witesoxfan

It's pretty hard to argue with 7 innings, 5 hits, no walks and 9 strikeouts. I thought he looked good. I didn't see Span's double as I was in the car listening on the radio, but that and the Revere double were his biggest mistakes of the game, and he didn't just luck his way into pitching over those, he threw some great pitches to get out. He has a good fastball/change combo that he can get by on but won't find a ton of success. When he has a breaking ball working, be it his curve or his "slider-cutter thing," as Flowers called it, he's always going to be tough to hit. I wish he could find those breaking balls more consistently, because when he's throwing them well, they're sharp and tight and have great backend snap which makes them virtually impossible to hit well. Too often it seems he slows down with them and they gain movement but they're easier to spot and all too often either fall harmlessly out of the strike zone or stay up and get hit hard. More than any other Sox starting pitcher, you can pretty much tell how well Gavin is going to pitch based on how his breaking balls are working. That was a good win. It did get a bit hairy at the end. BTW, is it just me or does Addison Reed seem uncomfortable facing lefties? He didn't throw anything to Morneau and then after going up 0-2 on Parmelee, he either tried to blow one by him inside or held onto it too long (or both). Son, you throw hard enough, just climb the ladder. Parmelee was hopeless in that AB.

I saw the thread on the homepage and I said to myself "for awesome." True story.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 25, 2012 -> 02:14 AM) He's New Q for me. I don't get the whole Quatzocotszal thing, or much care for it, so I'll roll w/ New Q. New Q is acceptable, but not nearly as incredible as Quetzalcoatl.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 25, 2012 -> 01:50 AM) Coop did it all behind his other boss' back. ozzie. Ozzie Guillen could set fire to an orphanage and it would be the book of matches' fault.

I don't even know the backstory of the entire nickname - I just know that it's the best nickname I have seen in a long, long time.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 08:24 PM) - 98% of Soxtalk 4 weeks ago First of all, he's not going to keep up an ERA of 1.25 as a starting pitcher because nobody has done that for a very long time. Second of all, he's made 6 starts. Before we make proclamations of how good a pitcher is, perhaps we should wait more than 6 starts. I love what Quintana is doing as much as you or him or her or anybody else on this board, but just give it a bit of time.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 05:59 PM) Now you only need to use some of the Moises Alou "special treatment" and you're good to go. I already do something similar

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Remember that time that Zach Stewart almost threw a perfect game, but then he didn't? That was awesome. And, and, and remember, that time that Brent Lillibridge hit that home run? Thatwasawesome

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 23, 2012 -> 01:33 PM) He is on suicide watch. No suprise to me he will try to end it all. I hope they prevent that sicko from offing himself. I want him to sit in that jail cell and think about all the wrongdoings in his life. He needs to sit and think for a while.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 10:51 AM) I'd rather take my chances with fathom or wite. Lock this garbage. I have very strong right hand from many years of use. Now time show what made of.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 23, 2012 -> 09:28 AM) Another great piece from Dan Wetzel http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--jerry-...1WjrlnCJRQ5nYcB Wetzel has written some incredible pieces surrounding the trial. I'm so glad that sick f*** is behind bars.

Actually, he almost sounds like Ron Swanson, except for the Chavez/Castro thing. Maybe he is a top 5 manager afterall.

Ozzie Guillen is barely a top 5 manager in the NL East. He's lucky he's not coaching in the NL Central this year because there's no way he'd be a top 5 manager there. To sum up: -Says he does nothing at his job -Makes assistant coaches do all the work -Win or lose, goes back to the hotel/house and gets plastered -Loves Huge Chavez and Fidel Castro EASILY a top 5 manager.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 02:20 AM) Haven't looked at the splits yet, but Quintana was death to righties in the beginning this year. Maybe it has evened out. Of course, the problem is that you need him to stay in the starting rotation. He's not going to be used in the rotation. You can take that to the bank. In the bullpen, he's a 92-95 guy with a goofy pitch, a solid slider, and a show-me changeup. That combination can be very effective. As a starting pitcher, he's an 89-92 guy with a goofy pitch, a mediocre slider, and a show-me changeup that will get him in trouble using it. He's a 4th starter, 4.50 ERA at the very, very best, and he'll be wildly inconsistent. He is going to remain in the bullpen where he belongs. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 21, 2012 -> 07:51 AM) Santiago has also been taken out of the higher pressure roles that Thornton has owned for the last seven years, and put into a lot more low pressure and mop up roles. That was pretty much when his numbers came back north. I'd want to see him in some 8th inning set up roles before pronouncing him as the man. This is true, and it's something I hope Ventura starts weaning him into a bit more. Just watching him pitch you can tell that he is just oozing confidence, as pretty much all the relievers in the Sox pen are. Give him a chance to try and build on that a little more, because I think he can be a great lefty setup guy for the Sox. QUOTE (whitesox901 @ Jun 22, 2012 -> 12:03 AM) I don't think we land Youk, I would think they're more likely to add Mark Reynolds. Even after this 3 game skid they're on, the Orioles are still the 3rd best team in the AL and would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. Season's almost half over. If anything, I think they're going to be buyers, not sellers. They could use an upgrade in the outfield and a starting pitcher, but that is a decent team that with a couple of upgrades could sneak into the playoffs. The reason they're record is so good is because they have the best bullpen ERA (by quite a bit) at 2.38, and while that is unnaturally low, they do have some very good relievers on that team. I strongly doubt that Mark Reynolds will be an option.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 11:58 PM) MLB Network quoting Sports Illustrated that Joey Votto has never pulled a ball foul into the stands during his entire MLB career. And just like a few years ago, he hasn't had an infield pop up all year. Once, according to Verducci. Oh, and 3 IFFB's in 2,138 PAs. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writ...reds/index.html

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 20, 2012 -> 04:03 PM) Would you rather see Will Ohman or Hector Santiago in those situations? I'd honestly take Santiago, but then Ohman is replacing Santiago which won't work. Both Thornton and Santiago have the ability to get righties out, something Ohman is virtually incapable of doing. For perspective's sake, Santiago's numbers since the Oakland blow-up: 2.75 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, .194/.318/.306/.623, ~ 9 K/9, ~ 4.5 BB/9, in 19.2 IP, 16 games And the control has actually been better than that, because in his first appearance versus Cleveland after that Oakland game, he walked two and allowed a hit in 1 IP. You just simply can't trust Ohman against right handed pitching, and that's where the problem lies. If the Sox are interested in doing that at all, then they have to believe that one of Leesman, Septimo, Veal, Rodriguez, or Hernandez can handle being the second lefty out of the pen so Ohman can remain a garbage and LOOGY guy. Without knowing anything about what they throw, my gut tells me to go with Veal, but the 3 I'd look at right away would be Veal, Septimo, and Rodriguez, probably in that order. Like I said though, no idea what they offer, but there are, even for minor league and advanced age players, interesting choices among the minor league pitchers. That's if you were to even trade Thornton for Youkilis. At this point, I'd say Youkilis is worth a shot, but Thornton has more value than that.

Could you imagine how much better the Rays would be if they had Ozzie as manager letting them do whatever the f*** they wanted, instead of Joe Maddon who is always making those little tweaks? I simply love that the Sox got anything at all for that windbag piece of s***.

Not that wins really mean a thing, but he's had 4 straight stellar starts and has a big 0-2 to show for it, though the team is 2-2 in those starts. And they've scored a grand total of 1 run in his previous two starts, though they've had ample opportunities to get more across. For as much crap as he took during his first year and a half in a White Sox uniform, he's backed that talk up this year on the mound every time he's taken the rubber. If the season ended today, the Sox would absolutely have 2 pitchers in the top 10 in Cy Young voting. Hopefully he goes out and keeps on pitching, because the team will eventually start winning those games again.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 08:16 PM) R.A. Dickey for NL Cy Young! He is unreal.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 14, 2012 -> 03:16 PM) Banged up Carlos Quentin didn't have much value at the time everybody, get over it. Simon Castro is quickly becoming one of our top prospects again (something he also was as a Padre) and Hernandez was pitching unbelievably until he got hurt First of all, semantics police, Simon Castro was a top Sox prospect while he was a Padre?!?! Second of all, a guy repeating AA at 24 putting up the numbers he is in an extreme pitcher's ballpark is not something that impresses me a hell of a lot. I'd need to see him pitch, but those numbers don't jump out at me. I don't dare deny talent, but the only guy down there whose numbers really impress me is Santos Rodriguez, and he's a set-up guy at best. Oh, Quintana's do too, but we'll see how long this lasts. Hopefully until about the end of August when the Sox have a nice 7 game lead.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Jun 14, 2012 -> 07:36 AM) Obviously you've never seen that horror show. No, I've watched the Tigers play quite a bit.

VIVA CASTRO, VIVA CHAVEZ!!!

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 14, 2012 -> 11:32 PM) Mark Buehrle and other free agents signed with Miami. They wouldn't have done so if Oz was hated. Case closed IMO. What a bulletproof argument. How can you anyone deny the awesomeness of Ozzie? THE OZZIE-NESS OF OZZIE! To be fair, the Tigers signed Prince Fielder and some other free agents, so Jim Leyland has to be up there. And the Angels signed Albert Pujols and some other free agents, so Mike Scoscia is up there too. And the Yankees signed Dewayne Wise and some other free agents, so Joe Girardi is up there too. Because the fundamental reason behind a manager being both a respected and a good manager is when free agents sign with the team he manages. I mean, why else would Alex Rodriguez have signed multiple 10-year, $250+ million contracts if it weren't for Johnny Oates and Joe Girardi? I mean, I don't know about you guys, but if I'm Joey Votto, the only way I sign that 10 year, $225 million extension with the Reds is if I know that Dusty Baker is going to be my manager for all 10 of those years. I mean, for real guys, Todd Helton signed his 9 year, $141.5 million extension with the Rockies because he knew that Clint Hurdle was a very well respected manager in the major leagues and wanted him to be the manager forever and ever, but when he went off and got fired (because management in Colorado obviously has nothing to do with it), the Pittsburgh Pirates brought him in so that they knew for certain they'd be able to resign Andrew McCutcheon to a contact extension. All of this is soundproof logic, which thus, makes Ozzie Guillen pretty easily the best manager of all time. It's simply bad luck that his team is in 4th place.

Just because I like sideshows, I'm really interested to see how Mustain fares.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 09:57 PM) Gutsy effort by Quintana. I still don't know how he can get guys out with the stuff he has. It must be good location... I have been told by my Spanish speaking sources that Jose Quintana translates, word for word, to "left handed John Ely."