fathom

Thankfully Garland threw a good sinker. The Red Sox definitely have a spark tonight with their 3 guys getting back, so they're going to have the crowd in the game the entire night.

PK with no range on that play...he should have got a glove on it.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 4, 2006 -> 11:13 PM) Nice swing Jermaine... Meatball down the cock, missed. So our strategy is to take first pitch fastball down the plate. Great approach, especially since Tavarez is the type of guy who gets more creative if he's up in the count.

QUOTE(Friend of Nordhagen @ Sep 4, 2006 -> 11:15 PM) Thome misses a cookie. What's new?

We look awesome so far.

How are we swinging right through 88 mph high sinkers?

Keep sucking Pods!

QUOTE(Mr. Showtime @ Sep 4, 2006 -> 10:09 PM) Manny is playing. Lineups are in. Usual crew. Pods, Anderson, Dye all in today. No subs. NESN flashed the lineups so I missed the exact order. Great timing for us to be facing this Red Sox offense....NOT!

Twins win.....it must be nice to be able to win a game when you only score 2 runs. Gardenhire managed a superb game today, taking out Bonser before he would face someone who had done some damage against him.

So Boof Bonser and Scott Baker have had a better start this week than anyone not named Jon Garland on the Sox rotation in about a month.

Rumors are that Manny, Varitek, and Nixon will be back tonight. That's just fantastic news!!!

- Anyone who sees this team play every day would know that Anderson should be an everyday starter. - Yes, I think Ozuna/Mackowiak would be a huge upgrade in LF over Pods. - If we're going to complain about MacDougal/Thornton being bad, then I don't want to know how we classify every starter not named Jon.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 10:34 PM) Freddy Garcia has allowed less than 3 runs to an AL opponent only three times this season, and just once since May 10th. That's once in 17 starts. Over that same time span, he's allowed 5 or more runs 11 times. Less than 3: 1 time; 5 or more: 11 times! The White Sox record with Javier Vazquez on the mound is 13-13. The White Sox record with Jose Contreras on the mound? 13-13, including 2-10 in the last 12. Ah yes, 3 runs or less in both starts. 4 runs in 14.1 innings. The kid can't hack it. BTW, thanks for the great stats today. It's amazing how much these guys are underachieving. Garcia faces the Indians next, and they've owned him this year.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 10:34 PM) Freddy Garcia has allowed less than 3 runs to an AL opponent only three times this season, and just once since May 10th. That's once in 17 starts. Over that same time span, he's allowed 5 or more runs 11 times. Less than 3: 1 time; 5 or more: 11 times! The White Sox record with Javier Vazquez on the mound is 13-13. The White Sox record with Jose Contreras on the mound? 13-13, including 2-10 in the last 12. Ah yes, 3 runs or less in both starts. 4 runs in 14.1 innings. The kid can't hack it. Wasn't that McCarthy game a pitcher's duel against Santana in which McCarthy only gave up one run on a Jones homer? I am ok with someone saying that they don't want McCarthy in the rotation now. However, anyone that says he wasn't clutch for the Sox last season is just making up s*** to help their argument.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:44 PM) Good, I disagree with fathom again. It's been far too long. You know I've been clamoring for McCarthy to permanently join the rotation since about a year ago. However, Ozzie Guillen isn't a fan of his, and I'll believe we trade one of his buddies like Vazquez or Garcia when it really happens. Until then, I'll keep believing that McCarthy is on the outside looking in.

QUOTE(Frankensteiner @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:42 PM) That's why Soriano would have been perfect. I really hope we dump Garcia and Vazquez this off-season, follow the Yanks model, and re-invest that money into the offense. I would have been all for trading McCarthy for Soriano if we would have extended Soriano's contract on that day.

QUOTE(GoRowand33 @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:39 PM) If we don't sweep boston, then we have no excuse to not have won this series We're not going to sweep Boston. However, we can look forward to Garcia's next game being against the Indians, and they've made him their b**** this season.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:38 PM) We can't expect guys like Dye to match their numbers next season...but that's only because Dye has been so good. Thome, I could still see putting up similar numbers, all he needs to do is avoid major injuries. On top of that, hopefully we'll get improvement from Anderson, which will help as well. And it's not that bad to go from being the #1 to the #3 or #4 offense in the AL. We could get by with that easily...IF we get some damn pitching. The pitching in the AL Central is only going to continue to get better though as guys like Liriano, Sowers, etc. continue to blossom. We definitely have to upgrade our lineup against tough lefties though.

STILL IN FIRST PLACE IN THE WILD CARD!!!!!!!!!!!

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:33 PM) How long until Miguel Cabrera is a free agent? He just said he cried tears of joy when Ozzie won the WS. It might be worth a couple of years of ridiculous moves if the Sox had a shot at signing him. Yep, I've been saying that all along. He's going to get a ridiculous contract though. QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:33 PM) It's amazing to me how good the AL is this year. This is the first time in years that I've actually feared the Royals and D-rays. If either could ever find some decent arms (D-rays got lucky with Kazmir), they'll both be real good. The lineup that KC had was better than ours last night, I'm convinced of that. Tampa's lineup sucked on Thursday though, and that should have been a sweep.

QUOTE(TaylorStSox @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:32 PM) I'm not saying Uribe's the answer, but with our pitching staff, I'd rather have a slick fielding/speedy SS than Tejada. SS is definitely a position that needs to be upgraded, but Tejada just adds to our problems. Our offense isn't the problem. It's the f***in pitching!!! Cooper can't work magic with everyone. Cabrera = Vazquez without the early success in Montreal. IMO, a move like that take 2 steps backward to make 1 forward. We're going to have to upgrade our offense. We have a lot of aging players, and we can't expect guys like Dye and Thome to match their numbers next season. Hopefully we'll get a boost from a new LF. Arguing about Tejada is pointless though, as we don't have anything they'd realistically want that we'd give up.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:31 PM) I've been saying it for a while, Jordan. So two notorious optimistic posters are arguing about who said this team sucks first? Mercy, this ship is really sinking.

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:29 PM) Particularly since the primary job of the lead off man are to put the ball in play and get on base. And the primary job of a "speed" hitter is to make sure he makes contact and puts pressure on the defense. Juan Pierre might have mediocre numbers, but I will gladly take him on this team and put him in LF next year if it means no Pods.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:28 PM) This team just isn't that good. That simple. When you add that to having an absolute horrid manager, well these are the results. This was the first game I've watched with my brother in a long time, and he said this after a terrible AJP bat in the 5th or 6th "WE'RE AWFUL!" It's sad to say, but it's true. We had to get lucky to win 3 out of 6 against the Royals and DRays.

QUOTE(TaylorStSox @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:25 PM) Defensively? LOL. Our infield is solid enough defensively to "survive" with Tejada's average defense. If we play Anderson 140 games in CF, and get a new LF, our defense will be just fine. QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 3, 2006 -> 09:25 PM) Melton just mentioned that Pods is 2nd in baseball at taking a 3rd strike. I don't know if I'm more surprised he's still considered a lead-off man, or that someone has actually been caught looking more. BTW, Papi is back on Tuesday. I'd bet that Abreu is first. Phillies fans used to get on him all the time about taking called 3rd.