Balta1701

1/2 game out of the 6th seed and the Magic.

Chris Carpenter took a no hitter in to the 7th inning in getting his first win since the 2006 world series. If he goes the distance this season...watch out.

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 05:02 PM) This softball offense will get it going from June to August, and then stay on schedule for their annual September nosedive. I can no longer criticize at any of the players because their limitations are clearly documented but Williams should absolutely be held accountable. He should be held accountable for building a team that won the AL Central last year? How, with another contract extension?

QUOTE (BearSox @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 02:33 PM) Hopefully my fears of a sophomore slump for Ramirez don't become true. He's struggling now, but hopefully his bat will heat up with the weather. I think pitchers have made adjustments against him though, so lets see if Ramirez can make adjustments of his own. Last year, no one made better adjustments to pitchers than Alexei IMO. Every time it seemed like something new was tried against him, he'd have 2 bad games and then go on a hitting streak again.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 02:22 PM) I don't ever wanna relive that nightmare season ever again. I'm ok with once every 10 years if it gets us someone like Beckham.

Chris Young is hitting .083 with a .321 OPS.

QUOTE (almagest @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 02:08 PM) Nope: In that case, if you count the playoffs, the Sox had 5 separate 8 game winning streaks in 2005.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 02:14 PM) We may like them better, but I'm not sure that they'll perform better. I would expect Quentin to have a moderate drop-off from last season (still good, but not MVP-good) and I wouldn't be surprised to see Alexei, Danks, and Floyd's numbers drop off slightly. And with Thome and Dye a year older, who knows. On the other hand...you took 4 young guys and said they all might drop off this year, except they all could get better as well given that they have more familiarity with the pitchers (alexei and Q), they may have added a pitch or two, and they're now a year closer to their prime age.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 12:19 PM) Here's a crazy thought though. Everyone talked Detroit being able to score over 1000 runs last season, could the Rangers do it this season I wonder? They have to keep it up on the road away from Arlington. When you play in those conditions, the change is huge. It grates on their pitching staff but it sets up their hitters too. Give you an example...Hamilton's OPS at home last year 1.019, on the road, .779. Their team away OPS last year was .760, at home it was .866. Of course, even with an .866 OPS at home, they didn't even score 500 runs at home last year.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 02:09 PM) How this thread looks after Colon and Contreras get their starts is very important. Even if they struggle in their starts...the big numbers for them this season is not their ERA, or their k's, or their performance in April...it's # of innings and # of games started.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 02:04 PM) Yeah, but that's not saying much. Cabrera certainly wasn't our biggest problem last year... our biggest problem (CF and leadoff) continues to be our biggest problem. And I think Getz is an upgrade over Cabrera in that leadoff spot. It wasn't just the lack of output out of our CF slot that hurt us today. Ditto leadoff. Edit: And I think our biggest problem last year was injuries quite simply.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 02:01 PM) For sure. I think we'll like this team better than the 08 team though. I think eventually, Getz is going to be a step up above Cabrera offensively, I think Fields will be a huge leap from what we've had at 3rd base, and I think we'll actually be healthier than we were last year.

QUOTE (almagest @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 02:00 PM) After looking it up, the Sox had 3 8 game winning streaks in 2005, and only 1 7 game losing steak. Looks like I had a selective memory. Does that count the playoffs as well?

QUOTE (WCSox @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 01:56 PM) It's tough to watch Corpseball. But you have to believe that this lineup will start hitting more consistently. And the pitching as been outstanding so far. If Contreras and Linebrink can stay healthy this season (not likely, I know), this could be a very competitive team. There is no way this team is going to go many series hitting 1 home run.

Really, to keep a team built like the White Sox limited to 1 home run in the Cell in a 3 game series is pretty darn remarkable.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 01:48 PM) Betemit sitting on curveball. Why aren't our hitters sitting on the fastball, and then adjusting? Probably because the scouting report on Soria says his curveball is his dominant pitch. His fastball isn't so much ahead of his curve that you can't adjust the other way...or so at least that's the thinking.

Betemit hits for Anderson. Probably an improvement.

Oh great, Brian Anderson gets the at bat to tie. This won't end well.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 01:45 PM) honestly... i'd have sent brent, then you only need a single Olivo throwing?

QUOTE (almagest @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 01:43 PM) Evidence? What about right after the all-star break when the Sox played ~.500 ball? Were they too tired then? Also, Cleveland wasn't "too tired", they couldn't continue winning more than 75% of their games. I'll just note; your evidence that Ozzie sucks is that in 05, when we got on a bad streak, we played just over .500 ball for a month and a half.

Please tell me Ozzie pinch ran

We didn't get shut out!

QUOTE (almagest @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 01:39 PM) No, really. What did Ozzie do to win that series? Did he pitch throughout the playoffs? No, he put out Sunday lineups that virtually guaranteed we couldn't get on a sustained winning streak because we could never take more than 2/3 in a series. The Sox had at least 3 separate 8 game winning streaks in 05, maybe 4...and notably, 2 of them happened right at the end of the season, where our guys were simply more able to push for a few more games than the other teams were.

Welcome to the party Carlos.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Apr 9, 2009 -> 01:34 PM) We should have got Coco The only one in our organization who is comparable in age and performance last year to what the Royals gave up for him is Jenks.