BrandoFan

No, inability to get ahead of the hitters and get them out with a trick out-pitch will kill this staff. Pitching around Murneu and loading the bases will do that too.

Is that right, CW? Does SoxTalk permit breathing, too? Consider my mind blown.... I think Diaz f***ing sucked. I liked that he got a chance to show what he could do. I hated what he actually did. No contradiction. No inappropriateness. He blew and got the fans' wrath as a justified reacton. Cotts f***ing sucked as well. He was good in ST. He was very good in BP until that pitch to Josh Phelps. On Sat, he was really bad. No excuses. He gets another chance, but there will be no sugar-coating as to his buckling under pressure in the s***holedome. In general........I pay their salaries. I expect results. It's been 86 years, afterall. So yeah, I reserve the right to bash the players' performance how and how long I choose. Ya dig? (Jeckil2000 is a dumbass for sure, so don't associate my remarks with his)

Pitchers in the 60's and 70's arguably threw just as hard.....with sharp breaking balls, using a slightly heavier baseball. They threw on a 3-day rest. What has changed? Why are these b****es falling apart after 100 pitch mark? (And no, I don't want a 4-man pitching rotation.)

I think it's hilarious when people say things like that. "You can't speed his bat up....." As if....Even guys with slowest bats can turn that fastball around if they're looking for it in that location. Or they might not swing at it at all if it's not a strike. This is Major Leagues, remember? Cotts needed all 3 pitches to be working as a starter; he needed to change speeds and locate well. How else do you think the worthless Glendon Rusch was able to dominate the potent Cardinal line-up on a day when the wind was howling out? Cotts failed in just about every department. He threw a quality pitch to Lew Ford to start off the ballgame and it just went downhill from there. Twins knew he was on a strict pitch count. They knew he would come right at them. They knew with his deceptive delivery, they'd be stupid to sit on a breaking ball which he has a hard time throwing half the time anyway. So...Ford, Guzman, Menkevic, LeCroy, Hunter, Cudayer just SAT on the #1 up in the zone, and Cotts ended up pitching right into their hands.....Compare it to the way 40yo Mike Jackson completely baffled them with nothing more than a mediocre change-up and a good slider and good location.... Neal didn't suck because he wasn't stretched out, either. He simply couldn't handle the pressure - lost sharp control and confidence in his off-speed stuff.

What?! Did we watch the same game? Lew Ford jumped all over Cotts fastball - a one-hop liner that perfectly split 3B and SS. There is absolutely no way in hell anyone would have touched that ball let alone thrown him out. On any surface. Guzman - ditto - a hard grounder up the middle, with his speed? No chance. The ONLY thing that could have saved Cotts is he didn't make a wild pitch with Ford and Guzman on base. The next Twin hit what would have been a routine DP ball to Manos - without said wild pitch, the Ford ends up at 3rd with 2 outs. Twins still would have scored at least 1 run that inning, but maybe the game would have been closer, with Sox less desperate against Radke......Or maybe not. Cotts was just bad. He rolled a curve for a HR and didn't bother throwing it anymore. His change was ineffctive, so he was basically a 1-pitch pitcher - and he ain't Zambrano. His location wasn't all that either. Bad combination.

Sat GoG: Uribe (tough DP and an impressive charge play)

Like I said, 3 of 4 was a must. This game was "losable" as Cotts is our worst starter while Radke is the type of pitcher Sox have difficulty hitting in the s***holedome. Once Cotts threw the wild pitch and failed to put Lecroy away with 2 strikes in the 1st.....Once Thomas choked with 2 on in the 1st.....And once Hunter and Jones falshed some real f***ing leather......You knew the game was over in your gut.

I wonder what happens if Cotts doesn't throw that wild pitch that moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd - the next Twin hit a DP ball to SS......Instead of 3 runs, probably 1 score - 2-1 is easier to back from than 4-1. Wild pitch is part of the game, though, so it's moot. Cotts laid an egg - was throwing fastballs almost exclusively and Twins just sat on it. Then he rolled a curve to Murneu and it was over. Radke wasn't even that good. Sox once again can't handle an outside corner.

And I saw Guzman give Paulie Walnuts not 1 but 2 "infield hits" just two days ago that directly led to 5 Sox runs......I also saw Guzman with a terrible 770 ZoneRating and some of the awfulest, laziest routes to the ball ever........But whatever, the runner is safe regardless of who makes the pivot - watch the replay - Sox had 1 viable out on a semi-slow and deep hopper at 2nd and it was made. Uribe would have to throw 100mph to have a prayer at the runner at 1st and he wasn't even in the right position as the runner was sliding to take him out in case he tried to go across. Not even close, in other words, but nice try.

No seriously - it was a 2 hopper deep in the SS and Manos got the FO at 2b. I have no idea waht Cheat is blabbering on about.

If you think Sox had a prayer of turning a DP on the Twinkie second baseman busting ass, I've got a golf course in Cabrini Green to sell you.

Can he out-pitch Adkins/Jackson by enough margin as to justify the inherent risk of ruining his confidence?

Heather speaks the truth. Both BabyBerroa and Cool Poppa Willie are just raking (which I never expected from the latter, I admit) and they come off as EXTREMELY likeable and hilariously eccentric off the field - none of that Clayton/Jimenez/Parque clubhouse carcenogen in other words.

:headshake

How's Baj project to the majors, stuff and control-wise? Could he take Koch's spot in an emergency situ or is he a year away?

Gibbons is making 3 Mill and it will probably swell to 4-5 in 2005 should he have any kind of a "break-though".....He aint particularly cheap is what I am sayng. He won't be a significant defensive improvement over Lee - definately inferior on the base-paths or at the plate. His upside is much less than Lee's. You want a LH stick? How about Palmeiro? Can't hit lefties anymore, so you use Paulie. But against RHP, he's been absolutely lethal this year. Only makes 4 Mill which won't cost you that much at the Break if you throw in prospects. Of course an ace pitcher is still by far the biggest need, but one and the other aren't mutually exclusive.

As opposed to how easy it is for average Haitians or average D.Republicans....

And the problem with it is...?

Please. They're missing 2 of their best pitchers (Prior and Wood or Rusch and Mitre...hmm, let me ponder this one) and their HOF slugger is on DL as well. As long as Cubs get and stay healthy, they'll steam-roll people -- all they do is win. That they play "AL" style matters very little.

So much for Cardinals making a statement. Cy Rusch time.

Long live activist judges and judgettes! In fact, there should be a holiday honoring our paragons of virtue and dispensers of justice, our favorite wo/men in black.....'Judgement Day' has just the right ring and bluster to it.

Any way...Pujols chokes for the n-th time and Woody Williams is a walking BP machine. 6-1 Cubs. :puke

Smoking is bad for you. Would this statement hold any less validity if you knew that your physician, the annoying smugster who shoves the virtues of clean living in your face, is himself a will-less slob dying of lung cancer? Times are tough. Don't whine. Sacrifice. Or don't sacrifice and remain an evil all-consumptionist sucka. .

It matters because there's such a thing as a Wild Card. Astros will be lucky if Clemens and Bagwell/Biggio are healthy by the ASB. - if they can't build a 5-game lead while Cubs are without Sosa, Prior and Wood, they ain't winning squat. Also Sox won't sniff the World Series, keep on dreaming. Oh good - Jim Edmonds misplayed a FO into a 2-run double. 4-0 Cubs. Damn.... :headshake

Just as the 5-game set in Wrigley last Sept clearly showed Cards for the choking pretenders they were.....This is as make or break as it gets" They have their 2nd best going up against Cubs' 7th best. Sosa is not in the line-up. Cardinals have played surpringly well on the road. Knowing all that, if Cardinals cannot win today, they have no business talking about the playoffs. Period. :fthecubs