mmmmmbeeer

Outside of this losing streak, what exactly has given you the impression that the team has lost respect for Oz? I've never heard any hint of your accusation in any player's comments. I've never seen Oz's plays be ignored, minus hitting the opponent. I do hear that the clubhouse is still loose, atleast according to the media. I think you're just looking for a reason for this bad streak. I think it really boils down to execution and performance, nothing to do with the player/manager relationship.

lack of greenies lack of greenies

I recently had my hard drive crap out on my Sony Vaio desktop. I was looking at salvaging the computer and just purchasing a new hard drive off of newegg. I've never replaced a hard drive before so I'm curious; if i buy a new hard drive and slot my system restore cd's into the cdrom drive, will BIOS and windows install on the new drive? i really hope i don't have to buy new XP discs. Thanks.

I forgot the guy's name, maybe Flash, but he'd probably agree with me when I say that Matt Thornton is a perfect example of why the Sox should be drafting a greater mix of pitcher-types. Between Thornton and Jenks, two flamethrowers with spotty pasts, the Sox and Don Cooper have groomed these guys into, dare I say, dominating relievers. Any guy who can throw 95-100mph can't just be ignored because they'd be a "project". The dividends paid by these project prospects is often worth the work.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 03:24 PM) Have Papi and Manny ever come up with the bases loaded and nobody out and fail to get the damn ball out of the infield? you're so set on drawing the comparison, how's about you do the research and get back to us. mmmkaythanks.

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 03:23 PM) thome, pk, dye, yea they just proved that this inning. ortiz,manny, nixon wouldnt have wasted these opp.'s sounds like you've got a new team to root for.

2 of the top hitters in the AL and their fans are all over them. Tough crowd.

I like how DJ snidely made the remark that Hawk appearing in one of Moron's articles actually gave Hawk some press. I think DJ appreciated the irony in his statement. I think the irony was lost on Hawk.

A kid pitcher with no control has now been banished to triple AAA. On the other hand, do you think they'll ever be another problem with anyone on this team sticking up for their teamates? The kid's a rookie and he was made an example of. I'm curious if those of you who are calling this classless were the same ones cheering when BA ran in to clock Michael Barrett and take out Mabry? If I remember right, popular consensus was that Brian went out of his way and earned some cred with his teamates. To pretend that Tracy didn't fail to stick up for his teamates, turning the blame onto Ozzie, is fairly hypocritical.

QUOTE(Soxfest @ Jun 15, 2006 -> 02:50 AM) OG needs to learn you cannot do the over the top s*** 100% of the time, clubhouse may not appreciate how Tracey was treated in front of everyone. Guillen would be irate if a player did that to him. OG needs to learn alot about managing people. The rest of the team is going to be pissed at Ozzie for getting onto the guy who didn't stick up for them? That almost makes sense.

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Jun 15, 2006 -> 01:23 AM) What got me alittle irritated from their posts is that they get on a rookie instead of a veteran (Vazquez) who basically saw what was going on and didn't even do anything whatsoever. Why not yell at Javy then? Why sent a pitcher with no control and try and hit a batter and basically cost some fines and suspensions? Much like Oz brought in Sean with a specific job, a measured maneuver based on the repercussions of the "job", I don't doubt for a minute that Oz f***ing told Javy not too bean anyone. He probably relayed that fact to AJ as well. Who is going to step in to take Javy's start? BMac because he's finally in a set role in the pen? It would have been ridiculously STUPID to have Javy hit a batsman after the warnings were issued. As far as Tracy getting demoted, I think this makes a big statement to the team. What I'm upset about, which may coincide with what bothered Oz, is the fact that Blalock even got a pitch to put the bat on. I understand some of your points about him having no control, but he threw a fastball over the plate when he was supposed to be beaning a guy. Had he failed to hit him but threw 4 pitches at Blalock, resulting in a walk, I wouldn't have been pissed. He f***ing threw 2 inside and then came out over the plate. That's b.s. That's chickens***. I know one thing, if/when Tracy gets back to the majors, he'll pitch inside without hesitation and pick up his teamates. Oz just taught that kid a valuable lesson.

Jon had given up what, 3 or 4 hits going into the 6th....5 or 6ks.....1bb? How is that bad? f***ing mack, as he's proven to us NUMEROUS times this season, cannot play CF. Jon should be able to pitch over these things....oh, but he did. He jammed guillen and guillen got a lil ducksnort. 3-2 game...Mack shows his incompetence again and misses his cutoff man and guillen walks into 2b...Alright, He just needs to settle down....he throws a NASTY inside sinker to Infante and it barely makes it off the infield grass... Paulie doesn't pay attention and the run scores on an infield hit from 2nd. I bet every one of you f***ers calling out Garland were f***ing heated at this point...and you weren't mad at Garland. Well, Jonny was a bit heated too, and threw a cookie, his 2nd or 3rd true mistake pitch of the night. Jon pitched the ball VERY well tonight. The D let him down. A few weak hits let him down. He looks MUCH better than he did earlier this season.

QUOTE(maggliopipe @ Jun 8, 2006 -> 01:18 PM) Dude, $12M is not less than $9M. It is actually more. as in he's worth LESS than $9M, and worth MUCH LESS than $12M are you going to tell me next that you "could care less" about something or that "all intents and purposes" is actually " all intensive purposes"?

Titans fan here. It definitely sucks the way the whole thing was handled, but there's no way in hell McNair is worth $9M in the shape he's in, much less $12M. It was time for the Titans to move on. I REALLY wish they would have handled the situation better but I'm glad to see a new chapter begin in Titans football. As much as I despise Baltimore, hopefully Steve can get his ring with them before he retires.

It was a sharply hit ball that he had to take on the inbetween hop. Your insinuation that "any other 3b makes that play" is greatly exaggerated. The throw was stupid, but the stop itself was far from routine. I was disappointed that he earned an error on it.

QUOTE(henry wiggins @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 08:27 AM) I agree. The impression I get, watching and listening to the games, is that the 2006 Sox aren't a team yet in the way that the '05 Sox were a team. This is a collection of good, even superb, players, but the hunger that fueled last year's team isn't evident to me. There have been flashes of it, but only when things are going well. I have yet to see this group come through a bad patch stronger and more together. I sure hope they get to that point, though, and soon. IMO the bullpen is the only *serious* weakness on this club, technically. Pretty much the only pen pitcher who doesn't make me nervous as hell when he comes in, is Jenks. For some reason that kid radiates complete command, and I love that. We'd be better off with 2 NL pitchers at the bottom of our lineup, atleast they know how to put down a bunt. I agree that the pen is the biggest problem but Anderson' bat is hurting the defense due to Ozzie's need to put Mack in the lineup late in games for offensive opportunities.

Seriously, probably 80% of our losses have revolved around one of the following: 1.) BA can't hit 2.) Mackowiak can't field 3.) Uribe's O or D 4.) Bullpen So, two positions and a couple bullpen guys have made this team look like absolute s***. It seems that after every f***ing loss it's the same conversation, BA, Mack, Uribe, or the pen. It's getting old to us as fans, I imagine our fearless GM is climbing up the walls with frustration. KW, I hope you're ready to empty the farm. Even just solving two of the four issues, IE make a deal for a CF/RP package, or SS/RP package, and we're in great shape. This is too good of a team to not improve it, regardless of cost. We're so close.

and with Wickman and Martinez, Pods could have probably stole 3rd as well. horrible.

QUOTE(Dawgs @ May 29, 2006 -> 12:24 PM) How is this a total fluke team? In 2003 the Tigers started a AAA team that consisted of alot of the core guys on the team this year. Few of them were ready to play in the majors and thier record proved it. In 2004 they added Pudge and Guillen and improved by 20+ games. The youngsters had made some strides and they were getting better at the basics. At the start of the 2005 season most prognosticators had the Tigers pegged at or near .500 with the addition of Magglio and Guillens sudden rise during the 2004 season. Guillen and Magglio were both injured for mosat of the season. Even when they played they were hurt. Magglios hernia had him swinging with his arms only and Guillens knee was a mess. The Tigers struggled without thier two best hitters but were near .500 until the last month of the season. At that time they collapsed. The losing took its toll on the veterans, most notably Pudge, and coupled with his divorce turned the clubhouse to s***. Still without the injuries this team would have been close to .500. This season everyone underestimated the Tigers preseason because of the awful finish last year. But Magglio and Guillen arent hurt this year. The two kids brought up in midseason last year, Shelton and Granderson, are legitimate big league position players. And they brought in a crafty pitcher whos work ethic and knowledge of how to pitch has rubbed off on a couple young pitchers who have finally figured out how to get big league hitters out in thier 3rd and 4th years. Add this years rookie of the year Verlander and Zumaya who has hit 103 mph and you have the makings of a title contender. You guys can keep deluding yourself all you want that Detroit is a flash in the pan. They arent. They are absolutely for real. If your team is as delusional as some of you seem to be, comparing this Tigers team to an Orioles team that couldnt pitch, your in for a rude awakening come October. I think his implication was that, due to the fact you're 20 games over .500, you probably aren't a fluke being "flukes" rarely get their record looking that impressive. I love your bullpen, you've got some good hitters in the lineup, great veteran leadership in Pudge, and one helluva manager in Leyland. The big weakness I see with the Tigers is the starting pitching. Maroth, who was pitching WAY over his head, is now hurt and you've got Jason Grilli filling in (we're all too familiar with Grilli's pitching abilities). KR is starting to come back down to his mean numbers. Bonderman, despite his ridiculous talent, never has put it all together to find the consistency to be an ace. Verlander, who I REALLY wish we had, is an absolute stud in the making, but he just won't have the strength to throw that 100mph heat effectively for the entire season as a rookie, unless he's just an absolute freak of nature. Robertson has never had dominating stuff but can be a solid back-of-the-rotation kinda guy. He's obviously got some confidence working for him now, and perhaps KR has tutored him a bit, but a 1.5pt drop in ERA seems a bit extreme. If we learned anything last year, it's that starting pitching will take you a long way. We didn't even have a single hitter hit over .300 last season yet led the AL in the standings the entire season. It IS all about the starting pitching unless you've just got a MONSTROUS lineup, something that DET does not have. I think you'll win the wildcard or fall just short. Next season is the season that I'll really be worried about the Tigers, as that staff matures another season and gets the taste of a playoff race.

No doubt that the pen is killing us. No doubt the the middle of the order was a problem today. But the real issue is having two players hitting under .200 at the bottom of the order. I'm a big supporter of BA, and I'm all for giving him time, but I'm starting to wonder if now, in a tight race with the tigers, is that time. Big Juan needs a break; fortunately we have Cintron ready to step in and do the job.

QUOTE(tigerfan @ May 26, 2006 -> 08:29 PM) Back for the moment. 8-3 going into the 9th. Run came after Maggs led off the 7th with a double, went to 3rd on a flyout by Monroe, and then scored when the throw into the infield was off target. Jamie Walker in now Numbers: 0-0 ERA of 0.84 1-2-3 9th for Walker. Tigers win 8-3. 7th win in a row, 14th in their last 15th. Noticed Comerica looked pretty packed tonight when I was flipping between your game and the Sox game. Must be pretty exciting up there right now. So with Maroth out indefinitely foiling Leyland's plan to skip Verlander from time to time, at what point is Verlander going to hit the wall this season? He's got short term endurance, firing the ball at 99mph in the 9th the other night, but I'm curious if he'll be able to hold up in the long term.

QUOTE(Brian @ May 26, 2006 -> 04:53 PM) Sabathia Man, Sqwerty missed an "are" in there. I thought you were implying that there was a lucky Tigers pitcher who went by the name "Captian Cheeseburger". I'm sitting here thinking why in the hell Maroth or Robertson would be nicknamed captain cheeseburger...lol

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ May 26, 2006 -> 04:46 PM) Tigers lucky Captian Cheeseburger doesn't pitch against them this weekend. Unfortunately we get to see him in our next series. Who the hell is "Captain Cheeseburger" in their rotation?

From the sounds of his column, he's been drinking the Coop-Aid. I love the things he's written, he's put 100% faith into Coop and Coop is doing nothing more than pushing him to be an impact pitcher, not just a middle reliever. After his rough times in SEA, it must just be a huge relief and confidence booster to have a pitching coach, a very highly regarded pitching coach, who was clamoring to get the opportunity to work with you. I think that the Thornton/Borchard deal with rank right up there with KW's best deals.

QUOTE(TLAK @ May 25, 2006 -> 08:11 PM) Must have heard a thousand times this week how the Sox 3-4-5 are the best in baseball. Being of an enquiring mind I checked it out and for once, the hype is true. This chart looks at the top 3 HR and RBI men by team (I don't have batting order in it). And those numbers indicate that there isn't much competition...