And that's a Corpse Ball loser!!

[BearSox]

Hopefully my fears of a sophomore slump for Ramirez don't become true. He's struggling now, but hopefully his bat will heat up with the weather. I think pitchers have made adjustments against him though, so lets see if Ramirez can make adjustments of his own.

[Balta1701]

Hopefully my fears of a sophomore slump for Ramirez don't become true. He's struggling now, but hopefully his bat will heat up with the weather. I think pitchers have made adjustments against him though, so lets see if Ramirez can make adjustments of his own.

Last year, no one made better adjustments to pitchers than Alexei IMO. Every time it seemed like something new was tried against him, he'd have 2 bad games and then go on a hitting streak again.

[BearSox]

That very well could be. I'm still not convinced that Danks or Floyd can repeat what they did last year (although I'd love for them to prove me wrong). And it's tough to imagine Quentin putting up MVP-caliber numbers again. Out of those four, I'd say that Alexei has the best chance of improving.

 

Of course, most of this is an illogical gut feeling on my part, so who knows.

 

I think Quentin will have a very mediocre year. If anything, hopefully his bat will start to come around after the break. Wrist injuries are a b****. I know it's kind of looking ahead, but I can see a huge 2010 for Quentin.

 

As for Danks, it seemed to me he was using his curve a lot more and a lot more effectively. I think he might actually improve the most.

[RockRaines]

I think that everyone is making too much of the opening series of the year. The guys are pressing too much in their at bats and are out in front of breaking balls and underneath good fastballs. They will relax. I suggest everyone stops predicting doom for the really good hitters on this team like Q, Dye, Alexei etc. They will all be fine.

[LVSoxFan]

I think we need to stop the hand-wringing about Alexi. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't everybody deriding the "Cuban Missle" this time last year because he couldn't hit anything?

 

By the end of the season he was The Man, cranking grand slams out to save our playoff hopes.

 

I think it's a cold weather thing with him.

[Steve9347]

I think that everyone is making too much of the opening series of the year. The guys are pressing too much in their at bats and are out in front of breaking balls and underneath good fastballs. They will relax. I suggest everyone stops predicting doom for the really good hitters on this team like Q, Dye, Alexei etc. They will all be fine.

 

[RockRaines]

I think we need to stop the hand-wringing about Alexi. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't everybody deriding the "Cuban Missle" this time last year because he couldn't hit anything?

 

By the end of the season he was The Man, cranking grand slams out to save our playoff hopes.

 

I think it's a cold weather thing with him.

He's very aggressive and eager to hit. He looks 100% the same as he did in the first series last year.

[BearSox]

I think we need to stop the hand-wringing about Alexi. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't everybody deriding the "Cuban Missle" this time last year because he couldn't hit anything?

 

By the end of the season he was The Man, cranking grand slams out to save our playoff hopes.

 

I think it's a cold weather thing with him.

I don't think all the fears for Quentin and Ramirez are coming from this series, but rather just whats bound to happen. Sophomore slumps are not uncommon, and wrist injuries are a b****.

 

I've had my fairs about Quentin and Ramirez since before spring. These games haven't done anything to calm my fears, but it's still very early.

[stretchstretch]

It's tough to watch Corpseball. But you have to believe that this lineup will start hitting more consistently. And the pitching as been outstanding so far. If Contreras and Linebrink can stay healthy this season (not likely, I know), this could be a very competitive team.

 

 

right, remember how PK was going to come around by summer last year when the weather warmed up?.......we'll see how much the hand injury was "the issue" last year.

[Melissa1334]

I think Beckham might end up being a pretty decent leadoff hitter. Hits for average and gets on base, has some power, and has a little speed. I wonder if we didn't try too hard to acquire someone like Coco Crisp because of this?

no. the reason we didnt get him is bcuz hes making almost 6mil dollars. thats what makes me mad. that kw said that there were no leadoff hitters available. yes there were but theyre cutting payroll. is crisp worth 6mil? no but we really needed a cf and is taveras great? no but hes 10x better than what we have. but him too would of cost a few mil. not only does does not having a legit cf affect our defense but it affects the lineup bcuz theres no one getting on base up there and now were putting getz in a spot were he shouldnt be.

 

[SoxFan562004]

the Royals pitchers pitched well, but the Sox should have generated more than 1 run the last two games.

[qwerty]

right, remember how PK was going to come around by summer last year when the weather warmed up?.......we'll see how much the hand injury was "the issue" last year.

 

Since there is technically no official date of summer (most like to set the date around the 15th-20th of june) we can come up with the next best thing. From june 15th until july 13th he was out injured. Once konerko came back he only went on to put up a .910 ops in his remaining 54 games.

[RockRaines]

Since there is technically no official date of summer (most like to set the date around the 15th-20th of june) we can come up with the next best thing. From june 15th until july 13th he was out injured. Once konerko came back he only went on to put up a .910 ops in his remaining 54 games.

pwned

[The Ginger Kid]

I'm delighted with the pitching so far, starting and relief. Dotel...friggin awesome today. And Thornton played superhero pulling mcdougal's ass out of a jam. Bobby got his bad outing out of the way early, that's fine. Could've been worse, actually. And Buehrle's start, tho shaky, was a classic case of bend don't break.

 

Sadly, I've grown accustomed to slow starts from this offense. It is what it is. But pitching shall set us free...

[Frankensteiner]

IIRC, our offense was also pretty corpse-y last April and May when we were all b****ing about the number of great starts going to waste. It pretty much looks like the same team from last season, and since the division is still horrid, I'm not really worried about our chances.

 

This softball offense will get it going from June to August, and then stay on schedule for their annual September nosedive.

 

I can no longer criticize at any of the players because their limitations are clearly documented but Williams should absolutely be held accountable.

[Balta1701]

This softball offense will get it going from June to August, and then stay on schedule for their annual September nosedive.

 

I can no longer criticize at any of the players because their limitations are clearly documented but Williams should absolutely be held accountable.

He should be held accountable for building a team that won the AL Central last year? How, with another contract extension?

[stretchstretch]

On another note, yes: I too have noticed the bad team habit of taking fastballs straight down the pipe--that seem like cookies--yet swinging wildly at first pitch breaking balls and other junk. Ouch. Seen enough of that the last two years. Does Walker not see this?

 

Watching PK take 90MPH first strikes right down the middle is just painful, it almost always results in a K, ground out (usually a DP), or shallow popup. I'd rather take the WS game 2 approach in getting the GSlam, first pitch down the middle, drive the F*cker.......

[Dick Allen]

I think those who think Quentin will be hurt by his injury this year are mistaken. He will be fine, he had a hairline fracture and most likely is 100% right now. As for those who think Ozzie made a mistake by using Jenks in a non-save situation, when the game went to the top of the 9th tied, there was no save situation any more for the White Sox. If anything, using your best pitcher out of the bullpen seems to make sense in a tie game. The notion of not using your closer in a non save situation means you would be a pitcher short if you are the home team if the game goes extra innings, and leaves you with a lesser pitcher pitching the 9th.

[qwerty]

I think those who think Quentin will be hurt by his injury this year are mistaken. He will be fine, he had a hairline fracture and most likely is 100% right now. As for those who think Ozzie made a mistake by using Jenks in a non-save situation, when the game went to the top of the 9th tied, there was no save situation any more for the White Sox. If anything, using your best pitcher out of the bullpen seems to make sense in a tie game. The notion of not using your closer in a non save situation means you would be a pitcher short if you are the home team if the game goes extra innings, and leaves you with a lesser pitcher pitching the 9th.

 

His bat speed is slower than it has ever been, it is very noticeable. He was very good last season at not going around on tough pitches, easily one of the better players around the majors in that aspect. A lot of strength also comes from the wrist, not just a players bat speed. The only explanation to me would his injury still bothers him, but to what degree, I don't have a clue. I would say he is 80-85 percent there, i mentioned yesterday that i expect anywhere from a .850 to .880 ops out of him this season, hopefully i am wrong though, for the better of course.

[Y2HH]

This is the same feast or famine built offense we jettisoned after 2004 (Magglio, Lee, Valentine, Thomas, etc.) where we went with more defense/speed in 05, won the World Series, and gradually returned to that same offense, some due to age (Dye has slowed considerably), injuries, etc. My point is, we are right back where we started in 2004. Station to station softball where we will go through spurts of scoring 4-5 runs in 3 games, and then we'll score 15 runs in 1 game, even though scoring 2 would have sufficed.

 

I know it's only been three games, and I do hope they proove me wrong/dumb, but I see no consistency coming from this team. We will either rake, or we will do #@$!.

[Balta1701]

This is the same feast or famine built offense we jettisoned after 2004 (Magglio, Lee, Valentine, Thomas, etc.) where we went with more defense/speed in 05, won the World Series, and gradually returned to that same offense, some due to age (Dye has slowed considerably), injuries, etc. My point is, we are right back where we started in 2004. Station to station softball where we will go through spurts of scoring 4-5 runs in 3 games, and then we'll score 15 runs in 1 game, even though scoring 2 would have sufficed.

 

I know it's only been three games, and I do hope they proove me wrong/dumb, but I see no consistency coming from this team. We will either rake, or we will do #@$!.

If we can pitch, we can still win a lot of games this way.

[jenksycat]

This is the same feast or famine built offense we jettisoned after 2004 (Magglio, Lee, Valentine, Thomas, etc.) where we went with more defense/speed in 05, won the World Series, and gradually returned to that same offense, some due to age (Dye has slowed considerably), injuries, etc. My point is, we are right back where we started in 2004. Station to station softball where we will go through spurts of scoring 4-5 runs in 3 games, and then we'll score 15 runs in 1 game, even though scoring 2 would have sufficed.

 

I know it's only been three games, and I do hope they proove me wrong/dumb, but I see no consistency coming from this team. We will either rake, or we will do #@$!.

 

Everybody says this s***...and I just don't see it. How was '05 different from '09 speed lineup wise?

 

2005 Speed/non slow - LF, CF, 2b

 

2009 Speed/non slow - LF, CF, 2b, SS, 3b

 

Fields is faster than Crede - 09

Xei is faster than Uribe - 09

Getz is faster than Gooch - 09

Wise/Anderson is faster than Rowand - 09

Pods was faster than TCQ - 05

Thome vs. Everett/Hurt = wash

AJP, Dye, PK were never "fast"

 

Those don't add up to us being "slower" this year.

 

We won the WS in 2005 because of pitching....thats all there is to it, Pods/Rowands "grindyness" did not win us a ring. We hit homeruns and our pitching shut everybody the f*** down, simple as that. People need to stop romanticizing that we were winning every game with a god damn bunt, steal, and suicide squeeze.....it did not happen like that.

[RockRaines]

His bat speed is slower than it has ever been, it is very noticeable.

I disagree, I think his bat speed is perfectly fine, in fact at times he is a little too quick through the zone. He needs to wait on the pitch a bit more IMO.

 

And BTW, I know you havent seen him hit at every level since he was drafted so the "ever has been" is a pretty bad generalization.

Edited April 10, 2009 by RockRaines

[RockRaines]

Everybody says this s***...and I just don't see it. How was '05 different from '09 speed lineup wise?

 

2005 Speed/non slow - LF, CF, 2b

 

2009 Speed/non slow - LF, CF, 2b, SS, 3b

 

Fields is faster than Crede - 09

Xei is faster than Uribe - 09

Getz is faster than Gooch - 09

Wise/Anderson is faster than Rowand - 09

Pods was faster than TCQ - 05

Thome vs. Everett/Hurt = wash

AJP, Dye, PK were never "fast"

 

Those don't add up to us being "slower" this year.

 

We won the WS in 2005 because of pitching....thats all there is to it, Pods/Rowands "grindyness" did not win us a ring. We hit homeruns and our pitching shut everybody the f*** down, simple as that. People need to stop romanticizing that we were winning every game with a god damn bunt, steal, and suicide squeeze.....it did not happen like that.

More than half our lineup has speed yet people are still calling us "slow." Its a bad cop out by people that are just frustrated with 2 of the probably 60+ losses we will have this season.

[Y2HH]

Everybody says this s***...and I just don't see it. How was '05 different from '09 speed lineup wise?

 

2005 Speed/non slow - LF, CF, 2b

 

2009 Speed/non slow - LF, CF, 2b, SS, 3b

 

Fields is faster than Crede - 09

Xei is faster than Uribe - 09

Getz is faster than Gooch - 09

Wise/Anderson is faster than Rowand - 09

Pods was faster than TCQ - 05

Thome vs. Everett/Hurt = wash

AJP, Dye, PK were never "fast"

 

Those don't add up to us being "slower" this year.

 

We won the WS in 2005 because of pitching....thats all there is to it, Pods/Rowands "grindyness" did not win us a ring. We hit homeruns and our pitching shut everybody the f*** down, simple as that. People need to stop romanticizing that we were winning every game with a god damn bunt, steal, and suicide squeeze.....it did not happen like that.

 

It's not just a speed thing -- but a type of hitter thing. The point is, in 2005, we didn't *have* to hit HR's to win...on the days the HR's didn't come, we found ways to score with singles, steals, SUCCESSFUL sac bunts, etc....we aren't doing that now, we didn't do it last year, and when we do it now it's by accident because this team lacks fundamentals at the plate. Maybe that's how people see it this way. And the biggest way we were different in terms of speed in 05, was Pods was on base a LOT, and he was causing havok to opposing pitchers who were worrying more about him stealing than making a good pitch. We have "some" speed on the team now, but we have no downright scary speed. And Gooch was pretty fast, he stole some bases, but most of all...he knew how to adapt to hit #2 -- and he did it very well. I really don't know how you could question any of this. In 05 we had a legit #1 #2. We haven't since.

 

And this whole list of yours is meaningless: Everyone from 05 still on this team is 4 years older than they were in 05, everyone is now 4 years slower. And none of us saying this are even comparing position to position speed based on 05 vs 09 -- it's just an OLD slow team now for the entire middle of the base clogging order.

 

Pods alone makes the 05 team faster than this entire team combined.

 

Yes, pitching won for us in 05, so did timely hitting, laying down the bunt when we needed it, and getting the big HR when it mattered. Right now the only thing we can rely on is getting the HR, because we can't bunt, we can't steal...and no opposing pitcher is afraid of us doing so.