chw42

This is stupid and just gives the stupid population of the two fanbases some ammo to scream out more stupidity. I don't even want to imagine a Cubs fan telling me that they get this stupid ass trophy because they've won the season series somehow. Like hell, a 6 game sample size really shows that you're the better team... If I'm the Sox, I don't agree to something stupid like this. We have the real trophy lying somewhere around the Cell and it says World Series Champions on it. Why create something like this?

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 10:05 PM) I think I agree with this. It really does seem like he takes a different approach with 2 out. Lots of balls that aren't that close. This is why I'm not anxious to get him off the team, though. He'll fix that mentality, just like a slumping hitter fixes his mentality. If his stuff looked like it was gone, then I'd say dump the contract, but it really doesn't look that way to me. He also has an issue with his velocity when he doesn't get enough rest. Sometimes, he'll only throw 93-94 instead of 95-96 if he doesn't get enough rest (like 2-3 days). This is what worries me most about him actually. It seems like he's not consistent on a day to day basis and that's absolutely detrimental to a closer, considering it doesn't look like he wants to throw his curveball anymore (or he doesn't have it). The expansion of his array of pitches has led to his curveball being less consistent and his fastball velocity decreasing. Although it does save his arm a bit and makes his stay in the Majors a bit longer since he now has the hitters guessing more, it has taken away his dominance. Who knows, maybe health might not have been an issue had he kept pumping his fastball in the high 90s and thrown the curveball on a more consistent basis. But I don't think any of us are satisfied with the type of pitcher he is now.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 09:56 PM) What does it mean that Bobby's been getting 2 hitters out, then letting 2 hitters on? Do the two outs make him great? Do the two hitters he lets on make him awful? Likely, the truth is somewhere in between but I don't think we should just ignore that he's capable of getting outs. I think it might be a mentality thing. Like he lets his guard down when he has two outs and then gets into trouble. Or he just decides he'll play around with his secondary pitches and eventually ends up getting pounded.

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 07:12 PM) Does anyone have any trouble viewing videos on mlb.com or whitesox.com on Firefox? For the most part, Firefox never plays them for me. Do you have the adblock extension?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 09:34 PM) He did exactly what you said he should do, and you are still b****ing about it. Really? I'm pretty sure a lot of fans are worried about Jenks, just because he got a 40 year old out and had to be told not to throw junk doesn't mean he should get a free pass and we should all think Bobby is fine again. It's not b****ing, it's worrying about him and his possible failures in the future due to his tendency to allow a lot of base runners.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 09:30 PM) It's going to happen now and again, didn't Thornton blow a game not too long ago himself? Sure you play to the odds and all, but not micromanaging for individual batters in a game in April in insignificant matchups. I guess if this game was in September, and Joe Mauer was on deck, I'd see a better reason for doing it, but not here. You just have to trust that more often than not Bobby is going to be able to do it. This win counts the same as that win in September. There's no difference other than the mindset that you HAVE to win in September and right now it's only April. But in the end, the standings aren't going to be based on games won in September.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 09:31 PM) Great question. Jenks closed the game and got the save, yet here everyone is questioning it and parsing it apart. What the hell does it matter? This is like arguing about Brad Lidge and his 41/41 save year in 08. It's clear that guys like Rivera had better years than Lidge, who clearly got bigger leads and allowed far more runners on base, but got away with it. The thing some of us are trying to say is that as a reliever, you can't be putting people on base then working around it all the time. I don't remember the last time Bobby had a 1-2-3 inning. He's playing with fire and it burned him yesterday and it will burn him down the road.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 09:24 PM) Except yesterday wasn't a save situation... So...? If Bobby can only pitch in save situations, then there's something wrong with him.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 09:07 PM) If we can't rely on Bobby Jenks to retire a 40 year old Ken Griffey Jr. and need help from a specialist, then we're basically f***ed anyway and it doesn't matter. Well, it happened yesterday didn't it? Bobby's grown a fascination for junk pitches. Once he gets two outs, he starts messing around. Just throw your good fastball with your curve and close the game out, seriously. He's been pretty good about getting the first two outs in almost all his save situations. But when it comes to that third out, he just can't get it sometimes.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 07:53 PM) I'd go with: Rios Teahen Jones Paulie Quentin Beckham Ramirez AJ Pierre Pierre is a terrible leadoff hitter so just bat him last. Beckham needs to prove he deserves to bat in the top of the lineup. Teahen is making the pitcher work so I like him 2nd. And f*** the L/R/L/R crap. It's pointless with a lousy hitting team. At least with this sort of lineup you clump your best hitters together and give the team a chance to have multiple run innings when they're up without the rally killers. Ozzie won't put Pierre 9th though. I'd do that if I could though.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 07:09 PM) We get to face him this weekend. Oh sweet redemption. Watch him pitch 8 innings of shutout ball against us, lol.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 06:10 PM) I don't really care what you guys are talking about - why would a manager pull his closer just to go with a L-L matchup? That's just not something that's done. Because when you have the most dominating left hander in baseball in your bullpen, you use him to blow away a 40 year old left handed hitter. This was the same guy Jenks walked yesterday. It was a good thing Ozzie went to him and said, no junk, just fastballs. If he didn't, we might be fuming at the fact that we lost this game.

"OH YESSSS LEBRON JAMES I WANT YOU!" - Mike Tirico

I would like to see this lineup from now on from Ozzie, and this is not unrealistic by any means. 1. LF Pierre 2. 2B Beckham 3. DH Jones 4. 1B Konerko 5. 3B Teahen 6. CF Rios 7. RF Quentin 8. C Pierzynski 9. SS Ramirez Please drop A.J. down and stop wasting Teahen's bat. This way, your 3-6 has 4 bats that are posting OPS above .850 with a decent bat in Quentin and then a big black hole of A.J., Alexei, and Pierre. It's not like those guys were going to hit anyways. Why sandwich them in between guys who are hitting?

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 04:53 PM) ...and Seattle pinch hits. Congrats, you've slapped your closer in the face who's 3 for 3 in save opporunities! Ozzie's going to have at minimum 60 bad games a year. Every manager loses 60 and wins 60. You can't blame everything - like duck snorts and leaving the ball up that sometimes gets hammered -on the manager. It's luck on the former and the pitcher's own fault on the latter. Ozzie's job is to hire people to coach and put a lineup out there that he hopes can execute when needed. Everything that happens in a game is not his fault. Who would they have up instead? Jack Wilson can't hit right now because he's got a wrist injury. Rob Johnson can't go in since he's the backup catcher. Bradley probably wasn't going to play. Griffey was their ONLY option there, other than letting Adam Moore hit. Either way, Thornton probably retires him.

You really have to wonder if the hip issue was a reason why he sucked at hitting fastballs.

Vazquez continues to suck. No surprise.

Rose shaken up a bit, hope it's nothing serious.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 04:04 PM) If the team wins - the fans think ozzie makes the right choices. If the team loses - the fans think ozzie made the wrong choices. Even if he makes the same decisions on different days - his decision making process is not what fans use to evaluate his managerial skills... it's the players performance. Bad way to evaluate a manager =D I would have been happier had Ozzie put Thornton in to overpower Griffey, but there's also the problem with the roles in the clubhouse. Jenks is this team's closer, to have Thornton close one instead of him would make for some bad drama. Ozzie also let Danks get through 8, which I thought was ballsy and worked. The thing is, when Ozzie puts himself in a position to fail by putting in Randy Williams or playing Mark Kotsay instead of Andruw Jones, that's when he gets into trouble and that's when he should be criticized. Today was a day where his instincts worked, tomorrow, it probably won't. Just like players, Ozzie can have good games and bad games. Today was a rare good one.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Apr 25, 2010 -> 04:02 PM) 3 game sweep with a run differential of +3 Everything comes back to the average. We've lose enough one run games to win some.

The Seattle bullpen was absolutely terrible this series. 4 home runs allowed, 3 go ahead home runs. Jesus.

SWEEEEEPPPP. Good game from Ozzie. Went with his gut and he was right.

Let's see if Ozzie can be right twice...

Please put Thornton in Ozzie, PLEASE.

Why didn't he have Thornton up? Ugh.