The Critic

Yeah, but those games are against NHL teams!

No interest - high salary, moody, injury-prone. If I could just get my time machine to work, then MAYBE.....

You're gonna have a lot of time to get your yardwork done this summer....

Because the SlackHawks had used up their daily allotment of two goals per game! Also because what difference does it make it you put ANOTHER fourth-line checking center out there in the last minute??? They're NOT gonna get the tying goal! I'm going tomorrow, and if the Slacks are down one with TEN minutes left, I'd be tempted to leave! HA.

I wonder where I've read that article before..... Ohhhhhh, yeahhhhhh, NOW I remember..... http://www.soxtalk.com/index.php?showtopic=16228

HA.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...n_en_mu/r_kelly Illegal search and seizure is the reason they gave. He still faces charges in Illinois. My favorite factoid in this article? Images were found on a digital camera, which was found wrapped in a towel inside a duffel bag. HEY, THAT'S HOW I STORE MY CAMERA TOO!!!!! That's not suspicious AT ALL!!!!

The Sox won the Central in 2000 by getting out of the gate strong and riding that good first half through an okay, but not much better than okay, second half and then getting outplayed and outmanaged by the Seattle Mariners. The Sox seem to have a good half ( usually the second half, except for 2000 ) and a bad half ( usually the first half, which buried the team before the good second half ) each season. That one Central division title doesn't make Manuel a good manager, and the fact that he couldn't get this team to play well for an entire season points to him NOT being a very good manager or motivator.

...or he might just be posturing to appease Congress... The MLBPA and MLB would be stupid not to put some kind of tough testing program in place. It seems that politicians want it there, and they always hold the antitrust exemption over MLB's heads. The union runs the risk of being seen as conspirators of they keep opposing testing, and that makes players look guilty to the general public. It's all bad PR, if nothing else.

I'd let Borchard go in a heartbeat for Washburn. Look at how many one-year stopgap outfielders have been available via free agency the past couple seasons. If the Sox needed someone to fill a hole until Reed or Sweeney is ready, that's a WHOLE lot easier to get than a quality starter. If that trade's really out there, KW would be insane not to get it done. Of course, there's always "salary constraints" to consider..... :puke

I think Rauch will be higher than #5 in Charlotte...

My answer to the hecklers: "When the Hawks give me a reason to pull the Indianhead jersey off the hanger I will do so. Until then.....ROAD TEAM, BAYBEEEEEE!!!!!"

Maybe if they put a retro-style quality team on the ice ( perhaps circa early 90's or late 60's/early 70's ), they might be worth 75 bucks a pop. I'm going on Friday, and I'm a little pissed that my brother-in-law bought the 25 buck 300-level tix instead of the 15 buck tix. ( We're going because my brother and sister-in-law moved to Illinois recently and haven't been to a hockey game - unfortunately, they associate hockey with the SlackHawks, and not the Wolves who I'd have preferred to see )

Nahhh, you don't take out Tha Franchise when the game is on the line! "Pixie Dust" would've still used "the guys who got him there"....like Dave Veres in Game 7!!! HA. Gotta admit, though, if they happen to get to that position this year, if I were Big Dust I'd feel comfortable trotting LaTroy Hawkins out there in the 8th inning...

Don't worry, he won't be around to blow any regular-season games.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1760409 This is weird. Nobody seems to know much, and they aren't saying what they do know. I hope he's okay - I think he's one of the really good guys in the game.

As long as he gets people out, I don't care if he throws underhanded. Everything I've been reading says his location is good and all that. I'll wait to see how he fares in real games. He's important to this team, but it's not like there's no other closer candidate in that pen.

You could get yourself some free time by forgetting about the SlackHawks like everyone else in Chicago has.

I'd guess that he wants to get his guys mentally prepared for their spot in the rotation, and at this point Wright has shown enough for serious consideration for the 5 spot or even the 4 spot. But I can see your point about keeping the competition alive for the spot. Grilli won't lack for motivation either way, though, since he's got to know that nothing is guaranteed for him on this staff. The pitching has been a fairly pleasant surprise, with guys like Pollitte, Koch, Rauch, Cotts, along with Wright and Grilli, throwing pretty well thus far. The only real disappointment to this point has been Takatsu, and I don't really know what to expect from him from here on out.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. The Sox are holding the Cubs series tickets for partial or full season ticket packages, and they'll release any leftovers for general sale after April or early May. I think it's a good move, if you want Sox fans at Sox games. I think the Sox will sell out the Yankees series, maybe the Red Sox series ( especially the Loaiza bobblehead game ) and obviously if the Sox are in contention for the division title, they'll sell out some games later in the season.

I just KNEW the Lingerie Bowl was going to prove something to the NFL.

Very good article in the Sun-Times about Rowand today. Seems that a baseball card made Rowand see what he was doing wrong. He's hitting VERY well right now, and I hope he keeps it up. He's a very important part of this team's success this year.

Stone is a great analyst, and does NOT exhibit any bias at all. His review of the White Sox was right on the money - he stated that the Sox are a very talented offensive team, that their pitching can and probably WILL be better than a lot of people expect, and that the defense is the area of concern. ( Don't necessarily agree with him on that, though - Lee and Ordonez had very good defensive seasons last year, Rowand can go get it in CF, Crede's solid at 3B, Valentin made fewer errors last year than EITHER of the legendary Yankee shortstops OR King Nomar, Harris or Uribe will pick it pretty well at second, Paulie's no liability at 1B and Olivo is already more than solid behind the plate. So where's the weakness? ) It just shows that Stone actually bases his opinions on what he sees, unlike guys like Rick Sutcliffe, who just parrots what the rest of the "crack staff at ESPN" bleat on their broadcasts. As bad as Chimp Caray is, Stone is worth listening to at every opportunity.

Olivo has a kidney stone.....OUCH!!!!!! Levine said it's gonna be a day or two for Miguel, until the stone makes its way out.....OOOOUUUUUCCCHHHHH!!!!!

I'd think there has to be something Oz can do as far as where he stands in the box, or body positioning, but I think it's really up to Willie. He needs to go up there with a plan, and it doesn't look like he does that at all. But only Willie can make Willie take pitches - he let Psycho Zambrano off the hook twice, swinging at the first or second pitch twice and grounding to Walker both times. Makes me wanna pull out my hair.