JUGGERNAUT

Frank was 2/3 w a HR last night. Everett AB's will come at the expense of Pods & Dye. Get used to it. Everett is an RBI producer this year.

so full of s*** Moronatti is .. as usual. The Cubs discovered a bullpen? When did that happen? As for the Sox the Hillebrand idea is bad. The Sox have 21 losses. 11L by starters, 10L by relief. The 11L by starters is the best in MLB by far. No one can touch that. The 10L by relief is nothing to shout about. Both the Sox & the Cub need Guardado more than another bat. If Moronatti actually followed the two teams season he would have realized they both need help in their bullpens more so than any where else. As for trading to play keep away that's a horrible idea for a mid 70 payroll team. Let the Yankees & Red Sox engage in that strategy.

I like it. I don't know how realistic it is but I still like it. Especially given that KW wanted Omar desperately in the off-season. Getting him for the 2nd half would be a big lift. If there is any player that can make a quick transition from SS to 3B it is Uribe. His best asset is his arm & that has greater value at 3B. Crede then would be relegated to being a power bat off the bench to sub Uribe. I would be somewhat concerned about Iguchi having to learn how to play with Omar this late in the season but then we are talking about a future HOF GG SS. SF on the other hand would essentially be starting over at the SS position. We don't have a prospect to help them out there & they signed Omar on the basis that they have little depth there as well. This is why I think guys like Durham are more likely to go before Omar does.

At present the White Sox have a 2 gm lead over STL for the best record in MLB. If they enter the break as such the nation will embrace this team in the 2nd half. America loves a Cinderella story & a mid-70 payroll team being the best in MLB tops the list. There is enough diversity on this team to garner general appeal. Ozzie, Buehrle, Iguchi, Rowand, Garland, Thomas, & Koney are known both around the nation & in the city. The CWS ranks 24th in road attendance. I still believe that if they remain the best team in the majors they will crack the top 10. The World Series right now looks like a Chicago - St. Louis matchup. There are plenty of stories there to sell that series. The I-55 series. I don't think either team will sweep the other so this one is likely to go 7 gms. To suggest that Chicago won't go absolutely crazy if the White Sox were to get there is just stupid Cub bias. What could be better than for the White Sox to face the #1 hated rival of the Cub in the World Series? The presence of STL would draw both Cub & Sox fans the nation over. I think it could very well exceed the ratings of last year's Boston - St Louis matchup.

Griffey is a greater health risk than both Thomas & Everett at a higher cost. What's the point? The team's greatest need is another solid arm in the pen. Guardado makes sense since Seattle only hold's a high priced option for him in 2006. As for 1B, Gload will make up for Koney's weakness.

First off terrorists are not classified as POW's so citing the geneva convention articles pertaining to POW's is useless. They are criminals of the state. Nothing more. After Saddam was defeated Iraq's sovereignty was destroyed. It became an occupied country subject to the laws pertaining to the occupied nations based on the region the crime was committed. Today with Iraq's sovereignty restored criminals are subject to the laws of Iraq first. They are only subject to the laws of the occupied nations when the Iraqi government grants that right. Gitmo does not operate under civil law. It operates under military law which in a hostile region amounts to martial law. Martial Law empowers the state to suspend indiv rights when the crime amounts to an act of treason or threatens national security. All that being said the UN has a say in the matter. There exists a UN Convention Against Torture that applies to individuals in general. It does not distinguish between POW's, criminals, or civiilians. It has been ratified by some 65 nations including the USA but 55 states have not ratified it. Here is the list of nations that have not: http://www.irct.org/usr/irct/home.nsf/unid/JREW-6CNK9N The Vatican has ratified it as well. But it has never come before the general assembly for a full 190 member vote & therefore has no teeth. A nation volunteers to ratify it and abide by it. Other than media exposure there is no consequence for failing to do either. It is not simple to abide by either. (Sweden) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4568041.stm - This is a country that has ratified the Optional Protocol to the this convention as well. This is the first measure to provide real teeth to the convention. By ratifying this protocol a nation subjects itself to UN inspections. As of last year the OPCAT is 16 votes shy of the 20 need for ratification by the General Assembly. When/if that happens then all members of the UN will be subject to inspections as specified in the OPCAT. The US, China, Cuba, Israel, Japan, Nigeria, Vietnam, & Syria have voted against the OPCAT. Another 37 nations abstained from the vote. Add that to the 55 nations that didn't even bother to ratify the UN convention on torture to begin with & you have 92 of the 190 member nations opposing such inspections. Yet it only takes 16 more to ratify the OPCAT to make it mandatory. When you consider the cost in blood & money America has had to bear as a result of 9/11 my feelings on this are mixed. In general I support the OPCAT but I think there should be short-lived exceptions for nations that are victims of a major act of aggression or treason. A nation has a right to protect itself beyond the wisdom of the UN & extracting information from terrorists is a big part of that.

Should I collect the $1000.00? http://okfirst.ocs.ou.edu/train/meteorology/Seasons.html Pretty simple stuff. No conspiracy. Just astrophysics. He mentions his pyramid based time cube theory can solve our nuclear waste problem yet offers not a single detail as to how. Fraud.

I'm curious. 100m = 0.06214 mi His rates: 9.77 sec = 0.06214 mi 1 min = 0.3816 mi 1 hour = 22.896 mi About 23 mph. The avg speed of the 2004 Tour de France was about 25 mph.

The blame the prosecution for ever bringing this case to trial & I tend to agree. I understand the prosecution's frustration over this. They had been seeking an opportunity to convict Jackson for the last 10 yrs. Reading the juror's comments it would appear most of them feel Jackson did indeed molest children & fill their bellies with wine at Neverland in the last decade. But this case hinged on the credibility of the mother & that was the weakest possible cornerstone to build a case. The defense used her earlier case against JC Penny to effectively paint her as a fraud & a con that will do anything including use of her own children as witnesses to milk a fast buck. Most jurors felt that was where the case fell apart. It was necc a statement of Jackson's innocence as it was a statement of her guilt in the JC Penny case. Sadly now that this case is on the books & can be used as a precedent the nation will likely suffer. It will be harder to convict child molesters as a result. Think of the liberties they will have: - no need for guardian consent to pick up a child for which they have some familiarity with the family - ok to fill their young bodies with alcoholic bevs as long as they keep quiet about it until a few years pass - ok to sleep in the same bed with them despite the sexual paraphenalia surrounding the bedroom It's a sad day for America that this case ever went to trial. But as bad as this is it pale's in comparison to what's going on in IL. In 2002 a 16 yr old Naperville girl was drugged with ecstasy & gang raped by a group of men. They video-taped the event. When the police went looking to charge them with rape many of them fled the country. Two stayed. One was convicted for taping the incident & is serving less than 6 months. The other was acquitted of all charges on the basis that it appeared consensual on the tape. Never mind the fact that the girl had been drugged. Now one has returned from Serbia (supposedly the ring leader in this affair) & is confident he will be cleared as well. The girl & her family have filed civil suits as well. This is a horrible precedent & if the remaining rapists get off it will make it very difficult to prosecute rape cases like this in the future. Apparently it's ok to gang rape a 16 yr old girl in the state of IL as long as you drug her up good & tape the affair. Apparently it's reasonable to assume that a 16 yr old girl would consent to being spit upon & written upon with a major marker as well. At least for her sake Sonny's conviction means the state acknowledged that the tape was made w/out her consent. At least she has legal recourse to keep it off the internet. As one who is raising an early/pre teen this story scares the s*** out of me.

What weakness do you see in the Guch that makes you feel we need Womack? .273 / .791 VS. RIGHT: .301 / .788 HOME: .337 / .888 AWAY: .252 / .698 Womack .298 / .638 VS. RIGHT: .235 / .545 HOME: .290 / .630 AWAY: .208 / .502 Guch is on pace for 525AB. That leaves a little more than 100 for the #2 guy. Goodbye Timo, Hello Gload.

This was/is a stupid move on the part of ESPN. They are letting their personal bias get in the way of their business. The CWS & ESPN 1000 are in negotiating a new radio deal. CWS is not beholden to ESPN 1000. They could just as easily switch to WSCR 670. Now would be the time for ESPN to show LOTS of love for the White Sox. But as you said on the night the White Sox won their biggest game of the year to date (according to Oz) ESPN did not make them the headline MLB story. That's not going to help you win a new deal.

The most pressing need for this team is a sure-fire reliever & not a starter. Our starter's era is a 0.25 better than the Twins. Our reliever's era is nearly a full run worse than the Twins. Our pen has 3 guys having career years in Politte, Cotts, & Hermy. Will that last all season? Who knows. Nathan, Romero, & Crain instill more confidence for the Twins. The next 3 are struggling: Marte, Viz, & Shingo. Will they turn it around? Probably not all 3 of them. So we have at best a pen that is better than most but a far cry from the Twins. Guardado would be a nice addition. But if we could land two fine arms that would be best.

Health is going to play a role in this for sure but I think the odds are better for position players to be called up rather than pitchers. You don't want to expense starts from your top 5 for a call-up & you don't want to expense appearances from rested relievers for a call-up. If the Sox rotation continues to pitch long into games I don't see pitchers called up getting much work. Maybe extra inning games or following a short start but nothing else. You want to enter the post firing on all cylinders & that takes steady & consistent playing time.

Seriously I think it is something the league needs to worry about. The game tries to play with a purity of God-given talent only. That's why Selig recently spoke about adding amphedamines (speed) to the banned substance list. The only way to tell if these contacts provide a significant advantage to where they should be banned is with clinical trials. But how do you do that? Winter leagues. Those numbers are not sacred. Spend the money to do the trials. Most of the legal substances & training is rooted in hard work. If a player puts in the hard work to enhance their physical atrributes that's ok. It's more than ok. It's what the game demands. But if a player enhances their game in the absence of hard work (contacts, guards, roids, speed tablets, etc.) that's bad & should be banned from the game. Did Bonds become a better hitter because the game allowed him to where some armor around area's of his body he worried about? I think so. Fear can make you less decisive & slow your reactions. Remove the fear & you're better for it. Adding the DH was a good rule. It gave the advantage to the team & not the player for extending the life of a MLB hitter. That's a far cry from allowing players to where armor, specialized contacts, stickum on their gloves, or any other advantage gained in the absence of hard work. Speaking of the DH I would like to see it modified & adopted by both leagues. The modificatin being that the DH can only hit for a starter. Once the starter is removed from the game so is the DH. At that time he becomes a bench player & the spot in the order is assumed by the relief pitcher. I think it would add new excitement to the game & better balance the leagues. Removing a starter would mean removing a potent bat from the lineup. That would sure add drama & excitement to the game. It would likewise make Thomas the last HOF from the DH position as their AB's would decrease off HOF levels. (Assuming of course Thomas makes it in.)

To Mr Hunter, The CWS are the best in the majors for two reasons: solid pitching that keeps them in every game & timely hitting that wins them most games. Whether the game ends with a 1 run difference matters not. What might be starting to scare you is that when you look over the 20L of the CWS about 1/2 of them are games in which the White Sox lost the game rather than the opposition beating them. There have been few games in which a team has gotten up on the CWS early & shut them down. There have been few games in which a team has just flat out hit the CWS CL&L to win a game from behind. The difference between the Twins & CWS this year? CWS Starters 33W-10L (3.50ERA) , Relief 9W-10L (3.34ERA) MIN Starters 26W-16L (3.75ERA) , Relief 10W-9L (2.44ERA) Mr Hunter, your starters are 6L worse than ours but our pen is 1L worse than yours. That's why you trail us by 5 gms in the loss column. As a testament to our organization we have gotten more out of El Duque & Hernandez then the NYY$ could have dreamed. I imagine your jealousy is only 2nd to their's right now. Garland's success is no greater a surprise than Silva's. Both pitchers came on late last year & both are having career yrs. Your propaganda approach to instill over-confidence will not work. We look at your pen & we know we must get better. With 13 gms left between us there is plenty of opportunity for you to catch us. We must improve our pen to better resemble the dominance of yours. If we can improve our pen to a mid 2 ERA like yours you can kiss your division crown goodbye. Unlike past years where your Twins have choked in the post we will succeed. If we finish with the best record in MLB you'll be looking at the WS Champion CWS when you play us next year. Sincerely, Die-Hard fan of the CWS

If you compare his 04-05 #'s he's close to Vizc. I think it's more likely Viz will perform better in the 2nd 1/2 w the Sox then Brower would. Politte, Cotts, Hermy, & Marte are solid & going no where. Best case Brower would perform slightly better than Viz has. As for Mr Zero. What a difference a yr makes. Take a look: 04 #P/IP 15.7, 1-15 pitches .154A .214O .224S 4RBI, 16-30 .262A .365O .475S 14RBI 05 #P/IP 22.4, 1-15 pitches .279A .373O .674S 7RBI, 16-30 .318A .400O .909S 7RBI Why? One stat that glares is K/9. He's gone from a 7.22 to 11.57. Typically it takes more pitches to wrack up strike outs then ground outs. Shingo is not getting the ground outs like he did in 2004. His GB/FB ratio has gone from 0.85 to 0.48. I would have to think KW, Ozzie, & Cooper see these numbers as well. Shingo is still hitting the corners but he's doing it in the middle of the zone. The upper & lower portion of the zone doesn't seem to exist this year for him. That gives the hitter a lot to cheat on. The hitter no longer has to worry about the whole zone. He just has to worry about whether he thinks a pitch will make it in the zone. Once he decides that he can just swing through the middle & his odds of hitting the ball are pretty good. For Shingo to be effective he needs to use the WHOLE zone. I don't know how you fix this but it would seem to me the first step is to try & have him throw high in the zone during warm-up's. Get him thinking high in the zone because those are more likely to generate grounders. High & inside or high & outside in the zone. Don't worry about the hitter making contact. If he concentrates on doing this he should regain his success. If the majority of his pitches are high in the zone then his mistakes will be more centered than low. I think the damage comes most when he throws low in the zone. That would explain his poor GB/FB ratio this year. I still think there is time for him to make adjustments & figure it out. A dominant Shingo in Aug is worth more than a Viz-like Brower. I'd keep Shingo unless a near-sure-thing emerges in trade.

I think it's too late in the season to be moving guys around in regular games. Extra inning games & games where health makes you play short-handed are exceptions. You don't plan for them. That being the case Ozuna, Harris, Widger, Gload are no-brainers. These guys all represent solid dependable and in some cases upgrades D at their positions (3B, 2B, C, 1B). Everett is a no-brainer for his bat, success vs the Twins, & vs LH (CLE) in general. Timo is the obvious guy to dump. As I see it the more Everett proves himself in LF the less Ozzie will play Timo. Especially with Dye heating up. As for playing Crede at 1B & benching Koney vs LH. JUN is always a BIG month for Koney. JUL is typically a bad one. Gload should be back by JUN's end.

The White Sox will win in Jun. They always do. It's better to look at the 2nd half. ALC gms: MIN 13, DET 11, CLE 10, KC 9, BOS 7, NYY 6, SEA 6, BAL 4, TEX 3, LAA 3, TOR 3 All this talk of trading Everett is insane when you consider his numbers vs the pitchers on MIN: .354A, .390O, .531S, 113AB, 6D, 1T, 4HR, 21RBI His #'s are decent against both DET & CLE as well. Dye's are so-so vs MIN. It's a good time to play matchups & where Dye is weak use Everett in RF. Pods has great #'s vs MIN so let him play every game. There is no room nor need for Perez in these games. If he were a better D player it would be a different story. But he's not much of an improvement over Everett. As for Harris, Iguchi flat out owns the Twinkees this year. There is no reason to play him but if you are make sure it's against Mays. IMHO it's more likely Harris will continue his success vs Mays than Perez succeeding against Silva. Silva is a much better pitcher this year. This year Perez has yet to face Silva. He went 2 for 8 vs Radke with 1HR, 2RBI, 1R. Radke is a different pitcher in the 2nd half. Lead-off is more important than back end of the order which is where Timo would always start. It takes a good combination of OBP & speed to succeed as a LO guy. http://baseball.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batt...Type=2&type=reg vs LH Ozuna appears just as good as Pods. So H2H matchups aside, Ozzie is better off using Ozuna at 3B for lead-off & Everett in LF. Harris is an option (not a need) at 2B for Iguchi. vs RH no one beats Pods at LO and Dye out performs Everett here. Timo does not offer an upgrade over either Pods or Dye vs RH. Iguchi is better than all 5 (Dye, Everett, Timo, & Harris, & Ozuna) so there is no reason to EVER bench him vs RH. The only exception being that he's physically unable to play well. So looking at the 2nd 1/2 Timo offers nothing. Harris is the best replacement for Iguchi at 2B. Iguchi's #'s are so good that health is really the only reason to replace him. But Harris offers the best option as a PR CL&L. This will come into play more with Everett sitting against RH starters. Gload will add a LOT as #2 at 1B. Koney will need more days of rest in the 2nd half because of his playing time now. His 2004 #'s (which are backed up by his 2005 ml #'s) indicate he is a great choice vs LH & he won't hurt you either vs RH. Another reason why Timo is expendable. I really like the team hitting wise with the additions of Thomas, Ozuna, & Gload this year. Matchup wise they make up for where Crede, Koney, & Everett are weakest. That makes the team that much stronger. I don't see a need to trade for an added AB when Gload is healthy enough to play 1B again. The only addition I would make is getting a solid dependable arm in the bullpen. Politte, Cotts, & Hermy have been nice surprises but I feel better with another solid arm. I want KW to focus everything on building the best pen in the AL for the 2nd half.

Both of these guys remain a health risk to where you are better off platooning them then trading one of them. Timo's value to the team is dropping fast. Guillen seems inclined to play Everett in LF vs lefties. It's a good strategy when you look at the numbers: http://baseball.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batt...Type=2&type=reg Pods is certainly hitting well vs them this year, but in just 57 AB's Everett has 17RBI (best on the White Sox, 5 more than #2 Dye) vs LH. Speed-wise Guch & Rowand seem about the same these days so it's not a bad idea to start Harris at 2B on those days. vs LH: Harris, Rowand, Thomas, Everett, Koney, Dye, AJ, Crede, Uribe Good speed for Thomas, & top RBI man in best spot. If the game should be close Guch should replace Harris. Guch has been a prime-time late inning player for the White Sox. If Everett is having an 0-fer day it's not a bad idea to replace him with Pods. Everett has struggled to produce CL&L as well. Which comes down to the obvious: where do you play Timo? You don't. Re-assign him as soon as possible. You can get a better player off the waiver wire. When Gload returns Timo should be sent packing. If Koney continues to struggle vs LH, Gload offers hope (.425A .452O .650S 40AB). Full-strength 2005 White Sox: lineup: Pods, Iguchi, Rowand, Thomas, Konerko, Dye, AJ, Crede, Uribe bench: Everett, Gload, Widger, Ozuna, Harris It's blatantly obvious that Rowand should be moved up in the order. This year his 3rd in the order numbers are much better than his 6th in order ones. The best group of 11 arms in the AL will take care of the rest.

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/mlb/white-sox/ They are all good. Enjoy!

On Sep 1st, two things happen: 1 - the active roster is expanded to 40 2 - the 40 man roster ends If you don't call any one up from the ml's then everyone on your current 40 man roster is eligible to play. In order to call a player up you must first remove a man from your current 40 man roster either via assignment, options or waivers. This is why most teams only call up a few guys. Most of the guys currently on the 40 man roster are better players than those in the ml's. This only applies to the last month of the regular season (incl Oct). When playoffs start each team must decide the best 25 men to battle with.

We got a little taste of just how hard it was for Torre to manage him with the Yanks. El Duque gets better as the game goes on. That's naturally going to lead him to want to pitch beyond the 100 pc mark. Sometimes the Yanks let him go into the 120-130 range 3 starts in a row. They paid for it. I too believe El Duque will be invaluable in the pen in the post-season. You only need 4 starters in the post-season. That leaves El Duque in the pen. He's gotten the job done in that role.

There's really no need to trade Everett if Ozzie intends to use him to backup both Dye & Pods in the corner OF positions. If Carl is ok with that then why trade him? Battling in Oct with Everett is probably better then battling with what we could get for him. I think if Perez doesn't get any playing time in the next week he's the odd man out when Gload returns. Let's see if Crede gets hungry knowing he's sharing time now with Ozuna at 3B.

Ozuna, Widger, Everett. Since Harris played Tue there was no need to keep him in there with Iguchi healthy enough to play. Iguchi's presence helped the B team. A lot. Iguchi scored twice & drove in two when the game was still on the line. He helped the CSox gain a 5-4 lead before the pen took over. Maybe Ozzie learned something last night. Don't sub both Crede & Iguchi on the same days if you can help it. I think Perez' failure to play is writing on the wall that his days are numbered. The papers report Harris is the odd man out when/if Gload returns but Perez is fast becoming a forgotten man. The CSox needed this game as Santana gave his best performance of the year. 106 pitch, 4H, CG, SO. My only hope is that is extra workload this year will wear him out come Aug. He's avg'g a little over 7IP per start this year. Last yr at this time he avg'd 6 2/3. It might be wishful thinking on my part though. Despite the extra workload he's only avg'g 102 pitches per start. That's rock solid. It seems the tipping pitches was thing Hunter picked up on in May was really holding him back.

Today's Sun-Times Metro section pg 12 has a revolutionary story. Based on research out of U. of C. Bruce Lahn claims natural selection is not as simple a process as Darwin first thought & most evolutionists believe. The title is "Revolution in Evolutionary Theory". Apparently there is order & discipline going on in the selection process for mutations. Imagine that an intelligence behnd natural selection itself. I can't find a link to the article on the web so you will have to check out U. of C. yourself to read more. http://www.uchospitals.edu/ In effort to find the article I found an even better source at sciencedaily.com. Do a search on Bruce Lahn there & you will get some very interesting articles. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/...50111170714.htm Humans Are A 'Privileged' Evolutionary Lineage "The making of the large human brain is not just the neurological equivalent of making a large antler. Rather, it required a level of selection that's unprecedented," Lahn said. "Our study offers the first genetic evidence that humans occupy a unique position in the tree of life. http://www.sciencedaily.com/search/?keywor...&sort=relevance