Dick Allen

QUOTE (LDF @ May 26, 2015 -> 09:40 AM) you have excellent points and makes a good argument. re the gut, i see coaching per adv metric kind of coaching. i don't see the lineup based on the hot bat. use the hot bat and yes the gut instinct to fill out your top 4 or 5 hitters in the lineup. be aggressive in the coaching aspect. Maddon is not the end of all things in coaching. but, and this is coming from a huge RV supporter, maybe RV is not the kind of manager that can get the team going. isn't that one of the reasons why teams fires their managers, esp early on in the season?? I just think there is a huge distortion in how people view the manager and coaches effects on players. These are major leaguers, they are supposed to know how to play by the time they arrive. They aren't a bunch of 7 year olds needing constant instruction. They fire managers, but if you really look at it, the team doesn't significantly improve, or will eventually start playing like they were supposed to, so it looks like the right decision because many think it would never happen under the old manager. The Dodgers were supposedly ready to fire Mattingly a couple of years ago, but didn't and they got tremendously hot. If they would have fired him and the same thing happened, he would have been the fool. You have to expect White Sox hitters to eventually start hitting normally, and they will win more games. It hasn't been their style to make a coach or manager a sacrificial lamb, but maybe this year they do. If the players then start playing to their averages, the move looks good, although it probably happens without the change.

QUOTE (LDF @ May 26, 2015 -> 08:51 AM) it has appears to me, i who know crap about the adv metric, that people use that as a bible to manage. maybe in the fans point of view. what ever happen to the old coach with your gut instinct, make the lineup based on who is hitting? making up the lineup based on the hot bat. the old cliche is a coach should be able to find ways to make the team perform. that is why you see teams moving a coach. The problem with using your "gut" is when it doesn't work out, you are deemed a fool. When it works out it is forgotten quickly. Everyone can blame the manager all they want, the problem is, firing him doesn't solve the issues. Joe Maddon had a team that was supposed to be good last year. They weren't .500. This year, he's gone and somehow they are in first place, albeit barely in a bad division. Trotting out a big name to make out your line up card with a crappy team is putting lipstick on a pig. The exact same things will probably happen, but the manager won't be blamed. Ozzie was never blamed for poor White Sox offense when he managed.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 26, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) I'd really love to know what is going on this year with first inning pitching. We have some damned good pitchers who are just awful this year to start games, and I don't remember this being an issue in years past. I wouldn't think it would be warm up routine, because why would that have changed? Would the bullpen mound have changed? Grasping at straws here. I have always been fascinated with the warm up routine ever since the night of Peavy's injury. We noted that night, he threw no more than 10 total pitches warming up. Something was wrong. This year, the one difference I see is with Samardzija. He is done warming up a lot sooner than the rest, and sits in the dugout a good 10 minutes, if not longer, than the other pitchers before he hits the mound. Of course, Sale had one of those on Saturday with the Paulie ceremony, but he was pretty good in the first inning.

QUOTE (3GamesToLove @ May 26, 2015 -> 08:23 AM) Is this actually statistically relevant data, though? So they're bad in the first inning. Does that tell us anything about the team or what they can do better? It does suggest maybe a change in routine, at least for the pitchers, should be in order. I would expect 1st inning ERA, and 1st inning offensive production to be affected by the fact teams' supposed best hitters are hitting. The spread is just too wide for the pitchers, and the hitter, the top of the line up needs to produce more runs, and getting out to a lead might actually help win more games.

QUOTE (harkness @ May 25, 2015 -> 07:55 PM) Robin really said all the right things on the plane last night. He must have also saw some things on film to get this offense started.. Bunch of guys walking with their heads down to the bench. Just a complete failure. Shut out by a guy with a 6.91 era. Yeah they would probably have 15 or 20 hits if they had a different manager.

QUOTE (jeffro2525 @ May 25, 2015 -> 07:51 PM) Gonna be another 2:20ish minute game. That is one good thing about it.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 25, 2015 -> 07:44 PM) In the end, the team has to win. Even without Quentin. Besides 2005 and the Blackout Game (which everyone acknowledges would have been a loss in Minnesota if not for Hahn's kid lucking out on the coin flip), there's just not enough. Would White Sox fans have honestly been EXCITED heading into those two off-seasons? Not the way the previous seasons ended. Everyone felt 2012 was a fluke, and 2013 and 2014 proved that it was more of an anomaly than a return to even "mediocrity." So the winning that particular season doesn't matter you have to wait until the next season, but that doesn't matter either. Got it. The Sox attendance was lower in 2008 than in 2007 when for most of the season, they either had or were really close to the worst record in baseball. Winning didn't matter. Now,as the poster posted, the onky wasy fir a season to be successful or exciting is a team that wins a WS. So you don't even know if a season is exciting until it is over.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 25, 2015 -> 07:45 PM) That sounds like s broken record with every starter this year For a guy who was supposed to be released an hour ago, he has been great.

Noesi hasn't been bad since the first, and that wasn't all on him.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 25, 2015 -> 06:36 PM) Once again, nobody has countered all of the teams listed over and over again in this thread that have been brought up. All we hear are comparisons to the Red Sox, Tigers, Cubs, Cardinals, etc., and how their fanbases are more "loyal" or not bandwagon when the majority act/behave just like we do in terms of supporting winning teams and/or superior ballparks or gameday experiences. The only example that might be relevant to us is the Milwaukee Brewers, who once again have their market all alone and a much nicer facility for their fans. I've also provided a link to a website that showed that "local/Illinois/regional" fans were almost exactly the same for the Cubs and White Sox as recently as 2010. (In other words, the only reason for the bigger attendance a full 4 years after the World Series was tourism/Wrigleyville/out of state/regional states fan groups who were drawn in by the historic nature of the park, day baseball, the 100+ year losing streak, etc.) 2008 is very simple to explain. Attendance is a function of the previous season, to a large degree. The same reason attendance was better in 2006 than 2005 is the reason you saw a falloff in 2008...largely due to fact that the 2nd half collapse in 2006 lopped off some fans, and the 2007 disaster wiped out yet another 25% of the season ticket base. If you want to say that 2008 and 2012 were disappointments, show the proof that the walk-up numbers were lower in those years than 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, etc. Call or e-mail Brooks Boyer. 2012's "disappointing" attendance was likewise directly related to the disastrous 2011 "all in" season...because surely another 15-20% of the group remaining from the excitement of 2008 and 2010 and the World Series was wiped out. If you want to say Chicago White Sox fans didn't support those 2008 and 2012 teams with excitement/enthusiasm/passion, then the better numbers to look at aren't the offseason ticket packages that make up 80% of attendance but the walk-up/week of game attendance numbers for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. I'm sure you will see a significant increase in walk-up in 2008, 2010 and 2012. Likewise, I'm so tired of White Sox fans being criticized as if they're the singularity event of that phenomenon when it permeates nearly every non-winning franchise in baseball in a similar fashion. We could go to Oakland, TB, Minnesota, Cincy, Minnesota, Colorado, NY Mets, Atlanta, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros (remember, they had the worst televisoin ratings in history in recent years with an "exciting/rebuilding" team), Baltimore, Toronto, Pittsburgh and Cleveland websites and read the exact same comments, if not worse. By most of the the definitions here, the Minnesota Twins fans SUCK and are bandwagon fans. But they won 6 of 9 division championships!!! They got a brand new outdoor stadium, too....so why is attendance there way down this season over 2011, 12, 13 and 14? Because they've been losing (terribly) for four consecutive years, and their season ticket packages eroded coming into 2015. Walk-up alone won't offset that. Then explain 2009 and 2013

QUOTE (scs787 @ May 25, 2015 -> 05:11 PM) I'm gonna assume he was a good teammate and solid in the locker room (Reason they traded B was mainly due to locker room issues). If he learned from his mistakes it would have been a good signing, he didn't. Bears didn't give him gaurenteed money for that reason. It was a chance worth taking IMO. If the Bears were a player or so from being a Super Bowl contender, I might agree, but this embarassment will have ramifications for years to come. I think guys with sketchy backgrounds are goimg to have a hard time getting approved by George. Plus domestic violence, and sexual assault ia a little more serious than other things you give guys second chances.

QUOTE (Condor13 @ May 25, 2015 -> 06:30 PM) Two plays Alexei should have made if he was still his normal self. This Alexei however just sucks The second play even if he came up with it had no chance of throwing anyone out. No one would.

QUOTE (daggins @ May 25, 2015 -> 06:26 PM) so Noesi is DFA after this, right? He hasn't been good, but the Sox should be batting 0-0

Alexei hot dogging it cost 2 runs......so far

Swirk is giving a radio broadcast.

Damnit Alexei

The Swirsk called that one by Abreu a "smash". I like the Swirsk, but give me a break. If Swirsk still had his old radio show on Sunday nights on the Loop, he would give himself the buffoon of the week for that call.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 25, 2015 -> 03:25 PM) LOL - there are more posters agreeing with me than you, if you haven't noticed. As for substance, I've provided fact after fact after fact that, of course, there is a correlation between winning and attendance, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. You, on the other hand, have provided absolutely nothing to this discussion, except unnecessary sarcasm and a poorly formed opinion of the fan base based on, what? Conjecture? Certainly nothing verifiable, whatever it is. Not any more. Explain 2008 and 2012.

Released. The woman he assaulted was holding a baby.

Bryant's homer today landed in the front row with the wind blowing out.ESPN stats said in normal weather, Wrigley Field is the only park that is a home run. Its not who you play, but where you play em.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 25, 2015 -> 11:06 AM) Since Jerry Reinsdorf took over the club in 1981, of the other 25 non-expansion teams in existence since then, only four of those teams (Royals, Mariners, Brewers, & Nationals) have been to the postseason fewer times than the Sox. And of those four, one team, the Royals, have made a World Series appearance more often than the Sox. If this record of futility doesn't bother you, if you are fine buying a ticket and getting the kind of quality we just saw during this last home stand, and in 2014, 2013, 2011, all the way through most of Reinsdorf's 35 years at the helm, well then fine - have at it. Buy a full season ticket package and get out there to the park and cheer on the mediocrity. But please don't be so crass and condescending with your completely unnecessary "cyber pat" comments when some of us legitimately look at the record of achievement of the ball club and, on a fan message board, suggest it should be better. You are the one who says the White Sox have had 1 exciting season over the last 35, so postseason appearances that don't result in winning a WS would be considered total failure and an unexciting season. Yet you use postseason non WS win appearance as positives for other teams. It is too bad you have to wait until almost November to determine if a season was exciting or not. But since the last time the White Sox won the WS and had an exciting season according to your parameters, there are 24 teams that have had a just as worthless existance Baseball probably isn't for you.

His mom said he was a good boy. I am sure this is just another misunderstanding. This was beyond predictable, and as much as I hear embarrasing being overused in sports, this should be really emabrrassimg to the Bears. Pace shiuld be on notice. Fangio should be on notice, and George McCaskey needs to realize guys that beat and rape women generally don't stop as long as they have access to doing these things.

BTW at the Chicago Sports Depot at the park, they had those The straw that stirs the drink t shirts. They weren't the flourecent green the players have, they are yellow, and a bit pricey at $30.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 23, 2015 -> 08:06 PM) So much for the theory that Van Gundy was helping Thibs. It still might be. The Bulls obviously don't want to pay Thibs, if the teams he is willimg to be "traded" to dries up, or at least appears that way, the Bulls are left bringing him back, which would be actually very interesting, or paying him sit. I really don't know if a second round pick is worth $4.5 million which I think the Bulls owe him next season.

No Hawk this road trip. The Swirsk will be in the booth