Wong & Owens

Other series notes: Neal Cotts, you have Jon Garland 2002-03 syndrome. Two strikes, no problem. Third strike/batted out, big problem. You'll be fine, just need to learn a few lessons about pitching in the big leagues. Joe Crede, have you ever hit a ground ball? Big hole in your swing, I dont have any confidence that you're anything other than Ron Karkovice the Third Baseman. Jose Valentin, yesterday's game, when you struck out swinging in the second? or third inning? Everyone in the stadium knew that you were getting a breaking ball low and out of the strike zone with a 2-strike count, and you swung and missed anyways. In fact, everytime you get two strikes on you, you get a breaking pitch low and out of the zone, and you swing and miss. Please stop this, as it is getting predictable, to add on top of annoying. Oh, and Jose, don't bunt again, ever. Shingo Takatsu, for striking out someone on a 50 mph pitch, you are my hero Miguel Olivo, your throwing arm is overrated. It's good, but not nearly as good as many say it is. Carlos Lee, you need a courtesy runner. Everytime you get picked off, or get incorrectly called safe on a pickoff attempt, any Sox fan with little league playing experience loses a year off his/her life. Cliff Politte, you may be a genius scientist, but the baseball season is no time to experiment with swapping the 2004 Cliff Politte with the 2003 Cliff Politte. That is not nice, please put the 2004 version of you back where you belong right away! However, if you'd like to bring the 2003 Damaso Marte into the present and switch him with the current version, that would be acceptable.

Another thing I love about Uribe-- he has James Baldwin Hat Syndrome What is this? Quite simply, it's the total inabilty to wear a baseball cap with the bill pointing straight forward. James Baldwin was the first player I noted that had this affliction for a whole season. Juan Uribe now has it, as does Cleveland pitcher C.C. Sabathia. I believe Luis Castillo also has it, and so does Milton Bradley. There is no known cure.

People, people, people. This is an online message board. This is not your doctor's office, nor your lawyer's office. There are no secrets pertaining to national security being exchanged. This is not that "massage" parlor where you get your "sore back" worked on 4 times a week. If anonymous people want to hang around here and read cw and soxinpa's arguments over bible passages, or that tony90873534262413314524327 wants the Sox to trade for Shawn Boskie, or prawn queen's Carolina Hurricanes lamentations, who friggin' cares? They said they wouldnt come back, and now they have, but anonymously? Oh no, call in the SoxTalk lawyers, some strict legal agreement has been breached! Perspective, compadres.

IIRC, throwing hard doesn't really affect a big league pitcher's arm all that much. It's the number of breaking balls + the strain "new" pitches like cutters and split-fingers put on your elbow that contribute to arm injuries. Another contributor may very well be specialization. Today, kids become pitchers at a very young age, and focus from that point on only on pitching. They never develop the other arm muscles that keep the arm strong and stable.

Wilson makes $1.15 million Wilson hit .262 last year, in only 309 AB's. Wilson has never had more than 368 Ab's in a season. He is outhitting Konerko so far this year, for sure, but it's not like he's Todd Helton or anything.

Is Lee a head case? I think Konerko is high-maintenance, but Lee seems ok in that regard. I was assuming that prospects would have to be included in any deal along with a Konerko/Lee. If Seattle, for example, was licking their chops over getting someone like Sweeney, then maybe they could be talked into taking Okrenok's contract in order to get him.

Craig Wilson, and they seem reluctant to make him an everyday player. Seattle's minor teams are devoid of power-hitting outfielders. If Lee can step it up a notch, I think they'd be interested in a relatively young caballo. Just shut up and agree with me, the Sox would be so much better off if KW could swing this.

Both teams could use a power-hitting 1B, if Konerko keeps hitting. Ditto with Lee

Kw could probably get away with the swindling in Garcia's case, but I would guess he'd have to pay Benson

The budget is not set in stone. Maybe Konerko or Lee gets shipped in the deal, that would help.

Why not get Benson AND Garcia? Garcia would come somewhat cheaply because he's a FA at the end of the season, and I would guess some teams are still wary of him based on his problems last year. Throw some Latin Love at him from the south side, and he could be a horse for years to come. Benson should be reasonably cheap as well, but he's more of a risk. Plus, I dont think either would command Colon money, and both could be potentially resigned for a few years, no? Wouldnt you give up some minor league prospects for three years of Benson, Garcia, Buehrle Loaiza and Garland?

I'm going to bring it up again as a reminder that, back in 2000, 2001, and most of 2002, we had no third baseman. All the talk was about this 3B down in AAA who was supposed to make everyone forget about Robin Ventura. Yet, at every opportunity, the Sox held Crede down in AAA. At the start of 2000, nobody was happy with the prospect of Herbert Perry as the everyday 3B. In 2001 and 2002, even after the Sox were clearly out of the race, the Sox contiued to leave Perry and Valentin at 3B, instead of bringing up Crede(they did bring him up in both years, but both times very late in the year--he got little playing time). I still think Sox management didnt like something they saw in Crede, obviously pertaining to his hitting ability. Maybe he's just not that good, and never will be.

Ill. Lawnmower Driver Charged With DUI E-mail this story Printer-friendly format Search archives By Associated Press Published May 20, 2004, 3:52 PM CDT FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. -- When authorities warned Paul Schwarztrauber Jr. not to drink and drive, it may not have been entirely clear to him that the prohibition also applied to lawnmowers. The 46-year-old was pulled over this week and charged with riding his lawnmower on a public street while intoxicated and with a revoked license. Police said Schwarztrauber, who had two previous DUI convictions, had his 1-year-old daughter on his lap. He refused to stop and shouted obscenities when a patrol car arrived responding to complaint about a man driving a lawnmower erratically in the street, authorities said. "He kept driving for a few moments. One of the officers then walked up to the mower (and) turned off the ignition," said Lt. David Fellows. It is illegal to drive any motor vehicle while intoxicated and to drive one on a public road without a license, Fellows said. Police in Fairview Heights, 10 miles southeast of St. Louis, gave Schwarztrauber a sobriety test and arrested him Monday. He remained jailed in St. Clair County on $50,000 bail Thursday. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney. Schwarztrauber was convicted of DUI in 1983 and 1990. In the 1983 case, he also was convicted of fleeing Illinois State Police, speeding, battery and illegally transporting alcohol.

A power-hitting, low-OBP, strikeout prone, below-average fielder? We have 42,078 of these players currently on our roster. The fact that he's a lefty doesn't justify trading anything other than belly button lint for him.

LOL, looks like SoxFest is experimenting with his own special brand of yellow journalism. I think we've got a 9-7 Bears team next year. This team may be capable of putting serious points on the board. Grossman has the best center-guard-right tackle combo in football, IMO, and Jones and Thomas are a nice 1-2 punch in the backfield. If the revamped D-Line can stop the run, the Bears could make the playoffs.

How you people left out Jerry Dybzinski or Liu Rodriguez is beyond me..

It all depends on what you believe. There's really not much else to go on when it comes down to things like this. I think that's part of the reason this book is selling so well -- there's really not much of anything anyone can do to prove him right or wrong(No, stories in the bible are not evidence for either side)

It should be reserved for the police blotter of the local paper, but that's never the case when it involves someone famous.

Who knows how much of what this guy writes is true or not, but this claim, if true, wouldn't surprise me much.

To add to that sentiment, I read on espn.com today that the Beltran "camp" is saying that Carlos would prefer to be a Yankee next season, regardless of where he goes for the rest of this season.

Konerko is a dead-pull hitter, we'll have to get used to it, at least until he's traded. Lee had his best year last season.

It was not a weak grounder, he hit it hard, and it found a hole. Konerko's had a pretty good past three games, no? Hopefully he keeps it up just long enough for KW to trade him for something.

He may need to show the league that Wunsch is healthy though. In any case, if Cotts is moving to the rotation, then they need another reliever to step into Cotts' spot. Wunsch is the logical(and probably best) choice for that.

http://www.takeoneforthecountry.com/index.asp

I don't think Toronto would have interest in these guys. They are stocked in the outfield, both at the major and minor league levels. Picking up Lilly and Catalanotto are good ideas, but we have no use for Chris Gomez. Maybe a package of Adkins, Wunsch and Lee?