Spiegle

I voted for Tejada not because we've been hearing tons a rumors about him coming (Soriano), but strickly b.c we are currently in Balt right before the deadline and it wouldnt surprise me one bit. Not saying I think it will actually happen, just that if Kenny traded for him, i wouldnt be surprised. I do think something is coming... something bigger than the blum trade last year, its just been a little "too quite"... but even if it doesnt, i do believe that this team has what it takes to make it back to october, if they can ever get out of this slump... hopefully tonight was a turning point. Didnt get to see the game, but the box score reminds me of the Crede HR vs the Indians last year, which I believe was a huge turning point to end that god aweful august.

its a good point, although i like to think of Buehrle as an indescructable workhorse... he may need to be on a shorter leash for a while (which i have no problem with at all, give him 5-6 innings and let BMac get 2 after he is out). Or give BMac a start or two in his place, I dont really think anything bad could happen from that, and since I (and i'd say a lot here) believe that he will be in the rotation next year, giving him a few more starts could be a very good thing too

As of today... assuming the yanks lose (they are currently losing by like 16 runs to the indians).... and if the twinks take care of the royals, the central would have 2 of the top 3 records in baseball, and the 2 top spots for the wildcard standings. I dont know about anyone else, but I think that right there shows they are for real. I dont really expect it to stay that way (we've had a hot division as of late), but i dont expect anyone to really fade away too much either.

Im excited to see Politte round 2 this year. If he really was just hurting a little, and all he needed was some rest (afterall, it was a short offseason for him, he might not have taken it as well as some others), and he is even close to as effective as last year.... man, we have one hell of a bullpen on our side. almost to the point that our opponants would have a 6 inning game on their hands. Hopefully the bullpen's surprises (Thornton) continue to do well, b.c he will be very important even if Politte is better this time around

YES! big win, gotta keep pace with the tigers/twins!

alright bobby, you gave them a ray of hope.... now shut the door!

QUOTE(beautox @ Jun 28, 2006 -> 08:20 PM) indeed, if we could get Oliver Perez, for say Rogo + mid level pitching prospect would you want Kenny to pull the trigger? Yes, definately... in a heartbeat. Rogo is pretty much blocked (with Konerko locked up for a while), and I have faith that Perez would at least turn into a good "6th starter - long relief" guy for the future when BMac moves to the rotation (which hopefully will be next year with kenny moving one of our other starters this offseason, IMO vazquez).

i agree with a lot of you here, i am really happy with our bullpen lately. Thornton has been unreal IMO, and Jenks has stopped any critics saying he wont continue his late season success of last year. If our bullpen can hold teams when we get in a little trouble, I will always have faith our offense can come back (like tonight). I would however like more than one run for Bobby... lets go sox!

alright, lets go freddy.... hold them I have a feeling the 3rd time through we'll get to this guy, I mean Come on.... its the Pirates

yeah, but they appeared to be the right calls to me (haha, i stand corrected with the replay... still, tough call to make)

nice heads up play pods The runner didnt look like he expected that at all

Lets start another nice winning streak!!

I was there last night, and although I was damn close to leaving a couple times, I told myself I needed to stay, if nothing else, I'd be able to slide down into some better seats when everyone else leaves due to the crappy game / rain. So I stayed to get to see Iguchi's HR (it was great). But I unfortunately had to get up super early this morning, so I left after the 10th (not that I really missed anything after that).

correct me if im wrong... but... his rational for putting mack in was so that he would lead off the next inning (and in turn, move the pitcher's batting spot down), but... why couldnt he just leave BA in center, and then pinch hit for the pitcher had there been a problem and Jenks blew the save? am i missing something, or did oz really just out dumb himself here?

QUOTE(Nokona @ Jun 16, 2006 -> 07:11 PM) Settle down man. It's gonna take more than the last 5 gaems to see if BA has truly figured it out. oh, i know... im just saying he has been a totally different player as of late, i dont believe that come the all star break, we will be pleading for a new CF

man, he has looked like a completely different hitter, and even defender as of late... he looks happier out there too... hopefully he has ajusted to the bigs and we can start seeing some signs of those numbers he put up down on the farm! he is gonna be good Way to get a heads up steal Brian!

great trade... hopefully this will help us sure up our bullpen (which has already been doing a lot better as of late)... if Riske can preform to even near his averages, and politte comes back to be a semi decent mop up guy, then we've got ourselves a good bullpen good for lopez too, he really didnt have a spot here, and i hope he'll get a decent shot in boston

I've noticed his new angle a little, and I'd say that it couldnt be hurting him... he is pitching pretty well tonight... and more strike outs is always a good thing

Personally, I think tad's hitting is less dependent on Pods and More on Thome/Konerko. I feel like since those two have been two of the hottest hitters in the AL, Tad had been seeing a lot of really good pitches... pitchers dont want to put him on base for fear of one of the followers hitting a 2 or 3 run blast. As long as Tad has the protection of Thome/Kong, anything is possible, and he will be much more comfortable here for his second season... he knows the team mates, the town, and maybe even the language a little better. All things are hard to overcome in the first year. Just a comparison: If there was a player that was in AAA, and hit .330+ for 2 years straight, and you called him up... would you not say that odds are that player has the potential to hit .300+ in the majors? And since Japan has been deemed AAAA, how does this same mindset seem to go away? I can very easily see Iguchi being a .300, 25HR kind of guy... but he wont be as long as he has to give up at bats to move the leadoff man along (not that its a bad thing, he is awful good at it).

The lack of communication with his agent is appauling, however... when Contreras says things like "Im a wealthy man already, you guys rescued me, you are family"... it makes me fall in love with the guy all over again. If what he says is true (which I assume is, why would he say that if he didnt at least sort of mean it?), then he is exactly the type of guy I would want on the team for the rest of his days on the mound (however many that might be... who knows exactly how old the guy is).

I remember last year that Royals had a tendency to spark 8 game win-streaks.... wouldnt mind one of those right now at all! lol go sox! (unfortunately i'll be driving back to chicago during the game, so i'll have to listen to the radio, and from what i've herd, Chris doesnt do all that good a job...)

Yeah Iguchi! Keep it going Thome

hey how did freddy look today? I just got back from class so i wasnt able to see any of his innings... i saw he gave up a few runs, but were his pitches looking like good?

Thorton looked great! Outings like that make my worry a lot less about our bullpen...

Freddy gets through the 4th with a 1,2,3 inning One more K, two ground balls still 1-0 Domincans Freddy's Final Line 4 IP, 1 ER, 4 SO, 1 BB (intentional) nothing was really hit hard off him all night, even the ER was on a slow ground ball up the third base line I believe. Very solid outing, and against a team that is better offensively than anyone he'll be facing in the mlb.