DBAHO

Atlanta's gotta do what they can to keep him there. Am I right in saying he's more important than Bobby Cox in the whole scheme of things?

So I watched the Boys Giants game at 3a.m the other morning (all nighter baby!!!!). And really we should have won this game by a lot more. But then again there's a thing called turnovers. Keyshawn dropped it, Drew dropped it, we had a bad snap etc. But our offense still moved the ball well. Bledsoe when he's not under pressure will find Keyshawn, Glenn and Witten all day long. And our defence was great until the 4th quarter. We shut down Barber, we got pressure on Manning. Roy Williams just couldn't cover Shockey in the 4th.

It's been freaky, it really has. But who am I to argue with the wonderful powers of the Rally Crede.

Great to see him get back to us. Keep up the good work Brooks!!!!

Well I've been away from Soxtalk for a week, but very luckily I was able to catch game 1, 3, 4 and 5 live on Fox Sports on my holiday. And I wasn't going to miss those games for the world. What can I say about this team? How damn proud I am of them. I defended them during the so called "choke". People were lining up at the time saying it would be 3 and out like 2000 all over again. But those who looked at the team as a whole and at factors more than just how we were playing then at the time, and how "BAD" our offense was, knew this team was something special. Every member of this team who was out on the ballpark at any point during the series made a contribution. There were no passengers on this team, from the great performance of Paul Konerko (god damnit he must be re-signed) and Joe Crede (he'll be back) with the bat, to the wonderful starting pitching of Contreras, Buerhle, Garland and Garcia who just got better and better as the innings went on, to the contribution of a Pablo Ozuna who comes in as a pinch runner, steals a base and scores the winning run in the game that turned around this series. How good has this team been? 2/3rd's of an inning from Neal Cotts and that's it from our bullpen. Wow. Have a look at the Angels, they got tired as the series went on, and were forced to use the likes of Shields, Escobar and Donnelly repeatedly. So now I'll say thank you to every member of this team. Scott Podsednik - Get on base and do your thing, you did this perfectly during the series, and you MUST keep doing that. Just don't come up in key RBI situations with runners on base ok. Tadahito Iguchi - Fantastic defense, you did the little things perfectly, but still room for improvement on cutting down those K's. The world is taking notice of how good you are now though. Jermaine Dye - Little slow starting, but by the end of the series you were stroking it with the bat. Keep hitting the other way like you have done, and good things will come. Paul Konerko - Key situations, you perform. We need you to keep doing the same and be the "guy" in the middle of that lineup. And I hope you'll be back because no every Sox fan should see how important you are in the middle of that lineup. Carl Everett - Did some ok things, singles to left were good, just need to keep getting that AVG up and those K's down. Aaron Rowand - I love your defense. And you came up with a key hit in the 4th in the 5th game and scored the winning run in that game as well. But you can do better with the bat, and let's hope you do. You'll be important if we can get runners on in front of you, and you need to show us that clutch hitting. A.J Pierzynski - In the middle of everything. Been everything we could have hoped for at the start of this season. Just keep doing what you're doing. Joe Crede - Now here's the pleasent suprise of the playoffs so far. Keep making contact, don't go swinging at the first pitch. Your defense was much improved from the 1st series and we need that to continue. Juan Uribe - You've improved a lot since the 1st few months of the season. Keep showing us that great defense and keep getting on base. White Sox Rotation - Contreas, Buerhle, Garland and Garcia. You've done more than we could have dreamed of so far, and we need you to continue doing that. Eat up those innings, keep those relievers fresh, and most importanly, keep us in winning positions in these world series ballgames.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 01:15 AM) Lemme tell joo son theeen, main.....eef yoo don' ween thees fuggeen seereees, joo go hon'. JOO WANNA GO HON'?? AYE DON' WANNA FUGGEEN GO HON', MAIN!!!! You sound like Sammy Sosa again Critic.

Stay loose, and just have fun. That's what they've done all season long.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 01:09 AM) I disagree that he will continue the same numbers. His career trends right now show this year as an outlier in the last 5. I think he will regress a bit. Not only that, but I think he is a terrible replacement for Konerko at 1B. And if this organization wants to pencil in a player that has 1 career game at 1B as their starter for next year, be prepared to be very angry with them. That is not a move that you make after a successful year like this. That is a Royals move and i would lose alot of confidence in our managment if we use a stopgap like that. There is no reason to hold the team together with duct tape. Well if Konerko did leave, who would replace him at 1b? Unless you traded for a Chad Tracy or Lyle Overbay, no-one withing our organization is going to go near his power numbers than Jermaine Dye. As for your prediction, my thoughts are this. 4 out of those 5 years were spent in Oakland. He's hit 8 more HR's here in Chicago playing in a full season then he did in Oakland playing a full season. You have to look at just more than the career stats, when deciding if a player's going to be next season or not. He's only 31 as well, so he should be right in his prime right now, maybe a year or two after. Other players like Juan Uribe, A.J Pierzynski have shown the impact U.S Cellular Field will have on your power numbers when you move here from another team.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 01:04 AM) I am saying that based on Dye's numbers he is not going to keep up at this production and this durability. Ok well I'll say if he can stay healthy (which I think he'll do especially if he moves to 1st, and since he seems pretty healthy across the board right now), he should definitely post around the same numbers next season hitting in this ballpark.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 12:58 AM) Maggs didnt play alot of the season. And still hit for a good avg. You cant use someone who had experimental surgery before a season in a debate like this. Dye is good, but there is a reason he surprised alot of baseball people with his durability and resurgence this year. Maggs wasn't signed for more tham 10M a season to hit for a good AVG. 8 HR's in 82 games, not good enough. Even if he played in a full season with those numbers, Dye almost doubled his power production. Was always going to happen in Detroit's ballpark as well. And yeah perhaps that was the case with Dye, but the Sox had to take chances on guys like him in the off-season. But Dye comes from a terrible hitting park in Oakland, to a great hitting park in Chicago, and things were always going to turn around for him if he could stay healthy, which is what he did besides those nasty spider bites. Dye didn't have a really dehabiliting injury like Maggs anyway. And I know it ain't a good comparison, but still right now Dye for 4M vs. Maggs for 12M, shows what a shrewd move it was.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 12:53 AM) Dye has been injury prone in his career, and it wasnt just a freak accident. Why do you think we got him for such a bargain. There is no real proof that he will continue to play as well as he has, based on his career numbers and trends. He will not play 1B for us, and if anything he will be a DH in the future. He rejected more money from other teams (including Texas) to come here. What do you think this off-season if he was a FA, he would get in a weak market from a team desperate for a power bat. The Sox did their research and came up trumps on this one. Based on career numbers, Magglio Ordonez should have done a lot better than he did this season, but it depends on the situation, what park you're hitting in, which guys you have around you etc.

QUOTE(fathom @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 12:51 AM) FWIW, the rumor going around is that the Phillies are going to try and sign Wagner for 3 yr/27 million. I heard that's what he wanted all along, but the Phillies were offering him a 2 year deal with an option for a 3rd. With Ed Wade gone now though, it'll be interesting to see where the negotiations go.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 12:51 AM) A loss doesn't occur until LA wins 4 games, but a split wouldn't instill much confidence around here. Especially if Washburn isn't on the hill in game 2. But still, even if we do split, we've got the confidence to win games on the road, which this team has done all year long, so it's not like we should start hanging ourselves if we don't win both of the 1st 2 games. It would be very nice though.

QUOTE(Steff @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 12:48 AM) Good grief... nothing better at all to write about..? :sleep Seeing Ladewski's opinion pieces this season make me wonder how he has a job with them at all. But again, we're at a point where we haven't been for so long, and people in the media have to bring up stuff like this, about JR not locking up his people. But hey, whatever brings him attention I guess, good or bad.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 12:38 AM) Well, didnt he hurt himself at the plate 2 years ago? I dont think it has much to do with it. Well I'm talking about how he'll have to run around less at 1B than he would at RF, even though most of the time in RF you're just standing there. But things like that at the plate are just freak things, Joe Crede never hurt himself real bad before this season when his back played up and he almost broke his finger trying to lay down a bunt.

Yeah I've got no doubts Polamalu is better in pass coverage than Williams. Hell the Biys have been using a 4-2-5 defense a lot in pass defense, with 3 safeties, and they have Williams lining up as one of the LB's.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 12:24 AM) there is no real trend of Dye being healthy. It was one of the reasons that he was let go from Oakland. He had one of his first real healty seasons this year. But according to his history, we shouldnt expect another season like this. Don't you also think that IF Dye was moved to 1B it would increase his chances of staying healthy?

I went to 2 Angels games this season. Ummmmm....... they hate Jeff DaVanon.

That's contract wise, not cuff wise; From Paul Ladweski of the Southtown (wasn't he the guy who really wanted Griffey and wasn't happy at KW for not getting him?)

Apparently a lot of people in the Rams organization wanted him out, from the GM to assistants to the GM etc. and that put a lot of pressure on Martz. Nobody likes seeing this happen to anyone though, so hopefully he gets back to 100%.

QUOTE(BlackBetsy @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 12:04 AM) In related news, Pierzynski was 1 for 26 against the Angels this year. That's not so good. He's 3 for 15 against Byrd career wise, 5 for 18 against Lackey, 6 for 30 against Colon, 0 for 7 against Washburn, so not the greatest numbers there either, but they're still respectable.

QUOTE(tonyho7476 @ Oct 12, 2005 -> 12:01 AM) Fly in from Australia...I'll give them to you for free. Haha I wish, actually by the time I'd arrive in Chicago the 1st 2 games would probably be over already.

This could become quite interesting;

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Oct 11, 2005 -> 06:29 PM) I luv your research. Yeah I try to do it every time before the game, just really interested to see what we need to do against the opposing pitcher, such as when we faced David Wells, when we got runners on, we HAD to bring them in because he's terrible with any runners on, when he lets them on because he doesn't walk a lot of people. Unfortunately I'll be going away for a week for a vacation (really need to recharge before end of year exams), but this place I'm going to pretty sure has cable with Fox Sports so I think I'll be able to watch most of the games on there hopefully. I think we're going to come out and really do some damage on Byrd though, but our guys can't go in with the mentality of swinging for the fences every AB, even though we've done an excellent job with the long-ball so far. Get to that pen nice and early in this series. Everyone talks about how good the Angels pen is, well the big 3 of Donnelly, Shields and K-Rod haven't been at their best so far. Kelvin Escobar has done pretty good being put into relief so he could be a big wild-card for them.

QUOTE(Steff @ Oct 11, 2005 -> 11:43 PM) Where are they again...? I know folks who would KILL to pay that little for a ticket tonight if you haven't gotten rid of them yet. Absolutely, who knows how long it could be before we make the Conference Finals again (hopefully not that long), so for any White Sox fans in Chicago without seats, snap these up if you have the chance!!!!!