whitesoxfan101

Illinois had four players of 4 star rankings in football recruiting visiting for the Penn State game (as well as basketball recruit Mario Little), so that's obviously a very good thing. Hopefully some verbals will soon follow this weekends fun.

Like most with logic warned, this made a minimal difference. The move did have to be made due to Rex's performance, but Griese was just as bad, if not worse than Grossman. The only difference is Griese threw it 51 times so his numbers look cooler, and he has a much weaker arm. This team just plain sucks and has too many guys hurt, end of story. Hell, maybe we should try Orton, at least he won't turn it over 3 times and have a pick 6 every game.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 03:41 PM) Penn State is not a very good team, stop it. I made my own top 25 which was more of a prediction of the AP Poll than my actual rankings and I can't believe they put Kentucky ahead of Florida and Oklahoma. Does anyone in their right mind actually think Kentucky can beat those teams even 4 times out of 10? Also, South Florida should probably be #5 ahead of Wisconsin. With Kentucky, Boston College, and Wisconsin in the top 10 don't be too surprised to see another week like this down the road They are the 3rd best team Illinois plays in the league, besides Ohio State and Michigan. The exposition of the fraud that is Wisconsin (the level of luck they've had so far is incredible) begins on Saturday. As for part 2 of that....if Colorado can beat OU and Auburn can win at Florida, I think yes an undefeated Kentucky that beat Louisville when it was #9 and won at Arkansas, plus has the Heisman leader, deserves a better ranking.

Well Griese wasn't worse than Rex, but he was just as bad, wow that change did nothing. Anyways, giving up 34 points in the 4th quarter to the Lions is pathetic but it's also a sign of things to come. All the injuries hurt in terms of depth more than anything else, and the Bears just plain ran out of gas in the 4th quarter. Combine that with mistakes and you lose. Must win next week, a loss at Green Bay means it's time to get ready for the draft, and I see no reason in hell to think the Bears will win at Lambeau. Ugh what a waste this season is turning out to be. Oh, and all of us Illini fans said at the time the Ron Turner hiring was a joke. Good to see the rest of the world sees how awful a coach he is.

Wisconsin better quit with their playing close every game bulls***, or else it's going to bite them in the rear end next Saturday. Despite their 2 losses, I still think Penn State is a superior team to Wisconsin, just simply haven't had the blind luck the men in red have so far. Great win for Illinois, hopefully the move to McGee is permanent. And Benn is out of his damn mind, wow. I can't even comment on the games nationally because of how f***ing confused I am at most of the results. I shall be in the middle of the student section next Saturday in Champaign for Illinois/Wisconsin. That could be a bit fun. Also, people will talk, but the fact that Illinois could beat a very good Penn State team today despite not playing their best ball AT ALL is a good sign if anything to me.

Juice hit three HUGE passes last drive, and Illinois punches it in again. 14-3 Illinois, but Penn State hit a big play and is at the 25 of Illinois. Touchdown Penn State, it's 14-10 Illinois. The Illini secondary is getting killed right now. We might have ourselves quite a ballgame here.

THEY FINALLY put Arrelious Benn on special teams last week, and it pays off pretty quick. 90 yards to the house on the kickoff after a Penn State field goal, and it's 7-3 Illini. And now a 3 and out for the Nittany Lions immediately afterwards, giving it back to Illinois at their own 30, good start here.

Cole Hamels 8 innings of shutout ball tonight just made the Phillies an even bigger threat to whoever they play in the playoffs. I'd assume their rotation in the first round (based on how it is now and off days) will be Kendrick, Hamels, Moyer, Lohse.......and although that's not great, they are in the NL, have a decent closer, and have the best offense in that league by 10 miles. People who say they are not a threat will eat their words in a few weeks.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 12:05 PM) Hey YASNY, long time, no see. Its good to see you around these parts, I don't care what Jason says Anyways, I am curious if anyone had seen Broadway pitch before he got to the majors, and if they have noticed any differences (good/bad/indifferent) since he got to the bigs? I'll hang up now and listen for my answer. He'd have probably kept throwing all his other pitches even though he had no control on them, and ended up with about half a dozen walks and a 3 or 4 run allowed, 5 inning outing if it were at Charlotte last night. But since it was up here, he just threw what worked and based on the counts and had a very good outing it turned out. I think that is why his minor league numbers this year are very deceptive, he was doing so much working on his control of his pitches that he sacrificed some numbers to do so. Then again, the fact he only had control of basically 2 pitches last night is an example of why he needs another year in AAA, but also the fact he pitched that well only controlling 2 pitches shows why he has hope.

Hell no, and it's crazy this is being asked. He's a closer on one of the 5 worst teams in baseball. Now I know it's not his fault we suck, but closers should almost never get Cy Young consideration as it is, let alone a closer on an awful team. And this is ignoring the fact that J.J. Putz, Jonathan Papelbon, and Joe Nathan all have better numbers than Jenks this year, and that's just among AL closers.

Ironically, the backup QB for West Virginia actually looked better than White did, by far.........but USF's speed simply takes away everything West Virginia does on offense. Not a surprise at all to see this evening play out as it did. And that crowd was a huge factor, WVU looked confused on offense all night pre-snap and I think that factored largely into several of their mistakes/turnovers. That's not a surprise though, anybody who has been to Raymond James down there in Tampa *raises hand* knows that is about as loud as it gets in terms of outdoor stadiums when full. Also random: During the postgame, they showed a fan with a "West Virginia: #1 in the nation in incest only" sign. Good stuff.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 10:31 AM) This game and the Cal-Oregon game should be a lot of fun this weekend. Then of course, you have the game of the year next week with LSU and Florida. Oklahoma-UT as well next weekend. Wow. Amen on next weekend, but for some reason I have a funny feeling Cal is going to have a lot of problems at Oregon. When you get a game like that, you look at the QB's and homefield and Oregon has a huge edge in both categories, so I could see them winning by 2 touchdowns or so.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 09:13 AM) Heres a question to ponder. Who looked more impressive vs those Royals at the end of sept in a battle for last place, Garland or Broadway? That's hard to say since Broadway only pitched 2/3 as long as Garland, but both were great. They did square up and make solid contact off Jon more, and obviously Lance was getting way more strikeouts, but then again they've seen Garland about 100 times already now.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 08:18 AM) Well I didn't see the start but it sounds like people are more encouraged by the stuff that they saw compared to just the results. I don't think anyone is convinced of anything with Lance but he's another guy you can throw into the 5th starter hat for next season. Ya I was paying much more attention to the stuff than the results, it just so happened both his stuff and the results were outstanding last night.

#5 West Virginia visits #19 South Florida this evening at what will be a sold out and very loud Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. South Florida's speed on defense gave the Mountaineers all kinds of hell last year as the Bulls won 24-19 at Morgantown, and I have a feeling that USF will pull off yet another upset in this matchup tonight.

Unless it was actually Bartman who booted that taylor-made, inning ending double play at SS that would have sent the Cubs to the bottom of the 8th up 3-1 and I'm unaware of it, he has no demons to exorcise. Only stupid Cub fans feel he is a villian, and they sadly can never be fixed.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 10:07 AM) It doesn't matter how good their offense is, they'll be controlled in the playoffs. If Philly gets in, I highly doubt they win more than a game, if that. If they get to face the Cubs starting pitching, their offense won't be controlled. Now, if they get San Diego in the first round they'd probably be in a lot of trouble, but the Cubs SP is AWFUL and they'd kick them around.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 09:35 AM) The Reds have said that they won't play Brandon Phillips much the rest of the way. Thus, they'd be missing their 4 best hitters. In some ways, it reminds me of 2003, when the Cubs made the playoffs due to facing a Reds team where D. Jimenez was their best hitter. Huh? The Cubs went to Cincinnati in 2003 for the 2nd to last series of the year with a half game lead and left tied for first with 3 games left. The reason they clinched was after a Friday rainout, they swept a doubleheader from the Pirates on that Saturday at Wrigley while the Astros choked and lost to the 6th place Brewers that Friday and Saturday (at Houston!!) to fall 2 games out and thus be eliminated going into the last day of the year. As Mike Gundy would say, "GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!!!"

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 08:59 AM) I hope the Phils and/or Rockies get in. I think Colorado has a legit chance to make some noise in the playoffs, while I think the Phils would get murdered but still they have Rowand and Utley, so go Phils. The Rockies have 11 wins in a row, but it looks likely it would take a sweep of Arizona and thus 14 in a row for them to get in, but heck with the way they are playing it wouldn't surprise me. Oh, and no way Philly gets murdered with that offense. None, and I think they'll get in with the choke the Mets are putting on. Also, looks like the NL West is in great shape to get that wild card, because I'd be shocked if San Diego doesn't at least win 2 out of 3 against the Brewers, and of course somebody has to win at least 2 of 3 in the Arizona/Colorado series.

He's obviously not a rookie of the year candidate in as strong a crop as the NL has this year, but if the Phillies make the playoffs, they need look no further than Kyle Kendrick. He came into this year as a low strikeout minor league pitcher that had never pitched above the AA level, let alone MLB, but he made his debut against the Sox on June 13th (6 IP, 3 runs) and has been consistent ever since. He got the win last night against Atlanta in his final start to finish the season 10-4 with a 3.87 ERA in 20 starts. Making those numbers more amazing are his pedestrian (if that) periphials, as he has only 49 k's in 121 innings, and although he also only has 25 walks, he's given up 129 hits in those 121 innings. He went at least 5 innings in 19 of his 20 starts, and had 13 quality starts. If Hamels is healthy, a rotation of Hamels, Kendrick, Moyer, and Lohse isn't great, but with their offense and being in the NL it might be good enough.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 27, 2007 -> 10:32 PM) Before the beginning of the season, I told myself I was giving Broadway a free pass in the first half. He had a decent ERA, but his peripherals were garbage. But I'm not going to hold that against him. He was learning to control a new pitch, and he'll need to be a control pitcher to survive at the big league level. So... He improved in the second half, even though the ERA didn't show it, he had a K/BB ratio of exactly 2:1, and was striking out near 1 batter per inning. There was improvement, but not nearly enough to suggest that he was ready to consistently get major league hitters out. Even if Coop come out and says something about how they worked really hard and refined some of his mechanics/control, I still need to see more from him on the minor league level. If he true ability was what we saw tonight (6IP 0R 8K), he'd be able to consistently post those numbers in the minors. As it was, only one of his last 10 starts in Charlotte was that good, and there were 4 starts that could be considered disasters. The only way I can picture him in the opening day rotation is through a slough of pitching injuries along with a trade or two. I agree with this, he's a year away IMO. But this evening gives me hope that another year of seasoning with his stuff at Charlotte could lead to Lance being a solid pitcher for us in 2009 and beyond. Tonight's game is what a polished Broadway will look like, but I don't think he's ready to do anywhere near what he did tonight on a consistent basis at the MLB level in 2008.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Sep 27, 2007 -> 10:14 PM) Yost has done a horrible job. He almost makes me appreciate Ozzie. Ozzie on his worst day is better than that loser on his best day.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 27, 2007 -> 10:11 PM) Who do you want to see them play? Philadelphia would absolutely kick their ass, so that is my hope. I honestly don't see them beating anybody in the first round though, because although they matchup best with Colorado IMO, the Rockies have won 10 or 11 in a row. The decision by Pinella to say Kendall is his catcher in the playoffs will kill them, every single is now a double with him back there.

I said on Tuesday morning the Cubs have it locked up because they could lose out and Milwaukee still wouldn't catch them, and it turns out I might be right. The good news is with how well some other NL teams are playing, the Cubs postseason stay might be very short.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 27, 2007 -> 10:03 PM) I think the more effective one will be whoever gets better command sooner. I definitely don't think having both in the same rotation would be a winning combination. I agree with part 2, but at least with Lance, if his command isn't perfect he still has a lot of movement on his pitches. If Floyd's command is off, he falls behind, gets pitches up in the zone, and gives up home runs on pitches with no movement and modestly above average velocity.