southsideirish71

We see success with hitting the ball back up the middle. So lets abandon that.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Jun 24, 2008 -> 09:59 PM) That was another typical inning. Well under .200 with RISP. Hawk talking about how other teams have hard times with clutch hitting.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 24, 2008 -> 08:29 PM) Ugh, these guys have to put the hit-and-run in play. Good call Oz Nothing like getting 2 strikes on your hitter for no reason. The minute we get out of the national league parks, the better.

Bases loaded, no outs with the 4-5-6 up. At least we got the one run.

Dye swung at one that needed a 101 inch bat to make contact with.

Angel Berroa is their starting SS. Wow.

Our ace in the hole is in the game. Doug Eddings behind the plate.

Pablo Ozuna is batting 6th.

From Southpark

QUOTE (BobDylan @ Jun 22, 2008 -> 10:19 PM) Props. But I'm not ready to say the wind blowing out in left at Wrigley is the same at Comiskey. Comiskey deals more with swirling winds because of the billboards blocking the ugly part of the city. In the summer, when the wind blows out. The ball jumps out like a lazer.

QUOTE (BobDylan @ Jun 22, 2008 -> 10:03 PM) I think there is more to it then that. It's still a ballpark the players aren't quite familiar with. From the wind to the clubhouse. The Cubs do have more of a home field advantage, as do the Red Sox, than other teams around the league. Aramis Ramirez hit a homer off Octavio Dotel in game 2 that was an obvious pop-up. He stood at the plate knowing it was going over the fence. There is a thread up about the "true" distance of the homers hit in the series. The Sox pounded theirs out. The Cubs didn't. If somebody sat there and told me that it is just dumb luck to catch all those jet-streams, I wouldn't believe them. They know something their opponents don't. It's not an aberration that the Cubs struggle on the road. That said, they still kicked the s*** out of the Sox. There are no excuses for that. Our park plays small as well. I have been to a lot of game at the cell where a popup just keeps going. Our left field faces the lake and the ball flys out to left and center like a bullet. Check out the park factors. Our guys didnt hit the ball hard. Popups and grounders dont fly out, no matter what the jet stream is doing. Wrigley should of been a perfect match for our offense.

Wrigley should work for our team. If you can hit at the Cell you can hit at Wrigley. Check out the park factors, our park ranks ahead of Wrigley. At the cell, left field faces the lake and the ball blows out to left and center all the time. You get the ball up at the cell, it goes out. The same thing at Wrigley. The difference is, we either hit the ball straight up ( your typical crede popup), or we hit it on the ground. You want to know the issue. Danks kept the ball on the ground. Dotel is a flyball fastball pitcher. Guess which one will get hurt at a home run park. Contreras was wild and couldnt throw his fork for a strike, Marquis who is crappy is still a sinkerballer. Dempster has a sinker and a splitter. Vaz is a flyball pitcher. Keep the ball down and you will survive. This is why Kenny has been so huge on drafting guys with sink.

Last year we had 11 road losses in a row for a franchise record. Pathetic that we are looking at challenging this two years in a row.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 22, 2008 -> 08:11 PM) Do the Phillies have anyone to even offer? In many ways, I hope the Indians stay close enough to the pack in the AL Central so they don't give up C.C. The Indians will keep him, the teams in the AL Central smell blood. We face Sowers, Lee and Sabathia at home next week.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 22, 2008 -> 07:44 PM) I am remembering every frickin text I get from Cubs fans right now and can't wait till they blow it in the playoffs to give it back times two. The cub fans at my company haven't been able to purchase tickets on the web for the last 5 years. One crack from a cub fan on Monday, and they wont have gameday either. Wait till the playoffs when the word cubs is in the pornfilter.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 22, 2008 -> 08:04 PM) We've tried hit and runs twice now and not working for us, but is for them. Figures. Their hitters use the entire field. They are programmed to look away when you get 2 strikes, shorten up their stroke and to hit it oppo. You cant hit and run with guys taking monstrous cuts. We strikeout too much.

Kershaw versus this team in the Dodger series should be comedy hour. Lefty check Big Curve check Good change check throws hard check never faced check

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 22, 2008 -> 09:22 AM) It's all Kenny's fault. Really, our offensive philosophy is nothing but the long ball. It might be about time that Kenny noticed that. We won in 05 less dependent on the long ball and look what happened? One year later, we go back to hitting homers and lose out on the playoffs. We need to manufacture more runs in order to beat good teams! In 05, we had a mediocre offense that hit lots of home runs. We won because of outstanding starting pitching. The manufacturing runs part in 05 is a myth. In the world series we hit a lot of home runs to score runs.

QUOTE (BobDylan @ Jun 21, 2008 -> 11:33 PM) I have a feeling SSI is pointing his finger at Greg Walker. Ryan Sweeney is a contact hitter who goes to all fields. Take him out of a homer heavy organization, and suddenly the talent that we knew (thought) he had translates. You're right, though, it does go both ways. The White Sox, in terms of developing hitting, either need to find guys that fit Walker's philosophy, or reevaluate who is leading the hitting corps. I have a feeling somebody is going to say that a hitting coach really doesn't do all that much, but if Cooper is going to get praise for Loaiza, Contreras, Danks, Floyd, Thornton, etc., then Walker takes the blame for what's happened to this offense the past two years and the players who slipped through the cracks. And besides, I truly believe Greg Walker is where to point the finger at with this offense. It is astounding to see so many Major League hitters on the same team, many with colorful resumes, look so effing clueless this often at the plate. Sure, guys slump, but not for 2 full years. Actually, I am not talking about Walk with this post. Walk wasn't around Sweeney long enough to have a chance to make changes. Walk has nothing to do with this at all. I am pointing at the minor league instruction overall. Sweeney was a home grown prospect. I only hope Buddy Bells influence helps change our preparation of minor league talent.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jun 21, 2008 -> 11:09 PM) Maybe I could use Floyd? Really? He has probably been Coops biggest success, outside of the Cy Loaiza season. Danks was very mediocre in 2006 for AAA Oklahoma, and never came close to dominating anything above AA. He was always young for whatever league he was in, but he never put up eye popping numbers like a top 10 pick would be expected to. Coop has done wonders with Floyd and Danks. The other one I forgot was Contreras. Think Yankee fans the last few years would have liked to have 2005-2006 Jose around? I think Coop is the best in the business in fixing mechanics and turning around guys with cracked psyches.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 22, 2008 -> 12:03 AM) Why don't you bust everyone for excessive internet usage who followed the game yesterday? I blocked streaming video and audio on Thursday night and then was out of the office on Friday to go to the game. Some of the voicemail that was left was pretty comical.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 21, 2008 -> 11:53 PM) Yeah we'll have our chance at redemption if we win all 3 games. The odds of that will be slim if they sweep us. You may not care bout bragging rights Tony, but believe it some of us do. Why wouldn't we? We're Sox fans. They are the f***ing Cubs. I don't understand you worrying about this. You dont live in Chicago, its not like you run into those with the cubby chubby all the time. Just mention 1908 and move on. I could care less about that its the cubs, I worry more about the division getting closer. I would be just as upset if the Rockies were doing this to us. The only annoyance factor is some moronic cub fans who run their mouth at work. I keep this in the back of my memory and get my revenge when I block all those fools trying to buy tickets when the cubs tickets go on sale every year at my company.

Amazing minor league development we have here. How does a guy like Ryan Sweeney go from not being able to adjust to inside pitching here, to poof a guy hitting .299 in another organization. I wonder what changes another team will make to Anderson when he gets run out of here. The talent is there, we just don't see that talent at the major league level.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 21, 2008 -> 08:30 PM) Whats a stake? A win or a loss. We need to get on track with our road record. This is the pitchers we face over the next 2 weeks. We play out west which is tough enough. We get Kershaw, who is someone we never faced, is lefty, and has a curveball. Then we get the Lee/Sabathia combo + sowers and then 4 of the Oakland starters. The next 2 weeks are tough. This team needs to get back to winning. And winning some games on the road. Dempster Lowe Stults Kershaw Back home to the Cell for Marquis Dempster Marshall Then we start to face some tough pitching Sowers Lee Sabathia Then Oakland comes in.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jun 21, 2008 -> 03:55 PM) I think that Jose was having trouble locating so, he went with the arm drop down thing more often than usual. He ended up using the same pitch every time he dropped down and, the Cubs recognized that. He was tipping his pitches. He wasn't tipping his pitches, he was getting into situations where he was in hitter counts or had to throw his fastball. He could not locate his forkball at all today. Pretty much this allowed the cubs to eliminate that from their thoughts and concentrate on fastball slider. When you get into hitter counts and you basically turn Contreras into a fastball pitcher this is what happens.