caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 09:34 PM) Beckham should only face curveball pitchers. Having him face fastball throwing pitchers is a bad idea. Our second best fastball hitting player can also play 2b I'd rather have Vizquel in there than Beckham, but Lillibridge deserves a chance. Still would prefer it be in CF or LF if Viciedo won't ever be utilized.

THe low point would be losing 8 in a row....and getting swept by the Cubs at home in front of 3 non-sellout crowds. With Minnesota passing us in the standings and close to a healthy team. Rios, at least respect the game enough to run out those weak grounders to the middle infielders.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 09:21 PM) Twins about to be 8 GB. Weren't they just like 16 GB 2 weeks ago? Yep, and 20 games under .500. We were "only" 11 games under.

He's good, but who in our offense scares anyone? Konerko, Quentin (slumping) and Ramirez, AJ's been hot...but it's a huge difference without Dunn and carrying Beckham, Rios, Pierre and Morel AND the pitcher. Hope you enjoy this Ozzie. I'm sure he'll make a comment about how he loves the low-scoring games afterwards.

Make that 19 innings...2.11 games

2 full games now (18 innings) without a run scored by this Sox offense.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 09:36 PM) 700 is a lot of PAs. Among batting average title qualifiers, Cesar Izturis at .545 (2010), Nick Punto at .562 (2007), Neifi Perez at .564 (2002), Ramon Santiago at .576 (2003) and Angel Berroa at .592 (2006). That's your top (last) five since 2000, all ironically from AL teams. Even more ironic, 4/5 were AL Central players. OFC, Clayton Richard gave up 5 ER's in 5 IP on 10 hits...against the Twins (even the jinx holds for ex-Sox players against the Twins). But SD is only one run down now after rallying back into it.

Juan Pierre was the first one to the ballpark today to work out, arriving just past 11:00 am. According to Farmio. I like the story better about Showalter. How he ordered Roger Bossard to put holes in the outfield so that it would drain better. When, as expected, this didn't exactly work, Bossard refused to re-sod the entire outfield and made Buck do it himself.

What's the lowest batting average (and slugging percentage or OPS) ever for a player with over 700 plate appearances in a season? And of course, Hudson has got 8 outs in a row with ease.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 09:26 PM) Any metric that has Jackson higher than Humber this year is bogus to me In that sense, Jackson and Javy are very similar. 5 K's already, and a pitch count that will limit him to five innings and a burned out pen if we're still close in this game. I guess with the two off days and Floyd being overextended, it won't hurt. But there's just no way you can have 50+ pitches through 2 innings. Slowey or Blackburn or Mays would have 50 pitches through 6 or 7 innings against us.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 09:19 PM) If we are gonna lose I really wish Lillibridge could be involved. Be nice to see if he can start hitting again I just enjoy watching him play defense. Rios...mehhh....I'd sooner be watching Glitter or Jersey Girl. What I don't get is how you can be on a staff with Buehrle and Danks and be the slowest pitcher in White Sox history since Jason Bere. Our outfielders are literally falling asleep and have their hands on their hips and are daydreaming about their All-Star break itinerary.

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 09:16 PM) With Dunn, Rios and Peavy, Kenny Williams has stuck The Sox with $45 million worth of nothing. We'll get some value out of Peavy and Dunn for sure, believe that 100%. It's Rios nobody can be sure about. One thing's for sure, Gibson and his staff are pretty much the perfect leadership mix for this maturing young team.

Somehow, Jackson will get $7 million from someone. He's like the "nice" Randy Moss who will keep getting fresh chances until he loses his stuff that all those scouts drool over.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 09:07 PM) Please trade EJ he is Javy Vasquez the 2nd! He always gives up early runs. We'd be lucky at this point to get another Lillibridge back in return...forget Gilmore, Rodriguez and Flowers.

Countdown to website or game thread shutdown. T-Minus 1 hour.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 08:49 PM) Steve Stone is absolutely correct, Parra probably has the best arm in baseball. It's sick. That's how I fell in love with that guy in the first place. If anyone cares, I'll find the video of the strongest throw in the history of baseball. Ummm....there's no way in hell that's not Bo Jackson in his prime. Or Roberto Clemente. One of those two.

Colorado up 9-1 now over the Tiggers. Dadgummit...got in on his hands just enough.

Alexei please stop trying to bunt. Watch some Tom Emanski videos with Fred McGriff....so you realize the bat must be out in front of you, and stop stabbing at it. Catch the ball with your hand and deaden it. Just don't break a finger.

Looks like the Indians and Tigers will be tied again at 6 over. Time to make up some ground. Of course, the Twins are beating up the Padres at home and will only be 3 GB of the White Sox as we take the field. Need to stop the bleeding, because if Hudson beats us, we'll never hear the end of it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 06:43 PM) The White Sox have had the fortune of playing KC, Cleveland, and for the most part Detroit 18 times a year the past 10 seasons or so. 84 wins should not be acceptable. Except for 2005 and a couple of other years, the pattern seems to hold true. You think they have a good team. They fall flat on their face, play crappy ball for 3 or 4 months, rally to get back in it and fall apart at the end. They win 83 or 84 games and 5 years later the year is called a success because in the 70s the Sox really sucked. I call BS. Win the division. Make the playoffs. You have had a big advantage over your division foes for years and have squandered it far too often. 2005 is something they will always be able to hang their hat on and rightfully so, but if a couple of crazy things didn't happen against Boston, like a ball going through Graffinino's legs and El Duque, a guy KW didn't even want on the postseason roster not pitching out of a jam, they might still be looking for their first postseason series win in 94 years, and I'm sure Ozzie and KW would have very little support from anyone on this website. Not to mention AJ and the Angels. Contreras lost to Byrd, we were VERY VERY close to being down 2-0 in that series. We made our own breaks too, but every possible thing that needed to happen broke our way from the end of that game through Game 4 of the WS. 2008 was a fun year too, because of Quentin, Ramirez, Danks and Floyd all emerging, but let's not pretend we were anything close to a dominant team coming down the stretch.

Well, if it's not Daniel Hudson...maybe Chris Young can go all Mike Cameron on us and hit 3 dingers. Giving Phil Rogers an excuse to write another anti-KW screed.

We have done it a few times recently, most notably with MacDougal and eating Linebrink's contract, but that was in the offseason. Teahen, Pierre, AJ (because of 2012), Dunn, Rios, Peavy, Matt Thornton (as a set-up man signed to a pseudo-closer's deal) and Buehrle (although you can't argue with his pitching since the end of April, he's definitely worth close to his contract numbers) all to one extent or another represent "bloated" contracts. Can some of that change? We'll just have to cross our fingers and find it. By my count, that's 7 or 8 players, roughly 30% of the roster. For a long, long time in this decade, KW was very very good with not making these kinds of mistakes. The only real arguments about "bad" contracts centered on Konerko (a few off stretches which now look more and more like aberrations), Contreras and the bullpen mess with MacDougal, Linebrink and Dotel (to a lesser extent). Perhaps Jenks too, the last couple of years, but that's arguable.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 10:41 AM) Milkman - "we're better than we used to be, so we should be happy" is a straw man. I brought up the past to frame that the level of faithlessness around here was commiserate with that era, not this one, and to provide some context. That said, certainly, I have been pretty satisfied with the fact that our team competes nearly every season, which provides me with SOME FAITH in the leadership and organization as a whole. See, somehow lost in these three pages is my central point - that 90% of this board has absolutely zero faith in this organization, GM and manager. Really, think about this point for a second. It's astounding. Given their track record over the past 7 years (and in a larger sense two decades) - is is really appropriate in 2011 to have zero faith in this organization, GM and manager? Let's talk about the payroll for a second, because it was brought up. In 2004, the first year of Guillen's tenure, the Sox had a 65 million dollar payroll, injuries to their two best hitters, and still won 83 games. In 2005, they had the 13th highest payroll and won the World Series. They didn't have a top 5 payroll in 2010, they didn't even have a top 10 payroll in 2009! In 2008 they won the division. So even if we consider 2010 a "disappointment" compared to the payroll, less than half the seasons can be summed up disappointments. In 2011, the book is still out, as much as it seemingly makes some people seethe. I think you meant commensurate. Commiserating is what we all do after a Twins series. Now you're backtracking from calling out the entire board, dark clouds and doomsayers to just having "some" faith? Nobody has ZERO faith. It's simply a matter of ZERO FAITH that Ozzie and KW can work together well, efficiently or on the same page. Once again, this month, we're seeing fault lines forming around what to do with Pena/Gray or Viciedo/Pierre or Lillibridge/Pierre. Do you really believe that all the oars in this organization are pulling in the same direction, in complete synchronization? Payroll is only relative to what other teams in the division are spending. Even then, it's pointless. Do the Marlins get some type of "lowest dollar cost average spending per victory" trophy every year? Should we give out first place to the team that manages to make the most profit, or give teams operating with the highest ROI home field advantage in the playoffs? Last time I checked, the A's, Twins or Rays couldn't go out and add $30 million in salaries to their playoff rosters when it came time to face the Yankees, Red Sox or Angels. If you want us to be ranked by efficiency of spending over the last decade in our own division, we're twenty thousand leagues behind the Twins, roughly at par with the Indians (they have 2001-2002, 2005, 2007 and 2011 so far) and arguably only more effective than the Tigers, who are the odds on favorites now to win the division. The Royals, you'll get 10 different answers here....but you can be sure their future is undoubtedly brighter for FINALLY following a plan or strategy, not being distracted from the "master plan" and focusing like a laser beam on the final destination of 2012-2015.

If Peavy was coaching the Heat, they would definitely have swept the Mavs.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 10:29 AM) His bad days are pierre's every day pierre's good days are his average days his good days are not avaialable to pierre at thsi time Isn't that the associative theory or a story problem from 8th grade algebra?