caulfield12

As debated ad infinitum, Peavy's not going to be easy to move at all. If other teams are after him, it probably means the White Sox will be within shouting distance of first place or at least the wild card. So then you're just talking about dumping more salary or payroll relief, because we're not going to get savings AND a prospect simultaneously. Greg Hibbard jinxed us with this thread, lol. THANKS A LOT! You're also forgetting the Rays, Blue Jays, Orioles, Indians (for now) and eventually the Angels are going to put runs together, it's not just about the Red Sox/Yankees anymore. Unless, Viciedo, Beckham and Morel can pick it up (2 of the 3), there's no chance for us to win more than 85-86-87 games. Because we'll also be dealing with Humber, Sale and maybe Peavy (who knows if we can trust his health, it's an unprecedented surgery) missing starts in the second half, and replaced by much lower quality pitchers from within our system.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 11:51 PM) I just hated the offense tonight. Sox didn't come close to scoring. Even though Gavin was matching that no-name pitch for pitch, out for out, it seemed obvious Sox would get shut out and Oakland would not. And that's more often that not what happens on the road in tie games like this. At least Gavin pitched much better than expected and didn't wet the bed. Most of us were't predicting much offense tonight. We don't match up well against Millone types and never have. Then again, there are a lot of teams that can beat the 4-5-spot starters of a rotation but have zero luck against the frontline pitchers. Greg, are you going to say that A's fans tmrw should be embarassed to lose to Chris Sale because he's a no-name pitcher to a lot of West Coast fans or non-baseball addicts. Or just because Millone throws at a velocity closer to Buehrle than Sale? Shouldn't all those teams that have lost to Buehrle over the years feel ashamed and embarassed too? They have somewhat similar approaches as pitchers. So why is Mark Buehrle great but Millone is garbage? Just because you'd never heard of him before tonight doesn't mean he's not a good prospect. Look at the other games he's pitched before tonight. Colon hadn't lost a game, either.

So every White Sox loss the discussion will be whether we would have won were Ozzie still managing the team? That's going to get old fast. Being a White Sox fan right now (1st place tie) is a lot better than rooting for the Marlins or Royals.

Remember when we had to hope and pray just to take 1 out of 3 at Oakland? It's just one of those games, Millone pitched very well...you can actually tip your cap to him and not be ashamed. Have we gone to the 1927 Yankees in the span of one week where we just win every game merely by showing up?

Remember, the M's just went out and beat Max Scherzer tonight. It happens. Some questionable decisions there with leaving Gavin in and leaving Beckham to be torn apart by a power fastball pitcher...Rios hasn't been hitting for much power this year, so better to go for the tie-game with one at-bat rather than relying on a bunch of hits being strung together. Then again, you get the game to Konerko and he seems to match up very well with Balfour. That pitch Dunn missed...very few major league power hitters are going to put into play. He was trying to turn on it, and the only possible result with a ball in that location would have been going the other way for a double to LF. But he was trying to get 2 runs with one swing there, clearly. Meanwhile, there's a 3-way tie for first place in the AL Central.

Nathan Jones warming in the pen. He's the next one in. And the nightmare continues for Thornton.

Maybe Matt Thornton should never appear against the Oakland A's. What a nightmare. Not that we really deserved to win this game, exactly.

And Matt Thornton continues to get decimated by the Oakland A's. Tough luck possible loss for Gavin Floyd here. Did Ventura really want to face Suzuki there? I mean...he's under 200, but one of their better clutch RBI guys. 2 Aprils in a row for Matt against the A's.

PUT IN THORNTON!!!! I guess Ventura will say he was waiting for them to pinch-hit Kai'ahue, but we didn't need to put the leadoff hitter on base. Luckily Hughes didn't learn any bunting fundamentals with the Twins...maybe part of the reason he's no longer on Gardy's team.

A's with no sacrifices yet this season. 18 stolen bases, though.

This game is annoying. No bullpen. Then we have to face that prick Balfour as the closer if they take the lead.

Tweet/retweet? Jermaine Dye? What did Dye say now? Something about Rios or Dunn? Hello, why no Thornton? This guy's already doubled off Gavin and he's in the 110's now. Jarrod Parker grew up a big White Sox fan in Indiana.

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 09:37 PM) you guys should not fear the Twins starting pitching this year We're 4-1 against the Central this year, but until we prove we can beat both the Twins and Royals (yeah, I know they've lost 12 in a row but they've played us very well the last 2-3 seasons), then we can't claim to be a true contender. Too bad you guys didn't keep the Red Sox cooled off before their arrival Thursday in Chicago. Ever since Bard got Mauer out last night, it has been all downhill.

Recall that the Royals tried to pry away Lowe from Atlanta in the offseason but were out-bid by the Indians, who agreed to eat about an extra $1 million in salary on Lowe’s existing contract. It was that inability to get Lowe that led, in no small degree, to the Royals’ decision to acquire Sánchez from San Francisco in early November with minor-league pitcher Ryan Verdugo for outfielder Melky Cabrera. The Royals made that deal knowing Sánchez was the proverbial box of chocolates: an enigma of inconsistency. And this, Tuesday night, was the wild Sanchie, who opened the first inning by hitting a batter (who eventually scored) and twice walked the bases loaded. Sánchez, 1-1, escaped a three-walk second inning but paid dearly in the fifth when Shelley Duncan delivered a one-out sacrifice fly before Jack Hannahan gapped a two-run double to right-center. “That was a good pitch,” Sánchez insisted, “but he put his bat on it and got a double. It wasn’t a hanging pitch. It was the right pitch.” Maybe so, but the final numbers were grim. He walked seven in 42/3 innings while throwing just 56 of his 115 pitches for strikes. Tony Sipp worked a one-two-three seventh for Cleveland before Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez wobbled through the final two innings in closing out Lowe’s victory. Perez got his seventh save. So here we are. The Royals, at 3-14, have the majors’ worst record and find themselves saddled with a 12-game losing streak that ties for the third-longest in franchise history while still searching for answers. “There have been a lot of missed opportunities,” Yost said, “but I felt our at-bats tonight were better with runners in scoring position. The way these kids continue to get after it, it’s hard for me to believe that we’ve lost 12 in a row.” The Royals were four for 13 with runners in scoring position after going zero for 10 in Monday’s 4-1 loss to Toronto and a combined nine for 60 over the previous seven games. Even so, they left 11 runners on base in Tuesday’s loss. The franchise record for consecutive losses is an appalling 19-game skid in 2005 that featured then-manager Buddy Bell’s memorable line: “Don’t ever say it can’t get worse.” There was a 13-game slide in 2006 and 12-game droughts in 1997 and 2008. This streak already includes 10 straight losses at home, which ties the 1913 New York Yankees for the longest home skid at the start of a season. The Royals had hoped getting away from Kauffman Stadium might provide a path to firmer footing. Nope. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/24/35743...l#storylink=cpy

100 pitches for Gavin now. Gotta figure out a way to win this game somehow offensively... Gotta get someone up. Gomes can give them a 2 run lead in one swing.

LOL at LaHair being intentionally walked to face Soriano. It's a good story, 29 year old journeyman with his 15 minutes of fame. Guess the Matheny honeymoon period is over for Cardinals' fans to lose two games like that to the Cubs.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 10:18 PM) Viciedo's a joke It's 49 at-bats. Relax. It's not like anyone in the majors has been hitting this guy so far, at least not that well. He's still got an OPS hundreds of points better than Beckham and Morel. And he's played better defense than Brent too this year. Finally and, he's much younger than both those guys.

Well, you knew that one was coming with how Viciedo's been struggling. Why wasn't Alexei Ramirez in motion? So much for that...at least it's a quick game, even without Mark Buehrle.

Got just a little bit of extra velocity and got it in on his hands so he couldn't extend. Good job so far for Gavin, 61 pitches through 4. More of our "opposite field" attack. Good approach on low-and-away cutter.

Got just a little bit of extra velocity and got it in on his hands so he couldn't extend. Good job so far for Gavin, 61 pitches through 4.

Got him to fish on that outside curveball....good location, not out over the plate.

Double no-hitter? When's the last time that came close to happening, where two pitchers both had no-hitters through at least 7 IP in the same game, facing each other?

LaHair involved in another Cubs' 9th inning comeback. Seems to be in the right place at the right time, this time with a solo homer to tie it up. Poor Royals! Poor Ozzie/Marlins. Reddick's really got to pick it up for the A's or nobody will pitch to Cespedes. So many holes on that team. Ironic that Ryan Sweeney came into today 6th in MLB OPS. Millone pitches 1-45, .176 avg. for opposing batters 45+=.238 Makes sense, takes at least one at-bat to adjust and he loses his stuff as the game goes on, but not by much.

Shades of Mark Johnson and Royce Clayton. At least we have five hitters who are raking, and Alexei's a slow starter and hopefully Viciedo will be okay. 7 straight and 9 of 10 retired, despite the righty-dominant line-up. Just the ball that Hughes messed up. That's three errors in 2 nights...and the jet lag excuse isn't going to fly for very long. BTW, Sogard is the ONLY player in all of MLB to wear prescription eyeglasses on the field or at the plate. Lasik eye surgery has come a long way. That, and most players have very good vision by birth, at least hitters.

It's amazing how many more runners we've thrown out this season compared to last. Nice play, Alexei. Tyler's 3/3 in throwing out runners, I think.