whitesoxfan101

Ehh I think most people *raises hand* figured Frank could still hit IF he could stay healthy, but most people also *raises hand* thought there was no way in hell Frank could stay this healthy for another season. Great to see him doing well though, like I said I can live with this if he gets to 500 homers and locks a spot in the HOF (although I think he is in already).

Garcia against the guy whose name describes how he's pitched this year. I don't like our chances with Garcia and the 86 fastball against a sinker ball pitcher who won't let us hit home runs. With that said, I'll predict a win since this team is so bizarre.

Well Minnesota scares me WAY more than Boston does, so in that regard this is a help to us. As for Liriano, I have a different idea. I'll say I'm glad he's hurt, then maybe the baseball gods will injure one of our pitchers (Garcia, Buehrle, Vasquez) and thus put McCarthy into the rotation, which would be a big help.

QUOTE(SnB @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 11:09 AM) i think alot of it has to do with expectations this year. You can't deny that we are one of the best teams in the league, if not the best team, in terms of raw talent. It's the underachieving, at least that's my two cents. That would be correct. It's one thing to not be good enough, it's another when the pitching and managing are losing you games you should win, which in the long run will probably cost you a shot in the playoffs.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 12:55 AM) Wow....turns out the Bomar story broke on a Texas A&M fansite......in late JANUARY: http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp...&forum_id=5 First of all, that guy has bragging rights for life on that site. Second, to me that's proof that Stoops knew exactly what was going on (but then again, of course he did, that post wasn't needed to prove it). Now this guy is REALLY a legend as that board, Sports Illustrated has picked up on this story. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/...eep-throat.html

....And although my sig says a lot of what I think, it's twofold. When our starter is good or decent, Ozzie leaves him in too long. But for the most part, our starters just suck. This is effin driving me crazy, and I'm getting to the point where I almost think it would be better for my mental health for us to miss the playoffs, rather than lose in October because of this crap. SOMEBODY WAKE UP!! OZZIE, STARTERS, ANYBODY!!

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 06:07 PM) This has been some vintage Frank the past few days. He was on base 5 times yesterday, with 3 hits and 2 walks yesterday. I wish he called it a career after last year, but he's obviously got some still in him, as long as he's healthy. I wish he had retired a White Sox, but if he can get himself to 500 homers and lock in a HOF spot, I'll live with him being on another team a couple years if it assures seeing him go into the hall as a White Sox.

Well as a kid, I went to one of Norton's first games....and he made 4 effin errors, although the Sox did still win. Guess he made up for those errors today.

Frank just singled in the 9th, 3 for 5 today with 4 ribbies. I can't believe how good and healthy he and Thome (obviously moreso Thome, but still) have been this year.

QUOTE(BHAMBARONS @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 05:19 PM) He really started off slow and is coming around he is also hitting in the 2 hole since Drew has been called up and it took awhile to get used to that role his AVG on July 20th was .252 now is at .280. He also struggled with some off speed pitches which he is now hitting much better. Ahh ok, thanks for the info.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 05:16 PM) The problem is not Thome, per se. It's that 1-2-3 are extremely weak against LHP. So much so that it has become routine for a LOOGY to blow through our 1-2-3 late in the game. Moving Dye to #3 would help, but not that much. We really need a threat against LHP in the #2 spot. If you want to move Jermaine anywhere, that's where it should be. JD #2 would neutralize the LOOGY, and you'd still have JD, THome, Kong going back-to-back-to-back. Pods JD Thome Kong Crede AJ Iguchi Uribe Anderson Now that's an idea I'd be more willing to listen to. It keeps the murderers 3 together, gives JD extra at bats, and kills off the LOOGY thing.

QUOTE(BobDylan @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 05:57 PM) I think steroids are pretty overrated for a pitcher. A throwing arm is a tricky thing, but added muscle (in the wrong places) is a bad thing. As a former pitcher I can relate to Freddy here. One day I threw a shut out, then the rest of the season my velocity was totally gone. I can buy the mass amount of innings he's piled up as a problem -- as you saw a decline in 2005 -- but steroids seems like a crap excuse to me. Maybe a pitcher can benefit from steroids by strengthening their legs, but if you bulk the arm too much, it doesn't flow through the slot the same. If anyone can remember a few years back James Baldwin had the problem of bulking up too much. A baseball player is born with his throwing arm...it can be strengthened to add 1-3 MPH, but not 10, as Freddy's drop off here is suggesting. Steroids are MUCH more helpful in terms of recovery time for relief pitchers, which is why bullpens around baseball are worse than ever this year IMO.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 04:46 PM) Steroid policy comes around in 2005. Freddy begins to lose velocity in 2005. I can't buy that one. I'm not naive enough to say no Sox did/do the cheating stuff, but Freddy hasn't really lost weight, he's always had more "fat" type weight, and the dropoff last season was pretty minimal, whereas this year it was drastic.

QUOTE(T R U @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 04:40 PM) Culpepper is gonna have a big year IMO.. Chambers, Booker, McMichael, Brown.. way more weapons than he ever had in Minnesota If you think that's more weapons than he had in his early Minnesota days, you need your head examined.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 01:49 PM) our D will get scorched... I think Dan Nicholson might actually wind up being our starting QB, I think he has more tools than Horvath. Nickel has got more skills, but coach loves Horvath, so he's probably the favorite to start. That and the fact that Nickel has still got 2 more years of eligibility left after this season, whereas Horvath will graduate. I think Nickel should start, but I doubt he does.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 04:28 PM) Actually, I think it was the 2nd or 3rd start for him, and it would have had to be a WGN or ESPN game, because that's all I can get. But I don't remember the details. I know what you all mean, though, he's been struggling all year, one 90 mph game that I seem to remember notwithstanding. Yeah, even if your right (which you probably are), the point I made about the innings catching up with him stands. He just doesn't have a lot of juice left in his right arm IMO. I remember everybody, for example, saying Johan was screwed up because of the WBC when he was awful early this year. But once he got RED HOT, people got real quiet on that one.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 04:24 PM) Yea, I think so... I seem to remember one of those April starts where he was about 90 or so on his fastball pretty consistant. Hmm that is possible, but the Comcast gun early this year was completely out of whack, so that could have been part of it.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 04:22 PM) In April, he was at least around 90. Not anymore. He was?? He didn't even get about 87 in his first start against Cleveland.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 04:02 PM) I'm with balta on Rivers. I expect him to have a very good season. I actually agree with you and Balta that Rivers will be good. However, I don't think Marty will let him throw enough to be a top QB in the league. The Chargers this year are just going to run LT and rely on the defense since both should be really good. Marty, as conservative as he is, will probably REALLY clam up with a guy who has almost no NFL experience taking the snaps. Rivers will be real good, but I doubt he gets enough chances to show himself to be a top QB.

I can't believe that an exhibition tourney in March caused this. Freddy's velocity last year was down from years past, and he threw about a million innings last year as well. I think it's just a case of all the innings he's thrown the last decade or so having an affect on his arm, and it started showing up last year, but Freddy at 92 (whereas he was at 95 and 96 in Seattle) can still get people out. Freddy at 86 isn't going to get his grandma out, on the other hand.

QUOTE(Jake @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 04:09 PM) All we have to do then is outplay them by 6 games. Don't think about what they have to do, just think about what we have to do. Which is just play great, something we all know we can do. Yeah, if we go 7-3 or 8-2 against the Tigers, we'd have an actual shot. I think anything less than a sweep against them next weekend is a big shot to our division hopes (even though 2 of 3 helps us big time in the WC against a team as good as they are).

QUOTE(3E8 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 02:00 AM) Yeah Young has cut his K rate by 35% from last season. That is correct. The one thing I will say though is despite that, his average and on base are about the same (.280/.370 this year in comparison to .277/.377 this year). For some reason (maybe I'm crazy), I usually expect a guy's average to go up when he strikes out less, since the ball is put in play more (ala Crede this year IMO), and you have a better chance of getting a hit on a ball in play than a whiff obviously, but Young's hasn't. Maybe that's just me, and maybe the change of home parks can explain this for Young.

QUOTE(Jake @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 04:02 PM) If you overthink it, you're not gonna feel like it's gonna work. Just like thinking about hitting that tiny ball coming at you at 90 mph with a tiny little wooden stick sure seems like an impossible task. We have the luxury of having the ability to take away 10 of their games, which we need to take advantage of. So let's say we play GREAT against the Tigers in those 10 games and go 7-3. That means we have a 5 game defecit with them having 41 games left and us 43. I still think the odds are very low at that point.

QUOTE(Jake @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 03:54 PM) We still have a shot at this division. The odds are most definitely not with us, but we can go through this next stretch without losing more than two games, preferably sweeping Detroit, we'll be in good shape. We can win this division in those head-to-head matchups. I don't mind Garcia pitching, I don't expect him to dominate, but he'll keep us in games. Detroit has to play 23-28 the rest of the way, and we have to match our win total from last year (and go 34-19). And that senario would mean we win 99 and they win 98. I'm not betting on that.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 03:52 PM) Would anyone else not be surprised at all if Jake Daylight come and you gotta DelHomme had an absolutely dominant year? If Steve Smith stays healthy, they have a much better receiver opposite Smith this year in Johnson, and a fresh pair of legs in their running game. Philip Rivers and Eli Manning are 2 other guys who have a lot of questions but are in ideal situations to just come out and be awesome. Rivers will be a lot like Big Ben has the last couple years, feeding off his running game, o line, and defense IMO. That's very good, but not best in the league. I can't comment on Eli because I just hate that whiny little baby, and I'd be shocked if Delhomme, who has been incosistent his whole career, is good again in 2006.