Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:

Superking wrote:That's not nice. Ron Santo's a saint.....

Actually, former Brewers announcer Pat Hughes is the true saint for patiently dealing with that dullard on a daily basis. Hey, I'm sure that Ron Santo is a very sweet, God-fearing man who loves his family and country. He just doesn't belong in a broadcast booth.


anyone see the simpson's with the ron santo reference? apparently the writers don't think santo should be writing books either. what's a poor guy supposed to do?

anyone see the santo movie? i can imagine it's only playing in chicago. just curious.

mc

Seriously, I think Billy Koch is a good pitcher but he's got a bad case of Chicago syndrome.

koch is ok, but he is kind of undisciplined. a thrower.

jerry manuel was so terrible with his bullpen, he wrecked whatever confidence koch gained in oakland. i think he's still reeling from that.

the a's are really good at getting guys who are purpose-built for certain situations, and then using them in those exact situations. they used koch really well.

then again, they're trying to make arthur rhodes into their closer right now. i like rhodes, but i coulda told them that's highly unlikely to work.

man, the angels look gooooooood. i love watching vlad guerrero. what an amazing player.

tmidgett wrote:man, the angels look gooooooood. i love watching vlad guerrero. what an amazing player.

Yeah, I fully agree on both fronts. Vlad is THE definition of a 5-tool player. And he does it all without batting gloves.

Getting Colon was also huge for the Angels.

one thing i love about guerrero is that he still plays like some gangly 13-yr-old kid on a sandlot

he's always been a great low-ball hitter, but the other night, he hit one out on joel piniero that was down on his shoetops

tmidgett wrote:he's always been a great low-ball hitter

Not just low-balls, he hits high pitches, outside pitches, and even stuff way inside. He is the preeminent bad-ball hitter. The only other guy in the league that goes out of the zone as much is Ichiro.

tmidgett wrote:jerry manuel was so terrible with his bullpen, he wrecked whatever confidence koch gained in oakland. i think he's still reeling from that.

I actually thought that Manuel did a really good job with his bullpen, particularly with respect to Tom Gordon and Damaso Marte in the second half of 2003.

In any event, Billy Koch has lost about five MPH off of his fastball. He now throws around 92-94 MPH. That's the beginning and end of this story. He's not the same pitcher as he was two or three years ago, at least in terms of velocity.

However, I actually think that Billy Koch looks markedly better than last year. What everyone forgets is that Billy Koch had two "meltdowns" basically against Carlos Beltran and Mike Sweeney. Those are two GREAT hitters who, as I review the film, hit good pitches. My take is that Billy Koch is going to be just fine, and he'll be a valuable closer for the White Sox this year.

You know, sometimes that shit happens. Sometimes good hitters hit good pitches. I watched Troy Percival, whom I consider among the best closers in the game, blow a lead last night to Dan Wilson when Percival was throwing really well. Oh well. Go get 'em tomorrow, Percy.

By the way, a comment about Vlad Guerrero. Vlad looks to be quickly assuming the role of a full time AL DH. His excitingly undisciplined nose-to-toes hitting aside, Vlad looks like he'll be a Danny Tartabull redux (i.e., an underappreciated superstar with a sadly shortened career) because of those years spent on the turf on Montreal. In two years, the Angels will be stuck with a gimp and crippling contract (a la Albert Belle). Why the players' union didn't get every square inch of turf torn out of Cincy, Philly, Pittsburgh, Houston, Seattle, Minnesota, Montreal, Toronto, KC, St. Louis, etc. fifteen years ago is totally beyond me.

Hey Brad,

Don't the White Sox have the worst bullpen in the entire AL? 29th I believe.

I feel for you. The Cubs have notoriously bad bullpen problems (even when it looks like their bullpen should be good). Be prepared to watch your bullpen blow game after game when your starter works his ass off keeping the opponents off the board.

Better luck next year when the sox are paying Mags out the ass.

Oh yeah, and all you guys dogging on Santo and Hughes, you can all suck it. Pat and Ron are great. John doesn't ever post on here, so I speak for him as well, and we say that we love Pat and Ron!

I actually thought that Manuel did a really good job with his bullpen, particularly with respect to Tom Gordon and Damaso Marte in the second half of 2003.

bwah...really?

brad, i defer to you, as i know you consumed more w.sox action last year than i did. but i consumed a fair amount, and it seemed to me like he was shuffling those bitches in and out at random half the time. there were a good half-dozen times when i thought 'no...no...don't...then he'll...and then they'll....' and then whatever was obviously going to happen happened, and it sucked.

i'm not anti-koch, mind you. and i think guillen did right by telling koch to be ready to get back on the horse the next night. i mean, what else can he say? but i have a feeling koch's closing days are behind him.

guerrero is gimped up, there's no doubt about that. i want to say you are wrong, and i hope you are wrong. but i cannot say you are wrong at this juncture, brad. there is a decent chance you are right.

ok, now. my postings rank is 'doyle brunson' today. i have been reading mr. brunson's book on 'power poker' lately. he is a great poker player, and his book is pretty good. the only reason for me to keep posting is to see if i ever become 't.j. cloutier.'

it's only natural, mr. midgett.

don't you think that Super System is a bit rambl-ish? Sometimes I have a hard time following his (or his cohorts) thought patterns. I've often fantasized about making a clearer version of Super System. At least the Limit and No-Limit sections. What do you think?