YASNY

I don't see AJ still being a starting catcher in '12. I have no idea who will be there, but I'd bet it won't be AJ. Not so sure about Jenks either. The hardware in his arm still concerns me.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jun 29, 2008 -> 12:44 PM) The best part of that is the comment that the Sox have no traditions, which is cute. First of all, the W flag and "Go Cubs Go" are very recent "traditions" which were just made up by Cubs Marketing within the last decade for the sake of making money (W flag merchandise) and getting attention. To call either of those traditions is really dumb. But getting back to us, we (well, Nancy Faust) started the "na na na na, hey, goodbye" song being played at sporting events. You now hear that song being played/sung at games all over the world. Second of all, we also invented the concept of fireworks at the game/after home runs, another thing you see at stadiums all over the place. Oh, and hey, what about the singing the 7th inning stretch thing? They do know Harry Carey started that at Comiskey Park and not Wrigley Field, right? That's right, the tradition that defines their ballpark as much as the ivy, drunks, and losing, was originated by the terrible White Sox. But I guess other than three very significant traditions that you see being copied all over the place, we have none of our own. Right. Are you sure about the Cubs flying the "W" and "L" flags being recent? It seems to me that particular tradution has been going on for many, many years. Also, the "we" that is responsible for the fireworks and the Harry Carey thing is Bill Veeck. He's also the responsible for what was once an important marketing ploy, but has since faded away, Ladies Day. Of course, the fact that there are now millions of female baseball fans is a direct lingering result. You can also add players names on the uniforms, Wrigley's ivy and the phrase "Beautiful Wrigley Field" to Veeck's contributions to Chicago baseball. Regarding the fireworks after the HR's, my father told me a story about the Yankees reaction to that when it first started. Casey Stengel was the Yanks manager at the time and I believe this was his idea. In a game at Old Comiskey, one of the Yanks homered. All the players, coaches and Casey lit sparklers and stepped out of the dugout to supply their own fireworks. Classic Casey.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jun 29, 2008 -> 11:14 PM) Konerko has become a master of the pick, but his range is non-existent. Swisher is a much better all around first basemen. I agree that Swish is a much better firstbaseman. However, I think Paulie's defense is generally underrated. He's been very solid over there for quite some time.

QUOTE (Maxwell @ Jun 30, 2008 -> 02:00 AM) I'd say fans are even dumber here too. I vehemently disagree with you. There are some passionate and over reactive fans on here. But there is a huge amount of good baseball knowledge being shared on this site by some very astute baseball fans.

Before Alexi took over at 2B, there were two undeniable facts: 1. Uribe was playing a fantastic 2B defensively. 2. Alexi was somewhat shaky out there. Even Ozzie, who knows something about playing middle infield, made several comments about Alexi's defense at the time. Now Alexi has settled in and got comfortable and his many and varied skills are rising to the surface. He's turned out to be a rare find and kudoes to the Sox for stepping up and sign him. But until, he actually showed he could be a good defensive 2B, he was an unknown quantity. EDIT: I meant to quote Max's last post.

QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Jun 29, 2008 -> 10:54 AM) what do you mean by "draft and follow" ? Teams used to be able to draft a guy, let him go back to school while they followed his progress. Then they'd sign him just prior to the next year's draft. That is no longer allowed.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 29, 2008 -> 02:58 AM) I'm startin' to get a lilttle scared. We're not winning jack without Javy performing up to expectations. Hopefully it's just a bad month. I hear ya. I'm hoping it's just a bump in the road as well.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 29, 2008 -> 07:19 AM) It's incredible that a draft-and-follow 38th rounder from 1998 made the majors in 2000. Makes you wonder where he would have been drafted in 1999. I'm just glad it worked out the way it did. Buehrle has been a pleasure to watch and root for over the years.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 28, 2008 -> 11:42 AM) NL lovers will throw batting stats at you, telling you how the NL has leaders in all of the categories. Of course its because NL batters get to face NL pitching on a daily basis and the back ends of those rotations and several of those bullpens can help inflate offensive numbers quite a bit. Compare the pitching staffs of the worst teams in each division. The NL is weak. If we got to play the Pirates as much as the cubs did, we would have a very similar record to theirs. Just throw the Royals record vs the NL back at them. 'Nuff said.

QUOTE (Gregory Pratt @ Jun 29, 2008 -> 01:41 AM) Mariotti's too much of a coward to make phone calls, you know that. Good point. What was I thinking?

QUOTE (gosox41 @ Jun 28, 2008 -> 11:09 PM) I'm not looking at one day to give up on him. I'm looking at his whole career. He has holes in his game, hence the reason none of the other organizations he's been with have declared him the next great thing. On a side note, I heard callers calling in the Score before the game today saying they wanted to release/trade Thome or Konerko to make room for Wise!!! Huh? I can see the argument that the Sox are better having Swisher at 1B and BA in CF (not wise though) considering how much PK and Thome have struggled. And I would even bench one of the two of them if they continued to hit like garbage. But how does releasing or trading either Thome or PK make this team better as a whole. Forgetting about what you'd get for them in a trade (not much) I'll take Thome off the bench as pinch hitter way before Wise. It's embarrassing that those callers are assumed Sox fans. Maybe one of them was an incognito jay mariotti.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 29, 2008 -> 01:20 AM) So does that mean Buehrle was a draft-and-follow? Cuz that would make a hell of a lot of sense. I believe this was the case.

So, I did see what I thought I saw while watching the game.

What a fantastic win! The bullpen was lights out!

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 27, 2008 -> 08:35 PM) Lets be honest people, what do you have to gain getting belligerent and physical with another fan just cause he likes the other team? I dont understand it at all. Everything is more fun when you dont take it to that level. There are families around you, act like adults and good fans. What a concept.

QUOTE (ChiSox35 @ Jun 27, 2008 -> 10:01 AM) We should build a MB statue while he's still pitching. Ummmm ... no. Retiring Harold's number before he retired was a mistake. Building a statue of an active player would be even worse.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Jun 26, 2008 -> 07:23 PM) Far from sure you should be, they won 100 games in '88. 1973 they won the division only 3 games over .500 Getting old is a b****.

Blasphemy!!!!!

QUOTE (knightni @ Jun 26, 2008 -> 12:25 PM) http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/ballgirl.asp SportsCenter lies to you. Ok then ... I stand corrected. I must have had the sound turned down as I was on the phone. It happens.

QUOTE (TCQ @ Jun 26, 2008 -> 01:18 PM) At no point did i say is the savior. Also id like for someone to make an argument as to why not to give him a chance to leadoff, other than sayin cabrera is doing well. Cabrera did not leadoff last year and he hit 300. I know Wise wont be able to keep it up all year most likely, but why not ride his current hot streak? The fact that Cabrera is doing well there, now, is plenty of reason not to move him. Wise more than likely will flame out in a few days and then you've got to let him play long enough to make sure he has flamed out, then put Cabrera back in the lead off spot and hope he is still comfortable there.

It was real. I saw it on SportsCenter. I don't think they show scripted highlights.

QUOTE (DABearSoX @ Jun 26, 2008 -> 10:22 AM) I was thinking about this the other day. Think if Chicago wins the 2016 olympics. Daley would have to build an 80K+ stadium, and after the games it would have to be used for something. Maybe when the redline series happens every year we could play there on neutral ground. That would be sweet. and LV.....there is no other park like Yankee Stadium as well, and it has more historical events that have happened there, but they still decided to tear it down b/c its a piece of crap....Wrigley blows and should be burned to the ground. Nah ... let them keep that rat hole. Yankee fans are smart enough to know that will have a nice, new world class stadium. Cub fans can stay being content with the aroma of urine and vomit as they are eating their hot dogs. They deserve nothing more.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 26, 2008 -> 01:05 PM) I would have to say that defense wins games and Uribe has it over Ozuna Tazmanian devil or not, Uribe is worth more to team than Ozuna.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 26, 2008 -> 11:28 AM) I think that is a good point. But, I still think defensively Uribe is better than Ozuna and can play 3 positions just like Pablo, who I am not certain has been seen at SS much if at all. Not that Pablo doesn't give it his all though. Giving it his all, and locking down the position defensively are two entirely different things. I don't care about his lack of offense, Uribe defensively is head and shoulders above Ozuna. Our pitchers will feel much better with Juan out there than Pablo, and that means a lot.

One year the Mets won their division just barely being above .500. I'm going to say it was '88, but I am far from sure.