witesoxfan

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 20, 2011 -> 11:10 AM) We do usually play well against good teams. It's the crappy teams we could never beat. Well that bodes well for Detroit and Minnesota then

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 19, 2011 -> 09:28 PM) Ross has some funky mechanics. I'm a bit scared of the Twins coming back to life. That team has had everything go wrong, they're not exactly untalented. C -Rivera/Butera 1B - Morneau 2B - Casilla/Hughes SS - Plouffe/Tolbert 3B - Valencia LF - Young/Revere CF - Span RF - Cuddyer DH - Kubel Their outfield is good, but their infield and catching situation are absolutely terrible. They need Mauer back, they need Nishioka back, and they need an upgrade at 2B before I consider them a threat at all, and it would be dumb of them to trade for an upgrade until they get back in it. Looking at that team, its certainly possible that they won't get back in it.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ May 19, 2011 -> 02:54 PM) Well, they are both working, so that is what I am going with for now. We'll see when my girlfriend gets home if she buys the magic. Tell her your a magician and that you'll show her a magic trick later. QUOTE (farmteam @ May 20, 2011 -> 12:08 AM) Other note: Don't drink so much the night before the wedding that you black out, faceplant in the hallway outside your hotel room, scuff up your face in a few places, and then have to wear makeup to cover it up for the wedding pictures. The 3 or 4 guys in my fraternity who got married either during or just after college (while I was still in college) had their bachelor parties a week or two before their wedding. It loses some of the luster because the wedding isn't like literally the next day, but you still have your one last crazy night as a bachelor. On top of that, the groom and groomsmen don't have to worry about being hungover the day of the wedding, they can go absolutely crazy and any battle scars should be healed for the wedding. Of course, it doesn't always work that well because a lot of people can't make two separate long distance trips, but if all or most of the groomsmen and those others that you want at the bachelor party are in the area, it's at least something to consider.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ May 20, 2011 -> 01:21 AM) I was hammered by 8pm at the Sox game, unlimited beer is an awesomely deadly thing, and the margheritas at the field are actually really strong. Sobered up on the trip back to the house (had to drive about 5 miles from the metra station I get off at to get back home) but this girl was all over me, I shoulda just went with it and missed some work tomorrow, but gotta be professional I guess Margarita is a tequila and lime drink, though several people like to ruin it with strawberry or watermelon or blue s***. Margherita is a term used to describe a combination of mozzarella, tomato, and basil (and sometimes feta), usually on pizza.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ May 19, 2011 -> 02:37 PM) In two weeks though, it might make sense. Here's why: 1. We'll either continue playing well, or dig ourselves into a virtually insurmountable hole in the division, so we'll know if we need to add or subtract. 2. The pitching surplus cannot continue, it's not good for anyone long term, and we have good trade candidates that are becoming free agents. EJax almost definitely goes, because Buerhle has little value and full NTC. You can't trade Danks now because he still has another year of control and you're already going to lose 1 - 2 SPs to free agency this year, and you have to try to contend for at least one more year with the current contractual situation. Other things: You do NOT trade Beckham. He's still way too young to be a bust and you wouldn't get much in return. Even if he doesn't figure it out, you have a plus defender with a streaky bat at a light-hitting position for league minimum. Yankees would definitely laugh at unloading Montero, since it looks like Posada is done. However, they may unload Romine, especially if they plan on retaining Martin. Don't forget that Cervelli is an excellent backup. With regards to #1, there is also a possibility that they tread water and remain about 7 games back. The Sox have shown in the past that they really like to do that sort of thing. With regards to #2, though I am generally opposed to using a 6 man rotation because it leaves you down a pitcher in the pen and is generally inefficient, it's not the worst idea in the world, and the Sox pitchers have shown in the past that they do work much better on 5 days rest opposed to 4. It's a little out of the box, but if all 6 guys continue to pitch pretty well, it's something to consider doing for the rest of the year.

Or not worrying about it and assuming it is some magical force. That's what they would have done 200 years ago, and they lived much simpler lives.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 19, 2011 -> 12:11 PM) Dragon Age Origins or Oblivion? Both are on sale on Amazon and I feel like starting another one of these. I think I put like 150 hours into Oblivion and got most of the stuff done, including the Shivering Isles expansion pack. It's an awesome game. Oh, I didn't have my XBox Live set up either, so I never got an DLC, and I imagine there is some stuff there.

I know some use FIP and xFIP as statistical measurements of how good a pitcher "has been," but I don't think that's right. I think what that says is "this is how good a pitcher has been on his own, independent of defense/luck," so it's fair for them to use it, I just don't happen to do so. They are obviously very good statistics, but more so for telling a story about the future, not the present. For this reason, when determining who has pitched "the best" I still use ERA and WHIP. I will look at their peripherals and their sabermetric ratios and whatever else to determine if it's for real or if they are actually good or if there's room for improvement, but the fact of the matter is, ERA and WHIP tell the story of what actually happened while FIP and xFIP tell the story of what should have happened. A lot of times, when the phrase "should have" is used, the word "but" is used too. I often think of Javier Vazquez. Therefore, I have no problem saying Sergio Santos has been better than Craig Kimbrel this year. That doesn't mean I wouldn't rather have Kimbrel nor does it mean that Santos will be better all year. But thus far, Santos has been better, and it's certainly arguable that Santos has been the best reliever in all of baseball thus far. Regardless of luck and defense, Santos has yet to allow a run. I'd say that's worth a vote.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 19, 2011 -> 02:35 AM) Pretty vague about the whole Latin American situation...almost like he was trying to distance himself from any type of connection. I still don't understand why our Venezuelan situation is so poor with Ozzie as our manager. I guess there's Infante, and we have Rienzo from Brazil (where have you gone, Anderson Gomes, Paulo Orlando and Joe DiMaggio???, lol) Encouraged to hear about the progress with Jordan Danks. He might be playing himself into the discussion again for the starting LF spot. Of course, the problem there is he's blocked by Viciedo, Rios in CF and Quentin in RF. Unless Quentin's traded, but that's certainly not a foregone conclusion at this point in time. 25% chance, at best. And then there's the inevitable linking always made between him being in the organization and his brother sticking around, but that's even less likely IMO. If nothing else, he's a valuable trade chip to have around to package with some other players. I thought he was actually pretty clear on the Latin American situation. Basically said that they haven't been as active as most while the league cleans up the situation, but that they've done what they can and they plan on expanding it in the next couple of years.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 19, 2011 -> 09:37 AM) What a straight up bust he's been so far. He's putting up Kotsay type numbers. EDIT: *Awaits Balta to show me how incorrect my last statement is because Dunn has 3 more walks or something* Kotsay - .273/.378/.325/.702 Dunn - .202/.323/.372/.695

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 19, 2011 -> 11:37 AM) I get pissed when someone new decides to post, because I have to spend another 30 seconds and put another person on ignore. I suggest you try it - the ignoring everybody. It's pretty great having your own message board to post on. I agree wite, this is awesome!

I get pissed when someone new decides to post, because I have to spend another 30 seconds and put another person on ignore. I suggest you try it - the ignoring everybody. It's pretty great having your own message board to post on.

QUOTE (La Marr Hoyt HOF @ May 19, 2011 -> 06:57 AM) So inspirational that it inspired our offense to score zero runs in the final eight innings ... They didn't score in that final 8th inning because they didn't need to.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 19, 2011 -> 10:25 AM) I don't know, I got the impression that he was indeed talking about Pierre. If Juan continues to struggle, he may get benched or released. Morel is probably on the hot seat too though, and I'd have to think T-Pain as well. I would imagine Pena has blisters on his ass.

Trades are dumb at this point of the season, especially right now. The Sox are playing much better baseball recently and could easily get back in the race. At the same time, they're still 6 under and 9 games back. There's no clear indication either way which way they're going to go. A lot can happen either way. Trading right now is dumb.

QUOTE (ROC Sox Fan @ May 18, 2011 -> 11:06 PM) Since JFP beat the Tribe, I've watched Detroit and KC lose close games. Just tuned into the 3-3 Twins A's game, let's be the only Central winner tonight boys! YOU JINXED IT OH NOOOOOOOOOOO

QUOTE (Andrew @ May 19, 2011 -> 01:16 AM) Well, there was grittiness. By gritiness - like awesome pitching performance by Jake. 8 men left on base, only 1 scored, bunts/steals/etc/...the...Ozzieball...tried to make us lose... But..the players, they rose up and we won 1-0, anyway with some great ... well, he didn't call in Thornton (but was getting ready to) but let Jake finish his own game so we won. Jake was beast. Totally took the game (not sure how Ozzie didn't pry the win from his hands). Also, we still can't f***ing score. They went up against a guy who has thrown the ball pretty well himself. In fact, the Sox scored 1 run against him after scoring 25 runs the previous two games in the previous matchup.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 18, 2011 -> 11:53 PM) The Rays know what they're doing. And they've got a billion picks coming up in next month's draft. They are playing a video game in real life. That's like the only way I can describe that. They lost Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena (who cares), and their entire bullpen, a member of their rotation, their starting SS, and it's no big deal. Seriously, WTF? That's the kind of s*** you pull off in OOTP, not with a major league team. The Rays are like quite literally the polar opposite of the White Sox. I'm a Sox homer - not as big as some, but more than most - so I want to clarify that and point out that I don't mean that in any negative connotation whatsoever, because both styles can work. But the Rays don't resign their free agents, they make tons of trades to bring in young players, they use the prospects within their system for their major league team and nothing else, and they build, manage, and coach their team through sabermetric philosophies. The White Sox have done, for the most part, none of those things over the past 10 years. Neither style is necessarily wrong (I think both are wrong, personally, but the Rays are forced to do so because they are not a wealthy franchise, not by choice), it's just attacking the monster with different tactics.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ May 18, 2011 -> 04:03 PM) Usually a trade like they gave up to the Rangers for Tex would kill a team, and although it probably hurt them a bit, they really don't get flacked on that much because they can recover so easily from what should have been a devestating blow. Neftali Feliz, Elvis Andrus, and Matt Harrison (as well as Saltalamacchia and Beau Jones) and the Braves don't even need a thing of it. Maybe Frank Wren wanted to show his total incompetence as a trading partner just to prove how superior the Braves' player development is compared to the rest of the league.

If he didn't, Hawk totally should have said "There's your run" when Dunn hit the sac fly. Because this time, he would have been right. Why does it seem like the Sox always win 1-0 games against Cleveland?

QUOTE (Pale Sox @ May 18, 2011 -> 11:42 PM) Obviously his health is far from a sure bet. But it is very nice to know that after such rare/serious surgery he is still capable of being a dominant pitcher. I don't know that anybody knew what to expect, and this has to be pretty damn close to (if not) the best case scenario. The gist I got the entire time was that it didn't seem like there would be many problems with him coming back, just that it was a really unique injury.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 18, 2011 -> 02:48 PM) I find it amazing to believe that the Braves have been 5 runs worse than us on the basepaths. That's got to be what, 15 extra outs on the basepaths? Yeah, half a win.

I would suggest trying to find a way to get Buehrle in the lineup as well.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 18, 2011 -> 01:48 PM) None at all. If we got rid of 2 pitchers and tossed in the season, I'd want to see Humber stay in the rotation to find out if he can roll this for a full season, and I'd want Sale in AAA. Galaragga has a solid fastball slider combo but has zero consistency on his release point. He's the kind of guy who might work well in Cooper's system. Maybe it's a 1/20 shot, but answer me this...who else do we have who deserves a shot at starting for the big league team? There's no one from AAA who deserves a spot. If you threw in the towel, why would Sale be in AAA? You may as well start him in the majors and if he can only go 4 or 5 innings, than so be it.