fathom

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 09:42 AM) Well when Marte got injured, the thinking was from the Sox Brass that Walker could get called up if Marte went to the DL because "He's a Lefty". That's BS. Well....that's cause some of the people making personnel decisions aren't too bright.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 09:41 AM) He's not going to save our bullpen, if that's the line of thinking. But he deserves a chance in a Major League Bullpen somewhere, and I'm starying to get the feeling, it may not be with us. Baj doesn't strike me as the type of guy that Ozzie would be willing to take a chance on. Ozzie seems to like to trust his veterans. Only way Baj gets called up is if one of our relievers go on the DL.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 09:39 AM) I can't recall how he did in ST actually. But even last year when he was gettin hit in September, a lot of them were bloop singles and unlucky hits etc. IIRC, but I could be wrong on that. But still the fact remains; Baj - 1-1, 0.85 ERA, 35 K's, 15 BB's. Kevin Walker - 0-1, 5.17 ERA, 20 K's, 10 BB's. If we call up another reliever, do not use this stupid excuse that it was Walker because "He is a lefty". He can't even get lefties out. Baj has the numbers on the board in AAA, and that has to count for something. Walker should never be brought up to the major league team. It's obvious that he doesn't have good stuff or command anymore.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 09:31 AM) Jeff Bajenaru. There you go I've said it. How did Baj perform in ST? I still think that he didn't exactly impress Ozzie last season, and he'll have a difficult time getting a call-up without an injury to a reliever. Is Baj really the long-term answer to our relief problem for the stretch run this season?

QUOTE(qwerty @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 09:26 AM) He should been pinch hit for but because he was tiring? Come on. I think he means that MB was being hit hard, and that's why he should have been pulled. Buehrle gave up some hard hit balls in the 7th inning, and you could tell that he wasn't as sharp as he was earlier in the game. However, since we got out of the 8th inning, Ozzie managed the pitching in that inning correctly. It's just that another run or two would have been huge in the type of game this was. When playing at a big ballpark, a two run lead can seem like a three or four run lead at some smaller parks.

Here's my prediction for the 6/12 game: LF Pods 2b Harris RF- Everett 1b- PK CF- Timo C- AJP SS- Uribe 3b- Crede

QUOTE(qwerty @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 09:05 AM) This talk of hermanson going through a stretch of 'tired arm'' is just insane to me. He has been a starter most of his career therefore my reasoning for thinking 20 some odd innings in over fifty games will not make his arm ''sore''. I am gonna say it is his back that is still bothering him and leave it at that. I never thought the hermanson pick-up was as good as advertised ( i honestly think his era will be over four this season and have said it all along, hope i am wrong though). I also never thought the pen was one of the top 3-5 in baseball which was being said all of this past off-season. Is it because of our ''depth'' that they are so good? Having 14 different guys that can be s***ty does not overly excite me. Yeah, I don't buy the tired arm. Remember, people were saying the reason he gave up his first runs to the Angels about 10 games was because he hadn't pitched in a while. I wouldn't be shocked if Vizcaino ends up with a better ERA than Hermanson. I'm just thankful we got such a great stretch out of Hermanson at a time where the rest of the bullpen was slumping, besides Politte. Cotts is picking up his game now, and I have hope that Vizcaino will improve. I have no hope for Shingo though.

- As I mentioned in another thread, the main reason that Hermanson has lost his effectiveness is because he has no command of his splitter now. He was dynamite with that pitch up until about two weeks ago, and now he looks like he has totally lost his release point in the pitch. An 89 mph fastball with poor command of your splitter will equate to tough times on the mound (allowing runs in 5 of last 7 appearances is a bad sign for a closer). - Our hitters have to get bet at fighting off tough pitches and not being such easy outs on 3-2 pitches. Nearly every single Sox hitter is totally off-balanced if the opposing pitcher throws an offspeed pitch on a 3-2 pitch. They all act like they're shocked they didn't see a fastball. If someone like myself can notice this pattern, I guarantee you that opposing scouting reports say the same exact thing. Our hitters need to be able to foul off a tough pitch in that situation, and see if they can get a better pitch to hit on the next pitch. Tonight was a pathetic display of hitting with a 3-2 count by our hitters. - Too many hitters are taking strikes right down the plate, but then swinging at balls off the plate when they get down in the count. - PK and Uribe need to make some adjustments at the plate. PK has become almost a dead pull hitter, and it has greatly diminished the ability he used to have to be a tough out and line drive hitter. His K rate is way up, and it seems like he hits two weak grounders to the left side every game. Also, Uribe has been in a massive slump for over a month now. He's pulling off every pitch, and it has resulted in the typical Uribe weak pop up to the 2nd baseman (used to be known as the Graffanino special). You can tell the scouting reports say fastball inside to Uribe, and then drop the offspeed pitch low and outside to get him off-balanced. Uribe's a very streaky hitter, but on a team with other guys that aren't exactly overachieving on the offensive end, we can't afford to have such an easy out in the lineup. I'm also intrigued by Crede's recent effort, as he's staying on the ball a lot better than he was. If anything, the performance this week by our 3rd basemen (Crede and Ozuna) showed me that Crede is likely here to stay at 3b for the entire season. HIs defense at 3b is too valuable. - Also, the Phillies are playing great ball now. No way will they be trading Billy Wagner. Guardado would be a solid fit, but I have a feeling the Mariners will ask for a lot. We need some help in the bullpen though. Too many guys either are lacking confidence in the pen or they're showing signs of physical fatigue/ineffectiveness.

QUOTE(knightni @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 06:52 AM) Pujols might get $27 million, but I don't know if it will be from StL. Pujols is locked up for about the next 10 years. He's not going to make anywhere close to that amount during his peak years.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:34 AM) Yeah if only there was a HOFer on the bench with 438 dingers tonight, we might have won. True, but we're talking about for the remainder of the season. We're planning on Frank being in the lineup on a pretty regular basis hopefully. I'm still not sure why we called him up when we did. He would have been better off being in the minors for this NL travel week.

QUOTE(chisoxfan79 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:32 AM) They need a guy that is a home run threat off the bench from the right side. That's why I said Eli Marrero would have been a great addition. However, the Orioles traded for him this week. I'm pretty sure that KW will now think that Everett is our righty power hitter off the bench.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:31 AM) It's obvious that they are just trying to cruise by until Gload gets healthy. But it's pathetic that they are risking not having a backup 1st baseman just so they can keep Timo on the roster. No kidding, it's so obvious what's going on. We've been saying this for a while now, but Ozzie's affection for Timo is really hurting the flexibiliy of our bench and roster. It's a shame to see stuff like this happen. Reminds me of Jerry Manuel and Royce Clayton.

QUOTE(chi-guy2 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:30 AM) i almost would like to see us get desi relaford, because he can play the whole infield, or mike lamb, hes capable of first third and the corner outfield positions Edit: not that willie and ozuna do bad jobs or anything, relaford is just a better hitter Relaford is more versatile than Willie or Ozuna. By that, I mean he is pretty close to an average infielder wherever you put him on the field. I don't think Ozuna is a very good 3rd baseman, and Willie isn't cut out to play SS.

QUOTE(chi-guy2 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:30 AM) i almost would like to see us get desi relaford, because he can play the whole infield, or mike lamb, hes capable of first third and the corner outfield positions Mike Lamb would be a great fit on this team. He can play 1b or 3b, and is a pretty solid bat off the bench.

QUOTE(chisoxfan79 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:26 AM) We have Timo! All I know is that it's absolutely inexcusable to not have a back-up 1b. I'm beginning to think there's no reason to have Willie on the roster if Ozzie is going to be timid to pr. Obviously, Timo is the person who clogs our roster right now. However, that argument has been made far too often for me to bring it up again.

QUOTE(chi-guy2 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:24 AM) this just shows that we need a player who can come off the bench and play almost every position, robert fick does a nice job along with lenny harris, thats probably the one thing we lack, someone clutch off the bench besides whoever sits out a game between dye everett and thomas I've been thinking about the lack of versatility off of our bench. We have a lot of guys who can play multiple positions (Ozuna at 3b, Harris at SS/CF, Timo at 1b, Everett in the OF), but none of the guys are close to being average fielders at their second positions.

I still think a great acquisition we could have made for a back-up 1B/power hitter off the bench would have been for Eli Marrero. Of course, that would mean that Ozzie/KW would have had to give up Timo probably.

QUOTE(chi-guy2 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:17 AM) has everett ever played first? , dont see why he couldnt give it a shot Look, I dislike Ozzie and his decisions more than just about anyone on here....but if he put Everett at first in the 9th, I would have gone nuts. When you have a one run lead, your main concern should be about having your best defense on the field for the 9th inning. Hermanson failed, plain and simple. The fact we don't have a back-up 1b is simply pathetic though.

Tonight was an awful case of a team swinging at balls, and taking strikes. I know that Pods has become a hero to many Sox fans, but I'm a little disappointed in his hitting lately. He's not drawing walks like he was earlier in the season, and his lack of extra base hits has been pretty astonishing. He's also not been nearly as aggressive on the bases lately. However, Pods and Iguchi are definitely are toughest outs right now.

QUOTE(3E8 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:13 AM) The laughing/giggling/hand holding is getting old. It seems like once every week now Ozzie manages a game that has this board shaking its collective head, and not just because hindsight is 20/20. The sad thing is that tonight's game was nowhere near as badly managed as those two Angels games were. That's not exactly a compliment to Ozzie.

QUOTE(sox-r-us @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:11 AM) Oh well, let's move on Freddie has pitched very well this year, and he is typicaly very good on the road and in day games NO reason why we should not win tomorrow against this bad hitting team in a pitchers park Let's take 2/3 and come back home Hopefully Twinkies lose tomorrow though I will not hold my breath for that to happen First, Twins are facing an inexperienced pitcher in Houlton. I bet they kick his ass. The Twins are hitting lights out right now, and have just a great middle of the order. Also, I expect to see an interesting lineup tomorrow. I have a feeling we'll see Timo in CF, and Everett in RF. Lawrence is easier for lefties to hit than righties, so I'm sure Ozzie will use that to play his typically 3rd game of the series lineup.

A few days ago, I made a comment that it seems like far too often, we have to win, and overcome the decisions of our manager. This was one of those games where we could have produced another run or two, it likely would have been all over.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 05:03 AM) I agree with Nuke to not jump on Hermy after one bad outing. It had to happen sooner or later. And I agree with whomever said to ride the hot hand. Hopefully Oz will continue doing that. Hermy has been hot as hell, if he blows the next two of three saves or something like that, then it may be Shingo time again. Surely Shingo has been working on something during his demotion time. Or Marte if he's not hurt. We can't count on Shingo or Marte to close games. Both of them have been extremely inconsistent this season. Quite simply, we have 2 reliable relievers right now in Cotts and Politte.

QUOTE(sox-r-us @ Jun 12, 2005 -> 04:59 AM) I actually do not blame Ozzie for not pinch running for Paulie. Remember Paulie was on 1st base at that time and you cannot pinch run hoiping for a double or triple with 2 outs already. Agreed, when you don't have a suitable replacement, and you have a one run lead at the time, you need to keep you best defensive player in the game (at his position). The thing that puzzles me is that if Ozzie felts Buehrle was irreplacable in the top of the 8th, why did he feel the need to pull him in the bottom of the 8th? Did Ozzie not trust his bullpen enough to get 6 outs in the game?