fathom

Nice play by Beckham to save a triple.

I was at the game, so it was harder to tell just how good or bad Humber's stuff was. I saw the replay of the Damon and Upton strike outs, and those were some filthy breaking balls. Oh, and the Fuld catch was even better in person. You have no idea how much ground he covered cause they were playing Pierre very shallow.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 10, 2011 -> 04:55 AM) Ryan Franklin is having a worse season than Matt Thornton so far, or so it seems. Um, yes. 3 blown saves all with 2 outs.

Can't recall last time I saw a team with worse mojo than the Cardinals. 3 games they've lost now this year when leading with one out to go. Rasmus drops a fly ball to lose the game tonight. Their offense is dreadful. That franchise needs to trade Pujols!

Gonna be a weird bullpen game for us with Thornton and Crain likely out. Pena and Gray likely to get a few innings today.

Well, I'm done talking about tonight's game and Thornton as a closer. Unlike last year, there's no doubt in my mind that Ozzie will be proactive in making any needed changes. Still a lot of positives about how the offense looks so far this year, but we need Humber to earn his spot on the roster tomorrow.

I was going to say: Peavy Floyd Sale FA Prospect

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 04:19 AM) I don't think you can just say hitters sit on one pitch in the 9th exclusively. They've been sitting on that one pitch for years and they haven't had much success with it. If you think it's a mental thing, that's fine. But Thornton's been in much higher leverage situations throughout his career where the game was even more so on the line than starting the 9th inning with no outs and nobody on. I don't think you can really call Thornton weak minded after all the situations he's been in where there was absolutely no room for error. I hate the cliche, but everyone who's ever pitched/manaaged in the majors talks about how hard getting outs 25/26/27 are compared to every other out.

Some of those closers with high fastball percentages also have lights out secondary pitches they use for strike outs, like Bell and Broxton with their sliders.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 05:08 AM) One look at his FIP solves whatever issues you're talking about. Thornton's FIP in the 9th is 2.78, even lower than his ERA (this actually doesn't care what errors were made behind him). His FIP in save situations is 3.11. His career FIP is 3.5, so it's not like he's been absolutely terrible in these kind of situations. Huge difference in mentality between getting situational save opps and 9th and being the designated "closer". No one is saying that Thornton is done with as a reliever, but his closer mentality should be in question.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 05:06 AM) I missed the game. Can somebody explain to me how we gave up 9 runs to this offense? To be honest, this was a horribly disappointing loss. We should have been up by 5 or 6 runs after 5 innings, as Shields was terrible. Danks then lost it in the 6th and 7th, and was left in way too long by Ozzie. Crain saved us, but Thornton's fastball was flat as can be.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 05:05 AM) Danks is reminding me more of Greg The Bulldog Hibbard and less someone who should be paid $16-17 million per year. WALKS!!!! I wouldn't pay Danks more than 4/48 million, but maybe that's just me. I know he'll get more than that, and it's why I can totally see him getting traded to Texas this offseason for some of their big prospects.

So if you project two years out, who is even likely to be in our rotation?

And if the gun was accurate, his fastball was 94 mph tonight. Maybe AJP should leave him alone when he's getting treatment??

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 04:57 AM) Yet another fathom post I agree with. I just hate that we woke them up from their nap. Really hate it. When Teahen got that hit, I'd have bet anything we'd beaten this winless team. Now wait, Tampa will be red hot tomorrow as well. Humber makes a lot of teams "red hot".

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 03:50 AM) Leading the MLB in errors is very scary. We won't even contend with crappy defense. Tonight's loss is entirely on ninth inning defense. Scary post. To me, the 6th/7th inning where Tampa had 7 of their 9 hitters reach woke up their offense from their season-long nap. I'm just disappointed that Thornton hasn't been able to convert the save opps he's had and keep this bullpen in order.

Those two runs we gave away due to bad base running came back to haunt us as well. Gotta stop giving up outs on the bases.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 03:39 AM) Will Ozzie try Crain as closer? Hope not...he's better as 7th/8th inning reliever, as is Thornton. Sale should be the closer or sent down to stretch out as a starter. If you can't pitch him in a game like tonight in the 7th, then he's being wasted.

Thornton's aiming it...when he lets it fly, he's more erratic and effectively wild. It never seemed like he wanted to be the closer, and I know for a fact the Sox organization didn't believe he had closer mentality. Unfortunately, Sale's struggles this spring training made them change their mind.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 01:19 AM) I'm just trying to enjoy Jackson in the present and not worry about how we will likely lose him after the season. I thought we overpaid, but what the hell. s*** maybe if he has a great year and we win something of significance he'll like Chicago and want to stay, giving us a Konerko discount. Boras client...good luck with that

That's about as brutal of a non-Twins loss as I can recall the past few years. Not good to lose this with Humber going tomorrow and facing some All Star pitchers next week in Cahill, Haren and Weaver.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 03:20 AM) thats. all. he. has. It's really not. He still used to throw the slider to try and steal a strike or keep the hitter honest. Thornton's fastball is 2-3 mph slow right now, and he's too down in the zone with it.

QUOTE (cws0591 @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 03:18 AM) whats the deal with Thornton??? someone needs to tell him a closer needs to use more than just his fastball.... Dan Johnson can crush a fastball. Everyone knows he can't hit an offspeed pitch to save his life. No reason to pipe the first pitch fastball.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 03:17 AM) any runs that happen after the would-be third out are unearned. Yes, but they gave Fuld a hit.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 03:17 AM) fathom's boy comming in to pitch. What about Farnsy?