witesoxfan

I'm thinking Lee, Borch, Davis, or even Valentin would be good guys for the job.

Ozzie felt it was a clean play. He wants the Sox to do that. I guarantee you that if there is a play on a sac fly that is even close, Blanco will be flattened(unless it is someone who is not fast or is not big...personally, I do not envision Konerko or Harris barreling over Blanco)

That is true for many, if not all, teams. The Cubs have found out the hard way how important Kenny Lofton was for them down the stretch last year. Minnesota found out the easy way how important a good leadoff hitter is down the stretch by acquiring Stewart down the stretch for last year.

Agreed 100%. It's pretty much all or nothing. BTW...for the playoffs, I personally do not believe we need Maggs. We need Thomas, for sure, but Maggs is someone we can live without.

Tomorrow, to me atleast, is not even a must win. It's an important game, but not a must win. A must win game is one in late August or early September, and you are 4 games out going into the finale of a series against the team in front of you, and a win puts you 3 games out, a loss 5 games out, and it practically makes or breaks your season. Tomorrow's game does not make or break our season.

Because you think he's going to give up Anderson, Sweeney or Honel(or whoever it is you want to not be traded...I can't recall). And, unless one of them is traded in a package for Randy Johnson, they will not be traded.

I can't argue with that...afterall, I don't come on here looking for arguments. I just think people need to look at the big picture. This team is probably the streakiest team in the majors...you can have a stretch of 10 games where they go 9-1 and are damn near unbeatable...and then the next 10 games they go 3-7 and people wonder where they offense went...and then the average 9 runs a game for the next 7...and then they score a combined total of 9 in their next 4 games. If we can make a move, and start one of those good streaks, we could be in first place within 2 weeks.

BTW, not making a trade when we have the ability to is dumb. If you can improve yourself, and it will not hurt you immensely in the near future, you make the move.

I got nothing wrong with you taking a break...this team is killing me right now. Sucks because this is when I get to watch them too...oh well...I get WGN too. I think soxnbears is mainly referring to the others on here who feel we are done because we have looked like absolute s***, and he misunderstood your post. That's all.

Radke came up with a huge outing, and Santana has been the best pitcher in the majors over the past 2 months, better then Schmidt, better then RJ...in fact, we got fortunate enough that Gardenhire made a dumbass call and went to Rincon in the 7th...we had a shot, because we got to the pen early enough...we just couldn't capitalize(and Uribe missing 2 cookies didn't help either). It was obviously expected that MB and Garcia would have better outings, but that didn't happen. Personally, I'd rather have MB and Garcia choke in July then choke in September, but maybe that's just me.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be like that. But the swings should not be this extreme. If we get swept by the team that's in front of us, and we are left 3.5 games out, that is nothing to cry about. It is obviously cause for concern, but consider that no matter the outcome tomorrow, we will be ahead in the season series. I also look to the fact that Minnesota has a month's worth of schedule ahead of them against above or around .500 teams(with the exception being a series or two against Seattle), and then I look at the fact that the Sox have a months worth of schedule against sub-.500 opponents, with the exceptions of Boston and Cleveland(and Detroit, if you want to count them, and I don't). All teams have losing streaks, all teams get swept, all teams lose big series in the year...that we know. So why, because we've lost the first 2 to Minnesota in Chicago, are we already "done"? I know you personally may not feel this way, but I'm asking everyone in general...why are we done? We've been in this exact same situation before, in fact, we faced it earlier in the year, losing the first two in Chicago to Minnesota, only to win the finale and save face. Minnesota faced this same situation, only more drastic, last year, after losing the first 2 of a 4-game set against us in Chicago, and all they did was win the next 5 meetings they had against us. So to those who have actually stayed sane and realized we are not done yet, thank you. And to those who think we're done...WAKE THE f*** UP. We're out 2.5 with 64 games to go. And, for the most part, those 64 games are against sub-.500 teams.

How much you wanna bet that if we saw this team win 5 in a row, people would wonder when the playoffs started?

That's what a lot of people thought about the Shannon Stewart trade made by Minnesota last year. Giving up Kielty, an up and coming stud, for injury-prone Shannon Stewart. Boy were those people wrong. Catalanotto could be exactly what this team needs...last year, when Robbie came on and starting getting on base at the top of the order, it helped the power hitters immensely. Cat could come in here and do exactly that. And he would not cost a ton...not like Freddy Garcia or even Carl Everett.

I agree with almost everything said, but what I have quoted. Buehrle really has never pitched a big game in September...IIRC, we had ELo, Garland, and Colon go in the 3-game set in Minny, though I cannot recall off the top of my head who went in the first game we lost in Chicago to Minny in that 4-game stretch down the run. If any one of our pitchers is not a big game pitcher, it is ELo. He had 2 chances to help drive a stake through the heart of the Twins last year, and failed. He gave up 5 runs in the finale of the 3-game set, and surrendered like 6 in 3 innings in Minnesota(though people will use the fact that he was sick to help cover his ass on that one...if that's the case, he showed that he does not have the heart and desire of a champion, or that he was in fact sicker then a dog. I remember seeing Michael Jordan take the Bulls on his back when he had a severe case of the flu, and he essentially won that series0

I think it would make everybody happy. Catalanotto is a friggin stud, but I really do not see why Toronto would make him untouchable, or have a high price for him...he is definately a good sabermetric type player(career OBP of .360 along with a career OPS of .824), so that would be one reason, and he is cheap, but IIRC, he is a FA after this year, so I don't see why they would make it a goal to keep him. Regardless, I do see KW atleast getting us another arm, be it for the pen or the rotation...maybe he'll get 2, one starter, one reliever.

I saw it, and I still don't buy it. RJ has said that the only way he'll waive his no-trade clause is if he goes to a winning team and it helps the DBacks as well. Demanding a trade to one team gives all the power in the deal to that one team and Arizona basically just has to accept that trade. Pure BS if you ask me.

So are we not offering Crede, Borch/Rowand, Garland and Diaz/Cotts because Arizona won't take it, due to us not giving them a catcher, or is it because it is too high of a price to pay, or because we just can't take on his salary? I know for a fact I would love to see RJ on the South Side, and if it cost us Crede, Borchard, Garland, and Diaz/Cotts, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Arizona wants MLB ready talent from what I have heard...that looks a hell of a lot like MLB ready talent right there, and it looks like a hell of a lot of it. And if we added a couple others(or maybe if we didnt...I don't know for sure), there would have to be a way we could get Hillenbrand and/or Bautista as well.

With the Mets falling out of contention very quickly, I'm almost wondering if KW doesn't try and get one of their starters, be it Glavine, Trachsel, or Leiter. These next 4 days will be huge. In those 4 days, Houston could drop 2 or 3, and they may end up shopping Beltran and Kent, the Mets could start to shop their big 3 and a few relievers, and if the Angels lose 3 or so, they could start selling(not that they have anything worth trading for, just that they could drop out and be another team who is not going for it). Don't say that nothing major will happen...it very well could. If the stars align, I have no doubt we could end up seeing a decent starting pitcher, a solid reliever, Beltran, and Catalanotto on the team...but I would only bet that 2 of the 4 comes, most likely Catalanotto and a pitcher.

That's exactly right. Ozzie Guillen said the exact same thing...basically saying that he wasnt sure if it was a cheap shot, but he would be high-fiving him for doing it.

He is due for $34 mill from 05-07...$10 mill in 05, $11 mill in 06, and $13 mill in 07. We won't get him unless Pittsburgh takes on a considerable chunk of it. Personally, I think we need another pitcher, be it a starter or a reliever, and another bat. In the regular season, offense is just as, if not more important, then strong pitching...we found that out in 2000(the easy way), and LA found that out last year(the hard way). This offense right now is not what most people thought it would be going into the year...it is much weaker. We need someone who need either a guy who can come in and be a high OBP guy for us(ala Catalanotto) or someone who can hit the ball out of the ballpark. Either one works.

Was that the one where it didn't look like anything serious right away, but actually popped his shoulder out of place? And then Kreuter popped the shoulder back into place?

That's nice. But, assuming you don't mind if I edited it, I like this one more...

I'm probably Jose's biggest backer on the site, but it is dumb as hell to have him bat 2nd. I know that we just acquired Everett, and that he is hitting cleanup, but Jose Valentin and his OBP of .312 should not be in the #2 spot in the order...the #2 hitter should be a guy with a little pop in his bat but, at the very least, be someone that makes a lot of contact and gets on base. Why is Rowand hitting 7th? While he has only drawn 13 walks in 77 games, his average is higher then Jose OBP. He seems to be the best guy we can put in the #2 spot in the order right now, does he not? A little pop, a little speed, but most importantly, he gets on base and makes contact. Added to that is that he is a pretty damn good bunter as well...I just don't see why he is hitting 7th in the order and not 2nd. To me, the best lineup we can put out there right now is Harris - 2B Rowand - CF Lee - LF Everett - DH Konerko - 1B Valentin - SS Timo - RF Crede - 3B Burke-Davis-Alomar - C It is very balanced in the middle of the order(it is r-s-r-l from 3-6), has a decent leadoff man, a good #2 hitter, and it gets Jose Valentin the hell out of the #2 spot in the order. He may have been awesome in the #2 spot in 2000, and when he was there in 01 and 02, we may have been successful, but we cannot be successful when he is hitting there now, especially considering the way he appears to be hitting(was hitting .244 going into the game and that has since gone down to .241 with another ohfer).

You know what needs to be done, don't you? Fight fire with fire. Tomorrow, on a sacrifice fly that will not even be close, f***ing drill Blanco or LeCroy, whoever is behind the plate. That's what needs to be done. This s*** is boiling my blood. I usually do not get this angry over a damn baseball game, but that is f***ing bush league bulls***. On another note, someone who is good with photoshop should make a picture of Torii Hunter with a crosseye on him.

LMAO...Sammy's sneezes came up like 4 times, and the last one killed me, straining your buttocks when the sneeze came out the other end.