southsideirish71

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 12:24 PM) Thanks for the advice... I did run years ago, back about 40 pounds and 10 years ago I was a Cross Country runner in college (5miles/8K) and then a pretty decent hurdler, sprinter, triple jumper in track. I definately felt like I got go a lot more than I did, I just wasn't sure how my body would respond anymore, as its been a LONG time. I ran cross country in high school. And ran off and on throughout my 20s, including a marathon. I took it up again in my 30s and found that my body revolted on me. My knees kept getting sore, I had some issues with my ankles. It took a while for me to realize that the same routine I did in my late teens/20s doesnt work now. I kept in good shape, but it still doesnt help when you cross that damn 30 threshold. Now I am finally at a good pace and distance where I feel real good running. It took a while, and a lot of time in the hot tub, but its worth it. As you know when you get back into running, and get used to that routine its a great feeling. I started running again nightly because of being diagnosed with type II diabetes. I want to be around for my son when I am older. What got you into it again.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 12:25 PM) At this point I would like to gloat for, say, 30 seconds because I posted last week about how we looked eerily like the 2004 team and people crucified me. Well, most anyway. Here's my take, forgive me for stating the obvious. -Yes we do not seem as hungry in the sense that if we get a lead (which we are consistently blowing this year) we just sort of wait for the game to end with us winning. -Obvious but true: our team was and is built around pitching and defense. When those falter, we are doomed. No matter how many HRs Thome pounds. Right now the pitching is--well, very 2004-like and the defense has been subpar. A lot of missed DPs, inexplicably booted balls, outfield misjudgments, and when was the last time you saw us throw out somebody coming home? -I've said it before, I'll say it again: where in the hell are the other people on the team stealing bases? It's Pods or nada apparently. What happened to stealing and bunting? The suicide squeeze? This won us games last year. Lots of 'em. Are we just waiting for Thome to get to the plate? -The bullpen is atrocious. Politte especially. Guys like Thorton and the new guy obviously have stuff, but they're not locating. Plus our starters seem to be maxing out at six innings, which means... more Politte. -Another shade of 2004. Does everybody remember that in 2005 Frank barely played? And yet, without his huge bat, we were killing. I wonder if introducing a slugger again (Thome) has somehow upset the chemistry resulting in yes, better averages but not the complete team concept we had in 2005. Just a thought. -The death sentence for us this year: average with RISP. Just like that other year... -And while there's not the dreaded "five hole" in the rotation like 2004 that was a guaranteed loss, it seems like each pitcher on his every other apperarance sort of creates that five-hole by having a bad game. Everybody's done it this year; Buehrle, Garland, Vasquez, Freddie. Contreras gets a pass because he's been so stellar. Having said all this the season is merely a third in, so I'm not pushing any panic buttons. But I would surely give up the long ball and the 11-2 blowouts for our 2-1 wins at any time. There were plenty of double-digit wins in 2004 but plenty of desert-like hitting droughts like yesterday. Please, please come back my little one-run win wonders. I am a person who complains about our offense probably the most on this site over the years. This years offense is fine. We struggled to score runs yesterday because we are missing our number 3 hitter, our starting hot hitting catcher, and our leadoff guy. I would rather see our starters playing against the lefties than seeing the 3 or more scrub lineup in. That is the reason our O doesnt score runs when these changes are made. Our pitchers need to start attacking the zone. Getting ahead, finsihing guys off. This year our pitchers are constantly in hitters counts, which in turn is why they are getting hit hard. Our pitchers collectively need to start pounding the zone in more. Last year we threw in a lot, Garland, Garcia, Buerhle and Contreras pounded the inside part of the plate, then went outside for the K or out pitch. This year we are attacking the outside part of the zone, almost afraid to go in. The minute this changes our pitchers will have more success. Our defense has been spotty. Ozuna throwing himself on the ground in LF is not good. He needs to be a backup for the infield only. Mack should backup the corner OFs. And we should aquire a guy to platoon with Brian in CF, someone who is an actual CF. In the pen, Politte needs to figure it out or go. Get a right hander who can throw strikes. The team is not far off, it just seems that way with how we have played over the last 2 weeks.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 08:55 AM) I got out and ran for the first time in years yesterday. I only went a mile, but felt like I could do more pretty easily. I wanted to be smart and not kill myself the first time out, so I took it easy. I woke up today and didn't hurt so I am pretty happy about that. Make sure you stretch before and after you run. It makes a huge difference in recovery after a run. If you are going to do this more frequently drink lots of water. Good luck with your running.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 11:57 AM) Wow, for all the people who take what the "scouts" say as gospel, just look to this quote as proff that either 1.) Scouts don't actually say these things 2.) Some scouts are completely delusional. Cesar Izturis will never be half the player Omar Vizquel is. Izturis may have a moderately better arm but he's nowhere near the defensive play Vizquel is. Cesar Izturis couldn't draw a walk to save his life, whereas Vizquel actually has the ability to take 4 balls. Izturis is more similar to Uribe than he is to Vizqual. Both are slick defensive SS with good arms who don't normally hit for a high average and always have low OBP the only real difference betweent the 2 being that Uribe has WAY more power. These Izturis rumors are so damn ridiculous, even if this one didn't mention the White Sox specifically there have been numerous reports saying that they do have interest. I take anything posted that quotes a supposed scout with a grain of salt. I posted it and highlighted it because of the talk of Cesar being traded and people wanting him here. I dont think he solves a damn thing here. We dont need Cesar.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 11:23 AM) Since Contreras went on the DL on May 10, the Sox have been 0-5 in his slot and 11-13 overall. In the stretch before he went on the DL, we were 22-5. We need to start winning for our "horse" again and start feeding off his dominance. When he's beatable, the Sox aren't the same club. Actually we need all of our starting pitchers to pitch well. This idea of them suddenly sucking because the Count went on the DL is wishy washy at best. That spot in the rotation you can blame for their specific issues, but Buerhle, Garcia, Garland and Vazquez have all been in the league long enough and have had enough sucess to keep their own streaks going. The reason for our pitching is the same issues, control and pitching ahead. Garland had his best start of the year, he was pitching in getting ahead. Garcia needs to do that. If our starting pitching can resume throwing strikes and making the teams beat them instead of giving free passes we will be okay.

Listen here Bobby Boucher, you dont talk about dat 6-sixsty something nonsense. That number is the Debil.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 03:38 PM) I'm starting to wonder if it is partly Thome's fault, even indirectly for a few reasons. First, it meant the loss of Rowand who was pretty fiery, in addition to being a centerfielder who could hit and play defense properly. Second, while our offense has certainly stepped up a notch as a result, I wonder if this hasn't affected the mindset of the team. Like others have said, we're not the hungry, scrappy team we were last year and it seems like we're willing to make some mistakes in the field and pitching because the team seems to think they can score the runs to make it up. The reason we are sucking is not because of Aaron f***ing Rowand. Its because our starting pitching has sucked over the last couple of weeks. Its because our relief pitching has been worse if that is possible. And its because our hitters fall in love with the long ball after an 11 run effort and they have horrible swings with men in RISP For the next week. If our pitching is a shell of what it was last year, we escape this week with at least a few wins.

The sad thing is when you have Mark Buerhle vs some rookie left hander you expect a win. Mark and the team s*** the bed collectively. I thought the idea of having 5 aces is that prolonged slumps like this were impossible because your slump was busted the next day. However this year Freddy has lost his velocity and has reinvented himself as a control pitcher. Garland pitched nicely yesterday, but up until that he had publically said he lost his confidence. Mark started the year off nice, but has been getting laced lately. Javier has good stuff but cant keep away from the big inning. The count has been great up until his last start. Our bullpen is horrid. And our offense doesnt adjust to not being able to pound people into submission. They need to man up and ask themselves if they want to go into October this year. Or if they want to s*** the bed and go home. This next series is huge.

The ralls to the Ranger Rongey after the game should be a hoot.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 03:22 PM) Montero not looking too shabby so far. LOL

They better get their heads out of their asses. The Tigers are playing the Bosox and Yanks now. We play them in a brutal August without too much rest, and our september looks like s***. They end the season playing a bunch against the Royals. You cant win a division early on, but you can sure f*** yourselves out of one. We are not a strong second half team, we havent been in a while. We usually jump out to a lead in the division, then have problems in August, and then either survive or die in September. I will be curious to see Buerhles next start with AJ behind the dish.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:51 PM) I wish our hitters had half of the plan at the plate that the Rangers hitters do. Hawk and DJ are talking about how the same way people attack Buerhle is the way we should attack the Rangers pitcher.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:49 PM) Buehrle's going outside a lot again, and they're hitting it hard. He needs to run some cutters inside to setup that outside pitch. If he just goes outside, the hitters start diving over the plate, and when a ball comes back over the plate it gets crushed.

Thank 2 things for that bunt. One is the extra drills before the game. the second is the SodFather and the tilt of the lines.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:41 PM) When are we going to stop playing someone in LF that has absolutely no clue out there? There's no excuse for a WS contender to have such a butcher playing out there. They have been having him take fly balls out in center in preparation for Andersons suspension.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:39 PM) Horrid job there by Anderson. No kidding, he has to keep back on that and back up the play a bit. If Ozuna is laying out, he needs to back it up.

One thing interesting about Widger today. He is calling more pitches inside with Buerhle on the bump than he has all year long. When Buerhle runs that cutter in on the right handers, he dominates. Andeson will a nice layout catch to rob Hairston of a hit to right center.

Widger bought new sunglasses.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:26 PM) If it was Mack, everyone here would be all over him. Just making sure it goes both ways. Especially because BA is a terrible hitter. If you think that Mack and BA are in the same f***ing league in defense then I would get a new prescription for your glasses.

Crede crushes one. 2-0 Good Guys

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:21 PM) Where was the backup. WTF was BA doing? He was watching Ozuna throw himself on the ground after a bad jump.

Here is a gameday photo of Reindeckpecker.

QUOTE(Dam8610 @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 09:27 PM) The important question: was a game gained? Uh no. Tigers won. Nice game still.