southsideirish71

Slam for my favorite hitter. God this kid is exciting.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox15 @ May 14, 2008 -> 10:02 PM) How do y'all think we'll do against Garland? A lot of these guys played with him for years, but technically they have never seen his stuff before. Predictions? Crede and Thome will homer. Their swings are perfect for the type of sinkerballer Jon is.

That was the most fundamentally sound rundown I have seen this year. Textbook.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 14, 2008 -> 04:39 PM) I didn't say he'd hit 40 homers. I still see an OPS north of .900 though...I suggested .925 in a post elsewhere, and I don't think that's that far off of what he's capable of. I also wouldn't be surprised if he's not 100% at the moment either. Sitting him down for a while and letting him get healthy wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. He shouldn't be hitting 3rd, and that I'll agree with. 5th would be just fine with me, but it'd be crazy getting him hitting 5th. Konerko's hand needs to heal. When you get that type of injury it hurts like hell. Its hard to generate power or even good contact when your hand hurts like that. He is trying to tough it out, and it would be better in the long run if he took 15 days to let it heal. Thome, I dont know if he is injured in some way, or what.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 14, 2008 -> 04:21 PM) Why not lead off with CQ? Certainly he has extra base ability and has been hitting the cover off of the ball lately. Thats not a bad move either. The only reason I like the 3 hole, is Dye would provide protection. Outside of that, he should still see plenty of pitches in the zone with leadoff. In that case I would have Dye hit 3.

I would like to see CQ in the 3 hole, and Dye hitting cleanup. I would also like to see Dye and CQ flip positions as well in the field. CQ has a nice eye, walks, has a propensity to drive in runs, and makes solid contact. I think he is a future 3 hole hitter.

Teams that are in the top 5 in in the AL pitching with a 3.77 ERA and are within 2 games of first are not out of it, especially in May. Our ERA in 05, was 3.61 just for a comparison.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 14, 2008 -> 01:42 PM) I would be incredibly happy with drafting Beckham. Beckham would be great. There are a lot of good hitters available at the number 8 pick. Beckham or Posey (not that Posey is available at 8 )would be great due to the position they play as need positions for our team. I would like to see them overslot in the 3rd round and try to tease a top talent that may be leaning towards college into our system. With our team missng out on the 2nd round pick we need to be aggressive. These kids can either fill a need in our system, or wind up being bargaining chits later on. Either way, this is the new currency of the MLB. We need to turn last years negative into a positive and select well.

Now the hitting coach is the toughest job in baseball according to Foghorn. "If I went to six right handers and asked them to move closer to the plate, how many would listen" Foghorn "None" Muppet Then fire him, if no one listens to him then what is the purpose of having him.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 13, 2008 -> 10:02 PM) Our hitters need to stand closer to the plate. They also need to realize that right field in fact is okay to hit to. It is not out.

Its official according to Foghorn and Muppet, Weaver has our number. The last guy who had our number was Johan, so Weaver = Johan. Nice.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 13, 2008 -> 09:57 PM) Nasty pitch by Weaver, but our hitters need to realize he's going 3-2 change-up. They havent figured out that pitchers are featuring 3-2 changeups all year long, why should tonight be different. Changeups own the sox because they cheat and geek up trying to park anything straight.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 13, 2008 -> 09:44 PM) Everyone is seeing a lot of pitches. Weaver can't locate breaking balls real well. Lucky for him, throwing straight fastballs on the outer half is enough to destroy the Sox. You forget, he is throwing the changeup. The pitch that hawks says looks like a fastball, but slower. I love that explanation.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 13, 2008 -> 09:43 PM) Anytime we want to move OClayton out of the leadoff spot, that would be fine. What exactly do we move into the leadoff spot.

QUOTE (soxfan3530 @ May 13, 2008 -> 09:41 PM) Is weaver looking that good. We looking that bad or a little bit a both. Don't have WCIU out here. He looks as good as Cy Smith, Cy Sonnenshein, Cy Blackburn, Cy INSERT PITCHER HERE.

DJ calls a straight pitch at 94 on the outside corner a cutter. Then of course talks about how Juan stepped in the bucket. The ability to hit an outside pitch starts with the front foot moving towards the pitcher, the minute your front foot moves towards third you are meat.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 13, 2008 -> 09:36 PM) Weaver's not even trying to throw inside for strikes. Everything is away, away, away, way inside, away, away. The book is out on how to pitch to the pull monkey team. The only one who doesnt know what the scouting report says is the hitting coach. He is waiting it out, he figures the pitches center cut will be coming any day now.

According to Hawk, Weavers changeup looks like his fastball from the motion. I would like to thank Hawk for learning what a changeup is supposed to look like. It looks like a fastball, but slower. Thanks Hawk. You are a gem.

Casey Kotchman shows what a line drive swing looks like. And the funny people who thought that Kotchman + Figgins wasnt enough for Konerko. You funny people.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 13, 2008 -> 08:22 PM) We have bad luck with all of these pitchers being on their game. The Predetermined excuses from the Whitesox. Its cold. The hitters aren't loosey goosey The perfect storm. Flip their cards They are pressing Another pitcher going low and away from our hitters and our offense cant figure it out .

3 out of 4 batters faced have been Kd. Hawk already starting the process of Cy Youngification.

Last start for Weaver Lasted 3 innings gave up 8 runs to the Royals.

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ May 13, 2008 -> 07:57 PM) AJ and Thome need to be separated by at least 2 right handed hitters. Can't have Dye, Konkerko, Thome, AJP, Crede... And really, who gives a f*** if one guy bats 3rd and the other 5th. They're still probably get the same amount of ABs. I like b****ing as much as the next guy but that's just stupid. Thome batting 3 is dumb right now. Dye should be the 3 hole hitter right now. You want to give Carlos some protection, and you want to give Dye some runs to drive in.

Nice to see we have interns running the TV feed tonight. I thought this was a major market, why the f*** does the TV go up and down like this is Manistee TV 3.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2008 -> 03:53 PM) I see where all of y'all are coming from in demanding a position player...but I will add one more piece to the puzzle. Coming in to last fall, it looked like we needed a position player like nothing else, because we didn't seem to have any young position players anywhere except for Fields and Richar. But, after KW's wheelings and dealings in the offseason, suddenly we're in a much better place for position players. We've added Quentin who we control basically forever as far as we're concerned now, Swisher who is under contract for 4 more years or so, had a recovery by Anderson, and found a potential piece in Ramirez. And on top of that, we had good, early big league career development type performances from Fields and Richar in the majors last year, ditto for Owens even though he's still limited in what he can bring. We still don't have depth at C, so if there's a top C available that's an obvious pick. But suddenly we've gone from having an outfield with aging crappy guys like Erstad and Podsednik to one loaded with young, high OPS guys who are cheap and under our control for a long time, and we've added a guy or two to our middle infield that we might be able to develop. 1B is still a potential issue in the mid-term, but Konerko, Thome, and Dye should in some fashion take care of that role and the DH role for at least a couple more years, or Swisher could also play it if we felt the urge to work Owens in more as a leadoff hitter. In other words, if KW looks at his draft board and sees a pitcher he can't resist who is a better option than the position players around him, I wouldn't be opposed any more. A top flight ace with plus stuff sure. I wouldnt be that upset if that happened. Some soft tossing control guy, some guy who needs a lot of work, or a reliever would require a firing. Konerko, Thome and Dye shouldnt be counted on too much beyond this year. I would say if a catcher such as Posey is there you take him. If Alvarez or Smoak, or Beckham is there. You take them. Owens is 28, please lets not count on him for anything.