Balta1701

QUOTE (Cali @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 11:09 PM) A pretty average month that could have been better. When the Sox hit that 10th win things were looking up, then they crashed right back down.. So far, the one thing we can say about this team is they appear to be incredibly streaky.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 08:36 AM) Dunn...Rios...and Peavy are not going anywhere unless the Sox eat a ton of money. And I don't see that happening. Why are we constantly seeing these suggestions? If they continue hitting, Rios and Dunn might be moveable at the deadline or even afterwards on the waiver wire line if someone is appropriately desperate and has room to add salary. People have overlooked bad seasons to focus on current numbers before. Peavy keeps this up, he's probably going to be moveable...but yes the Sox will have to send along some money, because Peavy would effectively be owed about $11 million for the final 2 months. If the Sox just accept that his salary is a sunk cost and chip in a portion of it, then Peavy might be the easiest one to actually trade because people will be beating down the door to get him if he can be had for $5 million for the last 2 months. But...that requires the White Sox franchise to overcome their mental block about sending salary along in a trade.

Sigh.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 09:04 PM) That's interesting. I wonder if they would keep it open year-round or only during events at the UC. They say "restaurants" and you can't really support multiple restaurants on 41-50 games a year. They also refer to event space.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 09:12 PM) If the 17 year old was tryign to bash the other guy's head open on a sidewalk, I say it was a good idea. At least for George vs the alternative. And if the strange, armed man was chasing the 17 year old down the street, bashing his head into a sidewalk seems like a reasonable defensive response. If only he was armed, he could have made it through.

Here's a look at where the Tigers are sitting right now...it feels about as positive as where the White Sox feel right now.

QUOTE (God Loves The Infantry @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 08:51 PM) Driving around with a concealed weapon isn't a crime, whether you agree with it or not. And what if Trayvon attacked him like he claims? If the dude got blindsided and was getting his head smashed into the concrete, it's self defense. But we don't know what happened out there. So give it up. Saying it isn't a crime doesn't mean it's a good idea, and the fact that a 17 year old wound up dead should raise the honest question of whether or not the concealed carrying is a good idea.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 07:55 PM) It's amazing to me what he's doing this season. Usually it takes two years to really be back where you were after TJ surgery. It's like he never missed a beat watching him pitch out there. Technically it has been a year and 3/4 or so, right?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 07:47 PM) Cowley outworked the other reporters on the Sox beat (not like that is a difficult task sadly), had better sources, better stories. He knows the newspaper business is dying ans seems to me to be positioning himself as a personality, trying to land a gig in sports radio. What has the Sun Times broken in the last few years from those better sources?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 07:21 PM) Mariotti started believing his act when he went national with ESPN. Cowley isn't at that point - yet. You're half right, he's not national. But he's clearly pulling the same crappy act, because otherwise he wouldn't be stupid enough to write things on Twitter that would get an ordinary reporter fired.

QUOTE (God Loves The Infantry @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 07:24 PM) You don't know how it went down that night. Zimmerman could have been acting in self defense. Maybe he is a clown who blew off escalation of force and killed a guy in cold blood, but we don't know that. You're just trying to smear gun owners. No, the guy driving around with a concealed weapon who wound up killing an unarmed 17 year old who was walking home smeared gun owners quite effectively without my help.

QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 06:02 PM) Usually by the anti crowd. The anti gun crowd blows guns way out of propertion more than the small minority of legal, law abiding gun owners who think of them as toys to be played with. I've been around a lot of gun owners, soend a lot of time on various Scout gun ranges, and I can't think of one that acts like Balta has painted some gun owners to act. Except for the one that caused this thread.

QUOTE (Jake @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 07:00 PM) I keep coming back to how well we always play w/o Rose against the Heat. The Heat defense sucks against our team offense (most defenses suck against a good team-oriented offense) but had very little problem dealing with Derrick when he was basically just bringing it up and driving/shooting. We have seen multiple instances now when we outscore the Heat w/o Derrick on the floor vs being outscored w/ Derrick. The main vulnerability to our team w/o Derrick is those spurts when no one can score, obviously. I'd say we're more or less unharmed defensively w/o Derrick. Could being Rose-less help us against the Heat (if we get there)? I know I'm not the only one that entertained the thought, even last year, that Rose was killing us offensively against Miami. The Heat defense will probably not suck by the time we get to them, and they're also going to be playing 8-5 since it's the playoffs.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 06:26 PM) When it comes to writing about the Sox, Cowley is rock solid. All the other stuff, I do not give one damn about. So...misogyny is one of those things we just look past because sports makes it ok.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 05:15 PM) Gavin Floyd now 7-0 career against the Red Sox. 60-58 cumulatively in the majors. Hello, Brian Cashman? If Bard is pushed back into the bullpen (right now things have stabilized with Aceves), then you could also see the Red Sox making a hard push for adding Jake Peavy down the stretch. 22,811. More there for a Sunday Bat Day than Saturday night, but the weather was pretty brutal last night. The Red Sox have zero room to add salary this season if they want to stay under the luxury tax, which has been made quite a bit more painful this year for teams that get there, especially multiple years in a row. They are not paying Marlon Byrd's salary, because that would put them over the luxury tax. They gave up on their SS and replaced him with Aviles...to avoid paying the luxury tax.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 05:13 PM) Is it just me, or are the Bears structuring their roster to switch to a 3-4 Defense? I'll admit, it did cross my mind after their first pick. It wouldn't happen while Smith is still here...but they did hire a GM who came from a 3-4 (Pats) and set up a 3-4 (KC).

Link

G.

Matty > AGon. Aced him. That was beautiful.

With Gonzalez and Ortiz...yeah, Matty for the save seems reasonable.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 05:03 PM) Much better balance by Viciedo during that AB! I keep thinking guys look different at the plate today, but I'm trying to convince myself it's not just the color of their uniforms.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 05:01 PM) Atta boy, Dayan. Please call him out with threads more often!!! First RBI of the season not coming on a homer. Ramirez and Viciedo (.206) back up over 200 now at least. Viciedo is 5/16, HR, 2 RBI since that thread was made.

Solid RBI shot single for Viciedo. Off a righty, offspeed pitch on the inside corner.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 04:52 PM) Seems like Rios has been up half of those times. Alexei back over the Mendoza Line with the infield single. Team stats, bases loaded. Player, at bats, hits.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 04:30 PM) The Bears offensive line will be infinitely better simply based on the fact that there will not be as many, if any, seven step drops for the QB anymore. They won't have to endure the long-developing plays with intricate WR routes that Martz was known for. Adding weapons on offense helps the line too. I was pretty positive about the o-line going into last year, saying they would be much better than people thought. I'm even more positive this year now that our offensive coordinator isn't stuck in the 1998 Rams. IMO, Webb is still the weak link in the offensive line, but the Bears almost never helped him out against top pass rushers by chipping or having a TE help double a rusher. Even after Jared Allen repeatedly torched him, they waited for the second half to give him any help. Webb/Williams/Garza/Louis/Carimi will be a solid line next year if they stay healthy. And with the additions of Rachal and Spencer coming back, their depth is better by default, as Omiyale is gone. The run blocking was never a problem, the pass blocking will be helped by quicker developing plays. It could also be helped by having 2 fairly big WR's who can get open early, and 2 WR's Cutler is quite familiar with, and a legit #1, "Bailout" option as well.