Dick Allen

QUOTE(greg775 @ Aug 25, 2006 -> 03:52 PM) This is meant to put the whammy on Radke. C'mon White Sox. The guy is not that good. Get psyched and take care of business. Pitch well, play good d and get to this guy early. He ain't that good. For the love of God, he has a torn rotator cuff that is going to force him to retire at season's end. Put up 6 or 7 in the first inning, just to reinforce his decision to call it quits.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 25, 2006 -> 03:21 PM) I wonder what Ozzie will do with the Pods/Anderson/Mackowiak trio. Mackowiak hit a bomb off of Radke last time, but Anderson has also been playing well. We know Pods will unfortunately be playing though, so I hope we keep our best defensive CF in the game. I think Ozzie is very close to pulling the plug on Pods as a regular. Just from his comments, he seems to be getting little digs in lately.

QUOTE(Drew @ Aug 25, 2006 -> 03:05 PM) On a similar note, I want someone not named Podsednik in the leadoff spot. Ozuna has been hustling his ass off, swinging the bat well and making some solid plays in the field the last few weeks. I think the Sox are at the end of the rope with Pods. I think he needs to start doing something quick, or he'll be riding pine the rest of the season.

There is no need to worry about how Pods will fare against Santana or Liriano, because Pablo will be in the line-up. There is a school of thought, however, to stacking the line-up with lefties against Santana, taking his change away. I don't really know how that would work out. Lets face it, you could have an All Star team facing Santana and Liriano, and if they are on, you aren't going to score many runs. LH batters have hit .263 against Santana this season while RH batters have batted .211. Lefties have had more success, but it could be a little deceiving as most teams would only leave there best LH hitters in the lin-up against him.

QUOTE(cgaudin @ Aug 25, 2006 -> 06:56 AM) You got it backwards, with Thome out we got a better chance. He can't hit lefties if his life depended on it. Last time I looked, Radke and Silva are righties and the only lefty the Twins have starting is Santana, and the Sox really don't have anyone that pounds him. FWIW, Thome has 30 hrs in 247 AB against RHP, and is hitting .324 with an OBP over .440. You're right, he just sucks.

QUOTE(cgaudin @ Aug 25, 2006 -> 01:54 PM) I got a good feelin' that Gooch is going to be the beneficiary of a few cookies left over the plate as a consequence of Radke's caution and preoccupation with Dye. He needs to cash-in those opportunities. I'm feeling surprisingly optimistic. Have you seen Thome's numbers vs. RHP? I don't understand why Radke would be afraid of Dye but not Thome? AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI W HP K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS vs. Right 247 72 80 18 0 30 73 58 0 66 0 0 .324 .445 .761 1.206 Its amazing anyone sees any benefit to Thome being out of the line-up. These are incredible stats.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 25, 2006 -> 09:41 AM) I'd just like to say that it's not a sure thing that Garland will be our best pitcher at the time that series rolls around. That's correct. If Garland is the only Sox pitcher that is reliable at that point, those Minnesota games will probably be meaningless, and the Sox will probably already have their tee times for the following week. The rest of the staff needs to get hot. If they all could, it would be amazing. Hopefully at least 2 of the 4 guys struggling can get on a roll.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 25, 2006 -> 10:19 AM) I've been thinking of going to the clubs next season as well - looking to get a group together (some from my current 27-game group, some new). Hard part is, I want to do 4 seats. I figure 8 people is ideal for that. Do a draft type thing for the regular season games for each of the 8 people, and set the rules for post-season (group A/group B sort of thing). I've been in the Club for 7 or 8 years. I went there before they renovated it, and I loved it then, but after the renovation, its so great. A/C when its hot. Heat when its cold. No bathroom lines. You don't have to worry about the people getting to the game in the 3rd inning arriving at a key point of the game, standing there blocking your view. I think its sold out now. A few years ago, there were games when my friend and I basically had the entire section to ourselves. Also if you're in the infield, the view is the best I think for the entire field. Obviously down below is closer, but I think you have a better perspective and view on balls hit to the OF from the club level.

The Minn/Sox season ending series is another reason Detroit really is in the driver's seat with 6 of their last 9 games against KC, a team they destroy. The Sox really need to take care of business the rest of the season. They can't piss away games anymore. Everything clicked yesterday, offense, defense and pitching, hopefully that will translate into a hot streak, but we've been hoping for that before only to be dissappointed. If the starters start earning their paychecks, the Sox should be in good shape for getting into the playoffs. If they were in the NL, where there is only 1 team more than 6 games over .500, Ozzie would be getting his playoff rotation set.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 25, 2006 -> 08:53 AM) The big thing there is you have the rear view mirror to look into now. Its easy to look back a situation and say they won/lost so it was a good/bad move. Mostly I just wanted to offer up some examples of some of the "great" managers that we hear about so often, of things that Ozzie often gets criticized for himself. When you watch a single team all of the time, and get something specific in your head, when you watch a 162 games you will be able to find tons of examples of it to support your opinion, pretty much no matter what it is. Hell I can't believe people are honestly saying things like we are better off without Jim Thome in the line up?!?!? I can't believe any Sox fan would have a problem with Thome either. My point about Gardenhire is, and its just speculation obviously as I don't follow everything that goes on with the Twins on a daily basis, I really doubt if he had a Widger-like back-up, he would have sat Mauer that day, although it was a day game after a night game, and I don't know when Mauer's last day off up until that point had been. Its a nice luxury to have when you are able to plug the back-up catcher into the 3 hole. It may be the only team in Major League history that does it.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 25, 2006 -> 08:25 AM) I also wanted to throw this post out there about Gardenhire getting ejected for arguing balls and strikes... http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?s=...t&p=1263852 Then I am also throwing out there the fact that he rested the leading hitter in MLB and his starting catcher the last day of the series against the Sox in which the Twins were trying to win the series to get within one game of the Sox, while a loss would have meant a 3 game deficit? How do you rest the leading hitter in baseball against a rival with the series and that pivotal of a game on the line? The back-up catcher is hitting .330 and bats 3rd in the line-up as well. Also he had the best pitcher in baseball on the mound. The big thing was, he won the game. My problem with some of Ozzie's decisions, like Mack in CF, is it comes back to haunt almost every game. There can't be one White Sox fan alive who has seen Mack play 5 games in CF that doesn't know its not a good idea for him to be out there. I also couldn't care less Ozzie gotten ejected 5 times this season. His ejection at Detroit was warranted. He was sticking up for his players. If he didn't go, a player would have eventually been tossed. My problem with Ozzie is the continuing battle he creates off the field with other team's players and coaches and managers. For the poster that wanted to know where Mariotti gets all the Ozzie quotes...he gets them the same way most of us do, through newpapers, radio and televison.

When I was in Windsor I turned on TSN I believe, its like the Canadian ESPN. They had a story about racist Cubs fans. I guess Jacque Jones has been getting letters and phone calls with racist-like threats. Even at the park, the people are saying nasty things. Sorry I didn't post this earlier, especially for hangar, but I'm sure its nice to know that the truth is being told somewhere, even if it isn't in the US.

This is going to be a tough series. Vazquez HAS to pitch well, and it would be nice to see Contreras twirl a gem and make Santana sweat. Chalk would be the Sox will do well to win 1, but I think they will win at least 2 of these games.

One of the Tiger fans on this site did predict before the series started that the Tigers would win the first 2 and the Sox the final 2.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 24, 2006 -> 03:15 PM) Just when you need an out...Neifi Perez comes up. One of the most peculiar things while I was in Detroit was the Tiger fans' belief that Neifi was a good player. I'm pretty sure they are quickly seeing the light.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 24, 2006 -> 10:12 AM) The planet where the other team uses Lefties to kill us. Of course the raw power will drop off, and th ability to score 18 runs per game. But right now, it is easy to get through the #2 and #3 guys by just using LHP. Not only that, but thome and Paulie are a double play pitcher's dream. Slow footed man on first, Konerko loves to pull the ball to the 3B. With Dye hitting #3 he not only has power and OBP, but he has the ability to drive the ball through the middle and to RF, and the IF doesnt shift the whole IF to try and take away the single. With Gooch on 2B or PODS, Dye automatically improves our chances at letting them score. The offense may not be better with just scoring a million runs, but it becomes more versitile and thats what i think this team needs day in and day out. Dye is also a DP waiting to happen. Thome gets on base more often than any White Sox player. He also homers more than any White Sox player. Not having that in a line-up on a team where scoring a lot of runs is imperative due to poor pitching, is going to hurt. Hopefully Thome will only miss a game or 2, but I have a bad feeling.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 24, 2006 -> 10:16 AM) Assuming Thome is out for a few days, what about bringing up Fields to play 1b? Lets see what he's made of. He's been killing the ball in Triple A, hitting .311 with 18 homers and a .525 slugging percentage. I don't think throwing a rookie into a line-up and having him play a position he doesn't usually play is a good idea in a playoff push. The Sox have some bench guys who would outperform Fields anyway at this point.

.262 after being hot for a week or so 12 homers and 47 rbi is pretty weak production, especially considering where he plays and the NL pitchers he faces. Rowand brings a lot of intensity to any team, and while losing the rest of the season on a play that had been made by a teammate against the Cubs may not be the smartest thing, to say something to him about it, and try to change him, would not be wise. If he starts thinking too much, the aggressiveness goes away, and if he doesn't have that, he's really not good enough to overcome it. I love his aggressiveness and attitude, and he would be a great 4th OF. Other than that, I really think if you look close enough, he's really nothing more than an average regular, if that.

Ozuna 7 Iguchi 4 Dye 9 Konerko DH Crede 5 AJP 2 Uribe 6 Gload 3 Anderson 8

I really think Thome hasn't been 100% in quite a while. I also think all the Gload fans will be surprised to see that there really is a reason why he doesn't play much if he is exposed as a regular. A long-term injury to Thome would really hurt, because the White Sox have to score a lot of runs to win games. 2005 IS OVER, MOVE ON. QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 23, 2006 -> 10:24 PM) I disagree. I think the lineup will be more effective without him there. If they put Dye in the 3 hole, the lineup changes drastically, and we already hit LHP better. White Sox offense with Jim Thome=Greatest offense in baseball and probably in team history even with a lead-off man who absolutely sucks. You're saying it will be better without Thome. That makes zero sense.

QUOTE(Chisoxrd5 @ Aug 23, 2006 -> 09:13 PM) Do I get points for laughing at the Pods and Mack combo in the OF before they both have defensive misques in the game? A couple of weeks ago Ozzie started Pods, Mack and Gload in the OF. They predicably all misplayed at least 1 ball each.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Aug 23, 2006 -> 09:12 PM) Well hopefully we actually call people up that can help the big club make the playoffs instead of worrying if our AAA team will go deep in theirs. I was thinking more of roster expansion. I think Stewart needs to be here personally. If I was GM, Sandy would be at home learning to use his walker, and Stewart would be the back-up, but since that makes too much sense for the Sox, when the roster can go to 40, they have to call him up.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 23, 2006 -> 09:09 PM) His bat speed is non-existent. He may be tired as well. He's on a pace to play his highest total of games in his career. Unfortunately the Sox are abysmally short in the back-up C department. The AAA season can't end soon enough.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Aug 23, 2006 -> 09:08 PM) And his ERA is still north of 5 He'd fit right in with the greatest rotation ever assembled.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 23, 2006 -> 09:03 PM) Sweet...I might have to have my bachelor party there. There's no truth to the rumor though that I've invited Pods or Ozzie to my wedding. Hookers are legal in Windsor. They just have to come to you, at least thats what someone told me.