Kalapse

QUOTE(ChWRoCk2 @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 06:30 PM) I know, I saw that clip on sportscenter over and over, but it gets batters thinking, which makes him intimidating. Another player, how bout pronk. I don't actually watch SC especially when they're talking about him so I didn't even know they explained it. There's tons of footage out there of him throwing the 'gyroball' and it's really nothing spectacular, just a hard slider. Any player who does even an ounce of research on the day's pitcher would know this.

QUOTE(ChWRoCk2 @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 05:20 PM) Throwin this one out there, how bout Dice K, his mystery pitch has batters dazed and confused as to when it might come or if its even real. It's a f***ing slider. MYSTERY SOLVED!!

Mench? He's in Milwaukee now and he mainly feasted on Cotts.

Balta, you're 100% right about King Felix and his slider, they didn't want him throwing it at such a young age because injury concerns. He got in shape this offseason and filled in a good amount of muscle mass so they are now opening him up to throw the slider. It's amazing he was able to do what he did last year while not even using his best pitch.

That assclown with the goofy mustache who bangs the big ass drum at Jacobs field. f*** that guy.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 12:13 PM) Um... I did point out the positive. I wasn't the one to point it out originally in this case (Rock was), but I agreed. I was supportive of him kicking a little ass in the clubhouse. Is that not an attempt? And yes, I did add the negative part about the Ozzie bashers. I think some people just bash everything he does. That's pretty much what I was pointing out. If it makes you feel better, next time I see something Ozzie does specifically that I really think was a positive for the team, I'll start a new thread. We'll see how many posts it takes for me to be told I defend Ozzie blindly and all the time, that whatever happened must be due to anything other than him, and that I shouldn't bother starting whole new threads just because of one thing Ozzie did right. /jaded How 'bout this. You blindly support Ozzie about as much as I blindly hate on Ozzie.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 12:00 PM) Who knows? That's kind of my point. Every situation in baseball has some what-ifs attached. If those what-ifs are negative, and there can be any sort of connection made at all to managerial decisions, then Ozzie tends to get bashed for it. Here we have a situation where he did the right thing, and it may have had a positive result. Its just the extreme rarity around here that he would get some credit for that. And no, not every thread needs to become that. If Ozzie screws up, that's what should be discussed. But when something positive changes in the attitude of the team, which it apparently has (and it wasn't just the 2 starters, or even just pitching necessarily), then it should be noted that perhaps Ozzie got the team back on track. Part of the problem with evaluating managers is that the positives they bring are usually subtle, and not easily identified or quantified. But if they screw up, that's usually pretty apparent. Its the same with any manager in any business. So when stuff like this happens, yeah, I'll usually tend to give Ozzie some credit, even though his effect may have been very small or very large. Why didn't you start a thread about Ozzie's tirade then? You can say he gets no credit but I'm sure if you started a thread praising Ozzie for getting the Starting Pitching going the majority of the board would have been right with you in heaping praise upon him. Sometimes you have to take the initiative, you better believe if Ozzie f***s up someone is going to be right there to b**** about it within a few minutes of the incident so when he does something positive like this the exact same should be done. Make an attempt to counteract the negative discussion with some positive news.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 11:32 AM) How is Carmona? Real bad. Especially against the Sox.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 11:22 AM) Eh, they weren't exactly stellar in spring training either... I'm not about to give Ozzie that much credit either but at least he was proactive. Yeah, it's cool and all that he's not going to sit back and watch s***ty outing after s***ty outing to start the year, I appreciate the fact that he did what he thought was necessary in order to prevent any further disappointment form his starting staff. But with that said I'm not about to credit him with turning around a starting staff that IMO was never even faltering to begin with. QUOTE(RockRaines @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 11:26 AM) And the bullpen? Garland? 2 games. 2 GAMES! Buehlre was still leaving pitches up in the first 2 innings of the 3rd game of the season too. That was after the rant. The bullpen wasn't bad at all in game 2 either. The only real problem was Sizemore hitting a good pitch out in the 7th accounting for an ER for Mac and 1 for Thor. That same game featured one of the best outings by a Sox reliever EVER.

Only 2 starters had thrown, how can anyone even say the starting pitching was faltering? He went on a tirade after game 2, I just don't see how that allows for enough of a sample size to make an direct connection between the 2. But yeah, I guess if Joe Cowley says so then I should just assume that Vazquez would have s*** himself in his first outing had Ozzie not yelled at him 2 days prior.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 10:22 AM) Yes, but you know how this works. We'll hear about Ozzie's screw-ups every day (and I certainly agree he has plenty of them), but rarely does anyone acknowledge the positives he brings to the table. So must every thread turn into one of these? I'm just wondering how you're going to prove that Ozzie getting pissed off turned the pitching around after what 1.5 bad outings? Javy hits the mound and dominates, since then the starting pitching has been great, I'm curious as to how Ozzie doing a little screaming in the press had this major effect on the pitching when there really was no problem to begin with, seeing as how only 2 starters got to pitch substantial innings.

Ugueth Urbina

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 09:06 PM) I recall him hitting mid to high 90s already at this point in the year last year, I checked the MLB.tv archives and according to Comcast's gun from April 10th/12th of last season vs Detroit, Bobby was sitting at 96-97 MPH so yeah at this time last year Bobby did have his good velocity.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 12:47 PM) Ozzie isn't going to change his style. I thought that would be obvious by now. So, while I agree that Ozzie's irrational prejudice against young players such as Anderson is counter-productive, Ozzie is going to do what Ozzie wants until the day that he gets fired. We're going to have to take the bad with the good. Last year Ozzie pulled Pods in most every late game situation where a defensive replacement was necessary, he stopped doing that this year. Seems to me that he changed his style in that regard.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 02:27 AM) I was informed during spring training that Ozuna would rank quite low on the grinder scale. Kalapse please help me on this one, PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE kthx Using the formula I came up with I get the following numbers: Pujols: 772 Ichiro: 388 Erstad: 264 Eckstein: 264 Rowand: 264 Byrnes: 251 Podsednik: 231 Mathews Jr.: 206 Ozuna: 201 I figure the ultimate Grinder number is set at 264 with anyone within 40 points either way of that number being considered a Grinder. The further away from 264 you get the less of a Grinder you are.

After watching the replay on MLB.tv frame by frame, I can say with 100% certainty that the ball hit Pods flush on the head. The wall did not come into play. There has to be another view of the play, is there a reason why they haven't shown it anywhere yet?

QUOTE(iamshack @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 01:52 AM) The number of actual games sacrificed because of his defense is absolutely miniscule compared to what he does for this team when he is playing well offensively. Miniscule. Yeah, I disagree but whatever I don't really care anymore.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 01:41 AM) Once again, an oversimplification. But this much we know: he's extremely hard on himself and will be cursing his own name like a sailor tonight as he is being "comforted" by Lisa Podsednik. I want his confidence high as can be because when he is on offensively, our team wins at an incredibly high rate. When it comes down to it, one or two miscues in the field may be well-worth the extra offense which comes from him being confident at the dish some 600 more times this season. Ugh, I don't think it's oversimplification to hope that Pods knows he's bad out there and Anderson is better. He was pulled a lot late in games last year because of this. He needs to realize what is best for the team and that's him hitting the bench in the 8th or 9th inning. And if he's really that hard on himself that he can't stand to be replaced late in games then I can't imagine what tonight's blooper real worthy exploits are going to do to him mentally. If the Sox need to sacrifice games just to keep him confident at the plate then I don't really want him around anymore. There are a lot of players out there who can do what he does.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 01:41 AM) " There you go, OG is blind. Perhaps Oz confused "way over" with "on top". English isn't his native language you know.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 01:37 AM) I don't blame people for being frustrated with him as I am as well. HOWEVER, this board has to be more sophisticated than this. Realize what he is, and deal with it. Every goddamned thread turns into the Scott Podsednik thread here. On a more positive note, I ordered an authentic "Halfway to St. Patrick's Day" John Danks #50 jersey today from Grandstand....SOB better earn his keep now... Actually most threads turn into an Ozzie-Hater/Ozzie-Apologist or Brian Anderson thread. Scott wasn't discussed much this offseason, he got a bit of a free pass for a while there.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 01:34 AM) I'm not saying his D should be ignored, and I wouldn't have had any problem with subbing for him. However, we don't know how he reacts to that. Ozzie is dealing with real people here, folks, and even if they are professionals, I am going to trust he knows how to manipulate them better than we do. If Scott really has a problem with getting pulled late in games for a defensive replacement then something seriously needs to be done about him because he has some serious mental issues. Either he comes to the realization that he sucks in the field and pulling him is best for the team or he figures out how to catch and throw because if he's really going to pout or react poorly to Ozzie doing what's best for the team then Pods isn't much of a team player.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 01:28 AM) This is absolute oversimplification. We know NOTHING about what goes on with the members of this team personally, or behind closed doors. All I know is that he's the ONLY player who's doing ANYTHING consistently offensively right now. Yet all this entire board can talk about is his outfield defense. Jesus people, maybe if Jenks doesn't give up THREE hits in the inning, the same number as Garland did in SEVEN innings, it's not an issue. Maybe if Paul Konerko or Darrin "the savior" Erstad could get some god damned hits instead of pathetically waving at balls 8 inches off the plate when the umpire's zone is the size of a teacup, we would score more runs and win the damned game. To rest this entire BS on Scott Podsednik is just absolutely s***. Jesus, get off him already... If he doesn't make an ass of himself in the 9th inning today, I would have praised him again after the game for looking pretty damn good at the plate just as I did yesterday. The only reason he's b****ed about is because he makes it incredibly easy. When you get hit in the head with a flyball to end the game you're going to catch some s***. His offensive production doesn't have much to do with his defensive inabilities late in ballgames. If he's pulled for a defensive replacement like he should have been I would have been incredibly happy with his offensive production from today. He's just catching a lot of second hand heat tonight where most of it is directed at Ozzie.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 01:21 AM) I don't know. We seem to second guess everything he does, or doesn't do, so maybe to him, it's regular not to make defensive replacements, or make bullpen changes too often, etc. What we never seem to find out is why Ozzie does what he does. Actually last season Ozzie pulled Pods late in games quite often, I'm not really sure why he isn't doing it this year. I am curious as to what he said after the game, though after the lies he's made over the past month or so, I'm not so sure I can believe him.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 01:19 AM) I don't disagree with you. He should have made the defensive change. He didn't. The fact that you think it was fine to bring in Jenks though makes it extremely clear how much reasonable opinions can differ here though. I wanted no part of Jenks in that situation, because his velocity isn't there and the A's are an extremely good fastball-hitting team. I can sit here and say Ozzie should have not gone to Jenks, simply because he is our "closer" in a 1-0 game. Moreover, the fact that you think it was ok to leave Jenks in there after he gave up two sharp singles immediately makes it even more clear how reasonable opinions should differ. I would have gone to Thornton to get Chavez and Swisher. Everything isn't always black and white. Even when things work out the way you thought they might, Kalapse. Actually after i saw what Jenks had and just how terrible he looked on the mound I remember screaming for Thornton, so yeah we definitely agree on that one. It's a lot like the Cleveland game from last September, I had no problem with Ozzie going to Jenks but he needs to be ready with a contingency in the warming in the pen, if the closer looks like he's not going to be able to get anyone out he can't be afraid to make the move. This doesn't need to be done every time but when he's going to pitch Jenks on back to back days or after complaining about a sore hip, he definitely needs to have a quick hook.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 01:18 AM) I think people started questioning Pods defense when we actually saw him play defense in LF. Last year he was downright terrible. He was defensively replaced about everytime you could last year. This year, we leave him in. People need to review the game threads this year. I think there have been questions in all close games, why is pods still out in LF. Why hasnt he been replaced defensively. It started the second game of the season. I remember posting "Have there been any defensive substitutions?" "Who's out in LF, why are they not saying anything?" "Why is he leaving Pods out in LF?" in the 8th inning of game 2. I just don't understand why Ozzie does one thing last year then says in the offseason he's going to do it again this year then 7 games with ample opportunities he doesn't do it once. Is this some sort of special season where Ozzie lies about everything in the Spring to throw off the opponent?