BrandoFan

If that's the case, SOX ARE f***ED. There is NO way this offense should depend on Jose- Frank-Maggs-Lee-Konerko/Duabach should slug a collective 500+, driving in runs and providing serious line-up protection for other inferior hitters.....Jose's role is to come through with clutch hits, play clutch defense, turn DPs, take extra bases running and provide emotional leadership/mentoring...Until our 4-6 hitters wake up and play to their potential we are not going anywhere since it's pretty clear that Jimenez/Harris/Rowand/Olivo/Alomar/Crede are NOT dependable at all. With pitching in place more or less, it's all up to Maggs-Lee-Konerko/Dauber. Frank will do his part and Valentin will be ok, but it's those guys that need to crank it up BIG TIME.

Would he have scored fronm 2 or did Jiminez moving him to 3rd make the difference on that run? Jimenez didnt move him to third. Jimenez grounded out to 2nd, so Olivo had to stay put. So yep, DLo had NOTHING to do with this win. He very well might have cost us another game. :finger Sorry your wrong Dlo did move him to third on the hit to Grudz. So actualy he did what he was supposed to do and actualy IMO made up for the error he made in the 7th that could have cost us the game but didn't. Make up for it? You're gotta be kidding...my god! --3rd inning: Grudzie is on 2nd, 2 outs....Cubs hit a slow grounder, Jimenez gets a bad read on the ball and is forced to make a spectacular fielding play to barely recover for it...if the ball goes by him, Cubs score---and 3 out 4 times, he doesn't make the play. I am not going to hold a close call against him, but he should be reprimanted for getting to a point where he needs to make a flashy, risky play on a routine grounder... --Another play an inning or two later: he gets a bad/late read on the more or less routine grounderball by Gridzilanek with Goodwin on 1st and ZERO outs in the 4th, the ball ends up going under his pathetic semi-dive...result? Runner and 1st/2nd, zero outs, top of the order coming up, Cubs poised for a big inning to put the game out of reach. I am not even expecting him to turn a DP on that play or even force the fast runner at 2nd even tough that's what good fielding 2B do in that situation...but to get ZERO outs out of the whole thing is ridiculous and typical of his play all season long. He got lucky speedster Tom Goodwin got stopped by Kim, he could have easily cruised to 3rd...Cubs end up loading the bases with 1 out and only remarkable choke jobs by Sosa and ALou prevent the Cubs from blowing the game wide-open. Sox are lucky to escape if only because Wright threw another bad change-up knee high to Sosa on 2-1 count and Sammy hit it 400 feet foul.... --Flash forward, his worst offense: runner at 1st, 1-outs.....Gonzalez hits a routine DP to Jose, who quickly flips to Jimenez who decides out of the blue to barehand it for no good reason since Gonzalez is pretty slow, running from the right side of the box....so instead of the being over, Cubs are back in business and Sox are forced to load the bases up and try their luck with Sosa and Alou....how Cubs do not blow the game open I do not know, but I tell you that Jimenez shouldn't avoid fans' and coaches' wrath just because of it. He's been this s*** all season long... SO ARE YOU SAYING BECAUSE HE FAILED TO GET A HIT WITH RISP AND 1-OUT LATE IN THE GAME, HE REEDEEMS HIMSELF??!! WTF, if anything you should thank Maggs for driving that runner in from 3rd with a real base-hit... My god, some people are just clueless, Jimenez has had as bad a game as a defender can have given the gravity of this game. If this offense wasn't as pathetic as it is, I would bench him for a weak...too bad we have no better option.

If were hitting like we were in 2001 (without Frank and with Val on DL at that!) let alone 2002 or even 2000, I'd agree with you, our pitching is actuall better than it was in 2000-2002.... But he ugly truth is, Sox are one of the worst hitting team in ALL of baseball both overall and especially in clutch (lead the game in DP with RISP, etc). We can't afford Galrand's inconsistent, deeply mediocre s***, let alone Wright's horrid-ness. We just can't, those guys better find confidence and release points or we are done.

Can you put a price on Jose's homer and his and team's reaction thereafter? It's may be worth more than Cameron's 4-homer game because Mariners were blowing us out in that game anyway. (By the same token can you put a price on Jimenez's awful defense today had we lost? It's worth at least 3-4 non-run errors...)

I am sorry, but neither of Garland's outings against Cubs and Twins are anything but mediocre in terms of WHIP ans stuff/control...Burly was very mediocre in Wriggley...and Danny Wright was simply lucky he didn't get tagged for 6-7 runs today. Colon-Burly-Elo can compete with the Cubs trio when they on, maybe even beat them....but we NEED our 4-5 starters to step up and they are incosistent as they ever were 2 years ago.

Forget about interleague, there is nothing INTRA-league that can rival Cubs-Sox in terms of antagonism and sheer intensity...NO way, not with only 6 games, not with interleague in jeopardy for the future. Both teams are desperate and both team's fans are aobslutely starved for success...wow!

What about the Cubs as a team you say? 23 LOB (By comparison, Sox had 5...lol)

Niiiiice.

"Little" unnoticed things that are the difference between winning and losing. We stole the game today and if I were a Cubs fan, I'd be absolutely devastated- they should have won this game 7-3. We pulled a Twins on them, lol.

First takes shots at Baker for removing his young star after 127 pitches against non-playoff team with one of the best closers (this year anyway, look at Borowski's peripherals and conversion rate prior to that) in the bullpen...and now he is blaming him for removing Clement who is lucky Sox didn't crush his mediocre stuff today....North is pathetic in his attempts to find "edgy", controversial insights where there are none, typical Score hack, going against baseball common sense just to appear different. Meanwhile we have a true moron on the South Side who let a twice-injured, key veteran reliever go 3 innings and then puts a mental closer in with BASES LOADED and no outs with Patterson/Sosa/ALOU coming up and wind blowing out....Compared to Manuel, Baker is a GENIUS! (meanwhile I can't even believe we won considering how many games we've been giving away virtually every series in 2003....Cubbies were the Sox today and we were the Twins....lol)

Jose's 10 errors (Furcal and Berroa have 19, Garcippara and Tejada 12 each, Renteria also 10) cost the Sox 4 runs all, which is above average %-wise if not exactly Gold Glove.... Meanwhile Jimenez could have easily matched that in this game alone with his two DP f***ups. Plus, the play he did make early on was a needlessly risky one--if the ball goes by him, Gruzilanek scores with 2 outs...Where is his head I wonder? He can't do ANYHING NO MORE, hit, run, defend, designated cancer in the clubhouse...wow.

Flawless, clutch defense too....did you see he missed a homer in the 7th on a shattered bat...he's got his swing back.

I agree!

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssss (he just missed a homer in the 7th...he knew it too off the bat whereas Sammy did the stupid hop on his SF in the 9th...LMAS)

Why does Lee have the burning need to KILL the ball where a nice double blooper would suffice?

Be thankful Sosa didn't smoke that 3-1 pitch 450 feet with wind blowing out.....I told you smart, pesky Cubs will continue to put short swings on pitches and find holes int he infield....meanwhile the Sox are playing for a homerun. Koch should have been in to start the inning, big mistake on JM's part, especially of Gordon get re-unjured again.

I am speechless--will this be a mind-boggling 10th and by far most excruciating giveaway game in just June alone? Just how do we do it? **vomit projectile***

He misplayed a line-out into a double (actually a single since Sandy is slow as hell) to lead off.

Cocksucker Jimenez fails again with RISP....what can he do at this point?

Tom Goodwin f***ed him in the ass...and it still doesn't come close to what Jimenez did to Danny Wright even if the Sox can bring the runner home, which they have failed all season long.

It's not just errors, it's almost every other groundball, its contless base-running mistakes, it's lack of clutch hitting in the past month... Willie needs to be bunting here, BTW. Let's see who are our best bunters are, shall we?

Read back, my friend...I am gonna vomit if I even think about it. Steff, I am sorry, you were absolutely right about this guy...I am a fool.

That's was one of the worst defensve plays I've ever seen, timing and execution wise. And to think, we actually were excited about this guy early in the season. Boy were we fooled. If Jose commits 10 errors in the row, he won't still be nearly as as detrimental to this team defensively as DJ has been this season-- remember this no-range POS couldn't get to an easy DP ball in the 4th, which led to bases loaded and 1 out which we miraculously escaped, he could have cost us the game RIGHT THERE AND THEN....plus the 7th inning debacle.....he is ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. To think, I've been one of his biggest supporters...sigh.

That's was one of the worst defensve plays I've ever seen, timing and execution wise.

How about you don't jinx us with one run lead....too much to ask, Donkey?