Milkman delivers

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 09:43 AM) If by suspect Oakland pitching staff you mean that their team ERA is better than ours I guess they are very suspect. The Angel offense is hitting nearly 10 points higher as a team than ours. Thats a big difference. Vlad is a game changer. We dont have one of those. We could of gotten better, however. But we didnt. So now we have to hope our hitting gets their act together in this next month. Or the playoffs will be an issue. Thanks for the help. And I'm sure our hitters will teach themselves to hit in the following weeks. The irony would be if our hitters did great in the postseason and our pitchers choked.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 09:37 AM) Apparently picking up Graffanino makes up for the injuries to Foulke, Schilling, and Wade Miller and adding a few decent Chacon starts makes up for Pavano and Wright being hurt, along with both teams having subpar bullpens. Yeah, they got sooo much better. :rolly So, why have they played better as the season progressed and we've played worse?

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 09:26 AM) Chacon has pitched pretty well for them up to this point. My point was, that a rotation of Johnson, Mussina, Chacon, ?, ? is not as good as Johnson, Mussina, Brown, Wright, Pavano, which is the rotation they had obviously hoped for all season. As far as how were playing, yeah, we had a bad month. But I don't think one bad month overshadows the fact that we had the best record in baseball for 4 straight months. Even without Frank, this offense is still capable, and I stress capable, of being good enough as long as the pitching and defense are up to par. Don't forget Small, who has also been great for them. It's not as good as what they started out with, but they've still gotten better as the season progressed. We're about .500 in our last 50 games. This isn't just a bad month, we've been mediocre to bad for a while. And our hot start is definitely being overshadowed by their play of late. We used to have about 10 games on the nearest AL team, now they're right on our asses. Not to mention that we've lost half of our division lead. These guys are content because they had a great first half, and it seems you are, too. It's like they've been getting consistently worse this entire year, while other teams have been going to opposite way.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 09:12 AM) How did they get better? The Red Sox adding Graffanino makes them better? That's marginal improvement at best. And if Curt Schilling doesn't get his s*** together soon, they're in deep s***. Yankees got better by adding Chacon? Once again, that's marginal improvement. Fact of the matter is the Yankees have big time pitching problems. Randy Johnson hasn't been Randy Johnson. Mussina has been solid. But after that? How did the Angels get better? You say with Vlad back? He's been back for a while now Have you checked their offensive numbers this season? They're very similar to ours. And they don't have the depth in their starting rotation that we do. The A's adding Jay Payton has helped. But they're just flat out playing great baseball. It's not because they added anybody. Chacon has been awesome for them. As little as Graff has helped the Red Sox, they still got better. We didn't get better at all. We got worse. It shows in our record and in the way they're playing. They all got better (however slightly, depending on how you look at it), and we got worse. And I partially agree with you on the Angels, because I was basically reaching for anything with them.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Sep 1, 2005 -> 08:56 AM) The Red Sox and Yankees also have pitching problems. The A's are suspect in the pitching department after Zito and Harden. And Harden is not 100% healthy from what I hear. Even with Vlad, the Angels offense is no better than ours. Do the Sox have problems/questions? Yes. But so does every other team. Yes, but those teams got better, whereas the Sox got worse. They're also right on our asses. We won't see the second round of the playoffs.

Well, the Red Sox got better because they picked up Graffanino. He's not a stud, but he definitely is fitting in better for them than Bellhorn, last I heard. The Yankees got better somehow with Chacon and Small, a guy from their own organization. The Angels got better by actually getting Vlad back at some point during the season. The A's got Payton and that pitcher from the Rockies (though I'm not sure how well he's performed for them). And an argument could be made that the White Sox only got worse this year with the loss of Thomas, and it shows in their mediocre to terrible play in the last 50 games.

That's it.

To fathom, the man who made it stylish to be pessimistic and paved the road for guys like me.

10...poop.

QUOTE(Sox Hustler @ Aug 31, 2005 -> 09:55 PM) If I was Burke I would look at my options with other teams. Not that I am against Widge but first Widge breaks camp with the team and now Casanova over him?? Nobody wants him. I think every other team in baseball had a shot at him a few months ago, and that was when Zaun went down and Seattle had no catcher.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Aug 31, 2005 -> 09:14 PM) Widger? Ha, either way. Looks like Hafter more to me than anyone.

OT: But doesn't Pods look like Hafner in the banner?

QUOTE(whitesoxmanager @ Aug 31, 2005 -> 08:38 PM) If you are like me then you certainly feel like the strike years were WS that we could've won? You are also failing to mention that as soon as the SOX are out of the playoff chase we become an unbeatable team and run off consecutive wins like no other. I'm sure the Expos would've beaten us even then.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Aug 31, 2005 -> 07:57 PM) I know you think I'm full of s*** and grasping at straws by suggesting a boost from some minor leaguers, but I agree with you on this point. It's humiliating to watch Florida win 2 championships and the Diamondbacks and Angels one each. Even Toronto's wins in the 90s didn't sit well with me. And here the Sox have been around for more than 100 years. It's bulls*** and I'm tired of watching expansion teams win world series championships. Get used to it. I'm sure you'll see a few more of those types of teams winning it while we wait.

QUOTE(AirScott @ Aug 31, 2005 -> 07:14 PM) you're so negative. although I'm with you on Borchard. My negativity is completely justified. This team hasn't done s*** in my lifetime, or yours. The last time we were in the playoffs we got disgraced. Last WS in 1917, throwing one more recently. Last appearance in 1959, and we haven't even won a playoff series in the lifetimes of the majority of this board's members. Yet we're going to depend on a spark from some overhyped minor leaguers and then some other minor leaguers that are garbage?

QUOTE(spiderman @ Aug 31, 2005 -> 07:11 PM) Milkman - do you think Buerhle's an ace OR a strong #2 starter like I believe ? Obviously, every team has a #1 starter, but not every #1 starter is an ace. There are probably at least 20 teams in the league that don't have a legitimate ace pitcher. I'd say he's a number 1, but not an ace. This year, though, he may not even be the number 1 on this staff.

Best record in the AL, buddy. Best record in the AL.

I'm not happy with just getting there. With the way he started this year, just getting there and getting beat before we even realize the playoffs started isn't satisfactory.

4 hours and counting to disappointment.

How many aces are there in baseball? There are 30 number ones, but how many aces?

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Aug 31, 2005 -> 06:41 PM) didn't you predict that BMac would get shelled yesterday? Along with half the board. But if you think Borchard is gonna somehow be good, you go right ahead and believe that. He sucks. I bet even he knows it. And if you think those minor league players are going to help us when we're already in the middle of blowing a gigantic division lead, you go right ahead and believe that, too.

Thinking those guys will give us a boost is almost as funny as thinking Borchard has figured it out.

QUOTE(Tadahito15 @ Aug 31, 2005 -> 06:21 PM) FYI: supposedly "Insider" just said that Hendry is looking for a top OF prospect in return for Walker. I know we have loads of future OF talent, but a name like Chris Young isnt worth Walker IMO. I hope Chris Young is worth a first round exit in the playoffs. Not that Walker ensures we'll make it past the first round, but I can say with confidence that we definitely won't get past the first round as is.

QUOTE(CYGarland @ Aug 31, 2005 -> 01:51 PM) Why do we ALWAYS have to swing at ball 4????????? :headshake :banghead That's grinderball rule #72 1/2

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Aug 31, 2005 -> 01:16 PM) Man...it's a damn shame that Sci-Fi picked that damn film up! EVERYBODY thinks it is a Sci-Fi original! It's was only picked up by them, but the film was made in Scotland and is NOT a low budget cheapo film. It has some great FX (NONE of which are CGI), great acting, and is commonly regarded as one of the best Werewolf flicks made. But people see it on Sci-Fi and instantly turn there mind into accepting it for a cheesy film and ignore the good qualities to it. Much the same way as movies like The Exorcist and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre get laughs from theaters full of people nowdays. Same way as films like the new Gamera series gets laughs from people only going in hoping to see cheesy giant turtle action, and ignoring the brilliant FX work and great acting and script in the film. Same was as people seeing a "zipper" on a Godzilla costume (a feature that has NEVER existed on a Godzilla costume...or a costume used in Creature From The Black Lagoon which is anothet film that gets the "zipper" accusation all of the time). If you have seen Dog Soldiers but only saw it as a Sci-Fi channel flick, check it out again on DVD and get it out of your head that it is a Sci-Fi film. If you have not seen it due to it being on Sci-Fi, rent it and watch it. My wife HATES Horror films (a funny thing as to how much she hates them considering our first date was a viewing of the original Dawn Of The Dead and I have written more than my fair share of reviews and articles for Horror magazines and websites), but she loved Dog Soldiers. Also give Below a shot, if you haven't yet. Sorry about the rant, but not 15 minutes ago I just got done going through this Sci-Fi channel thing on another board! LOL!!! I saw it and I liked it, but it came nowhere near scaring me. I love the monster movies that SciFi shows, whether they made them or not. I enjoyed the movie, but I'm talking about movies that give me a scare. And that didn't really come close.