DBAHO

QUOTE(qwerty @ Oct 25, 2005 -> 02:23 PM) Iguchi is not a better fielder than willie and realistically willie probally has a better chance of getting on against oswalt. Now do i think willie will do anything more than possibly pinch run in houston? No f***ing way. Willie has more range, but a noodle arm. You can't fault what Gooch has done in the field, especially in the plafoffs. No reason to break up the Gooch - Uribe DP combo right now.

Clemens ERA at home is worse and he's definitely not at 100%. Still we pretty much expected this to happen. We've just got to copy the exact routine we had in game 1. Work the counts, make him throw pitches, and move him around out there whether it's via bunts etc.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Oct 25, 2005 -> 02:19 PM) NO. You sure don't beat around the bush.

There's no doubt Gooch is struggling a little at the moment. He's swinging too late on those fastballs and K'ing at an alarming rate, even for him. There's no way he's moving from the lineup however. He offers far more in terms of defensive play, which he's shown throughout the playoffs, than Willie Harris could, and in a series where errors are crucial, no way Iguchi is going anywhere.

I know he's been trying to work in a cutter, but I hope they teach him a changeup like they did with B-Mac down in Charlotte, and we all saw the results of that.

Report on Oswalt later, but the recipe is simple. Work the counts, make him throw pitches, and get to that bullpen.

To Scott Podsednik for hitting the most important Home Run for your career, and your team's history so far. To Paul Konerko for showing us why you'll be worth so much. To MB for battling and giving us a fighting chance of winning this ballgame. To the offense especially Juan Uribe for gettin it DONE!!!

I have, but the shipping will cost ya.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 01:17 AM) What about Matsui? He's a lefty bat with some pop, can fit in nicely with Iguchi (hopefully), and he can DH/LF with Pods playing the other spot. He's going to get 12/13M for 3 years this off-season most likely from the Yankees. I think we'd rather Paulie at that pricetag.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 12:27 AM) Rumor has it, a new tape with Paris and Rally Crede is about to hit the market. That's hot. Better not tell his wife and little kid though.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 12:25 AM) Anyone seen the movies for NBA2k6 on 360? Like the shorts on the players move and sway almost perfectly. Its scary how close these things are getting. Yeah and the pic of Shaq with the sweat on his face is insane. Sooner or later, virtual reality is probably gonna be upon us with these videogames.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 12:19 AM) We need Vinny. Vinny's stat of the day. "Do you know I've hit only 1 more home run in away games this season than Joe Crede in the playoffs!!!!"

QUOTE(Felix @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 12:04 AM) El Duque is capable of starting though, so he could be used if one of our starters got hurt (the only real use for 6 capable starters in my mind, let alone 7) Not for a whole season with his arm he's not. Unless he's going to be a setup guy, it doesn't make sense to keep him for $6M as a long reliever, when we could use that money on a good lefty reliever to replace Marte (Scott Eyre anyone), and towards the re-signings of A.J etc.

QUOTE(Felix @ Oct 23, 2005 -> 10:46 PM) forgot to put this in my other post Why would we want a starter? We already have 6 starters for next year (yea, I'm counting El Duque), so trading for a Ming-Wang as you suggested doesnt make sense at all. What would we do with 7 starters? If Paulie leaves, this team needs to most likely trade for someone offensively to fill the void. Not saying it'll happen, but Garland or Contreras could be a very valuable trading chip while their value is at an all time high, And El Duque is either traded or pitching in the pen next season. No way he's in the rotation for us. And for beck's post, I'm not sure it's a given Rowand will bounce back offensively. In order to stay long - term though, that OPS needs to be back over .800.

And in the same article Marte; But we knew that already didn't we.

Pretty much inevitable; I've read somewhere a rumor of Rowand and Cotts for Gary Sheffield. Now why the Sox would do this, I don't know, but what would the Yanks have to give us in a possible deal. Someone like Chen - Ming Wang for starters perhaps?

QUOTE(beck72 @ Oct 23, 2005 -> 09:32 PM) MB should be able to keep the sox in the game. The offense should be able to manufacture more runs with the first game under their belt. Let's make it 2-0 going into Houston Looking at Houston's lineup, their top of the order in Biggio and Taveras really struggle against LHP. Taveras may infact lead-off in tonight's game, they mentioned that on the broadcast. But if you at the rest of Houston's hitters, against LHP, Bagwell hits .300, Ensberg hits .299, Berkman .294, Vizcaino .295, and Ausmus .293. So I think Houston will like their chances in this one, and it's probably a game they really need to win. I know Oswalt is on the hill in game 3, but in Houston against Garland and Garcia two RHP which they're not better at hitting, and the Sox's RHH power hitters with the short Left Field Wall, another win could be really crucial in the magintude of this series for the Sox. I like our chances of at least winning 1 game, 2 if Clemens starts game 5 in Houston.

Ok so now we're up against Andy Pettite. He had a 2.32 ERA this season with a 171/41 K/BB ratio. Very impressive. Since the ASB, he's come into his own, 11-2 with a 1.69 ERA, yet he gave up 3 more HR's in that stretch, which probably showed how dominant he was besides that. Good news, he's not pitching in Minute Maid Park. His ERA is .57 worse in away games, and it's also .57 worse in night games. Righties hit him better obviously, good news for our lineup, hitting .239 off him with 15 of those 17 homers given up on the year. His numbers aren't great with runners on with a 4.79 ERA, and there isn't much of a difference b/w that and RISP, so we need to get runners on base anyway at all. Looking at his pitch counts, he's got a steady spread of ERA b/w the high 2's and the low 3's, except for in b/w 16-30 where it's an unbelieveable 0.28. For our hitters, Jermaine Dye 6 for 18, Carl Everett 9 for 32, A.J 4 for 11 and Paulie 9 for 23, so we've had some success against him. Pettite's got a 4.66 ERA in his 3 postseason starts so far, so he hasn't been at his best. Given up almost a hit per inning, with a 12/6 K/BB ratio. Put simply, put the ball in play, and don't let him strike you out.

QUOTE(knightni @ Oct 23, 2005 -> 05:38 PM) Jamie's a woman. Uh yeah, so no more bro's. Thanks for the support though.

Wow, now this is what you call good graphics. Gonna be pretty sweet, and has a new goalie feature; http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/748/748408/imgs_1.html

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 23, 2005 -> 05:12 PM) We fully deserved to win this game. I'm just saying, the Astros futility on the offensive end is what helped cost them this game. We played pretty well no doubt, but we can do better, which is what I hope to see. But hey, if we're picking up the wins, who cares.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Oct 23, 2005 -> 02:07 PM) What's "College Football"? Is it some other sporting type of thing going on right now??? Probably not something you'd wanted to be asking me that's for sure.

This was really a game that we maybe didn't deserve to win so much. We were something like 2 for 8 with RISP, and Contreras didn't have his best stuff at all. But this team has battled all year long, and they're doing the small things a lot better now. We're working the counts a lot more, we're getting the bunts down, we're getting FANTASTIC defence from Joe Crede especially and Juan Uribe.

QUOTE(gettysburg32 @ Oct 23, 2005 -> 02:34 PM) Joe Randa Vinny Castilla Eric Chavez Aubrey Huff Shea Hillebrand Placido Polanco umm, I'm sure there were more Other than the collective starting pitching, Crede is the postseason MVP to this point. Bill Mueller. Ok I'm being picky.

Yep, the Sox have hit lefties a lot better than righties this season so that's some good news. I'll have a detailed look at Pettite later on.