CWSGuy406

This is a joke. Our hitters, outside of Podsednik's dumb (butt) and Mackowiak, have done a pretty good job of battling against arguably the best starter since the ASB, and Freddy is giving this team absolutely NOTHING. Get BMac warming, NOW.

Fathom, I honestly don't care how "hard" Podsednik was going. He had a leadoff double. Against a sinkerballer. The absolute PERFECT chance to "get him over", and get him in. It would take away some of the momentum of Mackowiak's antics in CF. 2-0. This is a f***ing joke. I'm on the brink right now. Seriously.

Hawk... IT'S NOT THE UMPS FAULT THAT PODSEDNIK IS A f***ING DUMBASS. I never played baseball past pinto, and even I f***ING KNOW YOU CAN NEVER MAKE THE FIRST OUT AT THIRD. IT SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THAT CLOSE!!!!

I don't know which Sanchez they're talking about here: But he looks pretty appealing, considering we have practically nothing up the middle w/r/t MIF prospects. They don't mention how well he can hit, but being so young at 22 is a big plus. Of course, I'm of the camp that they should be a top bidder for Guerriel if and when he defects.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 08:47 PM) Yeah...I see absolutely nothing wrong with what you posted in that. The people that didn't have some type of superstition were probably the people who went to bed after the 11th inning of Game 3. I gave up on Game 3. I didn't turn it off, but after we got down 4-0 to Oswalt, I thought we were toast. I think the biggest emotional swing for me was Game 3 of the ALDS. I couldn't scream any louder at Ozzie for putting Marte in the ballgame, and even when he put El Duque in over any of our other bullpen arms. And we all know how that turned out...

FWIW, when talking about fans of other teams... -The Red Sox fans are going through as rough a time as we've been going through. I mean, think about it. They were in first place all year, but they could never stretch their lead, even while the Yanks were sending out Andy Phillips and Miguel Cairo and Melky Cabrera and Bubba Crosby and Sidney Ponson. Trade deadline comes, the Yanks basically steal one of the best OBP guys in the league, as well as Craig Wilson who is solid in his own right. They just lost two out of three to Tampa Bay, and have lost six out of their last ten, while the Yanks have won eight out of their last ten. -Well... you can't even come CLOSE to comparing the misery that Sox fans (red or white) are going through to the misery that Twin fans are going through. You talk about a fanbase that is 'down'... They just got their ass beat, again, by the Tigers, and their future in Liriano said the two words you NEVER want to hear from a pitcher; "elbow pain". At this point in time, you have three teams playing bad bad baseball (or, in the Twins case, a team that has to be pretty crushed emotionally and banged up physically). And, unless Toronto or somebody else plays outstanding baseball down the stretch, the truth of it is, one of the above three will make the playoffs. With Liriano down, I think our chances of winning the WC are as good as the Red Sox's.

My guess is that the we'll probably find out something more important about Sloan/Seth Green, and that the whole fight wasn't the end of it. On another note, was the multiple scenes with Ari at the blackjack tables the funniest parts of the whole season? IMO they rank right up there...

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 04:30 AM) About once every series, you will see two Sox fielders not communicate well and almost knock each other over. You bring up a good point about our team speed. I think some changes might have to be made to add more speed if possible. SS could be a position where we could upgrade our speed for next season. I will? Again, I don't recall that happening too much this season, other than the Dye/Iguchi incident, and Crede/Pierzynski almost colliding -- which, again, was Garcia's fault, for not directing traffic. I don't really care about team speed. Our offense is the best we've had in quite a long time. Removing Uribe makes our defense go from slightly above average to just average. The only change I would really want is a new LFer who can make good reads on the ball, and who can hit a little bit. And if Kenny really wants to improve the defense, try grabbing Orlando Hudson from 'Zona (if Gourriel isn't on the radar/doesn't defect). This team, IMO, doesn't make any more stupid baserunning plays than the average one. We all know the problem with this team. In a way, it's a testament to the way Kenny constructed his roster, that it could be 20 games over while having four starters with ERAs hovering or above 5.00.

Podsednik's OBP is now under .340, FWIW. (I'm doing this for the reason that he usually makes me shove it when I post something like this.)

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 03:14 AM) His big mouth. This team is very poorly coached. They're terrible at running the bases, they don't communicate well (how many times do we see the fielders nearly collide, the balk tonight was another example too), and can't execute bunts at all. Oh come on, Fathom. As a person who has MLB Extra Innings and gets to see LOTS of baseball daily, you're really overexaggerating things. -I don't see how you can blame the baserunning problems on Ozzie. Half the lineup (Konerko/Thome/Pierzynski/Crede) is slow as hell. Our fastest guy doesn't seem very smart on the basepaths. Other than that, you have some average or slightly above/below guys. As far as taking the extra base, those things are on the players, IMO. It's on the guy on first base to see were to see if the RFer is guarding the line or shading the gap, etc etc. -Again, defensively, I don't think you can complain about our guys this year. They're in the top third in DER this season, and were first last season. How many times do we see fielders nearly collide? I don't recall this happening too many times, other than the Iguchi/Dye play, and again -- I don't know how Ozzie factors into that one. It also doesn't help (defensively speaking) that the right side of our infield has little to no range. I like those two a lot, and both will probably be here next season (Koney and Iguchi), but they don't cover a lot of ground. -Bunting? Well, I don't think that's for a lack of effort. I believe Hawk when he says the Sox have worked on their bunting this year more than last. Again, IMO, that's something that's on the players... I'm not saying Ozzie is perfect. His handling of Buehrle tonight was awful. His handling staff of the starters this year, for the most part, has been awful. His playing Mackowiak in centerfield so often has been awful. But there's also a lot of overexaggeration in this thread, IMO. As I said, watching a lot of baseball games every day, and seeing others fans' thoughts on their own managers; well, let's just say I'm okay with Ozzie. I don't think there are fans of any team in baseball who never complain about their own. It's just unfortunate that our manager's decisions hold so much more weight this year because our f***ing starters suck...

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 01:59 AM) Yes, look on the bright side, nothing can be worse than Blackhawks hockey. Hey, "Let's Go"!

Hey, good news is that Blackhawk Hockey is right around the corner. Ruutu / Handzus / Havlat are going to be the r0xerz this year, you just watch... No but seriously, I think this was the most frustrating game of the year. Damnit why the f*** did he not take Buehrle out...

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 01:40 AM) What happened to the extra velocity he had last year? 2 mph can make all the difference between a broken bat grounder or a rocket single. With that velocity at the end of last year, Contreras was able to throw that sinker in on the hands of righties, and they could only hit it to Crede. Now, we see #8 hitters like Aaron Hill hitting rockets to left field to score two runs. Aaron Hill's pitch was a sidearm slider that hung, not a fastball...

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 01:36 AM) At the end of last season, Contreras' fastball was in the 95-97 mph range, and he typically only threw that and his forkball. I watched the highlights the other day of his amazing Twins start towards the end of the season, and he looked like a completely different pitcher than he is now. 97? I think you're looking at a hot gun... 95-96 is reasonable, and Jose this year has been around 92-94. I don't think the difference is as huge as you're making it out to be. But again, the burden of proof is on you to show that championship teams' pitchers suffer the next year. If that was true, I'm almost 100% positive it would be more widespread knowledge...

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 01:25 AM) So you disagree that a long postseason run, with a lot of tight games, won't possibly influence a pitcher's ability for the next season? I thought it was a pretty common theory in baseball that these pitchers have a hard time bouncing back the following year after the added innings/stress. No, I don't buy that, and I don't buy that for this year's team. For one thing, Ozzie is generally good about not overabusing his pitchers. I don't recall the last time he's had someone pitch over 120 pitches -- if I had to guess, in his whole tenure with the White Sox, I'd say that he's only let guys go over 120 five or less times. Next, it's not like we had to pitch guys on short rest last year in the playoffs. We were on a strict four man rotation. Contreras was the only one who had four starts, the rest had three. Do I buy that three extra starts are the reason Buehrle has sucked this year? Not a f***ing chance... Common theory? Common to 'who'? You want to know what I think? I think Freddy got complacent this offseason and did a little too much partying and not enough working hard. I think Buehrle is a guy who doesn't have his grip on his changeup right now, and is a.)leaving it up in the zone and b.)has it at 81-82 rather than 77-78. Garland's fine, and Contreras is okay (ie no loss of 'stuff'). Vazquez is what he is; an enigma. He's got great stuff, and he is capable of using that stuff late in games. I still look as him as a guy who can be fixed, and I think he's here for the next year, like it or not.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 01:21 AM) It happens every year in baseball. It's not just the innings...it's the stress of the outings. It's one of the main reasons you don't see teams excel in two consecutive seasons, in my opinion. Okay, well you show me and prove to me that this happens year after year after year to the championship teams' pitchers. And, if you do this successfully, you'll probably make yourself a lot of cash along with it, because I'd tend to think that that would be a rather large finding. Mmkay? Till then, your theory stinks of BS.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 01:18 AM) General managers would be wise to look to break up the starting pitching rotation/bullpen if their team had a long postseason run the season before. It's amazing how many guys seemingly lose their stuff from one year to the next in these situations. Yeah, the extra three starts is the reason our pitchers suck this year... :rolleye

If Buehrle gives up a hit here, Soxtalk will explode. Armagedon will be unleashed, and fire and brimstone will break out.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 09:51 PM) Play Ozuna at 3rd, occasionally spelled by Mack. People may forget, but Ozuna got to a point where he didn't do that bad over there last year. Obviously nothing like Crede, but passable. Why not just platoon Mackowiak and Cintron? Better defensively and offensively. Cintron career OPS vs lefties -- .794. Mack career OPS vs righties -- .760. It's not Joe Crede version 2006, but who are we kidding? Nobody would be. However, the platoon above would be the best possible replacement. If anything, I'd call up Fields and give Podsednik a real platoon partner. Fields OPS vs lefties this year is 1.083. Looks like this is all mute if Crede is in the lineup tonight.

Last year, Fields struck out in close to 30% (29.8 is just about the exact figure) of his ABs. This year, he's striking out in 29.7% of his ABs. His K/BB ratio hasn't improved a whole lot, either. Last year it was at 2.58. This year, it's at 2.48. In other words, his handling of the strike zone has changed very little from last year to this year. Obviously, he's hitting the ball with more authority, but he also seems like a guy who has greatly benefited from playing in such a tiny park. If Fields were to make the jump to the majors next season, I'd suspect he'd struggle more than Brian Anderson has this year. Problem is, Fields doesn't have great defense to fall back on like BA had. OTOH, Chris Young is teh awesome.

Thomas is up to a .259/.380/.526 line; yes, his OPS is over the .900 mark.

Okay -- I just got a new HP laptop with an AMD Turion Processor. Problem is, I don't know how to get the internet working. I'm not very technologically intelligent, but I know that I'm trying to run it from my modem (which runs through a router) to my laptop. I checked my Network Connections, and my Local Area Connection has a red 'X' through it, telling me that the network cable is unplugged. I'm also not sure which cable to use, and where it goes. I have two different spots where I could put it in; the RJ-45 (network) Jack, which is what my desktop computer uses (it's the larger, male cord), or the RJ-11 (modem) Jack, which is the smaller, male cord. Anybody have any ideas/suggestions? I just want to use Internet Explorer, too, btw, without having to sign-up for AOL/Netscape etc etc.

Am I seeing this right? Cleveland has left 18 (!!!) on base today? 18?!?!!?! That horseshoe is firmly planted up the collective ass of the Detroit Tigers. I guess I now know how other teams' fans felt about us last season.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 07:14 PM) One of my biggest complaints about Ozzie is he shows no urgency in the 7th or 8th inning of games when this team is losing. There have been so many times this year where we allow an insurance run in the 7th inning. How the gosh darn was this game Ozzie's fault? It's Ozzie's fault Iguchi doesn't have the range to get to that softly hit ball? It's Ozzie's fault Iguchi had a mental fart and didn't throw home? You're reaching at best, here.

QUOTE(TitoMB345 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 07:14 PM) You're the one making the dumbass comments. Our offense would be so much better if we had a legit leadoff man, no matter how you look at it. And now you're just being stupid with the .500 OBP exaggeration. Did I say that our offense wouldn't be better if we had a different leadoff man? Look -- I've disliked Pods since last year. I disliked Podsednik since before it was "trendy" to like Podsednik, before it was "groupthink" to dislike Podsednik. You said we don't have a real offense, despite the fact that we're best in the league in runs scored. I called you on that. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't say stupid things unless you can back them up.