ScottyDo

If it missed, it wasn't by enough that I could see any separation, sooooo...whatever, close enough!

Talking about not firing people is no fun Can we hire and re-fire Oney? Or how about we fire the guy in the Southpaw costume? He's really bringing this team down.

It makes more sense to rest Paulie on a regular, if sparse, basis if we plan on depending on him late. Which, of course, we do.

QUOTE (beckham15 @ Apr 14, 2010 -> 05:04 PM) ouch! kotsay jones and vizquel in the same lineup haha Poor Nix

My take? People need to stop listening to any athlete about any topic but athletics. Just like you don't listen to the dude on the street corner who says the CIA is bugging your teeth, you don't listen to athletes who say anything about the rest of life. Their perspective is completely out of line with reality for oh-so-many reasons, so why anyone treats them as pontificators or wise human beings is beyond me. They're not heroes, nobody should teach their children that they're heroes, and they're certainly not worth our time once they step off the field. As it applies to this situation, Ozzie said something that a number of unenlightened adults I know would probably have said...adults I wouldn't listen to anyway. It's not exactly cosmopolitan, but what do you expect?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 04:14 AM) And DH Juan Pierre? He might be the WORST full-time DH ever then, lol. I mean seriously DH = designated hitter. Isn't it kind of ironic that we would have a guy who can't hit, but does nothing but go up to bat as our DH? It does SEEM ironic, but your lineup will hit in exactly the same order regardless of defensive placement. Hell, if Pierre is our worst outfielder, I think that's a pretty good sign!

BTW was there anyone else who thought we should have put the squeeze play on with Teahen at 3rd and Pierre at bat in the 11th? He's the best bunter we have, and he's not likely to lift the ball far enough to score Teahen on a sac fly. And he's more likely to successfully squeeze than Pierre is to get an outright single. And Teahen's not terribly slow. Just seemed like an Ozzie-type move, and a logical one, I was surprised it didn't happen. Is it just because there were 0 out? EDIT: I guess they didn't show the defense, either. If Encarnacion was playing halfway to home plate or something I guess you pretty much have to let Pierre swing away. I'm pretty sure that was not the case though.

QUOTE (hogan873 @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 11:32 AM) I've mentioned this before, and I still think it's true: Jenks was a better closer when he had his 100 mph heat and the deadly curve. I'm not saying it's not wise to diversify (especially to avoid arm damage), but I'm not sure Jenks has caught on to what Coop wanted from him. He seems timid with his curve, and his fastball is not as effective. He had some great pitches last night, and the change-up for the final strike was nice. He seems to get too selective after two outs...almost as if he's trying too hard. Perhaps, but that doesn't have much to do with his recent "struggles". He walked two batters last night because of mild struggles with command, not because of the type of pitcher he is. If he was a two-pitch pitcher with higher velocity, he still would not have hit the strike zone. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but when Bobby retired all those batters in a row, he was beginning his change to a more versatile style of pitcher, right?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 08:52 AM) Bobby pretty much blew the save in the last Twins game. He got bailed out my a terrrible choice by the Twins 3rd base coauch. I just don't have that much faith in Bobby anymore. He's shown regression over the last few years and he let's too many men on. That being said, i don't see any other place for him on the team, but in the closer's spot. Guys like Putz, Thornton and Santos are far more valuable to the team working outside of it. I don't understand how he blew the save. If the 3rd base coach doesn't send Hardy, then he's at 3b with two outs. How is that a blown save? You can just assume that Punto drives him in because one person hit Bobby hard? What? That's a totally ludicrous assumption.

second.

QUOTE (earthshiner @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 12:24 AM) and leave Williams as the only lefty in the pen? If we had significant closer trouble, I'd still do it. The man is filthy, filthy, unhittable, and filthy. Also, he can get 2+ inning saves if necessary, so if you have a lefty matchup in the 8th or late in the 7th that needs to be taken care of, you can still use him. I'm not suuuuper comfortable with williams as the only lefty or anything, but man...thornton...

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 12:00 AM) Pierre will likely get tomorrow off, as we face another LHP. who leads off with pierre on the bench? vizquel? beckham? certainly not alexei till he gets his head on straight

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 12:13 AM) I'm with you, I hate watching him throw these s*** sliders up there. He needs to either regain trust in his curve or become our 7th inning man. Santos is the future. His stuff is electric. I think he's behind Jenks, Thornton and Putz right now. Perhaps even Pena.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 12:01 AM) Because he keeps giving up hits and putting men on. and he's got a K/9 of 13.50. the reason you want your closer to K people is because K's save runs in the face of things like walks and hits. i mean clearly we're not looking at central statistics like ERA or saves/opportunities, so if you're going to look at peripherals like WHIP you can't just ignore K/9. I mean, he's not Todd Jones out there.

Also, Jenks is not awful, 3 K's. Fantastic save? No. Awful save? No. If he can K people regularly, why are we pooping our pants?

Teahen! Thank you for justifying my man-crush on you and your lady-dog! Also...Jones. DH. Now, please! Did he hit righties? I missed most of the game. Stupid Muay Thai....

The Toronto suckfest ends tonight! Count it!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 02:26 PM) Drilling Hardy seems less effective than finding a way to drill the 3rd base coach. throw changeups inside to all the righties! that'll show 'em!

QUOTE (Real @ Apr 11, 2010 -> 08:39 PM) 1. Pierre (DH) 2. Pierzynski © 3. Beckham (2B) 4. Konerko (1B) 5. Quentin (RF) 6. Rios (CF) 7. Teahen (3B) 8. Jones (LF) 9. Ramirez (SS) L, L, R, R, R, R, L, R, R 4 Righties in a row, but the lineup turns over to L, R, R, L, L AJ is a good contact hitter, and has proven he can hit #2 adequately, which moves Beckham down to where he should be: an RBI position Gives us an even better defensive outfield, as I think Jones could easily patrol LF on a daily basis and give us better defensive numbers than what Pierre could put up, and puts Kotsay on the bench, giving Quentin & Konerko days off Pierre shouldn't be in LF, I mean really... he shouldn't. It's sad that our DH would be a slap-hitting speedster who (lately) struggles to even get on base, but Ozzie's going to put him in the lineup 150+ games this year, so if he's going to be playing that frequently, DH him.. don't let his defensive inadequacies hurt the team when you have a steller OF rotting on the bench in Jones. Oh, and he's looked pretty good with the bat this year in the small sample size he's been given I'm sure you guys could tinker with that lineup and probably find better spots to put guys, but those are who I (personally, feel free to speak your mind please!) feel should be in the lineup on a daily basis until it's proven that it isn't working. Because right now, the lineup we have obviously isn't really doing much of anything I wanted to post this on a day where we won, and not on a day we lost because it would look like I was speaking out because of a loss. But this is a lineup I would've preferred on opening day. Seriously, I think Jones should be playing everyday.. Just my two cents! If the lineup isnt LRLRLRLRL, it is unacceptable! That's why Kotsay must play AT ALL TIMES!!!

our bullpen has performed admirably giving the amount they've been asked to do early on. exception: linebrink, but that surprises no one. on a mildly-related note, I was very encouraged to see bullpen guys throw 3 innings of solid relief. we need that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 04:40 PM) There are 2 things that I want a hitting coach to do that I worry about Walker on. I want a hitting coach to be able to overhaul a guy's swing when it needs it. Some guys, Walker has totally failed to do this with (fields, Anderson). On the other hand, he seems to have done so successfully with Rios, at least so far for this season. Teahen is another one who really needs it, he's terrible right now, but that can change. I'm iffy on this one right now, but getting Teahen going is really important. And not just going; he needs to have a good year overalll. The other thing I want a hitting coach to do is making sure guys have a clear plan when they go up against a pitcher. Take yesterday, with Liriano, for example. He was very, very wild for most of the game, but for at least half of his innings, guys like Jones, Vizquel...etc., were jumping on the first pitch and hitting it weakly or falling behind because the ball was so far out of the zone. You need to prep guys better than this...if you have a guy who isn't attacking the strike zone, you need to be more patient than that. The other thing that you want a hitting coach to do is correct a guy when he has an issue with his swing crop up during a year, but with that one, you never know how much the hitting coach can do, because that one, the player has to listen m id-season. I agree with those who say get off Walker's back, except with respect to the bolded. I have definitely noticed a consistent lack of approach to pretty much everybody, and consequently, we're handcuffed by bad players. "See the ball, hit the ball" is sound advice for the players that put too much pressure on themselves, but that doesn't preclude you from bringing a little logic up there with you. I've seen the Sox swing at all sorts of ridiculous pitches many times, presumably because they're guessing against the odds. Granted, team bias may play a part here, because when I see opposing hitters wave foolishly at a Floyd curveball, I just assume it's because Floyd is a god and they are but mortals. I just think, on the whole, that the Sox approach at the plate is not wonderful and has resulted in a lower OBP than we should expect -> (too many solo HR's)

I'm pretty confident in choice #3. Although if we invested properly in straight jackets and orderlies, the damage could be minimized. Seriously, though, I do think his offense would suffer somewhat. If Ozzie put him at DH, I wouldn't complain too loudly or anything, though, because really I don't have the expertise nor the inside knowledge to say anything firmly about Q's psychology.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 10:15 PM) No "Fire Walker" posts yet? They're all trying to lift and separate! Wait...what's my line again?

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 10:12 PM) How do we only have 1 hit right now? Cuz the guy has ridiculous movement on all his pitches, so we can't hit it, but he has ridiculous movement on all his pitches, so he can't hit spots and we shouldn't try and hit it. Worst explanation EVER! I'm so proud

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 08:08 PM) This opening montage reminds me of a video clip a poster here put up before Opening Day last year. I was gonna say....didn't they use the Pirates song too?