BrandoFan

Besides Gload's 2-base error he also should at least share the honors with Uribe's error - it was Gload's ball all that way. His 3rd f***-up is overlooked - he got such a poor read on and took a pathetic route to Hollansworth's "triple". Rowand and even Ordonez catch that ball without much fanfare. Gload has come through with a couple of big singles up the middle in pinch-hitting duty this season, but there is just no f***ing excuse for this s***. If we're crediting Rowand with saving the game last night, then Gload definately "cost" this game. It's gotta work both ways.

Uribe used to punish pitches middle away, smoked them to RF-RCF-CF. Now's trying to pull off all the time. Looks like Greedy Sluggeritis has found its way into his system. He is on just the right team.

Does it matter? Sox franchise could be in big f***ing trouble by the time Judy "finds" herself - which wouldn't suprise me one bit, btw. Part of it is ownership's fault - JR is the root of evil. Nothing Judy did in 2000-2003 proved that she is a front-line pitcher. I dunno, maybe I should have known better. Sox didn't "deserve" this game - our hitters didn't bring their best efford, got greedy, let Prior off the hook.....Gload destroyed us with his defense. Judy did the rest.

Whoa, hold up. Judy was molested by his defense, true....... But if you read more carefully, you'd see that it ALL began with him refusing to challenge Hollansworth on 1-2 count to lead off the 5th inning. That's DEFINITIVE Garland right there. Same thing happened when he was pitching a no-hitter in Montreal. And pretty much through-out 2000-2003 - he just loses courage and intensity at some point. Was it defense that caused Garland to choke and throw the ball away in yet another game - his defensive miscue lost the 2nd game in Florida, remember? That error of his moved Todd Hollansworth from 1st to 3rd? The next batter hit what would have been a routine DP ball to SS, so Judy would have gotten out of the inning still leading 1-0..... Who walked the 9th place hitter Ramon f***in' Martinez by trying to nibble his way to an easy out with game still tied at 1? Who threw a sinker that didn't sink in Grudzelanek's wheelhouse, a moment that basically decided the entire ballgame and looked like a pouting, petualant child in the process? Sox needed Judy to come through BIG-TIME. Jon friggin Rauch did against Indians, why couldn't Judy? This win would have set the rest of the Cub series nicely - it would have made Zambrano-Diaz game a MUST-WIN for the Cubs and pushed us back into a winning streak going into Minnesota series........ He didn't step up. He folded at the earliest sign of adversity. This bulls*** might have been acceptable in 2000, but not now.

Cotts was actually ok today. Kudos, start getting that curve over and a change-up, cutter and before you know it, you'll work your way back into Key Reliever list.

He mows down through the Cubs' intimidating line-up for 4 innings. In the 5th, has Hollansworth down 1-2. Todd the Rockstar has been expanding his zone down and in, up and away all game long, basically feeling for the ball. Throw him a 93mph belt-high fastball on outer portion and he won't catch up -- just as red-hot Derek Lee couldn't in the 2nd inning, it's his weakness. What does Galrand throw? A hanging curve away to speed up TH's bat. Base-hit to opposite field results. Garland falls apart thereafter. Come to think of it, he only really got in trouble in Montreal in the 6th when he started to nibble, niblle, nibble, forgetting that he has a plus four-seamer and a plus-two-seamer. Yes, I realize that Garland was f***ed in the ass by Gload (drop, another drop by Uribe that Gload should have taken in the next inning and finally a horrible jump on Hollansworth's "triple" that basically sealed our fate.....people get 20 years maximum security for that s***) and Uribe - and maybe even Konerko who could have saved that 2-base error had he reacted quicker......But if Garland retires Hollansworth, it's 1-0 Sox game heading into the 6th and maybe Sox pull away like they did against the Indians on Thursday. I also understand that Sox over-swung against Prior (Kong with bases loaded, Crede getting a couple of cookies and fouling them back, Uribe and Rowand falling out of their shoes trying to leave yard, Valentin getting too greedy on a 2-0 count), something that only stupid teams do. Being eaten up alive by a good RHP? Nothing new there - had a chance to nickel and dime strugglinh Prior to death in the first few innings, and couldn't capitalize. Tried to launch homers instead. Big mistake. Game over. Still....Judy is Judy and she failed to pitch a game of her lifetime and give them Sox the most important win of the season. :fyou :puke

Whoa, how the f*** did Valentin get in that company? Had 2 walks including 1 off Prior to load the bases with 2 outs and give Konerko a chance to blow the game wide open. Methinks by 'Valentin' you meant 'Rowand and Jackson'.

FU dumbass.

No they're not. Cubs are a much better team than us, but Twins? You have got to be s***ting me here. Unfortunately, Sox have a worthless liar for an owner, so we had to endure months of Koch, Jackson and 5th Starter, that's A LOT of damage done to this team right there that could have been easily avoided, with Sox firmly embedded in first place by 10+ games. Easily. Jackson is done with this organization. So is Koch. #3 Russ Ortiz is coming, AL hitter don't know him yet, so he should be very effective at first. Diaz will be fine as a #5. Garland threw brilliant first 4+ innings against the Cubs and 6+ innings against the Expos, he is gonna figure it out one of these days and become a good #4. Maggs comes back, this offense is gonna roll people over - mid-June-mid-September are the two months when this already-intimidating offense does most of its damage. Shingo, Marte are fine. RHP in the Urbina mold should be acquired closer to the deadline. Now we're just gonna have to bear down and win 3 of the next 5 games against the Cubs (2 against Maddux, 1 Zambrano, 1 Clement, 1 Rusch) and we'll be fine. Let the Twins build a 3-4 game lead. They are not going anywhere.

I disgaree. I think Frank did not deserve it in 1998 or 1999 because he didn't not compare all that well with the top 1B/DH's in his league. Griffey was a fast runner (compared to Hurt) and a Gold Glove fielder, so his OPS doesn't need to be nearly as high as Frank in order to offer better "value" than Frank. Frank's competition came from guys like Giambi, Palmeiro, Edgar, Clark, etc.

The thing about it, is that you can do games with a long delay cuz it won't matter much as long as at the end of the season all 162 games are done. Glove of Game's are the only ones that have to be upgated sooner since they have to be decided from memory and not from logs -- although if no special defensive play took place, then it's ok to use Logs to see who had the most chances or had made the most IMPORTANT (say with bases loaded) play and thus deserving of a Default GoG, which has happened at least 7-8 times this year. I think you still have to keep things in perspective. If a fielder "causes" 2 unearned to score but then hits a grand slam and edges people out by a big margin in points, you simply cannot take away BoG and/or PoG of the game in good conscience because that player's "+/-" is still better than everyone else. But if the player only leads by a few points but also had a stupid baserunning/fielding play, then, yes, it has to be counted against him - if your error leads to an unearned run, then your RBI single is taken away from you; if you allowed a pop up to fall in because you were lazily drifting with it and that led to 3 runs scoring, then your bases clearing double (if in fact you have it!) should be stripped from you. Etc. The system has to remain flexible and not be driven by emotions.

Ray Ordonez is bloody awful in every way. Make Ramon Martinez look like an All-Star by comparison. His bases loaded GIDP was awesome, too.

....for playing only 40 games at 1B position.

Yes, and Frank beats everybody at 1B THIS year. And it's only "ostensibly" about pefromance-relative-to-peers in the first 3 months of a given season. In reality it's named the All-Star Game, not the All-PlayerWhosHadTheBestFirstHalf Game. The fact that voting is left up to the lemming fans only confirms it. Popularity is at least equal in weight to actual merit - and sometimes exceeds it when it comes to ASG. Garciappara and Tejada are a bigger "stars" than Carlos Guillen and Michael Young. People want them there whether it's fair or not.

I dunno, with all them nuculiar weapons hidden in the sun by the evidoers, it might as well not come out. *clunk*

That's like Ray Ordonez booting a huge grounder with base-loaded which pretty much lost the game for the Cubs and then mouthing "f*** me!". Stoney and Chip said sometihng about him not being "happy with himself".

I just don't see what could have upset SuperSteve so - it's not as if Ashlee Simpsons called a medium fly-ball a home-run as John Rooney likes to do. Seriously, how come no outrage over, say, Solange Knowles, Ray-J or Jaimme-Lynn Spears? I would think anybody who grew up in this culture and/or who knows anything about realities of showbiz, would yawn at Ash-Simp. She's got no talent, lives off her sister's name and is highly overrated in looks........Whoa, hold the phone, never heard that characterization before.

....which is not to say that he can't be beat because ANYONE could be beat under the right circumnstances - especially given that he still shows immaturity. But it's also true that Sox have to bring their 'A' game against him and hope he doesn't bring his 'A' game in order to beat him. Fingers crossed.

You're right - coming into this seaosn, I had this team winning 92 games and losing 4-1 in ALCS. But moves have to be made - a top-of-the-rotation starter; a reliable RHP in the pen; maybe a Drew/Finley type if Willie struggles. If that happens and team stays healthy....why the hell not? Pedro is not the Pedro of old - less velocity. Shilling is 38 and is more susceptable to nagging injuries than ever. Nomar hasn't been the same since 2001 and totally choked in 2003 playoffs. Brown has a back problem. Mussina is just an average pitcher now. Contreras is a mess. Leiber sucks. Vasquez is tough but it's not as if we're taking about Mark Prior here. Jeter is having his worst season ever. Bernie is over the hill. Sheffield is old and hasn't played in at least a week - who knows how the roid cycles affect him. Lofton is 38. Get Glavine (his ordeal with Questec seems to be over) Get Urbina Get Drew/Finley and Sox could legitimately compete with a healthy (knock on wood) Maggs. Maybe we won't be favorites to win it all, but were Angels and Marlins "favorties" to win WS in 2002 and 2003? I thought so.

When you say he is "way over his head" what the hell do you actually mean? What part of his 94-97 mph fastball with TREMENDEOUS movement is overrated? What part of his awesome turbo sinker is overrated? What part of his slider-split that has some of the most unnatural movement in baseballl is overrated? Maybe it's his exceptional competitiveness (Judy, are you taking notes?) that will do him in against a team like the Sox that hasn't hit a great RHP in decades? When Nuke said Sox will "slap him around", he had the right idea. Complacent and arrogant teams that try to pull-and-elevate, putting big looping swings on the ball against Zambrano are DEAD before they even take the field..........Teams that take what he gives and throw him enough rope to hang himself (he can be erratic with his control at times, though not as much this year), on the other hand, have a chance to beat him. Sox have been in the former category the last 4 years.

Please understand that when you say "very bad", you actually mean results which admitedly were less than stellar (5 ER) and not quality of pitches because outside of a couple of hanging curveballs, Prior was still his old self - 95 mph with still pretty good control (worse than usual but not terribel), intimidation and an excellent curveball. Unfortunately for him, German punished one of his hangers for a 2-run opposite field triple and that really seemed to piss Prior off and give A's some breathing room. But do not think for a moment that a less patient team than the A's would have necessarily roughed him up last weekend. He was still better than either Buerhle or Loaiza were the last few days - now that's bad pitching. Beating Prior and Zambrano against all odds in the next 2 days would be IMO the biggest thing that has happened to this franchise in a DECADE. Absolutely immesurabe psychological boost. I am not saying Maddux and Clement will be easy, but it would give the Sox confidence that they could beat just about anybody and would put big pressure on the Cubs to win at least 3 out of the last 4 games...... Of course it won't happen but you never know......This is the most important start of Garland's career as far as I am concerned.

That wasn't a rhetorical question, I was actually expecting an answer.

Tribe is going to lose 90 games this year. No worries.

Francis Beltran seems to be faring just fine with nothing more than a 95 mph fatsball, a good change-up and solid control. Why couldn't Baj do even better?

I am glad you are telling me it can be done because, you see, without your help I would have never been able to figure it out.