caulfield12

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/07/16/box-...hallows-part-2/ Looks like Harry Potter will destroy every box office record ever amassed by Twilight, Dark Knight or Pirates of the Caribbean. Doesn't even look like it will be close. Most were initially predicting around $150 million and now it has been readjusted to $175-185 million.

And it was nice to see that Gordon didn't let the baserunning "blunder" (well, he was actually not off the bag early) affect him offensively or defensively. He came through twice today in key situations. The entire offense feeds on that...and will get more and more confident. At least until Dunn or Rios are up to bat.

Yeah, that's the key for Jackson. First pitch strikes, keep the pitch count down, work as quickly as possible. I think the largest problem was Edwin hasn't been able to command his offspeed stuff for 6 weeks. He has been taking a long time first/second/third-guessing pitch selection when he doesn't feel confident in his entire arsenal. After the early innings, he just got into that rhythm where you really felt he was going to get a complete game, especially after stranding runners on 2nd and 3rd against Carlos Guillen when they had the opportunity to tie there.

Two very well-played games to start the 2nd half. Jackson was excellent, pitched from ahead in the count with a lot of first pitch strikes. 4th career CG, and a shutout. Still throwing 96-98 MPH in the last inning. Increased his trade value exponentially there. Am really looking forward to see if he can sustain it against the Indians in what is setting up as a huge series. Pierre is now our most consistent hitter, after Konerko. Nice to see him running again, even though he was very fortunate not to be thrown out both times. Maybe he'll start to get his confidence back on the basepaths. Nice to see the WHite Sox much more aggressive on the basepaths and taking the game to the opponent...forcing them to make mistakes and exerting pressure on the opposing pitcher. Quentin breaks his homerless streak dating back to the first week of May. Nice to see him hitting singles and doubles. Beckham has really turned it on. Instead of down, back and around...he took the Valverde pitch directly in natural swing path to 2B/RF. Nice to see that he made the adjustment. Now you start worrying that the bullpen hasn't been getting ENOUGH work coming out of the Break. But a great problem to have. We're going to need them coming down the stretch. As someone mentioned, we saw this with the Red Sox and Yankees series, where they played well but didn't sustain it. Personally, I wasn't sure if they could recover from that 2-5 run at home against the Royals and Twins but they've surprised me.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 16, 2011 -> 05:57 PM) That's two wins! Hell of a game for Edwin and Juan And Beckham, too. Nice to see Quentin coming out of his 3-4 week slump, too. That 9th inning rally against Valverde really gives us all the momentum in this series. Let's hope Humber can put that last start against the Twins behind him and pitch like he did the entire first half. Rios and Dunn, what can you say? There's nothing left. Just win despite them, I guess.

Great outing by Edwin Jackson!!! In the worst case scenario, it's presenting KW more and more options at the trading table. I'm sure Guillen wants to get Sergio back out there again after the long break, but hopefully that will come tmrw.

Sale warming up for Dirks and Boesch.

ERA now down to 3.99 for Edwin. Jackson still at 97 and 98 MPH. Has thrown a lot of first pitch strikes today, that's been the key. Pretty simple, really.

Pierre up to 656 OPS Rios 557 Almost 100 ahead now. Dunn at 590. Jackson going for his fourth career CG. One was the no-hitter, obviously.

Are we the KC Royals now? Guillen has definitely been more aggressive to start out the second half. Where was this throughout the year? I guess they just think they can turn it on and off. So much for the lack of hitting with RISP. Great to see Edwin and the hitters fight through those two baserunning mistakes and no surrender the lead back. That was our modus operandi for most of the first half. This is as good as the Sox have looked for a long time. OBVIOUSLY, we've got to take it to the Royals in KC, no letting up.

One of the quickest swings by Beckham in months. None of the down, back and around hitch we're used to on fastballs.

C'mon Gordon, bases clearing double into the RCF gap.

Valverde has thrown all of 4 pitches in 5 minutes. Who's slower, him or Betancourt? Jesus of Nazareth. Great, when we need Rios to strike out, he fouls off the ball and prevents Lillibridge from getting to 2nd on the easy steal.

MLB.com has had Jackson at 95-97 all day long. I've heard a few readings of 98, but DET jacked up their gun when Zumaya pitched there....and now with Verlander.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 16, 2011 -> 05:26 PM) While it was a great play, it wasn't that great. Most MLB SS should be able to make that play. So E-Jax has his best start, do we trade while he comes off his best start? Nope, KW is all-in, no choice but to roll the dice. His quote will be "this is exactly why we acquired Edwin Jackson, for key 2nd half games against our divisional rivals, blah, blah, blah..." We still don't know how Peavy's going to rebound in the 2nd half. If Peavy went out and threw 3 shutouts featuring 93-96 MPH fastballs....three games in a row...then you can argue that at that point you leverage Jackson for whatever you can get. His ERA is now exactly at 4.00 and will fall below it if he can get through the 9th.

Why was Morel so far out of position there? At least he was smart enough to pull the glove back and let the ball get to Ramirez instead of deflecting it away and leaving two runners on.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 16, 2011 -> 05:16 PM) The second half is giving me a new attitude as a fan (til we lose a game). This could be the new, efficient White Sox. 2-0 with Edwin looking good. BTW, if you want to PM me with the answer I'd take it under consideration. Qwerty said I am the sole reason Soxtalk sucks now. If u agree let me know why or tell me you would prefer I leave forever. Greg, relax. Just fewer posts with the same theme/topic probably, or keeping it one thread?....compose one longer post with all your thoughts, and leave it at that, maybe? Of course, if you write a long post, you run the danger of writing one that's too long like I usually do, lol. It's a fine line.

The teams are combining to go 1 for 12 with RISP. Good pitching performances on both sides, but some bad luck with Sox runners at 3rd keeping the Tigers right in this game.

Well, Gordon's fought to get his average all the way back to .249. Wish Dunn could just get to .199, wonder what abysmally-low average he'll end up with? Jackson with an amazing (for him) 79 pitches through 7 innings. Does Guillen pull him against V-Mart if Ordonez/Cabrera reach?? Don't like to face him from the left-hand side if you can turn him around.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 16, 2011 -> 05:09 PM) I don't have the game on TV here. Is Jackson working faster? His pitch count is definitely way down. Great performance by Jackson today when the offense is 1 for 7 with RISP behind him.

Well, if Jackson wins this game, he's definitely earned it. Hard to pitch under pressure like this the entire game. Should be at least 4-0, maybe 5-0.

Shouldn't the coach shout "GO!" at the moment of the catch? According to Farmer, Beckham didn't leave early. Wrong call. They watched the replay a bunch of times. Umpire was also out of position, had the wrong angle there. You have to be in line with 3B looking to the OF. You can't look back, can't just guess or speculate.

What is Jeff Cox doing over there?

Dammit, Beckham left too early. Crap. Son a b----. That sucks.

Looks like Morel has lost his job for now. They should just bring up DeAza and add to the outfield mix...let Morel play everyday in Charlotte.