BrandoFan

Klichko brothers are freaks of nature, but nether of them stands a chance aganst a fit 'n' ready Lennox Lewis, even at 37+. I saw Wlad's fight against Corey Sanders....what an overhyped pussy that dude is! Pathetic. Havaing said that, Lewis almost committed a legacy suicide by coming out all fat and apathetic, at his advanced bpxing age he should be working harder than ever just to mantain...or just quit. He got lucky with that side swipe cut, the white giant would have dropped him in the 3rd round IMO. (However I think saying things like Lennox woudn't be able to hang with Foreman or Ali in his/their prime is ludicrous- he would have killed them both in under 5 rounds. Easy. We are talking about totally different conditioning, strenght, speed, tactical preparation, etc from 30 years ago.)

Dorks.

Lewis Carroll encoded all of the gruesome details of Jack the Ripper's murders in Alice in Wonderland...dddddd-duh! (I lurve apocryphal crack-pot nonsense, it's hysterical...imagination is damn right!)

pop rock seriously rules my pants! ABBA and Roxette all da way!!!!!!!!! Whoo

LMAO...there should be a moratorium on wiseassing or some such.

No, but I will. I am entertaining at least 1001 oh-so-clever variations on Jose Valentin. (It will definately be a dog tho. f*** cats!)

Maybe without Lou Pinella as MGR. But it would be a quick series. I would almost rather face the Yankees. Almost rather? I would in a heartbeat. There is NO WAY I would want to face the Yankess (or the Braves in NL) in October, not with their unreal hitting, good 1-3 pitching, normally unbeatable closer and their history of postseason performance. Last time I heard their defense was pretty good as well, lol. Yankees: --Mussina, Clemens, Wells can--and have before--shut anybody down, and Pettite/Weaver should help Osuna and Rivera in the pen. I truly believe Yankees will patch up the hole in their BP by playoff time. There is no way they will let 160 million team crawl into playoffs, they will be very proactive around the deadline. Very. --Soriano, Jeter, Giambi and Ventura are all in big slumps right now. Berni and Nic Johnson are on DL. Matsui is just starting to learn how to hit a two-seamer. That is in June...Flash forward to late August: Soriano will be at .330/600 slugging; Jeter will be at 290-300/860 OPS with a ton of SBs,; Gaimbi will have 40 homers/600 slugging and Ventura will be his solid old self, 850 OPS with better line-up protection and more base-runners. Then factor in clutch, defensive specialist Bernie Williams and Nic Johnson (mean OPS of 900+)....and Matsui who is getting better and better and is alredy known as one better run producers. Last time I checked, Mondesi is no slouch either, good defense, can run and with more baserunners on, should crank up his RBI production, he thrived early in the season with Yanks healthy. Posada is Posada. Mariners: - Moyer-Pinero-Franklin/Garcia don't scare me at all...Sasaki has been downright Koch-esque....Hasegawa and Rhodes are very dependable, but what good are they if M's are down 7-2 in the 6th? - Outside of Ichiro and Boone, I don't see anyone stepping up. Olerud, Cameron are very solid but they will not beat you alone. Edgar can never be discounted and he is as good as Frank Thomas right now, but at 41 is there a high chance he even makes it to the playoffs healthy? I doubt it, if he does M's are back in business offensively but it's a 50-50 proposition at this point at best, he's averaged only 115 games a season in 2001-2002. Bottomline: M's at their best aren't nearly as explosive and unbeatable as the Yankees juggernaut...Everyone points to 2000...well the Sox could have just as easily swept the M's that year if they make one clutch hit more and commit one defensive mistake less a game. We certainly dominated them during the regular season- and that was with such mediocrities as Eldred, Baldwin, Parque, rookie Garland/Wells, bad Singleton and Fordyce, mediocre Howry, etc.... (Of course the way Sox are playing right now, will not be making playoffs any time soon, so it's all moot. Might as well start projecting Bears in the super bowl )

I think Loiaza has been pretty spectacular. Where would the Sox be? That's arguable, but I can think of two more victories we might have. I also think that we have a number of pitchers who can post a 6-7 record for under $500,000 a year. Like who? Colon's ERA is under 4.00...you think Garland/Wright/Raych/Cotts/Glover will be able to have that type of year before 2005 at the earliest if ever? Well, Garland has an outside shot but he wouldn't be making 500K. Elo was a rare exception, we siimply lucked out- normally mediocre pitchers don't have HOF-caliber (ERA in low 2.00s, are you kidding me?!) seasons. Colon has a great arm, and with some fitness dedication on his part, diet and some maturity, he may become second best pitcher in AL behind Pedro- his repertoir of pitches is that good. However, first he needs to WANT to stay here and I won't think he does. There is no question that based on the talent alone, he is worth 10,000,000+ in the open market, and as a "high-up investor" you should know it before anyone else, buddy. Getting back to Elo, Yankees are going to lose both Wells and Clemens, and Weaver simply sucks. With Pettite making more money than he is worth, Mussina may be the second pitcher they retain besides Contreras. Sox do have a 3.5 mill option on Elo it turns out, but if he has a sub-3.50 ERA season in 2004 (distinct possibility since he is simply that good this year), at 32 he will also demand to be paid ...I am talking about 8-9 mill easy. Great arms don't come at 500K, my friend...unless you have a Mark Prior stashed away somewheres. Pay up for Colon and Elo and Burly in the next 5 years, or watch your fanbase shrink even further. Especially if playoffs are not made in 2003, which is a real f***in' possibility I'd venture a guess...

Isn't Micah Shurnstein his clone?

When did I blame him for the loss, you little twat? I blamed Crede, Lee, Maggs, Jimenez and Marte for the loss...but Fatolo didn't help his chances to come out for the 8th as I mentioned above all things considered....Reading is a skill, my faithful companion...and so is watching games.

Another enigma is Casey Rogowski, Hawk was building him up as some kind of Nick Johnson-esque stud, but aside from his walk, I don't see anything worthy of note. How old is he, can he play 1st real good, speedy, power, why no promotion to AA? Thanks.

What's up with Ginter, Adkins and Diaz? Promotions looping? Thanks.

1. I am biased against Colon? Get the f*** out of here, baby jerk...I am not like you and Mark Burly whom you hate with a passion of 10,000 suns. Pitiful. 2. Easy DP's? What game were you watching, pal? Corey Patterson was absolutely flying and that last one by DJ was pure luck because rangeless Jiminez just happened to be playing up which he doesn't normally do, it even surprised him a bit that he could just step on a bag like that. Anything BUT easy....Besides, my non-reading amigo, I did mention that Colon was clearly the best of 3 (Galrand and Burly), and that he was cruising until middle innings where he began falling behind hitters like crazy, struggling with his release, barely even throwing his splitter, curve or slider in addition to trips from Cooper...BUT at almost 100 pitches (as oppossed to about 80 against SF, the team he absolutely shut down) and knowing how he falls behind Cubs big guns who were due up and how poorly he faired against O'Leary, letting him come out for the 8th would have been a clear-cut mistake. Marte was supposed to be our BEST closer and he hasn't seen any action since, what, Thursday? He sucked against weaklings Gruzie/Martinez, and CLee/Valentin didn't bail him out. Finito la comedia.

A few things brando. Garland wasnt mediocre. He actually did well. And Colon only gave up three hits. Who cares how many batters he fell behind? He was still darn near unhittable, not to mention that all the hits were rather weak. And Colon shouldnt take the blame for the loss. When Marte came in no one was on base. The blame goes to Marte who, even tho he has pitched well this season, just sucked today. And Crede shouldnt be blamed. Did you see how well he did to advance Val to third and help him score our only run? He hit a low and outside pitch, exactly what he needed, and just squibbed one down to first. It wont win him any Silver Slugger awards and, as shown by your criticism, it goes largely unnoticed, but it is something weve been lacking. FUNDAMENTALS! Geez, even Chimp and Stone were applauding him on that one... 1. Garland allowed, what, 12 base runners in 6 inning? That's mediocre regatrdless of whether Cubbies came through with that one big hit or not...Get real. 2. Colon was bailed out by two DPs, he also had a couple of screaming line-drives outs early on. Did he pitch extremely well before the 5th? Yes, but when you are talking about whether to release Fatolo for the 8th, against O'Leary who's had success again him....let's just say that after SF meldown, JM made a great call. Not only that, but Colon fell behind Alou, Karros and Sosa early on and 97 pitches is not 77 pitches Colon had against San Fran either. (That moron Baker let Zambrano go almost 130 pitches by comparison...) Too bad Marte proceeded to fall behind Martine f*** 2-0, effectively allowing him to sit on an inside fastball and hammer it into the gap...the rest is history. 3. Lessseeee: Crede hits into a DP, he basically should have had an error in the 7th and went 0-3. Yes, his advancing Val was commendable all things considered, but it it's not like he hit a 2-run homer here, he still had a lousy night. I don't need that pretentious moron Chip and Cubbie homer Stone to tell me that, either.

Ph, s***, I forgot about that one....Maggs was safe but the ump seemed to have made his mind before Maggs even though the bag....the differemce between a bases loaded and 1 out is HUGE....Zambie would have probably folded like a cheap Mexican accordion thereafter...This call was as bad as the one on Crede in Baltimore as far as chaging the complexion of the whole ballgame goes, Carlos Lee might have hit a granny, lol Tough to be a Sox fan today.

"Not me"? I thought you were a big boy, with feelings to spare. I was wrong, you couldn't take the simplest of criticisms of Carlos Lee (whom again I praised profusely in many posts) who did f*** up in this very important game...what was the point of giving me all this passove-aggressive s*** in the first place? I stated a fact (he did f*** up and Sox did give the game away eventually just as I predicted) and chastized this team, not only Lee, for being same old chockers they were all season long. Is Carlos as big a chocker as Konerko, Jimenez and Valentin this year? You're right, he isn't but .275 with RISP is nothing to be proud of; if he was hitting 355, you might have had a case, but you are defending a very mediocre player during a very bad game (4 LOB) for him as well as well as for the entire team....I don't really get why you felt the burning need to "correct" my "sweeping generalization" when it was obvious from the start that "not whatm but when" that was a very applicable cliche....so in essence you are starting a fight over nothing in order to make me into some kind of a stereotypical online villain....my only weakness is responding to you where I should have saved those 10 minutes of typing for something else. Me hiding behind screen names? BMR was right? Why, because I disagree with your 2000 Sox arguement as well as the timing of your RISP post? Do you want me to pretend like I agree for the sake of peace? Considreing how many times I defended Sox players and have stood up for fellow soxtalkers, do I even have to dignify this pathetic theory of yours in reagard to my character and decency? Like ws120682, what are your credentials that you have the cojones to sum me up as though you know me, anyway? I have never gotten personal with your before, I have never even had a fight with you, so what the f*** are you blathering on and on about? You dislike me, it's your tight, but don't presumptiously pretend like some deeper truth is on your side here, ok? I am not surprised that BMR is still bad-mouthing me even after I made peace with him on a dime...he really hates me for some unknown to me reason...but who cares? Apparently you do. As far as me putting words in your mouth, that's bull- in response to MY post (not the other way around) you clearly stated that you expect 7-9 hitters to spark/galvanize this team, and that veterans will have no choice but to respond because they have proven it in the past....I thought it was ludicrous to expect Harris, Crede and Olivo to overcompensate for the 1-6's relatively atrocious hitting (the main cause why I am selling this team short for now), and the record proves me right so far. What's wrong with it? Where did I "make anything up"? We don't have to agree on everything, do we? Man, I clearly overestimated your sense of fairness. My mistake. So once again what exactly did I twist and, more importantly, how would I benefit from it, what's my motive? You admitted you counted on 7-9 hitters and you admitted you "defended" Clee...so you must agree with my "twisting" of your words then? lol

I thought his ERA was in the 2.90 range, not up to date....still I think it's enough to be very afraid of him as far as this anemic bunch of losers (read: Sox outside of Thomas and ELo) is concerned.

Good point, last season Marte was a clutch force; this season he has been padding his stats, creating hanging ropes all over the place Rick White-style...

He had 4 blown saves and a loss coming into this game....if that's good, then what do you call Rocky Biddle? Smoltz? Fooulke? Gagne? If Sox execute at a reasonable rate a serious contender should be expected....we are up 3-0 or 4-0 coming into the 8th inning, it's a totally different game flow and Cubbies are probably shut out. We didn't come through, didn't do the little things....and at the end 1 pop up Maggs couldn't get to, 1 umpiring mistake and 1 less than perfect relay throw were enough to put the bastards on top. Manuel, Colon and even Marte should have never been in yet another do-or-die position...story of the season.

Hence the "future" part...Duh. You know many other pitchers who are as physically, mechanically and mentally good as Mark Prior is? If the first-year 2.50 ERA in the hitter's era isn't a sign of how exceptional talent a pitcher is, I don't know what is....How good was Unit at 22? Maddux? Nolan Ryan?

That may or may not be true....but tell me this, Mario: How does it help the anemic Sox offense when they see him at the Cell? If he breaks down (unlikely) 10 years from now, does it make any difference as far as his 2.50 ERA versus weak Sox hitters is concerned? In the past, Sox hitters beat Kerry Wood by taking close pitches which he missed and working a ton of walks before he had to give up that one big pitch. This season those same pitches are closer and more disguised and are called for strikes. If Wood and Prior are on, Sox have NO chance. This game was bigger than you think, Cubs sucked and we plained chocked when it came to taking advantage of their suckitude. The Cell series is gonna to be ugly I fear.

especially considering it wasn't Manuel's fault- he went with his best reliever and he simply didn't get it done against weak hitters. Blame Lee, Maggs, Crede and Jimenez instead. Blame Marte. Blame umps and luck.

If you compare how he was pitching against Ray Durham, Galarraga and Barry Bonds until the 9th versus how he was pitching against Sosa, Alou and Karros today...no comparison, he constantly fell behind and threw a couple of meatballs he is lucky Cubs didn't crush. He had a few tough DPs made behind him, had only one more K than BBs and more than 40% of his pitches were balls. The only difference between a typical Colon start and this is that htis time he managed not to give up a couple of homers. Yes, he was better than Garland and Burly, but I bet Cubs would kick his ass if not in the 8th then in the 9th for sure. It didn't help that Maggs didn't get a good jump on lanek's pop up...

Amen. Marte and bad luck (Groodzie's blooper after the umps's mistake call? WTF?) aside, this loss is squarely on the shoulders of our once mighty O. Leave Manuel out of it, Colon was far from perfect on pitch-by-pitch basis after the 5th.

Very fair assessment, especially considering how bad Sox are at throwing people out in key situations normally. Lee left 4 on base, Maggs made 4 outs, Crede made 4 outs and Jimenez blew a chance to stick a dagger into then-struggling Zambrano by popping up with Harris at 2nd, zero outs on a 2-1 count in addition to making 2 more outs...Marte gave up a double to Martinez....Olivo, Valentin and Harris (2) missed exta base hits....Zambie got a few crucial calls, we didn't....and that's all she wrote. Very much in step with the rest of this pathetic season I'd say.