Balta1701

What y'all should still realize though is that Cleveland beat up on a bunch of weaker teams like Colorado, and then when they were suddenly faced with even moderate competition, they gave it their best shot but couldn't win the game. Against David Wells even. They'll cool back off from here. I wouldn't be surprised if the BoSox sweep them, or at least take 2 out of 3, even with Boston's bullpen.

That's a team that needs to dismantle itself rapidly and try to follow the White Sox model. Take a couple of those bats and use them to add some speed and pitching. If it works in the Cell it can work there.

Here's a question for you guys... Tino Martinez clearly doesn't deserve to be an All Star, and is only leading the balloting because of the New York fan base and that 1 string he had back a few months ago. If Teixiera does manage to pass him...who do you guys rank as the 2nd best 1b in the AL? I certainly dont' think it's Millar. Francona of course could do the Torre thing and pick half of his team, but I think that if Teixeira does pass Tino, Paulie ends up in the AS Game.

God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Confucious, Zoroaster, Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesh, etc.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jun 21, 2005 -> 11:03 AM) He could have counted the teams on one hand who would have been interested in Joe Torre when the Yankees hired him and only needed his thumb. Now all the ESPN guys would line up to top him off. I don't understand the almost across the board White Sox bashing from ESPN related guys especially. They are making themselves look very petty and dumb so far this season. I can't really say I blame them...When's the last time a team won a world series based on speed, defense, timely hitting, and a ton of pitching?

The Angels also have this habit of taking the fewest walks in the AL. Just something to chew on. Does anyone have ESPN insider access? I'd love to read that Neyer piece but I'm a poor graduate student.

I bet Jason would have hated Vince Lombardi.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Jun 20, 2005 -> 11:09 PM) When McCarthy isnt getting the changeup over the plate consistently, like tonight....guys are gonna let that curveball go, and sit on deadred Koch-esque fastballs. I think we need to lock Shingo and BMac in a room with a bathroom, pitching mound, fridge full of food, and a stove and tell them they can't come out until they can throw a change-up for a strike.

Somehow, I think that if Joe Crede was really pumped about staying on this team with a long-term deal...he'd have realized how much the Sox community dislikes Boras and started looking at switching agents by now. I know Boras will probably get him another million or two, but if he wanted to stay, that would be a worthy gesture.

We tried using Mr. Offday as a starter early in the season last year when we had Buehrle, Loaiza, Garland and Schoenwies. (sp?). I didn't like it. Our guys really started to seem like they were wearing down after a few weeks of that. Late June/July it really seemed to take its toll...even though guys might not like the extra day of rest you get with the offday, it certainly seems that it helps keep people fresher. I'd be particularly worried about Garcia and Contreras if we did this...both of them are either older or have had some arm problems in the recent past. Those 2 are the ones I think have benefited the most from us having 5 regular starting pitchers.

Their TV Guys weren't exactly geniuses either. A couple of my favorites from last night: Iguchi is not the regular starting 2b, but has been splitting time with Harris, and is only getting more playing time now because Harris has been slumping. (No word about how well Tad has actually done). Neal Cotts is usually a situational guy, and he's probably not ready to work more than a couple of hitters. (they repeated this each inning he came out...seems like no one bothered to tell them that he used to start games)

I really think his problem before the Padres series was that he was overworked...the weekend before that series he pitched in something like 4 straight games, and ended up giving up his first run in the last one of them. I think the week off is just what Hermie ordered.

Konerko's OPS against Lima has to be over 2.000 now. Man he has murdered him. 8 for 12, 2 home runs, 7 RBI.

Something tells me that pitch won't be our last complaint about this umpiring crew.

Leadoff man is out to shallow center. Me likey. BMac got ahead of him, got rid of him.

1st pitch strike from BMac. YAYAYAYAYAY!

Aw hell...poor BMac, there goes his strike zone. Hopefully that "Investigation" MLB launched earlier htis year after the Oakland series came to fruition and these guys won't deliberately kill us.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jun 20, 2005 -> 04:52 PM) I think Ozzie should have stacked the lineup with lefties. Lima is horrible against lefties. Lima is horrible against lots of people. Dye is hitting .421 against him. Thomas...333. Konerko, um, uh, .621, with an OPS of 1.818.

Have I mentionned yet how much I don't mind not seeing the name Sweeney anywhere on those lineup lists?

I want to see something that gives me hope he can be a good starter for us. This year.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 20, 2005 -> 04:08 PM) Which means no HD. Which means I'm hoping that they broadcast the Royals announcers, because otherwise we DirecTV folks are tuning into John & Ed.

Right now I think the biggest weakness on this team is long relief - there's no one who can come out of the bullpen and pitch 4 or 5 quality innings if a starter not named Mark Buehrle ends up only going three or 4. We end up blowing our entire bullpen in 1 day if someone has a bad start, and that probably will hurt us eventually. Ditto if we hit a long extra innings game. If BMac can cut it...I give him that spot in the rotation, and give El Duque a couple months to sit around in long relief. I'd slap him back in the rotation in August or any time BMac struggles, but that would be by far the best thing that could happen to the team.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 20, 2005 -> 01:34 PM) I hope we destroy old man Maddux for his Buehrle comment. Well, Timo is hitting .421 against Maddux in his career....with 2 home runs!

On the other hand, there's always the possibility that come August, we'll see the Twins, Yankees, and Bosox on our calendar, realize that these are the games we need to win, and we'll go all "Sox vs. Yankees and Indians in 2000" on their asses and walk out of those 2 weeks with like 2 losses. We've been basically hovering around or inching upwards from about 18 games above for the last month or so...no gigantic 7 game winning streaks like we had twice earlier this season. We're due to get blazing hot again. And I think we just might be there now.

QUOTE(Dam8610 @ Jun 20, 2005 -> 12:37 PM) Why do I doubt this? Could it be that he has barely any AAA/MLB experience, and thus will have a quick hook on him? Or could it be that I don't think McCarthy can keep a ML team (even if it is the Royals) to 1 run for 7 2/3 innings at this point in his career? How many rookies have kept us to 1 run in 7 2/3 innings this year?