MiddleCoastBias

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 10:32 AM) Gonzales saying that Buehrle to start April 6 vs. KC, Humber in the pen for now Woo! Glad I get to see Burls pitch instead of Humber at Kaufman.

The 1st and 10 crew on ESPN2 this morning picked the AL Central in the WS- Skip has the Twins winning it all, Rob has us losing to the Giants. I know these guys are not baseball guys but still fun to see another person in our corner.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Mar 26, 2011 -> 06:47 PM) Why you heading out to Jeff City? CoMo is just 20 minutes away. See some Mizzou Tiger athletics! I just got a job working on an election so I'll be working out of Jefferson City with a lot of travel to St. Louis as well. In addition to the April series, I see we have a weekend series in KC in September so I'll definitely be heading out that way again.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 25, 2011 -> 09:50 PM) First nine games matchups: 4-1 Buehrle - Carmona 4-2 Jackson - Carrasco 4-3 Danks - Masterson 4-4 4-5 Floyd - Hochevar 4-6 Humber - Francis 4-7 Buehrle - Price 4-8 Jackson - Shields 4-9 Danks - Davis 4-10 Floyd - Niemann Bah! I'm moving to Jefferson City, MO in a week and was going to sneak over to KC on the 6th for the game. It will be my first trip to Kauffman (always thought it looked like a great park on tv, heard great things about the environment as well). I was hoping the cards would fall such that I would get to see one of our 'real' starters. Oh well, probably the only game I'll get to go to so make the most of it!

QUOTE (YASNY @ Mar 26, 2011 -> 10:20 AM) It looks like to me. I actually kinda like that. It is a neat concept, though I don't think I would want that as a full-time change. While it good as piping, that would make it the secondary color for marketing purposes, and I can already see those overblown gold hats, shirts, etc.

Is that gold piping (I'm assuming, just can't tell on my monitor)?

I thought AJ's greatest value to us was that he's widely regarded as one of the best game-callers in the league? Do we know how Flowers does in calling a game? I feel it's irresponsible to be talking about getting rid of a clubhouse leader that has great rapport with our pitchers. Replacing AJ's intangibles will be much more difficult than looking at batting averages.

Not to spoil your fruit section but that came out like 6 weeks ago. I just saw the AJ commercial for the first time today; I think it's even better. And might I just add that I think the Sox advertising has been near tops amongst all advertising (up there with the US Army, though I'm obviously biased given that I am the targeted audience). That being said, every commercial keeps getting better (except for the Cabrera commercial, not a fan at all). If you haven't seen it already, check out the AJ commercial here on whitesox.com

I just hope we can bring back Mike MacDougal so I can wear his jersey again. We should probably wait a few more years to let him mature. Anyone want to join my MacDougal for 2015-Closer Fan Club?

Realistically, Milledge knows the consequences of his actions. Even with today's pitchers, you're going to get it high and tight next time up. If the kid wants to do his think at the risk of getting plunked the next time up, I say let him. Maybe he'll learn something.

For Bill Melton's sake in announcing these ST games, we must pass.

Doug Padilla had tweeted that Milledge has 4 HRs in 11 games of spring training compared to 4 HRs in 113 games with Pittsburgh last year. How much of that can we contribute to "lightning in a bottle in a small sample size" and how much do we think he's "got it"?

Thanks for all of the input from everyone. I've now been offered two jobs on separate campaigns to add to the mix of things to consider. I guess that's a good position to be in these days.

I have looked at a number of programs in England (LSE is obviously one of the best school's in the world, acceptance into the MPA program is 8%). Exeter seems to have a good program as well. I was pretty shocked that Trinity and UCD didn't offer the program. I guess at this point my interest really is just to live in Ireland (though I would prefer to live in Dublin). In the statement that Limerick is like the Detroit of Ireland, how relative is that? As in, is it really as bad as Detroit or is it just relative to the other cities in Ireland?

I'm currently at that stage in my young career that I'm debating going back to school or continuing to find work (full disclosure- I work in politics, specifically campaigns and political research so I have some downtime between gigs). I've been looking at going back to school to get my masters in public administration (MPA). I have a number of good/great domestic schools that I've been interested in but I've looked abroad as another option. My thought is that I will never get the chance to work abroad for any period of time (I know many fields end up having offices worldwide that may require international work) working in American politics so I might as well get a taste of the world in grad school before I spend decades toiling away at work in the States. Specifically, I'm looking at Ireland- unfortunately, I've only found the University of Limerick to offer an MPA, limiting my choices. As an employer, would you think less of a degree from an international school (especially given that, according to world rankings, Limerick is far below schools I could attend domestically?) My reasoning is that I'm looking for a greater exposure to world politics and international thought (and I just really want to live in Ireland for a bit). If you were an employer related to the field of American politics, how would an MPA from an international school compare to an MPA from a comparable school in the States in terms of hiring?

Welp, I've posted enough elsewhere tonight, figured I should make my way here to fess up. It'll be interesting to see what I've posted/texted when I wake up, always an adventure. Just thought of another one...

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 14, 2011 -> 10:59 PM) It's bizarre but you are not alone in this thinking. For whatever reason people have it in their minds that whenever Thornton has stepped into the closer's role in a Sox uniform he has struggled. Well, this could not be further from the truth. Just last year in the final 5 months of the season Matt Thornton had 8 save opportunities that took place in the 8th inning or later (they can take place before the 8th or 9th but these are not the duties of a closer, there was 1 7th inning blown save) here are his numbers from those 8 outings: 9.1 IP 0 R 1 H 2 BB 11 K 0.320 WHIP 10.6 K/9 8sv/8svo Yes, this is incredibly impressive. How about his career numbers in TRUE closer situations (ie: coming into the game with zero outs in the 9th inning with a lead): 6 IP 0 R 0 H 3 BB 9 K .500 WHIP 13.5 K/9 6sv/6svo Even more impressive. When Matt Thornton has been thrust into the role of closer in a White Sox uniform he has not allowed a single f***ing hit. Awesome. I've said this many, many times over the past 2 years: Matt Thornton may or may not be a good closer but there is absolutely NOTHING in the numbers that insists that he'd fail, in fact the opposite is true if you ignore the sample size. See that's what I needed- hard facts to refute my 'eye test'. Is that from B-R? Can you do that with Sale as well? I personally love Thornton in the setup role and Sale at closer but a good deal of this opinion has been based on my thought that Thorny is best fit (statistically) in the setup role. While the sample size for success may be low and it not necessarily be a sign of what may ultimately be (Santos' first half), it is encouraging that he has success in that role. And now it looks like the organization is leaning his way anyway.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 14, 2011 -> 10:42 PM) They are going to start him!?!!? AHHHHHH BUT HE CAN'T START!! HE WAS SO GOOD IN THE 23 INNINGS HE PITCHED OUT OF THE BULLPEN!!!! f*** THE VALUE, I WANT THE INSTANT GRATIFICATION!!!! /sarcasm Btw, forgot to follow up on that tweet. Gonzalez then tweeted like 10 minutes later that Sale would be pitching middle innings follow E-Jax' start that same day instead of starting (it's a split squad day and Ozzie wants to see him; his scheduled start would have been at the other location). But yeah, point made.

Are his stats inflated as a result of the innings pitched? IE what are his stats by the inning (4th compared to 9th) that he pitched? I can't prove it but I feel like I remember Thornton did not do well when he stepped in last year for a week at closer when Bobby had his family issues. It seemed to me like Thornton mentally operated best in the 8th inning; is that the same case with Sale? (Again, this equation can be negated if I can find that Thornton had similar numbers in the 8th and the 9th). This may be the same case with Sale. It's just my perception that some pitchers pitch better in a given situation- be it set up, clean up, or pressure save. See- Bobby Jenks in a no-pressure clean up in a loss.

Mark Gonzales MDGonzales 5 minutes ago

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 02:42 PM) Ok, well it says the game today is on CSN....but I'm not seeing it... I believe that is for the split squad game this evening.

Useful shot, lad.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 7, 2011 -> 02:24 PM) Rios hits a popfly that carries like 100 feet and is a Home run! 2nd HR for Rios on the spring. Castro and Alexei both have home runs in the AZ game.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 7, 2011 -> 02:13 PM) Home run for Alexei in Tucson. I was under the impression that with the dry air of Arizona there are always fewer home runs yet Melton made it sound like just the opposite (saying that ball wouldn't have carried like that during the season in Cleveland). What's the case?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 6, 2011 -> 11:29 PM) You like Danks' left-handed bat? Is it sexier looking when a left-handed hitter strikes out as opposed to a right-handed hitter? Seriously, I thought that ship has sailed. Did anyone else catch the Angels' broadcast on MLBN the other day (might have been like the 6th inning) when the announcers were raving about Danks being our 'top prospect'? I was embarrassed to hear that (obviously not top rated within our own system, but to hear that's what an outside crew thought).