2010 AL Central Catch-All

[chw42]

The two games I followed on-line, most of his fastballs were 90-92. Maybe they were two seam sinkers, not sure what was up, but before all of his injuries, when he first came up with Seattle, he was at 94-98 consistently.

 

I never have once said anywhere at SoxTalk that Rauch was even a "good" closer. Where did that come from?

 

Yes, Soriano, if healthy, is much better than Rauch. The question has always been about his durability.

 

I've also seen those three adjectives used to describe Jon Adkins, Arnie Munoz's curveball, Gio's curveball, Felix Diaz, Lorenzo Barcelo, Nick Masset, Sisco, etc.

 

Soriano's avg fastball velocity is 93.3 this year. It was 93.3 last year and it's on par with what he did when he started his career with Seattle.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Yeah but they're getting it done on a daily basis so far. Not too many people were overly impressed with the rotation of Buehrle, Garland, Conteras, and Garcia heading into the 2005 season.

 

Did caufield hack into your account? You're trying a little too hard to pimp the Twins. Now you're using the 2005 White Sox as a source for comparison?

[BigSqwert]

Did caufield hack into your account? You're trying a little too hard to pimp the Twins. Now you're using the 2005 White Sox as a source for comparison?

You're right. They're a complete fluke and will be lucky to win 85 games this year.

[Jordan4life_2007]

You're right. They're a complete fluke and will be lucky to win 85 games this year.

 

Didn't say that. But I'm not comparing them to a team that won 99 games then went 11-1 in October to win the World Series.

[BigSqwert]

Didn't say that. But I'm not comparing them to a team that won 99 games then went 11-1 in October to win the World Series.

I really didn't do that either. Was it not fair to say that our rotation on paper wasn't overly impressing anyone before the 2005 season? Where people clamoring all over the place saying that we had a World Series caliber pitching rotation? If so, I must have missed it.

[caulfield12]

I am a master computer hacker.

 

I was hired by the Twins to demoralize the Sox fanbase and beat them into submission, allowing for a decades-long dynasty of Twins' domination.

[BigSqwert]

You damn piranha.

[Jordan4life_2007]

I really didn't do that either. Was it not fair to say that our rotation on paper wasn't overly impressing anyone before the 2005 season? Where people clamoring all over the place saying that we had a World Series caliber pitching rotation? If so, I must have missed it.

 

No, it's not really fair. The Sox are never a sexy preseason pick anyway. But most who knew anything about the club knew that SP was a potential strength. Did anybody know they would be THAT good? Of course not. You can't predict s*** like that.

[BigSqwert]

No, it's not really fair. The Sox are never a sexy preseason pick anyway. But most who knew anything about the club knew that SP was a potential strength. Did anybody know they would be THAT good? Of course not. You can't predict s*** like that.

But you can somehow predict that Minnesota's will ultimately fail this year.

[Jordan4life_2007]

But you can somehow predict that Minnesota's will ultimately fail this year.

 

If saying the Twins are not as good as NY and Tampa is saying they're certain to fail then so be it.

[BigSqwert]

If saying the Twins are not as good as NY and Tampa is saying they're certain to fail then so be it.

On paper our SP didn't look the most formidable going into 2005. Sometimes the numbers on paper doesn't translate to results. You should know that being a fan of the 2010 White Sox.

[caulfield12]

Breaking news. That 2005 White Sox rotation was expected to be stronger than this years' Minnesota starting 5.

 

Buerhle over Liriano=nobody expected Francisco, before Winter Ball, to even be on the roster or in the rotation, and 3 months ago he was being talked about as a potential closer after Nathan suffered his injury

 

Garcia over Baker....Garcia already had a reputation as one of the best big-game pitchers in MLB, and he was throwing 91-95 still at that point.

 

Contreras over Blackburn....toss-up, nobody could have predicted the break-out success of Jose but Cooper/Ozzie/KW, but the ability was certainly always there to be an ace, versus Blackburn, who's more of a 3/4 type of pitcher and always will be

 

Garland over Slowey...toss up, but Garland also was loved by scouts since his Cubs' days, especially his infamous 2 seam sinker

 

El Duque/McCarthy over Pavano...

 

Every one of our 2005 starters was expected to be better than what the Twins are running out there. Now obviously, Liriano and Buehrle can be flipped based on what they've done so far this season, but NOBODY would have predicted Liriano to be close to 2006 form. Buehrle falling off a bit, that wasn't totally unseen, most had him around a 3.75-4.25 season ERA.

 

[LittleHurt05]

In other news, the best team in the history of baseball was shut out by Brad Bergesen tonight.

[witesoxfan]

Yeah but they're getting it done on a daily basis so far. Not too many people were overly impressed with the rotation of Buehrle, Garland, Conteras, and Garcia heading into the 2005 season.

 

Contreras had an ERA of somewhere around 2 in his final 8 starts in the regular season (all of which he had won). Teams had virtually no shot against him. Buehrle had solid velocity and has always been a fantastic pitcher, regardless of his "stuff." Freddy Garcia's stuff looked good and he was coming off a very solid season. Jon Garland was coming off the best season of his career with an ERA around 3.50, and he was the #4 starter.

 

People that weren't overly impressed with the White Sox pitching staff heading into the postseason were generally talking out of their ass.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Contreras had an ERA of somewhere around 2 in his final 8 starts in the regular season (all of which he had won). Teams had virtually no shot against him. Buehrle had solid velocity and has always been a fantastic pitcher, regardless of his "stuff." Freddy Garcia's stuff looked good and he was coming off a very solid season. Jon Garland was coming off the best season of his career with an ERA around 3.50, and he was the #4 starter.

 

People that weren't overly impressed with the White Sox pitching staff heading into the postseason were generally talking out of their ass.

 

To be fair, he did say going into the 2005 season. Not postseason. Still not a good comparison. I mean the Rangers are third or fourth in the AL in team ERA. Are we gonna channel the '05 White Sox for them, too?

[Balta1701]

Now THIS is how you rant.

 

[flavum]

Target Field's first rainout for tonight's game.

[caulfield12]

First rainout in 30 years in Minnesota.

 

Tigers just beating the S--T out of the Indians. They've won 9 in a row in that series.

Miguel Cabrera (KW should have gone after him, this was his last/bench chance coming off the alcohol problems) continues to just rake.

 

.377, 8 homers, 32 RBI's, 1.138 OPS.

 

Grady Sizemore still doesn't have a homer at this point in the season and is mired in the .220's. Austin Kearns, arguably, is the second best player on the Injuns after Choo.

 

AND, ON CUE, Sizemore's first homer since August 27th leaves the Indians trailing the Tiggers 3-1 still.

 

STRANGE FACT OF DAY: Tigers are last in AL defense, but have only given up 6 unearned runs. Indians are 4th in AL defense, but have allowed an atrocious/egregious 24 unearned runs.

Edited May 7, 2010 by caulfield12

[flavum]

One positive of the rainout--the Twins can't pitch Liriano next Wednesday against the Sox. There was a chance he would have, had he started tonight.

[witesoxfan]

Miguel Cabrera (KW should have gone after him, this was his last/bench chance coming off the alcohol problems) continues to just rake.

 

The Tigers were never going to move Miguel Cabrera, and they were assuredly never going to move him within the division.

[Balta1701]

The Tigers were never going to move Miguel Cabrera, and they were assuredly never going to move him within the division.

And yeah...they weren't moving him for Hudson + Flowers.

[caulfield12]

Liriano already has a 2-0 lead on a Morneau homer.

 

We could be anywhere from 6-9 games back at the end of play today. Nine would be ugly, but KW (and the attendance/apathy) might get the message, 9 GB would be enough to spur some kind of action...ANYTHING...to shake this team out of the doldrums.

Edited May 8, 2010 by caulfield12

[Balta1701]

Liriano already has a 2-0 lead on a Morneau homer.

 

We could be anywhere from 6-9 games back at the end of play today. Nine would be ugly, but KW (and the attendance/apathy) might get the message, 9 GB would be enough to spur some kind of action...ANYTHING...to shake this team out of the doldrums.

And now Liriano is losing 4-2.

 

Interesting note...Kubel is playing LF today and Thome is at DH. I could have swore that before the season some people were saying that would never happen.

[flavum]

Bad start for Liriano.

 

6 innings, 10 hits, 5 runs

 

5-3 O's, top 7

[caulfield12]

6-3 now.

 

I guess Liriano is human after all. The first time the Twins have lost the first two games (knock on wood) of a series this year.

 

But we still have to take advantage of it.

 

Then again, the Twins just got a base hit and they're never out of any game 100%, especially at home.