spiderman

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ May 19, 2007 -> 04:24 PM) Everybody minus KW and OZ knew what this team was. A team that would be right around the .500 mark, we don't have the total package to get on a huge run, so we are gonna win 3-4 games straight and then lose them. Hard to argue with the fact that the White Sox are a .500 type team, as that's all they have been since the All Star break last season. Yes, the pitching is improved to this point, but the hitting just is not consistent.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 19, 2007 -> 04:21 PM) He had Vazquez bunt to basically give Marquis an out when he couldn't get anyone out. Pinella lets Marquis swing away. Advantage Pinella. Marquis is a good hitting pitcher. Vazquez doesn't get many opportunities to hit anymore so I didn't mind the bunt. He actually got a nice one down, but too bad Erstad can't stop hitting slow ground balls to the right side of the IF.

Let's see, the wind is blowing out today, and we still can't hit. 5-3 Cubs. I really don't see the White Sox being able to score 6 runs today with the way they are scuffling at the plate.

I know Ozzie isn't going to do it at least until Thome comes back, but I'd consider giving Konerko about 2 days off in a row. He just looks completely lost at the plate, and he is helping the team at all. Maybe letting him watch for a game or two will give him an opportunity to recharge himself mentally where I'm sure he's a bit worn down, batting .190ish still in the later part of May.

Juan Uribe can't hit. That is all.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ May 17, 2007 -> 08:53 PM) Thanks, I didn't see that. If he's on the ML team when Pods returns, he had better be starting. It may be ugly around here if Sweeney is sent down in any case, but I'll blow a f'n gasket if he's rotting on the bench. I do think the Sox are hoping that Sweeney grabs the LF job, but he'll definitely lose it if he doesn't improve his average. As far as Pods' is concerned, if he can't run at full speed, I don't want him back at all. Speed is his game.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ May 17, 2007 -> 08:27 PM) When did he say that? What did I miss? If Sweeney stays, that better mean Pods is on the bench when he returns. I find it difficult to imagine that, however. This was in today's SunTimes, Williams talking about Sweeney: ''That kid's not going anywhere,'' Williams said. ''It takes a long time to get mature -- I'm talking about baseball mature. And he is right now. ''We're going to let him ride that out, let him play and see how far he can take it. It's always a plus when you can develop your own talent. He not only has shown that he can hit at this level but has come up with the big hit. We'll let it ride with him, see where it takes us.''

I was kind of expecting Denks to get the start after he threw 88 pitches in the 1st game of the double-header on Wednesday. I was thinking he would throw 3-5 innings on Sunday depending on pitch count, and then Massot would come in for 2-3 innings, and hopefully that would get you into the 7th inning or so. The White Sox have done an EXCELLENT job over the past few seasons of keeping their starters in a regular routine, staying with the five man rotation even with off-days so although I don't think this will be a big deal, they will probably keep Contreras on a tight pitch count, probably no more than 100, and keep Massot ready to come in.

Kenny Williams has indicated that Ryan Sweeney wll be up here to stay, but if he does continue to struggle at the plate, I could see a reversal of that judgement. For the Cubs series this weekend, there's really no reason to bring Thome back. He'd only be a pinch hitter, and with close games that this series usually produces, we will need extra players who can play the field.

Right now, there's not much that can be done besides changing the lineup each day. Unless Konerko, Crede, Dye, and others start hitting more consistently, it's going to struggle to score runs. Simple as that.

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ May 7, 2007 -> 02:45 PM) Well if you go by records, they're as average as you can get with a .500 record. But as said before, they've had one really tough schedule, this upcoming series with Minnesota is huge I think. If the Sox can win a couple there, go past Minnesota in the standings, maybe they can get on a role. How much easier does the schedule really get ? Hell, even KC has given us problems, and those are supposed to be the easy ones. Except TB, and a few other teams like Baltimore, there really isn't some stretch of games, outside of interleague play, where the schedule just becomes a bunch of gimme's - the AL is just stacked. QUOTE(BigSqwert @ May 7, 2007 -> 03:06 PM) We will play KC, Baltimore and Tampa Bay as many times as our other division rivals when it's all said and done. As far as injuries are concerned: Minnesota lost Liriano and now Maueur is on the 15 day DL. Tigers have Zumaya on the 15 day DL. Indians had Cliff Lee miss the month of April. Westbrook and Marte now on the 15 day DL. What are you talking about ? We'll play KC a ton, but we don't play Baltimore or TB as much as our divisional opponents.

At what point do we become resigned to the fact that the White Sox are an average team - at best ? Since the all-star break last season, I believe the White Sox are actually under .500 - and we're talking somewhere around 100 games now. For the most part, our pitching staff has been fine (though Contreras in particular just does not look very good), but this offense just stinks, and it was my biggest concern entering the season. Did I think it would be this bad ? No, but I did know it was way to HR dependent, and it struggles to score runs when it doesn't hit HR's. This is too good of a division to struggle through an extended period. Yes, it's still early, but I don't know that we're good enough to be trailing 3 teams, and having to play catchup with an inconsistent offense. Am I overreacting ? Maybe, but this is based on 100 games now of this team just not being better than average.

QUOTE(shipps @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 10:18 PM) Lawrence Holmes is probably my favorite right now.He is not a bitter old man like most of the hosts out there and yet he doesnt sound like a young,cocky,know it all either. I think we have different shows coming out of our radio.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Apr 22, 2007 -> 08:04 PM) I'd like to see you answer his question: "Why on earth isn't BA given a consistent opportunity?" The answer, I believe, is because Erstad is a veteran player who doesn't make rookie mistakes. He knows how to play the game, and he's a gamer. That's not to say he's going to put numbers that are any better than what Anderson did last season, but from Guillen's standpoint, its choosing the veteran who has a track record of being a gritty player, or the rookie who didn't play very well last season. I've said it before, I don't have an issue with Erstad winning the job, but I don't think he should be above losing the job if his performance dictates that. I don't want Guillen sticking with him just because he's a veteran. Even if Erstad does play well enough to keep his job, I want Anderson starting 1-2x a week just to keep Erstad fresh as he does have the injury history. I also want that to be the case for Thome and A.J at catcher as well. I have no issue with letting Mackowiak DH once a week - last year, Thome had a great first half, but injuries caught up to him, and his numbers fell off in the 2nd half. Mackowiak can hit - yes, he's not Thome, but I think some of our more veteran players with injury histories, need to be given time off to stay fresh.

QUOTE(Craig Grebeck @ Apr 22, 2007 -> 07:50 PM) He's so f***ing terrible. Why on earth isn't BA given a consistent opportunity when he beat the s*** out of Erstad in spring training, Addison? Explain this to me. Also, I'm fairly sure I could outmanage Oswaldo---but next time there's a managerial search that considers anyone who isn't a "baseball guy" (i.e. former player who doesn't know s***), let me know. I'm holdng out hope that Erstad can at least get his average up into the .260 range, but there's a good chance that he's just not much of a player anymore. It looks like he can still play the OF, but I think Guillen just wants the veteran out there, even if the production is similar to last year's.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 08:55 AM) The concern on Bobby here is laughable. He had looked fine his first few outings, he pitched his way into 1st and 2nd nobody out, was ONE PITCH away from somehow getting out of that, and then made a mistake to Walker. And then he made his pitch to get it to the 10th and Pods effed it up. PEOPLE, CALM DOWN!! When I am the one playing the voice of reason, you know people are overreacting lol. I don't believe I am overreacting. I'm only asking if anyone is concerned if his fastball was around 89MPH last night.

Any concern about Bobby Jenks and his lack of velocity ? Last night, he hit 93 MPH on the TV gun, but most of his fastball, the few that he threw, were in the upper 80's. As I also mentioned, he seemed to rely on his off speed pitches instead of looking to overpower hitters. Maybe he's going through a dead arm period, maybe it was just one night. My only real complaint from last night was if Jenks does indeed have live on his fastball for whatever reason, why not give him the night off, and use one of the setup men ? Was there no mention to the dugout that he's not throwing as hard ? Any worries about Jenks or do we write it off as one bad night ?

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 12:12 PM) http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10096564 Ooops, I meant Scott Miller! That's rather ironic considering that Kenny Willliams was telling him in that recent interview that the national guys are getting the White Sox plan, and the locals aren't.

Sounds like Sabathia could still pitch vs. the White Sox, but maybe not on opening day. Guess we shall see. We already caught one break with no Cliff Lee - yeah, he stunk last year, but he's still someone with upside, and I'd rather move everyone up in their rotation.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Mar 28, 2007 -> 11:36 PM) Think about this. Ozzie Guillen has said that people earn their roster spots in ST. Boone Logan had a 0.00 ERA in ST. A ZERO ERA. If that's not being a blatant lying sack of horses***, then I don't know what is. I didn't say anything about playing Hall at 1B. I didn't say anything about choosing Erstand AND Pods over Anderson. But, THIS is absolutely insane. Ozzie has personal vendettas against certain players and he allows them to hurt the success of the team. Fact. It was pre-determined...that's the only explanation. How Cisco earned that stutus, we'll never know.

86

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 28, 2007 -> 10:42 PM) I really don't know why we even had Spring Training this year. It seems like the only things that were accomplished were figuring out we have no one ready to be our 5th starter....and Toby Hall isn't a first baseman. Yep, we're back to having the revolving door at the #5 spot - yet Kenny says the White Sox didn't take a step back. I hope he is right.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 28, 2007 -> 09:57 PM) Is it true that Logan and Floyd are being sent down and Sisco and Aardsma made the team? I'm not a huge fan of his, but if Logan didn't make the team, what exactly does he have to do to make it? Logan got screwed. You can't do much else than he did, and Sisco sucked. I know they're saying they want a pitcher to be able to throw 2 IP at a time, but I think you go with the better pitcher.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 28, 2007 -> 08:03 PM) The numbers don't back it up, but I will go to my grave saying that the White Sox make the playoffs last year if Rob Mackowiak doesn't play more than a handful of games in CF. There were just so many...so many missed plays... Can't we say the same for whenever Buerhle pitched in the 2nd half ? How about when the White Sox offense couldn't produce anything besides HR's ? How about Bobby Jenks who wasn't very good in the 2nd half last season ? I agree with you 100% on Mackowiak - he sucked in CF, and he shouldn't have been out there, but my point is that there were plenty of reasons why the White Sox were basically a .500 club after the fast start to the season.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 07:50 PM) I certainly, certainly hope you are wrong. I don't want to go back to 2004 again. I also hope I am wrong, but I think I am being optimistic saying 88 wins when we don't have a #5 starter, and 1-4 all have their own questions in very tough division. I think the key to the season is Mark Buerhle - he has to rebound and win 16-17 games like he has previously. We need that 1-2 combo with Contreras. Garland's going to be a bit streaky, and Vazquez will look like Cy Young in some outings, and a stiff in others. Again though, I really hope I am wrong, and hopefully we can find our way back to the playoffs.