caulfield12

QUOTE(Jimbo @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 10:09 AM) so is the life of a closer.. not unlike a field goal kicker...i went to Iowa, and I remember SD Chargers fans being PO'ed that Nate Kaeding missed a field goal in the playoffs, and it might have been the first one he's missed in a couple of months, but sports is all about "what have you done for me lately?"

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 09:56 AM) You realize that Coop was on late last year on the Mike North radio show, saying that they are trying to get MacDougal to be more in the strikezone and would rather have him in the zone at 94-95 than out of it for most of the AB at 97. With him its more of concentrating on throwing strikes than all of a sudden his arm is dead. MacDougals ball moves all over the place. If he throws strikes, even at 94-95 its hard to hit. Velocity doesnt equal success. Bobby needs the velocity because his control isnt great, and his fastball doesnt move that much. But he can get by in the middle 90s with this offspeed stuff. Koch whom you keep comparing him to, had no control what so ever and didnt have any of the secondary pitches that Bobby has. Bobby needs to get his fat ass throwing hard again, thats not a secret. But all of the bullpen guys, need to throw strikes. So if they can throw lots of strikes a few mph's off their top velocity its a hell of a lot better than if they are jacking it up, and walking the world. Well, the jury's still out on MacDougal as a closer, I think he was 21 for 25 the last time with the Royals, but closing for the Royals was like Kip Wells' 2002 and 2003 seasons with the Pirates. Pretty meaningless. From taking a cursory look at the stats, his BB/IP ratio is down from the .50 ratio it was 2-3 seasons ago. Last year, 6 walks in 24 IP, that's a pretty good improvement. I still don't think MacDougal puts up a season that replicates the save percentage of Jenks in 2005/06. But anything is better than what the Royals and Indians did last year in the bullpen. The question is, does 21/25 get the job done if Nathan only blows one or two games, or Zumaya/Jones, or Borowski? Koch had a very nice slider, when he would get ahead in the count...but he didn't have the confidence to throw it whenever he really needed to get an out. Jenks does have more faith in his offspeed stuff, sometimes he can have a little too much, like last night, and you end up trying to trick someone instead of coming with your best pitch, which, for Jenks, should be the fastball.

QUOTE(Brian @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 09:05 AM) How accurate! OMG! 69 Blown Saves, how poetic! I'm on the ledge! Why is is that every season from 2001 through 2007, with the notable exception of 2005, the Twins have had a much better bullpen than the White Sox, and a better record as well? To what do you attribute that? Why does their bullpen consistently hold leads...and we consistently find ways to lose leads? The last week of woes for our bullpen is like an entire season for the Twins' pen. Do you really think we can afford to give up 2 games out of every 7 we play and be anything more than a .500 team that's waiting to be dismantled at the trading deadline?

QUOTE(Soxpranos @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 09:14 AM) We must have the most paranoid fans in the world, any little bump and its a concern. Watch the games and enjoy them.. nobody in this world is prefect . if its not Ozzie, its always some other player ... and for all those Ozzie haters, you can thank him for the 2005 world title, stop f'n hating is what im trying to say. It's not being paranoid...and I don't think Ozzie should be fired and I give him a lot more credit for 2005 than most. However, you get the sense with Jenks that something is "different" or "off" and I think KW's offseason bolstering of the pen with "power arms" isn't a mere coincidence. He's used to adjusting on the fly (Takatsu to Hermanson to Jenks, in recent years, Gordon/Marte/Koch/Foulke) and I think he anticipated these issues with Jenks after he lost 2-3 MPH last season off his fastball. At least he's not caught in a desperate situation, he has MacDougal and Thornton still. Just like Freddy Garcia, Jon Rauch, Lorenzo Barcelo, Koch, Howry (coming back from injury)...you have this sneaking suspicion that THIS is it (in terms of the fastball), you just deal with what he has out there on the mound or you part ways and move on. We caught lightning in a bottle with Jenks in 2005, but I would be shocked if he was still the White Sox closer in 2010.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 09:12 AM) There is reason for concern, but we have MacDougal as a backup plan and Bobby hasn't just forgot how to pitch. There is a reason why he almost worked out of that jam last night, after all. Just don't panic....yet, over Bobby. The problem is that MacDougal's velocity is also way down, he's throwing 93, 94 maybe 95. But I don't trust him to be much better than Jenks at this point, having watched his entire career in KC. I think he'll convert around 7 or 7.5 Save Opportunities out of ten, but we can't afford to give up an extra 4-5 games this season....because the best closers are all at 85-95% conversion rates.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 08:55 AM) The concern on Bobby here is laughable. He had looked fine his first few outings, he pitched his way into 1st and 2nd nobody out, was ONE PITCH away from somehow getting out of that, and then made a mistake to Walker. And then he made his pitch to get it to the 10th and Pods effed it up. PEOPLE, CALM DOWN!! When I am the one playing the voice of reason, you know people are overreacting lol. Last July, he had 7.94 ERA and one blown save in five attempts. He was fine in August (1.84 ERA and 10/10 in saves), but September was also a disaster. In that month, he was 3 for 5 in save opportunities with a 9.82 ERA. Definitely, there HAS to be reason for concern for all White Sox fans, and you can see it in the tone and measured quality of Guillen's comments since ST. We simply have to stay within shouting distance of .500, and you can easily see the White Sox losing 5 in a row after last night's game and with Buehrle so iffy and the way we've played Cleveland the last two years. QUOTE(elrockinMT @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 09:06 AM) I was concerned about what I saw. I am concerned about a 5-7 MPH drop in his fastball, which only once that I remember topped out at 93. Probably the worse thing last night was his pitch selection. The A's seemed to be missing the high fast ball and he went with the curve once too often. As far as Pods messing up, well they were playing shallow and he had to go back a long ways. It does make you wonder though why Brian Anderson or Dye weren't in there in the 9th for defense when you have a 1-0 lead. What a shame that Garland's great effort was lost. Dye is a player that you can now make a legit argument should be replaced in certain situations in the late innings defensively, especially when he won't come up soon or the lead is 2-4 runs in the 8th or 9th inning. He lost two steps after his broken leg, and he's seemingly lost yet another step this offseason. I'm sure he will end up having a decent year offensively, but I don't think he will put up much more than 25-30 homers and 90 RBI's. KW has been warning about getting old for the last 2-3 seasons, and it's a major reason Dye will be in another uniform next year.

QUOTE(joeynach @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 08:50 AM) Jenks was throwing 89-90 topping at 93. When thats your strait fastball you are doomed. The moment Cooper and Ozzie saw his velocity so low they should have yanked him. I dont know if he wasn't lose, his arm strength isn't there or what but at this point we have better options than an 89 mph strait fastball closer. 2006 Twins 10 blown save opportunities THE WHOLE season, only one or maybe TWO leading to losses White Sox 17 (I think the White Sox lost 5-6 games like this in April and May alone, between Cotts/Nelson/Politte/Jenks)... 2007 White Sox 3 blown save opportunities, directly resulting in two losses in the FIRST WEEK...at this rate, we WILL HAVE 69 BLOWN SAVES THIS SEASON. What the White Sox record SHOULD BE...5-2 (first place) Actual Record...3-4 (fourth place) That will be our season in a nutshell. Maybe the media pundits are all correct. QUOTE(joeynach @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 08:55 AM) Jenks was throwing 89-90 topping at 93. When thats your strait fastball you are doomed. The moment Cooper and Ozzie saw his velocity so low they should have yanked him. I dont know if he wasn't lose, his arm strength isn't there or what but at this point we have better options than an 89 mph strait fastball closer. Or Jenks could just be the flame throwing closer he always was hitting 97-98 every pitch. Why is that we seem to have such a problem with the velocity of our hard throwers but the other guys like papelbon, zumaya, and Wagner do it every time no matter what. They never have "I need to build arm strength" or "the velocity will slowly come back" type situation. They are hard throwers they throw hard, now and always, but our guys "will get there". What a joke. Either you are a flamethrower and u throw overpowering pitcher or your aren't, right now Jenks looks like the 2nd. The only flamethrowers we've ever had were Colon and Jenks for two months in the 2005 season. Other than that, the White Sox have been bereft of legit fireballers since I can remember following the team, which dates back to the mid-80's. And please don't say Roberto Hernandez or Billy Koch.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:33 AM) CLTV showed the replay as well. The baseball did not deflect off the wall first, or at all. And Caulfield, I've like your posts this far -- but this is where you look like an idiot. You only make it worse by saying quotes such as: No they won't. At this point, we've already blown more game in the bullpen than the Twins will all season. The Twins are getting crushed by the Yankees, and we'll still probably be two games out after tomorrow. Sizemore, undoubtedly, will hit 3 more home runs against us, and somehow, either Thornton or Sisco will give up a homer to Hafner. Maybe they will bring up Logan to do the honors. We're just not executing well this year AGAIN. We have to score that run to go ahead 2-0, I don't care about the umpiring or whatever excuses DJ and Black Jack make. We're getting good enough starting pitching now...but Jermaine Dye looks like a shadow of his former self, and, after one week, I'm not sure I would offer him $7 million for next year, let alone 3 years and $45 million. It's disgusting the way we figure out ways to lose games in Oakland. We're now 5-24 and Buehrle's experience there has been like Little Shop of Horrors.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:28 AM) If anything, those guns were high. Gaudin was clocked at 94 mph, and I've never seen him over 92 in the past. Harden was at 97 occasionally. Garland reached 90-91, but his velocity has been down (obviously) with his shoulder impingement issues since this spring. I was surprised he found another gear with his fastball late in the first and then into the second, as he was throwing almost every pitch all night long from 85-90 MPH and getting away with it. I've seen MacDougal consistently at 96-100 in Kansas City, on scoreboard/TV/home/visiting/ESPN.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:20 AM) Just like AJP's bat speed, it was down almost the entire 2nd half of last season. I really wonder what strength program we have with our pitchers, as almost every pitcher seems to have their velocity go down with us. Loiaza destroyed his arm with that cutter. We've had a lot of injuries too. There will soon be calls to fire Cooper, lol. Contreras' velocity is way down. Buehrle's was way down last year. I think Thornton is the only pitcher with a reliable fastbal in the middle to upper 90's, although we keep promoting this idea of 6 pitchers in the bullpen with closer's stuff. Huston Street hardly throws 90 and he's more effective than any of our pitchers. Garcia, but his velocity was already declining when he came here. Garland was down, especially the first inning or so. Aardsma is nowhere near mid 90's. MacDougal used to throw 98-100. Masset's around 92-94 I would guess. Heck, we were told Felix Diaz and Jon Adkins were flamethrowers.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:16 AM) I said all this before the season even started. Go back and read that why don't you. There isn't much of a discussion behind that subject though, what do you want to debate about it? Poster 1: Jenks is bad Poster 2: Yeah, no s***. Poster 1: Cool. Poster 3: I concur. FUN!!!! So it's easier to blame the loss on Pods and Guillen because discussing the elephant in the room would be boring? It seems there are a lot more posters here blaming both of them than Jenks. Now why is that?

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:13 AM) Are you f***ing serious? I mean, are you dead f***ing serious? And I can recall a few guys taking flyballs off the head, and none were knocked out. There's NO WAY IN HELL the ball didn't hit the wall first. The replays will confirm it. It bounced off his head on the rebound. And Canseco is a huge guy, Pods isn't.

QUOTE(WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:12 AM) I thought it hit off the wall first. I don't know about Bobby's velocity. Pitchers velocity is usually down at the beginning of the year, and the WGN gun might be a few mph off. I do hate how he throws that pathetic slider when he has a great curve. Nobody is addressing the real issue, and that's the fact that Jenks hasn't been the same pitcher since June of 2006, and, even then, his velocity was down 2 MPH from where it was for most of 2005? He's going to be better than Koch if he can get ahead, because his offspeed stuff can be effective, but he's going to get hammered because his fastball has less movement on it than Brandon McCarthy's these days.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:10 AM) I don't remember saying any of those things. Damn get on someone else because you're obviously not berating the correct poster. Calm the f*** down. When you say Anderson should be in or Pods can't throw or whatever, what exactly are you saying?

QUOTE(Wanne @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:06 AM) You were on the Warren Commission too with the magic bullet. How does a fly ball hit a wall and drop straight down?!? Umm...because there's rubber padding out there and Pods hit the wall at the same time, so the padding was pushed inwards, creating more of a downward trajectory for the ball when it hit. If it landed directly on his head, he would have been knocked out.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:05 AM) Ridiculous hyperbole only makes you look silly. Try sticking to the subject instead of tangents like that. Yeah, hyperbole like blaming Pods and Guillen for the loss instead of Bobby Jenks is much more preferable and politically-correct. Go ahead taking on everyone's favorite whipping boy, Pods. Who will you have to berate when he's gone besides Guillen?

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:04 AM) We've been so non-blessed with pathetic throws to home over the last few years that people forget that it's possibly to get guys out. 7th inning blown lead (LOSS) 8th inning blown lead (WIN) 9th inning blown lead (LOSS) We've already blown more games than the Minnesota Twins did all last season when leading going into the 7th inning IN THE FIRST FREAKING WEEK OF THE SEASON. That's an accomplishment we can all be proud of.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:01 AM) It would have been a close play. Either way someone with a real arm should have been in LF. Maybe we should just go ahead and release Pods and play Brian Anderson everyday in LF and have him leadoff while we're at it?

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Apr 10, 2007 -> 11:58 PM) As mad as I am, I'm still here laughing hysterically at the melon shot off of Prancer, that is A1 quality gold there! Only in Oakland. The ball hit the wall, then came down and bounced off his head. Do you need glasses?

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Apr 10, 2007 -> 11:57 PM) There's no guarantee we would have won the game, but Jesus, if the ball can hit you in the head obviously it shouldn't be too difficult to place your arm above it and complete an out to end the inning. Gee, why is our closer giving up 3 hits prior to that, hanging curveballs to Todd Walker (flashback to Jose Vizcaino slapping a ball in LF from the World Series)? Walker's normally a better fastball hitter, but why do you speed up the bat of a guy coming off the bench and throw him a curveball? It's like Contreras refusing to challenge hitters all over again. Jenks and AJ, I guess, realize the emperor has no clothes in terms of Jenks' fastball. I have a feeling we will go through 3-4 closers this season. Why is he throwing 89-93 MPH? He should be on the disabled list tomorrow, because something's seriously wrong.

QUOTE(dasox24 @ Apr 10, 2007 -> 11:50 PM) I don't see how you could blame Pods for this one. We should've never been in this situation. If anything, BA should've been in the game. Plus, all Jenks has to do is get one more out, and it's over. Or the Home Plate Ump could have not f***ed us over for our 2nd run of the game. A 2-run lead in a game like that would have given us (or Bobby) a much different mind-set. Jenks is nothing but Billy Koch with a better offspeed pitch. His ERA was close to 5 in the second half, and his fastball has lost 2-3 MPH from midseason last year. Maybe we just caught lightning in a bottle, because our bullpen still sucks. The fact is, in our first seven games, we've blown leads in the 7th and 8th and 9th (Thornton twice, now Jenks). The Minnesota Twins simply don't lose those games. We've already blown the same number of games in one week that they blew all last season from the 8th inning on. We might as well just release Anderson if we're not going to play him. Move Erstad to LF or play Anderson in LF, but improve your freakin' outfield defense in the 8th or at least the 9th innings.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Apr 10, 2007 -> 09:03 PM) Cassel pitched very well, that's a great sign. He should have a good season in high-A considering he was a college pitcher at a good program in a decent conference (UC Irvine). I'll wait until he hits AA before I get really excited about him though. The good pitching at the minor league level seems to be coinciding with the major league team picking it up. Our team ERA is now down to 4.11, getting close to that sub-4.00 mark we need to compete this season. I get a little excited to see how Carter, Cunningham and Allen are doing...but, as with Cassel, I'll wait to see how they do in Birmingham first.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Apr 10, 2007 -> 09:30 PM) don't like the early pitch-count... That offspeed pitch rivalled some of McCarthy's last year, before he would get into a rhythm and get a feel for that pitch. It was just hanging there.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Apr 10, 2007 -> 09:22 PM) Oakland fans Where did Garland's fastball go?

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 10, 2007 -> 07:32 PM) the equivalent of the White Sox trading Heath Phillips for a solid reliever. Or, on a higher scale, the White Sox trading Tyler Lumsden and Daniel Cortes for the power arm of Mike MacDougal. Or David Riske for Javier Lopez...that was a good deal for the Sox, even though Riske's not the same pitcher he was 2-3 seasons ago.