JackTalkThai

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 25, 2006 -> 05:58 PM) Yes, comparing a team that had been steadily in 2nd/1st place for many years vs a team that has been in the crapper for the good part of this decade. Good comparison. Naw, keep doubting them and continue claivoyancing their fall back to .500. Seriously. What's the worse that can happen? You're proven wrong. Bid deal. And if the Sox were steadily improving like you say (which I'm not arguing that they weren't), then why were so many fans across the league calling them a paper tiger last year? Why were they seeming to play so often with a chip on their shoulder? Doubt is doubt and outside of Chicago skepticism was prevalent last season with regards to the Sox. Doubt just has a way of motivating and binding together lineups who feel they deserve more credit than what they're receiving. That was my point. I wasn't comparing rotations and I wasn't comparing their #6 hitter versus your #6 hitter. And how good was Florida's record the year prior to the historic run in 2003? They had fewer than 80 wins in '02 if I recall correctly. Fortunately there's more than one template to follow when engineering a pennant chase. Cheers.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 25, 2006 -> 05:39 PM) What are you going to do when you go under .500 in June? I'm guessing probably the same thing that you're going to do if they don't. This Tiger team is better than you seem to be giving them credit for. It's no big deal though, the masses were doubting the ChiSox last season, pretty much all season...just waiting for them to collapse and drop back to reality. It never happened though.

KC with the long ball. 7-5 Ryoals

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ May 24, 2006 -> 07:31 PM) the praise being heaped upon their pitching is, IMO, premature. The praise that's being heaped on them is entirely appropriate IMO. Their start, relatively speaking, has been nothing short of mind-boggling. Anyone claiming that it's going to last...now that is what's premature. This team almost set the major league record for losses three years ago. For what they're currently doing, they deserve very large amounts of praise until if and/or when they falter.

QUOTE(Wolverine31 @ May 22, 2006 -> 09:21 PM) My Tigers already up 8-0 on KC. Justin Verlander is straight up filthy. Going on 15 scoreless innings (ERA is now 2.79) and kid was hitting 99 with ease on the gun in the 7th inning. He has absolutely unreal stuff....for anyone let alone a rookie. The only question is how many innings does his arm have in it this year. I don't think he's pitched many more than around 120 or so.

QUOTE(AirScott @ May 22, 2006 -> 12:35 AM) yeesh. Kenny Rogers is 7-2 now. last year he was 10-4 before the break, in 2004 he was 12-3, in 2003 he was 7-5, and in 2002 he was 9-5. I had to look it up really quickly on espn.com because it seems like he's unbeatable before the break every year before dropping off in July-August-September. this may be encouraging, but I just had to post it, it piqued my interest. Everyone says that Kenny fell off the planet last year after the All Star break but it should be noted that he did post a -season- ERA of 3.46. If that's falling off the planet, I don't think the Tigers would mind it a whole lot if he departed Earth in a similar manner this season. I still believe that the milder summers and more generous park dimensions in Detroit will serve Rogers better than what he had to deal with in Texas. Granted the teams that he's faced haven't been anything spectacular, but his career numbers in Comerica are impressive...and for good reason...it's a pitchers park.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ May 19, 2006 -> 08:05 PM) The Tigers are going to be tied for first in a couple hours it appears....the Reds are just dong whipping them right now. Hopefully this continues all weekend, the Tigers can't have this many people continue to over achieve. Well the series goes to the Tigers. Them there overachievers are still overachievin'.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ May 19, 2006 -> 03:27 PM) Technically, it's not exactly a quarter of the season. Besides that, I was referring more to the record as opposed to the number of games played. 27 is a weird number, both in terms of total and percentage. A baseline of 25 or 24 (.600 percentage) would make more sense, and would include a few more teams. Well, at least we agree on the second part. Well if you want to get techincal, there really isn't a true "quarter point" of the season as it is somewhere between the 40th and 41st games (maybe in the middle of the 5th inning of the 41st game) but that seems silly so I digress...yeah 27 is kind of an odd number (and a strange one as well) but I believe the comment was made during a Detroit broadcast as they were about to win their 27th game at the "quarter point" of the season, hence the "arbitrary" usage of a 27-13 record when calculating the before mentioned historical percentages. And I agree with you that it would make sense that the worse the record you use, the more teams that would be included...but I don't think that "inclusiveness" and statistical accuracies of large numbers were the broadcaster's intent when making the statement. I think his point was simply, "A 27-13 or better record doesn't happen all that frequently and when it does, the team generally ends up having a pretty good season". QUOTE(NYSox35 @ May 19, 2006 -> 03:22 PM) Just had to say, great username Thanks....or should I say, "khawp khun".

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ May 19, 2006 -> 02:55 PM) Their record is really inconsequential, and that seems like a rather arbitrary record to pick as a dividing point. I wouldn't exactly call the quarter point of the season "arbitrary". Detroit is not going to finish ahead of the

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ May 19, 2006 -> 01:38 PM) There's no statistical logic that says they will play .500 ball from here on out because of their hot start. There have been plenty of teams that start out on fire just to fizzle out. A few examples are the Orioles and Dodgers last year, and the Royals from a few years ago. For every team that keeps it up like the 2005 Sox, there are 2 other teams that don't. All you need is one prolonged losing streak to kill that pace, and there's a chance that one is coming with their schedule between now and the break. Actually there is some statistical logic that disagrees with you to an extent. It was reported on a broadcast recently that of the teams in the history of baseball that began the season with a 27-13 (or better) record, I believe it was 95% of them finished the season with a .555 or better winning percentage which translates to 90+ wins. I know it has only happened four times with the Tigers organization and all four times they finished the season with 95+ wins, with two of the seasons ending with a World Championship (1968 and 1984). That being said and returning to your second point...what are the constants that tend to separate the teams that fizzle out (after hot starts) and those that continue their strong play? Pitching and defense. TIFWIW Detroit's currently #1 in pitching and #2 in defensive efficiency rating.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ May 19, 2006 -> 12:55 PM) Yes. Yes, I do. Flat out, they are not a good enough team. So since they lost 3 games to the reigning World Champs in the 2nd week of the season, they aren't a good enough team to play measley .500 ball from here on out even though they've gone 27-10 against everyone else they've played (23 of which were played on the road)? I'm just not following that logic?

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ May 19, 2006 -> 11:17 AM) I made a bet today that we finish more than 3 games better than Detroit. Easiest money I ever made. Detroit's an 85 win team, at best. So you honestly think that Detroit will go 58-64 from here on out? How exactly did you reason that? It sounds like semi-wishful thinking if you ask me....which you didn't, but I offered nonetheless.

The Tiggers have gotten 18 homeruns and 46 RBI from their EIGHT and NINE hitters. So I guess if you combine Brandon Inge and Craig Monroe together...you get Albert Pujols. That's not bad production at all from the bottom two of your lineup.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ May 18, 2006 -> 04:44 PM) The smoke and mirrors are starting to blow up for Todd Jones. He was lucky to get that save today, great play by Granderson, the only MLB player I know of that went to UIC. The problem with the Tigers is that even when Jones explodes and loses his job, they still have some giant men that throw about 100 in that pen, and one of them will just become the closer and do a great job. At this very second, Zumaya or Rodney would make a far better closer than Todd "opponents hit .350 off me" Jones. I wouldn't be surprised if his WHIP is flirting with 2.00 before long. Granderson (who has been playing an impressive CF so far this year) wouldn't have even been able to make that play in just about any other ballpark as it would've been a sure fire homerun. That ball travelled about 380 to right center. How Jones racked up 40+ saves last year I haven't a clue.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ May 18, 2006 -> 01:56 PM) So when is this Tiger fade supposed to start that so many on here have claimed? Up 4-1 already today. If and/or when their starting pitching collapses. Right now Detroit is pitching out of their minds. Their rotation represents the best cumulative ERA and most wins out of any starting-five in the bigs. They've also done this while throwing the fewest average amount of pitches in the league and not having a single starter with an ERA higher than 3.74 (for that matter they have just -one- pitcher on their entire roster with an ERA over 3.74). Their starters have won decisions in 24 of the teams 39 games. Can they maintain an ERA well under 4.00 for a few more months? Who the f*** knows. You sure as hell wouldn't think so but a 3.19 team ERA a quarter of the way into the season is quickly approaching "non-fluke" status.

QUOTE(3E8 @ May 17, 2006 -> 11:20 PM) I know the park is massive but we're a quarter of the way through this season and Detroit is giving up just over three runs a game. That's tops in both leagues, and we're the next closest in the AL giving up over four and a half runs a game. All -five- of Detroit's starters are in the top 15 in the American League in qualified ERA. #1 Contreras, CWS - 1.41 #2 Maroth, DET - 2.18 #6 Verlander, DET - 3.18 #7 Rogers, DET - 3.23 #9 Buehrle, CWS - 3.42 #12 Robertson, DET - 3.50 #15 Bonderman, DET - 3.74 #17 Vazquez, CWS - 3.88 Whatever they've been doing has been working and working WELL...but I completely agree on the point above that everything goes through Chicago. Until Detroit proves that they can beat the Sox, it won't matter if they have a multiple game lead in the Central...they'll still be #2.

QUOTE(whitesox1976 @ May 17, 2006 -> 10:32 PM) I will admit it is the best they have played in a long time. And staying on the "going out on a limb" kick...I'll admit that the White Sox play in Chicago.

This Verlander kid is pretty good. Without his strikeout pitch tonight (knuckle-curve) due to a blister on his finger he out-duels Johan Santana with 8 shutout innings. He was mixing speeds pretty impressively with a high of 100 and a low of 76. The Tigers haven't been in first place in all of baseball this far into the season since June of 1993.

A crazy Tigers stat. Jim Leyland already has more five or more game winnings streaks (4) than ANY Tigers manager since Sparky Anderson.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 17, 2006 -> 11:53 AM) Out of the teams they've played, the only 2 teams that are above .500 are Texas and the White Sox, and they caught Texas early before Kevin Mench found the right shoes. And conversely (or similarly), Detroit and Toronto are the only two teams with above .500 records that the ChiSox have played thus far. I just don't think the relative weakness of Detroit's and Chicago's schedules thus far should be held against them in any way. They don't make the schedules. All both teams can do right now is beat the teams that they're supposed to beat.

Adding to the fact that they've played 23 of their first 38 games on the road, I don't care who the competition is...a 16-7 road record is a 16-7 road record. That (and pitching) are a few of the bigger signs of a good team. And Detroit has a fairly inexperienced pitching staff as Robertson, Bonderman, Maroth and Verlander have just 9 seasons of starting pitching experience combined between the four of them. So their historical "they aren't second half pitchers" line really doesn't carry a whole lot of water IMO. Undeveloped pitchers eventually mature and that appears to be what's going on with the Tigers.

QUOTE(Benchwarmerjim @ May 16, 2006 -> 11:23 PM) you get fine pitching, because the Twins late in the swing at every first pitch its like they wanted to get the game over fast I thought the Twins were finally playing well? Or was that just some crack pot internet rumor?

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ May 16, 2006 -> 10:16 PM) That's not possible. That's almost leaving the bases loaded every single inning. They left 9 on base Yeah my bad, Gameday was a little screwed up and I posted without previously consulting my Rhombencephalon.

TWENTY-FOUR men left on base tonight by Minny.

Holy Jesus. They just said on the radio that Zumaya hit 103 mph on the radar in the top of the 8th. Now I know the in-stadium radar guns aren't calibrated frequently....but damn. That 21 year old has an absolutely insane arm.