caulfield12

On the other hand, Quintana's looking like almost a carbon copy, but with even better stuff. Business-like, composed/poised, fearless, one of the rare Sox pitchers who likes to come inside and challenge hitters, lots of movement on his pitches, numerous swings and misses....

QUOTE (Carlo Paz @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 09:00 AM) When I buy the Sox, I'm going to show this game to all prospective employees...even hot dog vendors. I'm going to ask each and every one of them to defend Robin's decision to pull the starter in that situation. Anybody who answers anything but "it would be completely stupid to pull the starter there" will not be hired. If you liked the decision, well, you're entitled to your opinion, but you are not working for me. Ironic, but this was one of Ozzie's strengths, letting starters go as long as possible. Except when they weren't experienced or veteran pitchers. Of course, he never really had a rookie pitcher who did so well as Quintana is doing now...the ONLY exception is McCarthy down the stretch in 2005. Would have to look back at those boxes to see similar situations where Brandon was pulled for Jenks/Politte/Cotts down the stretch.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 08:52 AM) Come on, it's Scherzer, we have seen this before. His ERA in the 4 starts before this one was 5.82. He will have another stellar outing then get shelled a couple times. Still, if you had to choose between Scherzer/Porcello and Humber/Floyd, you'd never go with the latter pair.

QUOTE (OilCan @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 03:09 AM) Leesman has been really, really good the last few games. Makes me wonder if Thornton gets traded, if Leesman gets a crack at the bullpen for the Sox? Isn't Veal pitching pretty well too? You've also got Heath, and then Santos Rodriguez has been pitching much better for BIRM. Scouts have always loved Santos' potential/stuff/frame. Leesman doesn't seem like he stands much of a chance. Jared Mitchell is a couple more bad ballgames away from being a .250ish hitter in the Southern League All-Star game. Viciedo-like streaky this season.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 07:50 AM) How many "this will be when the Tigers make their run" runs will they have to have before we realize they're just not that good of a team this season? No One. And I mean NO ONE. Is going on a run away in the Central in 2012. Not The Sox. Not The Tigers. Not the Indians (The Royals don't even merit discussion) This division will be won with 90 wins at most. And it's gonna be bitter all summer and into the fall. It'll be nailbiting heartbreak or victory (which will also make hearts malfunction) Welcome to 2012. Scherzer looks like he is turning things around, had the shutout today. Fister's tough and is back. If they also get back Smyly from blister problems, it's going to be very hard to stop them. Our roster, as currently comprised, isn't going to be enough to hold them off. Right now, the only thing keeping them from taking first place back is Valverde, their defense and injuries to Smyly and Avila.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 07:56 AM) Todd Frazier has been pretty damn good filling in at 3rd. I'm not sure I do want him just throwing his name out there as a possibility. If his injury was what was holding him back early in the year (sound familiar?) then depending on what it takes to get him I'd take a flyer on him. Except they really value Rolen's leadership and presence around the team. He probably won't even be able to play everyday...so that crosses him off the list. It would be like adding Eric Chavez.

He and Jamie would rather take the money from the beer and give it to animal shelters instead. How dare they cut into Applebee's operating margins!!!!

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 08:23 AM) Trainor should have been called safe. The run in the 9th should've been the loss. Maybe it would have been better to have the tie game there, which probably would have forced Ventura to use our best reliever in Nathan Jones. Although I think it would have been 3 games in a row for him...not sure you can risk that. In the end, the only positive to come out of this series was Ventura's learning curve just shot upwards. Unfortunately, it cost us two games in the standings to the Tigers. Is anyone convinced we're even going to draw more than 30,000 tmrw for the Zach Stewart game?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 08:16 AM) I think many posters are especially mad about losing yet another series because we are basically conceding Monday's game by going with Zach. We're creeping back to .500 land which is prolly where we belong despite career-type years from AJ, Paulie, Dunn and Peavy and of course Rios. Hate to not finish first in a season Rios excels like this. Why would Rios playing up to his contract mean we should finish in 1st? That's like Tigers fans being upset ANY season they don't make the playoffs with Verlander, Fielder and Cabrera on the same roster. In the end, if Sale can't pitch beyond 160 innings and Danks is going to be on the shelf for a long period of time, there wasn't really a chance to hang with the Tigers anyway down the stretch. They just have too much firepower, and all the money in the world to go out and make additions to fix their problems (2B, bullpen, SS, outfield corners)...they're a revenue generating machine these days.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 08:09 AM) Cause, it's hard to be an automatic closer. That's why I puked when people ripped Bobby so badly at the end, forgetting for a long time that he was automatic. Reed is good, don't get me wrong, but as I said earlier, give him a full season and he'll blow 5 to 10 saves, which would have gotten Bobby crucified on here. Reed had a stretch where he was automatic. Hopefully he'll save many more than he blows. The last time Jenks was "very good" was in 2008, and even then, it's "what you do when it really counts?" He wasn't dependable at all against the Twins. In 2009 and 2010, he gave up more hits than innings pitched. His overall save conversion rate was a touch below 85%, which is the standard, but it was definitely time to part ways with him after 2010. If he and Thornton would have pitched better down the stretch in 2010, we would have had a legit shot at the Twins (and Manny Ramirez not looking more like Jason Dellaero). Reed is now 8/9, which is 89% He's been "okay" but far from great. More alarmingly, his stuff out of the pen has been surpassed by Nathan Jones, who's featuring two better pitches than Addison has going right now.

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 08:08 AM) Today, Quintana was a stud... He threw 77 pitches and didn't give up a run. You don't take him out. As Hawk would say, "You don't know s*** about baseball". It has gotten to the point where EVERY big league manager hides behind the "that's what we have a closer for." It's far too specialized now. Go with your gut and instincts, that's why you were hired as a first-time manager with zero experience. To not just go by the book in those situations. If you go with your best reliever, Nathan Jones, on Friday night in the 6th...and leave Quintana in Sunday, you're sitting in a much different position. Jones did have ONE recent hiccup, but, all things considered, he's been the most dominant reliever on our staff since Opening Day. Maybe his using Crain there in the 6th is a sign that Jones has passed him in Ventura's mind...but it sucks we had to lose two games this series due to "on the job training" for Ventura. In all fairness, nobody expected the White Sox to be in first place at this point in the season and there was reason to believe these games might be like every game played by the Cubs since the middle of May.

Bad, bad weekends: Tiger Woods Robin Ventura Sox relievers The umpires Adam Sandler's production company movies with Julianne Hough or Tom Cruise singing

We're going to end up going through five closers in one season. Santiago, Thornton, Sale, Reed and eventually Nathan Jones. Reeds' stuff just hasn't been as crisp, for whatever reason. He's not going to get away with throwing 93-95 MPH up in the zone three times consecutively against any big league hitter.

The only argument against leaving Quintana in there is simply the fact that he's less than a year removed from foundering in A Tampa. That said, you have to go by the evidence of his performance ever since he's been with the big league team...which is indisputable. 0.063 BAA against in day games. Matt Thornton doesn't pitch 1/3rd as well against LHBer's in his prime. I just don't understand why they didn't leave him in to TRY. That would have taught him more than being pulled did. We all get the fact that he gives up a baserunner and he's probably getting lifted, that's fine. But the pitch selection and execution was just horrible in the 9th and the 10th. If we want to compete for the division title, we can't leave 2 games out there like that. Now the Tigers are only 3 games back when we should be back to 8 games over and with a much more comfortable 5 game margin, and 3 1/2 over the Indians. We can't seem to get out of our own way in close games or extra inning games. First time the Dodgers have taken a series in interleague play against the Sox.

1-4 now in extra innings, also very bad in one run games. 11 blown saves leads the American League...which is pretty amazing when all you hear is raves about Reed, Jones, Thornton, Crain, etc.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 07:06 AM) Matt Thornton gave up two soft liners to left field He no longer can get K's when he needs them. Everytime the batters put the bat on the ball, something bad happens to him, and it has been the case since April of 2011 or really since the ASG and Thome beating the hell out of him in the 2nd half of 2010. He's just been a shell of his former self the last two years. No confidence. It's almost like he expects something to go wrong.

They should just put Thornton on the waiver wire and see if anyone will claim his salary. I'm convinced that even if there was a runner at 1st or 2nd instead of 3rd, he still would have managed to choke the game away somehow. It's what he does. Once again, another hitter well under .200 against LHP comes through against Thornton.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 07:02 AM) Clearly that goes on both. Its not like Matt didnt have a game ending Wild Pitch yesterday. Aided greatly by AJ's defensive apathy. But that wasn't yesterday, it was Friday night. Thornton absolutely can NEVER EVER in 100 years come up with a key out when we need it. God, it's so tiring, year after year after year.

Might as well have Treanor bring back memories of Carlos Guillen's walkoff squeeze to end the 2000 AL Division series. God, this series has been miserable for the Sox. The Tigers will only be 3 games back if they were to lose this game. What will Thornton manage to do now? Can he actually get a key out against a LHB or wil the ball dink in somewhere, somehow....?

Might as well have Treanor bring back memories of Carlos Guillen's walkoff squeeze to end the 2000 AL Division series. God, this series has been miserable for the Sox. The Tigers will only be 3 games back if they were to lose this game.

Great. Jesus Christ, we will never win a game in extra innings. No matter what happens, Matt Thornton's always cursed by something that happens behind him defensively.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jun 18, 2012 -> 06:53 AM) Who said during that AJ is lazy discussion that they wanted to roll with Flowers and Phegley? Do we want to pay AJ Pierzynski $15 million for the next 2 seasons? Other than Napoli, there are ZERO free agent catchers that are interesting options. Maybe Doumit would be okay, Iannetta's the other guy there. The thing is, we'll never know whether Flowers could be serviceable hitting-wise because nobody in baseball can be effective playing once every 10-14 days.

Now we have to use up our bullpen when Quintana was in a position for the complete game, knowing that Zach Stewart's chances of getting past the 5th inning tmrw night are about 5%. The AL Central just is going to be a grudge match all season long. Still, with Fister back now, you'd have to expect the Tigers to start making their run.

Dodgers have never won an interleague series against the White Sox until today possibly. The funny thing is that it should have been a sweep the other way. Guess AJ isn't available. 0 for 4, 4 K's from Flowers, that's what happens when you play once every 2 weeks. Now Escobar? Is Ventura trying NOT to win this game on purpose? This is taking one out of the Ozzie Guillen playbook of managing. Still don't understand why DeAza didn't take a shot at swiping 2B, either.

Well, if nothing else, Quintana is proving he's for real. Since we never can win extra inning games, maybe Ventura should start earning his money and utilizing his bench now. Still has Konerko and AJ, and Alexei can be used as a pinch-runner.