Dick Allen

The good news is we still are going to see KC pitching the rest of the evening.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 08:43 PM) Did anyone hear Hawk embarrass himself with Carmen/Silvy this afternoon? Was he talking about how great Cora is, or was he lambasting umpires? Funny how when Uribe was obviously out, Hawk said it was a tough call.

QUOTE(rafacosta @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 08:41 PM) If he ends this inning, it is a good line for him 6 IP, 3 ER. He gave the tie to the Royals, but our O should be more blamed, 2 runs agst one of the worst pitchers in baseball... And those 2 were a gift from the first base umpire. He wanted to give a couple more, but Joey wasn't having any of it.

The scary part about Vazquez's struggles the first half was he wasn't giving up many homers, something he has really struggled with the last couple of seasons. It appears those totals are starting to rise quickly.

Its the dreaded sixth inning for Vazquez.

I wonder how many guys the Sox have had thrown out at home this season, and how it compares to the rest of the league. Being aggressive is nice, but sometimes its just stupidity.

Cora is a horrible 3rd base coach. A blown umpire's call gives the Sox 2 runs. I hope Hawk remembers that.

QUOTE(Felix @ Aug 14, 2006 -> 11:52 AM) Power is not just homeruns, it's also doubles, triples, etc. This year alone, Sweeney has a .459 SLG%, while Fields is at .525. Thats a considerable difference. There have been posts on this site stating Fields could give the Sox 20 homers next year. He may not get 20 at Charlotte. Sweeney doesn't fan nearly as much and is a couple years younger. I bet if he was still in Charlotte in 2008 his slugging pct. would make Fields' look like Ron Kittle's batting average. Sweeney is the better prospect and will be a far superior hitter in the major leagues. Sweeney will have more career homers than Fields as well. You heard it here first. QUOTE(aboz56 @ Aug 14, 2006 -> 11:53 AM) Maybe because this is the first year that Sweeney has shown any power at all and he's playing in a park where Willie Harris regularly homered. That could have something to do with it. Personally speaking, I'm not very concerned with Sweeney's power (or lack thereof) at this point. If he can hit for average, get on base, run the bases well and play good defense, that's fine by me. We've got enough players who hit the ball out of the park. Its also the first year Fields has been considered anything but the reincarnation of Drew Henson.

Pods is arbitration-eligible, so he most likely is gone because for what he brings to the table he'll cost way too much. People around here are really down on Uribe, but until the last couple of weeks he's been great defensively, and has 50+ RBI. He's streaky, but may hit 20 homers and have 70+ RBI. I'd take that any day with a glove as good as his. If the Sox were ever going to upgrade Uribe, its going to be a guy like Tejada. They went after Vizquel last year, but Uribe would have wound up at second, third and SS. KW loves him. Another thing I don't understand is why is it assumed that Fields has tremendous power and Sweeney has none? Fields has 5 more homers than Sweeney in about 40 more plate appearances.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 14, 2006 -> 08:15 AM) Here is a question for you folks who follow our farm system more closely than I do... Who of our AA and AAA outfielders could play LF AND be a better leadoff hitter (immediately or eventually) than Pods? Does Sweeney have some speed, and can he get on base enough? Fields, same questions, plus add in the issue of playing OF defense. Does Owens have the stuff to be ready in 2007, or is he not ready yet? Who else might be a possibility? I don't think its all that necessary to have the typical leadoff guy as a leadoff man. Detroit has done fine with Granderson leading off, and he's far from typical. He has 8 steals and strikes out more than Thome. Detroit has been winning this season just like the Sox were last, as a result of excellent pitching. I think the Sox definitely want a better player in LF than Pods and they have young guys and money to get that done. That's why I'm intrigued with Sweeney leading off right now. He's not going to steal a ton, but I believe he will get on base. It may be too much to ask for a rookie however. Regardless, it will not matter who is leading off if the Sox pitch like they did in 2005. They would win most of the time.

I posted somewhere else that Levine said yesterday that he has heard the Sox have interest in Juan Pierre to play LF next year, and that Pods was on his way out. While I know Ozzie is a huge fan of Pierre, I couldn't see the Sox giving him more than a 2 year contract. I also find it interesting that Sweeney has been leading off in Charlotte.

Anyone hear Levine say Pods is a goner and he heard his replacement just may be Juan Pierre? This is for next year BTW.

Hopefully this is the roll we've been hoping for. They must get at least 3 of these 4 against KC.

If it was authentic, it wouldn't have a name on the back.

QUOTE(beck72 @ Aug 13, 2006 -> 06:19 AM) Cruz, Jr.was DFA on Aug. 1st. Isn't the 10 day period up as to what the LAD can do w/ him? I'm pretty sure he was released.

I think a lot depends on today's game. A win today and you still have a shot at the division. A loss and it really is a longshot. I know its "only" a 2 game swing, but I still think that is how it is.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 12, 2006 -> 09:47 PM) Even on a team starved for offense, you can sometimes only have so many players you use as platoon guys. He may blow, but the question is, does he blow when compared with Pablo Ozuna (post-injury), who has been running as sort of our left field platoon player? So you want to use him as a platoon player but the Astros don't and would rather pay most of his salary to have him play somewhere else? He's a strikeout machine that has been in the NL his entire career and who has an OBP this year lower than Pablo's batting average. Pablo isn't going anywhere, the only guy who would is Gload and Konerko said Gload is the best hitter on the team. He must find Ozzie to be a real dumbass if he gets the fewest ABs on the team. Wilson has been complaining about his situation and would be a malcontent playing strickly against LHP, plus with a month and a half to go in the season probably doesn't have much time to adjust to the AL. I don't see where he's an upgrade at all, unless a time machine someone gives us the 2000-2001 Preston Wilson.

The Astros are starved for offense. If they let him go and he's not hitting against NL pitching in that bandbox, put a fork in him. Preston Wilson blows.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 12, 2006 -> 08:58 PM) Yea, I see what you mean. I'm of the opinion actually, if we play .667 the rest of the way, we could just catch Detroit, because I think they're about a .500 team the rest of the way, which still gives them the mid 90s in win total, if I remember right (too lazy to look at the standings). If the Tigers play .500 they will win 99. If the Sox play .667, they will win 100. The bottom line for the Sox if they want to catch Detroit is they are going to have to pummell them head to head.

Ozzie must read this board. He took Buerhle out when usually he would leave him in for another 20 or so pitches or 4 more runs, whichever came first, and he used Mack as a defensive replacement in the 9th.

Fat Freddy fashions himself as a big-game pitcher. Hopefully he'll show us all that he really is even with 86 MPH gas.

We need Crede to keep hitting DP balls to third. It seems to be working nicely this week.

QUOTE(mwjd299 @ Aug 12, 2006 -> 03:49 PM) The Fox Announcers gave the "Player of the Game" to Kenny Rogers because all of Sox runs were unearned. That may be true, But the error by Carlos Guillen only extended the inning. Rogers gave up both key 2 out hits by Uribe and Anderson to tie the game. Whose fault was that? Anderson's average with runners in scoring position is only .146. That is a poor job of pitching by Rogers and he deserved the loss. Uribe had a small problem with the relay to PK but was not charged with an error because an out was recorded on the play. So one could say that the runs off Buerhle were unearned, but not officially. The funny thing is, all the runs Buerhle gave up shouldn't have scored either. Uribe took forever on the DP attempt, and didn't react very well on the leadoff single that inning. I thought Buerhle's outing was encouraging although I was displeased he once again didn't pick up the defense.

Fans bitterness at Magglio rejecting the Sox contract offer always confused me. There is no way the Sox win the WS last year if he signed it, and Dye is going to get paid in 3 years what Magglio makes in 1, and has been more productive.

I don't know how anyone could possibly project Fields to hit .260 with 20 homers next year. He does have impressive numbers at Charlotte, but strikes out a ton, and there will be a learning curve for him. Hopefully he does better than Anderson has this season, but I wouldn't count on too much more in 2007.