South Side Fireworks Man

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 17, 2011 -> 04:29 PM) If he went 4-4 today all the naysayers would want to suck him off. That's disgusting. Anyway, why are you getting so upset? Nobody is saying Beckham is terrible or is a bust. It's just that some here think he may become a better than average player but not the superstar some had hyped him to be. Don't take this stuff so seriously. It's only a message board where people express their opinions about what is only a game.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 17, 2011 -> 04:12 PM) A bad week and this crap? Beckham will be a star. Just remember when he is, and it may even be this season, a bad week made you think he would be slightly above average. Well, I always thought he would be a better than average player but I never bought into all the hype that had him as an "untouchable" or future "superstar." So my expectations of him are now only slightly lower than my original expectations (from better than average to slightly better than average), and this is after watching him for a couple of years, not a couple of weeks. I hope I'm wrong and he becomes even better than what I originally thought, but again I never saw what all the hype was about. I liked what we got from Iguchi in 2005, and that was about my projection for the kind of player Beckham would be. Maybe he'll still live up to that, we'll see.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Apr 17, 2011 -> 03:28 PM) This offense will only go as far as two of Beckham, Rios and Quentin will take them and right now none of three are doing anything. Beckham now under .250 I never thought Beckham was going to be a superstar, but it is beginning to appear that he isn't going to live up to the hype he was given. Probably wind up being an average to slightly better than average second baseman.

Pierre, lf Beckham, 2b Dunn, DH Konerko, 1b Quentin, rf Rios, cf Pierzynski, c Ramirez, ss Morel, 3b That is, if they play tonight which doesn't look likely.

Santos should now be the closer by default. Any other decision at this point is just absurd.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 10:20 PM) Note that the Cubs took who was pretty much the best 8th inning guy I've ever seen (Hawkins), moved him to closer where he failed...kept him there in hopes he'd pitch through it...and effectively ruined his career. He never recovered. I'd like to not see that happen to Thornton, and right now, that's exactly what I see, despite it bring early to call this that way, I am anyway...because it's my opinion that the same thing is occurring right before our eyes. Thornton doesnt even look close to comfortable. QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 10:21 PM) I'm with you 100% on this Ditto.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 09:57 PM) How does one dominate the 8th yet can't pitch in the 9th? I don't know. Ask Latroy Hawkins.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 09:45 PM) How, again, is Thornton not a closer? His D has screwed him for the second time. His stuff didn't vaporize overnight. He faced three batters and they all hit the ball hard. He wasn't fooling anyone tonight. Hasn't looked good in the closer role at all so far.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 02:31 PM) How I wish we had Milledge or Viciedo on this roster. I can't stand Lillibridge starting in a corner OF spot. Viciedo, yes. Milledge, no.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Apr 10, 2011 -> 10:23 AM) I think most, if not all, catchers would have done the same exact thing. I dont put much stock into what AJ did. He did what he was suppose to do there, nothing more nothing less. And frankly I would never expect him to actually start some type of physical confrontation. I still laugh at him for the fight with the Cubs he was involved with. He got jacked in the face, didnt do s*** about it and was the first one being led to the dugout. And while being taken to the dugout, he was flailing his arms up, trying to pump up the crowd. Dude, you didnt do s***. AJ knocked that punk Barrett on his ass with a good clean hit at the plate, knocked him out of the way and scored. Barrett responded by sucker punching AJ in the face which didn't even seem to phase AJ. At that point, if AJ retaliates he's facing a big fine and suspension. AJ rises above it and walks back to the dugout because he still got the best in that exchange--he scored, he knocked Barret on his ass and took Barrett's best shot without batting an eye. And yet, AJ still got suspended and fined which was pure BS.

QUOTE (since56 @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 06:33 PM) We lead the league in getting hit and are last in hitting others. Last year and so far this year. A.J. protects our pitchers? Our pitchers are supposed to protect our hitters. Hit back! Don't just be a punching bag! Sox lead in getting hit by pitches, are last in hitting opposing batters, but I'd bet they've led the league in having their manager threaten to hit opposing batters publicly since Ozzie has been here, and that's the problem.

As I've said before, the 2008 version of Carlos Quentin is the only legit number three hitter on the team. If the 2011 version of CQ is closer to the '08 version than the '09 or '10 version, I would hope Ozzie would bat him third. Dunn is more of a fourth or fifth place hitter anyway.

I'm not worried about Dunn's offensive production, but I would prefer him batting fourth or fifth. Trouble is, the only legit number three hitter the Sox have is the '08 version of Carlos Quentin. If Carlos can produce close to what he did in '08, he should be batting third. I'd like to have a guy with a higher batting average and a little more speed to go along with some pop batting third. Rios would be alright there if he were more consistent.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Mar 22, 2011 -> 04:55 PM) I don't care how much of a competitor Peavy is, or how hard he's trying to come back to be of value to this team. He's nothing but a drain on this team. Go f*** yourself, you glass piece of s***. FJP?

Doesn't Peavy have a history of shoulder problems dating back to his time with the Padres?

This is the right decision. Hopefully he plays the vast majority of games there, and when he doesn't let's hope it Vizquel. If Teahen remains on the roster, let him fill in at 1B or pinch hit once in a while.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Feb 3, 2011 -> 05:04 PM) I hope he gets a haircut and mashes all season while providing all star caliber defense. I thought I read somewhere that he was a below average defender. Is he reported to play plus defense?

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Feb 1, 2011 -> 05:27 PM) Has Dunn played a lot of games at 1b? Too many.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 30, 2011 -> 09:51 PM) Yeah, AJ is probably a better signal caller too. Probably???

QUOTE (everafan @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 10:04 PM) The guy had it coming and was acting like an ahole. If whatever the guy was doing was so bad, why didn't someone sitting close to him call for security? Why did Oney's "girlfriend" have to come from all the way across the room and confront him? Then, whatever the kid said to her, did it warrant a physical attack? Why couldn't she just call security if whatever he said to her was so offensive? And given that the girl walked across the room to assault a heckler at a roast, wasn't she also acting like an Ahole and didn't she "have it coming"??

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 04:01 PM) Everafan just posted of being right there and seeing the whole thing and that the heckler deserved it so I'm unclear what the controversy here is. I don't think anybody agrees that Oney's a tool, but I'm not sure why this incident is being used to indict Ozzie. A poster on WSI says he was there sitting right next to the kid who got slapped. Here's how he described it: "I sat right next to the kid that got slapped by Oney's skank and tossed out for doing almost nothing." So we have a descrepancy as to how bad whatever the heckler said was. But there's no disputing the facts that a guy was heckling Oney at a roast when Oney's girlfriend went out of her way to walk across the room and confront, then slap the guy. Then he gets thrown out but apparently not her. Oney then tweets in what I guess was supposed to be a threat that he's waiting outside for anyone that had the audacity to boo him at a roast. Then apparently Ozzie, instead of ignoring the incident uses the microphone to curse at the heckler then call him a "Southsider" in a derogatory manner. It wouldn't be too big a deal if this was an isolated incident but it's just one more time that Oney/Ozzie have been involved in a public display of poor behavior.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Jan 22, 2011 -> 01:42 PM) I'm glad Ozzie is here for at least two more years, hope he's here even longer. Just because they picked up his option for 2012 doesn't guarantee he will be the manager next year. It just guarantees he'll be paid next year. Since they sunk so much money in this year's payroll, the extra few million they guaranteed to pay Guillen next season was worth it to assure that Guillen's contract status didn't become a daily distraction throughout the 2011 season. But if the Sox don't win the division this year he probably will and most assuredly should be fired. And if he or his family keep embarrassing the organization, he should be gone as well. Winning will give him more leeway, but there's a limit to everything.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 22, 2011 -> 11:20 AM) Really? Is the guy who got punched going to press charges? I heard the guy who got punched was then thrown out of the event and then Ozzie called him a bunch of names, using the term "Southsider" as a pejorative.

Ozzie and Oney are an embarrassment to the White Sox and their fans.

If only Ozzie will use him properly as a LOOGY and not misuse him as he did with Randy Williams, Boone Logan, etc.