fathom

PK looking great today. Parra = not very good

Not only is it great for Beckham to get some productivity into his stat line, but as a Cubs hater, hopefully this will convince Milwaukee to acquire another starting pitcher.

2 rbi!!

Nice going Twins. Win tomorrow, and then lose the rest of your games this season.

Um, Milton Bradley just took a 2-2 slider literally right down the plate that wasn't called strike 3. It might be the worst call in the history of professional sports, and I'm not sure that is an overexaggeration. Everyone on the field froze. I never want to hear another word from Cubs fans about the umpires.

The ironic thing is Peavy hurt his ankle in his first game after he declined the trade. If he approved the trade, this injury never happens.

I still will never understand how Harden gets so many swings and misses. 92 mph fastball with only a splitter (disguised as a change-up). He has to have at least 20 misses already today.

Great to see Konerko back in the lineup.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 13, 2009 -> 06:30 PM) Right now, I'd rather face Pujols than Mauer, but that's only because Mauer has been absolutely on fire since he came back. Exactly

The Cubs pitched to Mauer with a runner on 2nd, 2 outs. He of course delivered an RBI single. I don't care how good Morneau is, you simply don't pitch to the best hitter on this planet.

Chicagosports.com has all the North stuff and webio's problems.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 08:25 PM) Pedro Cerrano running out of the baseline to help a bird he hit with a ball.... Well done

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 13, 2009 -> 04:18 AM) You don't have to. KW, Buddy Bell, etc. have to. Seems like the kid was definitely rushed despite the tools and alittle bad luck. He needs to get stronger. He looks like a little kid out there, and even though he makes good contact, he looks to be a warning track power type hitter when he gets a hold of it.

Hopefully our relievers continue to perform as well as they have this year, as you'd hate to see them lose their trade value while hurting the team as well. 3 straight nice starts by our young pitchers. And Beckham, please start getting some hits, as it's going to get annoying having to continuously defend your spot in the big leagues.

Really good lists so far, good job guys.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 09:33 PM) In addition to a slimming down of personal attacks, I wouldn't mind seeing an end to the "I'm too good for this thread" or "Not this again" posts that have been becoming more frequent as this season wears on. Good point...for example, threads discussing Greg Walker's job secruity after getting shut out in 3 of 4 games by terrible pitchers.

I've been clamoring for Alexei in the 2nd spot, but my initial impression is we might want to move Beckham there next year and keep Alexei farther down the order to drive in more runs. Alexei seems to struggle with Pods on 1st, as he's been hitting a lot of weak balls to the right side. He's too talented of a hitter to just be trying to advance the runner. Beckham has more of a natural swing to go to the opposite field (hopefully he becomes our Michael Young). As for his defense, we all know he struggles going to his right. Thus, he should shade a little more towards the hole. It's shocking being at games seeing how far up the middle he plays everyone. If he shades a little more to the hole, it should give him a lot more range. A great example of this was Inge's game winner on Monday.

Hey, at least Milton didn't throw a foreign object into the crowd this time! I'll be honest, I'm rooting for the Twins to sweep the Cubs. As someone mentioned earlier, if there was any indication it would be the Sox/Twins battling it out this year, I'd root for a natural disaster at Wrigley instead.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 04:51 PM) And Flash, Fathom is one of my favorite posters on Soxtalk. Ah thanks! I wasn't going to chime in on this thread, but as a known pessimist, there's a lot that can be learned. There's a way to articulate your thoughts so that they're not a personal attack on a player, and rather more of an observation. Something that I have tried to do more of and will continue to do is make a comment so that it opens up for further discussion. Saying "Ozzie is pathetic" isn't quality posting and myself and others should improve upon that. As long as people follow the rules, I've not seen anyone get suspended/banned for stating any opinion regarding the team (and that's what separates this site from WSI). I tell this to numerous mods/admins, and that is that if they have a problem with my style of posting, please PM me and I'll be happy to do whatever I can to improve the quality of the posts. I would also add the quality of conversation in the chats is better than that of the game threads, as there's some great baseball people in there (kyyle, daa, flash, SSI, etc.).

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 12:38 AM) Gavin Floyd y'all. Looks pretty good once he corrected his posture and tempo huh? And once he realized that he has one of the most "plus" pitches in all of baseball, and he should use it more.

It's amazing how close 4 of the games in this series were.

Nice win started by 3 of the young guys in the 9th.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 11:16 PM) In KC he was hitting 97. He's an elite closer, you trade him only if you are in White Flag mode, which i dont think is coming. We need to keep Bobby for at least 2 more seasons. Personally, I'm in the boat of trading Jenks for a huge package, and making Thornton your closer. Also, I don't trust that gun in KC, as they had Dotel at 96 and he's been around 91 all year.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 11:12 PM) I literally sat there and said to my TV, first pitch slider gets him here Bobby. Sure enough he was in swing mode and anything other than a fastball probably gets a ground ball. I kid you not...the scouting report on Granderson when I faced him in high school was to not throw him first pitch fastballs. We'd always just throw get-me-over curves to get ahead in the count.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 11:13 PM) Come on people, when a player messes up stay away from the "trade him now" stuff. It happens. But what if you feel that they really should be traded for the benefit of the organization, no matter what happens on the field? Last Saturday, Jenks was throwing 91 mph against the Indians, and the same things were being said. I agree with your general point though.