joeynach

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 4, 2008 -> 09:32 AM) My only concern is that we are notorious for having pretty lousy 2nd halves in the past few years. Which has been described as a result of relying on aging vets, who tend to break down some toward the end of the year; Konerko, Thome, Contreras, AJ, Cabrera, Dye, etc.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 11:43 PM) That's a pretty bad lineup. Swisher's offense is below average for a 1st baseman, and you know that Anderson will never get handed the starting spot in CF. There is still some room to add power in CF. I dont care if its BA or not. Griffey or someone else can play center who brings in some good pop to the lineup. The point was about the orientation of the infeld.

I think KW is already planning on make a run at either Orlando Hudson or try for Brian Roberts again. It appears that they have already made their minds that Alexi is going to be the starting SS and they are looking to pair another speedy lead off hitter type at 2B. They already tried to do this when they almost traded Ocab to the dodgers, moving alexi to SS and using the prospects from LA to get Roberts from the O's. I think its pretty obvious that the sox would love to strengthen their up the middle D for 2009, especially if we are going to live with fields at 3B. Alexi at SS, Roberts/Hudson at 2B, Swisher at 1B, and Anderson/Wise in CF, with Konerko/Thome DHing seems to be the best route here. It would also give us a pure leadoff hitter in Roberts or Hudson and Alexi is maturing into a nice high AVG, placido polanco like, #2 hitter. Then follow that with CQ, Dye, Konerko/Thome, Fields, and AJ and u still have plenty of power in the lineup.

QUOTE (BaseballNick @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 05:40 PM) I don't think it's anything more than an excuse. If you can pitch, you can pitch against anyone, anywhere. Sox pitchers were leaving pitches up to a hot hitting Royals team. Even the pitches that weren't left up were hit hard. KC is hitting everything in sight right now. That said, the starting pitching looks awful and the bullpen looks worse. Boone looks especially lost out there, and it appears that we're going to lose D.J. for a couple of games. I agree the bullpen is awful, I hated Massett. I figured that was addition by subtraction right there. Also Boone and Ehren are just not major league pitchers, I dont even think their stuff is good enough to fool/dominate major league hitting. Having Linebrink out really hurts. I wouldn't mind seeing KW shed the dead weight in the pen. Massett was a start he couldn't get anyone out, now its time to dump Boone and Ehren. Even if that means calling up Macdougal. I wouldnt mind seeing a pen of Jenks, Dotel, Linebrink, Thornton, Carrasco, Russell, Macdougal. Its highly unlikely they can be any worse than right now.

QUOTE (letsgoarow @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 03:46 PM) I like it!! Its the truth.

The twins will be bad on the road..period, even in seattle. That team is the benefactor of a hard turf surface, weird defensive backdrop, and uncomfortable hitting backdrop for opposing hitters. Their defense plays so far back in the dome b/c every hit base hit is a rocket off the turf so they cut down what are sure to be extra base hits, they bunt and sacrifice a lot and then get turn ground outs and singles into extra base hits at home b/c they knock the ball intentionally hard on the turf, and every twins pitcher has horrid road ERA's and stellar Home ERA's b/c other hitters aren't used to the strange backdrop at the dome. If you remove all that the twins are an OK team with some talent in the middle of the lineup and back end of the bullpen but thats about it. If they play a majority of their games on the road they will .500 at best, but are more like .400 or even .350 road team. In July they went to boston and got swept, they went to yankee stadium and got swept, they went to Cleveland and lost 2 out of 3. They play well at their weird dome and play bad on the road, thats the twins and its no secret. Its up to the sox to now take advantage of being at home. I think most of us would agree the sox hit a ton of balls at Det, KC, and Minn that looked like for sure extra base hits and HR's at home, but were rather easy outs in those road parks. This team needs to pitch better for sure, but you will see the sox offense be a whole lot more productive at home, thats the kind of team they have (they suck in those large outfield parks).

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 03:15 PM) it's too soon to write off Richard. He's an ex football player who's only been full-time baseball for three or four years. But he needs work in the minor leagues. He needs good coaching. And he doesn't need his confidence totally shredded. Send him back to Charlotte to regroup. I agree its too soon to completely write him off, but he should not appear for sox anymore this year. Hes got promise and needs to spend more time in AAA and then perhaps get another shot at a later date, but as for right now he needs to go bye bye.

Does anyone think that the fact that Richard follows Buehrle in the rotation makes things worse off for Richard. He has a similar style to buerhle and throws relatively similar in terms of style and stuff. So in Richards case, even though the teams havent seen him before, its like they have just seen a similar style the day before he pitches. Im not 100% sure but Id say its just not a good way to set Richard up being that he is up here for the first time ever and would have that "never seen before" advantage.

Once again we are asking the question why is Wasserman on this team. He is without a doubt not a major league pitcher.

Is it just me or does anyone else think Swish and Konerko should both never be back to back in the lineup. They are the same hitter, just left handed vs right handed. In fact they probably both shouldnt even be in the same lineup. Its gross.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 12:01 PM) How about we spice up the talent first, Minnesota plays really well on the most boring playing surface there is. Minnesota plays really well or the competition plays really poor. I think its the latter, most teams dont field the ball as well on the crappy turf, dont see the ball as well at the plate and in the field and thats the reason the twins are night and day at home vs on the road. Just look at their all their pitchers ERA, every single one of them has garbage ERA's on the road and dynamite ERA's at home.....hence other teams dont see the ball well at the gay dome.

The funny part about tonites game is that you almost see it coming. And it makes sense too. My friend asked me who I like tonite in the sox game, betting wise. I said the only thing I would take would be the under in the 1st 5 Innings. The theory being the twins haven't seen him before so the first time through the lineup they might not even get a hit. I said watch out the second and especially third time through the lineup, they could get to him then. Well low and behold they got to him the 2nd and 3rd time through. I think its was pretty obvious it was coming. I 100% believe that if it was the 6th inning instead of the 5th when the bases were loaded with 2 outs for Morneau there is no way Richard faces him, and thronton prolly comes in. Its really too bad, it looks like he was only left in there b/c it was the 5th and he was 1 out away from being the pitcher of record in line for his first win, even though we had a better match up waiting in the pen. Looks like Ozzie really wanted to roll the dice with the wrong guy (and hes done this before as well). Too bad he defiantly blew the game.

UM has anyone noticed that last 5 games or so CQ has turned into the least patient hitter in baseball. Id say he has swung at the first pitch, mostly for an out 90% of the time in the last 5 games. WTF is he doin all of a sudden.

I really would like if the sox added a couple things to playing surface. I like the team logo imprint on the back of the pitchers mound, as well as the large painted (white) logo behind home plate on the grass. I really think it looks good at the yanks, tigers, dbacks, padres, etc. We could use our current sox logo or even one of the 80s or 70s logo (behind home). I think it would look really cool. Any thoughts?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 11:30 PM) With Hudson's injury, there's no one on the Braves that really excites me. Hudson will not be traded. He was placed on the DL and u cant trade a player on the DL...and the deadline is thursday.

ESPN just reported Liriano will get called up and rejoin the Twins next week. Lucky us, he gets back just in time to face the sox.

Anyone want to explain why Masset is in the game instead of Linebrink or Dotel. Since when do we use Mr. Cant get anybody out in a tie game in the 7th against a division rival....id rather see carrasco for that matter. WTF.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 07:17 PM) Move to Venezuela. If you can avoid the violence, you can drive all day. Gas is $.12 a gallon. I think their oil industry is state run there, that could be a subsidized gov't price. Plus I remember hearing that Venezuelan oil, though they pump tons every day, is basically garbage oil and difficult to process from.

The falling prices make sense. Gasoline futures today closed at $3.14. The typical difference between traded future price and price at the pump is usually anywhere from 50-75 cents, mostly dependent on local and regional taxes. When gas futures were at their highest $3.55-$3.60 in June, retail prices were about $4.25-$4.40 in my area. Now gas is trading at $3.14 and prices are between $3.79-$3.89, with the exception of those non competitive A-hole owners who still have their gas around $4.20 on the other side of town (away from that cheap speedway on halsted).

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 02:40 PM) I remember paying under a dollar when I was in high school. , I also remember the first time I had to pay over $2.00. Now I get excited when it's under $4.00 I also remember paying like 99 cents for gas in high school. I remember between 1999-2002 gas was regularly like $1.25 with sometimes prices falling to 99 or 89 cents over the border in indiana. In high school it really was like "throw me $10 for gas" that was like half a tank.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 02:56 PM) Is it still 3.79 in Homewood, Joey? If so, I might have to go... Yes it is.

I just wanted to let everyone know gas is $3.79 at a speedway station in my town. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I know oil prices have gone down the last 2 weeks or so but this is crazy because all the other stations within a few blocks are still selling for around $4.20. Quick to raise prices and slow to lower them..yeah that sounds like something the oil and gas companies would do (gauging anyone). Anyway the station is a Speedway on the corner of Halsted St and Ridge Rd in Homewood. So if anyone is going to be in the South Suburbs or going to be going along I-80 near halsted get it while it lasts!

Homewood, IL.....$4.27 for unleaded.

Uh oh the white sox are facing a left handed pitcher they have never seen before....DA DA DUN!! If he has a good change up we are really screwed.

The one question I have on the election is is this election almost a default win for the democrats. Has the republican party lost by default because of the Bush administration. Meaning with very low approval ratings, the handling of IRAQ, katrina, etc....has this election already been decided. Basically meaning the republican party loses b/c its the same party that is so dissaproved of today. So the democrats, representing everything opposite of what we currently have win by defualt b/c they are different. Its kinda of situation where the current Republican party did so poorly the replacement is an automatic winner, kind of like replacing Dusty Baker or Dick Juaron. If this really is the case lets all go to vegas and bet the house on the Dems to win.