Milkman delivers

I'm going to Survivor Series in November.

I just realized that Griffey is 1 homer behind Sosa on the all-time list. It'll be nice to see a White Sox player knock Sosa down a rung. Also, seeing Linebrink mentioned just jogged my memory of a dream I had last night where Linebrink was hurt for the remainder of the season.

If I'm going to tear him down for his bad starts, I should praise his good ones. Great job, Vazquez. And what a way for Griffey to start his career on the White Sox.

I mentioned it in the Music Thread, but what the hell. Bruce Springsteen tonight!

Springsteen tonight!

Anyone?

I read that the Riddler became somewhat of an ally to Batman recently. How did that come about?

Does the Riddler have a back-story? If so, what is it? I'm looking in the direction of the comic book buffs, kyyle, etc. And please no one post a link to Wikipedia. I just want a brief summary.

I have very little confidence in this team down the stretch. The White Sox have a pretty strong recent history of playing badly (some may call it choking) down the stretch. Hell, they even did it in the year that they won it all. We only have a half-game lead. It's hard not to learn from the past, and the past says we play like garbage in the stretch run. I can't help but feel like

I just got back from the X-Files. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't at all what I thought it would be. In fact, the commercials are downright misleading.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 09:03 PM) Were their parents lives dedicated to baseball in an era before steroids? Steroids didn't exist in baseball in the 1970's and 1980's? Well, I'd like you to prove that one.

QUOTE (The Critic @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 02:55 AM) I guess we have no choice but to see how this plays out, but Adamle as GM could be worse than Coachman. I find Adamle hilarious. He's just not a good announcer. I like this move.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 06:19 PM) There have been several stat comparisons that show his "line drive" or whatever % is a career high. Meaning he is hitting it hard...right at people. And for him to be juicing, he would have had to in HS since he's been a stud since then. Also (outside of Bonds) do you think his All-Star dad would have let it get by him that he was juicing? Well, Mark McGwire was a stud before juicing. So, I don't see your point that he was great before, and could not have done steroids because of that. And I've heard plenty of stories of people doing steroids in high school with their parents' knowledge. Again, that means nothing to me.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 05:10 PM) Are you implying he's been juicing since High School? Because he has been a top tier talent since then. I'm not sure when he would've started juicing, even though high school isn't nearly out of the question. I'm just saying it seems like he's off of something since he's been on the White Sox. Coming to a hitter's paradise, from a pitcher's park where he put up great power numbers, and now seemingly having very little power is strange. Also, considering Oakland has had a lot of ties to steroids, and the White Sox have had somewhat of the opposite reputation, and he definitely looks like an ex-juicer to me. As it's already been said in this thread, the only hard hits he seems to have are his homers. The guy seems to have lost some power somewhere along the road from the coast to the Midwest.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 05:07 PM) Since HS? What?

Well, let's be optimistic. Konerko is the worst everyday player in the MLB. There's nowhere to go but up! And I honestly cannot wait for the White Sox to lose, as I've been rooting against them this whole year. I especially root against Vazquez, Konerko, and Swisher. Being right is definitely better than having a good team, as I'm sure most here would agree.

I floated the steroid issue a few months ago. He looks like an obvious juicer to me. EDIT: Ex-juicer.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 03:27 PM) Just fire back with how s***ty USA shows like "Monk" are. Arrested Development Seinfeild Friends Monk is awesome. Well, I haven't really watched it with any sort of regularity in about two years, but I really enjoy that show.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 03:12 PM) I was basing it on the 100 commercials per day that I see. I figure if they run that many commercials then maybe a lot of people watch it. Or that few. But, it's apparently the funniest show on television, according to the commercials.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 01:20 PM) Anyone who says Entourage isn't a guy. Don't get me wrong, I usually hate even slightly campy shows. But it's like trying to hate on the movie 300; if you do so, you better hand over you man-card. Ha! Every guy I know that likes that show is a total beat-off. Guys who don't get nearly as much ass as they'd like you to believe, or the guys who just flat out don't get any at all despite many attempts.

QUOTE (Maxwell @ Jul 27, 2008 -> 10:16 PM) Because people here don't care about what a person is capable off or what they have done in the past. See jim thome's reputation a month ago. What the f*** has he done in the past? And the problem is we know exactly what he is capable of, but that he's too much of a head case to do it consistently and with pressure on him.

QUOTE (scenario @ Jul 27, 2008 -> 09:55 PM) Why the Javy bashing? He was great in April... He was great in May... He had a crap June... He's had two excellent starts in his 4 outings in July. (7/3; 7/21) So, he has a bad game today against one of the best offensive teams in the AL and the jackals come out to tear up his carcass? Give it a rest. Yeah, nobody has been tearing up his carcass for years. This is entirely due to his one bad start today.

1998 - Montreal Expos - Team record of 65-97 ERA 6.06 League ERA 4.19 ERA+ 69 1999 - Montreal Expos - Team record of 68-94 ERA 5.00 League ERA 4.48 ERA+ 89 2000 - Montreal Expos - Team record of 67-95 ERA 4.05 League ERA 4.82 ERA+ 119 2001 - Montreal Expos - Team record of 68-84 ERA 3.42 League ERA 4.45 ERA+ 130 2002 - Montreal Expos - Team record of 83-79 ERA 3.91 League ERA 4.24 ERA+ 108 2003 - Montreal Expos - Team record of 83-79 ERA 3.24 League ERA 4.50 ERA+ 139 2004 - New York Yankees - Team record of 101-61 ERA 4.91 League ERA 4.50 ERA+ 92 2005 - Arizona Diamondbacks - Team record of 77-85 ERA 4.42 League ERA 4.44 ERA+ 100 2006 - Chicago White Sox - Team record of 90-72 ERA 4.84 League ERA 4.75 ERA+ 98 2007 - Chicago White Sox - Team record of 72-90 ERA 3.74 League ERA 4.74 ERA+ 127 And we know what's happening this year.

For the hell of it, here are the stats on the year for both Contreras and Vazquez: SPLITS G GS CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO W L P/GS WHIP BAA ERA Contreras Season 19 19 1 0 119.1 127 64 61 12 35 68 7 6 98.5 1.36 .270 4.60 Vazquez Season 21 21 1 0 135.0 146 73 71 19 38 130 7 8 100.1 1.36 .273 4.73 They are very similar, and I'd give the edge to Contreras. Vazquez also makes $1.5 million more than Contreras (and second to Buehrle, whose ERA is more than a full run less than that of Vazquez).

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Jul 27, 2008 -> 09:36 PM) 3rd? More like 4th. 7-8 with a 4.57 ERA...i'd rather take Danks' 8-4 with a 3.18 ERA or Floyd's 10-6 with a 3.57 ERA or Buehrle's 8-8 with a 3.56 ERA. I wanna see Javy succeed, especially since he's a member of this ballclub. But him pissing down his leg during a big game or against a good team is evident. So if he were to leave in a trade for some pieces that could help us out, i'm all for it. So on your point on it being not debatable...I think not. His ERA is now 4.73, and his WHIP is 1.36. Contreras has a 4.60 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. Besides the injury, it's hard to make the argument that Vazquez is clearly better than Contreras, let alone the third best starter. EDIT: ESPN changed the WHIP from 1.37 to 1.36 and the ERA from 4.75 to 4.73 in the time it took me to do the following post.