hammerhead johnson

QUOTE(fathom @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:23 PM) It's a different situation if Pods can get to 2nd base, and then be bunted over to 3rd base with less than 2 outs. I'm strictly talking about getting that man in scoring position with less than two outs. Playing for one run at a time. I figured that a guy like you would understand that, but you're greedy just like the vast majority. /blatant honesty

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:21 PM) I guess you dont understand the concept. Yeah, I have you figured out. You want to wait around and pray that Thome hits a double or a HR while first base is occupied. But if first base is not occupied and Thome gets a walk, we are f***ed! Because walks are teh worst!!! Especially with Konerko and Dye coming up.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:07 PM) Extra base runners are never a problem Sure they are. We're gonna need an infinite amount of these:

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:15 PM) Thats the thing. Thome is a 280 hitter with a 400+ OBP. If 1B is open this year, he wont see a pitch. So regardless or whether you bunt PODs over, or Iguchi just swings himself out, theres around a 40+ percent chance that with Konerko up it will be 1st and 2nd. Iguchi is probably our best hitter right now, and taking the bat out of his hands to just move PODS to 2nd is just stupid. The odds are he will reach second almost a majority of the time, whether he steals or Thome gets walked. PLaying for 1 run is a great idea, but its not always with PODS and iguchi, because at this point, letting Gooch swing is more beneficial. As long as Tadahito attempts to move that runner over, I'll be content. If he is able to reach base while in the process of forcing the action, that's just gravy.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 5, 2006 -> 03:55 PM) Thome isnt exactly a singles hitter, so most likely with a base open, he will get walked. So you have effectively taken the bat out of our best hitter's hands just to move a runner who had around a 50 percent chance to get to second with Thome up anyway. In that situation, it almost makes more sense to let iguchi hit and try to advance Pods to 3rd on a single, or back to 1st on a fly out. Its more beneficial to let iguchi try and either drive PODS in, or advance him to 3rd on a good at bat, instead of taking the bat out of his hands, and then taking it out of Thome's hands. With your reasoning you are taking the bat out of two of our top hitter's hands, with no real benefit over what could have occurred without a sacrafice. This is the overall change that has come to with a 3rd place hitter with a .500 OBP, and 40 HR potential. LOL, so the #2 hitter should NOT try to get that leadoff guy in scoring position for the 3/4/5 of Thome/Konerko/Dye???? You're in favor of sitting around and waiting for a HR. That's winning baseball.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 5, 2006 -> 02:45 PM) Why sacrifice with the #2 hitter and give up an out to get to Thome? You get that runner in scoring position with one out, and you give both Thome and Konerko a chance to drive that run in. You play for one run at a time, especially against prototypical #1 and #2 starters. That's winning baseball IMO.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 5, 2006 -> 02:32 PM) Great post. When you add someone like Thome to your lineup, you're not trying to play small ball. Even though Jim Thome is a major candidate for Most Valuable Hitter in the American League thus far, he is still a .280 hitter. It's all about getting one run at a time. These HRs are nice, but if your leadoff man reaches base with no outs, you sacrifice that #2 hitter to get him into scoring position. And while Scotty Pods sucks hard at baseball, it's still a dumb philosophy to just sit around and wait for a HR.

QUOTE(SoxPride56 @ May 5, 2006 -> 02:08 PM) You guys both said exactlly what I was thinking. It's all about defense, with pitching being the first line of defense as Hawk would say. We have the pitching and defense to win another title. As Hawk would say, or as common sense would indicate? We don't need Hawk to point out the obvious for us. Pitching represents the vast majority of defense.

QUOTE(Jeckle2000 @ May 5, 2006 -> 06:38 AM) Thome is the team MVP... but congrats to Jose... he's been the Ace... Yeah, well, you'll realize that pitching rules all one of these years. Jose is arguably the best starting pitcher in the MLB right now, and he's not even the MVP on his own team? Did Sammy hit one???? What is the difference between Sox and Cubs fans again?

Bow down to the team MVP.

QUOTE(korntownballa @ May 5, 2006 -> 06:04 AM) What happens if you vote for every white sox player? Welcome to soxtalk. You only get to ask like half a dozen insanely retarded questions per year, so double check your posts before you submit them.

Nelson's 2004 splits are a mindf***. vs. LHH: .167 BAA, 1.64 WHIP Away: .125 BAA, 6.30 ERA

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ May 2, 2006 -> 04:07 PM) Sox signed Jeff Nelson If his 2005 numbers are any indication, he can still f*** with right-handed hitters. .196 BAA 1.24 WHIP 9 K/9 IP

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ May 2, 2006 -> 03:56 PM) They get paid millions. Cinch it up and hunker down. You play that card, and you sound country retarded.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ May 2, 2006 -> 03:49 PM) We saw what a crazy travel schedule did to the Angels last October. They beat us in game 1. The definitive evidence.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ May 2, 2006 -> 03:53 PM) I'd say they're much more tired today than they'll be tomorrow seeing how there'll be about a 16 hour turn around from the end of the game today to the beginning of tomorrow's game. Yeah, really. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ May 2, 2006 -> 02:38 PM) Isn't Jenks younger and more experienced??????????? If Jenks pitched in NY or Boston there would have been a whole segment on the 9th inning--- 4 batters, 11 pitchers, 1 broken bat single, 3 strikeouts----that is sick. Who cares? There are plenty of closers that are better than Papelbon. Bringing up Jenks establishes what exactly?

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ May 1, 2006 -> 08:51 PM) Can you please explain how this is calculated. ERA would seem to need PBP data to figure out. Is somebody going through and reconstructing games against only RH batters. I call shenanigans. ESPN's sortable stats displays the same info, yet all of MLB is tied for 1st with a 0.00 ERA against LH batters. Oh yeah, it's bunk. Use OPS. Yeah, you're probably right. I used stats sorted on Yahoo, and ESPN appears to have the same thing. I think that the actual team rankings are correct, but the numbers are off.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 1, 2006 -> 06:39 PM) The name Ryan Garko should answer your questions there I think. From what I'm reading, Garko is even worse than Martinez out of the C slot. If their long term plan is to platoon Broussard and Garko at 1B while keeping a major defensive liability behind the plate (not to mention wear and tear cutting his career short), then that is a very good thing for the Sox. There are like a million Garkos out there. The AAA numbers look great, but he's 25 already, and he only has 1 major league at bat. Put Broussard in AAA, and he is a f***ing stud. On the ML level, he's nothing more than average.

I was just looking at our pitching numbers, and a 6.32 ERA vs right-handed hitting appears to suck, but that is actually the third best team ERA in the AL. 1. Detroit 4.93 2. New York 5.81 3. Chicago 6.32 4. Seattle 7.31 5. Anaheim 7.48 6. Texas 7.97 7. Oakland 8.11 8. Boston 8.37 9. Toronto 8.41 10. Cleveland 8.62 11. Tampa Bay 8.98 12. Baltimore 9.74 13. Kansas City 9.81 14. Minnesota 10.58 A full run better than the 4th best team. AL average = 8.03. Take away the best (Detroit) and the worst (Minnesota), and it's 8.08. What is going on in Minnesota??? Their pitching is supposed to be their team strength. You knew that their hitting was going to be medicore, but god damn.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 1, 2006 -> 03:52 PM) By the way, if there's 1 place out there right now that can be useful to a base stealer trying to find his rhythm...it's Cleveland. Victor Martinez hasn't thrown out a base stealer all year. Yeah, I mean, you have to move Martinez to 1B asap if you're the Cleveland GM. The guy is an offensive monster, and at the same time, about as big of a defensive liability as you'll find out of the C slot. Ben Broussard is okay, I guess. Not exactly a long term building block. They're doing teams a favor by keeping him at 1B.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 1, 2006 -> 04:00 PM) So, Neal Cotts has pitched 11 innings thus far. Over 11 innings, the difference between 4.5 and 2.7 BB/9IP is 2.2 walks. You're projecting an awful lot from 2 walks. Really, the walks have Neal's only weakness. He allowed 30 in 60 IP last year. So far, he has only allowed 3 in 11 IP. I mean, that's good, ain't it?

QUOTE(qwerty @ May 1, 2006 -> 06:08 AM) The hitting so far is as good as it will ever be. The pitching outside of four games has been extremely f***ing good... to a point that i highly doubt they will be able to pitch better. I find it unlikely that the sox have a better month this season. I agree. I mean, winning 70% of your games in one month is f***ing insane. If we won 70% of our games all season long, we'd finish with 115 wins. 16-3 could turn out to be the best 19 game stretch for any team in the majors this year.

Say, ain't that Richard Speck? Nice tits.