caulfield12

Another leadoff double laced into LCF. Here we go again. This time Delmon Young, who's been a key contributor over the final 2 1/2 months. 1-0 Tigers on the Andy Dirks single up the middle. Still no outs. Beat the shift.

Jackson not advancing to 3rd when he got a bad read and the break with the ball hitting Guthrie instead of going through. It should be 1-0 Tigers now. There's always rooting for bad luck for the opponent, but the Sox actually need to stand up and beat their opponents at some point. For weeks, this has been setting up like the end of the 2008 and 2009 seasons in the AL Central. Porcello has given up 215 hits, or 11 1/2 per 9 IP. Leading the AL. A lot like Jon Garland, IMO. Doesn't really have that knock pitch he can go to for the K when he puts runners on base. Butler and Perez quickly dispatched. Seems like the extra rest has some life on his sinker.

Jackson with a bad read off the bat...no advance, Cabrera and Fielder now. Royals have won the last NINE consecutive games that Guthrie has started. If the Tigers manage to beat him, they definitely deserve some credit. Guthrie with a 1.75 ERA since the first week of August. First break, Cabrera hit one sharply up the middle that would have gone through for an RBI but it hit Guthrie's right foot/shin and caromed over to SS for the out. 2 outs. Weak grounder to the left side, leadoff double stranded. Fielder has played in 336 consecutive games, current longest streak in the majors. For his size and his father's history in the game, quite the durable player.

Cabrera and Infante with some nifty defensive work. Alcides Escobar now 0/17 (go figure) career vs. Porcello, who's 5-3, mid 4.0's career ERA against the Royals. 0-0 going into the bottom of the 1st. Leadoff double by Austin Jackson. Uh-oh.

C'mon Royals, win at LEAST 1 of 4. That's not asking too much, is it? Four game sweeps on the home or road are so rare, and this is their best match-up (Guthrie vs. Porcello). On the other hand, the Tigers' fans have been more consistently supporting their team for the last 2-3 seasons, so they deserve that home field advantage they've earned from their fanbase. A sterling 48-31 record at home, 7 games under on the road.

CHW 1-6, DET 4-3 their last 7. Definitely have to pick it up if we want to make the playoffs. (Yes, this serves as the understatement of the week). In reality, DET playing on the road to end the season and the fact that Scherzer's clearly hurting a bit (still) are the main two reasons for hope. Not really my fervent belief in the White Sox putting together a 6-2 run of great play (not only because of the offense, but the starting pitching as well). We'll see. We have always played TB tight games and been a spur in their sides.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 04:04 PM) I think alot of it comes down to the wrist injury to PK. He had the "minor" surgery but really hasn't been the same. With the rest of the offense being weak, they've really missed his production. Once the pitching began to wear down, the offense couldn't make up for it. Hopefully next year Sale and Quintana are stronger. Although there are some studies that show the huge jump in innings this year will adversely effect their performance next year. That's going to be the key point of argument (and agreement for some) during the off-season about what to realistically expect from Sale and Quintana next year, among others. Some will also argue that Reed lost his fastball and slider from overuse, but not sure I'm buying that one or not. The way things are ending right now, hard to imagine you can automatically pencil in Reed as your closer for 2013 again. Then you're going to have some of the same issues with putting Hector Santiago well above his career numbers for IP as well if they decide to go ahead and put him into the starting rotation.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 02:45 PM) Even when they're slumping, Youk and Dunn are getting walks, so they need to be at the top. I could see moving Rios above Konerko, and Beckham and Wise above Ramirez, though. So maybe: DeAza 7 Youkilis 5 Dunn DH Rios 9 Konerko 3 AJ C Beckham 4 Wise 8 Ramirez 6 Then you have Rios and Konerko back-to-back in the middle of the order. Most managers prefer that L/R/L/R balance. We saw it with DeAza/Wise/Dunn at the top, or just Wise/Youk/Dunn or any combination of the top 3 hitters being LH and Youk struggling on the road. Beckham hasn't been so good or automatic, especially against RHP, that you elevate him suddenly up to an unfamiliar 7th spot and "bench" Alexei down to 9th. Let's not panic, our line-up has managed to get us this far in 1st place or tied for 1st.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 08:48 AM) This 100%. It's not a motivation problem. This team is just out of gas. Peavy, Sale, Quintana, Reed and Jones pushed about as far as they can go, especially the first 3. Liriano continues to be a basket case. Floyd's not far behind him. Santiago is one of the few fresh and impressive arms on the team left standing, along with Veal and Omogrosso, who's recorded some huge outs for this team down the stretch. Youk and Konerko banged up, Crain off and on/on and off for much of the season. DeAza dinged up psychologically by his defensive miscues and no longer confident in CF or on the basepaths. Alexei and AJ peaked early and coming back to earth. We had one of the weakest benches of any team in baseball. There was no easy way to rest Youk, Alexei or Beckham without a big defensive fall-off, and let's not get started on what Olmedo and Jose Lopez did in critical games down the stretch. KW had a chance to address this in July and August, and failed to do so. AJ was really ridden hard all season and the only reason Flowers got some time to prove himself was a rare AJ injury. Wise's hot streak alone can't cover up for all those issues, or Veal's amazing effectiveness in the 2nd half.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 07:35 AM) Everything up until now is irrelevant - this is now a new season. An 8 game season, in a 2 team division. Sox have 5 at home and 3 on the road, DET has 2 and home and 6 on the road. But the Sox have 4 against TB, to go with 4 against CLE. DET gets KC x5 and MIN x3. Sox have Sale and Peavy maybe hitting a wall, but DET has Verlander and Scherzer hurting. TONIGHT... Detroit runs Porcello out there, their weakest link in the rotation, against Guthrie, who has a 1.75 ERA in his last 9 games. Sox run out Santiago, kind of a wild card but CLE struggles vs lefties, against Masterson (4.15 ERA vs Sox this year). ON PAPER, this looks like the best chance the Sox may have for a while to pick up a game. Sox remaining pitchers: Santiago vs CLE // Peavy, Floyd, Sale, ??? (Quintana or Liriano) vs TB // ???, ???, ??? vs CLE (won't be Sale or whomever starts Sunday) Tigers remaining pitchers: Porcello, Fister vs KC // Scherzer, Verlander, Sanchez vs MIN // Porcello, Fister, Scherzer vs KC For a potential Game 163: Verlander vs Sale, in Detroit Verlander is hurting? You mean in his road performances for much of the 2nd half, because his stuff is fine...

QUOTE (scenario @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 09:24 AM) All that really means is that these teams struggled to find someone to close early in the season. For example, here are the Sox blown saves by pitcher: Matt Thornton 4 Jessie Crain 4 Addison Reed 4 Will Ohman 2 Hector Santiago 2 Chris Sale 1 Missing 2, pretty sure one was Myers against McLouth/Orioles.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 05:45 AM) For the record, it is now September 26 and I am no longer optimistic. Two days in a row the offense was blanked in the first four innings at home by pitchers who are mediocre at best. These hitters are wasting a POTENTIALLYtremendous bullpen. Keep in mind, we're still tied for 8th in the majors with 19 blown saves. Only the Angels (22) and the Red Sox have more in the AL.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 06:01 AM) The Sox don't need to just win today. They need to put up crooked numbers in two of the first five innings on Masterson in order to get some confidence back, or else Tampa's pitchers are going to blow their doors off. A 3-2 win won't give me any semblance of confidence. Just win, baby! Greg/Al Davis quote. Momentum goes as far as the next day's starting pitcher, as they say. We win, DET somehow loses against Guthrie, then the ball's back in our court again. Then Thursday, DET would have the early game and have to hold serve or risk going down 2 games with only 6 left to play.

Tampa Bay is currently 3 games behind the A's. Let's hope the Rays lose and A's win on Wednesday so it's a 4 game lead for the WC going into that HUGE four game series at USCF. 2 game lead, and the Rays will be playing with just as much, if not more, motivation than the Angels this past weekend. The Angels are now only 2 1/2 games behind, having won 3 in a row.....and the A's still have 4 games with the Rangers left, with SEATTLE sandwiched in between over the weekend.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 09:56 PM) The day game was a ridiculous decision. Guys, say what you want about Cowley and before him, Mariotti. But those 2 guys added interest in our team. You think if they were around they wouldn't be blasting our fans and getting everybody riled up so we'd come out and support the Sox? You think if Cowley wasn't reprimanded he wouldn't be blasting the team for choking, etc., and getting everybody fired up in the process? Mariotti would be tearing us apart for not being able to beat the Royals. He'd have us in the news instead of everybody considering our pennant run a bore. He'd be having a "choke" story every week and the Sox would be way more compelling. The way it is now, the media is as boring as our team and our fans. Everybody's just gasping and watching the Sox lose day after day. We're all just watching this sinking ship, hoping Detroit loses. We got what we wanted ... no Cowley and no Mariotti and NO CONTROVERSY. This team needed to be shook up weeks ago and the media isn't helping by being so kind and so blah. They should make Ozney, Ozzie Jr. or Oney part of the Spanish announcing team for the final 8 games. They could second guess all of Ventura's decisions, and inform their father through twitter/cellphone during the Marlins' games so he could tell them what to say or what he would choose to do in the same situation if he were managing the White Sox game.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 09:32 PM) Only 13,797 showed up today. I wonder if the casual fan has bought into "August came late". Sox bats are great for extended slumps. The manager has done little to make changes in the lineup. 2003, 2006-present show little to have any optimism. Was the first game in the series a "half price" night or have all the games been heavily discounted? Certainly, the late game time change and school being in session had a lot to do with it, but coming off a dramatic victory in the late innings the game before, it's almost incredible to have under 15,000 fans despite the situation. We lost about 6,000 in attendance in order to play Kevin Youkilis instead of Olmedo/Hudson/Lopez/Dan Johnson at 3B.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 07:41 PM) Pending tonight's result, Detroit is 3-7 in 10 starts by Sanchez. Sox are 5-6 in Liriano's 11 starts. But Sanchez has been the MUCH MUCH better pitcher recently. Liriano's basically been demoted or is on the verge of it. 4-7 vs. 5-6, but Sanchez has still been the better pitcher IMO, regardless of team record in those starts.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 07:20 PM) Crazy that on a day that Gordon Beckham's defense cost the Sox 3 runs, Miguel Cabrera and his leaping ability saved the Tigers 2 runs. Butler wouldn't have scored from 1st. They'd still be down 2-1, even with 2 outs, I don't think Butler scores there.

Anibal Sanchez >>> Francisco Liriano Might be enough to decide the division, although you could look at 20 other moves. Would pick up Sanchez in a heartbeat over Gavin Floyd, FWIW.

Even though I was hard on Greg, Chen has a career ERA of 7+ at "pitcher friendly" Tiger Stadium. However, if he pitches out of this inning and retires Fielder and gives up no runs with the bases loaded/no outs, it wouldn't be too shocking if the Royals came back to win, really.

QUOTE (IowanSoxFan @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 04:52 PM) Yeah, but neither do the Tigers. A team that's given up about 1/2 as many unearned runs against the Twins alone this season in 15 games as we have the entire season. Of course, Beckham makes a good feed and the White Sox probably come back and win this game. It was just Kluber's 2nd win of the season in 11 starts. The first one game against the Tigers. Go figure.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 04:47 PM) OK. I'll say it. Right now, his team doesn't deserve a playoff spot. Now you're starting to sound like Greg, lol. Cue 2006/11 Cardinals as well as 1987 Twins' shout outs. But yeah...the Tigers would be set up much better for October baseball with Verlander, Scherzer and Fister as their Top 3 than the White Sox, except for that atrocious defense (see 2006). And their bullpen is more organized and roles are clearer...then you have the Jackson/Cabrera/Fielder triumvirate which trumps the talent the White Sox offense can throw out there.

So no Price vs. Sale for the Cy Young? That ship probably already sailed his last 2 starts against the Royals and Indians, anyways. The thinking must be that they have a better chance matching Sale up with Hellickson than Price. Kind of a loser's mentality, but it will be harder to question if it actually works out for us. Liriano and Quintana might not start for the remainder of the season...but that's putting a TON of pressure on Peavy and Sale, as only Floyd is fresh at this point.

QUOTE (Brian @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 04:37 PM) This. Also seems we do zero damage with 2-0 counts. Frustrating. If it weren't for an 0-2 Dunn swing last night, the whole fanbase is jumping off a cliff right now. What has been in his average with an 0-2 count the last 2 seasons? Probably in the low 100's. And it was the first homer Pestano's EVER given up with an 0-2 count in his entire career. Let's just say right now we're pretty fortunate to be tied 1-1 in this series, with a chance to take the rubber game and get some momentum again before facing the buzzsaw which is the Rays' pitching staff these days.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 04:10 PM) "Wasted a huge opportunity" ... Caufield how many times could you have written that the past month? The Sox are only going to make the playoffs if Detroit lets them. That's the only way. This team has proven it is not capable of doing it on its own. It's a flawed, beat-up baseball team. It's a miracle the team is 10 over .500. Robin is manager of the year by far. Royals swept the Tigers at KC, Tigers also lost 2/3 at home to the atrocious Twins when we swept them at home....and these were when they had a huge chance to take a one game lead in the division over the weekend. At the very worst, it's still tied with 8 to go. And if they can't manage to wake up the offense against a strong Rays' pitching staff, they don't deserve the playoffs anyway.