Al Lopez Ghost (old)

I disagree. He could be both.

If someone signs him to a four contract, they're gonna be real unhappy two years from now. Let him go.

Joe D's. There are easy saves nowadays, there's no easy way to get a hit a game for 56 in a row.

4 for 47, tho he reached on the strikeout. If there is anybody hot in the minors, it could be time for Willie to "work on his stroke" down there. BTW, he reached base twice in a 4 to 2 game, and did not attempt a steal. He's just too confused at the moment.

Maggs should be traded if the Sox know he's turned down their best final offer. The Dodgers could still use him, the Mets could, there's a lot of NL teams close enough to the playoffs to make a good offer to us. But I won't boo him. It's free agency, he gets to go where he wants. Maggs never dogged it and won a lot of games for us. I do hope he doesn't relocate 8 miles north, tho.

They shoulda canned Mike Jackson.

I believe that the best available reliver is Shirley Maclaine.

Holy Crap! What terrific news this would be, and a great way to show the fans the Sox are going all out. PLEEEESE be true.

It's a fabulous commercial "14 seasons - one uniform" and really appeals to Sox Pride. Boy is Rob Gallas improving!

4 for 44 and counting.

They won 9 straight from July 13 thru 22nd. That was their longest streak, if I'm reading the 1990 media guide correctly.

As you well know, only Wilson Alvarez, Sammy Sosa and Scott Fletcher. By the way the Sox in 1989 lost 11 straight home games between May 19 and June 3, and were getting whomped doing it. I remember seeing all of those games, and feeling, well we must have hit bottom tonight. Several times.

The Twins lose today and we win. Even if the worst thing happens, when the day is done we will be tied with the Twins in the loss column. We're in good shape. Get Maggs back and go on a tear.

The Maggs to the Cubs idea was first written by Paul Sullivan in the Tribune on Thursday or Friday, so Mariotti isn't even coming up with original ways to rip on the Sox.

This is from Sunday's Southtown: Willie Harris feels trapped in a vicious cycle right now, and no matter how he has tried to get out of it, he can't. To get back into the everyday lineup, Harris needs to hit. When he gets a chance to play, he finds himself pressing to hit. When he presses, the hits don't come ahd he finds himself back on the bench. "I don't think they've given up on me" he said Saturday. "It's just that when I get in there it's hard on you, because when you do finally get in there, you've got all this pressure on you to get 3 hits to be in there that next day. "You can't really just concentrate on what you've got to do, and that's get on base. You're up there at the plate all tight, 'I've got to get a hit here, I've got to get a hit. I've got to have a great day just to play tomorrow.' I shouldn't have to feel like that. Nobody should," he added. "But it ain't about me, it's about us." A hot streak in April ensured Harris more playing time in May. He moved back and forth between 2nd base and cneter field - ahead of Opening Day starter Aaron Rowand - as long as he was swinging the bat well. Harris responded with a .384 average in May, as well as a career high 13 game hitting streak that carried into June. After that hitting streak ended, he began to struggle. Following Hariis' 0-for-4 performance against Florida on June 16, Guillen went back to Rowand in Center and Perez in the leadoff spot. Saturday's start for Harris was just his fifth in the last 16 games. "It's hard for me too" Guillen said of sitting Harris. "It's hard for me when I don't play these kids. He was my everyday player, but right now, with the way Perez is swing the bat and the way Perez is playing in the leadoff spot.... Right now it's a big thing to win. When you're in that position, it's hard for me to play everybody every day. I know it's not easy for (Harris) when you play once a week, "Guillen added. "He played pretty good for us. I think he played better than we thought." Inconsistency, Guillen said, was the determining factor in Harris' decline. "Willie was his own worst enemy," Guillen said. "He played well one day and then all of a sudden he doesn't have any confidence when he goes 0-for-4. When you play in the big leagues, you're going to have 0-for-4 a lot. He has to think about that." He is. That's part of the problem. "I don't know how you get out of it without being in there on a regular basis," said Harris, who went 1-for-3 on Saturday and is 4-for-40 over his last 14 games. "You just got to keep working, man. I don't know how you keep fresh. Take your flips, get extra bp, I don't know. You just got to roll with it. It's been rough as hell, but you still got to be a team player, still got to sit there and cheer on your teammates. At the same time, we're still winning and as a competitor you want to be a part of it. It's hard. But we're winning and everything is going well." "I'm not trying to figure it out anymore," Harris added. "Everybody is going to hit a wall, everybody is going to struggle. You just have to fight through that wall. You can't just give up on a guy because everybody is going to struggle." Despite his recent struggles, Harris is still batting .276 - a positive he holds on to. "It would be one thing if I had terrible numbers and I wasn't playing," Harris said. "Yeah, I'm going through a tough time right now, but my numbers aren't terrible. I know they can be a lot better, and now it's just time to figure out how to get that done." I think that when your average drops a hundred points in a month, you do have terrible numbers. I also think that guys like Rowand, Perez, and yes even Gload, stayed sharp at the plate with little playing time. I think Willie could spend his free time learning how to be a top flight bunter, which is currently nowhere near being. And a guy in the bigs because he can run, has to run when he gets on base. And those are the things that stand between Harris and a regular job.

This is crap.

Hawk is a loyal employee.

When Mags comes back, there are a couple of choices Ozzie has to make. First, it could be Mike Jackson based on his performance and that of Politte's. If not Jackson, then Ozzie has to decide if it's more important to have a 3rd catcher who is a switchhitter, or Gload whose only role seems to be a left handed bat off the bench and occasional defensive replacement at first. Gload's terrible performance in right field the last two Fridays have made him, in my eyes, more expendable. I'd dump Jackson, but if Ozzie wants to keep him, I'd send Gload down.

The Sox beat guy from the Daily Herald was on the Score today, and he said that the Sox feel that Willie got a big head when he got hot early, acting like an AllStar. IMHO if Willie had shown the ability to steal another 5-8 bases when he was going well, he would be playing a lot more. Maybe he was coasting.

Here's hoping that will put a little extra life into them when they play...who was that again?... Oh yeah, the Twinkies. Plus Randy Johnson tomorrow. Go Snakes!

OK, I did some research. This year Ollivo caught 40 starts for us, and appeared as a "relief catcher" in 4 other games. We were 23-17 in his starts and 1-3 when he came in late. The Sox ERA in all of Olivo's appearances was 4.69. Our overall ERA through today (so that means all of Olivo's time and the Minny series) is 4.54. Olivo starts by pitcher: ELO 15 (Sox were 10-5) Garland 14 (Sox were 8-6) Diaz 2 (Sox were 1-1) Cotts 1 (Sox were 0-1) Rauch 2 (Sox were 1-1) Shoeneweiss 1 (Sox were 1-0) Wright 3 (Sox were 0-3) Buerhle 2 (Sox were 2-0) Just the facts. Seems to me thought, that Olivo's numbers were worsened by the starts he made with Cotts, Rauch, Diaz (the early Diaz starts) and Wright, while rarely playing with Buerhle.

You can't underestimate how big this game was, and he came through like a champ. I rip on Garland all the time, but this was one stellar performance. Now let's see him do this a few more times. I'd love to see our big four start clicking the way the '83 team did, where Hoyt, Bannister and Dotson went something like 43 and 5 in the second half.

I grew up a mile away from the North Side park, but dad was a Sox fan. He died 40 years ago, but if I got hit in the head and started rooting for the Cubs, I know he'd come back and straighten me out.

I'd like to point out that at no time in the 3 game series did we ever trail.

Glad you're furious.