WCSox

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 09:57 AM) Aussie paper offers up "proof" of Hezbollah attacking from residental areas As always the truth is what you want to see in it. Its hard to tell from the couple of pics exactly where they are, and what areas they are in, but it seems fairly plausible. There was Israeli video on Fox News this morning showing rockets being fired out of a residential area.

When Javy is actually getting ahead of hitters, he's trying to get them to chase stuff way out of the zone and they're laying off. In other words, he's afraid to throw the ball over the plate right now. He's not going to magically turn into El Duque if he's moved into long relief. B-Mac has been pretty mediocre in long relief this season and there's no reason to believe that he's going to do any better in the rotation. It's also unlikely that he's just going to magically re-adjust to pitching every five days. Will he be a better option than Vazquez? Maybe, maybe not. It might be worth a try IF somebody like Riske could move into the long-relief role. I don't have a problem with sending Vazquez to the 'pen, but he's not going to be good for anything more than mop-up duty right now.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 09:29 AM) From all accounts I've read, he's run a horrible campaign and isolated himself from his own party within his state. Or perhaps his own party is throwing him under the bus because he refuses to join the anti-Iraq War crowd.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2006 -> 05:21 PM) Both of you are forgetting the key point...just because the government of those countries says one thing doesn't mean the people of the country won't say the exact opposite. If, for example, Israel and the U.S. really made all-out war against Iran, the Iraqi government we're holding up would probably protest but it couldn't declare war or anything like that, but the Shia population of that country would absolutely explode. I've already said that certain sects of the population would be involved in terrorist action. But the Iraqi government isn't going to throw away American money and American military support while their country is in the midst of a quasi-civil war just to appese the Shia. In other words, the Iraqi military and its munitions would be off-limits. Same goes for Saudi Arabia... the royal family (who doesn't want Iran to become more powerful, BTW) isn't going to throw away American oil revenue to appease their citizens. QUOTE(YASNY @ Jul 30, 2006 -> 07:23 AM) Isreal is never going win a public image campaign in the middle east. Never. Hell, they can't even win one in the U.N., the people that legitimized their nation in the first place. The Israeli military has caught Hezbollah firing on Israel from the backyards of people's homes in Lebanon, yet all we hear out of Kofi Annan's mouth is how the Israelis are slaughtering innocent Lebanese citizens.

360 down the left-field line with a 15' wall??? No marquee left-handed hitter will want to play there. Otherwise, it's pretty nice. A bit angular, but nice.

QUOTE(SadChiSoxFanOptimist @ Jul 29, 2006 -> 09:50 AM) Nice. Exxxxxxxxxxxxcuuuuuuuuuussssssseeee meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I was merely evaluatiing what I believe is holding this team back -- lack of speed and rally-killing double plays -- thinking about how to fix it. BTW, hope there are no typos here -- it's friggin dark in this damn closet. Rock, can I come out now? Paulie has been slow, notoriously streaky, and has had the tendency to hit into double plays ever since he's been in a Sox uniform. He also has the tendency to hit game-winning jacks in the post-season. I'll take the good with the bad.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 28, 2006 -> 04:11 PM) First of all, yes, the government in Iraq will support Iran if it was attacked by Israel. The main parties of that government are hugely pro-Iran. Significant parties were housed by Iran, supplied by Iran, and trained by Iran during Saddam's Regime. An Israeli attack on Iran would throw Iraq into even more flames than what we've already seen. Iraq will "support" Iran via the clerics deploying terrorists to Israel. If Iraq launches a full-scale military attack against Israel, America and its money pulls out, and their nation becomes engulfed in a full-fledged Sunni/Shiite civil war. Not gonna happen. Sorry, I refuse to sign up to read the NYT. But if you want to think that the Saudis will fight American interests and lose the oil revenue supplied by us AND support Iran's quest to take over the Middle East (including the Saudi oil fields), go right ahead.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 28, 2006 -> 02:48 PM) And the entire middle east will wind up in ruins afterwards. As will the economies of the entire world. The entire Middle East will be in ruins? I'm not so sure about that. Who is going to support Iran and go to war with Israel and America? The Saudis, who have already condemned Hezbollah and rely on American oil money? The moderate governments of Jordan, Qatar, and Turkey? The pro-American government in Iraq? The pro-American government in Afghanistan? The Israelis will not bomb Iran's oil fields. And it won't take long for the drilling to start again under new management after the bombing ceases.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 28, 2006 -> 12:10 PM) I'm gonna have to go with Balta on this one. I don't think Hezbollah's aim was to win a war in any conventional sense, or even to try to gain some sort of moral high ground by being beat up a bit (as I think the fight scene analogy was getting at). I think they intended to do EXACTLY what they did and what has happened - chaos, Israel looks awful both militarily and politically, Lebanese government is in disarray, and the rest of the Middle East is that much more angry with Israel. Agreed. And, as Balta's photo and the events surrounding the bombing of the U.N. post suggest, Hezbollah is more than happy to sacrifice the lives of innocent people a la "human shields" to win a propaganda war. They're doing a brilliant job of that, as even the U.N. is throwing them under the bus Unfortunately, I agree about this as well. And it's going to cost tens of thousands of innocent lives out there. While the Israelis have tried to only bomb only areas populated heavily by Hezbollah in Beirut, I don't foresee them holding back when they decide to bomb Tehran. They're going to cripple Iran to the point where it resembles Afghanistan. It's not going to be pretty.

There was speculation after the '04 season that Lee was dealt partially because Ozzie didn't like the way that he played (e.g., not sliding hard into 2nd to break up double plays). I have no idea if it's true or not, but if so it's highly unlikely that El Caballo will be in a Sox uniform this anytime soon.

It looks to me like he's going through a dead-arm period. He's leaving pitches up and his breaking ball is flatter than usual. His velocity was more or less normal when he was getting shelled a month ago, so I don't think that it's an injury issue.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 27, 2006 -> 11:35 AM) Considering that Hamas has no presence inside Lebanon, they're the ones in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, somehow I doubt their sourcing. Hezbollah, of course, may very well have been doing just that. Yes, that's what I meant. Multi-tasking at work leads to an occasional inaccuracy in my posts. I really can't imagine that the Israelis would have anything to gain by blowing up U.N. peacekeepers. The negative P.R. would outweigh any tangible benefit. I imagine that either Hezbollah forces were purposely set up in the area or the calls to the ground troops to cease fire weren't relayed for some reason.

It was reported on Fox News this morning that Hezbollah had been firing at Israelis from around the U.N. outpost, essentially using the U.N. troops as "human shields."

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 26, 2006 -> 11:00 AM) If you really wanted to, I'm sure we could come up with a dozen reasons why Israel might have an urge to hit a UN station on purpose. Convince the U.N. that the zone isn't safe and their people should pull out (a-la Iraq) so that Israel has more of a free hand, delay/hurt negotiations by hardening the opinions of both sides, cut off foreign aid supply conduits to those still trapped in the south, etc. It would be completely counter-productive for Israel to hit a U.N. station occupied by peacekeeping troops. They're not going to murder U.N. troops for the reasons that you outlined.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 26, 2006 -> 01:28 PM) That is such a crock, it shocks me that people actually believe that the loss of Aaron Rowand, he of the .740 OPS and the addition of Jim Thome, a perfect prototypical DH is the downfall of this team. Nice post. Thome replaced Frank and Everett, neither of whom are "smallball" hitters. Rowand was replaced by Anderson, who isn't a "slugger" in any sense of the word. Agreed that the Sox aren't EXECUTING smallball as well as they were last year, but it's not because of the makeup of their team (Cintron was acquired in March and Ozuna is seeing a lot more playing time this year). It's a combination of the lack of execution in the tight games and the lack of "smallball" opportunities after, say, Vazquez gives up a five-spot in the sixth inning. But it's certainly NOT a lack of "smallball" personnel.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 26, 2006 -> 09:26 AM) Not saying he's right, but it's worth asking; how exactly do you know it was an accident? Well, I obviously don't know that for a fact, but given that the Israelis have no real motive to bomb U.N. PEACEKEEPERS, I think that's the initial assumption that people should make. But apparently that doesn't fit with Kofi's anti-Israli agenda. Kofi needs to go. He has no leadership skills, his organization is embarrassingly corrupt, and his recent comments are just downright unprofessional.

After the Israelis accidentally hit a U.N. bunker in Lebanon, Kofi Annan throws fuel on the fire by calling the attack "deliberate." Way to go, Kofi! That's the type of leadership that we need from the U.N. Link

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 08:14 PM) You're right. This is the team that KW put together. He accumulated a bunch of slowish power hitters. This is not a small ball team. You're right. Pods, Ozuna, and Cintron are "slowish power hitters."

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jul 26, 2006 -> 08:50 AM) This is pretty much where I am at. Kenny and Ozzie have done, and are doing everything to get the best players on that field, preforming at their optimal levels, and for some reason it just isn't happening right now. It happens in sports. Am I going to let it ruin my day? Nope. Enjoy they games for what they are worth, a 3 hour break from the doldrums of real life. Remember, it is just a game for us. ^^^ This may be the first time in my life that I won't be pissed when the Sox miss the playoffs. Despite what's happening right now, memories of 2005 are still swimming around in my head. Beyond what happened on the field, the organization really turned a corner last year. The Sox are going to be competitive for at least the next couple of years, whatever happens down the stretch this year, I'll be eagerly awaiting March of '07.

QUOTE(GOD @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 08:37 PM) However, I don't think his baseball IQ is very high. Completley disagree. His baseball IQ is tremendous, which should be evident from last season. I don't agree with the way that he calls his players out in public, but his knowledge of the game is second to none. As was mentioned earlier, the difference between last season and this season is the starting pitching.

QUOTE(Balance @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 02:03 PM) Only slipping to #4 is pretty mild, if you ask me. ^^^

After last year, I thought that I wouldn't get upset if the Sox failed to win a playoff series for the next 20 years. If the Tigers win 110 games, the Twins win 95, and the Sox "only" win 94, I'll have to tip my hat to those other teams. However, I'm absolutely livid with the way the Sox have been playing this month. I can accept a less-talented team not making the playoffs or not going far into the playoffs, but not a team with this much talent. Their under-achieving is maddening.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 24, 2006 -> 03:37 PM) Baseball calls it the DL. Regarding Prior and Wood, I believe that "ER" would be acceptable as well.

I don't see any evidence of Ozzie "losing the team" at this point. However, screaming at his pitchers in front of everybody in the dugout is counter-productive and will cost him if he keeps it up.

QUOTE(Sonik22 @ Jul 24, 2006 -> 02:12 PM) i'm gonna go play some MVP and i hope that when i come back to my comp. that we got him and didn't lose Brandon. ^^^ I'm going to be pissed if B-Mac is dealt.