BlackBetsy

QUOTE (Brian @ Sep 20, 2008 -> 07:46 PM) 82 pitches and consecutive 1-2-3 innings. If we lose, it won't be Gavin's fault. Poor Billy Butler. +2

Twins lose. Very nice.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 20, 2008 -> 05:28 PM) No Konerko tonight. For some reason, Wise is batting 9th and AJP is 2nd. Weird. Hope he is OK. He's 5 for 10 with a homer and a double against Davies. Swish is only 2 for 8 with a double.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Sep 20, 2008 -> 02:06 PM) To be fair. I don't care what the 2 game stats say. I trust linebrink. If Linebrink wasn't hurt for two months, the Sox would have clinched already. He was probably the biggest factor in the bullpen's turnaround from last year.

I don't get the question - is it on the basis of overall value if you were going to start a franchise today? Or just quality of performance to date this year? By VORP, its: Quentin 51.1 Danks 47.1 Dye 36.2 Thome 34.1 Buehrle 31.1 Vazquez 28.6 Floyd 26.3 Ramirez 21.7 Thornton 21.7 Cabrera 21.4 Jenks 19.9 Pierzynski 15.2 Contreras 14.6 Linebrink 12.2 Wise 9.5 (!) Konerko 9.3 Carrasco 8.9 Dotel 7.1 Crede 6.5 Swisher 6.3 McDougal 6.3 Brian Anderson 2.3

QUOTE (SoxFanForever @ Sep 20, 2008 -> 11:29 AM) It's really great to see a vet like Mark really step up his game when it matters most. I think Mark is easily the best pitcher the Sox have developed over the last 30 years. The only ones that might come close are McDowell and perhaps Alex Fernandez. McDowell crapped out at 127 wins, Fernandez at 107. Mark is already at 121, and will probably top 220 before he's done (assuming 8 more seasons at 12-13 wins per season)

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 20, 2008 -> 11:12 AM) 85-68 +2.5 games over MN Kansas City, Detroit, and Cleveland are all officially eliminated. KC and DET, easy to see...but the Cleveland elimination is very subtle. Basically, the Twins vs. Sox series eliminates the possibility that neither the Sox nor the Twins finish with 86 or more wins, eliminating Cleveland even if they won out.

September performance by OPS: Bringing their A Game: Name AVG/ OBP/ SLG/ OPS Dewayne Wise .313 / .343 / .750 / 1.093 Paul Konerko .302 / .362 / .628 / .990 O. Cabrera .377 / .442 / .464 / .905 Juan Uribe .315 / .339 / .537 / .876 Bringing their B Game: B. Anderson .250 / .286 / .500 / .786 A. Ramirez .217 / .288 / .433 / .721 On Notice: K. Griffey Jr. .263 / .333 / .368 / .702 Jim Thome .185 / .286 / .407 / .693 Jermaine Dye .246 / .319 / .323 / .643 Nick Swisher .170 / .231 / .340 / .571 Toby Hall .143 / .143 / .357 / .500 A. Pierzynski .196 / .241 / .235 / .476 On the Hill: Bringing their A Game: Player / ERA / IP /H / BB / K / WHIP / OPP AVG MacDougal, Mike / 1.50 / 6/ 6 / 2 / 3 / 1.33 / .261 Buehrle, Mark / 2.13 / 25 1/3 / 22 / 5 / 21 / 1.07 / .237 Thornton, Matt / 2.16 / 8 1/3 / 6 / 2 / 9 / 0.96 / .200 Bringing their B/C Game: Danks, John / 3.52 / 15 1/3 / 17 / 4 /16 / 1.37 / .279 Vazquez, Javier / 3.86 / 23 1/3 / 19 / 10 / 22 / 1.24 / .224 Floyd, Gavin / 4.64 / 21 1/3 / 23 / 3 / 10 / / 1.22 / .271 On Notice: Richard, Clayton / 6.14 / 14 2/3 / 17 / 5 / 8 / 1.50 / .288 Dotel, Octavio / 6.75 / 5 1/3 / 4 / 3 / 7 1.31 / .211 Jenks, Bobby / 8.10 / 6 2/3 / 9 / 1 / 4 / 1.50 / .346 Carrasco, D.J. / 8.22 / 7 2/3 / 11 / 4 / 5 / 1.96 / .355 Linebrink, Scott / 9.00 / 5 / 6 / 2 / 2 / 1.60 / .286 Put on Waivers, Kenny: Ramirez, Horacio / 9.00 / 4 / 8 / 4 / 1 / 3.00 .381 Logan, Boone / 10.80 / 1 2/3 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 2.40 / .429

QUOTE (tommy @ Sep 19, 2008 -> 10:01 PM) I was going to ask the same question earlier. They do not. Only regular season.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Sep 19, 2008 -> 09:42 PM) Tejeda just walked Uribe. My advice to him is to kill himself. Alexei and Uribe walked tonight.

QUOTE (tommy @ Sep 19, 2008 -> 09:07 PM) 11 Grand Slams this season ties club record from 2006. I saw that one coming too. Let's break that record in the 1st inning in Minnesota on Tuesday.

Seriously, we cannot score runs unless we hit the ball out of the park. Man on third 1 out is a guaranteed pop up or strike out (or if there's a man on third, DP).

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 19, 2008 -> 08:47 PM) ozzie needs to threaten greg walker again - worked last time +3

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 19, 2008 -> 08:22 PM) by next thursday? check your math Interpretation issue...I thought he was referring to the off day on Monday.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 19, 2008 -> 08:01 PM) we will have clinched by then Ummmm...not possible. Magic number is 8, best case is 4 1/2 up with 6 to play and a magic number of 2.

QUOTE (StatManDu @ Sep 19, 2008 -> 03:53 PM) No ... the other Joe Cowley! http://journals.aol.com/dmarran359/Soxalmanac/ I watched that game as a kid...they nearly yanked him when he walked in a run. I actually kept the Sun-Times the day after that game for a while - was excited about a no-no for a Sox player. That 86 team was pretty bad, but it was the first team I followed very closely (I was still a bit fuzzy in '83 - old enough to cry when they lost and when my Dad said after Game 3 that the Sox were going to lose the series).

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 19, 2008 -> 07:51 PM) Perkins will be skipped in our series. For who on short rest?

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 19, 2008 -> 07:17 PM) Wise in CF, and Swisher's in LF. No Griffey Swisher crushes Bannister.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Sep 18, 2008 -> 12:32 PM) Age hurt both of them apparently because their ERAs are great and terrific peripherals. I am not discouraged, both have mid-rotation starter written all over them. Granted, I haven't see them pitch, so I really can't comment on their stuff, but BA seems to like both of their skill sets. Add their pitches with the numbers, and there is plenty of reason to think they can have successful ML careers. Good comment. Age is the biggest hesitation on them, but the peripherals are so good you have to think that it's not them outclassing younger players. I guess you start them both in Kannapolis next year and see if they rise to the competition, or you can go for broke with them both and let them sink or swim at Winston Salem.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Sep 18, 2008 -> 01:32 PM) The short answer is yes he does run the risk of re-fracturing it. A bone heals by building up a callus around the fracture and the healing begins to occur inside this callus. If the callus is injured the healing will stop and a new callus will need to be re-built. The problem is that with a partial callus there, there is a possibility that it will interfere with the new healing process and the fracture will become a non-union fracture. This is where the fracture doesn't and drastic steps need to be taken possibly even removing a part of the bone. This is not likely to happen especially with the screw in place to prevent movement. A direct blow to the bone still could do it. This re-injury scenario is unlikely but do you chance it with such a young player who could be a corner stone for years. I'm sure this is the question going through the minds of the White Sox decision makers. They have a good medical staff and I would trust them but it is a risk. Since he injured it in a non-baseball way (hitting his hand on his bat), isn't it possible that little stress is put on that bone during a swing? I'm having dreams of Ozzie mysteriously putting Jerry Owens in LF batting third to start the Twins series and then in the first inning Hawk saying "Wait a second.....That's Carlos Quentin's Music!!!" and then have CQ stroke a 3 run homer.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Sep 18, 2008 -> 10:50 PM) Yeah, and yet teh Sox always seem to f*** up in those situations where things are stacked really high in their favor. I'm not trying to be pessimistic (I'm usually one of the biggest optimists here), but the Sox tend to f*** up situations like these. I think a LOT of people expect the Sox to fall, even despite every example you mentioned. This team just has no life. A pessimist is just an optimist who's been through a couple of seasons with the White Sox.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Sep 18, 2008 -> 09:01 PM) Twins tie it up. Now Mauer with a double, man on second nobody out. Lead cut to 1.5 games.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 18, 2008 -> 08:49 PM) Is Ramirez really worse than Boone Logan and Wasserman? That's hard to believe. I know. That's what makes it so amazing. He's worse than Logan and Wasserman. That's hard to do if you tried.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 18, 2008 -> 08:41 PM) I think Horacio Ramirez might just be the worst pitcher in baseball right now. I challenge anyone to come up with anyone worse.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 18, 2008 -> 08:34 PM) So let me get this straight...we pull our starters, but leave in our two most fragile players in PK and Griffey? If anything, get Swisher in the game and see if he can get some confidence. Ozzie for Manager of the Year.