caulfield12

Bama taking it to A+M so far. LSU/UF still to come tonight... Michigan is going to be tough to beat right now, especially at home.

Volquez was at 95-97 yesterday, Ventura already amped up by that crowd...97-98 mph in the first. Just 4 hits surrendered in last 19 innings now. As good as the Jays' offense is, having Gordon and Rios at 8/9 in the order shows their overall depth in terms of quality... Price getting the Royals to swing at everything, big DP. Zobrist might end up back at first with the review.

One theory presented was overwork or new innings highs (see someone like Arrieta) having that catch up in the postseason, especially when you're there year after year like the Rays or Dodgers or Cardinals...

The new Spielberg/Hanks Cold War spy thriller is performing and has been reviewed pretty similarly to Captain Phillips.

How can Iowa be playing this well with their third string TB? And dominating on the defensive line? And without their best WR as well? In Evanston? The whole world is turned upside down these days. It's crazy the main opponent that remains between Iowa and an undefeated season is Minnesota then MI/OSU. Would have been absolutely elated with 8-4 after the last four mediocre seasons.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blue-jays-ace-dav...17301--mlb.html Didn't realize Price was 2-6 with a 5.04 post-season ERA. That's Kershaw-esque. Close to a must win with the suddenly confident Cueto looming for Game 3.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Oct 16, 2015 -> 10:41 PM) In 2003 they had a two game lead over the Twins with I think 15 to go. Lost the last two games at home of the Twins series and were swept away the following week. They had the horses in 2003 and pissed it away. Again the had a three game lead in 2012 with I think 17 to go and completely fell apart and handed the division to Detroit. They had enough to win it to in 2012 and pissed it away. Ditto for blowing golden chances in 2006 by falling apart in the second half and 2010 when they had a lead in August, every relief pitcher seemingly went on the DL and they fell apart. The only consistent thing about the Sox the past 15 years has been poor second halves which has cost them dearly. How would this franchise look today, how would more importantly the perception of the franchise look if they got into the playoffs in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012? Alas we'll never know because the Sox keep blowing good chances. I'll repeat something I said earlier someplace, 'blind' loyalty towards anything...a religion, a baseball team, a government I don't care what it is, is dangerous in my opinion. Mark The Twins from 2002-2010 (with the aberration of the coin flip 50/50 guess and Blackout Game win), the Indians from 1995-2001, the Blue Jays and A's in the 80s and early 90s....then the Tigers more recently (2006, 2011-2014) and finally the Royals.

Ole. Here I will agree with Dick Allen (amazingly enough). That 1990 one was my all-time favorite season...with the exception of 2005. If we hadn't won it all, it would be a tossup. 2006 was mostly fun, and 2003. 2010 and 12, you always had the sense we just didn't have the horses. Complaining doesn't help, but neither does blind optimism and loyalty earned by being better than Bill Veeck merely in terms of spending on the team, keeping the team in Chicago and getting a new ballpark (another big miss like Sportsvision, White Flag and 1994 though) and 2005. Meanwhile, that original investment is worth hundreds of millions more...so what do we actually owe and for how long?

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Oct 16, 2015 -> 09:25 PM) Love some Salvy he's so awesome. 5 years $7 million. Royals win the World Series, they definitely rip it up and reward him, like we did with Alexei in a way.

Right, they could have used Morales or Duffy/Medlen as well. That's why walking Morales to set up the DP and keeping the lead at four would have made the decision a bit more interesting for Yost. Meanwhile, Royals have only given up four true hits in their last 18 innings of work.

Hochevar instead of Davis is scary...even with a five run lead. But bottom of Toronto order coming up.

Hosmer getting more confident again with his batting stroke. Hawkins sucks. Can't believe he's still pitching. Gibbons should have walked Morales to set up another DP and kept it at a four run deficit.

Thompson just hasn't earned that amount of street cred yet.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 16, 2015 -> 07:30 PM) and yet I spent a month last year saying why it was a terrible idea for the sox to spend that kind of money on him. Yeah, mostly arguing with Dick Allen if I remember correctly...although there were a few others as well.

Tulo ends up batting there, would have been another four out save for Davis. Crisis averted. Did Greg predict a loss this specific game or just Toronto winning the series overall? I guess he will return soon to bet against Ventura and Cueto.

Interesting not to use lefty Morales against Smoak here. Huge out there. Former Twin and Sox killer Collabello now.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 16, 2015 -> 08:36 PM) Hating on the Royals is so 2014, get with the times. Hosmer and Moustakas still suck, but other than that, whatever. It's funny to see the contrast between them and the Cubs. One team doesn't strike out and always makes contact. The other team hits a homer, walks, or strikes out. Yeah, now 60-70% of SoxTalk is open to the possibility of acquiring Puig. Other than Rios, there's nobody you can dislike too much, well, also Ventura. Sal Perez is great for KC, like another version of Buck O'Neill. Even Hosmer partied with the fans and bought a huge bar a round of drinks. He's just cocky bordering on arrogant. Zobrist is a great interview, Cueto's flamboyant, you have the track team with Dyson and Gore again...Cain's really fun to watch play defense. You've got guys throwing 100 in Herrera and occasionally Ventura. Alex Gordon should have a Lifetime movie about his perseverance in becoming the best LF in baseball defensively. He and Zobrist are just solid guys overall. Holland, too. Morales will win Comeback Player of the Year, Chris Young won last year. Then you've got Medlen making history with two TJ surgeries (Capuano as well). Paulo Orlando could have his own movie about going from a Brazilian footballer and track star and nearly a decade in the minors. Madson was injured for 3-4 years and struggling to get back in the game.

Harvey and Lester tmrw at 630, Arrieta vs. TBD on Sunday. Remember 1969!

KC is playing confidently again after that miracle comeback in Game 4. Relaxed and free/easy. Just like the White Sox in 2005 and KC before Bumgarner last year. Ventura and Cueto are going to come right at them...the KC starters get on a roll together, not even the Cubs or Jays will be able to stop them. Basically just three hits (Moustakas should have had an error) in the last 15+ innings. Even Bubba Starling is tearing up the AFL. Goins can really play some defense. Huge DP there to stay in the game.

Biggest at bat of the game there... Huge K. Bullpen time. Volquez at fuel gauge empty. Gutty performance. And yet another starter we could have had (more cheaply as well) than Shark for multiple seasons, and we'd even have Semien, Phegley and Bassitt back. There's a team very close to .500, based on this year's performances. Swap out Morales for LaRoche and things get really interesting...we're then able to add local kid Ben Zobrist at the deadline. But we chose poorly...to quote an Indiana Jones movie.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 16, 2015 -> 07:52 PM) I get what you're saying. But haven't you read through this thread? Soxtalk will never be the same again if the Cubs win it all. Well, yeah, saying we have to suck for seven years to get to where the Cubs are now...well, that has already been mission accomplished. Maybe we can have a ceremony on board an aircraft carrier as well. Except for 26-5 in 2010 (but beaten by the stupidity of swapping out Thome for Kotsay) and 5 1/2 months in 2012 when we all suspected the Tigers were the better overall team and you had Ventura vs. Leyland.

There should be a SoxTalk Cubs' watch/view party to cheer against them in the World Series...if it gets that far. Was there anything organized in 2003?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 16, 2015 -> 07:37 PM) This wasn't a development year! We spent the whole offseason saying we were going to be there at the end of the season. We said that on the day of the trade deadline! The irony is that Yost would have been fired and Moore in hot water as far as keeping his job if KC lost that wild card. He definitely would have been gone with no playoff appearance. Meanwhile, the White Sox fans are expected to be more loyal to KW, Hahn and JR when their leaders have accomplished far less with those past seven years than Moore, who, once again, would have been fired (possibly) had they lost the WC game. Yost was gone for sure. And this for a franchise with 1/3rd the broadcast rights revenues the White Sox receive. And yet zero threat of anyone in Chicago losing their job...and even then, Ventura will be sacrificed to the fans despite the fact that KW and Hahn are the main ones responsible for the product on the field.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Oct 16, 2015 -> 07:44 PM) I'll bring back the Alex Rios theme song. This means Greg will also have to cheer for Alex Rios after 4 years of criticizing him. Oh, the humanity!

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 16, 2015 -> 07:28 PM) lmao. you're kidding, right? Well, maybe just the posters who are particularly piqued anytime something positive is said about KC. Last year, the response was they were just lucky, sucked for a long time, wouldn't repeat/flukey, Yost was a terrible manager and emulating their rebuild would require sucking for 28 years. Well, no, it took them six and one-half or seven years to build a consistent contender. Moore became GM on June 8th, 2006, exactly when the White Sox "dynasty" was peaking that year. By year 7, they were ten games over .500 and competitive at the end of the season. Then two consecutive ALCS appearances and the resources to definitely get at least one more. Of course, it has also been seven years of rebuilding for the White Sox and nobody is even expecting .500 in Year 8. And that's with the Royals getting a tiny share compared to the Tigers or White Sox for RSN. They've gone from 26th to 25th to 10th this season in attendance as well. We were 24th, 28th and 26th. Surprise, surprise...winning (even though they lost to SFG) leads to more fan support.