Al Lopez Ghost (old)

The Sox always start the season on the road. That is a request by JR and it has been honored every year since he first made it. Do you know what the reasoning is behing his request? I think it's weather related. he figures the later we hit Chicago the better, even though in reality weather is a crap shoot until, oh, mid June.

I was at Jiffy Lube this morning, and the guy working on my car (how's that for a source?) tells me he heard on CLTV today that: Ozzie will be the manager, Colon will be resigned and the Sox will sign Tejada. Now, there's probably a reason this guy is working at Jiffy Lube, but I was wondering if any of you have heard any recent reliable information like this?

They had the batting champion, but it was Bobby Avila. The manager was...ahem...Al Lopez. I guess I pulled a Dusty.

The 1906 World Series had a certain appeal for me.

Tuesday afternoon Bruce Levine was on the MacNeil show, and said "his sources" indicate that it will be Cito also. He said that Cito's salary would be around 1.5 million a year, and his contract would be for 2 years plus an option.

1. Firing Manuel, at least by the All Star break; 2. Getting a viable 5th starter, like Kenny Rogers, Wilson Alvarez, Jose Lima...people were available.

Because Frank has always been a team first kind of player.

All I can say is that I hope Mr. Bevington knows that you must have someone in the bullpen warming up before you make a pitching change. With a new ball park he may not even know where the bullpen is. Boomer did that in the current ballpark.

The funniest conversation I heard this year, and in several, was the one between Hawk and DJ about the ball Maggs hit against Boston that was called a ground rule double, but looked like it might have his the foul pole. They argued back and forth for about 10 minutes, and it sounded like Bevington's foul/fair monolog.

The next pitcher to win 300 games is nobody.

Yes and Frank has never done anything stupid due to his sense of pride. I remember the first time he walked out of spring training a few years ago, he did that specifically against the advice of his agents, whom he then fired. You could certainly make a case that signing the diminished skills contract was stupid, and again marked by his own overblown sense of self, because no one else in baseball, hey even in sports, has ever signed such a contract. Frank WOULD be stupid to turn down the 6 million, but he's done enough stupid things in the past to indicate it could happen again.

First of all Gordon will be elsewhere, maybe to the Cubs, maybe the Yankees, but he won't be with us. Because of his contract and history, they will give Koch the chance to prove he's back as the prime closer. If he struggles in April and May, then it's plan B, which will be Marte. But one warning: even if Koch is effective in Spring Training...wait. Don't get too excited until he shows what he can do when the real thing begins.

I didn't see it. Did Dusty mention how badly the Cubs manager screwed up their chances of advancing to the Fall Classic?

1. I feel less uneasy when Harris is in CF. I don't think he has good instincts, and CF lets you use your speed to correct mistakes more easily than 2B does. 2. There's been nothing to indicate that he'll ever be any better than a AAA player. He's still young but I haven't seen any better pitch recognition or patience at the plate. IF he could develop a more patient approach and take more walks, then obviously his base-stealing opportunities would increase, but I really think that's wishful thinking at this point. The Sox HAD to have addressed that with him in the past couple of years, and he hasn't improved ( at least not at the ML level ). I don't think he's a long-range factor in the White Sox future. I agree. Just because they're both fast doesn't mean Pierre's instincts for playing the game can be instilled in Willie. If you want to find out, you'll have to invest 3 or 4 months of playing time in the bigs, and if he fails...it would be hard to win the division. I think he's a lot closer to Julio Ramirez than Juan Pierre.

No need to apologize!

I say Gordon goes to the Cubs.

Well, maybe. They are an old club with a lot of questions: catcher, first, second, short, and the bullpen beyond Farnsworth and Borowski. They have a rotation, I'll give them that, but I wouldn't think Vegas would put them at a 90 win over/under quite yet. I wish them all the luck (bad) in the world. As for us, I have a sickening feeling we're gonna see Jose Valentin resigned to be at shortstop, and that will be an indication of a mediocre team.

In Friday's Daily Herald, one of their sports guys, Barry Rozner, said that after game 7 Kenny Lofton and Sammy Sosa had a dust-up perhaps over Sammelah's s***ty at bats when the game was on the line. The site is www.dailyherald. Shocking news.

Pedro said it was a 16 pounder, with two extra holes!

Jay is bird cage liner.

I've always said that Cub "fans" are more concerned with Wrigley, attendance, and beer more so than winning. I like beer as much as the next guy but Miller Lite is hardly the reason why I go to USCF . Posts like this just prove my theory. They serve Old Style at Wrigley, don't they? I've never tried the stuff, but I've heard that it is s***ty-ass beer. Perfect for s***ty-ass fans. As far as the attendance issue if concerned regarding the Cubs high attendance.....I personally find that kind of funny that Cubs fans show up when their team is losing. Does that not tell you that they do not care whether the team wins or loses? I would still follow the team and support the team win or lose.....but part of that is because I love the White Sox, no matter the decisions they make. However, if I could attend games on a regular basis, and they do not want to give me as a fan a good product, I will give them a one-finger salute(seen here :fyou ), and I wouldn't attend as many games as I could....save a little cash. To me, that signifies the typical fan....and I'd consider myself a fairly typical fan....if I lived within range to the ballpark, I would go to a few games a year, but if they sucked, I wouldn't go to as many. Get what I'm saying? So technically, you cannot call Cubs fans fairwhether fans. I still do though Any Wrigley crowd of 30,000 has about 8,000 baseball fans and 22,000 fans of beer, sunshine, a neighborhood of bars and the opposite sex. When they say "At least we support our team" one of the correct replies is, "No, you just like being at Wrigley Field. If you put your dear Cubbies at U.S. Cellular would you follow them there?" See how many people say yes.

Wait...a rational Cubs fan? Room spinning....blacking out........THUD!

They're proud of their mediocrity. They revel in it. Morons.

Until the second game of next season when they outdraw us. No wait, I'm wrong. You ain't heard crap talk until their Cubfest stinks up the town! It'll be brown and rolling down the streets.

I think you've the basic idea covered. You could go into other details, like why wasn't Clement used when Wood started faltering. Dusty's really established himself a track record here of blowing postseason series he had in control...If he ever gets back in, that's gonna play with his mind... I heard a Cub fan come up with a new idea on the Score yesterday. He said Dusty should have closed out the Prior game...with Kerry Wood. I'm not saying that's the best idea in the world, but I found it interesting. Might even have gotten them into the playoffs. He wouldn't have had to throw anything but heat for two innings...