[Jon Adkins]

Has Adkins even pitched since he hit one of the Blue Jays?

No.

 

He's in the ol' Shingo/Viz/Walker role right now...pitching whenever a game is a laugher. Which means, given the fact that almost every game is close...he never pitches.

[Podsednik]

According to the Trib, his shoulder's hurting him a bit after being plunked by Embree. Can't be a good thing even if we're talking about himi running.

[Sun Times Article]

I think you either clinch the division or get your magic number below 10 before you take your foot off the accelerator.

 

If Dustin can pitch and he won't make himself worse by pitching, he's a great insurance policy to have when facing the Yankees and Red Sox.

 

Remember...these are teams we may very well face in the playoffs...and if nothing else...winning series against them gets your team in their head. If we face the Yankees in round 1...what do you think will be the first thing to cross their minds right now? "Oh no, not that center fielder again".

 

Rest Dustin in September. Maybe even starting August 26th at Seattle depending on how Cleveland does and how our magic number looks.

[Ah, I remember when...]

I think the real point here isn't that we should say everything is great after goign 2-1 on this stretch...

 

The real point is that because we've played so far above the heads of everyone else, even if we play below .500 on this stretch, we're still probably going to end it with a magic number below 20.

 

In other words...this stretch was a huge concern at the beginning of the year because we thought things would be close. Now, even if we do poorly, it's still not going to hurt us. If we play .500 ball the rest of the year, we end up with 98 wins, and that probably is either 1st or 2nd in the AL.

[Official Looking Ahead to 2006 Thread]

Couple notes...does anyone know if the Widge will actually want to play next year? He's probably earned the backup catcher spot if he wants it, but last year he was this close to retiring wasn't he?

 

I see you don't have #35 included on your list.

 

I bet if you swap Contreras for El Duque in your trade list, Texas just might bite. Although you'd be much better off if you tried to put together a package for Soriano which included a pitcher...they're going to move him for pitching in the off-season no matter what.

 

What happens to Borchard? He's out of minor league options, so either he's traded, he's on the 25 man next year, or he's got to clear waivers (i.e. he leaves with us getting nothing).

 

Jon Garland had sure better get a 3-4 year deal signed in the offseason. I don't want him going through arbitration.

[Shingo has a new lease on life]

Good luck Shingo...I'm betting that those NL hitters will have as much trouble picking up the floater as the AL ones did last year.

 

Oh, and Shingo....just walk Jones, Pujols, and Lee.

[Encino Man]

"Could you please read this video store receipt for the court?

"Um, Encino Man and Bio Dome"

"And who stars in those movies?"

"Um, Pauly Shore"

"Pauly Shore!"

(Whispers from jury...he's terrible)

 

-Family guy.

[Is homosexuality normal?]

As for those who are asking what's the point of the poll Kinsey suggested that the majority of persons would fall between 2-5 & that bi-sexuals would be the norm.

Are you not even the least bit curious to find out if his belief fits SOXTALK at least?

One point I would raise is that there's really no good reason to trust Kinsey's methodology.

 

I say this as a defender of his...he did his work 50 years ago in a field that didn't exist at the time. His methods were basically whatever he could think of. But just like alchemists, Kinsey really had no one to compare with where he could say "my method works better and here's why".

 

Kinsey's 7-10% estimate came about in part because of selection biases in his sample, things like interviewing too many convicts, etc.

 

Kinsey is important because he was the first person to really pay attention to human sexuality as a topic for research. He broke a taboo. That is his biggest contribution.

 

Beyond that, he did some work that still probably stands some scrutiny. But he did a significant amount of work that has been replaced by better methods, better statistics, better techniques, and so on.

[Overrated Stat]

Pitcher: ERA, because it's incredibly difficult to compare between leagues.

 

Batter: On base percentage, just because it's such a hot stat thanks to people who only pay cursory attention to Moneyball, and walks just don't do as many positive things as hits.

[Neal Cotts]

We have all of our starters locked up for next year (Garland will still be ours after arbitration) so I don't see a need to try-out Cotts as a starter, particularly when you consider just how disasterously his past attempts in that role have been.  Didn't he start up in Montreal last season?  Was he not very ineffective after that start?  He's got good confidence in his role right now, so leave him there.

JR and KW will be smart enough use the fact that JG is arbitration-eligible to sign him to at least a 3 year deal.

[Angels-A's 8/11 finish]

But who would you rather face?  Oakland or Anahiem?

 

Zito/Harden/Haren

 

or

 

Colon/Lackey/Bird-Washburn?

You know what? I really don't have a clue.

 

At least we don't have to face Buehrle/Garland/Garcia.

[In Boston]

Great,now get home your mom is worried!

Last time we faced Boston...it was a big series. The division was closer, and it was our first time against the big boys in the East.

 

This time...it's still a big series...because we're in the hardest stretch we have this year. And this is a chance to really send a message.

 

Right now, if the Yankees drew us in the 1st round of the playoffs, how do you think they'd react? "Oh god, that guy's going to be in Center Field again". 1 series, and we're in some of their heads.

 

We can get in Boston's head this time.

 

We need to get the bats going again. That's for darn sure. David Wells throws a lot of strikes...so hopefully we won't be swinging at too much out of the strike zone, and that could help.

 

But as usual...the real key is the pitching. And you know what? I'll take Mark and Jon up against any other 2 pitchers in the league. This is their series now. Jon shut down Boston last time, Mark didn't. Mark's due for another good game too.

[White Sox vs Red Sox - 8/12/05]

We just made the people in New York sh*t their pants because they saw how good we actually are.

 

And they didn't face Mark or Jon.

 

Go get em MB. Let's get back on track to 20.

[Neal Cotts]

Why put a ceiling on how good a pitcher he can be?  He was projected to be a starter.  He was a starter his entire minor league career.  As somebody mentioned,  it's much easier to go out and find quality relievers than it is to find quality starters.

Actually, I'd say it's easier to find average to good starters than it is to find great relievers.

 

Neal has an ERA of 2.08 right now. Do you think he'd have an ERA that low as a starter? In the AL if he did, he'd win the Cy Young award. In other words...numbers as a reliever probably don't translate too well to starting. Hitters face you more than once, you get more tired, etc.

 

Neal Cotts can be a great left-handed relief pitcher. But I don't think he can be a great left-handed starter. He might be able to be a good left-handed starter (ERA ~ 4) but I don't think he could be a great one.

[Ozzie's "homosexual" remark]

When I was an undergrad, I used the word "f**" to insult a person that I knew from home who I absolutely despised. I did so with an acutal gay friend of mine sitting across the table from me. I apologized profusely once I said it (it seriously just kinda slipped out) and we just let it be. As far as I could tell, he understood that I had no ill intent, and it wasn't spoken of again.

 

I don't see a huge deal here. If that's the worst thing that's said on a baseball field or in a locker room, i'll be amazed.

[Favorite Movie Theme Songs]

U2's Mission Impossible indeed.

Jurassic Park and Star Wars are probably my favorite by John Williams

Patton - Jerry Goldsmith

Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan

[Angels-A's 8/11 finish]

I'd rather play the Angels,  but if we play Oakland,  bring em on.

If we can't beat Oakland in a playoff series...do we deserve to win the World Series?

[Angels-A's 8/11 finish]

Ahh it's only 4?? I thought it was 6 or 7....ah well, it is just hard to imagine them not making it with the way they have played and the breaks they have gotten the last couple months.

 

I really don't care what they do, I just don't want to see them in the first round, they scare the hell outta me.

Cleveland's been playing well also and they have a really easy schedule...and the Yankees probably won't go away either - they're 4 back of the Angels right now I believe. And as far as I can tell, Cleveland is currently 3 back of the Angels after the Halos lost today...pending the outcome of the Cleveland @ KC game tonight.

[Angels-A's 8/11 finish]

I think this is the most amazing line I've ever seen in gameday.

 

"With Eric Chavez batting, Jason Kendall scores on defensive indifference. Bobby Crosby advances to 2nd on defensive indifference. Missed catch error by pitcher Francisco Rodriguez."

 

I bet it took them 10 minutes to figure out how to write that.

[ARow versus 1-Dog]

Come on, Rowand had a great series vs Yankees and having a good season  average wise, but you guys make him sound like he's a Kenny Lofton, Griffey type player in there primes? No comparison.  Both Griffey and Lofton took over games on D and on Offense.

Griffey in his prime could do things that Rowand cannot do, I'll totally grant you that. Lofton? He was quicker than Rowand, but I think Rowand gets better jumps than even Lofton did in his prime.

 

And we're not talking about offense this thread, we're talking about defense. Of course you can't compare Aaron Rowand to a guaranteed Hall-of-Famer with about 530 career home runs on offense.

[ARow versus 1-Dog]

who the hell is aaron rowand??

I think there's a few Yankee fans who can tell you.

 

[Boston Herald subscriber to post this JUICY piece?]

When I think of potentially juiced players and the White Sox, only one name comes to mind and he is now playing in Detroit.

That's one I wonder about too...and the recent string of wierd injuries (not just the knee) haven't helped settle my concern.

[New Al Qaeda threats]

Define HUGE in terms of numbers please.

 

Over 120 million persons have been murdered at the hands of atheists (including communists).  That's HUGE.

Of course, this statistic isn't influenced at all by the growth in the Earth's population due to medicines derived in part from modern biology or the ability to better produce food thanks also, in part, to modern biology.

 

People have died at the hands of athiests and communists, so naturally all athiests are communists and are responsible for that mass murder. No other religion or set of beliefs has any blood on its hands (except for that nasty Islamic one), and so this point thoroughly discredits all beliefs of every athiest. It's the fault of every single athiest, and none of them are excused from this guilt. Everyone who does not profess a belief in Jesus Christ as the savior should be arrested and confined to death camps. Did I say death camps? I meant happy camps. Every one who believes in evolution should be castrated, so that their evil genes will be diluted out of humanity's gene pool.

[ARow versus 1-Dog]

Griffey.

I'm assuming there's some sarcasm there, but just to note...even if we did get Griffey, we wouldn't be getting the Griffey who's decent on defense. We'd be getting the banged up Griffey who shouldnt' be doing anything but DHing.

[How many games will the Sox win?]

so you think they go 3 under .500 for the remaining 49 games?

If we take september off and rest people...it's a possibility.