Wedge

The starters may be a push with ours, but with the loss of Pettite and Clemens, they really lose a lot of their "unbeatable playoff mystique." Our line-up has produced more runs than theirs without being touted as the "best line-up ever assembled in the history of the world ever". I'd definitely take Marte over Gordon, actually. He's younger and Gordon has had some injury history. Marte just has some sick-stuff. I suppose if I had to put one guy in to close the ninth inning of the World Series if my life depended on it, that guy would be Rivera. However, I really don't think Shingo is that far back from him. And as you said, neither defense is going to be much help. Our infield defense is probably comparable to theirs.

and how did we feel a week ago? two weeks ago we thought the Indians were going to over take us. now they're behind Detroit. don't get to high; don't get to low. it's a long season. "Ohh take your time... Don't live too fast, Troubles will come, and they will pass." -Simple Kind of Man, Lynard Skynyrd

I look at it differently. Maggs coming back means that we're ok with somebody going cold. Ozzie's been really great at keeping hot bats in the lineup and giving everybody enough chances at the plate to get on a tear. Who hasn't had a hot streak this season? Ross Gload? Kelly Drangsvergasgartsa? Even Timo and Burke have stepped in and stepped up!

If the playoffs were New York, Texas, Anaheim, and us, I like our chances. Of that group, we have the best 3 starters, the best line-up, the best or tied for the best 8th inning guy, and the best or tied for best closer. Our defense is pretty solid in that group, too.

Also note that the HHH has been Garcia's worst pitching place, historically (6.85 ERA, his worst in any park).

are we in a BCS game?

Whatever hex or magic the Twins had over the Sox is gone. Since 2000, our hitters have feared their pitchers for whatever reason. They don't have that fear any more. I think I was happiest to see them tag Radke so bad last night (was it 8 ER for Radke?). That guy has dominated us, even when they were terrible in 2000. Let's just hope they can complete the sweep and start putting some distance between us and second place.

August is important, but look at the last 20 games... 6 against the Twins and 14 against KC and Det. That's when we can really pull this thing out!

Mike and Mike on ESPN 1000 said they didn't know who would close the 7 or 8 games necessary for the White Sox to win the World Series. Guess they haven't heard of Mr. Zero!

Yeah, I just talked to my buddy from Seattle. He seemed pretty happy with the trade overall and said that he thought both teams came out ahead of where they were. He feels bad that the season was tanking and wasn't sure why they were considering Moyer untradable. Something about "managment has to let go of the past" when we were discussing Moyer. I think both sides will end up fairly happy after all is said and done.

no because I always liked it.

from ESPN.com

Even then, didn't he have an emergency call up?

He's also cut down his errors, too! My only other concern is his strikeouts, which seem high, but I didn't look into the data to make a comparison.

I just think he's a smalltown sort of guy. He probably has less media to deal with that way. Plus, he is from Arizona originally. I don't quite understand why Anaheim is alright (other than it's a small city), but you'd think the California media would be just as rough as the Chicago media.

Isn't it odd that we have the 9th most hits and 7th most walks, but the highest batting average?

why isn't Ozzie saving Garcia for the Cubs?

Let's see what happens Saturday. Plus, is there any word yet about Shoe's rehab? Is he on schedule to come off the DL? Having a plethora of capable starting pitchers is not a problem we had a week ago and unless Diaz and Rauch repeat last week's performances, it still isn't one of them. Let's just wait and see what happens.

I heard on the morning ESPN 1000 show that Mark Grace said if Randy moved anywhere, it would be to Anaheim and that he didn't want to play in a big city like New York or Chicago. I guess I can't blame him. I don't see the big deal. He's got one more year, and hell, maybe the D-Backs can make a big push next year. You never know!

I dunno, maybe. The best example I can give is to look at college football. The teams that are in general the most winningest seem to tend to have the classiest fans. I was in the band at the ND vs Oregon St. Fiesta Bowl in 2000. There was a huge difference between the fans. The ND fans were down there to have a good time and to see a great game. The OSU fans had a lot of dirty signs at the stadium (like "f*** the Irish" or "Welcome the gay Irish brothers, Patrick Fitzgerald and Gerald Fitzpatrick, etc, etc." It was just such a huge difference between the style and class of those two groups of fans and obviously I would consider the OSU fans to be much more negative. The only thing I can think of is that their fanbase had never really seen a winner and didn't know how to handle success or to show class. Maybe if you remove that desperation for a WS win, winning isn't everything anymore? With the Red Sox, I think a lot of people that attend games at Fenway tend to be more white collar: Lawyers, Software guys, etc and also fans of the game itself, rather than necessarily just the Red Sox.

I think winning a World Series is the answer. I think it has to do with the nature of the fans, at least in part. I think as Sox fans, we are so desperate for that World Series win that we forget that in the end, it's just baseball and it's just supposed to be fun: fun to go to the ballpark, forget about life for a while, watch a good game, etc, etc. Maybe I sound a bit like a Cubs fan there, but who cares. Look at Fenway. Whenever the away team makes a spectacular play there or does something incredible, the Fenway fans appluad. I don't think you'd ever see that at the Cell. I'm an ND guy and we care a whole helluva lot about our team and how it does. We tailgate before games, get in high spirits, etc, but you rarely see a fight or incident and ND Stadium. The only difference is either respect for the venue or else the nature of the people attending the game.

any chance at a crow eating smilie?

I think that Shingo will be a pretty good closer. Rivera is basically a two pitch pitcher (fastball and cutter) and nobody has "figured him out." Gagne can't blow anybody away with his stuff and he's got what, 81 straight saves? From Gammons's recent article about what makes a successful closer: 1. Shingo does a great job of painting both corners and really sneaking the ball in there. 2. Shingo has excellent command and location. I haven't seen him struggle to locate a pitch since we played the Yankees. 3. Frisbee and fast ball are swing-and-miss for him. 4. He shows no fear and I think batters are starting to get intimidated by him. We got us a good one!

Not really, but I hope he can.

great to see MB bounce back. I hope Garcia is just as impressive