caulfield12

It's not like ANYONE can fault Quintana for giving up a run or two at this point in the game. What's he supposed to do? It's starting to wear on our starters...being put in these situations where the offense scores runs in bunches and then goes completely dormant.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 19, 2012 -> 01:15 PM) We're close to getting swept by the Royals, the team with the worst record in the AL. You know how embarrassing and f***ing pathetic that is? Then again, the Rangers' fans must think how they've played against us this year is similarly pathetic, as we were predicted to be an 85-95 loss team by many. Every team has at least ONE other team in baseball they struggle against pretty consistently. For example, the Indians just owned the Tigers the first half of the season until that trend shifted suddenly.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 19, 2012 -> 01:14 PM) Why is Alexei hitting in front of Tank? He usually does against RHP...it's 50/50, Dayan has the better OPS by about 100 points, though, overall. Moustakas beating up Quintana this season...seems to have his number despite L/L match-up.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Aug 19, 2012 -> 12:57 PM) Beckhams not even swinging at strikes. Robin should bench him again. Well, Saladino's definitely not ready to play 3B or 2B next year. Wonder what Williams will do? What's Sanchez doing these days? I remember arguing with Marty about acquiring Guthrie as our 5th/6th guy and now he's sliced us and diced us twice this season already. Put anyone in a Royals' uniform, they can add CY to their name. It would have been worth 2 games in the standings just to keep him off KC.

Well, every time all season long that I cede games to the Tigers, they alway seem to give them right back.

Just hope KW doesn't pair Mark Reynolds at 3B with Dunn in the same line-up, and possibly Flowers/Beckham/Dayan. Too many K's.

The funny thing is that Chen was pitching great all season long and had held the Tigers to only one run in BALT. Baltimore has some crazy streak of winning like their last 12 one-run decisions and almost all of their extra innings games. Something like 17-2, which makes up for their RS/RA splits. DET has the worst 5 hole production in baseball, although Peralta might have changed that today. More teams are starting to walk Cabrera and Fielder and daring the 5/6 spots to beat them, but it backfired today. Cabrera over .380 for the last 45 games, .332 overall, Fielder over .330 for that same time span and hasn't struck out more than twice in a game and that's only happened a few times all season long. And Fister has been August/September 2011 tough again his last 4 starts. You've got Verlander/Fister, Cabrera/Fielder...all going like gangbusters, it would be a miracle if the Sox held them off with a fading Sale/Peavy combination and all the injuries we've had in the starting line-up in recent weeks. 95+ times out of 100, the Tigers should win the division. Have to really start watching those Rays results more closely. Also have to hope the reeling Angels can right the ship against the Tigers this week.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Aug 19, 2012 -> 10:57 AM) SOX have only been swept once this year. There is no way there are going to let it happen today. Reverse jinx in place. Don't say something like that!!! Seriously, with Gordon Beckham hitting 2nd, DeAza and Youk out and Olmedo having to play in any key situation at all...it's a potential disaster waiting to happen. Can't believe KW didn't find a better option than Olmedo at this late point in August. It's pretty incredible that the bench has been allowed to be so abysmal for the majority of the season.

QUOTE (flavum @ Aug 19, 2012 -> 09:50 AM) Biggest game of the year so far. Seriously, you can't get swept in KC with Sale and Peavy on the mound, and have that momentum going into the Yankees series where things can start to spiral. f***ing win. I think the tone set in the first game of the Tigers/Sox series at USCF might end up being the most important. But who knows, really? Definitely, if we can jump over them and (hopefully) extend the first place lead, that would be huge. Otherwise, if we lose 2/3 or 3/4 (can't remember which series is 4, in DET or at home)....then we're definitely in survival mode going to Motown down the stretch run.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Aug 18, 2012 -> 02:53 AM) I can be a big deal. If a team in our division plays minor league talent when we need the to beat the Tigers just because they want to see what they can do. Of course, that can work both ways, but think about the fact that Detroit plays the Twins and Royals the last week of the season. That could prove to a division won or lost. It definitely worked against the Twins in 2008 down the stretch. Sometimes those teams with mostly young players or rookies are super dangerous down the stretch, playing loose and relaxed, with nothing to lose and trying to impress their managers. Same thing happened to the Indians the final week of 2005, and the Tigers a couple of years when the Twins chased them down the final week (2006/2009). In the end, getting the momentum from that one game/sudden death playoff win might end up catapulting the winner forward, although it obviously takes your best starter out of the first game or two of the next series.

Would have thought Youk would be closer to 1500 career hits...just goes to show you how difficult and elusive that 3,000 mark is. Unless you start out at 19 or 20 like A-Rod, Griffey, Cabrera, Trout, Harper, etc. Even then, you have to stay healthy in your 30's. Ichiro probably would have done it (and he did adding both JPL and MLB) had he begun his career in the US. Isn't Michael Young the next strong candidate to make it? Seems strange to think of him as a HOF candidate due to his poor defense and playing in Texas, but it would be next to impossible to keep him out at that mark or above.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 18, 2012 -> 08:03 PM) Does Myers get credit for finishing this game? Absolutely, by the "letter of law" (or contract). We're what, 12-13 games away from it kicking in?

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 18, 2012 -> 08:00 PM) He's making some awful decisions that's really hurting the Sox chance to win. Tonight is nothing compared to some of his recent decisions though. Pythagorean is just a simplified method...but Ventura has to be terribly underperforming this year, especially due to his horrible bullpen management in the 2nd half of the season, when he already should have finished his "on the job training." Someone will say he's doing great because we're STILL in first place, but that's not the whole story at this point. Or he's just being stubborn and obstinate. YEAH, LET'S GUARANTEE MYERS' $10 million option for 2013 by having him finish EVERY GAME. :-)

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 18, 2012 -> 07:58 PM) YOU DON'T LET BUTLER BEAT YOU. In the long tradition of Sweeney, Callaspo, Aviles, etc. Escobar and Butler have LITERALLY killed us. And Ventura was stupid to keep taking chances with Pena because he hits 2X as well with RISP than Francouer does (sub .200 average).

Well, that's about par for the course giving up an insurance run there. I guess that one time we came back against Broxton, we were down 2 or 3, but he's no longer the closer.

We made FOUR errors in this game? Sweet Jesus of Nazareth. Talk about handing the Royals another game.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 18, 2012 -> 07:02 PM) Orioles up 3-0! Hopefully that lead stands up better than Friday.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 18, 2012 -> 06:46 PM) The Sox deserve to be losing these games to KC with their stupid decisions and horrible scouting reports. Farmer called it yesterday. 0-2 count to Perez, you HAVE to throw your best (at this point in the season) Chris Sale fastball and bust it in on his hands. Don't let him get his hands extended. Breaking stuff off the plate he has to reach for OR inside fastballs. They of course elected to use neither option!!!!!!!!!!! Instead, they tried to trick him and ended up speeding up his bat...not that he wasn't killing nearly ever single pitch thrown to him by Sox hurlers when he's been in the line-up against us this year already.

I can't wait to here Marty all offseason if we don't bring back Peavy/AJ/Youk (of course, the Angels aren't exactly taking off with Greinke, are they?)...how this was our last good chance because of the Tigers' dynasty, etc. And then Greg, instead of Ozzie topics, will be repeating how the Royals kept us out of the playoffs. At least he's happy I bet with Wise back. Should be great fun. On a positive note, Santiago seems to have rediscovered whatever he lost, but he's still pitching a bit tentatively and not quite sure if he has the stuff to go right after hitters and fell into that nibbling/high pitch count thing yesterday. But it seems he was throwing some version of the screwball/change-up fairly effectively. Still he definitely has to be looked at as a legit 5th starter option for 2012.

And at least the Tigers are knocking the O's back. Now we have to worry about the always-lurking Rays, maybe the A's and the Angels surely will have at least one last charge left in them.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 18, 2012 -> 07:19 PM) Can the Sox pitchers please stop letting Butler hurt them on fastballs? Seems like the scouting report is way off for a few of the KC guys. DJ and Farmer were really laying into him (Butler) for his antics when he hit the homer and Lorenzo Cain "applauding" AJ for making a throw on a steal turn into a relatively close play at 2nd when the pitcher did a poor job of holding him at 1st.

I was laughing thinking of what Greg's rant would be with the score and Chen on the mound... Oh, well. Thankfully internet in school was out for the last week so I didn't have to follow the games, except for catching Sale's ill-advised pitch to Perez and Wise's ill-fated bunt. Not sure if Youkilis has earned that option yet. So many questions about this team (Beckham, for one) now and and going forward, but, no matter what happens, it has still been a fun season to follow, and 100X better than the purgatory/hell we were in last year. The Royals, ever since 2005-06-08, have just played us tough every year. Maybe it's revenge for how we absolutely owned them from maybe 1993-2008. Living in KC from 96-05, I always used to be amazed when the Royals would beat the Sox at Kauffman. And at least we took down the Jays, even though they were reeling and missing some of their key hitters.

Supposedly, it's going to be Santiago. Think Veal might be the better choice....let Hector continue to start at CHAR, and we've got the long man (for now) in Humber over Axelrod.

Still mad at Matt Thornton from last night and the Red Sox Thursday Night Massacre, lol. Maybe nobody has a clue what to expect playing at TOR and KC without Konerko...for such a good team, they're scary and maddeningly inconsistent (reflecting the youth on the team), outside of Peavy, Sale, Rios and AJ this season.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 12, 2012 -> 04:55 PM) I suppose he should dwell on it, contemplate suicide or some other silly thing. The fact is Thornton has been pretty good lately. He did give up the homer to tie it last night, but then gave up a couple of pretty cheap hits. He left with the game tied and everyone's favorite wife beater came in and gave up the hit to give up the go ahead run and another insurance run in the 9th. I'm pretty sure if Meyers had Thornton's outing and Thornton came on to relief Myers and did exactly what Meyers did last night, you and a good portion of Soxtalk would have blamed the game on Thornton as well. Its good the Sox are getting him some help. Pitching in what seems every game is going to wear on every pitcher. Now your argument is that Myers theoretically would have lost the game, had he entered where Thornton did? Just wow. And way to throw Myers' domestic violence conviction into it as well, that's probably what caused AJ to throw the ball down the line against the Twins...or maybe it was because there was a baserunner in the way, but it might have been because AJ has a non-profit foundation set up to protect women from DV and he was deliberately sabotaging Myers??? All evidence to the overall success level of Myers with the Sox, especially against RHBers...we'll just conveniently throw that out. Fathom quoted the overwhelmingly convincing and weighted stats for those A's batters against RHP and LHP in the game thread. Patently obvious that Thornton wasn't the correct move from the very beginning, and shouldn't have been left in to face ANY righties. Thornton's fastball velocity was already down before this season...it's not due to his workload in 2012. It has been consistently declining inch by inch over the last couple of seasons. BTW, Thornton gives up a couple of cheap hits every other time he comes into a game. That's why he has given up more hits than IP. That's BAD if you're a short reliever...and it's a sign his fastball that used to get swings and misses just isn't blowing very many batters away anymore, at least not in key situations against teams like the Red Sox or A's.