I watched enough all-star game

[IFallsRon]

Sosa is a butcher in the outfield. He should have gotten a glove on those two first-inning bombs off Clemens.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Slammy probably would have gotten to those balls if he was still on the juice. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, loved it when Loiza got him out with ducks on the pond, YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD...YES. GO SOX

[genegodawa]

The debate is on...nowhere is it written that you have to like every ballplayer. I despise Bonds' for his attitude and also despise those chickens that walk him all the time. But it's all part of the game. Betting on baseball or not, I still love Rose for his hustle and accomplishments.

It is impossible for any true fan not to admire the numbers of all of the 500 club no matter who they are and whether or not they are average, good, or great fielders.
And in his defense, how many of his HR's came when there was nobody else on the team to 'protect him'?

So, ye without sin, cast the first, er, third stone at Sammy. We'll take him anyday, as did the majority of the All-Star voters. One game, or in Loiza's case one season, does not a career make.

Gene

[SCCO9803]

For those of you out there that are Sosa, Bonds, Giambi, Sheffield, etc juiced up baseball player fans; I give you this analogy. Since you are probably fishermen, (since you are on this site) and you probably don't like poachers (because everyone on here voices that concern)It would then be safe to say you don't like cheaters. Well if in fact those people mentioned above "were" or "are" using steroids (wich it is blatantly obvious they "were" or "are") then it would be fair to say that all FMer's hate them because they are cheaters or in FM talk poachers.

[Commanche Jim]

Cork and roids........spells cheater.
He can hit home runs, and that's it. God awful in the field, as he showboats around right, and doesn't hit for average like an all star. He throws the ball like Duval hits it.....no idea where it's going. He's a .278 career hitter, and has hit OVER .300 only 3 times in his 15 year career. If he doesn't have all the corked home runs, he is not a hall of famer, let alone an all star.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

RIGHT ON WITH THE POACHER ANALOGY
I have hated Sammy Sosa for years, I think he is a phony and self-centered. He is a butcher in the field has no arm nor a brain. I think all the kissing and hopping is just a phony act to endear himself to the fans who lap it up. Fact, he has used a corked bat in a legal game and been caught, convicted and suspended. This can never be debated, though it can be debated as to how many of those homers were illegally gained and it is something he can never deny or defend. As for the steriod use, though not convicted yet one only has to look at what was a skinny kid who ballooned overnight into a behemoth with terrible acne (does the name Mark McGuire ring a bell, or Barry Bonds with the huge neck) Combine those two things with his selfish play and you can see why I dislike the man so much. I would love to see how many of his homers were hit in meaningless situations or how many times he could have advanced a runner with a hit to right or a grounder only to see him pop up with his mammoth homer swing. Just my two cents on the subject. Curt

[Failin'onPhalen]

WCW Hunter...what if Sammy was still hittin' for the southsiders? One of the sox's biggest mistakes, in my opinion, was lettin' Sammy go for Taco Bell (he was a real 'community-oriented' guy too). But I agree, sammy is/was on some kinda juice to get that big(I hadn't pieced the acne thing together, but I agree on that count too). He is self-centered/egotistical and his "i love the fans' **** is too thinly veiled behind his stupidity and self-absorbtion....is it 4:30pm yet......

Hey I like your 'put it on the board' comment...it's funny, cuz all sammy needed was a 'duck snort' to score two...

And finally, "SOX WIN, SOX WIN, SOX WIN" Harry's True First Love

[Guest]

Butcher in the field...hmmmmmm...

2004- 55 games..no errors, 1.000 Fielding %....

Sure looks like a butcher to me

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Hey Failen,
I hated the guy when he was with the Sox, thought Georgie would be good and he was for a year or two but then he went on to higher things, like running a Shell gas station in Puerto Rico. Oh well, every team has their good trades and bad, How did that Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio turn out for the Cubbies? He He. Once again, I didn't like Slammy Steriod when he was a Sox and hate him even more now. Never liked Albert Belle either before or after the Sox and once a cheater, always a cheater in my book. Talk to you soon, Curt

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Hey Herman,
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while and a broken watch is correct twice a day. How many balls does Slammy not even get to which can not be called errors ( see 2004 All Star game for two examples ) Look at his career numbers compared to the Sox butcher that everybody seems to hate, Frank Thomas and Slammy loses that race too. However, his poor play in the field is a distant third to his use of illegal equipment and illegal substances. Those two things will prevent me from ever giving him one ounce of respect no matter how many homers he hits or how many error free games he has this year. But that's just one man's opinion. YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD....YES! Go Sox. Curt

[B. Amish]

Quit bashing sammy, look around the league almost every team has someone in the outfield who is a butcher on the defensive end, its no secret sammy is in the game because he hits homers and draws fans to the gates,

theres only a handful of guys in the league who are truly five tool players, everybody else has a weakness, either they can't throw (Jonny Damon), can't run (75% of the players) etc.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Hey Amish,
There are very few guys in the league who are butchers in the field and who have been caught cheating with a corked bat and who is very suspect when it comes to steriods. Even Bonds is two out of three in these areas. Slammy Steriod deserves every bit of criticism he gets and then some.

[Guest]

The whole corked bat issue is moot as far as I'm concerned. I sincerely believe it was a total mistake. He grabbed the wrong bat and paid for his stupidity. If he was trying to hide the fact that he was using a corked bat, do you think he, or anyone for that matter, would stamp a big "C" on the handle? I think not. He made a boo-boo nad I for one have forgiven him for that. Now if any of his other bats had come back testing positive, then yea, ride him out on a rail. He admitted that he used that bat in warm-ups to give the fans a show. He's not the only one who does this, many do, he just made a mistake and grabbed it during the game.

As for the roids, until it's actually proven....there are a number of guys that it's pretty obvious, Bonds is one, Big Mac was another, but Sammy does not look all that huge in comparison to those or others.

[lots of luck]

Please stop quoting Hawk and Wimpy.
It really is painful.

[Guest]

who is hawk and wimpy?

[B-bear]

Tom,
I think what Lots of Luck is referring to Windy City's use of "YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD....YES!".
This is what the Sox Play by Play announcers (Hawk and Wimpy) say when the Sox go yard.
At least that's what I think they're talking about???

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Tom
If you believe that Slammy Steriod's cork incident was an honest mistake then I have some vacation property I can sell you in the middle of the everglades. Strange coincidence but since he got caught using the corked bat and the steriod issue is on the front burner, Slammy has not come close to hitting the homers he did in those three out of 4 years. They also have more than one bat that had C on it and there were two different color bats involved. The Cub organization did some fancy two stepping preparing that bogus story that they fed to the media long after he was caught and there was more than ample time to pull the corked bats and offer up 750 other bats as a red herring. What ***** would keep more than one or two corked bats in his arsenol. Just enough to pull one out when he needed it. And as far as Hawk and Wimpy goes....I LOVE HAWK AND WIMPY, DJ. YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD....YES!

[IFallsRon]

If I cork a northern with a couple walleyes, does that keep me from being over the limit?

[genegodawa]

Only if you get caught - but then again using Windy's logic, you have been over your limit your whole life-because "once a corker, always a corker".

Gene

PS Saturday I ended up keeping an illegal LMB because it was gut hooked, released, and then floated back to the surface next to the boat. I could have left it for bird food, and based on the rule of a 14" min, I was definitely wrong in keeping it instead of leaving it for bird food-but I decided to poach it just this one time on purpose-only done it once before by accident-and have asked the Creator for forgiveness-so I beg you all not to label me for being so morally weak this one time.

PPS Am I lying or making this whole story up? Did I keep it or leave it for bird food? No witnesses and no proof so don't even bother answering.

[Guest]

Vacation property in the middle of the Glades?...SWWEEEEET!!!

Now I'll have a place to go fishing when I go to Florida!!

[wade22]

LOL...I was thinking the same thing.

I can't believe Sosa, a man who gets paid millions for his batting alone, could make an error so *****ic.
Look, this incident happened the first year of mandatory steroid testing (at least under the conditions of the new MLB PA contract). Suddenly, steroid testing is implemented and Sosa gets caught corking his bat. Just a mistake. Yeah right.