BobDylan

QUOTE (gosox41 @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 10:59 PM) OK, so I'm paraphrasing Hawk's quote. It's what Hawk says when he wants to show why a lesser hitter is better then a statistically better hitter. And there may be some truth to it, so let's apply this quote to your 2008 Chicago White Sox. Back in April when this team wasn't hitting. I mentioned my usual mantra about this being a one dimensional offense and when one hitter is cold, then everyone, pretty much is cold. But since the Sox were winning, I was quoted Hawks quote by a few posters here. I wish I had the time to see who these people are so I can call them out right now and see what they think now. I will say it's a lot easier to figure out the second pary of Hawk's quote for the 2008 Sox, as they only seem to hit them in bunches and add on a lot when the game is already a blow out. But the bottom line is this team has serious offensive problems. Today's game proves it. We scored 3 whole runs and 2/3 came from a HR. We failed to take advantage of lead off doubles in the 7th and 9th innings and handed the game to the Sox. And it's not just this one game (like I need to say that to anyone who has watched White Sox baseball this year). This lack of simple execution has been a common theme for the Sox pretty much all year (or at least that 1 week the other week and 3 games against Pitt) This is pathetic. I don't know what's worse, the teams inability to execute to win these low scoring close games or the fact that outside of Pods, KW hasn't addressed the need for a more balanced offense. I have never seen a legitimate contending team lose so many games in which htey have given up 3 runs or less. I dont have the stats, but when compared to other contending teams (say 85 wins or more) over the last 10 years, this years Sox have to have lost a higher porportion of 3 runs or less games then the other teams. Or to put it another way, if someone had told you at the beginning of the season that the Sox would have a league best 3.3 ERA 73 games into the season, one would have thought this team would be running away with the division. I mean pitching is key, right? And a 3.3 ERA when you've played about 1/2 your games at the Cell is outstanding. But here we are limping along and not taking advantage of a division that we could easily have been running away with. Sure a 4.5 game lead is nice, but so is getting a B- in Calculus. Why be satisified with mediocrity. I'll take the A and set the curve and let some other poor sap muddle along thankful for not sucking. So how good/bad is this Sox offense. I think it's bad just because it lacks consistency to win day in and day out. It's nice to see the stats padded in 16-5 blow outs, but we seem to consistently lose winnable games. And maybe I'm beating a dead horse. But I'm the same person who called for this team to be broken up since mid-2007. Look it up. Maybe if KW created a balanced line up more then once in the last 8 years, I wouldn't say anything. But being as how we're the same slow, plodding, station to station, power hitting team we were from 2001-2007 (excluding 2005) I feel the need to vent until KW gets it right. If the Sox started playing situational baseball at the plate, there's no doubt in my mind that they'd run away with the division. I think the offense is plenty balanced with the addition of Swisher, Cabrera and Ramirez, but the amount they strand runners in scoring position is alarming. Those lead off doubles late in the game, not only did they fail to drive him in, they failed to even move him over. If an offense is streaky, so be it. But they have to find a way to support the pitching staff. Danks deserved a W there regardless of what happened to the bullpen. They should've walked out of that game with a 7-4 win. If the Sox hitters don't want to acknowledge this by themselves, then either KW or Ozzie needs to say/do something that will get that point across.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 07:48 PM) I can't, but you have to admit, when the wind blows out at Wrigley, there happens to be a lot more homers. It's too bad Quentin's double earlier in the game didn't go for a dinger. Maybe that's why the Cubs get a lot of come-back wins, the wind starts kicking up later in the afternoon and they just hit fly balls that ride the jet stream. Who knows? I thought BA's ball was gonna get caught, it didn't. Ramirez's ball probably would of been a fly to the track without the wind. It's Wrigley Field, there's no big scoreboard to block the wind, it's a crap shoot half the time. I realize this is a Sox message board, but the Cubs did not look impressive. Sure it's only one game, but to have gotten spanked by the Rays and then come back home and need a team serve you the game on a gold plate...? Danks made a lot of their hitters look downright foolish, and that's an offense that is supposed to be a Juggernaut. Did anyone catch Fukadome try to hit Thornton? I wonder what he'd look like against Boone; or if they ever made the World Series, Papelbon or K-Rod or Jenks or Zumaya. I'd like to see the Phillies play, I think they might be the class of the NL.

QUOTE (quickman @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 10:49 PM) actually I was more upset with the punchout of AJ's check swing in the ninth. not even close. That was a joke of a call, yes. Ozzie should've been out of the dugout for that one. The umpire had to seriously miss that play and take a stab in the dark to punch him out on it. Regardless, the play should not have mattered. They had plenty of opportunities to blow the game open. I hope the loss serves as a wake up to the team that they have to play situational hitting for 9 innings, not 2 or 3 or 0. How many lead off doubles did they have that didn't score? I'm contemplating putting a spray chart together for the line-ups RH hitters and LH hitters. I'm not sure it'll prove anything, though.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 19, 2008 -> 01:10 PM) I remember the "Dana Carvey Show" that lasted like 4 weeks because he did something pretty offensive. It was hilarious stuff. Wish I could remember why it was yanked by the network. I don't know how that show didn't make it with this writing team: Charlie Kaufman Louis C.K. Dino Stamatopoulos Spike Feresten Stephen Colbert Steve Carell and Robert Smigel

Awesome.

EDIT: Read my post further down.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Jun 12, 2008 -> 02:17 PM) The worst thing from something like this is that it could wake up a sleeping giant. After this series, I now expect the Tigers, not the Indians or Twins, to become our chief rivals for the division crown. Cabrera hit. Verlander pitched a gem. Rogers killed us, again. Thames hit a 3-run HR. They outpitched and outhit us. We still have a lot of factors giving us an edge. 8-game lead. More home than road games left. Etc. But we'll need to return the favor when they come to our house. In the meantime, the best way to erase this is to kick some NL ass. I agree. I would have been happy with a split against the Twins last series. It was the Tigers series I was worried about. I really wanted the White Sox to push them further into the ground. Didn't happen. July will be a pivitol month for them. They have an easy schedule and they need to get close to 20 games over .500 after that month and create some separation. Especially if they're going to continue having let down series like this.

QUOTE (Felix @ Jun 11, 2008 -> 11:36 PM) I've been pretty busy, and missing most chats/games lately. I need to try and make it to more Only if you teach me how to use a wood stove.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Jun 11, 2008 -> 05:12 PM) Nice. Haha. And it worked. There was a big crowd tonight.

Keep 'em coming statman. I always enjoy these.

What is the point of picking cards and players? It might make it a little more complex, but, if you pick cards and take somebody like Manny Ramirez, he should have a greater chance to hit a homer or a double than if you picked Chone Figgins. And as well, Chone Figgins should have a greater chance of swiping a base than Manny. I'm just thinking of myself sitting there with Figgins hitting all the HR's and Manny stealing all the bags thinking, "What the hell?"

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jun 11, 2008 -> 08:14 AM) They do this all over the world except here. You want to blame someone, blame the countless number of people downloading gigs of illegal video over bittorrent. The caps are not because of bandwidth issues, its because they are sick and tired of having to dedicate personnel to deal with subpoenas from the RIAA. Whoops! My bad...

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 11, 2008 -> 01:27 PM) you have a 12" bag? Haha, I don't know how big the bag is. But when I went shopping for computers, it was a pain to fit any laptop over 12". It is not a big bag, though.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Jun 11, 2008 -> 04:49 PM) Personally, I've never complained about posters criticizing the suggestions I post. Make your best argument, and cut it to shreds. Makes for good debate. What detracts from the site are criticisms of the poster, which have been made of me by several posters -- I've noticed one in particular -- for just about everything I have put up here this year. Who needs that? It's crap, frankly. You won't ever hear that out of me, except to defend myself. I appreciate the fact that several fellow posters have recognized this. I'm with VAfan on this one. I generally enjoy his posts. They're not "crap" by any means or useless as some people here are suggesting, whether they mean this thread or his threads/posts in general. It doesn't do anyone any good to call a poster out for an idea. JimH, I mean 29andPoplar, you went out of your way to criticize the poster. Under the general rules of this site, we all know what should happen. It hasn't and it won't. I don't care about that. However, the points you've brought up about responding to this thread are ridiculous. You went out of your way to essentially call the thread stupid, as well as defended those statements. The "natural course" of a thread is to carry out a debate. That generally does not include a preface of your personal feelings of the poster/post. Your argument in that regard is ridiculous.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 11, 2008 -> 01:33 PM) they have 13" macbooks. Maybe it sounds like we're splitting hairs, but that's not 12''. I know for a fact 13'' won't fit into my bag unless there is very little bordering around the screen. And over again, it's not was Asus is doing either.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 11, 2008 -> 08:55 AM) Windows Vista works fine with Boot Camp, so I'm not sure what you even mean when you say that... Gaming on a MAC is harder, yes, but NOT because of hardware concerns, it's simply because most games are Windows only. Games like World of Warcraft run native on OSX and run great, games that do not have a native client for OSX, you can simply boot into Windows XP/Vista and play them, and yes, you CAN boot into Vista via Boot Camp. The point is simply choice, nothing more, nothing less. I do agree on the overpricing of Macs, however, but that doesn't concern me since I get everything at 25% off, which is probably cheaper than most people can buy regular PC's. I was under the impression Boot Camp hadn't figured out Vista yet. I'll be honest here, I have nothing against Mac's aside from their marketing campaign and fanboys that, frankly, are a little like Cubs fans. Apple makes a great product, though it's overpriced and that includes software. For people who can afford it and for people who don't want to or know how to shop around for a PC that is just as good, if not a little better in hardware specs, I'd tell them to buy a Mac. I stick with PC simply because I can't tolerate OSX. I don't like it and I don't feel fluid using it. I won't sit here and claim Windows Vista is the end all be all of OS's because it's not. It's a piece of s*** OS, but I understand how to use it, how to use its advanced features, and how to troubleshoot it up to a point. I also enjoy that when I need some software or hardware, I can go to most retail stores and find what I need and even utimately shop around for price. That's a luxury Mac doesn't afford their consumers. You have a discount, and I'm sure many people envy that, but a Mac price is a Mac price... and it's usually too much. As well, I can buy a limited PC that will run my simple tasks just fine for well under $1,000. That's both a desktop and a laptop. When it all comes down to it, I think it's a very stupid argument. It ultimately turns into a debate of which OS is better: OSX or Vista/XP. I do think, however, if Apple made their OS available on PC's, their machine's would flop dead -- and you'd see more and more problems with OSX as we do with Windows. It's quite a luxury to build a computer from top to bottom. Gates and Windows doesn't do that.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 10, 2008 -> 09:45 PM) This is absolute nonsense and I say that because you can just boot XP/Vista if you so choose. For example, the latest iMac comes with a GeForce 8800 512mb card...and that's a pretty damn strong GFX card. The desktop powerhouse Macs are even stronger than that and user upgradable since they use standard PCIE slotting. The GeForce 8800 line isn't the very latest, but it's still a REALLY powerful card, and the Mac Pros will use ATI/NVidia cards in dual and even QUAD SLI (meaning 2 or 4 graphics cards working simutaniously). I think people forget Macs use Intel motherboards/components now...and if you don't feel like using OSX, you can boot directly to Windows XP/Vista (saying you own a copy) from Bootcamp, it's a snap, and it's *NOT* emulation, it's the actual OS. Macs run on ATI/Nvidia hardware now and use Intel Core2Duo or Xeon Quad Core chips...this isn't 1995 anymore. Alright, but if I'm going to dish out $2,000 for a Macintosh, but use Windows, what's the point, exactly? I can buy a PC specifically designed to work through the stress and overclocking that gaming does to a computer for the same price... and probably get a machine more powerful, to boot. Plus, if a gamer is looking to buy a laptop, they are SOL with Mac. It's far too much of a hassle to game on a Mac. Gotta get a new graphcis card, gotta buy Windows for it (at the Apple price) -- and we don't even know what sort of compatability issues there are with it. Also, there is no Windows Vista Boot Camp out for Mac.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 10, 2008 -> 01:04 PM) Hmm, well how difficult is it to do that? I've been looking at the 21 inch thing they have at best buy for like 1500. The pic and video features look great, but I was worried I would never be able to game on it. But even if you can I dunno that it's worth it. How many graphics cards are made for a Mac? Any? If you want a computer for gaming, you'll just shoot your foot off buying a Mac. They don't make legitimate graphics cards for Mac's. I'm not saying a Mac isn't a great machine, but they don't do gaming nearly as well as a PC. Not even close.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 10, 2008 -> 11:28 AM) I've owned a mac 12" laptop for 4 years Yeah, where can I find a powerbook G4 today? Ebay? You want to know who is ahead? Asus. Check out their EEE. Check out what has followed behind it from other companies. Apple is years away from that. ...But I can buy a phone and touch it and watch it respond! Outdated doesn't mean ahead.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 10, 2008 -> 09:46 AM) You can dual boot Windows XP/Vista, so yes, you can run everything if you so choose. Also, Apple has the highest rated customer service in the industry, so keeping their customers happy isn't and issue for them. Speak to Dell about that one...talk about pissing off customers, just try getting tech support from one of those Indians. I feel sorry for people who buy Dell.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 9, 2008 -> 07:12 PM) yeah DAMN them for moving way faster than their imitators/competitors. HOW DARE THEY Yeah, they were real quick to get that slim notebook out. Where's the UMPC? How about a 12 inch laptop I can carry around? Apple ain't that far ahead... if at all. And they're just now going to Intel? Their designs may look great, but they're hired designers from Sony Vaio. They may have made a slick product or two, but the iPod and iPhone aren't enough for me to hail Apple as God. I still can't go to a local retailer and buy their software. That's being ahead of the "imitators"? Give me a break.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jun 9, 2008 -> 08:42 PM) Actually, Cleveland would probably want Gallagher, and if the Cubs wouldn't give that up for Roberts, I don't see them giving him up for Sabathia. I can. If the Cubs can resign Sabathia, they're trading pitching for pitching. Sabathia is a Cy-Young winner. Galagher is not.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 9, 2008 -> 06:13 PM) IMO, there are two possibilities for that role. Lofton or Owens. Willy Taveras to steal some bags. Don't know what he'd cost, he's only 26 years old. But he can't hit for s***. Don't know if his legs are worth demoting or possibly even trading Anderson. EDIT: And I just realized Jerry Owens can do exactly what Taveras does. But I'm not certain about his injury and how it'll effect him running.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 8, 2008 -> 09:40 PM) You and Bobdylan did the same thing SSI did. Re-read my post. It was not proposing Konerko to Cincy. Either way, Konerko is not going to drop the no-trade rights he earned. He's the captain of the team. He's in his 10th season here. They're in first place. He won a World Series ring here. He took a discount to stay here. It'd be bush league for the organization to ask him to leave this season. Maybe if they sucked dick and offered him an opportunity to win a ring elsewhere... but that's not the case.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jun 8, 2008 -> 09:20 PM) I don't think this is funny, and I don't remember anything else being funny that I've said. But, I just say Duke/UNC is the best just because I am a Duke fan, and it is pretty heated. I don't know how to make a case for "THE" best rivalry. Michigan/OSU football deserves some credit, too. The best rivalry in sports is obviously Devil Rays/Blue Jays...