caulfield12

Looks like we've got a game, even if nobody is there or watching. 2 quick outs for Chris Sale. Attendance below 10,000 officially tonight? It's going to be close. Considering it's technically a game for first place in the division... Alexei Ramirez is 0 for the season on sinking fastballs over the heart of the plate...unless you consider his success in hitting the ball on the ground into DP's the last couple of seasons.

http://www.weather.com/weather/map/interac...+USIL0225?role= Looks okay now...especially to the west.

Saw "Beckham suspended for 50 games" at mlb.com and part of me actually hoped it was Gordon and not Tim. But then it would be REALLY hard to explain why he's fallen off a cliff offensively.

Guess someone needs to take all the "wishful thinking" out of the current thread title that he was actually suspended...

Still a very good OPS for a 19 year old middle infielder in a league that's always been more known for pitching than hitting. The problem is that Sanchez and Saladino don't really have 3-4-5 tools...solid players, but not projected to be impact players. Well, hopefully he can continue that high walk rate and continue to improve defensively.

White Sox would have to lose 11 in a row now to equal their 11-22 start from last year. 2011 started off 6-3, then the horrid streak losing 19 of 24 games. Be careful with that Kipnis...another local product (Northbrook) who got away and looks like Beckham was originally projected to look like offensively.

Tigers start out with five hits and an ill-advised Hosmer throw to home plate resulting in an error CONSECUTIVELY. Looks like batting practice against Hochevar. He's definitely not 100% after that ball went off his ankle in the Royals' home opened when he gave up 7 in the first inning to the Indians. All of his pitches look fat and lazy, not a good recipe for success against DET. 5-0 lead now and 7 batters in a row have reached. Only 17 pitches thrown so far. Still no outs. Runners on 1st and 2nd. Yost has absolutely got to be fired and soon, this is a complete mess. Finally Santiago hits into a double play. Hosmer mired in the 180's, although supposedly he's been taking good swings, just hitting in bad luck. And Yuniesky Betancourt should never be allowed to play a middle infield position with his complete lack of range. There was a play Beckham easily would have made, which would have resulted in a tailor-made DP and the Royals would still be in the game.

Hate the idea of surrendering nearly 5-7.5% of our guaranteed yearly revenue (if you kick in concessions/merchandising/parking). And certainly more up for these games as a fan than 90%+ of the other interleague match-ups. This year, not even the Red Sox in town can overcome the weather, fan apathy and elevated prices for "premium games" (if they're still doing that like last season). It seems only the Yankees' series is enough to draw even somewhat similar numbers to the Cubs, and the Tigers' series drew respectable numbers on Sat/Sun.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 1, 2012 -> 04:32 PM) You really think the guy should have been suspended or fired for ill advised twitter humor? So Greg, you at least you admit that YOU would be fired at YOUR workplace if you said those things, yes or no? And your defense of Cowley and Ozzie is that you're NOT a public figure and that you're NOT paid to be OR encouraged by your superiors to be entertaining/clever/humorous/opinionated/controversial and to drive web traffic and subscriptions, right? I'm guessing you definitely didn't follow my advice to repeat any of those things and see what happens/happened...

I'm surprised Dick isn't using those last 6 weeks to blame Manto for what happened to Brent Morel. Beckham, we all pretty much expected or perhaps feared, was lost for good, at least with the Sox. Then again, with that Braves' team you have the best hitting catcher in baseball (McCann), Chipper Jones (Hall of Famer), Uggla, Freeman, Heyward...except for Michael Bourne, there's a lot of thunder in that line-up. But Heyward is below .200 right now. You also have Prado, Pastornicky and Juan Francisco. If Jack Wilson, Bourne, Prado and Pastornicky start putting up 800+ OPS numbers, then I'll be duly impressed. And it didn't really matter what Rios or Morel did the last month of the season, it was already over then.

I must admit, I'm completely oblivious about how to use Twitter because most of this time since it became truly popular, I was in China and it's blocked unless you use a VPN or proxy and there was really nobody interesting worth following until recently. I will be interested in seeing if DeLuca, Telander or Phil Rogers reply with a personal comment. In the past, Phil Rogers, the couple of times I sent him something, always responded promptly and informatively. In this case, they're probably afraid to say anything for public consumption on this situation, except to say it's "unfortunate" and blah blah blah.

Just did. DeLuca and Telander are next... http://www.chicagonow.com/2012/05/joe-cowl...the-difference/ Very good, comprehensive Chicago-based column that summarizes where everything is now and questions the whole parody/satire defense.

Alisa M. Alexander (@almonnier) on Twitter #Storyteller #Connector #Chicagoan VP of Public Relations and Community Engagement for Wrapports, owner of the Chicago Sun-Times. twitter.com/almonnier - Cached Okay, someone has to do it! I don't have a Twitter account. http://www.linkedin.com/in/alisamonnier Alisa, you might look cute in a "girl next door, my maiden name or middle name is MONNIER (that's MOAHN-YAY to us 99%ers that don't hobnob with Guiliana Rancic and the Top Chef) and wearing glasses makes me look older and more sophisticated" way BUT you "really need to hottie up that picture" so you can be the object of Joe Cowley's dreams and desires!!!

I just want to know where Marty34 is today...well, at any rate, I never would have expected 3 weeks ago that Ozzie would get fired for his managing/team record and Cowley for what he said about things which had nothing to do with sports. Must not let Cowley seize the Tesseract, as he is burdened with glorious purpose. Never mind.

So is there anything he can say that will actually get him fired? If they're letting all those multiple comments slide without even a suspension, one shudders to think... Perhaps the compromise is that the same thing that happened to Ozzie happened to Cowley. Twitter and uttering "personal/political opinions" outside of the scope of his job...those rights were taken away from him, at least temporarily. Certainly with any connection with the CST handle. Maybe he deleted the account himself, but I'd be willing to wager it came with a push and shove from someone at corporate.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 10:54 PM) Like maybe the field was in terrible condition for some reason, or they all forgot to wear gloves today. Well, the weather's been pretty dicey in that part of the country the last week, but usually AAA fields are kept in very good condition. Wasn't Syracuse even artificial turf at one point? Can't remember 100%, thought it was the Blue Jays' team before and they wanted to simulate as closely as possible the playing conditions at SkyDome.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sportsprose/2008...o_suntimes.html This article looks exactly like something that would be written TODAY about Cowley, oddly prescient. So where the heck are DeLuca and Telander now? Under orders not to say anything at all and stand by their co-worker? If at this point you're wondering if maybe this is just sour grapes from a fellow reporter, De Luca clinches it with the words of Sun-Times editor Michael Cooke: "We wish Jay well and will miss him -- not personally, of course -- but in the sense of noticing he is no longer here, at least for a few days,'' Cooke said. ''A paper, like a sports franchise, is something that moves into the future. Stars come and stars go, but the Sun-Times sports section was, is and will continue to be the best in the city.''

Funeral is today, right?

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/1178839...bled-shine.html This is pernicious stuff when your own newspaper prints self-congratulating articles like this to make itself look better. They call it "enlightened self-interest" and "corporate social responsbility" in the not-for-profit field. Here in China, CEO's have to pay by the column inch for "puff pieces" like this. What next? Joe Cowley doing visits with Chicago children in the cancer ward? Written by Alisa Alexander. Perfect name for someone who works for a PR firm. Doesn't even sound real, more like someone who works for the Daily Planet or S.H.I.E.L.D. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012...cago-sun-times/ She's actually a corporate spokeswoman and head of the Sun-Times Charitable Foundation. Okay, Balta, I'm not in Chicago, so where can I get a list of their advertisers, at least the ones who advertise in the Sports Section? It's not going to make much of a difference coming from one person in China, but if it came from a consensus or group/s, it would have a lot more influence. I can't even physically buy a copy of the Sun-Times, so I don't think they will care very much what I think, but I can try.

http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2012-articl...-deafening.html I think it's time to find what that PR team is getting paid for at the Sun-Times. No response whatsoever from them. He's NOT suspended, apparently. This article points out 3 articles on the Bulls playoff series (since the Twitter scandal), one of them written/dated last night. Who's his immediate boss, the sports editor? Chris DeLuca? Can't SoxTalk make some kind of announcement or press release that we're boycotting the Sun-Times unless he's suspended or fired, lol? Seriously, the group in Miami got TONS of ink for putting together roughly 150 protesters for a couple of days and then only 2 the following Tuesday when Guillen began coaching again...we have how many members here? Can't the mods/owner put out a press release stating our own history with Cowley and pledge that none of the SoxTalk subscribers will read/buy/quote the SunTimes until some informal or formal punishment is handed down? There are around 4,900 members here and 7,700 (probably 60-70% banned or self-banned) at WSI. Shouldn't we take a leadership role here?

It's going to be extremely tough to keep this thread in the PHT section. Probably at some point, it might need to be bifurcated from the point at which the Twitter scandal/suspension started and that half broken off and lodged at SLAM. Simply a feeling these "free speech vs. workplace harassment/discrimination" discussions are going to get pretty heated.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ May 1, 2012 -> 03:55 AM) http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-172244089.html Cowley story starting to make it into national publications. In his defense, female anchors/reports fawning all over professional athletes plays right into the stereotype he was poking fun at in some of his misogynistic comments about Title IX and female pilots. If she has that position because she's "cute" and is taking a position away from a more deserving/knowledgeable male reporter, that strengthens his position. However, in this case, the reporter is assigned the entertainment beat, so she's not a "pure" sports reporter, but the line is a bit blurred/murky. Imagine if Cowley was at Wimbledon, for example, asking a similar set of questions to Maria Sharapova or Anna Kournikova (before they had significant others). A male reporter, whether on the sports beat or not, would get pilloried for that kind of "fluff" interview, and rightly so.

Of course, that's what we said all last year. Detroit's not that good...it's just Verlander and Cabrera and Victor Martinez and Valverde doing the damage, etc. Then they just crushed everyone the last two months. 1/8th of a season without Fister and Victor Martinez isn't going to tell a whole lot, either. They're still making adjustments. Austin Jackson is an offensive force like in his rookie year, and when/if Peralta/Avila/Boesch all get going, that's a hard line-up to face. I think we underestimate how much Martinez meant and assume Fielder's covering up for that bat and then some...but Martinez was absolutely the definition of a clutch hitter last year in pressure situations. Sure, Delmon Young's a mess and a headcase, Dirks/Eldred/Worth isn't much of a DH for now and they're never going to get much offense out of 2B this season, but they're still formidable. And they have LOTS of money to throw at any problems and the willingness to spend it, so even if we play even with them, they will have the ability to pull away from us in the 2nd half while we're dealing with Humber and particularly Sale possibly wearing down.

Can't imagine how good the Rangers would be with Adrian Gonzalez. Pretty much unfair for the rest of MLB.

Beware the extreme narcissist. Although he may radiate a seductive confidence, he can justify and forgive himself for just about anything, given his belief in his own exalted purpose. He’ll lose sense of the line between boldness and recklessness. And he’ll quit the stage reluctantly, because he can’t bear not to occupy the very center of it. What once drew so many people to Guillen and to Cowley? Both men had an exaggerated and infectious certainty about them. In Cowley’s withering sneer and Guillen’s shampoo-commercial smile and infectious, if NSFW sense of humor, there was a seeming estrangement from any and all doubt. It is the kind of thing that assuages a sports fan’s anxieties. It is also the kind of thing that arises from vanity on a scale well beyond the norm. Guillen spoke of himself in ludicrously grandiose terms. Cowley charted the size of his Twitter followers and the volume of their applause (and disdain) the way a day trader watches the Dow. Every day was a bull market. When you’re that wholly in thrall to your own heady promise, you exempt yourself from rules, absolve yourself of hypocrisy and persuade yourself that you’ll get away with it all. Someone as intent on affirmation as Guillen — or as Cowley — isn’t likely to remain content with the knowing gaze of his longtime sycophants. He needs the bedazzled expression of a fresh acolyte. this is from today's NY Times, Frank Bruni...see if you can figure out whose names I substituted Guillen and Cowley for!!!! http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/opinion/...-defeat.html?hp As an aside, you can only get 10 free articles per month from the NY Times currently