Drew

This is funny. Is it me, or does everyone who has something bad to say about AJ sound like a crybaby? That slide, where AJ slid late forced Phillips to make an errant throw, breaking up a double play and ended up meaning the game. AJ is a gamer, and will do whatever it takes to win.

well, this weekend, I installed a ceiling fan in my bedroom:

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 09:59 AM) Im not abig fan of the HR derby, i hope Dye does well though. Id much rather watch a duck snort derby basestealing derby double play turning derby sac fly derby strikeout derby sac bunt derby. The duck snort derby is overrated, I more a fan of the gork shot derby.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 11:41 AM) now, I love Jermaine Dye, but I don't see him having this good a season without Jim Thome in the lineup. That's why I voted for Thome, not only the team's MVP, but the league MVP as well in the first half. Jim Thome 1st Half MVP I voted for JD, although for me it was a tossup between him and Thome. No single player has changed the makeup of this team like Jim Thome has, but my gut just says Dye, the other bookend of the best 3-4-5 in baseball. It's hard to argue against any of those four guys, but A.J. has also had a big half for us. He is always in the right place doing the right thing at the right time, like sliding high into second to break up a double play ball by forcing an errant throw, a play which meant the game. His average is up this year, and while he isn't popping them out of the park like Thome or Dye, he consistently moves the line. His greatest assets are his intangibles, which stats don't really measure. I think that JD has a better chance of winning AL MVP simply because he plays the field. IMO it's why Ortiz didn't win over A-Rod last year, and IMO should have. What I love about this team is how difficult a decision this is.

The problem I have with Boston fans is that while not as pompous as Yankee fans, they're usually whinier and with a similar level of assumed entitlement, especially with the team's recent success. Have I met smart Red Sox fans? Sure. A coworker of mine from back in Chicago was a respectable diehard with Northeast roots. My neighbor is from Jersey and was raised a Yankee fan but he and I love talking ball. It's just too easy to hate them when you see 19-year-old kids bumming around malls in the Valley with red B tattoos covering their entire triceps, SUVs festooned with Yankee trailer hitches, stickers, and license plate frames, and every gardener and busboy in Los Angeles County with either a Yankee or Red Sox cap. They easily outnumber Dodger caps by double. And then there are the sports radio jocks who remind all of us whenever they get half a chance that "people like drama, and drama is the Red Sox, the Yankees, and sometimes the Angels." Exact words of one of the local mouth-breathers here. Drama is third place in the softest division in the American League, and six games off the pace of the strongest. Who knew?

QUOTE(Spiff @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 02:47 PM) I had a similar experience once with Gorman Thomas.

Here's Jay!

I thought it was a Florida Gator fight song or something like that.

QUOTE(WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Jun 29, 2006 -> 03:20 PM) Well, I will be making a trip up to Beloit some time this weekend to get some fireworks. I will probably only spend about $50. I was just wondering if anybody has gotten caught using fireworks, and what are the fines?I have bought them a couple of times, and have never gotten caught. I'm sure I won't get caught, but you never know. I thought they just confiscated them and maybe a small fine, but I'm not sure. A couple of years, I just remember cops perching around this big fireworks stand just over the Indiana border, checking trunks of people heading into Illinois who were leaving that stand. I would never go to the first fireworks stand over the border for that reason. My brother and I would usually hit a stand somewhere along US 30 coming home from the relatives in Fort Wayne, and no one ever stopped us to ask what was in our trunk.

The two most common names mentioned in trades with the Angels are Scot Shields and Chone Figgins. While I like Figgins, I don't think I'd want to give up what the Halos would likely ask for. Definitely not Joe Crede or one of our starters.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 29, 2006 -> 04:49 PM) I think Freddy Garcia and his 10 wins this season should start the All-Star game. While the AL bats would certainly give him the run support he needs, Freddy has had some ugly games this first half. He likes to pitch in big games on the road, sure, but he's horribly inconsistent. If Ozzie gives the ball to any of his guys, I'd like to see it go to Mark Buehrle, I just think he is the better choice. Even if you look at last year when Garland was undefeated, Buehrle got the ball. It's not just about the number of wins, although it can be argued that it was Bartolo Colon's magic bullet for the AL Cy Young last year over Buehrle and Garland.

Kane County Cougars Peoria Chiefs Fort Wayne Wizards Grandparents would take the whole gang, all 20 or so of us, on the 4th of July to the Wizards games when we would come to town. I am pretty sure we would have seen AJ playing for them in the mid-late 90s.

f***ing Yankees over the Dodgers.

QUOTE(tonyho7476 @ Jun 27, 2006 -> 10:37 AM) I've been in those sections and not seen my server for innings at a time. There is little different with that and every other restaurant business. On labor cost issues, they try to squeeze a nickel out of a penny. What's stupid is that the first people to get screwed over are the customers, who then screw the wait staff by not tipping as well because their service isn't as good because of the extra workload. I've seen it happen, personally. Hell, it was one of the reasons why I walked out of my waitstaff job after two years and got a new one.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Jun 26, 2006 -> 10:47 PM) This story and the one about the man's pregnant wife have amazed me. People can be such jerks!!! Cmon people, what has happened to civility? Some people make me shake my head sometimes. Do unto others is the mantra everybody should live by. My gosh. Me too, but people in service positions have s***ty jobs.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Jun 26, 2006 -> 02:11 PM) miller pronounces many things incorrectly, but i like him as an announcer There are some announcers and reporters who think our shortstop wore #23 and played for the Giants in the 1980s. Otherwise I don't know why they would insist on calling him Jose Uribe.

Mariotti sleeps in the bed he has made.

QUOTE(SoxFan76 @ Jun 23, 2006 -> 08:02 AM) Hands down, Miller Lite is the worst. I don't get why people are so hard on the "cheap" beers. Most of em have no flavor, so they don't taste "bad". If you're my age and pretty much drink to get drunk 90% of the time, a 12 dollar case of beer works just fine. But if we're talking about "beer snobs" here, then I can understand. haha Here are some cheap beers that I enjoy: High Life/Light Bud Light Bud PBR -- Reluctant to drink it now since it's become the "trendy" beer to drink. When I think cheap, trendy beers, I think Cubs. (Old Pile) BUSCH LIGHT! My favorite--to get drunk. It literally has no flavor. 10.99 for a 30 case! MGD -- When I'm feeling wealthy and am willing to drop 18 bucks on a case. Keystone Ice -- The ultimate party beer. If they don't have a keg, they have cases upon cases of Keystone Ice. I think that the word 'Light' after most of these beers is redundant, because they're all already like sex in a canoe--f***in' close to water. I don't like counteracting trends, I just drink what I like and I like both PBR and High Life. PBR and High Life are just about equal in the trend factor, PBR a little more just because people enjoy the novelty of drinking out of a can. I prefer High Life to PBR, it's what's in my fridge right now. but the Champagne of Beers is only closely trailing in prevalence in the indie dive joints of Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and Echo Park. I also like Tecate, and the dive near my old workplace had it for $7 a pitcher. I can't really get drunk on beer, mainly because I simply have no interest in consuming that much liquid in a night. If you want to rock a lowbrow old-school cocktail, might I suggest a 7 and 7.

No Bo Diddley ad? That one was always my favorite Bo Knows ad.

this deserves a new sig.

QUOTE(TheBigHurt @ Jun 19, 2006 -> 12:57 PM) Ichiro? KW did inquire about Ichiro in the offseason, but the Mariners had no interest in trading their most popular player even if he was no longer happy in Seattle.

I think Pablo Ozuna has really come up big thus far, but bench players are bench players for a reason.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 15, 2006 -> 07:09 AM) Couldn't agree more. I've seen too much damage from DUI's to have any tolerance for it. I think we need a national law on it, frankly, something like what Germany has (first offense is a long-term license suspension AND jail time, second offense is PERMANENT revocation of license a a LOT of jail time). As for Loaiza and baseball, I think he should be suspended with pay until the case is decided, and then the team has the option to not pay that time off if he is found guilty. Europe has no tolerance for DUI. Sweden, IIRC, is one strike and you're out for life. The punishment fits the crime. I buried a childhood friend to a DUI, one the other childhood friend walked away from.

...and why wasn't that f***er Padilla tossed?

New sig for the Count: