony's point if you are supposed to just get up there and swing to keep the game moving. That actually makes sense. It's 15-4 kid, stop waiting for the perfect pitch and just swing the bat. If you are just cherry picking and then unleash the fury at 3-0, I can get why it is a take situation. And for the record, I do not agree with how TLR handled much of the situation and think the Twins are whiney punks.

Since about 2001, the Minnesota Twins franchise has had no problem piling on the Sox at every opportunity. They also were more than happy to manipulate the airflow to their own benefit in that oversized indoor mall they used to occupy. On top of that, there's nary a Sox-Twins series I will watch without thinking of Torii Hunter intentionally plowing over Jamie Burke and causing hearing damage on a play that anyone could see was totally unnecessary to score a run. With all due respect, their announcers can go fuck themselves.

The best part was when he blamed his teammates for his bad performances.

Better to get a west coast trip full of night games out of the way early when they are coming from AZ rather than in the mid-season grind. It sucks, but will be over shortly.

I may be off base, but just this afternoon, I told my buddy that Eloy is our version of Schwarber. I am not sure Eloy will ever be more valuable than he is today.

Where is the option to trade him and all that he promises to be for as big of a haul as possible. The guy is clearly an idiot and doesn't learn his lesson out there. I know how promising his bat looks, but I'd trade him at the deadline (assuming he's not injured) for a dominant starter on a short term contract and some low level high upside lottery tickets.

He sucked as a manager, but I'm amazed that everyone is just ignoring Ventura from consideration here. My vote goes to Buerhle, but Ventura really was the clear #2 on a those competitive teams of the early to mid-90s. He definitely merits recognition in this conversation as much, if not moreso than Konerko.

After losing loved one, you still have moments in the ensuing years where some news breaks and you have that urge to pick up the phone and call them. Then reality rears its head and snuffs out your excitement. Those moments fade over time but when I saw the news about Dick Allen today, I briefly thought to call my late father who was a fan. RIP Dick Allen.

Jocketty’s also not surprised to see La Russa managing at age 76, since he’s been hearing about his desire to jump back in for the last few years. “He’s really had the energy and ambition to get back to managing because he sees things he doesn’t like in the way the game is played some times, and he’d like to have some opportunity to show how he did it, obviously with some adjustments,” Jocketty said. “He was definitely fired up for this and he’s got the energy and the drive to take this thing as far as he can take it.” Oh FFS!