caulfield12

Especially at Wrigley, where they have those "centralized urinal islands" with just a 5 foot wall and you pretty much have to make eye contact or try not to with person across from you... Well, Greg has just given Subway a new idea for getting his business. All the Subway servers dressed in bikinis or with pasties like the baristas out in the Seattle/Portland area. Kind of like VietJet, where all the flight attendants are dressed in bikinis or sarongs. Better to go with the traditional sexual objectification of others than being threatened by those different from us or someone who makes us feel uncomfortable. Of course, Jared Fogle has nothing to do with the transgender issue and has done a lot more damage sexually to young boys than anything that will happen in all the Subways around the world the next half-century.

How many first-guessers/second guessers were already questioning having Jennings pitch to Desmond with a base open and a lefty (Mazara) following him? DJ was pretty shocked that they gave him anything to hit...especially on the inside part of the plate, which is where he ended up fighting off that pitch into LCF to tie the game. And then using Jennings against Beltre? Hmmmm...

Yeah, they were almost in the same situation with their pen for today as we were in yesterday. Didn't put much pressure on a relatively untested Dyson there by running into the automatic DP when Sanchez struck out...Jackson had a really good shot at Diekman with a 3-1 count and just couldn't do anything with two well-place up and away fastballs that he could have served into RCF. Seems like he was going too much for a homer with the 3-1 count instead of focusing more on just making solid contact. Oh, well.

Hayes and Coats aren't going to be getting regular at-bats, so it will be hard for them to maintain any type of offensive rhythm. We do need someone who can spell Abreu capably, though. He needed to be pinch-run for there in the 7th when he was obviously hurting...but apparently didn't tell anyone in the dugout or ask to be pulled. It's also not something I can ever remember the White Sox doing in competitive seasons. Bringing in untested rookies that weren't even Top 10-15 prospects and expecting them to deliver in crucial situations off the bench. Better off to bring back Shuck for Sands...and I'm not sure how Hayes is giving you much flexibility, other than the fact that he can probably play 1B better than Sands. Didn't Shuck also play 1B at least once last season?

Don't think we'll be approaching the Astros about any of their relievers, lol...unless they're just going to give Giles away instead of fixing whatever's wrong with him. Correa has a chance to drive in the winning run with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd but flies to Chisenhall. Top of the 11th now.

Some very strange decision-making in both of these games by the coaching staff. And, with Latos' ERA ballooning by the start, Hahn better be on the market for at least one more serviceable veteran because you're not going to get through the rest of the season without any more problems between him, Rodon and Miguel Gonzalez.

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ May 11, 2016 -> 03:25 PM) Robin just has a very poor feel for in game situations which is surprising considering how good he was as a player. Carroll in a 1 run game? Not bunting our weakest hitter in a 1 run game with a runner on first no out? Could have also pinch ran for Abreu there. I still don't understand how nobody on the coaching staff or bench noticed Abreu was hurting in the 7th...and then they still had him running on both occasions. And yeah, you have to get that tie run into scoring position any way possible. Carlos Sanchez is actually a pretty decent fastball hitter, but his timing is WAY off from not playing consistently in recent days. Typically, you play for the big inning or the lead (on the road), but you really have to adjust your strategy with Todd Frazier out of the game AND the fact that the Rangers were going to have to save the game with someone other than Sean Tolleson, their normal closer. Just getting the game extended was more of a priority than usual.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 11, 2016 -> 12:12 PM) So a the difference between 5 and 6 runs is the difference between using Carroll or someone else? How completely arbitrary. Against the Rangers, 5 doesn't feel out of the game to me. I bet any White Sox fan who has followed them or Harrelson for the past 30 years when they've been playing in Arlington would say the exact same thing and felt uncomfortable right away when Carroll allowed the first two runners to reach base. As I said, at Texas or Wrigley with the wind blowing out during the summer are two of the places I would make that same statement. So not arbitrary at all. And you have to look at the context, he was going right into the heart of the Rangers' line-up and their hottest hitters in Odor, Mazara and Beltre, compared to the bottom 3.

Some weird decisions today that were second or first-guessed by Darrin Jackson and Farmer. Pitching to Ian Desmond instead of walking him for the lefty/lefty match-up with the next hitter, Mazara. Letting Jennings pitch against Adrian Beltre, although that one wasn't as bad as pitching to a white-hot Desmond with a base open. Not noticing Jose Abreu was hurting and pulling him earlier in the game...he did manage to avoid the DP in the 7th by putting him in motion but you could tell something was wrong with him. Running Jose Abreu in the 9th when Carlos Sanchez hasn't been playing much and is facing a 95-97 fastball pitcher who is hard to make consistent contact with.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 11, 2016 -> 10:19 AM) Since when is a large lead a high leverage situation? His job was to not give up a billion runs and save the pen. Exactly what the last guy in the pen is supposed to do. WE've had less days off than every other team, and half the pen if not more was unavailable. 1) On the road in Texas, where no lead is ever safe...don't think I'd say that about any other stadium, maybe Wrigley when the wind's blowing out. 2) The best hitters on the Rangers were due up. 3) You had the feeling all game long, especially after Desmond's homer and then the Sox only scoring one and leaving the bases loaded (again) that it was really going to play like a 3 run lead. 4) He pitched himself into high leverage and needed to be pulled after the first or definitely the second batter reached. Mazara and Odor have simply been crushing the ball recently. You can't have a guy who crushes RHP from the left-hand side of the plate teeing off on Carroll. I think I said in the middle of that at-bat I wish he'd just give up a homer and cut the lead down to 2 because those situations have a way of continuing into huge innings as opposed to clearing the bases with a homer and having to start over. It's like the line-up keeps growing more and more confident as you keep the line moving and the pitcher can never relax with all those runners on base every time he looks around. If it was 6-7 runs, you don't worry. But 5 or under, well, anything can and will happen.

And I'm still trying to figure out what Austin Jackson did that was so egregious. It wasn't like Sands' play the night before. It might have been a slight misread and it almost felt like he wasn't tracking it....that it either carried a lot better than he expected to the deepest part of the park OR he drifted too much with it instead of sprinting across like that amazing basket catch over the weekend where he had a 96% route accuracy and was going at almost 20 MPH. Watching it on video a bunch of times, it just feels like he wasn't quite running all out and misjudged it a hair, but, once again, that ball was crushed by Desmond and certainly not close to an error. It's probably one that he catches 7 or 8 times out of 10, though.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 11, 2016 -> 10:11 AM) Hes actually been a very effective reliever in the majors believe it or not. But almost always in very low leverage situations. Other than as a starter, he hasn't often felt that type of pressure/environment as a reliever. He's not accustomed to it. You could just feel that at-bat with Mazara slipping away after the first two reached. That's why those DJ Carrasco-esque/Sean Lowe numbers are always a bit misleading. On paper, he and Jennings (another example) looked great last year, but they weren't often trusted in key situations to get the team an important victory (psychologically, for Rodon, in this case).

QUOTE (Dunt @ May 11, 2016 -> 10:00 AM) I seem to remember a lot of people saying the same exact thing about his last start against the Rangers just a mere few weeks ago 22-1 when Sale/Quintana/Latos/Gonzalez start. He can't lose with those odds!!! Alert Las Vegas. Obviously, he was great to start the season and then he hit a speed bump the last couple of outings but still kept the team in the game, which is all you can ever expect out of a 5 starter. From that perspective, he could go 2-7 his next 9 and the team would still be perfectly fine if Rodon simply did his job as expected. And, as mentioned, we've actually seen an uptick in his velocity...which is encouraging. With the way last year ended, there were a lot of assumptions that Rodon was going to be a 13-15 game winner this year. That still might happen, and he SHOULD be 2-4, but Jose Quintana knows all about just being contented with 9 wins despite pitching his --- off.

There's no reason to overreact simply because Latos isn't going to be an undefeated pitcher and few would be shocked/surprised if we lost today. After all, we were 8-2, lost 3 games in a row and played like crap and at worst we're only talking lose twice in a row when we have a 5/7 game lead in the division. We also played pretty lousy against the Orioles and I want to say the Rays. You never really expect to take 2/3 in Texas, and you're usually happy with one. Usually being the key word.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 11, 2016 -> 09:38 AM) Wtf when did he go on the dl? That makes more sense to me then. I will say then that the team put rv in a bad spot. Carroll never should have been the guy called up. Longman is not needed in todays mlb. I was out hiking all day yesterday was he put on the dl prior to the game? Well, with Rodon, Latos and Gonzalez...it seems there might be plenty of opportunities in the near future. For a couple of innings, it was looking like Rodon wouldn't make it to the 5th or even the 4th. The problem in this case is your closer was overextended the night before, Jones and Putnam both pitched (I think it was 22 pitches), Duke/Albers/Putnam were the best options in that particular situation (overall)....and clearly Jennings wasn't going out for multiple innings two consecutive nights. In the last week, Albers has seen his stuff lose its earlier crispness.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 11, 2016 -> 07:39 AM) Play the game and get the hell out of there. Thank god there's an off day tomorrow, and maybe a rain out Friday night. This pen needs a break. LOL. That's about how most probably feel, like the Orioles series around the time of riots. If you look at it, 4-2 against the Rangers still SEEMS like a good record, but it could have been better...those types of games sting more. Maybe it's because we had our first chance to get to 14 games over .500 and then you're back to 12 staring at another loss and a weekend in NY and possibly just being 10 games over when we should have had a much more comfortable margin in the division. Those two game swings happen every single day of the season in the standings, but this one hurts a lot more because losing a 5 run lead in the last couple of innings is just such a rare occurrence for an MLB team, even down its top two relievers.

This is where it would be nice to have the Cubs' farm system, lol. We could just target nearly ANYONE, Braun, Trout, Harper, doesn't matter, pretty much nobody would be off-limits completely. Granted, Soler's not worth very much at the moment, Baez might be needed instead of using him as trade bait, but they have enough pieces remaining to make similar trades to what KC did last year adding Cueto and Zobrist at the deadline. One would think the Yankees would prioritize moving Andrew Miller if they fall out of contention in July...keeping Betances and Chapman to build around for next year. What would the Sox be willing to give up for him, though? It's going to be a pretty damned steep price. Brian Cashman still remembers Contreras and Quintana getting away...although in fairness, we gave them Swisher for nothing at least.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ May 10, 2016 -> 05:30 PM) Gardner would rotate in with Jackson in CF, and with Melky in LF. On days you want to sit Avi against a RHP, Melky can DH with Gardner in LF. Other days you may want to sit Jackson so Gardner plays CF. When Eaton needs a rest Jackson can play RF with Gardner in CF. On days he's not starting he's available as a LHPH, a PR, or a defensive replacement for Melky. There is plenty of playing time for all involved. And if Avi proves to be just on his usual hot streak and goes back to his old ways, you can rotate your three outfiekders and Gardner at DH to keep everyone fresh. The problem is they're much more likely to want to trade Beltran or Ellsbury than Gardner or Chapman. When's the last time the Yankees gave up on a season and had a firesale? Theoretically, it could work...but, once again, I think the asking price for a player like Gardner's going to be higher than Hahn is willing to pay. If he wouldn't give up the draft pick that theoretically has the value of a Spencer Adams type of prospect instead of trading Shark at the end of July, he's not going to turn around and deal his second best pitching prospect (a huge future area of need) for an expensive and aging Gardner.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 11, 2016 -> 07:25 AM) Sample size. Still had a big lead. Albers pitched the previous night, I am sure Robin was hoping not to have to use him. If there are pitchers who should not ever be used on a roster, that isn't the manager's problem. But I'm sure Duke would have had no problem with Mazara, because hindsight is awesome. The move that wasn't made would have easily worked out 100% of the time. Go back to the gamethread. Fathom called it "inexplicable" if I remember correctly...that was before the count was 2-2 on Mazara I'm sure. Yes, Duke has been pretty lousy in high leverage situations against almost every lefty recently. Big Papi, Moreland and Chris Davis come to mind just from the past week alone. But you still go with statistical probability. You paid Duke $5 million per year for these specific situations, not Carroll. Everyone who has followed Sox baseball the past 30 years knows that no lead in Texas is ever safe, unless it's 7+. Duke, Putnam and Albers in no particular order were the priority relievers over Carroll once the situation started becoming a "clear and present danger."

Chapman is probably going to be the most prized reliever on the market...and that's going to mean the Yankees can extract maximum value for him. There's no way anything less than either Anderson or Fulmer gets it done. Adams+ alone won't do it. These situations where money doesn't matter to the trading team but prospects do will not end up going the way of the Sox. Our one advantage here is being able to take on payroll for underperforming or expensive assets.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 11, 2016 -> 06:49 AM) Robin took Soxtalk's advice and used Matt Albers in a high leverage situation. It didn't work out, so Robin is back to being an idiot. He should have used his gassed relievers because last night was a must win. Now the playoff hopes really take a hit. With Latos going today, another nugget is it will be a miracle if he holds them to single digits. So basically the White Sox are screwed. Mazara hits lefties at 630 and righties at 895. Duke should have been used there...once he got to Moreland, it was already a brush fire.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 11, 2016 -> 06:49 AM) Robin took Soxtalk's advice and used Matt Albers in a high leverage situation. It didn't work out, so Robin is back to being an idiot. He should have used his gassed relievers because last night was a must win. Now the playoff hopes really take a hit. With Latos going today, another nugget is it will be a miracle if he holds them to single digits. So basically the White Sox are screwed. If someone could retire Ian Desmond, that might help...

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ May 11, 2016 -> 04:58 AM) I went to bed when the Sox were winning 10-5. How in the world did they give up SEVEN runs in the 8th inning? Holy hell. Thankfully it's just one game, some of you need to realize that they're still leading the division by 7 games. While it's disappointing, losses like these happen sometimes. Unless you're discounting the Indians, it's 5 games over CLE and 7 over the Royals and Tigers. And it seems like every pundit/prognosticator/analyst is arguing the Indians are the REAL threat to the White Sox. In the end, we're going to play all three of those teams a TON in the next 6 weeks, so the best team will be apparent then. As far as everyone saying relax, don't panic, don't worry...sure, that's fine...we heard that same thing in 2012 and 2010 and 2008 and 2006 and 2004 and 2003. Just once did we hold the lead, in 2008 over the Twins, and that was by the very thinnest of margins possible. Nobody's saying the sky is falling...we saw a sense of urgency with Danks to move on, hopefully we see the same attitude from the front office regarding Sands and Carroll.

We can rationalize it by saying we've beaten the Rangers six games in a row...that we didn't really have a right to win the first game (despite two blown saves), everything evens out over 162, etc. Lip's point was that you can't give away a 5 run lead (especially on the road in Texas, where no lead is safe) with your worst pitcher on the mound...leaving him out there 1-2 batters too long. Sure, you can let Carroll start the inning, but once you get to Mazara and have a RHP/LHB match-up, you have to pull the plug and use Duke/Albers/Putnam. Mazara was hitting lefties at a 630 OPS clip and righties at 895. It's just logic to go with Duke there, THEN Albers or Putnam. And in the end, we burned even more of the pen than if we had just gone to Albers/Duke in the first place because all of those pitches for Albers were high-stress pitches...and he looked pretty fatigued, so if the goal was to preserve the bullpen in defeat, we didn't really manage to do that effectively, either.

Well, that and saying she wanted to shut down the coal business, which just so happens to still be the #1 job provider in WV. Obama was destroyed by Clinton there in 2008...fwiw. As far as the delegate race, if Bernie was within 100 of Hilary's lead (not counting the superdelegates), he'd have a point....but coming into last night it was closer to 300. The Dems have the superdelegate system, and they're almost all supporting Clinton. Whether that's "fair or not" is a question for another time and place. His main argument is that he's polling better against Trump in a general election match-up than Hilary...but Kasich is polling better than Trump against Hillary too, so it's pretty meaningless at this point.