caulfield12

Crazy day when you can basically go from 100 Tigers to 335 White Sox to 700 pm Tigers again....well that's East Coast time. 414 am here in China. At least the Tigers' meltdown was enjoyable to witness, if nothing else will be for the remainder of Sunday. Just when you're about to give up on Gavin Floyd, he's throwing 93-94 and looking like a Cy Young winner occasionally. That $9.5 million option for 2013 is going to be a huge decision for the Sox. With the left-handedness of our potential rotation, and losing Peavy, we probably have to exercise it. Maybe he'll get traded if they can find another RH starter via trade or free agency. Thank god Aybar's a punch and Judy hitter.

Beckham with a nice swing on the fastball, battling to finish in the .240's. 0/3 with RISP. Hahaha. This is becoming comical. The only thing funnier would be limping into the playoffs, then morphing into the 2006/2011 Cardinals for 2-3 weeks. But our starting pitching just doesn't have the horses right now to make an extended October run. Just Sale...and he's vulnerable on the road, especially in the 2nd half.

Nice swing there by Viciedo on a fastball...just missed it. Harrelson was probably praying "stretch, stretch, stretch...dadgummit." Ramirez back into brain dead, April-May mode again when we most need him to come up with some big clutch hits.

Guaranteed Hahn/Williams will go after Torii Hunter this offseason and install him as the starting CF about 5 seasons too late. HOW THE HELL was that 3rd pitch to Pujols NOT a strike? Hitting on a 3-0 count, somehow sneaks it through the left side of the INF. What is our scoring rate with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs the last month? 15%? 20%? It's supposed to be about 58%. Yay, I guess. Not that it matters, since we're looking unlikely to score against Weaver after blowing that chance. Well, eventually the luck has to change. It just might not be until the team limps back into Chicago, trailing more oil behind it than a Pinto or Gremlin.

The White Sox have gone from the best team in the majors hitting with RISP to the worst team in the last month. Just incomprehensible. CHICAGO TOUGH, NOT. 3 consecutive strikeouts looking for Mr. Trout.

OF COURSE. What else were we expecting? At least we still have first place tie going home tomorrow. It's unbelievable how bad our execution with bases loaded has been since the start of the Orioles series. This is just starting to get sadistic watching this team play in the current funk they're in... It's like we are gluttons for punishment, and yet the Tigers won't even let us give the division in a gift-wrapped box to them.

C'mon Paulie, these two runs are absolutely huge. First hit of series, ironically a textbook opposite field double (19th) for Dunn. Konerko 1/20 career against Weaver, doesn't chase outside of the zone....6 K's, great recovery. Dreaded bases loaded situation for the White Sox. 17 GIDP's.

Weaver a scary 6-2, but 1.61 career ERA vs. the Sox. 10-2 at home this season, mid 2's ERA. 100 wins, just 51 losses for his career. 8-2 Twins now.

6 more outs to go for the Twins' bullpen. So far, so good. Always good when a Cabrera or Fielder Grand Slam can only tie it. Leadoff double by Ryan Doumit in the top of the 8th. Terrible AB by Plouffe, no advance. Twins all tried to take Scherzer to the opposite field in the early innings...that consistent offensive approach eventually paid off later. TIGERS KILLER Eduardo Escobar, haha. 7-2. Downs has passed Coke in the pen, they're going to need him tonight probably. Now Florimon follows with a solid knock, 1st and 2nd, only one out.

Revere almost killed himself diving for that foul ball down the line. Seems the Twins and Royals are geared up to take down the favorites and deny the MVP in DEE campaign, lol.

39 pitches, 17 balls. Don't think they'll be able to use Villarreal now until Tuesday. YAY!

Dirks probably should have let that ball fall foul. SAC FLY, and it's 6-2. Nice recovery/battle there by Joe Mauer to get a key insurance run in.

Go Go Go Paul Revere, the British are coming. Would break the SB record of 37 by a 38 year old Otis Nixon in 1998. Never would have thought of him. Fourth huge defensive miscue in the past two innings. HAHAHAHA.

Florimon and Escobar with two great plays today limiting the Tigers' offense. Cabrera and Fielder BOTH retired, for now. 9 more outs to go. Go Twinkies!!! Go Piranhas!!! Bite, bite, bite. Take that, annoying "Singing Vendor" Guy. Villarreal's done for the day. That leaves Alburquerque, Dotel and Benoit as the bullpen for tonight...NOT before Valverde, since he won't be in the game except as the mop-up guy in a blowout loss.

QUOTE (scenario @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 12:53 PM) Today, I am a Twins fan! I will take a shower later. About as palatable as cheering for Grant Balfour earlier this week. Meanwhile, the A's in danger of losing a 3rd game in a row to the Yankees after having the early lead. Angels smelling blood in the water, A's have 7 against TEX and 3 against SEA. If you were betting baseball, it would be almost impossible to imagine all the money on the Angels and Weaver over the White Sox today. Sucker bet for Caesar?

Sellout crowd (33 on the season, over 3 million tickets sold already) STUNNED and in DISBELIEF. 40,000+ today on an NFL Sunday. Span K's, FINALLY. Villarreal struggling with his control. Now, whatever happens, just don't let Miguel Cabrera freakin' beat you. And be ready to attack Fielder with loogies. Send Veal to the Twins today, one day trade, and then back to the Sox.

Stolen bases, let's get that 6th run. Twins now hitting around, sending their 9th hitter to the dish. Crazy, crazy game, baseball. Span .354 career hitter against DET, time to strike now with a dagger. Simply hilarious that we could be losers of 5 games in a row and still come home with a 1 game lead with 10 left to play, were the Tigers/Smyly to lose tonight.

No clue why the runner on 1st didn't get to 2nd base on that play. Still leaves the DP as an option to get out of the inning. Florimon up, their worst, weakest hitter. HAHAHAHAHA. Runner safe at 1B, another run scores, in a play that immediately brought to mind Rios taking out Infante at 2B in Chicago. 5-2. Just BARELY beat the throw to 1B by the closest of margins. 5 runs, 8 hits now for Minnesota. 3 surrendered by Max Patkin.

Haha. Escobar K's, Morneau tries to score on the wild pitch and he steps on the plate and forgets he has to tag the runner. 4-2. Three huge defensive lapses in one inning alone. Dirks letting ball drop in LF after bad jump, Infante bad throw to Fielder, Villarreal with a huge brain cramp not tagging the sluggish Morneau trying to score there.

Dirks with a DeAza-esque playing too far back and getting a bad jump single allowed to Morneau. 4 hits in a row now. 2-2 tie, runners on 1st and 2nd, Doumit up now. Need to move those runners into scoring position and make a productive out. Bases loaded now due to atrocious walk by Coke. Now Phil's done. No outs still. C'mon TWINS, blow this game wide open. Interesting decision by the Tigers to go with the statistical trend and pitch the lefty Smyly (shaky at best his last bullpen outing against the A's) rather than Rick Porcello against the Twins in the nightcap. Not clear if they're going to skip Porcello against the Royals Monday night or go directly to Anibal Sanchez. 8/21 inherited runners had scored, now 9/24 and two more could still score this inning. Villarreal in to try to limit the damage. 6 straight batters reach. Plouffe grounds a single through the infield. Still no outs.

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 12:23 PM) pretty clear Minnesota won't be playing much of a spoiler at this point. Spoke too soon on that front. Unless they develop White Sox-itis with RISP and no outs here. Only 4 K's for Scherzer, more evidence of his reduced stuff.

2nd and 3rd, no outs. 3 hits in a row, 2-1 and a great chance to take the lead. Bullpen coming in, Scherzer showing clear signed of fatigue and diminished velocity today. Infante involved in another bad throw to Fielder which wasn't scooped up. No surprise, he's been horrible with DET fielding-wise.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 01:18 PM) Baseball Prospectus http://www.baseballprospectus.com/odds/ coolstandings http://www.coolstandings.com/baseball_stan...sn=2012&i=1 Who is still saying the Sox are over 75%? www.espn.com/mlb/standings

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.