Balta1701

30 pitches so far this inning.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 04:46 PM) Didnt know Minny and Detroit played this weekend. Take care of business..... Sadly, I'm now at the point where I am rooting for a Detroit sweep.

Guess who'll be leading off tomorrow now.

Now would be an ideal time for Podsednik to try bunting, IMO.

That's one guy who can carry this team... IF ANYONE EVER GETS ON BASE FOR HIM.

QUOTE(G&T @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 04:30 PM) So that was about 30 pitches. 23

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 04:14 PM) Actually, to cross over to Canada, you do need to provide proof of citizenship or permanent residency now. A Drivers License or Social Security card is not enough. You currently are supposed to have a birth certificate with you when you cross over. Passports aren't that hard to get and everyone should have one anyway. They do cost about $100.

Jose has a chance to pass Garland today to take over the slot of #2 ERA on our starting staff. He has to give up about 5 earned runs to do it.

QUOTE(beautox @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 04:17 PM) Bernie Mac is a bad poker player. Can he play LF?

7 pitches, 7 strikes, 2 outs.

QUOTE(shawnhillegas @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 04:10 PM) SWEENEY, LEADOFF HOMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sadly, not quite. Very Podsednik-ish there.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 03:59 PM) Now he just needs to take him out of the lineup completely in favor of Gload/Mackowiak/Sweeney and he will finally have it correct. I would bet this dropping him in the lineup is similar to the way Ozzie dealt with slumping Carl at the end of last year...drop him in the lineup as a last chance before making a change. It worked with Everett, to some extent.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 03:43 PM) How did he call him out? Respond please. Thank you. Took me a minute to find it, but this was Ozzie about a week ago.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 03:42 PM) Dancing? Nope, not at all. Mack is a bench player, a reserve. He is not a full time leadoff hitter. NOT is the keyword. We do not have another full-time leadoff hitter on this team. We put all of our eggs in Peter Pan's basket and lost. End of story, goodnight sweet prince. Back onto this. Ok, here's a counterpoint. Rob Mackowiak is not a full time leadoff hitter. Why? Because his numbers against lefties are terrible. .213 average this year. However, against righties, Mack is hitting .320 with a .396 OBP. Scott Podsednik on the other hand is hitting .272 with a .347 against righties. And for some reason MLB's stats aren't working right, but I would wager it's even worse if you sort the 2nd half. If Scott Podsednik is not running,w hich he is not, then there is no reason for him to be either a full time or even a part time leadoff hitter, when we have a guy on this roster who can be a part time leadoff hitter and give us much better production, even if it's just against righties. The fact that Rob Mackowiak has been a backup his career does not change the numbers he has put up this season against righties, nor does the fact that he has never been a leadoff hitter change the fact that his numbers this season have been significantly better than the lefty we have been using as a leadoff hitter. In other words, based on what they both have done this season, Rob Mackowiak right now would, against righties, be a significantly better leadoff hitter than Scott Podsednik.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 03:31 PM) But Ozzie also mentioned that BA wasn't that fast. If there's some secret formula in Winter Ball that makes you a few steps faster, the Sox have about 12 guys on the roster who need to be on Anderson's plane. I don't think the problem is that BA is inherently not fast. He has good speed. He's stolen 15 bases in a year before in the minor leagues, with decent percentages. He's not Carl Crawford, but he should be better than 2/6 in SB's with his speed. He does have the ability to learn to steal 20 bases or so at a high percentage every year, which is an invaluable thing to have. He can learn how to be faster in going from 1st base to 2nd base during a pitch. That is something you can learn.

Linkity

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 03:17 PM) How about bringing up Sweeney sooner and playing him in LF. At least you know you will have one of the best defensive OFs in the league when BA is out there. Sweeney BA and Dye would be one of the best in my opinion. I think Sweeney can leadoff. See, now that makes sense. I think my big problem would be that you were just shooting down alternative options, like I presented with Mack/Gload leading off, because "They're not leadoff hitters", but at the same time, the guy we have there right now isn't a leadoff hitter either. Sweeney in LF is almost certainly better than Podsednik in LF and leading off right now. But I think it wouldn't have hurt a month ago to start givign Mack/Gload starts in LF and leading off just to see if we could have improved the performance of that platoon. But if Sweeney can come up and have success, that's also a very good option.

QUOTE(WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 02:29 PM) Good to see Sweeney playing, but I'd rather have him playing for Pods. Did BA sleep with Ozzie's wife or something?

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 03:09 PM) There is no way that I am making a case for Pods. Jeeze! Where did I ever say that Pods had one of these? Did I ever say that? DAMN! But you are advocating playing Pods, who has none of those 3, over guys who might be able to give you 1 or 2 of those 3, with your reasoning being that Pods is a leadoff hitter. But he's not giving you any of the attributes of a leadoff hitter, which is why we're focusing on this.

Sweeney, CF Iguchi, 2B Dye, RF Thome, DH Konerko, 1B Pierzynski, C Crede, 3B Podsednik, LF Cintron, SS Contreras, P Crisp, CF Loretta, 2B Ortiz, DH Ramirez, LF Nixon, RF Lowell, 3B Varitek, C Hinske, 1B Cora, SS Snyder, P

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 03:04 PM) He has done it and done it successfully. But he is not doing it successfully now. When something fails....simply ignoring the problem and staying the course is usually a pretty bad strategy. After the last 2 months, I'll take the unknown who hasn't been a leadoff man before but who has been successful in other roles over the guy who has been a leadoff man but is failing. And yes, you can read as much detail into that line as you want.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 03:00 PM) To lead off? Are you f***ing kidding me? This is why no one here is the manager of a professional baseball team. Those are solid backups, but they are not everyday MLB leadoff hitters. Neither is Scott Podsednik right now. They would be better than Scott Podsednik.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 02:58 PM) or not stating that. He wants him to get better. Does Ozzie love speed? Yes, you can tell that. He wants BA to go to winer ball and work on things and get better. What is so hard to understand. Why he puts Mackowiak in CF for 1/2 of the games in the 2nd half, then complains that Anderson doesn't have enough at bats?

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 02:57 PM) Ok, who on this team is a better canidate? Rob Mackowiak. Ross Gload.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 02:50 PM) How much do you think a manager impacts a team? Hypotheticals: Where would the Tigers be this season if they had Alan Trammel instead of Jim Leyland? Where would the White Sox be in 2005 if they had Jerry Manuel instead of Ozzie Guillen? Where would the Marlins have been in 2003 without Jack McKeon? (under .500 before he was there, best team in the league after switching managers). Where would the Angels have been in 02 without Scoscia?