Southwest Sider

Not to justify what Gibbons did, and i do think hes stupid, but Estrada was dominating the sox up until the 7th. He seemed to get better after the injury too. I still would have yanked him, but with how bad their bullpen is... i can see why Gibbons left him out there. Still it is too risky to potentially hurt a pitcher for a game in april.

Another shutout

This team is hungry. Stay that way.

The only thing I was missing about that Navarro homer was Hawks call of it. "That ball hit deep! He looks up! You can put it on the board, YES!" Instead, we got a silent moment. Don't get me wrong, I like Jason but I sure do miss Hawks home run calls.

I agree that the extra time off is nice, but I absolutely felt that this team could handle Dallas. I was a bit more uncertain about Anaheim or San Jose in the Western Finals, but it would have been a good series either way. Beyond that, I feel that the Hawks could handle any of the Eastern teams in the Final. It's nice to get that time off, but extremely disappointing to lose because I wanted to see how far this particular group could go if they were able to get by St. Louis.

QUOTE (South Sider @ Apr 25, 2016 -> 07:13 PM) Well, in robins shoez i would have taken the same gamble. Danks or gonzalez, youre probably giving up runs either way. At least gonzalez had the history. This is one of the 60. ...now its one of the 42.

Well, in robins shoez i would have taken the same gamble. Danks or gonzalez, youre probably giving up runs either way. At least gonzalez had the history. This is one of the 60.

LOL, what is he complaining about?

Great at-bat for Dioner.

Back to the topic of the series here, I'm not sure if it's been discussed, but Blues fans are furious about the lack of ice time Tarasenko is getting. Apparently, Tarasenko is pretty pissed too.... From a Blues fan somewhere: I guess he's not even in the top 5 of average ice time per game among the Blues forwards. Pretty pathetic coaching, if you ask me. I'm not complaining because he's been a beast this series. Keep it like that for one more game.

QUOTE (Tony @ Apr 24, 2016 -> 12:23 PM) This is where the NHL has a problem. Washington was just called a 4 minute high sticking penalty against the Flyers. Problem is, it was a Flyer teammate that got the stick in the face, not the Caps. But no review, and the PP went on. That needs to be reviewed, not some ticky tac offsides play that happened 30 seconds before a goal is scored. I agree with your sentiment about called penalties. For the most part, referees normally get the call right (except for when they miss a penalty, but you can't review that since gameplay continues after the missed penalty). Since the refs normally get the call right, situations like this will not be very common. It will be nice for the NHL to have the ability to review controversial penalties like that in their back pocket. I'm all about getting the call right. That being said, I wholeheartedly disagree that offsides before a goal is ticky tac. Perhaps if you compare it to an undeserved power play, yeah it might seem ticky tac. But an uncalled offsides before a goal is actually worse. It's an undeserved goal. Even with an undeserved power play, teams can and will kill some of those penalties. You can't take back an undeserved goal without giving the coaches the ability to ask the refs to review factors like that. The only part I dislike about it is that it takes time to review and can disrupt the flow of the game! But, NHL players are the best in the world and while some may complain, I don't think reviewing a play disrupts the game any more than a TV timeout.

As a fan, those are the worst times for a ball to look good off of a bat just to be a warning track shot.

Zone him in, reel him in, and light him up.

Really a shame that Rollins and Abreu pretty much suck and couldn't even try to get on base. /overreaction but still.

No excuses, time for the middle of the order to hit. Eh, who am I kidding. These guys are getting crushed by the pressure they're putting on themselves.

Every time I feel like Avi might have turned a corner, this happens. Holy cow is he a bad hitter.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 03:03 PM) too soon to blame Steverson? last year historically bad offense... I always need a scapegoat He really doesn't seem to be doing anything to instill any confidence in these guys. Granted, guys like Avi, Rollins and Avila are complete wildcards as to whether or not they can hold their own as ML hitters, but if those guys are going to have any hope at all, they need a solid hitting coach to at least instill confidence in them. They look like they have none whatsoever.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 02:53 PM) What do you think? Weavers been hitting some of his spots, but his stuff isn't that good anymore and at the very least the Sox should be putting more pressure on him. The fact that they have made a guy with an 83 mph fastball look like Jake Arrieta tells you that this offense currently BLOWS. Too many easy outs.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 02:48 PM) 3 offensive players on the roster with positive offensive WAR. Somehow, things keep getting worse offensively. I know, I'm sitting here thinking that it will start trending upwards and it just gets worse. Eaton and Melky seem to have cooled off and no one is hitting enough to put together any kind of continuation hitting. The worse part is it seems like our hitters pass on the good pitches to hit only to get themselves out on better pitches. Incredibly frustrating to watch. With how inept they look, I feel like I could turn the game off now and not miss anything.

At least Abreu is getting a slump out of the way early while the pitching has been mostly dominant.... just hope he breaks out soon.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 01:47 PM) Basically, a Danks start is like 6 rounds of Russian Roulette. Dudes are gonna be on base, the ball is going to get hit hard. How many times in a row can it be hit right at an infielder? Enough to give the bullpen a chance to win? I'm hoping the Angels used all of their batted ball luck for this series in the first game. That first inning was crazy.

Walking the tightrope..... Lets get some runs!

I hope Johnson starts warming up soon.

Wow, his fastball really does clock at 80-82 mph, fortunately for him it has some movement.