Balta1701

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 5, 2006 -> 07:10 PM) Seattle did a lot of things themselves to hand that game to the Steelers. The game might have went different with a fairly called game by the refs, but Seattle screwed up so many times that they got what they deserved. Seattle made a few mistakes...but conveniently it seemed like the worst mistake they made (the pick) happened sandwiched between 2 completely phantom calls by the Refs.

Man, after watching that game, I can't help but think that the Refs just absolutely handed that trophy to the Steelers on a silver platter.

Sometimes, I just thank God that our President is so adamantly supportive of scientific exploration and using technology to go to the future. I can't imagine how this country's research departments are falling gradually behind the rest of the world with his support. Must be those unions. Link.

WaPo. So in other words...the President is lying when he says the program is only used against people speaking with Al Qaeda. It actually is data mining of a huge number of overseas calls.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 5, 2006 -> 12:02 PM) Just to clarify, I wouldn't want to eliminate any country from the UN. They all need a chair at the table. I just think that some countries' human rights records are so obviously disgusting, that there is no reason why they need to be given "their turn" on that particular committee. That placement should be earned, and voted on by a majority of countries (not a select few). I think this would be a good time to note that something similar to what you are describing was what Kofi Annan was hoping to accomplish with his Human Rights Commission reform plan. That, however, is not what Bolton tried to do with it. Bolton has, once again, managed to take the negotiations over this reform issue and stalemate it by insisting on the permanent 5 members of the Security Council each getting a guaranteed seat on the new HRC and most likely some sort of veto there as well. Basically of course, this would make it almost impossible for any criticism to happen of any of the countries on the new council, because if the U.S. wanted to file a complaint against China, the Chinese could just stop it, or could respond by filing some sort of complaint against the U.S.

-lgfwatch.

QUOTE(3E8 @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 08:16 PM) I agree with this guy. The combination of Everett, Thomas, and Rowand drove in 25% of our runs last season. One quarter of a run total that was in the bottom-half of the AL from that group! A lower run total this year is not out of the question in my opinion. We all know how I feel about Thome. Anderson will be below average offensively but we can't expect much there, and Crede batting behind him (not a fan) will hurt us some. Konerko's probably more likely to regress from last season's totals. I like Uribe as much as anyone here, but a .300 OBP from the 2-hole won't cut it. I'd consider him the most likely candidate for improvement however. There are a couple of things worth noting here. First...Yes Everett drove in a lot of runs, but he was also in the best RBI spot in our lineup...immediately behind Iguchi and Pods, which meant he was up all the bloody time with RISP. He was in a spot where he should have drove in a ton of runs. But, let's look at the other side of that token. Thomas, Rowand, and Everett combined only scored 154 runs. That is basically only 20% of our total runs scored last year. Everett in particular only scored 58, and that was hitting directly in front of our best hitter by a long shot. If healthy, over the last 9 years, aside from 2005, Jim Thome has averaged 103 runs scored, and that's without a bopper like Konerko hitting behind him much of the time. That's more than Everett and Thomas combined last year by 26 runs. That's a lot, especially if he winds up hitting in front of PK. I just keep looking at this offense and really liking what I see. Up and down the list. We've improved the bench. We've added a left handed bat, so that Ozzie can't try his failed All-Righty Santana lineup. And we've got a bunch of people who simply cannot do worse than they did last year. AJ - last year was his worst season in the big leagues. Crede - last season was a massive disappointment if you look at his monthly numbers. Uribe was massively down last year. Iguchi took several months to adapt to the league, and his power took that long to show up as well. Konerko struggled mightily in the first 2 months. Carl Everett was simply a fill-in in the DH spot. Rowand was a gigantic disappointment. Podsednik was unable to steal the last 2 months of the year. The only guy in that lineup who I would say "I don't hope he'll do any better than last year, I just hope he'll repeat his numbers" is Dye. That's it, and that's given Dye's dead-like start to the year. Konerko hit .315 after June 1, which had he done that the first 2 months of the season as well would have put him very very high on the MVP list. Crede was very good for everything but 2 months of the year, 1 of which was injury plagued. He had the highest OPS in the AL for the month of September when he had his swing working. Podsednik did great in hitting .290, he just needs to avoid long-term nagging injuries that slow him down. He should have swiped 80+ bases last year with the tear he was on. Pierzynski suddenly dropped form a .300 hitter to a .250 hitter. Even a Marginal improvement will push him back to .275-.280. No one hit more line drives right at people last year than he did. The numbers say it just has to even out for him. Anderson may well struggle, but it's almost impossible for him to put up worse numbers than Rowand did last year, given how bad Rowand actually did. On the other hand, Anderson still has a much higher upside, and it's entirely possible that having faced big league pitching and ran with the team through the entire playoffs last year, he'll come in more ready to play than anyone thinks next year. Uribe still needs to figure out a way to lay off some pitches. Hopefully hitting behind Podsednik and in front of Thome will help, since he'll get a ton more fastballs (do you really want to face Thome with 1st and 3rd?). All he needs is a little bit of patience and a willingness to hit the ball to the RHS. If Jim Thome is healthy...he will put up massively higher numbers than Everett. And if Thome gets hurt...for a DH, Everett's numbers last year were really so low that a trade for a career AAA guy may very well get enough to replace him. Hell Borchard could almost replace him with those numbers. Everett just wasn't that good at all last year, no matter what %age of our runs he knocked in. All he had to do was put the bat on the ball to knock Podsednik in a lot of times. And by having Everett getting on base so few times last year, Konerko's RBI numbers really were knocked down. On top of that, the bench is massively upgraded, so hopefully we won't see any more .218 hitting guys starting games as our leadoff hitter very often, and that's worth probably 10-20 runs right there. This team will be significantly better with the bats next year. Count on it. It just can't get any worse. And if everything were to go right, they can seriously challenge for the best offense in the league.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 10:34 PM) 2. THere is nothing out there that could make us any better for this year unless some team is stupid and wants to give up an Ace type pitcher. THats why they aren't trading Contreras. And KW has said on numerous occasions that he will always listen but won't trade Contreras away unless it is for pitching that can help us win a WS this year. KW is not looking for a bat, unless somebody is willing to give us something for nothing. If he traded Contreras it would be for good pitching and Gavin Floyd is not good pitching. Somebody that is an Ace type pitcher like the front office expects him to be this year. A significant portion of me tells me that this sort of talk is just rhetoric from KW. First, he doesn't want to sound like he's desperate to trade Jose, so that someone will try to offer him the sort of deal boston offered for Crisp; a blow-you-away type deal that will make you better for years. When you don't NEED to trade someone, you can wait for the right deal to come along, and that's where KW is sitting right now. Personally though if I'm in his chair...I wait until the season starts and I see how my guys get through the WBC. I try to deal well before the trading deadline. Especially if Contreras keeps up what he did in the 2nd half of last year...he'll be an incredible trading asset. Imagine what you could get for a #1 or #2 guy in the league in wins. If Jose struggles, BMac will probably replace him in the rotation pretty quick anyway, but if he's dominant...I try to see what I can get for him just because his value would be so damn high. But overall...yeah I don't make a deal without a backup plan. At least not an early one. If June rolls around, BMac and the other 4 starters are healthy and have only pitched a limited amount of innings...I see if someone in the NL might be willing to make a deal to make a big run. I still hate the idea of losing Jose for nothing player-wise, not even draft picks.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 07:13 PM) Other than his second full season sophomore slump in 2004, his numbers look pretty consistent with his career so far. Unless Crede learns some plate patience and starts drawing walks, the only way he will see an .800+ OPS is if he puts up a ~.500 SLG. Right now, Crede IS a mediocre hitter. Teams would want him at 3rd base more for his glove than his bat. But Crede IS entering his prime years so if it's going to happen at all it would probably have to happen next season or 2007. Until I see otherwise, I'm going to continue to hope that Crede can find something to turn himself into the hitter we keep getting glimpses of. You all know as well as I do that when Crede is rolling, he has simply the sweetest swing on our roster. Go back and watch the Rally Crede blast. That is an amazingly short and quick swing. Joe's problem has always been that he'll get his swing working for a time, then after a few weeks (i.e. May) his swing will lengthen itself out on outside pitches, he'll stop driving them the other way, and he'll start popping everything up. With a guy like Timo Perez, I'm happy to say he's just not going to be better than what we saw last year. But with Crede...all he needs to do is keep his swing consistent for an entire season. We haven't seen him do that yet, but it's not a huge step beyond what we've already seen from him. If he can just avoid trying to pull that low and outside pitch and spend a whole season trying to drive it the other way...thereby keeping his swing compact...he still has an all star in him. It's all in his swing.

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 10:19 PM) I doubt that will happen that way, but you never know. I expect Ozzie will go out on his own terms. The last World Series winning manager who was fired was Bob Brenley of the Diamondbacks, fired in 2004 after winning in 01. McKeon retired this year. Francona still has the BoSox, Scoscia still has the Angels, Torre still has the Yankees. Leyland led the Marlins in 97, but he resigned after management dismantled the team. Bobby Cox won in 95. Cito Gaston managed the Blue Jays in the pre-strike years, but was fired in 97 and has not managed since. Tom Kelley won in '91 and '87 with the Twinkie bastages, and retired after 2001. Sweet Lou resigned in '92 after winning in 1990 with the Reds. LaRussa resigned in '95 to take over the Redbirds after winning in '89. Lasorda led the Dodgers in '88 and retired in '96. Davey Johnson managed the Mets in '86, and was fired in 1990. So out of the last 20 years, only 3 world series managers have been fired. The rest are either still managing or have retired/resigned, albiet not necessarily on their own terms (i.e. LaRussa). So the Odds certainly seem with the Oz being able to stay on as long as he wants, as long as management doesn't dismantle the team under him (i.e. Gaston in Toronto or Brenley in Arizona).

I just hope that no matter what the Bulls do this offseason, they can find some more size. With Gordon, Hinrich, Deng, and Duhon, they can control outside for a long long time.

QUOTE(sayitaintso @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 07:41 PM) Kalapse is yours moving? You know...you put some alcohol in your bloodstream, and suddenly it doesn't seem to be moving nearly as much as it did earlier.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 10:26 PM) Seriously, who, over the age of 18, doesn't already have SOME form of ID? You have to have it for almost anything you do, so why is it so hard to produce SOMETHING to prove who you are? On average, roughly 10% of American citizens have no form of ID, depending on what state you're in/city you're in/conditions you live in.

Chris Matthews...from that liberal bastion of MSNBC...blames the church burnings today on "Liberals." This man really seems to admire O'Reilly. Wow.

QUOTE(klaus kinski @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 06:54 PM) I'm still not convinced our offense is improved until we see what we got in center, and DH If Jim Thome avoids injury...our offense has massively improved. If everything goes perfectly right for us this year...we could have one of the top 2-3 offenses in the AL. But that means Crede & Anderson not struggling, Thome staying healthy, Konerko and Dye not dropping off, Pods not getting hurt at the end of the year, Iguchi and Uribe adapting to their roles, and AJ having a vastly better year. Some of those won't happen. Hopefully most of them will. But, if you put Konerko and Thome together in a lineup, compared to anything we had last year...that is a massive improvement.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 05:24 PM) Here there's regular, plus (with ethanol) and premium. In all my time when I worked in a gas station (like 5-6 months) I think maybe 5 people baught premium. You know...now that I think about it...since my only form of transportation is a bicycle...I guess some finite percentage of the fuel I use is ethanol too. Anywho...it's social hour here, so I'm going to go refuel.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 05:18 PM) Anyone here use ethanol regularly? It's all we use in our cars at home. Most fuels around here contain some percentage of ethanol.

QUOTE(q\/\/3r+y @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 04:38 PM) Konerko does not like to dh... most hitters do not like to dh unless they really have no other option aka too fat and not athletic enough to play any where else. Most of the best hitters since the dh have commented on how they feel better batting when they are playing a position rather than on the bench the entire game. The numbers reflect it for alot of the big name hitters too. Frank thomas is a great example... his numbers when playing first base were like .330ish. Konerko probally wouldn't have any problem with once a week but anything more than that i am sure he would squabble about. There's no good reason as far as I can tell to DH Konerko more than 1 time per week unless he's really not feeling good for some reason. He's younger than Thome, and Thome is recovering from injuries related to fielding. However, having both of them gives us a real advantage. Thome can play first base some, but because of his injuries he shouldn't be there much. This is totally different from last year, where our only backup options for much of the year at 1st base were Dye and Timo (ick). This led to Konerko playing 1st base for a huge fraction of the year with basically no extra off days, unlike almost every other position player on the team. PK played in 158 games last year during the regular season, and obviously 12 in the postseason, and he only got like 43 at bats the whole year as a DH (and a lot of those were during the brief times when Gload was around). Next year, we can use Thome to give PK some rest every now and then by allowing PK to DH. It doesn't, and probably shouldn't, have to happen very often unless PK winds up with some sort of nagging injury. But just by giving PK's body some extra rest by DHing him 1 day a week or so, he'll hopefully be a little healthier, maybe break out of slumps faster (off-days clearly helped him in late May), and it'll let us keep both PK and JT in the lineup for hopefully 150+ days for both of them. That's the real goal - to keep both of their bats in the lineup.

QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 04:26 PM) The problem with ethanol plants as they are now construed is, as I understand it, that the energy input (electricity or natural gas, IIRC) exceeds the energy output of the ethanol, so in some sene, we're really not solving anything. I could be wrong. If so, please enlighten me. There are ways to make ethanol as a fuel that give significantly positive outputs of energy. Making ethanol from corn, including other things that the corn makes (i.e. animal feed) gives you a slightly positive output of energy. You can get higher energy outputs by making the ethanol out of different products...things where you use a larger part of the plant to produce the stuff. Link

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 03:12 PM) Unless PK is really sucking(which is possible) up until Interleague starts, Thome won't have a start at 1B. I believe you're wrong...after we signed PK the reports said Thome would probably play 1b about 1 time per week to give PK a chance to DH and get a little extra rest. I don't have a citation...but that's what I remember reading, and it makes sense to me if his elbow is all right. PK seemed to really be helped when he got his incredibly rare off-days last year.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 03:13 PM) I couldn't be happier for him. I refuse to feel sorry for such an extraordinary flake. I bet his money keeps him very very warm at night.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 03:36 PM) Yay! I beat ya to it. I'm wordy & I already had 1 person @ in a blog comment complain when I didna post the link to some random article. Bah!

Backing very slowly out of this thread....

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 02:34 PM) BWAHAHAHAHA!!! I finally understand your avatar....

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 02:30 PM) Chicago area commuting is even worse when you factor in the absurd number of railroad crossings. Atleast on the Southside it is. Suppose it's the price you pay for being the central hub of all railway traffic. I recall an article where 3 or 4 of the top five delays due to freight line interference occured around Chicago. Blue Island's two tracks on 127th, near Eisenhower High School, were rated the worst in the nation. A lot of those railcrossings happen in a small area because of the lake...if anything wants to come from the Eastern U.S. to go to the Northwest, it basically has to run just south of Lake Michigan. That's one of the reasons why there are so many interstate highways running through NW Indiana too.