Chisoxfn

QUOTE(BearSox @ Apr 4, 2007 -> 08:32 PM) Have you not noticed everyone pulling open trying to hit the bomb? Instead of stepping into the pitch and driving it? And for 4 years since Walker has been the hitting coach, that problem has not been fixed. Yes, the hitters have to take some blame, but who's job is it to recognize this blatant faults and correct them? If you guessed Greg Walker, you guessed correct. Guys are going to guess wrong, they are going to fail. It happens to the best hitters 2 out of every 3 times and you'll see hitters all over baseball do this. Listen to Walker talk, he always says how he tries to get his guys to go opposite field because when you are doing that well it allows you to hone in and drive the ball when the pitcher does come in. And I'll say this: Konerko is a good opposite field hitter Jermaine Dye is a good opposite field hitter (best on our team) Guchi is a good opposite field hitter (although he'll have some days where his swing looks as bad, if not worse than Anderson's) Thome is a pull hitter in general, but he has power to all fields. He is what he is. Joe Crede has became a better opposite fielder each and every season under Walker Juan Uribe is a unique hitter who gets pull happy but he's been much better about than under Walker than prior hitting coaches (in the Rockies system) Pods is just a bad hitter (but Pods isn't exactly what I'd call pull happy) and AJP did a pretty good job most of last year going opposite field. So the way I see it is our guys have consistently improved under Walker and to me that is the sign of a good hitting coach.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Apr 4, 2007 -> 08:30 PM) Okay. Well, what happened was -- Michaels was backing up and fell. It was actually about three feet in front of the wall, and he caught it while falling backward into the wall and then Sizemore came over patting him as if he'd leapt 20feet into the air and robbed a monster shot. It was poor defense. He saved the play, but it was poor. I heard the ump initially called him safe which got me excited at work and than pissed. By the way, I just want to say Chris Singleton is better than Rooney or Farmer (he is real enjoyable to listen to, imo and brings a lot of knowledge of the game to the booth).

Someone want to update me on what is going on with Beas Hamgas and Iowa recruiting in general (I think tomorrow is the first day where our coaches can actually follow up and make calls into our recruits). I'm also curious to see if we can get any of Butler's 4 star commits (like Howard) to come to Iowa.

What an awesome game. This is the type of game you hang your hat on. The Bulls came into Detroit and beat the piss out of them and we did it without Noc, with a sick Tyrus Thomas, and obviously without Big Ben. Major props go out to Deng (who stepped up in the 2nd half), Hinrich (one of his best games of the season), Tyrus (monster game despite being sick), and of course Sefolosha. Oh PJ had a good game too. It is the second time we beat around the Pistons in Detroit (too bad the squad blew it the first time around).

I do what I can and yes I'm trying hard to get more college baseball discussion

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Apr 4, 2007 -> 08:28 PM) Michaels botched a routine flyout to the warning track. It wasn't spectacular by any means. Crede should've hit a damn single. Well I'll regress on the Crede play as I was basing my take on Ed Farmer's play by play while I was at work.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Apr 4, 2007 -> 08:21 PM) Just because the offense puts up good stats doesn't mean Greg Walker is the reason. Who else is there to blame for the inability of this offense to hit lefties or be able to go with the pitch. I'll admit, it isn't just Walker, but he is a big part of the problem. look at a team like the Twins. They teach simple hitting. Hit the ball where it is pitched. And don't go for the homerun, but try and make solid contact. That is what it seems like Joe Vavra and the rest of the Twins do. Someone needs to be accountable for this, and I blame Greg Walker. Even when he was down as the Knights hitting coach, he preached home runs. I find it funny how Kenny and Ozzie always say how they try and emmulate the Twins and Angels, but they have complete different coaches who have different philosophies. Or It could just be the fact that we have some really good lefties in our division. That would negatively effect our guys stats. It could also be the fact that we have a few lefties in key positions in our lineup that are going to naturally struggle against left handed pitching. It should also be noted that we have a righty in Iguchi that is just a terrible hitter against lefties (and he wasn't any better in Japan). That means we have Pods, Erstad, Anderson (whose just a terrible hitter at this stage regardless), Thome, AJP, & Iguchi (with all of those but one in the starting lineup often against lefties) meaning that over half of our lineup can't hit left handed pitching. Luckily Pablo will step in from time to time and he mashes lefties but we clearly are not a team built to destroy left handed pitching (albeit the offense is still capable of getting enough runs against lefties, but the pitching will also have to show up). Bottom line is that the players are to blame for the squad not being able to hit lefties and more specifically I think the strong left handed pitchers in our division are to blame. Lets remember we had teams that hammered left handed pitching when Magglio and Caballo were here. By the way, I'll take the Sox offense over the Twins any day. And should we blame the Twins hitting coach for Ortiz leaving Minny and becoming Big Papi? (No we shouldn't, since Papi was hurt in Minnesota, but he also said he wasn't able to drive the ball in Minnesota because there hitting coach wasn't a fan of that). And let me tell you a little secret, the reason the Sox hit so many homers is because we have a lot of power hitters on this squad (more so than any team not named the Yankees).

Has anyone's cable company started showing the xtra innings channels (or games) yet? Also there is the price for this year (if you sign up during the preview period).

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Apr 4, 2007 -> 08:10 PM) The twins also won by scoring 7 runs without a homer. Scrappy gap to gap hitting. Watch the final out of the sox game. We have men in scoring position, and Crede tries to lift and pull a pitch on the outter half. He is quoted as saying that with the wind he thought it was out. He was going for a dong, and we needed a single or a double. the minute our hitters figure out how to hit a single when we need it instead of trying to hit a 500 foot shot. We will be okay as a situational team. On our pitching staff, throw strikes. We need to do that. If we throw strike and get ahead we will be fine. He smoked the ball. I dont' see any reason why we should complain about that at bat and it took a solid play by Michaels to prevent the Sox from winning that game. Maybe we should notice how much better Crede has became under the tutilage of Walker. Or how Konerko has become such a better hitter or even the strides Uribe has made compared to his days in Colorado. Rowand improved when he was here (he was never amazing, but he improved under Walker). I don't understand the negativity, I've seen improvement in hitters when they come to Chicago and I think Walker deserves a lot of that credit. I can also tell you that Greg is one of the more well respected hitting coaches in baseball.

Cal State Fullerton is on the verge of hitting under .300 for only the third time in the history of our program. Oh and they are still the 13th ranked team in the country. The squad is extremely young and has suffered all kinds of injuries (our entire infield has broken a bone at some point this season) but is still battling and I think if they get healthy and gel they may very well be coming to Omaha to win it all!!!

Neither of them should be fired. Both are above average coaches at what they do in this league. Coop is probably the second best pitching coach in baseball and Walker would rank among the top 10 hitting coaches in all of baseball (if not higher). I've just came to realize Sox fans b**** and whine more than any other teams fan. And while I personally get tired of the negativity a lot of Sox fans show, I also realize they show that negativity out of love for there team and that love makes Sox fans some of the best in baseball. Heck, I can even tell you almost every team in baseball would love to have Ozzie as there manager or Kenny as the GM. I think a lot of people here should learn to enjoy what we have because even though I rip Ozzie from time to time (not near as badly as some do) we truly have one of the better front office/managerial combo's in sports (so do the Bears and Bulls for that matter).

QUOTE(Scwible @ Apr 4, 2007 -> 06:44 PM) for someone who has never gotten the MLB package through cable, how much does that bad boy cost? I remember thinking about it in years prior but don't recall the cost. The same as it cost via direct tv. Something like 139 when you signed up before the season and I think it goes up to like 159 or 169 afterwards. Thats less than a buck a Sox game and you get access to all the other games out there as well.

Best news of the decade...best news of the decade!!! Calling cable company now. I was told by Cox that it should be up by tomorrow and i'll have to call back than to sign up. Oh man, so f***ing awesome. The Sox were just waiting for all of us to get our MLB package before beginning there season

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Mar 31, 2007 -> 08:09 AM) BUMP. Arsenal got absolutely PUMPED tonight. Peter Crouch the "Anorexic Matchstick" scored a few, as the Gunners went down 4-1. Oh and West Ham are going to win 2 in a row, and might just have a chance of avoiding relegation. Oh and Carlos Tevez has adjusted to the EPL, and he's a damn good player. Damn good. The gunners have been struggling as of late. Crouch had a sick game though (hatrick).

Good news. And you never know, us being able to at least come in and talk to him after an offer is done could allow the team to come in and say hey we can't offer that much but he may be willing to stay if they come close to matching (kind of like how the Sox did it with Paulie).

ANd off it goes.

I'm working on it right now. The editing is taking a lot longer than I expected.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 11:33 PM) Has anyone caught any of the 'Planet Earth' series on the Discovery channel? I'm addicted. Ya, it is an awesome show. The footage looks so amazing in HD, its flat out ridiculous.

I am not a fan of baseball prospectus. In fact, I think it is one of the most over-rated publications out there.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 10:24 PM) While I agree its way too early to evaluate/critique guys on one appearance, tell me this Jas....how is it acceptable to have Masset and Aardsma come in with no ability to throw strikes, walk 4 guys in 5 IP, and justify either of them as making this team when the walks were the ONLY reason(besides some Ozzie hate, thats another issue) that Logan got optioned to AAA? I can't comment on the situation, but lets be honest, both Masset and Aardsma are more capable of throwing multiple innings than Logan. Logan is a reliever, Massett and Aardsma both have some experience throwing longer outings and to go with that with a young 5th starter my guess is the Sox felt it more valuable to carry a couple more guys that can go longer in case we have some starters struggle to go deep in a game. And I have long said our pen is going to have days where no one will throw strikes, I have no doubt about that.

QUOTE(shaneomacfan @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 05:25 PM) Agreed, this appears to be a very solid hire. I'll be interested to see how the assistants shake out because we obviously need some recruiting help. Does anyone know if this guy has a possible connection to Hamga? I'm cautiously optimistic on this one, but I think we got a good one. I was really excited to hear of this hire (thanks for the text heads). He's has connections in the midwest, is a very good coach, and is up and coming and is moving up to a conference that could help him continue to improve his resume. I'm real excited to have him, but more importantly I want to see Hamga and our real good recruiting class in a year come back and hopefully Lickliter will be able to do that. I'd think having the national coach of the year coming in would help a bit.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 06:36 PM) The person that told me that Masset was never going to be a good major league pitcher said he tops out at 96 mph, but he regularly is at 92-93 mph. According to scouts (just told this 5 minutes ago) who were following Gameday, the guns were a few mph high in nearly every game. If it makes people feel better, most pitchers velocity is down to start the season. They go through dead arm periods and are still building up arm strenght. There are certain guys that this obviously doesn't effect. John Lackey was barely hitting 89 tonight....Justin Speir was topping out at 90 (he throws in the mid 90's) and Lackey is usually consistent around 93 and than will ocassionally take a bit off or another MPH or 2. In some of the games I caught the final week of spring training a lot of starters velocities were down as well.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 02:53 PM) Actually, the worst case scenario is that the Sox keep pushing him out to mound. It would probably be better if he just broke down and ended up the DL. I know this will sound like hyperbole, but this was the first time I saw Contreras pitch this year and he looks done. Just like the end of last season, whatever problem he has with leg/back are preventing him from locating, and I've never seen his fastball so hittable. Considering he's upwards of 70 years old, I don't expect much improvement. His contract is going to be an albatross. Cripes, its one freaking start. Yes it was terrible but he looked healthy this spring showing good velocity and movement on his pitches. I slammed Jose more than anyone last year when he was struggling due to injuries (mainly because half of this board and almost all Sox fans kept calling him an ace just because of the way he started the season while they completely ignored how he tanked after being placed on the DL). However, lets make sure we realize one thing, Jose still has the best stuff of anyone on this staff (Vazquez a close 2nd) and we are going to need him to pitch. QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 05:43 PM) Masset was responsible for most of the damage. He, quite frankly, looked almost Boone-esque -- wide eyed and incapable of throwing strikes. Even if the radar gun was slightly off (as several within the thread indicated), Masset hardly looked impressive. Williams better hope either him or Danks fare well this season. If McCarthy pitches better than Danks, it won't be too pretty around here for Williams or his scouting department. They're already on notice in my mind after the seemingly unhealthy fascination with Floyd. Well since we are busy to write these guys off so fast, maybe we should also write off McCarthy who had an absolutely horrendous spring (he looked terrible in the Rangers spring game I watched in person as well). Come on flash, who are we to evaluate players based on there major league debut. I swear, we won't know too much about this squad till the end of May (unless of course we jump off to some amazing or absolutely horrendous start).

I like Altman and Iowa was supposed to be the job he was most willing to leave Creighton for. Too bad Barta is busy dicking around. I'm kind of puzzled as to where Iowa is going with this whole thing. And after reading Iowa message boards, I'm convinced we have some of the most delusional fans in the world.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 01:49 PM) Comcast sent out $50 vouchers for MLB.tv today. Just got mine in the mail. You got hosed. Cox is giving out 90 bucks. So is it official, no more Xtra Innings on cable? Or is there still breathing room?