John Garlands bubble just burst

[mnwild]

Hey Windy,

I will be the 1st to admit the Sox are going to be a VERY hard team to catch up to in the standings, last night Thomas proved that again. I will be the 1st to say the fans in Chicago remind me of the Laker fans I ran into out in Vegas when they were playing the Wolves in the conferance finals a few years back. Very arrogant I must say. I was in Schamburg last thursday and I dont know how many times I heard people say your team sucks, you guys are a bunch of triple A guys, why even field a team the rest of the year. All I want to know is where were all these people the last 3 years???

[CNY Tim]

Windy - I don't know why Hermy didn't finish that game it's all between the Sox pitching coach and Ozzies exchanges. Hermy is a tough guy, always has been, but maybe he needed a night off? Older relief pitchers appreciate that night off between appearances. I know LaRussa will go two consecutive saves with Izzy when he has too, but naturally you would like to give your pen every other night off. That's why our teams are doing so well "Quality" starts. Even games like last nights 11-3 thumping of the Reds., Morris goes 7 strong and Eldred an Cali mop up. Tavarez, King and Izzy get a night off. What really impresses me about your "south siders" is the one run win record you guys have amassed, incredible. That right there tells you your pen is doing the job. Don't worry about the bases loaded and tying run on third., although not ideal situations this used to frustrate the heck out of me but after a while of watching Izzy close games it almost seems like he pitches better when there's men on base, go figure...

[Pig_sticka]

They all come out every time the Sox win

To me it just seems that everyone is trying to jump on a bandwagon that they are hoping is there. And since they actually live in Illinois they can jump on the bandwagon even easier. I can just see them sitting at home, o dump they lost I cant post on FM yet. O wait they won a game haha time to post a few posts and back my team up.

Just havin some fun! I thought this is the time for the twins to make atleast a good run, and then losing yesterday and the sox winning made it all that much harder.

Hopefully the twins can make a move now or we will probably have to wait till next year for a championship caliber team.

[genegodawa]

Windy, I got your back on this one.

Now MNWILD, kind of some sour grapes there. Windy is not too arrogant (except maybe for that stinky Harrelson quote he uses) unless he is defending himself. You don't have to give up on the Twins yet, but the standings speak volumes for Windy and other Sox fans.

As to your question for Windy, you mentioned Vegas (my wife is there now and I hope she is not losing as bad as the Twins are) I think you need to remember that in baseball, like in gambling, no past event result means anything in the NOW. If you don't believe that, let me ask you: Where are the guys the Twins had the last 3 years? Don't think they have shown up yet? When do they plan to? I know my Cubbies could have been much better if our pitching, mainly that ex-Twin "Hawkins the bum", had shown up for the start of the year. He must have given away 5 games at least.

As to comments in Schaumburg, I would say that sounds like sour grapes by some Cub fans. Did you jump up and say how much better the Twins are than the Sox? No ammo for that argument, right?

OK, enough defense of my SouthSide counterpart. I know he can hold his own, but I just couldn't help put my lousy 2-cents in this time.

GO TWINS!

[rundrave]

It really seems like some are throwing in the towel already, and then throwing out excuses about sox being arrogant etc.

Cmon that doesnt make us any better than them, if anything your just making their day(Windy) and giving them the satisfaction they want. Although modesty when your winning does go along way.

We got along way to go yet, and alot can happen. The sox are playing great ball, they have the lead etc. but have they accomplished anything yet? No.

I know the numbers are not in the Twins favor right now, but we are not completely out of it. So when the season is winding down, the talk of magic numbers comes around and a winner of the division is crowned, only then will I throw in the towel.

If the sox steal the division, oh well, thats just what was meant to be. I guess you could say even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

[mnwild]

Ok, #1 I am not throwing in the towel, anything can happen. Sox go on a 7 game loosing streak and we win 7 in a row. The arrogant part wasn't towards windy (I am sure he is a nice guy), it was towards the few fans I met while out in Chicago, and none of them said they were Cubs fans, all Sox.

[PierBridge]

Quote:

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I know my Cubbies could have been much better if our pitching, mainly that ex-Twin "Hawkins the bum",. He must have given away 5 games at least.

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It's not our fault your front office people and the manager did not realize the Hawk is a set up man and not a closer.

And with the Chicago media and the dysfunctional fans he never had chance as a closer in Chi town.

[genegodawa]

MNWILD: Sox fans saying their first place team sucks? I highly doubt that. Somebody was pulling your leg - don't be so gullible.

PIERBRIDGE:Geez, now I know how Windy feels sometimes. Talk about twisting things around. Whew....talk about dysfuntional. Believe me, I'm not blaming Twin fans for our player's ineptitude. So Hawkins got out of MN and his save ratio is hardly something to brag about in ChiTown....maybe he was setup to fail since you think he is not a closer. I know it isn't all his fault, more runs would have made it unnecessary to risk using him. We had nobody any better, so we live with what we got. Not an excuse, just reality. I am curious just what his save ratio was during his time in ChiTown. Nowhere near a good closer I bet.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Geno,

You see what I have to put up with every day here? Don't worry, mi amigo, I got your culo! The Cubbies took the pipe on the LaToilet trade but they did their own, stealing with Ramirez, D. Lee et al. On the whole, I would say Hendry and Kenny W. would be in the top third as far as GM's go.

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD...YES!

[genegodawa]

Yep, lots of changes in both N and S ChiTown.

Can't forget Garciaparra may help us (if he ever gets well), and thank goodness for Perez. Don't know why they let Grudz go or Sosa for that matter. But Burnitz has been solid. Maybe someday Walker will get consistent. Oh yeah, and Barrett is pretty solid all around for catcher. They are all good, but gotta put it all together. Maybe in the second half?

Lots of S Side changes for the better too. Especially letting Valentine go. But the pitching is what wins the games, especially the close ones, and the ChiSox additions are paying divs this yr.

[Down to Earth]

Quote:

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So Hawkins got out of MN and his save ratio is hardly something to brag about in ChiTown....maybe he was setup to fail since you think he is not a closer. I am curious just what his save ratio was during his time in ChiTown. Nowhere near a good closer I bet.

---

Actually he never was a good closer in Minnesota as well. I think he came up first as a starter and didn't pan out there, they tried him as a closer and he [PoorWordUsage]ed out there as well. He finally settled on a set up role and shined, which is where he needs to be put for him to succeed. A few years ago he was an excellent set up man for Guardado and then bolted via free agency.

[genegodawa]

I don't really believe all this closer stuff - if Hawkins can setup he can close. These pitchers are the best of the best and any one of them ought to be able to get one solid inning in without giving up more than one run. They all lose it at one time or another. Borowski is proof how one can go from penthouse to outhouse. It isn't the fact that the batter wins the battle (after all they are the best of the best too), it is how Hawkins gets in jams that is most upsetting. And it isn't that he gives up the long ball but rather that he first falls behind with a few hits and walks and then has to "groove" one. They are paid millions to pitch relatively little as far as inninigs goes, and if they can't do it, they aren't worth their paycheck to me as a fan. I am not picking only on him. He is not alone, as their have been many "bums" before him, and there will be many after him I'm sure.

[fishyguy]

I have to disagree with you Gene. Their are many differences between set-up and closing. There are situational differences, warm up differences, mindset, etc... Many guys can do both. Eddie Guardado as an example. There are also many that have failed at one but excelled at another. I spent my time in college filling each of these rolls at some point and was a better closer than starter, a better starter than set up man, and a better set up man than long relief. I agree that the talent to throw the ball should translate to any point but it does not. Much in the same way that some very good hitters are poor pinch hitters or situational hitters.

All that said, we Twinkie fans can understand your frustration with LaTroy very well

[genegodawa]

I have to agree with you, as I totally dismissed the intangibles. Warming up, etc. has a definite distinction between guys so roles can be harder to change.

Frustrated with Hawkins? He at least shined several times along the way. As a Cub fan I have endured much worse, believe me. It just seemed like in the end his ball didn't do anything and he kept getting hit.

[fishyguy]

When he is off, his ball is very flat and any major leaguer with a little bat speed will sit back and take some pretty good licks at him. He always seemed like a great guy around the Twins so I hope he can find his groove.

[mnwild]

Genegodawa,

"Sox fans saying their first place team sucks? I highly doubt that. Somebody was pulling your leg - don't be so gullible".

The Sox fan's were telling me that the TWINS suck not the team currently in 1st place.

[bigbucks]

If the Sox keep playing like they have been all year, the Twins won't catch them. There's no indication that they won't continue to do that, but stranger things have happened. To my knowledge the Twins are a few games ahead of last year's pace, so were the Sox not having such a fantastic year, we'd be talking about how "great" the exact same season is we're calling "mediocre" or whatever right now. When I looked at the standings this morning, our current record would put us in first in two of the six divisions & within three games in two of the remaining four. We're having a good year, with a very so-so infield & a starting staff that likely will pitch better in the second half then it has. Do we need another good bat & to score more runs? absolutely.

The Sox, as much as I hate to admit it, are having a great year, if it continues kudos to them.

Currently we lead the Indians by a game for the wild card. Our division's simply gotten a lot better. Well errr, sorry KC, that doesn't include you guys, just hurts you. Detroit is better, not sure if their record is, but even if it's the same they'd had to have gotten better to maintain the same record against better divisional opponents. The Twins although they're about the same as other years, haven't dominated the Indians like other years, but also unlike other years were not dominated by the Yanks. The tide is turning, the power teams in the East are old, the Central teams are younger, but not rookies any more.

[genegodawa]

I stand corrected. And that certainly makes more sense. Thanks for the update, MNWILD.