Hangar18

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 18, 2006 -> 12:10 PM) He isn't trying anything new. He's doing the same crap he was in the first half of 04'- leaving everything up over the plate. He simply needs to hit the corners and keep the ball down and he'll be fine. Mark is the least of my worries. I really hope he isnt hurt, and that hes just in one of his "slumps" as was pointed out by others. MB eats innings, and thats as important right now ...........

QUOTE(RibbieRubarb @ Jul 18, 2006 -> 09:23 AM) Wait...wait wait... The Sox had other ideas? They wanted to lose? Plus, a sweep of the Tigers will have no effect on them?!? :headshake You think the SOX were trying to win those other 2 games? Its arguable at best. But us SWEEPING the Tigers is significantly much HARDER now that they have a 4.5 lead on us and .... MOMENTUM (oops, I said momentum). What I meant by that, is that the Tiggers are going to play LOOSE, Carefree and Easy knowing they have that lead. The SOX? They are going in having lost 3 in a row, lost 2 series in a row, have looked miserable for a couple weeks now, and have to VISIT detroit. all things not in our favor right now. Thats why I said that QUOTE(RME JICO @ Jul 18, 2006 -> 09:30 AM) I would have to disagree. This is an important series for both teams. If the Sox win 2 of 3, they will be 7-2 on the season series and would put the Sox only 3 1/2 back, and only 3 back in the loss column. A sweep makes it 1 1/2 back and only 1 in the loss column. That would be demoralizing for the Tigers knowing that they still have their difficult schedule coming in August. I think everyone (me too) forgets about the NY Yankees. They won again last nite, and probably will Sweep the Mariners. That means we will have to win all 3 just to keep pace. Winning solves everything, I know, but I really didnt want the SOX to be in this position going into the break ....................

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 18, 2006 -> 11:55 AM) I think it is a little more difficult than that. I think these are a lot of questions that Don Cooper doesn't even necessarily have answers to, because if he did, I think our guys would be pitching a lot better. You can't expect Hawk and DJ to have these answers. I see poorly placed pitches and a downturn in velocity from MBuehrle. Cooper cant do much about that. Vazquez continues to poorly place pitches, forget where he is, etc. That nonsense works in the NL, but not the AL, you'll get lit up, which is whats happening now. Coop can only tell him to THINK so much .....

I like Chris Singleton. Hes very nice, very polite. But I really would love to see RON KITTLE in the booth or Tom Paciorek again. Either of those 2 and the SOX are good to go again

I listened to the interview. Jay said hes taking some vacation time off, and that he wasnt suspended, but that he and the paper thought (a few here suspected this also, including me) this was a good time to take some time off. His vacation right now has not as much to do with his "war" with the SOX as much as its his "war" with his own paper (just as I suspected) and specifically the editors there. He made a huge implication that he was "censored" back during the playoffs, and im sure his Editors were FURIOUS that he made that comment, because that kind of thing is reserved for behind-the-scenes consumption only. He rightfully called out the Tribune for this kind of behavior with their own writers (I called out the Trib when it happened too, that incident was a much bigger incident than what was reported), and accused the SunTimes of adopting this new policy (slapping the Trib and the Times in the face at the same time-Note how he was ripped the following day conveniently by a Trib writer for not going in the clubhouse) Jays comments towards his paper are like a Chef openly questioning the quality of a Restaurants food in the food section. That can be a fatal blow to papers who, are supposed to be reporting the news and not controlling the news. THAT, is why Jay is on a sabbatical. His paper is FURIOUS that he made that comment, but you can bet they will never suspend him. To do so admits guilt on their part

QUOTE(Sox1422 @ Jul 18, 2006 -> 11:27 AM) A friend of mine just gave me a couple of tickets to the "Grinder Bash". Does anyone know what this is all about? Mainly, is the beer included? Its a blast. Basically its the SOX saying THANK YOU for being season ticket holders. You enter thru the BullPen Bar entrance, and they will have Free FOOD and BEER to eat. Or you can exit thru the visitors bullpen and hang out on the field, the dugouts too (not the infield) Its an excuse for me to bring my ball and glove.

Just Win

Anyone catch it? I forgot he was a pretty darned good ballplayer back in the day. He was really funny and had some very choice things to say today too.

I fear both the Tiggers and the Twinks. But the reason I fear the Twinks more ............... The SOX and Tiggers are going to continue winning, but the Twinkies are going to play the Spoiler role and beat us down the stretch .......... costing us the division & the wild card. I hope Im terribly wrong, but SOX have the hardest schedule now the rest of the way, and the fact we couldve/shouldve been leading the division by this point, but somehow are 4.5 games back is disheartening. The Twinks seemingly are poised to be the thorn in the SOX side, while I dont see anyone doing the same with the Yankees. Its good that Stewart & Hunter are hurt (wow, I said I was glad), because it helps the SOX for sure ..... but this team cant afford any more 3 gm losing streaks

heres another reason Im worried about this series. The SOX needed to shave a game or 2 off the lead BEFORE getting to Detroit. The Tigers playing the SOX with just a 1/2 game lead wouldve had them NERVOUS and looking over their shoulders. Unfortuneately, the SOX had other ideas and now the Tiggers have a 4 1/2 game lead and are playing CONFIDENT and with MOMENTUM (I said momentum, heh heh) The Tiggers will play loose now that they have a lead, knowing that us sweeping them will still have them with the lead Heck, even if we take 2 of 3, we only take 1 game off of the lead.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jul 17, 2006 -> 10:58 PM) Carmen had a "good" e-mail tonight regarding Chris Widger and the possibility of acquiring Henry Blanco. I hope they ask Levine about it and see if he can plant the idea in Kenny's head. My computer is pretty screw up, but I have attached a recording of it. Someone was just asking me about this, and if I knew anything about it. Good post ........

This is a trade you might see happen, Vazquez/Pods for Abreu/Myers. QUOTE(RME JICO @ Jul 17, 2006 -> 09:59 AM) If you compare Pods to other Leftfielders he is not that good, but not many of them leadoff either. If you put his stats up against the other leadoff hitters, he is somewhere in the middle. So that would mean half of the leadoff hitters in the league suck if Pods sucks. Rjemico and Iamshack both bring up excellent points ..........

I think whats REALLY happening behind the scenes, is that Jay Mariotti has gotten into a bigger fight with his editors. If you remember, I brought up a while back him being on The Score being interviewed and he brought up a Very Serious Charge, of Censorship by his own paper. He point blank called out the Tribune for basically doing the same thing with their own writer (Paul Sullivan) and mentioned (Which Ive known for years as well as others) that the other paper has been favoring that other team, and now the SunTimes has been wanting him to Watch what he writes. This is a much bigger story than is being credited with (I was lambasted I believe) It is a very sticky situation, one that BOTH PAPERS will most definitely NOT want being talked about. Ive been calling out the Trib for years, but you can bet the SunTimes isnt going to fight Mariotti taking some time "off" for a while, to cool off. Ive been in his situation before, and to not have your Editors in your corner is stinging and indictment of a paper with no real direction.

Before the Deadline, the SOX are going to make a trade with the Phillies ...... again.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Jul 16, 2006 -> 02:01 PM) We're NOT going to win a World Series championship with this rotation performing as it currently stands. No one can stand to convince me "everything is alright," or citing some variation of dark cloud nonsense. Go ahead and bulls*** me about offensive teams in the past such as Boston or New York winning World Series, but we're all aware pitching/defense is our path to success. When one constructs a team around starting pitching, and those starters aren't performing, I believe it's understandable to be concerned. Think about this -- we make the playoffs and have to face New York, or Boston, does anyone feel confident of a starter past Contreras? This s*** needs to turn around quickly. Well, the Fluffy Cloud contingent might actually start to see that the clouds arent as white and fluffy as they look. Ive been worried for some time now ........ Last year, we ran away with the division unchecked. This year, Detroit has been there from Day 1, and now the Twinks are involved with their strong pitching. The SOX are a good team, no doubt. But unfortuneately, the AL is much tougher and there are slightly better teams than us, and the games we GAVE AWAY early are indeed hurting us now.

Keep Going Brian. Nevermind whats happening around you, just keep taking better swings, and the average will rise. Your defense is great, keep that up too .............

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 09:57 PM) Wow, this is quite the precedent. I didn't know they were in the business of fining players for playing hard. The League of Extraordinarily Dumb Gentleman has spoken

we needed to be SMARTER about situational hitting. Mariano Rivera DID NOT HAVE HIS STUFF this weekend and the SOX hit him pretty good, however, the guys a PRO and knew at least to locate his pitches, and got by by the skin of his teeth QUOTE(VAfan @ Jul 16, 2006 -> 09:52 PM) Our lead over the Yanks is only 3 games. We better pick it up and play better fundamental baseball. The postseason is no certainty. The Baserunning has been horrid lately too. I was very nervous about our pitching, knowing that Minnesota has decided to make things tough in this division, and the Yankees were only 5 games behind us in the Loss Column and you knew they wanted to beat us BADLY (note: they are only 2 games behind us now) The dumb giveaway losses are now coming back to haunt us. The SOX have to escape July and hope we dont fall to 7 or 8 games back heading into August, that month will be a killer and in fact, the SOX have the TOUGHEST schedule the rest of the way now and it was important that we had a LEAD in the standings. Things dont favor us unfortuneately

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Jul 17, 2006 -> 08:19 AM) Maybe he;s trying to over due it. Maybe thats why his pitches are up in the zone. I think he's due for a win streak. So is Javy. Garland has already started his. Garcia is never going to have one. I think hes tired, his velocity is down a bit and the pitches he thinks hes going to sneak by people (the very poorly placed "fastballs" hes thrown the last 5 starts) are getting CRUSHED by hitters. Everyone is swinging first pitch and it doesnt help his velocity is down, hes getting hammered. HEck, every guy he puts on, scores, because EVERYONE is making contact, which is BAD BAD BAD.

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 12:03 PM) Right off the bat, after the All-Star Break, I see the SOX going 8-8 to end the month. I saw that Sweep in NY coming a mile away .....and I did say we would be 4-5 games out by the time we hit Detroit.

I thnk Im in the wrong thread ......

QUOTE(SoxFan76 @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 11:02 AM) I'd like to see another legit ace come into the equation. I'm sorry, I love everything that Buerhle has done for this team the last 6 years, but I see him as a really good number 2. I don't see him as an ace. I'm not asking for Liriano/Santana, but I'd like to see a legit ace replace Vazquez in the rotation. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. Money talks. (oh yeah, and EVERY team wants a legit ace to replace their 5th starter, haha) Vazquez and Buehrle CANT be on the same team. Vazquez is simply the latin version of Buehrle. Gives up tons of hits, lots of runs, but eats lots of innings.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 10:53 AM) unlike wsi, the mods here are really great - and don't ban people unless they truly deserve it... Agreed. I like the fact that there is an ACTUAL and CONCRETE rulebook so to speak regarding bans. Mods who operate as separate entities and have personal agendas and simply interpret the rules as they see fit isnt really fun to be around. I hope the new rules here make this place more fun, because there are more and more people going to be joining here and getting into discussions, and its not fun to see what we've been seeing here before. I hope to be here for a while too and contribute more (dont be mad ......)

QUOTE(rangercal @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 02:48 AM) I wish the chicago media could be as classy. Great read. That was a very entertaining piece. Entertaining and informative I might add. Note there were was nothing implied. Facts werent glossed over. Myths werent regurgitated. This article could NEVER have been written by a Chicago sportswriter. Rick "those were cub fans at the WS Parade" Morrissey? No. Carol "lets pick Yankees/Cubs WS rotations in March" Sleazak? Uh-uh. Mike "Im the Cubs parttime GM" Kiley? Definitely not. Im very surprised that the writer went to great lengths to write a GOOD article instead of taking the LAZY WAY OUT and re-hashing everything thats already out there (hes a villain/bum/instigator) Isnt the NY Times one of the papers owned by the Tribune Entertainment Corporation? or is that the LA Times im thinking of?

Im thinking NO WAY. The Dusty thing is going to be the bigger story down the stretch .......... QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 08:58 AM) Who cares. Someone actually said that last nite on the "me show". Holmes spent quite a bit of time talking about whats wrong with the Cubs and will Dusty be here, and a fan called and said "Who Cares", lets talk about the SOX. Pretty Funny.