spiderman

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 05:48 PM) Hey, did we just beat the Twins? Maybe we can dream big and get a series split tomorrow!

Tyler Flowers: 2011 season - .255 AVG, 14 HR, 31 RBI, 84K in 220 AB (121 in 346 AB last season), OPS .868

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 05:47 PM) Way to go Alexei! What a concept. Let your best hitter (today) hit.

Why does it seem that Juan Pierre is up so often?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 05:28 PM) So Cowley reads Soxtalk or WSI, sees Gammons is predicting Ozzie's demise and starts tweeting this. If Ozzie is gone remember how Joe will tell everyone he had the story first. That's how I think a lot of these local guys get their stories.....they can use their familiar "sources say" to claim it as their own.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 05:35 PM) The ball is just flying to right center. Teahen's going to have a shot to be a hero again. Hilarious - man on 2nd, nobody out. The one time you'd think Ozzie would bunt with Beckham and he has him hitting.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 05:33 PM) Farmer already speculating that Flowers might start tmrw, but no way in hell that's happening. Unless Ozzie's really trying to lose his job or betting against the Sox. AJ would go crazy sitting out 2 games in a row against his former team. Although it could get interesting if Peavy goes out there with ZERO stuff again and gives up 5-6-7 against the Twins. AJ will flip out. What are Flowers numbers?

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 05:27 PM) Rios just has no power in his swing anymore. Terrible. Maybe it's always been this way, and I'm not a hitting instructor, but it looks awfully long.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 05:21 PM) I'm still feeling good about this. I'm happy to be wrong about my prediction, but can they now score a 4th run today?

I think, obviously, something has to happen. If Williams truly believes that the White Sox are a 90 win team, and they are underachieving through 90 games, is firing the hitting coach enough of a move to shake things up? Is it a smart move to fire Guillen at the break when some have suggested that they could trade him to Florida in the off-season (I'm assuming that this wouldn't happen during the break)?

QUOTE (spiderman @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 10:32 AM) The 5 run first was a blip on the radar yesterday. It's hard to expect more than 3 runs a game from this offense with so many players (Beckham, Dunn, Rios, Morel, Vizquel, Teahan, Pierre, Quentin) making so many outs. It comes down to Mark Buerhle winning the game for the White Sox. Can he hold the Twins to 2 or less runs today? He should be the one guy to keep them running all over the bases, but can he hold the Twins in check? I'm still feeling good about this.

So, a free agent manager gets a call from Williams, and he then calls Guillen to let him know? I'm not buying.

QUOTE (OilCan @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 05:14 PM) apologies if this was already posted... Joe Ostrowski RT @cst_Cowley Rumor of the day from a scout here in DaBurgh: KW talked to two former managers this week, gaging interest, and one called Oz and told him. I don't hate Cowley the way some do, but I do take any Ozzie Guillen news with a grain of salt - he's clearly in the bag for him. I find it pretty much not believable that a manager, hoping to be hired, would get a phone call from Williams, and then immediately call Guillen to snitch on Williams.

For a team that is struggling to score with 3 outs in an inning, is it a good idea to sacrifice an out with one of our few hot hitters in Ramirez? Yes, it does (or did) bring up Konerko in an RBI situation, but the Twins are not going to let him beat them late in a game with Dunn on deck.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 04:38 PM) The Sox have scored 10+ runs in a game only once this year. It was Opening Day. I heard this on the Boers/Bernstein show a few days ago. It's been one game through 83 with 10 runs scored, and until last night's game, they had gone, I think, 12 straight games with under 5 runs scored in games at home. I could be off by a game on that streak, but that hadn't happened in a couple decades, I believe - hopefully somebody else heard that and can correct me, if needed.

2-1 Twins lead, top 3. Game is likely over.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 03:26 PM) He's married to Leslie Visser, I think. Good upgrade for him. He's violating the "never date or marry someone two or more better than you on the 1-10 scale rule" I think. Got rid of Thome one year too early...this year he's really struggling to stay healthy. I think they got divorced a few years back.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 02:24 PM) ESPN's policy is that you must have two sources on any piece of information before they'll report it. That wasn't the case with some of their Ohio St. reports regarding their reports.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 10:33 AM) Go Twins!! 4th at the break!! That is likely to happen given that the White Sox cannnot beat the Twins.

The 5 run first was a blip on the radar yesterday. It's hard to expect more than 3 runs a game from this offense with so many players (Beckham, Dunn, Rios, Morel, Vizquel, Teahan, Pierre, Quentin) making so many outs. It comes down to Mark Buerhle winning the game for the White Sox. Can he hold the Twins to 2 or less runs today? He should be the one guy to keep them running all over the bases, but can he hold the Twins in check?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 8, 2011 -> 09:58 AM) We have the starting pitching (if Humber holds up and Peavy gets his fastball back), bullpen and overall good enough defense that it will be very difficult for us to fall completely out of the division race. We'll see. I don't think the White Sox are bad enough to fall out of the divisional race. If someone gets hot (Cleveland or Detroit), sure the Sox could be 8 games out quickly, but I don't expect much to change with the current division - the Sox will hang around, play at or about .500 ball, and stay about 3-6 games back.

For the rest of this series, regardless of matchups: C - AJ 1B - Konerko 2B - Beckham SS - Ramirez 3B - Morel LF - Pierre CF - Lillibridge RF - Quentin DH - Teahan Adam Dunn and Ales Rios simply have lost the right to be in the lineup, at least for the remainder of this series. Neither are hitting, neither are helping the team. Yes, the same case can be made, to different degree's, about Morel, Pierre, Lillibridge (of late), Quentin (in the last few weeks), Ramirez (in the last few weeks) and Teahan (in less at bats), but there's only so much that can be done. Obviously, I don't expect Guillen to do this - Dunn and Rios will both probably play in at least 2 of the remaining 3 games. As for the 2nd half of the season, I have no expectation that they will do the obvious and bring up Viceido, but he should be with the team post the all-star break and be batting 4th or 5th in the lineup everyday for the rest of the season (minus the occasional day off). I also want Mark Teahan getting regular at bats as well. My assumption and hope is that Dunn will get another 2-3 weeks after the break to figure things out, but if he doesn't have it going by August 1st (or so), I think he rides the bench for the rest of the season. He can't hit a baseball. That's not a good thing.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 02:31 PM) Beckham seems like an automatic out as do several others. Compared to a few others (Dunn and Rios), Beckham is not an easy out, but he falls into the Pierre/Morel/Quentin category of about .240-.260 type hitters who make a ton of outs. Quentin is in this category as well, but at least he can go nuts every now and then.

Konerko obviously deserved it, but sort of funny that the White Sox anemic offense somehow lands 2 all-stars.

The way the White Sox are struggling to score runs, and given their inability to beat the Twins, I see no reason to expect anything better than a split at best, and probably the Twins taking 3 of 4.