whitesoxfan101

Yeah I was there too. I sat up in what is like our 300 level for the Saturday Game (I think it's called the FSN Ohio Legends Club? It was an air conditioned restaurant area right above our seats) and all the food and non alcoholic beverages were free, so that was incredible. Pretty large Sox fan turnout, but nothing like what I saw when I was there in 2006. Overall a very fun weekend, and indeed Waffle Houses are the best.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 20, 2009 -> 08:14 AM) The White Sox did business with Hernandez as did Comcast Sportsnet. A lot of people did. To single out North isn't fair, and I'm not a North apologist. I agree with this, which is why I think North is an idiot, everybody else who signed on with CS Webio is an idiot, and Comcast Sportsnet is dumb too for that matter. You make good points that background checks don't always reveal info on people, but Hernandez has a lot of dirt on him and it's clear that even a basic check on him would reveal red flags. The fact that NOBODY knew about it until the FBI came looking for Hernandez shows me how naive everybody involved in this case was, even keeping in mind the fact they are victims.

I definitely WOULD NOT be a buyer. We have a lot of young talent, and trading some of it away to try and win a mediocre division this year is a bad move in my opinion, since our current veteran core is on it's last legs. I think one of three things wll happen: 1. Keep the band together, win the division, and see what happens in October and beyond. 2. Trade some veterans, not win the division, set up to try and win most likely in 2011 when some of our young guys will be ready to roll along with some of our young veterans like Danks, Floyd, Quentin, and Alexei. 3. Keep the band together, not win the division, and perhaps hurt ourself in the long term as well by getting nothing for Dotel, Dye, etc. I'd be happy with scenario 1 or 2 happening, but I fear scenario 3 is what will happen.

I wouldn't be against throwing him into a shark infested pool at this point. Getz, who had a very good couple of games, made an error. Pitch over it, loser.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 05:07 PM) i admit i used to be a big time Cubs hater. would watch NL games to merely root against the Cubs. Now I don't even care at all about that team. I still hope they lose because their fanbase is a joke, but especially this year I don't pay nearly as much attention to them as I used to. I've finally figured out that caring about them is a waste. They're not worth the time of day until they do something in the postseason.

Most of the stuff is reasonable down there, but you can get really good deals on the Kentucky side of the border.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 04:40 PM) This series isn't what it used to be. It hasn't been the same since we won the World Series. It used to be "this is the big series since neither team is going to ever win anything and hasn't won anything since the early 20th century", but since we won it all, it doesn't have nearly the same luster. That and the fact that this is the 13th season of the series has made it a bit less than it was. I don't mind it though, at the end of the game it's still just 6 games against a team not even in our league. With that said, I still hate the stupid, silly Cubs fans so winning these games is always a nice plus.

I hit him in the #2 spot a lot on the video game "MLB 09 The Show." Then again, I pretty much never bunt or hit behind runners, and that's not too practical. The best #2 hitter for this lineup just got called up from Charlotte in Beckham, he's just not ready to do those duties yet. But he will be in due time.

Go to a game at Wrigley and go to a game at The Cell, and you'll see the DRASTIC difference in the types of fans. I've made my share of friends in my college days who weren't orginally from the Chicago area, and I can think of 3 of them off the top of my head who were baseball fans, went to games at both stadiums, and later told me some form of the comment "I can see why you're a Sox fan." Regardless of your opinion on Obama, I think his quote about the difference between a game at the two parks says it about as well as a person can say it. QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 15, 2009 -> 08:48 AM) Here's the problem with this survey, it costs money to attend baseball games. For many people, especially in this economy, attending a baseball game can really dig into your pockets. Most time people who attend games have more disposable income and the people who have the disposable income are going to have the same characteristics. How many Sox fans never can attend games because of money, work, where they live? It's not that valid of a survey to me because they only surveyed people who attended games, which could account for less than 50% of a fan base. This is also very true. The biggest reasons the Cubs draw more fans that us is they have cornered the market on ignorant frat boys, drunken fools, and people from the state of Iowa (I hope they enjoy that market by the way, yikes.) But another big reason they outdraw more than us is they have a higher percentage of fans who can afford to go to the game they we do, or a higher percentage of fans who can afford to go to 10 to a dozen games instead of just about half a dozen, and so on (and I don't mean that comment in a demeaning way towards our fan base at all, btw.)

The "hell yes" from Hawk after the game was so hysterical, can't stop laughing at that. Very good win today.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 14, 2009 -> 12:04 PM) Really, Beckham should be hitting sixth in the lineup. He's taking better swings then half of the people in this lineup I'd have him hitting 5th in that lineup.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jun 14, 2009 -> 11:45 AM) Orlando has actually outplayed the Lakers in this series. They just have choked at crucial times. I'm not sure I agree with that. Games 2 and 3 were basically played dead even, game 1 was dominated by the Lakers, and I have a hard time judging game 4 since the Lakers managed to win despite the fact that the game was 5 on 8 in the 4th quarter with the way the refs called it.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jun 14, 2009 -> 11:56 AM) I would legitimately have no problem hitting Mark sixth today. There's likely a better chance of him getting a hit. Looper isn't exactly a scary proposition to deal with in terms of an opposing pitcher, but with that lineup, Mark better have his A plus game on the mound today.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 14, 2009 -> 11:45 AM) Perry wasn't the problem. I can't see this solving any of their woes. There were times all the way into late last season where Gerald Perry was regarded as one of the best hitting coaches in baseball, if not a miracle worker for the job he had done transforming the Cubs offense. Less than a year later, he's fired and the fall guy for an underachieving group who has been exposed by advanced scouting reports done this past winter. Tough job being a hitting coach. There is a difference to me between a guy like Perry and a guy like Greg Walker. There was a time for a full season where Gerald Perry appeared to be a genius, whereas I have never (no, not even when our great pitching and defense carried an average offense to a World Series) thought Greg Walker was good at his job. The only time I even thought it appeared Greg Walker was good at his job was the first half of 2006, and we all know that offense collapsed down the stretch anyways. Yet Perry is unemployed and Walker still safely employed, Strange stuff, and I'm sorry I turned this into another bash Greg Walker session, but I felt these were worthy points to bring up.

I actually have reasonable faith we will win this game for some strange reason. Let's get our first series win of the month (yikes.)

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 13, 2009 -> 02:01 PM) I still will never understand how Harden gets so many swings and misses. 92 mph fastball with only a splitter (disguised as a change-up). He has to have at least 20 misses already today. His fastball seems to have very good movement based on what I've seen of him, and he has a deceptive motion. I still agree that I'm not sure how he gets that many swings and misses though.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Jun 13, 2009 -> 12:15 PM) So the Sox need to find some legit middle of the order hitters for 2011. Hopefully one of Flowers/Viciedo/Allen works out as a 3-4-5-6 type hitter plus Beckham and TCQ. Would your plan to be to "let the kids play" in 2010 so that they'll be ready to contend in 2011? It's not a bad plan, I'm just curious if that's the plan you are advocating. Absolutely. If you let the kids play in 2010 and it works, not only are you set for 2011 but you're set for beyond that because guys like Buehrle, Floyd, Danks, and perhaps even Clayton Richard should be in the rotation for quite a while and be pretty good there, in addition to the young talent in the everyday lineup you mentioned. And the bullpen thing you can always figure out later, and perhaps you'll get a few arms to help out down there in the "firesale."

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Jun 13, 2009 -> 12:00 PM) I don't think it is true that the Sox have to go into full rebuild. Thome is still productive and will probably only play for the Sox, assuming he still feels the way he did when he was traded here about his geographical preferences. Konerko still has another year on his contract, and Dye has the option and is the most consistent of the three veteran hitters. Our veterans may be "old" but they are still productive. Will they be productive indefinitely? Of course not, but with TCQ injured (again), the only guys really producing are Konerko, Thome, Dye, and Pierz. Pods is also producing, but I think most agree it won't last. History shows that a bunch of our minor leaguers (any minor leaguers) won't pan out or will be role players rather than stars. Trade Dotel since the Sox seem to have enough minor league talent to replace him. Trade one of Dye/Thome/Konerko (probably Dye or Konerko) if you can. However, let the "old" guys mix with the young guys as the Sox completely transition from the 2005 "core" to the 2011 "core." If you can add a player who can be productive in the long term, the Sox should look to do it. I just don't believe a full rebuild will be successful. I also think the Sox have a high enough payroll to continue the rebuilding on the fly as KW has been doing. The Sox have the making of a very good rotation now that Floyd is pitching better and Richard looks like a legit #4 at least. The back of the bullpen, except Dotel, is under control for at least another year or more. This is a team that can compete once it finds out who the "keepers" are - both young guy "keepers" and old guy "keepers." The part of this team that really needs to be rebuilt is the everyday lineup. The pitching on this team is actually ok, and I think the bullpen is too. In addition, I think the long term situation of our pitching is pretty good too. But this lineup stinks, it's incredibly bad. And I do like the idea of mixing the old guys with the young guys, but by the time the young guys are good and ready to contribute to a playoff team, the old guys like Dye, Konerko, and Thome will either be gone, retired, or too old to contribute very much (by 2011, I don't know if any of our everyday old guys are going to be able to play anywhere near their career average levels except for probably A.J.) That's why my idea of a firesale is based entirely around trading the old guys in the everyday lineup, as well as a pitcher or two like Dotel.

QUOTE (robinventura23 @ Jun 13, 2009 -> 11:49 AM) Yeah, but he'll be facing us next. It'll be a different story. Our lineup would fit in perfectly in the NL right now because it sucks, and no DH (no Thome) makes it even worse. He might shut us down.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Jun 13, 2009 -> 08:22 AM) Are people sure they want the Sox to unload these veterans? A "youth" movement sounds appealing, but it'll look a lot like last night's game - meager offense, the young guys struggling, a weaker bullpen.... I'm willing to bet KW trades 1-2 guys at most if the Sox are out of it. The Sox need a mix of young and old next season to be competitive. This season, he's trying to figure out who the "keepers" are - both young and old. We kind of have to go into full rebuild mode because the veterans we have are on their last legs and running out of contract time (which is why so many people want to trade them rather then let them leave/retire and get nothing back). Our only other choice is to be a huge player on the free agent market and try and mix those guys with our young movement, but there is no reason to think the Sox are going to do that based on our history. We're willing to spend money to keep good players and trade for good players, and we'll sign the occasional big free agent (Albert Belle comes to mind), but we're not the type of team that will sign multiple big time free agents like the Yankees to fill holes. The one advantage we have is the economy is causing contracts to be a lot smaller right now and we have a lot of money that will be gone by this offseason in all likelihood, so we might be able to get some good deals on pretty good players and perhaps do a "Yankees lite" kind of spending spree.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 13, 2009 -> 02:19 AM) Randy Wells? Meet the American League. That's true, and he was also due to have a bad start with the way over his head numbers he'd been putting up, so it was a bad combination. The man's league tends to bring out the worst in overachieving National League players. I find it humerous how routine it now is for the AL to beat on the NL, and I'm sure it will happen again this year even with the AL seeming to be a little down. The National League really needs to adapt the DH, because they have the distinct disadvantage of having one less good hitter in most games as a result, even in games in NL parks because the DH of the AL team is usually the first guy off the bench. QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 04:56 PM) The best part was when he caught it, he kind of stood there and started swaying like the thug he is. I think he was trying to clear the blurr out of his eyes because he was really batting with the sun on that catch, and had lost one in it earlier. But sure, we can make it racial and start calling him a thug if you'd like to (which is silly anyways, Milton Bradley is not a thug, he's just certifiable crazy.) QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 04:21 PM) Hey, at least Milton didn't throw a foreign object into the crowd this time! I'll be honest, I'm rooting for the Twins to sweep the Cubs. As someone mentioned earlier, if there was any indication it would be the Sox/Twins battling it out this year, I'd root for a natural disaster at Wrigley instead. Yeah, I would normally disagree with this, but we're not going anywhere this year, so do whatever you want (sad but true.)

Where the heck did Real Madrid come up with all of this money from? Kaka, Ronaldo, and now David Villa? Doesn't the economy suck in Spain too? Kaka and Ronaldo together will be quite a sight to watch I would imagine though.

The officiating in the 4th quarter last night was absolutely pathetic. The Lakers have been the beneficiaries of many a referee aided victory over the years which is why nobody is probably mentioning it (L.A. probably deserves a few screw jobs for that), but free throw attempts were 17 to 0 Orlando in the 4th quarter last night and there were several calls and missed calls that were laughable. If the NBA really wants to distance itself from the Donaghy scandal, they need to stop with the shady officiating that at best is a sign the league needs new refs, and at worst is a sign the NBA is only one step above the WWE. I don't even like the Lakers (at all), but last night was simply horrible. With that said, I am stunned the Magic blew it. They had the game handed to them on a silver platter with LA's poor first half shooting and the refs performance in the 4th quarter, yet missed all those free throws and had all those turnovers to blow it. And what Dwight Howard did last night (especially at the end of regulation) was another example of why Shaq has never won a title without a dominant wing player by his side and why Wilt Chamberlain only won 2 rings as great and transcendent as he was. It's hard to take the trophy if you can't make free throws.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 12:49 PM) I consider "firesale" to mean trading away players with the view that the sox aren't going to contend for the division, but will try to be contenders for 2010. Other teams "firesale" like the Pirates, mean trading away players with the hope of getting better in a few years, such as vets for A ball prospects. Yeah if the White Sox are to firesale this year, it will be with 2010 and 2011 in mind, not 3 to 5 years down the road in mind like some teams such as the Marlins are thinking when they firesale, so I agree with you there. A firesale is coming this year though if at all possible in my opinion. Even in this bad division, I think it's pretty clear the Sox aren't going to be making a serious run this year (they were this close to being 7.5 games out and 7 under .500 after yesterday's game), and thus, a firesale is coming whether we like it or not. The only way it's not is if we can't get anything in trades for these guys, and in that case we will simply see people let go of if their contract is up and they become free agents, or traded this winter instead.

I really don't care who wins these Cubs vs. AL Central games honestly. If the Sox were a legitimate baseball team this year, I'd obviously be rooting for them to beat our rivals in the AL Central race during these games, but we're not going anywhere but a fire sale this season anyways. At the same time, I have fufilled my promise this year to stop paying so much attention to the Cubs (some of you really should try it, it's nice) and thus I really don't care about them anyways. In addition, even if I did care about the Cubs, they aren't going anywhere considering their offense is garbage and will continue to be even when Aramis gets back, plus they have no money to trade for help either. So as for these AL Central vs. Cubs games, whatever. But if the AL Central does play the Cubs in a year in which the Sox are a good team and you aren't 100 percent for the Cubs against our main rivals in the race, THAT would make you a horrible Sox fan.