WCSox

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Apr 27, 2006 -> 11:13 AM) The problem is that most people know that you don't throw bats at people, and they don't need some kind of suspension to know it. Apparently, this s***head didn't realize it wasn't a good thing to throw bats at people. Oh, I'm sure that he knows. He just thought that he could get away with it because, you know, he's a superstar athlete and all.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 27, 2006 -> 06:56 AM) Plus the lineup they used Monday still had 6 of the 9 regular starting lineup in there. Its not as if he played all 5 bench players and threw some pitchers in the outfield for kicks. Haven't Paulie and Thome been in the starting lineup in every single game so far? Sunday Lineups, my ass.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Apr 27, 2006 -> 12:24 AM) World Series chamionships, apparently. But we NEED to play all of our starters in every single game of this road trip. It's of the utmost importance that we sweep AL West teams.

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 04:35 PM) What do you mean by "waking up"? Like, you mean they have stopped sniffing his jock? I read somebody said Arow is a perfect "4th outfielder"--ha, that is selling him short. Rowand, by almost every defensive measure, was the one of the best defensive CF in the majors last year. However, he didn't do much more than be position average at the plate. Agreed. Even if he's been somewhat disappointing as a hitter, Rowand's a defensive stud in CF and is a great clubhouse guy. That's what the Sox were all about last year. Fourth outfielder, my ass. Many GMs and managers would love a guy like Aaron in their lineup.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 11:01 PM) Usually you dont have good numbers against a teams number 1. That is the time to have all of your best in. The 8 game winning streak is nice and all, however take a good look at our record on the West Coast over the last few years. Now say to yourself, against their best pitcher I think we still have a shot after taking out our number 5 hitter that provides protection to Konerko, Kong will still get the same pitches, our best defender for a pitcher who is a ground ball guy, and our leadoff guy. This isn't a video game where players never get tired. In real life, you need to sit your starters every once in a while. If Ozzie wants to sit a few tired guys after winning eight in a row with them, I don't see the problem. And when even your best players have struggled recently against Moyer and winning that evening isn't imperative, it makes even more sense. You can't go through a 162-game season with the pedal to the floor the entire time. Take a look at tonight's lineup and ask youself, why didn't we score more runs against Washburn? We had most of the regulars in the lineup, with the exception of Widger.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 10:44 PM) I think we have a better chance to hit moyer when we have the regulars out there. Not many teams can expect to do well when you take 1/3rd of the order out including 2 of our hottest hitters. Given that we haven't hit Moyer well in recent years and we were riding an eight-game winning streak going into Monday night, I don't fault Ozzie for sitting a few regulars. We should be able to score more than one freaking earned run off of Moyer, even with Dye and Crede on the bench.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 10:07 PM) Chalk 1 series loss to an Ozzie lineup. We ended up with 4 or 5 series losses last year due to it, wonder how many we will have this year. Um, no. Chalk one series loss to our lineup not being able to hit Moyer and Washburn.

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 01:31 PM) I'm not sure I get the logic here. According to this, I should not "expect" an event that is "very possible" to occur. If something is "very possible" to occur--is that thus likely to occur? It's semantics I know, but I think the two terms are closer than your statement suggests. "Expecting" Anderson to hit 20 HRs implies disappointment if he fails to do so. I think it's "very possible" that the Red Sox win the AL East this year, but I don't "expect" it.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 11:20 AM) No one is going to be dissapointed with 16 HR's.... but to say that he wont hit 20 isnt neccesarily true. Anderson has the power to hit 20 HR's and like I said I dont expect a high avg. but I can see him getting to the 20 mark. Although 15 is obviously more likely. There's a difference between "expecting" 20 HRs and thinking that 20 HRs is "very possible." I fall into the latter category regarding Anderson.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 11:10 AM) If BA hit's 16 HRs this year I'll be happy, 4 HRs isn't going to make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things. Joe Crede is only 28 years old and plays some of the best defense that you will ever see at 3B. I don't expect him to hit 548 career HRs like Schmidt but he still has a chance to have a damn good career of his own. Comparing any unproven spect to one of the greatest of all time is foolish in any context. Just wait until Larry Bird, wait I mean Adam Morrison makes it to the NBA, people who expect him to be Larry Bird-esque are going to be in for a rude awakening. That was exactly my point: Expectations of top players in a team's farm system are often over-inflated and ridiculous. Mike Schmidt, I mean Joe Crede, couldn't even break through as an every-day player for the first three years of his career. This is why I'm so sick of all of these posts about Anderson. STFU and let the kid develop.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 10:57 AM) Jeff Abbott in his rookie year had 244 ABs, he hit 12 HRs. Hell Craig Monroe in his rookie year hit 23 HRs. It's not ridiculous to expect similar production from BA. I'm going to laugh at all of the people who get angry when BA only hits 16 HRs this year. Remember how Crede was supposed to be the next Mike Schmidt? How'd that work out?

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 09:58 AM) His avg. might be way low but I dont think 20 HR's is out of the equation to expect from Anderson. Id think he would at least get to the 15 mark. I think it's completely ridiculous to EXPECT 20 HRs from Anderson in his rookie year. It's possible but, as I said, the expectations here regarding him are waaay too high. Give the guy some time to develop. Crede didn't even hit 20 HRs in his first full season. If Anderson hit .250/.320/15 and played solid defense, I'd be happy.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 09:47 AM) B.A. is touted as having more power than Rowand did when he came up, so some of us were hoping B.A. could make a run at 20 HR's this year. As a rookie who's still hanging around the Mendoza Line? Possible, but doubtful. I could see 20 HRs a year or two from now, but I think that people's expectations of Anderson this year are way too high.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 06:31 AM) Amen man, I never jumped off. This kid is a GREAT defender, is hitting #9 for us, and is still very young. As long as he hits .240, draws a few walks, steals a few bases, hits around 20 homers, and plays that defense he's doing his job. Nobody is expecting Anderson to hit 20 dingers this year. Hell, Rowand only hit 13 last year.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 07:25 AM) Age discrimination. Or perhaps Keith's mustache makes him a victim of fashion discrimination?

QUOTE(CanadianSoxFan @ Apr 26, 2006 -> 08:24 AM) The best bet for you...just get MLB.tv if you have high speed Internet. You can watch all the games on your computer. Thats the cheapest way to go. This is my 3rd year now doing that. MLB.TV sucks. CSN Chicago over satellite or MLB Extra Innings are far superior options.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 06:45 PM) The same would occur if anyone started to approach Gehrig's games played streak. Eventhough Ripken broke it, Gehrig will always be the man symbolized as the iron man, Of course, Gherig set that record while battling through a debilitating disease that forced him out of the game and eventually killed him. Ripken never faced that level of adversity.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 05:35 PM) AJP had one incident? Um, NO. AJP brought upon the prick label because that's how he acted on and off the field. It would've taken a hell of a lot more than one comment from Brett Tomko for AJ's reputation to be soiled so badly that he'd have to beg KW to take a chance on him at a low price.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 04:31 PM) 1) Bonds never refused to play for Boston. He said that he would not play in Boston, because Boston is to racist. Once again it is an invention that he said anything about "white" people. Boston is not 100% white, therefore it is impossible to draw that conclusion he was speaking only about white people. Instead he spoke of Bostonian's in general. Not to mention I think you would find many people say something to the extent that Boston is one of the more racist cities in the US. If you don't believe that Barry was specifically referring to the Caucasians in Boston being racist towards African-Americans, you're either lying or you need to have your head examined. The implication is crystal-clear. And Barry's grouping of all of the whites in the Boston metro area into that category is hateful and irresponsible. I never said it did. Barry's selfishness is another issue that again calls his character into question. And at least MJ had the decency to call Steve Kerr and apologize after initiating the fisticuffs in practice. It's my understanding that Jeff Kent never got an apology from Barry after their scuffle in the dugout a few years ago. AJ has also said that he "did a lot of growing up" last year. His own Sox teammates have said that they never liked playing against him when he was on the Twins because of his mouth and the crap he'd pull on the field (stepping on a player's bat while he was leaving the batter's box, for example). I like AJ a lot, but I'm not going to pretend that he's the most mature person in the world or beyond reproach just because he plays for the Sox. I seem to remember a lot of Sox fans claiming that all of the bad press about Frank in Chicago from the late '90s onward was the work of Reinsdorf & Co., who wanted to keep his market value as low as possible. Others claimed it was the work of the dubious Cubs fan, Jay Mariotti. It was all a vast conspiracy to keep Frank down!!! And after Frank's contract was bought out last winter, he took not one, but TWO unsolicited parting shots at the organization. Turns out that Frank's massive ego wasn't the fabrication of JR or an over-zealous media after all.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 02:58 PM) I doubt that you will get any argument from people saying that "Bonds is a saint, he is the greatest human to walk the earth." What I am arguing is that it is unfair to keep labeling him a "racist" when there is nothing but conjecture, gossip, and hearsay as evidence of it. Anybody who refuses to play for the Red Sox because there are "too many racists in Boston" definitely has issues with Caucasians. The animosity is clearly there. And I'm not going to join the Barry Apologist Crowd because being a good teammate and acting reasonably towards the media aren't stipulated in his contract. It's too bad that Bonds had to be so spiteful, selfish, and self-centered because he's easily the best position player of our generation.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 01:42 PM) Now you are trying to switch, saying that Bonds uses the "race card". That is quite a different argument than saying Bonds is a racist. The argument that Bonds is portraying a "martyr" does have some merit, and there are plenty of quotes where Bonds uses his own race to make his plight seem worse than others. But that is once again not racist. In a court of law, I could probably never "prove" beyond a reasonable doubt that Barry's a racist. But I find it very difficult to believe that somebody who blames whitey for all of his self-inflicted misfortune doesn't have anything against Caucasians. Even if Barry really isn't a racist, his scapegoating is equally deplorable. If you think that Cobb was "in the minority" in terms of his dislike of blacks in the 1910s and 1920s, you're in serious need of a history lesson. Nice try, though. For starters, the media likes stars who actually make an effort to be a part of their team.. Link There's no "media conspiracy" against Barry. He has nobody to blame but himself.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 11:43 AM) Article 1 quotes Bonds as saying Boston is racist. There is no quote nor information that says Bonds is a racist. He labeled the entire city of Boston as racist! But when I label him as one for saying something so hateful, I'm the racist? All three articles contain unsolicited instances of Barry portraying himself as a victim racial discrimination. Whenever Barry does something wrong, he uses this tactic to defelect blame. I suppose it's possible that Barry really doesn't dislike white people deep down inside, but just uses them as convenient scapegoats. Either way, his use never-ending of the race card is deplorable. Right, because Barry said so and because he stood for a picture with one of those little cracker kids, it's true! I'm willing to give Thomas Jefferson a pass for owning slaves as well. But I'm not willing to give Cobb a pass for some of the other deplorable things that he did. You can misquote me all you want, but I clearly said that Cobb was a lesser human being than Bonds. And that's saying quite a bit. Paige could never hit like Ruth and Gibson could never pitch like Ruth. The point is that Babe was a stud at both and I don't know if we'll ever see a player like that again. There's a reason that white fans and media overwhelmingly like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Lee, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice, Tiger Woods, and Jarome Iginla, but tend not to like Barry, Albert Belle, and T.O. And it has nothing to do with the relative tones of their skin.

QUOTE(T R U @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 08:22 AM) Because they dont ever address places of need.. they got extremely lucky last year that Clemens, Oswalt, and Pettitte all had tremendous years because they back of their rotation was horrible.. Not sure I consider Brandon Backe "horrible." He went through some growing pains, but got a lot better over the course of the season. The 'Stros also started last year at 15-30 and were without Bagwell for most of the season... not exactly what I'd call "lucky." The fact that Clemens had one of the best seasons ever certainly did help. However, even if Roger had a "normal" season, a team with him, Oswalt, Pettite, Lidge, Berkman, Ensberg, and very talented up-and-coming guys like Taveras and Lane, is almost automatically going to be competitive. Agreed that the Stros probably weren't the most talented team in their league last year but, then again, neither were the Sox.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 10:37 AM) Can you please provide me some quotes of Bonds race baiting the media? It's as easy as a Google search... http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2004/6/25/73033/2183 http://ezinearticles.com/?Bonds-Deals-Base...ck-Eye&id=16036 http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl...nds-cover_x.htm Unless Barry could've been a stud pitcher back in the early 20th century AND hit 700 HRs (without steroids), he never would've been the player that Ruth was. Since I don't foresee anybody hitting 700 HRs and having multiple 20-game-winning seasons and a microscopic 0.87 ERA in 3 WS starts, I don't foresee any player being "better" than Ruth for a LONG time.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 10:03 AM) Its because the people who say Bonds is a racist are most likely racist themselves. So, Barry's allowed to race-bait through the media, but white people aren't allowed to call him on it? That's ridiculous. Bonds could've hit 800 HRs without steroids and he still wouldn't have been a better overall ballplayer than Ruth. The HRs aren't the issue. Cobb was a horrible human being. Much worse than Barry. The sort end of what stick? I don't think that anybody's arguing that Barry shouldn't get into Cooperstown. He could've retired in '98 and would've still been a first-ballot HOFer. You're also conveniently ignoring the fact that blacks were de jure second-class citizens in America in Cobb's day. That's not an excuse for Cobb's inexcusible behavior (which went well beyond racism), but you're comparing apples and oranges when talking about racism in America in 1920 and today. You've been watching "Bonds on Bonds," eh? Poor Barry's being mistreated by the oppressive, white society that he lives in! No, the truth is that Barry is "picked on" for a reason: He constantly race-baits through the media, he has no interest in being friendly to the press, and he's a ridiculously-selfish player. While McGwire and Giambi are "cheaters" as well, they haven't gone out of their way to alienate their teammates or members of the media. And speaking of kid gloves, remember back when that dark-skinned Latino named Sammy was the toast of the town in Chicago? The media slobbered over his knob just as much as McGwire's, despite the color of his skin. I'm sure that there are a lot of white supremacist wackos who dislike Barry because of the color of his skin. But there are MANY more who dislike him for how he acts, rather than who he is.