hogan873

Just about everything that had gone right when the Sox were streaking went right last night. Latos wasn't bad...he only had one bad inning, and two of the runs were unearned. But the timely late-inning hitting and the bullpen being good is what sealed the deal. The beginning of the game looked really bad with the errors and lackluster hitting. Once they were down 4-0, I thought for sure they were done. But they didn't give up. Let's hope they can win today and take the series.

If the Sox keep losing, we're going to run out of folks to start game threads. The struggling White Sox are in New York again, facing off against the Mets. Mat Latos (6-1, 4.06) takes the mound for the Sox while Steven Matz (7-1, 2.36) goes for the Mets. Most of the Mets batters have seen Latos before, but only Frazier has ever faced Matz. First pitch is at 6:10 CDT. Go Sox!

Our oldest is just finishing her freshman year of high school. Our son is two years behind her, and our youngest is two years behind him. We know that there will be a lot of tuition to be paid coming up. Our daughters play the violin, and the boy plays the French horn and trumpet. We've told them over and over that these are the kind of things, along with good grades, that can lead to scholarships. They will need them because it's either that and some loans or a huge amount of loans. We're not in a position to pay their way through college, and I know very few people that can afford to do that. We're also encouraging the kids to go to junior college for a year or two, and we have no problem with them living at home while they're doing that. Needless to say they won't be lying around not contributing, but we would never kick them out. After college, if they need to live at home while looking for a solid job, that's fine. I hope that we've raised our kids right so that they wouldn't be sitting around the house pretending to look for a job, freeloading off us. Honestly, the thought of my kids not living at home bothers me. It's a real thing now with our oldest only a few years away from college. I'm pretty sure that they would get sick of us quicker than we'd get sick of them at home.

QUOTE (BrianAnderson @ May 26, 2016 -> 11:57 AM) I'm not sure the last two posts understand that this is a positivity thread. Especially the "Eaton was bad for 3 games post" shakes head ....... stay on track! The other 134 threads are for being negative! Alright, I'll get this ship back on course again.. Chris Sale is probably the front runner for AL Cy Young. We, the White Sox have one of the best pitchers in the game and are paying him peanuts!! Fun stuff. Another one. The Sox have two kids in the minors that led their respective leagues in hits. Don't think that happens often. I got ya, I got ya. Here we go: - Chris Sale is amazing, and he's locked up for a couple more years - Todd Frazier has been worth everything the Sox gave up for him and then some - Eaton has been fantastic in right field - Lawrie's energy has been a breath of fresh air - Jersey #21 is no longer worn by Tyler Flowers - Jersey #15 is no longer worn by Gordon Beckham

I'm not sure anyone on this board expected the type of start the Sox had. A lot of things had to go right in order for it to happen. Starting pitching, the bullpen, timely hitting, and great defense. It's not rare for teams, even bad teams, to have a short streak of all of that stuff going right. But the Sox had a month of that. We all knew, or at least had to know, that the team would go through some bad spells, and that they wouldn't sustain the same type of production. Now that they are in a slump with the starting pitching faltering, the bullpen showing cracks, and a less than stellar offense, the weaknesses that have existed this whole time are so much more evident. This is a good team. Not a great team. They need a few key pieces to get closer to greatness. One more solid starter and a left-handed power bat for sure. I like the catching make-up less and less each day, especially with the over use of Avila. And it's probably time to end the Jimmy Rollins experiment. I believe that at least one of those weaknesses will be addressed. Hopefully it will be enough to nudge this team closer to greatness. I'm not sure that .500 ball from this point on wins the division...actually, I would say that it does not. One added piece could push them to the top, but it's going to take a lot more good baseball (like April) and less of the crap we've seen lately. Because it's not just the lack of runs and spotty pitching. It's corpse ball. Winning is contagious. Playing well is contagious. But playing bad baseball is even more contagious, and it can wipe out a team.

At least it seems like Abreu found his bat.

Chris Sale had a bad game. Every ace will have an off day, and we can't expect him to be the stopper every single time he pitches. But there was so much more terrible that went on last night. Avila should be benched for a while after not hustling after the wild pitch allowing the runner to get to third. That was little league s***. Lawrie's baserunning on the ground ball by Garcia was bad, but Garcia's baserunning was horrendous. There's no reason for him to get caught off of first. Those two mistakes killed a decent rally. I have no idea what they need to do, but it's pretty obvious that the team we're seeing now is not the same as the team we saw in the first 30 games or so. They need to get their heads out of their asses now before they fall out of first. I'm usually pretty positive about the team, but they weren't beat by two great pitching performances in the last two games. They were beat because they played terrible baseball.

Was at the game. Great crowd, lots of energy. It was nice seeing a Frazier homerun in person. Rodon was a little wild early, but he really seemed to settle down. The bullpen did a good job, and of course Robertson was great. I don't get to many games, but yesterday was a perfect day, and the win made it that much better.

As a "new" Sox fan (I moved to the area in 1999 and quickly became a fan), I'm not as familiar with some of the stars of the past. I even wasn't a fan yet when Frank Thomas was in his prime. For me, it's guys like Crede, Konerko, and Buehrle that are the "greats" from the (near) past. But it is amazing what Chris Sale is doing. And he makes it look easy, this year for sure. If he doesn't have some sort of debilitating injury or somehow fall off dramatically, he'll be a guy who will be talked about 20 years from now as one of the greatest. Watching him pitch is a joy. We'll be able to tell our grand-kids about the time he struck out Mark Trumbo on a pitch that hit him on the knee and about how many left-handed hitters he made corkscrew themselves into the ground. Some of the other guys that have a chance to be those that we talk about include Abreu, Eaton, and Frazier. If Abreu can get back to where he was the past two years and stay there, he'll be one of the best hitters the Sox have had. Eaton with his glove, ability to get on base, and energy will be remembered fondly. Frazier, if he ends up staying with the Sox beyond next season, could be remembered like we remember Crede.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ May 17, 2016 -> 11:31 AM) I can't believe this thread has reached 3 pages. It's reached three pages, and we're no longer talking about Jason Bourgeois. There might have been 6 or 7 posts about the actual trade.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 12, 2016 -> 11:29 AM) The catching depth is in shambles right now. Is that going to a consideration at the deadline? Or more realistically come draft time? If Avila or Navarro don't get hurt, it won't be a concern, but Avila's already been hurt and neither guy is that young.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 11, 2016 -> 02:57 PM) That was awesome. Didn't he hit a bomb afterwards too? I think it was his next at bat.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 11, 2016 -> 02:55 PM) Frazier got 5 stitches on lower lip. Day to day. Bum. When Konerko got plugged in the face with a fastball he stayed in the game.

Provided Frazier's injury is "just" his teeth going through his lip, that's good news. And Hawk going to check on him is awesome. He can be tiresome in the booth, but the guy cares.

The introduction of instant replay has either made the umpires lazy or they were just not that good to begin with. I'm not sure of the percentage of times calls are overturned, but it's too high. I'm not sure about an automated strike zone, but it has seemed that the strikes zones have gotten bad. If you watch a game with a pitch tracker, you can see a lot of pitches not being called correctly. It would be okay if the calls were consistent, but they're not. You see the same pitch called a ball and a strike a lot, especially the close ones. Maybe it's something they could test in spring training one year, like football did with the extra points.

There's been a lot of talk about how valuable Jackson has been to the Sox. Not only does he provide outstanding defense in center field, having him on the team has allowed Eaton to move to and thrive in right field. He doesn't have a great bat, but to me his defense more than makes up for that. So, what are the chances the Sox try to sign him to an extension? And if the Sox are interested in doing so, is he interested in staying with the Sox? I know it's early, but it would be hard to imagine taking a step backward next year in the outfield.

QUOTE (Tex @ May 6, 2016 -> 09:57 AM) A rising tide raises all ships. Is funny how everyone seems to play better when the team is winning. When we hit that 2-8 streak the true steady cornerstone players will emerge. If he plays steady through those downturns, lock him up. Good point. Winning and losing are contagious, and playing well and playing poorly are contagious as well. I hope that guys like Lawrie and Frazier (among others) are the type that continue to play well when things are not going well. Those are the type of players you need. They can turn a team around with the right attitude.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ May 6, 2016 -> 09:13 AM) I really, really, really hope the Sox lock up Lawrie long term. The guy is the prototypical dirtbag player that the Sox have lacked for years. He fits the personality of the team to a tee. I'd like to see him extended, too. He is definitely what this team needed.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ May 3, 2016 -> 08:39 AM) I guess people buy into the new age stats a lot more than I thought they would. Traditionally MVP's of the leagues have been guys who put up big power numbers with a high or at least decent batting average or pitchers who had outstanding years. If a pitcher is bad no amount of defense can save him (see Danks ) Sale is Sale and Q is Q and good defense from the whole team not just Eaton has contributed to his fine start but it's still mostly Sale. I just don't think great defense alone gets you MVP. I mean give me an OBP above .400, OPS around .800, lots of steals, leading the team in some other categories. If you go 1-4/ 2-5 and make all the routine plays but nothing spectacular which is what happens on most days how valuable is that ? I know I am fighting a losing battle here just like on pitch framing but seriously bWar is not the end all be all . Guys like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Miquel Cabrera , Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays , guys who contributed defensively and offensively are MVP's not guys like Heyward or Kiermeier. I can agree about the new age stats. I still don't really know what some of them are. I tend to look at their production numbers first. Then, for lack of a better term, it's the eye test. What else does the player bring to the team? A guy like Eaton is just doing it all right now. He's the ideal lead-off guy with a great glove, and he's made some spectacular plays. Frazier is another guy who has been extremely valuable. Offensively he's doing what we expected him to do, but he's doing it at clutch moments. Add to that his glove (how awesome is it to have a real third baseman again?) and the fact that he has quickly become a leader of this team, makes him an MVP-caliber player. So, withOUT looking at the stats (WAR, etc.), I put Frazier and Eaton on top of the April MVP rankings, with Frazier inching out Eaton only because of the clutch hits. Maybe the stats support this, maybe they don't. But the numbers and the eye test lead me to this conclusion.

It's hard to not recognize Eaton with his defense. Of course his moving to right field was due to the Jackson signing. It's so nice to have two center fielders prowling the outfield. Frazier has to be up there, too. A good number of his hits and RBIs have come late in games. His ability to get the clutch hits is very reminiscent of Crede. Lawrie has been pretty awesome as well. His bat has stayed hot all month, and his defense has been better than advertised. Finally the pitching. Sale is as good as he's ever been. Quintana just keeps getting better. Latos has been a very pleasant surprise. And the bullpen has been amazing. All that being said, I would give it to Frazier. The biggest reason being that there have been quite a few games where the Sox had scored only a run or two and were either tied or down late in the game, and Frazier came through with a clutch hit. His hitting and the energy he has brought to this team make the 2016 Sox look like a completely different team.

He's quickly becoming a favorite player of mine. I love his intensity, and I think it's having a positive impact on the team. I know there was that Cubs homer saying he's pissing everyone off, but I don't think that could be further from the truth. That sort of passion and intensity is what the Sox have been missing for years. On top of all of that, he's hitting well and playing in the field well. He's got some surprising power. I wouldn't be surprised to see 15-20 HRs from him. As far as his glove, we can probably not worry anymore about his transition to second base.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 28, 2016 -> 09:09 AM) The Sox have not lost in 7 days. John Danks has not pitched in 7 days. I may have to consult an actuary to verify, but I think that is a significant statistic.

I would believe that Renteria is a part of it along with the addition of guys like Frazier and Jackson. The outfield is so much better this year, and that has been mainly due to Jackson. Eaton has been great in right, and Melky has stepped up his game. Frazier is really good at third...it is so fun watching a game with a glove like his there. One of the biggest surprises to me has been Lawrie. He's been solid at second, plus he's had some amazing plays there. I think when players with big personalities come in, the entire team can be affected. In this case, the additions of Frazier, Latos, Lawrie, and Jackson have done wonders for this team.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Apr 25, 2016 -> 10:03 AM) Erik Johnson Got it. Thanks

Maybe towards the end of the season Hawk will be in the booth when an umpire has a bad day, and then he can go on the tirade of tirades and then retire.