caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 07:14 PM) Isn't he hurt? Guess so. That leaves Moskos and Purcey as the two options at the moment...doubt it would be Santos Rodriguez yet.

Nice pitch by Jones. Tied him up....up and in with the 97 MPH fastball and induced the DP. Still sort of a game...if the Sox offense besides Rios wakes up.

SANTIAGO? Does he STILL EXIST ON THE ROSTER??? Why the hell would he be using Jones here? Just to rebuild his confidence? We're about one more week from the return of Leyson Septimo.

QUOTE (Capn12 @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 07:06 PM) No business having 2 starters in a row, hitting the wall at ~80 pitches. Especially when the weather's warm. It's not like they're pitching is sub-zero temperatures in Chicago with a wind chill in the minus 20's. Veal threw that pitch at 92 MPH right over the very heart of the plate. Not good.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 07:03 PM) Do you think it's that or is the opposition making adjustments while our pitchers/catchers aren't? It seems our pitching staff wasn't pushed very hard in ST.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 07:00 PM) For about 5 years now, I've pleaded for him to throw more curves. If the opponent beats you on it, you tip your cap. It's the only pitch he has that is above average but seems to get way too much damage done on his lesser pitches. Maybe giving up that run on the curve to Espinosa spooked him. Well, Gavin's easily thrown off his game. Setting up well for the Nationals to be the back-breaking inning. SANTIAGO, POR FAVOR.

Crazy, 6 of the 7 video highlights are for the Nationals at MLB.com. And I thought ESPN was biased, lol. So much for pecking away at the lead. Sigh.

Still a game for now, limited the damage. How 'bout them Braves (Mel Allen voiceover)?

Well, this rally was predictable.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 06:38 PM) Gio's stuff is more dynamic than just about any lefty in baseball. Not named Sale. Imagine if Chris had a forkball/split.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 06:33 PM) Flowers has been just awful the last 4 games. He's really struggling to get his arms extended against RHP. Facing LHP can't come soon enough for him, Keppinger and Viciedo. Except that theory didn't work too well against GIO for Dayan this time around.

Captain Caveman coming to the dish again this inning. Huge bottom of the 5th for Gavin to hold this to a one run game with the meat of the order looming.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 06:05 PM) How would you like to have a $130 million payroll with no closer? We can trade them Thornton. The funny thing is Phil Coke was terrible for most of the last couple of years, and ended up being their best reliever down the stretch.

QUOTE (Baron @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 06:29 PM) I dont get Gavin...looks good for a while. Makes 1 mistake and then proceeds to crap his pants from that point on. We watched it with Javy for 3 years, same with Floyd from 2009-2013. Nothing new or particularly shocking at this point.

Well, the REAL meltdown would have been walking Zimmerman and bringing Span up to the plate. At least that didn't happen, and Floyd's pitch count is still fairly low for him.

More poor fundamentals letting the runner advance to 2B. Walk Sox killer Suzuki...YIKES.

Haha. Oh, well. SIGH. Hangs a curveball to the guy hitting .148 so far.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 06:18 PM) He's going to hit way more than that Well, Tanks quietly put up 25 homers. Maybe 30-35 is the betting range or parameter NOW, but I would be pretty shocked by 35+.

Four homers now for Harper. Guess it is only going to take him one year of adjustment to put up a 25-30 homer season. On the plus side, everyone would have taken a tie game going into the 5th, right?

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 06:08 PM) Rios may bat .400 this year! Don't jinx him! I said the same thing about Uribe in 2004. Now Dunn will probably hit a solo homer. OR NOT.

QUOTE (Capn12 @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 05:44 PM) Dan Hayes is like the awkward art kid in High School. It is tough to even watch. Bring back Sarah Kustok. But she's on to bigger and better things.

Of course, driving in RISP with 2 outs. Not our forte. Always seems to work for the opponents, though. What happened? At MLB.com, it showed the runner scoring and now it disappeared.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 05:28 PM) Now just shut 'em out, Gavin! Surely, you jest? Actually, since it's close to Gavin's home turf, he'll probably throw a no-hitter. Tigers blew a 6-1 lead in DET to the Mighty Jays. The last time I remember that happening with the White Sox was Peavy home game against DET last year where he just imploded and the bullpen (I think Ohman) added fuel to the flames.

Look at how long it has taken Indians fans to come back and support that team after two tear downs. Seattle had a HUGE fanbase a decade ago. Where is it now, without Griffey, the Big Unit, Edgar and Ichiro? Felix Hernandez alone won't get it done. Braves' fans are notorious for sleepwalking through the regular season and not even showing up at playoff time. With all the excitement around Upton now, that might change a bit, although losing Chipper Jones to retirement will hurt a segment of the fans as well. Except for St. Louis and the Cubs and now DET, Midwestern/near Eastern fanbases are NOTORIOUSLY fickle and only follow their teams when they're doing well, although that culture has changed a bit in MIL with the new stadium and change to the NL. The White Sox fans are VERY similar to Royals, Twins, Reds, Indians and Pirates fans. The Cubs/Cardinals are the anomalies, and sometimes we lose sight of that with all the fixation on them because of the local media. We have to take into consideration that we're a smaller market than LA and NY, sharing the city, and also the Midwest has been hardEST hit by the financial recession. Yes, excuses, excuses, I know. Mets fans aren't showing up, and they have a new stadium. And it's not really fair to compare us to the A's/Giants situation because of their stadium/relocation issues. The Baltimore/Nats relationship might be another suitable analogy, though. Even that's not entirely fair, because Camden Yards was perceived as the best of the new stadiums, and ours, originally, the worst or one of the worst.

Maybe Mitchell will end up hot instead of starting out hot and then fading. He has been so inconsistent. And you might as well forget about "hot" springs. Mitchell, Keppinger, Loman...they were all very good in AZ and it didn't carry over at all into the regular season. But yeah, the only prospects to watch are Mitchell and especially Sanchez. Thankfully, Hawkins hit a HR already for W-S. And Mitchell's only a 4/7 stretch from being back at .200. Averages aren't so important until you get into May.