Balta1701

QUOTE(Queen Prawn @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 01:11 PM) While the As are hot, bear in mind who they played 7 of their last 10 games again (I think it was 7 anyways)...the Mariners. 4 at Seattle - they took 3, then 3 home against San Fran who they swept then 3 at home against Seattle who they also swept. Before that, they took 2 of 3 at home against Philly (who went into a slump after their big home-stand winning streak), 2 of 3 at home against the Mets (did not face Pedro), and 2 of 3 from the Braves in Hotlanta, right before the Braves caught fire. I'd say the last time they faced a team on any sort of a winning streak was Washington right before that, who swept the A's.

QUOTE(upnorthsox @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 01:18 PM) Huh?? Cabrera hit .333 vs the scrubs with 3 hr 6 rbi and 9 runs scored, he hit .287 with 3 rbi vs the giants and ended up playing in all 17 of their post season games hitting .265 4 hr 12 rbis. Willis went 14-6 for the Marlins, they don't get to the playoffs without him. Lackey started 18 games going 9-4 for the Angels and came up big for them in the playoffs. FRod was mainly only a factor in the playoffs but then what a factor he was. Willis also went 14-6, but he was 9-1 before the AS Break. He wrapped up the season going 5-5 with a 4.60 ERA after the break, including a horrendous 6.92 ERA in August. In the Postseason he was 4-3 with a 3.55 ERA.

The last time we were in Oakland, we suffered from one of the worst 3 days worth of umpiring that I've seen all year, maybe even in a couple years. Not just Crede's HBP. Crede being thrown out for slamming a bat down. Pods being called out on a play at first where he was safe. Our hitters being pelted by like 6 bean balls but Oakland not receiving a warning. The infamous play at the plate which appeared on the front page of the Oakland sports section the next day. Strike zones that were all over the place. With a good umpiring crew we'd have won 2 of 3, if not more, last time. Fate owes us a couple of games here.

QUOTE(upnorthsox @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 12:53 PM) Oh, one more thing before I forget. The 2003 Marlins were set to trade their starting 3rd baseman, Mike Lowell, but unfortunately he got hurt right before the deadline and was lost for the season. They were set to trade him for prospects because he was having a great season and the Marlins got off to a terrible start - the Cubs were 1 interested team, but the Marlins wanted Zambrano I believe, and the Cubs wound up getting Ramirez from Pitt. It was going to be a surrender trade, not a trade to win that year. He was supposedly a free agent last winter, but he re-signed with the Marlins.

QUOTE(upnorthsox @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 12:46 PM) The 2002 Angels and 2003 Marlins both got huge contributions down the stretch from rookies that season, the Angels with Lackey and FRod and the Marlins with Willis and Cabrera. Those additions helped offset the need for major trades. So...is there some reason why our guys cannot do the same thing? Especially when the rosters expand and Anderson comes up, along with probably Baj, certainly BMac if he's not on the 25 man at the time, etc. Those teams went with what they had and won, and they've both been contenders the last 2 seasons as well. Why? Because they didn't mortgage anything the years they did win, they plugged in young guys as they were ready, and used the salary savings to add in other places. (Florida - Delgado, Anaheim - Vlad the Impaler).

QUOTE(Wedge @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 12:38 PM) Bravo! Since I'm silly and lazy and don't want to look something up... who did the 2004 BoSox trade for during the season that was such a big deal? If you're referring to the Nomar deal, was it really that big? Yes, the Nomar Deal really was that big - it gave them defense. It put Cabrera at shortstop, which instantly made their pitching staff (Ground ball guy Derek Lowe in particular) far, far better. It also gave them Mientkewicz as a late-inning replacement at 1b, which allowed them to take Millar out (Or Ortiz if they were playing against the NL) and make sure that they didn't screw around at 1b late in games. That team went on their big run to get back into the Wild Card slot right after they made that trade. And it more than likely saved their season.

QUOTE(GASHWOUND @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 12:46 PM) Agreed..Look at Pods..the dude had 12 home runs last year and he's made a conscious effort to alleviate that..0 HRs cause he's trying to go the opposite field..You will rarely see him fly out far to right..AJ has hit a few HRs to the opposite field, which i don't think he was trying to hot HRs, but it it hard.. I think the only one you could make a case for swinging hard is Uribe, but that's the way he swings...There's absolutely a nay chance of the team swinging for the fences cause Ozzie would've put the kibosh on that s***. I think the bigger thing with Pods is that he's trying to keep the ball on the ground instead of hitting it in the air and flying out, which btw, is exactly what he should be doing.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 12:00 PM) If Bush nominates a moderate to slightly conservative, he'll have my respect and admiration. If he goes neanderthal, juts out his jaw, and plays wild west sheriff, I will not be happy. Bottom line, if conservatives and liberals are disappointed, it's about right. Alberto Gonzalez would probably make both sides pretty unhappy, and that should scare you.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 11:22 AM) Who was the person that posted the article about "Stand Pat" Gillick who couldn't pull the trigger on July trades to help the 116-win Seattle Mariners reach their postseason potential? Going along with this poster's reasons for why it's not always a good idea to make a trade... People at this page seem to love pointing to the Mariners as a team that could have traded to make itself better to win a W.S., and maybe didn't win because they didn't make the trade. On the other hand, let's look at a couple of different examples. In 2002, the Anaheim Angels won the World Series. Guess how many veterans they traded for during the season? The only trade they made was Jorge Fabregas going to Milwaukee for Sal Fasano and Alex Ochoa. Hardly the stuff legends are made of. Now let's imagine this...let's say the Angels decided to get serious about "Winning now" in June of 02, and sent this young guy named Francisco Rodriguez somewhere for a veteran pitcher. Where would the Angels have ended up? Or lets say they traded off Dallas McPherson. Would their team be as set for the future as they are this year? The 2003 Marlins are a very similar story - they made as far as I can tell exactly 1 trade during the year...a week after Todd Hollandsworth went on the DL, they traded Denny Bautista and another pitcher to the Orioles for Jeff Conine, and other than changing managers, that was it for them. No other trades. Now, it's not like they didn't have pieces to work with either - let's imagine that the Marlins had decided that they wanted to "Win now" in 2003, and moved a young guy named Miguel Cabrera, who was platooning in left field basically and hitting under .270, to get some added help? Or lets imagine that they figured they needed a veteran starting pitcher to lead that staff, so they decided to move another young guy named Josh Beckett, a guy who had never pitched more than 107 innings in a season and had never ended up a season even with a winning record. Where would those teams have wound up if they'd made some deals for "Veterans" to plug some of their other holes? A trade can save a team, like the 2004 BoSox, or it can really hurt a team and seriously damage its future, as would have happened if the Marlins or Angels went shopping.

QUOTE(BlackBetsy @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 11:37 AM) If the Sox had a team average of .270 with a .333 OBP and .430 SLG ... June Numbers: Avg: .271. OBP: .327. Slug: .454.

I also still say that a large portion of our low team BA is due to the month of May, where Konerko, Dye, Crede, Uribe, and Everett were all basically in the toilet. In June, with a couple other guys not producing much in the way of hits (Uribe still, Thomas, Pierzynski, even Rowand somewhat), we're 16th in batting average in all of baseball. In April, we were 17th. In May we were 24th. May is the month that is dragging this team's offensive numbers down. There's no reason to assume right now that May was anything but an abberation, especially given how many people were hitting extremely far below their career averages coming out of that month. In almost every offensive Category, in April and June both, we were in the middle of the pack, somewhere between 10th and 20th (except for runs scored of course, where in June we were #7). In May we fell into the low 20's in categories like hits, OPS, etc. We've gradually been moving back up each and every one of those rankings since May ended.

Buster Olney's Forward Thinking today has a blurb on this game... "The Team That Never Loses"...I like that.

My only transportation is a 13 year old Mongoose Bicycle that I bought for about $300 when I was in 7th grade. I chipped in half, my mother chipped in half. That has probably been the single best investment I ever made. I probably have several thousand miles on the thing by this point. Hell, I probably put a couple thousand on it just in the last year or two.

My family went to Florida for a week back when I was a junior in high school. It was perhaps the most boring week of my life. I managed to read 2 1000 page books, mainly while either sitting on my grandmother's couch or the porch outside. The 2 attractions we hit were a dog track and a shell factory. That's right, there is such a thing as a shell factory. They make and sell shells. I also spent quite a bit of time doing practice tests for a math competition. Finished like 4 or 5 tests. Ended up placing first about a week or two later.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:40 AM) Good point. I'm sure McCarthy would know the answer. Or Ivan Rodriguez.

I'll bet that if Mark gets his 20 game win season this year, he'll get enough attention on him that he'll finally win that gold glove.

Let's go Jose...you can do it...you're due for another great game. Does anyone know what umpiring crew we've got tonight? As long as its not Wendlestedt's group (spelling?)... We'd have at least won 2 of 3 last time in this Hell hole if the umps hadn't blown so many calls, and I'm not just talking about Crede's HBP. The Tigers were supposedly on a hot streak before they ran into us. They were supposed to come home and then really start making a move. And then they ran into Mark Buehrle. And it almost wasn't even fair. Oakland is hot right now. People are back and they're healthy. It's time to show another hot team who the real boss in this league is.

Here's another FYI... Last night on one of the late editions of SportsCenter, ESPN's Tim Kurkjian suggested that while there were a number of teams looking at the Marlins' A.J. Burnett and the Marlins wouldn't be opposed to trading him, it is very likely that he'll get a contract for at least $10 million a year next winter, and Tim felt almost certain that no trade would happen unless the team acquiring him was willing and able to sign Burnett to a contract before the season ended.

Another point about this "doubles" issue...it also likely reflects the park that we're playing in. We've spent a couple days in Detroit...how many balls were hit in Detroit that went for outs, doubles, or triples, that would have been home runs at the Cell?

QUOTE(TheBlackSox8 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 09:53 AM) going to be a pretty dull homerun derby at comerica. Something tells me the 1 round record which seems to fall every year will be standing tall this year. Bit of a change between the Cell, Minute Maid, and Comerica, that's for sure.

This is not going to be a fun summer to watch the news... And man alive...she had to retire on a day where the Daily Show is on Hiatus...

Wasn't Glenn Williams like some 30 year old career minor leaguer? Or am I thinking about someone else?

Varitek will be in.

Boston is the best team in baseball right now. Why? Because they won the World Series last year. They are the best team in baseball until they lose in the playoffs. If we want to be the best team in baseball...Mark Buehrle and others need to end the season jumping up and down covered in champagne. I don't care about records, I don't care about numbers, I don't care about bullpens, I don't care about offense, I don't care about defense. They are the champions until someone else wins it. That is the end of the story.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Jun 30, 2005 -> 08:02 PM) I guarantee someone with worse numbers than Garcia makes it. Of course someone will...there's got to be some team who's only All Star will be a pitcher. Tampa Bay, or K.C., or Detroit, or Cleveland, someone like that.