southsideirish71

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 24, 2005 -> 11:25 AM) I would rather see Carl Everett in CF, than Timo Perez as a starter, and I am not kidding. Also Ozuna is a solid guy off of the bench, and a good defensive SS, but is not everyday material at 3B. There are plays that Crede makes look routine, that many 3B's don't make. Crede's defense alone makes him the starter, without a doubt. I wasnt talking about for good with Crede. He needs a rest though. A night off is something that needs to happen. I would like to see gload back to spell Konerko also. I still think Everett is hurt, he couldnt catch up to 3 fastballs down the middle of the plate. Everett has been a great fastball hitter. I dont know why Ozzie keeps marchng VIz out there. He is the most used pitcher and he has been our worst in the pen.

Our pitching has been great. The back of the bullpen has been great. My favorite lineup is when its Pods Gooch Arow To start it off. Dead is coming around. These are things to be optomistic about. Having Timo, Uribe and Crede hittiing back to back is not good. I think we all would of rather have had Timo in LF, Pods in CF and Pablo in at 3rd. When Thomas and Gload get back a lot of this will get better. But for now its frustrating watching Uribe, Crede and Timo swinging out their asses at the end of the lineup.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 24, 2005 -> 11:15 AM) Ask and ye shall recieve. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...ndpost&p=694299 We faced Cabrera and Bedard last year. In fact I remember Cabrera shutting us down and getting the win. He came up from AA also last year.

QUOTE(DonkeyKongerko @ May 24, 2005 -> 11:00 AM) For every "Sweeney/Jeter/Manny/etc" there are a hundred Credes. It's time to accept that fact and move on. I remember when we had Royce clayton. Good glove no bat. He batted .251 and .263 for us. Now we have a bunch of guys with sub .250 BA. Last year was the same thing. For this offense to go we need guys who can put the ball in play and hit line drives. Not a bunch of guys trying to jack the ball.

QUOTE(Spiff @ May 24, 2005 -> 10:53 AM) Well then don't talk to me about a changeup that "has a chance to be average". If you saw the game, you know it is a lot more than that. Lets get off that this guy is the second coming of Johan Santana the minny pitcher. He spotted a fastball on the outside corner and threw a few breaking pitches that we fished for. Chris George, Jaret Wright lots of crappy pitchers shut us down on 4 or less hits doing the same thing last year. Take Mike Sweeney/Jeter/Manny/etc and put him in that situation. He might get fooled the first time. The next time he is driving the ball to right. They make adjustments. Our guys are stepping in the bucket trying to park the slider in the dirt in the othe batters box.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 24, 2005 -> 10:49 AM) Not surprising though. The Twins are a damned good team, as usual. I still expect them to make a run at us, and it wouldn't surprise me if they overtake us. Unless the girls start to swing the sticks that is entirely possible. FRANK come back NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QUOTE(DukeNukeEm @ May 24, 2005 -> 10:48 AM) If we get Polanco to take over for s***ty-ass Credeb**** I'll give KW a blowjob. If you give Ozzie one he will put you in the lineup, see Timo

QUOTE(Spiff @ May 24, 2005 -> 10:46 AM) Did you see his changeup last night?? Did you SEE it? He didnt start to throw that until the 4th inning. For the first few innings he was just fastball and slider. Once he got some confidence that we were not changing the approach then it was changeup city.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ May 24, 2005 -> 10:39 AM) Don't you f***ing get it, Ervin Santana is a STUD. In all seriousness, there was no excuse for last night to get beat like that. Someone needs to find out when the last time was that the best team in baseball got beat in a complete game shutout by a pitching making his second career start. Wait, I bet its never happened. The best team in baseball needs to learn how to string a few hits together. Stop trying to park pitches and make contact. Small ball where are thou

I bet that Timo leads off tonight. He is going to replace Pods in the lineup.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ May 24, 2005 -> 10:28 AM) If you look at the prospect handbook, it says he has two average to above average pitches in the fastball and slider and that his changeup has a chance to be average. Not a very glowing review. Also he is not ranked anywhere in the top 100 prospects by Baseball America. How many guys need to bat sub .250 before we realize that the Pull only method isnt work. Any pitcher who can spot a fastball on the outside corner and throw a breaking pitch near the plate will shut this team down. We need to change the approach at the plate and start to become better hitters. I would rather have a bunch of guys hitting 275 or better with less homers than a bunch of goofy trying to park one and hitting 214.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 24, 2005 -> 08:09 AM) Viz was dominant in ST, and I think thats why Oz still wants him up there, thinking that he will come around. I prefer giving Baj another chance, this is the time to test out our depth. I am sure that Viz was dominant in ST. Pablo Ozuna hit close to 500 in spring training. It doesnt mean he will hit 500 during the season. ST is not something to guage ones sucess for the season. Something is wrong with Viz. Last year he was very dominant against lefties. His fastball was explosive and had lots of movement on it. He seems to have lost a few mph on his fastball and it doesnt have a lot of movement on it. He increasingly is becoming a slider, slider, slider pitcher. The last one we had here was Mike Jackson. The slider should be an out pitch not his bread and butter on every single pitch.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ May 24, 2005 -> 12:44 AM) This is a battle of the fastest pitcher in the majors against what I would deem the slowest pitcher in the majors (Contreras is right there with Colon though). If its any consolation one of my friends thats going to tomorrows game has a hex on Colon. He's seen him pitch 9 times and he's pitched awfully in every game but one. Whenever he goes to the Angles games, they lose...so I told him he was definately going when the Sox were in town The sox offense has a good chance against Colon. He is one of those pitchers that likes to challenge our hitters, which means he wont spend his time painting the outside corner. We should get a few good licks on his fastball. There just better not be any of the following. NO TIMO PEREZ NO VIZ NO COTTS BENCH CRUDDY AND USE PABLO NOW BOARDING FROM AAA FRANK THOMAS AND ROSS GLOAD. NOW LEAVING TIMO PEREZ AND KEVIN WALKER.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ May 24, 2005 -> 12:38 AM) Now forgive me, I didn't see the 1st 4 innings so I don't know what Santana was throwing than but from the time I turned the game on Santana was also throwing 1st pitch changeups for strikes and when he was throwing that fastball he wasn't throwing it down the tube. He was painting the corner on the 1st pitch fastball and when a guy locates his fastball, its not a pitch you want to swing at (especially on the 1st pitch, imo). Now I'm with cheat and tempe in terms of advance scouting. Since everyone seems to say he was pitching all day on the outside portion, which means you gotta start noticing that and adjusting to it. If this is what he does down in the minors as well as in the majors you should at least have that idea. The Sox definately didn't have that idea. Thats not to take anything away from Santana though, its not easy pinpointing your stuff like he was tonight and he was throwing his fastball, change, and sliders for strikes. For the first few innings, it was fastball, fastball slider. Pretty much on every single batter. The two fastballs were either down the middle or on the outside corner. After the fastball hit the outside corner that slider made them look silly. The gameplan seemed to be take pitches to see if the rook would get into trouble. After the first few batters we should of changed that gameplan as he was throwing strikes. I have seen way too many pitchers take a similiar approach with the sox, it seems to be the scouting report on us.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ May 24, 2005 -> 12:33 AM) Easier said than done. I pitched for a reason when I played. It was because I coudln't hit worth a lick. I understood what you should do with different pitches and could recognize them, but for the life of me I coudln't do anything aside from pull the ball (its why I was such an awful hitter). Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing of any sport, imo. You have to adjust between a 94 MPH fastball or an 80 MPH offspeed pitch (changeup) plus a curve or slider. Good luck. Walker has preached and does preach going opposite way. Now Crede and a few others may not be great hitters, but that isn't because Crede isn't doing the work (its because his swing just isn't a fit for the majors, imo) nor is it because Walker is telling him to pull the ball (no hitting coach would preach that). But if you have a pitcher who is concentrating in a zone. You have a better chance. This guy was hitting a zone and our hitters refused to make adjustments. This game is difficult, if it wasnt everyone would be a major leaguer. The frustrating thing for me is not the result, its the lack of adjustments. If you have a guy who is throwing strike one down the middle or middle away. And then its slider city, you may not want to take that pitch. Or you may want to concentrate on the outside pitch. Its all about adjustments. I hear walker preach in the papers about hitting the ball the other way. But this team is pull city. That is all they do, you spot the ball on the outside corner and then its a 2 to 4 hitter for the opposing pitcher.

QUOTE(DonkeyKongerko @ May 24, 2005 -> 12:17 AM) Late breaking junk ok? You tell him to be aggressive on fastballs down the middle and take all the sliders outside. It's alot easier said than done. Here, buy MVP 2005. Turn the sliders all the way up with variable strike zone, turn off the hitter's eye. Turn the pitch speeds way up and turn down your own contact. Then have someone throw you 94 mph cutters or fastballs mixed with nasty sliders with maybe Brad Lidge. We can't expect Joe Crede to have a perfect AB every single time. We can hope or pray he hits above .260 but there's no secret you can tell him that will make him any better. Lets stop with this is the second coming of Nolan Ryan. This was a rookie with a good arm hitting the outside corner. He was tossing a fastball pretty much all the time for strike one. Then using his slider to see if people would reach. Our hitters could of taken a different approach and gotten a bit closer to the plate, and maybe cut down on their swings. But they were taking full long looping swings trying to hit the kid hard. He took advantage of some free swingers who didnt have the sense to adjust to the situation. Joe Crede has a wonderful .164 BA in May with a .524 OPS Everett is batting 204 in May Timo is hitting 200 in May

Timo Perez cannot play CF. If he is in there Pods needs to play CF at least he has some range. Crede is rocketting back to last year. The batting cages, the new swing. I think Borchard has a prettier swing that Cruddy. Everett has to be hurt or something. He is very late on the fastball, even when he knows its coming. When did we sign Mike Jackson(aka Viz). Same feeling as last year with this guy. When he comes in, he is going to get hit hard. Ozzie keeps marching him out there. Iguchi, this guy just hits. Adjustments all the time. Walker better not learn japanese. Uribe made comments before the season about him improving on his power numbers. He needs to realize that we got rid of Jose "only go for the homer" Valentin and we dont need a younger version. Make contact and stop swinging for the fences. He needs to get on and swing for doubles. Pablo should be playing for Crede tomorrow. Widger can DH for Everett. Gload and Thomas need to get healthy and back up on the team. We need both of their balanced bats. This team has too many similiar hitters.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ May 23, 2005 -> 11:10 PM) Well personally I creamed myself when Konerko jammed himself to go opposite field. When Konerko is doing that you know he's very close to breaking out. I absolutely love it when a guy is going opposite field because when he's doing that he's going to start getting pitched inside and get pitches to drive. BINGO!!!! Hitting the outside pitch makes them pitch you inside. That is the pitch you drive and pull for power. Last year in Cleveland there was a game were we scored 14 runs. In the first two innings they tried that paint the outside corner crap. Hit after hit was to right and to center. Then the pitcher came in and homers started raining. Thats the approach they should have, keep the opposing pitcher honest. The following game after that, they went back to pull only and scored 1 run on a few hits. Pauly pulling an inside pitch. No problem with that. Pauly reaching for a pitch on the outside black and trying to pull it. What is he really going to do with that pitch besides roll it over for a ground out or pop it up.

QUOTE(DonkeyKongerko @ May 23, 2005 -> 11:07 PM) I swear some of you guys must cream yourselves every time we get a hit to the opposite field. That and the genius scouting report on Santana of him being a "crappy pitcher" has me believing you guys were just waiting for a chance like this to spew all this built up hatred for pull hitters. From TV, I couldn't tell how "hittable" Santana's fastball was but maybe you can tell me since you seem to have faced him before. I won't argue that some of these guys' approaches suck (see Crede, Uribe) but jeez. Yeah I guess corpseball is back because we finally got shutout by a pitcher with wicked stuff on the West Coast. Rob Deer and Jose Valentin are examples of great pull hitters. Name a 300 hitter with good power that only pulls the ball. In fact name a pull only hitter that hits above 280. Most good to great hitters in baseball hit the ball where its pitched. Thats what makes them great. If you pull only and even better announce in the papers I only pull the baseball do you really think you are going to see too many pitches in. OUTSIDE AND OUTSIDE ONLY.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ May 23, 2005 -> 10:57 PM) This is different. Rookie or not the guy pitched amazing. You couldn't throw the ball much better than he did today and hell the SOx lost. They didn't stand a chance in this one (it could of been closer) but they weren't going to get a run off Santana today. If they approached this like they approach tough pitchers and tried to make contact and not over complicate things by trying to hit long shots. If on 3-1 Everett wasnt trying to park one, instead of making contact and moving the runner over. I give the angels pitcher credit. He hit his spots on the outside corner. We will see a steady diet of this until our hitters learn that there is other parts of the park besides left and right field bleachers.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ May 23, 2005 -> 10:49 PM) Just watch the game...he didn't throw anything straight tonight. Not one pitch of his wasn't moving (mainly with sinking action) and he was painting the black. Santana pitched like he was capable and there is no harm in this loss. Its a tough loss for JG but Santana flat out earned it and pitched what I'll call the best pitching performance the Sox have faced all season (he was 10 times more nasty than Prior and Prior was nasty on Sunday). Methinks you over estimate this guy. Prior challenged us over the middle of the plate. If he read the scouting report and just painted the outside corner he might of had a no hitter against us. Our guys are pull baseball only hitters. Throw it over the center or middle of the plate and they will mash it out for a long home run. You paint the outside corner and they cannot adjust at all and attempt to pull the outside corner. Joe Credes approach tonight was embarrassing. Stepping in the bucket, head up trying to pull the outside pitch. I watched the game, the fastballs were pretty straight. They had some velocity on them. Everett on 3-1 not catching up to a fastball down the middle of the plate twice and then grounding out after he pulls the slow slider was silly also. Our hitters have to do a better job of adjusting. There is a particular way that most pitchers will attack the sox. Now the top shelf pitchers like Colon, Pior, Zambrano, Johan will pitch in. The rest especially the plus six era guys just hit the outside corner. Last year we watched as crap pitcher after crap pitcher would look like Cy Young because all they did was spot the fastball on the outside corner. How many times did our offense get 4 hit, 3 hit 2 hit by some plus six era guy. This game is about adjustments, after seeing a patter. Like first pitch fastball on the outside corner, take the bat off your shoulders and take a chance.

Jaret Wright, Chris George, Brian Anderson, are just a few pitchers that pull the paint the outside corner last year and let the sox hitters attempt to pull the ball like crazy. This guy was even worse for us. He has a very hittable straight fastball. But he not only spots it on the outside corner but he has an automatic strikeout pitch with a sharp biting slider. Our hitters did not adjust to the situation. After the first 2 times through the order maybe someone should of said, you know he seems to throw a lot of fastballs for first pitch strike to the righties on the outside corner. Maybe instead of waiting for 0-2, how about I shorten the swing up a bit and go back up the middle or to right. Ah the hell with that, just get a bigger bat like a 42 inch and see if I can reach it.

The pitching chart was funny on this. He threw literally about 90% of the pitches on the outside corner. Crede kept stepping in the bucket over and over trying to pull the outside pitch. His ABs were pretty sickening. Iguchi was the player of the game. He at least had the brains to punch the ball up the middle.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ May 23, 2005 -> 10:29 PM) So, he sucks because he had one bad outing? Because they understood that he throws very straight fastballs on the outside corner. Our guys are falling over trying to pull the ball.

PAINT THAT OUTSIDE CORNER 90% OF THE TIME AND YOU WILL OWN US. CRUDDY FALLING OVER TRYING TO HIT SLIDERS IN THE OTHER BATTERS BOX. GUYS TAKING OUTSIDE FASTBALLS AND BEING 0-2. GREAT EFFORT. 4 HIT BY A CRAPPY PITCHER. YEAH. FIRST SHUTOUT.