fathom

Well, we deserve to lose this game. Cubs are playing with more of a sense of urgency than we are, and all it took was one mistake by Garland and whoever called that stupid 0-2 pitch to put us in the hole.

Should be 2 outs right now. AJP not only threw that ball awfully high to second, but he had no velocity on the throw either.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jun 26, 2005 -> 08:32 PM) Rowand is often ovematched by tough righthanded pitching it seems, Trevor Hoffman notwithstanding. Yeah, he needs to be batting 6th or 7th against RHP. I'm just thankful he's had those clutch hits against righties lately, like Hoffman, Sanchez, and Brazelban.

QUOTE(Cerbaho-WG @ Jun 26, 2005 -> 08:29 PM) 69 pitches through 6? Sox don't deserve to win this ballgame with the flat out awful approach they've been using. Prior hasn't dominated anyone, he's thrown hittable pitches that are taken and good pitches that are swung at. I'm sick of watching this. A few of our hitters seem intimidated by Prior. Rowand looks like he wants to bail on any pitch that Prior throws.

Seems like our hitters don't know that Prior was likely going to be on a pitch count today. Our wrong hitters are swinging at the first pitch, while hitters that should be swinging at 3-0 meatballs are taking those pitches. We've still yet to defeat a stud pitcher this season (thankfully there aren't many of them in the AL).

I remember thinking last year after about 2 months that Santana wasn't as good as people thought he was going to be. However, as his arm strength improved during the course of the season, he was amazing. We all know that the Twins are likely going to be our main competition this entire season for the division, and they have enough talent to be a legit contender for the AL Central.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Jun 26, 2005 -> 05:22 AM) If you sneeze by super star in the nba they go to the free throw line. Just somethign that is apart of sports and always will be. Yes, but the big names in baseball gets preferential treatment also. Barry Bonds easily has the smallest strike zone in baseball. Guys like Pedro and Maddux are almost always going to have a bigger zone than rookies, etc. All we can hope is that someone like Buehrle begins to get the extra inch or so off the plate as his career goes on.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jun 26, 2005 -> 04:04 AM) You are wrong. Contreras deserves THE SAME strike zone as Maddux. What is this, segregation? Seperate, but equal strike zones? If it is a strike for one guy, it damn well should be a strike for the other guy. Experience should not factor into how 'big' your strike zone is. Does the rule book say the strike zone is from point A to point B, unless your name is Maddux, Pedro or Santana, then you can add 4 inches to every side? I don't think so. Were you a Bulls fan during the Jordan era? If so, then I bet you never complained about the fact that MJ could get away with almost anything he wanted on the court. Favortism happens in sports, it's something that everyone has to deal with.

The Brewers announcer is going nuts tonight. It's been a terrific game to watch on TV.

3-0 Twins in the first with Santana on the mound. This game's over early.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Jun 25, 2005 -> 11:17 PM) I don't want to see Prior beat us. If there's one game I absolutely wanted to be a victory it's right here. I absolutely hate Prior's personality. He is just such a smug asshole that has accomplished nothing in the majors to deserve the amount of respect that seemingly everyone gives him. I know it's not the politically correct thing to say, but while everyone was hoping that his injury wasn't going to be too serious, I definitely would not have shed a tear if his career was ended because of the line drive off of Hawpe's bat.

Well, Twins won. Lead is now 9.5.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 25, 2005 -> 11:05 PM) It's hard to throw strikes when the strike zone shrinks 6 inches per side every time Maddux leaves the mound and you take over. The strike zone wasn't nearly as bad as I believe you think it was today. Not only that, but Maddux deserves the benefit of the doubt from the umpire a lot more than Contreras does. The strike zone was not the reason we lost today. Contreras pitching like a pussy in the first inning was.

QUOTE(jerseysox @ Jun 25, 2005 -> 11:04 PM) totally agree. he's not a no. 3 hitter. your no. 3 guy should be your best hitter in the lineup. if frank's not going to be there, i'd have paulie there. Right now, with no Frank in the lineup, I wouldn't mind Dye or Everett in the 3rd hole. Not only that, but Rowand farther down in the lineup would balance out the speed a little. As it was today, we had absolutely no speed from the 4 spot to the 8 spot in the lineup. I would guess it was one of the slowest group of guys in MLB history to bat consecutively.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 25, 2005 -> 11:04 PM) Rowand looked terrible today because he couldn't hit 1 pitch...a sinking changeup on the inner half. He had a bunch of swings that were right on time on the pitch, but it sunk away from his bat and he never figured it out. The thing is, Maddux is probably the smartest pitcher in baseball, so he obviously used that pitch to his advantage in order to get Rowand out. Rowand had some good pitches to hit his first AB though, and he tried to hit a homer instead of just trying to knock in Pods from 3rd.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jun 25, 2005 -> 11:01 PM) Its nice that he is working on a new swing right now. Getting lift and getting around the ball. If not for Rowand's clutch hitting this year, I would have been really disappointed in his offensive prodcution. Like I've said all year and earlier in this thread, he should never be hitting 3rd against rhp. Against lhp, that's fine. However, he's nowhere near good enough against rhp to be in the 3rd spot.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 25, 2005 -> 10:54 PM) And the Home run that Carl hit? Or the fact that our number 3 hole had a terrible game today, unable to get the runner home in a few potentially big situations?

QUOTE(Beastly @ Jun 25, 2005 -> 10:58 PM) Contreras and Hernandez are pissing me off as of late, I'm running out of patience with Orlando, you can't go on the DL every 20 some days. Stretch it out, stop being a baby and pitch, I want to win, and I want to win now. I don't mind Duque being on the DL. With the way he was pitching lately, we probably have a much better chance of winning with someone else on the mound than him. In this case, we get what we paid for in the injury-plagued pitcher.

Some of our players need to get the piano off of their backs.

QUOTE(jerseysox @ Jun 25, 2005 -> 10:51 PM) i'm in the mood for a rally. at least get the tying run to the plate for me. Yep, it would be great if they gave us a thrill this inning. I'm sure Ozzie would love to have OMIT hit instead of Frank this inning.

I still think that against a pitcher like Maddux, Thomas should have been in the lineup. I like Frank's chances against the slow stuff a lot more than I do against Prior's stuff tomorrow.

QUOTE(whitesoxjr27 @ Jun 25, 2005 -> 10:49 PM) anyone up for a rally in the ninth. Where's the Dodgers when we need them?

I find it pathetic that any Cubs player would b**** about the strike zone today.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 25, 2005 -> 10:44 PM) Well, the one thing we can say about this game is that Jose Contreras beat himself...he couldn't throw strikes, and it killed us. Exactly, Contreras basically handed the Cubs those runs in the first inning. This game was a perfect example of why Maddux has 300 wins....and Contreras has been a bust overall in the majors. One person will NEVER lost a game because they "beat" themself, while the other puts himself in a tough situation far too often on the mound.

Like I said, this is a game of warning track power.