caulfield12

QUOTE (shysocks @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 01:42 PM) Then you aren't balta enough. The team really had a buzz or excitement around them the first couple of weeks, largely because of Micah Johnson's play. Then you had the Sale injury...it's hard to say exactly WHAT transpired, but the air kind of went out of the balloon. Now, the focus will be on our starting pitching, defense, fundamentals, offensive approach...bullpen. Every aspect of this team, which will be an overreaction, but that always happenS when you start slowly out of the game as opposed to starting 7-3 and then getting swept by KC. This will be 7-19 in their last 26 games against KC.

Ventura one batter too late to save this game. Danks about to go to 7-1 lifetime against KC.

Danks will finally turn 30 on tax day, April 15th. Seems like he has been around longer than Brian Cardinal when he played for Purdue. On the plus side, Danks has looked good this game....well, UNTIL NOW. OOPS. That should have been the second homer of the game for Sal Perez.

Guerra warming up...

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 01:35 PM) I don't think Eaton is that fast in the basestealing sense. Great catch, though. Micah may never get on base to steal. Who else is fast? 0-3 is unacceptable. Alexei and Garcia, Sanchez will pick up some steals... Eaton is VERY fast, he's just not adept or confident about baserunning. Cabrera can run a bit, too...maybe not like Alex Rios, but he's not a base clogger, either. Tim Anderson's going to a big weapon, too...if he can refine his raw speed and tools with the help of the minor league coaching staff.

Here we go again. 5th time in 6 innings the Royals have put their leadoff man on base. Playing with fire. Cain with 5 hits in 11 AB's. Heck, looking at the Royals' averages right now is like a waking nightmare.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 01:32 PM) Even if he doesn't get a complete game, were in the Herrera/Davis/holland part of the pen now You mean the 2005 White Sox bullpen magic act. Except the Royals have "repeatability" with even more depth down there this season...with the possible exception of lefty specialists as Collins is out for the season.

Pretty much any team in baseball could have had Volquez 2-3 seasons ago. Unfortuntely, we ended up with the wrong phenom (for us) in Francisco Liriano (in 2012).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 01:25 PM) Your obsession with me is quite flattering. Give me an address, I'll send you an autographed photo. I'm surprised you are even following this one with Gordon Beckham "unfairly" out of the line-up... If there was ANY time to reassert their presence in this game...this is it for the White Sox, after the Royals couldn't score Orlando there.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 01:20 PM) Per usual, your post is incredibly hard to follow or make sense of. You weren't around the last two or three years, I guess. Kind of an "inside joke." Dick Allen's favorite historical topic is criticizing Don Cooper's "greatness" and/or praising Gordon Beckham. Today, as John Danks is his second favorite player....it's essentially impossible to criticize Cooper since Danks is pitching pretty well. Or he'd have to make the case Danks is doing it all by himself, without any aid or assistance from the pitching coaches/staff.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 01:17 PM) A slow start would be a killer to any momentum gained during the offseason First big league hit for former White Sox farmhand Paulo Orlando. Congrats...after so many years laboring in the minors, waiting for his opportunity. 400 meter relay sprinter there...I remember all the quotes about him and Anderson Gomes being the fastest players the White Sox ever brought on board, at least international signings. With the current fear Sox fans (and some players) have for the Tigers and Royals....not even to mention the Indians and their starting rotation, it's not going to take much to set everyone into a panic.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 01:17 PM) Man in 2013 I had season tickets in row two of 102 and just got to watch Cain be a gazelle out there. The guy is a beast. How about a walk? No one on this team is making Volquez work nor did they in game 1 or 2. Are you questioning our team's offensive approach??? LOL. Dick Allen will smite you with another Cooper reference. Of course, today, he's not able to go down that rabbit hole since Danks is one of his favorites.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 01:14 PM) So far this season, which is just about over for some, 2 of the White Sox biggest run producers have been Flowers and Beckham, and their best starter, Danks. 75% of SoxTalk will still be around in a month, no matter what. The question is whether the rest of the fanbase will be....if they get off to a really slow start.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 01:11 PM) Man, hitting good players higher in the lineup and bad ones lower is not mumbo jumbo. It's the simplest thing. Gordon has a sore wrist...lingering issue. That's part of the reason, and why he's not in the line-up today following a night game. Temperature down 7 degrees in the last hour or so.

Weather there takes a possible dinger away from Perez. So they're probably even now with the defensive plays made by Cain/Moustakas.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 01:03 PM) Agree with all of this. And I'm not judging the Sox just based on this opening series. With that said, you can see the stark differences in the two teams. As I've said before, as long as we some improvement in the record and performances from our core guys, I'm OK with whatever happens this season. I'm not pegging them as a playoff team, but with the way this core is built, it doesn't need to happen this year. The problem is where are we going to get this defensive improvement? We're locked in with our outfield for the next three years, probably...unless they DH Avisail. Anderson on the infield isn't bringing plus defense, at least at this point. At best, Johnson/Sanchez are the equivalent of Beckham defensively. You might see some marginal improvements from Conor and Abreu, but they're not going to bench Abreu for LaRoche. Finally, we all know the pluses and minuses of Tyler Flowers. (And I do believe the best teams like the Cardinals and even the Royals with Sal Perez, Giants with Posey, Pirates with Russell Martin, etc., have a key presence behind the dish).

Fathom's prediction of LaRoche being an early whipping boy might be coming to fruition. Of course, in any other weather conditions and 75% of other stadiums, he'd had a home run on the board already today.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 12:56 PM) From what I've read, no one has underestimated their offensive prowess, just their starting pitching. Which I have to agree could be an issue. Duffy has to return to the way he was pitching before going down to injury in the last six weeks of 2014. Volquez essentially has to replicate Shields. He can't do that leadership-wise, but with 200 IP and solid numbers. All he has to do is follow his Pirates' blueprint, which is keeping the ball in play, limiting pitch counts and not worrying about K's or radar gun readings as much as in the past. Then you've got a maturing Y.Ventura, Vargas, Guthrie....Hochevar, Sean Manaea, Finnegan, Zimmer, etc.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 12:53 PM) That's why you don't bunt with a guy who's hitting .500. Well, it definitely didn't work out that time. Although it was quite close to being bases loaded, no outs...and the game could easily have been just about over with how this series has been going for the Sox. Key early moment, for sure. That's what is so beautiful about the game.

2014 Moustakas (pre-playoffs) showing up there. That pitch was RIGHT THERE, but just got under it too much. Harrelson, if it was a Sox hitter...."Dad gummit, just missed it by 1/16th of an inch."

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 12:51 PM) I like Danks' new delivery So do the Royals. WOW. That would have been a HUGE disaster....almost didn't get the runner at first there.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 12:50 PM) Just when you thought Danks was turning the corner... Danks also had one of the slowest delivery to home times in baseball last year, fwiw. Used to be very good at holding and picking off runners, ala Buehrle.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 12:48 PM) I'm tired of being tired of our opponents all the time in the Central. Sox need to own somebody in their own division. Other than Minnesota...who looks to suck the entire season as they wait for Sano/Buxton/Meyer to blossom.

Orlando/Luis Silverio was part of the Dave Wilder fiasco... Signed in tryout camp in Brazil. WEIRDNESS.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 9, 2015 -> 12:47 PM) Try to do the splits, and do a flurry of flips, then make a human pyramid, and hold someone up over your head with your palms. He might have a point. He's obviously an avid viewer of the BRING IT ON series. Or Step Up, lol.