caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 03:40 PM) Back-to-back HR for Hawkins and Ravelo! On consecutive pitches, to boot.

Hawkins just blasted a 2 run triple off the base of the CF wall. Good patience, he was down in the count...0-2, and recovered. Looked like a breaking ball, it just carried and carried, a lot of pop in that bat because he looked a bit off balance. One thing I don't like is that he has that bat cocked at about a 15-20 degree angle at the pitcher. There's too much loading in his hands...seems to be slowing down his swing a tad. First Hawkins homer since June 14th. BTW, Rangel Ravelo is 6th in RBI's in all of the minor leagues since coming off the DL on May 18th.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 03:33 PM) Jacob May homer Does Dick Allen have a son we can draft, lol? Probably would be too old. ODD TIDBIT: Winston-Salem won the 1985 Carolina League Championship but finished 58-81 on the year. Crazy. Ravelo and Courtney Hawkins had homers on consecutive pitches against Swindell (guess he's related to Greg) in the 5th.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 03:33 PM) Snodgress, really? Okay, I'm exaggerating a little. I watched him pitch a full game this week, and he reminded me a lot of Quintana (that's why I edited it to 2 years from now). He's not going to blow anyone away, but he's got a nifty change and decent breaking ball.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 03:29 PM) Payroll flexibility is something we already have. By 2015, we have practically nothing committed. There's a huge dropoff for next year too, even without trades. I'll put it this way. Quintana, Santiago and even Snodgress (in a couple of years) probably can pitch just as well at a fraction of the cost. The odds of Danks returning to Blackout Game/2009 form, vs. just being a really good 4 or a weak 3 starter (or another injury)....those scary salary numbers, cost/benefit analysis, best to move on if we possibly can.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 03:17 PM) I agree they are nasically going to be pocketing money they will necer spend, but it is what they have always done with the exception of last season. I would like the Sox to make a play for Logan Morrison. He seems like a douchbag, but I still think he can be a good hitter. Wasn't Nick Swisher enough? Rios for Travis Snider would be preferable. Doubt we can get Tabata, because they waited on Alvarez so long to develop and it finally paid off...so they might want to hold onto him. Just realized a couple of things. Morrison has a 992 OPS, albeit in only 70 AB's. He's only 25, feels like he is older. Finally, he went to the same JC as Albert Pujols, Maple Woods in Kansas City. How did the Royals let both of those guys get out of their own backyard?

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 03:20 PM) I don't like dumping Danks and Peavy unless Danks brings a lot more talent than I think he gets. I don't like dumping salary for s***s and giggles, though I would dump Danks if it made Peavy more likely to stay. We can then fix the imaginary "problem" of left-handedness by letting E. Johnson eventually slide into the 5th spot. I would gladly give him away for ALMOST nothing...payroll flexibility is more important than quibbling over getting a Tier B vs. Tier C prospect and holding out for too much.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 03:18 PM) I'd like to see them both be moved. That brings back talent in the Peavy trade, clears a ton of money, opens rotation spots for several rookies who have basically earned them, and solves the "4 lefties in the rotation" problem. I think keeping Peavy, they still have arguably a 25% chance to compete (that's gone with Johnson starting, probably) in 2014 and they can probably get a better return if they are out of it....well, they'll have 3 chances to trade him, now, the off-season and July 2014. If Phegley can just be a decent catcher, that solves one huge offseason problem. That said, Josh has a LOT of proving to do, even though the results these first 2 games are better than anyone could have expected or predicted. He just barely missed another homer in his first AB.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 03:16 PM) Santiago has already spent 1/3 of the season in the bullpen. He needs innings if you want him to start next year. Danks desperately needs innings to get back in shape. Quintana clearly struggled with endurance at the start of the year. Peavy has missed a month and if the Sox keep him he'll need innings as well. Axelrod, well I'm the only one who hasn't written him off because of a lack of stuff, but he's still basically a rookie and he could benefit from innings as well. Sale is going to need to get 200 innings this year if we want him to start getting 200 innings/year. I get not throwing Sale 120 pitches. Fine. But every single other person in that rotation needs innings, as does Sale. Hopefully someone will take Danks' contract and they can keep Peavy. That would be the dream scenario. Danks did get a few fastballs to 91. He's getting there, slowly.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 02:26 PM) Good lord is our post-game show bad The game is over so I'll say this, because it's annoying. After the first game (Friday night) of the White Sox/Rays series, Rongey said the score was 8-1 TWICE. Surely he couldn't have just totally blown off the 8th inning and the near comeback rally....but he did. Some nights now, there's not even anyone calling into the post-game show to b****/moan/irritate Rongey or call him a kiss ass (like Lawrence Holmes, who never wants to offend anyone in the NBA, specifically those affiliated with the Bulls) or corporate lackey, lol.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 01:59 PM) I have to see Before Sunset and Before Sunrise before I see Before Midnight before I die. It's almost a 20 year history of that "trilogy." Honestly, I don't remember the first one that well anymore. Don Draper Shot ‘The Lone Ranger’ Article for wsjonline.com By Evangeline Morphos Summer and the blockbuster movie! These big-budget, director-driven, star-helmed films are the “tentpole” events that are supposed to see a studio through it’s budget cycle; they are the revenue spinners that carry the loss leader smaller films that create “Oscar buzz.” Summer family fun is going to the beach and going to the movies. So what happened this year? Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and every other publication that reports on the entertainment industry is trying to figure out why some of the most-hyped films of the summer are– let’s face it–the f-word: “flops.” The suggested reasons for the poor box office showings range from poor marketing to the 17-year cycle of the cicadas. I’ve been on vacation for one week and have seen 16 films. (OK—most were part of the Nantucket Film Festival)—but the others have been doozies: “World War Z,” “White House Down,” and “The Lone Ranger.” Hollywood analysts are all stumped: How could the dynamic directors Marc Forster, Roland Emmerich, and Gore Verbinski have been so wrong? Why aren’t audiences flocking to see Brad Pitt, Jamie Foxx, Channing Tatum, and Johnny Depp? Some of these budgets clocked in at around a quarter of a billion dollars. What went wrong? Well–look at the scripts! Over the past ten years television has trained audiences to expect better writing—better storytelling. Character-driven epics—”The Sopranos,” “Oz,” “The Wire,” “Game of Thrones” and “Mad Men,” which explores the life of ad man Don Draper—have become part of the national conversation. The Writer/Executive Producer is the new star of Hollywood–David Chase, Tom Fontana, Matthew Weiner, David Simon, and Aaron Sorkin. “Homeland” has led us to expect a level of character development and tension that is not met by the confused and sometimes mawkish screenplay of “White House Down.” We’ve had a Shakespearean view of the wild west and a new justice code provided for us by David Milch’s “Deadwood” that leaves “The Lone Ranger,” in the words of one critic, seeming “odd.” And as far as the zombie apocalypse goes—”The Walking Dead” and other television series show us a more terrifying and coherent end-of-the world scenario than the unintended hilarity in “World War Z.” (Granted the story takes off in the final act, but that re-write was provided by veteran television writer, David Lindelof.) For all of the dazzle of the CGI effects and the admittedly fabulous chases–including the train sequence in “The Lone Ranger” that is literally choreographed to “The William Tell Overture”—blockbuster movies are just not giving audiences enough to talk about this summer. In contrast to these big-budget flops, the Nantucket Film Festival, which focus on the screenwriter, had some beautiful new films—a perfect comedy, “A.C.O.D.” about an “adult child of divorce’ seeking to reconcile his parents just in time for his brother’s wedding, written by Stu Zicherman and Ben Karlin; “The Spectacular Now” a surprisingly complicated coming of age story written by Scott Neustader and Michael Weber; “In a World,” a hilarious look at the voice over-world of Hollywood that is a father-daughter classic, written and directed by Lake Bell, and “Girl Most Likely,” about a hip Manhattanite coming home to the Jersey Shore written by Michelle Morgan. These are writer-driven stories, with many of the writers having already worked in television. Audiences are demanding better storytelling from their films; and until Hollywood realizes that the writer is the star, the rest of us will spend the summer catching up on “Breaking Bad,” “Copper,” “Burn Notice,” and waiting for the return of “Homeland” and “House of Cards.” Evangeline Morphos is a Columbia theater and television professor. http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/did-the...ure-films.html/ Similar article about the "death of Hollywood" predicted by Lucas and Spielberg

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 12:48 PM) His solid run goes further back than that, but yes, he's been good. I'd like to see him in the big in September at least. Considering the Sox have good, young pieces in the rotation (Sale, Quintana, Santiago) and guys like Johnson and Rienzo doing well in AAA the rotation looks good going forward. Throw in some young arms in the bullpen and prospects like Petricka, Castro and Webb MLB ready or close the bullpen doesn't look bad either. I hope the Sox make it a rule to only go after hitting in any firesale trades. Now that Phegley is up I'm not sure there's another bat ready for 2014 in the system (Carlos Sanchez?). Trayce Thompson is maybe the closest and I don't see him being up until September 2014 at the very earliest, if he's even going to get there. Not if he continues around a 600 OPS and slg percentage lower than his OBP. You could make an argument that Andy Wilkins is closer to being ready to get some at-bats...although I don't think that's a good thing, exactly. Thompson's a huge slump again and he has a LONG ways to go to find that consistency...the one thing he does do well (right now, besides defense) is drive in runs in so many different ways.

Chastening effect for the time being. 6 K's in his last 7 AB's. He doesn't do anything without drama. 2 for his last 17. Down to .403. After 3 K's against Bumgarner and one against Romo, Gaudin had him second-guessing himself and not swinging at a pitch he would have destroyed four or five games ago. Now we get to see what he's made of. Finally had a single, another steal (this one on Quiroz, not Posey, who's playing 1B today).....then he FOOLISHLY tried to steal 3B as well when the hottest hitter in baseball (Hanley Ramirez) was up and any single with the exception of a bullet line drive scores Puig from 2nd. Davey Lopes was laying into him (with his interpreter) saying you just can't do that...Hanley Ramirez was especially upset that Puig took off on his own and distracted him at the plate. Second time Puig has done that, but he'll learn. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?g...&mode=video Currently, he's struck out in 7 of his last 10 AB's. On the other hand, he was 2/4, had a stolen base, set the table for the 9th inning off Romo, had a very strong diving catch in RF (see highlights above) and an equally fun baserunning play (see above)...always interesting. Puig's at 409 (1.114 OPS) and Hanley Ramirez at 410 (1.200 OPS, even better). And he's hitting about .750 when he swings at the first pitch and puts the ball in play...which won't last forever but is fun to watch.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 12:37 PM) Yeah, there's no reason to push him another level. He should be starting 2014 in AA regardless so I wouldn't worry about it. It wouldn't be too shocking to see him move up for the playoffs as you said, but with Semien there I'm not even sure that happens. Plus if the Dash win the second half he definitely won't be going anywhere. That will be an interesting battle, between those 2 guys, Semien and Johnson. Semien's a very solid all-around player, Johnson the flashy SB numbers and more exciting player, but terribly erratic defense. Both are ahead of DeMichele for the moment.

copyright, yahoo contributor network COMMENTARY | It's the classic "Sophie's Choice" between the reliable Honda Civic, or the flashy Lamborghini Diablo that handles well but has only driven two blocks and already needs to stop at the gas station. In the 2013 MLB All-Star Game Final Vote, the Atlanta Braves' first baseman, Freddie Freeman will have to hope fans have paid close enough attention to want to pluck him from relative national obscurity and place him on the National League All-Star roster. Freeman will have to jump over the Los Angeles Dodgers' hot-shot rookie, Yasiel Puig, if he wants to represent the Braves in New York for this season's Midsummer Classic. I have to confess that this article got rewritten. After looking it over I realized it had devolved into the top 10 reasons Puig's name even being considered for the All-Star Game was a complete and utter affront to any integrity or merit for which the MLB All-Star Game is supposed to stand. I have a second confession to make…it just happened again. To paraphrase a ranting diatribe, Freeman should not have to be pitted against a rookie -- scratch that, it is too early to even call him a rookie -- an MLB fetus -- there, that's better -- like Puig. I'll save fans the suspense: Puig is going to win the fan vote. New sensations are like wildfires: they are hard to predict, but when they happened, they spread like…well…wildfire. Puig received 842,915 write-in votes on the main ballot -- most since Freddy Sanchez in 2006. Puig exploded onto the scene after being called up for the Dodgers' June 3 match-up with the San Diego Padres. The 22-year-old right fielder hit four home runs and 10 RBIs inside of his first week at the big league level. However, he has played in just 31 of the Dodgers' first 86 games, and his 123 at-bats are 144 ABs shy of even qualifying among big leaguers in any statistical category. I'm not sure how one can be an All-Star while not remotely being eligible for a shot at the batting title. Consider this: Of the nine MLB clubs Puig has played since being called up, only the San Diego Padres have seen him in more than one series. How can Puig an All-Star for a season in which the teams in his own division have not even had a chance to make adjustments? As for the Braves' would-be All-Star, Freeman has been the cleanup hitter on a first place team for the entire season. He is the only player on the fan vote who is hitting above .300, and his 56 RBIs are also tops among the group. Paul Goldschmidt and Joey Votto's remarkable first half blocked Freeman from getting voted in outright on the original ballot, but he is certainly an All-Star by anyone's measure. Puig does have to go up against teammate Adrian Gonzalez, so maybe LA fans will split their votes between the two and Freeman can slide in under the radar. Some could point to Jason Heyward's 2010 inclusion in the All-Star game as hypocrisy by Atlanta fans, considering his first-year stats of .251 with 11 home runs and 45 RBIs at the break may not have been worthy of being selected as a starter, but there is a big difference between Heyward and Puig. For one, Heyward started that season in the big leagues from Day 1. By the time the All-Star Game came around, Heyward had played in 75 games and had accumulated 255 at-bats. Puig may be a young, electrifying player with a bright career ahead of him, but he is not an All-Star this season. If Major League Baseball wants to make home field advantage contingent on the winner of an exhibition game, then they have to stop with these obvious headline-grabbing publicity stunts. They can't have it both ways. It is either a fun weekend for the fans, or it is a meaningful game with World Series implications. If they choose the latter, then teams who actually have skin in the race need to be better represented. Why not mandate that the divisional leaders at the break get a certain number of players sent to each All-Star game? That way winning games and earning home field advantage may actually --you know -- have a chance to go hand in hand.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 12:19 PM) http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?c...mp;ymd=20130707 Micah Johnson triple. Birmingham soon? NOPE...maybe, just maybe, for the BIRM playoffs at the end of the season and/or AFL.

http://variety.com/gallery/the-best-films-...efore-midnight/ 9 Best Independent Movies of the Year so far... The only ones I'd even heard of were Before Midnight (Hawk/Delpy) and the Sarah Polley autobiographical one. MUD would be the other one that should be here, although it made around $20 million.

When's the last time a 5-8 (potentially 5-9) starting pitcher was in the All-Star Game?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 10:56 AM) Chicks dig middle relief If Rolaids didn't have the Relief Man award, there would be some potential there. TUMS? Pepto Bismol, lol? Maalox?

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 09:14 AM) This is what I call "The Road To Rodon". Or "Torpedo for Tyler Beede". Tied with the Brew Crew for 3rd pick, technically ahead of them percentage-wise (or behind, depending on how you want to look at being bad as a good thing).

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 08:10 AM) Sounds like he pronounces it Mike-er, and I heard Buddy Bell say it the same way yesterday. Bell said Zapata will visit the Bristol club and workout with them...he can't play. Then Instructional League this fall, and I think he said Dominican summer league next year. BTW-- this was his father's minor league stats... http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/p...id=adolfo001car I remember him, vaguely. Vladimir Guerrero played the season before for Albany.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 08:14 AM) The AL Fan Vote is not very exciting. Talk about BAD marketing for the game, my god. It's like they did the exact opposite of the NL.

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 05:18 AM) How was the movie? I liked the first half...it was a little bit like Gosling's character in Drive, but with more of a criminal/outlaw side to him. It's basically two completely different movies within one, and I can't explain without giving any of the plot away. To sum it up quickly, I enjoyed it but was quite disappointed with the ending. It's worth your time to check out though.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 06:20 AM) Paul Goldschmidt was also old at every level. That's what happens when a player goes to college for 4 years. Ideally, a college player (remember, they can go into the draft after 3 years, too) would be in AA at age 22-23-24. Once you get to be older than 26, you rapidly begin losing prospect status. Doesn't mean he can't or won't make it, just that the odds are not in his favor, either.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 6, 2013 -> 09:38 PM) Put me in the Steve group of loving Silver Linings Playbook How can anyone not love J-Law? And, I for one, am very tired of Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling everywhere. Just saw The Place Beyond the Pines, found myself wishing for more Eva Mendes.