hogan873

QUOTE (Special K @ Jul 30, 2015 -> 04:11 PM) Avi not starting tonight... Seems suspect, but could mean nothing, too. Garcia is on a 5-game hitting streak.

Great catch, but the showboating cost the Red Sox two runs. No reason to jump up on top of the wall.

Regardless of the caliber of teams the Sox have played recently, they have been much more fun to watch. The sweep of Cleveland was great. It featured outstanding pitching and good offense. Last night's game featured something we haven't seen much from the Sox this year: Battling back. A few weeks ago, the Sox lose that game after giving up a four run lead. It's frustrating to realize that if the Sox had only played marginally better baseball during April, May, and June, they would be right in the thick of things. It may be too little too late now, but to sell might be a mistake. I suppose I could see one pitcher being traded and one bat being added. If the Sox keep winning until Friday, I see them either standing pat or making a relatively minor move to add a bat.

This has crossed my mind lately, especially with the sweep of the Indians. I think we can all agree that sweeping the Indians was nice, but they are a bad team, and the Sox should have easily won that series. A four game sweep against any team, however, is impressive. What concerns me is that even after that sweep, the Sox are still 4 games below .500. They need to beat up on Boston this week. With only four days left before the deadline, the Sox are truly right on the fence between buying and selling. They could play very well this week only to tank next week...or vice versa. Based on the history of this team this season though, I don't expect them to be true buyers. I could definitely see them trading Samardjiza and picking up a bat in the same trade or a separate one. Or I suppose Danks could be moved, swapped with another "bad" contract. Regardless, I think Friday will be an interesting day. I just hope the Sox don't stand pat...that could be the worst outcome.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 06:46 AM) Q is headed South IMO. Just look at his record. He is a mediocre big league starter, which is why he won't get much in a trade. Rodon still walks too many, too often behind in the count....... Quintana has gotten no run support this season. His ERA is a good 3.83. You can't look at his 4-9 record and say he's no good.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 11:55 PM) The shootout at episode 4 was amazing, one of things that made it better than the long shot from the first season was that I didn't know who was going to survive, we all knew that Rust was going to make it out alive, we just didn't know how. In the shootout, I really feared for all the characters. Why I really like it? The shootout was a perfect mix of grit and glamour, while being very grotesque. Not because of the gore that was in the scene (Dixon gets his head blown off and a civilian is shot in the head at point blank range) But because of how realistic it was. This want just mindless action either as there was tons of character in this scene, this is especially true for Paul, who stalks the scene. Throughout the previous three episodes we have been hearing about his military past and that payed off here in a big way as he single handedly wins the gunfight. Remember the rain of gunfire that the cops encountered when they came onto the scene, Paul gets them out of it. Remember the scene where Paul is in Ray's car and he is talking about not knowing who he is and not knowing where he belongs, in the shootout he was right in his element. Another thing that made it very realistic was the added presence of the civilian protesters and the pimp at the end. Imagine a shooutout breaking out in the middle of the Baltimore Protest? Imagine all the innocent people being shot by misfire and stay bullets. You see that in True Detective. I also like how the pimp at the end realized his impending doom and was like f*** IT, so he kills the hostage prompting Ray and Paul to kill him. It was really week shot as it was easy to follow while going back and forth between the three characters' perspectives, while making you feel like you were right in the middle of the action. The way it was edited allowed for natural intensity and it didn't rely on a filmmaking trick (long shot) to create tension. The best shootout since Heat. I agree. I thought that the shootout was one of the most intense 15 minutes on TV I can remember. It felt real because there wasn't some of the silly dialogue you sometimes hear in scenes like that. The perspective switched between the three characters, and each of them looked truly scared and amped up. And their reactions when it was over (along with the wide shot of the bodies all over the place) were realistic, too. No high-fiving, smiles, etc. Just them gasping for breath, looking around stunned. Excellent stuff.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 16, 2015 -> 01:14 PM) I think that Frank Thomas is getting better and better at doing TV work. I wouldn't be against him as a color guy for the TV broadcasts. That's racist! I imagine Hawk will be done within the next few years, whether he retires or kicks off in the booth calling a Beckham walk-off. As much as he annoys me at times, I would miss hearing him call the games. I like Steve Stone, but when he's done some play by play, he's not so good. He's much better as the color guy, and he often has some interesting things to say about the game...not just about obscure players he knew back in the day. I don't listen to the radio much, but when I do I find Farmer and DJ to be entertaining. They seem to have a pretty good chemistry. I would be surprised if any changes were made for next year. About all I could possibly expect is Hawk to cut back on some away games starting next year.

I haven't watched last night's True Detective yet, but I'm enjoying the season so far. It's quite different than the first season, but I still like the story so far. Season premiere of Ray Donovan was pretty damn good.

Sale is the only one that deserves to be there. There's an outside (way outside) chance that Abreu or Robertson could get there, but I doubt it. I think it's a shame what's happening this year with the Royals' fans are abusing the system. But, maybe something like this had to happen to make MLB realize that the game is a joke. If this is how the players are being selected, the game can't mean anything. Even if a decision is made to drop the meaning (home field advantage) of the game, there should be a discussion about how to keep a player like Omar Infante out of the all star conversation.

I think something needs to happen...now. The team has no life. The pitching is good only when a few of the guys are out there, and it's not like they don't have the talent. The offense is horrendous. The hitting is non-existent, and the baserunning is atrocious. I'm not sure it would do anything, but firing Ventura should send a message. I've never been the type to say, "Fire the manager!", but something needs to change. There's no accountability for being bad at their jobs right now. We're beyond "a slump". The inability to play decent baseball has spread throughout the whole team. It's embarrassing right now. And until an example is made of someone (multiple someones), the embarrassment will continue.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 12:49 PM) You could have Derek Jeter leading this team with the greatest manager of all time (Bobby Heenan), and they still would suck. When probably 80-90% of your roster is underachieving, you're not going to win a lot of games. You'd have to have Jimmy "The Mouth of the South" Hart as your bench coach, Paul Bearer as first base coach, Lou Albano at third, and Jim Cornette as the hitting coach.

You can always tell when the season is not going well when every thread devolves into arguing. This one is no exception. But I think we can all agree that something is broken. There does not seem to be any fire in this team. Eaton reportedly getting into it with Parent is not the fire the team needs. The team as a whole needs a wake-up call. Someone mentioned earlier that the Royals play each game lilke it's the World Series, and I agree. You see the fire and the passion. I found myself hating the Royals this year because of their attitude, but now I'm starting to realize that maybe attitude is what the Sox need. Right now they have no attitude except that they roll over. Something has to change...and soon.

QUOTE (farmteam @ May 15, 2015 -> 07:59 PM) I just mixed up a couple six packs. I'm in a wheat-y mood (which is my favorite anyway). I grabbed: 4 Fin du Monde 1 White Rascal (Avery Brewing) 1 Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat 1 Alaskan White 1 Bell's Oberon 1 Bell's Oarsman Ale 1 Hell or High Watermelon (21st Amendment) 1 Clemmentine White Ale (Clown Shoes) 1 Trappistes Rochefort It'll be a fun Friday. Let me know what you thought of this. I was at McBrides on 52 a couple weeks back and they had this on tap. When I ordered it, the waitress suggested I try a sample first because she thought it was a lot like a plain light beer. I tried a sample and agreed that it didn't have much watermelon flavor at all and was rather bland. I haven't tried it elsewhere yet.

All the talk of pale ales reminded me of a couple of my favorites. Two American Pale Ales from Three Floyds top my list: Alpha King and the seasonal Zombie Dust. Speaking of Three Floyds, Gumballhead is one of my all time favorites. Going back to the Blue Moon conversation, I remember drinking it in the mid-90s, and not many people had tried it. It, along with berrs such as Sam Adams and Pete's Wicked Ale really got the microbrew trend going. I'm still a Blue Moon fan, especially on tap, but there are better Belgian whites out there.

I was at the Tap House this past weekend and tried the Moody Tongue Steeped Emperor's Saison. Excellent brew. Very smooth with great flavor. I usually try several different beers when I'm there, but I stuck with it all evening.

Robertson's breaking ball is nasty. The last couple he threw were totally unhittable, but the batter couldn't lay off. Duke looked pretty good, too. It's early, but Flowers doesn't look bad at all. Maybe having a back-up who could easily slip into a starting role helps, or maybe he's just getting better each year. He could be a .250ish hitter with 15-20 HRs, and that would be fine.

- Samardzija signs an extension during the season - Abreu has a BA over .390 at the All Star Break - Garcia ends up batting over .270 and belts out 20 HRs - Beckham is DFA'd in June - Flowers and his magic glasses hit .260 with 22 HRs - Danks is traded in July, and the Sox acquire Buehrle in a separate trade - Ventura wears a cowboy hat to a game Joe West is umpiring and is ejected before the first pitch - Hawk is suspended for three games after going on a tirade about a bad call - Bill Melton steps in for Hawk and repeatedly calls Rodon "Mothra"

Very nice. But it was a bit sad to see that Beckham has a spot.

88-74. Second place in the division and a wild card berth.

I believe he'll be over on all three. I don't see him tiring as much in the second half, which will increase his power numbers. My guess will be .310/39/125.

American Crime premiere was pretty solid. Hopefully it maintains the intensity.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 26, 2015 -> 01:21 PM) Pretty sure he looks like Maggs. Dammit, you're right. I don't know why I remembered it as Cabrera.

I wouldn't be suprised to see Beckham be the starting 2B, but I'd like to see Sanchez. He did a decent job there last year, and it would be nice to see how he can handle it full time. Besides, we can hear Hawk talk about how he LOOKS like Miguel Cabrera but doesn't HIT like him.

So he quit chewing tobacco, which means he's probably moody. Hard to imagine Conor even more grumpy than he already is.

My first instinct was to say no way, but as I think about it more I could see it being a decent idea. I'm probably in the minority, but I think spring training is too long. However, I couldn't very well argue to start the season early because of weather concerns...unless they somehow worked the schedule to where the first week+ is played in warm areas and/or domes. I also understand the reasoning for the long spring training. Baseball being played until damn near November is a recipe for disaster, especially if the World Series ended up being the Sox vs. the Mets (or similar cold climate areas). That's certainly a pro for shortening the season by a week. I also have an issue with the limited number of teams that make the playoffs. Along with the long season, some teams are essentially eliminated in July. I'd like to see a better playoff system, but to do that, you'd have to shorten the season (by more than 8 games). Adding the second WC team was a good start, though.