BrandoFan

Now there is the difference between someone with excellent batspeed and one with slow(ed) one: Frank gets one in his wheelhouse and still gets overpowered by it flying out to CF whereas Maggs comes in the next at bat and kills the below the knees ball to LF. I still say Frank's bat has slowed down. Considering the pitches get gets, he should have about 7 homers by now. ..And for the love of all that's holy, please don't bring up his OBP. When Ray Ordonez has Slug% 180 points higher than you out of 9th spot on Devil Rays, you have problems 8-1 Sox.

I don't like Stewart so far: his fastball has little movement and is below average velocity-wise, his curve is hanging and no slider yet. The only thing that saved the lowly Tribe from killing him is his change. Shades of Parque. Just fumbled the ball and then threw it away.

Shades of 2000: Killing medicore/bad pitchers and coming through with 2 outs ANY WAY WE CAN, including unearned. That was a beautiful swing Lee put on the ball--when you can see the pitch well and are mechanically correct, you'll be surprised how much damage you can do if you have tools Lee does. A single? He missed a homer by a coupla feet.

Rios at 3rd two days ago. Jimenez at the plate today called out on a ball almost a FOOT outside and Valentin out on a bunt which the REPLAY stills clearly showed was not only not a tie, but a clear advantage runner. The score was 3-3 at that point, so it's not like it didn't matter. There is no way someone with an experienced eye and talent for noticing smallest differences are making "honest mistakes". Whether they are snubbing the Sox remains to be seen...but I say they are playing God, trying to "give and take" and "balance things out", plain and simple. I am sick and tired of this s*** and these complacent old farts. I spoke to Angel Hernandez once and he told me that even on "bang-bang" plays are much easier to decide than can be surmised by watching it on televesion. More specifically, in all 3 recent cases umpires were RIGHT THERE. No excuses. (It reminds me the two homers Maggs "missed" in Cleveland in 2000 and 2001...but at least the play was very far, so I can cut them some slack...) What about the tag at the plate late in the game by Josh Paul last week? Unacceptable.

Yeah, are we to believe Jim Edmonds, Lance Berkman, Larry Walker, Austin Kearns that much faster at the position? I know Chisoxfn has a strong opinion on the matter but I was wondering how others felt. Aaron Rowand is looking awful right now beyond belief and we could sure use regular atbats for Daubach even if it means giving up a bit defense which is already shaky as it is...Until Borchard is ready to be a real hitter in 2004 and beyond. Again, Karim Garcia?!

I actually think Jose can hit from right-side provided he gets consecutive starts and works at it, which he did this Winter. Suree, he will never have the power he has from side, but he can have Tony;s stats if given 150 at-bats. Jose is a different player when he plays full time as opposed to a part-time, platoon duties whether injury-related or not. Last few years he was unjured and only got to bat from RS like once every 2 weeks or less...YMMV Again his bunting and base-running is light years ahead of Graffy's as much as I like what he has done in utility role.

You know I'd rather he look awful in the "solo" at bat and looked very good in the "bases loaded" one...Just sayin' BTW I was responding to Chisoxfn

The only time he wasn't OB is when the ump called a CLEAR ball four a foot outside as strike 3. I love this guy more and more every day...Ray who?

Chisoxfn you don't think Valentin should be hitting? Have you seen the two bunts he put while right-handed. Thing of beauty. (He just hit a SF to CF off the end of the bat right handed, too) Are saying you disagree me that Lee looked very undiscplined in that important sequence once again? He put huge, grand-slam swings without even recognizing the pitch, for crying outloud!

I said home run derby win in Vegas has gone to his head and he wants to be Sammy 2.0 which is ironic because I don't see Sammy miss one of those meatballs, let alone all 3. Not anymore anyway...Whereas last year Maggs would have, if anything else, calmly looped one of them over 2B's head for a hustle double or something. Like I said, Sox luck. How many missed homers/doubles and bad umpire calls did we have in this game so far? 5? 10? More? We still might prevail against s***ty Cleveland, but against Yankees and the likes it ain't gonna fly and nearly every opportunity would need to be taken care of.

Lee Ks with bases loaded and 1 out by putting 3 HUGE swings on balls...oh, where, oh where are cwsox and 420? Meanwhile Crede hits the ball 397 feet to dead straightaway for 3rd out (:

What part of "tie goes to the runner" don't you understand you dufus-looking f***?! Umpire says Jose is out on his bunt attempt. I guess all umps hate the Cell and the Sox now. May end up costing the Sox a run again. Maggs hits a would-be DP back to the pitcher...who drops it in transition...Maggs is not only safe at 1st but also advances to 2nd on a throw-away by a Santiago. Run scores and we ain't done yet!!! Poetic justice, motherf***ers in blue!

Bot 6th -Konerko grounds out weekly trying to pull a 2-0 outside pitch. Pathetic. 1 out -Lee misses a homer by 5 feet by hitting a towering drive that was so high it took like 8 seconds for it to land...two pitches later hits a game-tying homer...way back!!!!! 3-3 -Rodriguez throws behind Crede. Asshole. Walks him on 4 pitches. -Aaron ".158" Rowand is up. Takes two ill-advised swings. 1-2 count. Then lines the ball that would have hit him down LF line way foul, his second today. Then a third one upper deck style. Also foul. Finally flies out to warning track on a towering drive. Unreal. 2 outs. -(meanwhile they are showing happy-go-lucky Carlos literally playing with Herm Shneider's cheek on the bench as though he was a kid, taunting him, the works...WTF?) Alomar goes down 0-2, fouls off a couple pitcher's pitches before lining the ball hard right at CF. 3 outs Sox luck. Inning over runner stranded at 1st. 3-3

DJ is called out on a ball 4 a f***ing foot outside! Looks like Klesko and Nevin aren't the only ones who hate him. That was SUCH a ball if a I ever saw one. Valetin misses another homer to right center by mere 2 feet. Double. 2 outs. Sox hitter are pulling everything foul- Alomar, Lee, Rowand and now Hurt have all hit long line-drives way foul. Our luck

Man, Jose is making it difficult to even force him at 2nd for the second straight inning. I've never seen anyone do that consistently. Not going to show up int any statistical columns, but that's another aspect of winning, small-ball baseball that gets overlooked. Fact: if he is not fast enough to get to 2nd, Frank gets doubled up. inning over and Maggs doesn't bat and doesn't drive the tying run in...Way to go Manos. I wish his hamstrings were better and he started to steal again as well. "I've never seen as good a baserunner"- says Hawk just now.

Karim effin' Garcia is there! Case closed.

To say nothing of in-towners who DO have cable...BHAWHAHA!!!

Wow. I thought he was dead for sure. Weird how he f***ed with our minds like that, but I am happy he is alive above all. I'm actually looking forward to his next project.

I was just...you ddd-didn...um...I jok...yeah...no, me really...pheew...I...jj-jo...hmm...eh.........D'ja know Dick Pole is his real name...Awesome!

Batman: TAS had some real drama and interesting character arcs and consistently fresh score not to mention inspired minimalistic graphics...Spider-man bland ripoff was for 6yo kiddies, Power-rangers crowd. Superman is just a copout- ooh, look at me, no need to bother with imagination and reality because I CAN f***ING FLY WITHOUT WINGS AND MAKE AN OMELETTE WITH MY DEAD, ALIEN EYES...ALL THAT WITH HARDLY A BAD HAIR DAY, EVER! WHOOPTI-FREAKIN-DO!!!!!)

26% gay. (ETA: I named myself 'Homo' and had the "modern women need a few soft edges to hold on to in a man" advise...hold on to this, castrating dyke! loll) Really simpleminded--no, silly!-- test. I should have gotten at least 40. I think Mark Grace is cute and find Babs to be semi-tolerable once in a blue moon for crying out loud!!!!! Oh, Fraiser used to be WAY funnier than Friends. Bwa!

Sure, if by "19th century American poety" you mean picking flowers on the wall and by "German opera" you are referring to little chocolate bunny Fufu's. Uncle Jerry takes him to the candy store on Thursdays.

What's your throughts on Tupac? I think he had high potential as an actor (if he had lived past 25 and had some formal training)...but his music I know supringly little about other than listening to all his released albums back-to-back 20 hours straight once just to 'get' what the hype was all about. He was a bit before my time, though. I thought Hiyawatha was by William Cullen Wadsworth-Longfellow. He was Canadian, too, no? I see nothing wrong with a little beastiality and incest...as long as both parties are legal consenting adults and aren't related. Now filth I take a strong exception to.

Not the "boots have roots" one! Oh no! Plus I think The Rings has a bit more thematic depth and musical complexity and scope than Slim Shady. I think Wagner will be ok. YMMV. To bad Puffy already *cough*remixed*cough* Kashmire. Eminem was licking himself just thinking what he could do with it if he had a chance. I bet another tirade at Everlast is in order. Or his mommy.