Al Lopez Ghost (old)

That is so great I can hardly believe it. Richly deserved too.

Joe Nossek wore 23 for years after Robin was allowed to leave, as a show of respect for the player and person Robin was.

Ya gotta send Rowand. Nomar just made the play. BUT what about Manuel's choices here? As said before, he could have - should have - pinch hit for Willie Harris. That's Willie .185 Harris. If he did, Rios could have played Center. AND HOW MANY TIMES IS HE GOING TO HAVE A RIGHT HANDED PITCHER FACE DAVID F. ORTIZ???? THAT'S DAVID 23 HOMERS AGAINST RIGHTIES ORTIZ!

Fine. Then shoot him.

Benjie Molina dropped a ball in a collision at the plate, and the ball rolled so far away the winning run scored too. Think there were two outs. f***.

Drunk Cub fan warning: this is set up for that "I've been drunk at Wrigley all day, so I think I'll run out on the field tonight" situation. Shoot on sight.

You can count on Cub fans to make you proud you're a Sox fan.

South Sider, you're right. We've had more than our share of infielders (Mike Caruso, DJ) who would have tried to get the batter into a rundown.

Once during the weekend and yesterday afternoon Sosa tried to do the Magglio slide in right field. He didn't come near either balls. He's a hotdog, a me first guy, and I can't stand him.

I say it's too early. KC's and Minny's magic number must be 28, right? It's too close with too much time left. And those games with the second place team count double. Just too soon.

Orosco was born on April 21, 1957, so he's a young 46. I envision him coming in to turn Jose or Robbie around, and we spank him.

Don't you think that if he were still our property we would have called him up as one of our September call-ups? I sure do. I hope Josh does real well, and the Cubs lose every game.

I believe that if Frank finishes with 45 homers and 100 plus RBIs someone will offer him much more than 6-8 million. Baltimore has sniffed around him before, and the Yankees could use a little offense. I hope he stays, but I won't be shocked to see a few headlines in November about Frank's future.

I know Hummel had a hit Friday night, to win the game. I think Jose will be back, especially if we retain Robbie.

It'll be the Yanks.

You can always tell a Cub fan....but you can't tell him much.

In 1999 the Sox loaded up on pitching in the draft. They took 6 of the first 66 players drafted, and they chose all pitchers. The ones I remember were Danny Wright, Rob Purvis, Jason Stumm and Brian West. Certainly Wright has panned out, but otherwise, another s***ty draft considering the opportunity they had.

I know we have to focus on the present, but, anybody else have in the back of their mind that Frank can be a free agent at the end of the year if he chooses? Ya gotta know someone would pony up more than 8 million he's guaranteed from the Sox, now that he's back to oh my god scary Frank.

If the road losses were all to Minnesota, we're in deep trouble. So I think it's less a home road thing, because we're playing pretty well everywhere now, but more a "how do we play minny and KC" thing.

Well, you can't say enough about the job KW has done this year, but bear in mind that imho Hawk hates Manuel. He has made a lot of subtle and not too subtle rips on Manuel, which he deserves, don't get me wrong. But if it comes down to who do we blame this year, Hawk will be the first in line taking shots at Jerry M.

Jim F, I think and hope that the Commissioner's office does track these blown calls and in the offseason, lets go of the worst couple of umps. It may be that they are doing what you'd like to see them do, but not in the public eye.

You ride that horse all the way into postseason, El C!

And Mussina on thursday, I think. I believe this is a statement series, and we will play well.

There's a column called QT (for Quick Takes), and Sunday's column includes the following. I will add nothing to it. NEWS ITEM: "Vietnam's capital city is cracking down on people who urinate in public and will fine offenders up to $3. Wait. They have Cub fans in Hanoi?

The rule book says credit a pitcher with a save in when he finishes the game, is not the winner and either (a) enters the game with a lead of no more than 3 runs and pitches at least 1 inning (B) enters the game with the potential tying run either on base, at bat, or on deck, or © he pitches effectively for at least three innings.