Gregory Pratt

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Jul 7, 2006 -> 04:31 PM) There is no more payroll excuse, no more World Series excuse, You guys are mighty bitter. What, do tell, are we bitter over?

I luuuuv it when you advise, my friend. Good luck. Until we face off, that is! That I do have, if I say so myself. Of course, my Coach and a few other people say so, too. This is, I think, the only bit of advice I hadn't been given. I've always jumped straight up, and gone for it regardless of whether or not someone crashes. I'll try to get my knees up from now on. This I've always done. I am also known for diving and rolling to take the ball away. I was practicing earlier today, in fact, for an hour, and I blocked two shots like this. Got ya. I've done the former, not the latter, but I'll be doing that. Thanks. QUOTE(danman31 @ Jul 7, 2006 -> 04:12 PM) For my college IM team we had a goalie who had never played before but was a good athlete so we figured he could pull it off given the lack of a real goalie. The one thing he had trouble with was being aggressive. Be aggressive on breakaways and any opportunity you have to get the ball, get it. Even if you miss the ball or don't get there in time it puts pressure on the attacker and makes them at least think about you. If you're lucky they'll even panic and miss. I've barely played goalie before but this sounds like a similar scenario and I noticed that aggressiveness was the hardest thing for him to learn. Believe me, the one thing I don't lack is aggressiveness! Thanks.

I was at the train yesterday on my way home, and I said to a girl that I'd begun chatting up, I said, "D'you like any sports?" and she said, "I like baseball." Some old guy came up to us and yelled, "CUBS AND RED SOX ALL THE WAY!" and I said, "Ouch, you like both of those teams?" He said, "As long as it's not the Yankees, man I hate the Yankees, the Yankees buy it all, man, and they never go anywhere." "The way I see it," I said, "the Red Sox are the Yankees with a little less money, and a lot less success." "That's 'cause we're cursed!" "Yeah, well, with payrolls like the ones you typically carry, you should be able to make any curse lift." "We did, man, but those Yankees, they suck." Then I turned to the girl and she said, "I'm a Sox fan." Guy says, "All right, another one!" and she said, "White Sox" curtly. The train arrived, and he got into a different car than us because he was, I guess, intimidated by a loaded Orange Line car. God, do I hate talking to Cubs fans or Red Sox fans.

I played much soccer as a younger lad, and was primarily a defender or midfielder. I always liked goalkeeping, though. Now, for my school team, I am the starting goalie for the fall. Any advice on what workouts to do? How to stretch before a match? What'd you do, if you played? And, hell, any words of wisdom about technique in in-game action would be appreciated, too.

Whatever happens, Hermanson has earned a spot on my list of herooooooes. QUOTE(beautox @ Jul 7, 2006 -> 01:57 PM) For DBA on the Denorfia front a nice play out in LF on 09/16/05 and his first career hit a HR on 09/09/05 both here. Seriously it blows my mind how the reds are just letting him rot down at AAA he can play anywhere in the OF, and he turns 26 in 8 days. Hes currently batting .349, 34RBI, 4HR, 28BB/30SO, 14SB/1CS, .408OBP wow. I've got a question for people on this board, What do you think of Youkillis as a lead off hitter? If your a proponet of Youkillis as a lead off hitter would you be open to someone like Denforia batting lead off for say the sox next year? just throwing it out there. I might be the only one, but I wouldn't object to more Pods. I think Denorfia is an interesting prospect, though.

Hey guys, Was anyone "watching" via GameDay that day? D'you know what it said when Barrett punched Pierzynski and the battle began?

I hate Hawk, but I liked his call when Cintron hit a three run blast in the eighth against Detroit.

QUOTE(RibbieRubarb @ Jul 7, 2006 -> 10:51 AM) All I can say is this... If the other fans were truly "fans" they would have tried harder. But no one tries harder or works harder than White Sox fans!! Play better next year, Liriano! Practice your election-rigging this year, Minnesota, and come back in 365. /Ozzie

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jul 7, 2006 -> 11:17 AM) It's nice to see a HR derby with so little steroid abusers in it. I would only guess one, or possibly two, in this year's derby. Which two would you guess?

So the rotation will be, Contreras Buehrle Garcia Garland Vazquez?

QUOTE(Whitewashed in @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 11:04 PM) Theres no need for the headshake. Just like Politte is a valid target for ridicule, my criticism of the title of this thread is valid. I agree with everything you said, just not the original title of the thread. I have nothing further to add.

QUOTE(Sox It To Em @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 10:54 PM) I can't help but feel sorry for Cliff. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. But this is the majors, and if he can't cut the mustard anymore, which does seems to be the case, then it's time to say goodbye. Thanks for 2005, Cliff. There we go. That's about right, and well said. Are you sure you don't want him to be killed, or to hang a banner saying, "My career fell apart in 2006 after a beautiful 2005!" on his chest and boot him around at the next SoxFest?

QUOTE(hi8is @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 10:47 PM) your silly. I have a silly?! What about my silly? Can't you read, my dear boy? I was replying to one specific person when I made the comment about subtlety. I guess in your haste to take offense at my indignation you wanted to make the point that I am righteous and condescending. Congratulations. Like I've said, I was merely taking offense at the extreme and caveman-like attitude toward Politte. I wasn't defending him, or asking for a second chance. I wasn't talking about his feelings, per se. I was making the point that so many people here laughing it up at his failures as to ignore such basic virtues as gratitude and general decency toward their fellows. It's not like Cliff Politte killed your best friend, or dogged it on the field or anything like that.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 10:31 PM) Look, I will be forever in debt to Cliff for the role he played last year. I've said that about 674 times this year. But it's 2006 now. I want to repeat. I want it this year more than last year. Cliff Politte hurts the chances of us winning again. That's all that really matters. There is a difference, perhaps too subtle for you to comprehend, between not wanting Politte anymore on the team -- and nobody can possibly want him to remain -- and saying, "He's trash" over and over and over, and ridiculing the end of his career. I'm not going to work myself up over it, and I'm going to bow out now, thanks. I just wanted to say that those of you laughing at Cliff's failures and screeching not for him to bow out of the game, to be cut from the team, but having all the fun in the world and directing all your misguided anger toward him should be ashamed. But, hey, he's garbage, and worthless now, right? So it's okay to be cruel instead of insensitive.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 09:59 PM) Mike........yo' the greatest! Showering? For 3 hours? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... I'm surprised your wrists don't hurt after all that voting. Actually, the voting was very easy on my hands and wrists. I didn't have a single complaint after voting, and I spent a ton of hours voting over these last few days. And no, I wasn't showering for three hours. I had other things to do. Would you believe me if I said I was playing with my cats and writing poetry? I think that might be even worse than a three hour "shower..."

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 10:27 PM) Politte has been bad. You probably should be directing your anger at Ozzie for subjecting Cliff to this ridicule for continuing to use him when its quite evident he just doesn't have it anymore. Politte is not getting nearly the abuse Marte got, and he was always better than Cliff. I also don't see Cliff getting the abuse Shingo got last year, and Shingo was better in 2004 than Politte in 2005, and better in 2005 than Politte in 2006. These guys get paid a lot of money and are expected to perform. If they perform as poorly as Cliff has, even he would understand the thread. I'm not angry. I'm just a tad disenchanted with the way Cliff's being treated. And, you know, I understand that they're expected to perform for their money, but Kenny Williams is the General Manager, and I'd be stunned if he's sitting in his skybox right now going, "That worthless mother f***er -- his career is OVA! I'm not going to pay him to do this! I'm going to cut him so fast he might turn into Angry Cliff on the way out. Wouldn't that be funny? Worthless smuck." There's one hell of a difference between being utterly foul and classless and running a ballclub.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 10:24 PM) You haven't been here long. I've seen way worse than this. I'm happy that you have. I was just commenting on my own view of it. I can't quite shake the disgust I have for this post. Cliff's not a rookie like Boone Logan; he isn't someone who has been with the club for a month, or some other trivial amount of time. He's a guy who helped take us to the World Series and has given us everything he possibly can. His career is disintegrating, and I think it should be obvious that he'll be done sooner rather than later. But it is obscene in the worst sense that there is no gratitude toward him, no nuance, no kind words whatsoever. It's as if he's a piece of meat to be discarded completely. Hey, listen, I don't like to lose games anymore than anyone, but my memory isn't so short and my heart not so dark as to laugh at someone in what might just be their worst moment, professionally at least, and certainly not when he's been on our team and done what he's done for us.

QUOTE(jenksd @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 10:20 PM) why would this thread title be changed? lame Personally, I'm of the opinion that it should probably be locked, as it's the foulest thing I've read here on SoxTalk.

QUOTE(Whitewashed in @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 10:15 PM) Wow, the guy does suck, but this thread is a little harsh. There is no such thing as grace anymore. A guy gives you the best year of his career and the worst, but in each he tries to the best of his ability, shows up to work, does what is asked of him, and works hard. His career collapses, and that makes him a perfectly valid target for ridicule and attack. :headshake

I don't think we have to celebrate Cliff's downfall. I don't want him on this team anymore. He is a broken pitcher. But I don't take pleasure in ridiculing the poor man. He did a lot, and he's tried this year. Forgive me, but I understand that he's done all he can do -- sad though that is -- and am not going to blast him away. It's not like he was a player with a bad attitude in our clubhouse.

LCR, I want you to know that I love you.

Was it read? I showered through much of the game, and have been preoccupied with other things.

QUOTE(BobDylan @ Jul 2, 2006 -> 04:57 PM) Apparently Joe Crede had something to say about this. Link please.

The more time passes, the less I can say in defense of Javier Vazquez.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 08:21 PM) gee, or maybe he's got the 16 million in his back pocket and doesn't put forth as much effort as he could in workouts, stretches, etc. if you think that no players work like that you're living in lala land. You don't have anything that proves or even alleges that Vazquez is dogging it backstage. It is possible, but I doubt it. He's got head issues, and loses his control. He doesn't half-ass his efforts, thanks, and I think that watching him and the anger he has whenever he loses should show that he cares.