Antonio Osuna

Wood has more power than Garcia, Contreras has all sorts of special problems, and the others are relievers, one of whom has virtually no MLB experience (though I am very high on Jenks at the moment) Wood has demonstrated that, when healthy, he can lead a team to the playoffs (and that he can win in the playoffs...yes, there's Game 7, but he won his other playoff starts in a dominating fashion)

Of course, but their NL Championship has a much more special place in my heart than their world championship, and I don't think that's uncommon among Sox fans.

Glad to see he's back to being the Cardiac Kid.

In a heartbeat. This team needs a true power pitcher.

We're not playing the Fish. The Fish were the 2003 National League champions and are 2-0 at US Cellular Field...both times as the home team.

I personally like Farmer's "The Dye has been cast" call for Dye's homer against KC. A Hawk/Farmer combo would be quite the amazing, I think.

Who among us, in his position, wouldn't try something new after so many years of failure. Last year, Frank Robinson put a pitcher in the #8 spot in the lineup during one of many Expos slump. Is he therefore a bad manager? And, in closing, how many managers have been traded for a .300 hitter?

I'm told by friends that my "My Grandfather Died in 1992, but he voted for Podsednik 25 times" sign made the FOX32 9PM news tonight. I encourage anyone here who has a grandfather, be he dead or alive, to urge him to vote for Scotty as well.

A kid in Section 110/109 had a sign that said "The Herminator". I wish to give him his props for that sign. The back of it also said "Aubrey is a Girl's Name". I approve.

I voted 10 times just now, but I have to go to the game now. I'll vote some more when I get back.

And what if he's not a future HOF? Or if he qualifies for the HOF in a way other than Wolverine-like regeneration? Thomas took forever to recover from his 2001 injury. In 2003, we saw that he could come back, and could come back with a bang (or several, actually), but he was just not Frank for about a year in that stretch. At this point, he's Adam Dunn with a million-times better eye, not Frank Thomas.

Sounds like a fine idea.

I sure as heck wouldn't. I want to face the weakest possible team in each and every round of the playoffs, should we get there. Cards are too good to qualify.

Cleveland.

Nowhere. I don't disagree with the assertion that the Boston bullpen is to be desired in terms of batting against it. I don't, however, believe that we'd be seeing much of a bullpen in games against Schilling or Clement.

I disagree, for this reason. Schilling/Clement and, to a lesser extent, Colon, are essentially power pitchers, whereas Mark is a finesse guy. I think that makes him inherently less reliable, because of his reliance on things like defense and trickery. Sure, Uribe/Crede are solid, but they're still human. They're still going to make mistakes. If you strike guys out rather than induce grounders, as long as the guy behind the plate has a rudimentary catching ability, you're a lot better off.

My point is this: Anaheim and Boston both have the ability to shut us down in a short series and essentially neutralize one of our big advantages. They both have an ace that can outduel our #1 and they both have a lineup that can destroy Garcia. Basically, that's 2 wins for them everytime they face us in the playoffs. You can see how that's unhealthy.

Boston and Anaheim also both have lineups that will pound Garcia. He loves to give up the longball, and they're stacked with power.

I think Anaheim has an edge over us, if not Boston also. One of those two will eliminate us should we make it to the postseason, baring a move by Kenny.

We're not the best team in baseball. We do, however, have the best record.

If Rogers wants out of Texas...Kenny, you know what to do.

Fenway Park will do that to you.

The player introductions and the videos are just all-around amazing. Nothing angers me more than when I take somebody to a game who's never been there and he or she decides to go get food during the video and intros. Then they run back asking me what all the fireworks were about and I just shake my head. While I think this year's video is superior to last year's video, I do miss the one where they showed all the great players from White Sox history. It let you applaud the ones you like best -- I always gave a hearty cheer for Ed Farmer when he came up.

You guys should take this chance to dump the TV and experience broadcast baseball the way it was meant to be heard -- with Ed Farmer.

Garland and one of conde/duque will provide all the 4/5 we need if we acquire another ace, and both the loser of the 5 spot and McCarthy will be available in the pen. For the playoffs, we are going to need to win games when the back end of the rotation is pitching. If we have a real ace in the #3 hole, we can do a lot of damage. Oh, and for those of you (like myself) who violently reply to any post containing the word playoffs with "It's just June, we haven't won anything!", another Ace will be oh-so-helpful in keeping the rising Twinkies down.