Balta1701

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 04:20 PM) What do you guys think the odds are that this expands into a wider war in the region? If Israel were to launch a large scale attack on Syria, I'd say it'd be very likely. It might be able to be contained to just an operation in lebanon if they don't. My big worry might be the fact that there's already 1 civil war on in that region, and a 2nd simmering conflict would probably feed into that, and make both situations worse.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 04:17 PM) Not very bright are they? There's a real obvious joke about the Israeli bomb there which I'm not going to take...

QUOTE(CWSOX45 @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 12:48 PM) I agree, that was a disheartening sight. However I'm still not intimidated by the Red Sox. Our starting pitchers and bullpen were just plain s***ty that series. I know that come October if we are matched up against the Red Sox, I for one will not be worried, regardless of our record against them during the regular season. The one thing I will take heart in is that it's hard for me to fathom how our starting pitching could possibly be any worse in the next half. Buehrle, Vazquez, Garland, and Garcia are all pitching significantly worse than their career marks, and Contreras hasn't gotten in a good groove since hitting the DL. If the law of averages holds, then these guys are almost all due for more consistent performances throughout the rest of the season.

QUOTE(Felix @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 12:49 PM) Yep, thats very true. When it comes down to it, which is more important for a leadoff man to do, get on base for the middle of the order, or move runners along on the bases? If you had a choice between someone who hit .250 with a .400 OBP and someone who hit .300 with a .330 OBP, who would you take to leadoff? If Thome, Konerko and Dye are hitting behind him, and Anderson and Uribe are hitting in front of him, clearly you want the .400 OBP guy. If your middle of the order is missing thunder, but you have somewhat of a balanced lineup with a couple of .280 hitters at the back end, then the reverse might be useful, especially if that .300 translated into more power.

QUOTE(Felix @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 12:40 PM) Why do you care about the high average? As long as you get on base, which is the key job of a leadoff man, who cares if you are hitting .300 or .250? Hits still move runners along more than walks, hits drive in more runners if people are on base, etc. Just because he's a leadoff man doesn't mean his hits are totally useless.

Damn WSJ hippies with their fuzzy math...

QUOTE(LEXNLIV @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 11:03 AM) Personally, I dont think Vasquez is the one who would be traded. I think Freddie is the next in line to go. If the Sox could net a solid to very good reliever and a good prospect with upside in return for Freddie it would make a lot of sense. You improve your bullpen by adding a good reliever and moving B-Mac ( who is not suited to relief) into a starting slot. I think you also improve the rotation because B-Mac (the starter) is a definite improvement over Freddie Garcia(version 2006). You also replenish the pipeline of minor league prospects. I dont know if vasquez is a better pitcher than Freddie rightnow, but he certainly has better "stuff".. Am I the only one who's been pondering what we might be able to get in exchange for Garcia and Podsednik this offseason?

"The President is always right" Steven Bradbury, head of the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel, before Congress when quizzed on the Hamdan decision.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 09:56 AM) We should park a carrier in international waters off of Korea and shoot down every missile that they launch. If that would work, we'd already be doing it. First problem; a carrier is not the ship you want.

WaPo.

QUOTE(whitesoxin @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 09:28 AM) "Proving ONCE again there IS more than corn in Indiana!" Bin Laden f***ing hates corn.

So, you remember that new DHS formula which led to NYC and DC having their terror funds slashed due to Madison Square Garden and the Statue of Liberty not being landmarks? According to that same formula, Indiana is the most endangered state in the Union. Linky. Back home again in Indiana And it seems that I can see A gleaming candlelight Still shining bright Through the sycamores, for me The new-mown hay Sends all its fragrance From the fields I used to roam When I dream about the moonlight On the Wabash Then I long for my Indiana home

Vlad (the democracy impaler) Putin:

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 06:18 AM) Two more IDF soldiers kidnapped... Like i said earlier...the gigantic Israeli response this is going to bring is exactly what the terror groups want.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 08:48 AM) I suppose a Christian going to doctor to keep from dying of say ... pnuemonia ... is also a hypocritical twist of God's will. As was stated earlier, you are really stretching things to fit your own anti-Christian agenda. Only if they express concern over the diseases becoming resistant to antibiotics, because organisms do not evolve by natural selection, so that s*** ain't real.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 06:48 AM) Sierra has got to be in his 50's by now. Maybe 60's. Can Minnie Minoso play CF?

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 08:14 AM) Something fishy is going on. KW is hatching something. You can count on that... Geoff Blum says that whatever KW is hatching, you haven't a clue what it actually is.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Jul 11, 2006 -> 10:46 PM) Besides, if the game was completely 1-sided, I can almost guarantee AJ woulda hit. A 2-1 game in the 9th = you better save a catcher for the "Oh s***!" factor. There's your key point. That game was close and it flew by. It's not like the pitcher's spot came up 6 times because the AL scored 15 runs.

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 08:56 AM) Yep, great minds think alike. We must have been posting at the same time Balta. I'd have beaten you by 20 minutes but I had to stop 1/2 way through writing to go take a sample out of a furnace

QUOTE(Cuck the Fubs @ Jul 11, 2006 -> 09:12 PM) over 5 years. So you're both right. And yet, all 3 of you are wrong, as both California and Maryland have higher upper class tax rates than Illinois, to the point that Paulie's take home pay after Taxes will wind up being higher from him having taken the $60 million from the Sox than it would have been had he taken either the $65 from the O's or the $60 from the Halos.

QUOTE(BFirebird @ Jul 11, 2006 -> 11:11 PM) Yeah I didn't even notice that until they showed it on either SC or BBTN. HE should have been called for interference but got away with it. I am surprised Loretta didn't argue. Loretta knows he'd do the exact same thing, and he's also smart enough to know he wouldn't want the guy called out on that exact same play. You've got to do something pretty obscene to get called for interference on a play like that, as it should be. AJ could still have reached 2nd on that slide if he wanted, that's good enough for me.

There is one other statistic that I think is worth talking about in this thread that I think Podsednik had something to do with - the total variance of our runs scored. As others have pointed out, OPS seems to correlate very well with total runs scored. However, runs scored does not always correlate well with wins, as teams like say, the 2004 White Sox proved beyond a doubt. Why? Well because there's other key parts, such as pitching and defense. Now, the interesting thing I want to point out about Podsednik in our lineup was something I noted in the middle of last year. In 2004, the Sox scored a ton of runs, but they also had a very high variance in runs scored. They'd average about 6 runs a game, but they'd do that by scoring 12 runs one day and being shut out the next. When the Sox tried "Ozzie-ball" more in 05, there was a remarkable decline in the variance of runs scored per game. I don't have the most up-to-date numbers in front of me right now (I can work on them sometime today if people really want) but the fact was that while we scored significantly fewer runs per game, the variance from one game to another went down as well. So we averaged like 5 runs per game, but it was more like we'd score 6 one game, 4 the next game, 2 one day, then 8 the next. We almost always gave our pitchers something to work with. We didn't have the 20 run outputs in 05, but we didn't have as many 0's either. We've seen something of that effect this year too...with it taking until what was it, June before our team was shut out the first time? I would argue that there's not really good ways of quantifying this behavior beyond looking at the St. Dev./variance in runs scored, but I think Podsednik is a key part of it, in that his ability to steal bases, get into scoring position on his own, and occasionally make things easier for the people behind him is a key part in our being able to get a few runs off of good pitching to give our pitching staff a chance to be better than our opposition.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 11, 2006 -> 04:52 PM) So I take it I'm the only one who likes the Fox coverage? Aside from Tim McCarver I don't mind their coverage...but the thing that drives me nucking futs is being out on the West Coast when the White Sox play an early game on Saturday and having the game totally blacked out to everyone except radio because of Fox's stupid exclusivity clause.

At least it wassn't a keyboard.

Man, the price on Huff really fell, getting him for what would be to my eye 2 mid-level prospects (one guy with an ERA above 4, the other guy with it appears an excellent bat but very little power.) Although I could be underestimating that Obrist guy a bit as a leadoff hitter type, still I expected the Rays to get better pitching for Huff.