noonanberg

twins win, and for the time being are the wild card leaders.

a stretch, but maybe that's a tie game on that 2B. or at least 2 in scoring position with one out.

thats a perfect example of tito being too passive. thats a perfect time for a manager to put a lil fire under his team's ass. tito should have argued that call. maybe even got tossed for it. show the team this game actually means something.

That ball Willy hit was about five feet from clearing the ballpark. Absolute shot. I'll admit I was skeptical about him early on, and I still don't think he's a great fielder, but the kid can hit.

so what has actually happened? did the deal just fall thru?

aim is off tonight

I'll tell you why Denver wins. They obviously have the skill as they proved this past season with their division win and victory of the Patriots. Their defense is average, but defense only get you so far anyway as the Bears proved. Their offense, however, is even better. Plummer is kind of a choke artist yes, but now he has even more to work with. Javon Walker is a great wide receiver and will give Plummer another great target. Their running game may not be as great as when Terrell Davis was around, but it's still good. Jay Cutler's success is yet to be determined, but if he's as good as hyped he may be able to fill in for Plummer if he struggles. I also think Denver made the best draft pick of all that went well beneath the radar, and that is offensive lineman Greg Eslinger. Somehow this guy slipped to the sixth round which is pathetic. I may be a little off on the numbers, but I believe he's a three time all- Big Ten, two time all- american, and also won the Rimington Trophy, and best center trophy this season. He's also been the center for a Gophers team that has fielded TWO 1,000 yard rushers in each of the last three seasons, which no other team has done. eslinger may not be a starter right away, but if he's your backup you're in pretty good shape. aside from that i just have a gut feeling on the broncos. i picked the steelers last year mostly on a gut feeling, so i'm sticking with my gut.

bet they don't regret giving up kazmir.

Santana's out of the equation I think. He hasn't been as dominant as in other years. I think a huge factor will be wins. If Halladay or Verlander can hit 20 they'd have to get serious consideration. How long Liriano is shelved for will be important, too. If Papelbon can get over 40 saves and keep his ERA at a dollar store level it will be tough for someone to steal it from him. Schilling will be in the running too. After all he is leading the league in wins, and has a good shot at 20. If his ERA is respectable he could be a sleeper. I think for Liriano and Papelbon ERA is the key. Verlander, Halladay and Schilling need the wins, and of course a half decent ERA.

Well this could go a few ways for the Twins. 1) It's a minor injury, Liriano only misses a few starts, and as long as Minnesota doesnt pack it in they stay in the hunt until he gets back. 2) It's bad, Liriano is done for the season and the Twins struggle down the stretch and slowly fade. 3) The scariest scenario, is that part 1 is true, and that Matt Garza is as good in the bigs as he was in the minors. Then the Twins will have three dominant starters in September (and maybe October). Brad Radke as a #4 isn't a bad setup. Don't count the Twins out yet. They still have some games left against the Chisox, and also one more series against us. I would wait until more is known about Liriano and until after our series with the Twins before I rule them out.

oh, and as for the upcoming series, the best way to go is probably to root for the white sox to take two of three. this way if we (hopefully) sweep the royals, we should be tied with chitown for the wild card and the yanks for the division. i think thats right, or at least we'll be 1 game or less out on each, which is fine.

i may be mistaken, but didnt liriano pitch last night? unless he went on the DL today. anyway, the twins are deadly, but it's not even just their pitching anymore, which is still good even in the 'pen. Morneau had developed into a pretty good power hitter (he's up there with Thome). rookie SS Jason Bartlett is playing well. Mauer is leading the league in batting and is one of the toughest players to get out. and other guys (kubel, cuddyer, punto, castillo) have been pitching in when necessary. if only torii hunter could find his bat again the twins' lineup would be even deadlier. oh, and they're not that bad a defensive team either.

as Dustin Mohr said, Keith Foulke was quoted as saying he'd retire if he felt he couldn't return to effective form. so, it seems like the sox will win either way. A) Foulke makes a strong comeback and helps our atrocious bullpen or Foulke retires and spares us his high priced contract for 1??? year.

first off that is clearly not a paps picture seeing as the guy is throwing left handed. altho i also agree they both look alike. second, anything less than a sweep in this series is a failure. there is no way you should split (or god forbid lose) a combined series between the Devil Rays and Royals. these games are must win.

Denver will win the Super Bowl.

why does the MLB even have a trade deadline? seriously, pick a day for it to stop or dont bother at all.

Sox foursome. Sheets is always hurt. Weeks will be good, but he's not going to be great. Youkilis is a great guy to have. Schilling while done in a year and a half may still play more games in that span than Sheets will in 4. Lester will be a great #3 for years to come. Loretta is good. Plus, he's hopefully only here until Pedroia comes up.

Good two guys to build around. Gonna be great for years.

Collins, Sandberg, Hornsby, Robinson, Randolph, Biggio, Doerr, Herr

the sox have lost 9 of 13 to Tampa. that's f**kin awful. that number at highest should be six. then instead of being behind the yankees, we'd be ahead of them. if they dont sweep KC and take 2 from Baltimore then they're in serious trouble.

I like those batting numbers against Fossum, and the ones against Wells too. I'm feeling a turnaround with each. I expect a big hitting game by the Sox and a strong outing from Wells.

Collins, Mazeroski, Sandberg, Herman, Hornsby, Robinson, Kent, Doyle, White, McAuliffe, Whitaker, Evers, Morgan, Alomar, Herr, Doerr

I actually thought it was a strike..

So apparently someone has acquired Andruw Jones, but that team has not been named yet. Did perhaps the Sox make two additions today?

yeah, maybe we had him at the wrong position all along.