June 25, 200421 yr Myself, I am more concerned with facing Zambrano than Prior or Maddux. As stated b4, Prior still isn't completely back yet. Maddux has shown he can be hit and Zambrano has shown he can totally dominate teams. If the Sox can get 2 of 3 here it will be great.
June 25, 200421 yr Sox did not face Prior in the regular season last year and only saw Wood once - got dominated of course. That's why I regard last year's series as a fluke - Sox caught Clement at his worst and also feasted on Shawn Estes. Rught now we're scheduled to face Prior, Zambrano, Maddux, Maddux, Rusch and Clement. Which means should Sox miraculously beat Prior and Zambrano, it would mean they have a GREAT chance to take 5 out of 6, which would provide (knock on wood) a SUPER-TREMENDOUS boost for the rest of the season, and would single-handedly restore Sox pride. Of course, we'd be lucky to win 1 against Prior and Zambrano, but who knows, if the stars align just right....... Brando, who do we have scheduled to pitch when we head into Wrigley?
June 25, 200421 yr i'm worried, prior is just too damn good. Lets hope Jonny boy shows us some good stuff tomorrow or we're in trouble. My feelings precisely.
June 25, 200421 yr Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano are not perfect. We can give Prior his second lose of the year and Zambrano his third. Now if we were facing Roger Clemens when he was undefeated, than I’d be 100% sure we wouldn’t give him an L.
June 25, 200421 yr I know that in Prior's first two starts he was very good in the first one and very bad in the second. If he is somewhere in betwen that, we should be able to rough him up a bit.
June 25, 200421 yr I know that in Prior's first two starts he was very good in the first one and very bad in the second. If he is somewhere in betwen that, we should be able to rough him up a bit. Please understand that when you say "very bad", you actually mean results which admitedly were less than stellar (5 ER) and not quality of pitches because outside of a couple of hanging curveballs, Prior was still his old self - 95 mph with still pretty good control (worse than usual but not terribel), intimidation and an excellent curveball. Unfortunately for him, German punished one of his hangers for a 2-run opposite field triple and that really seemed to piss Prior off and give A's some breathing room. But do not think for a moment that a less patient team than the A's would have necessarily roughed him up last weekend. He was still better than either Buerhle or Loaiza were the last few days - now that's bad pitching. Beating Prior and Zambrano against all odds in the next 2 days would be IMO the biggest thing that has happened to this franchise in a DECADE. Absolutely immesurabe psychological boost. I am not saying Maddux and Clement will be easy, but it would give the Sox confidence that they could beat just about anybody and would put big pressure on the Cubs to win at least 3 out of the last 4 games...... Of course it won't happen but you never know......This is the most important start of Garland's career as far as I am concerned.
June 25, 200421 yr One of Prior's biggest weapons that other teams view him as some sort of Cyborg from 21XX that was sent back in time to be a lean, mean pitching machine. The few outings he's had against the Sox, they haven't had that fear and have thus gotten to him. That's how the Marlins did it last year: No Fear.
June 25, 200421 yr Please understand that when you say "very bad", you actually mean results which admitedly were less than stellar (5 ER) and not quality of pitches because outside of a couple of hanging curveballs, Prior was still his old self - 95 mph with still pretty good control (worse than usual but not terribel), intimidation and an excellent curveball. Unfortunately for him, German punished one of his hangers for a 2-run opposite field triple and that really seemed to piss Prior off and give A's some breathing room. But do not think for a moment that a less patient team than the A's would have necessarily roughed him up last weekend. He was still better than either Buerhle or Loaiza were the last few days - now that's bad pitching. Beating Prior and Zambrano against all odds in the next 2 days would be IMO the biggest thing that has happened to this franchise in a DECADE. Absolutely immesurabe psychological boost. I am not saying Maddux and Clement will be easy, but it would give the Sox confidence that they could beat just about anybody and would put big pressure on the Cubs to win at least 3 out of the last 4 games...... Of course it won't happen but you never know......This is the most important start of Garland's career as far as I am concerned. Prior looked like he was all ovet the place in that start. He couldn't hit his spots. That's about the worst I've seen him look.
June 25, 200421 yr Be patient, make Prior throw a lot of pitches and hopefully the Cubs have to pull him in the 5th or 6th. Then take advantage of the Cubs weakend bullpen. Sox need to try and get him at 20 pitches per inning or so, and the Cubs will have to pull him early. SB And we hit LaTroy Hawkins how? Oh yeah I remember. s***ty. Gonna be a tough six games against the Cubs.
June 25, 200421 yr I'm sorry. I just think Zambrano is due for a slump. I know he's good. But I think he's pitchin way over his head right now. Hopefully we can bring him back to reality. When you say he is "way over his head" what the hell do you actually mean? What part of his 94-97 mph fastball with TREMENDEOUS movement is overrated? What part of his awesome turbo sinker is overrated? What part of his slider-split that has some of the most unnatural movement in baseballl is overrated? Maybe it's his exceptional competitiveness (Judy, are you taking notes?) that will do him in against a team like the Sox that hasn't hit a great RHP in decades? When Nuke said Sox will "slap him around", he had the right idea. Complacent and arrogant teams that try to pull-and-elevate, putting big looping swings on the ball against Zambrano are DEAD before they even take the field..........Teams that take what he gives and throw him enough rope to hang himself (he can be erratic with his control at times, though not as much this year), on the other hand, have a chance to beat him. Sox have been in the former category the last 4 years.
June 25, 200421 yr What part of his 94-97 mph fastball with TREMENDEOUS movement is overrated? What part of his awesome turbo sinker is overrated? What part of his slider-split that has some of the most unnatural movement in baseballl is overrated? Pretty much right on. I don't think anyone can say he's "overrated" or "due to slump" or "getting lucky" if you've watched him as much as I and it seems Brando has.
June 25, 200421 yr Pretty much right on. I don't think anyone can say he's "overrated" or "due to slump" or "getting lucky" if you've watched him as much as I and it seems Brando has. Agreed. Zambrano's the real deal.
June 25, 200421 yr Agreed. Zambrano's the real deal. ....which is not to say that he can't be beat because ANYONE could be beat under the right circumnstances - especially given that he still shows immaturity. But it's also true that Sox have to bring their 'A' game against him and hope he doesn't bring his 'A' game in order to beat him. Fingers crossed.
June 25, 200421 yr The one thing i like about Saturday is that Sox players are still pissed off about him showing them up last year with his little dances off the mound after strikeouts. Hopefully it's enough added motivation to get to him. By the way, i heard this from Bruuuuuuuuuce Levine so i'm not speculating...though it makes perfect sense to be jacked up a bit because of that.
June 25, 200421 yr Beating Prior and Zambrano against all odds in the next 2 days would be IMO the biggest thing that has happened to this franchise in a DECADE.
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