My Dixie Normus

QUOTE(Spiegle @ Apr 18, 2006 -> 05:45 PM) I can very easily see Iguchi being a .300, 25HR kind of guy... but he wont be as long as he has to give up at bats to move the leadoff man along (not that its a bad thing, he is awful good at it). I am not sure but I think the ball parks are smaller in Japan than they are here. I don't know if 25hrs is in the cards but .300 sure is. I will put up Gooch's fourth AB tonight as an example. Pods got on and then stole second. Gooch went to the right side and moved Pods to third. If there was no outs, last year Cora calls for a bunt. But Iguchi is such a good hitter he knew to get Pods to third, go the the right side of the field. That is good solid fundimental baseball. He played the role. But to my original point, if you look at that at bat... Ball, Pickoff attempt, Pickoff attempt, Ball, Podsednik stole second, Iguchi flied out to right, Podsednik to third. The pitching was quite different than if no one was on.

It is stories like that that make you think this is more than a one year fluke. They are building a winning tradition and the years of the "white flag" trades are long past.

QUOTE(DABearSoX @ Apr 17, 2006 -> 11:36 PM) He hit .278 while in the 2 hole while not knowing any pitcher in the league...... I want Gooch down in the lineup.....just how I play it in my franchise...... If he was hitting 6th or 7th I think it is very plausible that he would hit .300 this year..... but Ozzie does know best I absolutely do not want him moving down in the order. He would not see the pitches he is seeing today without Thome behind him. Right now they are trying to get him out with fastballs and he is stroking them all over the place. Without Thome behind him, he see more junk. No thanks. Keep him at #2 but let him swing away. This lineup doesn't need to manufacture runs with bunts, hit and runs from the top two.

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Apr 17, 2006 -> 10:30 PM) Uh, I think that 13 games in--it's a little to early to say that Gooch is now a .348 hitter SOLELY because Pods isn't getting on base. I'll go on record as saying that this is a silly post and that Iguchi will finish the season batting under .300--no matter what the leadoff hitter does in front of him. Gooch is a good player, just not a .300 hitter--nothing in his career stats suggests anything to the contrary. And heck if Gooch hits .300 this year, I'll gladly eat some crow in September. However, it still won't have anything to do with "not giving himself up" for the leadoff hitter. Uh, that is not what I said. I don't think he is a .348 hitter either. I never said his early success was SOLEY because Pods was struggling. What I am saying is that I think the combination of circumstances (+thome, -Pods) has allowed him to display his true abilities as a pure hitter. I don't think the original intention of his signing was to provide a hitter who can protect a base runner. Sorry you thought is was silly but it is a perfectly legitimate strategy question, IMO.

Looking at his situational stats, the addition of Thome and the absence of Pods on base has put 30-40 points on his average. That may not be the only factors and we are only through 12 games but damn.

Last year Iguchi's job was to get Pods over. He did that by either lay down bunts, trying to hit to the right side, swinging at pitches when the steal was on or trying to hit and run. And he did a great job of it. But I always though he was a better hitter than that. With Pods not getting to first as often, Gooch has been able to swing away. He is now hitting .348. It doesn't hurt that the Brawney man is standing in the on deck circle with steam comming out of his nose. Do you think that as Pods comes around they have Gooch revert back to that role player type of hitter or do they let him swing away as he is now?

QUOTE(Princess Dye @ Apr 16, 2006 -> 09:57 PM) East coast bias means it's already preset as an auto-Jeter award? Jeter went into the stands hard and came up bloody. I don't think you can take much away from that play but your point is well taken. The rest of MLB is just what happens between Boston and Yankee games for most of ESPN.

Funny thing was he got Molina by 15 steps. I don't know what the hell he was doing comming up the line but in my baseball days dogging it to first would have been a fine. I think the guy that was playing the piano on his back fell off and he stopped to let him back on.

Gooch looked like he was standing in over a Wilbur Wood knuckler. His knees totally buckled. He was way off balance and deep in the hole. You could see the error comming before he made it. But you can not question his willingness to put his body on the line make a play after the 9th inning on Saturday. The whole infield was a lake. The only guy that came out of this game with any worries was Roger Bossard. Props to Oz for putting the fire out before it started. Glad to see Glaus and Wells get out of town with two loses to think about. Wells is damn tough out.

QUOTE(OilCan @ Apr 16, 2006 -> 12:04 PM) Used to live in Bolingbrook myself, here's a back way. I-55 to Ashland, turn right on Ashland going south. Ashland South to 35th St, turn left on 35th. Take 35th all the way in. Also, maps.google.com can be your best friend. If you have a parking pass, get off at Ashland but hook a left on Archer and follow it down about 1/4 of a mile. Go right on Broad or Lock. Go a block south and you will hit 31st. Go east on 31st until... If you want to get into G lot, go south on Parnell to 35th. If you want to get into A, B or C go right on Normal and then hook a left on 33rd. Go under the overpass and you will pop out right at the back of C lot. Even without a pass I think you can get into C lot.

I am not sure I would want to listen to the Hawk talk about "hot balls".

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 15, 2006 -> 06:34 PM) Well considering he's easily better than Brian "white hope" Urlacher, I'd say letting him walk isn't a good idea. You could make some statistical arguements that Briggs was better then Urlacher but none would uphold an "easily better than" assessment. Inside and outside linebackers can not be compared fairly as the roles and responsibilities are vastly different. Both players are at the top of their respective positions in the league, regardless of being white or black.

It was late August or early September, 1983. I was standing near the main gate of old Comiskey at 35 & Shields. I don't remember how the conversation started but I remember it was just me. Whoever I was with had gone to the john or was still making their way through the turnstiles, I don’t remember really. I just kinda found myself all alone kinda looking around for my friends. There was this old guy in suit just standing there. It was just so out of place for as hot as it was, I had to say something to him. Hello... "HI! I am Zeke Bonura!!" just a thundering reply...just loud, like he was yelling at me. 'Hi Zeke. It must be hot in that suit' I said. He ignored me. "Are you here to take me down to home plate?" he asked. 'Not really… are you lost? Let me see your ticket and I will tell you where you need to go.' "No, no. He broke my record and they are going to introduce me tonight." 'Who broke your record?' "The kid from Indiana...Kittle" 'What record did he break?' I asked but was starting to think I wished I had not started this conversation. "Rookie homeruns … he broke my record this year." He was still kinda yelling at me. Zeke reached into his left breast pocket and handed me what was obviously a very hastily printed baseball card. I looked at the picture and give or take 60 years….it was him. Zeke Banura. The man who had held the White Sox rookie homerun record for 49 years was standing there trying to figure out how to get to home plate. Two Andy Frain ushers and some guy in a suit swept in and took ‘ol Zeke through the glass doors to the upstairs just to the first base side of home before I could say much more to him. ‘G-bye, Zeke, have fun tonight.’ I said kinda stunned. Sure enough, an hour or so later, there he was behind home plate with Kittle in some sort of ceremony. They shook hands as the announce Zeke to the crowd and a smattering of applause. I still have that regrettably unsigned baseball card today. It is a collection of one. The only baseball card I own. Zeke died in March of 1987. Just thought I would share the memory.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 09:13 AM) Quite an ironic statement coming from someone with your screen name. Hey, don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 09:26 AM) How did Hawk pout through the playoffs? He said he didnt want to be involved, probably because he was superstitious. What did he have to be pouting about? I am not going to go back and look for it but there were several discussions or articles at the time that talked about it. I think he wanted to join Ronney and Farmer in the radio booth and approached Fox about doing s*** for them. He was a mediocre ball player which gives him a certain amount of credibility to be in the booth but he destroyed that when he was GM, IMO. I am not going so far as to say "heave the Hawk". We could end up with worse. But I guess I have a longer memory than others. Typically when someone detroys a team like he did as GM, they don't make him the TV face of the team. They quietly disappear into the baseball dust heap. Rock is correct however, this really isn't worth talking about. Shiot, we are world champs, don't change any Karma now.

I am not a fan of the Hawk. I have met him on several occasions and my opinion of him is confirmed everytime. He has a huge ego. But that is not really it. My dislike of the Hawk started after I was returning from a trip from MN and crested a hill in Elgin to see the Sox billboard that read "The Hawk wants you!" Yes, he had become the WS GM. My first thought was that we were in big trouble if we were marketing the GM and not the ball players on the field. He was a terrible GM. Last year when he pouted through the American League playoffs was just another example of his huge ego. I didn't miss him. I preferred Rooney anyway. I didn't like the way he ran Wimpy out of town either. If I had my choice, I would unload the Hawk but not until I had a replacement. Hawk is popular with the fans. There is no reason to up set the apple cart until you have something better to offer.

I have John Rooney's game 4 final out call saved as an MP3 on my phone. Whenever my Cubbie fan pals start getting uppetty, I just hit a button and... "Jenks with a deep breath.... he oks the sign. From the stretch with a runner at second. Here is the 1-2 pitch to Palmero... a ground ball past Jenks up the middle of the infield. Uribe has it!! He throws.... OUT! OUT! A WHITE SOX WINNER AND A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!!! THE WHITE SOX HAVE WON THE WORLD SERIES AND THEY ARE MOBBING EACH OTHER ON THE FIELD!!!" Then I just look at them a little distracted "Huh? Sorry, what were you saying?"

QUOTE(My Dixie Normus @ Apr 5, 2006 -> 07:41 PM) This post has been edited by the Soxtalk staff to remove objectionable material. Soxtalk encourages a free discussion between its members, but does not allow personal attacks, threats, graphic sexual material, nudity, or any other materials judged offensive by the Administrators and Moderators. Thank you. My apologies. But I stand by what I wrote.

QUOTE(WSoxMatt @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 09:15 PM) I got there at 11 and still managed to get 1 while cutting in line!!! No one held a gun to your head about spending the money and as for a 50 cent ring, shows your character even more by cutting in line for something you value at 50 cents This post has been edited by the Soxtalk staff to remove objectionable material. Soxtalk encourages a free discussion between its members, but does not allow personal attacks, threats, graphic sexual material, nudity, or any other materials judged offensive by the Administrators and Moderators. Thank you.

Awesome! I was about two section over from there and saw them comming at about half way through the song. Timing was perfect. You could see them seporate a bit then pitch just a little to get the after burners going. I hope to hell the do that again tomorrow. I will plan on shooting my own movie.

QUOTE(hi8is @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 10:50 PM) the big hurt, frank thomas is currently 1 for 2 in his first start for oakland. in his first at bat, he homered. It was a solo shot for the selfish bastard, of course. I don't miss him at all. Bah bye, Big Skirt.

Thorton seemed to cross up AJ a couple of times. AJ was stabbing at pitches outside the zone. That indicates to me that the pitch was not where it was supposed to be. In a tight ball game, the last thing you want to see is a ball go to the back stop. I could be wrong I had a bad angle.

CBS does a nice job of charting pitches in the game log. Thorton just appeared to be really wild in his 1.1 innings last night. He threw 12 balls, 12 strikes but the balls were way up, way outside, way inside and low. I am not sure I would want this guy in there in too many situations. Last night was one of them but I am not sure how many times we are going to have 7 run leads for him to work with. There seems to be a little more work to be done on this work in progress.

Great news. I was at the game last night and everytime his image came up on the screen, the fans went nuts. I hope this news stays somewhat quiet, it will be a great surprise for his fans.

I'll save everyone a little reading and provide you with the executive summary of the Cubs write-up. "The first problem..." "Even worse ..." "...which basically means there's no hope for Cubs fans...." "...isn't what you'd call good..." "...who was terrible last year ..." "...this will almost certainly look like a bad contract." "...a little risky..." "...several injury problems,..." "...he'll certainly exercise if he stinks...." "But that's a lot of ifs that have to go their way."