Balta1701

QUOTE(Soxnbears01 @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 02:01 PM) plus having bmac pitch against the royals should help his confidence. he's used to pitching against minor leaguers I think the Royals are like 14-6 or something close to that since swapping managers. I don't like them that much as a team either, but don't underestimate them.

I'm forced to wonder how much of our current ranking might be due to 2 games at Coors field and 1 inning against the Diamondbacks. That's about 40 runs in those 3 games. Nonetheless...this offense isn't pretending that they can get by with 1 and 2 run games that often any more. If we're averaging 4 or 5 in most games...we're in good shape with that pitching staff.

Does anyone else think that Mark is primed for a monster second-half of this year? I think this might be the time when he pulls it all together. He's got everything working. He's got catchers he likes. He's got a good defense behind him. And the offense has finally gotten out of bed. I can see him getting some hardware this year for damn sure.

Jose...work fast and throw Strikes. That's all you need to focus on. Your best games this year have been when you worked fast and threw strikes. People might score a run or two off you, but if you're not giving up the walks, people will not beat you. Just trust A.J. and throw the ball to his glove.

And the Twinkies did officially lose. Cleveland is hot now, but this streak of theirs will be broken soon. All streaks always are.

There's always a chance that they're just moving BMac's start back entirely as a precaution...they'll see how El Duque feels tomorrow, and if he's not ready to go, they DL Him, pitch Garland, and tell BMac to get on a plane. Just because he's not pitching tonight doesn't mean for sure he's coming up. They might be just hedging their bets to make sure they don't get caught with Duque unable to go tomorrow and McCarthy on 1 day rest. I think it probably wouldn't hurt to give Garland the Monday start no matter what, so that he breaks up the 2 Cubans and gives El Duque the extra day of rest even if he is ready to go.

Ballgame. Padres 5, Twinkies 1. Great game by May for the Padres. Pads take 2 of 3 from the Twins in Minnesota...with a day off tomorrow. Twins I believe have lost their last 2 interleague series at home, and are in a fair bit of a slump right now.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 01:11 PM) I think the Twinkies will have to worry about them first. If the Twinkies lose this game, the Indians will only be one game behind them. I wouldn't mind seeing those 2 racing each other for a while. All things considered, I'd rather have the Indians behind me than the Twins behind me...with the pitching that the Twins have. Just remember 1 thing about the Indians though...every team can get hot. The Cubs had a big win streak earlier this year. The Yankees have had 2. A few weeks ago Texas was on fire and took 1st place in the West, but then they cooled off and Anaheim has moved back in front. Hell, even the D-Rays had a big win streak last year. You don't win divisions with 10 game win streaks in June. They don't hurt, but you need a lot more than that. They have an ERA of about 2.5 over their last 10 games. There's no way they're going to maintain that.

Since we're specifically discussing administrative costs, let me point this one out again... "This one will blow some minds. Despite being a bureaucratic leviathan or whatever, America's administrative costs are 300% greater per capita than Canada's."

I hope this is true...I've been hoping we'd find some more time for El Duque to sit out before the All Star Break, that way in late July and August when we actually need him, he'll be more refreshed. And if we're going to give BMac another shot, I can't think of a better team to throw him into the fire against than the Royals, even if they've been hot since switching managers.

How many Gold Gloves did Robin win in his first few years?

See, that's what happens when there's a New York/New York world series. No one outside of New York cares, no one watches, and when the people who live in New York make lists of sporting events or people...no one has a clue what they're talking about.

A.J. calling games is one of the big reasons our staff has been so good this year. Just bringing him in to do that has paid for his deal easily. If Mauer stays healthy, there's no reason he can't be a hall of famer at catcher. He's been Baseball America's #1 prospect in America for 2 years in a row for a reason. He was the #1 draft pick, over guys named Prior and Teixiera for a reason. This year, I'd still prefer A.J, because he's far more experienced, he can call a good game, and he's going wild now that he's hitting in the Cell instead of bouncing balls off of the baggie in Minnesota (Hopefully his average will recover at some point). In the future...if Joe Mauer is healthy, he'll be by far the better choice. But as with all prospects...the big question is his health. Mauer to A.J. can very easily be A.J. to Ben Davis. And besides, aren't the Twins due for some poor luck with someone from their minor leagues?

The saddest part if we do play the subs will be that it just might hurt Jose's chances of getting a win, again. He's been so much better than his record this year, but he's just not gotten any run support.

I will tell my dad to find a scalper who will sell him at least 1 ticket. I will then literally fly back to Chicago to attend 1 game, blowing probably $500 or more in the process. I will never enjoy spending money more at any point in my life. That is, of course, unless the Sox end up playing the Padres, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, or Giants. In that case, I'll hit up some of the away games out here. Either way...if the Sox make the W.S. at some point in my life...I will be there. Even if its just for one game. I don't care what it takes. I will not miss the first one.

I'll lay you 2 to 1 says Ozzie puts in a bundle of Backups. I'm just hoping Ozzie has realized that A.J. catches Contreras far better than Widger. If A.J. still starts, then I think we'll make a good game of it even if Timo's in there.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jun 18, 2005 -> 09:43 PM) http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...t=.jsp&c_id=cws This move would also split up Contreras and El Duque from pitching back-to-back starts and would save our bullpen... Buehrle Garcia Contreras Garland El Duque I've been pushing for something like this all year. Mark Buehrle is averaging over 7 and 2/3 innings per start. Jon Garland is averaging just over 7 innings per start. El Duque is averaging 5 and 2/3 innings per start. Contreras is averaging exactly 6 innings per start. Garcia is averaging over 6 and 2/3 innings per start. There is absolutely no reason why you would want to have the 2 guys averaging 6 innings or under pitching back to back and have the 2 guys pitching 7 innings or over pitching back to back. That way, our bullpen is used basically not at all for 2 out of every 5 days, and then it has to go out and pull over 6 innings on back to back nights. Since we have 3 or 4 guys who are especially reliable, that means that those guys are pitching almost on back to back nights, and it's going to hurt our chances of winning the 2nd game. And if any pitcher does struggle, then when the Cubans hit, we hit them with an already tired bullpen. The 2 Cubans should be split up. It will just make our bullpen more effective. By the way again...when was the last time Hermanson pitched? Hasn't he been sitting for like a week now?

Hell, the one today was even worse than Crede's call...the guy froze, then moved his elbow 6 inches forwards. He even admitted that he was trying that after the game. Like I said at the time...the call on Crede was probably the right call, but it was also a judgement call. In a pure vacuum, that's probably the right call on Crede. But that wasn't the only awful call that series. There was a call at the plate. There was the call at first base. There was Crede getting kicked out for slamming the bat down. The strike zones were horrid. The umps did every single thing they could to screw us over that series. If they had given us a fair series otherwise, then I have nothing to complain about on that call. But with the pattern of behavior by the umps that series...it's just another drop in the bucket.

QUOTE(sayitaintso @ Jun 18, 2005 -> 10:23 PM) Doesn't Mauer have a knee problem? He was out most of last year, but he's been fairly healthy most of this year.

Even the worst teams around can have hot streaks. Tampa Bay last year is still my example. Cleveland isn't as bad as they've been playing early this year. But they're not as good as they've been playing this week. They are a middle-of-the pack team in the AL Central, probably just about where they were last year.

Left-leaning blogger Ezra Klein did a series he called "Health of Nations" a few weeks ago. Here is his bit on Canada's health care system.

Just remember this...if you were to pick an issue and then imagine the single worst group of people possible to serve as advocates of that issue, it would probably look something like PETA and animal rights.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 18, 2005 -> 09:32 PM) I can't fault her work ethic. I can fault her carpetbagging though. As long as you apply the same standard to Alan Keyes, we're set.

I'm a bit worried about this one. Freddie has pitched better on the road, and he's pitched better in day games. Freddie's pitching at home at night. It's about time for him to reverse that trend, if you ask me. And as banged up as the Dodgers are...this is as good of a team as any to deal with. Although...you have to like how the offense looks like its starting to click better. And the guy we're facing has been on the DL for a month or so. Quick note...has Hermanson pitched since he blew that save in San Diego? Seems to me like he's had a heck of a rest. If he was tired before that, he's had what like a week off now?

QUOTE(beck72 @ Jun 18, 2005 -> 09:09 AM) The way he's throwing, he could do anything he wanted. IIRC, Cooper and the staff have gotten Politte to trust his stuff more, work on his confidence. The "new" Politte could probably close As dominant as Cliff is right now...I just don't want to risk playing with him. We need people to get outs in the 8th just as much as in the 9th. If Cliff is comfortable in his current role...leave him there. He'll probably end up getting 1 or 2 chances to actually close (like in an extra innings game or something), but wehn a guy finally gets his head in the game, you shouldn't mess with his head. If you want to try him in the closer role...that's something to talk about in the offseason. Not right now. Let him start the year off that way if we're really in the need of one next year. That way, he's not starting as the closer in key series against the Twinkies or something like that when we don't have any games to spare.