IlliniBob72

John Thompson made them look foolish on Sunday. They bounced back to light up Clemens and Wells for 24 runs in 2 games. They'll be fine.

It's not like they're losing 18-4 (yet). One loss isn't going to do anything. A loss in New York would have less of an effect than a loss in Detroit.

From the way it sounds, the Tigers would have scored 5 runs off of Cotts in the first inning. Unless they go to a 4 man rotation, they've got to trot out a 5th starter some time. May as well be today. It's not exactly like the Sox have owned the Tigers this year.

If one loss, after beating the New York Yankees by a combined score of 24-4, dents their confidence, the Sox have major self-esteem issues.

If Wright should be the fifth starter, as people think, then he should be able to save the pen from being blown *ahem*. They're only down 3 with 7 or 8 at-bats left. All will be well.

All his talk about needing a pennant race to get him motivated again kinda scares me away from signing him for next year. Like someone said, he'll be another season older and what if the Sox have a 10-15 April? Or 23-30 after May? What kind of Alomar do we see then? Probably the one that New Yorkers couldn't say good-bye to quick enough.

Well, surely he won't if you're going to yank him after 80+ pitches.

If he's going to be your fifth starter, you need more than 5 innings out of him every start. Leadoff man gets on...so what? Second guy gets on, ok, you take him out, and JM did. He couldn't have known the first two would get on until they did, so he made the move. The kid showed he could get out of jams. Up 5-1, thrown only 80+ pitches, JM would have been lynched for taking him out without a chance to go into the sixth.

Eh, I have no problem with Cotts going back out there. Yeah, the same thing happened last time, but the kid won't stretch his outings longer if you don't let him try.

Lisa Madigan is an elected official, right? No way in hell she pursues this, although it would be nice to watch the Chubs screw the pooch.

Well, I guess that's what I want to know. What, to you, would be delivering on his promise? Whenever an opportunity to improve the team has presented itself, he's taken it. He's got the team in first place, s***ty division or not. If you want to blame anyone for their record not being better, look at the players who are playing below par or their coach.

I don't understand what you want from the guy! Wait, scratch that...I understand, and it's not realistic. Did I miss something and was Barry Bonds or ARod available and KW took a pass? Was Zito or Maddux there for the taking? Not all of his moves may work, but at least he's trying, and it seems like he's getting better at his job. Most, if not all, of his moves have been good ones this season. Loaiza, Everett, Alomar, getting rid of Jimenez, and now adding Sullivan. Seems like only Rios and Schoenweis may be misses, and Schoenweis seems to be getting better. Oh, and Koch, but Foulke needed to move on and that is more on Koch, IMO. He's taken the cards he's been dealt and done a good job. If you thought that doing anything it takes meant spending $100 million, no wonder you're disappointed, and a bit delusional. If you're not excited about this team, I'd hate to have seen you in the late 80's. The Reid Nichols Era, no?

BWAHAHAHAHA

You tell me to take my head out of my ass, and I'm the one who wants to argue??? You said he wasn't ready for the majors, and despite a solid outing last time out, you point to his pitch count as "further evidence" that he's not ready, i.e. you're right. All I did was call bulls*** on that. Say walking 6 in 3 innings is evidence, s***, how can I argue with that? I can't. But I say his last outing was a nice rebound and he just might prove you wrong. 67 of his 109 pitches last outing were strikes, a very respectable ratio. If his pitch count were high because he was throwing 3 balls to every hitter, you may be onto something, but that wasn't the case.

I took it out long enough to note that it is not evidence. Not the only evidence. Not all the evidence. Not "further evidence". All it tells us is how many pitches he threw. Nothing more, nothing less. Now excuse me while I redeposit my head. Let me know when you take the time to point out more meaningless things.

Sorry about that. I've tried editing out the long chain of quotes, but end up mucking it up beyond recognition.

Hind sight is 20-20. If Cotts could have gotten through the sixth, he would have had a quality start if I remember things correctly. That would have bolstered him up a bit also. Also, with Colon's lousy outing, JM probably needed as much from Cotts as he could get, to save the bullpen. There are always other things the manager has to take into consideration besides what appears on the surface of an issue. Just a couple of thoughts thrown your way, not critcism. I said at the end of the 5th, knowing he was at 91 pitches, that he should have been done. I think that would have been the best scenario for him and wish they would have done that, but I don't think it is a particularly bad decision to leave him in. He had a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th, if I recall. 91 pitches in 5 innings is just further evidence that Cotts just isnt ready to pitch in the major leagues. And that was before his "bad" inning. 91 pitches in 5 innings in his second major league start is proof of absolutely nothing. Rich Harden threw 109 pitches in 5 innings versus the Sox. I suppose that means he has no business pitching for the A's also. Cotts went 5 2/3 innings, K'ed 6, walked 2, posted a WHIP of 1.23, and struck out ARod twice. While I'm not ready to put him in Cooperstown just yet, I'm not going to point to his pitch count and say he doesn't belong. He's showed some good things and is certainly no worse than any of our other 5th starter options. Check out results and tell me im wrong again. Go ahead. The guy couldnt stop walking guys in the minors, it was obvious what would happen with the big club. OK, you're wrong, again. I said that his pitch count demonstrates nothing concerning his ability to pitch in the MLB. You said it did. I think you're wrong. If you say he walks too many men, I can't argue with that. But...plenty of pitchers are successful while walking too many guys. Cotts walked 56 in 106.3 innings in Birmingham, for 4.74/9 innings. Al Leiter is walking 5.54 batters/9 innings. Kerry Wood 4.44, Russ Ortiz 4.23, Hideo Nomo 4.08. I'm not saying Cotts is as good as these guys YET, but he's shown in the minors that he can pitch. Would we rather that those walks were singles or doubles? At least his walk total would be low then, right? By the way, Danny Wright, who seems to be everyone's darling now, is also walking 4.74/9. Bottom line is that Cotts had a very servicable outing his last time out, especially for a fifth starter, and deserves another one. If he walks 7 in 4 innings, perhaps he should go back down until next season, but if he puts up another 6 innings with 3 runs and 3 walks, keep him around.

Bruce Levine said to sit Frank Thomas for the remainder of the season??? I am completely amazed by that. Good Lord, the guy, while not hitting .330 with 40 homers, is still a very good hitter. And to sit him for Konerko and Daubach? Even before last night's heroics, I would have thought that talk the product of serious drug use. I still can't believe that Washburn and/or Scoschia (sp?) decided to pitch to Frank.

Hind sight is 20-20. If Cotts could have gotten through the sixth, he would have had a quality start if I remember things correctly. That would have bolstered him up a bit also. Also, with Colon's lousy outing, JM probably needed as much from Cotts as he could get, to save the bullpen. There are always other things the manager has to take into consideration besides what appears on the surface of an issue. Just a couple of thoughts thrown your way, not critcism. I said at the end of the 5th, knowing he was at 91 pitches, that he should have been done. I think that would have been the best scenario for him and wish they would have done that, but I don't think it is a particularly bad decision to leave him in. He had a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th, if I recall. 91 pitches in 5 innings is just further evidence that Cotts just isnt ready to pitch in the major leagues. And that was before his "bad" inning. 91 pitches in 5 innings in his second major league start is proof of absolutely nothing. Rich Harden threw 109 pitches in 5 innings versus the Sox. I suppose that means he has no business pitching for the A's also. Cotts went 5 2/3 innings, K'ed 6, walked 2, posted a WHIP of 1.23, and struck out ARod twice. While I'm not ready to put him in Cooperstown just yet, I'm not going to point to his pitch count and say he doesn't belong. He's showed some good things and is certainly no worse than any of our other 5th starter options.

Um...perhaps 13 years of stats supporting that idea have something to do with it? Duh. This year, .352 as a 1B, .234 as a DH, and for his career, his average is about 40 points higher as a 1B. Not at all saying that ratio would hold true if we move him back to 1B for a while, but it's worth a shot. We are going nowhere if Frank's average stays in the mid-.200's. I was thinking the same thing. Not only that, but I think Frank is underrated at first...or PK is overrated. Paulie has contributed to more than a few losses with fielding gaffes. One that sticks out to me is the 8th inning of Buerhle's loss in Anaheim where he failed to get a glove on a shot right at him that led to the winning run. Maybe Frank doesn't come up with it either, but unless PK is absolutely Gold Glove at first, Frank's offense playing first more than makes up for it. The Sox getting back into it corresponded with Frank playing first. PK gets hot and all of a sudden Frank is sitting again. Bad move, IMO. Frank isn't great over there, but he can catch and pick it. He just can't throw the ball 90'.

Is anyone else not surprised to see that Keith Foulke blew a save in a huge game for the A's? I know there are people pining for him and I'd rather have him than Koch, but I was thrilled to see him leave town. He always seemed to fail in the big games and after he served up a ding-dong to Giambi in the Yankee heartbreaker in Comiskey, he was forever banished to my personal s***list.

That's fine, but I thought the big thing about both Everett and Robbie was that they are switch hitters. Not a big advantage if the great Ted Lilly sends them scurrying to the bench. Also, Mulder is a lefty, I believe, and they played last night. Or at least Everett did. Not positive about Robbie. Couldn't see the game here in Peorialand.

This lineup isn't as bad as that last game in Seattle, but what is it with Manuel calling off the dogs once the Sox accomplish a goal. He does that whenever they win the first two of a series, he'll empty the bench for the last game instead of going for the sweep. Same thing tonight. Rowand are Graffy are nice players, but why not play Everett and the Alomars tonight?? You've got yourself a half game lead, why not try to widen it? He has zero of the go for the jugular instinct and I'm tired of it.

I'm sure that will enhance the Sox fans' reputation as being full of class.

How he dismisses the obstructed view seats wipes away any credibility he had, in my mind. There is nothing worse than an obstructed view seat, and only the seats withing like 10' of the pole are considered obstructed view. All the others behind are affected but aren't given the label. The only thing good about Wrigley is seeing Sammy Sosa accidentally run into the ivy covered brick wall in the outfield.