chitownsportsfan

QUOTE (Lillian @ Apr 22, 2015 -> 08:02 PM) I would think that even a selfish player would want to sit vs pitching that makes his stats look that bad. Moreover, he could be a tremendous asset, as a pinch hitter, on those days. Exactly. He's still going to get 500+ PA. Just don't let him get 700+ PA with 200+ against LHP. He's 36 it's the perfect situation let him rest and appear as a deadly PH threat on non start days.

QUOTE (SouthWallace @ Apr 22, 2015 -> 06:41 PM) 13 Hits off Kluber on a cold afternoon. FWIW that is a career high against him. Good job Sox.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Apr 22, 2015 -> 04:53 PM) He wasn't too bad, earlier in his career. The last two seasons have been brutal. I posted the stats. It's not surprising if you watch him he has the exact same problem Dunn did against LHP -- his bat isn't quick enough any more to punish bad fastballs so all they see is junk down and fastballs up and outside. If a pitcher does leave a fastball over the play 9/10 they will foul it straight back. LaRoche very much needs a platoon partner and it's too bad Robin doesn't see it that way. Hell, get Davidson up in July if he keeps mashing and let him see some LHP at DH.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Apr 22, 2015 -> 05:53 PM) Positives: Shark didn't have his best stuff and he still shut down Cleveland through 6IP. His strand rate should be way high, but he's making the big pitches in the short term. 6 guys with two hits today. That has to be a first for the season. Eaton. When he gets going the offense is going to look very different. 5-12, 2 BB this series. 2/3 against Cleveland when they had the pitching matchup favor them every time out. Dan Jennings has been nails. His ERA would be zero if Alexei/Micah didn't screw up that weird play where Micah in game one. Momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher: Chris Sale. A 14 hit attack mostly against Kluber. I will take that. They hit Carrasco pretty hard too just had some bad BABIP luck and untimely hitting. A positive series for sure now they need to string some wins together and close the gap on the top.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 22, 2015 -> 05:35 PM) Today is the first day I looked at the standings. 2 back of the 2nd wildcard and mired with a lot of other teams in the AL at 6-8. Just our luck the AL Central might be the best division in MLB this year. I was a bit doubtful it would be but it's looking that way.

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 22, 2015 -> 05:19 PM) Could anyone kindly post some stats? I'm on a plane and mlb.com is too much to load. Just some top hitters and pitcher Jose Abreu 2-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI Shark, 6 strong shutout innings. 3k 2BB, 6H

Not a bad series considering the middle game they had some chances just couldn't convert. Well pitched for the most part and defended. Seems it took the team two weeks into the season to really be ready. That's kinda unfortunate.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Apr 22, 2015 -> 04:50 PM) Chris goes 9 tomorrow. He hates the Royals. seriously ANOTHER AL CENTRAL TEAM? My god man I hate the unbalanced schedule but this is rediculous. Entire month against AL Central and if it was to be broken up it probably would have been with interleague. Man I miss the old days sometimes.

everytime i get pissed when Jose waives at a 3-2 slider outside the zone I just need to remember that this is who he is. He's a helluva hitter that has a very obvious weakness. That said, good luck facing him even when you know his weakness.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2015 -> 04:29 PM) He's doing a great job in his role. That's all we can ask for anyone on the team. I agree he's been a bright spot. That said, he has over 1200 PA of suck in MLB. Pardon me for not getting a Beckham boner for a hot few weeks.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2015 -> 04:26 PM) It's frustrating that more people on here aren't excited about his contributions so far. it's frustrating that guys aren't excited over a .5 WAR player that no other MLB team wanted that has had a nice 30 PA? Wow, I know it's been a s*** start but come on.

The Sox need to find a way to clone Jose, or get his kids in the academy.

Not sure how you can argue that the Sox haven't had good success with pitchers. It's the lack of position player development that has held them back the last decade without a doubt.

This team and forum needs a slumpbuster. f***ing run off 8 of 10 or some s***. Tired of talking about the same old problems with this org. Develop a god damn position player or two along the way please. I pray to God that Marcus doesn't turn into a 4 WAR SS. It would be very fitting.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 22, 2015 -> 01:45 PM) I am taking it this is your first time listening to Don Cooper speak. Losing leads to scrutiny and IMO, as someone who has paid a lot of attention to a lot of different sports for the better part of 30 years -- when your team's coaching staff starts with the whole "it's hard" routine -- the end is near. It might not be for Cooper, but for White Sox 2015.

Cooper is starting to piss me off. Usually when a coach has nothing else he starts using the whole "it's not easy" BS. Another thing is that this was a division game against a rival and a high leverage spot -- a MULLIGAN??? GMAFB. Don't insult our intelligence. Why is Hahn the only person in this org that owns up to mistakes? He owned up to the replay mistake even though he could have easily thrown the guy he didn't hire under the bus. How about Cooper says "you know it was a tough spot and with our other LOOGY option unavailable we did what we had to do. It was a tough spot but we felt it was the best option". I'm not even saying this was a "mistake" but take some of the heat off your players man without resorting to the whole "if it was easy you bums in section 103 would be out here" crap. You'd think with 5k showing up last night the first line of defense wouldn't be "it's hard being a major leaguer". No s***.

After sleeping on it I don't think it was the worst decision in the world but I still don't think it was a good one. I saw that Hector's velocity was dropping but at the same time it's Brandon freaking Moss. Dude's bat is slowwwwwwwwwwwww. Yea it was the 3rd time through the lineup but I don't think Noesi would have had a problem with him. Hector was pitching fairly well off his two pitches and I'm pretty sure he could have handled Moss there. That said, if Carlos is on the roster this is pretty much the exact situation he's supposed to helping with (relatively high leverage LOOGY spots) so I can't fault Ventura for going to him -- with this one big caveat -- and that is that you're asking an awful lot of a 22 year kid that doesn't have a much experience as a reliever in that spot. IMO, a really smart manager would have talked to both Duke and Rodon prior to the game about this exact situation and asked if Duke would feel good about pitching earlier than the 7th or 8th if it so happened. And of course they had a very high leverage LOOGY situation early and had to throw a kid to the sharks. There are clubs that make things happen and clubs that things seem to happen to -- right now the Sox are the latter and it's not a good look.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 09:24 PM) http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/11957...rent-rosencrans Just like Luhnow, Amaro, Terry Ryan, Epstein...Hahn's not going anywhere, so it's easy to see why the pressure is starting to fall more and more on Ventura's shoulder's. It's the nature of the media beast these days. same as it ever was man, same as it ever was. agree with everything else. The axe will fall on Ventura first.

I thought it sucked and the entire plan was fubar from the start. It was unsound strategy all around -- not good for Rodon (imo) or the Sox. You can argue maybe it was OK for Rodon but in no way was it smart in game strategy to bring him in in such a tough spot for his debut.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 10:34 PM) That supports my unproven theory that they are mentally weak. or that they are (s***) a mediocre club.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 08:59 PM) Meh, they used Sale this way. I can dig it. But runners in scoring position and the threat of Raburn up if he doesn't get the guy out. Dumb situation. Not surprising. Robin isn't a major league manager. yea being a reliever is fine but that spot early in a game (relatively) with only 1 lefty up? Come on man.

QUOTE (Condor13 @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 08:57 PM) God this organization is f***ing awful. I hope this kid is not continually asked to do this bulls***. This kid is big time and ready to be a STARTER. He is NOT a reliever and should never be asked to be one. Yet they ask him to come in and do something that half our bullpen cannot do and get an out and save us from losing yet again (in his major league debut). That is setting him up for failure from the beginning. Wtf why would you do that. Yes I am ranting and it feels good to do so. preach man. let the hate flow through you. this org is baffling at times.

way to set your guys up for success. Jesus Rodon battled but COME ON. It's not freaking game 1 of the playoffs.

jesus

damn avi bad luck