Fotop

I'm REALLY hoping this guy gets the call on Thursday because I've got tickets to that game. I'd love to see what this kid's got in person! Hopefully we'll be going for the sweep by then, and hopefully I can help bring home a White Sox Winner!

I was just going to ask if it looked like a botched hit and run, because a straight steal with the top of the order up seemed kind of odd...

Is it just me or did they Pinch Hit Mo in the 3rd inning? Didn't Sandy start? (I just started tracking the game) Sandy hurt or something?

HE GAWN EDIT: boooo def. not quick enough.

Cancel the Post game show. EDIT: sorry we're worried about spacing.

Sure small ball wins championships....in the PLAYOFFS. I hate to beat a dead horse but the A's consistently make the playoffs without ANY small ball. There has to be some merit to the system then if it keeps happening. Am I saying we're the A's? No, we lack the strong SP they have. That's why I think the best way for us to make the playoffs consistently is to hit away with the occasional use of small ball to shake things up and produce runs when the bats are struggling. That's the ideal I think.

Maybe I'm assuming too much down the road, but that was the extent of posting this (I like speculation). But say that politte, marte, shingo, cotts, and to a certain extent adkins are solid. Would Koch be somewhat expendable? Sure, especially if you get good value in return. Maybe it's because I'm anxious at the prospect of Koch possibly having trade value, but I think this kind of move would be neccessary for a mid-market team. Trading a guy that gets paid a good amount before you let him go for nothing are the types of moves that keep teams like the A's in contention every year. I do agree with you on the fact that moving him might look bad in a sense, but in all honesty it's hard to say that this year is THE year. The future needs to be on a team's mind at all times in my mind, maybe sacrificing it a bit if you're REALLY close, but I don't see the White Sox as a team that is REALLY close and that's why I see this as a possible great move.

I see your point about keeping him if he's pitching well, it just makes our bullpen that much better. But if we're going to let go of him either way, why not get something for him when his value is somewhat near what it used to be? I think the sox could get by without him in the pen, and he could bring a good player or two to us in return instead of just letting him walk at the end of the year. Also, if we package him with someone else we will have a good amount of flexibility come FA signings.

I understand that everyone is excited about this team, there's no reason not to be. This is not the point. This type of play may also be "fun to watch", however this is not the point here as well. This is the point: this is NOT the only way one can achieve victory. I'll continue to stress the point that this team has many station-to-station runners, and at least 20HR potential for two-thirds or more of the lineup. Our lineup is a lineup of hitters, good ones at that. I'd much rather see them try to go opposite field and hit behind a runner to move them over than take a bat out of their hands early in the game. Maybe it's just me, but this makes much more sense. All I am asking is to let the hitters hit from time to time. That's it. Overall, I think it'll provide much more balance for the team and in the end it'll lead to a greater bottom line (more wins). But like I said earlier, Ozzie may just be pushing his agenda early and then adjust and change throughout the season. We don't know what his next move is, I'm just trying to suggest what I think it should be.

Completely out of the blue, I'd figure I'd bring this up. If Billy continues to pitch this well and rack up a good amount of saves, I say we deal him. Sure, he may be getting back to near his original form (sans velocity of course) but to dump his albatross contract to a team desperate for a decent closer I think would be amazing. This is all under the assumption that Billy keeps it up, but package him with someone like valentin or lee to pull in a quality starter maybe? Therefore, we don't sacrifice our farm system for the stretch run and we shore up the rotation while dumping salary. Here's hoping Koch keeps pitching lights out.

That's the way I feel to YASNY, I think because it's early he's just trying to plant the seeds of small ball into this team. This is great, as long as he doesn't force it ALL YEAR. If he does, this team will lack that "killer instinct" and will be unable to put away opponents and we'll all lose 10 years from our lives watching these games . I really feel we could use one of those 10-2 blowout type of games, and who knows if uribe gets a chance to hit today in the first, he could have helped knock out batista early (the guy pitched the whole game). Which is another point, by allowing a team "free" outs, pitch counts get lower and starters get to settle in and stay in games longer. This could be disastorous against upper-tier pitching. I say we show our teeth and start rolling teams, how about Baltimore and their bandbox and ragtag rotation? Sounds good to me.

Thank God, because I think 80% of his career homers were against us (i'm exaggerating, but seriously this guy hit a ton of homers against us).

I wholeheartedly agree with you Tlak. Bunting after a leadoff double in the 1st Inning is questionable, and I think a bad call. In fact if anyone leads off with a double I'm not really a big fan of bunting unless it's a late and close game situation. I think Ozzie is really forcing his agenda for the time being. Bunting whenever possible, leaving SPs in for long times, etc. I know most of you will bite back with "well what's our record?" "today's game was a one run game." etc. But that's not what we're pointing out here, and those arguments don't really hold much water in my mind. Baseball is a game of adjustments and situations. The outcome of a game is a result of too many variables, however in specific situations there are good calls to make and bad calls to make. Personally I don't think bunting in every situation that may seem ok for a bunt is good AL baseball, nor good baseball for this team. We are not the Marlins. We don't have two prototypical leadoff hitters at the top of our order. We play in the AL and lead the league in HRs, we have a couple of guys with speed on our team but most of the team is average to below average speed. Frankly, this isn't the right personnel for this type of baseball to be used CONSTANTLY. I understand every once in awhile, but it's almost as we're becoming the most predictable club in the majors. People can flame me all they want, I just believe that this type of play can burn us in the long run unless we switch it up and let our hitters do the hitting from time to time. Our pitching is not strong enough to hold 1 run leads every night and ultimately if you play not to lose you can get into trouble. That's just my two cents.

If we're talking this year alone, then my top five (in no specific order) would be: Beltran, Vazquez, Belliard, Catalanotto, and ummmm Crawford (that may be a reach but there really isn't a fifth that has truly Dominated) If we're talking in recent history (say last ten years): Thome, Randa, Robbie Alomar, Joe Mays, Rusty Greer. Those guys murder us. I'm glad alomar and Thome are long gone from our league.

Side note: Freddy Garcia is flying under the radar right now with a 2.60 ERA and 21k's w/only 5 BB (he's pitching well against the tigers as we speak) I distinctly remember the possibility of acquiring him this past off-season. However, if Seattle is out of it come the break I bet he's available. However, more on this topic I think there's spots where everyone can pick and choose by saying "oh that would have been great" or "man I'm glad we didn't do that" but in the relative sense they all cancel out. A team is going to have bad contracts, a team is going to have good contracts. I think it's a matter of luck that you hit a string of "good signings" or "good trades" because there are so many variables in this sport that can't be explained or tracked statistically. And that's why I love baseball.

My mistake, the box score i was looking at wasn't updated. Make that 3 for 3 w/a walk and a .386 avg. Oh and a paltry .400+ OBP. Put this guy at the top of the order!

I was fed up with this game after the 4th, I couldn't stand seeing a player like Ron Belliard light us up. Checked Espn for the hell of it, saw it was 8-6 in the bot of the 9th. Turned it on, and man was that awesome. Go Sox!!! Btw, Uribe was 2 for 2 today w/a walk and a homer. Avg is now .375. When is he going to lead off?

I'd love to see frank get a chance here...come on Maggs...

pinch hit for willie? my god, that sounds so crazy it just might work! /sarcasmoff

Guys I wish I were with you on this one, but coming back from a 4 run deficit with practically the bottom third coming up? Not going to happen. Of course, if the biggest crow were to fly into my room, I'd be prepared to eat it if I'm wrong.

Well I can put my foot in my mouth on this one...I really thought the bullpen could pick up Garland tonight.

Man what a difference a year makes, last season that would have been a game the Royals would have won. Anyways, let's pick up the pitching tonight offense. Pick up a couple runs!

DeJesus is the heir apparent to Carlos Beltran once Beltran walks or gets traded. Outside of Greinke he's the top guy in the Royals' system.

come on damaso, settle down.

That's what I'm talking about! Let's go bullpen, hold this one down! I can't believe I'm this excited for a pitching change, but it needed to happen and I was afraid Ozzie was gonna leave Jon out there too long