The Critic

I heard the D-Backs' broadcast of the final few outs of Johnson's perfect game, and I had the distinct displeasure of hearing Mark Grace howl and giggle like a Special Olympian during every highlight and add absolutely NOTHING to the broadcast. Some of the finer points of The Moth's expert analysis: "HO HO HO HOOOOOOOOO!!!" "WHOOOO! HAHAHAAAAAAAA!!" "AWESOME!" Thank GOD he took the local DBacks job instead of ESPN!

Maybe it's just 20/20 hindsight, but I did think last night when Bill came in that he had a different look to him, a smirking smile that I hadn't seen this year. He just had this "f*** You" look to him that I was very happy to see. I think Koch is better when he has that borderline-arrogant sneer on his mug. Then after the whiff-whiff-whiff he kinda strutted around accepting the congrats from the team. No DOUBT he was as relieved as the other guys to remove the drama, at least for one night. The fastball is at an acceptable speed right now. I think it's when he tries to reach back and get something that maybe isn't quite there anymore that his fastball flattens out and yells HIT ME. Right now I'm much more concerned about Marte than Koch. Something's not there right now for Damaso, and he needs to figure out what it is.

Even though I understand the money involved in the oil industry, I'm still stunned that 30 years after that awful oil "shortage" in the 70s with lines at gas stations that stretched for miles, we STILL haven't mass-produced hybrid or electric cars to the degree that we should have. It simply amazes me that the US willingly allows itself to remain at the mercy of the oil-producing countries to the level that we are.

Another great example of the "sanctity of holy matrimony". We've GOT to keep that most sacred institution away from the gays, they'll just corrupt it!!!

Ron Santo said something that made me LOL, because he was apparently serious when he said: "I'll tell you what, Alfonso was 20 feet in foul territory when he threw that ball to first......he'd have gotten me out if I was running...." Well, YEAH, he'd have gotten you, Ron - you have TWO PROSTHETIC LEGS.

I voted "other", with my other being Bruce Sutter. Sutter was flat-out NASTY in his day, and that split-finger was just about unhittable. Gagne is in the discussion for sure, but he needs to do it for a longer period of time to claim the top spot over Sutter or Eckersley.

Sorry, Brando, but that's a kinda ridiculous argument. The Cubs haven't had back-to-back winning seasons in 30 years and yet still have a firm grasp on the local AND national "market share" despite being cellar dwellers for most of that time. The Sox won't gain many Cub fans to their side, no matter how badly the Cubs perform. The Sox need to take care of their own business and they might as well just try to forget that the Cubs even exist. No National League team should be considered the Sox' main rivals.

Thanks, Nuke! I'm still holding out hope that Maury RPS will bring SnR back from the dead someday - there's SO MUCH FREAKIN' MATERIAL this year so far, and nowhere to use it!! For example, my ShamME sneezing back injury: "Aye feeel a sneeee comeen on..... AHHH AHHHH AHHHHHH-SHOOOOOO!!!! AY AY AY AY!!! MYE BOCK!!! AY AY AY AY!!!!!!! Aye theen aye nee too or three dayee off!!"

I saw a kid, maybe 8 or 9 years old wearing that shirt at DisneyWorld. I had an understated grey Sox t-shirt on and I looked at the kid and just nodded. The kid's mom saw me nodding at the kid and she laughed.....she knew.

I fall between casual and devoted because I don't follow the minors at all, but am very interested in the big club.

The difference is, NFL quarterbacks won't just fall down for him when he hits them like the WWE guys did......................well, maybe Brett Favre would, he did it for Michael Streahan (sp?)..........

ESPN is showing the Twinks here in ChiTown, since the Sox are on FSNC.

Must admit that I'm a bit concerned about the Jndjians. They've been playing better lately. Sox MUST come out hitting, and not wait to bunch 20 runs together in one game.

YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN......

Well, then why bother trying to make the playoffs? After all, October can get REALLY COLD. f***ing pathetic excuse if you ask me.

I was in Florida on vacation, but I wouldn't have gone this weekend anyway. I have my tickets for this season already, except for one or two more games. I'm going on May 28 v Anaheim, June 24 v Cleveland, August 21 v Boston and September 1 v Oakland so far. For the record, I try to never b**** about attendance because it's a REALLY boring topic.

"Cubs Suck" t-shirts or anything else about the "feud" bores the f*** out of me.

I'd go with this lineup for a while: Harris Lee Ordonez Thomas Uribe Konerko Valentin Crede Olivo

Pat Foley does a hell of a job painting a mental picture of a hockey game, which IMO is the most dificult game to PBP on radio because of the amount of turnovers and line changes. Buck, Brennaman, Rooney and Thorne are my personal faves right now.

I'm off to Flahhhhridda with Mrs. Critic and the little Criticette! Taking the young'un to DisneyWorld for the first time. I shall return on Monday to read the grand tales of domination over the weekend, the awe-inspiring exploits of our Black and Silver Marauders as they terrorize, victimize and clip the wings of those ugly black and orange birds and THEN DESTROY that evil band of ne'er-do-wells from the Land Of Nothing, the Twinkies!!! ....OR, I'll read the usual b****ing and moaning about "this guy sucks and should be sent down to Charlotte and killed" or "corpseball this and corpseball that"...I'm really hoping for awe-inspiring tales of domination.... GO SOX!!!! Have a great weekend, all....

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/040512 Boyoboy, that's one funny guy......

His ignorance ( or attempt at downplaying Diaz's minor-league stats ) is typical lazy writing by Blew Jay. I REALLY hate to take this road, but we heard ( and continue to hear ) about almost EVERY Northside minor league pitcher for years before they come up. Sometimes it's warranted ( Zambrano ) and sometimes it's not ( Cruz ). But we hear about them anyway, with the latest example being Angel Guzman. There's practically an Angel Guzman Watch, and he's never done a thing at the ML level. The fact is, Felix Diaz is pitching lights-out in Charlotte, and whether or not he succeeds right away for the Sox, he still deserves some mention for what he's doing on the farm. For Blew Jay to ignore the numbers and write him off as "someone named Felix Diaz" undermines what tiny shred of credibility he may try to cling to as a journalist.

I was completely unimpressed. The video is very weak and recycled. The song does nothing for me. Admittedly, I lost interest in Beastie Boys a loooong time ago, but this just seems uninspired. It has a "going through the motions" feel to it.

Another option I just thought of: Hang around outside the Deadly Confines ( watch out for turning SUVs ) and once the game starts, the price of the "brokers" tickets will begin to plummet quickly. If you can stand to miss ShamME's first at-bat, the price will have dropped significantly by that time. Hope that helps somewhat.

Good point. It would be very interesting to see how the Cult would react to 3 weeks without both Prior and Wood. I think it would become EVEN MORE tense around the DC and therefore even more dangerous for passersby...