caulfield12

That was huge there. Now let's score some FREAKIN' RUNS. And if Dunn and Konerko keep sucking, move up Rios...do something to shake up this line-up. Hit Rios 3rd, Dunn 4th, Konerko 5th, AJ 6th. AJ has been falling off too, so no justification for moving him. Only Rios, Beckham and Wise are hitting...DeAza can't play the outfield anymore and he's lost some of his confidence, not unlike what Pods went through playing for us after the injury.

At least Billy Butler showed up tonight. Somebody in the AL is capable of playing with some confidence and swagger, even if it's for a bad team.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 07:15 PM) McEwing is as aggressive as any third base coach. 95% of the time, he's safe there. Why he hesitated rounding the bag, I have no idea...then again in his last 2-3 steps, then why he had his right foot UP in the air instead of driving for the bag with his foot on the ground is beyond me. It's like a little of the aggressiveness both offensively and defensively have been sapped from this team because of the losing streak. They're playing afraid to lose, instead of playing to win.

And of course, Konerko doesn't come through when we desperately need to tie the game and prove we can hit with RISP. Go from 1-0, runner on 2nd, no outs...to no runs scoring. Just unfathomable how bad the baserunning has been in the last month or so. Everything's just falling apart. Offense. Defense. Baserunning. Hitting with RISP. Outfield defense.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 07:10 PM) What a terrible, terrible slide by De Aza. I'm not so sure he touched the plate with his leg before being tagged. Also it looks like he slowed up before sliding. There was a bit of last second hesitation...and then his right front foot was up in the air and didn't get back down until the tag was applied. 95% of the time, in that situation, with the ball arriving late, he's safe. Just incredible.

I do think his right front foot got up in the air a bit and he didn't get it back down in time. Huge momentum shift against the Sox. We just can't catch a break to save our lives right now.

McAllister's never pitched with this much velocity...his adrenaline will wear off and he'll tire in the next couple of innings. Book it.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 07:03 PM) It's because someone applied a bit of pressure to the team. Their back ends pucker and everything becomes swing to be a hero. But the Tigers have been 3 1/2 back to 1 1/2 games ahead (briefly) for nearly 4 1/2 months now. That's not the only reason. Part of it has to be the lack of rest for regulars like AJ for most of the first 4 months. Our weak bench is partially to blame. When you have AAAA lifers like Olmedo that play the way they do in key games, or Jose Lopez, what other options are there? And then you've had the erratic and inconsistent bullpen to deal with all season long....with all the rookies and the injury to Crain.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 07:00 PM) Running into outs. Is Ventura reading the Ozzie Guillen approach to losing the division. Let Beckham concentrate on the AB and not forcing the situation. He's desperate to get a double (Beckham had 3 of them in 4 previous at-bats against McA) and tie the game up there.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 06:59 PM) If this continues the rest of the year, it will be interesting who the scapegoat is. Hard to blame Cooper with the rookies and 3 guys pushed well beyond the limit in terms of their past and recent seasons (Peavy, Quintana, Sale) as well as the erratic, uncoachable Liriano. That leaves Ventura, Manto and KW. Funny, the Yankees can always use pitching these days and gave up on both Quintana and McAllister, who suddenly looks like a world-beater in the crisp SEPT weather.

"You can cancel the season, boys." Feels like it, but something's going to spark them the last 10 games, 7 at home. It has to. This can't continue for another 10 days. Jesus, these are guys who have owned this guy in the past, like Beckham. Now they're just playing scared, or afraid to lose. Talk about an implosion. Just not of epic or unexpected proportions.

Our worst or 2nd worst FB hitter this year and he looks like the best. Meanwhile, everyone up and down our line-up getting blown away with gas.

Tigers game basically over. Time to show what you're made of now, White Sox.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 06:49 PM) De aza wasn't good either AND ISN'T Both those balls could and probably should have been caught. OF defense, which was once one of our greatest strengths, has let down with the rest of the fundamentals the last 3-4 weeks of the season.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 06:46 PM) Game. Why even watch, then? Sale is 9-2 with a 1.72 ERA at home. That ball should have been caught. If the game's over against a Zach McAllister in the 3rd inning at home with Chris Sale pitching, they might as well cancel the rest of the season and 2013 as well. Stop being ridiculous.

Rios drifted with that ball instead of getting back to the wall right away. Can't afford to give them runs there. Ball carried more than he expected, but typical White Sox play down the stretch.

Scouting is your friend. Verlander retires Francouer on 3 straight sliders. NO FASTBALLS, note for 2013, Sox pitchers, catchers and Cooper.

Royals mounting another threat, Butler and the impressive Perez reaching...but they don't have much speed, a lot like the middle of our order. Moose K's, Royals 0 for their last 3 with RISP. Need a hit here somewhere to put some fear into the Tigers.

McAllister is just throwing it as hard as he can across the plate and nobody can catch up with it. THIS.TEAM.IS.STILL.DEAD.EVEN.AT.USCF Butler with his 2nd hit of the evening against Verlander. We could use players with the swagger of Cain and Butler at this point in the season. Who's our leader right now? It's not Konerko, that's for darned sure.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 06:29 PM) Well that was quite the pathetic start. The number 8 hitter in the AL with RISP is batting eighth in the White Sox lineup. Look at YOUK's splits at USCF. Look at Alexei's repeated failures in the last 2-3 weeks with RISP. That's old history. He was third and is sinking quickly like the Titanic, as are the rest of the team.

Why can't Francouer make perfect throws against DET like he does against us? 4-1, Jackson wiped out at 3rd, two runners cut down on the basepaths this inning for the Tigers already. Nobody retired by actual Hochevar pitches. AJ not messing around with that throw. Maybe his best of the season.

Hochevar struggling now. Luckily, Peralta got gunned down by Dyson at 2B or they would already be leading 3-1. 4 hits in this inning already. Not good. Sale has to hold serve at home. We knew that coming in. Time to step up, Chris.

Upper deck is basically deserted. Don't remember McAllister throwing quite so hard as he just did to YOUK. 95 MPH. And 96 to get Dunn. Seems he's fired up, too. By the way, Billy Butler is .367 lifetime against Verlander in 50+ career ab's.

Verlander just got Dyson on 99 mph cheese. 14-2 against the Royals lifetime, one of the losses his last outing in KC where he gave up 8. Almost impossible to beat at home, and 2.70ish ERA lifetime against the Royals. 57 strikes, only 16 balls through 5 innings. Pretty amazing, but what new? Escobar out to end the 1st and 3rd, one out chance for KC to tie up the game.

The Tigers dropped both games of a day-night doubleheader on Sunday. They also lost ground on the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox, falling a game back after coming into the day trailing by half a game. “There’s not really much to explain here tonight,” said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, after his team lost 2-1 in 10 innings in the nightcap and 10-4 in the first game to the Minnesota Twins. “I’m not trying to get rid of you guys or send you into the night, I’m just telling you it’s disappointing we didn’t score more runs today. “In two ballgames today, I felt we would certainly score more runs than we did and we didn’t.” • Box score, stats | MLB scoreboard | Standings | Stats | News The Angels completed a weekend sweep of the White Sox, with a 4-1 win on Sunday afternoon. That gave the Tigers a chance to move into a tie for first place with the White Sox with a win in the nightcap. “We gotta win some games,” Leyland said. “We did get ourselves within a half game. Now we’re a game out. So, it is what it is. You gotta win baseball games.” Jamey Carroll’s RBI single off Tigers closer Jose Valverde brought home Denard Span for the go-ahead run in the 10th inning. Asked about the defensive miscues, Leyland said: “What cost us today is we didn’t score runs. We gotta more than one run.” The Tigers were coming off an 8-0 win over the Twins on Saturday. “We came out and put the eight-spot right away in that other game,” Leyland said. “The last two games, we just didn’t score any runs, and we felt we were going to have to score some runs in this series. We actually shut them down pretty good the second game tonight, better than I thought we would.” Defensive miscues by the Tigers helped lead to a five-run fifth for the Twins in the first game. They also played a role in the Twins coming back to tie the game at 1 in the second game. Tigers starter Drew Smyly allowed an unearned run on three hits in 4 1/3 innings. “He was okay,” Leyland said. “He had the one walk that hurt him, leading off that inning. But I thought he did a fine job.” www.freep.com/sports