caulfield12

It's almost unreal with Pods. 12/27, 3 RBI, 5 BB, 6 stolen bases. It won't last, but I guess there's something to be said for playing under absolutely zero pressure. No way he magically would be running at will with the White Sox. Royals had the bases loaded against Willis (2 walks included) but he escaped a one out situation unscathed.

With our history against the Twins, most Sox fans probably assumed Punto would somehow dink/dunk a ball into short RCF for the game-winner. It doesn't matter what actually happened...!!! It's the possibility of what most were expecting to happen next that counts the most.

They haven't loved anyone in KC since Sweeney left. Greinke is now the man in that city, the Royals begin and end with him. It was supposed to be Gordon, but that hasn't materialized (Univ. of Nebraska product, like Mauer and Twin Cities). If Moustakas or Hosmer can make it, they have a chance to be the new Royals heroes....but that city is so desperate for a winner, they'll cheer almost anyone.

We really haven't had a true "shutdown" closer like a Mo Rivera, Joe Nathan, Papelbon, Hoffman, etc., in my lifetime. Bobby Thigpen had some of the messiest saves of anyone I can ever remember in recent Sox history. You look back at the list since then, Roberto Hernandez, Howry, Foulke (always very good except against the most exceptional teams or key divisional opponents like the Twins or Indians), Takatsu, Hermanson, then Jenks. The irony is that the only "true" born/bred/groomed closer we had in the last 20+ years was Billy Koch, and he turned out to be the biggest disappointment, by far. Hermanson, you might never see a White Sox reliever have a season like he did from May-July of 2005. Same thing with Politte and Cotts that year. Jenks will probably end up with a 75-85% save conversion rate again this season. Usually we define the "elite" closers at being anything about 85%, just like we do for stolen base percentage. Our BEST possible hope for the future becomes Sergio Santos morphing into the Jenks of 2005-2007. That becomes THE decision of the offseason (tendering/trading Jenks), along with retaining Konerko (someone suggested 3 years and $20 million, KW might offer 2 and see if Paulie will try to find a longer deal on the open market at his age) and whether Viciedo and Jordan Danks can make contributions in 2011.

I have to admit that Jones and Teahen have definitely come through since I wrote this, but it's just somewhat encouraging until it's sustained. Kotsay has also looked good in limited exposure in recent days as well. And kudos to Linebrink for getting out of the bases load jam, even though we didn't capitalize on it offensively, maybe it was the turning point in getting a shot of self-confidence and believing in his stuff again. Well, heck, it's always amazing when we can win the first game of a series in TOR based on our recent past. Definitely breathing a sigh of relief at the end of that one. I only hope we don't fall asleep at the switch and lose three in a row again...that we can actually sustain this little bit of positive momentum (two comeback wins against good competition) and keep the foot on the gas. Pierre is still really struggling though. If Jake Peavy is our biggest problem, or Bobby Jenks, we might not be so bad off. (Unless Peavy is really hurting, in which case our entire season is seemingly jeopardized unless Hudson could mesh seamlessly in the rotation like McCarthy in 2nd half 2005).

With the Astros now at 0-7 and McLane rumored to be selling the club, it would be no surprise if Berkman was dealt. The only question then would be what we might be willing to give up (if anything) and the ongoing question of payroll flexibility.

What would be even more awesome would be if Santos could become a starter. Although I think that's a bit of a pipe dream at this point.

Jenks looked good against Minnesota? I'm not so sure about that. Those were two pretty shaky saves, although I guess they all look like 1-2-3 innings as far as converted save/save opportunity, which is the bottom line.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 11:17 PM) So consistently dropping, what's the reason for that? There's a possibility they were using a different gun in SD and his numbers there were overinflated. The only start that really seems to be an anomaly statistically is tonight's...that he's averaging below 90 with the FB and only reaching 92-93, whereas in the past he has been more in the 93-96 MPH range. Of course, he might have been throwing more two-seamers than four seamers, or he simply has a tired/dead arm or he's struggling with something mechanically or just never felt "loose" out there. I think we need to look at the results of three more starts (hopefully they're not in cold weather, but CLE in April doesn't seem promising). Then he'd have another start the following week back in Chicago.

All these things being said, Jenks at 93-94 without secondary stuff is a lot more likely to blow up than at 95-98. He simply has to get either the change or curve across the plate. Still, with Putz, Thornton and Santos, we have much better options than the rest of the teams in the AL. The Twins would certainly use Putz or Thornton before Rauch, and arguably Santos or even Pena/Linebrink. Unless we completely wear it down, our bullpen (overall) should be a strength at all season long.

It's too early in the season to draw conclusions about anything with Peavy. I'm sure if he has 2-3 more starts like tonight, we'll have a lot more information to go on as far as him having a "dead/tired" arm that all pitchers go through, especially coming out of ST. If he's still pitching like this in May, then obviously Daniel Hudson will be back in the rotation and Peavy will be on the DL or consulting with Dr. James Andrews. But I'm thinking it's more mechanical and early season rust, rather than something more insidious or nefarious.

Now the next trick is believing we can win a tied ballgame on the road in TOR. Thanks for showing up finally, Teahen. Better late than never.

I would agree with everything you said about Nix except for the part about playing better defense at SS. With Teahen and Nix on the left-side, you might be creating another problem because we'll be in so many close games this year, every error or defensive miscue will be magnified. That said, if Ramirez continues to struggle the next 3-5 games, Ozzie's hand might be forced, especially if we only win a game or two and continue to get buried behind the Twins.

QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 07:43 PM) He can take his annual slow start and sit down for 2 goddamn months. And you're going to play Nix there? Vizquel? Move Beckham around for the 3rd time in two seasons? Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, that's all we are doing. For what it's worth, Ramirez actually adjusted fairly well to breaking pitches in the 2nd half of 2009. For most of 2008, he was our best hitter in terms of making adjustments from pitch to pitch, and AB to AB. Arguably, he has the best bat speed on the team when he's on.

Well, we've only lost 11/12 against the Blue Jays in Rogers and our last five in a row against TOR. Of course, the one time our offense shows us, our starting pitching lets us down. Just feels like another one of those "blah" years where we're 79-83 games over .500 and basically treading water.

1.409=Andruw Jones' new OPS

what got into Andruw Jones? note to Ozzie: it's okay to play Jones against RHP, thanks for listening

Ummm....no thanks, we had Corky Miller last season, that didn't last very long, predictably. Castro is a fine offensive catcher if healthy, and he's certainly far better than Lucy. That said, it's a nice opportunity for Donny. Here's hoping he takes advantage of it.

You also have to consider how mightily the Twins have struggled when Punto had to be the regular SS...offensively, he's just not a regular, at 2B, 3B, wherever you stick him, it creates a pretty big hole. Then finally covered it up with Orlando Cabrera for a half season. Hudson will really solidify 2B if he can stay healthy, although you have to be concerned about the back end of the pen more than anything at this moment. The left side of the infield and Rauch are the only weaknesses that are obvious with the current Twins' squad. Now with the Twins' offense these days, they can afford to have Punto/Harris in the line-up and not suffer too greatly. Surely the Twins would have won the division in 2008 and 2009 with Garza and Bartlett. They almost did without them. And Twins would have had a really nice infield had Bartlett stuck around and Alexi Casilla become the player it at one time looked he was capable of becoming.

Even today, we won, but it's that winning with a "gasp" or sigh of relief at the end because of a mistake made by our opponent. Usually, that's the way the Twins would beat us, unforced errors. There still continues to be something of a cloud over Jenks. He did get some of his pitches in the 95-96 MPH range, but he's just not as intimidating a presence as he once was...then again, he's better than any Indians reliever (except when they're pitching against us). It feels a heckuva lot better than being 1-5, that's all I know. Huge psychological lift before the team flight to HELL (aka Toronto). I'd be very happy with just winning 1/4 there and then taking 2/3 from the Indians at Progressive to even things up with them.

Rios has actually been hitting a lot of line drives and "at 'em" balls....last year, there was nothing positive to say about his average. Plus he had a homer and another big RBI double in a key situation, the bar's been set VERY low with what can make us encouraged.

That just earned the Kotsay/Jones Experiment another two weeks, until May 15th.

We do have at least 2 GIDP's that have scored runs, lol.

At least the 2007 season, we didn't tune out until about the halfway point. This year might set some records for lowest attendance in the decade. The only thing that will be intereresting is to see what our 25 man roster will be on Opening Day, 2011.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 11, 2010 -> 12:48 PM) No reason to complain. It's still early in the season. I'm sure we'll come around. Mayne in June. I don't think starting 7 1/2 or 8 1/2 games back after 2 weeks will do much to build confidence in the fanbase. Minnesota hasn't even opened up their park yet. KW and Ozzie will have some explaining to do, as to why anything but the most sado-masochist White Sox fan would pay hard-earned money for this crap.