henry wiggins

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 10:44 PM) This team has a lot of holes. It's way too early to make statements like "they're too good of a team". We might get back to the elite level, but we're not exactly a well-oiled machine like we were last season (and yes, I know the records aren't too much different). I agree. The impression I get, watching and listening to the games, is that the 2006 Sox aren't a team yet in the way that the '05 Sox were a team. This is a collection of good, even superb, players, but the hunger that fueled last year's team isn't evident to me. There have been flashes of it, but only when things are going well. I have yet to see this group come through a bad patch stronger and more together. I sure hope they get to that point, though, and soon. IMO the bullpen is the only *serious* weakness on this club, technically. Pretty much the only pen pitcher who doesn't make me nervous as hell when he comes in, is Jenks. For some reason that kid radiates complete command, and I love that.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 10:35 AM) BULLPEN Okay, Jenks appears to be just fine generally. Cotts' ERA and WHIP are now down to very respectable numbers, and will continue to fall. Thorton had an amazing May and outside of last night, appears to be the real deal. Politte has respectable numbers. So we have a closer and three set up guys. Obviously this Nelson thing did not work. Fine, we tried something, it didn't work. Obviously McCarthy is not really that comfortable in this role some of the time, but he has shown flashes of brilliance. He is still a kid and needs a long leash. I'll take my chances with Starter/Thorton/Politte/Cotts/Jenks against anyone any day of the week, and probably win 3/5 of those games on average. So what if some relievers had a s***ty night. It happens. I'm with you until the Bullpen analysis. What did I miss -- how did the Nelson thing not work? I haven't watched the last few games, only listened to them with Farmer and Singleton, but Jeff Nelson has looked okay to me every time he's been in there; in fact, I've wondered why Ozzie hasn't used him more. Am I wrong, did he bomb? And I have no confidence whatsoever in Politte. I want to, I really do, but I just don't feel good when he's in the game (and neither, obviously, does he). IMO Cliff is expendable. I would like to see B-Mac in the starting rotation, maybe even this year. I'm sorry that Jon Garland has a no-trade clause.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 12:26 PM) Welcome and keep up the great posts. You certainly can't believe everything you hear, and experience definitely trumps hearsay... Thank you. I actually did not start posting just to disagree or stir things up. I grew up in Burnside/Chatham, in Roseland, and in Beverly, where I now live. When I was in my 20's and 30's I lived for 7 years in various north side neighborhoods. I've been a Sox fan since 1967 and I followed Hangar18 here when he got tossed from WSI, because I don't think that his "media watch" is a Cubs obsession, I think it's a media watch. I'm female, 40-never-mind, and spend my work life among futures traders, but in my real life I'm pretty sane. Nice board here.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 12:05 PM) My eyes. And from the mouth of the under cover cops that work (and worked) there. With all due respect, the words of undercover cops who worked there, reported 2nd or 3rd or 4th hand, are not credible evidence. http://www.geocities.com/inquisitive79/fal....html#authority Cops in Chicago tend to not be very fond of certain neighborhoods, and cops may very well have personal views that color (no pun intended) what they relate. Got any pics of bullet holes in UD seats? Got any news reports mentioning such bullet holes? Another feature of the race/class aspect of all this is that we city residents tend to get really annoyed when the stereotypes, generalizations, and canards are put about by people who don't live in the city and have not spent any real time in the areas that they say are so horrible. I'm a lifelong resident of the south side, and I can't begin to explain the context and background for some of this to people who grew up in or live now in suburbs or outside of the Chicago area.

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 10:30 AM) I went on a Marlins website, and one marlin fan asked the other why SOX fans were so jealous of Cub fans (stereotype propogated by the Tribune-now widely believed myth). Another Marlin fan said it was because SOX fans were "poor" and the area around Comiskey is "rundown" and "desolate" and nobody wants to hang around the park because its "dangerous". Wow, bridgeport is home of gangs and crack houses apparently. Not just Bridgeport-- the park is on the near south side, and to reach it you always have had to go through neighborhoods that are non-white. That freaks out a lot of people. And for decades, King Richard I's high-rises, the housing projects, stretched out along the Ryan expressway and gave a nice, sordid glow to the area. If Wrigley Field had been located across the street from the old Cabrini-Green projects, their ambience, cachet, and attendance would be a whole different story. As for the safety of the neighborhoods around 35th and Shields-- I've been going to games there since 1967, and for years I took public transit to get to the games. I've never had a problem. And I never saw bullet holes in the UD seats, and unless someone can present solid evidence of that, I am going to dismiss it as more neighborhood-bashing. I'm not so sure that the crime rate around the Confines is that of Mayberry, either.

QUOTE(zach61 @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 03:40 PM) If the Sox want all the press, then they should get their own paper too. Has anyone suggested this to KW yet? Because I believe he could do it! Maybe a deal involving Politte and a draft pick. As a lifelong south sider, I know that Hangar isn't exaggerating about the media coverage of the two teams. It's about more than the baseball teams -- it's about race and class and the perceptions of both in Chicago. It ain't pretty. (OTOH, the fact that the drunks and yuppie scum don't come to the Cell in the numbers that they go to the Confines is okay with me, so this is both a curse and a blessing.)