VAfan

Ozzie deserves to be ripped for using the word "f@g". Homophobia has led to people's deaths. It's a sick attitude toward other human beings not unlike racism. I don't believe Ozzie is a homophobe. But his statements have negative repercussions nonetheless. And Ozzie also ought to consider for a moment how his constant use of profanity plays for a family game like baseball. I have a 3-year-old son who loves the White Sox. Fortunately, he hasn't a clue what our manager is saying. But what about those whose kids are 10, 11, 12, etc. -- old enough to listen to the post-game show? Would I want my son to be listening to what Ozzie Guillen is saying? No. And that's too bad. I love Ozzie Guillen. I'm not calling for his head. I'm just suggesting he use his head more often before he opens his mouth.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jun 21, 2006 -> 10:06 AM) At least up until a couple of weeks ago, the White Sox played a weaker schedule than Detroit. I find this talk that the White Sox continuing to win is bothering Detroit, pretty funny. They continue to win as well. There were several on here that said the Tigers would fade in June and wouldn't be .500. They would have to lose the next 8 for that to happen. Dye, Konerko, Thome, Crede, and AJP are performing much higher offensively than what could be expected. I doubt they will continue with their torrid pace. Detroit is a good team and they're most likely for real. There haven't been many frauds that got to 24 over .500. Let's not talk about the Cardinals without Puhjols as one of the better teams in baseball. The Cubs kicked them all over the place. These are both good teams, and it probably will come down to who can remain healthier, and what kind of adjustments are made before the trade deadline. I would agree that it is silly to write off the Tigers. But they will come off a .667 pace. They aren't going to win 108 games. I think the White Sox, however, could win between 100 and 110 games. I also don't think our offense will cool that much. The reason is that even if Dye, Konerko, Thome, Crede, and AJ are slightly above expectations (Crede is just carrying on where he was late last year), we have a bunch of other guys who are going to hit better from here to the end of the season -- Uribe, Anderson, and Pods. Add in improved pitching -- a tighter bullpen will help club confidence immensely -- and I just think we're going to end up ahead of the Tigers when the dust settles. The Sox psyche is fine right now, and its getting better as the new guys are being integrated. David Riske endeared himself to the club last night by showing how to plunk a batter -- even at the risk of a fine and suspension. Cintron and Mack have both won games dramatically with their bats. Thome needed no initiation. Doubts about Brian Anderson are beginning to fade. I would much rather be in our position, with our team, than be in the Tigers position with their team. And I think the Tigers know it.

Is there really a formal rule about this? It all seem discretionary to me, on the part of the umps and on the part of the league office that doles out punishment. I totally agree that these things are not handled well. There's not an easy solution, but a one-free-plunk norm might at least reduce the unequal treatment the Sox have suffered lately. In that case, Padilla would have been summarily ejected after hitting AJ a second time. And the Sox would have had a free shot to retaliate as well. Similarly, Ponson would have been gone once he hit Ozuna, and Riske could have plunked Duncan without penalty. Now, I suppose there may be incidents where a good pitcher facing teams with guys who hang all over the plate might unintentionally ding two guys. So even under this norm, the ump should use discretion. How wild is the pitcher to other hitters? Was the batter leaning in? Did he just barely get nicked, or was he plunked in the back? And there may also be incidents where even one beaning warrants ejection, as when the Rocket quite plainly went headhunting against Mike Piazza. So umps, just do a better job. Toss the instigators, and allow teams to get their share of justice. Otherwise, the tension will just build into something worse.

My sense is that the White Sox haven't really hit their stride yet, and the Tigers are just helping us get focused. We are feeling out our new offense -- with tonight's 20-run explosion we have scored more runs than any team in baseball 402 (the Yanks are second at 399) -- but we haven't really gotten our pitching together yet, and we haven't played defense as well as we are capable of. I expect that our pitching will start to improve over the next couple of months with no drop off in offense. Garland, Vazquez, and Garcia will all end the season with much better ERAs than they have now, while Buehrle and Contreras aren't likely to slip much from their stellar numbers. But an even bigger improvement is likely to come from our bullpen. For most of the year, our bullpen has been a patchwork job. Politte went from lights out to being lit up. Cotts has already been taken deep more than last year. Boone Logan wasn't major league ready. And we've been forced to add additional rookies Augustin Montero and Sean Tracey. Plus, McCarthy was inconsistent. It's not 100% yet, but the bullpen is getting better and should continue to improve. Cotts is showing signs of pitching more like he did last year. Thornton is starting to harness his awesome stuff. Jenks still continues to close out wins. Riske is a tremendous addition that should allow Ozzie to use McCarthy more effectively to start innings. And Politte has a chance to come back and pitch well, even if he can't match his career year of 2005. (If he doesn't come back, we may see Tracey again or more likely someone in trade.) And to keep it all together and focused, we've got Ozzie Guillen. He doesn't care what the Tigers are doing unless we are playing them that day. All he cares about is how our ballclub is playing. He knows that if we play to our abilities, we will beat anyone. I think Leyland has the Tigers focused in the same kind of way. Play every day to win and see where you are in October. But he doesn't have the talent we have, so, unlike us, his team can't really play any better. Their pitching is going to start to slide when we get to the dog days and the innings start to pile up. It may not slide much, but even one bump in the road and we'll be past them.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 19, 2006 -> 06:32 PM) Your first thread wasn't good enough for you? My thread got moved. I didn't think it was posted at all due to some glitch (I don't check out the Diamond Club to be honest), which is why I rewrote it and re-posted it. That being said, while I'll admit 90 wins for the Twins is probably the high end and would leave them 3rd in the division, I think it would be foolish to completely discount them. Radke's June ERA is under 2.00, Santana's is 1.29, and Liriano's is 2.25. It doesn't take much offense to win with that kind of pitching. Plus, their young hitters Mauer and Morneau and Cuddyer are finally producing. Plus the youth movement seems to have lifted the cloud that team has played under since the beginning of last year when we proved we could beat them at their own game. I'll be happy if they stumble (as long as they beat the Tigers), but I think they'll be solid for the rest of the year. But Cleveland is dead. They can't even beat the Cubs.

At 6 games under .500 and with no reliable pitching, Cleveland is done for the year. They might slug their way back to .500, but I don't expect any kind of a serious run out of them. They may even be sellers at the trade deadline. But watch out for Minnesota. Santana and Liriano are probably the best 1-2 combo in baseball, and their bullpen appears to have it back together. Dumping Batista was a good move. And their young hitters are getting them enough runs to win. I expect them to be able to play very good baseball and make a run at 90+ wins. I'm not scared of them. If we take care of business, we shouldn't lose any ground to them, and in fact should add a few more games distance between us. But they could end up being the best team not to make the postseason, and with their two aces would give a lot of teams fits in a short series.

At 6 games under .500 and with no pitching, Cleveland is done this year. They may hit their way back to .500, but they aren't going on any huge tear to get back into contention. But, at .500, and with Santana and Liriano in the rotation, Minnesota is likely to put on a run and keep the pressure on. I'm not afraid that they'll catch us in the division, but I think they have a chance to win 90+ games. They might end up as the best team not to make the playoffs.

Look at the stats in post 62 of this thread. The problem could be Ozzie's use of Pods as much as Pods. It's pretty plain he's struggled mightily against lefties, hitting them at a .178 clip. Yet Ozzie has played him against lefties about 30% of the time. If Pods played only against righties, his .280+ average, .380+ OBP, and .450+ slugging would be outstanding. No one here would be complaining. So shouldn't Ozzie be playing Ozuna more against the lefties and Pods less? Trouble there is, as weak as Pods' defense can be in LF, Ozuna is worse. I think Ozzie is playing Pods against the lefties because he expects him to come around. I think he will. His 3-year average is .268 against them. That's almost .100 points higher than where he is now. He'll get there. Just give him a little time.

QUOTE(henry wiggins @ Jun 16, 2006 -> 10:06 AM) "We" can survive 5 games without AJ? Glad you're going to help out! You're assuming a few things, with IMO no basis for the assumptions. First off you assume that AJ would get a 5-game suspension. What if he got a 10-game suspension? You're assuming Widger will be able to play 5 games, that he won't get injured. If he were to get hurt, the Sox would be without a catcher. Um, does the team really want to bring up a AAA catcher in June or July to play some really important games? You may want to, but I doubt that Ken Williams and Ozzie do. That's an assumption on my part. As a long-time Sox fan, I don't *want* a team made up of irascible hotheads who do stuff like charge the mound. I want them to recognize that there are a-holes in the game, like Padilla and Carlos Zambrano (two that spring to mind) and to NOT play into the stupid games that those a-holes start. Every team in the league, and especially in the division, is out to get the Sox this year. The good teams are out to get them by beating them in ballgames; the losers are out to get them with the kind of crap that Padilla pulled. Being a target goes with being a World Series Champion, and the measure of a repeat champion team is how well they deal with it *and keep on playing winning baseball*. I also want, as a fan, to see the manager take charge of every situation in which one of his players is dissed or harmed. I want the manager to determine an appropriate course of action and implement it. Don Cooper said last night that this thing isn't over, and that Texas plays at the Cell once more this year. They do. We'll see then what happens, and it better not be AJ getting tossed out of any games. I think that is a fair response. But AJ can also get hurt by continuing to be the target. And if a future beaning broke a bone in his hand or arm, it would cost us a lot more than 5 games. (Of course he could hurt his hand punching Padilla in the nose too.) At this point, I'm not advocating taking any further revenge other than to keep playing winning baseball. I think that is the best revenge anyway. But if someone targets us as blatantly as Padilla did, I don't think we can always just shrug it off, and I don't think sending out a rookie you know is going back to AAA after the game to do the dirty work is the proper response. We have responded effectively to the Padilla-esque nonsense in the past. We didn't do very well in responding to it this time (at least not within the same game).

I didn't see the incident, but having read enough and thought about it, I decided to offer my two cents. AJ Pierzynski should have charged the mound after he got hit a second time. Yes, this would have resulted in an automatic suspension for AJ, but how hard could baseball punish him when it would be clear to anyone looking at the tapes that Padilla intentionally hit him twice? It is also clear from the Barrett incident, the Escobar incident, and others, that teams have decided to target AJ Pierzynski on our club. It no doubt stems from the way he gets under other teams' skin, and the way last season's postseason unfolded. Almost as much as Ozzie, AJ has become the mouth of the Sox. I think that's unhealthy. Ozzie should be the lightning rod and keep all the crap away from his players. The only way for AJ to stop these incidents from repeating themselves is to go directly after those who have targeted him. Do they really want a piece of him? He's a big boy (6'3" 235). I think once would be enough to end the beanings. The repercussion would be that AJ would get suspended, and others might have during the ensuing brawl. But the Sox wouldn't have to be talking about sticking together - they would just be sticking together. We can survive 5 games with Widger behind the plate. ************ As it is, with this incident having passed, the best revenge is to just beat the pants off the offending club and knock them out of first place, which is what we did.

Ozuna should also have had more than 1 start at second base against lefties. Yes, second base. Iguchi is hitting .207 against left handers (I realize Pods is worse). Ozuna essentially ought to be playing every game started by a lefty in one place or another.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 15, 2006 -> 08:40 PM) Thome's not the type of hitter who's going to hit sac flies, etc. It's one of the main reasons I hate playing small ball in front of him. This seems to help make my point. Dye hit perfectly at the end of last season with small ball in front of him and Paul Konerko behind him. We went 16-1 and swept the World Series. As for the "it aint broke" comments, my response is, "it's also not hitting on all cylinders." We're still a game and half behind Detroit. Jim Thome, after starting off on fire, has dropped to .277. Age is likely to start wearing him down, so don't expect his numbers to improve from here on out. Also, as for Dye's great numbers being accumulated b/c he's hitting 5th, we already know from last year that he was fabulous in the #3 hole. He's just a much more well-rounded hitter than Jim Thome, and that's the guy who should hit 3rd in a lineup. I just think this lineup: Pods/Ozuna Iguchi Dye Thome Konerko Crede AJ Uribe/Cintron Anderson/Mack would be better than Pods/Ozuna Iguchi Thome Konerko Dye AJ Crede Uribe/Cintron Anderson/Mack How much better? At least a couple games better already -- or enough to put us in first place -- and one that would keep us in first.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jun 15, 2006 -> 08:11 PM) Reading some of the Red Sox's fans thoughts on Riske, his K numbers have decreased and he's a pretty big flyball pitcher apparently, so some possible warning signs there in terms of pitching at the Cell. Looking at the stats, 2004 K/9 of 9, down to 4.6 this season. Only a GB% of 41.9% with a HR/F of 15.7%. I was going to note this. 11 dingers each of the last two years. Seems like the only "risk" other than his back. Fastball 80% of the time, changeup 15% of the time, throws an occasional slider. I'll join the GREAT TRADE chorus on here. For Javier Lopez?? What a STEAL!! Riske is going to slide right into the Cliff Politte role and keep McCarthy doing what he does best -- pitch two-inning stints. Now, if Politte really is done with his shoulder soreness, I don't mind carrying Montero until Kenny can swing something else in a month or so. As many others have said, we haven't spent any significant capital. Lopez may help Boston a tiny bit, but Riske was an ESSENTIAL piece we needed now if we want to start clicking on all cylinders. KW IS THE MAN!

Before the season started, I took the position that Ozzie should have Jermaine Dye hit third, with Thome fourth and Konerko fifth. I had several reasons: 1. We went 16-1 to finish the 2005 season and Dye earned the WS MVP hitting third. 2. JD showed more patience at the plate in the #3 hole. 3. Moving JD up would maximize his value without diminishing JT's contribution. 4. It gives us a better L/R balance through the lineup. Crede, for example, could hit sixth and AJ seventh. But I never expected JD to hit like he has this year. Now, more than ever, I think Ozzie should make the switch. I just don't think JT is our best hitter. JD is. And our best hitter ought to hit third. Look at JD's stats with runners on, runners in scoring position, and runners in scoring position with 2 outs. Runners On 81 26 26 3 0 8 37 16 1 17 3 2 .321 .430 .654 1.084 Scoring Position 47 24 19 2 0 7 35 11 1 7 0 0 .404 .508 .894 1.402 Scoring Posn, 2 out 25 10 12 0 0 4 20 8 0 6 0 0 .480 .606 .960 1.566 Now compare those stellar numbers to JT's Runners On 101 43 34 5 0 12 46 27 2 28 0 0 .337 .474 .743 1.217 Scoring Position 52 35 21 3 0 7 35 17 1 15 0 0 .404 .534 .865 1.399 Scoring Posn, 2 out 23 13 7 0 0 2 9 3 0 7 0 0 .304 .385 .565 .950 Certainly JT is no slouch. Those are exceptional numbers. But JD's are clearly better. And I also don't think they register "productive outs." On that score, JT has 64 Ks to JD's 41 Ks. So Jermaine is more likely to advance the runner, especially a guy on third base. The other problem I would identify is our record against lefties. One challenge we have is that Iguchi has sucked this year against lefties. He's hitting them at a .207 clip v. 338 against righties. So, even if we use Ozuna to lead off, our lineup against lefties usually has Uribe and Anderson at the bottom, then Ozuna/Pods, Iguchi/Thome. Only Ozuna hits lefties in that group. And if a righty has started but a lefty comes out of the bullpen, they get a nice long streak of guys they can get out. If any of those guys get on, JD would likely have a chance to knock them in. Right now, Thome often makes the last out -- or strands the guy on third with less than two outs. So, while I don't think this would make a massive difference, I think it could make enough of a difference in close ballgames to be well worth making the switch.

Not sure why everyone assumed he'd replace Dye(??) -- he'd obviously replace BA with Pods moving over to CF -- but it looks like the poll is no one in favor. I agree. I just hope he doesn't end up in NY or Detroit.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Jun 14, 2006 -> 11:58 AM) Both of those would be nothing short of miraculous...do you really think he can win 8-10 games in his next 20 starts and have an ERA under 3? I think 11-12 wins, 4.90 era is more realistic and I would be ecstatic with that... Garland won 8 in a row to start last year, then ran into troubles in the second half. I don't see any reason he can't find a groove again -- perhaps starting with last night's game -- and win a bunch of games. His ERA is over 6 and he's still gone 5-3. I don't see any reason why he can't win 9-10 of his remaining 18 starts, especially if our bullpen gets better.

I think the more important fact was that Garland's GB/FB ratio last night (10-6) was a whole lot better than it has been this year. Last year his G/F ratio was 1.44. This year it has been 0.97. Thus the league-leading 19 dingers surrendered. So, regardless of the inning, he needs to keep the ball down to be successful. There's no reason to believe he can't last longer in games once he returns to doing that more consistently.

Politte's bone spurs are going to be a continuing problem, regardless of how he pitches when he first comes off the DL. That's because he will get shelled again, sooner or later, and when he does, it will put doubt in Politte's mind that he can do it, and Ozzie's mind whether he can trust him. By skipping surgery and trying to pitch through it, we are getting anywhere from 70-90% of a healthy Politte. And when you add in the fact that last year was the aberation, 70-90% of the career norm of Politte (4.06 ERA and 1.316 WHIP, even after adding in 2.06 ERA and .936 WHIP of 2005), is not something you can build a world champion bullpen around. So, I'm all for giving Cliff an opportunity to rebound and prove himself in non-critical situations after he comes off the DL, but if I were KW, I wouldn't stop looking for a reliable right handed bullpen addition over the next month. On Trade Winds I suggested bringing back Luis Vizcaino. Scary in its own right, I understand. But he seems better to me than most of the other options that have been mentioned so far.

I guess no one on this thread wanted to trade him, then. Thank goodness he re-signed. I wonder when Ozzie is going to finally put him into the #1 slot on our staff. It is no knock on Mark Buehrle or anyone else to get in line behind the Count. He's a great pitcher, and an even greater story.

Don't blast me just for putting his name up here. But you have to ask, what would be the cost to rent Carlos Lee for the rest of the season? And who among our rivals might be likely to get him? (The Yankees.) I suppose the short answer to the price question is -- it doesn't matter b/c there's no way Ozzie would take him back. The secondary answer is -- why would we want him when switching to pitching and defense won us a World Series? So, I'm going to say an emphatic NO to my own post. Lee was a me-first ballplayer that can be a cancer to winning baseball, despite his offensive numbers (and in addition to his defensive deficiencies). BUT ... Wouldn't Lee stop teams from using lefties against us? Probably give us the best offense in MLB? Only weaken our outfield defense until we took the lead and could get the LIDRs in the game? I still vote NO, regardless of the price. But feel free to opine on the subject. Someone had to bring it up sooner or later.

Anyone notice that BA has as many RBI (15) hitting last with 129 ABs as AJ Pierzynski has hitting 6th with 196 ABs? Meanwhile, Mack has 11 RBI in 112 ABs, and Cintron has 12 RBI in 106 ABs. I'm not sure if this is an endorsement for keeping Anderson, or an illustration of how unproductive a .327 hitter (AJ) can be.

I've looked again at the workhorses who have the most appearances in MLB this year. Of all of those, I think Luis Vizcaino actually makes the most sense. In 31 appearances, he is 2-2 with 13 holds, an ERA of 2.37, and only 22 hits and 11 walks in 30.1 innings. Last year, he was shaky to a large extent because Ozzie didn't use him. When he started appearing more, he improved. Sure, he can't match what Politte gave us last year, but who can? Of course, Arizona is still in first and unlikely to deal. But they have dealt with us twice already this offseason, so it is just a matter of price. Roberto Hernandez would likely be my second choice if Arizona balks. His numbers are similar, but he has more walks and one more hit in 3 fewer innnings. I think Vizcaino is more likely to help us.

I'm not ready to give up on Juan Uribe. The guy is streaky, and he tends to get hot at the plate at the perfect time of the year -- September-October. Plus, his defense wins ballgames, or have you all forgotten thet last two plays of the WS clinching 1-0 game???

QUOTE(greg775 @ Jun 10, 2006 -> 05:59 PM) No way Cameron for a legitimate prospect. We acquire Cameron for Class A turd(s), nothing else. They wouldn't give up Cameron for peanuts. I wouldn't give up a potential star either, but I would give up a pitcher like Lopez and an outfielder like Jerry Owens in a second. If they want a major leaguer, they could have Ross Gload too. His line drive hitting wouldn't suffer in Petco that much. Cameron would look tremendous hitting anywhere from 7th-9th in our lineup.

QUOTE(Wsoxmike59 @ Jun 10, 2006 -> 04:56 PM) Hey Fox! You mean Victor Martinez is still the Player of the Game?? Whatever! Rob Mackowiak was safe on the play at the plate on Ozuna's hit in the 11th. Iguchi made it a moot point by singling in Pablo. Take that Fox! Hand out your player of the game before we have a chance to hit in our half of the bonus panels. MLB.com had a headlne "Tribe beat Sox in 11." Talk about a screwup.