YASNY

Guys, with the way Contreras has been pitching lately, I'm beginning to think he's finally "got it". Three starts in a row with no walks ... by Jose f***ing Contreras?? Something has definitely clicked for this guy, and if he can maintain it, he will be awesome. With his stuff, and with him attacking the hitters he could literally become the ace that the Yankees expected him to be when they signed him.

QUOTE(Hanky Panky @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 10:04 PM) I have to say no to the six-man rotation. Let's face it Garland needs some more wins. Right now, he has very little confidence it seems. He's been stuck on trying to get no. 17 for like 3 weeks now. He needs that f***ing win real bad. Buehrle is a workhorse and loves all those innings, so just let him keep pitching. Garcia could use some more innings too. The Cubans are iffy, but El Duque really need some confidence before the postseason. I do have to say that Jose has been our best pitcher as of lately. B-Mac pitched well against Texas, but the only reason he was called up was to give El Duque regular rest. We should not move to a six-man rotation. Garland has left with the lead, only to have the bullpen blow it for him, twice since that 17th victory, iirc.

I thought of this while watching the finale in Texas. AJ went into the Boston series tied with Varitek for most HR by a catcher with 17. He still had 17 until his dinger tonight. The last I heard, Varitek has about 21 HR now.

People are afraid that what they consider disposable dollars today might not be tomorrow. Not when gas is priced at $6 per gallon in Atlanta. We could seriously be in for some hard economic times in the not to distant future.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines There are some interesting bits and pieces in this article... Emphasis mine. This addresses a few of the most common complaints about the lack of trades. The fact that there were 16 teams with self-percieved playoff shots, leaves 14 realistically possible trade partners. Eliminate the AL Central teams, and we are down to 10. One of those being the Cubs, which is an iffy proposition at best. Someone mentioned we should have acquired Graffanino. See the bold print in the second quote. Unwilling means unwilling, period. Others have said we should have overpaid to get something done. KW agreed with you and made offers accordingly. The only he could have done that he didn't was to put a gun to other guys temple. You may call them excuses. I call it reality. That was the nature of the beast, this year.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 11:48 AM) Actually there were plenty of press conf in ST where Ozzie talked about Frank and his impact on the team and how if healthy will be a big part of the team. In the Spring there was all sorts of Frank speculation on when he would be back. In fact Ozzie called Frank a bunch of times the best right handed hitter he had played with. The was a Frank watch going on. Ozzie said numerous times something to the effect, "I don't worry about who's not here. I worry about who is here." "If healthy" is, of course, what he'd say. The team was NOt counting on Frank to return. They made a point of stating that as they were building the team and during Spring Training. Repeatedly!

QUOTE(robinventura23 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 12:24 PM) It was a good article IMO. I've seen a lot of posts here that pretty much say what he was saying. Which should tell you something.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 12:22 PM) Ok, fine. You said it, not me. Yes, I did.

QUOTE(TheBlackSox8 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 11:10 AM) I thought that too....I just shook my head. Love the BMac performance...but the experienced starters with the stats couldn't do s***. So just how big was that performance by Brandon?

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 12:19 PM) Wasn't sure If I could put it in those terms, but since a moderator said it... Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Hey, I can get suspended as well as you can.

Here is the logic of the pessimists. If the Sox lose the World Series on a fluke play or an umpire's call in extra innings of Game 7, they'll say ... "See, I told you they couldn't win it all." And they are happy they can say they were right. If the Sox win it all, they can say "I'll glad eat crow! How 'Bout Dem White Sox!!!!" And they are happy they won. Pretty f***ing pathetic.

QUOTE(the People's Champ @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 12:10 PM) now you're reaching Ya think?

QUOTE(the People's Champ @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 11:51 AM) McCarthy will not be in the rotation! BOOK IT If two of our starters go down, McCarhy will be in the rotation. BOOK IT

Am I concerned about this team? Damn right I am. But do i believe they can win the whole thing? Damn right I do. Thinks could click back on for these guys just like it was early in the season. It clicked off, but it can click on. Two weeks from now, we may be on a roll that carries us all the way to the promised land.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 11:20 AM) Just because we didn't think he'd be here doesn't mean his loss didn't make us worse. It clearly made us worse. Having him for 24 games made us better, so there is some convoluted logic in what you are saying, but we didn't have him when we built the majority of the lead, and we don't have him now. I don't how Frank being out makes us any worse than we were when he was out at the beginning of the year.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 10:47 AM) No I think they did count on Big Frank. How many times in ST did we hear we are going to get a big bat back in the lineup around the middle of the year. Frank Thomas is going to be our big mid season deal. I dont think they counted on him getting reinjuried so quickly. Now the correct way to look at it is, we won without Frank and we can win again without him also. But the offense was bad back in April and May and we will have to deal with it and hope that the pitchers can pitch their asses off in the playoffs and our hitters can raise their game a bit. You didn't hear that from KW or Ozzie. You may have heard it around here, but not from the ballclub.

QUOTE(Steff @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 10:45 AM) Gimme some more info please... I saw plenty of gangs of looters, but I guess what I should have said was "What I read ...." People were stealing and packing AK47's. Hijacking vehicles. Police helpless to stop or even slow the crime going on. It's a completely lawless environment there. They'll get a handle on it with the Nat'l Guard and other law enforcement agencies. But, they'll be too late for some people. I live near the New Madrid fault, with has MAJOR earthquake potential. If I survive that, I want to be able to defend myself until law and order can be restored.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 10:41 AM) We hit in the 250s without Frank. We hit in the 270's with Frank. And without Frank and Pods we hit in the 230s. I have a funny feeling that September will resemble the 250's. As I said, we got a bonus by having Frank for 24 games. The fact remains that they never counted on having Frank in the lineup this year.

QUOTE(TheBlackSox8 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 10:41 AM) I think I heard $5.99 a gallon in Georgia, they said it on Bob and Tom. I would hate to pay $6 dollars for just one gallon.....that's basically two gallons worth where I live. It's true ... I saw a film clip of a price sign on FoxNews.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 10:37 AM) The beauty of it is, they will point to all the shooting around them as justification why they needed their gun. Interesting. Because of what I've seen in NOLA, I've decided to arm myself. I will have firearms in my home shortly. And yes, I have been taught how to use and handle them.

QUOTE(Steff @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 10:34 AM) Well.. some are and do. The key word in that post being 'some'.

QUOTE(CubKilla @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 10:27 AM) That's BS. Look at the history of this club. Hasn't won a WS since 1917 and the Sox have been to the playoffs sparingly and they have been to the WS even more sparingly since 1917 with consistent LOSING results. No. I don't think it's BS at all. There are some here, and I'm not going to name any names, that spew so much vile negativaty that they cannot really be 'fans'. They are the type of person that loves being associated with an historically unsuccussful team so they b****, moan, whine, complain. They live for this. The Cubs are too obvious because of the lovable loser thing. Cub losing is cute and all warm and fuzzy. No, the Sox are perfect for this type of person.

This team was built without Frank Thomas. That was plan as they did not know if he'd play any this year. We got a bonus of having Frank for 24 or so games. This team is not "worse" because we "lost" Thomas. He wasn't counted on in the first place.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 10:09 AM) It's just emotions. We might disagree, but I believe EVERYBODY here is a Sox fan and simply wants to see the team do something that none of us have ever seen in our lifetimes, which is to win a World Series. I honestly have to say that there are some posters that I seriously doubt this is the case.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 10:08 AM) Last time I ever sell you tickets.