whitesoxfan101

Javy truly is an embarrassment to his profession. We should have started Richard today.

One other thing I'll say is that if the Twins could have won 2 out of 3 at home against the Royals (instead of only taking 1 and finishing 5-4 at home against Kansas City), they wouldn't have had to worry about what we did MONDAY, let alone travel here and play on Tuesday, since they'd have clinched Sunday afternoon in that senario at the latest.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Oct 2, 2008 -> 12:27 PM) It was never an issue before, why now? f*** the Twins. Just leave it how it is. The funniest stuff I've heard is that it should be like the other sports where there is no tiebreaker game at all, and head to head should be the tiebreaker, and if that is tied, they should go to some other tiebreaker to determine a winner.

Now that it's all over, what do you think? Obviously the Twins wouldn't be appealing to major league baseball over this system's future had they won on Tuesday, but do you agree with their premise that there should only be a coin flip if the season series is tied, and otherwise the series winner should get home field? I'd assume it can't be done that way based on logistics, but I am curious as to your thoughts. My thought on it is that is not always a fair way to go either. For example, I believe the Sox and Twins both had 9 home games in the season series this year, but what about if say the Sox had tied Tampa Bay for the Wild Card? That season series had 7 games in Tampa and only 3 up here, so how fair is it to decide home field based on that?

QUOTE (The Critic @ Oct 2, 2008 -> 10:51 AM) Maybe if they treated these games as just GAMES, rather than exorcisms, goat executions, blowing up "cursed" baseballs and all that other nonsense, maybe they'd win a few of them. That's exactly what I mean. It's hard enough to try and get to/win a World Series just by winning the 7/11 games, but when you are trying to deal with all that other stuff, it makes it almost impossible, especially at the first sign of trouble.

Want to know the real (and only) reason the Cubs are cursed? Because THEY believe they are cursed, and do weird s*** like you see in that video to try and "overcome" it.

This is their 11th season in the major leagues, and not only is it their first season in the playoffs, it's their first season not being one of the most pathetic franchises in North American sports. Their fans, beat writers, even players are a bit overexcited because they've never been here before, and to me that's understandable. Let's sneak in there and take advantage of it.

I'm starting to think there is some sort of Donnie Moore curse at work when these teams get together in October. The Angels are now 0-10 against Boston in the playoffs since Dave Henderson's 9th inning home run cleared the wall in game 5 of the 1986 ALCS, assuming you include that game (and you should, it actually ended up going 11 innings).

Tonight's question: Whose performance was more pathetic, the Cubs team of the Cubs fans? Both really rolled over and played dead tonight. And now, they have to rely on a headcase with questionable health that hasn't pitched very well lately to save their season, against a pitcher who has been better than he has all season. That's the joy of the playoffs if you aren't great, and the pain of it if you are, it's a total crapshoot of luck as to who wins and who doesn't. People hate to admit it, but it's the truth. All the pressure on the Cubs now, a loss and they're probably dead, a win and they still have to win one of two on the road or they're dead. They shouldn't panic, but since they are the Cubs, they might anyways.

Ahh I thought the "ghosts of postseason past" were haunting Lidge today, but he narrowly escaped disaster. I just wonder what is going to be going through his mind every time he pitches in the postseason here in 2008, and I worry that those ghosts will eventually catch up with him and lose his team a game or two.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 1, 2008 -> 11:29 AM) If you compare those to Borchards 504 ft shot, there is doubt in my mind Big Jim is getting hosed. Absolutely, there is no way Borchard's home run went more than 10 or 15 feet further than Jim's two shots in that post. Really, I think Jim's went longer, but the only time I ever saw the Borchard home run was the highlight shows the night after he hit it, so I'm biased.

The 461 measurement made perfect sense. He hit a ball to basically the exact same spot on June 4th and it was measured at 464 feet. The one in June was a hair closer to dead center, which is probably why it got the 3 extra feet, but is otherwise pretty much hit to the same spot. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=280604104 You can check out the video of it here by clicking on video and "Thome two-run homer". http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?g...kcamlb_chamlb_1 I think both homers were closer to 475 feet, maybe even 500, but that's just me.

I think Javy is terribly unclutch, but basic odds tell you that he SHOULD have a good start after having 3 stink bombs in a row. That's part of why I feel surprisingly good about this series.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Sep 30, 2008 -> 11:40 PM) I really do feel sorry for those that said they stopped caring weeks ago, and this is one of the least likeable teams in recent memory. You know who you are. Tonight is what it's all about, and will never forgot seeing the team I love clinch a playoff birth in person. The feeling I have, after committing my hard earned money to this team, is unreal. I am just so proud of these guys. People who said they stopped caring weeks ago (I'm not one of them, and most of the people even in this thread aren't) and actually meant it aren't true fans. No matter how mad this team makes me, I always watch and I always care, and I think the same could be said for most around here. Just like I'm GLAD they proved me wrong this season and especially the last 3 days. Tonight was just incredible.

Thanks for the kind words Jim. This really is a great rivalry, and I'm sure everybody will say you guys will suck next year, and you'll somehow win around 90 games again.

I know we've had no hitters and such, but all things considered, I defy anyone to find a better regular season performance in Sox history (since the stats do count, I'll call it that) than Danks tonight. The props go to Buehrle, Floyd, and Danks for saving our season 3 days in a row, but especially Danks tonight. Unreal.

For the record, if we win game 1, we're winning this series. Maybe I'm just being overly optimistic tonight, but I really believe that.

FADE TO BLACK!!! What a wonderful, refreshing victory to watch. Damn this feels good, 35 months without a clincher was too long. Here's to a few more clinchers in the coming weeks.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Sep 30, 2008 -> 10:47 PM) Update your sig. Done.

LET'S DO THIS s***!! GO GO WHITE SOX!!!!!

I'll keep this short and sweet because I have one big apology. I am sorry to the Chicago White Sox for calling you quitters. I was wrong. You guys drove us nuts all season putting us on this roller coaster, and you ALWAYS did things the hard way. The easy route was not your friend, and that would cause irrational fans like me to lose my patience and lose my mind. But, in all honesty, it turns out that you guys might not have been the best, or the smartest, or even the best. But you came out on top in the AL Central, you won THREE f***ING DAYS IN A ROW WHEN IT WAS DO OR DIE (that is so amazing to me), and you are going to the playoffs. I have no damn clue what is going to happen this October, and really, whatever it is, I can live with it. You guys have played your asses off all season, this is a great accomplishment, hopefully there are more to come, and I'm sorry I ever doubted your toughness, mental strength, and desire to win. THANK YOU WHITE SOX, and hopefully there are more parties to come in October.

The gun was definitely hot tonight, it had Blackburn at 92-94 and there is no way in hell he throws that hard.

I hate this award. Cliff Lee is deserving because he came back from spending time in the minor leagues after being demoted last year. But what about Lidge? He only pitched 2 more innings and 6 more appearances this season then he did last season. So what did he come back from, being bad? That's a dumb argument, and it's realistically not a valid one either. He had a 3.36 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and .219 average against last season with a strikeout ratio well over 1 per inning, so it's not like he was total garbage.

Manny Ramirez C.C. Sabathia Geovany Soto I know the first two picks might be controversial to some, but here's my logic. The Cy Young Award is given to "best pitcher in each league". I know that C.C. only made half as many starts as Tim Lincecum, but I'd pick him anyways. I know it's a case of me being unfair to Lincecum for pitching on a bad team to a certain extent, and also ignoring what C.C. did in Cleveland, but I just can't in good faith not vote for C.C. for the award with what he did in the NL and for the Brewers. As for the MVP, I can't in good faith give the award to Ryan Howard or Carlos Delgado. Yes, Manny wasn't in the NL until the trade deadline, but Ryan Howard put up three sub .800 OPS months this season (including a .646 in April). Carlos Delgado also had three sub .800 OPS months in April, May, and June (including a .632 April). So in that sense, Manny didn't help the Dodgers the first four months, but for half of the season, Delgado didn't do much to help the Mets and Howard did little to help the Phillies. If this were the most outstanding player award, I'd obviously give the award to Albert Pujols, but to take a guy from a 4th place team as most VALUABLE player when Manny did what he did for the Dodgers would feel wrong for me too, so I have to pick Manny. Geovany Soto is an obvious choice for Rookie of the Year.

Kevin Youkilis (to me, he's pretty clearly the winner here, but nobody is giving him any credit) Cliff Lee (not close) Evan Longoria (it's a shame Alexei didn't have a good September overall, or he could have won it)