Kalapse

QUOTE(rangercal @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 03:22 PM) if this is our best stretch, then how the hell were the sox 4 games over in may? Would you say they're playing better baseball now or in May? I'm not necessarily talking about "best ball" in the sense of wins and losses but rather just how well they're playing on the field with the runs they're scoring, solid starting pitching and surprisingly stout bullpen. This is the best "ball" they've played all year and the they're still only a game over during this stretch.

QUOTE(elrockinMT @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 02:06 PM) The ole Hawkeroo. A legend in his own mind and a hall of famer, who never got his due. Stone probbaly struck him out once or twice. Stoney's first year was Hawk's last and they were in opposite leagues so they never faced each other.

Have you seen the Cardinals' lineup? You think the Sox are punchless at times, they have don't have much outside of the big 3. Besides, this is a huge PR move. Rick Ankiel is still a beloved figure in St. Louis.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 01:24 PM) Left center used to be his power alley. His HR against Boston in the ALDS was the stroke he used to have every at bat. I went through the hit charts for every park he's hit in this year and out of the 17 doubles he has this season only 2 of them have been to left center. 1 at home and another at Camden that hit off the top of the wall.

QUOTE(TheBigHurt @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 01:30 PM) That makes sense, but he was coming through with the clutch hits, decent speed, and he also had some pretty damn good defense (its not ALL about hitting). So IMO, that made Erstad valuable. I thought his defense was rather mediocre, you could tell he hadn't played the position in a while considering all the stupid mistakes he was making.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 01:08 PM) Really? Seems to me he does that a lot. Otherwise though, loved the post. Awesome. He has 8 singles to left field at home this year and only 1 double in the left center gap. He used to be one of the best opposite field hitters in the game during his Twins days now he just flies out in the majority of his ABs to shallow left and center in the majority of his ABs. He's trying to get too much lift on his linedrives instead of just going with the outside pitch and working that left center field gap. He's gotten average up to .270 but he'd be so much more valuable if he just concentrated on taking the ball the other way for singles and doubles while turning on the occasional fastball rather than trying to lift the ball the other way and falling to one knee on high fastballs like he's doing now.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 01:09 PM) Who knows why, I think its cause hes my dads twin. I cant stand Farmer without Rooney. I think my dream tandem would be Rooney on PBP and Stoney doing color. A Rooney/Stoney booth would probably have to be simulcasted do to awesomeness.

QUOTE(knightni @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 01:05 PM) If he's batting .267 in AAA, he's going to have trouble hitting .230 in the majors. He isn't being recalled to hit a bunch of singles, they're calling him up to knock the s*** out of the ball. His 32 HR were near tops in the minors.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 01:05 PM) i hate you. Brenley couldnt be much worse, unless he was named Len Kasper I can't believe you like Grace, he's more smug and prickish than Farmer.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 12:55 PM) There are plenty of announcers that make Hawk look great. A#1 across town are the cubs announcers, those guys are some of the worst in the biz. listening to the Reds on the radio can put you to sleep in an instant, I also despise Farmer. I miss Rooney, I like Stoney, and there are plenty of other guys that get the job done. Im prob in the minority but I even like Gracey doing the AZ broadcast. Grace is possibly the worst I've heard, I can't even watch Fox broadcasts that he does. I still can't believe he called the White Sox a "National League style ballclub." Bob Brenley is excellent.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 12:17 PM) anything is possible. We need one of the two in front of us to absolutely go in the tank. Um two? There's 3 teams at least 5 games ahead of the Sox right now and if only one of them goes in the tank it just means the other 2 teams will get that many more wins when they go head to head. It's going to be virtually impossible to make any sort of run due to the unbalanced scheduling.

This team is far too inconsistent to get back to the .500 mark by the end of the year, even while playing probably the best baseball of the season they're only 14-13 since the break. Playing near .500 baseball over your best stretch isn't really a good thing.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 11:49 AM) My point was that the grass is not greener on the other side, not that Hawk is a super-awesome Hall of Fame announcer. The small markets aren't the only ones with bad people. Try getting through an Angels telecast without wanting to shoot Rex Huddler. Or the color guy for the Red Sox and his obnoxious Boston accent. I think that Blyleven does color on TV, but I could be wrong about that. See, you don't like the Boston guys because of their Boston accents yet they're pretty well liked in the New England area and considered pretty decent announcers. I doubt you'd ever hear them here in Chicago so that's not really a fair quip. The D-Rays and Marlins probably have the worst TV guys in the game. So bad.

QUOTE(mmmmmbeeer @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 12:03 PM) Apparently I'm alone in thinking that DJ is a solid color man. It's great having Stoney in the booth, but I really would be kind of disappointed if DJ were ever let go. He really does know a lot about the game, especially the strategy side. I love DJ.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 11:47 AM) I've come to realize there are very few things you like about this team. This is quite far from the truth. Things I dislike: Hawk, Podsednik, Erstad, Owens (as a starter), Bukvich, Contreras' $20M contract, Uribe (at times, I probably like him more than anyone else on the board, that's right I just admitted to liking Juan Uribe I demand bonus points for admitting it), AJ's lack of basehits to left field, Ed Farmer, Don Cooper's changing personality since 2005, Greg Walker, Joe Crede's back, Toby Hall's right arm, the PFB, the way this team's OF situation was handled during the winter, Nick Masset, Joan Cusak, the organization's complete and utter lack of quality position prospects, Joey Cora as a bench coach (terrible fit), the in-game managing of Ozzie Guillen (the benching of Danny Richar against tough veteran lefties is really starting to get to me) and Andy Gonzalez. I think that's it. Things I love about this Sox team: Danny Richar, Josh Fields, JIM THOME, Paul Konerko, Javier Vazquez, John Danks, Jon Garland, Mark Buehrle, the possibility of Gavin Floyd becoming a major league starter, Pablo Ozuna (as a bench player), Jermaine Dye, Jermaine Dye's high socks, AJ Pierzynski, AJ's attitidude, BOONE f***ING LOGAN (love that guy), Bobby Jenks (though I'm still in favor of trading him for a king's ransom), Ehren Wasserman (as a ROOGY), the pitching prospects currently at B-Ham (Gio and Egbert are sexy as all hell), DLS, the Cell, Don Cooper, Chris Singleton and Darrin Jackson's random ass comments that make no sense at all, Jerry Reinsdorf, all 3 jerseys (especially the alternate black), the S-O-X logo, Kenny Williams (I tend to defend the guy for whatever reason), the Chicago script, the smiling ghost of Man Soo Lee, CSN's away game HD broadcasts, Luis Terrero's defensive abilities, Matt Thornton, Mike MacDougal's stuff (only when AJ catches him though, with Hall behind the plate opponent's OPS against nearly triples), the possibility of Andy Sisco figuring it out and becoming a big league pitcher again, the pitching depth this organization has accumulated, Harold's silence, Razor Shines, Razor Shines' mustache, Jim Thome's clutch hitting, the possibility of signing Aaron Rowand to a well below market value contract (anything more than $7m [TOPS!] a year would suck), the selection of Nevin Griffin in the 2nd round of this year's draft, somehow signing Kenny Gilbert (very nice indeed), the organizations apparent willingness to throw more money at later round draft picks that are tough signs and Chris Carter's power potential.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 11:44 AM) I don't know who they all are, but the Twins' radio guys are very, very good. I think maybe Blyleven is among them? Anyway, how long is Stoney in there? I get back home tonight, I'd like to listen sometime this weekend to the two of them to see how they are. 4 more games for Stoney.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 11:29 AM) You might not be saying that if you had to listen to the Mariners' or Royals' crew. There are A LOT of MLB play-by-play guys who make Hawk sound like Vin Scully. I listen to both on a regular basis (M's for King Felix and the Royals for AL Central opponents) and both crews are insanely boring but they don't make me appreciate Hawk anymore. If Hawk were replaced with DJ and Stone took over the color duties I'd enjoy it a whole hell of a lot more. Just because some of the smaller markets have terrible announcers doesn't mean I want to listen to Hawk. Of course where would I go to here stories of random no name '60's Red Sox utility men, Carl Yastrzemski's greatness and Ty Cobb's penmanship? I find myself muting the TV about 8-10 times a game now at least with some stale, generic announcer I could listen to the entire game with cringing, rolling my eyes and vomiting all at the same time.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 10:50 AM) once again for everyone who doesnt understand. Myers is primarily a LOOGY. Bukvich is not. You would have to compare Myers effectiveness vs LH with that of Thorton and Boone. If he's strictly a LOOGY (which he has been for the great majority of his career) then his career is probably over since he can't really get lefties out anymore.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 10:42 AM) Absolutely not, and that's the end of it. And no, they won't throw in David Wright if we add Joe Crede + cash. Yeah, you're right. I think Hanley Ramirez is a better fit for this team anyway. How about Garland, Broadway, Anthony Webster and Honel for Ramirez, Olsen and Tankersley?

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 11:25 AM) No, I was referring to his place in Sox history. Those of us who are old enough still remember him calling games (with Drysdale) back in the ealry/mid '80s. As good as Hawk may or may not be, watching a Sox game wouldn't be the same without him. One thing's for sure, it would be a more enjoyable listen.

Except I highly doubt that Stone would even accept the job if it were offered to him, I really don't think he wants to be a full time broadcaster again, especially along side Hawk. He has a pretty sweet gig right now relaxing on his property in Arizona calling into the Score a couple times a week, maybe doing an ESPN broadcast every now and then pulling in checks from both. If anything he'll take a front office job somewhere he's not going back to the booth.

Boone Logan : lefties :: Ehren Wasserman : Righties Right handed hitters are 1-20 this year against Ehren though he has walked 2 of them so righties are putting up a .180 OPS against him in 23 chances. So if Ozzie could somehow control himself and try to limit Logan to facing lefties and Wasserman to righties this team could have 2 deadly specialists.

QUOTE(Mr. Showtime @ Aug 8, 2007 -> 11:01 PM) What do you think for Dye? 14-15? Especially if he goes to Texas with Tex gone. Probably a similar deal to Byrnes. He's going to finish the year with a high .800 OPS more than likely which isn't exactly spectacular. I think he could re-sign at a semi-discount maybe $8m-$9M a year.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 8, 2007 -> 10:39 PM) That was my thought too, because that's what Rowand is going to get with that contract. Rowand was going to get $10M+ no matter what Byrnes got. Gary Matthews made sure of that last year.

Jim Thome needs to be used this inning, preferably in place of prancer.