Milkman delivers

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 08:36 PM) some of the most quality wrestling vignettes were when Mr. Perfect would participate in sporting events such as diving or shooting baskets... and say "Now that's Perfect" I love you for that

Hey, shut up about baseball. We're talking wrestling here.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 08:30 PM) Don't tempt me. It's always fun to yell out "now you're going to see, the perfectplex". First of all, this is the greatest game thread of all time...so far. Second of all, maybe you can come plowing down the aisle and just start shaking the altar like a madman while the crowd (at least the groom's side) go nuts.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 08:26 PM) FWIW, I asked my fiance if I could come down the aisle to "Real American", but she said no. I say you should slap your gum into the crowd and then toss your towel over your shoulder to your best man.

QUOTE(JimH @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 08:25 PM) Ummm ... "no thanks Hollywood, I'm not into that." Man law commercials? I love the one where the guy with one arm says, "I didn't have a fridge when I had to cut my own arm off," and the cowboy guy starts playing the invisible violin.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 08:24 PM) How about Mr. Nanny? You can simply call him Hollywood, if you'd like. Or perhaps Suburban Commando.

QUOTE(JimH @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 08:20 PM) Yes, agree Hulkster. He needs the confidence right now. Hulkster, that's the right nickname, right fathom??? You can call him Mr. America or Thunderlips, too, if you'd like.

QUOTE(SadChiSoxFanOptimist @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 07:59 PM) Here's his deal: White Sox | Dye Signs Thu, 9 Dec 2004 09:02:34 -0800 Dye will be paid $4 million in 2005 and $5 million in 2006 with the club holding an option for 2007 at $6 million (with a buyout of $1.15 million). Simple... After this bummer year of homer ball, Kenny will look to improve this team, including getting younger and faster. Although JD hasn't lost much and he's relatively inexpensive, he is on the decline. I'm guessing that the Sox will see his contract as an opportunity to change the profile of this team. You are so very, very wrong. Barring some terrible injury or freak ocurrence, I would bet my life on the fact that Dye's option is picked up.

You don't use Tylenol?

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 01:54 PM) I personally don't think his reputation as a basestealer is as good as you might think....at least right now. I recall several instances last year where the opposing pitcher was so distracted by Pods on first that they wound up throwing the ball away or making a mistake. This year his basestealing has been awful and I don't recall any pitchers making critical mistakes trying to keep him from going to 2nd. And if stealing doesn't matter anymore, then all the more reason to have Mackowiak start in LF and leadoff.

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 01:22 PM) hes got a great Arm, so id rather keep him in RF I don't mean I'd move him now. I'm just saying I think he's more suited to LF because of his speed.

QUOTE(SoxFan76 @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 01:04 PM) I'm going to stick with great. He's got deceptive speed, a great arm, takes good reads, dives a little more than I'd like...but that has to do with his speed. He's faster than most give him credit for, but he's still not THAT fast. He has deceptive speed in the same sense that Thome does. They're both faster than they look, but they're not fast at all. QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 01:05 PM) Dye's offense has been awesome, there's no question. However, why do people keep saying he has a cannon for an arm? He hasn't thrown out anyone at 3rd or home this season, and teams are definitely being aggressive on the bases against him. He stills has a gun. But, Vlad still has a gun, and he does nothing with it either.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 01:04 PM) He's slightly above average in RF IMO. He catches it if he gets to it, still has a pretty good arm, and gets great reads, which makes up for the lack of speed. But then again, this topic doesn't matter to me as long as Jermaine leads the AL in slugging and has an OPS over 1.000, as well as a pace to finish with over 40 homers and 100 RBI's, as well as a .320 average. I agree about the offense. If he continues to hit like he does, he can do whatever he wants. The reason I brought it up in the first place is to talk about how bad our OF defense is with Mackowiak. I think, even with BA in CF, it's still only decent to good. With Mackowiak out there, it's hilariously bad.

QUOTE(SoxFan76 @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 12:59 PM) I think he's great. He always seems to make the plays. I definitely wouldn't say he's great. He's a little above average.

QUOTE(zygoat @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 12:41 PM) I like gload and what he brings to this team, but i would like to see him starting someplace else. He only plays first base with us (his outfield sucks) and we have thome for that too. I would love to see him trade to the rockies, pirates, or royals for a starting job and get some prospects in return. Helton and Shealy say that won't work.

I'd rather have him play LF. That's my stance on him.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 11:57 AM) Well there's about three "Let's put Vasquez in the bullpen!" threads if you'd care to indulge... That'll never happen, though it should. It won't happen because he simply makes too much money to relegate him to the bullpen. Also, his trade value would be shot. I see it as a sunk cost. No matter where Javy pitches, he's going to be making the same amount of money. We're paying it one way or another. So, why not put him into the bullpen where he would have a good chance to succeed (because he does so well the first two times through the order), and bring in someone who is more likely to succeed out of the rotation in McCarthy? Let's face it, his trade value is on life support anyway. There was a quote from a scout that someone posted saying something along the lines of the entire baseball world finally figuring out that Javy will never live up to his potential. Either way, it doesn't matter. We'll never put him into the pen.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 11:57 AM) I wish Dye would charge the ball more when someone is trying to score from 2nd base on a single. Far too often this year, he's sat back on the ball, and ends up throwing it flat-footed to home. It's one of the main reasons he hasn't thrown out anyone at home this season. The same thing goes for Pods. Even if you have a pathetic arm like he does, it doesn't mean you can't charge the ball. Pods plays the outfield like he's a 250 pound infielder playing the position for the first time. That's my main problem with his defense. A lot of guys go 1st to 3rd on him, too, for that very reason.

Of course it is no certain thing that McCarthy will be better than Vazquez, but it was be extremely tough for him to be worse. One thing that is for certain, though, is that Vazquez is not going to turn himself around. He is what he is...trash.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 11:19 AM) I still think Freddy Garcia is simply off steroids. That may be. Let's remember, he started losing velocity last year, not just this year. And in a strange coincidence, last year was the year they installed a drug testing policy. Damn, now I'm even more discouraged.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 11:18 AM) Okay. Here's my thinking on the Buehrle remark. If you recall last year, Mark was pitching quickly and going inside. He was therefore effective. Then it seemed Garland took the same approach and had a great first half. It seemed to cause the rest of the rotation to get the competitive edge with each other, and it steamrolled from there. So Mark started the ball rolling in 2005. The rotation this year has been hit or miss, inconsistant until Buehrle started struggling. Then it seemed like like rest of the rotation took a nose dive, with the exception of Garland, who for some strange reason, started pitching better. Good argument. I guess the only way we'll know for sure is if Buehrle goes out there today and tosses a gem, causing the rest of the rotation to fall in line and put us on an enormous winning streak. Yep, even I can find some hope.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 11:15 AM) Don't mind him -- he craps on all of our pitchers. Only the underachievers.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 11:08 AM) "As Buehrle goes, so goes the White Sox." That's actually quite insightful. I would say, "as the rotation goes, so go the White Sox." But, that could be said of any team in baseball. When the Sox rotation was just mediocre in the beginning of the year, the team rolled because the offense could cover that up. Ever since the rotation has been bad, the team has struggled because our great offense still isn't enough to mask such terrible pitching.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 10:59 AM) Let me bounce something off you regarding Dye's speed. I may be totally off the mark here, because I haven't seen any games in person and I only get to see the occasional game on TV but Dye has always seemed to me to be the type with deceptive speed. In other words, he's actually moving faster than he appears to be because he moves fluidly or apparently effortlessly. No, he's extremely slow in the OF this year. If a ball is hit into the corner, it seems like he's jogging to it. And balls are falling in front of him more than ever, it seems.

I don't mean to minimize the extra workload, but the two of them did only pitch 3 extra games. Is that really enough to cause these problems? I agree with LV, I think one or both of them is hurt.