Milkman delivers

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 04:20 AM) Some of you just have too high expectations for this team in general after what happened last season. There I said it. Please forgive us for expecting more out of a team with a $100 million payroll. We should be thankful for the fact that the team seems complacent with being "pretty good." They sure are earning their checks.

QUOTE(shoota @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 10:25 PM) You're right that the Sox won the World Series last year in spite of Ozzie's bad managing, such as his use of Damaso Marte and Neal Cotts, and his decisions to put Marte on the playoff rosters over McCarthy. Ozzie had a poor philosophy last year of using the worse of his two lefty relievers in critical relief situations. He used Marte when the game was on the line instead of using Cotts, who he was saving for situation that didn't occur. The smart philosophy would have been to first use his best lefty reliever, Cotts, for the tougher situations where a lefty pitcher is required, because he was more likely to succeed than Marte. Then, later in the game if a lefty is needed, call on Marte. Ozzie had this backwards, regularly used Marte at critical points in the game where a lefty pitcher was desired, while Cotts rotted in the bullpen for a situation that often never came. Remember when he brought Marte into the third game of the Boston series? Who knows how that series would've went if Duque hadn't had one of the greatest playoff innings in history.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 10:14 PM) His big mouth. This team is very poorly coached. They're terrible at running the bases, they don't communicate well (how many times do we see the fielders nearly collide, the balk tonight was another example too), and can't execute bunts at all. Terrible 3B coach, too.

QUOTE(SnB @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 10:05 PM) we went out and get guys like macdougal for a reason. If bmac came in, in the 7th and gave up a few runs, I wouldn't be nearly this upset, cause at least ozzie made some sort of right move. But honestly, it's got to be around 10 games that we've lost this season, due to just leaving the starter in their too long. We won in the playoffs last year in spite of ozzie, basically we didn't give him a chance to screw it up. I think more and more people are beggining to see that. Ozzie is a piss-poor manager when it comes to in-game decisions. His "strength" of being able to motivate his team has somehow disappeared recently, too. Can't see much passion in the team.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 08:52 PM) This team needs someone at the top of the order that can give them a spark. Our 3-4-5 is awesome...but far too often they're having to produce the offense for this entire team all by themselves. BUT PODS IS THE SPARK! WE WIN WHEN HE GETS HITS!1

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 10:00 PM) Until they can prove otherwise, last year was one of those dream seasons where you get career years from numerous guys, avoid major injury issues, and you have the ball bounce your way. Yup.

I just have no faith in our starters this year, even Contreras. I would take about 15 pitchers in baseball to start a big game for us right now over any of our starters. Their miraculous turnaround just might not be coming, and there's a very realistic chance we don't even make the playoffs. And this team really doesn't have the fire it had last year. We might not want to admit it, but we've become the pre-2005 teams. All offense, no pitching, no emotion. It seems that losing has become acceptable.

Also, who gets the call up if he actually goes to the DL?

Well, if this is gonna be a trend with him, I can see why they didn't trade Fields now. I can only imagine he gets more prone to back injuries the more he hurts/tweaks it.

If that's the case, then I'd like to say something. Learn how to bunt, play defense, strengthen your arm, protect with two strikes, steal bases, and show a little more hustle.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 04:02 PM) Mack last 3 years against righties: .272, .258, .273 So you attribute a 50-60 point jump this year simply by him being on a better team? That's a stretch IMO. And my main point is you devalue him if you make him try to do something he's never done -- with good reason. And your "he's played in 79 games, so he's not really a bench player" is a weak argument. How many games has he actually started? He can come off the bench for one at-bat to pinch-hit and that counts as a game played for him. And Ozzie was forced to play him 5 or 6 days in a row when Anderson was suspended. We're just going to go around in another circle. You think Pods serves a purpose. I think he's the worst starter on the team, hands down. EDIT: And remember that Pods was a minor leaguer for 10 years. If he can take that long to figure out how to break in the league, I think there's a chance that Mack could figure out hitting. You don't hit that much over .300 against righties by a fluke.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 03:41 PM) Ozuna hasn't murdered much of anything since the all-star break. Mack is on one of his customary hot-streaks at the moment. He goes on one or two of them a season. I believe he's hitting .327 against righties at the moment. That's nice. Now go look at his career numbers against righties. Let's just say I seriously doubt he hits this well for the rest of the year. That's why he's a bench player. You start him 3 or 4 times a week and he'll get exposed. He's perfect for the role he's in. It makes no sense to make him something he's not just because you don't happen to like the left-fielder, who's not even close to one of our top 3 or 4 main concerns at this time. You keep making this sound like I have a personal vendetta against Pods. If he played well, I wouldn't have a problem with him. And you continually bring up what Mackowiak did in Pittsburgh. If you hadn't noticed, he's not on the Pirates anymore. He's on a much better team with much better protection. He's hitting, as you said, well over .300 against righties. If he trends downwards, as he clearly must because he's "always been a bench player," I'd bet he still bats over .300 for the year against righties. I doubt he's going to fall completely apart like the Tigers should be any day now.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 03:23 PM) And you were the main one advocating Ozuna to start in place of Pods when he was hitting .400. You're kidding (mainly lying) to yourself if you think Mack could be even a decent leadoff hitter. I've been advocating an Ozuna/Mackowiak platoon, not just having Ozuna be the starting LF. And no, I'm not kidding myself. Ozuna murders lefties. Mackowiak murders righties. There's already a platoon of Pods/Ozuna, Mack just does a better job against righties than Pods. So forget Pods and his inability to do anything well. Mackowiak does everything he does better, especially now that Pods doesn't even steal anymore. QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 03:24 PM) Here's the thing with Mackowiak. He's extremely, extremely streaky. He's been on a tear for a few months now, but you never know when he's going to bat .100 for an entire month. Just like Ozuna, we can't count on him to keep up his tremendous OBP. Mackowiak's never had this much protection. And he's always done much better against righties in his career than against lefties. The "bench player" argument is getting old, especially with as much time as Mack has gotten this year already. He's played in 79 games.

QUOTE(chimpy2121 @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 03:22 PM) I just hate how all of his samples are in French labs where they can easily tamper with them. The French were hoping this year would be the year that a European cyclist could win, but Landis won and now they're pissed again. From everything I've seen, they loved Landis. If they really had all this power to screw someone over, it would've been Armstrong.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 03:15 PM) All that and Pods is still by far the best option we have on this team to leadoff (the Pablo Ozuna bandwagon sure has piped down since the all-star break). Most of his numbers are better across the board from a year ago. His defense, for the most part, has been bad. Although I have noticed a signifcant improvement of late. Other than defense, my main beef with Pods has been his inconsistency. He starts the season 3 for 38 (although I feel some of that came from being hurt and not getting a spring training), then he goes on a tear for about a month and a half where he looks like one of the top two or three leadoff hitters in baseball. I believe he even got his average at or above .300. Then he goes back into the crapper again. Looking lost at the plate and bringing his struggles to the field. Then he goes on another hot-streak that reminds you of the April/May/June/July of '05 Pods. I think Balta said it best: Pods should be a better player than what he shows. He's got the tools to make him an elite leadoff hitter. We saw that for the first 4 months last year where he was easily this team's offensive MVP. There just seems to be some kinda mental block there. Anyway, as I have stated before, I'd welcome an upgrade in a heartbeat. But that's obviously not gonna happen until the offseason. So I'll continue to support Pods as long as he's a White Sock. Disagreed. Mackowiak may be better in every facet of the game.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 03:03 PM) I, too, groaned over the loss of Chris Young. But you have to put this trade in some perspective. At the time we acquired Vazquez, we did not have Garland or Contreras under contract extensions. We were facing the potential exodus of probably our two best starters, with McCarthy at best available to fill one of those potential holes. By bringing in Vazquez, I think it helped KW make the case to both Garland and Contreras to sign the contracts they did. Now, has Vazquez turned it around? Certainly he has to prove it. Is Vazquez a big-game pitcher? Well, he's never pitched a big game in his life and didn't suck. But stuff-wise, he's as good as we have right now. And he has had good stretches during most of his seasons. We just need him to put one of those together over the next two months. Ask the Yankees.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 01:21 PM) I thought Escobar was pitching in relief in game 2...no? Either way, bring it Mark! I believe Washburn started game 2.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 01:12 PM) Thome has been an on-base machine since he got back. I doubt Ozzie moves him out of the 3-hole now. He's also due for a barrage of homers. Hopefully that starts tonight. Yeah, we've been waiting for this barrage for a while now. I'm beginning to question whether he'll make 50 this year. And a lot of other power guys have left him in the dust.

QUOTE(My Dixie Normus @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 01:01 PM) Please explain.... Waving Wally Cora

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 12:40 PM) I'm pretty sure its the Giant/Big Show. That's what I thought, but I couldn't recall a match between them.

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 12:14 PM) From this wrestling board that I frequent. They have some amazing avatars including one of my favorites since I loathe Scott "Poster Boy for Roids" Steiner. Yes, we all hate Scott Steiner. I think we can agree on that. I'm glad someone else has decided to sport Perfect in their avitar. He was so easily my favorite wrestler of all time. BTW, who is he perfect plexing there? EDIT: And what's this website? I'd like to lurk around there to see all this stuff.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 11:53 AM) It doesn't. A lineup tweak may improve the offense. Who said anything about pitching? Well, the argument that's going back and forth is that the offense doesn't need to get better, the pitching does. The fact is, we really don't know how to make the pitching better. But, we might just be able to make the offense slightly better, which would help to bail out the pitching. Making this chance wouldn't cause Freddy to throw harder or Vazquez to not implode, but it might give us a little more insurance for the barrage of runs our starters give up.

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 10:42 PM) Indeed about the Human Tornado. I always laugh in a mark fashion at his gimmick hometown (can't post it here without getting in trouble but available on his Wiki site -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Tornado) Plus, he's good in the ring. Edit: Fun factoid of the night: CHIKARA kayfabe commisioner is...::drum roll:: Bob Saget. Yes, the Bob Saget. Where did you get that avi?

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 08:49 AM) I think it's a 4-team race to get 2 playoff spots. Red Sox, Yanks, Twins and White Sox. The only saving grace is that Boston and NY will still play eachother causing one or both of them to lose a fair share of games. We need to keep winning, but you gain ground by SWEEPING series. If we take 2-of-3 from the Tigers, we gain 1 game. We sweep, we gain 3. Exactly, we need to start sweeping some teams. Winning just 2 of 3 isn't going to cut it in such a tight race. Once in a while, we're going to have to sweep a few teams.

QUOTE(loltrain @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 07:39 PM) Pudge's reaction was over the top, but as I recall from this incident last year, Pudge was more upset because Gomes not only stared down his homer for about 10 minutes, but then flipped his helmet at him, which I think would upset just about anyone. Edit: As for Ledezma, he was actually a highly touted prospect who did fairly well in the majors in 2004, before bombing last year and then getting hurt, he'd bounced back strongly in AAA this year so I don't think today's performance was too shocking. He tossed the helmet right before he jumped into the mob at home plate when Pudge was trying to yell at him.