Balta1701

QUOTE(BobDylan @ Jun 7, 2005 -> 11:15 AM) He did it because BMac was out there. Plain and simple. Any of the other four pitchers wouldn't have had the same treatment. Maybe he did it a little because he knows how big the Cubs series is for the fans?

The Led Zeppelin Shark tale. Probably not good reading if you're at work.

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Jun 7, 2005 -> 10:50 AM) The Anahiem Angels desperatly want a DH, and their owners are not afraid of spending money. Why in the world would we help out a team that we may very well face in round 1 of the playoffs? Why in the world would we want Frank playing on a playoff team against us? If anything, I could see sending Everett to someone in the NL who needs a bat in the outfield and is willing to sacrifice some defense. I could see Atlanta fitting that mold (Carl...your job is to get out of Andruw's way). I sure as hell don't want Frank coming back to hit against us in the playoffs. Not in the least.

Let's just remember one of the biggest reasons why Ozzie is the manager in the first place...the "2 out of 3 ain't bad" mentality in September 2003 against the Yankees. After an off day...we had Mark Buehrle on 4 days rest and ready to go, and instead, we pitched a Rookie in Yankee Stadium after winning 2 games. The rookie got shelled. I still think our stumble out of the pennant race started with that game. I can't complain about saving people and getting the subs some time this early in the season. Hell, I wouldn't complain if we put El Duque back on the DL for another 15 games here at the end of June just so he gets some extra rest. But when August and September hit...there can be NO more screwing around. Our toughest stretch of the season will hit in August...Yankees, Bosox, Twins, Yankees, Twins over 15 games. After that...it hits September and the sprint to the finish. Those series are the ones that you save people for, and that's the time you give it everything you have. Right now...sure, give people some bench time. But if we get a chance to sweep one of those series, and Ozzie plays the bench....that's when we should mutiny.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Jun 7, 2005 -> 09:14 AM) If Contreras doesn't fall in love with his splitter, we should slug this one out. I'm thinking W. EDIT: Damnit, I just realized we are back to 19 games over .500. Let's finally get to 20 boys, c'mon! Last night it seemed like the Rockies were swinging at anything. I'm hoping they keep that up tonight. With as much as that splitter moves around...if they're swinging at it, they're in deep trouble.

Somehow...this makes me think of Led Zeppelin...

If he's fully healthy, I'll still stick with the big man, even at his age. He is still most likely the strongest hitter on our team, he has spent his career hitting the ball to every field, he knows when to take a pitch the other way, and he has maybe the most discerning eye in baseball over the last 15 years. If he's not fully healthy though, his production seems to decline rapidly. We'll see within a few weeks whether or not that's the case. Excluding Thomas, I'd say its a toss up between Iguchi and Rowand. Both of them, when they're locked in, can do everything I said about Thomas except for take the walks. They spray the ball to all fields, hit doubles, hit solid line drives, shoot the ball into gaps, and hit for power. On the other hand, both of them seem to have times when they really struggle; See Iguchi last night or Rowand to start the year. Both Tad and Rowand have a shot to end this season hitting .320 or better, and I think they both will, unless Tad can't get out of this funk he's been in lately where his average has tumbled.

Does Texas have a "Parental notification law" for abortions for those under 18? I'll bet you based on this case that they do, and I'll bet you this is one of the end results. I don't think life in prison is a good option at all, but there definately needs to be an incredibly long period of counseling for both of them. I'd say institutionalization would be a better recourse for both them and society. Might give them a chance someday.

QUOTE(southsider17 @ Jun 7, 2005 -> 10:14 AM) Funny that you should mention that. I was watching the replay of his HR against the Toons and I noticed that when he was completing his follow thru, he still seemed to have his rear foot planted on the ground which is not usually the case, especially after he just tee'd off on one. That would indicate (to me) that he's still forced to hold back a bit to compensate for any discomfort in his healing ankle. I think he'll be very up an down for awhile unless he get's to play full time. And even then it will take some time for him to get his "groove" back. That swing on Sunday was a very wierd swing solely because it was one hell of a difficult pitch to get to. It was inside and he couldn't get extended on it at all. He had to hold his weight back in order to put a decent swing on the ball, and the ball simply jumped because of his arm strength. I've seen Frank do that same swing for home runs a few dozen times in his career. That's how he looks when he drives an inside pitch out to left. As far as I've been able to tell, his swing looks pretty normal to me. I don't have as many cameras on it as the hitting coaches do, but he looked a lot like the old Frank.

To the people out there who are saying Scott Skiles isn't that good of a coach...I ask you...who were the top 3 defensive teams in the NBA Last year? Give up? 1. Detroit 2. Chicago 3. San Antonio. Skiles helped those guys to a monster year, and put them in a position to really make noise if healthy. Make no mistake...he has earned the right to keep coaching that team, and he earned whatever he asked for last year. I hope John Paxson can find a quality replacement, but no matter what, we'll be losing a coach who took a bunch of rookies and made them the #2 defense in the league. I put this one in the exact same spot I put the blame for the summer of 98: Jerry Reinsdorf. He's the one writing the checks. He's the one who has the final say. He's the only one who would have any sort of veto over Pax. He's the one who drove our last quality coach out of town with his 1 year contract extensions and personality conflicts. And just because I don't like him at all...he also was instrumental in blowing the White Sox best chance at a world series in my lifetime in 94.

QUOTE(robinventura23 @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 09:04 PM) FREDDY: FLAT OUT AWESOME!!! This may be the perfect series for Sox' bats to wake up. Uribe really looked liked he was coming around. If our hitting and pitching are in sync, we can get on a big roll. If playing in Coors field isn't enough to wake up some batters, I don't know what is. Somehow, I'm imagining the Sox finishing like 5th in the AL in batting average...but then having someone on Sportscenter point out that if you exclude the series at Coors field, the Sox were 9th or 10th.

The key to that entire piece hangs on 1 point, which is totally buried in there and presented without evidence. I would like to point it out and discuss it, since it is really the entire point of that post. QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 09:06 PM) Conflict between the two approaches exist when you try to define the process of natural selection in terms of mathematics. In theory every process can be defined in terms of a system of mathematics. However when doing this the process of natural selection does not fit well with probability theory rooted in genetics. The consensus then is that natural selection may not be the predominant factor governing creation. I'm ignoring the stupid "Because humanity can engineer biology, clearly biology entirely was designed" stuff. Right there is the key point above - he is claiming that design must be top down, because natural selection does not fit well with probability theory. However...this to me makes absolutely no sense, because evolution via natural selection is in itself entirely a function of probability. How does natural selection work? It happens when there are changes in the genetic makeup of a group of life forms due to a differential die-off/differential reproductive rate. When a mutation arises in a species, it first arises because there is a finite probability of a creature's reproductive system making some sort of mistake. In fact, many species have functions that drive mutations so as to encourage diversity. But altogether, it is a function of probability. Then, any mutation that arises is either going to produce a small advantage or disadvantage in reproduction. Over time...this small advantage gives groups with that advantage a greater probability of surviving, and that trait can become dominant. This process is entirely based in probability. In fact, it is easy to apply probability theory to explain when you would expect it to happen; if we reduce the total number of individuals in a group, it becomes far more likely that the trait can become dominant in that group, leading to speciation (read: Punctuated equilibrium). I would argue therefore that evolution based on natural selection is a highly probabilistic function. Our friend has argued that it is not. He has not given any citation or logical reasoning to back this up. I hope that will change with time, because otherwise there can be no debate here. p.s. Amongst whom will you find the consensus that you refer to above?

Well...Shingo took on Coors field and Todd Helton and didn't explode. Maybe that's a small good sign? (I hope). Good work Freddie & Shingo getting the rest of the pen a day off.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 08:31 PM) For anyone wanting Greg Walker to be fired, I give you this tidbit: Hawk was saying the more he's around Walker, the more he sees how "solid" he is. Since we know Hawk is basically the voice of the Sox front office, it's safe to say Walker's not going anywhere. That's exactly what people speaking for an organization say when a guy is about to be replaced. "We have total confidence in our manager" etc.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 08:29 PM) Timo showing his amazing versatility by swinging at the first pitch he sees. I bet he just wanted to get back into the dugout to finish off what he started with Ozzie. Maybe they realized it's 9:30 in Denver and Ozzie sent him up so that the team could get some sleep.

That's 103 pitches at the end of the 8th. Freddy leading off the 9th.

That's 100 pitches for Garcia. Great Game Freddie...

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 08:22 PM) Cora's been sending a lot of guys today. You don't think Dye had enough time to run through him? Cora's been sending everyone all year. Everyone. I bet we lead the league in guys thrown out at home. Can anyone check that?

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 08:09 PM) Damn it, has Freddy looked good or what? 19 in a row retired by him. Another inning or two of this and Freddie's gonna start saying Coors Field is his favorite park to pitch in.

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 08:06 PM) if Shingo or Viz sees tick in this game, a 6 run lead might not be enough in this ballpark... I say Shingo gets the 9th...he needs some work...and Politte should be ready as a backup.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 08:03 PM) They might have. Konerko's homer was with 2 outs, then all those runs in the other inning I think were 2 outs, too. How about that third run after Garcia gave up the 3-run homer? No...That scored on a GIDP by Crede. The rest were with 2 outs.

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 07:40 PM) When you find evidence of a person having a rebuttal opinion not being given air time on the network let me know. I already did. Read above. Click links.

QUOTE(kman @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 07:38 PM) jd is really starting to come into his own. He's hitting .368 in June. As bad as he was the first month and a half...the pendulum was bound to swing the other way. I think he'll be hitting .260 or so by the end of June, which is starting to get up to where he should be. If guys like him get their average up to normal, non-terrible numbers, then this team will be very hard to beat. Ever.

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 07:23 PM) He also made up a French newspaper out of thin air once too, so... I think that was the funniest MMFA Find ever. I fell on the floor laughing at that one. "Media Matters for America found no evidence of a publication named "The Paris Business Review."

31 steals for Pods.