caulfield12

Technically, despite 11 runs allowed the first two games, they still entered as 4th or 5th in AL bullpen ERA entering today's games. Want to say 4th. But surely during this 4-14 stretch, it has to be the worst bullpen in the AL by a safe margin. Not enough to wipe out the first 33 games of good work though.

Jones has a good slider in the sense Addison Reed had one...just can't locate it consistently enough for strikes. Putnam deserves more opportunities again. He was a huge pleasant surprise two years ago. Duke sucks. Hated that deal. Hahn trying to outsmart baseball. Didn't work. Jennings is fine for second lefty. Albers doesn't have ANY confidence at the moment. Shouldn't use him in high leverage again...not any time soon. Yes, as Greg mentioned last year....Robertson on paper is better than reality, and he has shown a propensity for blowing games the last couple of seasons, more than you would expect for "elite" closer status and Top 3 closer salary. Purke has looked decent. Kahnle should never have been in the situation he found himself in yesterday...being forced to intentionally walk those two. Jones-like FB but without much movement...get behind in the count and you get hit hard. Really missing the "good" version of Jake Petricka from the last couple of years. Our main injury so far this year.

Got the order of those games and walks out of whack...but the point still stands about rallies being fueled by late inning walks 90% of the time.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ May 29, 2016 -> 03:37 PM) No kidding, it's incredibly frustrating watching these relievers just waste pitches hoping the opposing batters will chase. Then before you know it the count is full and here comes a walk And KC was last in the AL entering this game in walks. But every single rally in these three games was related to a huge walk (or more). Infante/Escobar Jennings LHP walking Dyson, a LHB FRI Then again today.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ May 29, 2016 -> 03:37 PM) No kidding, it's incredibly frustrating watching these relievers just waste pitches hoping the opposing batters will chase. Then before you know it the count is full and here comes a walk And KC was last in the AL entering this game in walks. But every single rally in these three games was related to a huge walk (or more). Infante/Escobar Jennings LHP walking Dyson, a LHB FRI Then again today.

It would be Shuck or Leury Garcia for Jackson. Renteria's the clear choice for interim and potential for an extension if he rights this sinking ship. No way in hell it would be Bell. I'd almost like to see KW pull a Dan Jennings and put his job on the line as manager. Now that, at least, would be entertaining.

It would be Shuck or Leury Garcia for Jackson. Renteria's the clear choice for interim and potential for an extension if he rights this sinking ship. No way in hell it would be Bell. I'd almost like to see KW pull a Dan Jennings and put his job on the line as manager. Now that, at least, would be entertaining.

And, unless you just want to completely rebuild starting at midseason, you absolutely have to let Renteria try with this team to turn things around and see if some of the younger players (see KC) who have never had an opportunity could be the foundation for a playoff contender next year... Especially Saladino and Anderson. Ironic, in the sense that both can't play at the same time. Need a decision once and for all on Garcia. Otherwise, you have to trade Frazier/Cabrera/Lawrie and start the great Eaton/Quintana/Sale sweepstakes. Hopefully Abreu can rebound as well...because a below average fielding low 700ish OPS 1B isn't worth a thing on the trade market.

Everyone's going to jump all over me, but I don't see Cleveland beating KC for the division. There's just something about their chemistry and resilience that no other team can match..despite throwing out a line-up of scrubs AND Hosmer/Cain/Escobar/Morales. Throughout this series, we let Hosmer beat us. Cain there as well in the 8th. But obviously, so did Orlando and Eibner and a host of other unknowns like Butera and Cuthbert. Merrifield looks like a young Zobrist against us. Cuthbert's a better defender than Moustakas, and they weren't missing too much with the way Gordon was hitting.

Harrelson did say the clubhouse was the quietest after yesterday that he could remember. Well, after today...that's a Zombie Death Flight to NYC. Sorry, misinterpreted what Fathom wrote before reading the article. That's the one thing you almost never get out of either Hahn OR Ventura, any emotion at all. Sometimes it can be helpful, but not necessarily to act like a bird with its head in the sand ignoring everything going on around him.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 29, 2016 -> 03:20 PM) Have you read the Paul Sullivan article? Maybe the least Positive remarks I have ever heard from a contending manager From Yost? He's one of the most positive managers in baseball, I would be shocked if he said anything negative about another manager. If it's not him, it's Banister with the Rangers.

14 runs surrendered by the bullpen. Not even upset anymore. Just expected it to happen after two games in a row like this... Now we might have Austin Jackson out with a quad or hamstring injury, going into NY and facing another World Series team. Poor Chris Sale got screwed. Orlando's catch against Austin Jackson was probably the play of the game so far to limit it to a SAC FLY. Second biggest, probably Cuthbert's extended at-bats against Sale, 10 pitches, walk...forced the pen into the game. Same thing happened against CLE with Jose Ramirez and Juan Uribe. Sole possession of 3rd place unless we miraculously get a rally against Wade Davis here. Tigers aren't far behind for 4th.

Five really good plays already by the defense. Saladino against Escobar, Jackson catch, Saladino throw for DP to 1B, Melky Cabrera throw to second to nab Eibner off the bag and then Eaton's sliding catch in RF to end the 3rd.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ May 29, 2016 -> 12:49 PM) The Royals f***ing suck. Of all the good BBQ in KC, they have Sweet Baby Ray's as a home plate advertiser. They don't deserve to win this game if the baseball gods know what's right. Gates, Arthur Bryant's, Oklahoma Joe's...KC Masterpiece, when they had a restaurant on the Country Club Plaza. Saladino at least has saved one run, if not two...with his defense today.

Lovely situational hitting there, Garcia. Wasn't even close to a strike. Impossible for anyone but Vladimir Guerrero to hit that one. Saladino .266 BA, .269 OBP. Not so easy to do. Splinter from TMNT or Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon with the facial hair.

Lovely situational hitting there, Garcia. Wasn't even close to a strike. Impossible for anyone but Vladimir Guerrero to hit that one.

Volquez falling asleep and Navarro steals one on the pitcher to stay out of the DP situation there. Onus now on Garcia to drive at least one run in.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ May 29, 2016 -> 12:41 PM) How was the Abreu play a poor one? Very simple. That dugout has a very distinctive corner. He took an angle straight into the corner and caught his hip on it. If he rounded it, basically reading it off the bat right away and just put his head down and got over there a bit faster instead of drifting with the ball into the dugout railing, it would have been a MUCH easier play. 2-1 Royals. Lawrie into third, need to tie this game, at the very least.

Nice aggressive baserunning by Abreu on the bleeding single up the middle...not hit that well into CF and Jose read it well to get to 3B.

Abreu now 2/16 on the season against KC. And of course the Orioles are blowing their 4-0 lead against CLE as well. 4-3. Great!

Now the question is whether the White Sox offense can get anything at all going against Volquez?? Because those were two great plays in one inning...sandwiching a pretty poor one by Abreu. Sale as a starter against KC..., .277 BAA, against the rest of the AL as a starter (even MN), only .218. Have won the season series every year from 2011-2015. Saladino, btw, with a great relay throw to get the runner at 1st. He has to be on that field instead of Rollins just for the sake of his defensive superiority.

The version where the Royals hit .377 against Sale last year. Hosmer and Alex Gordon have the most hits against him of any LHB. To top it off, Volquez was 5-0 against the Sox with a mid 1's ERA last year. Great play by Austin Jackson and the earlier play by Saladino save it from being a 4-0 lead early.

If Abreu had practiced more with foul pop-ups around that dugout, he would have made that play pretty easily. Got caught up on the corner. But should have taken a slightly different angle to get around it and could have caught the ball without much effort.

No way Eaton could have been safe there without a big enough lead...and just a so-so or average jump. Needs to be at least 11 feet off 1B. Has never really got his confidence (and technique) going 100% as a member of the Sox to consistently be a basestealer. Streaky, at best.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/28/us/nba-playe...shot/index.html Former ISU Cyclones player Bryce Dejean-Jones...currently had just finished rookie season with NOLA Pelicans. Apparently a case of trying to enter (well, "break into") wrong apartment, exactly one floor off from where his girlfriend was staying. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15792680...t-wound-abdomen