NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 7, 2008 -> 04:42 PM) The writing is on the wall. This is her chance to get out gracefully. There is nothing to gain by prolonging the campaign. I just don't see her doing that. She'll fight, she'll win WV and claim that she is the only one who can win the blue collar vote. The only thing that ends her campaign is when (no longer if) the delegate math gets her. And I tend to agree with Balta, its likely that occurs around 5/20, after Oregon, and after the next couple weeks' worth of supers going to Obama.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 7, 2008 -> 03:36 PM) Just out of curiosity...if our starting pitchers keep up what they're doing, where they keep performing well and going very deep in to games, and we continue to have the fewest bullpen innings pitched in baseball...how long do we need to go with the 7 man pen? I think a few people might find reason to believe that an extra bat on the bench could be useful. I was thinking that too. Too bad we can't send Dotel down. If they send someone down, it would probably be Wassermann, much to my dismay. I think that with Richar coming back in a few weeks, that adds to the pressure to bring up that bat. That may result in Uribe's release, or Ozuna's, but maybe not. And I think that history tells us, one of the bullpen arms is likely to have injury problems at some point during the season. When that happens, depending on who it is, they may just decide to add a bat instead of replacing the pen guy.

Feinstein (D, CA), a major Clinton supporter, starts pressuring Clinton about her chances.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 7, 2008 -> 04:36 PM) WOOHOO!! These 10 barrels of oil in my backyard are like gold! I'm starting to think about drilling a well in the back yard of our 3-flat in Chicago, just for the chance. I think it might be against the condo association by-laws though.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ May 7, 2008 -> 08:51 AM) I have been a little disappointed in the bullpen thus far this season. Dotel scares me and I am concerned about overworking Linebrink. I know it is not going to be lights out every night but I was hoping for a little more consistency. I do not blame Cooper for this necessarily, but I am not going to call the bullpen anything more than average so far. Dotel is the only one that scares me. The other 6 I feel pretty darn good about.

$123.53. Another new record.

Still can't find any updates, and Lucy is still listed as "active" on the Charlotte roster. If anyone hears anything, I'd definitely like to know.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 7, 2008 -> 02:26 PM) Isn't that like every hitter's weakness? If a pitcher can change speeds then most hitters aren't going to look very good. Not necessarily. Some hitters have trouble with certain parts of the zone - pitches up or down, out or in. Others have trouble only with offspeed or breaking stuff. Yet others can't catch up to serious heat. So no, its not necessarily everyone that has trouble with pitchers alternating speeds a lot in an at-bat. It certainly makes it tougher for most, but the effect isn't identical on all hitters.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ May 7, 2008 -> 01:56 PM) Quentin is going to get all bat flippy tonight with the twinks tonight. His weakness is pitchers changing speeds a lot on him, though. He might have trouble with this guy. I hope not, but that is what I am seeing so far. He looks silly when pitchers go all over the place speed-wise.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 7, 2008 -> 01:14 PM) Uribe has 4 hits in the last two games now... I think he got the message they were trying to send, at least for a little while. That's been Uribe's pattern, though. On the verge of losing his job, he suddenly remembers to not be the Tasmanian Devil, and he hits well. For about 2 weeks. Then its back to old Juanny.

So, someone earlier pointed out in PHT that the entire Sox organization has lousy team hitting right now. Given the lack of position player prospect talent in the minors, the hitting part should be no big surprise. But how about the pitching? We are seeing some great pitching performances at all four clubs that are worth monitoring. Here are some highlights... Charlotte Knights, AAA (team ERA: 3.99): --Lance Broadway is 4-1 with a stellar 1.10 ERA (2nd in IL), and a 0.89 WHIP (4th in IL). He has 23 K's versus 12 BB in 42 IP. --Wes Whisler, possibly the biggest surprise in the org right now, is 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA (4th in IL) and a 1.31 WHIP. He isn't striking out many (14 K in 35.2 IP), but he's pitching well to contact. --Dewon Day has been dominant in the pen, with a 1.98 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, striking out 13 while walking just 3 in 13.2 IP. Birmingham Barons, AA (team ERA: 3.09): --Justin Cassel is 2-1 with a 1.38 ERA (6th in SL), a 1.19 WHIP (19th in SL), and a 22:12 K:BB ratio. This guy was drafted in '06, and has moved up quickly. --Clayton Richard is a tough 2-5 but has a 2.85 ERA (14th is SL), a 1.10 WHIP (12th in SL) and has 31 strikeouts (11th is SL) to just 7 walks. --Lucas Harrell is on the DL, but in his 3 starts he was 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA and a 0.69 WHIP --Brian Omogrosso is 1-1 with a solid 3.60 ERA --Since being re-acquired by the Sox, Fernando Hernandez has been very good in the pen: 1-0, 1.04 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 9 K's in 8.2 IP --Jon Link has been a solid closer, with a 1.98 ERA, a 1.54 WHIP, 14 K vs 7 BB in 13.2 IP, and 9 saves Winston-Salem Warthogs, A+ (team ERA: 3.65): --Aaron Poreda is 2-2 with a 2.72 ERA (10th in CL), an excellent 1.05 WHIP (9th in CL) and a stellar K:BB ratio of 25:5 --Jacob Rasner is 2-2 with a 2.16 ERA (8th in CL), has a 1.44 WHIP and has struck out 14 in 25 IP. He does have 14 walks, however, and is repeating AA. --Michael Dubee is 3-1 with a 3.35 ERA (15th in CL), a solid 1.14 WHIP (12th in CL), has 28 K's (11th in CL) and only 8 BB in 37.2 IP --John Ely is a very unfortunate 0-4, despite his solid 3.86 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. He has 29 K's (9th in CL) against just 5 BB, in 35 IP --Kanekoa Texeira has been very good ias the closer with a 1.74 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP, 11 K's in 10.1 IP and 4 saves Kannapolis Intimidators, A- (team ERA: 3.78): --Anthony Carter is on fire at 3-0, with a 1.36 ERA (3rd in SAL), a miniscule 0.76 WHIP (1st in SAL), and a ridiculous 37 K's (4th in SAL) against just 4 BB in 33 IP --Charlie Shirek is an unlucky 1-2, despite his 2.40 ERA (15th in SAL), 1.03 WHIP (9th in SAL) and a strong K:BB of 18:5 in 30 IP --Henry Mabee has been a shut-down closer with a 0.50 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP, and 19 strikeouts vs 5 walks in 18 IP --Levi Maxwell (who?) has been dominant in the pen as well, sporting a 1.16 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, and 25 K in 23.1 IP Some very good performances so far, and definitely some guys to keep an eye on. These sorts of pitching results are not only excellent for their potential future with the big club, but also their value in trade. Teams love pitching prospects.

Charlotte (14-16) @ Scranton/WB (23-10), 6:00pm CT, Ohka (0-5, 5.40) starts for the Knights Birmingham (17-15) @ Montgommery (12-20), 7:05pm CT, Cassel (2-1, 1.38) tries to keep his hot start going for the Barons Winston-Salem (13-15) @ Lynchburg (13-18), 6:05 CT, Rasner (2-2, 2.16) going for the Warthogs Kanny is off.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 7, 2008 -> 01:18 PM) Anyone else think Clinton's margin of victory take a huge hit in West Virginia and Kentucky now that the MSM is basically calling her toast? A hit, yes. That combined with Obama doing some campaigning in those states will narrow the gap. But the gap was SO huge to begin with in both states (like 30 points or so in each) that Clinton will still win them handily, I'd think. But they have far fewer delegates than IN or NC had - combined they are less than IN alone.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 7, 2008 -> 12:45 PM) So far, the AP is saying that Obama's superdelegate count for the day is at 4. Going into today, depending on what site you look at, Clinton's lead in supers was between 10 and 15. I'll stick with my earlier prediction that Obama takes the lead in supers by the time of the WV primary.

QUOTE (soxfan3530 @ May 7, 2008 -> 11:29 AM) I got a good feeling about this won. Let's get a nice win streak going! Apparently you do!

QUOTE (fathom @ May 7, 2008 -> 10:29 AM) What was Danks' ERA at this point last season? And please don't think I'm hoping he does bad. I'd love for him to prove me, and a lot of others, wrong. I am not saying you want him to do badly - I am just questioning the likelihood of such a monumental collapse. And to answer your question... if was 5.02 - about double Gavin's current number.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 7, 2008 -> 10:30 AM) I still don't think he'll stay under 5. I'll gladly stick to my word. He'd have to have a 6+ ERA the rest of the way for that to happen. Floyd will of course have his bad games, but I think its a huge stretch to think he'll go from 6 solid starts in 2007, to 6 stellar starts in 2008, to being among the worst pitchers in baseball. Anything is possible, but I'm not betting on winning the lottery either.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ May 7, 2008 -> 10:06 AM) For what it's worth, the Clinton's are trying this spin on West Virgina... West Virginia is a historically democratic state and a win there shows how strong she is with working democratic voters and how strong she is in a democratic state. The problem.... Since 1864, there have been 36 presidential elections. 16 times they have voted Republican, 20 times they have voted Democrat. Why is that "the problem"? It shows their statement is accurate. If you really want to refute it, you show that the last 2 elections, it went Republican. But they are right that historically, its been a Dem state.

Those behavioral changes are increasing. Another positive side effect of expensive gas - the SUV craze is crashing.

QUOTE (Gregory Pratt @ May 7, 2008 -> 09:27 AM) http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dot.comment.../clinton_1.html LOL, that's funny coming from Clinton, who is far less electable against the GOP than Obama is. They are seriously grasping at straws now.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 7, 2008 -> 09:05 AM) Yes. In January. Always wanted to visit D.C. and what better opportunity. So here is a question for you. If McCain should beat Obama in November, will you still go to the inauguration?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 7, 2008 -> 08:57 AM) Lots of Supers coming out for Obama today? Wow. When ultra-Clinton supporter George Stephanopolis comes out and says that, I think that's the strongest indication yet of what's in store. This thing is definitely over.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 6, 2008 -> 11:29 PM) Looks like it will end up being a 2 pct difference. Great night all around. I think it may be less. Lake County is only 52% reported, and at that 52%, Obama has a 21,000 vote lead. At those percentages, he'll net another 20,000 when its fully reported. He is currently only behind in the state by 17,000. This thing is going to come down to a few thousand votes.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 6, 2008 -> 11:19 PM) Does anybody remember when Giuliani was fading a few months back? When he sounded positively delusional about his prospects of winning? That's what Kiki McLean sounds like right now. Too bad Saddam's PR guy died, he'd do great with the Clinton campaign right about now.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ May 6, 2008 -> 11:13 PM) Top 10 Early Contenders for the Automotive X Prize. Some of them look pretty cool. http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive....html?series=19 This sort of thing is fantastic. When devising an alternative energy policy, this sort of results-driven, business-oriented system should be looked at for grant money and loan guarantees.