Dick Allen

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 07:06 PM) Pods gonna f*** up a huge RBI chance and make me hate him even more. DJ was talking how Pods was so clutch the other day. He is going to double his RBI total from last season though.

For those collectors out there, 4 White Sox will be making an appearance at Madison and Friends a children's clothing store on Rush St. Saturday morning. I don't collect, but I do have a WS ball, and will probably go because Konerko, Dye, AJ, and Crede will be there, and it would make a sweet souvenir.

It really would be nice if the Sox won the first couple games of this series. It might make the Tigers wonder.

Anybody been to Windsor?

The sweep of the Tigers seems like it was months ago. I'm making my first trek to Comerica Park tomorrow. Buerhle better be on.

Hawk talking about Verlander's innings. Next season, I think McCarthy's innings may be a topic of discussion. I really wish they would have given him a few starts this season.

QUOTE(iguchi=dank @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 06:48 PM) Alright I did some looking back. Counting this as the 10th game. In our last 10 games when we score, the next chance the opposing team has they are 10-23 in scoring that inning. Considering that there were about 4 innings or more that were blowout late innings by us and jenks or our good bullpen guys came in, the opposing team has basically scored after us about 50% of the time. That is just disgusting and just isn't giving your offense anything to build off. Your welcome, and the numbers were scarier than I actually thought. I would have thought the numbers would have been higher.

QUOTE(SoxnGiants @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 06:45 PM) That's one thing we did very well last year. Especially Buehrle & Garland. There was one game a while back when Buerhle got clobbered early, then pitched 4 or 5 innings with about 40 pitches. You know Buerhle is in trouble when he has a real high pitch count, and I would say the same thing for Garland, and with his new style, Garcia. If you're not a guy who is going to get a lot of strikeouts, you can't show everyone 6 pitches.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 06:43 PM) Pods is now 4-46 vs the Tigers this season. Pods does bring the nicest looking date to the team party though. I saw Pods and his lovely bride at the Hunt Club last week during lunch. She had no make-up on and still was on fire.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 06:42 PM) Wow. What a novel idea by Verlander. A nice easy 1-2-3 after your offense gets you the lead. I think that's one of the biggest problems with our pitchers. They don't attack anyone. They screw around and screw around, treat everyone like they are a combination of Ted Williams and Babe Ruth. I would like to see our pitchers be aggressive, throw inside, and try to minimize pitch counts.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 06:39 PM) Nice pitch by Jose. 2 runs is not too bad. He's gotta hold them down for a while now. I looked at a thread and you posted that I'm one of the most pessimistic posters. That is simply untrue and unfair, especially considering the title of the thread you started.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 06:38 PM) Where were you today during the "fun"? What happened?

I don't understand why our starters have such a tough time pitching after the offense puts runs on the board.

At least we are not Red Sox fans.

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 09:12 AM) I was addressing his on course actions. If you can get out to an event, do so and you'll see what a prick he is to the fans that spend hours upon hours sitting and waiting for the opportunity to see him for 8 minutes. I don't care what he does off the course for charity. If I did, I'd likely like him more. As for Phil, I'm sure he's not happy after a DB, but at least he isn't a dick to the fans, and knows that there is more to life than spending hours upon hours away from his family practicing his swing. His ability is what it is and if he wins, he wins, and if he doesn't, he doesn't. IMO, he's a way better human being than Tiger ever will be. I went to St. Andrews for the British Open in 2000. If you saw what I saw you would conclude Phil Mickleson is easily one of the top 5 dicks on tour. I went to a practice round and 2 days of the tournament. During the practice round, all these guys hit about 5 balls every shot and at least that day were all goofing around with each other, signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans. All except Phil. He was goofing around hitting trick shots and such, but when it came to autographs or even acknowledging the crowd, Phil refused to participate. I witnessed one incident when 5 little kids asked him for an autograph, he waved them off and said he had work to do. David Toms who was with him, took 5 balls out of his bag, actually his caddie did, signed them and gave them to the kids while Phil screwed around with a couple of other players.

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Aug 21, 2006 -> 08:18 AM) Vazquez. Brutal. He was, and the thing about it was he became effective again once the game had been decided for the most part. I really think Vazquez can't handle high expectations or high pressure situations. Once that pressure is relieved like yesterday when the score went to 5-1 against Santana, or is never there like an April game against the KC Royals, he's an All Star. Most of the other time, you could only hope for mediocre.

QUOTE(CYGarland @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 07:12 PM) If Garcia hadn't lost 5 mph off his fastball, and Buehrle hadn't imploded these last 2 months, we wouldn't even be that down on Vazquez. He was brought in to be the 5th starter, and has actually performed up to those expectations. Problem is, his high contract, and subpar seasons by Buehrle and Garcia make him the scapegoat. Its unfortunate, but true. Now I'm not making excuses for Vazquez, he's been very frustrating to watch, but Garcia and Buehrle haven't been much better....... That being said, we need at least 1 of those guys to turn it on down the stretch, if were going to make the playoffs. Now I know Burhele has been better of late, but he hasn't been exactly lights out...... He was not brought in to pitch like a typical 5th starter. KW would never have given up Chris Young and committed to pay Vazquez as much as he does for that.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 04:58 PM) There is nothing wrong with expecting greatness. I hope, and imagine, that the players all expect greatness. But just because you don't get there doesn't mean you aren't, or can't be, a good team. And we aren't "bad" in so many aspects this year. We are 6th in starters ERA, 9th in relievers ERA, though we know it is better than that now that a few guys are out of there. 5th in fielding pct. 3 in DER. And 1st in offense. We are an average pitching staff this year, bad by standards last year, but it's not like we are among the worst in the league. The entire AL West is in the top 5 in pitching, because they get to face terrible offenses so much. The White Sox pitching has been brutal the last month or so, definitely one of the worst performances in the league. Average pitching staffs don't win world championships unfortunately. QUOTE(whitesoxin @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 05:02 PM) We didn't hit our stride until the final 5 games of the season last year. Seeing as how we have 39 games left, I am not too worried yet. If we lose 3 of 4 or all 4 in Detroit then I will start to worry. There's still a lot of time left and if the season ended today, we would be in the playoffs. The two teams behind us? One of them lost the best pitcher in the AL for the rest of the season. The other team has been dominated three games in a row at home to the Yankees whom we beat 2 of 3 just over a week ago. Step off the ledge.. The White Sox lost 3 in a row to the Yankees at one point this season as well.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 04:37 PM) Who is that much better than us? The Tigers? We've beaten up on them. The Yanks? We've been alright against them. Fairly even matchup. Would be a tough series either way. We are one of the best teams in the league against teams that are .500 or better. Might even be the best. How couldn't you be optimistic about that. The expectations are just too much out of wack. Because we upgraded on paper, it seems like everybody thought we'd be much better record wise and performance wise. Last year was a special year. This year we haven't been quite as good, but we're only 3 games behind last year's pace. It's difficult to win 100+ games in this league. The problem is the Sox have 5 1/2 games to make up on Detroit, and not a lot of time to do it. They also are only 1 game ahead of Minnesota, and the Twins have been having their way against the Sox as of late. Expectations may be out of whack, but the White Sox are very close to being in 3rd place in their own divison, something not even the most pessimistic would have predicted.

Nobody could have expected the Sox starting rotation's performance to drop off as much as it has the last year, and nobody could have expected the offense to be as dynamic as it has been. The Sox have a good record, and have a good chance at the playoffs. The problem is pitching wins, and the Sox pitching has been brutal. The team ERA was the same as Cleveland's in today's paper. Runs are a little more difficult to come by in the playoffs mainly because you're playing good teams and facing their best pitchers. If Buerhle can't become the Mark Buerhle of old and Garcia countinues with the blame game instead of looks in the mirror, the Sox may make the playoffs, but won't be around long.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 02:54 PM) I have a feeling that Vazquez would suddenly show more testicular fortitude if he ever pitched in the posteason. His 9.53 ERA in 2004 would indicate to me Steinbrenner would disagree.

I would love to see the thread about the Vazquez trade.

QUOTE(Friend of Nordhagen @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 02:46 PM) I think he's hurt more than they're letting on. I think you're right. A cortisone shot and he's still hurting. The ball isn't jumping off his bat like it was earlier.

I think the pitching staff as a whole throws way too many pitches. An emphasis should be put on minimalizing pitch counts. Its not like the Sox rotation has a lot of strikeout guys.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 20, 2006 -> 02:35 PM) I disagree that he'd have a losing record. If he was in Vazquez's spot, he'd easily have a winning record. We've given Vaz the lead in almost every start, and his blow-ups have taken us from a comfortable lead to trailing very fast. If we really think McCarthy would have an ERA over 5, then KW should be fired for not trading him when his value is sky high. Vazquez has had the lead in all but 2 of his starts. Sometimes he had the lead 2 or 3 times in the same game.