Dick Allen

Zumaya is tough. Texas really had no chance. It probably doesn't hurt Zumaya's chances that the Rangers were looking at Rogers' soft tosses a couple of times, and then had to try to catch up to his gas.

For a guy everybody said was a lock to suck in the second half, Rogers hasn't done too badly in August. 4 runs allowed in 19 innings. I wish one or more of the members of the greatest rotation ever assembled could throw up some similar numbers .

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 16, 2006 -> 10:39 PM) What about our pitching over the past 2 games instead? The pitching was horrible but once again the defense let the Sox down. A pop up that fell between Pods, who plays DeJesus the same way he would play Albert Pujols, and Cintron wound up costing 3 runs. Cotts really is resembling Marte lately and has graduated with honors from the El Duque School of Pitching, as he goes 3 and 2 on almost every hitter now.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Aug 16, 2006 -> 10:35 PM) Count the number of unacceptable losses in the last 19 games. I count one. I think there's a few. Scoring 7 and losing to Baltimore was unacceptable. Getting swept by Minnesota at home was unacceptable, at least one of those games must be won. Losing 2 to KC at home is unacceptable.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 16, 2006 -> 09:55 PM) Any link? It came with the playoff invoices. Jacking up prices, and cancelling season tickets if you want any unused playoff ticket money back. Its a very good move on their part. It will keep renewels higher, and they will know how many are cancelling before the playoffs start which means they will be able to throw a bone or 2 at the people on the waiting list.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Aug 16, 2006 -> 10:04 PM) there are a lot of differences between this year and 2004. For one thing, I'm not sure we were ever 27 games over .500 that year. Sox fans, I'm sure every year from now on when doubt creeps into your mind your tendency is going to be to draw parallels on the most heartbreaking season in recent memory, however, I would always caution you against comparing a team a few games over .500 to a world championship caliber one that has flirted with 30 over, and probably will end up around that number. I actually think he meant 03. That was a good team with Loaisa, Colon, Buerhle, Gordon was closing, and they actually were in first place in the middle of September before the colossal cave in. I think Loaisa lost 2 or 3 games to Detroit that year without giving up more than 2 runs, and that was the year Detroit lost close to 120 games. Loaisa should have won the Cy Young.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Aug 16, 2006 -> 10:02 PM) In 04 we were fighting with the twinks for the division, and we had a hard time beating the worst team in baseball the Tigers. Now Ozzie is giving excuses. Jose looked good. And our defense was just inbetween. The defense in between? Maybe Cintron at SS, Pods in LF, Mack in CF and Gload in RF would indicate chances are the defense isn't going to shine. Also Iguchi covering second would have been nice.

Was an outfield of Pods, Mack and Gload, the worst defensive OF in major league history? Evidently Ozzie felt the Sox could win tonight with a split squad line-up. I noticed Grudz is hitting .292 on the season. Does he get any hits against any other team? This has turned into a pathetic series. KC had won 15 out of 60 road games until last night. A loss tomorrow would really be sad. Its hard to understand the offense going into hybernation against the Royals. Is Santana pitching this weekend? I heard the Twins have won his last 18 starts at the Metrodome, hopefully he won't.

Amazingly, the Sox should be shut out right now.

If AJ got on and Crede tied it up, I really think Hawk would have a coronary

Need a baserunner.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 09:35 PM) Cotts puts the leadoff guy on with a walk. Cotts has been pretty mediocre this year. I think his stats are much better than he's pitched. He's not a guy to get rid of though. He can get on a roll at any time.

QUOTE(Felix @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 09:28 PM) Except Pierre earns a much higher paycheck. Pierre also steals more and gets thrown out less. He also will catch balls that Pods tip toes to until they stop rolling. Neither can throw or hit homers, but Pierre will put the ball in play more often, and with speed, that's a good thing. I don't think the Sox will sign Pierre though. They have too many OFs in the minors they like and Pierre is going to get a decent contract both in amount and length.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 09:26 PM) The Giordano's delivery of the game is the play at the plate that ended the 5th. Fitting since Cora may have delivered KC a victory with that call to send the runner. Did you see how much time Grudz was able to take making that throw home? I really fail to see how Cora sends him with a $12 million a year hitter coming to the plate.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 09:25 PM) I always thought speed/slap hitters were supposed to make a lot of contact. I'll probably get ridiculed for saying this, but I'd rather have Pierre than Pods. According to Bruce Levine, that is what you may see in 2007.

Pods is one guy I will not miss next season.

Pods has a hit tonight. Don't the Sox win when he gets a hit?

Riske did the job. Its time to score a few runs, and keep Joey Cora's judgement out of the equation please.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 09:11 PM) No, he was sent to the minors right after spring training because he was 40 pounds overweight. Let's not forget, this chump shut us down back on opening day in 2003. Yeah, I didn't remember him being so fat. I don't know how a professional athlete who can make millions using their body would let themself go like that. Pretty pathetic .

Has Hernandez been this large his entire career?

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 09:02 PM) Javy=Danny Wright with a much bigger contract. Or actually, at least Javy is usually good for 5 innings I guess, so maybe he's a bit better. It goes to show how far pitching performances have slipped to still be called good. Some people still love Vazquez but thought Danny Wright sucked. Wright had a 5.18 ERA in 2002 and won 14 games for a team not nearly as good as this one. I believe Danny's paycheck was $220,000 total that year.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 09:00 PM) If we do lose this game though, who's starting the Congratulatory thread for Javy? It would be nice if even his biggest admirers see that he probably isn't the guy you want on the mound in games that really need to be won.

KC averages 3 losses every 4 games on the road. I don't see where expecting a 4 game sweep is out of line.

JD isn't a good bet for player of the game tonight.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 08:50 PM) You know that doesn't apply. You can say it was a terrible decision, but you can't say it was a terrible decision because Paul got a hit next inning. But you know that. Considering the previous 4 batters hit Hernandez hard, I think I'd take my chances with Paulie and ducks on the pond rather than seeing yet another runner easily thrown out at home.