Yossarian

QUOTE(YASNY @ Aug 10, 2005 -> 11:38 PM) I have long believed that this team is capable of winning it all. That doesn't mean I'm convinced that it will. The big thing that this Yankee series showed me about the Sox was that they didn't wilt on the big stage. They were in 3 tight, tough ballgames and played well. No bonehead mistakes or major choke jobs. They grinded out two tough victories and showed plenty of backbone while doing it. I will be let down by this team if they roll over and die to anyone in the playoffs. If they play well but get beat, then I'll be disappointed that it wasn't meant to be. I won't consider it that the team let me down if they go down fighting. Excellent post.

I'm almost done hyperventilating. Definitely playoff intensity baseball. What do think now citizens of the baseball capital world?

Considering King George's history, he's been remarkably patient with Torre. Now that he has spent an amount equal to the GDP of a small nation on his team, and it may not even make the playoffs, he shows his true colors. This really breaks my heart.

QUOTE(shakes @ Aug 10, 2005 -> 08:43 AM) I give him credit for nothing. He may change his tune in a week. There's only so many cubs suck stories to write. That's his nature. He's a front runner and deceitful. Not to be trusted. I don't pay much attention to anything he writes. If the Sox go all the way, he'll sing their praises and say he knew it all the time. If they tank, look out for those fangs. Forget about this guy.

I'm not a doctor and I have no inside information but I wouldn't be surprised if big Frank has circled the bases for the last time. I really wanted the baseball fans of America to have a chance to see Frank shine in the post season this year. Not to be. One more example of how life isn't always fair.

This should put an end to the never ending mindless criticism of the White Sox alleged inability to draw. Yeah right.

QUOTE(TLAK @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 09:45 PM) I heard the Buehrle incident during lunch on the radio and Rooney was livid. He was teed about the ejection but said if you got rid of the DH you would get rid of these shenanigans. I was just watching the game on replay and Hawk went off on the DH too. This got me to thinking, if the DH causes more hit batters because the pitcher never comes to the plate, you would think the number of hit batters would be a lot higher in the AL than the NL. You would also expect to see this change to occur with the introduction of the DH in 1975. So I dug out my RetroSheet database and queried the number of hit by pitch by year. I divided by AB’s because there are different number of teams in each league and compare the number of at bats per hit batter each year. I find very little difference between the leagues since the DH was created. But there is a huge shift in the number of hit batters starting in the 1990’s. Before the 90’s a batter would get his about every 190 AB’s on average. In the 1990’s it fell about 120 ABs and in this decade is in the 90’s! It’s not the DH; the increase is in both leagues. Body armor and improved helmets? I know umps are calling HBP if it as much as brushes a baggy shirt, did they only call when they could hear the sound of meat before? The advent of the ‘warn both benches’ system (open season until you get a warning)? Ideas? Excellent work. I think it's more than just body armor and guys standing on top of the plate. Pitchers for whatever reason are just more willing to plunk a hitter when things don't go their way.

Not exactly sure what LCR meant. Hey, I'm allowed to be thick if I want to. We are supposed to be a representative Republic, not a democracy. Our rate of participation in all elections is poor, that much is true. However, I'm ever so glad most of those that decline to participate do just that. I don't want to be ruled and lorded over by those folks. Elections and life in general for that matter is so dumbed down these days. Everyone eligible is entitled to register and vote. Not everyone takes the time to do even the most rudimentary research on the issues of he day. I say it again. I don't want to be ruled and lorded over by that crowd. Let them stay home on election day. About the contras. I wonder if anyone knows who coined the phrase "he may be a son of a b**** but he's our son of a b****?" Here's a hint. It wasn't even a Republican. Isolationism went out the window with the Spanish-American war. Pity the poor Spaniards. They probably didn't even blow up the Maine. In any case, TR perfected the art of intervention and no one has been his equal before or since. Hence all this internal domestic strife over contentious foreign policy moves by any number of Presidents. As for me, I shed no tears for Daniel Ortega or the contras. Good riddance. "He may be a son of a b****, but he's our son of a b****." Foreign policy moves are often cutthroat and not at all for the faint of heart. I have my quarrels with many of them. I also do not want to go through on a daily basis what Londoners have endured two days this past July. I would like to commend LCR for his budding journalistic career and hope he stirs debate with his postions, but gets no nasty hate mail. Good luck LCR.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 3, 2005 -> 10:19 AM) I mentioned this somewhere earlier, but it was 3 Supreme Court Justices, including a Chief Justice. My apologies, I should have read the entire thread but of course time is of the essence and I don't always have it. If you like I'll delete. Edit: I excised the last sentence about Eisenhower.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 11:42 AM) True, I did forget. In my world 51% still gets you an "F". The highest percentage of the popular vote any elected President ever got was LBJ with 61.05% of the vote in 1964. Did he get a "D"? Seriously though, quit crying about a recess appointment. They are quite common, even the great Bill Clinton used them a "time or two." The poisonous partisan atmosphere in politics today is to blame for a lack of an up or down vote on Bolton. Bush may be wrong about a number of things. Bolton may be a bully in the workplace. The UN is still a corrupt virtually worthless organization and recess appointments of all types are a regular part of American Presidential history.

Some folks have a hard time understanding that it's not alway possible to make that blockbuster move just before the trading deadline. The pickings were slim and the asking prices too high this year.

Did anyone notice how much thinner Sammy looks. Must be the South Beach diet.

QUOTE(Sox Radio Bryan @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 12:28 AM) Steff...nice work on creating the post! It was enjoyable to read all of the above comments. Please keep them coming. This is my first post on this website, and I have enjoyed typing each letter of it. Feel free to post any questions you all might have for me. If you call in to future post game shows or Chicago Baseball Tonight, please let mention that you frequent SoxTalk.com. Bryan Hey Bryan, I listen to you from deep in the heart of the Confederacy, where I now live. Thank God for the internet. I'm an old geezer Sox fan who actually remembers the 59 WS. You were not given an easy task, following in the footsteps of Dave Wills, but you've come a long way since the start of the year. If you're not on board when the Sox shift to the Score it will be a shame, but I suspect you will land on your feet somewhere else. Enjoy the rest of the year, and may the Sox continue to make it a memorable one.

QUOTE(SoxFanForever @ Jul 31, 2005 -> 06:36 PM) Just because he plays them doesn't mean he plays them as well as the regulars. A good utility infielder doesn't have to be an All Star. He doesn't even have to be as good as the starters. He justs needs to be capable fill in when needed. Kind of like Tony Graffinino was for us.

KW had a very rocky start as White Sox GM. Since then he has worked hard to become one of the better ones in the AL. We didn't need him to backslide back to overpaying for dubious talent. I couldn't stand the old KW. The newer one is A OK with me and if he didn't make a major move, it's because it just wasn't there. KW has learned to discipline his natural aggessiveness.

QUOTE(DukeNukeEm @ Jul 30, 2005 -> 02:48 PM) Even with a win, you gotta a hate a cuban... tsk. Hate?

I've always liked El Duque. The fact is that I expected far more from him than Contreras. Despite the records Contreras has pitched better IMHO. I'm concerned about his age and his health. I've never questioned his ability and his heart. The way he sets up hitters without any overpowering stuff is great to watch. It's pitching, not throwing like a lot of mediocre hurlers do.

The real MVP in 2000. Isn't that right Jason?

QUOTE(JimH @ Jul 29, 2005 -> 09:43 PM) Tough break for Torii Hunter. Just like it was a tough break for Jamie Burke. Excellent.

No it is never good to revel in an opponent's misery, but this is a sign that things aren't going to go the Twins way this year. They pretty much have to look to the future.

The business of baseball can be cold and brutal. On another note, I wonder if KW is going to have the opportunity to make a bold move.

I think we've seen the last of Frank Thomas in a Sox uniform, or any uniform for that matter. Hope he's salted away some money. He never earned Sammy Sosa big bucks, and he's a much better hitter, competitor, and human being. I'll take Frank in his prime over a juiced up Sosa any day. I'll take the injury prone Frank of the last few years too. I'm glad Frank played for my team and Sosa played for the cute adorable ones. I just don't think he'll be back. You could see he was really laboring this year, and was still able to put up formidable power numbers. He better be a first ballot HOFer.

QUOTE(rudylaw @ Jul 28, 2005 -> 02:37 PM) I am getting used to him. It has taken a while though. Wills has been doing it for quite a while and I thought that he was awsome. He was not affraid to put a stupid caller in his place for knowing nothing about baseball or the whitesox. And ot was pretty awsome when he read the cubs scores and when they lost he would say" OH NOOOOO" I agree with this post. As a matter of fact, I wish I had posted something similar. Dolgin has improved and deserves a chance to continue. He started out a little slow, but he's improved. Wills was one of a kind and its hard to follow up on such an act. When I think of who the Score might put in Dolgins place the gag reflex starts.

QUOTE(BDavisFutureHOF @ Jul 28, 2005 -> 11:14 AM) Everything except his balls.............. Imagine these big hulking hunk of men, hitting titanic home runs with regularity at the expense of that certain part of the anatomy. Must do wonders for their love lives.

Everyone it seems uses the thin handled bats. It's not unusual to have a half dozen broken bats in a single game. I remember the old Nellie Fox bottle bat, which I used in Little League. How retro.