Kalapse

This is just for the record. Widger has started 12 games this year, 13 if you count the Cubs game that AJ was ejected from considering how he caught most the game. Oddly enough Jose Contreras has never had Widge catch for him. These numbers are strickly FWIW but it doesn't hurt throwin them out there. The Sox are 7-6 when Widger starts which isn't as bad as I thought seeing how the Sunday Linuep is usually out there when he starts. Pitchers have also had 3 ND when he starts and the Sox have won each of those games. 13 GS | 7-6 Garland: 1.) 5.1, 10H, 9ER, 2:6, 1E (L) 3.) 6.1, 6H, 1ER, 0:3, 1E (W) 5.) 7IP, 5H, 5ER, 2:2, 1E (ND) (W) 11.) 6.1, 10H, 4ER, 2:5, 0E (ND) (W) Vazquez: 2.) 6IP, 9H, 7ER, 1:4, 2E (L) 9.) 7IP, 8H, 5ER, 1:4, 1E (L) Buehrle: 4.) 7IP, 7H, 4ER, 0:0, 0E (L) 6.) 5.2, 13H, 7ER, 3:3, 0E (L) 7.) 6IP, 7H, 2ER, 2:4, 0E (ND) (W) 12.) 6IP, 8H, 4ER, 1:3, 1E (L) 13.) 7IP, 9H, 6ER, 4:3, 0E (L) Garcia: 8.) 6.2, 7H, 3ER, 1:3, 0E (W) 10.) 8IP, 8H, 0ER, 0:3, 1E (W) Contreras: N/A JG: 1-1 (2 ND) JV: 0-2 MB: 0-4 (1 ND) FG: 2-0 JC: N/A MB: 31.2IP, 23ER, 44H, 10BB, 13K | 6.54 ERA, 1.71 WHIP FG: 14.2IP, 3ER, 15H, 1BB, 6K | 1.84 ERA, 1.09 WHIP JG: 25IP, 19ER, 29H, 6BB, 16K | 6.84 ERA, 1.40 WHIP JV: 13IP, 12 ER, 17H, 2BB, 8K | 8.31 ERA, 1.46 WHIP

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 09:00 PM) After the A's series I figured we would have about 4 All Stars (Dye, Iguchi, Buehrle, and Contreras). Now I think we'll be lucky to have 2, with Dye and Iguchi (possibly even voted in). Thome will be hurt by not even being on the ballot and not playing 1B this year (NL park so no DH). I don't see any of our pitchers making the team at this point. A slight case could be made that Jenks could make the team but how many closers will Ozzie take on the team especially with Papelbon being a lock? Contreras? (5-0, 2.53 ERA, .98 WHIP, .203 BAA)

QUOTE(greg775 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:54 PM) Hasn't Mark been stuck with the Sunday lineup a few times this year? Everyone has.

QUOTE(Beastly @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 07:40 PM) I foresee the Sox taking 1 out of 3 at best in the Tigers series. When will we learn we need bullpen help? Is Hermanson ever coming back? It said 15 day DL but I didn't see if he got transferred. Do not expect anything out of Hermanson this season, he's comming off a very serious injury and the word "retirement" was being thrown around in the offseason, players in that sort of situation should not be counted on to be a big part of your pen. Also, if you thought Politte had a career year last year, just take a look at what Hermanson did. Even if he did come back I wouldn't envision him putting up numbers any better than Clifford.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 07:41 PM) Is Howry doing the Cubs any good? How bout Howry? Is that stiff Chen on the Orioles capable of middle relief? Trade some Class A guy for Chen and/or Howry. Chen is the worst pitcher in baseball right now and Bobby Howry would still be incredibly expensive if you tried to acquire him. Middle relievers with 2.36 ERAs on teams with high payrolls that think they still have a chance to compete do not come cheap.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 07:11 PM) I do believe it was Mark who lost the game for us today, not the pen. It didn't help that the pen also gave up 4 runs today.

QUOTE(South Side Fireworks Man @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 06:10 PM) The absence of Rowand/Everett may not have as much to do with the win/loss record, but my main point is that it has very much to do with the style of play and the intensity. One example is last year, the Sox were always scratching for runs. If Pods got on base, the main focus was get him over, then get him in. This year, especially when Thome is hot, it seems the Sox are reluctant to give up an out move the runner and leave first base open for Thome for fear the opponent may just walk Thome. That's just one example. They were mainly scratching for runs last year because the offense sucks, when you have a below average offense you tend to have to give up more outs simply to get 1 run at a time. When you have 2 guys in your lineup with an OPS over 1.000 like the Sox do right now, you don't have to play as much small ball. What you're saying is a negative is actually a positive.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 05:53 PM) Mike Gonzalez and Salomon Torres, your Sox jersey's are made... We couldn't afford Gonzalez (spect wise) even if he were available and Salomon Torres is just bad. He currently has a 1.49 WHIP in the NL, imagine what that would be like against superior competition.

There are hardly any teams looking to unload right now and what ever teams are looking to move is not going to help this team.

QUOTE(South Side Fireworks Man @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 05:46 PM) There is some validity to your point. The Sox traded the poster boy for "Grinder Baseball" the prototypical grinder if you will, for the prototypical slugger. That prototypical slugger took the place of another "grind it out" type of guy at DH. I'm not knocking any of the Sox offseason moves. They are all great moves on paper. But sometimes what's on paper doesn't necessarily translate on the field. I'm still expecting the Sox to gel and wind up even better than last year. But I'm not shocked that so far it isn't happening. You lose a lot of edge and intensity when you take away an Aaron Rowand and a Carl Everett from any lineup. It took until your final point to really get to why the Sox have underperformed this year, it has nothing to do with the absence of Rowand or Everett, it is the lack of consistent pitching out of both the starters and the pen. If you replace Thome with Everett and Mack/BA with Rowand but still get s***ty pitching, there's probably a good chance this team is worse off than 2.5 games out of first.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 05:41 PM) The lineup we saw today was because Ozzie wanted his right-handed hitters to bat against the lefty. For some reason he thinks that gives us our best chance at success even though lefties hit over .300 against Rheinecker (granted a small sample size). 4 for 13 is beyond a small sample size. He got beat up in his first outing against the D-Rays and allowed a hit to Raul Ibanez those are the 4 hits he allowed to lefties this year. Hardly worth mentioning.

QUOTE(Brian @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 05:31 PM) How sad is it that I can't find ANYONE to go to Saturdays game with me??? I think that says more about you than the way the Sox have been playing.

Jermaine Dye currently has a 1.059 OPS, which is the best for any OF in baseball.

I'm as big an Aaron Rowand fan as there is on this board yet even I can admit that this team is not in dire need of his services. This team has some serious pitching problems right now and Rowand would not do anything to help us in that department. All the extreme love that Rowand is getting is actually taking away from what he actually did last year. He will not be comming back anytime soon so constantly bringing up his name is incredibly pointless.

Team W L PCT GB Detroit 37 20 .649 - Chi White Sox 34 22 .607 2.5 Cleveland 28 27 .509 8.0 Minnesota 25 30 .455 11.0 Kansas City 13 40 .245 22.0

Matt Thornton is a damn good middle reliever from what I've seen. Bobby Jenks continues to successfully close out games.

What exactly constitutes a "Hungry Team"? The Tigers are 2-6 in their last 8 and the Sox are 3-5 yet the Tigers are malnurished and the Sox are fat?

QUOTE(Ndgt10 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:56 PM) I'm not talking about batting average. You have to be joking if you think Mike Sweeney is at Anderson's level. Atleast he knows how to take a f***ing walk which is something a lot of hitters never figure out. (Juan Uribe)

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:47 PM) I guess he should strike every batter out instead of rely on his fielder's. Those are still hits though, one of which was taken away by a diving Brian Anderson. It's not like they're dropping fly balls out there, the balls are still falling in.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:45 PM) Don't blame Buehrle for Pablo, and for Anderson's inability to back him up on that play. Nice bunt by Iguchi. Buehrle was still allowing the hits.

It seems Iguchi has the ability to bunt

BAD BRIAN! BAD!

There is not reason for him not to start every game.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:08 PM) Garland is improving, Bmac has shown me nothing thus far. Maybe that's because he's being used sporadically at a position (MR) that he's never played before, hard to show any improvement under those conditions. It's also pretty damn hard to say that Garland is improving after one mediocre start and then 1 good one.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 01:00 PM) *pukes* I'm sick of the Rowand manlove and the trade proposals for him. Plus, I don't think anyone wants to have those 5th starter problems back up again that we had prior to last year. McCarthy stinks this year and I think switching him back into the rotation will hurt us more than Garland has. Stick with the team, and see what we need in 2 more weeks. The way I look at it, we need more and more bullpen help. Do you honestly believe McCarthy would not be able to put up a 6 ERA in a starting role for the rest of the season? I don't think there's any way he'd even have one in the 5's.