caulfield12

Had the feeling Wisky could pull ahead by 5-6-7 and let things get away at the end when they had some favorable match-ups with Okafor and Winslow off the court. That Allen kid's very impressive. Hadn't had a chance to see him play before this tourney. Dekker "garbage" points were huge...and were Duje and Nigel Hayes.

Johnson really hung in there early against Ventura and fouled off 6-7 pitches....battled his behind off. That was impressive. When he did get on, you just have no excuse getting picked off on the 2nd throw when you were almost nabbed by the first and you're facing a 4-0 deficit against a World Series ace on his game. Taking second on a steal means very little there. Just needed to keep the line moving for the top of the line-up, and that didn't help. The Flowers at-bat was typical of his worst stretches last-year, although he actually had one homer against Ventura in his career. Another big play was that dunker that fell into RF because the defense was playing up to cut down the runner at the plate...Micah normally would get to that ball with a normal alignment. Finally, Flowers needs to do a better job at least attempting to block that wild pitch....his footwork wasn't very good, although the surface was supposedly very slick in KC.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 07:56 PM) Volquez is no Shields and it remains to be seen if Rios and Morales have anything left. They will also have to deal with regression in the bullpen and probably won't be going 66-1 when leading after 6 or whatever it was. I'll be shocked beyond shocked if they win more games than last year. Well, of course they're PROBABLY not going to go 13-6 against the White Sox, and the Indians are even more formidable than before.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 06:29 PM) I should add that Jennings did a nice job pitching to Gordon regardless and that I like Robin going to Drabek for an audition in a game we were never gonna win by that point. Cool it with the KC "powerhouse" stuff. They were honestly one of the worst pennant winners of the last 20 years and they got worse. Id say theyre about even....lose Shields, Butler and Aoki....replace with Volquez, Morales and Rios. The paramount thing is, the confidence of their young core guys like Gordon, Cain, Perez, Moustakas, Escobar and Hosmer is at an all-time high. Same with Ventura. Shields and Butler werent as good as usual last year, either.

Well, on the plus side, they can have "Cubs' Attendance Champion Hard Hat" giveaways for the next 3-4 years. Except they better start winning at some point.

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 12:33 AM) debating the old school vs the new school thought process of players like each other. Ty Cobb, rep is he would kill the other player, if that what it takes to win a game. how bout Pete Rose, i can't remember, did he have the same mentality?? now is there anyone in this generation that has that same mentality?? baseball a most therapeutic way to loose one self for a couple of hours. Watch the video of Rose running over Ray Fosse (ostensibly ending his career) and tell me if we'll ever see a play like that again in MLB...no way. Or Torii Hunter/Jamie Burke, for a more recent example.

QUOTE (Tmar @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 08:02 PM) How many homers for jose baez tonight? None until Friday for JAVY Baez and Bryant. Btw, batting Lester in the 8 spot didn't work out so brilliantly, as he left a RISP and LaStella got a hit to lead off the subsequent inning.

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 4, 2015 -> 02:15 PM) well i appreciate your opinion as well. but for me, i just took it as entertainment value, as i said, the ending was not too thought out, or maybe it was. either way, how was it received in the area you live. It did very well in China, but not as well as Gravity, which was hugely popular.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 07:33 PM) This umpire's strike zone is huge. Mike Winters

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 07:31 PM) I am confused, why is David Ross their catcher? Is it just strictly for Lester? Yeah, normally it will be Montero. This game reminds me of the White Sox with RISP and less than 2 outs...need Juan Uribe or Joe Crede.

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 06:40 PM) Yeah after being a big proponent of cubs being better being good for all of Chicago baseball, we are 45 minutes in and I already can't stand it. My Twitter feed is at Card fan playoff levels. The Cubs' line-up really isn't very dangerous except for Soler, Castro and Rizzo. Obviously, you stick Bryant in there for Olt, and Russell for LaStella and things can change significantly. However, the expecations for those young prospects are so high it's hard to believe they can actually live up to them.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 04:23 PM) Apparently Hendricks had/has some good stuff, but he sits at around 87 MPH with his fastball and is strictly a control pitcher. He's got a good change, but nothing special outside of that. Yeah, he was decent last year in 13 starts, but his xFIP was 3.92 and it seems like he lucked out a bit. Rodon, on the other hand, hits 95 with the fastball and has a devastating slider. He's also left handed and was the third pick in the draft. There's a huge talent gap. If you were to tell me you'd rather have Arrieta than Rodon, I'd give that some thought since Arrieta actually has really good stuff, unlike Hendricks. Rodon's already been up to 97 in the spring.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 04:12 PM) Danks had a positve WAR last year and about 20 quality starts, and gave the Sox nearly 200 innings. That is not worthless. Drabek has been worthless, was let go for nothing, and thus far, hasn't shown anything on the major league level to show he can contribute to winning. And lots were wrong about Paulino (having upside) and Noesi as well last year, or Phil Humber in the past (I'm not going to name drop the 20-30 pitchers that have greatly benefited from Cooper's tutelage)...so because other organizations can't get something out of a pitcher, that means they're doomed and can't provide positive value? He has been worthless because of high walk totals, command/control issues and two TJ surgeries. Whether we can get anything out of him is still undecided at this point.

Quentin > Shuck Except defensively and base-running. Well, we all knew something had to give with that crowded Padres' outfield. AJ Preller and Hahn are officially the "most interesting GM's in the world," at least this particular off-season. Where did the Padres come up with all this new-found money again?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 10:08 AM) Ohio state won wrestling natty as well a month ago. And Iowa 2nd.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Apr 4, 2015 -> 09:25 PM) Yeah, f*** that. I don't give a f*** about conference pride. Congrats to the Badgers but I hate the other Big 10 teams year round, why would I root for them in the tourney? Rooting for Duke is like rooting for the Yankees/Red Sox, Man U, Montreal Canadians, Wal-Mart and Starbucks.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Apr 4, 2015 -> 09:25 PM) I would agree with LDF and disagree with your premise a little. Being a fan of baseball, I love going to a game and enjoying the experience. Seeing a well played game out in the sun, is the reward itself. I love the game of baseball. The other side is being a White Sox fan. That is the point you are making and all of the points are valid. but to me it's secondary to the love of baseball. I can and do enjoy a game even if the Sox lose. Well, yeah....I get that too....just watching kids playing Little League games (like the LLWS)....although I draw the line at softball. Field of Dreams, Major League, Bull Durham, Bang the Drum Slowly, The Rookie....I always loved reading about baseball growing up (especially Roberto Clemente), played Strat-o-Matic with the kids in our neighborhood, traded baseball cards (I invested a lot into 50 Hensley Bam Bam Meulens rookie cards, haha), played wiffle ball and tennis/garage ball and stick ball and nerf ball. When I was in high school, and this was the 80's, I'd always look forward to the box scores (California/Seattle games) weren't included...and compute all the White Sox batting and pitching averages. I subscribed to the Sporting News back then. I worked for two years in minor league baseball with the Pirates in the Sally League and will always treasure those memories...things like see Vladimir Guerrero with the most amazing throw from RF to 3B to catch a runner jogging into the base, helping Jermaine Dye call his relatives from our trailer or hanging out with an 18 year old Andruw Jones. Or going to McDonald's and having to help explain to Jose Guillen how to order a hamburger.

That charge on what could have been a 3 point play for WI and then 2 the other way for KY might be the key. KY's not a great FT shooting team (their bigs), right?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12591623/top-25-players ESPN Top 100 players list Quintana, Ramirez, Eaton, Cabrera, LaRoche on the outside looking in. For some reason, Robertson's listed on the Tigers.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansa...le17387537.html Just like in 2005 for White Sox fans...make the years of anger and frustration and almost wanting to give up and throw in the towel and say "sports shouldn't matter so much" worth it all, for that rare payoff when everything comes together and the breaks all go your way. Of course, for teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox and Cardinals...it's an annual expectation. If it's the White Sox, Cubs, Royals, Indians, etc., there's almost no way to describe it because you never in a million years expect it. The only thing I think could top it would be the impossibility of the University of Iowa winning a National Championship in my lifetime in either basketball or football.

If someone's going to delete posts that are started by personally calling me out in a thread with 2-3 accompanying "attacks," and someone doesn't even bother to send a PM, I think a poster should have a right to defend/explain themselves. But whatever. I guess there's only one side of an equation...and anything that goes against that narrative isn't allowed or tolerated.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-012409248.html Bryant billboard will rankle the Cubs a bit...

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 4, 2015 -> 09:52 AM) ok i know i am a weird person with a quirky sense of humor. but i like Caulfield's post. i laugh when he does it and i sometimes catch myself counting the names. it is all fun..... Poor Caulfield he is the abuse puppy today. When I first joined the chisox.com/mlb messageboards, there was this guy (colonel sat 46) who always wrote about or posted the names of Sox players from the 1950's, 60's and 70's, even though they weren't necessarily relevant or germane to the conversations of a decade ago. I appreciated hearing them and looked up all of them to discover more about my favorite team and its history during that time. I didn't really begin to follow the team until about 1979 (the reasons I became a fan were that Claudell Washington was the first MLB player to respond by autographing a baseball card I sent to 35th and Shields, and my FAVORITE Uncle Frank was a blue collar/working class White Sox fanatic.....he worked for the Dubuque Iowa (hams and meats) Packing Company...and my other uncle I wasn't quite as fond of, and maybe nor was my mother...loved the Cubs). So I kind of inherited a fandom that had been a barren wasteland from 1959 until 1983. At any rate, it's my way of bringing up sometimes the obscure players of my youth, the 70's and mostly 80's and 90's....for the posters on the internet who are in their teens and twenties. Maybe 98% of the people will ignore it, but that's not the point, either. Maybe it will annoy or irritate someone. Not my intention...either. At any rate, Colsat46 was very close "online friends" with ncorgbl, who was the greatest internet bully in the history of the messageboards and the reason I eventually migrated away from chisox.com anarchy to wsi and then finally to soxtalk. I was very sad to hear that he passed away at some point around that time. Maybe in his memory, I took it upon myself to do the same type of thing with some of my posting style as he did with his, while maintaining my own sense of style. Maybe it's pointless and young people today only care about what's right in front of them, the future and what happened within their memory or perhaps lifetime.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Apr 4, 2015 -> 03:51 PM) That is my favorite video of his. Wood bat and he just crushes the ball to center. Ryan Sweeney? I'm joking. Not 100% sure about the Splendid Splinter (hopefully not his personality, either), but a very picturesque swing for a high school kid. Nice frame and projectability.

Nicely done, albeit a day late and dollar short in its timeliness, lol. Beautiful to watch, yes...engaging/captivating....it falls short. Aspires to be great, sure. Is it entertaining? In stretches, but the plot just wasn't so simple and concise as Gravity (convoluted would be a charitable word), which, no matter your feelings on Clooney or Sandra Bullock, was MUCH more riveting and interesting as far as a memorable/enjoyable theatre going experience.