The Critic

Sorry, Alomar and Everett were not the reason for the collapse. The deals sent a positive message that the Sox were not packing it in in July. Prospects are like suspects - line up any 5 and one MIGHT be the right guy. I would do either of those deals again, and I really hope we can keep at least one of those guys.

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! Im a die hard sox fan and id rather see the celebration than a meaningless AL central game. That would make you one of the less than 10%. Doesn't make you right. right back atcha

no, they SHOULD show the game - there will be WAAAAAAAAAAY more than enough time to overcelebrate this. I can guarantee that less than 10% of the people tuned in to see the Sox give half a s*** about the Cubs celebration.

Teams that over-celebrate getting INTO the playoffs are NOT going to be celebrating at the end. Florida....DEAD Lovable Losers....DEAD SO happy just to get there....enjoy the time until the Braves and Giants take you to school....

LDS OAK 3 BOS 2 NYY 3 MIN 0 ATL 3 CLL 1 SF 3 FLA 1 LCS NYY 4 OAK 2 SF 4 ATL 3 WS SF 4 NYY 2 Proving once and for all who LOST the World Series for SF last year...

Prior is great, Wood is good but inconsistent, and Zambrano appears to be feeling the effects of the Dusty Factor ( overwork and dead arm ). Clement is also hit-or-miss and they have no 5th starter ( sound familiar, Sox fans? ) The Braves can hit and pitch, and the Cubs can pitch, until you get to the PigPen of Guthrie, Farnsworth, Veres, Alfonsucka, and Old Man River Remlinger. Borowski is solid, but the rest of that bullpen is NOT that good, thus the Dusty Factor. Throw throw throw, you starters - 130 pitches?? That's not THAT many, it it?? The Cub hitting is spotty and the SUPERHERO is fading in September. When your top offensive threats are Errormiss Ramirez and Handy Dandy Randy Simon, Atlanta can't be panicking. Anything can happen in a short series, but it would be a MAJOR upset to say the least. Even in their meager success, The Lovable Losers are the worst team in the playoffs.

"DOT EEZ MY ENTORTAYMEN BOT!" "ON EEF WEE DON' WEEN DEE WHIRL SEEREE, AY WEEL PLAY FOR DEE JONKEEZ"

May I add that it's not over yet, and these ARE still the Cubs? Their magic number is 1 and until it's ZERO, they can STILL grab the throat. ...not that Atlanta really cares who they kill, anyway...

...by hitting 28 ground balls with a runner on first?? But I know what you mean, PK is seriously slow! Also doesn't help that he beats his bat into the ground before he even starts running...

I'll be watching. There's no other baseball game worth watching. I'll be flipping over to the LackHawks off and on, but I'll be tuned to the Sox more often than not.

"1908" "Cork" "WOO! WOO!" there's a few. And if they try to go all "1917" on you, tell them that 9 years is a LONG time, and to prove it they should tie a belt around their neck and hang for 9 years.

I'll flip back and forth, but I'm going to be watching more of the Sox, since my baseball watching probably ends on Sunday for the year. Glad to hear about the Wolves - at least ONE Chicago hockey team understands that not EVERY SINGLE HOCKEY FAN has the time or money to become a "season ticket reservationist". I wonder if the Wolves have to pay a radio station to broadcast their games??

Numbers: Pitching ATL 4.09 ERA, 658 ER allowed, 50 saves CHC 3.85 ERA, 609 ER allowed, 36 saves Batting ATL .284 AVG, 899 runs CHC .259 AVG, 711 runs and of course, last playoff appearance against each other ATL swept CHC

Oh, and I finally saw some halfwit with the mandatory "Next Year Is Here" sign. I love when they trot that sign out, only to be thoroughly schooled in the playoffs and realize that this year is just another this year and next year has not yet arrived....again.... Another completely obvious and overdone sign seen at Chewing Gum Park: "Houston, you have a problem!" WOW, never saw THAT coming!!! How'd you EVER think that one up, Skippy???

Yep, they haven't played a major-league team since Montreal, and they dumped 2 of 3 to them. I'm sure Atlanta and SF ( and even Florida for that matter ) are lying awake at night wondering how to defeat the worst team in the playoffs.

Don't worry. I don't have to have it on paper to know that I see it in my line of work everyday. Sometimes a little real life experience is worth more than a lifetime of book data. How many seventh generation welfare moms do you run into? The average welfare mother receives less than 100 dollars a month extra per child, hardly a reason to pop out babies. I'm sure there are people cheating the system, it happens everywhere. I should know, having worked in the real world too. It just seems the people who try to cheat the system more often are more well to do than a welfare mom. Like the mayor of the town where I worked retail, coming in and expecting free stuff. After all, don't you know who she is? Or the cop confiscating drugs and instead of prosecuting the dealer, traffics it himself? Or my State Rep who is also the "HR Director" of a mental health institute and draws a salary for the place he never actually works at? Corruption runs at all levels. And I see it everywhere. Sorry if I'm willing to overlook the mother bilking a couple thousand for the people I see bilking much more on a daily basis. Oh yeah, I'm not in college anymore either. Win are you from NW Indiana? If he'd have said "town president" instead of "mayor", I'd know EXACTLY where he was from....CICERO!!

I can see where Bartolo is coming from, from the standpoint that the Sox DID salvage the year in one sense. They were all but dead before the ASG and they did get back in the race and make it very interesting. I think it's human nature to try to find the silver lining, and not to just bash and bash and stay depressed about it. As far as next year, who can tell? At this time last year, was ANYONE thinking that KC would be a contender for the division title? With their pitching staff, is there any real reason to expect them to play that well again next year? If the Twins lose free agents like we expect, will the chemistry suffer? Or will they just plow forward like they did after losing Ortiz? My thinking is that if the Sox don't let EVERY free agent walk, and IF they address a couple key problem areas, they can expect to be in the thick of it next year, and every year brings its own circumstances. All you can ask of your team is to make moves to remain competitive and the Sox definitely did that this year. It just didn't work out.

I agree, Stone is excellent. Besides, what does he care what theCubs think of what he says anyway? He's gonna own the Las Vegas Sexpos pretty soon!!

Yeah, that wig glue has seeped into Santo's brain! The best thing last night was when Martinez hit that flyball and Chimp said "SWUNG ON BELTED DEEP DRIVE" only to have it caught 10 feet in front of the track. Fantastic...

Hey, Steff, don't know if you heard it, but Wills threw out a birthday wish to you on the postgame show. Mentioned hanging out with you and "Mr. Steff" along with Meltie. I'm not a big fan of Wills ( I consider him too much of a homer ), but I thought it was cool of him to shout out to you. ...although he only mentioned you posting at "that OTHER website".... Dave Oh, and who's the chick with the happy tongue in the Melton picture???? She seems REALLY glad to meet Bill!

no i think you missed the point....yes jm had his moments but in the end he did bring us at least 1 division championship team........and quite a few good seasons finishing nothing below 3rd with what he had to work with..... im just sayin that the next guy may not be as good......and if history repeats itself like it always does with this team.. we could be in for a long stretch under new management.....just tryin to shed a bit of light on the opposite side of the fence for all the jm bashers....granted i think he should move on but he wasnt all that bad when he was here..... fair enough....but I will add this: "no lower than third" is not that impressive when you take into account the won-lost records of those years. 2002 - 81 and 81 2001 - 83 and 79 2000 - division winners, great year, 95 wins 1999 - 75 and 86, 2nd place but 21.5 GB 1998 - 80 and 82 1997 - 80 and 81 So "no lower than third" isn't so much a positive for the Sox as it is an indication of how crappy the AL Central has been. For most of that time, it was Minnesota, Kansas City and either Milwaukee or Detroit enabling the Sox to finish second. This year's team has the chance to be the "best 2nd place team" under Manuel, and he's going to get fired for it. That should be some indication that it's time for a change.

So by the "we could end up worse" line of thinking, Michelle, the Sox shouldn't have replaced Bevington cuz the next guy COULD be worse? I'll take my chances on the next guy, because I KNOW the current guy has run his course...

Yeah, when he's doing his FINAL postgame interview/excuse session, have someone bring a duffel bag full of his crap and flop it on the table and say, "here's your stuff, Jerry, bye..." Maybe place his portrait from the clubhouse wall on the table, too. WON'T miss him, not one bit.

HAPPY "Dirty 30", Steff!!! Hope you had a great time, and that it was NOT followed by a bad morning!! I was already in 5th grade and had played a game in Old Comiskey by the time you were born! MAN, do I feel old!!!

typical.....so SO typical.... Of course, "son time yoo haftoo teep yoo HOT too dee peesher"!!