SoxFan1

WHY THE f*** ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THE CUBS!?!?

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 06:34 PM) HOT DOGS! I'm gonna go make some Ballpark Franks right now.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 06:32 PM) I would have taken the extra $100M but that's just me. I'm going to go ahead and agree with that. Jeez, AJ aiming for ARod.

LOL, Abreu with the gapper.

QUOTE(WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 06:20 PM) Nice to see the sleeveless unis. No kidding. I don't remember the last time I saw the team use those. (I'm sure Kalapse has record of it.)

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 06:16 PM) Your link proves absolutely nothing. Far Southeast side (but then there's the fact that there's a North, South and West side, alone, but no East Side alone: second, as is clearly stated in that same article, East Side is just a neighborhood, which is coincidentally the title of the page you linked to: Chicago Neighborhoods But Slavko Can't Read) 9.1 Chatham (44) 9.2 Avalon Park (45) 9.3 South Chicago (46) 9.4 Burnside (47) 9.5 Calumet Heights (48) 9.6 Roseland (49) 9.7 Pullman (50) 9.8 South Deering (51) 9.9 East Side (52) 9.10 West Pullman (53) 9.11 Riverdale (54) 9.12 Hegewisch (55) Sorry. Oh we are so cage fighting.

LMAO, now I'm the pitcher that hated the cold.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 06:10 PM) I know everyone calls it the East Side of Chicago but there is no East Side of Chicago there is only an "East Side" neighborhood but it is not recognized as a side of town merely as the nickname of a community much the same way "Little Village" is just a nickname. We don't care whether you recognize it or not. It's the East Side. Wikipedia says so: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_of_Chicago

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 06:05 PM) where we live, like 5 minutes from the indiana border, everyone calls it the east side Hegwisch? South Deering?

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 06:02 PM) Slav, you're a pansy. Let's have a Cage Match. I'm down. QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 06:02 PM) Knowing that I had an environmental advantage over the hitter each time I took the mound in cold weather was a huge plus for me. Pitching all of my games in the cold could be considered a "dream" scenario. Well you're just the man Kalapse. QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 06:03 PM) Contreras had 2 starts the first couple weeks of the season against the Indians. He got shelled on opening day which was about 65 degrees. His next start against them was about 35 degrees and he shut them down. Hitting in the cold is very difficult. You tend to grip the bat very tightly to try and avoid getting "bees" if you don't hit it solidly and that really slows the bat down, but the loss of carry with the ball. Whether or weather you believe it or not, a very cold day is "pitcher's" conditions. Listen, I understand you're argument, and I agree to a certain extent. But if you ask a pitcher if they wanted every single one of their starts to be 30 degrees with 25 mph winds, most would say no. I understand the advantages, and I agree with that part, but no one really "likes" pitching in the cold, no matter what you believe or think. Pitchers conditions is a much better phrase than a pitchers dream.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:54 PM) The ball doesn't travel as well in the cold for one thing. Pitchers may not enjoy pitching in the cold, but they know it should be good for their stats. QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:56 PM) I personally loved pitching in the cold as did most all of my teammates in high school, the ball just does not carry as well in frigid temperatures. When it's warm out you can get a little more loose on the mound and the added moisture in the air is good for your grip which are positives but the ball tends to carry trough the air a whole lot easier. If you don't have a whole lot of movement in your windup and follow through the cold can be an asset, a damp rosin bag, licking your fingers and blowing on your hands can give you a decent enough grip to take advantage of the cold weather. I realize that, and I've pitched in the cold and hot many times, but knowing that you will probably have a better game doesn't make it any easier or more enjoyable for a pitcher. I knew I'd pitch well in the cold, unless I lost my control, but that didn't make me want to pray for cold weather every time out on the mound. Besides, in the cold, it's much easier to lose your control because you can't get as loose. It's the Contreras symptom.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:49 PM) I exist on the East Side of Chicago. I paint my face and travel at night

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:48 PM) BS. Pitching in the cold with the wind blowing in is a pitcher's dream. I'll give you an example. Boone Logan gives up a grand slam to Derrick Lee. If the weather was 45 and the wind blowing in like the next day when Masset pitched, it was a little pop up to RF. Are you kidding me? I have not seen or talked to 1 pitcher in my entire life that enjoys pitching in the cold. The wind has a lot more to do with it than the temperature. It's common sense to say the ball will go out when it's blowing out or it will stay in if it's blowing in, whether its 90 degrees or 30. You're getting ridiculous now.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:46 PM) There is no East Side of Chicago There is no you.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:45 PM) At least there is some history to go by with Buerhle and Garcia and the White Sox offense. Sisco, Aardsma, MacDougal, Logan, Thornton, Jenks, Masset, even Gavin Floyd, how many good full seasons do they have in the major leagues COMBINED? KW looked at the radar and thought he had one of the best bullpens in baseball. BP was laughed at when they said Ozzie would go crazy at the number of balls this bullpen would throw. You really can't argue Jenks. He has been good ever since he came up.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:39 PM) If they ever bring back the search function you will always see, I always said worry about the pitching. I was as shocked as anyone about the ineptness of the offense, but I think weather had something to do with it to a certain extent. It also helped the White Sox pitchers. Pitching in the cold isn't any easier than hitting in the cold. But that's besides the point. Aardsma, Sisco, and MacDougal all need to go back to the fundamentals. Locating the fastball should be #1 on all of their to-do lists. Once they can get that down, those 1st pitch strikes will help a lot. Then they could use the slider or curveball to get the batters whiffing. QUOTE(iamshack @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:42 PM) Than you haven't looked at the bullpen of the team leading our own division right now. Rafael Betancourt Joe Borowski Fernando Cabrera Aaron Fultz Roberto Hernandez Tom Mastny Rafael Perez

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:36 PM) It's sunny and beautiful in Streamwood right now, a little wet but sunny none the less. Still cloudy here on the East Side. Only a small drizzle now. Looking at the radar, it's looking like it should clear up in the next half hour or so.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:34 PM) Colon wasn't a gamble, he didn't give anyone decent up. The Wells trade was basically for Sirotka, anyone would have done it. Thome maybe to a certain extent, but he needed Thome to keep Konerko, the verdict is still out on McCarthy. I won't hold anything against him if Wilson lights it up. I have no problems with minor league deals, but if you're trying to become #1 in a town you've been the redheaded stepchild in for so long, if you're going to have far and away the highest payroll in the division, you need to make bolder moves than Augustin Montero. Sign Montero, but sign a real pitcher too. It really shouldn't be surprising the Sox bullpen is horrible. Having a $109 payroll and having the bullpen stocked with ex-Royals and ex-Cubs whose former teams did cartwheels when they got rid of him is akin to giving a 16 year old who just got his license a shiney new Bentley. Even with the bad offense, if the bullpen was as good as KW projected, the White Sox would be right in the thick of it right now. But his projected performances are way off. That's part of his job. So what about when the bullpen was on fire in April? What were your thoughts then? And how could you not say Colon and Wells weren't gambles? It's not always about who you're giving up, it's about who you're getting in return. Colon was a gamble because we didn't know if he would re-sign, and he had some little injury problems. Wells was like 39 and had a bad back.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:18 PM) I'm looking out my window at nothing but sunshine. Suck it up and play some ball. LMAO. In my head, I'm thinking "where the hell does this guy live?" Then I saw Burbank, California.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:27 PM) The bullpen, even on paper, is not talented and un-justifiable on a team that considered it a serious divisional contender. Perhaps there is a fine line between potential and talent. Aardsma, Sisco, MacDougal, Jenks, and Thornton all have great stuff, but for most of them, it hasn't come together. They all throw hard, have some good off-speed stuff, and can dominate if they stay in the strike zone. Logan is a good LOOGY, and Masset is a pretty good long reliever/spot starter. You can really only blame him for Aardsma, even though he was lights out until that Cubs series. MacDougal was great last year, something is wrong this year. Sisco used to be pretty good, now he can't throw a strike is Jesus helped him. The 1st month of the season, KW was a genius for putting together such a dominating bullpen. To many, it was one of our strengths. Now they struggle and it's all his fault? Where is the consistency?

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:17 PM) They were good moves, but it shows you that wheeler dealer Williams is more of a myth than the truth. He rarely takes gambles. The Garcia move was bold, but he had Ozzie around so he knew Freddy would sign, other than that all the above moves would have been made by 99% of this board if they were presented with them and had the authority to execute them. Signing guys cheap is only going to get you a good move if it works out at all, or a doesn't matter if it blows up in his face. Nobody mentions the minor league free agents he signed in the 2005 offseason to compete for a job. They all sucked, but it doesn't get marked a bad move because he risked nothing. The bullpen then sucked so it was a horrible move not to get someone who could get outs. Bottom line is KW is responsible for the roster. If the roster is lacking in talent or isn't playing up to par then its on him. He basked in the glory of the WS title, now he should be ready to take heat for what looks like total failure. That's pretty much the point of a minor league deal. I don't see how you can blame him for the one's that failed. And Widger was one of those 2005 minor league guys who turned out OK. The majority of guys he does sign to minor league deals contribute, so you really can't hold that against him. It makes no sense not to give him credit for all the low-risk/high reward deals. If Craig Wilson comes up and just lights it up, will you hold it against him because it was a minor league deal? And I disagree with you as far as gambles go. Wells, Colon, Thome, and especially the McCarthy deals are all gambles that paid off. The Garcia deal turned out to be a really good one, so thats another point for KW. I'm with iamshak, he's put the talent on the field, on paper, this is one helluva team with one helluva lineup, they are just sucking it up right now. Is that his fault? No.

Yeah, I don't think they get this game in tonight.

Put the Sox in the NL Central and they win the division easily. Hell, the Royals would likely finish in the top 2 in the NL Central. No joke.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 05:00 PM) Sigh. And where did I say I wanted Thome to be a "slap hitter"? WHAT slap hitters? We don't HAVE any slap hitters anymore. We have PULL hitters. HR hitters! Everybody swings for the damn fences. Somebody above made some snide remark about a team full of speedster slap-hitters, sarcastically. We have NEITHER. We don't HAVE speed. We don't have PERCENTAGE hitters. We have a bunch of big bombers who can park one in the upper deck but can't hit clutch, can't hit with men on base, and strike out on crap pitches. Right now at least. It's 2004, but even worse. And fine, we'll factor in just how s***ty the Sox' pitching was 2006. That caused Thome to bat s***ty second half how again? Pfft. Enough of this already. You guys are turning this into a supposed lynching of Thome, which it never was. I forgot injuries don't effect how you play baseball.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 04:53 PM) Which ones would those be? The Todd Ritchie trade? OK. What else? The David Wells trade? The Sox came out ahead on that one, as I don't think that Sirotka threw another major-league inning after 2000. Oh, and I forgot to mention KW signing AJ and acquiring Thorton off of the scrap head last year and getting halfway decent results out of him. Why don't you go ahead and list all off the "crappy" trades that KW has made. The positives of KW moves far far far far far far far outweigh any bad move he made. Most GM's make 3 bad moves for every 1 good one. KW is the polar opposite. Matt Thornton for Joe Borchard Bartolo Colon for Rocky Biddle, Orlando Hernandez, and Jeff Liefer Orlando Hernandez signed cheap Signing AJ Pierzynski Re-Signing Paul Konerko Jim Thome for Aaron Rowand, Gio Gonzalez, and Daniel Haigwood John Danks, Nick Masset, and Jacob Rasner for Brandon McCarthy Tadahito Iguchi signed for cheap Juan Uribe and Pablo Ozuna off the scrapheap Cliff Politte signed for cheap Dustin Hermanson signed for cheap Bobby Jenks off waivers Shingo Takatsu signed cheap Jermaine Dye replacing Ordonez Carl Everett for Gary Majewski and Jon Rauch Esteban Loaiza off the scrapheap Freddy Garcia for Miguel Olivo, Jeremy Reed, and Mike Morse David Wells for for Kevin Beirne, Brian Simmons, Mike Sirotka, and Mike Williams All these guys contributed something positive for the Sox, most of which helped us win a World Series, and if not, the Sox ended up winning the trade anyway.