caulfield12

Well, this has to be penciled into the (so far) 5 most boring games of the season category.

Well, that was fast. Jerome Williams always was terrible (at least it seemed that way), but he's stuck around for a long time with the Angels. And he has a good ERA this year as well. Thought of him more as a fifth starter/long reliever than an integral part of a rotation (and part of the reason for him starting is Weaver's injury).

Here's my recent reading list for anyone who wants a review Black Holes & Time Warps (book that new Christopher Nolan movie INTERSTELLAR is based on) Wild, From Lost to Found on the Pacific Trail Inferno Ready Player One Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, Dark Places=Gillian Flynn, local Kansas City/KU writer Pound Foolish (for those interested in investing) What Money Can't Buy (Harvard philosophy professor Michael Sandel) The Racketeer Man Gone Down Newlyweds People Who Eat Darkness 11/22/63 The Fault in Our Stars...great book, more for someone between 14-22, but extremely well-written Divergent Insurgent The End of Your Life Book Club Outliers---Malcolm Gladwell Pacific Rims (about the love of all things basketball/NBA in the Philippines, chronicles a PBA professional team for one year) Deciding from for next book....The Bling Ring OR http://www.amazon.com/And-Mountains-Echoed..._dp_s_cp_3_EENZ

I liked the Dan Brown book...but I'm not sure it's worth buying. Better to reserve it from your local library. (In my hometown, there's a program where you can pay $2-3 for "rapid read" popular books that just came out). However, here in China, had to buy through NOOK/Barnes&Noble. Better than the Lost Symbol, about equal with Angels & Demons...personally, I enjoyed the "overpopulation/Malthus/WHO" scientific side of it, but that was kind of underplayed compared to the travelogue of Florence, Venice and Istanbul. There weren't nearly as many symbols or codes in this one, so if you really like that aspect of his work (going back to Digital Fortress and Deception Point), then you'll surely be disappointed. Same formula....international intrigue....nefarious forces, hooks up with brainy/troubled/enigmatic sidekick girl in late 20's/early 30's with a hint of romance in the air but also the age difference hanging over them, etc. etc.

Verlander has already walked in two runners in this inning alone. That's coming off a 110 pitch performance against the Indians where he was lifted after only 5 IP. Pounded into the ground. 8 runs allowed, pulled after 2 2/3. ERA still "only" 3.10. Reminds me of the start he had last year where the Royals torched him. Has to be some concern in Tiger Land now, with the Passan decreasing velocity article...now these last two starts.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/05/16/cann...the-bling-ring/ Very positive review of new Sophia Coppola movie (personally, one of my favorite directors) and Cannes/European take on why The Great Gatsby is doing so well despite the mixed reviews...

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb...0,4196401.story Arte Moreno falling on his own sword out in LA, at least so far...

RS/RA differentials 1. AL Central, +91 (4/5 teams with positive differential) 2. NL Central, +76 3. AL East, +38 4. NL West, -2 5. AL West, -99 6. NL East, -104 American League=+30 National League=-30

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 16, 2013 -> 03:34 PM) The Beatles were still technically a band when Mariano Rivera was born. He was born 4 months after we landed on the moon. Still in the bigs. Are you sure that really happened? Dammit. Thanks for reminding me how old I am!!! I'm 26 days older than Mariano. Can always say "I'm a Sixties Kid," haha. When Vizquel was playing not so long ago, it was comforting to know there was at least one player in MLB older than me, along with Jamie Moyer. Ken Griffey, Jr., is right around the same ago, too.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ May 16, 2013 -> 05:28 PM) I could not possibly disagree with you more. You just can't look at as Lee the fearsome hitter vs Podsednik the weak armed slap hitting outfielder. 2005 was the only year in recent and not so recent history that the Sox didn't have an all or nothing approach to offense. Yeah they hit a ton of homers but they got off to that great start with Pods and Iguchi leading the way. Didn't they take the lead in the first 37 games that year? Podsednik totally changed the dynamic and it's no coincidence that they struggled when he started having his injury problems. Like Caufield mentioned the Podsednik trade opened up the other possibilities and fortunately Kenny was at the top of his game. Scott Podsednik is a big reason why I refuse to become a stat slave to WAR. Kenny doesn't make that trade and we're looking at 95 years and counting. Wasn't the consecutive games (taking the lead) at the start of 2006 when the offense was just killing people (including the team that would go on to win the World Series, the Cardinals)? Hmmm, can't remember anymore.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 16, 2013 -> 10:38 AM) Adrian Beltre still hates when you touch his head http://mlb.mlb.com/fancave/blog.jsp?conten...bid=Yp6liHwYHO9 Tigers getting to Darvish early in the "Showdown of the Century." 3-1 Tigers in the top of the 3rd at the Balpark in Arlington.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 16, 2013 -> 05:36 PM) http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?s...mp;ymd=20130516 Another steal for Johnson. Beck with an awful first inning, continuing the trend of the starting pitching struggles. Just goes to show you the danger of those at one time "elite" pitchers whose names are thrown out a year before the draft. One set of mechanical problems, bulking up, a shoulder injury or mysterious loss of velocity and they're done with...except for those consensus top 1-2-3 guys, it's almost impossible to distinguish and project, especially for high school pitchers. I remember about a decade or so ago the Royals taking this kid named Colt Griffin from Texas. You don't have any way of knowing if these kids were using PED's at the time, but back then, any high school kid throwing 96-100 on the radar guns was automatically projected to be a future star, almost. The problem is the "falling in love with the radar gun readings" syndrome. On the one hand, you have a guy like Axelrod, the shortest RH starter in baseball and the one with the lowest average fastball that opposing annoucing teams make fun of... It is a bit amusing that our pitching successes (recently) are guys like Quintana, Axelrod and Santiago who were nowhere close to the first round or picked up by the minor league scouts. None of those guys are/were "hard throwers" in the typical KW mold, although Santiago can definitely get it up there in a hurry. Maybe Johnson or Beck will be exceptions.

Better than the weekend games. Same with Cangelosi...those usually mean waking up at 1-2-3 a.m. For these games on the West Coast, they start at 10 a.m. China time, so it gives me something to do during lunchtime or when I'm not teaching and am stuck with "office hours."

QUOTE (Tex @ May 16, 2013 -> 10:42 AM) Kids behavior gets out of hand in hurry. Something as silly as holes in jeans have become a major source of distraction here. It is so annoying trying to gain the attention of the class while the boys are discussing whether they could see some girls underwear or WHAT!!!! through the holes in her jeans. So why should the school have to deal with jeans with holes? But, even if the kids wear uniforms, the boys will "sag" and sooner or later, their pants will be falling down completely. The girls will show up at school with skirts below the knees and then magically they'll be mini-skirts later. Or the girls will order white button-down blouses that are 2 sizes small...or wear sexy stockings to show their individuality. It will always be something, right?

Or Zach Stewart. Or Daniel Hudson for Jackson after Hudson only had 3 starts.

Or Zach Stewart. Or Daniel Hudson for Jackson after Hudson only had 3 starts.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-232521671.html Should Mariano Rivera START the All-Star Game? I know, this is MLB Catch-All, but someone commented about the Yankees and their patchwork line-up. Can't believe he's going to retire after fighting to come back from the knee and he's still the best reliever in the game at his age. Or will it be another Andy Pettite/Roger Clemens situation where he keeps coming back?

What I mean is...maybe it's just "fortuitous" timing, but I become suspicious now whenever things are going bad with the major league team and then articles like this come out which are "hopeful" to take the focus away from what's happening on the field now, especially the offense. Maybe it was that whole TWTW thing....where now it's easy to be suspicious about anything the beat writers are being fed by the organization. But yeah, sign 10 of these kids and maybe one of them will eventually make it to the majors. If you're lucky. 1/500 chance he becomes the next Carlos Quentin, Alexei Ramirez or Dayan Viciedo.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 16, 2013 -> 08:28 AM) The thread title alone was worth it. Exactly. With the elimination of catch-all threads in SoxTalk, I felt obligated to create more in other areas, haha.

http://shine.yahoo.com/fashion/plus-size-m...-190425777.html She can dance with me anytime, strapless or not. By the way, this particular model has kind of become the "counter-punch" to the waif-ish, size 0 revolution in the last year.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 16, 2013 -> 09:11 AM) Sickels has us taking an outfielder: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2013/5/16/4...-sickels-may-16 That's just dumb, IMO. We'd be a lot better off having our scouts looking for the next Carlos Quentin in AA/AAA or stuck behind a veteran or coming back from injuries than HOPING and PRAYING we can develop one 3-4 years down the line. Imagine how much better our line-up would have been with Choo, DeAza and Rios in the OF and Dunn/Viciedo/Konerko all splitting time at DH/1B and Dayan also getting some starts in the OF. Of course, nobody knew how bad Konerko would struggle.....well, not THIS bad....and we can't be 100% sure Choo would be doing the exact same thing in the AL Central as in the NL Central. Probably not.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ May 13, 2013 -> 12:39 PM) Agreed. I feel whoever is behind that pitching factory is due for a promotion. Or maybe it is because that is only school in the South with decent academics. Ummm.... Duke, Emory, Georgia Tech, UNC, UT-Austin, Rice, UVA, University of Florida isn't bad at all.

Quintana was amazing his first 10 or 15 starts last year. This year, "merely" good or very good. But he does need to figure out how to extend games at least into the 6th or 7th. Last year, he did a better job keeping his pitch counts down. This year, the league has made some adjustments, he's dealing with a new catching corps and he's had to adjust to RH batters just sitting on his inside stuff...the old "turn and burn" approach. So he's going to have to continue to vary his approach and not become too predictable in his patterns.

Bring on the Mariners!

QUOTE (KPBears @ May 15, 2013 -> 11:16 PM) Pods was better in 2005 (particularly the first half) than Viciedo will ever be. I know it's cool to bash Podsednik on this site, but the Sox wouldn't have won the division, let alone the Series, without him. He slowed down with injuries in the second half, but in the first half he was hitting around .300, collecting a fair amount of walks, and stealing bases at a pace not seen since guys like Henderson, Raines and Coleman back in the 80's. I agree with quite a bit of the Sabremetrics approach, and I'm a huge on-base guy. But there are some intangibles that can't be measured, and a leadoff hitter who can get on base regularly and is a threat to steal every time on base gets in most pitchers heads, and makes things easier for the rest of the lineup. Sorry for the rant, but I will never understand why so many Sox fans hate on Pods. I was referring to Carlos Lee's defense, actually. Pods was much better the 2nd time around with the Sox defensively...but by then he'd already lost that burst and confidence on the basepaths, although he was actually one of our more clutch hitters. As far as the Viciedo vs. Pods comparison, they're 2 entirely different kinds of players. If you remember, Pods didn't even make an impact at the major league level until his late 20's. Viciedo, even though he's seemingly been around forever, is still very young. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...Scott-Podsednik Pods was 27 and 28 in his first two big league seasons in MIL. He's a career 719 OPS guy. For the White Sox in 2005, he was at 700. Even arguing that Pods at 700 OPS is better or more desirable than Viciedo at 800 (which a lot won't accept), then you also have to factor in the age difference and the potential Viciedo has to continue improving as a hitter.