fathom

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ May 5, 2006 -> 02:39 PM) Even though Jim Thome is a major candidate for Most Valuable Hitter in the American League thus far, he is still a .280 hitter. It's all about getting one run at a time. These HRs are nice, but if your leadoff man reaches base with no outs, you sacrifice that #2 hitter to get him into scoring position. And while Scotty Pods sucks hard at baseball, it's still a dumb philosophy to just sit around and wait for a HR. Why sacrifice with the #2 hitter and give up an out to get to Thome? Thome has the most strikeouts in baseball over the last 5 years. He's not exactly up at the plate trying to dump a ball into the outfield to drive the runner home. Also, due to his style of hitting, he's not a big double play threat. I'd rather assure myself of having someone on base for both Thome and PK in an inning instead of giving up outs. I still think the biggest equation to our offense will be if Dye can stay hot/healthy at the plate. With our superstar 3-4 hitters, he's going to have a ton of ABs with runners on.

QUOTE(YASNY @ May 5, 2006 -> 02:34 PM) Still, you need the threat of Pods running to be part of the equation. Yes and no. Iguchi's a much better hitter when he's not trying to protect Pods at the plate. Even if Pods isn't active on the bases, pitchers will still pay a lot of attention to him. I'm not saying Pods shouldn't try to steal. However, I think he needs to cut back on his aggressiveness on the bases until he can either regain his speed or his confidence. With our home run hitters at 3-4, it's not wise to be making outs trying to steal 2nd (unless there's two outs with Iguchi up).

QUOTE(Damen @ May 5, 2006 -> 02:31 PM) Personally, I'd be happy if Pods doesn't run against another non-Cleveland catcher for the rest of the year. I feel much better about Gooch, Thome, Konerko, and Dye to be able to create a big inning once Pods gets on base, than to make Iguchi waste a couple strikes every at-bat - all for Pods 50% stealing efficiency. Great post. When you add someone like Thome to your lineup, you're not trying to play small ball.

It doesn't sound as promising as it did when he initially hurt it. They said he was limping in the clubhouse on Wednesday.

I'll tell you what...I really enjoyed the other board. I was unable to post on there, but I saw some very intelligent posters. Mr. Optimism seemed like a dick though.

I honestly can't "fathom" how Anderson's going to be a solid hitter with his current swing. It's so ugly. If you didn't know better, you'd think it was a pitcher batting some of the time.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 2, 2006 -> 07:59 PM) As far as I can tell we should still have him through the end of 08.

QUOTE(SpringfieldFan @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:49 PM) Yeah, I appreciate your concern for his health and what he can do when healthy, but seriously - he is out of the dugout maybe ten minutes a game total. I am missing the logic here - I really am. How about the fact he's looked awful at the plate for over a week now, and his timing looks way off? If we get 125 games out of Thome, I'll be thrilled.

QUOTE(T R U @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:45 PM) I really dont think we should ever put out anything less than our best lineup against Cleveland.. especially with the team they have If there was ever a game where it was going to happen, it was today. This road trip was a very tough schedule, and we should be thrilled that we went 5-3 on it.

QUOTE(JimH @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:41 PM) The White Sox were behind the 8 ball after the first inning. Even if Guillen hadn't started the subs they would've played anyways. It wasn't Buehrle's day today. Yep...it happens. This is only the third time this season where we were just outplayed from the start, and didn't have a chance. If you can consistently stay in games at a 85-90 pct rate, you're going to win a lot of games.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:34 PM) I don't think anyone cares to be perfectly honest. I do

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:33 PM) 1-0 pirates, over the cubs, top of the 1st. i dont know if that makes anyone feel any better so far The Pirates are 7-20.....they'll find a way to lose.

Kudos to Logan for some quality innings this series.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:24 PM) And I certainly hope they are cautious with Dye, especially since Mack is now apparently finding a groove. The only problem is that if Mackowiak needs to play in RF, we have no one to replace Anderson in CF. For all the quality ABs that Anderson had last week, he's off to a pathetic start this week.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:21 PM) I'm glad I'm stuck studying for finals instead of watching this game. Talk about a pathetic pitching performance. His line is almost enough to puke--5.2IP, 13 hits, 3 walks, 7 earned runs. Someone can say (and I'm sure they will), "OMG, I knew someone would complain," but I don't expect our ace to do this against a divisional rival. Considering they weren't exactly fooled by him opening day, I'd say it's time for him to man up against Cleveland next start. I've said this before, and I'll say it again.....Buehrle has his worked cut out for him this year vs this Indians lineup. They're loaded against LHP.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:20 PM) Without the Sunday lineups, we would have not had the gas we did in the post-season. Therefore, no championship. There's absolutely no way to know that. Without our pitching staff being incredible, there's likely no championship. It's not like our hitters tore the cover off the ball in the World Series. It's too hard to tell that if what worked last year, will work this year. Lets just hope Dye can get healthy soon.

Well....at least Jenks was great last night, and bailed out Ozzie, Cotts, and McCarthy. Assuming we lose today, a 5-3 trip is excellent.

Who would have ever thought that our 6-7-8-9 would be 2-14 today??

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:18 PM) We won the division last year because we attacked our division. Our sunday lineups were for other teams. We changed our rotation middle of the season so the top of our rotation would face our division more. We were not resting 3 and 4 starters against the Indians and the Twins last year.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:15 PM) I'm not sure if Buerhle helped the cause much... Of course. We lose today's game no matter who was playing.

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:14 PM) jeeze, juan and anderson are terrible. maybe we can trade anderson for murton, move pods to center >yea, anderson might become an all-star, but he clearly isnt ready. jeeze, i dont even think chris young would be doing as poorly if he was on the team. :banghead Ha...not a chance in hell Cubs would trade Murton for Anderson. Also, if you put Pods in CF, this team won't make the playoffs.

QUOTE(KevHead0881 @ May 2, 2006 -> 06:10 PM) Kinda sounds familiar... Dye is hurt, Podsednik and Pierzynski don't play against lefties very often, and Thome has played every game this year. Dye started the game. He's not part of the 3 starters out that we're mad about. I have no problem with Thome sitting today. However, Pods should have definitely been in the lineup. It's not a big deal though....hopefully Ozzie realizes that his 33 pct off lineups are 0-2 now, while his normal starting lineups with Pods, Iguchi, Thome, PK, Dye, AJP, Crede, Uribe, and Anderson have an extremely high winning pct so far.

What happened with Widger and his head injury?

QUOTE(chisoxfan79 @ May 2, 2006 -> 05:36 PM) Everybody here that rips Ozzie for his Sunady lineup, I just flipped to the Cards game during the commercial and Larussa has Pujols,Rolen, and Edmonds on the bench today, thats like ozzie benching Thome,Konerko, and Dye on the same day. You do know that Rolen is sick, and that Edmonds doesn't play against lefties every day. The only guy who's getting a break is Pujols, and he's played every game this year.

I'm going to lunch for an hour. When I get back, I better see the Sox up 5-3, with Anderson hitting a grand slam. Bring us a win jphat!