caulfield12

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...,3750059.column Sounds like Williams is doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing.

There's no reason not to play Fukudome and Lillibridge. Rios and Beckham can sit. Escobar, however, shouldn't be in the line-up. Van Dyck, www.chicagotribune.com/sports "Those are the guys you're going against for the playoffs," manager Robin Ventura said. "It's nice to start off that way. It is April, though, but it's better than losing those games and saying (as an excuse that) it's a long season. "For right now, I like the feel of the team and the way they come every day prepared to play. It's important to be 4-0 in your division, but it's more important for me how we're approaching it day-in and day-out." Last season, when the Sox finished 16 games out of first place, they lost 13 of 18 games against the Tigers. In fact, the Tigers had won 11 of the previous 14 games at U.S. Cellular Field. "This team is so new. Nothing from last year feels part of this team," captain Paul Konerko said. "That's a good thing. … All we can hope is we're in the mix in the end. "All I know for sure is those two games are over. I don't know anything else. (But) it's nice to get those two games in the books." The Sox have outscored the mighty Tigers' offense 10-3, with starters Jake Peavy and Gavin Floyd holding them to five hits and two runs over 122/3 innings. On Saturday, Floyd allowed only three hits in his six innings but walked three and hit three other batters. Twice he left the bases loaded. He got two innings of one-run relief from Jesse Crain and a perfect ninth from Matt Thornton as the bullpen has compiled a 1.96 ERA this season. "We feed off each other," Floyd said. "It's a long season, but we'll try to keep doing it because we're trying to win them all." For Flowers, it was the first homer of the season in his first start as catcher. He also threw out a would-be base-stealer and stole a base of his own, which ties him with De Aza for the team lead. "Every once in a while. I think Tyler can run a little bit," Ventura said. "So, on occasion, (if) nobody is paying attention, he's given the ability to run." On Sunday, the Sox will go for a sweep behind Chris Sale. "The start is two months into the season and that's a long way away," Konerko said. "But we're doing it right, taking it inning-by-inning without thinking too many big things. Our thoughts are small. It's the way it should be."

I wouldn't put it past Bossard. With Peavy pitching, every little inch counts that they can move the opposing batters up against Peavy's fastball. Little things like this are great for baseball and rivalries, like the Twins turning the vents on and off depending on who was batting, or signalling pitches/location with the outfield scoreboard. Of course, they can't admit a team with 3 superstars could actually lose to the White Sox fair and square.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?g...houmlb_miamlb_1 Marlins blow another lead, this time a 4-1 margin, behind Heath Bell and 3 errors in one inning. Astros, the worst team in baseball....end up winning 5-4 in Miami. Things will not be so rosy for Ozzie when he returns on Tuesday. After Bell logged a quick out, Jose Altuve doubled to right-center and ended up at third on Emilio Bonifacio's bobble. Travis Buck delivered an RBI single and Jordan Schafer reached on catcher's interference. With two outs, J.D. Martinez delivered an RBI single and Carlos Lee tied it with a single to right. Randy Choate relieved Bell, and induced a fly ball to left by Brian Bogusevic. With the wind swirling, Logan Morrison tried to cradle the ball, but it dropped for an error, giving Houston the improbable lead. Loved the comments in the story thread, especially the one about signing Juan Pierre to be a defensive replacement, lol. What the f uck were these guys doing during spring training: everybody is totally off: hitters and pitchers with some exceptions. What was Mr. St Claire doing? Mr. Perez? That fu cking ugly thing in the CF never will work if these guys don't take the swings they MUST take, Mr. Perez. Who is going to teach Mr. Stanton to hit breaking balls? Mr. St. Claire: how come Mr. Bell is throwing only 91-92 mph, how come Mr. Zambrano walks 6 and says in an interview that walks don't matter. What the f uck is this: a baseball team or a circus? commenter 16 minutes ago logan buy a new glove I mentioned it before,my friends; No team can have injured players as outfield players. LoMo is arguably the worst outfielder in this team when healthy; playing injured is a joke. This is totally on the management. The team is winning by 3 runs in the 8th, take the idiot out of the game. Move Coghlan to LF and bring Kearns to RF. Coaches are paid to do the obvious moves but still manage to screw things up. 2 people liked this. Like Reply Jacksonvillain 28 minutes agoin reply to SouthFL_Go_Fish This is why we should have signed Pierre for utility outfield.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 14, 2012 -> 08:09 PM) Not a good year to be a closer. One way or the other, we're in a great position with our bullpen. The Sox play well and KW holds onto them all or we can leverage Crain/Thornton to get some nice pieces back in return if closers continue to fall all over the place. Crazy game in Colorado. The Rockies were winning 5-1 over the D-Backs, they had a rain delay, Montero hit a 3 run blast, then it was 6-5, 7-5 for Arizona....Colorado rallied for one to make it 7-6, then a two out homer for Todd Helton in the bottom of the 9th won it against JJ Putz, who was KW's best acquisition in 2010. Putz has accumulated 28 consecutive saves dating back to the end of July last year, along with a 0.33 road ERA. Somehow the ball Helton hit just barely snuck in right down the line. HOF for Helton? That's definitely a borderline case, because of playing half his games at Coors Field. Got to love this story, from the Trib's Phil Rogers... Pizza man: The Royals' Jeff Francoeur loves the right-field bleacher fans in Oakland. He sent 20 pizzas to Section 149 on Thursday. "They're diehards," Francoeur said. "Those are the people you feel bad for with all the stuff that's going on right now — whether they're going to move or not. Those are the fans who obviously love coming out and being a part of it." Oakland fans and Francoeur bonded over bacon, of all things. Francoeur told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was getting kidded by fans two years ago and got into an exchange that somehow led to the subject of bacon. So naturally Francoeur tossed them a ball wrapped in a $100 bill, suggesting they get themselves some bacon and beer. When the Royals got to Oakland last week, fans presented Francoeur a green T-shirt with the words "Second Annual Bacon Fest sponsored by Jeff Francoeur." They called it Bacon Tuesday. "I'm going to wear it, and they're getting me another one signed by the whole group," Francoeur said. "It's awesome. Baseball to me is fun. We can take it too seriously sometimes. It's nights like last night that make it a lot of fun to play this game. It's something more than just baseball. It's interacting with fans and having an experience you can talk about."

Basic highlights. Jared Mitchell continues to do well in BIRM, over .300, puts up the dreaded 2-3-1-1 boxscore line with his 2nd triple and 2 walks. Trayce Thompson at .250, but hit his 2nd homer and already has 7 RBI's. K. Walker with another hit and exactly at the .300 mark. Pedro Hernandez pitched an outstanding game for the Barons. Yet another talented left-handed pitcher in our system. And whoever has Kevin Vance (UCONN) as their Adopt a Prospect, looks like he will move fast. He's been utterly dominant his first two starts for Kannapolis. At Great Falls, he was used primarily as a reliever, starting just once, but had an eye-popping 58 K's in 35+ IP. Doyle also pitched much better than his horrid first start.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Apr 14, 2012 -> 05:49 PM) Why stop at Gameday? MLB.tv is where it's at! Well worth $120/year for us out-of-towners! Also, quite glad you picked the Sox out of all the baseball teams you could have chosen. You won't regret it! Or maybe you will. But probably not. Dodgers 8-1 Rangers 7-2 Nacionales 7-2 Mets 6-2 Calcetines Blancos (White Sox) 5-2 D-Backs 5-2 (leading now 5-4 against Rockies) Cardinales 6-3 I know in my situation, the video feed just doesn't work well enough where I live in China, because my laptop's on the same phone line/network as everyone in our school and there's so much traffic during the schoolweek or in the mornings when most of the games are on...typically 7-8-9-10 a.m. It's okay on the weekends for me to watch day games...or any games from about 1 a.m - 7 a.m. But I'll always keep GAMEDAY AUDIO, that's best bargain in sports, and you can listen to every team and every set of announcers. Maybe it reminds me of the 1980's when I would listen to all the White Sox games on WMAQ (such a strong signal at night from Chicago, all the way to Iowa and beyond) and then the Cardinals games with Buck and Shannon through KMOX or a local affiliate on the Cardinals network. Before the Rockies, Royals, Astros, Rangers and Braves, the Cardinals were the team of everyone in the Deep South, Texas and near west/Rocky Mountains.

We sweep the Tigers tomorrow, every baseball pundit has to take notice. We lose, they can argue it was more of a fluke because we faced Wilk and had two miraculous defensive plays in the first game. Of course, you MAKE your own luck, if you're a good team or believe you're the better one. Still a 21-8 run by the Tigers against us dating back to the end of 2010. (they won the final six, also won 8 of the final 9 in 2010) 13-5 in 2010, but they also won the last 6 in a row (2 blown Santos saves, including when we were "only" 5 1/2 behind at the beginning of SEPT) That 21-8 against us is a Twins-like run of almost .750 ball. Sweep, we move up into the #12-16 range in every expert's "baseball ratings/rankings." We had to do the same thing in 2000, 2005 and 2008 to earn respect nationally.

And then you have the "Core Four" in Pettite, Jeter, Rivera and Posada who they developed/signed on their own. I'm still waiting for the central argument of this thread, Marty. Exactly WHO should be involved in White Sox business? Scott Merkin? Chris Rongey? Buddy Bell? Robin Ventura? I'm not understanding what you're even positing as a theory with that thread title. Wait, let me guess. KW should be fired because even though our system is producing lots of players, it's not being well promoted? Hmmm.... I can just see the JR press conference on that one. "Despite our team being in first place, due to the fact that Kenny Williams hasn't reached out to Keith Law, Kevin Goldstein/John Sickels, Phil Rogers, Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, etc., I've had to fire him as our General Manager." Ridiculous.

Floyd with the bend but don't break pitching performance. XB hits all over the diamond...nice swings by Tyler, Paulie and Alexei. DeAza continues to be a threat, although it would be nice if he got his OBP over 300. Great Sox defensive effort this season continues, bullpen with only the blip by Crain against Boesch. Morel showing signs the last 2-3 games. Beckham and Dunn, ugly. But he at least had that RBI double against Balester. Sets up an important chance for Chris Sale to lead the sweep and announce his presence as a rising force in the AL.

Not since McDowell, Ventura, Frank Thomas and Alex Fernandez.

At least Gordon's protected from another K today. Crazy the White Sox and Tigers have the same number of homers this season.

Nice swing there, Paulie. Almost more excited to see Santiago again, but we'll take it. Every hit this game except for Viciedo's has been for extra bases. Closing in on 400 homers. Okay Rios, I take back my "despise" comment. At least you make contact, albeit weakly, MOST of the time. That U-Verse multiview is the like the Blair Witch Project, makes me dizzy. So annoying.

Nice that they could save Thornton for tmrw, as needed. Ventura needed to get Crain some work, and the 4 run lead allowed for it. Also didn't have to use Addison Reed. The other trend you have to like here is the Sox adding on runs throughout the game instead of shutting down offensively.

12 k's/26 ab's, 0/11 against LHP. Uh-oh. Let's not start this trend again in 2012. Nacionales off to a great start this year, putting some pressure on the Marlins/Phils/Braves from the get-go. Probably Crain's last batter, then to Thornton? Or the 4 run lead leaves him in as long as he gets Jackson out?

C'mon Adam, end the 0-10 string against LHP this season.

CLUTCH, DeAza. Something we haven't seen much of in the last 12 months. DeAza is Mr. XB hit this week.

Don't know what to say with Gordon anymore. He hit one ball hard foul and almost had a hit down the LF line? He just kind of has that "deer in the headlights" look up there now. Maybe sending him down would allow him to relax and get back to basics, away from the spotlight. The problem is that we need his defense.

Avila getting killed the last 2 innings. And then one ball was crushed off his face mask.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Apr 14, 2012 -> 04:08 PM) Great inning by JC Jesus Crain.....anticipating some screwballs to make a later appearance in this game. Would rather see Jones mopping up a 7 or 8-0 lead.

QUOTE (MAX @ Apr 14, 2012 -> 04:01 PM) Jeez. Take it easy. He had one strike to work with. I'm just saying, other than Beckham, he's the last person I'd want up at the plate with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs. Agree? Bullpen looking dominant, but you'd love to see a couple more runs tacked on here for additional insurance against that line-up. Still, like the feeling that you can turn it over to the bullpen and get some goose-eggs.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 14, 2012 -> 04:02 PM) Isn't Alexei a pretty darn rotten bunter? Didn't he bunt into a triple play last year? Yep, I think it was against CLE early in the season.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Apr 14, 2012 -> 03:58 PM) Dunn was .286 against RHP this year, that has to go up now. I just wouldn't let Dunn face a single lefty (.000). nice rbi, adam! 5/15, .333 against righties, 0/10 against lefties.

Thanks a lot Rios, for reminding us why many Sox fans despise you.

Konerko knows he just missed his 1st homer there...and patented bat drop/shoulder shrug. 50% of Rios ab's result in pops to the right side. The other 40% are grounders to the left side. Can Rios actually get an RBI here?