caulfield12

There's no such thing as an easy win against Oakland for the White Sox. That series at home against the A's was the key turning point of 2011. Great K. He's piling up the strikeouts. Need the DP ball here.

Well, this game went south in a hurry. Can't blame Humber for making a bad pitch there. It's not like they're knocking him around the ballpark. Crain time. Maybe he'll get one more batter. Uh-oh...now things are really getting interesting. We'll be lucky to have a 4-3 lead at the end of this. Another game where the Sox offense shut down after getting an early lead.

One can only hope KW doesn't sign Humber to a long-term contract extension after tonight.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2011 -> 10:26 PM) This is one case where their business acumen makes thing worse for some fans. Want the teams to perfectly serve the public interest? Nationalize baseball then let taxpayers vote on the rates. Think thatll work? We could get into a political argument, but there's no point. Baseball has always been protected by the anti-trust exemption and Congress, and Congress is basically run by corporate interests, and among those elites are the owners of 30 major league baseball teams. The "average" baseball fan (with a family of 4) will never enter into their considerations, any more than Congress will care about the effects of cutbacks on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, Head Start, WIC, etc. That's one of those things lost from the Bill Veeck era. While he could hardly balance his checkbook, one of his primary concerns was always about entertainment and the fan experience. Things have obviously changed...for both the good and bad. In many ways, we're lucky the team is still in Chicago, and once again you can give credit (or blame, for those against public funding of sports facilities) to government for that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2011 -> 10:09 PM) We also have the 2nd most expensive average tix in the league IIRC. there's a reason the sox don't try to sell the stadium out, they've made a different and valid business decision for their franchise For box tickets, bleacher seats.....fine, we can argue. But I still think they need to lower the upper deck seat prices, do more promotions specifically for those sections and have value/discount food pricing. That makes a HUGE difference to fathers planning a family outing. In the end, all the franchises know that the new broadcast rights deal will go from something like $430 million per season to $1 billion per season after 2012. Attendance/stadium construction is becoming less and less of a driver of franchise values. I have the A's feed from DirecTV Latin America....not pink here on the computer.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ May 13, 2011 -> 10:00 PM) Because we're middle of the pack in attendance as opposed to dead last. 20th isn't much to brag about when we have a Top 5 payroll. What's most astounding is Cleveland at 30th with 14,640 per game with the best and most exciting team in baseball....and the Rays at 29th with 16,311. They did have 33,700 tonight in CLE, fireworks night. And 11,000 walk-up for a game last week, as well.

Great recovery by Sweeney. That's at least 2 times tonight Omar just doesn't have that extra gear (the other was a foul ball down the line he barely missed), and you can't blame it for ANY 43 or 44 year old, it's amazing he's still playing any position besides DH/1B/P. That's also career hit 2811 for Vizquel. 14th all-time in games played. McCarthy has only given up that double to Vizquel that Barton barely missed, and Beckham hit the ball hard to RF, but he really shouldn't be 4 runs down except for the walk and error on the throw when he had Pierre picked off.

We discovered the $12 jumbo ticket for the A's- and the $6 value scored us beer + peanuts for the two of us. If you buy the upper deck tickets, they have a food kiosk set up for the cheapskates- $5 menu- including the beer. I normally have much better tickets- over the dugout or diamond club- but I truly enjoyed the nosebleed view over home plate. Plus, we got free jerseys (really nice) for the freebie of the day. Why can't the White Sox do this? $12 upper deck tickets, a $6 food/value option included, and then a giveaway/promotional item nearly every night??? Tonight, they're yellow A's beanies/knit hats for the cold weather up there. They also have a number of $2 games.

Didn't realize AJ had only 6 K's in 120 AB's. About the same number of walks, and very little hard contact. Horrible AB by Dunn there. Textbook display on driving a curveball into RF by Paulie. He's just become a "professional" hitter and is now so much more relaxed when dealing with adversity. I think a lot of it has to do with gaining perspective by getting married and having a family. Just a theory. Starting to feel sorry for the Twins. Down 2-0 in the 9th, Nathan just gave up another bomb to Bautista and a hit following that. 7.30 ERA for one of the most expensive closers in all of baseball. And yet he's a decent candidate for a comeback in 2012 as that's the normal timetable after TJ Surgery. Twins will be 12-24 if they end up losing.

Jerry Lane not giving him the high strike on that curveball. Ends up in a triple for DeJesus. That sucks.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2011 -> 09:36 PM) That was almost the first time I've ever seen the fake to 3B work Except for Black Jack McDowell a few times, I've never seen it work. Didn't he fake to 3B once, and throw it between his legs on the ground to 1B and get an out once? Nasty curveball, that was 17 consecutive games Suzuki had gone without striking out before that AB.

What do the White Sox call their upper deck seats? I like the idea of the A's, having the whole thing be the "Value Deck"...wonder why the White Sox haven't cut the prices even further than they have for those seats which have traditionally been hard to get rid of.

And Omar Vizquel in the middle of yet another White Sox rally. You have the feeling Ozzie's going to stick with him for awhile now. Jesus, Pierre's slow now. He almost didn't beat that ball out. It worked, but Jean Pierre was picked OFF YET AGAIN. Just a horrible throw by McCarthy, self-inflicted damage here. Please, please, please get rid of Pierre before the season's lost.

Those necklaces are getting out of control in baseball. And another thing about McCarthy is he's shifted from a flyball to a groundball/sinker pitcher. Good recovery from Gordon to get solid contact on that ball...just enough to get Rios in. DeJesus with an average arm

One thing you have to really like about Humber. Like Buehrle, and to a slightly lesser extent Danks, he just gets the ball and throws it. Nothing like Contreras or Jason Bere, in that respect. And McCarthy has definitely changed to more of a 4/5th's or 3/4th's delivery instead of his old overhead style mixing in straight fastballs and 12 to 6 curveballs. Pretty amazing, Brandon's only walked 2 in each of the last two and one of those was intentional. Poor guy lost his last 2 games, but they were both complete games I think.

The city population of KC isn't the sole indicator here. They're not sharing the city with another franchise and they're a "regional" team (like the Cardinals) that historically drew very well from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska (the AAA team was always in Omaha), Arkansas, Colorado, etc. The KC population has been pretty stable over the last 10-20 years. I haven't looked it up, but I'd guess the attendance for the Royals from 1976/77-1994 was very similar, even though St. Louis also has a much larger population base.

The Indians just came back from 2 runs down in the bottom of the 9th to walk-off the Mariners, 5-4. Travis Hafner has somehow been resuscitated from the dead. Rumors abound the Indians are interested in either Beltran or Reyes to solidify a playoff push. Brandon League gave up a two-run jack to Travis Hafner with 2 outs. Guess we ruined him...guy started out 7/7 in save opportunities and now he's messed up 3-4 games in a row for SEA. Also, Wedge's return to Cleveland. That sucks. Fifth straight home win that was in their last at-bat (they lost 2 to TB to break the streak they'd had since losing 2 to us). Oh, and, of course, they miss King Felix. Meanwhile, the Twins are having a no-hitter thrown against them through 5 by Ricky Romero. And this just in, Verlander's good. Had another no hitter into the 6th against KC, ended up going 8 with 1 run and 2 hits given up to KC. Hosmer K'ed against Valverde as the tying run at the plate in the top of the 9th, 3-1 DET.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/t...-relievers-why/ Another take...which is quite logical, when you think about it objectively.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2011 -> 04:56 PM) Really, what basis do you figure that out? KC hasn't averaged more than 22k a game since the late 80's. They've had plenty of June/July/August games with 10-12,000 fans showing up the last few years. How do you know this with no evidence? Because we've both lived there or nearby. 1994 24,356 per game 1995 17,000+ (post-strike) 2003 23,000+ The Royals fans have been waiting 15 years for a consistent winner. Like Chicago, they tend to support winning or at least above average teams. Similar stadiums, especially the upper decks, although Kauffman is much more beautiful because of the fountains and outfield architecture. Similarly effected by the strike, except they NEVER got their fans back after that event because they failed to produce any decent teams from that point onward. The fans there are already making plans to come out to see Hosmer, local bars are being asked for the first time in 8 years to turn on the Royals' games, they just beat the Yankees in NYC for the first time in 12 years, there's a buzz around the team/city/organization that last existed in 2009 when Greinke would pitch, in 2003 and the great offensive teams with Damon/Dye/Beltran/Randa/Sweeney around a decade ago. And they still have Moustakas to promote as well, when he replaces Betemit later in the year. Tickets are still much affordable and reasonable compared to Chicago, fwiw. It's bit expensive, but it's still a good family entertainment option, and KC's the kind of place that "oozes family." It's not exciting like Chicago, but the fans have been waiting for someone to identify with. They never really loved Greinke, they appreciated his greatness and ability, but it was never a close relationship or idolation.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/05/07/thor-cos...-credits-scene/ Inside info (spoiler alert) on the Avengers, Loki and space/time travel possibilities.

Reminds me of the decision not to re-sign DJ Carrasco. He's the kind of guy who serves as an inspiration for hundreds of minor leaguers of perseverance being rewarded...but instead the White Sox usually stick with veteran players like Pierre, Pena and Teahen.

I still think they'll have him (Harper) in High A ball for at least 4-6 weeks before jumping him to AA. A month ago it seemed ridiculous to consider promoting Harper until the 2nd half of the season, if at all. Now it is no longer a question of ‘if’ but when, and I think that answer will be decided within the next week or two. Harper simply doesn’t have anything left to prove at Low-A Hagerstown, and needs to make the jump so he can work against a higher level of pitching prospect. Harper has just dominated every aspect of Low-A ball and has shown the ability to hit both lefty and righty pitching: Against lefties: .395/.447/.558: In 43 AB’s he has 17 hits (5 for extra bases), and 4 walks to 11 K’s Against righties: .396/.488/.809: In 68 AB’s he has 27 hits, including 7 doubles and 7 HR’s, 12 walks to 15 K’s Now obviously the numbers against righties are more impressive, but remember Harper is a LH hitter, so the fact that he is doing so well from that side is really impressive. The Nationals have already been aggressive moving up some of their top prospects this season, most notably moving two members of Harpers 2010 draft class, Robbie Ray and A.J. Cole up to Low-A before giving them a shot at short-season ball. I would expect to see Harper promoted in the next two weeks with the likely target date May 23rd. The Potomac Nationals begin a 6 game homestand that day, which would make it the perfect time to bring Harper up. Potomac also has a huge 14 game home stretch in the beginning of June which could be a target as well. I Think though the more prudent move would be to move him up in 10 days, as it will allow him to see more advanced pitching (as well as help sell tickets at the Nationals closest affiliate). The earlier move could also potentially put Harper on target to advance to Double-A by August, which could make him a potential mid-year call up to the majors next season. That might be too aggressive of an approach, but the Nationals could have a pretty good team next season with Ryan Zimmerman, and Stephen Strasburg back from injury, and Jordan Zimmermann, Jayson Werth, Ian Desmond, and Danny Espinosa forming a quality corps of players. http://fanspeak.com/washingtonnationals/20...-up-the-ladder/

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ May 13, 2011 -> 04:19 AM) Available for "only" a $6.15 million rental for the last two months of the season. ALL IN!!! Might end up reminiscent of the Manny deal if they made it, but the odds are 1 in 100. Has KW ever expressed a "man crush" for him on the record?

Or Felix Hernandez in recent years.

That was about as good as the move to acquire LHP Javier Lopez and then trading him away....and watching him go on to enjoy a long career in the majors. I think he was the only lefty of the 10-12 we auditioned that offseason who ended up having a decent stint.