Chisoxfn

How did Iguchi make contact with that pitch. That was NASTY.

QUOTE(samclemens @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 08:31 PM) anderson just hit that homer off of guardado to tie the game. therefore, this thread needs to be erased immediately. SWEETAGE

NFL Draft Spotlight: Marcedes Lewis By Jason Gage TalkBears.com The Bears are expected to focus on four positions in the first two rounds on draft day: tight end, wide Receiver, outside linebacker, and defensive back. With the recent acquisition of Ricky Manning Jr., the most likely bet falls within the first three positions. Up until the draft, TalkBears.com will be releasing a new player profile daily of a top round pick the Bears are targeting. This off-season GM Jerry Angelo and OC Ron Turner have made it evident that finding a tight end, who can stretch the field, will be a focal point during the first day of the draft. Despite a low 1st round pick (26th overall), the Bears will find themselves in an excellent position to grab a tight end in what is considered one of the deeper positions in this years draft. Marcedes Lewis is a name that has been bantered around by the Bears front office. Lewis is a very talented receiving tight end who helped carry a revamped Bruins offense in 2005. Lewis led the Bruins in receiving yards (741), touchdowns (10), and receptions (58). He emerged as a star in every game for the Bruins, with exception of the bowl game where he was held in check by the Northwestern Wildcats. Lewis’ disappearance and rather pedestrian 40 time (4.84) led many scouts and draft experts to down-grade Lewis from being a mid to late 1st rounder into being a late 1st to 2nd rounder. The lack of game-breaking speed tends to hurt players stock in the draft, but all you had to do was watch Lewis’ games in the collegiate ranks to notice the match up nightmares he created for the opposition’s linebackers. Lewis has soft hands and a knack for using his body to screen defenders and put him in better position to make catches. Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner could use a target like Lewis between the 20’s as a safety valve to QB’s Rex Grossman and Brian Griese. However, Lewis greatest value will come in the red zone, where his frame and athleticism will make him a great target and potentially a touchdown magnet. Aside from his lack of speed, many scouts feel Lewis is undersized as a tight end (weight wise). Whichever team drafts him will have him on a workout regime to add muscle. The muscle will help him improve his pass blocking, an area he has struggled with. However, late in the season Lewis made great strides with his run blocking, which is one reason the Bears are intrigued with Lewis. Lewis may be falling on most draft boards, but he’s falling because of a poor combine, not poor performance on the field. All you had to do was watch a few UCLA games to see the type of game-changing plays that Lewis could soon be making at Soldier Field. If selected, the Bears will be hoping that he’ll develop into our first legitimate tight end since Ditka retired. TalkBears.com Projection: Marcedes Lewis is expected to be there when the Bears are on the clock in the 1st round. There is even an outside chance he will be on the board when the Bears pick in the 2nd round, but if Angelo and company have targeted Lewis as there guy, they will be taking him in the 1st. However, if the Bears brass grades Lewis similarly to Fasano, Pope, Byrd, and Day, you’ll likely see them wait and grab the best available TE in the 2nd round.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 04:18 PM) Very solid show today; it had a very PTI-like sound today. And that’s a good thing, being PTI’s my favorite show on the air. I agree with your stance on Buehrle and KW, Jas. KW is talking a bit too much, and I feel it’s completely unnecessary. And Buehrle is definitely an important piece of the Sox franchise now, and we’ve got to lock him up long-term. I like Mario’s stance of waiting until the offseason to begin worrying about that though. And nice call on Podsednik’s previous week. I agree about BA; we just have to be patient. This is the perfect place for him to be doing it, because we’re not too dependant on what he does. The lineup’s solid as is, and if he comes around, it’s just an added bonus IMO. Haha, and now I’m hoping the Rockies win the NL West. NEVA...if the Rockies win my public image is screwed. I was out of last week's show (kind of zoned out into space the whole show cause I was exhausted from a really long week). Now we see if I'm right and BA doesn't hit .300 this week (I don't think he will). I'm already looking forward to doing another show. But in between this one and the next one, we are going to get a prospect show up talking about the top 25. Maybe even work in an interview or two.

Seriously, what an idiot.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Apr 22, 2006 -> 02:51 PM) Adam was (apparently, no record of it yet) sent down to Kanny, or at least he doesn't appear on anyone's roster right now. Adam was hitting just under .140 for the Hogs. Yep, he's on Kanny.

The White Sox went 7-0 on the week (current 8 game winning streak) to remain in first place. The Sox swept the Royals and Twins and Mario and Jason go in depth on the struggles of the Twins and Indians rotation while talking about the two aces of the Sox staff (Buehrle and Contreras). In the second half of the show, Mario and Jason break down the Sox bullpen and talk about how Thornton and Logan may not have much of an effect on the Sox playoff chase. Streaming Version of the Show Downloadable Version of the Show Subscribe to Our PodCast We are now listed on Itunes, Yahoo Podcast, and Podcast Pickle.

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 08:36 PM) Jas, he had 2 hits. I'm not counting his swinging bunt as a hit. I mean its a hit, but its not worth saying oh my god he's out of his slump he had 2 hits. An swinging bunt where you were totally fooled is not deserving as getting out of a slump (however it will help his confidence). He had 1 real hit and it was a BOMB. I should have explained that better in my original post ace. But it seems like a lot of people are basing the 2 hits off the box score and assuming he had a HR and a solid single. And I'm not trying to discredit the infield hit (thats still a hit in the scorebook and he hustled it out and it will give him confidence and for every squibber like that you have, you usually have a handful more missiles you hit right at a defender)

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 08:25 PM) Yup, I love pitchers who just know how to pitch, who don't necessarily have the best stuff but know wat the f*** they're doing out there. Pedro in his prime is the best pitcher I've ever seen. Fully agree. I remember back when he was at his best, any time he was pitching (whether it was at Dodger stadium or the Pads park) I'd make sure to drive down and watch him. Pretty much every night you had a shot at seeing something historic. The most dominant pitcher of our ERA, imo. Although thats not to hold anything against Clemens. For Clemens to hold up as long as he has. Just think about everyone who thought he was done when he left Boston.

I always stop and listen when I hear Torri on the radio. He's a straight shooter. He's also one of my favorite players in the game. Always has a smile on his face and works his ass off. I gained a lot of respect (and I actually cheer for the Twins as long as we have the division locked up) for Hunter, AJ, Mienty, Rade and some of the other Twins as we were getting whooped by them over the years. I'd take Hunter on the southside any day of the week. He'd fit right in with our stooges and people like Buehrle.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 08:18 PM) Maddux used to be one of my favorite pitchers in baseball basically for the same reason, I love pitchers like him. I'm not sure exactly why but I just started to dislike the guy(still love the way he pitches) for some reason and this was before he went to the Cubs. Just like I love Buehrle and watching him pitch. I like watching guys who just dissect the opposition, play great defense and do all the little things. Its got an old school mentality in a sense. Mulder is another guy that I like to watch pitch. I like quick working pitchers that throw strikes, work quick, and just have a total gameplan when they are on the mound. I also absolutely LOVE Pedro Martinez and how he pitches (especially when he was in his prime).

By the way, I jsut want to say, I could give two s***s what he does to get the movement on the ball. Pitchers throughout history (and most of the greats) having been doing it forever. I know some people would say (well whats the difference between that and steroids) and I say one doesn't have the side effects. Plus the other isn't necessarily illegal, its just shady persay. Savvy pitchers doctor up balls and I hope when Buehrle gets older he'll do what it takes to give him the extra advantage. I know Orel Hershisher added years to his career by junking up the ball. I consider that part of the game and an extra strategy.

I root for Maddux every start (Unless he's going against the Sox). I absolutely love the way he pitches.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 03:26 PM) Win every series, thats all they have to do. With the bats killing the ball, and the pitching keeping us in EVERY game, it shouldnt be that difficult.

Borchard hit hr's too fellas. 500 FT ones at that. Anderson had a solid game, but he had 1 hit. You take hte other one any day of the week, but he's not out of his funk. But like I say we have plenty of time to let him develop. From day 1 I said we wouldn't not make the playoffs because of Anderson. We have this luxury to develop a guy while putting out a world series caliber team and he's going to have most of the season to show us whether he can or can't. Today's game will go a long way in giving him some confidence because I think he's trying to do too much at the plate right now (he's not getting comfortable and he's trying to protect every part fo the plate and when you do that you'll end up being able to do NOTHING). We all knew he could hit a bomb like he did today, but we knew the same about Borchard. The key is being able to hit consistently and thats what will seperate Anderson from being a good player to a borderline all star (namely because of the way he plays defense). I've long said Anderon's upside is Torri Hunter. Similar power, respectable avg (nothing fancy) and fantastic defense.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 03:24 PM) One of the problems could be(might not even be a problem) is that our starters are going to go far in ALOT of these games, and Oz is going to be hard pressed to find spots for these guys. I think rust has alot to do with Cotts and Cliff struggling. I also think we are putting Boone in a bad place. Logan is a young kid that needs to see batters. He isnt getting that here, and when he is, its 7 or 8 days at a time. Get another SOLID arm this pen, and send Boone down, maybe even Thornton... Thornton won't pass through waivers.

I take that back. I don't think he has went back to Japan. In fact I'm pretty sure he's a FA. My guess is someone will snatch him up relatively quickly (unless he's hurt).

I'm 99% sure he went back to Japan. I tried looking back at some of my notes and media releases and wasn't able to find out if he did ever land on somewhere and I checked through the Japanese league rosters and couldn't dig up his name. He may have opted to go to an independent league, but I don't recall him ever officially hanging them up. By the way, welcome aboard

QUOTE(JShBattier31 @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 06:39 PM) Yea i guess they really wanted that win today. I just figured since he's one of the guys on the 40 man, they'd have a little more faith in him, but he is there to work on his control. I wonder how many pitches he threw. He's still healthy, it was the walks that got him. I don't think the Sox think to much of Tucker at this point (in terms of the majors). IIRC, Kenny said they had pegged him as a guy who could make some changes to his delivery (basically developing a consistent release point) so that he could maybe help the team late this season (or more realistically next season). Considering the arm injuries and loss of velocity he's suffered I'm sure the Sox are being very careful with him.

Lake show lost. Kobe didn't have his best game, but he didn't take many dumb shots. Lakers played pretty good D, but Phoenix was still too good for them. This is going to be a long series for the Lakers cause thats about as bad as I've seen Phoenix play (against the Lakers) and they still came out ahead. I have learned one thing though; Lakers need to exploit Odem because no one on the Suns can guard him.

Last year we started to put an end to that west coast spell. It was sweet seeing them win 3 in a row in Anaheim and to make things better it was in the PLAYOFFS!!!!! Can't wait till the Sox are in town this weekend. That + Bulls playoffs + the NFL draft = Great sports weekend

The streak ended on April 23rd.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Apr 22, 2006 -> 12:10 PM) Mackowiak has a lower average than Anderson to this point. And he played A LOT early on. And is nowhere near the defensive player Anderson is. I'm not too worried about Anderson. He's struggling but we have the ability to let him develop in the 9 hole. He's got a lot of tools, with the only question-mark being if he can figure out to hit (cause if he can, he will be able to hit for power and drive in some runs).

Looks like he was jsut a bit rusty (hasn't pitched since the 17th). His velocity looks a lot better and he gets a double play (did give up a run). 1 more out and this thing is over with. Best Cliff has looked in a while though (and yes I'm mostly paying attention to his FB, but as Hawk is saying that will help give him some confidence).

Politte comes in the 9th and gives up two hits. I'm very concerned about Politte.