Kalapse

QUOTE (knightni @ May 11, 2010 -> 04:05 AM) Thornton has been a better setup man than closer. When they tried to have him fill in as closer - in the past - he wasn't as effective. I really don't know why this keeps being repeated over the years because it's just not true at all, it was brought up repeatedly in the '08/'09 offseason after Jenks spent a spell on the DL even though Thornton -- unlike Linebrink and Dotel -- didn't even fill in for Jenks. Thornton in his career with the White Sox has had 2 true closer-like save opportunities where he started the ninth inning with a lead of 1-3 runs. He converted both. 9/25/09: Sox ahead 2-0, Thornton is called in for the save opp in place of the injured Jenks, his line: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 2K, 0 R (SAVE) 9/30/09: Sox ahead 1-0, Thornton is called in for the save opp in place of the injured Janks, his line: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2K, 0 R (SAVE) 3 other times in his career he had to enter in the 9th to clean up someone else's mess and record 1 out for the save, his combined line from those 3 outings: 1.0 IP, 2H, 0 BB, 2 K, 0 R, 3 saves All other save opportunities in his years with the Sox came with him entering prior to the 9th, whether it be the 6th, 7th or 8th. So his White Sox career line in 9th inning save opportunities: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 6 K, 0 R, 5 SAVES/5 OPPS (1.00 WHIP, 0 ERA, 18.0 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 6.0 K/BB) Matt Thornton has yet to prove conclusively whether he can or can not handle the closer's duties. All I do know is that he's shown absolutely nothing in his very few chances to close out a game that would lead me to believe that he can not succeed in the role.

Well Juan Pierre is now all alone. Chris Coghlan, in his 114th PA of the season, picks up his first XBH (a double) leaving Juan Pierre (139 PA) as the only player in the game with at least 70 PA and no XBH. His closest peers would be Mark Grudzielanek (59 PA, 0 XBH) and Chris Getz (57 PA, 0 XBH).

buy.com has Red Dead Redemption available for pre-order at $46 with free shipping. If you buy a lot of s*** off Amazon the $60 + $20 Amazon gift card and free shipping is still probably the better deal if not Buy.com looks like the winner.

I wouldn't say they "murder" him. He's very hit or miss against the Twins, either he's great or horrible. Dating back to 2006 he's had 9 good outings and 8 bad outings against he Twins. When he was good he was very good (typically early in the year) and when he was bad he was real bad (typically later in the year).

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ May 10, 2010 -> 12:46 PM) Indeed. IIRC, Orlando Cabrera set the single season White Sox record for outs made a couple of years ago. Juan is an absolute lock to break that if he stays healthy and keeps hitting leadoff. http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/GCHb6 Juan Pierre: 2003: 511 outs 2004: 507 2005: 514 2006: 532 2007: 519

Just this simple IGN preview sounds awesome: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/108/1088375p1.html You're wreaking havoc in the Wild West GTA style. Personally, this sounds like an awesome concept.

QUOTE (T R U @ May 9, 2010 -> 04:41 PM) his weak infield single and then SB is as good as a double to me, do not care what you say about that.. Good luck knocking in a runner with an infield single and then the guy behind him has to take 1 to 3 pitches for the SB to take place. With the double you're not affecting the guy behind you and you can drive in a guy from any base. And then you have that 25% of the time where the single is negated by a CS. A double is significantly more valuable in that a lot less has to go exactly right for it to take place.

At least he's coming around a bit with RISP he's tripled his hits with RISP over the past 2 games.

QUOTE (3E8 @ May 9, 2010 -> 12:13 PM) The fact that Pierre still doesn't have an extra-base hit is abominable At least he's not alone; Chris Coghlan's making him look good.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ May 9, 2010 -> 09:40 AM) Guillen says lots of things. Until he starts playing Vizquel more, I don't believe a word of it. Also, why NOT play Vizquel when he could easily be replacing someone who is playing s*** baseball too? At this point, what's the difference between him and half our team? Well of all the hitters in baseball with at least 30 PA Vizquel has the 7th lowest wOBA and is .063 points beneath our 2nd worst hitter (Mark Kotsay) oh and he's seeing 3.39 pit/pa which is well below average. In other words: for as bad as our everyday hitters have been at the plate Omar has been significantly worse. He's 4 for 31 with 1 XBH.

QUOTE (OilCan @ May 8, 2010 -> 02:30 PM) How to Train Your Dragon is an awesome movie. Very underrated. Funny yet pretty serious in some parts too. If I had to see it again in the theaters it would be in 3-d. It's at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.3 on IMDB and has made $200M at the box office, I'm not sure "underrated" is the right word for it.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 8, 2010 -> 11:27 AM) We're really arguing about 1 MPH? The point is, he was throwing as hard as he has all season long, true (maybe one of the Twins' games, he was higher)? But I too questioned those numbers with Putz...if he was throwing 94-96, it was a flat/straight 96 with little life or movement. And his splitter obviously didn't split, it looked more like a BP fastball to Gonzalez, who's somehow leading the world in XB hits now. I'm not arguing anything, just pointing out that Bobby Jenks doesn't throw 98 MPH which is a pretty big number in the world of baseball, I know it sure as s*** sounds better than 96.7 on the surfac.e

I know I'm probably beating a dead horse but I can not adequately express how much I hate having a guy at the very top of the order who 36% of his hits this season have not left the infield and is actually struggling to get bunts down even though once a week Scott Reifert posts a pic of him taking extra bunting practice before a game. When you hit leadoff you're going to get some RBI opportunities and I expect you to come through on occasion, so it would be nice if you were capable getting the ball past the infielders and reaching first that way or perhaps putting it past an outfielder for extra bases like 5 times a month. I never thought I would say that a .216 AVG was empty because, well it is a .216 AVG but when you have 0 XBH, 8 infield singles, 1 bunt single and 7 walks through 128 PA and you have 1 measly hit in 27 PA with RISP (.042/.115/.042/.157) that's a pretty empty .216 and you're just not anywhere near a major league caliber baseball player. Juan Pierre actually has more GIDP with RISP than hits this season.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 8, 2010 -> 11:06 AM) He's not unmovable now. And he won't be in May/June/July. There will be always be a market for a pitcher who threw 98 MPH yesterday, just like there are smaller ones for Putz and Linebrink, particularly in the NL. Just look at the evolution of Jose Contreras' career, Jon Garland, etc. They'll all (former Sox pitchers) be perfectly fine in the NL. Those hitters haven't seen his stuff 18 games per season for 5 years like the Tigers, Indians and Twins...it will take them one-half season to adjust to him in the first place. Bobby Jenks does not throw 98 MPH, he topped out at 96.7 MPH yesterday, that gun was ridiculous at times.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ May 7, 2010 -> 06:55 PM) It's listed as CLTV. I don't get CLTV. I believe CLTV is only available if you have a box, they're doing that with a lot of channels.

QUOTE (BobDylan @ May 7, 2010 -> 03:16 PM) The auto-aiming is off, that's for sure. It's also worth mentioning that the story might be the worst in gaming history. But that aside, I can't think of another game where you can throw a grappling hook at an enemy, then attach the other end of it to a vehicle and ride off for hours dragging the carcass around. As far as open world games go, it is the most impressive landscape I've ever seen and I don't think any other game really comes close. The size of the map is just ENORMOUS. I believe it is the biggest open world map in gaming today, but feel free to fact check me. The variance in the landscape is impressive/beautiful. Driving across the map (corner to corner) took me about an hour. Flying in a jet was about 15 minutes. I think if The Show hadn't come out a within a week of Just Cause 2's release I probably would have picked it up. Now we're getting into some big releases as the year goes on so Just Cause is getting pushed by the wayside. Once it hits about $35 on Amazon (it's at $50) right now I'll probably pick it up. I think it's complete and utter lack of a storyline could work in its favor here where all the fun comes from just f***ing around and exploring the environment so 20 minutes here and 40 minutes there a few times a week you're getting an awful lot done unlike a game with a lot of cut scenes required tasks that take up a good amount of your time.

QUOTE (BobDylan @ May 7, 2010 -> 03:07 PM) Of course I haven't played it yet, but it doesn't look better than Just Cause 2. But with a new Fallout, Dead Space, Socom, Call of Duty, Prince of Persia, Ghost Recon, and the third in the trilogy, The Last Guardian (to name only a few)... there is some stiff competition. If I were a betting man, though, I'd go with The Last Guardian. I believe Final Fantasy 15 online comes out at the end of this year as well, but I'm not really sure. Twisted Metal 3 is slated for Dec. 31st, though that generally means it is a 2011 release. There are a lot of Dec. 31st releases listed that I'm excited about. The shooting mechanics in the Just Cause 2 demo just seemed 'off' to me like they'd be incredibly annoying in a fire fight. That's probably the reason why I haven't picked it up yet.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 7, 2010 -> 02:29 PM) <!--quoteo(post=2144177:date=May 7, 2010 -> 01:42 PM:name=Kalapse)-->QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 7, 2010 -> 01:42 PM) <!--quotec--> It's going to be game of the year. This might be the most excited I've been about a non-sports game since I got my PS3. Uncharted 2 was f***ing amazing but I'm a bigger fan of sandbox/open world games than I am a platform/adventure game with a defined beginning and end.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ May 7, 2010 -> 12:32 PM) Is it wrong if me if I would actually like to see a child run onto the field and get tasered? And is it wrong of me if I would actually find it hilarious? That's pretty f***ed up.

I'll just assume this is today's lineup: Pierre 3/6 w/ 2B Vizquel 0 PA Jones 0 PA Konerko 0/2 w/ K Rios 0 PA Pierzynski 1/7 w/ BB, K Quentin 0/2 w/ BB, K Teahen 2/13 (.154) w/ 2B, BB, 2K Ramirez 1/3 w/ K *Kotsay* 1/3

QUOTE (fathom @ May 7, 2010 -> 12:18 PM) Santos was my pick...if he can stay healthy, we have our version of Carlos Marmol with better control. It's simply remarkable how good his control is right now given how long he's been pitching. He absolutely aced Vernon Wells with an inside breaking ball yesterday, a filthy, unhittable pitch that for whatever reason was not called a strike. There are a ton of veteran relievers that just can not put that pitch in that location.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ May 7, 2010 -> 10:58 AM) We went 2-4 in NY and Tex that is not possible He was off by a game, it's been 9 not 10.

Alexei Ramirez just doesn't know how to play baseball.

Scott Olsen with a no-hitter through 7 vs the Braves.