caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 24, 2009 -> 06:08 PM) Contreras is relying a lot on his fastball so far, and Boston seems to be getting good swings on it. The second time through the order is going to get ugly. Is he dropping down more tonight or going over the top? Kind of a strange decision to play Pods in CF because Rios has a ton of experience playing in Fenway, but Rios just hasn't been hitting much better than he did with the Blue Jays.

Contreras 3-5 with an 8.68 career ERA against the Red Sox, but mostly as a member of the Yankees. He did manage to get at least one FB up to 95 tonight, Bucholz has been 94-96 pretty consistently. C'mon Jose...NO WALKS. BTW, how the heck did we manage to let Bay score from 3B on that play...?

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Aug 24, 2009 -> 01:47 PM) I've always thought that whoever makes the schedule for the AL central is a twins fan who hates the Sox. Well, yes, it usually seems we are playing them on the road to end up the season... On the other hand, they were really wiped out psychologically and drained by that 20+ game road swing caused by the GOP convention...they actually didn't play horribly, overall, but the it exposed some holes in their short relief and bullpen, Nathan was even human last year. So I guess we should thank McCain, Bush and Gl. Beck, but not the schedulemakers in this instance. (And it's not their fault we are .500 against KC, CLE and BALT, either). Still, they had the Royals the final weekend of the season (those rivals in the division who are mathematically eliminated and playing loosey-goosey are always tough outs) and couldn't close the door, particularly Mr. Liriano, whose career has gone off the side of a cliff.

LOOKS like the Tigers are down 4-1 now after a 3 run CUST jack against Porcello. Yet, at no point in the 9th inning did I truly believe that we were going to come through....the last time I really had faith in our ability to make a comeback consistently was the final series of the first half against the Red Sox and Papelbon in July of 2006. We had our moments last year, but we still were a very much flawed baseball club. Make that 20-20 against terrible trio of BALT, KC and CLE this year...reason enough alone why we don't deserve to go ANYWHERE this season but to the local country club.

Well, 4-5 against the MIGHTY Orioles this season. We can't even beat teams like the Royals and Indians this year on a consistent basis. We aren't as bad as 2007 because we have way too much talent to underperform at the 72 win level, but that was almost funny....this is just depressingly frustrating, knowing the ability this ballclub has. Hopefully, KW will do what he has to do this offseason. Thanks for another great Sunday line-up Ozzerrrooo.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Aug 23, 2009 -> 03:44 PM) Williams is looking good.....I think he may be our set up guy by the time the playoffs roll around. The playoffs for the Tigers? What team are you talking about?

This team just doesn't have it.... Buehrle, Dye and Konerko are not leading this team at all. The "denial" stage (that we're not going anywhere) is about to set in. As evidence, look at the scant number of posts in this thread. I guess, if nothing else, this victory will serve as prime evidence to the Orioles for keeping this kid in their rotation next year. If we had the Ross Gload/Ray match-up here, maybe we could sneak off with a win.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 05:07 PM) The entire Swisher escapade should make Kenny blush. Also, the Keith Foulke trade to Oakland for whatshisname, made worse when Kenny gave him $6MM. Foulke still had 2-3 good years left. UMMM....N. Cotts didn't help us out in 2005 very much, did he?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance And the White Sox are now 17th in attendance, too, and closing in on SEA for 16th. Let's hope the next ten days don't knock us out of it, or the attendance down the stretch will really nosedive. I think we have the Red Sox, though, for one home series, so that will do really well attendance-wise no matter what the Sox are doing on the field.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 05:23 PM) I don't know if they'd bring up pitchers and hitters from AAA in a pennant race just to sit them. Viciedo, Flowers, Egbert, Whisler and Marques may not see the majors in '09. Having Flowers and Viciedo around the ballclub will be great experience for them, to see a pennant race firsthand. All those other pitchers who don't figure into our future plans (Whisler, Egbert, Marquez, Van Benschoten), forget about it. I'm reallly hesitant to say that Link will get much of a look in the future, when Omogrosso/Nunez/Santeliz all have much better pure stuff, maybe even F. Hernandez now has the advantage over Link.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 05:23 PM) So if they won last night, I'm guessing we wouldn't see this thread. Probably not. Then again, we all felt that 4-2 was the "worst case scenario" for this stretch and hopes were high for 5-1/6-0. This team just doesn't have anything close to a "killer" instinct, with the particularly damning evidence of all those lost opportunities to sweep our opponents gone by the wayside and the likelihood of ANY sweeps the next 3-4 weeks virtually non-existent on the road unless the starting pitching miraculously finds another gear and the offense gets a second win (Konerko, Beckham, Dye, Ramirez, Quentin, Rios)and really kicks it into gear again down the stretch. Likely? Not really, about 25-35% odds I'd say. But possible.

Well, the odds are not looking that great. On paper, we should be better now than last year's team, but we're certainly not proving that on the field of play. It just doesn't "feel" like we have the team to get it done this year, but Minnesota really handed it back to us the last week of the season after we'd been swept up there and things were looking really, really bleak. 11-12, 10-13, 9-14....those look like the three most LIKELY records to come out of this upcoming stretch (the Bataan Death March of games, like Minnesota's road trip during the GOP Convention). Detroit is back close to their high water mark of the season, and they're showing the ability to rally (in two games this week, ironic, because the White Sox were ALSO able to knock out former pitcher Aardsma, our ONLY come from behind victory of the season in late innings, amazing!), at least at home, we're they're winning .667 of their games. They're not a good road team, 25-36. We've play fairly well this season on the road, but it's expecting too much for Peavy to just come in and pitch like an ace and for all the cogs of the machine to suddenly click. We're one of those teams that appears to be better than it really is, the opposite of 2005...a team that just knew how to get it done and had the confidence that nearly every 2 and especially 1 run lead was their game for the taking. Where the team was much better than the sum of all its individual parts but a well-oiled machine that just knew how to get it done. We've had a couple of nice runs since May, but those were followed up by implosions against sub .500 competition when we should have been putting ourselves 10-12 games over .500 and squarely into the thick of things. This mentality of waiting for the Tigers to lose or choke when they're getting such good starting pitching on a consistent basis from Verlander (really the best AL pitcher since the first month of the season), Jackson and Porcello and surprising contributions from rookies like Thomas and Raburn (we've been able to produce one rookie OFer in years to put up an 800+ OPS for the Sox), the Jackson trade (stroke of genius), releasing Sheffield, winning the biggest games of the season against us (particularly the DeWayne Wise out at home, or not, game)... You can't really make ANY argument at this point that we deserve to WIN the division. If we play better the next 35-40 games and beat DET, great, but I don't see them imploding (barring a pitching injury) like MINN did down the stretch, especially at home, where they've had wonderful fan support nearly all season long.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 08:31 AM) Baseball is played on statsheets, not fields, and things like contact, batting average, and a balanced offensive attack do not matter in the real world. Fill a team up with low batting average guys who take walks and hit home runs and you've got yourself a division winner. All those years the Twins beat our asses... well... that never happened. And the dome is cursed. And OPS, etc. The Twins were better than us from 2001-2004 because they: 1) played much better defense, Koskie/Guzman/Rivas/Mientkiewicz were all Gold Glove caliber 2) their bullpen, from Guardado through Romero/Hawkins and on down, was almost automatic 3) execution and fundamentals 4) better starting pitching, particularly because of Johan Santana's presence Not to mention the Stewart/Hunter/Jacque Jones was a very stout OF athletically...they just had better athletes around the diamond. I'm not convinced that we underachieved that much, maybe 2003 a bit, but those Twins' teams back then were so much more balanced, and they ALMOST never beat themselves. This years' Twins' squad has something like 55 errors while we are leading the AL. But the starting pitching, bullpen before Nathan, and disappearances of Casilla/Delmon Young/Buscher/Tolbert/Punto have been the biggest reasons for their downfall and collapse into mediocrity despite possessing two of the three best players in the ALCD (along with Sizemore), and maybe 3 of 5 if you consider Nathan.

I think in June/July of 2009 this year, it would have been possible to get another team to take his contract for 1 1/2 seasons, sure. We wouldn't have gotten much back at all, but salary relief would have been the main issue...you don't spend $12-13 million per season for an 825 ops when you could get that much more cheaply from any number of other sources.

Konerko has returned to "pseudo-goat" status this season after having a very nice and consistent first three months in 2009. He's way way overpaid for the production we're getting out of him now. I'm now wishing we kept Allen and ditched Konerko and just really started over instead of holding onto the past...same thing we did with Carlos Lee, Valentin, Ordonez and Thomas for a bit too long, until we made the right decisions with them for the future of the organization.

QUOTE (stretchstretch @ Aug 21, 2009 -> 09:16 PM) playing a 49-72 team with a 5.4 ERA guy on the hill, at home, with by far our best home park pitcher, and we get embarrassed, offensively at least. teams like this don't win divisions, and if by some miracle DET totally folds to allow our .500 play to eek a playoff spot, this heartless group is an easy 1st round exit for those of us out of town watching the game on gamecast, and seeing "insert player name grounds out shortstop, pops out to second base, etc" with runners in position, inning after inning, game after game, it becomes factually clear what this group is made of. Well...except for King Felix pitching, it certainly LOOKED like SEA should have easily lost those other 2 games in the DET series and they REALLY should have SWEPT the Tigers....easily. I've given up looking at match-ups, like when you think Contreras will finally get released, he pitches a masterful game.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 21, 2009 -> 09:10 PM) The Tigers schedule isn't exactly easy next week either. Time to be rescued by a GIO shutout? Oops....Tigers already leading 1-0. Consistency-wise, Jackson, Verlander and Porcello have been very calming to that rotation. The Tigers could do some damage in the playoffs too if their hitters (like Inge and Granderson, they have Huff now too) all got hot together like we did in 2005. Nice play by Beckham that he usually doesn't make, but it doesn't really matter at this point in the game...

Jeff Cox is like the crazy uncle or the Randy Quaid character from "Vacation." He's not funny anymore...let him do some community relations work with Melton and Skowron, just keep him away from the 3B coaching box. I wouldn't mind replacing Cox, Baines and Walker, but I can't be confident any of those 3 things will happen.

FIRE GREG WALKER...don't respond Dick Allen, lol. Seriously, I think maybe with the fading of the Thome/Dye/AJ/Konerko days...we need a change in the coaching staff, new ideas, new approach, fresh start and approach....how could it POSSIBLY hurt?

Easy prediction of the year.... Intentional walk to Jones, the reliever comes in and gives up those two (maybe a homer or bases-clearing 2B) and Floyd looks in the end like he had a pretty awful night when he pitched well enough to win if our offense and execution hadn't totally disappeared. Getz is proving to be injury-prone, we need to move Beckham over there and give the job to Viciedo or find a veteran to plug in. Nix is fine as a super-utility player.

Game, set and match.... We just don't deserve this division...the Tigers just want it more. Probably 3 1/2 games back after tonight now, and MINN threatening to be 7 1/2 games back.

#17: Chicago White Sox (from fangraphs.com) Ownership: B Jerry Reinsdorf has a reputation for being a lot of things, but most of those are leftover from his more aggressive days in the 1990s. Of late, he’s settled into more of a bankroll position, handing the White Sox enough cash to be an upper echelon team in payroll over the last five years. While they built the worst of the new stadiums, it still generates a solid amount of revenue, and the White Sox shouldn’t have too many problems maintaining a high level of payroll for the foreseeable future. Front Office: B- What can you say about Kenny Williams. He gets into public feuds with his manager, former players, media members, scouts… let’s just say he’s a challenge to work with. And, early in his career as a GM, he did some really dumb things. But he’s grown, he’s adapted, and now he’s more like that obsessive fantasy league owner who won’t stop trading until he has a good team again. He stole Carlos Quentin from the D’Backs and John Danks from the Rangers. He built a bullpen out of waiver claims like Bobby Jenks and Matt Thornton. He got bargains with veteran sluggers Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye (the first contract, not the second one). He’s always making moves to try and make the club better, and while he misses some, he’s shown a knack for snagging talent at the right time and putting together consistently good squads. Plus, he’s stayed somewhat sane while dealing with Ozzie Guillen on a daily basis, so he gets a few extra credit points. Major League Talent: C+ Are they contending with an aging core (Thome, Dye, Konerko, Pierzynski, Contreras, Colon, even Buehrle to an extent) or rebuilding with a youth movement (Ramirez, Fields, Quentin, Danks, and Floyd)? Leave it to Kenny Williams to try both simultaneously. There’s some good young players in place, but the teams fortunes are still heavily tied to the aging stars of yesterday. On the positive side, most of those players are still contributors, and the White Sox should have enough firepower to keep up in the AL Central this year, providing they can fix their two gaping holes – center field and second base. With competent major league players in those spots, they’ll be a quality team this year, and the future salary obligations take a huge dive after the year ends, which should allow Williams to surround the young talent with some more productive high paid players. Minor League Talent: C Gordon Beckham’s move to second base gives him a quick path to the major leagues, and the offense is there for him to be an all-star caliber player at the keystone for years to come. Aaron Poreda is actually one of the more underrated arms in the minors, I think – his secondary stuff needs work, but his combination of velocity, sink, and command can get him through while his slider catches up to his fastball. After those two, it gets a little more tricky – Brandon Allen and Dayan Viciedo both offer intriguing power bats, but neither of them are much defensively, so where they fit into a future line-up is in question. Tyler Flowers was a nice pickup in the Javier Vazquez trade, and Jordan Danks and John Shelby provide some position player depth. It’s not a great system, but it’s not nearly as bad as most people think. Overall: C+ Hard to believe that Jerry Reinsdorf is the strength of the organization, but there you go. The team has enough resources to consistently compete for high salaried players, and Kenny Williams has shown an aptitude for picking up enough good, cheap role players to surround his core and make consistent runs at playoff spots. The roster is in transition, but they should be able to avoid a total rebuild and win while reloading. They make some strange moves, but overall, the package mostly works. It could improved upon, but it’s not a bad time to be a White Sox fan. Down to a 35-36% chance to win the ALCD, with DET in the 53-54% range now (www.coolstandings.com)....these last three weeks have put a huge dent in our chances.

2nd time we completely BLEW at the first and second, no outs situation... Beckham had a great chance to score a run but hit into DP and Nix had runners on with 2 outs and FAIL FAIL FAIL I just wonder if this knack for hitting with RISP will ever come to the White Sox this year, like we had in the first 90 games in 2006 and also in 2005, the belief we would/could always come back (especially at home) and that we could beat any team's closer and bullpen as well

yep, after every series this year, we'll say, we went 2-3 but it should have been 4-1 or 3-2 at the worst... or we should have swept... just can't seem to get that big, clutch hit....Rios almost went yard but the wind knocked it down....this against a pitcher with a 6+ ERA on the road we're making look like Joe Cy Mays at least Gavin got Markakis, that guy is hitting 440 against us this season, and, along with Izturis, has really beaten and battered Sox pitching

The thing is, the club last year had that desperation to win, at least at the end of the season? Why is this year's team different? Was it really because of the presence of Griffey? Uribe? Was/is Cabrera more missed than we thought? Vazquez and Swisher weren't ever confused with being leaders....Crede was on the shelf down the stretch. You'd think with Beckham, Nix and Getz, there would be more hunger/desire to win coming from the young players pushing for playing time, compared to a veteran team. This team is perplexing....not to have the ability to come back at all, and not playing well at home for most of the season, whereas the Tigers are 40-20 at home and 24-36 on the road. What happened to Konerko and Dye, BTW? And can Gio Gonzalez ACTUALLY beat Edwin Jackson later tonight?