caulfield12

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/p...nded/order/true White Sox now first in the American League with 14 blown saves (overall) and tied for 2nd in all of MLB. That statistic is unlikely to change with such an inexperienced pen in the heat of a pennant race.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jul 14, 2012 -> 10:42 AM) I did not like Robin putting Hudson in to pinch run for Dunn instead of Danks or Escobar. Why pinch run your slowest bench player there? And Danks should have caught that ball before he hit the wall. Either his defense is way overrated or he just hasn't played LF much because he sure hasn't impressed me as "the best defensive OFer in the organization" as Hawk calls him. I wouldn't say there's a huge difference between any of those guys. Danks might have the slight advantage, but Escobar's far from a burner. When AJ hit that ground rule double, Hudson was flying around the bases. Have no idea why he got such a bad jump on the AJ grounder that he got thrown out at home by Francouer on...it was a fairly slow grounder and he would have been out by miles with a decent and typical Frenchie throw. We'll probably bring up Mitchell in September just for his speed and pinch-running ability. We miss Lillibridge here the most.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jul 14, 2012 -> 10:43 AM) Where did Jordan Danks' defensive prowess go? That was a really really tough ball he dropped out there....seemed he had it in his glove and then dropped it when he made contact with the ball. And he's not a natural LFer, so he's playing out of his normal position where he has the most experience.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jul 14, 2012 -> 09:21 AM) If the Sox get a right-handed starter it has to be someone with good stuff who you'd be ok with starting a postseason game against the Yankees, Rangers, or Red Sox. That's a short short list that maybe a guy like Volquez is on the fringes of. If the Sox could get his walk rate down maybe he'd give us 1/2 year like Jackson did in 2010. Which would require Don Cooper miracle working/raising Lazarus from the dead. Didn't realize you were a fan of his.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jul 14, 2012 -> 08:21 AM) Have to say that I've been disappointed with Reed's velocity really since he came up last September, but certainly for most of this year. Was he really hitting 97 regularly in the minors? His stuff just looks flat more often than not, to the point where I think he should be considered as trade material under the right circumstance. Do you still want to trade Alexei Ramirez and Viciedo? Thought not.

The jury's still out on Reed and the entire bullpen... So far, we're surviving, some might say thriving, and gaining needed experience. Jones has GOT to learn how to throw that slider more consistently for strikes. He destroyed Perez with it, but then fed a fastball right across the heart of the plate to Escobar. The ball that B. Pena hit to Rios in RF would have gone right through the wall had it continued carrying, ala Pete Incaviglia. He smoked it, we just got lucky.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Jul 14, 2012 -> 06:18 AM) Soooo tired for work this morning! Stupid ump calling Hudson out cost me precious hours of sleep! I'm sure AJ would never have slept. Numerous passed balls/wild pitches that he could or should have blocked. The horrible strike calls against him low and away....surprised he didn't get rung or get our pitchers in trouble after he screamed "that's an f--king joke!" Then he had two game winning RBI's taken away, one on the bad call, the other on a bad bounce for the ground rule double. Hilarious watching him try to convince the umpires Hudson was already past 3rd. Always thinking on his feet....not that it would have mattered had Hudson been standing on home plate as the ball was bouncing.

Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez were deep in conversation near the edge of the infield grass when Washington Nationals rookie Bryce Harper caught the two chit-chatters by surprise. Seeing that no one was paying attention, Harper — who was standing on second — took off for third and had it stolen before anyone on the napping Marlins could react. “Everybody’s head was down, and he took advantage of that,” said manager Ozzie Guillen. It was the first inning of the first game in what is an important series for the Marlins against the first-place Nationals, and while Harper did not end up coming home to score after his heads-up play, it served as a microcosm of how this season is going for the two division rivals. The alert Nationals on Friday raced out of the gate to start the second half with a 5-1 victory while the Marlins were churned further behind in their wake. The loss put the Marlins a season-high 10 games behind the Nationals in the N.L. East standings. “It seemed [Friday night] like we took another All-Star break day,” Guillen said. Given the mounting distance between the two teams in the standings, the Marlins can ill afford to drop the four-game series with Washington by losing either three — or, shudder, all four games. But now they must face All-Star hurlers Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg over the coming two days, further dimming their weekend prospects. “We all know it’s a big series for us,” Guillen said. “Everybody knows. The players should know. For us, it’s a huge series.” Once again, the Marlins’ lineup — rejiggered to account for the return of Emilio Bonifacio from the disabled list — was largely lifeless against Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann. Ramirez, dropped to the fifth spot in the order for the first time in his career, singled to lead off the second but gambled unwisely in trying to stretch it into a double and was thrown out easily at second. “Today we were flat,” Guillen said. “When you don’t score any runs, you’re going to look flat.” Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/14/2895...l#storylink=cpy

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/cowley/1372...kes-to-win.html Williams getting credit for the Youkilis deal? What? Had to get the shot from Cabrera in...laying down the gauntlet, but that was pretty weak in terms of his usual sensationalist journalism. Not exactly a locker room quote which will be used against the big guy later.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/appel-spurns-...20805--mlb.html More on the Pirates' situation. Boras better hope he doesn't get hurt. Not sure how much he cares, except for his commission. A loss for baseball, as a franchise likes the Pirates can't afford to lose out on a frontline starter...putting a bit of a damper on a feel-good season so far. BTW, Tigers are looking at the Marlins' Omar Infante to play 2B everyday...

Pedro Hernandez has pitched decently in his first two Charlotte starters. He's probably the next starter in if Simon Castro doesn't come back soon. Nice to see Shane Lindsay back with the Knights. White Sox have always been very loyal. Jared Mitchell. Please WAKE UP! Your season is rapidly disintegrating after all the goodwill you'd built up over 2 months.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 14, 2012 -> 02:06 AM) Don't think it'll jinx us, hope not, but Hosmer of the Royals is really sucking. Had another horrible game tonight. Looks lost. You got to wonder WTF. His second season as a pro has been very bad and he's not making any progress at all. I will say, Moustakas and Sal Perez look like real players as does Cain and their shortstop. Alcides Escobar might be the best shortstop in baseball before it's all said and done. Part of Greinke deal, along with Cain in CF. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/12/37025...s-approach.html Starting to wonder if Moore will survive a 4th or 5th place finish. Article discusses pros and cons of trading Broxton, Francouer (blocking Myers), Betancourt and Mijares.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 14, 2012 -> 02:13 AM) Great win. Great fireworks show. Some musings. ... I will say I was completely calm the whole game until Reed sucked. Man I wanted him to get the three-out save, instead of suck. I never thought Axelrod could do it, but he did. Two innings. Man he was good. Tank's three-run bomb. So huge. I was proud of Beckham for serving that hit into rightfield after having a fairly s***ty offensive game. And really happy Youk hit the sac fly to center after all those foul balls. He's still got it. I don't understand why Hudson was running so slow on the play he got thrown out at the plate. I hear it was a bad call at home, but he either got a late start or something cause it was pretty obvious he was a dead duck. Q did not pitch well. AJ is such a stud. Hits what could have been the game winning hit had it not hopped over the wall. And he was so mad at that s***ass home plate ump. He gave it to him during the game and after the final out. That ump SUCKED. Got pulled over by the cops for going 82 in a 70 on the way home and didn't get a ticket. So my luck held on dollar hot dog night. Good win. 1) Hudson has clearly lost a step or 2. Lillibridge would have been safe, so we've lost a bit going to Escobar, Hudson and Danks as our pinch runners. 2) Francouer has the best RF arm in the game, and had that not been one of his worst throws, Hudson would have been out by 20 feet. McEwing made a mistake as well sending YOUK to 3rd (final out of the inning) when it would have been the hottest hitter in baseball (Rios) coming up with 1st and 2nd and 2 outs had he not gotten thrown out by Cain. The Sox used nine pitchers for the second time this season - of which eight were rookies. Dylan Axelrod, who is scheduled to start Tuesday night at Boston, pitched two innings to earn the win. Axelrod might have his next start pushed to Wednesday (with Philip Humber possibly being moved up). “I actually played in the longest College World Series game in history (in 2007)," said Axelrod, who pitched for UC Irvine. "It went 14 innings and 5 ½ hours, and it was the same situation. I pitched four innings and finished the game, and I was like the last guy with no one else left. It was similar to that.” Gonzales game story, http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports Guess Crain is supposed to come back after this 10 day road trip, for the Twins' series. Hope he's not too amped up against his former team.

QUOTE (forrestg @ Jul 14, 2012 -> 12:49 AM) I think JHan Marinez will be ok. He showed some confidence out there For all those guys with great arms (Jones, Reed, Septimo, Santiago and Omogrosso), it's mostly a matter of control and their secondary stuff. Marinez threw 93-97, but he was all over the place (not unlike Leyson)...and he hung some of his offspeed stuff up, too. All things considered, tie game...on the road in a hostile environment on a 1st place team in the heat of a pennant race, good job.

And there's no reason to be 100% confident about Quintana holding up either. His biggest problem is that he lacks an out pitch or the ability to pitch well without precise control. He's not a strikeout pitcher. I hope he can make it through the end of the season, fingers crossed. Along with the Yankees game, he seems to be coming back to earth a bit and the other teams are building up a scouting report on him which didn't exist 6 weeks ago around the majors.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 14, 2012 -> 01:19 AM) I hate to hijack the Youkilis thread, but the bullpen gave up 3 runs in 9 innings and that's a C-? Is this some reverse curve we're grading on? Well, one, it's because I never expected Axelrod to survive at the end. Number 2, it's because we have so many inexperienced rookies not used to a pennant race. Yeah, I think it's fair when ur bullpen blows 2 save opportunities in a single game to say that's no better than a C-. I thought about a D+. Without Crain, with Jones struggling more now in recent weeks than he ever has....with many many control issues (Jones, Septimo and it looks like Marinez as well)...I can't recall the last team to make the playoffs with so many inexperienced guys on one roster. Doesn't mean it's impossible, but we clearly need a healthy Crain. And, yeah, I was SORT of impressed with Thornton for awhile....at least the first batter, he threw 5 consecutive breaking pitches to K. But there was a ball Pena SCORCHED right at Rios, Reed was lit up like a firecracker, there was the liner up the middle that would have gotten through had there not been a runner going and Gordon was standing near the bag, the ball that Thornton got them to blast at Konerko with 1st/2nd and only one out to get the DP....then there was Dyson getting picked off 2nd and Betancourt popping up with 1 out/infield fly rule. VERY VERY FORTUNATE. Saying that despite the bad call on Hudson out at home. Teaford battled Youkilis for 14 pitches – and lost when Youkilis send a drive to deep center for a sacrifice fly. Beckham scored without a throw. “He fouled off the kitchen sink,” Teaford said. “I’d battled him for so long that I was going to throw a strike. I didn’t want to walk another guy.” Dylan Axelrod, 1-2, got the victory by setting down Royals in their 14th. Teaford, 1-3, was the loser. The game took 5 hours, 23 minutes. Both teams used nine pitchers. “I’m glad we had an All-Star break,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “Both teams leaving 15 players or whatever on (base), it’s just crazy. But guys were ready and kept battling, so it’s a nice win.” Chicago left 15, but the Royals left just 13. The White Sox were three for 15 with runners in scoring position; the Royals were five for 18. Here are the grimmer numbers: The Royals lost for ninth time in 11 games, dropped to 37-48 and a season-worst 10½ games behind first-place Chicago. Eleven games under .500 matches a season-worst; they concluded their 12-game April skid at 3-14. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/13/37047...l#storylink=cpy

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 14, 2012 -> 01:00 AM) I'm worried a little about Reed. Not worried about DeAza. He had a bad game, but he finally did stroke a hit the other way. I was dying for him to hit that hole all night. Very good crowd tonight, 32,000. Very very enjoyable game. I was pissed AJ's blast to right skipped over the fence. Very tough break. Was so happy to see Youk blast that fly ball after so many foul balls. That sac fly, sooo big. Great game. My luck continued on the way home. Got pulled over doing 82 in a 70 and no ticket. Whew. Did u ask the policeman if he was a Guillen or White Sox fan? What were you wearing? Royals or Sox colors, lol? The grass is so green there on t.v., looks amazing. Last Royals' game for me was in August/11.

QUOTE (High Mileage @ Jul 13, 2012 -> 10:45 PM) I don't believe KU has Nebraska, Colorado, or Texas A&M on the schedule either. KU's non-con in football is pretty much locked in for the next 2-3 years, and in basketball we have bigger fish to fry. Mizzou chose to leave the conference therefore they ended the rivalry. It's as simple as that. If Mizzou hadn't left, we wouldnt be having this discussion. It's as simple as that. Maybe KU and Self have been adamant they don't plan on scheduling Mizzou, but you can't expect to have it both ways. With Mizzou leaving, more focus will be put on our in-state rivalry with K-State, and I'm all for that. Now, back to the Royals. The hot rumor is that ownership doesn't want to spend much past $70M on payroll. With that kind of limit, we will not be realistic contenders in free agency. This team has a plethora of young talent, but needs big-time veteran pitcher. At least 2 starters. Royals have the making of a great bullpen in the future. Need Odorizzi and Montgomery and Duffy to be healthy and figure out things. Perez is a monster....looks like he will be an All-Star catcher, good hitter and great arm/release. Need to trade Broxton and Francouer to open up playing time for Cain and Myers. Betancourt doesn't have a future with the Royals either, although his trade value is pretty negligible.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jul 13, 2012 -> 11:45 PM) Oh and by the way that game is a loss under Ozzie. Innings ago. It's a loss without Youkilis, that's for sure.

It was eerily similar to the game where DeAza hit the ball off his knee and then Youkilis had an 8 minute at-bat. That inning took 13 minutes to knock out Adams and the Rangers. White Sox now 8 games over .500 on the road, I think we're 4-5 in extras, survive 2 blown saves in one game. Great start to the horrendously scheduled 16/19 on the road. Pitching Humber and Axelrod in Boston is going to be tough...but Axe really surprised me with some cojones tonight. Still a bit surprised that Septimo and Marinez were favored by Ventura over Santiago.

Probably have to flip-flop them. Humber on Tuesday, Axelrod on WED. Unless they decided to use...have no idea who the next starter in would be on the major league level, with Castro on the DL. 11 rookies already used this season, 9 rookie pitchers. Crazy.

What a game. Yet another HUGE professional at-bat for Kevin Youkilis. So many twists and turns in this game. Driven in a run in 8 consecutive games, 15 for the White Sox already. Bullpen blows 2 saves and probably deserves a C- for the game, but we survived. Another clutch 3 run homer for Viciedo got us back into it, even though he's been scuffling. Royals had so many at-em balls there in the final innings. White Sox got screwed by a bad call at the plate. Axelrod manned up. Didn't give him much of a chance to pitch 2 scoreless. Septimo was great. Omogrosso looked better than he did on Sunday. Santiago, almost to the point where he doesn't have a role with this team, but he also got a huge out, too. Reed really didn't look good, but it doesn't matter now. Really starting to worry about DeAza, Jones and Reed. Happy for Gordon that he had that RBI double and then the go-ahead walk scoring on the sac fly.

Taken > The Grey > Unknown SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, awesome...one of my 2-3 favorites of the year now. Ms. Plaza really grows on you. The next Ellen Page or the next Emma Stone, we'll see. Spliced in with a little Sarah Silverstone. She has a quality about her....hard to describe. She's not beautiful or conventionally, Hollywood-y "hottie," but she has something unique about her.

Without Sale, Reed, Viciedo, Humber, DeAza, Quintana and Santos....not so good. Of course, we can only take credit for 3/7.

Do we credit Rick Hahn, JR or the new system? Or all 3? My understanding is that the Cubs went into a penalty/tax/fine situation when they inked Almora. How many will they end up paying?