caulfield12

How can the White Sox still be at 75+% and the Tigers at ONLY 26.4% to make the playoffs with ONLY a 1/2 game lead right now? WEIRD. Scherzer's velocity is down quite a bit. Still only 92-93 but effective. Normally, he's in the mid 90's by this point in the game. Looks like he's starting to tire and have some control problems now. Escobar with the steal, in scoring position now. 0/3 with RISP. Threw Span a nasty slider to get him on a 3-2 count.

About to blow the game wide open in the 4th here if Diamond doesn't stop the bleeding right now. If not for a great Eduardo Escobar play, it could have been even worse. 2-0 Tigers into the 5th.

Another 2 out run scored. Delmon Young strikes against his former team. Cabrera should have been out, but a horrible offline thrown from Ben Revere allows him to sneak in.

Cabrera strikes again. Broken record. MVP/Triple Crown. Hard to beat with how inept the Sox line-up has been. Scherzer with 62 pitches through 4, did get out of runners on 1st/2nd and 1 out situation in the first, hasn't been tested since then. Walked another batter, that's it, basically.

Twins starting Walters again Smyly in the nightcap. Scherzer vs. Diamond in Game 1. Would rather that Diamond started against Smyly, but oh well. All the momentum goes to them with a tie for 1st. All of it flies out the window if Scherzer goes out of the game early again and is probably done for the season.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 09:47 AM) I'll make you guys a deal. Go out and train for a couple of months to run the mile. Then without any additional training go out and run a marathon. Tell me how you do. I think it's more like changing from 2 miles to 3 if you're a great 2 miler, or from 5 K to 10 K. One mile to a marathon isn't quite the right analogy.

Notes to RV and the team: 1) Please, no more DeAza and Dunn in the first three hitters, it makes us too vulnerable to LH relief pitchers who can pitch a full inning. 2) No more YOUK in the 2 hole on the road, scarily enough, maybe Beckham is the best choice for now 3) Alexei Ramirez, you have sucked recently in clutch situations...not scoring the 3rd run to make it 4-3 last night just killed us

Seems the 2 out hit, 2 RBI single by Trumbo will end up being the difference, based on how things have gone for the Sox recently. We'll claw back and score 1-2 runs, make it somewhat close....maybe a solo homer here or there.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance Oh, the the A's are behind us, despite their amazing run. Not a surprise in that stadium. FWIW, there's a huge slide from the White Sox to the Royals at 25th, roughly 3K per game. Go Sooners, at least one good thing can happen tonight for me.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 22, 2012 -> 08:04 PM) Isn't that happening this year? 24th for much of the season. Don't forget the Royals and Indians, they're always good to stay behind us. Mariners, too. Can't remember the other team. But we're behind the Padres and Blue Jays, that's pretty darned sad.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Sep 22, 2012 -> 08:00 PM) China's not Malaysia. LOL Maybe I did get laid and it's still not helping ENOUGH. Combine that with my alma mater the Hawkeyes losing at home to Central Michigan and my dad's school, Oklahoma, getting beaten at home by K-State and it's even more depressing, if that's possible.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Sep 22, 2012 -> 08:55 PM) Yikes...Youk's hitting under .230 now. And under .200 since the ASB, although his OPS is still 740-ish because of the homers and walks. But yeah, as Fathom pointed out, the entire team is fading in the 2nd half, with a couple of exceptions. Players like Wise, Veal and Flowers have somehow held the duct tape together ENOUGH, but maybe not enough for 162 games (154, we might have survived).

Let's be honest, a healthy Verlander, Scherzer and Fister is a great front 3 for a playoff team. We have Sale pitching courageously on fumes, Peavy on fumes, Quintana on fumes, Liriano and Floyd inconsistent/erratic...you could make an argument with the flashes he has shown that Hector Santiago, even though he's not even in the rotation, could be our 2nd best starter at this point.

This board is a magnified reflection of the fanbase. Right now, it's ALL BAD. Which means a majority are expecting the Tigers to take the division with their easier schedule. Of course, as we saw in 2008, some unexpected teams can play spoiler down the stretch, like the Royals. But the Angels clearly have gotten their final breath of life sensing the A's are vulnerable and can be caught now. It would be one of the biggest shocks of the season if we beat Weaver tomorrow. Even Caesar wouldn't bet on the Sox in that one. We do miss Price. And there's a good chance the Rays won't have the same motivation, knowing they can't catch the O's, Yankees, Angels and A's.

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 22, 2012 -> 08:37 PM) Q is one that I think might be a bit of a space cadet. I don't throw that around lightly but I really think he has a problem staying focused. Or he's just really bad at defensive fundamentals/fielding his position...and part of that's due to the fact that's he is essentially a minor leaguer learning at the big league level this year. It can't be ALL that surprising.

Santiago has the much fresher arm. It's not fair to expect Quintana to do much more. He already got one of the most important wins in the 2nd half, against the Tigers. Unfortunately, we choked away the next 2 games (especially Game #2 with Peavy), but he stood up to them and showed we could go toe to toe and not back down.

Game over. Weaver tomorrow. We'll find out soon enough if those 2 Royals' losses essentially were the beginning of the end of the season, or if they can rebound against the Indians and Rays at home somehow.

There's another run scoring prevented by the presence of Viciedo's arm in LF.

Gee, nobody saw this one coming.

Quintana=Clayton Richard II

This is really the "must win, stop the bleeding" game, but you would have thought they would have had more of a sense of urgency to get Santana than they did. Haren's been a lot better more recently, and Weaver's the toughest out of all historically for the White Sox. You got the Tigers surging againg with confidence at home, Scherzer on the bump...everything has turned in the course of 4-5 days, from the jubilation of Monday and Tuesday (actually beating KC on the road) to this.

Teams not only generate more revenue based on how far they advance in the post season, but also based on how many games they play within a given series. Under Major League Baseball’s collective-bargaining agreement, 60 percent of total gate receipts from non-deciding games — the first three games of the Division Series and the first four games of both the Championship Series and the World Series — go into a pool for postseason players, with the other 40 percent going to the home team. The home team receives 100 percent of the revenue for any additional non-deciding games played within a series. The player pool is distributed as follows: 36 percent to the World Series winner, 24 percent to the World Series loser, 12 percent to the two Championship Series losers, 3 percent to each of the four Division Series losers and 1 percent to each of the four second-place teams that did not make the playoffs as a wild card.(remember what Ozzie was saying down the stretch last year about finishing in 2nd instead of 3rd?) http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stor...ry1.html?page=1 Not only that, but the A's losing these first two games agains the Yankees, the first two in DET (1-4 overall)... the injury to Anderson, the fact that they've got 7 games remaining with the Rangers....that's giving the Angels a ton of hope right now that they can put their foot on the gas the final 10 days and catch them from behind. They've only got a 3 game lead now over the Angels for the WC. It was 4 1/2 and looking bleak.

Trying to find more reasons to look in the bright side. Even if we did make the playoffs and lost in the first series, we'd earn less money than if we had Brett Myers on our roster next season if they let him finish 6 more games, haha. Inside the Numbers: How MLB Postseason Gate Revenues Are Split Written by Maury Brown Friday, 24 September 2010 14:13 When financial documents for several MLB clubs were leaked to Deadspin last month, two pieces of information that has been a source of curiosity for many fans was somewhat revealed. With the Rays and Angels documents showing how much the respective clubs made in the postseason, a window was opened into how much extra revenues a club can make by reaching the postseason. But, from that point, little detail was provided. A postseason revenue figure does not cover how MLB’s rules dictate how much a club can pull in. With the 2010 postseason about to arrive, discussions around clubs that are reaching that goal are surfacing in the media. With the Minnesota Twins being the first to clinch a position, John Vomhof Jr. of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal contacted me to discuss postseason revenues for the club (see Playoffs add millions to Twins’ lucrative season). As reported: The Angels reported $12.1 million in revenue from hosting five first- and second-round playoff games in 2009 and nearly $4.4 million for hosting two first-round games in 2008, according to the reports published by Deadspin.com. The Rays made almost $17.7 million in revenue on the six postseason games they hosted in 2008. Having two home games in the World Series helped boost those results. The Twins might not be able to expect as much revenue from early-round games as the Angels made last year, but they should be able to surpass the Rays’ results, said Maury Brown, founder and president of the Business of Sports Network, which includes the Biz of Baseball website. “It’s in the millions of dollars,” Brown said of the financial impact the Twins will receive from making the playoffs this year. “And depending on how far they go, it could be upwards of $10 million.” Vomhof does a good job of digesting the key aspects of MLB’s Rules document, that details how the revenues are to be split between players and the clubs that make the postseason. The logic, however, is simple: the further you go into the posteason, and the more games you host, the more revenues a club can make. To begin with, one needs to understand that with the postseason, clubs actually lose seating capacity. How? Here’s the demands placed on clubs making the postseason to provide ticket and seating. And remember… this doesn’t cover the seats chewed up by overflow media seating considerations which can many times go into the hundreds over what a normal regular season game demands. (e) TICKET PRIORITIES. The order in which requests for reserved seat tickets for the World Series shall be filed is as follows: (1) Visiting Club. Five hundred reserved seat tickets for each game to the visiting club, for accommodations of its officials and guests, the same to be paid for by the visiting Club. (2) Players. Five tickets for each eligible player of the visiting team, which shall be delivered to and paid for by each player through the business manager of the player's Club. (3) Commissioner's Office and Club Officials. Requests filed by the Commissioner's Office and Major League Club officials or parties of prominence with the Commissioner. (4) Major League Clubs. Major League Clubs (other than the visiting Club), 100 reserved seat tickets, 16 of which shall be box seats. Eight of the 16 box seats shall be grouped together in the lower deck between first and third base, and 20 of the remaining 84 reserved seats shall be so situated. DIVISION OF POST-SEASON RECEIPTS The gate receipts from the World Series, from the first four games of each League Championship Series, and from the first three games of each Division Series (which shall be remitted by the participating Clubs to the Office of the Commissioner within 24 hours after the completion of each game) shall be divided as follows: (a) COMMISSIONER. Fifteen percent from all World Series games shall be paid to the Office of the Commissioner. A percentage set annually by the Commissioner, and approved by the Major League Executive Council, in accordance with Rule 26(b) (Assessment of Paid Attendance Receipts), from all League Championship Series games shall be paid to the Office of the Commissioner. (b) PLAYERS. (1) Creation of Pool. One players' pool shall be created from the World Series, the two League Championship Series and the four Division Series. Contributions shall be made into the pool as follows: (A) Sixty percent of the total gate receipts from the first four World Series games; (B) Sixty percent of the total gate receipts from the first four games of each League Championship Series; and © Sixty percent of the total gate receipts from the first three games of each Division Series. So, as the rules show, a sizeable chunk of revenues for the clubs that make the postseason get lopped off the top before owners get their cut. You’ll note that the owners don’t get to reap the full benefits of the playoffs unless a game goes past deciding games. The reason for the players getting the large percentage is to keep them from throwing games. The slicing a dicing of the revenues gets detailed further: CLUBS—COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE. (1) World Series. After the fifteen percent payable to the Office of the Commissioner and the sixty percent which forms the players' pool in the first four games of the World Series, as required by Rule 45(b)(1)(A), the balance of the gate receipts shall be equally divided between the two participating Major League Clubs. (2) League Championship Series. (A) After the percentage payable to the Commissioner's Office pursuant to Rule 45(a) and the sixty percent which forms the players' pool in the first four League Championship Series games in each League, as required by Rule 45(b)(1)(B), the balance of the gate receipts from said four League Championship Series games of a League shall be equally divided between the two Clubs participating in the League Championship Series of that League. (B) If the League Championship Series games in a League shall exceed four, the gate receipts of such playoff games in excess of four shall be divided as follows: first, the Commissioner's Office shall be paid the percentage described in Rule 45(a), and then the remaining receipts shall be equally divided between the two Clubs participating in the League Championship Series of that League. (3) Division Series. (A) After the percentage payable to the Commissioner's Office pursuant to Rule 45(a) and the sixty percent which forms the players' pool in the first three Division Series games in each Division Series, as required by Rule 45(b)(1)(B), the balance of the gate receipts from said three Division Series games in each Division Series shall be equally divided between the two Clubs participating in such Division Series. (B) If the games in a Division Series shall exceed three, the gate receipts of such playoff games in excess of three shall be divided as follows: first, the Commissioner's Office shall be paid the percentage described in Rule 45(a), and then the remaining receipts shall be equally divided between the two Clubs participating in such Division Series. So, the one true benefactor that cannot fail to receive gate revenues to the maximum extent is the Commissioner’s Office, who gets their percentage ahead of all others. The players are next, and then any deciding games after the series minimum is reached, those revenues are split equally. So, in the sense that there is pure parity when it comes to gate receipts. If the Padres and Yankees make the World Series, the Padres get the same cut as the Yankees, even if for some reason the Padres weren’t to pull in the same amount of revenues as the Yankees were to. So, for owners, there is money to be made even if your club were to get swept in a given postseason series, but they reap even greater rewards if a series goes beyond the minimum, not just because of the extra games, but because the two teams get 100% of the gate after the Commissioner's Office takes their slice off the top. And we’re just talked the direct revenues for the postseason. Clubs that reach the playoffs get a slingshot effect into the following season in the form of increased season ticket and suite sales due to a good showing in the standings. Everyone loves a winner, and the belief that a team that is in the playoffs one year, should be a contender the next. An owner, his GM, and staff can always hope.

Sox could be up by 4 games. Or the homer Austin Jackson just hit could be the start of a sweep by the Tigers. Who knows?

All things considered, losing those games to the Twins in 2003, 2004 and down the stretch in 2008 might be worse than losing 9/10 to the Tigers or 12/18 to the Royals this season. Our expectations were very high in 2003, low in 2008 (except Quentin, Ramirez, Floyd and Danks elevated them) and quite low again this year. I can't remember very many credible national baseball prognosticators predicting 100 losses, but there were quite a few 87-95 loss projections. After a certain trend developed (and this has been ongoing for 2-3 years now with the Royals), you've just come to almost be resigned to losing to them, although you thought with the solid victory on Tuesday that they might take 2/3 at least. That last game, because it was the most recent, stings the most...you just have the feeling that a 3 game lead would have been enough to get it done, but that 2 won't be...razor sharp margin. We still have a chance to pull it out with that homestand, but you really wonder if we could survive for about the 10th time this team a setback like getting swept in LA while the Tigers are possibly sweeping the Twins at home.