TLAK

Unless he swells up like Popeye overnight, we now know that Freddy's forearm is OK. Removing this doubt has a big impact on off season moves.

He got into last night's game pitching the 9th with the Rays down 7 runs to the mighty Red Sox. 1 inning, 1 K everything else zeros. Don't mean to be a Todd appologist but he seemed like a good guy and played hard. Just couldn't get anybody out with his broken wing. I'd like to see him do well for himself agaisnt everyone but the White Sox. I root for Cal Eldred too.

They don't. This season's catchers ERA from White Sox Game Notes: _Era Catcher 4.90 Alomar 4.62 Burke 5.39 Davis 4.66 Olivo

Through his first 8 starts he had run support problems, going 4-4 with a 3.18 ERA. Then he got hurt and eventually had rotor cuff surgery. He was just called up by the D-Rays yesterday. I still think he could have been pretty good if he didn't get hurt.

Because Timo at least gives him an option. He has no options at all against LHP, if he did Joe wouldn't play against them either. Who should Ozzie put out there tonight, Everett? Even if he wasn't hurt again?

Lineups. Willie sits against RHP. Hmm...

They are professionals, they play for money. But even guys with settled contracts, like Garcia, Buehrle and Kornerko are still playing hard. I don't see them hanging their heads. I just think the Sun-Times spin is malicious. The season has not been as successful as I hoped, and they sure can look flat against good pitching, but I have no problem with their effort or heart.

Not just Mariotti, in Doug Padilla's daily trashing (buried 8 pages deep) he quotes a realistic Paul Kornerko: "Looking at the schedule a couple of months ago, you would have thought those would be big huge games,'' Paul Konerko said. "Now it's not looking that way, obviously. It's a little demoralizing.''. The headline writer turned this into Demoralized Sox Playing for Pride Remember that the Sox are 7-3 in the last 10 games, and played some very good ball against top teams. We should all be very proud of how they continue to compete but I guess the truth doesn't sell papers.

They announced that Nancy was playing Take Me Out to the Ball Game but I didn't hear her at any other time, it might have been a tape. They played each player's favorite song when the Marlins came to bat but that was about all except for the the park announcer. They had Marlin's swampbuggy races on the scoreboard one inning but usually it was just fan cam and recorded music, like Let's Twist. That portion of the production paled next to what the Sox put on. It felt a little like a Jackhammers or Thunderbolts game in that regard. There were many Cub fans, some chanting "Let's go Expos". The 8th inning was particularly satisfying as the Marlins scored and scored and the Wood jerseys melted into a silent fetid shapeless mass of despair. They suffered horribly. That part was very cool.

I was one of the 4,002 at the game and had a great time. Majewski got six outs in the 8th and ended up taking the loss. He made one error himself and his mates added 3 more. The only earned run was a SAC that scored a runner who the previous pitcher, Horgan, let on. Gary should have been out of the inning with the score 2-1 Expos's. My only complaint was that there were only two beer vendors. After a couple innings they couldn't even get past the concourse behind the plate so they so just stood in one place and eveybody lined up and waited while they ran for more cases. All told I spent $39.50 for the ticket, parking, 2 beers and a bag of peanuts. It was great to see Frank Robinson, Jack McKeon, Josh Beckett, Miguel Cabrera and the rest of the stars. Sunny Kim threw a great game for the spo's too. An afternoon well spent.

Good policy, those posts get very inane. I, for one, prefer to confine my inanity to my arguments.

I understand all the cheering, but looking at the team, who do they have, and give me a name, who is going to do better than Mike Jackson in that role?

Lets get a look at this Valdez kid before we decide.

Here it is, based on RetroSheet. Frank is an amazing player.

This thread got me thinking about a way to measure the negative impact of certain players on the offense. While Joe has gotten some big hits for the team this year, he has also been a bigger drag on the team than any other regular. Even bigger than the conventional stats show. It seems to me that counting donuts, that is, games where the player got no hits and no walks identifies wasted games. Call it the collar or an Ofer but you might as well have a lawn jockey at the plate on those days. 4 days out of 10 Joe is just a hole in the line up. Only the Alomars (both of whom I think are cooked) are worse. Even the current whipping boys, Jose Valentin and Joe Borchard make some contribution to the offense more often. Notes: I only counted games with more than 1 at bat to suppress pinch hitting appearances, it seems unfair to me to judge on only 1 appearance. Kelly Dransfeldt played 6 games and had 0 donuts. Jose Valentin accumulated 5 of his 22 donuts in his last 13 games, ouch!

Don't forget to thank her for the 2 best years in your life.

That's the whole contention. Ozzie has felt all the way back since spring training that Esteban has been holding back on his good stuff. Time, after time, after time he's been quoted that Loaiza has to start to pitch right. Then at the All-Star game (managed by Joe Torre), he hit 93 mph. Ozzie's side is if he could throw 93 in the all-star game why couldn't he throw 93 for us? Cooper also sounded mad on the radio at the time too. I think the Yankee's are expecting the Esteban who threw in Houston while the Sox knew they wouldn't see it, healthy or not. They think they can fix Contreras and made the trade.

From the Daily SouthTown I'm hoping and praying for a BIG boost in September. Better than any trade Kenny could make on the waiver wire.

Tomorrow is an off day, so he may go the full series.

I doubt Tony would be very happy to come back. A big reason he opted for KC over seemingly better offers was the atmosphere there. Here is a quote from the Examiner: I don't think he'd take well to Ozzie.

Perhaps he will mutate into a Morlock.

Yeah sure, our guys know a lot more about baseball than the dumb Yankees.

I think they traded problems, Este's been in Ozzie's dog house since ST. And I heard Joe Torre this week saying that everytime they think Contreras has turned the corner he takes a step back.

Here's the current Strength of Schedule for the American League:

A terrible, disappointing, discouraging loss, and on top of everything Everett gets hurt. I just opened another beer, 1 over my Doc's limit. What character in CaddyShack do you most admire? Who would you emulate?