I said this in May and people laughed at me. You can't laugh now. If the season ended today I'll admit I'd give it to David Ortiz. Despite the fact that he's a DH, witch I do hold against him, his numbers are just so far above the other candidates. We all know about his 8th and 9th inning success. But right now Dye's second to him. Plus I'm not putting it past Dye to catch up to Ortiz in numbers and have some late inning heroics himself in these last 45 games. Dye already has a much better average then him. If he gets closer in RBI and homers Dye's the MVP because he has played a solid right field this year.

The national media is tauting Jeter as second best to Ortiz. I think he's having a great year but Dye is clearly better then him in my mind.

its when he hits them too...i'd place him 2nd behind ortiz in the clutch. besides, he's carried this offense all year. no way he gets it though.

I think this will all boil down to how the Sox and the Yankess finish their seasons. Unfortunately, it seems that those who have MVP votes perfer to give them to players on teams that have either won their division or appear to have the best chance at going all the way.

I agree, however, with giving it to Dye over Jeter.

I just don't think it's quite the land slide victory for Ortiz that everybody is making it out to be. I'll bet alot of people on the east coast would be schocked to learn that both Dye and Thome have a higher Slugging Percentage then Ortiz. The above poster is correct. Dye has had his fair share of late inning clutch hits this year too. I never hear Dye's name thrown out there by the national media. Never on Baseball Tonight. In the end winning a World Series is more important. Thank God Maglio had that knee injury in his contract year with the Sox. Otherwise we'd still have Mags and not Dye. Mags is having an OK year, but nothing like the year that Dye is having. Plus we got Dye for half the money and were able to spend that in other places. We have Dye locked up for next year to with a very affordable club option.

If Boston doesn't make the playoffs, I don't see how they could give MVP to Ortiz over Dye.

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To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music,
no choreography and the dancers hit each other.

Playoffs don't necessarily matter. In the last 20 years (Not including 1994) 9 players (24%) have won the MVP without their teams making the playoffs.

'86 Mike Schmidt
'87 Andre Dawson
'89 Robin Yount
'91 Cal Ripken
'93 Barry Bonds
'97 Larry Walker
'01 Barry Bonds
'03 Alex Rodriguez
'04 Barry Bonds

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Homer: "Asleep at the switch"? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!
Bart: I believe you, Dad.

while you cant hold being a DH against ortiz, you can give dye extra points for playing a stellar right field every day

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Right, but by giving extra points to Dye you are, in essence, holding being a DH against Ortiz. I have no problem with that. It's not just being a Sox fan because I hold this against Thome too.

I said Ortiz should win it too if the season ended today. But it's not a land slide. Have you looked at Dye's numbers. He's like .330 31 88. Plus his defense. He should get some recognition and let's see how the final 40 games play out. It's not a run away.

Nas,

I love these Kool-Aid posts. Here is what I (stupid Cub fan) have learned from the highly more baseball knowledgable Sox fans.

* Brandon McCarthy is the greatest pitcher alive. To trade McCarthy would probably start the Apocalypse.

* Jermaine Dye should get favorable consideration over Ortiz in the MVP race because he plays in the field and the Red Sox may not make the playoffs.
(p.s. the White Sox haven't clinched shit yet, how many of you guys bought 1st round playoff tickets in '96?)

* Brian Anderson is better than Andruw Jones

* The WSox will win 110 games and be the 6th team in a hundred years to do that.

* AJ Pierzynski is the best catcher in baseball.

* No need to worry about the Tigers - Even though the Tigers have the lowest ERA in the league and it's almost a full point lower than the WSox. We have 7 games left against them.

Okay I'm done. I probably could think of more but I need to get back to drinking Old Style and pissing on people's lawns.

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Homer: "Asleep at the switch"? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!
Bart: I believe you, Dad.

Oz, your first mistake is assuming that Beardown speaks for the rest of us.

I agree with most of what you’ve written, though I do expect Brian Anderson to be better than Willie Mays.

Not what I said but hey never let facts get in the way of a post.

Here is what I learn from those great Cubs fans.

--Wrigley Field is a Holy venue. All deseises and handicaps will be cured if you cross this Holy land. Never mind the piss pudles. That's the Lords piss so it's pure.

--When fans at Comiskey get leud and run on the field they are scum bags. When fans at Wrigley throw stuff on the field, run on the field or steal caps they are just passionate.

--The reason the team hasn's won is because of curses. Goats, Bartman, Day games. Has nothing to do with the lousy players and management they've had for 100 years.

--It's a great day if the Cubs lose if one of the following happend through the years. Sammy hits a homer, Grace gives a chick his phone number or Sandburg makes a great play up the middle to keep the game within 5. Oh yeah Harry sang.

I like Beardown's posts and I think they only one he is responsible for is the 110 wins. Just some of the posts recently are more "homer" than Hawk Harrelson.

I guess I'm just in a bad mood today.

Sorry

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Homer: "Asleep at the switch"? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!
Bart: I believe you, Dad.

Aren’t you the same guy that has been busting balls for people not picking up on sarcasm?

No, not really. Plus I knew he was joking and I was exagerating with my Cubs fan thing too. Although there is some truth in that post. All in fun. I realize it better then you think.

Great post let me respond:

--Wrigley Field is a Holy venue. All deseises and handicaps will be cured if you cross this Holy land. Never mind the piss pudles. That's the Lords piss so it's pure. It's nostalgic and quiant but it's time to move on. Most seats don't face infield. There are not enough washrooms and it is not kid friendly. I wished they moved out to Schaumburg in the 80's.

--When fans at Comiskey get leud and run on the field they are scum bags. When fans at Wrigley throw stuff on the field, run on the field or steal caps they are just passionate. The only thing that should have ever been thrown on the field is Oh! Henry bars. One guarantee in life is that any baseball game will have a drunk asshole at it. The most embarrassing thing for the Sox in the Ligue and other guy incident is that both times the Sox players did NOTHING. When the umpire was attacked the Sox were on the field.

--The reason the team hasn's won is because of curses. Goats, Bartman, Day games. Has nothing to do with the lousy players and management they've had for 100 years. Anyone who believes this is a dumbfuck. Have you really met a Cubs fan that believe's in curses?

--It's a great day if the Cubs lose if one of the following happend through the years. Sammy hits a homer, Grace gives a chick his phone number or Sandburg makes a great play up the middle to keep the game within 5. Oh yeah Harry sang. First Harry started the tradition of singing the 7th inning stretch with the Sox. Plus Falstaff beer marketed the shit out it. If I had a dollar for every stupid broad who told me that she dated Mark Grace I'd own the Merchandise Mart. Grace was unceremonially swept away by the Cubs and hasn't really been invited back. '98 was exciting and the Cubs were in contention so I think the Sammy shot is low. Sandberg is a hall of fame player and was fun to watch. I would have rather seen the Cubs win though.

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Homer: "Asleep at the switch"? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!
Bart: I believe you, Dad.

There is a misinterpretation of "Kool Aid" drinker and confident fan who beleives what they say. I honestly think the Sox are just fine and will be in the ALCS against the Tigers (gonna wait til that series to make my prediction). So guys, if in fact that happens I suppose you'll have to say Beardown was right and I'll be vindicated. Just because I'm confident that they'll be there doesn't make me a kool aid drinker if that's what I truely beleive.

I've never jumped off any bandwagon. I'm a fan of the Sox, Bulls, and Bears wheather they suck or are good. I don't know how you got that impression of me. I've had some harsh posts on the Bears and Bulls. It's just the Sox have been great since I've joined this site so I haven't had alot to bitch about.

.

I don't know why. I think part of it is because the organization never has focused on fundamental baseball and developing pitching. Or it could be that so many people were watching. Who knows maybe a lot freaky shit happened in Expo games and no one noticed.

I don't believe in curses.

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Homer: "Asleep at the switch"? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!
Bart: I believe you, Dad.

brian anderson is the best outfielder this town has seen since andre dawson, and the sox will not lose another game the rest of the year my friends. also, neal cotts is better than fergie jenkins, and paul konerko would kick ron santos ass in a footrace.

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Right Oz you're not an idiot obviously. I never understood the curse thing that Red Sox and Cubs fans push on people. That bad things only happen to them.

The White Sox were a team that hadn't won for 88 year yet we never used any of that foolishness. Alot of it has to do with the charming old ball parks although we had Old Comiskey for a long part of that drought. But the Red Sox and Cubs have a bigger fan bases so these cute tales are created because it's fun and adds to story book tale of these clubs I suppose.

im glad they won last year so they could put that curse of andy the clown to rest

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At one time I believe the media tried to create the curse of the Black Sox. It's just plain stupid and not very entertaining.

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Homer: "Asleep at the switch"? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!
Bart: I believe you, Dad.

oztiz

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
117 444 88 127 22 1 42 113 277 84 95 1 0 .401 .624 .286


dye

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
108 397 74 129 22 2 32 89 251 44 89 5 3 .393 .632 .325

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I guess it doesn't work Nas.

I too went to sleep after getting home from work. I knew the outcome before the first pitch. Do you think Steve Bartman will ever be forgotten? I don't blame him (although he was listening to the f'n game and knew Alou was coming for the ball). I guess the lesson is: If you're going to do something stupid, don't do it on National Television.

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Homer: "Asleep at the switch"? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!
Bart: I believe you, Dad.

Yeah that Black Sox thing was media driven but Sox fans never bought into that crap. At least not in my life time and I never heard my Dad talk about it growing up. We always just said "we suck" and hoped it got better.

Keep in mind Oz there is a 7 second delay on the radio so maybe Bartman didn't hear. Plus when that ball came twords him it probrally got a little loud in his section and he couldn't hear or concentrate on the radio call anyway.

Yeah...but still.

I wonder though if he'll be remembered by other generations. I know of Merkle's Boner as I am sure you do, but I would say most baseball fans have no clue who Fred Merkle is.

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Homer: "Asleep at the switch"? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!
Bart: I believe you, Dad.