upnorthsox

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 2, 2005 -> 04:23 PM) There is some stuff I don't like at all in there. He totally discounts the double play ball for our pitchers, and on offense he doesn't mention sacrifice flies, and hitting behind a runner to move them over, which the offense has done a great job of this season. How many more DP's do we have this yr over April of last yr, if any? He did mention sac flies. Has this ability to hit behind runners translated into more runs scored? No. I think he's spot on with his assessment that pitching is why we are where we are right now and people have been way to quick to give credit to an offense that has been mediocre to woefully pitiful and constantly bailed out by unbelievable starting pitching. He does however miss the mark by blaming the local media here for this O hype when this has been an org propaganda campaign from the start. He is also spot on in saying that the D is basically the same as last yr which as he points out was quite good. He also falls into the same mode as Neyer by using career avg's as an indicator of how the starters will fare from here on out when only a minority of pitchers good or bad will hit their career avg in any given yr. Even so, you only have to go back to the 2003 Dodgers to find a team that led in pitching all season with 4 of 5 guys pitching better than career avg's. Some other points, he didn't mention that in Freddy's '01 season he had a 3.05 era which is only a .22 more than this yr and while he might consider that to long ago Freddy did have a 3.21 era in the 1st half last yr before being traded which would've ranked 2nd in the AL for the full season(he was still 6th). To assume that Garland is going to resort back to his career numbers after the start he's had is just as assinine as anyone assuming he'll continue at the same pace he's at now. El Duque's health has been from the start and will continue to be until Oct. 31st a ? but I don't think you can base a prediction on it. Contreras won't keep up his current pace as he's currently pitching, that's a given, however we've already gotten one good month out of him and if we can get another in May we'll be way ahead of the curve with him. He made no mention of HR's at home which has been touted as Coor's East yet there were only 20 hit there for the month(13 by Sox and 7 by Opps) and 8 of those 20 were from the arm of Shingo(4) and the bat of Kong(4). In fact, take away Shingo's 3 in one inning and Sox pitchers gave up only 4 HR's in 102.1 IP at home in April. There's nothing really good to say about the O at this point, and as he says, that could be trouble but if we can build up a sizable enough lead this month we just might be able to ride it out.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ May 1, 2005 -> 02:05 PM) It did for me. Maybe I'm just special. :headshake Or Google works backwards in the southern hemisphere.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Apr 30, 2005 -> 10:49 PM) NUKE, I was agreeing with you. I was sick of hearing the "experts" and some posters here whine about our team OBP and our ability to draw walks while we were on an 8 game win streak. "Don't tell me what you hit, tell when you hit." But we weren't hitting with RISP before either, stranding more men on base just makes the problem more glearing .

Well you don't have to look far back to see a team that led the league in era in April and went on to finish in 1st in era at the end of the season. That'd be the 2003 Dodgers. They also did it with guys pitching better than their career era. Let's just hope we can hit better than them. One of the problems I have with Neyer is he's in love with K's by pitchers and then goes about manipulating the stats to prove his point. If you want a more reliable stat that reflects actual performance(ie wins and playoff appearances) then OPS against has been the better indicator over time. I think if you had asked any Sox fan to put down the koolaid and point to the key for this season's playoff hopes it would be that Gar stepping up would be the biggest key, that our team era is currently reflecting this shouldn't be a cause of concern.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 29, 2005 -> 12:59 PM) I wouldn't be so sure of that, especially as we get to the trading deadline. JR went on the air a while back and said that there is still money in the budget. Plus if we can keep winning and increase the attendance, we will add someone, just like we have for years now. Lets not forget that payroll has gone up 50% from the end of 2002 until today, and JR has always added players for a team in contention. This weekend could go a long ways towards that too, if we can draw 80K for an April Tigger series that's like manna from heaven. Btw, I heard they're expecting huge crowds for the O's series too which is another uncharacteristic surprise.

I'm still having a hard time figuring out how being a loudmouth equates to being aggressive.

QUOTE(JimH @ Apr 28, 2005 -> 10:12 PM) Agree 100%. It's set up pretty well at the moment. One thing I will add, this Uribe groin strain thing has exposed the lack of middle infield depth. Sox have 39 on the 40 man roster and the only backup middle infielder is Pedro Lopez, barely age 21. He's hitting very poorly in Charlotte and didn't look that great in Tucson. Sox like him but he's very inexperienced. They could use Freddie Martinez as a stop gap I suppose but they still need a solid major league veteran who can capably and confidently handle 3B, 2B and especially SS. Now that Ozuna has shown he can play OF I am coming around to the thought of Timo being on the bubble at some point. However, Frank Thomas isn't even close so it's not worth worrying about. Where's Kelly Dransfeldt when you need him. Seriously.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Apr 28, 2005 -> 01:53 PM) You have to make an attempt to get out of the way of the pitch, doesn't matter if it's in the box or not. And that holds for I Crede and I Claudius alike. So AJ shouldn't have gotten the base when he got hit in the toe or Carl shouldn't when he got hit in the ass since neither made an attempt to get out of the way. Come to think of it, Piazza didn't try to get out of the way on that famous beaning he got from Clemens either

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 28, 2005 -> 12:33 AM) I agree with you on all those points...but my big question is this...how do the Sox react to these 2 losses? These 2 games have been absolute embarassments. We've lost 2 games because we couldn't catch fly balls. Everyone it seems is hurt. People are getting ejected. Couple of bad calls at bases. Jermaine freaking Dye playing short. Middle of our lineup still struggling. The question is...how does the team respond? These are the kind of games that can really hurt a team for a while, and if we come out sluggish against Detroit, or if Contreras (or Hernandez if we bump him up) has a rough start, then we're looking at the makings of a losing streak, and the team might start worrying. More people might start overswinging...the pitchers might not be as crisp...and so on. Days like today are the days that test how well you're managed. Ozzie needs to get that team's head in the right place for Friday. If he doesn't...that 3.5 game lead could evaporate really quick. And what did Ozzie say to the troops in response? He blamed it on the screwy lineup of course: “I just had a little meeting and told everyone that I feel proud of my team,’’ Guillen said. “I feel proud because they went out and did all they could to keep this game where we had a chance to win it. “With the guys all over the place, out of position, I could not be more pleased with the way my team reacted without complaining.’’

QUOTE(elrockinMT @ Apr 28, 2005 -> 03:21 AM) We need more consistent relief pitching and clutch hitting. I don't see the offesne coming through with runners in scoring position enough and I think we were hititng around .210 with runners in scoring position. The starting pitching is great and will be our leading weapon, however our hitters need to deliver and the relief corp, which lost the last two in Oakland, needs to step up. I think the hitting will come around, but I am not so sure about the pen. I really do think we can win this thing though. BP allowed all 6 inherited runners to score in the 2 losses including both game winners. Pitiful.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Apr 27, 2005 -> 11:06 PM) Crede didn't stand still. If he did, the ball wouldn't have hit him. I don't agree with that at all, he was going to get hit in the stomach if he didn't move or block the ball with his arm. He chose to block it with his arm.

QUOTE(iWiN4PreP @ Apr 27, 2005 -> 08:46 PM) Theres no such thing as luck. That should read: There's no such thing as good luck, there is however bad luck in abundance(esp if you're a Sox fan).

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 27, 2005 -> 08:26 PM) Dye has to play better than this...he's been better than this his whole career, and he should be healthy. He didn't play this bad last year even when he was hurt. Yes he did, he hit .172 in August last yr and if you think it can't last a season he hit .172 in 2003.

When you get it done at the hospital or the doctors office they'll use a soldering gun to burn the hole(I've had it done 3 times, 2 toes 1 thumb), as someone said, the relief when the blood squirts out is well worth any pain in the burning.

QUOTE(BaseballNick @ Apr 27, 2005 -> 04:57 PM) Carl Everett gets hit for no apparent reason and afterwards we see that it was likely intentional. Carl was pissed, looking for someone to scream at, jawing all the way to 1st base. Later on, Damaso was called for a balk which brought home a run for the A's. Damaso was irate, pleading his case to the ump, but to no avail. My question: we have players so pissed for various reasons that they are on the verge of being tossed from the game, WHERE THE HELL IS OZZIE when all of this is going on??? He needs to come defend his guys, because if he doesn't nobody will. Actually Ozzie Montana did go out and talk to the ump while Carl was walking down to 1st. Where was he after that play at home is the Question.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Apr 27, 2005 -> 10:50 AM) Good point. Either that or El Duque and Contreras need to nut up and throw strikes. I know alot of El Duque's game is pitching around guys but Contreras has great stuff and needs to challenge hitters. In any case, I don't think they want to mess with Garland's mojo. He is pitching like an ace as the 5th starter. I doubt they mess with that. Besides, it would be kind of hard to switch the rotation around at this point. Actually it would be pretty easy for them to do it right now and they can use Jose's bad hammy as the excuse to do it. Move El Duque, Garland and Buehrle up for the Tigger series(they would all still be on 4 days rest) and pitch Jose C in the KC opener giving him an extra 4 days of rest for his hammy. Walla! I also like this move because it puts Buehrle and Jose back to back and gives apponents a change of pac(ing) with the pitchers(Buehrle working fast, Jose slow), it could save Jose 5-10 pitches a game which could mean as much as an extra inning from him.

QUOTE(southsidefan @ Apr 27, 2005 -> 05:06 AM) I have to agree with Hawk... "one of the worse games I have seen in a long time." This is comical we can play this bad. I hate to be in the clubhouse after the game if we should end up losing. There will be plenty of beeps and blanks coming from Ozzie's mouth. Was this after last night's or Sunday's game(when he said the same thing)?

Why is it assumed they'd want a RP? They also need a SS, 2nd, and OFer. Or we may have something they need for a three way trade. Obviously Perez, Ozuna, Gload, and/or Harris are all available for the right price as one of them will be going anyhow when Frank comes back. Add in a Walker, Borchard, or Adkins and you might just get something pretty decent in return

QUOTE(WSFAN35 @ Apr 26, 2005 -> 05:41 PM) No one knows what kinda teammates either of these guys are. And I don't know if any of you remember Garland talking s*** about us fans. Those would be the fans that keep calling him Judy right? What a POS.

QUOTE(TLAK @ Apr 26, 2005 -> 01:25 AM) I’ve been biting my tongue on this post since my ballet crack because I didn’t want to start a war among all the good posters, including SouthSideIrish. But, you should have seen that place in the 70’s. The South Side Hitmen year, 1977, I can only describe as bedlam. I was about the age of many of the current posters then and went to many games. There was smoking in the seats but not all was tobacco, I literally saw bongs being passed in the stands. You could sneak anything into the stadium; drugs, bottles of whiskey, fireworks and weapons. Underage drinking was rampant, it was rumored you could get served with a Cub Scout ID. If a pretty girl walked by you couldn’t hear the PA over the whistles and cat calls. There were fights all over the place, one time there was a melee and whole group of fighters got taken down stairs. They were back the next inning and I found out they were cops. People rode the players without mercy and very often racially. Oscar Gamble used to really get it, because of his fro, I think. Guys would throw beer cups and all kinds of stuff at him. When he hit a long fly for an out they would yell ‘one more chitlin for breakfast’ (after Harry’s one more biscuit for breakfast away from a homer). And Oscar was on our side. I bet you young people don’t believe me, ask some old timers –black men, they took that s*** everyday (not just at the ballpark) and if they hit back they ended in jail instead of the white guy. America in general, and US Cellular in particular, is a better place today. I don’t want to go back to that time. But with this perspective I don’t get excited when folks get up during an inning or a guy sneaks a smoke. JR has done a good job cleaning the place up, any of the above behavior would get you a ride to 26th and California today and rightly so. But let’s not get so prudish the place stops being a ballpark and becomes a piano recital. No one was ridden harder than Hal McCrae, and while I can't deny there weren't racial undertones to some of the taunting it was mostly do to him being the most feared player to visit Comiskey during that time. He was in my memory the original Sox killer and was treated as such.

QUOTE(AssHatSoxFan @ Apr 26, 2005 -> 12:11 PM) thats exactly what i have been saying, if we get too wrapped up in this crap we will worry ourselves to death, just enjoy the ride while it lasts...btw this kind of reminds me how the Illini's season went down so far Does that mean we're going to have to hear about how the Sox would be better off if they lose a game?

So I'm supposed to compare Jose's full yr to Uribe's 18 games? Now I understand what you mean by irrational. Btw, I think Uribe is a pretty darn good SS and I didn't have to manipulate the stats or trash the other guy to come to that conclusion.

Since 2001, Jose has 370 DP's in 499 games at SS or .742 DP/gm Uribe has 264 DP's in 354 games at SS or .745 DP/gm That's hardly a significant statistical edge and could well fall within the realm of luck. I'll compare their arms just as soon as I see Juan get to a ball deep in the hole and make a throw like Jose did often.

Not sure I'd be too quick to rate Detroit and Cleveland as weak, Besides the Sox, KC, and maybe the O's there isn't a 3-game series(good or bad) difference between the rest. In fact the NL is the same way. Parity is pretty much reigning everywhere but the southside.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 03:27 PM) Well you can keep staring into your crystal ball as long as you want, but like Hawk says "Don't tell me what you hit, tell me when you hit." I hate the first pitch swinging s*** too, but I don't understand how that relates to OBP%. Would you rather have a groundout on the second pitch to advance the runner, or an 8 pitch AB that results in a K? How about an 8 pitch AB that results in a walk and advances the runner? I was wondering when someone would bring up that Hawk cliche and that's fine, but when you're the worst in baseball hitting with RISP and RISP/2 out then you're not hitting it when you need to. You can get by with a less than stellar OBP if you're hitting well with RISP and conversely you can get by with less than stellar hitting with RISP if you give yourself an abundance of RISP opportunities(high OBP) but over the long haul of a 6 month season being bad at both turns you into the Brewers or Expos offense.