henry wiggins

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Jul 22, 2006 -> 11:21 AM) Trashing Buehrle? Did you even read what you quoted? He said he's been a disappointment. How the f can that be denied? He said we need him for the stretch run. Maybe BECAUSE he's our best pitcher (at least tied for that honor), and we need our best players to perform. But hey, I'm forgetting, you're an expert on class, telling other posters that they aren't real fans with the scare-quotes bs. Why would anyone bother to stick around here and post if they didn't really care about this team? As for "trashing" Buehrle, did you bother to look at his member group? That's not an automatically generated group, he had to ask to have it changed to that. But your mind-reading powers saw through that ruse to his true Buehrle-hating self. Great point, bravo! My comment was in response to the "If he is turning the corner, it sure as hell better be now." That's insightful analysis? Supportive comment? I didn't think it read as such. The way it comes across as I read it is that Mark Buehrle needs to shape the f up right NOW! -- as if it were somehow in MB's control and power to do that immediately and he just didn't want to. If I read it wrong, that happens, it's the internet. The rest of your post makes no sense to me, sorry. You seem to be referencing posts I've made in the past? I don't remember what they were. If you do, frankly, that creeps me out a little bit. In fact, you seem to be bringing a lot more emotion into this than I think it warrants. How about you ignore my posts in the future and I'll ignore yours? Win/win.

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Jul 22, 2006 -> 08:20 AM) Buerhle has been a major dissapointment. If he is turning the corner, it sure as hell better be now. If this team gets behind more than 6.5 games, they are toast. Yeah, they should trade Buehrle now. Who the freak does he think he is, letting down the "fans" like this?! I say we teepee his house. Also, no team has ever come from 6.5 back on July 22 to win; and this team definitely doesn't have the tools to do it. I'm giving away the rest of my season tickets, since there's no point even watching the Sox anymore. Get a grip. A pitcher who has been rock-solid for half a decade goes into the worst slump of his career, and you're trashing him? Classy.

Don Cooper said today (or yesterday, I forget) that this is a test of the team's attitude and mental toughness. He's right. If they're the least bit relaxed by last year's win, the Tigers will get the better of them at the end. Are the '06 Sox as hungry as the '05 Sox were? We'll see! It's too early to know that, only the next 2+ months will tell. It's definitely times like this that meld players into a team, though. If they come through the rough stretches without any infighting or attitude problems, and pull together on the same end of the rope (as Ozzie likes to say), they'll be just fine and will finish first in the ALC. And when did so many people stop believin'???? How sad!

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jul 20, 2006 -> 03:01 PM) I will say this now. The division race, is over. Congrats to the Tigers, they have played amazingly. Can the Sox work out an arrangement with the Commissioner's office where they settle now for a 3rd place finish, and just go through the motions on the rest of their games? I mean, it's all over anyway, so why even pretend that they have a chance, right? Pour a bucket of teal over the preceding paragraph. My gosh, it's July 20, and the division race is over? No real polite way to say this: get a grip!

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jul 20, 2006 -> 07:50 PM) Who'd have thought we'd actually have this discussion about 2 months back? Two months back the talk was about moving him into the Charlotte Knights lineup.

The guy and his wife just adopted a child and he's all worked up because ballclub officials didn't congratulate him?!?! Is he for real? Gee, nice to know how much it means to him to have a child. He's going to be a great dad, not like he's got any maturity issues. I hope to never see a guy like that in a Sox uniform. OTOH, the story's interesting in what it doesn't say, too -- there sure is some dissension on that ballclub, and it's about more than just an adoptive dad not getting a cake from the front office. H'mmmmm.....

QUOTE(greg775 @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 09:53 PM) I agree with Steve. Hawk is the best. LOL! I can't stand him ... I turn the sound off and watch the game while listening to Farmer and Singleton, until Farmer gets into his "we're all doomed" mode, and then I turn off the radio and watch without commentary.

What a classy guy KW is. Thanks for posting that.

I'm a believer.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jul 17, 2006 -> 02:46 AM) This team needs more than Brandon McCarthy. Fixed it for you.

I wasn't posting on the board last year, but I've read the threads and it sure seems silly to deny the power of the Rally Crede ... I'm in.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Jul 16, 2006 -> 03:16 PM) whupdeef***in doo......its almost august...i know hes still hittin like .340 in july, and he is coming around, but 3.5 months of batting .200 is something im not celebrating "Almost August"? It's July 16. There is half the month of July left. What calendar do you use? Give me a break. :headshake

It sounds like AJ is getting fined for playing hard and having an attitude. If that's the case, Pete Rose would have been banned from baseball even without the gambling. And of course, Ty Cobb should be tossed out of the HOF. Last month the Southtown ran a full-page piece on AJ, titled "The Man Who's Booed Too Much." I sent it to AJ and asked him to sign it and send it back to me, and he did. I'm going to frame it and hang it next to my ALCS and WS and parade front pages -- I love AJ, I think he personifies this team and Ozzieball.

You're right-- I looked up the article and there's not a word about the upcoming homestand, so the writer IS talking about the WS. Okayyyyy... The Tigers don't have the track record (in recent years) to justify that degree of confidence, so I guess it's optimism. How silly -- I mean, how nice!

Are you sure that headline doesn't refer to the next series the Tigers play, which is at home against KC? It doesn't say "Tigers To Open World Series At Home" and I didn't read it that way. What's the rest of the article say??

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Jul 4, 2006 -> 12:01 PM) This is an old idea that I bet 95% of the people here understood. It's often said that a manager's kiss of death is when the gm announces something like, I have all the faith in the world that Charlie'll turn this thing around. I'm only half-serious about it here, but don't act like I'm the one making this up. So how would we know if KW were NOT shopping for a center fielder -- that's my point. If he's going to say he's not when he is, and he's not when he isn't, then it seems to me (with all due respect, and I am not "acting like you're the one making this up") that you are hearing KW say what you want him to say. Because I hear KW say that the job belongs to BA, and what that means to me is that the job belongs to BA. That's all. Yes, of course I know that assurances can mask entirely different plans by the brass -- does anyone REALLY think that Dusty Baker's job is as safe as Hendry says it is? -- but sometimes assurances are assurances. Only time will tell, obviously. And if KW trades for a center fielder, then I will state on this board that you were right and had more insight into this than I. And if he does not trade for a center fielder ...

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Jul 3, 2006 -> 04:02 PM) What it usually says is that you're shopping like crazy for a center fielder... So if KW says he's shopping for a center fielder, then he IS shopping for a center fielder. And if KE says he's not shopping for a center fielder, then he IS shopping for a center fielder. Okay, I think I understand now. :headshake

QUOTE(zach23 @ Jul 3, 2006 -> 02:15 PM) Actually you just described the problem of modern day sports. Because of the internet and 24 hour sports programming it is harder to enjoy the game now. Every little detail is beaten to death on message boards and sports blab shows. 20 years ago you would simply watch the game and read about it the next day in the paper and that was that. Now every little thing is blown up a discussed to death until people are going crazy. It used to be a lot easier to just watch the game, and either enjoy a win or just deal with the loss until the next day. The bad thing is, the internet is addictive and it is hard to stay away from the insanity. All good points, IMO, and add to that the fact that blame has replaced analysis in a lot of the re-hashing, and what we get is a bunch of "if the Sox hadn't lost that one they'd have won it" or "if the Sox hadn't won that one they'd have lost it." I think baseball is more nuanced than that, which is why I have completely stopped listening to sports radio. One small step back to sanity!

"Part of development, part of evaluation, is not just being able to evaluate when a guy is going good,'' Williams said. "It's being able to make decisions on when a guy is struggling." Gosh, Kenny, don't the posters on internet boards do that for you??

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Jul 3, 2006 -> 10:15 AM) The sky is falling. And we're all dying. You know, I thought yesterday that when this season is over, no matter where the Sox end up, I am probably going to wish I'd chilled out more DURING the season and enjoyed it more and worried about the outcome less. I've been a Sox fan since before most of the posters on this board were even born, and you know what? This is as good as it gets. This TOTALLY ROCKS -- a WS Championship team, most of the members of that team back for a second run, and the new members making the current team even better -- this is a fantastic, fun season. I love going to the games. I love so many of the players on this team, I have that stupid "I feel like they're family" feeling you get when you really get caught up with a sports team. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and never know, much less care, who plays in the 2006 World Series. Live in the moment: this is bliss. After 39 years of bad, terrible, mediocre, pretty good, dreadful, embarrassing, hopeful, and lamentable teams -- this is bliss.

QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ Jul 2, 2006 -> 05:34 PM) On todays broadcast Ozzie was quoted as saying " Does Williamson actually think he could make my team?" Oh, I love Ozzie.

QUOTE(brijames @ Jul 2, 2006 -> 10:32 AM) Whats the weather look like for this afternoon in Chicago? Chance this thing gets rained out? Probably not, the thunderstorms are predicted for later in the day, actually evening. It's overcast now, but not as humid as it was yesterday.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Jul 2, 2006 -> 11:32 AM) Why is failing to win 2 out of 3 games in either of two series against the team on the other side of town (which in the scheme of 162 games, just aren't that important) a determining factor in the Cubs deciding to allow Baker to finish his contract, than say, being 25 games under 500? If Cubs management wants to keep Baker, then that's what they're going to do. If they want to fire him, they have plenty of justification to do so already, based on W-L, without accounting for 6 games against the Sox. You're right, it wouldn't be one or two more wins -- it would be more like, if the Cubs had won (or swept) at least one of the series from the Sox, the Cubs would be playing much differently and *wouldn't* have the record they have now. Or, put it this way: upper management might reason that if Dusty can fire up his team to beat the Sox, he is fit to manage -- and if he can't, he isn't. That's not purely rational or logical, but it's also not outside of the realm of corporate-think. Again, JMO. ETA: And absolutely true that Baker is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to problems at that outfit. Unfortunately, the corporate goons rarely fire each other and never fire themselves. Dusty will be the goat in this one (pun intended).

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 2, 2006 -> 10:59 AM) There is a difference in saying I am happy where I am at, and in saying no I dont want to play for this particular manager. Trade speculation happens at this point in the season. He said he didnt want to play for Ozzie, specifically because he handled the Sean Tracey situation the way he did. So even though Sean Tracey says HE wants to play for Ozzie after that, this guy doesn't? Cool. Let him go find a World Series ring somewhere else.

I have thought for a long time that Dusty Baker will not return to the Cubs after the All-Star break. I do think that the two crosstown series were musts for him -- he had to win at least one of them in order to have a shot at finishing out the season and his contract. That didn't happen. We'll see ...