caulfield12

Amazingly, the White Sox are still first in the AL in runs scored at 178. The Angels have 166 but have played 2 1/2 fewer games, so basically it's dead-even.

GLORY DAYS, THEY'LL PASS YOU BY Why in God's name would you speed up his bat with a slider out over the plate? Wood is pitching very tentatively this game, compared to how he looked last season. His best pitch was always a well-placed inside fastball.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ May 7, 2014 -> 07:57 PM) Who is this Alexei Ramirez guy? Taking pitches, getting a walk. Not chasing.. Abreu/Steverson, haha.

Can't believe Ramirez just walked. NO DP PAULIE. NO BAT FLIP, SHOULDER SHRUG. 20 homers against the Cubs in 260 ab's, 2nd in homers all-time in interleague to Thome, 2nd in RBI's to A-Roid.

Viciedo hitting .750 this season on two-seam fastballs in that location?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ May 7, 2014 -> 07:48 PM) He had a very nice fastball and a changeup that rated as elite to benefit off that. Not so much now. But damn we just caught a huge break. There's a big difference when your change is 10 MPH off the fastball. He used to throw 90-93 MPH consistently, a lot like Quintana does now. In fact, the MLB.com gun is reading his fastball at as low as 82, or not distinguishing between the change and fastball. He's a lot closer to Jim Parque than Mark Buehrle at this point. One thing's for sure, he definitely has to have pinpoint command to survive in the bigs with this kind of stuff. Or he's got to develop a knockout curveball in the mid 70's, which he's never really mastered.

Please Robin, do not let Danks go out to start the 6th unless we have a 3-4 run lead.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ May 7, 2014 -> 07:44 PM) He needed to stay on his feet and backhand it and step on 3rd.. I think he thought the ball was hit harder and his first reaction was to dive for hit. It's what happens when you move players all over the diamond at his age, instead of letting them get comfortable at one position. Different reactions at 3B than the middle of the infield.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ May 7, 2014 -> 07:41 PM) Oh this team sometimes... It's not the team. Danks just never is going to be the same. And that's yet one more reason why we have to be a bit careful with the payroll than non-strategically throwing money at the dartboard of mid-tier free agent pitchers. We already have one of our own who's mediocre at best. We don't need another one. Too many walks, too much pitches....doesn't have a strikeout pitch anymore, leading to bullpen overuse. It's like the perfect storm.

Just get out of this inning with the lead and hand it over to the bullpen.

Danks' game isn't walks. 21 so far. That's over 4 per start, and an even uglier ratio per 9.

With the way the Marlins are playing now, their increased attendance and interest...I would actually be pretty surprised if they didn't take Rodon. On the other hand, they've had great success with Jose Fernandez and haven't been afraid to take high schoolers. If Rodon's gone, that makes it a LOT more interesting amongst Aiken/Kolek, Jackson, Gordon and then some of the top collegiate pitchers remaining. That's kind of the nightmare scenario right now. If that happened, you'd have to believe the Astros would take the local product Kolek and we could then select Aiken.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 7, 2014 -> 05:48 PM) Hi, I'd like you to meet Mark Buehrle. I don't think anyone would expect a youngster to adapt so quickly to a loss of 3-4 MPH off his fb and make that up with command and control in the span of one off-season. It also requires the ability to change speeds, arm angles and have a devastating change or offspeed pitch in the high 70's. We could have said, I'd like you to meet Dylan Axelrod (or John Danks). Of course, Putnam and Carroll hardly throw harder than 90 and have been very successful. Takatsu. But the league usually catches up and makes an adjustment at some point.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ May 7, 2014 -> 12:21 PM) Joey Gallo with 2 HR today against the Dash. He has huge power. 40 HR last year, on pace for 45+ this year. Career .377 ISO before today's game. Has made a lot of progress with the K% too. Wasn't he the attorney in My Cousin Vinny? Jerry Callow?

Randy Johnson's long career gives some hope. It's hard to find many good comps, though.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 7, 2014 -> 07:59 AM) Day 1 of the draft, the Sox have 3, 44, and 77. Actually, it might be 78 now. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2014/order.jsp What happened, did Morales or Drew sign?

QUOTE (Tex @ May 6, 2014 -> 04:21 PM) Greg, congratulation on hitting 10,000 non Ozzie posts. Manager receive too much credit and too much blame. I really hope Ozzie finds a full time media gig. I like exciting guys in the press box. Has an ex-Sox manager since Tony La Russa had a decent career after leaving the Sox? Manuel and Torborg didn't fare too well. Lamont's been around baseball this whole time, and many thought that he had a shot at the Tigers' job, but they gave it to Ausmus instead. Amazingly, in his first year Lamont finished second (1997) with a young, inexperienced Pirates team that was widely predicted to finish last. His team often upset many NL teams vying for playoff spots. He came in 2nd place in the manager of the year voting behind Dusty Baker of the San Francisco Giants. There was no continued success for the Pirates though, finishing in last place in the Central in 1998. After the terrible 2000 season, Lamont was fired and replaced by Lloyd McClendon.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ May 6, 2014 -> 09:54 PM) Gregory Polanco turns down 7 years 25 million plus 3 option years. Interesting since he hasn't played a game yet. Those option years must have been no good. Pirates then decided to not ca him up. Jeff Passan's attack on the Super 2/Gregory Polanco/low-balling players by giving them an opportunity to play right away if they'll accept a below-market deal situation http://sports.yahoo.com/news/source--pirat...-232433631.html

Beckham might as well homer here.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ May 6, 2014 -> 08:24 PM) Ofcourse our offense is struggling. It's cold, no leadoff hitter, Conor is out whose been hitting well. And Dunn is out too, so of course the offense is going to look different. Actually, Sierra's 3/3, so it's not like that sub for Dunn is hurting us tonight, it's pretty much everyone besides Beckham and Sierra.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 6, 2014 -> 08:08 PM) Who is this Putnam guy? Where did we get him? Is he a true prospect or a journeyman? He seems pretty good to me. A former Cub, haha, as recent as last season. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...p?P=Zach-Putnam Former Michigan Wolverine, too.

Putnam has thrown every pitch between 83-89 MPH that at-bat. He must have massive movement/deception on his pitches or delivery. Finally, got one to 90. The Reverse Paulino. Is he Bruce Sutter out there?

Noesi with 5 runs given up in 10 innings with the Sox, 4.50 ERA. We have to take that and thank our lucky stars. Same with Carroll so far. And Rienzo, to a lesser extent.

Now our offense sucks and our pitching is fine. Figures. We knew it was coming. Desperately need Eaton back to inject some life into this team again. Or Sale.

What will Beckham do now to erase another single? 8 singles, 2 doubles on the year.