fathom

So far, Elarton's been putting some weak, 85 mph fastballs right down the plate.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ May 6, 2006 -> 12:44 AM) Falling behind hitters=bad True, but I'd rather see it because he's throwing 91 mph inside instead of his weak change up in the zone.

Very nice play by Garland. T minus 2 minutes into the bottom of the 1st before Hawk states he's the best athlete on the team.

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ May 6, 2006 -> 12:42 AM) I See Judy is pitching tonight, not Jon. Tonight? You mean this year.

Thanks for giving us the first out.

Those 87 mph fastballs down the plate aren't going to fool anyone.

QUOTE(joeynach @ May 5, 2006 -> 10:25 PM) I am starting to get really frustrated with this whole dye situation. This injury has now been a huge question mark for our lineup the last 2 weeks. I dont know why they dont put hom on the dl, he obviously is injured enough to be so. What it sounds like is they are not too sure why he is so hurt from just a calf strain. To me it sounds like a tear to partial tear and possible torn miniscus. I think him not being on the DL is an absolute joke and unfair to this team. To have that question mark hang over the teams lineup everyday in the clubhouse is not fair to the other 25 guys. Someone should be called up to get some playing time since JD has basically been not ready to play for at least 7 days. You might as well Dl him maybe retro to last week and call someone up and give JD another 7 or 8 days off while you really investigate the source of his limping and calf situation.

Don't forget Iguchi's play was clutch as hell. It doesn't matter that Ron Santo is faster than Molina....it was still a very tough play. If Crede doesn't catch his ball, it's just a strike. Can we add a third option, and make it Podsednik's non-catch vs the Indians on Monday?

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ May 5, 2006 -> 05:20 PM) I'm talking about getting shut out by Joe Mays and a bunch of other rookie scrubs. Pitching wouldn't have done jack s*** for that lineup. I'm going to hold off judging this year's offense until some of these players cool off. With the way they're swinging right now, I hate playing for one run.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ May 5, 2006 -> 05:11 PM) LOL, so you probably long for the days of Thomas/Ordonez/Lee/Konerko, yeah? You enjoy watching us get shut out by some rookie, or some dude like Joe f***ing Mays? Not me. I like to be in every single game. It's called conservatism, not an all-or-nothing style of offense that you support. I think you're a great poster for the most part, but you gotta kick this bulls*** philosophy to the curb. If we had the pitching that we have now, back with that lineup, we would have been amazing. We're in every single game now due to our pitching. And I don't get what my bulls*** philosophy is? I believe that with our lineup, and in our park, we don't need to play for one run early in the game. Don't forget this....we're a terrible bunting team. Also, playing to win one run games like we did last year might not work as well this year. Our set-up men were AMAZING last year. This year, there's no way they're going to be as successful as they were. Cotts and Politte were two of the most valuable pitchers in all of baseball.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:48 PM) It's called conservative, playoff-style baseball. ONE RUN AT A TIME. Especially with our pitching. Again, I feel like I'm talking to a Cubs fan whose entire baseball philosophy revolves around greed. Greed? When RockRaines is defending me, maybe...just maybe, you're wrong. Yes, I'm a greedy sonofab**** for wanting the Sox to not play for ONE run. If we were going to play conservative baseball, we should have traded for Juan Pierre, and made him our DH and #3 hitter.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:45 PM) If the team is batting .230 and only scores via the dong, then worry. But when we are hitting at a good clip, have a real good OBP then dont. The homer is just a nature of our team. Especially with Thome, Konerko, Dye and Crede in the lineup. Right now, our 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 are all tough outs. Not many teams in baseball can have 6 players (a 7th with the way Pods has been lately) swing the bats well for an entire month.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:43 PM) Then maybe Iguchi is a #6 hitter, but we need to get that leadoff man (whoever is leading off an inning, not just Podsednik) in scoring position. Then maybe we should have a leadoff hitter who can steal 2nd at a high rate, or he can get into scoring position by actually getting an extra base hit. It was a lot more important to have a RISP for someone like Carl Everett than it is Jim Thome.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:38 PM) Basically Thome's OBP and power potential changes the face of this team, and how we manage our offense, especially early in the game. Look at yesterday's game, if Iguchi bunts or sac's PODS to 2nd base, and they walk Thome because the base is open, do we even win that game? Let me just add that I think Ozzie's done a very good job of managing to Thome's strength since the first series of the season.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:28 PM) I'm strictly talking about getting that man in scoring position with less than two outs. Playing for one run at a time. I figured that a guy like you would understand that, but you're greedy just like the vast majority. /blatant honesty Yep, playing for one run at at time, in the American League, is pretty dumb. Especially when the ball is jumping at our park. From the 8th inning on, playing for one run does make sense though.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:21 PM) I guess you dont understand the concept. If Iguchi, who is probably our best hitter right now, sacrafices PODs to 2nd base, will the odds are with first base open, Thome will be walked, so now you have 1st and 2nd with Kong up. Lets say that iguchi flied out instead of moving pods. You now have Thome up with about a 40+ percent chance of reaching base. I would say there is a good chance he either hits a double, HR or gets walked. Then you have 1st and 2nd with Konerko up. Now if you hit and run with Iguchi and PODS, and Iguchi singles you have 1st and 3rd, no outs, with Thome up. Now thats winning baseball. Unless it's the 8th or 9th inning, why give up outs with our powerful middle of the order coming up?

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:20 PM) As long as Tadahito attempts to move that runner over, I'll be content. If he is able to reach base while in the process of forcing the action, that's just gravy. It's a different situation if Pods can get to 2nd base, and then be bunted over to 3rd base with less than 2 outs. The underlying issue is that if we can't count on Pods to be able to steal 2nd base at a frequent rate when he gets on, then his value goes WAY down. After watching Iguchi play in about 200 games for the Sox, it's easy to observe that his worst swings are when he's trying to protect Pods. He's a smart enough hitter that Ozzie should trust him more with a hit-and-run. Iguchi swings and misses most at sliders low and away, and if he misses that pitch, Pods should have a good chance of being successful on the steal attempt.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:18 PM) He has 3 total GIDP this year. And those were all in the first 3 games of the year, I believe (in which jabroni was pointing out how Ozzie was trying to utilize the bunt poorly).

QUOTE(jphat007 @ May 5, 2006 -> 04:07 PM) Or he could double and score 1 and have 2 in scoring poisition or hit a hr or load the bases. How many dps does paul have this year? Extra base runners are never a problem If he's going to double, then the runner was going to score anyways. In the first week, where Ozzie tried to play a lot of small ball, I believe PK hit into four double plays. My philosophy is quite simple: unless it's the 8th or 9th inning in a tie game, you don't bunt in front of Thome and Konerko. If Pods can't steal a base against a reliever in a late game situation, then his value is even lower than most of us give him credit for.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 5, 2006 -> 03:55 PM) Thome isnt exactly a singles hitter, so most likely with a base open, he will get walked. So you have effectively taken the bat out of our best hitter's hands just to move a runner who had around a 50 percent chance to get to second with Thome up anyway. And then you have Konerko up with men on 1st and 2nd. If he hits a grounder on the infield, the inning is over.

QUOTE(Damen @ May 5, 2006 -> 03:02 PM) That's not to say he shouldn't ever run, but he should severely reduce his attempts. Personally, I think his basepath mentality now is more out of stubborness and selfishness than it is out of a desire to help the team. I think it's more of desperation of him to try and find his old speed and ability. He's just a step and a half slow now.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2006 -> 02:54 PM) Except Jim Thome also leads the team in getting on base/drawing walks, and he is an excellent baserunner, dispite his speed, who takes an extra base whenever he gets a chance. I know Thome himself isn't a smallball guy, but he does give the bottom of the line up a lot more chances to get runners over and in, and seemingly has allowed guys like AJ to go from trying to hit homers, to trying to get hits again. Yep, Thome is one of those OPS kings. Like I mentioned earlier, he's not up at the plate trying to move the runner along or hit a sac fly in a key spot. He's aiming for the concourse most ABs (and boy is it fun to watch).

QUOTE(YASNY @ May 5, 2006 -> 02:50 PM) I know we've improved our pitching and our defense, but you just can't totally abandon the threat of Pods running. It messes with opposing pitcher's head and puts pressure on the defense. You get the 1B holding him on, infielders cheating toward 2nd and moving on the pitch, the CF coming in to back up the throw. There is lot more to consider than just his success rate. And that's what I said all along. Don't abandon it, but just be a little wiser in when he goes, etc. Against pitchers with a quick delivery and a strong throwing catcher, Pods has had no chance this year. You can still distract a pitcher without attempting a steal. Pods could go 0 for the rest of the season on the bases, but pitchers will still concentrate to hold him on base. What we can't have happen is for Pods to be picked off once or twice a week, especially when it's just due to him having too big of a lead.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 5, 2006 -> 02:45 PM) Read my post more closely. There is no way we would bring him up for middle relief. A knuckler basically cant pitch in relief due to the walks and the passed balls. If he came in with runners on base, there is a large chance they will score. Don't forget the ease of stealing off of a knuckler.

QUOTE(YASNY @ May 5, 2006 -> 02:45 PM) If Pods never goes, then we are back to playing station to station baseball that failed year after year in the Maggs, Lee, Thomas era. Station to station baseball failed because we had s***ty pitching. Again, I never said that Pods shouldn't be going. I just don't think he should be trying to steal every time he gets on if he's getting out on the bases half of the time. I have no clue why Ozzie doesn't try to utilize the hit-and-run more with Iguchi at the plate. He seems a lot more comfortable doing that than he is protecting the runner.