caulfield12

Belisario warming. It's not a good thing when your O.D. 8th inning set-up guy is the next man in...the fifth inning. Of a game you're losing.

More defensive woes strike. Error on Garcia. We're headed for worst defense/worst pitching in the American League to go with our offense. Bizarro-World.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 01:45 PM) Pathetic 0-2 hanger by Paulino. That Abreu DP was momentum killing. Yep, that was the big chance to put the Indians and Masterson out of their misery. Inevitably, the White Sox give up the lead here now now. Next the local kid Kipnis strikes.

Of course. The worst thing was that it was an 0-2 pitch. Mr. 0 for the series is acting like he just won the AL Championship.

First leadoff hitter retired by Paulino. 49 strikes, 38 balls. Yikes.

Ugh. Seems like Abreu did something to his hand there. Would have been better to K.

Even when the White Sox fail miserably on a bunt, they accomplish the same thing with the wild pitch. Wonder what's wrong with Masterson? The Sox offense is already getting in pitcher's heads? Uncharacteristic wildness. It's a reversal of the Sale "Against the Indians" Effect. Masterson was 4-0, 0.83 against the Sox last year. Make 'em pay, Abreu!!!!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 08:24 AM) In this day and age, it is only a matter of when they can throw enough money at Mel to do it. Or "if they are willing..." Seems they're still quite reluctant to give him a starring role in a $100+ million picture, instead of cameos. Nobody saw DRAFT DAY, I'm guessing? Bad timing for that movie, it should be the weekend of the draft or during the actual NFL season....not in the middle of NBA/NHL/Masters/MLB time and right after the Final Four.

Royals having a rough time with the Twins.

QUOTE (ROC Sox Fan @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 01:28 PM) So pissed. My Dad jusr texted me a picture from inside The Cell. Him and my Mom flew in this morning to visit my Grandpa and must have decided to go to the game. I'm quite jealous. Hopefully he grabs me an Eaton shirt like I just asked haha. I wonder if they're smart enough to have them, or if they're all new Abreu jerseys? Which ones have been the most evident at the park (of the new/er players)? Abreu? Eaton? A. Garcia?

We've had a lot of errors, but it defensively they've been rising to the occasion (Ramirez especially) the past week when things start going sideways.

http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/...xtbeginIndex=24 Looks like it's going to be very very tough to get Sunday's game in...

Of course, after last season and Sale being 0-4 and an 8+ ERA against the Indians, you would have argued the chances were 50/50 at best of winning yesterday. But yeah...I wouldn't exactly be betting the house on the White Sox. That said, almost everybody (other than Dunn maybe) is looking like different hitters than last year...different feeling, totally different team and offensive approaches that seem to be working well so far. The Indians won 17 of 19 matchups with the White Sox during the 2013 season, and a large part of the success was courtesy of Justin Masterson. Cleveland's ace hurler posted a 4-0 record against the South Siders with two complete games, a 0.83 ERA and 29 strikeouts over 32 2/3 innings. Masterson will try to carry that dominance into 2014 with Saturday afternoon's start at U.S. Cellular Field. "I mean, I've always been good against the White Sox, historically," said Masterson, who is 8-5 lifetime with a 2.22 ERA against the White Sox. "I've probably had some bad games here or there, but I don't know if there's anything fancy about it. It's just kind of the way it is; some guys do well against certain teams more than others. "Who knows? Maybe it's because it's my dad's favorite team growing up, maybe it has something to do with that. I don't think there's anything too crazy about it. It's just I've been able to be effective." (hometown discount to sign here, haha???) Masterson will try to prevent the White Sox, who will send Felipe Paulino to the hill, from winning a third straight, after Chris Sale and the resurgent offense pushed the home team to a 9-6 victory Friday. As shown by the White Sox performance with the bats in this series, this is a different White Sox offense to be faced by the right-hander. Adam Eaton has reached base safely 12 times in his last four games. Alexei Ramirez has hit in all 11 games played this season, Conor Gillaspie has hit in nine straight and Jose Abreu makes an impact even when he's making outs. They are playing with more life and producing better at-bats, which kind of goes hand and hand. "Well, they're a better lineup. With Eaton leading off, who is more of a scrappy guy, harder to get out, makes you throw a lot of pitches," Cleveland pitching coach Mickey Callaway said. "You've got Abreu, who's kind of a game-changer. You can't just go up there and kind of take him for granted. You have to make sure that, 'Oh, OK, I might have to pitch around somebody in the lineup now.' Adding those two guys in the lineup makes them a lot better team." "One thing I will say, is I think for the most part, top to bottom, the outs that we are making, it seems like that they are deeper in the counts," White Sox designated hitter Adam Dunn said. "We are, as a team, having a lot better quality at-bats maybe than we did last year -- especially early. But again, when you are scoring runs and getting some hits, it looks pretty good." White Sox: Bullpen work can be contagious in a positive way The White Sox relief crew entered Friday's contest with a 6.75 ERA and .302 average against, ranking them 15th in the American League in both categories. But with the three innings of scoreless baseball thrown by Daniel Webb and Matt Lindstrom on Thursday, manager Robin Ventura believes success can be contagious. "When you get guys that come in from the bullpen, you have to have belief first," Ventura said. "You have to have that momentum going that everyone is doing their part and doing their job. Guys come in and they get it done. This leads to the next guy coming in and having that belief and pulling for each other. There's part of that that is true." Jake Petricka allowed two runs over two innings in relief of Sale on Friday. Maikel Cleto threw a scoreless eighth, and Donnie Veal yielded one run in the ninth. Worth noting • The White Sox have scored 37 runs over the first five games at U.S. Cellular this season. They scored 48 runs over the first 14 games at home in '13. • White Sox outfielder Alejandro De Aza celebrated his 30th birthday on Friday from mlb.com

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 07:36 AM) I think there is a significant fan problem. Last night the White Sox were by far the lowest draw in baseball. Unfortunately Tampa Bay which usually gets that honor was on the road. Obviously the season ticket sales tanked this year which is the core of most teams attendance. Hopefully the Sox react and offer packages conducive to getting fannies back in the seats. They've already attempted to do that, with lots of discounts and packages and family days. Now they're dealing with the assumption by fans that buying tickets for any April night games will be brutally cold...so everyone just waits until the 2nd half of May (except for on the Northside). We're now in last place (albeit five games, and all of them weekday until last night) in all of MLB attendance, behind TB and CLE. That's got to be setting off some alarm bells at 35th and Shields. One thing they can do is feature Abreu more prominently in ads. Hopefully he can be ROY and Top 5 AL MVP.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 07:36 AM) I think there is a significant fan problem. Last night the White Sox were by far the lowest draw in baseball. Unfortunately Tampa Bay which usually gets that honor was on the road. Obviously the season ticket sales tanked this year which is the core of most teams attendance. Hopefully the Sox react and offer packages conducive to getting fannies back in the seats. They've already attempted to do that, with lots of discounts and packages and family days. Now they're dealing with the assumption by fans that buying tickets for any April night games will be brutally cold...so everyone just waits until the 2nd half of May (except for on the Northside). We're now in last place (albeit five games, and all of them weekday until last night) in all of MLB attendance, behind TB and CLE. That's got to be setting off some alarm bells at 35th and Shields.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 12:06 AM) Buddy Bell isn't in charge of the major league roster, so I'm still not sure why you're pushing this narrative. Simply the belief that some in the front office feel Mitchell or especially Thompson has more future potential than Danks.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 11, 2014 -> 11:35 PM) Chen got rocked in 3 2/3 innings tonight vs. Minnie. Can KC keep a guy in the rotation just cause he beats the White Sox? Guthrie is slightly better than Chen. KC isn't gonna contend. If we can stay .500, big if, we can be in this race. They're not going to contend if they don't go 13-6 or 14-5 against the Twins, that's for sure.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 11, 2014 -> 10:29 PM) Sergio Santos has 4 saves The funny thing is that he was super-expendable with Reed coming behind him. But now, we could really use one more veteran down there, especially with Belisario looking so shaky. Right now, I'd go with Cleto or Webb in the 8th inning of a tie game. That's pretty scary.

Last year against CLE, 2-17. This year, 2-0.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Apr 11, 2014 -> 09:43 PM) Ya that can kind of go both ways though. We shouldn't have won the 2nd game of the season for instance. Yeah, the 3rd Twins' game, one against the Royals (the infamous pitch to Perez instead of Moustakas one) and then in Colorado when the game was tied late before the bullpen blew up. You can see this team legitimately being 7-4 instead of 6-5, but 8-3 would really be pushing it with how bad the bullpen and defense and overall pitching (other than Quintana and Sale) have been.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 11, 2014 -> 09:20 PM) Make em pay. Gillaspie has been good, but I still wish Abreu was the all time 3-hitter. Career high 4 RBI's tonight.

Nice job, Cubs' bullpen. Blew a 3-1 lead. Tied now going into the 10th in STL.

Eaton's got to change "the threat of stealing" into some actual steals...for now, he's worrying pitchers when he's over at 1st.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Apr 11, 2014 -> 09:07 PM) Mitchell hit .174/.297/.275 last year at AA and then .132/.277/.170 at AAA. I'd be enormously surprised. Former 1st round draft picks are always going to get the benefit of the doubt...Buddy Bell, until this day, still probably believes the lights are just going to go on with Mitchell and he'll become a productive ballplayer.

Two out hitting has been such a pleasant change from last year. This team will battle you... 69 runs. And we haven't gotten anything out of Abreu or Viciedo (well, the bases loaded walk was big in that situation).