winninguglyin83

went to all four games. Sox should have won that series -- and the World Series. the Sox had the best team. LaMarr Hoyt shut the Orioles down in Baltimore in Game One. They lost game two in Balty -- and then Richard Dotson got drilled in Game Three on a chilly Friday night in Comiskey. the Saturday afternoon game was a classic. Packed house. Britt Burns pitched a masterpiece, shutout into extra innings. Tito Landrum broke it up with a massive two or three-run homer into the left-field upper deck. Sox should have won it in the eighth or ninth, but Jerry Dybzinski got picked off second base after he rounded the base too far. That team had the best starting pitching staff the Sox have ever had 1-5 -- Hoyt (who won the Cy Young), Richard Dotson, Floyd Bannister, Britt Burns and Steve Trout. I give them the nod over McDowell, Fernandez, Alvarez and Bere because they had more lefties and a better fifth starter.

according to Baseball America, Rauch has allowed one earned run in his last 20 innings at Charlotte. He also leads the league in ERA. Pitched 8 shutout innings last night. Does he deserve one more legitimate look?

just keep winning the pub will take care of itself.

i've touted Ginter, but props to Timo for a massive clutch hit tonight. big props

Amen. although, Sean Lowe disappeared quickly. Fogg is nothing special. We hit the panic button of instant gratification on Kip Wells. Isn't Todd Ritchie trying to make it back with the Twinkies? Maybe he can still help the White Sox!!!!!!!!!!

I'm happy for Ginter, but I'd be happier if he was pitching at 35th and Dan Ryan. Never wise to give away a good arm. Never.

story from today's Times about the Mets' latest pitching sensation. And it ain't Timo Perez. The link: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/15/sports/b...all/15mets.html The story: JENKINS Published: June 15, 2004 att Ginter strums a banjo on the Mets' team plane, watches hunting DVD's in the clubhouse and prepares for a start by thumbing through catalogs advertising the latest in Buck knives. In Kansas City last weekend, he took the Mets' strength coaches to the rodeo one night. The next morning, he took a fellow pitcher to a hunting and fishing warehouse. Now that the Mets have returned to New York, Ginter excitedly awaits the arrival of his bow and arrows, which he spends much of the off-season shooting on his farm in Winchester, Ky., a town of about 16,000 located in the hills near Lexington. Advertisement It is difficult to say where exactly Ginter is going to shoot the arrows this summer, since he is living in a hotel in Queens. Ginter has taken the subway a few times since moving to New York, but he has repeatedly wound up traveling in the wrong direction. "I'm just learning how this city life works," he said. Ginter has provided the Mets a little comfort in what appears to be their roughest patch of the season. Playing his own version of country hardball, Ginter has become the surprise of a starting rotation that is itself the surprise of the major leagues. For all that has gone wrong for the Mets recently - namely, hitting and defense - their pitchers lead the majors in earned run average (3.61), and Ginter (2.43) has allowed only three runs in his past 22 2/3 innings. Ginter has joined the veteran starters Al Leiter, Tom Glavine and Steve Trachsel, even though he is really nothing like them. Leiter is a 38-year-old from New Jersey who seems just as comfortable in a suit as in a uniform. Glavine is a 38-year-old two-time Cy Young Award winner from near Boston who would have played hockey if it were not for baseball. And Trachsel, 33, is a wine connoisseur from Southern California who has never fired a gun. Yet, on the first day that Ginter asked teammates if it was all right to play a hunting video in the clubhouse, Trachsel sidled up next to him. He also tags along when Ginter goes shopping for hunting supplies or camouflage. "You get him talking about that stuff," Trachsel said, "and he'll go on forever." Relief pitcher Dan Wheeler said of Ginter: "I hear him sometimes and I'm like, 'Ohh-kay.' I can't begin to understand what he's saying." With Ginter's arrival, the Mets' pitching coach, Rick Peterson, has developed an interest in archery. Ginter has been hunting deer with his bow and arrows since he was 15, and he has developed such keen marksmanship that he can split a deck of cards with an arrow. Ginter told Peterson that when shooting an arrow, he always focuses on a spot no larger than a nickel. But when throwing a baseball, he aims at a much larger target. Ever since, Peterson has instructed Ginter to treat the mound like his farm and the baseball like his arrows, aiming at a small circle. Whether a coincidence or a consequence, Ginter's control has been uncanny, with 7 walks, 15 strikeouts and 30 hits in 33 1/3 innings. "That was my whole problem," he said. "I was focusing on a spot way too big. Now I'm narrowing my focus. I'm making my target just as small as I do with my bows." Ginter's road to Shea Stadium can sound like a self-written country song. He went into spring training as a relief pitcher for the White Sox, then was traded to the Mets for Timo Perez and converted into a starter. When he was called up from Class AAA Norfolk last month for a spot start, his luggage was lost on the way to Houston and he found himself facing Roger Clemens. Unfazed, Ginter managed the first hit of the game off Clemens, and the Mets beat the Astros in extra innings. In five of his six starts, Ginter has allowed two runs or fewer. But he has only one decision, a victory that resulted from his worst outing. In recent months, General Manager Jim Duquette has made a handful of low-profile moves that yielded high-end results; Ginter could be the most lopsided acquisition of all. He is making an impact on the Mets, who view him with amusement and delight. Closer Braden Looper calls Ginter "our country boy," and compares him to the Clampetts, the family from "The Beverly Hillbillies." Catcher Vance Wilson calls him "our redneck," but he insists he is using the term endearingly. When reliever David Weathers wants instant entertainment, he summons Ginter to review an episode of "Hee-Haw." "Me and him understand each other," said Weathers, who is from Tennessee. "When one of us is talking, we don't have to say, 'Huh?' " As Ginter looks around the clubhouse at Kazuo Matsui of Japan, Jae Seo of South Korea, Karim Garcia from Mexico and Cliff Floyd of Chicago, he is struck by how many races and nationalities are represented on a baseball team. "It's the great thing about this game," Ginter said. "You meet people from everywhere. You get to see the whole world." Ginter is more than willing to share a piece of the bluegrass where he was raised. His banjo case, adorned with a John Deere sticker, is already a clubhouse fixture. On the way home from a trip, Ginter takes song requests from teammates. Sometimes, they want to hear something by Cripple Creek, sometimes Lynyrd Skynyrd. But Ginter often ends with the tunes that remind him of his Kentucky home. "I do miss it," he said. "But I try to take some of it with me wherever I go. I'll listen to my bluegrass, no matter what anyone says. I won't change just because I'm in the big leagues now."

Here's to the Sox from Bill Veeck to No Neck Williams to Looie Aparcio to Robin Ventura to Black Jack to LaMarr Hoyt to Don Buford to everybody on this club and Charlotte, Birmingham, Winston-Salem and Kannapolis.

Jeremy Affeldt

Caballo quietly having another solid season. like to see him show a bit more power, but I can live with more consistent hitting

heck the whole team was pumped for him and no freaking walks. astounding.

amen

Ok, I'll say this in advance -- They shouldn't trade Rauch until they give him a legitimate chance to prove himself in the major leagues. And Ginter deserved to be on the club ahead of Adkins. Adkins pitched better in the spring, but Ginter's numbers in the minor leagues the last few years were superior. And he's got more talent. Adkins started out OK, but neither he nor Cotts is giving the club too much these days.

nothing wrong that some better pitching can't cure. I still blame Koch. Closer blows two games on what should have been an excellent road trip and a funk surrounds a team. Esty needs to step up and shut down the Bravos tonight.

It wouldn't be a problem if the Sox had ever given Ginter a legitimate look. And they had a solid option at the fifth starter. Heck, he's better than Adkins or Koch for that matter. Simply put, it was stupid to GIVE him away. Not saying he's going to win the Cy Young or even 15 games. But he's got a good arm. And the Sox mishandled him -- badly.

the mistake with Ginter was not settling on a role with him. he closed. He started. He was a set-up guy. He started. He mopped up. He closed. Art Howe said: Young man you're a starter. Gave him some confidence. Peterson smoothed out a flaw. And the Mets stole a guy with a good arm. No doubt he needed a change of scenery. But we needed to get more than a guy who will NEVER be more than a fifth outfielder/ pinch hitter. Soon they will trade Rauch -- and he'll go somewhere else and make us look bad, too.

another start, another solid performance by the guy who is becoming a fixture in the Mets' rotation. Matt Ginter 7 2/3, 5 hits, 1 earned run, left with 2-1 lead against the Twinkies. Timo, Timo, Timo Evidently this Rick Peterson guy really is a good pitching coach.

ladewski steps up. forward copies to the Trib and Sun Times NOW

amen bring back wimpy

right-handed hitting second baseman. can run some, but he's no burner. OK glove. He's having a career year.

He just needs a few more innings to refine his location.

Wonder if anybody at The Tribune will have the stones to remind LaTroy that the company that pays his outrageous salary makes most of its cash in NEWSPAPERS. Don't count on it.

A challenge to anybody who supports LaTroy: Start a thread with all the interesting, unforgettable and essential quotes from his entire career. I'd love to read them -- if there bloody were any. As former Sun-Times columnist John Schulian said in his farewell to the press box before he moved to Hollywood and became one of the top script-writers in America: "Why am I leaving sports writing? I got tired of standing outside locker rooms, waiting to talk to illiterates." Do us a favor and keep a sock in it for the rest of your career LaTroy.

If they release Koch and eat his salary, then we'll know they're serious about winning.

I'm not sure civilization will be able to survive a summer without fascinating insights from LaTroy and his 140-plus IQ. Scratch, spit, curse. Meditate on global warming and the Iraqi government handover. Might have to stick to reading Thomas Friedman, James Wolcott, David Remnick and Maureen Dowd. Please LaTroy don't punish us this way! PLEASE!