Dick Allen

QUOTE(Muscatel @ Jun 19, 2006 -> 05:31 PM) This is an interesting discussion that attracted me first as an observer and now as a participant. I’m disappointed that weekend stories weren’t counted, because that surely affects the outcome. If this were a lawsuit, a judge might throw out the case if there was such a glaring oversight. I don’t get the S-T, but Saturday’s Tribune had three Sox stories and three Cubs stories. Results of the Friday games for both teams started on the front Sports page and the others were on page 3. Sunday, in what some may see as more evidence of favoritism, the Cubs won the story count 4-3 because the Trib ran one about the return of Mark Prior and a sidebar about his previous “comebacks.” The number of stories may not be the only indicator of whether there is bias. The story on the Sox’s 8-6 win was on the front page of Sports, and the Cubs’ 9-3 loss was on page 3, so the Sox got more prominent play. But the story of the Cubs game was negative in tone, so did the Trib “bury” it on page 3 to minimize the impact on ticket sales (which some believe is the case) or just relegate the Cubs to their rightful place? You decide. Here is the top of the game story by Paul Sullivan, which ran under the headline “Home turns sour on skidding Cubs.” I challenge anyone to find evidence of pro-Cubs bias in this excerpt: The blue “L” flag waved in the wind from the center-field scoreboard Saturday after the Cubs’ 9-3 loss to Detroit, just as it has after every game on the current homestand. The Cubs have lost five straight and 10 of their last 12 at Wrigley Field despite near-sellout crowds every day. “It’s embarrassing,” second baseman Todd Walker said. “It’s not fun to go out there and lose every day, especially when you’re giving your heart to it.” The Cubs were one game ahead of last-place Pittsburgh in the NL Central with the third-lowest winning percentage in baseball. Since April 20, the day Derrek Lee went on the disabled list, the Cubs are 17-36, the second-worst record in the majors in that span. Kansas City was 16-37 after Saturday night’s loss at Houston. Mark Prior returns Sunday, but instead of trying to save the season, his main task will be to help keep the Cubs from enduring an 0-6 homestand. Wrigley somehow has become the home away from home for almost every team the Cubs play.### And another thing …. The Sunday Trib also had a story on page 4 about how most pitchers don’t come back from torn labrum surgery. Kerry Wood was prominently mentioned in this story since that is his injury, but so were several ex-Sox pitchers who went through the same thing. Is this a Sox or Cubs story? Or in the intricate world of media watching, does each team get a point? I'm asking, because there are probably several stories like this during the course of a season. Depending on who is doing the counting they could end up in the wrong column. There are other subtle things the Tribune does to plant a seed. When the guy got beat up and killed at Clark and Addison it was buried in the Metro section on page 5 in the back of another story, so it didn't even get a headline. The continuing Ligue stories. Who cares what Ligue is up to these days or whose car he's breaking into except the car's owner and local law enforcement. The Tribune though loves to update Ligue's arrests any chance they get to keep it in the back of people's minds who are on the fence that USCF may be a little too dangerous. Do you ever see updates on the guy who went after Randy Myers? Did they ever even tell you his name? A few years ago they were digging for a body about 3 or 4 blocks from USCF, and the Tribune made sure everyone knew it was within walking distance of USCF, although a body was not found. There's probably a lot of crimes that occur in the 4 block radius of Wrigley that you will never hear mentioned in the Tribune. The Tribune also has 2 names it calls the area around Wrigley. On its positive pieces its Wrigleyville, if its something unpleasant the area reverts back to Lakeview. Hangar gets attacked, but yet I haven't seen a count that would disprove his numbers. To think that the Tribune doesn't have bias would be naive IMO. Sullivan got called into the principal's office. He even stated the Cubs expected the paper to be its "house organ". Sullivan then backtracks a little bit, and what do you know, a fluff piece on the Cubs.

What are the TV ratings like between the teams for similar times?

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 19, 2006 -> 03:03 PM) What is interesting is that the numbers really outpace attendance at the ballparks, so Sox fans are actually getting relatively more coverage vs the number of people who go to the ballpark. In terms of raw attendance, the Sox are drawing about 20% less fans per game than the Cubs are, yet they are almost dead even in terms of their stories in June. Interesting. Even just isolating June, the Sox are averaging 36,017 per game, and the Cubs are getting 40,486 good for about 10% more fans per game, which to me if the Cubs are getting about 10% more coverage with 10% more fans attending their games, that seems about right to me. Looking at things from a strictly business standpoint, you expect more coverage of things that draw more paying customers. I can't really argue with that. Its the reason the Sox and Cubs get coverage, while the Sky have fallen all of the way back to the back pages of the newspapers. One number that would really be interesting to see, and probably pretty hard to figure out is how many actual different people go to each park. I go to about 65-70 games a year and instead of being counted as 65, I would be counted as 1. There probably was a bigger group of people that went to USCF last year than to Wrigley due to total season tickets, although those are pawned off as well.

I don't think in today's game a classical leadoff hitter is a necessity. How many innings does Pods actually leadoff? For this season, he most likely will remain where he is, and as awful as he's supposedly been, he's only OBP is only .011 lower than last season, and he's hitting the ball with far more authority. Its very possible this is Pods last year with the Sox, and if it is, I'm sure the leadoff spot will be addressed.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 19, 2006 -> 02:03 PM) No, there won't. Not from the federal government. Because unlike Louisiana, we can handle it, thank you. Aren't there a ton of Katrina "refugees" living in Houston?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 19, 2006 -> 01:44 PM) WHERE'S BUSH? WHERE'S FEMA? DAMMIT, I DEMAND ACTION! Don't worry, its Texas, there will be a much quicker response.

QUOTE(heirdog @ Jun 19, 2006 -> 01:42 PM) We traded away a guy that could have brought back a lot more in return in Carlos "El Caballo" Lee in order to get Pods (along with Viz) so I think there was at least some point in time when the organization was high on him. How soon we forget the 2005 post-season with his clutch hits...now Pods is supposedly waiver fodder for the organization. So that they can bring up someone else from Triple A and let them "learn" how to field a new position and battle through a sub-.200 BA while getting used to the majors. Not going to happen. The White Sox didn't receive equal talent back because of financial considerations. The Sox most likely never would have made that trade at the time if the money was the same. It freed up cash for guys like AJP, and Iguchi. The Sox were very happy with Pods the first half of last year, and obviously in the playoffs. Defensively I think he's always been at least a little dissappointment to them. If you recall, there was debate as to who would play left and who would play CF between him and Rowand last year. Ozzie initially penciled Pods in CF. I think his defense has dropped off even more this season. Offensively, the only thing worse this season than last is his batting average. His OBP is pretty similar, he's driving in more runs, scoring more runs, IMO having a better offensive season. He's arbitration eligible, and will get expensive. Next offseason we will get the definitive answer about how much they really think of him, if they don't move him sooner.

As bad offensively as BA has been, and I think its pretty much a lock he will improve, his OBP is only 50 points lower than Rowand's.

I think there's a far better chance of Sweeney in LF than Fields. IMO, barring injury, either Fields or Crede will be gone from the White Sox organization by opening day 2007. Crede is going to start getting very expensive, and Fields value is skyrocketing. Might be a case like Philadelphia had with Howard and Thome at first base.

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Jun 19, 2006 -> 11:26 AM) Was watching the game on Saturday, right at the beginning of the game, the camera is doing a Wide Pan of the park, from right to left. DJ and Hawk were commenting on the park, when DJ says its a very pretty ballpark, one of the nicer ones hes seen. Hawk mentions something about all the fans (as if to CUE the WGN cameras to find a SOX fan to focus on-they didnt) when DJ mentions that he loves how the seats down the lines, are "angled towards the pitchers mound and the infield as opposed towards the outfield" and that he really liked that, Hawked simply nodded in agreement. When I heard DJ talking about the angled seats, I knew you would approve.

I read somewhere where Tampa really has no interest in trading Crawford. They would much rather trade Rocco. If KW wants Crawford, the package would have to start with McCarthy.

My cousin used to own a house 2 doors away from Billy Corgan on Greenview not far from the Urinal. I met him a couple of times. About 4 years ago, I had to pick up my sister's dog on Halloween, and she was made up as the devil. I was walking her back to my sister's place in Streeterville when a guy asked me if he could take a picture of the dog. It was Geddy Lee. I saw him with Rush the night before.

From the Sun-Times: What's disturbing to some in the organization is the idea that Podsednik takes his at-bats to the outfield with him. It was that type of attitude that got former left fielder Carlos Lee shipped out. Guillen didn't dismiss that idea.

I think there are far more worthy charities for people to give their money .

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Jun 17, 2006 -> 08:34 PM) Paul Monitor wouldn't be in the Hall of Fame at all if it wasn't for the DH rule. Frank Thomas would have been done years ago as well. Harold Baines' career would have been about 8 years shorter or he may have become a firstbaseman.

The Tigers already have 2 more wins than they did the entire 2003 season.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 17, 2006 -> 09:00 PM) I wonder if there's a way to make this such common knowledge that Anderson will have a chance for the GG. He's going to have to hit at least a little bit. He's starting to come around.

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Jun 17, 2006 -> 08:46 PM) Time to update my Brian Anderson getting hot meter.. According to Baseball Prospectus if he keeps up his current pace he will have the greatest year defensively for a CF since 1887, yes 1887. From Baseball Prospectus: Last week, responding to the struggles of rookie centerfielder Brian Anderson, who is hitting .163/.263/.296 in 157 plate appearances, the ever-unpredictable Ozzie Guillen announced the team was going to stay the course in center. Bolstering Guillen's support was his belief that no one else in the organization "can play center field [well enough] to win a championship." Usually, such proclamations are based upon a misguided understanding of the dynamics of winning baseball, in that run production is inherently far more valuable than defense, and also easier to accurately evaluate. Last year's White Sox team, however, revealed just how powerful elite defense can be, and thus Guillen's words can't be simply laughed off. Anderson has indeed been horrific at the plate, with a negative 8.8 VORP. Through his first 54 games in center, though, he has saved 10 runs more than the average center fielder by RAA, and 15 more than a replacement glove. Anderson is producing on defense at a RATE of 124, meaning that if he keeps up his current play he'll have saved an astounding 24 runs above the average centerfielder (think the once-spectacular Andruw Jones since 2004) over 100 games. Since 1900, no centerfielder has kept up a 124 RATE for a full season--not Willie Mays, Tris Speaker, Curt Flood, or Jim Edmonds:

That was a big win. Another series win. If Garland can win tomorrow its gravy.

Ozzie was talking last week that scouts told him to pitch to Griffey and walk Dunn.

No dive there and he's safe.

this guy is making Jenks work. I feel a walk coming.

I hope to God this guy doesn't hit one that BA would have had, but Mack doesn't get.

What's DJ talking about ? His run means nothing, he shouldn't take any chances.

This is Manos without the "vitamins"