I <3 Scott Podsednik

[CWSGuy406]

I don't think it's just tonight's good game.  He certainly doesn't look like a .244 hitter so far, and has 9 SB's in 12 games.  He only has 3 strike outs in almost 50 AB's.  You can't deny he's done a fine job of helping us manufacture some runs.  Hell, we don't win yesterday's game if it wasn't for him.

 

Maybe some of us are glorifying him too much before he hits a probable offensive regression, but I don't think you need to call anyone out on it.  He's brought a new dynamic to the club that's helped us climb quickly to the top of our division.

 

Plus, he did talk about trying to draw more walks and slap the ball around like he did in '03 rather than hit for power, i.e. his '04 season -- which, in turn, resulted in less walks, worse average (I hope, at least). Anyways -- most of the time when a hitter says that, it's all talk -- they get into the season and about ten games in, they're back to their old ways. But it's clear that Pods isn't trying to hit homers. I'm hoping that we'll see a lot more days like yesterday -- 1-2, 1-3, but with two-three walks. I realize he's not gonna walk three times a game, but it's nice to see the effort that's clearly being put forth -- at least, IMHO.

[qwerty]

Plus, he did talk about trying to draw more walks and slap the ball around like he did in '03 rather than hit for power, i.e. his '04 season -- which, in turn, resulted in less walks, worse average (I hope, at least).  Anyways -- most of the time when a hitter says that, it's all talk -- they get into the season and about ten games in, they're back to their old ways.  But it's clear that Pods isn't trying to hit homers.  I'm hoping that we'll see a lot more days like yesterday -- 1-2, 1-3, but with two-three walks.  I realize he's not gonna walk three times a game, but it's nice to see the effort that's clearly being put forth -- at least, IMHO.

 

I agree. As one of the biggest podsednik ''haters'' i have been impressed thus far. Can only hope he keeps it up all year for us.

[flippedoutpunk]

I agree. As one of the biggest podsednik ''haters'' i have been impressed thus far. Can only hope he keeps it up all year for us.

 

Same here, i only hate him because he sux in the video game kthx

[HighHeat45]

Dude......are you high?

 

 

He lives in Texas so he cant watch the games and his computer is broken so he cant really catch up with the games except when he is on someone elses. Thats probably why he didnt know

[Jabroni]

Same here, i only hate him because he sux in the video game kthx

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

MVP?

[flippedoutpunk]

MVP?

[Rowand44]

Geez. The groin has a good game and everyone's ready to canonize him.

 

He's certainly a better leadoff hitter than Willie Harris, but this guy batted .244 last year. How 'bout we wait a little while before retiring his jersey?

Just incase you didn't see it in the other thread that is the worst nickname ever. Anyways I've just fallen in love with the way scott plays the game and it's not from one game. When he's on base he's in scoring position and he messes with the pitchers minds takes them out of their rythms and next think you know there is a couple runs on the board.

[southsider2k5]

Geez. The groin has a good game and everyone's ready to canonize him.

 

He's certainly a better leadoff hitter than Willie Harris, but this guy batted .244 last year. How 'bout we wait a little while before retiring his jersey?

 

Whats with the hate? The guy single handedly changed the game tonight. If somone had hit two homers or struck out ten guys, there would be a thread about how great of a game they had. Scott Pods had the same kind of affect on last nights game. I think some praise is well deserved.

 

Essentially we have not had a player in Chicago who could put this kind of pressure on a pitching staff in 20 years (since Rudy Law). Chew on that for a while.

[gettysburg32]

 

[T R U]

Geez. The groin has a good game and everyone's ready to canonize him.

 

He's certainly a better leadoff hitter than Willie Harris, but this guy batted .244 last year. How 'bout we wait a little while before retiring his jersey?

 

Just wondering where you came up with this theory but, according to last years stats Willie is actually the better leadoff hitter.. if you wanna compare AVG and OBP..

[Rowand44]

Just wondering where you came up with this theory but, according to last years stats Willie is actually the better leadoff hitter.. if you wanna compare AVG and OBP..

No offense to willie cause I have nothing against him but he's no where near the player scott is. Scott does so many things that doesn't show up in the stats to help a team win games.

[YASNY]

No offense to willie cause I have nothing against him but he's no where near the player scott is.  Scott does so many things that doesn't show up in the stats to help a team win games.

 

Nothing against Harris here either, but those stolen bases is something that DOES show up in the stats. That's the big difference between Harris and Podsednik.

[Soxfest]

lOVE THE SB

[Rowand44]

Nothing against Harris here either, but those stolen bases is something that DOES show up in the stats.  That's the big difference between Harris and Podsednik.

YAS, the stolen base is the obvious one but I was talking about what other things Scott does when he's on the base paths. He messes pitchers up, period, that's really the best way I can describe it. We've seen a few pitchers and catchers get sloppy while he's on base because they're worrying about him so much. Then there's those runs where he hits a little infield single, moves up on a bouncer in the infield, steals 3rd and then scores on a wild pitch, those things are just so degrading for the opposing team.

[YASNY]

YAS, the stolen base is the obvious one but I was talking about what other things Scott does when he's on the base paths.  He messes pitchers up, period, that's really the best way I can describe it.  We've seen a few pitchers and catchers get sloppy while he's on base because they're worrying about him so much.  Then there's those runs where he hits a little infield single, moves up on a bouncer in the infield, steals 3rd and then scores on a wild pitch, those things are just so degrading for the opposing team.

 

That, my friend, is the threat of the stolen base. That carries more in my mind than the stolen base, itself.

[JUGGERNAUT]

It's also affecting how they pitch to him as well. His name is striking fear in the hearts of pitchers because they know if he gets on they'll need a great play or a great pitch to keep Guch, Jurrasic & Koney from an rbi. If they throw a WP or PB w Pods on 3rd, it's like a gimee in golf.

[ISF]

Yes, the groin had a great game last night. He became the first Sox player to steal 3 bases in a game since.....

 

 

 

Willie Harris.

 

 

I am not dissing him.....yet. I am just very wary of basing an impression on a couple weeks in April. I remember Kenny Lofton getting us all excited too. Then he disappeared.

[KevHead0881]

Yes, the groin had a great game last night. He became the first Sox player to steal 3 bases in a game since.....

Willie Harris.

I am not dissing him.....yet. I am just very wary of basing an impression on a couple weeks in April. I remember Kenny Lofton getting us all excited too. Then he disappeared.

 

Thing is though, our expectations aren't that high with Podsednik. All he has to do is hit around .270 to have an enormous impact on this team. If he could steal 70 bases while batting .240, it's totally reasonable to see him duplicate that, especially if he bats 30 points higher. I don't think he's gonna be the .300 hitter he is right now, but from what I've seen, his new approach tells me that he's not gonna hit .240 either.

 

Yes, it is still early and he could go straight in the tank, but there is good reason to be excited about SPod.

 

And the difference between Pods and Willie? Pitchers aren't scared when Willie is on the basepaths. And why would they be? The guy has failed to show that he can do it consistantly. Pods has shown that he is almost impossible to throw out. And you really can't say enough about the impact that a premier base stealer has on the game when he's on the basepaths.

[Jabroni]

Just wondering where you came up with this theory but, according to last years stats Willie is actually the better leadoff hitter.. if you wanna compare AVG and OBP..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And if you just watch Podsednik and Willie play, you instantly know who is the better leadoff hitter.

[danman31]

It's funny how people change their minds so quickly. Everybody hated the Carlos Lee trade, but in reality it improved the team even if some think we didn't get straight up quality value.

[SoxFan1]

Even tonight he proved hell on Greinke. He led off with an IF single, forced a pitch-out, which led to a catchers interference, which led to a balk, which led to a 1-0 SOX lead. AWESOME!

[ISF]

Yup. If he keeps playing like this, I'll happily jump on the bandwagon.

 

But I gotta see it in May and June before I do.

[danman31]

Yup. If he keeps playing like this, I'll happily jump on the bandwagon.

 

But I gotta see it in May and June before I do.

Why are you so harsh on him? What's to say he didn't have the typical sophomore slump?

[KipWellsFan]

Scott PodPimpnik

[DBAHO]

Let's hope Scotty boy can keep it up. Certainly him and Iguchi at the top of the order have completely changed the dynamics up there, and lets hope they can keep it up.

 

And don't forget this, even though it's not the best situation, even if Podsednik or Dye do struggle and they won't be starting for us or not even on this team (and let's hope it doesn't even come to that), we've got Brian Anderson who's doing quite nicely down at Charlotte in AAA.