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**White Sox vs. Rays** 5/31 Game Thread


Brian

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Anytime these guys wanna blow the dust off their bats...fine by me. Geez. It's so painfully obvious that Swisher has ZERO confidence standing at the plate...he just looks lost and trying NOT to fail. I feel bad for him...but he just needs a few days off as most on here have said.

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Swisher looked good the past couple games (didn't see yesterdays). I should say good is a relative term and means it looked like he was coming out of his funk as he was hitting the ball with some authority and had a much less severe upper cut in his swing. I have faith in him coming out of this but there is no denying that he has been every bit as bad as Thome/Konerko. The only bright spot is that he's actually been surprising defensively in CF.

 

Still, aside from giving him a couple days off (and that really depends on what Walker/Ozzie are seeing, if they are working on certain things with him (Walker to a greater extent) and that he feels its progressing nicely and he's getting closer, I say keep him out there; if he's back in a rut, than give him a couple days off where Walk is just spending s***loads of time with him, in addition time for Swisher to just completely relax. But you can't just bench this guy and you can't compare this situation to Brian Anderson's situation. Swisher has a track record which includes major league success where as Anderson never did. Anderson also wasn't getting on base at a semi respectable clip (and no, that doesn't make me feel any better either, becase we all know that I like an OPB which is driven by a decent extent by AVERAGE (guys need to hit to be good offensive players, not just walk and hit the ocassional homer).

 

If you want to compare this to anything, compare it to Konerko randomly having that one season where he sucked horrificly and everyone thought randomly that his career ended (that season was a total outlier but I remember how scared to death everyone was cause he had just signed that contract and he was so god-awful; hell, even as bad as he was that year, I think Swisher/Paulie/Thome have been even worse this year (god they have sucked). At least Paulie has the hand as an excuse (and he's been driving the ball well since his shot, which is a good sign, even though the hits haven't necessarily consistantly fell) and Thome seems to at least be going the other way more.

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Seeing as lefties are hiting .100 off Kazmir, nice line-up. I still thought we'd see Thome.

 

I can see Ramirez hanging around that number 2 hole for a bit if he has any succcess.

 

Still think Kazmir steps it up and Javy has scuffled a little.

 

6-1 Rays

 

Also Swisher to 9...ouch.

Edited by Jenks Heat
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That lineup is a-ok with me. Nice to see Swisher further down in the lineup. I also like the idea of Ramirez in the two spot for the time being. I also agree with those that say Swisher should eventually fit into the 2 spot in the lineup (but that shouldn't be until he starts hitting a respectable rate for an extended period of time).

 

I am starting to really sour on Swisher long-term. I thought he was a guy who was really hampered by playing in Oakland that would get better coming to a smaller park (he seemed to have a good swing and I figured he'd get his average into the .270 range, with 30 HR's and a 400 OBP) but the reality is when need be teams seem to have a good book on him (hence why he's never been a good career hitter with RISP and while RISP is a fluky stat on a year to year basis, when measured more long term I think its a semi-accurate matter of how you do when a pitcher is 100% focused on getting you out).

 

Swisher has a very good contract and I still have very few complaints about the trade (namely because I couldn't see Swishers struggles coming nor could anyone else, plus he had a tremendous contract given his production and he appeared to be a guy entering his prime). Obviously he can still turn into all of those things because its not like his god given ability has dissapeared, but long term, I don't know if he is anything other than a poor man version of Adam Dunn (obviously he has a good attitude and is better defensively than Dunn, but Dunn at least slug).

 

I'd put Swisher on my list of guys I'd like the Sox to go away from (this list includes two other Sox players: Jim Thome/Paul Konerko). I still like Konerko/Thome on the right team, just as Swisher is a good fit on the right team, but I'd prefer more guys in the Jermaine Dye mold of hitting (obviously thats easier said than done).

 

Still with all the concerns I expect Swisher/Thome/Paulie to all play much better than they have and that will give a significant boost to the offense. Hopefully Kenny has realized that having too many pure sluggers makes a team susceptible to extended slumps (just like having a team purely reliant on speed can make you susceptible to slumps as well, and truly the best offenses are well balanced with a few sluggers, but those sluggers typically are solid average hitters). I think we'll see some more changes this off-season (again with an idea of getting younger and more athletic and recently that seems to be Kenny's MO, which is GOOD) offensively and that is regardless of the outcome of this season (because despite saying all this, I fully believe the Sox are capable of winning the division, although if I were a betting man, I'd put money on the Sox younger arms fatiguing down the stretch and the team falling a bit short in August/September because of it).

 

Either way I'm very pleased with the amount of change we've seen to this lineup since the ASB of last season (Kenny has brought in some good young talent despite having a very poor farm system to rely on).

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QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 31, 2008 -> 03:47 PM)
Either way I'm very pleased with the amount of change we've seen to this lineup since the ASB of last season (Kenny has brought in some good young talent despite having a very poor farm system to rely on).

 

Is it raining by you today? What is with the 500 word posts? This is like the third one.

 

:D

 

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QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ May 31, 2008 -> 09:50 PM)
Is it raining by you today? What is with the 500 word posts? This is like the third one.

 

:D

 

He's watching the Miami freshman and pondering how we can get a top pick in the 2010 draft.

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QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ May 31, 2008 -> 12:50 PM)
Is it raining by you today? What is with the 500 word posts? This is like the third one.

 

:D

I'm studying for my CPA exam and clearly I'm getting bored (I'm spending more time watching the Miami-Mizzu game and posting on here, LOL).

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