NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (59th street @ May 17, 2012 -> 12:37 PM) I have enjoyed the discussion and various opinions about this topic. Obviously having two sides to an issue is what makes it an issue, we simply see the advantage/disadvantage differently. Just curious about your comment: ..... "AL teams have to hit their pitchers, NL teams have to find a DH" ...... Do you think these two are a wash/ equal? Well, there are somewhat apples and oranges, so it would be hard to say definitively. I'd say they are on a similar scale though.

I've moved all the political talk over to a new thread in the Buster. Any political discussion can happen there. This thread is about the event, the city, the issues that come up, etc.

Interleague play is not more advantageous for one or the other league. AL teams have to hit their pitchers, NL teams have to find a DH. There are lots of good arguments against interleague play, but taking one side of an obviously two-sided argument isn't one of them. I personally like IL play, though I am skeptical how it will work out next year doing it every day. I think it gives you a much better read on how good or bad teams are, highlights the different styles of play, brings out more fans, encourages some rivalries, and forces teams in both leagues to be more adaptive and prepared.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 17, 2012 -> 09:16 AM) Why not just split out the active political discussion and be done with it? Because if I can avoid sifting through 9 pages of posts trying to decipher which ones to move and which not to, I will. It takes a lot of time. I may still have to though.

LAST WARNING, since you folks apparently didn't read the first one. This is the end of the political B.S., or else I'm moving the thread.

This is buster material now. Please either cut out the political talk (or at least tone it down), or we'll have to carve up and/or move the thread.

QUOTE (mumbles3k @ May 17, 2012 -> 02:53 AM) In Battleship, they play "Thunderstruck." Does that count as a movie?

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ May 16, 2012 -> 04:41 PM) not sure where you got those #'s but he has 6k's including today, and 12 in the last 10 games Check out his game logs. I posted after his double, at which point he had 4 in 7 games. Now its 6.

I remember him pitching, but I didn't realize he was a former 16" player who got on via an open in-town tryout. That's something you'd probably never see happen today. RIP, always seemed like a great guy.

Thompson with another double. His slash line in his last 7 games: .391/.440/.870/1.310. All but two of his hits in that hitting streak have been XBH: 2 singles, 5 2B, 2 HR. Also only 4 K in those 25 PA.

The one with the sexiest smile photo has, I am pretty sure, the most awkward and least sexy smile of all the other women in that gallery. WTF? And I agree about whomever that was that won for bikini body - ribs and elbows does not make for a great bikini body. Eat a sammich.

Rex Huppke with a nice overview on the weekend festivities. Worth a read, not what you might expect.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 14, 2012 -> 12:46 PM) We need a Detroit Sucks smiley. Why? Doesn't just typing the word "Detroit" pretty much imply "sucks" anyway?

This pitching matchup has regression to the mean written all over it. Danks is a far better pitcher than we've seen so far, and he made progress his last outing. His ERA is headed down, he'll continue to improve. Smyly pitched in only 23 minor league games in his career, and he's currently leading the league in ERA? Below 2? Not sustainable. He's got weaknesses, they will be found, soon. His ERA has to go up. And the Sox did better against him than anyone else has thus far. Let math be math tonight.

QUOTE (oldsox @ May 14, 2012 -> 11:14 AM) okay, I overstated....Given his record, which is all I have to go by, he appears to be a better hitter than any outfielder now at Birmingham. Right now, B-Ham's starting OF's are Jared Mitchell (CF), Jose Martinez (RF) and KW Jr (LF), with Gilmore occasionally playing LF/RF. I certainly wouldn't say Mitchell should be sat or demoted - he's developing at AA, and needs to stay there. And he's a legit prospect, obviously. Martinez was seen as very toolsy and a significant prospect in the system. But since his 2010 injury and missed time, he hasn't really wowed anyone - he played 53 games at AA last year, but still has only a .648 OPS through 30 games this year. He does have decent plate discipline, though not as good as last year, and his defense is supposed to be quite good. He's 23, turning 24 this season. He probably needs to stay put, but if he doesn't put together a solid 2012, he's going to fall off the prospect radar completely. Then of course there is JPN's best buddy, KWJr. He's obviously just bad at hitting - repeating AA and posting a .653 OPS and striking out 26% of the time. Plus he's about to turn 26, so he's older than Brady as well. There is of course no good baseball reason whatsoever for him to be taking up that slot, but we also all know his name has some bearing here. Gilmore is a lost cause at this point, and his already weak bat becomes a worse liability in the outfield than it was at 3B. He won't get in anyones way. The next time an OF slot opens at AA, I'd be shocked if Shoemaker didn't get promoted. Its just a shame that it won't happen sooner because someone's kid is in the way.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 14, 2012 -> 10:36 AM) Um, no. He's not. By a long shot Yeah, I certainly wouldn't say that. I was just saying that, the way he has hit, its a shame there are other non-prospects who AREN'T hitting that are taking up room ahead of him. Your prioirty prospects always get first shot, but when it comes to these "other" guys, I believe in taking some of the high performers and challenging them. You do that to 10 of them, 9 of them will probably fall away, but then you sometimes find the one guy who actually may turn out to be something.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ May 13, 2012 -> 09:43 PM) I've started the season off 10 for 12 with 7 RBI's. 1 of my 2 outs was a homerun but we were passed our limit. Otherwise I've only had a lazy fly to Right Center for my only other out. In 2 games so far I haven't made an out... but the first game was the definition of lucky. I was lunging and overanxious at the plate (which I swear happens to me every opening day), and hit three ground balls to the left side. One scooted just between SS and 3B, another was an unintentional bunt, the third the 3B just couldn't get there and get a decent throw off fast enough. Plus a walk. 3-3 +BB looks great on the stat sheet, but doesn't reflect the ugliness that it was.

We rotate fields, the four fields have fence lengths ranging from 270 to 300. We are a no limit league. But we play at the "B" level, the "A" guys may have a limit, I am not sure. B and C have no limit. The "A" league guys are pretty impressive, its clear at least some of them played college ball or better. And I have to tell you, after playing city leagues for so long, these fields in Northbrook are incredible. Beautiful grass, well-trimmed lines, partially padded fences, clean infield dirt... as opposed to dodging sewer grates, gopher holes and stuff the homeless people leave on the field and no fences at all. I used to hit for power, and could hit it out over these length fences from both sides of the plate. Still can, but not as easily, and if I tried to do that in the games I'd just pop out 90% of the time (as others have said). So I've converted to being more of a line drive hitter.

2nd B-Ham game Remenowsky started, must have been a bullpen day. S Rodriguez finished. Each threw three innings, each gave up 2 ER. B-Ham offense generally absent. And hey Kevin Dubler is alive!

Shoemaker with a 5 hit day. Throw the guy into the box against some AA pitching, see what happens. He'll probably struggle and fade back, but so what. At this point, it only makes sense to give it a shot and see.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ May 12, 2012 -> 05:33 PM) Until he can show some power in his bat, he will be another Jon Gilmore type prospect Except no one was expecting power from Ravelo, at least not now... and Gilmore at Kanny at 20 put up a .274/.322/.361 line. Ravelo is at .305/.348/.430, despite being in a mini-slump right now. Also, Gilmore (if I recall correctly) was always seen as a 3B, while I thought Ravelo was a middle infielder at one time. This is why I was asking about his defense.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 12, 2012 -> 11:51 AM) A streak is alive. The Sox have won three in a row and look like a real baseball team again and I'm 4-0 in game threads this year (oops, had a little hiccup not starting one a while back ) So tonight, we have CHRIS SALE starting and if he plays his cards right, maybe even closing. he's going against this asshole (really, that's him) DON'T STOP NOW BOYS!!!!!!! Well done again, but... what does Chris have in his hands in that picture?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 12, 2012 -> 02:08 PM) Pretty clear the Sox are in win now mode with this Sale move. You can't be serious. The guy was getting huge results starting - you think they pulled him for any reason other than his health? Or that they'd put him back in if they thought he was likely to blow out his elbow? He was too sore, struggled with the upped innings, they gave him a break, Ventura didn't have his coaching staff handle messaing well, Sale wanted back in and the MRI is clean, so now they will put him back in but under tight controls. How is any of that about "win now"?

I figured they'd put him back eventually, though I would have expected this "break" in the bullpen to last a little longer. I"m sure they will be keeping an eye on him. The Sox obviously had some message problems in the press on this... but as I said before, not only do I not have a problem with them being super-cautious like this, I think it was a very good thing they were proactive with it. They may not have stated things well, but it was obvious they did the right thing, gave it a little time, came up with a plan B, and are going for it. This is a lesson for Robin in keeping everyone on the same message to the media. If they had all simply said "we are being careful with some soreness and we'll get back to you when we have a direction", then I'd have had no problem with any of it.

12" mens' B-level team in Northbrook. Not a great team, but a fun one, good guys, and we win some here and there. Out of 8 teams in this B division (This is an A-B-C situation), we're probably around the 6th best team. Still fun anyway. I've played on some team every summer since about 1999. Coached two companies' 16" co-ed teams over the years.