clujer420

That's awfully nice of you, Michelle, I appreciate that invite. However, I have said many times that I live in Southern California, and I can't just up and plan an inpromptu to Chicago on 3 day's notice. I cannot afford to miss work, so I will have to graciously turn down your offer. If you had informed me, oh, say 2 weeks ago, about this, I perhaps could have worked it out. However, if you wish to come out to either the Dodger or Angel series later this season, that would be much more workable. And yes, I will have a soda since beer tastes like sewer water. I'd love to meet some of you in person at a game one of these days (perhaps some at one of the series listed above?), and would have no reservations about doing so. What do you think, I'm afraid?

You're being too hard on yourself Michelle. You're not "s s***ty fan" -- I'd say you're more of "a s***ty fan". You need to give yourself a little bit more credit sometimes! But, for once, I agree with you that right now, all the players on this team are very much likeable.

LOL, sorry buddy, but it's clear that people on here talk about what they want, and it often strays from the original thread topic.

If I recall correctly, they said yesterday that he has an injured oblique muscle, and is on the 15-day DL. Doesn't sound like anything too serious.

Calling it "tinkering" gives it a negative conoctation. If a name should be given to it, "smart managing" should be considered. And of course Jose will be in there a lot. If he starts against right handers, he'll be in there about 70% of the time, and the other 30% or so we'll have the very reliable Graffy in there. Sounds like a good situation to be in if you ask me.

Yep, I suppose so. I actually don't like the term "closer", and think it's very overrated. I think that the main objective should be winning the game by whatever means necessary, and not "we've got to get ____ (enter closer's name) a save -- we're paying him $6M a year!". Don't misunderstand what I said....I think that having a solid bullpen is ESSENTIAL for a team to be successful, but if a pitcher (be it a starter or middle reliever) is bringing it and it's the 9th inning, why take him out? It doesn't make sense (unless he's on a strict pitch count or something), IMO.

With you 100% on that one Jim. Another one of my favorites is when a reliever enters the game say halfway through the seventh, gets an easy out or 2, then mows them down in the 8th on 12 pitches. The closer comes in for the 9th, and promptly blows the lead. Why they don't just leave the other guy in constantly baffles me. Well, in today's game, closers get paid millions of dollars to come in for the 9th to close out the game (hence the name "closer"). Now that that's the way the game is, you will continue to see starters and relievers being taken out for the 9th, and occasionally you will see the closer blow it (even the best blow a game or 2 a season). Good, bad, or indifferent, that's the way it is.

More cursing. -- that's no way for a lady to talk....so I guess you can carry on. And you obviously deleted that post about getting more tattoos and piercings....that wasn't very hard to figure out.

No way -- if Junior can defeat Goliath, he can defeat Eminem. Book it. Also, you're right about this thread going on and on. That's what happens sooooooo often, and it's stupid. Wish that wouldn't happen so much.

No prob....you've been around here for a while, so I'm sure you've picked up on some of the tactics used. They have very selective memories, to say the least. And thank you -- Junior rules.

Southsider called him a lurker, Steff. Try reading the previous posts in the thread before you start jumping in and commenting on something that does not involve you.

Yes, chances are. Another one with nothing of value to say. :fyou Well Steff, we all can't have posts with as much subtance and relevance as you have. Besides, I'm an immature little punk, so I wouldn't expect very much from my posts. And if you wish to get more tattoos and piercings and further ruin your body, by all means....

LOL -- it's good to see that some of you put words in other people's mouths, and not just mine. And I thought I was special.

Yes, chances are.

Durham wasn't leadoff material either Baggs. yeah but he could score 100-120 runs in this offense....he still stole 30 bases a season...jimenez has 8 in over 700 ML at bats....and he's a free swinger like durham but doesnt have the power ray had...ray still carried an obp of 360 while he was here..can jimenez do that???...i dont think he can..id feel so much better with this team if ray was still here..but he is not, so let get miles here I'm looking at Miles' numbers from last season in Birmingham, and they're good, but I don't know if that means anything since it was AAA. His avg. was .322, with 40 walks (531 AB), 25 steals (41 attempts), and his OBP was .369. He also committed 26 errors. My analysis.... - Very good average. You have to figure it will come down, though, since pitching is obviously the best at the ML level - 1 walk every 13.275 AB's is not acceptable for a lead-off hitter - 25 steals is good, but when you're caught 16 times, that's not a good percentage. And catchers are probably much better at the ML level, and pitchers are probably better at holding runners - Good OBP, but when you consider he hit .322, it should be much higher than .369 - And his errors are also high (26 in 138 games) So, while he was impressive in ST, I don't know that he's all that great of a player. Until he can learn to take a walk and obviously cut down on the errors, I say he belongs in AAA.

Maybe I'm not aware of what I'm doing. Maybe I'm ? I don't care if someone has a different opinion than me -- if I did, I would leave this board because it seems that most people disagree with me. Or maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment. But seriously, I only question someone's opinion when it's clearly absurd (like earlier when someone suggested Frank be taken out of the game when he was on base 3 times and the rest of the players today only managed to get on 2 times -- that's really what got this entire ball rolling). I'll allow people to have their own opinions as long as everyone else gives me the same courtesy.

Well, in all fairness to Leifer, he really shouldn't have been on the Sox last season. We almost never played him, and when we did play him, I'm sure he was pressing to show the team what they were missing out on. That's tough for any player, let alone a young player. I think Jeff would put up pretty good numbers given 400 or 500 AB's in a season. He clearly wasn't going to get that with the Sox, and IMO he handled it very poorly. If he had said the cliche "I'm just here to help this team win whenever I get a chance", he might have got more PT last season -- particularly when Frank was struggling and complaining. He didn't do that, and I think both he and the Sox are better off with him off this squad.

Well, by saying "I like everyone", I'm saying that I don't dislike anyone. And yes, you're right. People like to change their minds on people. I normally don't dislike a player based on their performance -- the only time I dislike someone is when their attitude or effort is lacking. If someone is trying and not succeeding, I can deal with that. But when someone dogs it or is a non-performing prima donna, I can't stand that. The Sox don't seem to have anyone like that at this time.

I literally like every player that the Sox have. The only ones I'm not crazy about are the ones that haven't been here long enough for me to gather an opinion one way or the other. Players like D'Angelo, Olivo, Colon, Loaiza, Daubach, Rios, Koch (although I love his attitude), Gordon, and all the others that are new for '03. Other than them, I like everyone, but will reserve comment on those I listed until I see em for a couple of months.

Correcting a spelling error...I think it was more than just 1 if I recall, but oh well...is not a personal attack. If you perceived it that way, I'm sorry. And I didn't say I don't want to argue about baseball here. What I don't want is to sit here and read a bunch of name calling. That's ridiculous.

More name calling? I wish some of you would move on and talk about baseball and keep it non-personal. Is that possible?

It was pretty much 1 person, and no, it wasn't just me mistaking it for a personal attack. I don't have the need to join a message board and spend part of my day arguing -- I argue enough with my best friend about baseball. I'm here to share in intelligent Sox discussion, and I would like to see more intelligent discussion and less name calling and disrespectful comments. Like always, I will defend myself if-need-be, but I will not attack until attacked.

Heh, yeah, it's funny "watching" people argue, particularly on a message board like this. It's all in good fun until the attacks start getting personal -- which is what some people on here have taken it to. I hope that changes, though, because I'm on here to discuss Sox ball -- not to get into flaming wars.

Well, true, but... It's the start of the season for every team, and the Sox really cannot afford to give away any games. By all accounts, the AL Central is a horrible division, but it could turn out to have one of the best 1-2 races with the Sox and Twins, so we need to take as many as we can against the lower-tier teams. I think Wednesday will be a different story for our guys.

Well, yeah, I was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to ruffle any more feathers today. And even if Royce wins the triple crown this season, would any of you really care? It wouldn't affect me one iota, because he had 2 seasons with us, and didn't really do that well. Sure, his numbers were OK, and his defense was very good, but he didn't do anything spectacular. He clearly wasn't going to do any better than .260 for the Sox, but who knows what he'll do in the NL for the Brewers? Sometimes what a player needs is a change of scenery, and that can have an amazing affect on an athlete.