IlliniKrush

You can get it pretty good, especially in a car. Who else on this board goes to school down here? Nice thrashing of IU last night, thorougly enjoyed by me in the Orange Krush.

LOL

Please see blackhawkzone.com for all your hockey needs...seriously, the place rocks, talk about this stuff on there too and you'll get a ton of thoughtful responses

Hey cwsox, When did i ever say they "can't" win without manual? They obviously did, however my point is not moot like you think it is, as you said in the earlier post on how "The argument over whether there are better managers suited for this team is very open and debatable - " that's exactly what i'm arguing!!!!! A good team can win with a mediocre manager, and a great manager probly can't win with crap talent (see Lou). And you say he's a winner in 2000. Big deal. That's one year. In the same regard, he was a loser in 2001 and 2002, how bout taking credit for those seasons just the same??? You are playing off this 2000 season as if he was a God that year...and hmm...if i remember right, he got horribly horribly outmanaged by Lou in that series (yes i remember correctly, that's not even debatable). So what does that tell you about him? He's a winner cuz he can beat the Royals in the regular season and get killed in the playoffs? And ya i'm attributing a lot of that series to Manual. He's got to prove himself. If you are saying i can't question manual's moves, you are dead wrong. We've all pointed out many faults with the guy already. Which only tells me that he wasn't the only guy that could have won with that 2000 team.

Like i said earlier, the Sox won despite the manager, not because of him. If i win with this team's talent, does that make me a winner? By your reasoning yes, by mine, no. And he "won" for only one season. There's plenty of problems with Manuel that just saying "he won in 2000" doesn't cover up. Period.

I agree with the posters above, he either starts or he's in AAA. This sometimes start sometimes relieve stuff is bulls***. He's not going to be Gary Glover. I'd like to see him get the job out of spring training just because i don't believe in the mighty Esteban or Gil, but not if he's going to have to come out of the pen at all.

I think Daubach can play a big role on this team coming off the bench in pinch hitting situations and getting some quality starts to give guys some nights off. The guy definitely still has a power stroke, i think he needs to get some at bats early on to stay fresh so he can be clicking all season long. I actually think he can be better than Liefer, what do you guys think about him for this year?

No, Heather, do what's best for the team, not him. I'll give him a month to figure out exactly who he wants at the top of the order (harris, rowand, d'angelo, jose, lee), but after that it should be pretty well set.

This cookie MUST cost me something then, i mean it does say wirtz on it

I think the Sox won in 2000 and will win in 2003 despite the manager, not because of him. Hell, i think i could do a halfway decent job with this team from a strategy standpoint. More times than not last year when i had other ideas, his backfired, etc. He's just stupid with some of his managerial decisions.

Can i get a welcome cookie since i'm new to the board? Give me a few months and i'll catch up on the posts, especially when the season is going.

I know i'm new to this board, but this thread is kind of scary...i'll just read it and not think anything else of it i guess... PS is hotsoxchick1 really a hottie?

I can't remember exact details of when and where, but it doesn't matter Anyway, these two people robbed a bank, and when they went to deposit the money into their accounts asked the banker "how much money can we deposit without you contacting the authorities." Talk about a giveaway. If that wasn't enough, the money in the bag still had the wrappers on it from the mint. Some people are apparently that damn stupid.

You can almost guarantee that we won't beat the Twins at full strength...bank on one or more of Milton, Mays, or Radke to make a DL trip or two throughout the year. However, with Santana taking over for whoever is injured, i don't think they'd lose much, if anything. I can't believe he's not in the rotation, the guy is an absolute monster. I don't care if you have to move someone like Mays to the bullpen. Santana at certain times last year was untouchable. As a sox fan i'm glad he's in long relief or whatever it is he's going to be doing for that team.

Witesoxfan, exactly. He's never gets fired up enough...rarely will he come out to argue a call and actually show an emotion. I could just see the convo: manual: i thought he was safe ump: nope, he got em with the tag manual: you sure? ump: ya, he got em, please go back to the dugout manual: ok i just wanted to check, thanks I mean, god damn get out there and do something. Get kicked out of a few games, show ur team u care. And his pitching moves, don't even start me on that. It all started last year with the infamous yanks game and the foulke 2 inning save. He defies all odds sometimes. I don't know who was worse, him or Baylor...and don't penalize Baylor because he had no talent to work with and any move he made didn't work. Manual had guys in situations where they could succeed and didn't use them as such. He better get a clue, or let someone else handle the pitching changes.

Heather, those are some big numbers...i mean, .340? That's a stretch. I'd love it, but don't see it. How about .325-.330, with 40+ and 140+.

I think we already have enough guys battling it out for the 5 spot, 4 guys. Out of those, if Rauch is perfectly healthy, not like last year, i would like to see him start off with that job if he has a pretty good spring. He was good at the tail end of last year, and i think he can be serviceable as a 5 guy. I mean, Loaiza and Heredia? Blah

Dumbass on the basepaths? Aside frome the Foulke 2 inning blown save opp against the Yanks in May, the most frustrating loss was the Carlos Lee picked off 3rd base play against the Expos...good teams don't pull that crap. I was distraught after that game, and the fireworks did nothing to help it.

Numbers like those listed above for any 7 hitter are excellent. A typical 7 hitter could hit like .240 with 15 home runs and 60 rbis or something. God this lineup is going to be ridiculously explosive this season.

One Twins starting pitcher with health problems? Mays is a huge quesiton mark coming off elbow problems last year, he was on the DL, Milton is dealing with a knee problem right now that started at the end of last year, and Radke has had groin problems for a while now, also was on the DL. There's the Twins big three, all injury ridden. I'd say there's a 90% chance one of them finds the DL by June and Santana steps into the rotation. He should already be there anyway. What a waste of a great arm at long relief.

What does history have to do with this year? Absolutely nothing...we have reason to be optimistic, we're 0-0 on the year, as is everyone else. If you are going to be pessimistic, you don't deserve to be a Sox fan. Should i wake up every morning this summer and say who cares if they win today, they haven't won the series in a million years (ok a little less than a million), they won't win it this year? What kind of life are we supposed to live as fans. Optimism is what fuels me to root for my teams every day of the year, no matter how good or bad they are playing at the time. Without optimism, i wouldn't be a sports fan in this city, with the two teams i love the most being the Hawks and the Sox. Of course we are sick of losing...but the losses that have happened are over with, this is a new year. I really don't care what happened last year and will probly never revisit last season at any time in the near future. I'll keep being optimistic from the time i wake up in the morning until something tells me to do otherwise.

Ruutu is ready for the NHL but Smith wouldn't give him the "performance bonuses" he wanted. This thread seems like something that should be on www.blackhawkzone.com Greatest hockey site on the web, check it out.

Real fans show up on days other than monday's and tuesday's (half price night). Hell i went to a friday game in May against the tigers by myself when it was like 40, and no one was there. More people need to show up for these other games.

Easiest way to get down low, i do this every time after being upper deck reserved (after all i'm a cheap/poor college kid)...follow a nice little family into the lower deck, dad shows a ticket and the rest follow, then just sit a sit or two away from them for a while until they are done checking tickets...again, they usually ask for tickets, and when the dad shows that he sits there the usher assumes i'm part of the family and doesn't bother asking me.

Unless your uncle has some inside connections, i wouldn't bank on him having tickets unless he went to wrigley....