caulfield12

KC 3-0 over CLE in the 5th. Still don't believe the Indians won't walk them off. Our beating Soria early in the season looks less and less impressive as time goes by. Just can't walk McDonald. Not a .173 hitter. Solo homers, fine. But we SHOULD still be able to score off Miller with the ball jumping like that. Then again, they should just walk Konerko and Quentin every time they come up.

Just what we need now, a Morel injury. Luckily he seems okay.

Maybe Ed Farmer singing "Don't Stop Believing" at the Journey concert last night will bring us luck... Or not. Tinley Park. Can Dunn actually come through with a big hit against a lefty? We'll soon find out. Probably a walk. OFC, the K. Sigh. WHEN WILL IT ALL MERCIFULLY END??

Verlander, of course, has a no hitter through 5 against the Angels. Royals will tease us by leading the Indians early and collapse late. You'd have to say Verlander, Weaver and Sabathia are clearly the 3 best pitchers in the AL if not in all of baseball.

Same as Teahen Theory. Take him away from the opponent and the opportunity to beat you 18 times per season, that ends up benefitting you. Certainly, giving up Thome to the Twins and NOT having him on the Sox last year would be a much more dramatic example. But you just know we'd end up facing Chen 2-3 more times in 2011 and losing at least a couple of them. Just the way this season is going.

Just thinking there's NOTHING Rios could do to be removed from playing against left-handers. As an aside, while I shouldn't even joke about it...it's almost a joke because we're "sanguine/melancholy/remorseful" for about 10 days after a shooting (remember Gabrielle Giffords?) we sort of pretend to unite across political lines and we then pay lip service to preventing violence and gun control but nothing ever changes. I came to the conclusion that acting cavalier and "remorseless" is the only way (like playing Devil's Advocate, in a sense), because eventual SOMEONE will wake up in the face of all the apathy and say enough is enough. But I'm still skeptical that anything will change in my lifetime. BACK TO WHITE SOX BASEBALL. Go Paco Martin!

Rios will be playing tmrw against Sabathia even if he shoots 76 kids at the Sox/Bulls Academy. 8/33 against Sabathia, 3 doubles, 3 HR's, 5 RBI's

The Cardinals, Pirates, Brewers and DBacks are all going to be breathing down their necks. Sometimes they remind me of the Angels the way they hold onto their prospects. Maybe that big deal with Texas made them a bit gunshy.

The ship is sailing on Rios ever being a productive member of the White Sox...last night was the final tipping point. Fan frustration has officially found a new target to focus on, other than Dunn/Walker/Pierre.

I don't agree about the 75/25 split...I think 60/40, 65/35 is probably closer, especially with how bad the Cubs have been the past 2 seasons. We haven't taken advantage like we should or could have...but we all know the reasons it hasn't happened. You might be right about 75-80% when you're talking markets like Iowa.

It's a better line-up any time you remove Rios...BUT 1) Ozzie will never, in a million years, remove Pierre from the line-up now 2) He will always perceive DeAza as a platoon player 3) Morel still is killing this line-up offensively every time he plays 4) Viciedo's still perhaps a week away from being able to help us after the injury

10:31am: The deal is now complete, tweets ESPN's Jayson Stark. SUNDAY, 10:06am: The Dodgers will receive Double-A outfielder Alex Castellanos from the Cardinals, reports Goold. The 24-year-old is hitting .319/.379/.562 this year. SATURDAY, 9:48pm: The Cardinals are likely to receive cash in the deal and they'll send a minor league outfielder to the Dodgers, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The outfielder is not currently on St. Louis' 40-man roster, Goold reports. Who would ever have thought that the Indians and Pirates would be fighting it out over the last hours for the remaining players on the market, like Eric Ludwick? Doesn't look certain that Bell or any of the Padres relievers will go, at least yet. Same with the A's relievers, like Balfour and Bailey.

Konerko and Buehrle, yes. Dye, no. Ventura, yes. AJ, no...closest call though, he deserves something....connecting him to the Josh Paul ball in the dirt play.

What happened with Furcal? Interesting. Supposedly, the Cardinals are trying to acquire Bedard as well from the M's this morning. http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/pr...160b1aa923.html CORRECTION: Deal completed, cash going to STL and player/s not named as of yet. Looks like he'll be in STL Sunday. Theriot permanently being moved to 2B. So the Cardinals are in on both Bedard and Heath Bell. Looks like the Bell sweepstakes will be between the Rangers, Cardinals and Yankees. Interesting to see if the Yankees pony up one of their elite prospects for someone who will be another set-up guy there. They already spent $30+ million on Rafael Soriano and seemingly have written that off already.

Except Ozzie would have been super-happy to trot Bourn out there for 155-157 games next year as the new leadoff hitter. At least KW was smart enough not to trade Quentin for Bourn.

Viciedo tried taking batting practice 2-3 nights ago. Still some soreness. It's not related to the injury at all that he suffered in spring training. KW told the Charlotte staff to be ultra-conservative with him and not let him play until he's 100% for fear he will change his swing to adjust for the pain and end up hurting himself more severely.

We jinxed the game thread yesterday. Who was the one who'd started it the last two "DeAza" victories in a row? Well....I guess you can say Ozzie putting Rios back out there had more of an effect than the SoxTalk jinx.

QUOTE (since56 @ Jul 31, 2011 -> 07:46 AM) I started this thread and have now read some good observations. Almost all concern the money aspect. This seems valid to me as it would also be my main issue. 1. I'm not buying the weather factor. this summer has been just plain hot and the ballpark at night is glorious. All teams in our region have weather issues. 2.Not only is parking outrageous but I used to find street parking which is virtually impossible now due to the city instituting permit only and pay boxes within about 100 mile of the stadium. 3. I can't believe the White Sox charge much more than other teams, but some of you have opened my eyes to the fact that do. In a structerd way. We do not go to nearly as many games as we used to because it is just too expensive. 4. The economy is bad in cities that still draw well. 5. I think a city with one team has complete focus and fan loyalty to that team and is not split. The sports spotlight stays on that team period. When the Cubs are really bad and the Sox are not riding high the focus turns to the Bears by mid July and baseball becomes an after thought. This city offers too many other [cheaper] options, especially in the summer. 6.Lets face it. Its about the money. Parking Tix and concessions. Thanks boys now I get it. As a footnote here they did draw 33,000 the next night. Especially when you look at Detroit 5,000 per night ahead of us and Pittsburgh right on our heels. Of course, we're dramatically outproducing the Pirates in overall revenue, but the economic crisis has had a much greater impact across the so-called "Rust Belt" than anywhere else...Cleveland, as well. I wouldn't be surprised after all the "go for it now" trade/s to see the Indians start to outdraw us for the next two months as well. Even the Tigers now have their entire starting rotation under team control through 2014 (Verlander/Scherzer/Porcello/Fister/Jacob Turner). All will be under 30 or younger (Verlander I think 31) and two of them still 25 and younger as that season begins. The Indians just made their future more interesting...but there's a downside now for them as well, a bit of risk-taking by management to try to bring back the enthusiam to Indians fans who used to consistently sell out Jacobs Field in the 90's and early 00's but have become skeptics like most Sox fans. In many ways, we're kind of in the same exact position as the Twins with payroll/roster going forward. Except they have a brand new ballpark and are still averaging 40,000 in their second season there.

They really should announce a new hitting coach...simply in the hopes of turning Gordon Beckham and Adam Dunn around. But that's never going to happen as long as Ozzie's still the manager. The White Sox have this week against the Yankees and Twins to prove they're serious about being in this race all the way until the end of the season. Wins and Losses always are more compelling to the fans than anything JR or especially KW say for the media.

The 3B coach for the Red Sox definitely had the stop sign up before he saw how casually Rios was returning the ball back in....then the off-target throw that Beckham fumbled, causing the reversal of his "stop" sign and then finally a "go" sign to home. Watch the video closely. It would have been insane to send him all the way without the base coach watching the play as it was developing. That's the 3rd time that has happened this year against us.

Stupid, stupid tweet by Rosenthal. Yeah, everyone in baseball knows about the issues with Peavy and Humber in the 5th/6th innings now. But he had to get something helpful back for Jackson (before the deadline), more than just getting a measly Type B sandwich pick which JUST might impact our team 3-4 years from now, but probably never. You can't fault his aggressiveness here, just getting rid of Teahen alone might have been worth it financially.

For Sean Lowe maybe...or Rick White. Forget Derek.

If you add Pierre's complete disappearance as a credible base-stealing threat, that's yet another. Maybe not completely unexpected, but he's dropped off a cliff in the speed side of the game, as well as defensively (although solid in June-July compared to April-May). Peavy, I don't think anyone can be 100% surprised coming off an unprecedented surgery and long layoff. His arm strength/stamina just aren't there... And then there's the Gordon "Bermuda Triangle" Beckham. Where did his 2009 bat and approach go? It's almost like they were swallowed by a fog and a "ghost" player has taken his place, or zombie.

Surprisingly, manager Ozzie Guillen wasn’t overly upset with the play. “I’m not going to throw the towel in; I’m not going to protect him like everybody thinks I am,” Guillen said. “I think that guy (Reddick) should be at third base, no doubt. The bad thing about that play was the bad throw to second base. “He made a bad throw to second base and that’s why he scored. If he threw the ball right there, there’s going to be a play at the plate. But the guy was running with the pitch. I think if he made a good throw to Gordon it’s a different thing.” Guillen has remained in Rios’ corner through all the turmoil this season, but the manager does wonder why a guy with a $70 million contract has simply shut down the engines. “I’m not down on him,” Guillen said. “Just go out there and play the game right. You’ve got your money, you’ve got a beautiful family, everybody’s healthy, you’ve got everything you want. Why do you let this game bother you? “Why not have a little more fun playing the game? If you say you really enjoy this game … I don’t see that in him. I think every at-bat is killing him. Every at-bat, he worries about it.” Rios declined to talk about his situation Friday and again after Saturday’s loss. General manager Kenny Williams — the man responsible for claiming Rios off waivers from Toronto almost two years ago — also was the one who said the outfielder should be on the bench. “My message was not so much directed at Alex Rios, in terms of giving him a kick in the pants,” Williams said. “My message was more so a message to everyone that we’re here to win. “We’re here to put the best players out there, who are going to fight the hardest, bust their tail the hardest, regardless of contract size, regardless of their history in the game, just play to win from here on out.” Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2011073.../#ixzz1TbbKf5VK

1) Because Ozzie already committed to play him against lefties Lester/Andrew Miller/Sabathia 2) Because he wanted to give Juan Pierre the day off tmrw and play Lillibridge in LF 3) Because even though DeAza hit over .300 against lefties in Charlotte, he doesn't believe any LH hitter except Dunn/Pierre/AJ should ever start against a LHP 4) Because he wants to make KW look bad...or himself...not sure which "I'm not going to throw in the towel (on him)," said manager Ozzie Guillen, who plans to start Rios again Sunday. "I'm not protecting him like people think." (sure you're not!) "That (Red Sox runner, Reddick) should have been at third, no doubt. The bad thing about that play was (Rios') throw to second base." "I know it's not easy when you're not playing well and people are on you every play, every at-bat. But this is Chicago. You have to be tough. You have to perform."www.chicagotribune.com/sports KW's "Chicago Tough" quote rears its ugly head again.