effectivelywild

Nice DP there, 1-4-3 to work out of trouble and then the little pop up to end the inning. Awesome.

Someone, I'm not saying who, got a little tired of Thome being the only one talked about for hitting home runs, huh?

niiiiiiiice pitch

Nice pickoff!

Iguchi shoulda taken that first 1-0 fastball and given Scott a chance to run. Still. Good to see Posednik on base again.

The man is murdering the ball right now.

QUOTE(bighurt2719 @ Aug 20, 2005 -> 07:08 AM) your statement is so stupid it requires no response. hawk's not going anywhere- it's not even worth arguing about. i love hawk, but if you dont, whatever. if you dont have anything noce or constructive to say, dont say anything. Whoops. I meant to type GO HAWKKKK HE IS TEH BEST !!!!1!!!1 Oh, and excuse me on the "noce or constructive" thing. I was unaware that this was a kidnergarden discussion board. I can tolerate Hawk, but I'd like to see a higher level from my broadcasters. Especially as it relates to the casual observer. I'm not joking when I say it drives people away.

QUOTE(ScottPodRulez22 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 09:21 PM) Ha best record in the AL no way in hell he could get fired This is irrelevant. Defense and pitching have not played into this at all? QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 09:24 PM) He's not getting fired. I could see if players have underperformed from career norms, but most are at or slightly above what you would expect. B This, however, is relevant. QUOTE(3E8 @ Aug 20, 2005 -> 12:19 AM) 1st number = ('05 average - career average up to '04) 2nd number = ('05 average - '04 average) Pierzynski: -.026, -.004 Konerko: -.007, -.006 Iguchi: incomplete Uribe: -.021, -.038 Crede: -.016, +.001 Podsednik: +.007, +.038 Rowand: -.010, -.030 Dye: -.014, -.007 Everett: -.011, +.006 Some stats to back it up. On the other hand, the team is offensively slumping somewhat. Should steps be taken to address this? Yes. Does that mean the firing of a coach? Maybe not, but the idea should be considered.

Have things been bad lately? Yes. But the sox are nowhere near as bad as they're slump seems to indicate. Is it worrisome? Yes. The offense has fallen off a cliff and the starting pitching has not been at the level needed to compensate. So should we fret some? Yes. Panic? Not quite yet. Simmer everyone. Simmer.

Honestly, most of my white sox fan friends think that Hawk is almost single-handedly detroying the fan base. Television is crucial to developing fans. Hawk can be just painful to listen to sometimes. Honestly, I could do a better job.

I remember reading somewhere that the top (i.e. potential) teams in the AL essentially fell into two categories: run producers (i.e. Boston and New York) and run preventers (Pale Hose being an excellent example of this), and that the White Sox had dominated the other run preventers but sometimes struggled with run producers. And some teams' strategy can really cause problems for opposing pitchers---just look at the Red Sox beating up on the Cards pitching in the WS. A patient team can be very difficult for finesse pitchers. That being said, I think the White Sox have all the elements to beat any team on any day, which is really all you can expect. If they get hot come October, look out.

QUOTE(bighurt2719 @ Aug 13, 2005 -> 01:57 PM) buerhle's record has been sweet though. and if hes in decline, why did he start the all star game? could it be that you are just another catastrophizer who is trying to make something out of nothing? A players W-L record is the most misleading stat when looking at a pitcher. Is it important? Sure. You want a guy who can raise it up a notch in a close game. But let's look at a pitcher who went 16-14 last year with a 2.6 ERA, 10.62 K/9, 6.59 K/BB, and held batters to a .197 average This year, his record is up to 11-7, but his ERA has jumped up by more than 1.5, his K rate has dropped by 2, his K/BB rate is now at 4.75, and batters are hitting .265 His main peripherals are going down, symptomatic of a man who, at the age of 41, is starting to deal with an aging body and less movement on his slider. But look! His record has improved. I'm surprised no one is talking about Randy Johnson's renaissance this year.

Not too nitpick, but a 3 ERA is 6 IP 2ER. I gotta be honest, most managers won't complain about that against upper crust offensive teams. And to pick individual bad performances is just ludicrous---everyone has a bad day. That being said, tonight Buehrle looked to have trouble with the leadoff batter and with getting behind the batter. He'll need to work on that. Call it a rough spot against a patient, offensively minded team.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Aug 12, 2005 -> 03:10 AM) Very good points. For me striking guys has a difference of importance for each pitcher and what kind of pitcher they are. For instance, for a sinkerball pitcher imo it's better when they aren't striking out a lot of guys, most of the time a sinkerballer is striking out a lot of guys it means that they're over throwing and more prone to give up a lot of hits. Also there is always those soft tossers who just know how to pitch, won't strike out a lot of guys but know how to get outs. You don't have to strike a lot of guys out to be a good pitcher and I know you'll agree with that so imo it just can't be the most important stat for a pitcher. Agree to disagree. Which is why when looking at a pitcher overall, it helps to look at three stats: K/9, BB/9, and HR/9. The idea is, these three in conjunction can give you an overall look at different aspects of a pitcher that are not affected by his teammates. K/9 is sort of a quick measure of his "stuff", BB/9 lets you examine their control (Also, someone with a high BB rate is likely to have to throw more hittable pitches in hitter's counts), and HR/9 is a rough way of looking at the quality of the contact that they induce from the batter. So while a sinkerballer or a soft tosser may not get a lot of strikeouts, if they can keep the number of walks and HR's down, they should be pretty effective.

So. As a stathead, I'm checking out ESPN.com's poll for the most overrated statistic, and, having moved to Chicago recently and falling for the Pale Hose, wanted to get y'all's opinion on the issue. For offense (ranked by position in ESPN poll at the moment) Home runs OPS (On-base + slugging) RBI Stolen Bases Batting Average For pitching, the stat that is trusted most is ERA Opponents' batting average K to BB ratio Wins I think it's a worthwhile query