caulfield12

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/yasiel...p;vkey=news_mlb

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/15/living/paren....html?hpt=hp_t1 Conversations about the police between black parents and black sons back to the forefront of national discussion http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/15/us/missouri-....html?hpt=hp_t1 Police officer who shot brown to be named, protests will be allowed for at least 24 hours, state police toning down rhetoric/combat gear/engaging in dialogue and "smiling"

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 10:49 PM) TWTW is just another way of saying someone "refuses to lose." It's been said countless times about guys like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson ( or fill in the blank) as a way to illustrate that they had something that set them apart from everyone else. Something that made them "winners." I'm not sure why Hawk gets so much heat for TWTW. It's not exactly a new idea. I'm no longer much of a Hawk fan, but I don't think this latest controversy is really much. I'm more offended/embarrassed by the over the top homerism. His evaluations of the Sox are largely useless as a result of trying to sell the product. I'd welcome a little more honesty in that area. Derek Jeter has basically said the same thing...about the over-analysis of number/stats/OPS/WAR taking the fun out the game and still not really measuring what what most accurately reflects a "winning" player and what makes for a JD Drew, Javy or Adam Dunn.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 03:25 PM) Aoki getting hot has saved them; also addition by subtraction with Hosmer out. And Butler. Even Moustakas is hitting the ball better than earlier in the season.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 03:39 PM) But that is part of the beauty of it...there are 162 of these freaking things! The games are on EVERY FREAKING NIGHT practically. I've always thought the beauty of it was you can do other things and still follow the game. You don't have to be focused intently like with football. You turn the game on and enjoy dinner, or read a book, or surf the internet (post on Soxtalk!). If you're at the game, you can enjoy something to eat and drink, have conversations with your friends, enjoy being outdoors on a summer evening. Baseball is a relaxed thing to take in. I don't understand what is wrong with that. And yet most football games only have 3-4 minutes of ACTUAL action.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 02:55 PM) Didn't read the article, but what he said is absolutely wrong. You can dismiss it as being OMG YOU ARE SO SENSITIVE but he talked down to a portion of the Sox fanbase. It's just pointless and stupid. He really needs to go. There's so much adding up at this point. He's flat-out bad at his job. He can't see the game (oh, the ball bounced over the wall?). Everything has to be some grandiose, incorrect point about the game of baseball. He doesn't understand, or dismisses, advanced statistics. Anyone who listened to any of those Wimpy and Stone games know what a non-s***ty broadcast booth can sound like. It was so refreshing to have people call a game, talk about today's game and the sport overall, and leave it at that. It wasn't hard, and every one of those broadcasts was so much better than any Hawk-called game right now. Best suggestion I heard is letting Hawk do home games next year, and that's it. Start to phase out. Blackhawks have already backtracked on playing THE STRIPPER while they're doing the score-the-puck promo. Next, they're probably not going to have the "hot girl" go out there anymore along with the kids and Joe Schmo dude that gets booed for missing. Finally, they're changing the attire of their ice crew to make them a little more conventional/conservative. All responses to the fact that 38% of their fanbase is female and notices these types of things. It's just like the story with Land's End cross-promotion sending out complimentary GQ magazines to women and impressionable young kids with a half-naked model/actress on the front...sometimes you have to THINK first. While GQ isn't exactly porn, I could understand mothers of boys being upset, and then you can also find plenty of women simply citing the obvious inherent objectification of women issue.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 02:51 PM) Oh come on...baseball has trouble attracting younger viewers because of the slow pace. It has very little to do with what Hawk, or Vin or other "old men" say or do. God forbid kids actually have to sit down and think a little. Or take something at a little bit of a slower pace than their video games provide. I don't understand why everything needs to revolve around what "kids today want." Maybe the kids of today are wrong? Maybe the kids of today need to wake up and smell the coffee that the real world doesn't always give them exactly what they want RIGHT NOW? I get it, the kids of today determine where the money of tomorrow is spent, and we all need to please them...but it's really not a great lesson to be teaching them. Actually, lots of young people love to listen to Vin Scully describe a game...so many people bring their radios to Dodgers Stadium just to follow along and listen to his play by play, it's almost eerie. Hawk is certainly not in that league with Scully, Jon Miller, Jerry Coleman, John Rooney, Dave Niehaus, Ernie Harwell, Uecker, etc.

Royals might be a team of destiny. Jarrod Dyson lost a ball in the sun, which ended up allowing 2 runs to score for the A's...and lost the lead, 3-2. Escobar laid down a perfect bunt and Samardzija threw the ball down the line but he was inside the baseline and ruled out instead of ending up on 2nd base. Then Dyson has an 0-2 count in the bottom of the 7th against All-Star Ryan Cook and shot one through the hole to tie it....Aoki (11 RBI's this month) ripped a triple down the line, scoring two more runs. Note: Abad's also been amazing for the A's. Already stranded 21 baserunners this season, something not done since Randy Myers in 1984. He K'ed Gordon, but then Billy Butler hit a single to RCF and Escobar ended up scoring all the way from 1B on a two-out single. So the score is 7-3 in the top of the 8th. At least three 0-2 count RBI's in this series, 7 steals...have beaten the A's now two series in a row, and have won 7 consecutive series, including a couple of four gamers. 16-4 over the last twenty if they win today. The best part for KC. They go on a 9 game road trip to Minnesota (4 games), Colorado (2 games) and Texas (3 games). Three last place teams. Meanwhile, the Tigers have the Mariners and Scherzer just threw today. Wade Davis might be the best middle reliever in all of baseball right now, along with Cook/Abad. 5,300 walk up attendance on the first day of school in Kansas City area for many students.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/hawk-harrelso...-170003256.html They were also ripping him on The Score this morning and saying that he was sexist, an embarrassment, etc.

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 01:38 PM) Haven't read much of this post but since this was posted on a Wednesday, does "next Tuesday" mean the Tuesday after next? I would refer to Tuesday the 19th as "Tuesday". Just want to be clear. The 19th, yes...

Jackie Robinson leading 2-1 early. Now 5-2, bottom of the 2nd.

Pedro Alvarez has 24 K's in 36 career AB's against the Tigers. (6 of 8 times in the current series). Don't think that's the solution when chasing a division rival. Although they don't have the same Verlander and Scherzer's likely to be gone in 2015.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 11:46 AM) But really, how many collisions at the plate were really close plays? It seems to me the vast majority of them where guys who where out by 20 feet only having one option. Make that an automatic out and ejection and go back to playing how the game was played for over 100 years. What if the ball isn't secured in the catcher's mitt...for example, it's a snowcone and sticking out of the top of the mitt? Or he's juggling the ball, etc? Then you're going to have situations where the runner's out if he makes contact with the catcher even though he dropped the ball. Well, I guess that's still better than the last couple of games in SF. Surprised it hasn't happened a LOT more than 9 times already this season. That alone would make me believe the rule's not being applied equally/appropriately by all the crews.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 11:15 AM) Ugh, if Werner gets it I will be sick. But isn't he Reinsdorf's guy? Not a fan of The Cosby Show, lol? 22-8 for Manfred on the 1st vote. Seems to be academic.

Or they're going to have to put a line across the 3B line something like 30 feet from the plate where basically the catcher CAN block the plate unless the runner's in his final 10 yards coming towards home. Even that, it could be tough to call, not unlike offsides in soccer...but it's a start I guess. Highly flawed rule. Some say they just want catchers to get used to the practice of not blocking the plate, and then they'll withdraw the rule again. The thing is, nobody's been really taken out like Buster Posey since that injury in 2011...at least no top-flight catcher.

According to the rule, even if the runner's 75-80 feet away and just rounding 3B, he should automatically be awarded home if the catcher's impeding his straight line to home plate (without the ball). Then it gets even more confusing because a play at home was reversed by this same rule when the catcher was merely tagging home plate for a force out, because of the fact he was blocking the plate (which was kind of irrelevant, since it was a force-out)....and yet even with a force play, doesn't the baserunner deserve the right to have a clear path to reach home plate as quickly as possible?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 10:43 AM) Dude, do you even read. Nothing of the first part justifies the second actions. Both sides are incredibly wrong in this. Its disgusting how people rationalize that it is okay to effect innocent people and their property, etc. Looting solves nothing, rioting solves nothing. Peaceful protests solve problems and the Cops response to these protests have been terrible but it still doesn't justify the 2nd action. And I'm not saying that is what the majority are doing but two wrongs don't make a right. The problem is if community leaders urge the people to respond with "turn the other cheek" Gandhian/MLK tactics, and they get mowed down by the police, then they risk losing their credibility forever. It's a tough position to be in...try to de-escalate and preach patience. What have the people in situations like this ever received in return? Are they going to increase the African-American presence in the police force, for example? Imagine if an all-white suburban community was patrolled by a 90-95% African-American police force...how long do you think that would last? Why has that never happened? I would guess...never. So why would African-Americans or Mexican-Americans accept the idea that their neighborhood police forces in a variety of diverse areas of the US should be made up with all officers that look nothing like them, and can't relate to them? Is this result any surprise? If you don't have any credibility in a community, a situation like this is just as inevitable as rioting in South Africa when the Boers/de Klerk was in control of an 85-90% African country.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 08:33 AM) To be frank, I didn't think about the protest until this morning when I was reading how no one really seems to know or interpret the rule correctly. And the White Sox are one of several teams that have been victimized by this. From now on, either send everyone and challenge or protest. Something has to be done. Right now getting caught in a rundown between 3rd and home should mean an automatic run. There is no way they a rundown can be executed without a fielder being in the baseline and therefore "blocking the plate". Just make them throw it home and you should be allowed to score. Unless the catcher actually catches the throw behind the plate and then DIVES into the runner and across the plate at the last moment to stop him from scoring, which would actually end up causing MORE injuries, not less. It would look like the Byron Buxton concussion incident everytime as catchers and baserunners smashed together at home in an effort to get there first. Seriously...the White Sox have nothing left to play for at this point in the season, they might as well just send the runner everytime and know that there's at least a 50/50 chance he's going to be declared safe in NYC.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 09:11 AM) 1. Who are these people? Folks that work for fangraphs? BMLB GMs? Just trying to understand the definition of "those involved in sabermetrics." It is cited endlessly as the primary criterion in player performance evaluation, and very rarely used as a "complimentary" statistic in conjunction with other statistics by the countless articles I have read on ESPN, SB Nation, etc. as well as forums on this site. 2. How is it pre-conceived that De Aza is poor defensive LF? I have watched the guy play the position all season. According to the link, he's actually an ABOVE average defensive LF. Just sayin The ball he misplayed against the Twins that ended up being the game-winner for them (late getting back, drifting, and it bounced off the top of his glove as he hopped for it at the last second), was that considered to be a play he SHOULD have made by those who assess these defensive situations?

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 08:47 AM) 1. First, because scouts at lower levels are looking to evaluate talent over skill. You can see how fast a guy runs or how hard a guy throws and be certain that a player's capability will remain consistent in the short-term, but you CAN'T necessarily get a good idea of how that will translate to performance going forward. Secondly, in the upper levels or when a decision over acquisition has to be made, they DON'T only see them once. They send multiple people several times and compare their reports with their peers. 2. Certainly rare, but since it's not impossible and there are outliers, then the existence of outliers should not be a sufficient condition to discard a model. 3. I strongly disagree with the premise that hitting is far more mental than defense. I also disagree that hitting is less dependent on physical ability -- it's just a different type of physical ability. Statistics do in fact prove that player's defensive peak years typically occur at a younger age than their offensive peak years, but that does not invalidate the existence of outliers. See Pods, Mackowiak, Viciedo, DeAza, Rios, etc.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 09:02 AM) St. Louis County Police have been relieved of their duties in Ferguson Army or National Guard? What's next? SWAT teams?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 08:12 AM) What kind of neighborhood are they in? If it's "lawless" like parts of Chicago, I don't mind them being a little over the top. Shields and batons don't work against guns. So everyone having a gun, instead of leading to more safety/security, is actually going to lead to more confrontation and violence, correct? Seems like you're saying you have to come with equal or greater force to quell the threat, yes? That trying to be reasonable....meeting with community leaders....negotiating....addressing the concerns of the rioter/protesters or making a public apology or statement expressing remorse....none of those tactics have even been attempted?

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 08:15 AM) Not umpire related. Anyone listen to the radio broadcast yesterday? Was DJ not in the booth with Farmer? He sounded like he was doing the broadcast from his home while watching a monitor. Farmer actually went off more than Harrelson, actually. Said they should just fold up the game of baseball and...and ripped on the NYC review group, "they should be ashamed of themselves." Apparently, he thought the reviewers in NY were working for the commissioner's office and not actual umpires that were rotating in and out of there when not on the road at the 30 stadiums. As far as DJ goes, maybe he has a deal like Stone since he's from California that he can take time off when the team's on the road once in the first half and once in the second half of the season?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 06:47 AM) greg: I can't believe Rick Hahn didn't have a replacement closer in place after trading Addison Reed Soxtalk: Actually, Hahn thought Nate Jones was a more than suitable replacement. Unfortunately, he succumbed to two major injuries and only faced four batters this year. greg: Nate Jones is a bum, he's not a closer! Rinse and repeat. Nate Jones has horrible mechanics and no control... Lindstrom sucks too! Oh, forgot, Downs and Belisario suck as well. 85% of the team sucks. Why can't we be like the Royals, who always beat the White Sox with Chen and Guthrie. Oh, by the way, Adam Dunn sucks. Paulie and Ozzie rule. Any member of the 2005 White Sox....should have their own statue on the concourse. (Even Joe Borchard.)

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-050846986.html Joe Nathan building his fanbase in Detroit.