Greg Hibbard

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 12:02 PM) The Rays took 2/3 from Houston, 1/3 from the Marlins, 1/3 from the Braves, 1/3 from the Padres, and 1/3 from the Diamondbacks. They had two series with the Marlins, going 2-4. Certainly the D-backs are as bad as the Nats, Cubs and Pirates, but I don't know if the Marlins are in that bad of a class.

Check this out: August records, 2010: NYY 6-9 TBR 8-7 BOS 8-7 TOR 9-5 BAL 10-5 MIN 10-4 CHW 7-8 DET 6-9 CLE 6-8 KCR 5-9 TEX 6-7 LAA 7-6 OAK 5-9 SEA 7-7 There is something to be said for the dog days argument. The Twins have been hot, winning all six of their home games against two pretty bad teams (oak and sea) and going .500 on the road. All the other competitors are slumping this month.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 11:46 AM) There is currently 1 other AL team legitimately in the race for a pennant this season with crap as their DH. The Rangers, Yankees, Twins, and Red Sox all have OPS's out of their DH spot at around .800 or above (the lowest, the Yankees, is .796, and part of that is probably Teixeira's godawful start). That team is the Rays. The Sox have a .703 OPS out of their DH spot, the Rays have a .701 OPS out of their DH spot. The Rays went 7-11 in interleague play. The Sox kicked the NL's ass in part because they played 4 series with three of the very worst teams in baseball.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 11:33 AM) More proof that Ozzie just needs to go manage in the NL where his style is more effective. No matter who was managing the White Sox, we would still kick the NL's ass, and our team would still be constructed with holes in it because our GM tells us we have to live with choices like Mark Kotsay for budgetary reasons.

We always play interleague in the first half.... Check out our AL only 1st half vs. AL only 2nd half since 2008. Obviously, in 2004-2007 the story is different, but over the last three years the AL only records are nearly identical splits. 2010: 37-38 / 16-15 2009: 33-37 / 34-40 2008: 42-35 / 35-33 Total: 112-110 (.505) / 85-88 (.491)

Let's clear up a couple of misconceptions: 1) We had a winning record in August in every year from 2000 to 2003. 2) We had a winning record in September in every year from 2000 to 2005. 3) From 2000 to 2009, we had a winning record in 6 augusts, and a losing record in 4 augusts. We had a winning record in 7 septembers, 1 .500 record, and a losing record in 2 septembers. 4) From 2000 to 2009, the White Sox' winning percentage over August and September is .513. The aggregate winning percentage for the club over those ten seasons is .529. It's not that we don't play well enough percentage-wise, it's that a certain team beats us almost every year, head-to-head. EDIT: I'm including October games in September where applicable.

Here's the other thing I frankly don't f***ing get - Nieves last night was on the score saying "you NEED to give guys rest. They NEED the days off." Really? Don't the elite players just play 155-160 games every year? In the old days, didn't people just f***ing play every day? This whole "scheduled days off" thing that Ozzie started has really brainwashed people close to the Sox into thinking that these guys NEED the days off. Sure, it seems like it works sometimes....some days it really seems like it doesn't.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 10:21 AM) That's a minimum of six bullpen letdowns in the span of a month. And that's all the more reason to think that this stretch is probably more of an anomaly than true form.

We are 3-7 in the last 10. Prior to that stretch, we had gone 38-13 over the previous 51. I realize the past two weeks have been tough to swallow, but every team has a 3-7 stretch in the last two months of the season. So many things went wrong over the last ten games. I'd say the book is still out on whether this is a real august-september fade or just a tough ten games. If we can somehow win the series in minnesota, the season still has life. If we lose two out of three, we're probably out of it, but have a chance if the Twins fade a bit after playing us. If we get swept, we're definitely out of it.

Liriano has never won at the cell.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 12, 2010 -> 09:03 AM) Those numbers are going to be dominated by the post-Tommy-John, still-not-recovered Liriano of 2007-2009. In 2005, 6IP, 4ER, 5H, 3BB, 6.00ERA, 1.33WHIP. In 2010, 6IP, 3ER, 4H, 5BB, 4.50ERA, 1.50WHIP.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 11, 2010 -> 10:14 PM) Won't be easy against Liriano. 0-3, 7.50 ERA, 1.83 WHIP career at the cell.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 11, 2010 -> 11:53 AM) Well put. I'll never understand the love for that franchise: they've been a joke since WWII ended, their ballpark is an absolute pile of s*** that's not easy to get to if you're a suburbanite, there is a much better option for a team not even 10 miles away, and the Cubs have largely embraced their failure for self-promotion while still managing to be arrogant about what they think they mean. How can anybody like that crap? And you're right about civic responsibility too, because those clowns make all of us with Chicago roots look bad (like losers), even those of us smart enough to not buy the crap they sell. It's incredible how blind that fanbase can be.

In contrast, since the beginning of the 1984 season (and really, if we go back and compare 83s, obviously the Sox are even better in comparison), the White Sox are 2184-2066, 101 games better than the Cubs, a winning percentage of .514, with 4 division titles, 1 pennant and 1 world series, translating to an average season of 83-79, playing in a way more difficult league.

Here's some interesting fuel for the fire. Through their most recent World Series in 1945, the Cubs were 5593-4256, 1300 over .500, and at a .568 winning percentage through basically their first 10,000 games. In a 162 game season, that would be an average season of 92-70. They were quite literally the Yankees of the NL, although they lost a boatload of WS in the 30s. Since 1945, the Cubs are 4621-5410 through their next 10,000, 800 games under .500, a winning percentage of .461, which translates to an average season of 74-88. And for those Cubs fans that think things have been better since 1984, with the Cubs winning the division 5 times and making the WC once since then....not really. Since 1984 the Cubs still have a sub-500 record at 2083-2167, a .490 winning percentage. That's an average season of 79-83. Really, in terms of civic responsibility, this organization needs to be folded. It is THE most embarrassing organization ever run over the last 55 years. I don't care who you have to compare it to...it doesn't come close, taking into account the payroll.

Oh I guess it was just 1-0 in the first last night. Totally forgot the sequence of scoring there. When is Ozzie going to get it through his head that it's ok to play for a goddamned 3 run homer in our park though

here's the silliest thing about running Rios (or anyone) with two outs and Konerko up: In the case of a homer, triple ,double or walk, it doesn't matter whether Rios is on second base or 1st base. The only time it matters is if Paul singles. Konerko has a combined 2518 hits+walks. He has 1402 total homers, triples and doubles, and walks combined. He has 1116 singles. In other words, there's around a 60% chance if Paul reaches that it doesn't matter whether Alex is on first base or second base, and that's before you even factor in CS percentage. Secondly, why the f*** are you playing for 1 run, down 5? Dumb, dumb, dumb. If Konerko kept that first inning going longer, who knows what happens last night.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Aug 10, 2010 -> 12:19 PM) The Mariners? The same Mariners who beat the mighty Yankees two outta three in a series at the end of June/beginning of July? Those Mariners? Gosh, that outcome must have sunk the Yankees season right there and then, I mean, losing a series to the lowly Mariners like that. I'll have to go check to see how they are doing, but I'm sure it's not good. They lost "a" series to a crappy team - end of season!! I see what you're doing here, and I agree with the principle, but to be fair those Mariners had Cliff Lee, and these do not.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Aug 10, 2010 -> 11:17 AM) That series vs the Twinkies after the ASB was also a doozy... While I don't want to exagerate, losing 3 of 4 was bad, don't give a crap if they got a new manager, you simply don't lose to the worst team in MLB if you want to go deep in the playoffs IMO. Twins fans are chomping at the bit, saying stuff like "this guys aren't so good, if we get anything from our starters, we should win the series"...nice. I think the Orioles right now are better than the Mariners, and certainly better than at least 4 National League teams.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 10, 2010 -> 10:33 AM) Yeah, we survive on the road because of our pitching. We thrive at home because of our pitching combined with the ballpark making our offense look better. That is why the Baltimore series shocked me though. They suck, they can't pitch, and their ballpark is good for hitters. Seems like a situation we'd thrive in based on how this season has gone, but I really wonder if some of our players got caught looking ahead to the Minnesota series. I certainly hope not, but regardless, losing 3 of 4 to teams like Baltimore is how you end up 2 or 3 games back at the end of the season and wondering where it went wrong. I wonder if there's something about that Ballpark's dimension and the stuff of their starters that threw us off. Millwood has a career 3.14 ERA against us. Guthrie has a career 3.83 ERA against us. I guess in retrospect, it's really not surprising that those two guys would do well against us, considering that.

The only positive that I take away from this series is that by losing 3 of 4, there's no danger in the team being unfocused and overconfident and lacadaisical going into this series with the Twins. I think we'll see the best from everybody. Let's hope it's enough.

Don't stop now boys

I like the way Hawk is calling every fly ball a hang whiff em That lillibridge one wasn't exactly a line shot

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 9, 2010 -> 06:36 PM) Matusz is left handed. And yet AJ is still in there with his .195 average against LHP

man, is this a split squad game? Jones, Viciedo and Lillibridge?