southsideirish71

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 06:25 PM) Didn't see the game and I am sure this was discussed somewhere, but why no Lillibridge? Because Ozzie thinks that 2003 Pierre was frozen in time and is ready to thaw out in a moments notice.

Twin fans love when the sox play the twins.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 01:13 PM) Twins must have a dynamic line up. The get the long bomb and our guys hit the singles. Our offense is not consistent . You hate to lose to these guys but apparently we just don't have the same level of energy as the Twinks do The twins have a horses*** lineup right now. Losing to this team is a joke.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 01:06 PM) This damn Twins lineup is just so damn bad to even look at. I mean come on, Rene Rivera? If the Sox lose this game, and I'm willing to be that they will, it is just beyond sad. This is literally a AAA lineup. Rongey was pumping up their team last night saying well they are hot and just hard to beat right now. Just guess you tip their cap when you run into a hard charging talented team like this at the wrong point of the season.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 12:58 PM) Which is of course followed by a base hit, which makes it all the more frustrating. We are playing the magical twin game of right field is out to our right handed hitters.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 12:42 PM) how is it that Lillibridge is not starting today? You get the feeling someone's trying to make a point. Guillen is not trying to make a point. He is 100% in belief that offense starts with a slappy speedy guy who can steal. Without that you cannot have the 2003 Marlins offense.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 10:04 PM) I'm sure you probably already know this, as you're as big as fan of the guy as I am. But Andrew McCutchen is 4th in all of baseball in WAR. He's the anti-Beckham. Andrew gets better every year while Gordon continues to regress. Andrew goes through our system and gets prepped by our handlers and he is Jerry Owens.

QUOTE (southsidepride15 @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 09:59 PM) Exactly. It's still only one game. Let's all cry ourselves to sleep now. They cant beat their own division. They havent been able to beat the twins in years. They cant beat the Tigers over the last year or so. I understand its one game, but this was the f***ing Rochester Redwings we faced tonight. Not the twins.

Rongey just stated that the reason that Pavano does well against the sox is that they dont matchup well with this pitch he throws. It sinks and is slower, and thats what CQ had problems with tonight. ITS CALLED A CHANGEUP.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 09:23 PM) Someone on here said it best after the Santos loss last week. Until they get to .500, there's no reason to even be disappointed in losses. Sure you can get mad, but we're not talking about a contending team right now. Teams cannot win their divison when they cant beat teams in their division.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 09:19 PM) Read my next post. True, but the Twins get a LOT of lucky breaks, too. Yes their lucky break is a team that is so f***ing stupid that we keep looking for the mythical center cut fastball to drive. They keep feeding us breaking pitches and change ups.

Prototypical Sox versus Twins game. Including the cock tease in the 9th when we strikeout with men on. Another loss to another central opponent. We cant beat our division at all.

Well that should prove to the people who have the belief that Juan is on his way out of here. Ozzie lets him lead off the 9th. Then he gets lucky as the first baseman has it bounce off his glove. It would of been an out to the 2nd baseman if he let it go through. That is enough of a stretch for Ozzie to continue his madness of having him get the most ABs.

The twins from the time they draft a person have a common language, and common development plan across their entire organization. They teach kids how to play the game right. Run hard, make contact, and play good defense. They might not be the best talented organization in the majors, but they get the most out of what they have. We perform no valuable instruction anywhere in our minor leagues outside of pitchers. You can strike out at a 35% clip and play little to not defense and get promoted. Huge holes in your swing and no defense, dont worry the next level will help you out. Then they get to the majors and we watch them with terrible mechanics and an inability to play sound fundamental baseball. That in a nutshell is the difference in the two teams. All in Kenny is going to get anxious soon and pull the trigger on a deal if this gets goofy. He cant piss the season away for prospects. He has to go all in. So I would say that there is a better chance that Viciedo gets spun for a reliever of some sort than Pierre gets released and Viciedo is in LF.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 08:54 PM) Pavano had 2 double plays turned behind him in his first 13 starts. 4 tonight. Sox after game"Well Pavano threw the daylights out of the ball. He was hitting his spots and keeping us off balance. You just have to tip your cap to him." Corpseball translation " Well he refused to throw fastballs down the cock after pitch one. For some reason he threw pitches that were slower or moved. These were especially tricky. The straight pitch that is slow was very hard to lay off. The one that moves away and down. Wow. never seen that one before. Our scouting reports said that Pavano would pump in fastballs after fastballs trying to hit the center middle in. He went away from his plan and threw the balls into the dirt. Now also the scouting report was a bit light on their defense. Because it said if you just pull everything to the left side of the diamond. They would get tired and would let them go by. This was not the case. Hey did someone see who is setting up the card game tonight. "

I love the over extended roll over to 3rd on the slider. It looks like a little leaguer throwing their hands at the ball because they are afraid to get hit by the ball. So glad there is no accountability at all in the organization and we allow player decisions to be made by someones gut. Maybe next we can ask the chicken who can predict the lotto numbers next.

I understand that our pitchers dont give our catchers a lot of time. Then again throwing to the correct side of the bag might make things a bit closer.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 08:40 PM) Don't forget one of Hawk's greatest crushes of all-time, Brad Radke. He pretty much just went fastball on the outer half, then changeups in the dirt.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 08:37 PM) Have we had any righties hit a ball to the right side tonight? Joe Mays and the Twins years ago figured out the formula years ago. Nick Blackburn will have a stellar game as he features his slider away tomorrow.

The typical Twins versus Sox pitch selection. 1st pitch fastball down the cock. We take it, and we always take that pitch. Even Steve Stone says wouldnt you think about looking for it. 2nd pitch through the out. Sweeping breaking pitches and fastballs low and away. Occasionally they will go up and in. But for the most part its on the outside of the zone, and its slow and moving away. We go fishing and get ourselves out.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 08:22 PM) Fwiw I don't mind if Pierre bunts. At least the runner moves up if he doesn't pop the bunt up. Well those pesky runners out there might scare some of the boppers, so JP took it upon himself to take them off the bases with some of his low OBP skill. Why exactly is JP getitng the most ABs on this team.

Dont worry. When we do get another guy on base, NL 2.0 will be more than happy to interject some strategy into the game. I cant wait for a new and inventive way we can eliminate our own baserunners. Its almost like a drinking game now.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 08:16 PM) The Twins are constructed as a singles hitting team with doubles thrown in and some speed. We have to get a runner or two on and hit the long ball, which we haven't been doing real well, but when we do we win Teams that are constructed around Thome, Kubel, Morneau, and Mauer are not singles hitting teams. They are a line drive hitting team that is constructed around a left handed attack.

We seem to have a disconnect here on how our scouting versus execution works. The twins are a fastball hitting team. They make lots of contact and hit line drives. So for some reason we like to throw lots of fastballs to them. Which in turn they hit line drives and run around the bases. We are a fastball hitting team. However we have no plate discipline. So the first pitch we put into play trying to drive it to mars. So their fastball hitting team gets lots of fastballs, our fastball hitting team gets a ton of breaking pitches. Year after year we see the same thing, and year after year we see no adjustment besides which member of the sox breaks their back bending over to salute and praise their team. Its f***ing sickening. I hate the twins more than any other team in baseball. The Yankees have figured out how to beat the Twins. Its called crushing fastballs, and throwing them lots of breaking pitches. Eventually we will figure this out.