fathom

We have the good part of the order coming up next inning, so hopefully we cut into the lead some more.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 01:15 AM) Just go with DeAza and Pierre in the OF for two weeks and see if that sparks the team. DL Teahen or Omar. DL Rios for his "bad toe." Whatever it takes. They're just giving the fans nothing to cheer for at home this season. Hey, Rios has been respectable at home at least. His .444 OPS on the road is impressive.

Rios is now 2 for 28 with RISP and 2 outs this year.

Sit the f*** down Rios...that was maybe his worst at bat of the year. Does he even know Francis has a change-up? Oh well, at least it was another quick at bat for him.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 12:11 AM) Either a GS or a K here from Ramirez. Quentin apparently has "stars" instead of a "dotted i" on the back of his jersey. Wonder who did that? Equipment manager or MLB orders? Every All Star has that...quite lame

Of course...total meatball to hit

Three straight hits! No 5-2-3 double plays here

QUOTE (kapzk @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 12:08 AM) Quentin is due for a blast If he's going well, he bombs that first pitch..84 mph fastball down the plate.

Whew, there we go Dunn! Time for some continuation hitting.

Time to get something going with one out here. I think we'll see a solo homer by PK or Quentin.

Morel and his .525 OPS against lefties batting in front of Dunn is just bad. Scary to think we could be going on 22 or so innings without a run if not for wild pitches.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 4, 2011 -> 11:53 PM) Francis is 3-9. He's absolutely gotten rocked his last 3 starts. His ERA is near 6. He's topping out at 85-86-87 MPH. If we can't hit him, who exactly CAN we hit? At least Lopez had deception on his side. Outside of the 7th inning against Wells, the starting pitchers against the Sox have just shut us down. No more than 3 runs in a game against any starter still in baseball in a long time.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 4, 2011 -> 11:42 PM) What will Dunn's average have to fall to before they consider Viciedo for at least two weeks? .150? .145? Why can't they just bench him until Viciedo struggles or September when/if the team's no longer contending? At the very least, he should never be playing against lefties. How can you? It's quite obvious Dunn is just lost at the plate, and with the team still in contention, you can't afford to not try and add a spark to your offense. One player isn't bigger than the whole team, but sadly, that's almost what Dunn's struggles are coming across as now (especially with him hitting third).

Offense looks like it's picking up from where it left off lately. Quentin with another pop up to the right side, and Alex with a weak 30 second at bat. Good news is that I have confidence in our 8-9-1 to produce some offense.

Strike 4 to Dunn...how is it possible his at bats are getting worse? Batting him 3rd tonight is just comical. Actually, playing him against a lefty when he should be 0 for 53 against them this year is more comical. Batting Dunn 3rd is just so idiotic, it's really baffling that Ozzie keeps doing it.

Just a terrible pitch by Buehrle to a guy who will swing at anything. Too bad he knocked down that Butler flare, as it was a routine double play ball.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 4, 2011 -> 01:19 PM) It's pretty obvious that the guy is horrible right now. But the point is that we have $50 million still invested in the guy...you have to handle him in a way that will give you the best chance to recoup on your investment, as much as I hate to use a similar phrase as Chris Rongey. There's still 3 1/2 years for Dunn to get it going, but giving him a nice 10 day break would be the best thing for the team right now. We face 2 lefties in this KC series, and given Dunn's struggles this year against them, he really shouldn't be playing. The boo birds are going to be crazy this week if he continues to struggle.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 3, 2011 -> 03:53 PM) Yeah, and considering he seems to hit at times around 90-100 pitches (he did not yesterday), it might be time to start pulling him after 6 innings. Problem is, so many of his starts he has not given up more than a run or so after 6 innings... I'd love a rainout this week to give our pitchers a breather. As I mentioned in another thread, tons of stressful innings for them lately.

I can't recall a longer stretch of games where the Sox have not been blowing out/been blown out by the opposition. I was thinking earlier that our pitchers are throwing a ton of stressful innings, as I can't recall last time we were up by more than 3 in a game.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jul 3, 2011 -> 10:43 PM) Wait till he does it against divisional opponents. I said this last week, but it's to the point where we're not going to win anything this year with Dunn in the lineup (struggling the way he is). He's showing no signs of coming out of it, so bench him for now and see what we can do with Viciedo at DH for the next month. He absolutely should not be starting 5-6 times a week.

Pathetic offensive performance today. I can't believe we benched our best player twice in last four games just to get Dunn at bats. Dunn is killing us this season!

Konerko should have a great chance as he's not facing anyone from Boston or NYY

3 AL pitchers are currently scheduled to start next Sunday.

QUOTE (scenario @ Jul 3, 2011 -> 04:21 PM) Morel has a .338 batting average during day games. Paulie .395 Teahen .161. Dunn .141 Not only that, but you have really weak corner infield defense today and the Pierre/Morel 1-2 in the order had a nice rhythm going.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Jul 3, 2011 -> 04:08 PM) I wish I saw anything in Dunn's swing that made me think he was even close. There's very little confidence in his swing right now, as he's not letting it fly. At this point, I'd rather he just swing at first three pitches he sees and hope for the best.