RockRaines

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 11:26 AM) I bet you are still willing to call Rex a rookie because, well, he was really a rookie last year after 4 years it was his first season and this is really only a few games later and he's still adjusting and blah blah. rex sucks, deal with it. griese is a better QB, not a God, but a better QB, and he gives us the best chance to win. actually no. How could he be a rookie after all these games?

QUOTE(Felix @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 10:54 AM) I'm not disagreeing at all, I don't think there's a chance in hell the Mets would trade him. The only player they would trade him before would be David Wright.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2007 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 11:14 PM) Get ready for an epic controversey in the coming days. He didn't touch the plate at all. The ump even knew it. I think he was afraid of getting shot if he had called Matt out. If that happened to the yankees or BoSox there would maybe even be an appeal and trial. With the Pads, meh.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 11:28 PM) . So she flips him over and keeps looking? im going to long-distance punch you through this computer

QUOTE(Felix @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 08:56 AM) Reyes is so overrated here. He's good, but he's not even the best SS in his own division, let alone in the league. And that says what? 3 of the best SS in baseball are in that division.

QUOTE(Middle Buffalo @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 06:18 PM) You should consider scrapbooking or writing a journal. Fortunately I have a penis.

I like how he refers to the people there as "college kids" when his balls havent even dropped yet.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 04:09 PM) 3. Looking at your last sentence, in bold, that is where we differ. I see a pool of major league talent that is very often not in sync with whatever the scouts said about them in college. You apparently believe that 50 draft slots means a guarantee as to which player will be better. I'd prefer to look at more recent information (as I cited), and also to look beyond hitting. Isnt it possible that Lucy is one of those guys that they were spot-on in evaluating? Hes just not that good.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 02:51 PM) Here is one for Rock, a tramp stamp that reads like a book. This is the type that gets the wedding magazines delivered to her house, even through she isnt seeing anyone seriously. Appears to have a nice figure though. You have alot of things to aim for then. I would try implementing your own punctuation system at release.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 03:11 PM) DirecTV > Cable, Dish Network, anything else You obviously havent discovered OnDemand, the greatest thing since velcro. Comcast blows everything else out of the water IMO.

Ok. Mine is from experience, although limited. I had Directv at my first 3 places in chicago until I bought my condo. I LOVED it, and it only went out ONCE and that was a nasty snow storm in 2004 when I had to just dust the dish off a bit. I was recently in phoenix where a house I rented had Dish Network and this thing was constantly out, flicking, pixelating and everything else that pisses you off about the dish. From that experience alone I think it sucks.

im going to get another one this week. I like tats as something that remind you about life transitions. I got one after college and after the end of a 5 year relationship. There are stages you go through in life and I like to make them lessons for me to improve myself and tats are a part of that for me.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 01:45 PM) Towers always talks about how you should look for pitchers who throw strikes, first and foremost, when building a bullpen. I think I concur. It helps that alot of the strikes in his park arent floated over the outfield wall. I still agree that they need to throw strikes, and I was hoping that KW paid a little more attention to that this year.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 02:07 PM) If Ramirez had that same season on a winning team, he'd be a darn solid contender for that award. the 20-20-20-20 thing is huge in the voting, but yeah, if Hanley is on a contending team he may win. Of course this is true with ALOT of players over the years so it shouldnt be a surprise to anyone. Voters classify someone as valuable if their team wins.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 11:59 AM) Neither one can be considered a good QB, but at least the offense actually DID something yesterday. They were able to take the ball down the field several times, and a non-offensive lineman actually caught a touchdown pass. That was with the line, runningbacks, and receivers still having some problems as well. He may have a rag-arm, but he can also find and hit short to intermediate receivers with some kind of consistency. Obviously the picks are a major problem that will hopefully be ironed out in the next few weeks (not sure how likely that is, though it was his first meaningful game in years), but IMO there was a moderate improvement, which is about the best we could hope for in our current situation. We definitely need to do something to fix the whole QB/line situation this off-season though, we're not going anywhere with any of these guys at QB. Even the TD to Clark was a horrid pass. At least with Rex you are trying to develop a younger guy, Griese has been like this his whole career. 3-4 good passes and a pick.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 12:29 PM) *It's a shame that the writers, year after year, seem to focus in on one guy. In this case, that guy was Rollins. I find it rather funny, too -- if Rollins ends up winning the MVP, that has to mean Aaron Rowand was pretty close. Afterall, he plays a similarly difficult defensive position as well (or better) than Rollins does. Rowand had a better year at the plate and gets the same "intangible" label that Rollins gets. Better year at the plate? J-Rolls was a 20-20-20-20 guy. A-row could never sniff that. Not to mention Rollins was their lead off hitter and igniter at the top of the lineup.

QUOTE(thedoctor @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 01:10 PM) if you talk to buckeye fans, the florida game did not happen. I was thinking of the regular season record, I wasnt aware he was taking the bowl games into consideration. And that game actually took place on paper, and OSU was victorious.

QUOTE(29andPoplar @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 12:32 PM) Williams had another interesting quote in the Southtown today. Speaking of Jose Contrereas: "He's a horse, and to a large degree, a lot of his problems were tipping (his pitches) and letting the hitters know what was coming," Williams said. "It took us a while to get that understood and corrected. It also took him a while to get back to an arm slot that is more conducive to getting outs and having better command. So, yeah, I believe Jose Contreras is going to have one heck of a year next year." OK. So he thinks Contreras will have a good year next year. Maybe that's blowing smoke, maybe it isn't. My question is this though, apparantly opposition hitters figured out Jose was tipping his pitches, but Jose and the Sox staff took "a while" to correct it? When he got here, he had trouble tipping pitches, now he has (had?) the problem again. I hope for their sake they finally have it resolved once and for all, and can prevent any reoccurance. Is there anyone on this board that didnt realize he was tipping his pitches. How about the fact that he always threw sidearm to righties and therefor eliminated his forkball. Or the fact that he had no command of the outside corner anymore.

SB, doesnt OSU have the longest winning streak in the nation at 21 games? It appeared you were talking about Wisco

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 11:14 AM) The fact that they went 14-0 despite all of the following late game senarios: Winning 23-19 over the Bearcats in Cincinnati, despite UC having first and goal and getting 4 passes into the end zone that could have won it with less than a minute to go before an interception. Won 19-14 at UW despite trailing 14-13 halfway through the 4th quarter at Wisconsin, and then holding on to a 5 point lead late in the 4th as Wisconsin had the ball inside the OSU 30. Won 13-7 at home over Penn State due to a 3rd quarter pick 6 by Chris Gamble, then held on thanks in large part to no call on an obvious pass interference late in the game in OSU territory. Won 10-6 at Purdue despite being down 6-3 with 2 minutes left in the game, and hitting a 4th and 1 at the Purdue 35 on a bomb for a touchdown that was perfectly covered. Won 23-16 in overtime at Illinois in a game that would have gone to double overtime if not for a horrid ruling of a bobble by Walter Young on an obvious TD catch. Beat Michigan 14-9 at Ohio Stadium after trailing 9-7 in the 4th quarter and allowing Michigan into OSU territory several times in the second half. Winning 31-24 in double overtime over Miami, a victory that isn't possible without a late and phanton pass interference call on 4th down in the 1st overtime. Was that team a great clutch team and well coached? There is no doubt at all they were, but the fact that they won every single one of those games (half of their overall schedule) in the same season is without question very lucky, if even one break goes against them in any of those games, they lose. So, they pulled out wins so they must be lucky? Your reasoning makes no sense. I guess EVERY close game is decided by luck. The 2002 OSU team defense kept opposing teams to 25 yards per point. Thats an incredible statistic and shows when these late games are decided. Their defense made an opposing team go almost 2 lengths of the football field per touchdown. They played championship caliber defense which showed in the late min of their wins. Football goes both ways like that, if it wasnt for a horrible drop vs Texas in 2004-2005 and a "lucky" break that Troy Smith sat out the game before and half of that game, Texas doesnt win that game, nor a national title. Thats college football, just like in life, has its ups, downs and breaks.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 11:58 AM) Danks, Floyd, a rookie, Buehle and Vazquez isn't a rotation you can bank on winning. The White Sox have to make up more than 20 games in the standings. ARod may be the best baseball player who ever lived, but he can't do that all by himself. Getting ARod and dumping a couple of pitchers would be the exact opposite of a the move KW was lauded for on this board, the CLee move. Why weaken yourselves on the mound for a few more homeruns and put that kind of financial commitment to one player, tying your hands for the duration of his contract? that rotation should make anyone sweat. we need to bring back some pitching talent if we trade all of those players. The rotation and a lead off hitter should be top priorities.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 11:03 AM) If our young guys do not step up in many places, we're in deep trouble. You can say that about almost any team. Yes, it's a gamble to rely on those guys, but you can't just go out and spend $15 million a year on Carlos Silva because you're scared to make that gamble. I honestly think that two of the more important pieces that the success of our pen hinge on is Broadway and Phillips. If we can get a consistently good performance out of those two guys, the pen will be tons better than it showed this year. Of course, thats asking alot from them.

Improving the pitching staff is going to be the largest question mark. Is the bullpen already a bit better? Maybe, but they still do not have all the pieces in place. We need to find another young player to step up, or trade or sign some pen guys who throw damn strikes. The rotation will be a huge problem if they trade Garland and try to rely on Floyd AND Danks for the entire season.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 10:53 AM) Didn't he hit 50 with Texas? Didn't make them a contender. The pitching is still the key. Did you really just compare this team with that texas team?

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 10:51 AM) I'm not sure that Thome, Dye and Konerko are due to "rebound." I'd expect some regression. The bullpen doesn't inspire me. I see some room for regression from our starters, as well, although I do see potential for improvement, too. (Danks, Contreras, Garland-if-here.) I don't believe Crede will be all that good. He was never that good a hitter to begin with and he's coming off of back surgery. Fields might very well go down if he doesn't adjust to the inside fastball. I have some faith in him, but he is a huge question mark. Who knows what AJ, getting older, will do. But he isn't a world-beater and his defense is tentative. This team is getting old and it lacks a lot of talent. I don't expect them to "compete," unless we're talking 'Comedy Central' compete where everybody becomes bad and we NL Central it. I dont understand how you can expect further regression from players who had uncharacteristically down years compared to their careers? It just doesnt make mathematical sense. I agree about AJP, in fact I would like to see us somehow bring in a younger player to develop, because his regression is very real. The huge question mark about whether this team can compete rest in the hands of the #4-5 starters IMO.