almagest

QUOTE (SoxFanForever @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 09:10 PM) For a guy with a supposed good eye and plate discipline you would think he would be able to avoid swinging at ball 4 about a foot and a half out of the zone, yes? I don't think we are being too demanding. You mean the changeup diving out of the zone after nothing but fastballs, with an ump continually calling low pitches strikes? Also hitters that see lots of pitches and take lots of walks usually strike out a fair amount, too. Not excusing Swisher for striking out, but the hyperbole and overreactions here are disgusting sometimes. And to the people harping about BJ Ryan "sucking": 3.06 ERA this year, 3.26 lifetime. ERA+ 140 this year, 137 lifetime. 28 saves this year. 27 BB/53 K this year, 246 BB / 607 K lifetime. WHIP 1.34 this year, 1.264 lifetime. What about those numbers over 10 seasons indicates "suck" to you? Because he looks easy to hit on TV? Okay, armchair QBs. Whatever you say.

God these game threads are awful. Just awful. It's funny because Soxtalk members post goofy gamethreads from other teams, poke fun at them, then promptly turn around and do the exact same things. Also Nick Swisher is so terrible that he's still managed to put up roughly league-average numbers while enduring perhaps the worst season in his career. He's also got an absurdly low BABIP -- you know, the stat he has no control over and basically amounts to luck. Anyways, tough loss, especially since Gavin pitched so well. The bullpen really let us down. Let's get back to winning against the Tigers.

That's honestly one of the most obvious missed calls I've ever seen. You could see Swisher's mitt recoil, and see the ball snow cone well before the runner's foot hit the bag. It was obvious the ump saw it, too, since you could see him standing RIGHT THERE in the replay. Just awful.

QUOTE (Sonik22 @ Sep 9, 2008 -> 07:31 PM) So now i basically f***ed everything up. I hooked up with a girl last night, and i just told her about it. I guess that was pretty wrong to do, but if she didnt really have the feelings i had for her why should she feel so upset about it? But she's just told me that everything is over between us. Wow, just f***. You didn't f*** anything up. Like someone said, you didn't really have a relationship to f*** up in the first place. And I don't see how a friend can get mad for you living your life, especially when she's already told you she's going to move on with hers. You probably shouldn't have said anything about hooking up with anyone, since you probably wouldn't want to hear what she's done -- unless she's already told you about something she did. But yeah, you didn't really do anything wrong. Either she really has feelings for you and this is just a knee jerk angry reaction, in which case she'll cool down and talk to you sometime soon, or perhaps this was just a convoluted way for her to justify her wanting to sleep with someone else. Either way, don't let her bully or control you. Let her make the next contact, and if she brings anything about this up to you, make sure you tell her she's being completely unfair, and that you can't be expected to wait around for her while she's dating other people. Oh, and study hard.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 10, 2008 -> 10:41 AM) so... pauly in a brace. guess he wont be stealing any more bases this season... I wonder if wearing a brace will make him even slower. I also wonder if that's even possible, or would violate the laws of physics.

Sounds like one of two things to me -- either she's playing you, and thus isn't worth the trouble, or she's telling the truth, and is actually really emotionally mature and intelligent. Either way, you're much better off doing what she's doing, and dating other people. If she's lying, you'll soon forget about her. Trust me. College has a way of helping you with that. If she's telling you the truth, you might've gotten really lucky and found someone special really early in your life. Truthfully, though, I think she's playing you. Some of what you said seems to indicate otherwise, but #1 she's a teenager, and #2 it could also be a case of her liking you enough to come up with excuses and put off telling you how she really feels, yet not enough to think of you as anything more than a friend. Oh and study hard.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Sep 5, 2008 -> 02:40 PM) Does anybody know how to make a noose? Here you go.

QUOTE (CQMVP @ Sep 3, 2008 -> 03:43 PM) The only way OC brings us two draft picks, is if the White Sox offer him 8+mil next year... if I'm not mistaken. You guys really think that's going to happen? I don't. So he's basically worthless to us. Not disappointed in him? lol You guys don't watch many games, do you? Gold glove caliber my ass. He's got a noodle arm, he doesn't get in front of the ball, he is always taking the round about way to grounders, and he has cost us a LOT of games by not making the play when he needed to. He should probably have anywhere from 5-10 more errors than he's been given credit for. I imagine that's because he's OC, and they don't want to have to deal with him calling them up after every error to argue it.(that just screams selfish) He's playing like a player that is just worried about his statistics, and not what he is contributing to this team winning. His defense has been nothing even CLOSE to what it was touted to be. Highly overrated. As I said, give me Juan Uribe at SS every day. I'd be more than happy with that. At least we knew what to expect day in and day out. A very streaky hitter, with a cannon for an arm, that makes the big plays on defense. Have you even watched the games he's played this year at 3B and SS? He's been pretty excellent. We are in MUCH better shape right now with Garland on this team, instead of OC. At least then, we have a quality pitcher to step in for the injuries. The lack of a #5 in the rotation is going to cost us a playoff spot. Mark my words. We don't NEED OC's offense. All 30 points higher average than Juan Uribe that he brings. Our pitching carried us in the beginning of the year when OC and the rest of our hitters were non-existant. That is, until we started getting hurt... Pitching wins baseball games. If our pitching hadn't went to complete crap after the first few months, we'd be safely in the playoffs right now, because our offense came around. We just started giving up 8 runs a game at the same time. Swisher, .226, and a pretty below average CF on defense. A guy that we gave up two top prospects for. One of which, is a starting pitcher, which, again, we're SORELY lacking right now. Kenny's offseason moves left us with zero options on the mound. P.S. With, or without OC, this team has no leadoff hitter... That has been our NUMBER ONE PROBLEM since we won the WS. It continues to be our #1 problem 3 years later. Completely unacceptable. We will not be competing for the world series until Kenny fixes this. Jon Garland this year: 4.54 ERA, 1.450 WHIP, 95 ERA+ (100 being league average), in a pitcher's park with a good defense behind him. How would this help us? How would this be better than Floyd, who was his replacement? Gio Gonzalez has a 7.18 ERA this year, pitching in Oakland. He wouldn't have helped. Neither would DLS, who's hurt. Also Nick Swisher has still managed to post a league-average OPS+ this year, the worst year of his career. You also say that pitching wins baseball games, and we started struggling when our pitching started struggling, yet the NUMBER ONE PROBLEM with our team is no leadoff hitter? Are you just confused, or is this yet another knee jerk reaction for a team that's actually having a pretty damn good season, especially based on preseason projections? Also, please tell me who this mystical leadoff hitter is that will solve all our problems, and how we can obtain said paragon.

I think maybe the 2001 Mariners had a winning record against the top teams in the AL, and they won 116 games. I can't think of too many good teams since 2000 that've played well against good and bad teams, otherwise we'd probably have seen lots more 100+ win teams.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 30, 2008 -> 10:58 AM) Nobody even mentioned Poreda huh? He has a sub 3 ERA now. Went 6IP 1ER 5k's I wonder if he's been developing any secondary pitches, or if they're just having him focus on fastball/slider and have him pegged to be a reliever. I'd honestly hate to have spent a first round pick on another Matt Thornton.

Is the Twins offense finally coming back down to earth? Doesn't seem like they've been so crazy good with RISP lately, and it's showing in their runs scored.

Glad to see the Twins experiencing the horrors of a west coast trip, White Sox style. 1.5 games up

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Aug 27, 2008 -> 11:47 AM) Maybe they do not want to see Boston get in the playoffs again. No, they're just really bad. Also, we have a better home record than the Twins IIRC, so if anyone should be lauded for being nigh unbeatable at home, it's us.

QUOTE (RME JICO @ Aug 27, 2008 -> 10:22 AM) I didn't realize Garland's WHIP was that high. Also, looking at his monthly splits, he has only had one really good month, with three bad months. Post-ASB: W-L ERA WHIP BAA 3-2 5.31 1.51 .316 We would be calling for his head if he pitched like that during the pennant chase. Back to OC. The guy is not a superstar (sub-.700 OPS), but he is not that bad either. He has a 16.9 VORP (5th best on team) which is 16th in the league for SS. Not great, but not bad either. He just doesn't seem like a likeable player. 20 is also a ton of home runs for a ground ball pitcher in Anaheim. Also, we pretty much always called for Garland's head. He wasn't known as "Judy" for no reason.

Jon Garland this year: W-L ERA WHIP BB-K HR 11-8 4.49 1.466 49-72 20 So basically, his peripherals are worse this year than every other year except his rookie year (ERA+ of 95 is the lowest since his rookie year of 78), but his ERA is decent, and he has a decent record. Something tells me we'd be pretty unhappy with Jon if he were still here, given the numbers he's posted for a very good team that plays in a pitcher's park for 81 games. I also don't understand the "well my eyes tell me OC sucks on defense, so the stats are obviously wrong" mentality at all. We're fans. We don't know more than professional scouts, and we don't know more than professional metrics that have proven time and time again to be very good ways to measure a player's performance. We're also a lot more likely to overreact to and remember a bad or mediocre play by someone we don't like, and it's pretty obvious OC isn't well liked by a good number of the members here.

QUOTE (shipps @ Aug 26, 2008 -> 10:55 AM) Your and wite's love of Beltre has become quite disturbing.I mean the mention of his name anywhere on the board and you guys start humping your keyboard.He isnt that great. Better'n Uribe and a Joe Crede with a back held together by duct tape.

YAY ADRIAN BELTRE! 4-2 SEATTLE. 1 game lead for the Sox.

In Miguel Cairo news, Miguel Cairo has a lifetime OPS+ of 75. In this baseball game news, do the Mariners have an offense?

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Aug 26, 2008 -> 12:07 AM) I lose my woody when i watch dickey Dickey just got the Twins out in order. Twins done been Dickey-fied!

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 26, 2008 -> 12:02 AM) hopefully this is Miguel Cairo's last year in the majors Nah, somebody awful like Seattle or the Royals or the Nationals will DH him or something. And yes I realize the Nationals can't use the DH but that won't stop them. NOTHING CAN STOP THEM.

QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ Aug 22, 2008 -> 07:36 PM) If you're Cotts, why have a fit in the dugout? Because you just gave up a ton of runs to the Nationals?

Over. Twins win 2-1. Sox up .5 games.

Quickly 2 out. DH hitting .176 up.

Angels go 1-2-3. I think Crain threw like 5 pitches that inning.

Rivera grounds to short, 2 out. Kendrick to second. This Angels "awfense" is just putrid.