CSF

Currently 1-0 Brewers in the top 1st. Posednik led off the game with a double off of Prior, advanced to 3rd on a Counsell flyout, and scored on a Jenkins sac fly. Let's see if Doug Davis can make it stand.

If the Sox win the division, I'm changing my vote from Mariotti to Harold "Light-Bat & 4th place finish" Reynolds.

Trust me, no you don't. Comcast's service has no contracts, so if you want out, you can do so. SBC if I'm not mistaken still does that one year contract or $250 fine (I used to work for SBC) and when I tried to sell it, that $49.95 rate turned off alot of people. I hear they're offering it for $26.95, but if you do that, find out how long the deal is for.

Nice.

The Lakers. It's his team now. But without Shaq, they won't get anywhere close to the Finals again. But at least Kobe can officially declare it as his team.

From ESPN.com: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 ESPN.com news services HOUSTON -- The sellout crowd at Minute Maid Park gave Muhammad Ali a hero's welcome Tuesday, but Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller would rather the former boxing great not have been invited. Ali received a roaring ovation from the crowd for being an honored guest for the ceremonial first pitch at the All-Star Game, but Feller came away angered by Ali's presence. "I object very strongly to Muhammad Ali being here to throw out the first pitch, and you can print that," Feller was quoted as saying in Wednesday's Boston Herald. "This is a man who changed his name and changed his religion so he wouldn't have to serve his country, and, to me, that's disgusting." Born Cassius Clay in 1942, Ali changed his name after converting to the Muslim faith. Commissioner Bud Selig dismissed the criticism of Ali, who returned to the city where he fought four times and relinquished his heavyweight boxing title by refusing to join the military during the Vietnam War. "Muhammad Ali is one of the sports legends of our generation," Selig said before the game. "I don't think that that's valid criticism." Feller won 266 games during his career, all with the Cleveland Indians, but lost nearly four seasons while serving with the U.S. Navy in World War II. He received eight battle stars. "A man who turned his back on his country shouldn't be honored this way," Feller told the Herald. Ali became known for much more than being a terrific and mouthy heavyweight champion in April 1967, when he moved his legal residence to Houston to fight induction into the military at the downtown U.S. Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station. He was roundly criticized for the decision around the country, and was indicted 10 days later by a federal jury for violating the Universal Military Training and Service Act. He was convicted in Houston on June 20, 1967, and was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. Ali never went to prison as his case went through appeals, but was stripped of his titles and forced to stop boxing for more than three years. His refusal gave more steam to the growing anti-war movement, and the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1971. Ali returned to the ring shortly thereafter. He became the world champion twice more, and eventually retired in 1981. "I protest his being here [at the All-Star Game]," Feller told the Herald. "I don't like the message he sends out, and [Major League Baseball] shouldn't have invited him." Ali has returned to Houston several times over the years, including a 1997 benefit for Parkinson's disease, the ailment from which he now suffers. "He's a national treasure as far as I'm concerned," AL and New York Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "Sometimes when people are going through some physical problems, they tend to hide out. But I think he realizes how much good he does just showing up places." Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Ditto. It's nice to see the 2 major papers reporting something other than poor attendance and violent fans.

That Cleveland game was absolutely wild. The Indians hammered Schoenweis hard in that game, and it looked like they were leaving with a 2 game sweep. Mags with the 2 run shot started it, Broussard's error kept it going, and Timo's clutch hit tied it (He's had a couple of those for the Sox in the 1st half). That game showed the Sox are never out of a game completely........unless CC Sabathia is pitching.

Back to back division titles says otherwise. This is the Twins division until we wrest it away from them.

Mariotti, by far. The guy has a national forum to spew his unabashed hatred for Reinsdorf and the Sox, while doing what he considers necessary to protect "Cubdom" from negativity. Kudos to Hawk for calling him on the carpet, and Sox players for ignoring him in general.

The first year of the post-BlackJack era. That was a rough one.

Not quite. I saw The Slugger's Wife a couple of weeks ago. Oh, that movie...... :puke Though a young Rebecca DeMornay wasn't bad. Little Big League was okay.

It was so nice you said it twice.

I don't mind if someone throws a ball back onto the field at the Cell............ as long as that fan is being thrown along with it.

Now 9-0 Twins. This could be a record. KC hasn't scored a single run in the 3 games vs the Twinkies. Talk about demoralizing.

And it's official, folks. Matsui wins for the AL, Abreu for the NL. 07/07/2004 8:43 PM ET Matsui, Abreu win Final Vote By Mark Newman / MLB.com Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu won the 2004 Ameriquest All-Star Final Vote. (AP) The rosters are set for Tuesday's All-Star Game in Houston, and fans have decided that outfielders Bobby Abreu of the Philadelphia Phillies and Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees will be part of the show. The three days of balloting in the Ameriquest All-Star Final Vote closed at 8 p.m. ET, and those two players received the most votes among five nominees in their respective leagues, and will be added to the rosters as the 32nd men. Votes, cast exclusively at MLB.com, came in at a predictably frenzied pace -- more than 9.5 million votes were cast -- in this third annual program to complete the roster-selection process. Abreu, with 2 million votes, is the National League's pick. His vote totals bested third baseman Aramis Ramirez of the Chicago Cubs, outfielder Steve Finley of the Arizona Diamondbacks, catcher Jason Kendall of the Pittsburgh Pirates and outfielder Juan Pierre of the Florida Marlins. Matsui won with 1.2 million votes in an American League race that included DH Frank Thomas and first baseman Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox, outfielder Lew Ford of the Minnesota Twins and DH/first baseman Travis Hafner of the Cleveland Indians. It is the first All-Star selection for Abreu, and for Matsui it marks the second trip to the Midsummer Classic in as many seasons since he came over to the Majors from Japan. Last year's Final Vote winners were outfielder Geoff Jenkins of Milwaukee and catcher Jason Varitek of Boston. In 2002, the first year of this program, fans voted for outfielders Andruw Jones of Atlanta and Johnny Damon of Boston. Abreu pulled ahead of Ramirez in the final day of voting after a virtual dead heat between the two. Abreu has been a fantasy player's dream this season, as well as a key cog on a first-place Phillies club, hitting .301 with 17 homers, 57 RBIs, 68 runs and 17 stolen bases entering Wednesday night's home game against the Mets. For six full seasons, the Venezuelan native has produced steadily superior numbers, though he's having one of the best first halves of his career. He has been regarded by many as an underrated superstar, with teammates such as fellow 2004 All-Star Jim Thome gaining most of the recognition. "Sometimes those guys go unnoticed," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "People take it for granted [Abreu]'s going to hit .300. It's not easy hitting .300. It's hard to get 25 to 30 stolen bases. It's hard to get 100 walks, 100 RBIs, score 100 runs. He does it every year and people don't know about it. I know there's going to be people left off but to constantly leave him off every year isn't right. People should recognize what this guy has done." Days after being bumped out of the starting AL outfield by Japanese countryman Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners, Matsui becomes the seventh Yankee on the AL roster. He joins three quarters of the starting infield -- third baseman Alex Rodriguez, shortstop Derek Jeter and first baseman Jason Giambi -- and outfielder Gary Sheffield, along with relievers Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera. Matsui has had a flair for remarkable timing since coming over from Japan, starting with a grand slam in his Yankee Stadium debut. On Tuesday night, at the Final Voting entered its last day, Godzilla went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer. That not only raised his average to .282, it also gave him 16 homers -- matching his 2003 rookie total in just 82 games -- and 54 RBIs. "The numbers I like are the RBIs and the home runs. Especially the RBIs," said Yankees manager Joe Torre, who also will be Matsui's All-Star skipper. "They are right in line with knocking in 100-plus runs. "Where he sits in the lineup (usually, in the six-hole), it's probably more important for him to knock in runs and score runs." The nominees were presented to fans by All-Star managers Jack McKeon (NL) and Torre (AL) in consultation with Major League Baseball. Voting began Sunday night, immediately after the Major League Baseball All-Star Selection Show Presented by Pepsi Edge, and it concluded Wednesday night, with a torrid voting pace. Last year, a record 10.6 million votes were cast in the Final Vote. The Final Vote was instituted in 2002, and each year the campaigning for nominees gets more interesting and imaginative. Abreu probably benefited from an aggressive campaign by the Phillies, who put the outfielder in radio appearances, in stadium messages -- and even were in contact with people in his native Venezuela to help get out the vote there. One of the most interesting grassroots movements of this year's program, though, came from North Dakota, where Gov. John Hoeven got behind Hafner, a native son from Sykeston (pop. 160), and appealed to all North Dakota residents to vote for him. "Travis is a native son of North Dakota, and he's batting with the best of them in the Major Leagues," the governor said Tuesday after voting for Hafner. "He's already a North Dakota All-Star, so let's make him an American League All-Star, too." Hafner is one of three North Dakota natives currently playing in the Majors. The others are Bismarck's Tim Olson, a Diamondbacks infielder, and former AL All-Star Darin Erstad, a Jamestown native who is an Angels first baseman. This marked the second year in a row that Thomas was on the Final Vote ballot but not chosen by fans. The Big Hurt was hoping to appear in his first All-Star Game since 1997. He was hitting .271 with 18 homers and 49 RBIs, but a recent cold spell may not have helped his chances with voters. Now that fans have voted for the starters and the 32nd men, the third leg in the Year of the Voter comes on Tuesday, with the Ameriquest All-Star MVP Vote. Beginning in the sixth inning of the All-Star Game at Minute Maid Park, fans can cast their vote for the player they believe is most deserving of the Ted Williams Award for being the game's Most Valuable Player. The fan vote counts for 20 percent of the decision, with the media vote accounting for the other 80 percent. Anaheim outfielder Garret Anderson won last year's award, the first time fans could participate in that voting. Mark Newman is enterprise editor for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. email this page Can't argue Abreu, as he was very deserving (so was Ramirez from the Cubs). PK, Frank, & Lew Ford were very worthy as well. The East Coast bias strikes again. :headshake

Geez, a team goes through a slump and all the negative posters come out of the woodwork. What's wrong with me? They should go 162-0.

In the grand scheme of things, all teams go through horrible slumps like this. The Sox need to ride it out and rest up during the ASB. The 2nd half schedule gets a bit easier while the Twinkies gets a little bit tougher. I do agree that another starter is needed and Schoe needs to head to the 'pen. But I'm also all for giving Felix another shot.

5-0 Twinkies in the 3rd. Apparently there have been some beanballs too, but no ejections yet.

Nice. The next great shutdown CB is a fan of the Southsiders. Go Peanut! May you get the Pro Bowl berth you deserved last year in 2004!

It seems to me that with Garcia in the fold, and KW looking at Ortiz/Andruw Jones & now possibly Randy Johnson, that KW is willing to risk the farm to try to win now. Considering that this club hasn't had a top 10 pick since '90 tells me this club has tried to remain competetive. But I wonder; if the Sox fall short of their goal (and I hope it's a WS), would they gut this club and rebuild? I know Garcia just signed a 3 yr extension, but would they continue to rebuild the farm system and wait a couple of years? It would seem kind of the route that Cleveland took in 2001 after they won their last division title. They've sucked the last 2 yrs, but do look to be on the way back (though 4 All-Stars, I think not). Probably just my opinion, but I think KW's going for broke this time around. If it works, then a dream is realized. If not, then start over and pick up the pieces. Can't fault him for trying.

Bruce Levine just mentioned that KW talked to Arizona's GM (Garigiola Jr???) last week about Johnson being available. He was told that Johnson wasn't available at that time, but during that time, that could've changed. Hmm.....