BearSox

it would have been simpler if the hitter just choose his natural side and went from there, imo. If I'm the hitter in that situation, I'd say who cares, just throw the damn ball.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 11:33 PM) BearSox goes to the Wikipedia school of political information... haha It's ok, so do I because I was overseas at that time and I don't remember much. I seriously remember that though. I remember back in 04, my whole summer basically consisted of playing MVP baseball and listening to the radio while I did so, and I remember hearing about the senate race and such... MVP, what an amazingly addictive game that was.

I wish they would abolish the DH... I'm a fan of the pitching batting.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 11:19 PM) IMO domestic spying is perfectly acceptable and there is an obvious and legit need for it. But you need to have a warrant, or some type of authorization from the judicial system to do it. We have the Constitution for a reason. That was my main problem with the Bush administration doing it, they were acting like oversight was a complete joke and like they were insulted to have to do it. If it's necessary you will get a warrant, all it is is an extra step in the process. So, what you are saying is that if the computer flags a message or something that goes through it, you'd need to get a warrent first before you can look into that message? Eh, makes sense to me.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 11:21 PM) He played his cards wrong there. The whole thing ended up backfiring on him. The idea didn't seem to come from the Dems though, that's all I was saying. But they were more happy to use it against him of course. If I recall, there was some controversy as well about Ryan having some guy video tape Obama's every move.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 11:15 PM) Actually it was during the GOP primaries that his GOP candidates were pushing to get the records released if I'm not mistaken. And that Hillary Clinton-esque tactic came back to bite them in the ass, because it left it up there in the open for the Dems to use against him. I believe when the GOP asked Ryan about it, and he said there is nothing embarrassing in them. I guess he was hoping that the court still wouldn't have open up the papers (which they shouldn't have in the first place, considering both Jack and Jeri did not want them revealed to protect their son), and thus it would look like the GOP wasn't trying to cover anything up.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 11:03 PM) The last time the federal government had carte blanche like that to collect information on U.S. citizens for no reason other than they want to, it didn't go over so well and it got abused. It led to Reagan issuing Executive Order 12333. Also you sound oddly close to supporting outright fascism. That's a complete 180 of the way conservatives view the federal government (or are supposed to). Lol, I phrased that wrong. Of course I'm against fascism, but if reading messages or listening to phone calls that have repeated use of flagged words that could be a threat to national secruity, I have no problem with those messages/calls being monitored to make sure it isn't some sort of terrorist plot.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 09:15 PM) You know, all this talk about various Obama 'gotchas' supposedly out there got me thinking. They should stop worrying about wheter Michells hates whitey or not, or if Obama is really an American. Instead, they should look for who really catapulted Obama into the political world, and why. Who leaked the sex info about Jack Ryan? Info from a sealed court case comes out, conveniently after the primaries when there really isn't time to get a serious challenger (C'mon, really. Alan keyes? Yeah, right.) so that Obama just walks right into the Senate without a challenge. And once there, the talks about 'President' start almost immediately. Then he gets tapped to give a speech, and the liberal white-guilt establishment goes gaga. The rest may be history. So, who leaked that info, and what, if any, reasoning was behind it? Hmmmm.... (Sorry guys, my tinfoil is a bit tight today, but that question has lingered on for me for a while now. It's been a long day.) I wonder what life would be like right now if Jack Ryan didn't get busted for wanting to have freaky sex in public with his hot wife... Where would Obama be now if Ryan won?

I fail to see why anyone has any problems with the Patriot Act. I could care less if some weirdo intelligence officer knew who I was hanging out with on a Saturday night. As long as it keeps me safe, I have no problem with this so called "invasion of privacy."

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 03:27 PM) I'm an intelligence analyst. I used to specifically be a CT analyst around the time the war started but now I don't focus so much on the overseas stuff like I used to. I still follow it, though. But terrorism is still the general focus so it's really my job to know all this, to understand terrorists, their mode of thinking and what they are and are not. There isn't some single monolithic "kill all Americans they are evil and must all die" movement, it just doesn't work like that. This is why I find myself burying my face in my palm when I read what people write on the net sometimes. I know that that isn't their primary goal, but there is no doubt all islamofascists hate America. I recall you made a post earlier about islamofascists including Hamas, Al-Qaida, Hezbollah, etc., and that they get their funding from different places and they all have different goals and such. That's all fine and dandy, but they all hate america, they are all terrorist organizations, and they are all a threat to national security. I think I was born into the wrong era. I think I would have fit in much better during the 40's.

I've been thinking, and we need to get an OF who can hit and play CF. I think the most realistic way to improve our offensive woes would be to pretty much have the hypothetical guy I was talking about switch in with Swisher, Dye, Thome, and Konerko depending on the matchups and who's hot and who's not. Randy Winn would be a good fit for my idea. Plus, Winn should be available for probably not that steep of a price.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 04:55 PM) You know taking Danks out was a bad move when ESPN sports casters are bashing you. lol, they were even bashing that move? Who were their announcers?

QUOTE (Wanne @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 04:54 PM) We completely got out of the mindset to take Lilly's fluffy meatballs the other way today. JD hits a monster dinger...and AJ hits one...now all of a sudden the "smart" at bats disappear and everybody wants to pull the ball. It happens way too much with this team. This was probably the most frustrating thing for me today. Lilly was throwing garbage, and everyone's eyes lit up and tryed pulling the ball a mile but instead the majority of them either popped out or grounded out weakly. I don't know if the players know this, but a shot the other way feels just as good as a homer to the pullside off the bat.

To me, the bullpen should be used this way in close ball games... Thonrton - 7th innning guy (if needed) Linebrink - 8th inning guy (with Thornton coming in vs. a tough lefty if we didn't need him in the 7th) Jenks - Closer and 9th inning guy in a tied ball game Dotel - Extra innings guy/innings eater or 6th inning guy Logan - Loogy

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 03:43 PM) No, I mean bases empty v. RISP. The game was tied in part because of Anderson's failures in the earlier innings. The guy's hitting .238/.266/.385. Are you going to argue he's a good hitter? If not, then what the heck are you trying to argue? Anderson had a real crappy AB earlier in the game where instead of driving a ball high on outside to the right-center gap, he tried pulling it and grounded out to short. Man, that pitch was screaming to go to the right center gap to as it was a nothing pitch.

I'm not one to blame the manager, but today, I think you could chalk it up to Ozzie and bad managing. Of course the pen and offense didn't help, but too many bad decisions and over-managing. -First bad move was taking out Danks. Was he pitching too good or something? Who cares if the middle of the order is coming up, believe it or not, Danks has faced them twice earlier in the game. And when a pitcher was going good like Danks, it doesn't really matter if it is the third time through the lineup. I'm sick of seeing Danks pretty much babied by Ozzie. LET THE MAN PITCH FOR f***'S SAKE! -Next bad move was not bunting Uribe over in the 7th after Uribe got the pinch hit single. It's late in a close ball game against a good team, why are letting everyone swing away! Hell, I would have liked to even see the hit and run attempted. It's just got stupider and stupider. First you take out your starter who was dealing, then you don't even try and move the runners along to make it a more manageable scoring situation? My god. Crede not bunting in the 8th with Swisher at first isn't that bad of a move because Crede has been one of our better hitters this season, but I would have liked to have seen it anyway, especially with the way Crede looked at bat prior to that AB. -Putting in Dotel was questionable. He has been good for a lot of the season, but he hasn't really shown he can keep leads in close games. Vs. the heart of the order, I'd much rather see Linebrink in there for 2 innings or Thornton. Believe it or not, but Thornton is better vs. righties. However, this one lies more on Dotel than Ozzie. I say putting in Linebrink instead of Jenks is a bit questionable as well as Jenks is our best reliever, but Linebrink has been just as good. -This final one is probably worst of them all... not bunting Anderson over. It's tied in the 9th inning and you don't try and move the runner along and instead go for 2 run homer? I could see rational in this move if Thome has been good this season, but he's been horrid for the majority of the time. Pablo Ozuna should have been in to either bunt Anderson over or to push the ball over to the right side which would have had the same effect. That way you could then either go for the squeeze with Cabrera up or hope for a single/sac fly.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 03:25 PM) chw2 we don't move runners over. That's not our game. We can't bunt. Anderson had a triple and didn't take it. We don't bunt. We are a classic AL team and hit home runs. If OC would have hit his we probably would have won. You NEVER EVER make the 1st or 3rd out at 3rd base. I don't blame Anderson at all for being conservative in that situation.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 03:21 PM) That wasn't a bad decision, it's not Ozzie's fault Dotel sucked it up. Blame his offensive decisions. Not bunting with Anderson doubling and Jim Thome up? In that situation, you put in Ozuna or Wise and you bunt him over. At least get him over on a grounder to the right side. Cabrera probably could of gotten the run in with a sac fly. We had so many opportunities, screwed them all up. It's too bad Cabrera almost had a 2 run shot in the 7th, it just missed the foul pole. With a runner on 3rd, and Cabrera supposedly being good at small ball (we haven't seen it this year as Ozzie has refused to use any form of run-manufacturing this season), a squeeze would have made perfect sense.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 03:17 PM) RISP with a righy on the mound and 0 outs? Thome ought to have been up there for the RBI chance. That's not a bad move. I like Thome, but he's been either or 2nd or 3rd worst hitter this season. Instead of going for the 2 run homer in that situation, the much smarter move would have been try and move the runner over to 3rd base. I'd take a guy on 3rd with 1 out over a guy on 2nd with none out any day of the week.

I think the third base ump rung him up because that pitch was clearly a strike.

I wish we would have pinch hit Ozuna for the pitcher and have him bunt Anderson over, and go from there. Instead, we have guys going for the 2 run homer and we blow another runner at second, nobody out situation. It's just bad fundamentals right now. Could someone tell me the harm in bunting the runner over????

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 04:04 PM) Its pretty evident the more times through the lineup, plus the added fatigue, and its only going to get more difficult to get guys out. Bottom line is I wouldn't have had a problem if Ozzie went either way because you could make the argument that either move makes sense. The only time there is legitimate reason to question a call (as far as I'm concerned) is if there is no rationale reasoning behind such move. I could summarize exactly what Ozzie did today... OVER-MANAGING. It was unnecessary for him to pull Danks, but he was playing the percentages. However, percentages aren't full-proof.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 04:01 PM) Dotel is OK, but I seem him as more of an innings-eater than somebody you throw out there to cover the 7th in a close game. I'd rather they put Thornton in that role. He's tough on righties and Logan is still available as a LOOGY. You got me to my next point. Thornton is actually better vs. righties, and Ozzie seems to insist on putting him in only if a lefty is batting. I'd much prefer Thornton being the 7th inning guy, lefty or righty batting, with Linebrink being the 8th inning guy, and like you said, Dotel being the innings eater.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Jun 20, 2008 -> 03:57 PM) He didn't pull Danks for a PH, he pulled him because the heart of the Cubs order was due up in the 7th, all righties. He was going with a righty there, I believe. You aren't jumping at the chance to simply PH for your pitcher because he leads off. Now, if we're down 3-1 there, he's being PH for pretty much no matter what the situation is or who's due up for the cubs. Who cares if it's the cubs heart of the order. He got them out twice already, why not again?

Also, does Linebrink have some clause in his contract where he can only pitch 1 inning at a time? You think if we sign a SU guy for practically 20 million over 4 years that he'd be able to pitching 2 innings. I felt strongly that Linebrink should have been the 7th inning guy. I like Dotel and all, but he has shown he can't be trusted late in close ball games, IMO. He's way too streaky.