caulfield12

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 07:00 PM) Running into outs. Is Ventura reading the Ozzie Guillen approach to losing the division. Let Beckham concentrate on the AB and not forcing the situation. He's desperate to get a double (Beckham had 3 of them in 4 previous at-bats against McA) and tie the game up there.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 06:59 PM) If this continues the rest of the year, it will be interesting who the scapegoat is. Hard to blame Cooper with the rookies and 3 guys pushed well beyond the limit in terms of their past and recent seasons (Peavy, Quintana, Sale) as well as the erratic, uncoachable Liriano. That leaves Ventura, Manto and KW. Funny, the Yankees can always use pitching these days and gave up on both Quintana and McAllister, who suddenly looks like a world-beater in the crisp SEPT weather.

"You can cancel the season, boys." Feels like it, but something's going to spark them the last 10 games, 7 at home. It has to. This can't continue for another 10 days. Jesus, these are guys who have owned this guy in the past, like Beckham. Now they're just playing scared, or afraid to lose. Talk about an implosion. Just not of epic or unexpected proportions.

Our worst or 2nd worst FB hitter this year and he looks like the best. Meanwhile, everyone up and down our line-up getting blown away with gas.

Tigers game basically over. Time to show what you're made of now, White Sox.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 06:49 PM) De aza wasn't good either AND ISN'T Both those balls could and probably should have been caught. OF defense, which was once one of our greatest strengths, has let down with the rest of the fundamentals the last 3-4 weeks of the season.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 06:46 PM) Game. Why even watch, then? Sale is 9-2 with a 1.72 ERA at home. That ball should have been caught. If the game's over against a Zach McAllister in the 3rd inning at home with Chris Sale pitching, they might as well cancel the rest of the season and 2013 as well. Stop being ridiculous.

Rios drifted with that ball instead of getting back to the wall right away. Can't afford to give them runs there. Ball carried more than he expected, but typical White Sox play down the stretch.

Scouting is your friend. Verlander retires Francouer on 3 straight sliders. NO FASTBALLS, note for 2013, Sox pitchers, catchers and Cooper.

Royals mounting another threat, Butler and the impressive Perez reaching...but they don't have much speed, a lot like the middle of our order. Moose K's, Royals 0 for their last 3 with RISP. Need a hit here somewhere to put some fear into the Tigers.

McAllister is just throwing it as hard as he can across the plate and nobody can catch up with it. THIS.TEAM.IS.STILL.DEAD.EVEN.AT.USCF Butler with his 2nd hit of the evening against Verlander. We could use players with the swagger of Cain and Butler at this point in the season. Who's our leader right now? It's not Konerko, that's for darned sure.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 06:29 PM) Well that was quite the pathetic start. The number 8 hitter in the AL with RISP is batting eighth in the White Sox lineup. Look at YOUK's splits at USCF. Look at Alexei's repeated failures in the last 2-3 weeks with RISP. That's old history. He was third and is sinking quickly like the Titanic, as are the rest of the team.

Why can't Francouer make perfect throws against DET like he does against us? 4-1, Jackson wiped out at 3rd, two runners cut down on the basepaths this inning for the Tigers already. Nobody retired by actual Hochevar pitches. AJ not messing around with that throw. Maybe his best of the season.

Hochevar struggling now. Luckily, Peralta got gunned down by Dyson at 2B or they would already be leading 3-1. 4 hits in this inning already. Not good. Sale has to hold serve at home. We knew that coming in. Time to step up, Chris.

Upper deck is basically deserted. Don't remember McAllister throwing quite so hard as he just did to YOUK. 95 MPH. And 96 to get Dunn. Seems he's fired up, too. By the way, Billy Butler is .367 lifetime against Verlander in 50+ career ab's.

Verlander just got Dyson on 99 mph cheese. 14-2 against the Royals lifetime, one of the losses his last outing in KC where he gave up 8. Almost impossible to beat at home, and 2.70ish ERA lifetime against the Royals. 57 strikes, only 16 balls through 5 innings. Pretty amazing, but what new? Escobar out to end the 1st and 3rd, one out chance for KC to tie up the game.

The Tigers dropped both games of a day-night doubleheader on Sunday. They also lost ground on the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox, falling a game back after coming into the day trailing by half a game. “There’s not really much to explain here tonight,” said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, after his team lost 2-1 in 10 innings in the nightcap and 10-4 in the first game to the Minnesota Twins. “I’m not trying to get rid of you guys or send you into the night, I’m just telling you it’s disappointing we didn’t score more runs today. “In two ballgames today, I felt we would certainly score more runs than we did and we didn’t.” • Box score, stats | MLB scoreboard | Standings | Stats | News The Angels completed a weekend sweep of the White Sox, with a 4-1 win on Sunday afternoon. That gave the Tigers a chance to move into a tie for first place with the White Sox with a win in the nightcap. “We gotta win some games,” Leyland said. “We did get ourselves within a half game. Now we’re a game out. So, it is what it is. You gotta win baseball games.” Jamey Carroll’s RBI single off Tigers closer Jose Valverde brought home Denard Span for the go-ahead run in the 10th inning. Asked about the defensive miscues, Leyland said: “What cost us today is we didn’t score runs. We gotta more than one run.” The Tigers were coming off an 8-0 win over the Twins on Saturday. “We came out and put the eight-spot right away in that other game,” Leyland said. “The last two games, we just didn’t score any runs, and we felt we were going to have to score some runs in this series. We actually shut them down pretty good the second game tonight, better than I thought we would.” Defensive miscues by the Tigers helped lead to a five-run fifth for the Twins in the first game. They also played a role in the Twins coming back to tie the game at 1 in the second game. Tigers starter Drew Smyly allowed an unearned run on three hits in 4 1/3 innings. “He was okay,” Leyland said. “He had the one walk that hurt him, leading off that inning. But I thought he did a fine job.” www.freep.com/sports

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 08:39 PM) Tiger total of 4 errors in the double header. Is that possible? I guess it is. And Dirks had a ball drop in front of him that was crucial, and misplayed....playing too far back and getting a late jump. Infante had a difficult play he should have finished but threw it into the dirt and once again Fielder failed to pick it.

QUOTE (ROC Sox Fan @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 08:38 PM) My Dad is a Twins fan, usually during baseball season I don't want to talk to him. Now, I feel like I should bake him a cake. This feels wrong to be cheering for the Twins. But I'll do it. I kinda don't even care if we were to get swept out of the playoffs(at this point... if we make it I probably would retract this)- I just want to GET there. I don't think even the 2000 or 2008 results would get anyone too upset at this point. Just make it, after leading the division nearly the entire season, it would suck not to get a chance to see what they could do, although matching up with the Orioles would be super scary and depressing. We'd have a chance against the Yankees or Rangers, probably not the Angels....

Chris Sale at USCF this season. 9-2, 1.72 ERA 83 2/3 IP, 57 hits, 80 K's. Let's get back in the win column. Meanwhile, the Tigers will be able to set the trend starting one hour earlier Monday night, but we have the "infamous" Kevin Youkilis/Yom Kippur Tuesday afternoon outing to put up a W on the board early and pressure DEE-TROIT. Dodgers didn't exactly write their own playoff ticket with that huge trade, after all. And look out, but the Brewers and Angels are well positioned in the final 10 days to make a run at WC spots and take that momentum into the playoffs right with them.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 09:22 PM) I keep waiting for the metaphorical Sun in Grady Sizemores Eyes moment. Waiting. and Waiting. and Waiting some more That kind of happened the other night. Austin Jackson had a liner hit directly at him, he ran too far in, froze like a deer in the headlights and it flew over his head and opened up the door to a big inning. Actually, the Tigers' defense, it happened again in the 5th inning in the 1st game, and the tying run scored was a huge gift as well, even though they should have done a lot more with bases-loaded and no outs, we got to wipe out some of their bullpen and rattled Valverde and Villarreal with today's results. At the start of the doubleheader, Scherzer (6-7) was back on the mound after leaving his previous start after two innings with shoulder fatigue. The right-hander couldn't get his normally high-90s fastball past 93, but was good enough to hold Minnesota scoreless for five innings only to be let down by his team's shoddy defense. "He's still got great stuff, even if he wasn't throwing 97," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He's got the great change, a great breaking ball and everything is moving all over the place. We really had to be patient with him." Despite the diminished velocity, Scherzer insisted he isn't worried about making his final two starts, including game 162. "They kept me rested this week, so maybe that's why I didn't have my normal zip," he said. "Now I'll be back on the regular program, so hopefully that will get things back to normal." www.espn.com

I like that headline at MLB.com..."Endangered White Sox lose 5th straight" ANAHEIM - The White Sox hitters basically employed the same approach during Sunday's 4-1 loss to the Angels as they used back when the schedule read May 23. Of course, sticking to what is hoped to be a successful plan becomes easier said than executed when the pressure of an airtight American League Central race to the postseason is thrown into the equation. "You are not going to replace that. The pressure is there," White Sox hitting coach Jeff Manto said. "It does exist. It's something you have to deal with. That's why we have the players we do because these guys have done it in the past. "It's a matter of trusting themselves. The key for me is just to be able to not necessarily relax but have that same anxiety you had earlier. It keeps you going. Just remembering to get a good ball to hit and pay attention to the at-bat." Manto explained that the only difference he's noticed with the White Sox offense centers on missing those good pitches or fouling them off, where before they were making solid contact. That scenario has become especially prevalent with runners in scoring position, where the White Sox exited Sunday 25-for-145 over the last 17 games in this particular situation, and 3-for-42 over the last six games with 40 left on base. "So, they pull back just a little bit and I think they will be OK," Manto said. "I guess you can make all kinds of cliches that the harder you work, the luckier you will get. "These guys should be pretty lucky because they have been working hard all season long and they deserve to be in the position they are in. If they continue to believe it, things will work out." White Sox refuse to panic ANAHEIM - There might be an occasional glance at the scoreboard to check out Detroit's results, and a few signs of frustration have popped up through an occasional White Sox bat slam during this five-game losing extended with the Angels' sweep completion Sunday. But the White Sox have not altered their postseason plans and still believe they can survive the rigors of the American League Central's final 10 days to make their first playoff appearance since 2008. "I don't think anyone is quite panicking," said White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale, who takes the mound Monday at U.S. Cellular Field against the Indians. "You start panicking and you get out of your comfort zone. That's what we don't want to do. Just be prepared." "It is coming at a bad time for us," White Sox outfielder Dewayne Wise said. "But we are still at the top with 11 to go. We just got to go out there and not worry about Detroit. Just go out there and relax and play baseball. Whatever is going to happen, is going to happen." Wise remembers the White Sox race to the finish in 2008, when his team had to beat the Indians, Tigers and Twins in the famous Blackout Game just to reach the postseason. Although the White Sox were quickly dispensed by the Rays in the first round, Wise and his teammates understand anything can happen once the playoffs begin. "You get in there however you can," Wise said. "Every team's record is the same, you know, you just got to go out there and play. You never know what could happen once you get in there. "A couple of teams might have the best record in the game. But it's about getting in there and getting hot at the right time." White Sox rotation set through Tuesday ANAHEIM -- Chris Sale takes the mound Monday for his 28th start and 29th appearance of 2012, bringing with him an 8-0 record and 1.20 ERA over his past nine starts at U.S. Cellular Field. Francisco Liriano gets the call Tuesday against the Indians, but Wednesday's starter, scheduled as Jake Peavy, could be changed. Peavy might get an extra day from Friday's start in Anaheim and open the four-game set against the Rays on Thursday. As for Sale, he continues to feel strong at 18 1/3 innings away from 200 and the completion of his first year as a starter. "Obviously it might take a little bit longer to bounce back," Sale said. "I just make sure I'm doing running and conditioning and stay on top of that. Once my fifth day comes up, usually I'm in a pretty good spot." Third to first • The White Sox have been swept in just four series of three games or more this season. By contrast, the White Sox have nine sweeps of three games or more, which is tied for the most in the Majors. • White Sox relievers possess a 0.99 ERA, 24 strikeouts in 27 2/3 innings and a .126 opponents average against in the last nine games. Six of those outings have been three innings or more. The bullpen had allowed 26 runs on 47 hits over the previous 32 2/3 innings. • The White Sox scored 11 runs over the last six games of the road trip after totaling 20 runs the first three games. They slipped to 11-33 when going homerless. www.chisox.com (Merkin)

QUOTE (CyAcosta41 @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 09:15 PM) Span! Carroll! Perkins! TWINKS!!! Time for Peavy and his boysz to get their butts in gear at home and win this darned thing. It's not as if the Tigers are anything special. Someone has to win. Rumor is that Peavy will be pushed back to the Rays' series and Santiago will get a start against more lefty-dominant Indians line-up. The Tigers chose the same strategy today and it backfired miserably, even though Smyly did pitch better than expected. Porcello's turn in the regular rotation was skipped, at least for today. Now what, Tiger Nation?

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 09:14 PM) Split a series with the Twins at home. (that's bad) Since when did the Royals and Twins start liking the Sox? 2-1 vs. OAK, 1-2 vs. Minnesota (swept today) 3-3 on the week, White Sox 1-5 since getting that huge 3 game lead and the key 2 game swing. Five losses in a row, and still clinging to first place. Wonder if we'll get over 20,000 fans tomorrow night?

Haven't seen so much collective choking and puckering up since the Olympic gymnastics and figure skating competitions.