greg775

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 03:14 AM) In my town, Little League worked like this (wasn't formally associated with LL, just called itself that): -There was a brief, one-day tryout in which every player who signed up was graded by each of the league's coaches. The combined scores were used to create a player ranking (only available to coaches and commissioner). -A draft was conducted, with each coach taking his or her own son in the round he was slotted. -Each team had 11-13 players, but rarely would a team both have 13 players and have 13 players present at any game. -Every player batted throughout the entire game. You'd have a 1-11 or 12 or 13 batting order, so no pinch hitting and all that. -Every player needed to play the field at least 3 innings of every 6 inning game. There may have been special exceptions for when you had 13 players there. The worst players got the least playing time, but usually the amount of kids not coming to games for whatever reason meant everyone got well above the minimum. I think most of the coaches also felt that it wasn't right to stash a kid on the bench, especially when the talent wasn't deep anyway. The worst player and the 6th worst player were both probably going to botch anything hit to left field. The time my dad coached me he had a brilliant strategy for those horribad players: teach them to bunt. First of all, even decent LL teams screw up bunts defensively. This also gave those kids a legitimate chance to contribute in important situations. And more often than not, for the kids who really did want to do well, this was a big confidence booster. If they bunted a "triple" they were suddenly taking big hacks in their next plate appearance instead of running out of the box or whatever they would normally do. The trick obviously is to make sure you don't send these poor kids up there with the instruction to bunt every single time because you want to give them the chance to get better. That all makes sense. Did any parents get mad if their kids had to bunt, though? I like your league's rule of letting everybody bat, but man in a six inning game nobody bats more than twice I bet. I do wanna say this about our Little League back in the day in Mt. Greenwood. It's funny you talk about kids missing games like it's expected and routine. In our LL, our serious coaches would discipline you if you missed a game or were late for a game. Yes disciplined Little Leaguers. Back in the day parents rarely went to our games and if they did go, they yelled at umps but not at coaches for some reason. I remember one year when I was 12, my final year of LL and third year of playing for the same coaches, my grandfather took me to two Cubs games in Chicago (my grandfather was a Cub fan and I preferred the Sox but agreed to go with him; hey it was MLB) the same week we had LL games. The first day Cub game, my grandfather got me to my LL game just in the nick of time to take fielding practice, etc. The coach was not pleased I was at a day Cubs game before our LL game instead of resting, but all was OK cause we won and I did OK. But then our next game we hit traffic and I was late for infield practice because of my grandfather taking me to the Cubs game again. The coach benched me but seeing a had a good attitude about it let me pinch hit and I scored the winning run. He yelled at me after the game and said if I was late again that was it. I'd be on the bench forever. Nowadays the coach would not be allowed to yell at me like that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 12:16 AM) Congrats on supporting a guy for telling it like it is, Greg. Well done. Good choice and I strongly support you guys nominating him. He said in his followup that McCain was a hero. He is denying saying anything bad. I already told u who was gonna win: HILLARY in a landslide.

I'm really down on Robin after today's game and this series. You guys that despise Ozzie ... he never would be this laid back in search of getting back in the race. Robin doesn't pitch Robertson. WTF with that? Four innings to Jennings? Robin basically conceded ANOTHER game. No urgency with this guy or this team. Letting Jennings pitch another inning was suicide for the White Sox team on Saturday. Robin also pitches Danks and Shark in the DH instead of Sale/Shark. No sense of urgency to tell the Royals "for once we are going to f***ing kick your ass." They save Sale for "another day." Very sad. This team has no competitiveness and it starts with Robin. You guys asked to get rid of one guy who would go down screaming/fighting/clawing if the Royals came to town and he was in charge: Ozwald Guillen!!!!

QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 02:26 PM) My first wife worked in radiology and I spent a lot of time around the ER. They had a unique, for internal consumption only, sense of humor. The first one I remember was perhaps the worst. "Pass the Bible, he's studying for the final". But when you are faced with serious cases all day long, grim reaper humor is perhaps one of the healthiest ways to cope. I don't think it ever affected the level of care a person received. They were so well trained and practiced that things kjust sort of kicked in and away they went. While non medical people would find this appalling, is it really much different than any other profession? Salespeople mock their customers at times. We mock each other at jobs. It's a part of many work places cultures. While your colon may be a special place to you, to the rest of the people in the room, you're just another asshole they have to deal with. Yeah, but when somebody is splitting you open you don't want them saying, "Can you believe this fatass? He needs to get on the treadmill" etc.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 03:15 PM) In my hometown I was playing ball at the Boys & Girls Club (the main host for this sort of thing in that area) when they decided to quit keeping score in basketball. Had nothing to do with hurting kids' feelings. It was the parents losing their god damned minds about every little thing when the games were played to win. That's actually a pretty good idea. Have the kids, at least the ones in leagues under the age of 12, just play what amounts to pick up games. You have officials but don't keep score. Play for two hours. The worst players could get in and no parent blames the poor kids who blow the lead. The parents then wouldn't be able to blame the coaches for anything cause there's no winner/loser. Do fun stuff like stop the game and have a couple kids do a layup drill and free throw extended drill. It really would shut up the parents. Some dopey dad would probably try to keep score and yell out which team was winning, but nobody would listen to that loudmouth. As long as there's no scoreboard, nobody will listen to any kook demanding there be a score. I like it at least until the kids hit their teen years. then u can turn on the scoreboard at 13. p.s.: Like you said, kids are smart though. When I was in Mt Greenwood Little League (ages 10-12), all the teams played their best players. There was no rule everybody had to play a certain amount of innings. If you stunk you might never get in a game. Just one team in the league, the Larks, let all the kids play equal innings/at bats, etc. That team routinely got blown out by ridiculous scores and their players (they had some good players who had to sit) were pitied more than laughed at by the kids on the other teams. The smart kids on our team wanted the best players to play. Our coaches did have a rule that in your final year, when u were 12, you played every game. The coaches trusted themselves to draft the right players (yes there were tryouts and a draft) and teach them the game to where they wouldn't embarrass themselves in their final year of LL (12).

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 11:33 PM) I'd start rotating him. Probably a good idea. Let him take some of Eaton and Avi's at bats. I may despise Melky, but at least he has had some multi hit games of late. Shuck is at least as good as Eaton IMO so he might as well take some of Eaton's at bats.

How can you not love Saladino? Great start in a Sox jersey. Keep it up, sir!

QUOTE (BigFinn @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 12:37 AM) Time to sell. The Sox needed to sweep the Royals. Now, the best they can do is 2–2. At best they'll be 11 back in the AL Central race. The Sox are 6 1/2 back in the wild card race. Amen, Finn. Just think if we make GOOD trades for Lexi, Shark, Robertson and LaRoche and Melky in the next 2 weeks. We're talking a very very nice re-tooling of our team. Go ahead and sign Shark this offseason if u like, but deal him now and get some bodies back for him! Saladino can play short as we wait for Anderson.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 11:17 PM) Horrible managing not having Dyson playing deeper Hey Fathom, I definitely hear what yu are saying and respect you. Here was Ned on the post game with his explanation however: He said the Royals never play "doubles depth" with their big three relievers in the 7th, 8th and 9th because they are so good. He says they always play shallow or normal depth. Now you could blast him for that and point to Ned being a clown, but he said it's an absolute. Now he might have to adjust if these relievers are becoming hittable in 2015, but that was his reasoning. He said they flat out have never played doubles depth with their star relievers on the mound because they are so filthy. Even if you disagree, pls answer: Do you think Gordon would have caught it regardless? QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 11:34 PM) Holland threw 0/8 pitches in the strike zone during that AB. Has anybody else noticed Holland does what Nate Jones does? He has that funky delivery where his arm is away from the body? The thing I always b**** about with Nate? QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 12:17 AM) Jennings is not a long reliever, what the f*** is Robin doing? No offense to Robin, but he's overmatched. I feel like he conceded another game today. Jennings with the longest outing of his career. Great outing but eventually he's gonna give up a run. Not pitching Robertson is a fireable offense (again). QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 12:20 AM) Well s***. How do you run out of pensmen? No offense, but we're talking about Robin here. QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 12:22 AM) You can blame management for this loss for having Emilio, Beckham, Gillaspie, Sanchez, Alexei, and Saladino all on the roster keeping one less pitcher in the bullpen. Excellent post! QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 12:30 AM) Good effort by the team today, tomorrow is just about the biggest game of the season if they want to avoid being broken up. I said we'd lose 3 or 4. There's no reason to believe otherwise. We're lucky we got one. Nice crisp 2-0 win by my boy, Danks! QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 01:00 AM) Sounds like Robertson is healthy, so no clue why he wasn't used. Our manager's name is Robin Ventura. Sorry to be a dick but he's not very good. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 01:36 AM) I think Robin didn't want to be in the situation where Robertson wasn't available tomorrow. If the Sox tied it again, I am sure he would have come in, he was loosening up when Cain homered, and then he sat down, It seems they are trying to get through this weekend so Carroll and/or Jones can be put on the roster. I think Hahn needs to do something for tomorrow's game. And that folks is our White Sox. Always playing for "tomorrow" or the next series or the next week. No sense of urgency. Greg wanted Sale/Shark in the DH to send a message, to sweep and kick some ass second half on to the WC. Instead ... gotta look down the line and rest Sale for Sunday and the second half. Well after Sunday, 3 of 4 losses, the second half is off to a rousingly bad start! Let's keep playing for the future though, not the present.

i wonder if Alex Gordon catches that liner. He probably is playing deeper. Maybe not. Shuck stroked a beautiful hit.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 10:10 PM) The great Ned Yost strikes again Nice two out rally. Shuck destroys Holland. What did I miss on Yost? What did he do wrong there? Holland always gets the ninth though Davis is probably the better pitcher now.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 10:50 PM) Who would he go to there? Webb? Robertson? They only have 6 guys in the pen for this series. Petricka didn't get the job done. That was the real problem. Webb. I'm really surprised Perez didn't gap one and end the game there.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 10:47 PM) Cain is so annoying. He's the reason the Royals are my least favorite team to play. He catches everything. As usual, the other team knows where to play our guys even our new guys. That's a bloop hit against Eaton in center.

Royals announcers status quo broadcast: Praise the Royals. Tout the upcoming homestand every other pitch. Mock the opponent. I tell you it's refreshing to have Hawk and Stoney. They don't resort to the boring cliche telecasts of praising their own team no matter what is happening on the field and cheap shots at the opposition while saying how to get tickets for the homestand.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 10:45 PM) They're allowed but annoying for the people around them I can see that with the water splashing off 'em. I'd head to a concourse with my umbrella.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 10:42 PM) People expect the Sox to lose with Sale going tomorrow? That's news to me. I considered one win out of 4 the best possible scenario for Sox this weekend.

Are umbrellas allowed at the ballpark? That'd suck IMO to get soaked while watching a game.

If the Sox lose 3 of 4 as most everybody expected, do the trades begin? Or not.

Little surprised Robin left in Duke to face Perez. He should have whacked a bases clearing double that would have turned it into a rout. Were no righties left besides Robertson? It was like Robin conceding this one again knowing we can't hit KC's back of the bullpen guys.

I feel sorry for Crain. He keeps having setbacks. His arm must really hurt. He should retire. Nothing's worth having a bum arm the rest of his life. Ptatc can this affect his pain quotient in his arm the rest of his life if he keeps trying to pitch?

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 09:28 PM) Petricka's had a very good year. Don't say that he doesn't do his job and s*** because of one outing. Not to be a dick, but it's inevitable anyway. We don't win games like this vs. KC.

What's with all the rain this summer?? Crazy s***. It seems like every Royals game in KC has had threat of a storm for about a month straight now.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 09:32 PM) I'm sorry but Tyler Flowers sucks. I can't believe how many posts I've seen in the past week or so saying catching isn't a gigantic problem. I don't care where we currently rank in terms of catcher OPS, because had you looked at the end of May we'd be near the bottom. Flowers had a good June where he finally hit some home runs and brought his overall offensive numbers to respectability, but anyone thinking this was anything but a hot streak will be fooling themselves. We saw the same thing last year, wait until the end of the season and the numbers will be garbage as usual. We're stuck with him for now, but Hahn definitely needs to find a better starting catcher than Flowrrs before next season. Sox pitchers getting beat up pretty good today. Flowers isn't that bad, folks. He is average. He is what he is. There are a lot of terrible catchers out there.

Sox still only got 3 runs off Guthrie. Not enough on a day Fathom could have hit a double off Guthrie.

Great at bats by many players. You know it's going bad (LaRoche) when you pop it up against this stiff Guthrie (Chen).