BlackBetsy

Wise due for a meaningless homer.

Ozzie needs to get tossed or start a beanbrawl. Can't go down this meekly.

Would be nice to score a couple of runs and make the Twins bullpen lack confidence.

LOL the Sox had a lead in this game.

Maybe the Twins will let Jose Paniagua throw the 9th inning.

QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ Sep 23, 2008 -> 09:54 PM) He's one of our leaders. Meanwhile, they show a clip from the clincher in 1983, where the Sox score the winning run on a sacrifice fly. And that's the last time the Sox got a man home from 3rd with less than 2 out. LOL +8

Zen like philosophy - This game has already been won by the Twins. The Sox have nothing to do but reclaim. All upside. Twins were down 8-1 vs. Cleveland last week and came back.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 23, 2008 -> 09:20 PM) Javy will be traded this offseason, no doubt about it. :pray I'd ride him out of town on a rail if I could. Vazquez + $10 million to his old franchise for John Lannan.

I'd give anything for Ozzie to go out to the mound and berate Vazquez in front of everyone and take the ball from him.

Kubel 2-20 against Vazquez coming in. But of course, since it's a big game, Javy poops his pants and Kubel will go for the cycle. If we are going to lose, I want nothing less than a beanball war in the 6th inning on.

I really, really hate this team sometimes.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Sep 23, 2008 -> 09:10 PM) A SPECTACULAR CATCH BY ALEXI CASILLA Isn't it great when you can dive for something that you can wait for a hop on and throw the guy out by 30 feet?

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Sep 23, 2008 -> 08:58 PM) Second time AJ has gotten out on a ball out of the zone. At least Baker is up to 49 pitches. It was great how we beat the Yankees on pitch count when Hughes was in there. Awesome.

My EI feed on DirecTV is out. Great.

Swing harder, Juan. Nice bingle Juanie. Way to give up an at bat OC. Broadway warming up. That's Ozzie's FU to Vazquez.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 23, 2008 -> 05:40 PM) anyone else stuck listening to dick bremer tonight like me? ugh...he and hawk should have a homer-off to see who's more biased. I want to give Blyleven the finger and say "Circle this, Bert!"

I know Swish is cold, but he hits Baker pretty well. Wise is a crapshoot, but I like the fact that he's hot right now. I can't believe I'm going to watch the Sox put their season on the line again in the Dome. So many bad memories.

Could this be a more pathetic quote from Javy (from Whitesox.com): And this guy is a competitor? He whines about having to pitch in a dome, how it's depressing, and then says "hopefully" the Sox will win. All will be forgiven if he wins, but for crying out loud, this guy even talks like a loser.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Sep 23, 2008 -> 04:10 PM) My addition to this thread is that Ozzie has to do his part too. And that means pulling Javy, as early as the 6th inning, if the game is tight. Two years ago we watched as Javy blew, by my memory, something like 11 leads in the 6th inning. It was unbelievable. The last game he won on the year was against Yankees, I believe. And he only won that game because Ozzie yanked him after 5. So, I only put the first 5 innings on Javy in tonight's game. After that, I consider Ozzie to have been forewarned. (Javy should be better, but it's just wishful thinking trying to make him into something he's not at this point.) Granted, our bullpen would be stretched to cover 4 innings, but it still might give us a better chance. I agree with this. If the Sox are up say 4-0 after 5 innings, only let Javy pitch until he lets a runner on base. Then Thornton for up to 2 innings and Jenks for up to 2 innings. No one other than Thornton or Jenks pitches to Mauer / Morneau. This game is that important. If the Sox win this one, it gets them 90% of the way towards winning the division.

Rally Uribe? Rally Missile (wouldn't he be the logical replacement for Crede)??

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 23, 2008 -> 02:01 PM) Javy has been questioned before he came to the White Sox, however the facts are : 2006 White Sox win 90, Javy below .500 2007 White Sox lose 90, Javy 15-8 2008 White Sox contending all year should win 90+, Javy below .500 Bad month in NY? July ERA 6.61, August ERA 7.44. September ERA 6.29. He was so brutal the second half of his season with the Yankees and then in the playoffs, he was sent packing and the Yankees thought he was injured. So, for 2 years he's played with good teams in Chicago, his winning pct. is below that of his career. He played for a good team in NY and didn't get the job done. Maybe he can change some minds tonight, because pitchers making 8 figures a year should do well in big situations, not just when your playing out the string. Javy Vazquez for whatever reason doesn't seem to be comfortable on winning teams. He likes the pressure off. Last year he wasn't so much 15-8 for a 90 loss team, he was 9-3 in the second half for a team that went 33-43 in the second half with absolutely no pressure. In the first half, the Sox struggled but were still considered a team that could eventually compete and had a shot. No one thought that in the second half. That said, all will be forgiven if he wins the game tonight.

I guess the games this late in the season were meaningful in '05 - the Sox clinched with 3 games to go- but since I was in Australia / New Zealand at the time, I missed it. So this will be my first last-week-of-the-season big series as a Sox fan. They still have never played a meaningful Game 162 in my lifetime - although I hope that continues this year b/c the Sox clinch no later than Friday.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 23, 2008 -> 02:10 AM) Only lefty we can halfway trust is Thornton. Put Boone or Ramirez in and we're doomed. I mean any Twin lefty will clobber either of those two hacks. Mauer OPS v. Thornton - .580 in 16 AB Morneau OPS v. Thornton - .352 in 15 AB Mauer OPS v. Jenks - .697 in 11 AB Morneau OPS v. Jenks - .220 in 14 AB 5Ks, 1 BB Jenks and Thornton should be the only pitchers that face Mauer + Morneau in the 7th inning or later, unless it's a laugher. Ozzie should use Jenks in the 8th if he needs to in Game 1. Forget about the rest of the series. Treat each game as if it's single elimination - one win in this series will go a LONG way to clinching the division.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Sep 22, 2008 -> 10:06 PM) All I can say is that I trust Javy a whole lot more then I do Buehrle this series. I feel exactly the opposite, especially with Blackburn on the mound. Unfortunately, the Sox's best hitter against Baker - by far - is Joe Crede. Uribe can't hit his weight against Baker. Thome (.557 OPS v. Baker in 15 AB) and Dye (.322 in 13 AB) suck against Baker big time and AJ is OK not terrific (.666 in 9 AB, but 3 for 9). Cabrera (.944 / 18 AB), Konerko (1.119 / 15 AB) , and Swisher (if he starts - .940 OPS / 11 AB) will have to provide the lumber tonight. A-Ram 0 for 3 w/ a deep fly ball and a K, D. Wise with a walk and a strikeout. Somehow despite these bad stats, Baker has a 9+ ERA against the Sox.

QUOTE (Allsox @ Sep 23, 2008 -> 08:26 AM) Exactly! The key to this series is keeping guys off base in front of Mauer, Morneau and Cuddyer. Do not let Span and Gomez on base and careful with Kubel. +4 The Sox consistently put Mauer and Morneau in a position to beat them. They should not. Morneau will swing at bad pitches when he thinks he needs to drive in a run and get himself out. Mauer is kind of indestructible. My theory on him is to knock him down once or twice early in the series and get him a little light on his feet. But he's good. I'd rather him hit singles the other way with two outs more than anything.