BrandoFan

I thought so. To put it simply, F-1 is > Nascar

1. Sox were not "bad' in 1999 despite sporting a 23 Mill payroll. If Frank's foot didn't bother him all year, forcing him to miss last 25% of the season, Sox would have finished around .500. Now Cubs, on the other hand...... 2. Borchard was taken with a 13th pick, no?

Yes, but he usually prefers to go by his surname, "Akinori Otsuka". Turns out he is from Chiba -- and as you well know Sonny Chiba breaks bone.

It's not "jack" -- it's "valleit". Derived from old French. That's how Continental Europeans say it, you Yankee rube. Incidentally, it's not "Garland", but "Judy". Get it right, girl.

I think PA intended his comment to be tongue-in-cheek, he knows you a'ight. Man, PA's got a mouth on him or what! Talk about vulgarity reconciled with the Bible.

How can people say in clean conscience that Daytona 500 is more entertaining or that winning it takes more skill than, say, Monaco Grand Prix street race? I remember Nigel Mansell coming into Indy, winning 2 oval-racing titles with ease and then going back overseas to suck in F-1. Allen Proust, Senna, Schumacher...now THAT's how you drive a race car.

Mighty Joe doesn't have the pure quickness/batspeed of a superstar. How to compensate for it: 1. Be more confident than most. 2. Know the pitcher and recognize the spin a little earlier than most 3. Have more efficient swing mechanics than most. 4. Be stronger than most. The problem: 1. Ouch. 2. Ouch. 3. Ouch 4. No longer matters because if your knees are shaking, and you can't pick up the ball, and you swing from the heels.....save for an occasional mis*** HR or an overpowered blooper, it won't help you much. He's not some 18yo raw kid. The odds are very much against Joe. I still have hope, though. Hope is cheap.

That might expain the success of Keith Foulke and Trevor Hoffman to say nothing of that Asian dude in San Siego....

a Loser's Syndrom. Danny Wright was the same way. Pitches like s***, gives up a 3-run homer. Then, uncorks a beautiful curve on the next batter and then puts him away with a well-spotted, well-disguised change-up. And meanwhile you're like, "Where the f*** WAS that stuff when you had Catalonato at 1-2 and could have made him look foolish with either of those pitches you just threw....instead of laying a 3-run homer meatball middle of the plate???!!" Between the ears stuff. People talk about it as though it's the easist thing in the world to fix, whereas in reality it's often the HARDEST thing to fix.

Simply not true. Unless one thinks May games against the Yankees are "big". What was his record against the Indians in 2000 and 2001? I remember him blowing a game in Minnesota in 2001 simply because rangeless wonder Konerko failed to field 2 infield bouncers in the 9th...He ended up with 42 saves in 45 chances and a low ERA and whip. In 2002 he was Kennified, in exile basically. Still had a pretty damn good season. He was again stellar with Oakland, made an All-Star game. No, he wasn't Gagne, Wagner or Rivera, but he was one of the TOP 5 closers in baseball in the last 4 years. Boston couldn't be happier with him right now.

Yes. No. Shownweiss is playing over his head and Willie Harris - hitting over his head. Frank Thomas won't get on base at 485 clip -- his slugging howewer should be higher. But overall, I'd definately say Sox are UNDERACHIEVING -- not nearly as badly as in the last few years, but then again, it takes less to beat Minnesota this year. They're gonna have to get on on a roll and pout Minnesota away by the ASB. I agree he should stay at Charlotte for another week, but pray tell what wasn't Valentin doing that we know he can do? 910 OPS and outstanding clutch numbers? Second in MLB in weighted ZR? Yeah, 4 errors suck, but Uribe led to more runs, so it's not as if we have a Gold Glover in his place.

If anything, the natural surface of Shea should have given him a ton of infield hits and the fact that the ballpark is spacious and winds are a-howlin' means higher chance of a blooper somewhere in there, perhaps misplayed by the defense. He was never a HR hitter. When I say "awful", I mean compared to what people wanted to pay for him and expectec in return -- which is basically 400 OBP, 460 Slu, GG defense and 30 steals with very few CS........Nothing wrong with 339 OBP, but he's pretty weak in terms of power, is on pace to 175 K's, bad defense, 1 for 3 in steals, etc Obvisously, compared to Neifi Perez, Rich Aurillia, Jimmy Rollins, Pokey Reese, Cintron and some others this year....he's good. Meanwhile Shingo and that dude in San Diego, while past their prime (35 and 33 respectively) are virtually unhittable and get next to no ink.

No need to give up on him NOW. He has next to no value. His talent is still there. If he can't harness, which is most likely, then whatever, not a big loss. But if he defies the outs....

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it. Sox don't have the monopoly on luck. And judging by the recent 3-for-30 with RISP streak, the shaky defense AND runners getting thrown out on the pads......Sox aren't exactly the most efficient offense. Again, this 1-run nonsense won't go on forever. Sooner or later Sox are going to have to start OUTPLAYING teams by a good margin ala 2000 team, or it won't be pretty. Whether it's going to be Garland, Politte and Diaz just pitching out of their minds, or Lee-Konerko-Crede going on a Moises Alou April Tear.......it better happen and soon.

I don't care for the semantics game be good and others have going. Again, to me, an ACE pitcher is the one who will take the ball in Game 1 and Game 4 of ALDS.......and Game 1, Game 4 and Game 7 of the World Series......going up against the very best offenses and pitchers like Pedro and Brown.......and will give you a real chance to win. Think Unit and Shilling circa 2001. Josh Beckett in 2003. Mark Prior in 2003. Kerry Wood in 2003 (before Game 7, anyway). Jason Schmidt in 2003. And so on. Obviously regular season matters very much, but after 86 years, everything should be geared toward that one goal..... Bartolo was no f***ing ace, just an apathetic pretender. I am fine with Loaiza and Buerhle as 2-3/3-2, but a true #1 is still at large.

Do you even believe half the stuff you just wrote? The low expectationitis acutus is what gets to me. After 2001-2003 and the disappointing off-season, it rears its ugly head in almost every thread -- from pretending that Willie Harris is gonna lead us to the promised land, to the Kelly Dranfelt Mania after he blooped a couple of mistakes to RF, to lauding Danny Wright's "breakthrough" 2002 season, to total satisfaction with Joe Crede's performance, etc, etc, etc, etc. Here we are making a slew of silly excuses for a loser who basically cost us the entire 2003 season and is already up to 5.60 ERA -- in low-pressure games of April-early May! You wanna hang out wit da big dawgs in post-season? You wanna build on that and become the Indians of the 2000's? Then recognize that Koch is garbage, cut your losses and move the f*** on.

I like your wife already. Ozzie may or may not be a good manager when it's all said and done.....but he's been around baseball long enough to know that Koch is bad. However, there are economic realities and politics that a rookie like Ozzie knows not to mess with. If Sox had an alternative or Koch was making 4-5 Mill less, we wouldn't have this conversation.

Obviously, in 2002 and 2003, Hudson has been their ace. However, I haven't looked at their playoff performances or splits against the top teams in AL....so I am not sure which one of the trio fares better in October -- which is basically what the Sox need them for..

Ideally, KW swallows his pride and allows Ozzie to relegate Koch to blow-out duty. But we know this is White Sox we're talking about here; cheap, arrogant and short-sighted. So Koch stays and more smoke gets blown in our faces. Even Hawk can't defend this guy anymore. I'll say this much: it's better that he blow a save or 3 in May and subsequently gets CANNED than if he blows them in September and October. Since Politte and Marte are better as set-up men, a move HAS to be made at the All-Star Break.

I doubt he'll be turning anything around. . My entire point is that he was pretty coveted on this board, people had no problem paying him 7 Mill a year.

Overrated speed and stick; no range and 6 or 7 errors already. Makes my "Dodged the Bullet" list, where he'll be joining Colon, Ponson, Jimmy Rollins, Aurillia, Castillo among others.

I guess I repost the question since nobody cared to asnwer it the first time....

Just watch, there'll be homers defending him, using tonight as some kind of proof of his "grit".... Except, it's been statistically proven time and time again that no team can mantain that kind of success in 1-run games over the entire year. It's not as if we have Gagne and Foulke as 1-2.

Wed GoG: Joe Crede (big out at home) Uribe had the most chances and could've challenged Joe, but the 2 questional infield hits he was on the receiving end of tipped it in Joe's favor.

I think Tim Hudson is the best of the 3. Give him run support, and he'll win 20 with ease. He is also the oldest and closest to FA Since he's signed through 2005, Billy Beane will be literally asking for an arm and a leg and then some more arms in return