TaylorStSox

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 26, 2012 -> 02:12 PM) It's going to be humbling to have them beat us head to head and take the division. Our only hope is if our starting pitching man's up and dominates (we have good starting pitching, not dominant aside from Sale) their lineup and Dunn, Paulie and Youk and AJ decide they want to win a WS this year and kick major ass vs. the Tabbies (and Royals). KC by the way is about to lose 2 of 3 for its second straight series since kicking our ass. Guthrie got brutalized in his last start. I'm sorry, this post has me LOL'ing so hard I had to quote it twice. Are you a real person? Who talks like that? Do you narrate your own life like a wrestling announcer?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 26, 2012 -> 02:12 PM) It's going to be humbling to have them beat us head to head and take the division. Our only hope is if our starting pitching man's up and dominates (we have good starting pitching, not dominant aside from Sale) their lineup and Dunn, Paulie and Youk and AJ decide they want to win a WS this year and kick major ass vs. the Tabbies (and Royals). KC by the way is about to lose 2 of 3 for its second straight series since kicking our ass. Guthrie got brutalized in his last start. You love talking in absolutes.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 23, 2012 -> 05:34 PM) He's nowhere near bad. I'd take him over Viciedo in a heartbeat. Well, thank God your name isn't Kenny Williams.

QUOTE (MAX @ Aug 24, 2012 -> 11:17 PM) I don't have that one. I have the set with the last game against boston and the angels, and the four game sweep of the astros. That boston game 3 is awesome. El Duque! Best inning of pitching any if us will ever see. I have the DVD. I'm scared of flying. Every time I get on a plane, I have to watch it on repeat to keep from freaking the f*** out.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Aug 24, 2012 -> 02:44 PM) 1. Sale 2. Danks 3. Quintana 4. Liriano 5. Santiago Could this happen? When's the last time this has happened? The more I think about it, the more I find it likely. Weren't the Pirates doing this a couple years ago?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 24, 2012 -> 10:02 AM) All four are retired. So what? That wasn't part of the criteria. Look at me. I'm watching those goalposts move. They started at Caufields lifetime, went to to the last 20 years and, now, active pitchers.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 24, 2012 -> 09:39 AM) If you had to go back 20 years to find one, I would argue that makes it pretty rare. The only other guy I can think of from now is CC Sabathia. Who else is there? Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, John Smoltz, Randy Johnson

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 23, 2012 -> 09:35 PM) Ryan retired about 20 years ago. That wouldn't be in most of Soxtalk's "lifetime". I was just pointing out a guy who was able to reach back and throw harder as the game went on, which isn't all that rare.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 23, 2012 -> 07:21 PM) Or one bad start from Gavin Floyd to drop out of the rotation. Well, Verlander was typical self today. After the 2 run bomb to Encarnacion, he went on to get stronger in the 6th-9th innings and ended up with something like his 18th TWELVE or more K game of his career. Bartolo Colon could get stronger as the game went on, and Scherzer's a close 2nd now in MLB, but there's never been a pitcher who could sustain his success and actually improve in pitches 100-140...at least none that I've seen in my lifetime. You ever heard of that Nolan Ryan guy?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 22, 2012 -> 01:11 PM) So you're exaggerating 70 points. So why don't we exaggerate 70 points the other way and call him an All Star? Beckham's so bad if you added 70 points to his BA, he probably still wouldn't be an All Star.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 22, 2012 -> 10:05 AM) My response is simple...Beckham is paid $450k right now. He fills a role and has been "Better than Brent Morel", if you want to put it that way. If you have an obviously better option, great, let's try it...but do the cost benefit analysis otherwise. If it costs $5 million to get slightly better production than Beckham, $10 million to get significantly more production, and you have to go with Brent Morel as your starting 3b or Tyler Flowers as your starting C to afford to upgrade over Beckham, are you really getting a good return on that investment? Next year, Beckham will get paid maybe $2 million or so in arbitration, give or take. At that point, then he's starting to cost more, but still gives you the ability to spend money on those other holes. But if his production next year is just like this year, again, by the time he finishes next year then his cost will be high enough that you wouldn't offer him arbitration again. So let's just be annoyed when he's up because of what might have been, but let's really sit down and think about it before we call him a detriment to the team. A guy who is a fill-in level player isn't carrying a team, but if having him there cheaply lets you fill a role with someone more expensive, then he's not a detriment, he's "tolerable" or "a stop-gap" or something like that. What's "slightly better production?" Beckham's been among the worst hitters in baseball for 3 years. He's starting to make Nix look good.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Aug 21, 2012 -> 04:25 PM) Its too bad he still can't hit a fastball and is over-matched by league average pitching. Hes now a negative WAR player period. His wOBA is .270, 30 points lower than the next lowest AL 2B. His FB hitting ability, measured by wFB on Fangraphs is -7.8 now for the 2nd year in a row. His ability to hit the slider, wSL is -6.6 and the change up, wCH, is -1.9. The only pitches hes a positive hitter on cutter, curve, and splitter, and his slightly above 0 on all of those. There is something wrong with a hitter who is the worst at hitting FBs, 2nd worst at hitting Sliders, and 3rd worst at hitting Change Ups...aka about 90% of the pitches hes going to see. There is just no place for that in the AL, at any position. The fact that he's a "good glove guy" is meaningless unless ur manager is Tony LaRussa who loves inferior hitting infielders with "good gloves" like David Eckstein, Khalil Greene, Aaron Miles, etc. A plus glove guy who can't hit is perfect for the NL (I'm thinking Padres) or a bench role. Sad but true. I forgot about Greene aka Beckham SR. I remember watching him in the CWS and he was a collegiate beast as well. I'm still waiting for him to break out too.

QUOTE (PorkChopExpress @ Aug 21, 2012 -> 01:23 PM) You know, I usually try not to get into these kinds of things, but this one gets me. Everyone experiences life differently. Some people bond with their pets just as much, if not more, than with family members. And when they lose a pet, it is the same, or worse than the loss of a family member. Don't presume to tell other people how "it really is" or how they should feel based on your personal experiences. Who are you to tell other people how they should or should not cope with a loss of any kind? Good post. Lots if emotions are illogical. I'm in no position to judge what one values in life. With that said, Gordon Beckham sucks at hitting a baseball at the professional level.

It's a shame that fans think Ramirez is s***ty despite having a good bat and ++glove. To even compare him to Beckham is s***ty. Seriously, they're nothing alike. Ramirez' bad year is ahead of anything Beckham is capable of producing.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 20, 2012 -> 03:12 PM) Ramirez' OPS is about the same as Beckham's. Still waiting for a non Marty34 Ramirez must go because he simply cannot hit post. Ramirez has been better his entire career, at a more important position. He's having a tough year, but still drives in big runs and hits with men on base. He has a long history of being a plus hitter relative to his position. I've never seen Sox fans make more excuses for an awful hitter. Beckham has sucked for a long, long time.

I also heard Olmedo to the DL with an eyelid twitch.

Bicep inflammation? That's hilarious. I love me some Kenny Williams.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Aug 17, 2012 -> 06:36 AM) I agree. The Angels and Tigers are the two teams I least want to see in the playoffs. I'd much rather have Tampa, Oakland, or Baltimore. Outside of Verlander, the Tigers don't scare me at all (putrid defense, no team speed). If the Angels make the playoffs, they're my favorite to win the AL. Their rotation is scary and they have guys that can create runs against good pitching.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Aug 16, 2012 -> 10:23 PM) The man who collapsed at the game tonight was announced dead at the hospital. Sad and unfortunate. Prayers go out to his family. That was pretty eerie. I'm surprised they showed so much coverage of it. For the rest of the game, it was hard to get excited after watching a guy die on live TV.

QUOTE (Cali @ Aug 15, 2012 -> 12:24 PM) That's the only quote I didn't like. Better hoping the line-up magically starts clicking again when Paulie gets back, or us people in the "Rios third, Dunn sixth" party are gonna start rocking the boat more. LOL. Rock the boat, dude. Nobody cares.

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 14, 2012 -> 11:34 PM) At some point we have to start exercising caution with the roster moves. You don't want a huge portion of the team being fluid. Lots of pieces have shuffled around this year, from the bench to some very big contributors. Weird dugout vibes can be a product of all of this type of thing. I don't think it's an issue. The core hasn't changed and Ventura plays the everyday player a lot.

Do I get a life time contract? My posting volume has coincided with good teams.

I just picked up Cloud Atlas. Holy boring, Batman.

Red Sox. I used to hate the Yankees until they came here a few years ago. Everyone knows they travel well, but their fans were all into the game and respectful. It gave me a different perspective.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 9, 2012 -> 10:19 AM) Well I suppose that is another way to go - find a better 2B and make Beckham the utility guy. He can cover 2B very well, 3B pretty well, probably SS in a pinch, runs pretty good, has a little pop occasionally. Somehow I don't think the Sox are finding that guy in August. One can dream.