LVSoxFan

What the hell does a bench coach do anyway? Besides take over when Ozzie gets tossed?

The person in question is clearly a Cubs fan who wants to leave his bandwagon jumping options open in October should the Sox be there again and the Cubs be where they always are: on the golf course. If his bi-Soxual tendencies are setting off your radar, they should. I can tell you right now as we speak he is probably wearing pink Cubs underoos. So let's quit pretending he's anything but what he really is: a Cubs fan.

QUOTE(bmags @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 01:30 PM) it. was. a. joke. No I GOT that but those pics had to come from somewhere. And I have seen kids sporting that 'do recently.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 11:49 AM) You know it was just a matter of time before him and his boyz were gonna kick everyones asses for making fun of them. I think the mods saved us all a world of pain. I mean did you see those headbands ....those are some bad dudes. Please tell me that's not really how kids dress these days. I first saw those haircuts on the Gotti boys and thought: are you effin kidding me?!? Flock of Seagulls comes to mind...

Hey Leroy! Can I meet up with you and your dawgs? Here's my crew: This is us in the hot tub in center field at the Cell last year when we were playing the San Francisco Giants. Dawg, I ain't [bleepin] wit ya when I say my homies and me had to use the thundersticks that we brought (that's how we roll, yo) to fight off the hottiez tryin' to get their sex on after they peeped us without shirts and bein' all badass and s***. Yo I got so many digits that day that I can't even remember who won the game, but we did go to Sound Bar afterwards and had a dance-off with some homeyz who showed up from Elkhart, Indiana who thought they were All That. Oh HELL no, ayight? Once we started rockin our pop-lock moves that [bleep] was OVER, dawg. Then we had to split at 12:30A when Mom picked us up.

Having listened to Carl for a couple of years and witnessed his volatile behavior first-hand I would have to totally side with A.J.--if there was any bad blood... Let me put it this way: given the choice, who would you rather have on your team?

Losing sucks but ones like this I can handle, because we battled back. By all measures with Anderson at the plate and down 2 strikes the game's over. So it was with a muted shout that I leapt off the couch when Anderson cranked that homer and put us back in it. As you all have pointed out, Politte and Cotts looked good, too. And as McCarthy said in the Sun-Times today, he'd rather throw the pitch he wanted and get beat on it then throw some half-assed pitch that somebody just crushes. That's the spirit. Let's take the next two, but yes: a loss like this is not too hard to take. BTW yes I agree I would have pitched around Ichiro, too, with the game on the line. Just like you pitch around a slugger, I'd pitch around a sensational hitter like him. But now I'm arm-chairing...

Are you effin kiddin' me? These guys look like the dorks from the Gotti reality show! "Only city girls for me!" LOL. And then talk of going to... Transit. Anyway, there's a couple of points to be made. a) Despite what this kid's claiming, the wave is lame. Why? I'll tell you why: because it's a cliche. A totally worn-out one at that. Certainly we can be more original than copying something that started somewhere else and has been around since, what, the 70s? The only thing more lame is... yeesh: thundersticks. Yeah, they showed up one night for some promotion last year. Remember? I'm trying to forget. B) Throwing the ball back is Cub fan bulls***. I don't care where it originally started--it didn't start here and, like it or not, in Chicago that's a Cub thing. We don't need to ape their traditions and no it's not the new generation of Sox fans we're talking about when this happens--it's wannabes and Cub fans that do this. c) I don't understand the phenom of Cub fans showing up in Cubs gear and then looking to start trouble. Talk about definition of "loser." I am forced to go to two Cubs games a year for work and I can assure you, I have no interest in sporting a Sox jersey and cheering for the visiting team. WTF is the point of that? That said, I'm enjoying this thread for it's sheer stupidity, the great photos and the "I got three numbers!" hype. LMFAO.

I'm just thrilled to see Contreras firing on all cylinders because I hated, HATED him last year during the first half. For some reason he was pitching at a lot of games I was at, and I was praying that KW would dump him at the ASB and trade for somebody like Burnett. Shows how much I know. Let's face it: that guy carried our team second half and had he not gone on that tear, I'm not sure we would have ever made it to the playoffs, much less the WS. I love the fact that he can throw from three different arm angles, too--we were marveling at that yesterday at the game. He's gonna lose one eventually, but all the crazy inconsistency from first half '05 seems to be gone. It's been fun to watch. I'd say I love watching him and Buehrle pitch right now--I'm still a little worried about Garland and Freddy.

Okay I'll bite seeing that we're less than a month into the season. If I had to guess I'd say all roads for us eventually will go through Boston and/or Oakland. It worked out that way last year with Boston and they seem to have it all together this year. Oakland's always a pain in our ass and I remember praying last year that we wouldn't have to face them in the post-season. At the time, facing LAA didn't seem like a much better option, but, surprisingly, we stomped them. I wouldn't count Cleveland out and would never count Minnesota out as far as our division goes. On paper I think we look all-around great except for that big hole in the bullpen. If that doesn't improve and KW is able to deal our way out of that, then I'll be pretty confident we're at the top of the running.

The only win statistic I'm ever concerned with is: take each series. You don't have to sweep every time, but if you can get those two out of three more often than not well, then... hello, it served us well in '05. And we did it with regularity until the September swoon. Sweeps to me are gravy. IMO it's way too early to even try and fathom a guess about what the end total will be. Maybe at the ASB it will be a little more guessable.

Yeah I like to think that socking it to them when it counted put that curse to bed. Of course, Oakland games there could still be our bete noire as they have been for years. And let's not forget Texas (not WC I know), who definitely had our number last year. Especially that Uncle Fester guy in left field for them. If we can take some LAA/Oakland series out there this season, perhaps it is indeed a new day.

There were a ton of helpful suggestions on how to avoid the Ryan here around opening day. I wish I knew how to find/reprint them. Hey maybe that could be a locked thread up top. I'm an el guy, so I'm of little help, except to tell you that the Ryan is indeed FUBAR. Although the el hasn't been seemingly any worse.

I love hearing stories about how these guys are all cool in person. It just makes you root harder for the team. So many firsthand encounters I've had with celebs have been disappointing. There was this dude at WSI last year who told a great story about how he ran into Buehrle at Midway by the luggage. We was very shy but approached him and asked for an autograph. Buehrle, he said, said "No problem, but I gotta grab a bag off the carousel, can you hold this?" and hands the guy his Sox gear bag to hold! Then he comes back, signs for the guy, and the guy wished him well and he said he could not have been any friendlier. Here's a dark side: the same guy spoke of how, before he approached Buehrle, some guy came up to him and just literally stuck a newspaper in his face for him to sign. I guess it cuts both ways, sadly. BTW love the story about the fans in the "peasant" line glaring at the people in the VIP line. LOL! You keep it up, people! That's the spirit.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Apr 21, 2006 -> 01:26 PM) It ain't filet mignon, but the Bertuccis put out a pretty nice sperad, not to mention 4 or 5 beers cost you 30 bucks up top and it's all you can drink during the party. Do people realize (I just got mine) that the ticket for the game is only $14? So for $44 bucks you get the food, the starter beers and a decent seat afterward? Tonight I'm going: 1 ticket = $32.00 Let's say 4 beers (okay I'm lowballing here but come on) = $28 (w/tip) 1 polish = $3.50 Reminding inevitable Twins fans that not only do they suck, but their mother is a lumberjack: priceless. J/K Anyhoo, that's $63.50 right there. I'd say COTC is a bargain. On another note, if people want a soxtalk.com-only event, I would think it could be done, but just on a much smaller scale. Like a group ticket buy, but not trying to rent out the patio or what-not. As for the stories of WSI wrongdoing--hey, it is a great site technically, no doubt. I don't know why there has to be any bad blood, though, for a reason I cite often: when people ask me what's so great about going to Sox games, I say: Where else in the world can you go some night and instantly have something in common with 30,000 people? Dig? And, AND... it's fight club night! Are you kiddin' me! This is gonna be great!

I'm diggin' this new offensive powerhouse this year, although in the back of my mind I'll never be satisfied unless our pitching and defense are our #1 asset. I guess winning the big one with that sort of makes you a zealot about it. And the only thing that kinda worries me right now is Politte and Cotts--and little bit about Garland. To your point, this is fun. Konerko usually stinks for the first two months and Crede as well. What an unexpected surprise to have them pretty much come out looking like they're still playing in the World Series. And you're right--should Pods breakout we're going to have some real fun. Continuing this scenario, if Anderson ever wakes up, look out. Juan "I'll swing at anything" Uribe continues to induce forehead-slapping this year, but his defense makes up for any deficiencies at the plate, and then some. I still cannot believe some of the plays he makes at SS--it's like a web gem every time he touches the ball.

Yeah at least his defense has picked up in the last week, finally. If the hitting shows up, then even better. I don't know what to do when a new guy is going through this; it must be a fine balancing act between working him but not breaking his confidence.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Apr 19, 2006 -> 11:06 AM) I don't disagree with you, but I think it's definitely something that KW has to consider. If I were him, I'd trade Garcia this winter and try to get a five-year deal done with Mark. If you trade Garcia to keep Buehrle, then who fills the Garcia spot? Isn't Garcia our #3? Assuming: 1: Buehrle 2: Contreras 3: Garcia 4: Garland 5: Vasquez I know Garland was more like #2 first half last year, but Contreras since 2nd half has been at least #2 if not #1 (this year too).

I had no doubt that going into this year it would not be the same Disney ride as last season. That season was just one of those once-in-a-lifetime seasons that I doubt we'll see again. Think about it: -First place, wire to wire -That whole streak of having the lead -Best start in franchise history -Garland being the ACE the first half (W..T..F?!?!) And all the other things. I personally knew that season had a "reverse curse" when we were playing--natch--the KC Royals in a day game and we scored no runs but they walked in two at the end, and we won. I mean, that's when you just have to laugh and think: we are destined. The slow start didn't phase me. This year's going to be a dogfight and it was clear from the get-go that our pitchers aren't getting a free pass. It's a long season and if we struggle in the first half, so be it. I'm more worried about the home stretch after the ASB and doing the one and only thing that anybody should be worried about: winning the division. Maybe the pitchers and the hitters reversed mojo--this year Garland's ERA already is in the double-digits... but Konerko's hitting over .300?!? Um, what? Don't matter, because it was reversed last year but it all came together when it needed to. That said, I thought last night's game was the Sox most looking like their 2005 selves thus far. Know what I mean? Timely hitting, crushing them on a mistake opportunity, solid pitching and a Jenks save. I felt like it was October 2005.

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Apr 19, 2006 -> 09:55 AM) KW is supposed to be the GM. He doesn't wear a uniform. He is a front office guy. He doesn't need to talk about every issue. I like Kenny and how outspoken he is, but he needs to go up to his office for a few weeks and shut it.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 19, 2006 -> 09:33 AM) Kenny Williams, behind the scenes? Have you been in a cave since 2002? No, I know what you mean. But I'm seeing, it seems, a lot more of KW these days than we need to see. I can understand, maybe, his little blowout with Frank, but when he starts talking s*** about our #1 starter--in public--he needs to shut up. It's not helpful. It's bellicose.

I agree with the changeup scenario; man, would he be deadly. I also agree--and am somewhat aghast--that Politte is a big concern. Wow. What happened to him?!

KW needs to shut his hole. Why in the f*** is he even talking this out in the media? On the one hand I can see why Buehrle would dream about playing close to home in St. Louis, but on the other hand, in a town where he is so beloved and has had such great success and has won a World Series... I highly doubt he would just leave us at the drop of a hat. And he just said as much. I respect KW for his thinking and thank him for bringing us a Series, but all this swingin' dick stuff is starting to make him look Steinbrenner-like. And this kind of distraction--just as the season begins--is the LAST thing this team needs. The tarp-sliding thing should have been handled privately and it could have been no more than "Look we know it's fun and the fans love it but it scares the s*** out of us, so no more." Instead, Buehrle was publicly chastised for something that was innocent and fun, even if it was inappropriate for the star pitcher. Time for KW to take his rightful place "behind the scenes," where he belongs.

Indians #1 but Minnesota's always a threat. I never count them out, ever.

QUOTE(Steff @ Apr 17, 2006 -> 12:41 PM) They are pretty casual in the front office. She worked in either group sales or season sales (tickets), maybe it was just that department? That's just what she said--I have no idea myself, not working there.