iamshack

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 10:01 AM) Defensively both are good and Escobar has more to prove but Escobar, while he has limited pop, he certainly looks to have a better approach and a far shorter swing. I don't know what happened to Gordon but he has a god awful approach and swing. And I've been consistently saying this since last spring training. I recognize that RIGHT NOW, for instance, in the next 5-20 games, Escobar may produce better results offensively than Beckham, but considering the delta between the two, even when Gordon plays at his absolute worst and Escobar at his best, I'd much rather eat that shortfall and give Gordon a chance to resurrect is career. However, I think it may be time for Gordon to go back to Charlotte...and if that is what the organization determines, then yes, let OC (I mean Escobar) play in the interim (and Lilli). But that would be doing so for different reasons.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 10:56 AM) Escobar is better than Beckham. I'm still not willing to concede this.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 10:45 AM) I'll take a look at that thunder shirt. I might try to find just a normal tight fitting shirt first to see if that helps. I'm sure I can find something like that for cheaper than $40. I wonder too if this was just enhanced because we weren't home. It's one thing to get nervous about storms, it's another to get so freaked out that she felt compelled to get downstairs and hurt herself in the process. Yeah, any old shirt will work, as long as it fits tightly around her torso...not choking her or anything, but kind of like a girdle

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 14, 2012 -> 02:56 PM) Are you really aggressive on the accelerator/brake? Are you driving a lot in a downtown area where you're stuck at a ton of stoplights, accelerating, and decelerating a lot? A lot of engines do take time to work themselves "into shape" if you will, moving parts adjusting to each other with time and getting small bits of production residue/metal out of the way, so that could play into it too, but if you're burning through a full gallon of gas in 18 miles, I'd guess driving style or number of stoplights plays into it. At worst, if I was driving around in Downtown Pasadena for groceries only with my Civic, no highway driving, I'd wind up around 20-23 miles per gallon because there were so many stoplights, and it's rated at ~40. I think it's going to take quite a few tanks of gas for the engine to get broken-in...give it a few thousand miles...

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 09:15 AM) So has anyone solved a dog-being-scared-of-storms problem? We have a 6 year old Boston terrier. When we lived in the city (her first 4 or so years) she was absolutely fine when it came to rain/thunder/lightning. It didn't phase her at all. But once we moved to the burbs two years ago we noticed she was getting more and more afraid of them. It started with her just looking at my wife and I or getting close to us for comfort. Then that evolved into pseudo panic attacks - pant nonstop no matter what we did. And then this weekend was the real kicker. We came home late from a movie during a torrential downpour. We have a gate blocking her from going down to the basement (litter box heaven for her) that is made of plastic. We walked into the house and it was a blood bath - blood all over the floor in front of the gate, blood on the stairs, blood on the walls in the stairway, etc. She had chewed the s*** out of the gate in an attempt to get to the basement (I assume) and cut her mouth. After we got inside she proceeded to grab her favorite ham bone and paced around with it in her mouth for about 30 minutes until the storm went away. She'd sit next to us for about half a second before going back to walking around again...she just couldn't sit still. It's just weird to us that she is becoming more scared of storms the older she gets. Maybe in our apartment she wasn't able to hear them as well (though we lived in an older three flat, so it's not like it was a 30th floor condo with great insulation). Or maybe she's older and is paying more attention to her surroundings. Whatever it is I'm worried she's going to do something similar when we're away. I'm thinking about crating her in the basement if we know we'll be gone during a storm. Or maybe keep a TV on so she can hear voices. I've also heard there is some shirt that you can buy that is tight and makes them feel protected, though i'm wary of that since it sounds like a gimmick. Anyone else have an issue like this before? The Thundershirt! It's not a gimmick IMO, and I did see it work on one of my dogs. Basically, it puts some pressure on the torso, which supposedly has a calming effect. It's worked on animals before and even autistic children. There is an autistic author named Temple Grandin who has written on this and done experiments with it. I have a dog I rescued from a local shelter that had major separation anxiety. Was a saint while I was home but if I was gone for more than an hour or so, I'd come home to find things destroyed and strewn all over the house. I heard about this shirt from my mother and skeptically bought it. It definitely seemed to work, the only problem was he (oftentimes with the help of my Great Dane) would chew it off of him and tear it. I could never get them to last more than a week or so before it got ruined. I think they cost about $40...might be a good idea to try it, considering just how stressed out your dog seems to get.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 07:30 AM) What Pedroia's response tells me is that there is a pretty big gulf between the manager and the players. The players simply do not trust whatever it is this manager is trying to do. Gee, ya think? That much is obvious...what I think has happened is that the current core of Red Sox players has been enabled so much that they now think they run the show in the clubhouse...and they are resisting the direction of their manager. I don't think it has much to do with Valentine. I think unless you have a guy who is willing to cede almost all of his power to the players, you're going to get this kind of result. It's almost like a monster has been created...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 08:20 AM) Valentine publicly called out Youkilis over the weekend. Pedroia ripped Valentine in response: I heard this on my way into work this morning... I like Pedroia but these Boston players think they are above the rest of the League or something..."that's not how we do things around here"? Seriously? Under whom? Tito is gone, Dustin...the way you did things around there got him f***ing fired...so maybe you should listen to your manager and change some of the things you do around there.... Now I'm not saying the way Valentine called him out was right either...I think we have all seen the public criticism of players over the course of the last several years and I can't say I remember too many cases of the criticism having positive effects... But Pedroia's response is even more out of line, IMO.

I agree...it's not particularly great for spectators...but it IS only one game...of course, if it is such a pain that it makes you resent Jackie Robinson day instead of celebrating it, perhaps something needs to be done.

I watch plenty of other teams, and there are plenty of weak links out there... Who does Nick Punto play for these days?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 15, 2012 -> 03:43 PM) Sale came out after the 5th, Jones came in the game in the 6th. He actually came out for the first batter in the 6th, which was Prince Fielder, who promptly hit a double. I think he was just coming out for the one hitter though.

Yeah, we didn't deserve that game, but that's alright. You're not going to win every game. Great series. Now let's take 3 of 4 from Bmore like Fathom said.

Chased ball 4 to add insult to injury...

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Apr 15, 2012 -> 03:31 PM) Crap. Jimmy didn't leave him in there too long like he did with Zoolander. Tying run up to bat and winning run in the on deck circle. Score 3 more and then can bring in Hector Screwball. I disagree...I would have left him in if I was Leyland. I'm thrilled they pulled him...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 15, 2012 -> 09:53 AM) When do playoff tickets go on sale? The invoices are in the mail

Terry Francona commented on the state of the White Sox farm system last Sunday night during the game...and it's hard to separate the honest commentary from the fluff commentary, and Francona even prefaced his comments by saying "I might be a little biased because I spent a lot of time around their development system," but he went on to say that it is better than one might think from reading most of the major publications. He said the White Sox system is "misunderstood." And then he went on to mention that a lot of pitchers in the mlb have come out of the White Sox system. And he's right...we just haven't been in a great position to utilize them ourselves. The argument used to be made that of all the White Sox prospects Kenny has traded, no one really has turned into much of anything, so why worry? Well, in the past few years, we've seen Gio and Hudson be traded elsewhere and turn into a couple of the top young starters in the game. I think many of us sit and think about what this rotation might look like with Gio and Hudson in it, along with Sale and Danks and Humber... But the bottom line is, to claim that the system is decrepit and doesn't produce anything is insane. If you just look at those three SPs alone, you're not going to find too many systems that have produced a Gio/Hudson/Sale type trio in the last 5-6 years. Unfortunately, we only have one Sale to speak for it...but to me, it's starting to become clear that it's not the system that should bear the brunt of the blame, but more so our relative lack of success in trading them for players that would put us over the top and result in division championships. That can be blamed on Kenny, but it's more so an issue of everyone failing, from the players, the manager, and the GM on down.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 14, 2012 -> 11:17 PM) Two of my good buddies do. One take NOXplode and the other takes Jack3d. The Jack3d is some CRAZY stuff and he got HUGE in a couple months, but even he says it scares him sometimes. He'll get an accelerated heartrate and even have mood swings and get overly angry at times. The NOxplode is a lot "safer" and used way more widely. I've been thinking about starting it myself, but I don't really like the idea of taking something to make my blood vessels open up and my heart pump faster. Honestly, from what I've researched, taking anything with a good bit of caffeine before a workout will give you a boost of energy and prolong your workout/improve your focus. What are your workout goals?

P.A.P. Anyone else started P90X2 yet?

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Apr 14, 2012 -> 10:19 AM) I really don't think Andrus wouldn't have gotten to that, Alexei was shot out of a f***in cannon, it was sick. I think there are some other guys that would have, but Alexei has the arm to go along with the range. That's what separates him in my mind. Now if he could only be a consistent hitter...

A co-worker of mine bought that Samsung Note and had it at work today. It's way too big to be a phone....if you remember all the people making fun of what an iPad would look like if they put a phone in it, that is pretty much what the Note looks like.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 13, 2012 -> 01:06 PM) any of you guys take pre-workout supplements like noxplode, superpump 250, etc? trying to decide if it's worth it. I'm not big on putting chemicals in my body - but i'm skinny and trying to gain mass, and a pre-workout drink would probably help me lift harder... Ask Rock

Yes!

Pitch around him

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 13, 2012 -> 01:50 PM) Viciedo Ks on a full count. Well, at least we've got his pitch count up to 40 or so...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 13, 2012 -> 01:43 PM) Rios with a two out double to break up the post game show. Did he hit it hard?

Damn that Morel...