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Tom Strange
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Well its official

RED SOX ARE IN, still have 6 games to hope the Yanks slow down and we grab the division, but WE ARE IN.

I also talked to some guy tonight who owns some building outside Wrigley with bleachers, who promised ...if...

Now the fun begins---

Cubs are up 12-3 in the 8th are you feeling any better yet Simon? I think you have another week of heartburn its too tight over there

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Yeah,I feel better....Thanks for askin'...Cubs won and I love baseball again....Zambrano is really becoming their workhorse...He and Maddux have been their most consistent pitchers all year...

Yep,this is going to be a nerve-wracking week....I"m all stocked up on Rolaids and old, broken appliances that I can smash with a baseball bat in case the going gets too tough and I can't get ahold of my sponsor....

Oh....and congrats to the Bosox...

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Love you too ex, Simon loves baseball..gees its a regular lovefest.

Thanks Simon-after watching the Sox be comatose from the begiining of May to the end of July it is good to be in the playoffs

its good to see your also back to your first love...

but it is early in the week... icon_wink.gif;)-->.

I dont know your guys that well but I have seen how Todd (No Range) Walker plays second , turning routine ground balls into basehits-- so keep a good supply of old toasters to mash around-- you can hit em pretty far- good for stompin on too..its bound to be a hairy week in the NL. I'll be pluggin' for the Cubs...

What are they gonna do about the batting title and Bonds--He doesnt have enough friggin at bats, it used to be 502. Have they changed that rule?

Ichiro will have almost as many hits as Bonds has AB's

well .....almost.....

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I haven't seen him yet this year, sort of hope I dont have too! although a matchup against Curt Schilling would be a great battle and a tough game to predict--he is pretty hot himself... but I would be content to let the Yankees have him in the first round---a five game series would be tough facing him twice--

..btw thank Minnesota for Menkiewicz, Ive never seen a guy who wins so many games with his glove, its great play after great play from him, and with the Sox lineup it doesnt matter that he is hitting .213

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mstar:

I am from Minnesota so I am very familiar with the Twins. Menciewitz, yea great glove very little bat. The Twins couldnt score runs the last 2 years in the playoffs or enough in the season, so they had to dump him. I am a little zipped that we let David Ortiz go, he's been terrific for the Sox.

I do agree with you, as long as the Yankees get beat, thats good for baseball. So if my Twinkies go down, I will be pulling for the Sox and A's. later man.

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Cubs are 1/2 game behind Houston now,and the Giants are in extra innings....Cubbies have lost three of four since they threw the game away against the Mets...Their mettle is really being tested...Today they simply lost...A great catch on Sosa against the ivy with the bases loaded...blown save...Those things happen...That's why you have to win the ones you should...

Skyfer,I'm more than happy to see a small market,low payroll team like the Twinkies in the playoffs...I just wish they wouldn't beat up on the Chisox so much...

As to your question about the batting title,Mstar,if Bonds had enough hits to win the batting title if he was 0 for whatever it took to reach 502 at bats,and it was still higher than the highest hitter with enough at-bats to qualify,then he would win the batting title...For example,say he ended the year with 200 hits in 475 at-bats...Add the 27 at-bats to equal 502,but no hits,and he's still hitting about .397,which would qualify him to win the batting title,at least this year...But if the leading hitter with enough at-bats was hitting .399,then Bonds would not win it...Good and confused now?

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Its only a game...its only a game ...its only...... I have the luxury of thinking about batting titles for afew days while I put off wondering what is up with Pedro Martinez who has lost 4 straight as he heads to the playoffs.....4 straight?.........Pedro???? When does this happen?

Hang tight, breathe deep Simon---

I'm still holding out long hopes for a seventh game at Fenway on Halloween Night between the Cubs and Sox .

Breathe Deep Simon--Its only a game (i think)

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simon:

your comment:

Skyfer,I'm more than happy to see a small market,low payroll team like the Twinkies in the playoffs...I just wish they wouldn't beat up on the Chisox so much...

but you gotta admit, the rhubarb between the mighty whities and the twinkes is where the fun is at. Every year I look at the White Sox and say, "Yep they are more talented than my Twins, (except on defense). I think the Twins have stuck together a amazing string of developing solid young players. That can't go on forever. Except now they have three young guys, (Mauer & there new 1 baseman and an outfielder that look better than Hunter, Koskie and Jones)

The White Sox to me remain baseball's biggest mystery. They kinda remind me of the Vikings. Individually talented, collectively not very good. My theory on the Vikings is that the players play 8-10 games a year, get there stats up to justify next years contract or a new contract, and then they go into a holding pattern and play awful as tho they are trying to protect themsleves from injuries. Perhaps the whities are doing the same thing. I saw where Ordenez turned down a big contract only to get injured. There is no loyalty amongst the White Sox. Most of the Twins players actually want to play in Minnesota. They dont want to leave.

Edited by sky4it
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Oyea sky I forgot Ortiz-thank each and every Minnesotan for me please--He is hovering around .302 right now. He has hit some mammoth blasts this year and combined with Ramirez makes a formidable 3-4 combo.

If he stays above .300 for the next few days, they will be the first 40HR/.300 American league teammates since Ruth and Gehrig in the early 30's, which isnt bad company.

EX-They should give PhD's, maybe as our Reverend Mother you can drop an honorary Doctorate on our suffering Mr. Zelotes, he has paid his dues and done his time,

of course its my belief that most Cubs or RedSox fans should be knighted or beatified for going above and beyond all measure of human endurance in pursuit of impossible dreams.

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Thanks for the nomination...Make sure you capitalize the "D" in Doctor,the "S" in Simon but not the "z" in zelotes when you do the calligraphy on my certificate....

The Chisox have always been the ugly stepsister in Chi-town,at least in my lifetime...Even as a kid when WGN would broadcast all the Cubs and Sox home games you could tell Jack Brickhouse was merely an announcer for the Sox,but was a passionate fan of the Cubbies...Back in the '60's,the Sox always had a very good fundamental team...great pitching,defense,and a lot of speed,but they were usually the bridesmaid in the AL and not the bride...'Course as a kid,I didn't want to watch good baseball,I wanted to hear Brickhouse yell "Hey-Hey" when Billy Williams or Ernie Banks smacked one over the ivy...

I often wondered why the Chisox didn't go the way of the Philadelphia Athletics or the Boston Braves...i.e. move where they would be the only rodeo in town...Sox Park is in a crime-ridden part of the city where you pay somebody ten bucks to watch your car,you watch the game and get the hell outa there...Wrigley Field and Wrigleyville,the surrounding neighborhood bars and memorabelia shops,are like going to a festival at every game...

Even tho the Sox have not won a World Series in nearly a century,you never hear about them having a "curse"...It's like nobody really cares...Maybe all of that plays into their psyche...who knows?..I tend to agree w/ you skyfer about their individual talent but lack of "teamness"...There is no "I" in team,but you do have the letters for "me" in team icon_cool.gif...In recent years,I think Frank Thomas,a self-proclaimed stat freak,is probably one of the big reasons the Sox never seemed to jell as a team...

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Dang I tried --but even Father Karras' picture wouldn't show up---maybe its that goat thing

---I see they're done now--sorry about that Simon-wtf happened to the bats over there?

not that it matters at this point,

its gotta be a heartbreaker especially with performances like Prior's still losses

I just watched Ichiro get number 258- I doubt if I had that many hits from Little league through High school--- about 10 years---

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Thanks for the condolences,Mstar...Indeed it is a disappointing season...I don't know if it's the writers blowing things out of proportion or what,but there seems to be a some contempt in Cubtown,which is to be expected after such a big-time choke...

One of the people under fire is long-time Cubs color man,Steve Stone,IMO,the absolute best in the business,who evidently was a little too critical of the Cubs' focus and priorities...While his knowledge of the game rivals any great baseball man,I've always been impressed with his perception of the players psyche,and often thought he kept his keenest observations to himself,or at least very diplomatically noted them lest he stir up too much trouble in Cubs camp....

Last year the Cubs seemed much more focused as a team,with less talent than they had this year...To me,a defining moment last year for the Cubs was in a series that they beat St.Louis 4 out of 5...There were ejections,LaRussa and Baker yelling f!#k you to eachother and non-stop excitement...In the only game the Cubs lost,Alou hit a drive with the bases loaded that hit the left field foul line(you could see the powder fly when the ball hit it)that the ump called foul...Antonio Alfonseca,a struggling reliever for the Cubs who was sitting in the Cubs bullpen,lost his temper and was ejected for arguing the call...I think of this as a defining moment for them last year because Alfonseca wasn't burnt by the call,his TEAM was,and in effect,regardless of his personal struggles took one for the team...

Ever since then,starting in last year's playoffs when Sosa swung at three straight balls trying to even the score against Josh Beckett for knocking him down earlier in the series instead of taking a walk when the team needed baserunners,it seems like the Cubs are more concerned with their own agendas instead of the team agenda...Latroy Hawkins throwing a ten-year-oldish temper tantrum at the plate ump because the Cards embarrassed him by hitting two homers off him...Or Michael Barret personally challenging Roy Oswalt when the 'stros were dead in the water and pumping life back into them...

There's a time to get angry and fight for the TEAM,like when Vitarek and A-Rod went at it...It can inspire a ball club...But for some reason,the Cubbies just never seem to 'get' the team concept versus they're individual focus...

Anywho,sorry for the rant...They say it's good for you to let it out...brings about healing...Until then how 'bout a few Percosets for the pain?

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Don't worry about the rant-

Thats why God invented October until March icon_wink.gif;)-->,

I know what you mean about the team chemistry thing, I have seen more potentially great teams in the last 40 years that had it all on paper but lacked the cohesiveness, and the concept of working together and for each other to really nake things happen in the clutch. It is vastly disappointing, sort of like relationships that vacilate in and out of togetherness and become more interested in selfconcern, its just sort of empty . I never liked teams like that even as a kid...and the Red Sox have been through jillions of teams like that.

It seems sort of strange that an announcer would be taking heat and not players, but it seems like a national obsession to blame the messenger of bad news, if he has as much insight into players psyches as you say he should be carefully listened to.

As I mentioned above somewhere, thats one thing that I love about the Sox new owners and management, Theo Epstein the young GM wunderking seems to be acutely aware of not only finding the players with the right numbers and abilities, but the ones who will fit in , enhance the clubhouse atmosphere and work well together with the team. It seems at least as big a part of the puzzle of winning as stats and in my estimation sometimes, many times more.

Ive seen those teams and you have too, where players dont talk to each other and at times almost overtly hate each other-they are dead in the water before they start, its a good allegory because most of us have also gone through these periods in jobs and relationships.

When people are happy and enjoying themselves they will produce and produce for each other, its alot of work to break some individual egos down , especially in professional athletes but it is worth th effort, its a day by day thing as it continually crops up.

One of the big turning points for the Red Sox was not only Variteks fight but getting rid of the lasr and most obvious malcontent despite his iconic status , Nomar. Since then the Red Sox have the best record in baseball.

Anyway it has been good to have a team that seems for once almost devoid of internal squabbles and from the serious like Schilling to the near goofy like Kevin Millar, all seem to have agreat respect for each other, belief in each other, and are genuinely enjoying the gift that they have which is to spend their adult life playing.

Many times this year you can see it, that it all clicks and they are just, for a lack of a better term, grown kids enjoying themselves thoroughly..and baseball is fun again..

Still wish I could bottle it---

anyway hope any of this makes sense and sorry for the ramble its about 530 am -Im a little groggy and uncoffeed

rant on all you want--- I got some Vicadans from my broken hand here if you want...

my theory is if these guys dont want to play together let em go back to Peoria, or the Dominican Republic or wherever they are from-no matter what their name is-let em load boxes for a few years in a warehouse until they get it

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Go Cards.

Actually, I can't let myself get too hyped now; they're playing like an ordinary team lately. The Astros seem like the team to beat right now, at least in the NL. Cubs're down to their last strike. I'm guessing 1st round in the NL will be Cards/Dodgers and Braves/Astros. Anaheim is making a serious bid in the AL; one more win and they're in. Hmmm. Yanks/Twins and Redsox/Angels. Don't count the Twins out.

In 1987 the two best teams in baseball during the regular season were the Tigers and Blue Jays (98 and 96 wins respectively). Those two teams played 7 one run games over the last 10 regular season games and tired each other out, so the Twins (85 wins would've been 4th place in the AL east) easily beat the Tigers in the ALCS and eventually won the world series. ANYTHING could still happen.

I'm hoping that Pujols, Rolen, and Edmonds collective playoff experience will kick in this year though. Go Cards!

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Yea I liked the Cards earlier in the year and it has seemed a bit quiet over there lately, still I wouldnt mind seeing the Cards in the series-I'd love to see that trio upclose, besides we still owe em payback for 7 game losses in 46 and 67--It was 37 years ago tomorrow that Bob Gibson beat the Red Sox in Game 1 and went on to win 3, Lou Brock was 4 for 4---They should come back to Fenway in October at least once every 37 years icon_wink.gif;)-->

The Angels are coming on but I would rather see the Sox facing the A's who they have handled pretty well this year. Its all jockeying for position right now, Minnesota has agood chance in the short series against anybody with Santana pitching...

I hope that the playoffs have enough good baseball and memorable plays to keep in remembrance during the long looming baseballless winter months.....and that the Sox win it.

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