At the quarter pole

[jasonxctf]

He's been blown apart in 3 of his 9 starts. Another 5 ER in 7 IP. Making 4 of his 9 starts virtual automatic losses. He's not been very good at all.

 

 

so a guy who is running a 55-45% good start to bad start rating gets a D?

[southsider2k5]

so a guy who is running a 55-45% good start to bad start rating gets a D?

 

A guy who was supposed to be the #1 starter, got a long term contract to do so, and has been horrible in 1 in 3 starts this year might be lucky to get a D. Expectations are a part of the grades for me. I don't compare Buehrle the sameway I would Toby Hall, because they are different roles on this team. Buehrle is supposed to be our #1 starter, and people in that role aren't supposed to have ERAs close to 6 and non winnable starts one in three times to the mound.

[jeffthedude]

Don't want to harp on Dotel in 1 thread, but I'd like to note that his outing last night shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise, because he's probably been used more in the last 2 weeks than he should have been, considering his health issues in recent years. I don't like the idea of him pitching back to back games at all, especially not doing so repeatedly. Out of our last 4 series, he pitched in back to back games against the Twins, pitched in 1 game against Seattle, pitched in 3/4 against Anaheim, and pitched 2/3 after Friday off against the Giants. 5 appearances in 7 days is just too much for him to be making even if he winds up being effective.

 

 

Back to this topic, Dotel and Linebrink have been way overused through the last couple series, while Logan and Thornton it seems have barely seen the field at all.

 

Regardless of matchups, why couldn't Ozzie use Logan yesterday instead of trotting Dotel's tired ass out there again? Logan has had two short appearances since the start of the Angels series. They came in the first game of each series and he only threw like 10 pitches in each of them.

 

Even after Dotel melted down he could have still gone with Boone over Masset. As good as Nick was, I don't actually think Ozzie *wanted* to put Masset in the game's highest-leverage situation.

 

Am I missing something?

[Kalapse]

take away that opening day start and Mark has a 4.24 ERA in the other 8 starts.

Ignoring certain games is fun.

 

Take away his best start of the year (8 IP, 0 ER @ Tor) and his ERA for the season is 6.17.

 

Take away his best and worst starts of the year and his ERA is still an even 5.

 

Hey, what do you expect for only $14M a year?

[southsider2k5]

Back to this topic, Dotel and Linebrink have been way overused through the last couple series, while Logan and Thornton it seems have barely seen the field at all.

 

Regardless of matchups, why couldn't Ozzie use Logan yesterday instead of trotting Dotel's tired ass out there again? Logan has had two short appearances since the start of the Angels series. They came in the first game of each series and he only threw like 10 pitches in each of them.

 

Even after Dotel melted down he could have still gone with Boone over Masset. As good as Nick was, I don't actually think Ozzie *wanted* to put Masset in the game's highest-leverage situation.

 

Am I missing something?

 

I truely believe Ozzie has wanted to test out Massett, or he wouldn't have done so. It is an Ozzie trademark to try his relievers in different roles to see how they preform. He is not afraid to take a guy succeeding say in middle relief, and throw him out there to set up if needed. He wants to see what his kids are made of. These are the kind of things that are valuable lessons when things get really important down the road.

[NorthSideSox72]

To me, grades are partly about expectations going in. So here are mine...

 

A: Pierzynski, Quentin, Floyd, Danks, Contreras, Jenks

 

B: Crede (B-), Dye, Hall, Anderson, Vazquez, Linebrink

 

C: Swisher (C-), Ramirez, Dotel, Thornton, Logan, Masset

 

D: Konerko, Uribe, O-Cab, Thome, Ozuna, Buerhle

 

F: MacDougal

 

INCOMPLETE: Wassermann

 

Based on what I thought of their chances coming in, those are the grades I'd give. I think Wassermann needs a few more outings, but if he continues to get bombed, then he fails and goes to AAA like MacD.

 

The good news is, I think Konerko, O-Cab, Swisher and MB are all likely to rebound. But some of the A's and B's may fall back a bit.

 

[Cochise]

I don't mean to rain on the parade, I'm as glad as anyone that we've won 6 in a row and we're on top of the division. I hope that most of these guys have turned a corner. We even got a win against Fat CC Sabathia. And I have been really satisfied with most facets of this team. The offense had a rough stretch there to begin the month of May. The pen has been good, thank God Mac the Knife (in the heart) was sent down. Dotel and Thornton have been on and off, but mostly on. And of course there has been the starting pitching, which has been a godsend, except for Buehrle, but we've been here before with him. I also partially blame his record and inflated ERA on shoddy defense behind him at times.

 

There are a few issues with this team that I fear Ozzie has been a bit too complacent about. Cabrera, Thome and Konerko, and Dye's defense. The folks at Sox Machine also have also raised these issues as well.

 

I don't know whats wrong with Thome and Paulie. I hate to see them struggling like this. It is also very frustrating. People have been calling for them to be benched or traded. I wouldn't trade either unless we are out of it come mid-July. Others have said that they are over the hill. I doubt that, as Thome put up team-leading numbers for the team last year in most offensive categories, and Paulie only turned 32 less than 3 months ago. I do think that Paulie needs to benched for a game. Or someone needs to realistically evaluate whats wrong with his hand. It seems like something has to be wrong. In the past 10 games, PK is 7 for 38 with 7 walks, 10 Ks, 1 RBI, and no extra-base hits. Keep in mind that it has been in the past 10 games that the offense has finally showed signs of life. If they're going to start in the same game, I'd like to see them separated in the lineup and not bat back-to-back. It has looked like since Thome's game winning single in the 9th last week against the Halos, that his lumber has risen from its slumber.

 

The next issue has been Cabrera at the top of the order. The guy has been atrocious. I thought that maybe he would start to hit after Sunday's 2 HR game. However he looked terrible tonight. 0-5 with 7 LOB. I feel like he is taking the Sox out of big innings way too often. Has anyone followed his career in more depth? Has he had slow starts like this before? If so, has he recovered? I know the Sox love his presence in the Clubhouse, and Ozzie refers to him as the field general. But we can't have this kind of play out of the guy all year. Especially when we're having troubles with Konerko and Thome's hitting.

 

Lastly, I have really been disgusted at times with Dye's play in RF at times. He had a nice diving catch the other night, but it seems like thats more of an exception than it is the rule as it had been when we first acquired the guy. I'd like to see how many runs he's cost us out there against how many he's saved. I'd be interested in seeing a corner outfield switch with the aging Dye-nosaur in LF and CQ in RF. Also, if we don't bring back Thome for next season, I could see JD at DH, though I don't know if he'd like that too much.

 

These are just some thoughts I've had about the first quarter of the season. Right now, after a 6 game winning streak, everything looks rosy, and if it ain't broke don't fix it. But being a Sox fan, its not hard to find the negative and hope for better. We are only 1.5 games ahead and we have yet to go more than 4 games over .500 since the end of the 2006 season. Just looking at things that could be improved. Right now I'll take every W we can get.