Milkman delivers

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 11:42 AM) Your comparing a washed up, off the juice catcher to Abreu and Lidle?? That's pretty silly, and although Abreu will help them, in the long run the Yankees will see the true (bad) Cory Lidle. Javy Lopez has a better average than Varitek this year. Going into the Red Sox lineup will probably only help his stats. I'm not comparing Abreu/Lidle with Lopez, but thanks for putting those words into my mouth. My point is that two of our main opponents may have just gotten better.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 10:49 AM) Neither are ready for the show. Look at more than their ERA to determine their worth. I don't think Haeger will ever be ready for the show with the Sox. I'm just hoping for trade value. Just hoping for Broadway to maybe turn into something decent.

Is Darrell Hammond still on that show? I think he helped carry that show for a while even with Farrell still there.

QUOTE(JimH @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 10:12 AM) Baseball America, they update every day and it's part of their free content. Thanks. It seems Haeger's ERA is now up to 3. Wasn't he under 1 when he was first called up? And Broadway's at 2.77, that's nice.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 10:18 AM) Yeah, and the team with the best record in baseball ought to expect to be able to sweep AAA teams also! If not, then they're just pretenders! Oh, wait. The Tigers have been sweeping crappy teams this entire year. Pointing out one instance where they split isn't going to change the fact that we're not going to catch them and that we will have to sweep some bad teams if we want to win the WC.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 10:21 AM) Jim Thome? And it's still early, but a young Mark Buehrle (if he stays healthy and makes a run at 300)? I was going to say that pretty much word-for-word.

I'm already impressed with Utley's streak, but he will become one of my favorite players if he can get it to 40. That'd be the best streak we have or will see in years. Having said that, he'll probably snap that streak tonight.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 06:40 PM) Yes, the addition of the great Javy Lopez now makes the Red Sox the team to beat. Yeah, it's just as bad a move as that spiffty Abreu/Lidle deal for the Yankees. That didn't make them better at all, either.

Yuniesky and Yuliesky were teammates, eh?

The Marlins are my second-favorite NL team, behind the Braves. My third favorite team overall. I love the way they know exactly who to target in terms of prospects. Weren't a lot of people expecting them to go after Rich Hill, instead of guys like Nolasco?

We're gonna have to step up big against the Doc...he's a daisy. Garland's gonna have to be his huckleberry and make Doc look like someone just walked over his grave.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 09:46 AM) The numbers were also seriously skewed by a few things. The biggest one is the dynasty teams like the Yankees of all eras. Out team right now has the potential to be a dynasty like that.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 09:42 AM) Yeah I know a lot of people here are gushing over Crawford, and he's a damn good player, but I wouldn't be trading B-Mac as part of a deal for him for the reasons you've said. Frankly what I think is a good idea is to sign a Dellucci, shop Pods to a NL team this off-season (possibly for prospects), and trade Garcia, and let B-Mac take over Freddy's spot in the rotation. Broadway's done pretty well in AA this season, and IIRC he had a real good last outing. I'd like to see what he could do in Charlotte though. He probably could be a decent 5th starter for some teams next season, but I'd like to see him in AAA next season and ready for 2008, when we've got some contracts of the SP's ending like Buehrle's. Man, you really get hung up on random players I'm still waiting for Chad Tracy. I guess I'm not one to talk, since I'm pretty hung up on Garcia/Vazquez/Pods. Do you know how to get minor leaguers' stats? I've been wondering what guys like Broadway and Haegar are doing.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 07:36 AM) The Sox have a better chance at calling up Otis Redding... But Otis Redding is de...OH! I get it

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 07:07 AM) When was the last repeat? If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it. Someone had a stat on that a little while ago. They had the percentages of teams repeating and the stats for teams returning to the WS in consecutive years. From what I remember, the percentages were actually higher than you'd think. It's not nearly as rare as you might think.

I don't think we can trade McCarthy in a deal for Crawford. It's true that Crawford is proven and McCarthy isn't as much, but we'd have absolutely no replacement for Garcia/Vazquez if he were to be traded. And we all know that at least one of them is gone next year. How close is broadway to the show (no pun intended)? Could he possibly be a starter for us next year or good enough to be involved in a deal for Crawford?

Isn't Javy Lopez batting better than Varitek was? I can't check right now because ESPN's not loading for me for some reason. I don't know how good Lopez is at calling a game, but I don't like the idea that another one of our rivals may have gotten better.

To be brutally honest, SNL needs more raging alcoholics and drug abusers.

I like to watch it from time to time, but it's not hard to see how it will get very repetitive eventually.

If the truth were to ever get out, it would be the biggest news concerning the team this year. Absolutely every Sox fan wants to know this answer to this, but not a single one of us does. It's like the freakin' JFK assassination. Everyone has their theories, but the powers that be won't let us know the truth. QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 03:30 PM) Anybody know what he was hitting on the radar gun during the wbc? Low to mid-50's.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 12:23 PM) Sweeps are hard whether it be against a good or bad team...Since it's a crap shoot, I'll take the sweep against a good team. However, if we don't sweep anyone, but win every series from here on out that puts us at 101 wins!! I'm pretty sure we won't be winning every series, especially with the way we've played the good teams this year. We have to take advantage of the weak teams, and we don't do that enough.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 12:13 PM) Shouldn't that be green above me? My post?

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 12:10 PM) I see your point about Freddy and yes, that's lukewarm praise. Milkman, I was there twice last year and we lost both times at KC. This is when we were #1 wire-to-wire and were supposedly invincible. Sorry, but I don't "expect" us to sweep ANYBODY. It's always a bonus, but that's what it is: a bonus. I DO expect us to take the series each time, especially from teams like KC. That served us well last year and would probably serve us well this year, except we haven't been doing it and with Detroit so far ahead, it's a little more urgent than that. But KC has been one hot-hitting team these days--I'm sure you heard Hawk & DJ talking about that--so I'm not going to tank the season just because we didn't sweep them. This is baseball--you know that! Watch, we'll end up sweeping the Yanks or something. That's how it always works out. But I agree with you on Freddy; when I'm reduced to saying that our #2 starter (or whatever he is now) "wasn't awful," that ain't exactly inspiring. First, I'd like to say that the season isn't over. I didn't say that. As for the bold part, we're in a tight race here with 3 or 4 teams for 1 playoff spot. We're going to have to sweep some bad teams if we plan on playing baseball in October. So, we should start "expecting" some sweeps, especially against these AAA teams.

If he's going to throw inside, it's probably going to be his fastball. And an inside fastball that is moving 85-88 mph is going to land 450 feet away.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 12:01 PM) A couple of points: a) Right now KC has the worst record, but to say they're the worst and we should win every game is dreaming. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day. Remember last year how we were maligned because we had winning records against teams with... losing records and because of this, we weren't for "real"? Well... whether it's KC or NYY, a win is a win and a loss is a loss. To whom the loss is really doesn't matter to me. B) It's hardly over guys. The Sun-Times today had a piece on teams that were way up on August 1st throughout history, only to blow the lead (sound familiar?). Anything can happen. c) Yes, it's frustrating what happened last night but Freddy wasn't awful and we got some good hits. Cotts is worrisome but like others have said: we're all still waiting for this great-on-paper lineup to "click," which hasn't happened yet. Let's hope it does this month, before it's too late. d) As far as the negative thread thing goes, I am just as passionate when I complain about the Sox as I am when I praise them. In fact, you'll notice that the traffic here spikes when there's a loss, because people want to vent/commiserate/weigh in, etc. There is nothing wrong with that, and that's a normal part of being a fan. Things get hinky when you're prohibited from talking about that and instead are coerced into only saying "positive" things. That's not being a fan, that's drinking the Koolaid. No thanks. Detroit has lost to them once. Forgive me for thinking our team with the $100 million payroll should sweep the worst team in the AL. And Freddy "wasn't awful" is such a loser's perspective on his performance. He gave up 4 earned runs (5 total runs) in 6.1 IP. Sorry again, but "not being awful" isn't what I expect out of a pitching staff this highly paid and touted.