Vance Law

Nice Uribe. Gets the home run so we get the pitcher up there to make the third out and turn the order over to have Iguchi, the lead-off man, start out the 4th.

The great thing about having GrindErstad on the team is that, he's gonna hit 200-250 weak grind balls to the right side. Sometimes he's gonna catch that pitcher napping and wind up with 2, perhaps as many as 3 base hits on the season that way.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 19, 2007 -> 12:56 PM) Judging by the way Tada handled the two hole as a hitter, I don't believe ego is something that is a problem with him. He sacrficed statistics for two years to try to make his team win, and I don't think playing second fiddle to Irchiro would bother him at all. Iguchi is already, like, 8th fiddle on the team. Are we talking about Japanese fiddles? Do you think they care about their Japanese fiddle ranking?

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Apr 19, 2007 -> 09:57 AM) yeah Ichro is no where near as good as PODS. Where (or how) are you going to get Ichiro right now? That's his point.

They are replaying the game on Comcast at 11:30. Get yr tapes out.

Holy turds! I saw the first inning and then had to leave and didn't see the rest of the game. When Buehrle breezed through the 1st I thought, "I bet he's gonna pitch a really good game. " Remember back when you'd expect Mark to pitch great every time out? I had that feeling. I certainly didn't expect anything like this, though. Wow!

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 06:29 PM) What the f*** has Anderson done? Erstad looks better in the field, has an actual approach at the plate, and is able to do the small things. BA isnt up to snuff in any of those categories right now. No, instead of better, Erstad is certainly worse in the field.

QUOTE(Jimbo @ Apr 17, 2007 -> 07:01 PM) Jim just killed someone and then the ballllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll HIGH FIVE Nice, Thome, creating the only run in the game. I just wish he would hit them later in the game when they are worth more points.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Apr 17, 2007 -> 03:01 PM) Puzzled as to why we have an ice cold hitter leading off. You meant ice cold grinder, right?

QUOTE(zenryan @ Apr 9, 2007 -> 09:29 PM) whens the last time this team didnt score a run by the HR? When was the last time you strung together a bunch of hits against Santana and Harden?

Erstad with a grindball single to first

woaaaaah doctor

boo ya!

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Apr 5, 2007 -> 12:31 PM) Buerhle's going to be done for awhile. Sabathia was gonna be done for a while with his lump on pitching arm, but he beat us opening day.

Don't grind into a DP, Erstad.

Sowers has got to be shaking in his boots- staring down the barell of a loaded gun called Podsednik.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 4, 2007 -> 05:12 PM) Don't worry, Ozzie is going to play as many lefties as possible vs Johan this weekend. I wish that he would. Lefties clearly hit Santana better than righties. He doesn't throw the changeup much against lefties. I don't think Ozzie could hold all of those thoughts in his head and make that decision.

Who do you gals think are the hottest guys in MLB?

QUOTE(rpmahr @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 10:37 AM) i no the media loves the red sox/yankees but i just dont see whats so special about the red sox or the yankees this year both teams lack the pitching necessary to win. i would not be shocked if the blue jays surprised people in that division. Pavano starts opening day!

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 11:12 AM) http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10096564 Ooops, I meant Scott Miller! I'm glad these meatheads are picking us 4th. I hope every one of the articles is going up on a bulletin board in the locker room. I haven't seen any one of these with anything resembling a reasonable analysis. They just follow what they see. Sox picked 4th in '05- win the World Series. So they pick the Sox 1st in '06-good but not great 90 win season. Tigers go to the World Series. They get picked 1st or second. Minnesota goes to the playoffs- they get picked in the top 3. You can't reasonably say that Minnesota has a better rotation than anyone but KC. Ponson? Silva? Perkins, Bonser? Are they likely better than anyone but Danks in our rotation? They've got an Ace and 4 4-5s who have to pitch they other 130 games. So they're the "teams to beat" until the "surprising" White Sox show up, with their success being attributed likely to old small-balls Guillen and Erstad.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 11:30 AM) But...they do get Maroth back from his injury and surgery last year. He was very effective before he was lost last year. That could fill in some of their issues. And of course, if they stay healthy, they've significantly upgraded their offense by adding a cleanup hitter. They did get Sheffield, but the good thing is, it looks like he's taking at bats away from Marcus Thames and his .882 OPS from last year.

Good post above, Kalapse, and I agree with a lot of what you say. I definitely prefer Anderson out there and Guillen certainly can be frustrating. Anderson has better numbers in ST, though I doubt Guillen keeps daily tabs on OPS, but with such a small sample size, that difference amounts to like home run and a few walks for Anderson, with Guillen clearly tipping anything close in favor of the veteran. Regardless of Guillen's ass-hattery, I honestly think this may make Anderson play better. He'll play. Anderson having to win the job while at the major league level (he hit well last ST too)at age 24 is not that insane. If Erstad is a bad as feared he'll be out. And if not, I'll join the complaint then.

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 12:11 PM) And "intangibles" are the difference between a World Series and also-ran status of 90 wins. I would disagree and say giving up an entire run per game more is the difference. Tangibles.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 10:55 AM) A lot of this is opinion too, IMO a few of the personnel decisions put this team in a worse position to win than they have to be. I assume this refers mainly to CF. I wrote last week and still am not conviced otherwise that, the situation may be being handled in a way to get the most out of Anderson as possible. Bringing in a veteran, making him fight to win the job. All the while touting Erstad publicly. How will Anderson react? Whine and complain? Work his butt harder just like Erstad would? You may not be able to take everything said by Ozzie and Kenny to the media at face value. A week ago, a majority of the people were certain, certain that Anderson would be sent down to AAA. He is on the team. In a position now that he's not looking over his shoulder at a veteran, worrying about messing up. Instead he's hungry to show up and work his butt off and prove himself in every at bat and every game to try to get the starting job. If Erstad breaks his legs, Anderson will have the job. If Erstad is as bad as people fear he'll be, and if Anderson shows anything, he'll have the job. Again, though, this CF spot will not in any way make or break the team that won 90 games last year with Anderson's .225. It will be determined by the pitching.

QUOTE(robinventura23 @ Mar 28, 2007 -> 05:41 PM) So we are assuming then that Hall rehabbing his shoulder will not bring him back in May/June and he'll end up opting for surgery? I've only seen Molina play in ST, so I can't really judge him. I never knew he was that terrible. So bad that we would rather have WIKI GONZALEZ. I'll wait to see how everything pans out before making any judgements. We would pick up another catcher if Hall can't come back. We dropped our backup last year and picked up a new one- why would we not do the same, when we've had to stick a minor leaguer in there for about 7 games.