clujer420

I don't think our defense has been horrid. I've seen probably 80% of the games, so yes, I have seen this team -- and we've made bad plays just like every other team has. We've made 35 errors in 54 games. That error total is as many as or fewer than the Yankees, A's, and Braves. It's also fewer than the Cubs for those who like to bash the North Siders. Crede has made some rookie-like mistakes, and Jose has made his share of errors. But on the whole, I'd say we've done an adequate job. We've thrown out 36% of would-be baserunners (that is an excellent number), and we've turned 53 double plays in 54 games. Those are the numbers. As far as our starting pitching goes, it has been disappointing. However, to say it has "sucked" is a tad excessive. Our average starter goes 6 2/3 innings, which is tied for 6th in all of MLB. We're middle-of-the-road in terms of men on base allowed per 9 innings. And we are 5th in the AL in both ERA (4.31) and opponent's batting average (.258). Not good, but definitely not as bad as it could be when you consider that our #1 and #3 starters (Buehrle and Garland) have been awful. Offensively, we have sucked. There's no other way to put it. But, I've seen some signs of life lately. We're still leaving a lot of runners on base, but we're scoring them more often now than we have all season (not saying much, but it is an improvement. Over our last 6 games, we've averaged nearly 5 runs and 9 hits per game. Carlos, Frank, and Magglio have all shown glimpses of breaking out, and I believe they will soon. Konerko has just been hideous, and I think he should just be benched until we can find a taker. I'm getting ready to say the same for Jose, but at least he just K's in big situations -- SLO-nerko kills possible rallies completely by hitting into DP's. Crede still gets a pass since he's young, but my patience is wearing thin with him too. Olivo has the potential to be a very productive offensive player, and I love watching him hit. Same goes with Borch. So, while this team is much lower in the standings than they should be, we're not THAT bad. Judging by some of our reactions, you'd think we were 15-39 instead of 25-29. Considering how poorly some of our key...KEY...players have been (Buehrle, Garland, Konerko, Valentin, and to an extent Frank), our start could be A LOT worse. Complete overhaul? No. Not necessary. At least not yet.

Darn right they don't, heh. They cancelled it at around 9 AM CT.

They said that no make-up date has been scheduled, so I don't think it will be anytime this series. I would think they'd want to give the players (and fans) as much notice as possible.

If that is true, that umpire needs to be suspended and fined heavily. His job is to call balls and strikes, not to get snippy with a player.

While it would be funny, why would Miguel do something to get suspended? That wouldn't help us at all.

Jason mentioned that yesterday during the game, the Indians announcers were saying that there was about 0% of the game being played today. For once, the weathermen knew what they were talking about.

The home plate umpire for Friday's game was Mark Wegner. I don't know anything about him -- all I know is that he was horrible on Friday, and I hope we don't see him again this year.

I saw the game -- the home plate umpire was VERY inconsistent, and it appeared to favor the Tribe. I don't mind a wide or small zone, but just keep it the same for both teams and stay with it the whole game. Is that asking too much?

True, he hasn't been bad EVERY time, but in May, here are his numbers 13 2/3 IP, 22 hits, 1:1 K/BB ratio, 13 ER (8.56 ERA). That's ugly. And for the season overall, he's got a .346 opp avg and a .519 opp SLG. 16 men on base per 9 IP. That is atrocious.

Heh, they aren't even going to bother trying I guess. Was scheduled to start at 12:05 CT, but apparently the weather is pretty awful in Cleveland. I wonder if they'll try to get a double-header in sometime? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Don't worry, he's going to -- any moment.

Shawn-Kemp-itis, eh?

I hope the Sox win a World Series in my lifetime -- I would love to see it happen. = me patiently waiting

You're gonna have to talk some sense into him.

I was thinking about what the Sox need to do, here at the 1/3 point of the 2003 season. There are a few things. 1) Starting rotation -- no work needed IMO. Loaiza and Colon have been solid for us this year. Loaiza has been a monster, while Colon is starting to show signs of dominance (2 CG's in a row). The 3 guys behind them (Buehrle, Garland, Wright) have struggled, but have also shown signs of snapping out of it. Danny had a poor game last night in Cleveland, but the game before that he looked very sharp. He's just got to keep his walk total down. Buehrle obviously has been a big disappointment so far, but I've gotta believe that he's going to snap out of it very soon -- he's too good not to. And Garland started off horribly, but over the past 3 weeks or so has had a very nice ERA and, in his last start, looked awesome. So I say stick with what we have in our starting 5 -- not only because I think they're good, but also because it's very difficult to make rotation changes this far into the season. 2) Bullpen -- SOS! The supposed strength of this team has been far from that so far. Marte, Wunsch, and to an extent Gordon have done very well for us, but other than them it has been ugly. Koch has started to do much better over the past few weeks, so that is a very good sign. But 2 of our main guys -- White and Glover -- have been horrid. Glover started off good, but over the past couple of weeks his ERA has ballooned, and opponents are roping him (something like a .350 average). Rick White has been awful all season, and he needs to go. The Sox should release him and call up one of our youngens from the minors -- Almonte maybe? Whoever they call up can't do worse than White has done so far. Also, I'm not at all sold on David Sanders. Maybe I just need to see more of him, I don't know. But as far as Glover goes, I think we need to package him with someone (I'll get to that momentarily) and get him out of town, because I think it's only going to get worse from here-on-in. 3) Defense -- we've actually been half-way decent overall this season. We've had a couple of VERY, VERY ugly games, but for the most part, we've played fairly good defense. Borchard is looking pretty darned comfortable in CF, and the DP combo of Jimenez and Valentin looks like they are getting more used to each other everytime they turn a 6-4-3 or a 4-6-3. Having Frank at first -- I like it A LOT. He needs to stay right where he is. 3 games, and he's been flawless. "3 games, big wow" -- STFU. 4) Offense -- Who'da thunk it? The offense has shown that there IS a light at the end of the tunnel, but they aren't doing it frequently enough. I think Frank is showing signs that he is feeling more comfortable at the plate (especially since moving from DH to 1B), and that's huge for us. As the Cleveland announcers said in Friday's game, Frank can carry this team when he gets on a roll. He tried to do that, but our pitchers wouldn't cooperate. Magglio is also hitting nicely lately. Had a s***ty game Friday (0-5, 3 k's), but he's got his average hovering just under the .290-.300 range, so that's a good sign. D'Angelo has also continued his consistent hitting. He's definitely been our most consistent hitter. Oh, wait, I take that back. Our most consistent hitter, without a doubt, has been Paul SLOW-nerko (did I make that up? If so, LOL). He's been in the low .200's all year, and he's just painful to watch up there. We need to make a trade and get him out of our lineup, because he's not doing a thing to help us. He's an average first baseman, so his money is earned at the plate, and so far he's earned NOTHING. If we can find a taker, we should trade him along with Glover for a couple of prospects. Then, platoon Frank and Daubach as our 1B (with Frank getting 75-80% of the starts). Daubber will start hitting better if he gets regular AB's, IMO. Also, keep Lee in the #2 hole. He's starting to show some of his late-'02 patience at the plate, and his 2 steals on Friday show that he can flash some speed, which is a great thing to have at the top of the lineup. Valentin has been awful, but I think we're stuck with him for now. Crede has also been crappy, but he's still young so I'll cut him some slack. Other than that, we've been pretty decent. Lee has turned it up over the past 6 weeks, and Olivo is impressing me. Borchard is starting to look very comfortable at the plate also. I like the chances of this team putting up some crooked numbers when it starts to warm up (which is gonna be any day now). We're about 7 games or so out of the lead, but I think that if we make a few changes and continue to move in the right direction, the wins will start to come a lot more frequently than they have so far. Gotta stay positive! Go Sox!!

I'll do ya one better - I'll be at all 3. Keep in mind, if there is a rainout in any of these Cleveland games, the pitching match-ups will change (unless we play a double-header before leaving C-Town).

Didn't you watch the games? We got GREAT pitching. Good pitching will beat good hitting any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I think it was at last year's All-Star game. wrong, it was the day before, last year's All Star Home Run contest. He hasn't been the same since. That's a BS excuse for failure. The next day he went 2-2 w/ 2 doubles. If his swing was messed up from the Derby, its effects would have shown IMMEDIATELY -- and would NOT linger nearly a year after the fact.

I think it was at last year's All-Star game.

LOL. He was called safe. The Indians announcers said he looked out though. But he stayed in the game and scored on Frank's 2-run bomb.

That was an UGLY fall he took. For those of you not watching the game, he was running to 1st base on a grounder in the hole between SS and 3B, and as he lounged for the bag, his foot slipped on the base (it's been raining), and he hyperextended his knee, and it could have been BAD. He's actually up and walking now, and he's staying in the game. *Whew*

.... hopefully in a White Sox uniform.

Because this is an important game.

I'm not watching, but I'd have to guess Koch would be coming in to close it out.

True. I saw him on third when the outfielder picked it up. I was studying during this whole thing so who the hell knows. I could be blind. No point in arguing that play individually. I soley stick to my guns on Jose. People actually convinced me this year that he would be worth something. I tried, yet all I ever see is worthless traits. You can say he runs, but Tom Goodwin can run and play good defense and he hits like crap. You don't see me asking for him to play. Jose has power and he's better then Goodwin, but similar situations. Jose's just off to the same start that 90% of our team is -- a horrible one. Assuming that all of them will just suddenly realize how to play winning baseball is looking more and more absurd as the L's pile up and all hope is dissolved. I think I'm gonna take Jason's approach -- just watch and try not to care too much about it, because it's just too frustrating to expect the Sox to win every game when they appear to just not care.