Jerksticks

QUOTE (flavum @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 11:10 PM) I expect Sale in the rotation next year. Probably when Peavy goes on the DL again. Totally. Sale is going to be used like crazy next year. Whenever we need the weapon, he's comin in.

The 3 starters should go 7 quality innings as usual. I'm worried that we can't pass the bat down the line like we were during the stretch. Nobody wanted to make the final out in any inning. Now if 4 or 5 guys bat in an inning we are lucky.

Is this our Jason Werth?

Don't worry. Remember we're the "dirtbags that nobody wants to play". Is Peavy still in the dugout?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Aug 13, 2010 -> 11:31 PM) This is what we need to do. IF we can't beat the Twins, we need to beat the bad teams that we face. The Tigers are one of those teams. You know what dude I like this; we just can't beat em, for whatever reason. So why don't we assume the next 6 against the Twins are all head-to-head losses. If we lose 6 games in the standings vs. them, then what would each team's respective records have to be in the other games for us to make the playoffs? It's time to find another way to the playoffs, ya know?

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Aug 13, 2010 -> 04:02 PM) To take that even a step further, I don't even see it as retaliation I see it as setting a tone. It was no accident that the Twins hit our batters 4 times....just as it was no accident when Torii Hunter blasted the s*** out of AJ at homeplate a couple of seasons ago. Gardenhire does these things to make sure his team is the alpha male in the relationship....it's high time Ozzie quits sititng back complimenting the Twins and instead takes a page out of Gardy's book and has his guys do some tone-setting of their own. Start a brawl! Hit a couple batters! Annihilate a fielder on a slide! Do something to remind the Twins that they're in your park and you're in charge. Yes, I was very disappointed by that Twins series Totally agree. Against those guys we play scared and not to lose. It's a terrible mindset. I feel that we are very lucky when we win one.

It feels like it's been a month since he hit those 2 dingers. I'm ready for his once a month BOMb tonight; sign me up!

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 12, 2010 -> 12:13 PM) He's 33 going on 34. It actually makes a lot of sense. He had a great year last year. I don't think it makes any sense.

I still don't understand how AJ has regressed so much. It really seemed like he was figuring the game out last year, just calmly taking what the pitcher gave. Now we just see one long, hard swing after another. Him and Jones are about as close to guaranteed, unproductive outs as it gets.

Sweet Moses, that's just about the last thing I thought I'd see in this thread!

So is it better that he cleared waivers for us to go after him? Wouldn't we be on the hook for 50k if we made a claim and didn't reach a deal, and now we can negotiate for free? Or is all this wrong

Having Edwin Jackson makes this quite tolerable. He's acting exactly like a 5th starter should now; keeps ya in the game most nights, but gets shelled sometimes. I think 1st half Freddy was the anomaly, and I suppose this is ok. Look at what Baker did tonight. That guy was their ACE coming into the season. If we can just split with these Twinkies the rest of the year, we should be able to out-horse them.

Didn't the magic number dwindle? One less chance for the Twinkies to catch us. Nice job boys!

That was a real good piece of hitting. That's some electric stuff though!

QUOTE (Ranger @ Aug 6, 2010 -> 12:51 PM) I never understood where that came from. This has never been his overall hitting philosophy and he's never told all of his players he wants them to do that. There are some individuals that try too often to hit the other way, and he's told them to not be afraid to pull the ball sometimes (Beckham is a recent example). However, that's pretty rare and it certainly isn't all he ever tells his hitters. If you're seeing a lot of guys doing that, it's because they have a lot of guys that do it naturally. It's not his hitting philosophy and it never has been. I hear ya. Lift and Pull is generally considered a stupid philosophy, so to assume a coach is preaching this is pretty dumb. You think KW would keep him around if he was telling all the guys to swing for the fence? Of course not. It has to go back to individual, selfish attitudes of looking at that short fence. Now it might be Walker's fault for not being able to change some of these guys, but honestly, who's going to tell Jim Thome, who has 500+ HRs, to start slapping it the other way. Since Jim's such a nice guy, who's gonna tell him he's actually killing the team with his lift n pull whiffs?

If we make the postseason with this team, I see our payroll growing some. We're in the process of injecting quite a bit of inexpensive, impact youth that we can afford an expensive, veteran rotation. Imagine if we played this well out of the gate we'd probly be up 7-10 games on the Twins right now, thanks entirely to the pitching staff. I don't see why we can't have the big 5 next year and resign Konerko. AJ I have no clue what to do with. Would you guys give Putz the money Jenks is set to make; or at least the amount it costs to resign him?

Well, you know how we've been playing teams at the right time lately? Quite the opposite here as the Orioles are RED HOT, having won 3 games in a row. They've swept Texas, Boston, Washington and now the Angels this season, while losing pretty much every other game; I think never winning more than 4 in a row at any point. So with the new manager, this current stretch is in the running for their most inspired ball all year. Bergesen sucks against any team above average, but he did limit the Podsless Royals to 2 runs over 7 innings last time out; arguably one of his better starts all year. According to ESPN, 0% of people have him on their fantasy team. The only argument for them winning this game is the new Showalter effect; not skill, reputation or fundamentals.

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Aug 5, 2010 -> 10:57 PM) I still see no way the WC isn't going to Tampa Bay or the Yankees. Whomever doesn't win that division. Well how many more times do they play each other?

Ah the trickle down effect of Kotsay producing. He IS Mr. Chemistry.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Aug 5, 2010 -> 03:30 PM) Blind squirrels everywhere should be feasting tonight. Thanks, Mark. Nice! Cmon Bobby, get it together man. No demotion, just get it together!

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 5, 2010 -> 01:39 PM) You'll see a six man rotation in the AL sometime in the very near future IMO. Really hard to do that in the NL with the pitcher batting, but I think the day of it in the AL is closer than some realize. Well that makes it harder to reach individual pitching milestones. But I could care less if our guys aren't winning Cy Youngs if they're winning many, many World Series.

That makes sense. So we just roll the Dice on Peav. I guess with a front 4 of Jackson, Danks, Floyd, Buehrle, you can let Peavy work it out in the 5 spot. I just worry that his arm blows up again. Cross that bridge when we get there eh?

QUOTE (Hawk09 @ Aug 5, 2010 -> 07:16 AM) If there was any justice, the same fans who rip on him,should now compliment him. They were out in force in April and May,and now they go quiet. Walker is a proud guy who hears the ripping,and it clearly bothers him,but I suppose he is just fine with the silence from critics,but still does not balance out. Yes, he's like Batman; whatever Gotham needs him to be.

Garcia has the worst stuff but can we take the gamble that Peavy is going to be healthy and ready? If he is we obviously have 6 quality starters who all deserve to be pitching. So do we sign Garcia to a 1 year again, as Peavy insurance? Or is Garcia going to get some multi-year offers? If Peavy doesn't return I'll be mad if Garcia is also gone and Torres/Sale/Harrel are playing 2003 out there. What do you do?

What's Ozzie's number, I'm in. Or we could organize a Crede's Crew type of thing where we each hold up a letter in "DFA Kotsay". Anybody got a block of 9 seats behind the visitor's dugout so the whole team would be forced to look at it? I'm goin to hell.