ScottyDo

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 13, 2011 -> 01:55 PM) I base it on how many games they snatch from the jaws of defeat in comparison to how many they snatch from the jaws of victory. In recent years and seemingly continuing into this year, we've blown more games that we were winning than we've stolen. This tends to happen more when you've got a lot of leads, obviously. I don't think that's a good way of judging goodness/badness, as you're punishing a good thing. Now, it would be great if we could keep late leads. That's super-frustrating.

Hahahaha just saw the replay of Lexi's walk-off. He looks like he scared himself.

Someone stole Lexi's calendar! Good thinking, someone.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 10:18 PM) Have you, like, ever really been in shock? Only thing more shocking would be JP hitting that one out. Yah, I remember the one he hit out last year when even HE was shocked

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 10:14 PM) I've always had faith in Lillibridge.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 06:44 PM) Watch it be Lillibridge. :notworthy :notworthy LMFAO!

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 08:41 PM) always wondered why we as a team haven't looked for a pitchers changeup instead of fastball when they throw 65-70% changeups If you ask Hawk or DJ, they'll tell you it's because it's better to think fast and slow down for a pitch than to think slow and have to speed up.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 04:01 PM) KEEP THE STREAK ALIVE!!! Wire-to-wire, baby! Who's the co-jerk?

Rios!

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 01:31 PM) I hate to be Debbie Downer but it's gotten to the point with me now that whenever Mark pitches I expect a pretty weak performance. I'm expecting a down year for him. It's sort of like Freddy last year. Expect a weak performance and occasionally get pleasantly surprised. I dunno, Deborah. He was pretty decent against the Indians (most of it, anyway), and the A's offense has little/nothing on it I'm very scared of. I believe in Mark!

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 02:30 PM) Instead of hitting Lopez the Sox decided to just wein the next two games. That hurt the Rays more I think They already won tonight's game vs. the A's?

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 10:51 AM) I'm hoping more like 30 for 30. Discovery Health, possibly?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 04:21 AM) All things considered, we've been pretty damn unlucky so far. Great plays made against us, errors by terrible fielders, errors by great fielders, uncharacteristic bullpen blowups. Thank goodness our offense is doing so well or else we'd be looking at a crappy start again. I sure hope the bolded is true. It may also be worth noting that we're not likely to hit .310 as a team for the season and lead the league with a .374 team OBP so maybe we haven't been THAT unlucky...

QUOTE (YASNY @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 05:52 AM) The Jake Peavy story is not complete. But it will be aired on Lifetime.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 01:38 AM) Amen. I'm not going to lie, I was amped when we got him...and it's not even going to be something where I regret losing the players that we gave up, as I do in the case of Nick Swisher, but the money taken on. There is basically a rule that you never take on a massive salary like this no matter who the player is. You shouldn't make exceptions; no player is probably worth 1/6 or 1/5 of your entire payroll. This trade has been a reminder why. How much better would we be without him and his contract? That's not supposed to be a leading question, I'd like to know what people think. Personally, I think we're in good shape even with his contract.

I vote that we should score enough runs that we are never in save situations. Voila!

QUOTE (zenryan @ Apr 10, 2011 -> 12:23 PM) I think most, if not all, catchers would have done the same exact thing. I dont put much stock into what AJ did. He did what he was suppose to do there, nothing more nothing less. And frankly I would never expect him to actually start some type of physical confrontation. I still laugh at him for the fight with the Cubs he was involved with. He got jacked in the face, didnt do s*** about it and was the first one being led to the dugout. And while being taken to the dugout, he was flailing his arms up, trying to pump up the crowd. Dude, you didnt do s***. You think that whole thing made AJ look bad???

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 10, 2011 -> 12:40 AM) So Lillibridge is not a bad player? What about Brandon Wood and his career slash line of .167/.197/.258/.454 in almost 500 plate appearances at the big league level? He doesn't flat suck? What about somebody like Rodrigo Lopez (just pulling names out my ass now)? He's not terrible at his profession? Do these guys have to be Cubs for it to be alright? This is simply a case of multiple posters getting sensitive about something rather inconsequential. Again, nobody's saying don't criticize or state your opinion. But the tendency towards broad, sweeping statements not phrased as opinions makes you a lightning rod. I've also heard you use the "if it was the cubs/twins" thing a few times to try and point out hypocrisy, but I don't think it does. For one, soxtalk goers, as a rule, are not unbiased towards the cubs/twins, they're just biased in the opposite direction. So if you say something like "if Humber was playing for the Cubs, you'd mock them endlessly!" Well, of course I would, because I will go to almost any lengths to mock the Cubs. It's half the fun of being a Sox fan. That doesn't say anything about Humber. Additionally, the "if he was playing for the Twins" thing does not leave room for someone to actually LIKE a player you don't. To use Humber again, if Humber were playing for the Twins, many of us might mock them, but some of us might not because they think he has potential. Seems like you'd like the right to state your opinion frankly and without backlash. But when you make blanket statements like "so-and-so is terrible, PERIOD" you're really stepping on the toes of other people's opinions. That's why you're getting backlash repeatedly.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 10, 2011 -> 12:19 AM) Note to self: Never dare criticize a player's performance or skill-set ever again because they made it to the major leagues and I never did out of respect to sensitive Soxtalk posters. Brent Lillibridge, Mark Teahen, Cesar Izturis, Cliff Penington, Yuniesky Betancourt, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Brandon Wood, the entire Padres lineup, ect.... Take a bow. I can't see any of you because I'm not in the majors. Now where's my beer! Dude, nobody's saying you can't criticize ballplayers. But you're asking to be piled on when you make contentious claims like "x can never do y" or "a is the worst b in history", etc. Go ahead and criticize, but when you pour on the hyperbole you get a lot of moderating answers pulling the discussion back towards center. That's the nature of living at a pole.

QUOTE (T R U @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 09:28 PM) Yes I know you were joking, and that's fine to say that Lillibridge is awful.. but hes not terrible at baseball, no one in the MLB is terrible at baseball otherwise they wouldn't be there.. Is his performance not on par with the better players in the league, absolutely I cant argue that.. but you are saying hes an embarrassment to the game and stuff like that.. Its not the same as just saying someone is a crappy player Lillibridge sucks. Elijah Dukes is/was an embarrassment to the game. You're right, they're very different things. I think J4L was just trying to find an exceptionally strong way of expressing his disdain for Lillibridge, in the absolutist way we're all so fond of.

I dunno, I don't like extra baserunners if it can be helped...like others said, if the situation presents itself, sure. Otherwise, whatever. This isn't a situation where we're preventing our hitters from getting plunked. The only Sox that got hit today was Q and you really can't blame a pitcher for hitting him when he sets up camp on top of the plate.

Can we all just agree that he's better than Andy Gonzalez?

Awesome! Humber looked pretty damn decent! A couple of people need it thrown in their face, since it was said that we literally could not possibly win a game he started, but I'm sure they know who they are.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Apr 8, 2011 -> 03:43 PM) So, it's not at all possible that he just consistently puts weak crap in play against left-handed pitchers because he's ineffective against 'em? Did that not occur to you? BABIP is not a straight measure of luck. Some players consistently post really weak BABIP averages. And ss2k5, Andruw hit damn near .260 last year against LHP. The point is that he's a hell of a lot more valuable than Carlos against LHP. That hypothesis makes sense within a +/- of about 30 points. There is no way that he's so pathetically awful vs. lefties that he can consistently do nothing but pop the ball up to a .200 tune. Especially not with an above-average OPS.

Also, if you really wanna get into how terrible TCQ is vs. lefties, the idea that his 2008 OPS is bringing up the mean to some crazy degree is unfounded. Career OPS vs. Lefties: .773 2008: .937 2009: .716 2010: .764 His career splits more closely resemble his 2010 than his 2008. Regardless, there just aren't enough PA's and there is too conspicuous a luck factor to make any broad conclusions about his ability to hit lefties, particularly when his numbers are counterintuitive (he bats righty). They DEFINITELY don't warrant a platoon.