caulfield12

Well, we're currently 1 1/2 games out of first place and 1 1/2 games out of 4th. (Tigers will have something to say soon about that 4th place position, as will Matz and deGrom against our 4/5 starters). Talk about a bunched up division. But how we got there, nobody would have believed in a million years before this year started that we'd be almost 24-10 and then go 4-15 to follow. 2 games over .500, probably exactly where 80% of the board had the Sox barring major additions.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 30, 2016 -> 02:12 PM) Anyone that quotes that movie gets an applause from me!! http://www.foxsports.com/north/story/littl...rs-later-072614

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ May 30, 2016 -> 02:10 PM) Today wasn't just about the bunt though. Robin also batted Shuck 5th, started Rollins over Saladino against a RHP, pulled Albers for Duke when the batter had stronger splits against LHP (plus burned two relievers late in a one run game), & pinch-hit in the 9th with Navarro over Avi & Saladino. Just an absolutely horrific display of managing today. http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/...ng3/neil-walker You might want to give him a break on that one...over a THREE year time period, a 200 OPS differential is pretty darned significant. That's over 280 ab's against LHP and 1253 against RHP. 37 at-bats in two months of one season vs. that consistent track record, SAMPLE SIZE SAMPLE SIZE SAMPLE SIZE. That's why baseball is so hard. Has Walker really become a different/better hitter in his early 30's and figured something out? Perhaps. The same thing definitely happened with Moustakas last year, where you'd pretty much learned by the end of the season that he was taking a completely different approach offensively and driving lots of balls to the opposite field instead of pulling into the shift.

QUOTE (soxfan85 @ May 30, 2016 -> 01:57 PM) Absolutely, man. I was being sarcastic. But, I did hear via media A LOT about his veteran leadership, etc. Hence, the sarcasm. However, it really upsets me that at the very end of free agency, guys like Desmond and Fowler were available. Two guys that REALLY could have helped with this team right now with their bats, etc.. Instead, we end up with Jackson and Rollins. Again, dumpster diving and expecting results. It gets tiring. That poor kid drafted with the Samardzija compensation pick is going to have the weight of the world on his shoulders from a message boards perspective. The odds of him even making the major leagues are about 50/50 at best. All we needed was Desmond for SS/OF and/or another bat (DH/OF, preferably LH).

Yeah, the biggest concern for the Mets was Harvey the third time through the order. (If he made it that far). Before those first two runners reached that inning, only 2 of the previous 45 or 46 batters the White Sox sent up against him in 2013 and 2016 had reached. I don't know what his numbers are the 3rd time facing a line-up, but I'm guessing the BAA has to be .350-.400 with a correspondingly high OPS number as well.

But the best teams in baseball always create their own luck...and ALWAYS capitalize on walks (especially late in games) and other team's mistakes. Like the Twins last decade, they play fundamentally sound baseball and often that ends up with the result of the White Sox simply beating themselves. The weirdest part of this whole situation is that the White Sox were playing the same style of baseball as the Royals for the first 33 games. Lots of stringing hits together in bunches but not necessarily a ton of homers, great bullpen and close to dominant defense (if you add in the throwing arms of Cabrera and Eaton). Battling every at-bat and making pitchers work deep in counts instead of just going up here with no plan at all of how to attack that pitcher's weaknesses. There was this feeling that Todd Frazier at 3B had really shored up the left side of that infield, which had been a trouble spot since Joe Crede. If Ventura wasn't the manager, I'd say this whole situation was inexplicable but we've seen it too often before to be thoroughly surprised anymore.

The only way it could have turned out worse would have been the Mets intentionally walking Frazier and then Shuck, just up from the minors but for some inexplicable reason thrust into the 5 hole (he's LH, therefore he should hit Harvey, who is right-handed I guess) rolled into a double play... Fireable offense. (Trademark pending, temporary copyright issued to Greg.) Rollins playing against a RHP (despite his career numbers against Harvey) who's throwing 95-98...not good. Saladino actually has shown an ability to hit some of the better pitchers in baseball (oddly enough) during his brief time in the big leagues.

The only way it could have turned out worse would have been the Mets intentionally walking Frazier and then Shuck, just up from the minors but for some inexplicable reason thrust into the 5 hole (he's LH, therefore he should hit Harvey, who is right-handed I guess) rolled into a double play... Fireable offense. (Trademark pending, temporary copyright issued to Greg.) Rollins playing against a RHP (despite his career numbers against Harvey) who's throwing 95-98...not good. Saladino actually has shown an ability to hit some of the better pitchers in baseball (oddly enough) during his brief time in the big leagues.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ May 30, 2016 -> 01:36 PM) I've always been one who never understood the apathy of fans in buying tickets to games. However, I must say I'm in that club now. I was planning to not only hit the series with the Angels in Anaheim this summer, but also planning a trip back to Chicago for another series. If I spent a couple of thousand dollars though only to see Robin blow games, I would be so pissed. I can't allow it to happen. I'll spend my summer in Vegas and use the money on strippers instead. I know my loss of ticket revenue for 3 games (I know the Anaheim games don't count) won't make a difference to the organization, but maybe if enough fans stay away long enough, Reinsdorf will finally understand that a managerial move needswe to be made. This organization's fans deserve better than it is getting. I loved Robin as a player and was very supportive of him when hired as manager. However, the plug should have pulled after 2 years of ineffective leadership and there's no way he would have lasted through 3 years with any other team. The fact he continues to lead us into nowhere land for a 4th year is unacceptable. Bring back Ozzie and I'll be back to help create Hell in the Cell for other AL teams. Until than, I'll be sitting at the rail of various titty bars giving my dollars to single moms and college students. Waiting to hear Greg's comments on this one...we will gain some insight into the local strip club scene in Lawrence, lol. Otoh, probably some complaints and pontificating about the general lack of affordability of strippers for the "common man" in contemporary America. I'm with you. I was so excited to come back to the US and see the White Sox in first place finally. Went to the game last year near the trade deadline where Samardzija dominated the Blue Jays before the bottom fell out of his season.

This string of 1-2 run games (mostly losses) is incredible. Offense just not leaving any margin for error. And obviously the bullpen. Odds of Abreu not striking out here?

I can't ever recall a manager in early May going from the clear favorite for AL/NL Manager of the Year to fired in the span on one month. Has it ever happened?

Familia struggled with a tie game and 4 run lead this weekend but zero blown saves. We're quite familiaR with that whole "closer in a non-save" situation from this past weekend going awry. 4.07 ERA. 2-1 record.

QUOTE (Tony @ May 30, 2016 -> 01:36 PM) It doesn't matter anymore, but Robin just pulled Albers with 2 outs for Duke to come in...against Neil Walker. Walker hits .258 against RHP, .324 against LHP. Someone explain the logic? Clint Hurdle benched him against all LHP in the last couple of seasons. If you look at Walker's career splits, he was pretty terrible (against southpaws) until all of a sudden everything clicking this season. Sample size.

Of course the White Sox bullpen finally manages NOT to give up a run when they don't have a lead to protect...

Sac bunting leading to no runs. Of course, inevitably the next half inning leads to a run for the opposition after Frazier and Shuck can't come through. Addison Reed dominating the White Sox. What else can go wrong? We already got Matt Harvey back on track, might as well do the same thing for Familia. Poor Jose Quintana is back into his old pattern of pitching like an ace and having nothing at all to show for it.

Sac bunting leading to no runs. Of course, inevitably the next half inning leads to a run for the opposition after Frazier and Shuck can't come through. Addison Reed dominating the White Sox. What else can go wrong? We already got Matt Harvey back on track, might as well do the same thing for Familia. Poor Jose Quintana is back into his old pattern of pitching like an ace and having nothing at all to show for it.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 30, 2016 -> 12:45 PM) One trend that has continued from last year is Sox are bad at tags and horrible at sliding 75-80% of that was Alexei's fear of contact. Micah Johnson obviously not very good, either.

83 pitches now. Bullpen countdown should be starting soon... Cabrera throws out his 2nd runner in the last week. Not even close at 2nd. Now 10/18 against Q...but 1 for his last 17 overall with 8 k's. Slumping. Streaky hitter, obviously. Almost hit it out, gave the fans something to cheer. Quintana sitting on 85 pitches going to the 7th.

Yeah, KW's current popularity with the fanbase is somewhere between Omar Minaya's in PHA (although he actually made some good moves there at the end trading for prospects) and the two main presidential candidates in 2016.

90 and 91 mph sliders making Erik Johnson, John Danks, Putnam and Zack Duke jealous. Somehow Alex Avila has only 2 RBI's in nearly 70 AB's. That's not so good. Quintana at 73 pitches. Probably 2, 3 innings tops left in his arm. Then who knows what fates the gods have in store for the Sox faithful.

Take that back. Harvey 14 1/3 career IP now against Sox, no runs yet. Ty Kelly with his first MLB hit...over 3000 minor league plate appearances, 27-28 year old rookie journeyman.

When it rains, it pours. Meanwhile, the rest of the AL Central is creating their own good luck in recent weeks to all get back in it. But at least Lawrie has pink vampire fangs. Good giveaway item for the Sox promotions department if there are any fans left in August and September.

Yeah, they had guys like Zumaya and Rodney, but they rarely all functioned together as a unit...that was Detroit's biggest Achilles' heel over the last decade. Greg Holland didn't have dominant stuff, as well. You don't have to throw the ball through to be effective. Obviously, Herrera throws hard, but guys like Hochevar and Soria don't throw any harder than Albers/Jones/Kahnle/Petricka.

Sisco, Masset, Aarsdma, MacDougal, etc.