caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 5, 2009 -> 08:21 PM) He sucks. I think it's time us BA supporters realize that. He needs to go to a different team, and I HOPE Pods is our starting CF come June 10th. Does this mean the BA as underutilized Torii Hunter clone victimized by Ozzie vendetta can officially be put to bed now? LOL.

If you looked at these two teams statistically on paper, you'd swear that CLE and CHW should switch places in the standings. I think Ozzie is perhaps doing even better than 2008 to keep this team close to contention...it's all smoke and mirrors to keep the ship afloat. How Wedge doesn't get fired is simply beyond comprehension. It would be scary if that franchise had a really good manager this past decade. Even with Beckham, we might be the most boring team in all of baseball, unless you really enjoy bullpens.

What happened to the Chris Getz everyone was in love with the first couple of months? Injury-prone? He was ALWAYS the player you could count on to hustle to first base and push it on the basepaths to take the extra bag. If he's become lackadaisical as a rookie, then this franchise really needs to examine what we're teaching in the minor leagues. Ozzie can "go crazy" and rant/rave all he wants to, but the bottom line is a fundamental lack of talent. Getz, on a really good team like the 2005 White Sox is a utility player and not a starter.

QUOTE (robinventura23 @ Jun 5, 2009 -> 08:06 PM) There is no way we come back. That HR took whatever momentum we had. The series doesn't look good either. There's so guy named David Huff pitching on Sunday. So looks for the same repeat performance. BTW, we have not scored a run in the past 20 innings and only scored 1 in the past 23. Didn't Harrison get 2 wins against us? Jakabauskas, we beat him at least. The only one.

What happened? Well, one thing is for certain. Danks is throwing way too much pitches and he's lacking that strikeout pitch at this point in the season. Seems he's getting a lot more contact this year and his FB isn't quite as lively as in 2008.

The twilight zone is upon us... Who would have thought that on June 5th that Carl Pavano would have the EXACT (5.05) ERA as Danks and a better record? That 10-3 stretch really tricked us, and we still COULD be only 2 1/2 games back after the end of games tonight...but I don't think even the 2006 Cardinals' team LOOKED so bad because at least they had Pujols (for those making the "just get in" argument). Even without Hawk's "man love" Sizemore in the line-up, this Indians' offense is very dangerous...kind of like the White Sox used to be about 3 years ago. Angels and Tigers go into the 9th with goose eggs in the run column. Great duel, Verlander and Santana. With Zach sliding, Verlander might now be the best pitcher in the ALCD.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 5, 2009 -> 07:52 PM) We could easily be sellers come next weekend. There is no momentum or swagger for the Sox. But you know they'll just go out and win 3/5 or 4/5 from the Tigers and provide some false hope and extend the agony that is this season. For whatever reason, we almost always play Detroit tough, especially at home.

Seems like Danks is doomed to wander in and out of the 4's for his ERA all season long. Now up to 5.05. Detroit seemingly wants to let the rest of the division back into this thing...of course, we SHOULD have been taking advantage when we had the A's at home and they had to play the Red Sox. Feels like 1997 all over again...except that team was more talented than this one.

The second and fourth pitches in that sequence were strikes.

On second thought, better to walk Garko. That guy must be hitting .400+ against us career-wise.

Out of six opportunities, Alexei was the only one to make a "productive" out. Not good. But nothing new. Hopefully Beckham can pick up a hit sooner or later to take some of the pressure off him.

Well...he's moved over a bit. Last time I was watching Anderson closely, everything was being pulled down to 3B. Seriously, let's just have the BA with 25 homers and Josh Fields with 35 homers and who cares if they hit .190???

Can Anderson and Wise execute here? Odds of that happening? 20%? Theoretically, AJ will be in scoring position for Beckham.

We started a trend. Zach Greinke is getting lit up by Toronto tonight...losing 6-0. By the way, what happened to JD? Just resting? Taking him out of the line-up makes our offense that much more anemic.

Pavano has been the Indians' best starter the last 6-7 games. His overall stats are so-so, but he has been the second best acquisition in the division (especially considering the price) after Edwin Jackson. Every once in a while, a Shapiro move works. Reyes, not so much. Choo was another little-noticed move that has turned out very well...but it doesn't make up for the likes of Josh Barfield, Andy Marte, not addressing the bullpen, not solidifying the starting rotation, etc.

What has been even more remarkable has been the lack of "Fire ________" threads going in the direction of Guillen and KW, specifically Kenny. He seems to be insulated from criticism for now, and he's bought himself at least two years (probably more) to really put a competitive team out on the field. It's just frustrating to watch a winnable division possibly slip away, but this might be our least talented team of the decade, coming in a close 2nd to the 2007 squad.

It's hard to say about Nix. What we've seen is what was expected...good athlete, great defensive skills and strong arm, so-so bat. He started out so well, perhaps we expected a miracle, but the guy is a career .261 minor league hitter. And that was with almost 8 years of time to get it together offensively. I would think coming to the White Sox and seeing the power generated from the veterans...you could easily fall into bad habits and become pull happy. To me, it seemed like 85% of the time that this is exactly what Quentin was trying to do, with just a couple of balls laced into the RCF gap instead of rolled over to the left side of the infield. Then again, the opposite has happened with Anderson and Fields...and Ramirez is only on pace for 10-12 homers, although that should pick up through the summer months.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 4, 2009 -> 05:28 PM) Nix really needs to stop being all pull happy. Today, with Wise on second, he got an easy pitch to poke through the right side for an easy RBI single, and instead he tried to pull it and rolled over it for an easy ground ball out to the left side. Ramirez gets into that habbit much too often as well. That's what happens when you get 4 homers so quickly and are tricked into thinking you're a power hitter at USCF. Ramirez has been very good at hitting up the middle and to the right side since he's recovered... KW made egregious mistakes overestimating the ability of Lillibridge, Owens and Corky Miller, not to mention Wise and Betemit (1/5th of a roster). He's addressed that with Castro and Beckham, but any casual White Sox fan knew this team would struggle offensively because the talent just wasn't there. We can't just take discards like Nix, Miller and Lillibridge and just POOF, hope they can become regulars or even contributors in the AL when they failed in the much softer NL. We're incredibly lucky to be 4 games out of first place at this point in the season. Mortgaging the future with trades for McLouth when we're still 2-3 more players away would be silly.

All 15,000+ season ticket holders could be against Greg Walker, and it wouldn't really matter. Realistically, what does one expect? Him to make lemons out of lemonade? This isn't the same team from last year. Quentin and Getz haven't been able to get into a consistent rhythm because they've been so injury-prone this season. Take away Carlos Quentin MVP 2008 and you'll get very inconsistent results. The struggles against LHP, rookies, journeymen, starters in their first outings against us, that goes back for at least a decade. Wise, Lillibridge, Owens, Corky Miller, etc., were getting significant at-bats and none of those guys should be utilized as anything but the last player off the bench. What hitting coach could get results from that group? Betemit couldn't field well at ANY infield position, so he became a liability and was strictly a salary dump for Uribe. Can we just get Uribe back and let Nix work on his hitting in Charlotte? That would be a much better idea. Betemit was perhaps our best hitter the 2nd half of ST, but he never was given consistent AB's, so how can Walker be blamed for that? Ramirez has seemingly come out of his slump, minus some of the power...but hopefully that will come. The core of the line-up (Thome, Dye, Konerko, AJ) has been just as good as or BETTER than expect (Konerko). Pods has been a pleasant surprise...considering it seemed like he was done 3 years ago. If there are any two players to be debated on this team (and Walker's affect/influence), it's Fields and Anderson, not coincidentally two former 1st rounders with wide-ranging takes on their ability to be regulars at this level. If we had a healthy CQ, and 2nd half 08 Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham on this team and we were still getting shut out frequently, then you MIGHT be able to point a finger at Walker.

One must not forget that the White Sox invested more money in Dayan Viciedo than any player in the history of the game under 20 or 21. It's probably fair to say that they are both viewed equally in the eyes of Sox brass. (In fact, expectations for Joe Borchard having a huge offensive impact were higher on drafting than what almost everyone expects of Gordon, which is a doubles/gap hitter who will give you 15-25 homers and a .280-.310 BA.) Ramirez is DEFINITELY the SS of/for the present and future. You'd have to say having Beckham at 2B and Viciedo at 3B (because of his arm) is the best possible arrangement. Viciedo definitely has developed some bad habits, though. Just the other day he basically cost the Barons a game (along with 2 controversial calls) by trying to one-hand an infield pop fly when he should have used both hands. Whether it's laziness, lack of supervision, being "spoiled" at an early age in Cuba, lack of Tom Emanski/Fred McGriff proper techniques, it's hard to say. Beckham and Viciedo were expected to make a lot of errors. Derek Jeter had an incredible number in Greensboro in 1993...it's whether they can cut down the error totals to reasonable numbers that is the question. Viciedo, like Alexei, has also made some incredibly athletic and "nimble" plays and some of his errors also would have been bailed out by having Paul Konerko at 1B to field some of his throws. We just need to be a little more patient with both these guys.

KW pretty much lucked out with how Pods has performed so well, SO FAR. He's been fortunate with Clayton Richard, too. Or fortunate Peavy turned down that trade offer, it was legit. (Why they didn't find out if Jake would approve a trade without them guaranteeing the option year or asking for a year-to-year opt-out clause before it went public is an interesting question). The CF situation has only become murkier, although with the team playing so well, the short-term is obviously more important than one year from now. Will BA ever get a chance to prove himself against all pitching? Or is the organization silently waiting on Jordan Danks? Or where we see a Danks/Anderson platoon (haven't yet looked at Jordan's splits, but the assumption is Ozzie would go in this direction) in 2010? My position in the offseason was to go after Crisp, but he's been remarkably injury-prone. Taveras (maybe we could have gotten away with Josh Anderson, an Anderson Squared Platoon) and Edwin Jackson might have put this team over the top...and it would have taken two weapons away from the Tigers. But KW still has something up his sleeve. If we can go 8-4 and 9-3 on this coming homestand, it would really put us right back into the thick of things in the division race and all the discussion about 2010 suddenly becomes more interesting in terms of what players (if any) you're willing to sacrifice for another AL Central Division crowd with a team that's at least 2 players away. Do you trade the likes of Poreda or Flowers in hopes of replacating the 2006 Cardinals or 1987 Twins?

Butler is far from a home run hitter, but he's already hit 2 in his career against Mark. Although everyone (Hawk included) is patiently waiting for a 20+ HR season.

On the positive side, Buehrle has the most innings pitched of any MLB since the start of the 2001 season. He's also the only MLB pitcher to have 10+ wins, 30+ starts and 200+ IP in the last eight seasons. By the way, Mark Teahen owns Buerhle. PS: As usual, leaving the runner at 3rd base absolutely destroys any momentum for your team...seems like the other team always scores or takes control of the game after that happens.

Saw The Girlfriend Experience last night, latest Stephen Soderbergh project, along the lines of Full Frontal and Bubble. First of all, it's very topical. A lot of it was apparently shot in September/October last year when the economy was starting to crash and the election debate season was on at full-steam...there were also references to bailouts, etc. Sasha Grey is the star. For those who don't know her, Ms. Grey has made herself a "celebrity" through the XXX industry, but this was her first big mainstream project and might have been her last. At the heart of this movie, I guess, is the idea of men paying money to a hooker to have the experience of a girlfriend, except hotter than most men would be able to get on their own. Some of the reviews have criticized her for being such a one-dimensional character, but that's kind of the point of the movie...that men have the illusion of getting a g/f when really what they're actually receiving are the ideas and images that they project on her, not what she really is or might be behind the "stone wall" she puts up around herself, allowing her to handle her job. I guess the character's kind of modeled on the idea of someone like Ashley Dupree, the call girl that Eliot Spitzer got busted with...mixed in with vestiges of Demi Moore and a younger Jennifer Connelly without the huge chest. Entertainment Weekly gave this an A, but a lot of reviews have been really harsh. Another interesting element of this film was the relationship between Sasha Grey and her "real" boyfriend in the film, who works as one of those personal trainers who's always trying to get you to upgrade your comprehensive fitness and training package with him. This was the other side of the film...it's kind of a recounting of her different meetings with men (there's no sex and maybe 15 seconds of her body in shadows, titillation isn't the purpose here) juxtaposed against her attempts to have a normal relationship with her boyfriend, who's not really getting the "real" girlfriend experience either because he's so terribly jealous and inquisitive about his "competition." It's definitely worth seeing...it was good enough that I was disappointed when it ended and wanted to continue following the storyline and the two main characters.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ May 25, 2009 -> 11:42 PM) Give him nothing. Young has a career OBP of .297 playing in a band box in the NL. And that's about the same as Brian Anderson. And he's been more brutal this year. Young has twice as many MLB at bats as Anderson, and does not appear to be getting better. Even with his power, his OPS is below average for an NL CF in each of his 2 full seasons. Not exactly a star, and not exactly league average yet. But for at least 2 years people complained that we gave away for free Ken Griffy Jr. in his prime. Nevermind that we got a well-better-than league-average starter who averaged about 210 innings in his 3 years here, and we stole an MVP in Quentin from the team later. Not Griffey Jr., but more like Mike Cameron...although with the rate he's going, Chris will be lucky to have Mike's overall career...especially any Gold Gloves.