caulfield12

Ramirez WASN'T that sought after, really. He was another version of Ramon Santiago, to many scouts. But Wise, Quintana, DeAza, Humber, Youk, Myers, Liriano, Veal, Heath, Marinez (acquired for Ozzie), Nathan Jones, Reed (taking a closer in the first 3-5 rounds of a draft), Hector Santiago...they all kind of fit the definition. Rios, essentially, was picked up for free, just his contract was assumed. Thornton was the original successful dumpster dive that REALLY worked out well, along with the likes of Loaiza, Quentin, Contreras, Dye, AJ, Iguchi, Pods, Hermanson and many others. Gavin Floyd fits to a tee, as well. CUE MARTY34 appearance to say he should be fired if the White Sox don't make the playoffs.

Outside the box: White Sox reliever Nate Jones improved to 8-0 on the season with Monday’s win. He overtook Goose Gossage (1972) for the best start by a White Sox rookie reliever and tied John Whitehead (1935) for best start for a White Sox rookie overall. http://www.espn.com/chicago

QUOTE (La Marr Hoyt HOF @ Sep 17, 2012 -> 09:02 PM) Wise won the game for us, so there's that...... And Rios. And the bullpen/Ventura.

Romney told the donors: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. My job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. Romney seems to be referring to the estimated 47 percent of Americans who did not owe federal income taxes in 2011 because their incomes were so low that they qualified for a tax credit, or because they didn't work at all. Last year, 22 percent of people who didn't owe income taxes were elderly people on Social Security, and an additional 17 percent were students, disabled people or the unemployed. More than 60 percent of the group were low-income workers, many of whom qualified for the child tax credit or the earned income tax credit. (These workers did pay payroll taxes for Social Security and other programs.) www.yahoonews.com

CHICAGO – The margin of error now for the Detroit Tigers has become dangerously thin. Of course, you can’t mention the word “error” in the same sentence with the Tigers without Omar Infante. The second baseman has become as heart palpitating on the double play pivot as Jose Valverde spraying water with a one-run lead in the ninth. For the second straight game, a Tigers’ loss can be directly traced to giving an opponent extra outs due to an Infante defensive breakdown. Infante is killing them right now. And time for resuscitative measures is running out after today’s 5-4 loss to the White Sox. Making matters worse for the Tigers as they now trail division-leading Chicago by three games is that there are no viable replacement options. This is the sickness the Tigers willingly brought upon themselves. They sacrificed defense for offense this season. And then the offense stuttered and stumbled. And when forced to win games the conventional way — like limiting opponents to 27 outs per game — they’re incapable of getting the inning-ending double play that the truly fundamentally sound teams execute with regularity. “I’m a little frustrated because I’m making a lot of errors, knowing that the team needed defense,” Infante said. He sparkles with the difficult chances, but fumbles the basics. Has Infante now officially become the poster child for this season? “That’s the one thing we’ve preached since spring training,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “It’s 27 outs, not 30 or 31. We’ve given up some extra outs. And we’ve paid for it. On some occasions, we pitched above it. On others, we didn’t. When you’re giving up 30 outs, that usually spells trouble for you.” It looked as though the Tigers would escape from the fifth inning with a 4-3 lead after Dayan Viciedo hit a grounder to Jhonny Peralta at short. He flipped it Infante for the force out, but Infante grabbed the throw in front of the bag, making him vulnerable to a hard slide from the fast-charging Alex Rios. This was a tactical error on Infante’s part. Usually to space oneself from the oncoming runner, the second baseman will take the toss behind the bag or toward the left side of the bag. Rios disrupted the throw, spiking Infante in the ankle on the slide. An argument could be made that Prince Fielder should’ve scooped up the one-hopper. After all, it is the first baseman’s primary defensive task to clean up his infielder’s throwing messes as regularly as possible. But Infante assumed full responsibility. That’s nice. But it’s not helpful. He has committed eight errors at second base for the Tigers. And he has been with the team only six weeks since the significant trade deadline acquisition that supposedly would push the Tigers ahead of the White Sox. His last three errors decisively factored into the Tigers’ last three losses. Contact Drew Sharp: 313-223-4055 or dsharp@freepress.com.

By Mark Gonzales, Chicago Tribune reporter September 18, 2012 Since the White Sox still commemorate Dewayne Wise's catch that preserved Mark Buehrle's 2009 perfect game, perhaps they can put a mark around second base to honor Alex Rios' slide Monday that moved them closer to an improbable American League Central title. Rios' slide broke up a potential inning-ending double play that resulted in a throwing error by second baseman Omar Infante in the fifth inning. The tying and go-ahead runs scored on the play, propelling the Sox to a 5-4 victory over the rival Tigers and extending their lead to three games with 16 games left. "I just told him that might be the play of the year," Gordon Beckham said after the Sox rallied from deficits of 3-0 and 4-3 to extend their winning streak to four games. Rios' slide was the biggest in a series of contributions that helped the Sox beat the Tigers for only the sixth time in their 18 meetings. Relievers Nate Jones (8-0), Donnie Veal, Brett Myers, Matt Thornton and Addison Reed combined to throw five scoreless innings. Wise, who made a boneheaded play on the base paths in the eighth, tied the game in the fourth with a two-out, two-run single. "We got our base hits, we scored on walks and we did a lot of things," Rios said. "We played very well, and that's what we got to do from now on." The next challenge starts Tuesday night in Kansas City against the Royals, who have a 10-5 record against the Sox. "If we go to Kansas City and not play well, it's all for naught," Adam Dunn said. "Every one is big now. (Tuesday) is the biggest game of the year. I'm not going to sit here and downplay it, but if we don't go to KC and Anaheim and win games, it means nothing." But Monday's win gave the Sox some breathing room, thanks largely to Rios' slide. "If (Infante) stays in the baseline, I'm going to get him," Rios said. "But I thought it was a clean slide and every middle infielder knows that if they stay in the baseline, something like that is going to happen." Rios' slide came a half-inning after Jones bailed starter Jose Quintana out of a jam in the fifth. Veal relieved Jones and struck out Prince Fielder to end the seventh, making it 24 straight left-handers Veal has faced without allowing a hit, with 12 strikeouts. In an interesting twist, manager Robin Ventura opted for the percentages and kept Myers in after he had pitched a perfect eighth, and Myers retired pinch hitter Quintin Berry. Left-hander Matt Thornton then was summoned and struck out Andy Dirks. Closer Addison Reed finally entered the game and retired Austin Jackson on a fly to right for his 27th save. "It's always good to get into a big game and stuff's on the line right there," Myers said. "I think players excel in those situations, and we were able to pull one out." mgonzales@tribune.com

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 17, 2012 -> 06:18 PM) The Oakland/Tigers series is in Detroit, not Oakland. No official start for Thursday yet, but sounds like it will probably be Liriano. Yeah, I was reading somewhere else here that it was on the road and didn't take the time to look it up, so lazy. "I made a mistake," Wise said. "I almost blew it. I've been playing this game too long to make a mistake like that. I'm just thankful the way we were able to pull it out."Wise started in place of Alejandro De Aza, who is in a 2-for-21 slump over his last five games. "(De Aza) is fine," manager Robin Ventura said. "He's just out of there (Monday). Saturday, he just seemed out of sync. We'll wait for him to kind of work on that and get back in there." De Aza struck out four times and went 0-for-5 Saturday. Return engagement: Gavin Floyd said he's accustomed to pitching with extra rest after the Sox employed a six-man rotation for about three months last season. "That extra rest seemed a little weird, but you pitched every six days," said Floyd, who will start Tuesday night in Kansas City on five days' rest. "It does help, especially after coming off 15 days (on the disabled list) and not pitching for a while." Floyd also said he was grateful that he healed from a right elbow flexor strain in time to pitch in a true postseason race for the first time since 2008, when he won a team-high 17 games in helping the Sox to the American League Central title. "This is an exciting year, and this will play out the next 16 games," Floyd said. "It's been fun all year. We have a great group of guys, and we're trying to push and win this." Extra innings: Sox relievers have allowed one earned run over their last 13 innings, covering four games. ... www.chicagotribune.com/sports

"I just told him that might be the play of the year," said White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham of Rios' slide. "Every second baseman knows we're coming in hard. It was a clean slide, and we took advantage," Rios said. "We scored two runs on that play and ended up winning the game, so it was a big play." "How many times do you see a guy slide or pull up and this or that?" Dunn said. "Alex went in hard and essentially won us a game." Rios' slide was followed by White Sox bullpen domination. Delmon Young's run-scoring single with nobody out in the fifth was the last hit of the day for Detroit, with Jones recording three outs in relief of Jose Quintana to end the fifth and the Tigers going 12-up, 12-down on 48 pitches from the sixth through the ninth. Robin Ventura played the ninth like a trained musician would work a finely-tuned instrument. The White Sox manager started with Myers, who retired pinch-hitter Quintin Berry on a ground ball to third baseman Kevin Youkilis. Left-hander Matt Thornton came in for left-handed-hitting pinch-hitter Andy Dirks and struck him out on three fastballs. Then it was Reed, who jumped ahead 0-2 on Austin Jackson and induced a game-ending fly ball to Rios. White Sox relievers possess a 0.69 ERA over the last four games, covering 13 innings pitched. "It wasn't just about the bullpen," said Jones, who made his 15th consecutive scoreless appearance. "It was about the guys making plays behind us and the offense kicking in when it needed to. It's about Quintana. He kept it close enough to where we could do our job. It's all about the team." In Monday's victory, the White Sox found much greater success against Doug Fister (9-9) than the two-hitter he threw at them over seven innings last Tuesday. Fister was staked to a 3-0 lead in the third, and even pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the frame by striking out Youkilis and Dunn. Fister wasn't so fortunate in the fourth, hitting Beckham with a 1-0 pitch to force home a run with two outs. Dewayne Wise then connected on a 3-1 fastball to single home two more to tie the game. Detroit regained the lead in the fifth on Miguel Cabrera's leadoff double off Quintana, Prince Fielder's infield single and Young's single. On Fielder's grounder to Dunn at first, Quintana was late getting off the mound but still appeared to beat Fielder to the bag. First-base umpire Mike Muchlinski disagreed. Despite holding these two early advantages, the Tigers missed on three prime chances to take total control. Jhonny Peralta hit into a double play with runners on first and second and nobody out in the second, and Brennan Boesch followed with a swinging strikeout against Quintana. Boesch struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch to strand the bases loaded in the third, before Peralta hit into a second rally-killing double play and Boesch grounded out to shortstop Alexei Ramirez to end the fifth. A Wise baserunning mistake in the eighth, where he tagged up and was thrown out at third by Avisail Garcia for the final out before Beckham could score on Dunn's fly ball to left, cost the White Sox an insurance run. Fortunately, it didn't change the outcome or the look of the standings. Basically, the AL Central hasn't changed since last Monday night, when the White Sox, who are 2-9 in their last 11 games against the Tigers, took the series opener from Detroit and held a three-game advantage. The only difference is taking six more games off the schedule. Monday's outcome marked the Tigers' 10th straight one-loss. The game certainly featured major playoff ramifications, but no postgame concessions. "That doesn't bother me at all," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland of the deficit. "It's right there in front of us. There's no secrets. There's plenty of time, but you have to win games." "Tomorrow becomes a whole different game and different team," said Ventura, whose team returns to its nine-game road trip in Kansas City. "Be sure you worry about yourself and not worry about anything else. There's nothing you can do about [the Tigers]." chisox.com (Scott Merkin)

AJ Griffin, by the way, 6-0, 1.94 ERA vs. Scherzer, 2nd half AL Cy Young (great pitching match-up) WED B. Anderson, 4-1 (1.93 ERA) vs. Verlander, dominant in DET THURS Tommy Milone 13-10 (3.81 ERA) vs. Anibal Sanchez Sale vs. Mendoza WED, TBA (Liriano/Santiago) vs. Cy Chen on Thursday, no Guthrie, thankfully...and we beat Chen the last time we faced him, so that should give us some added confidence heading into that one.

Since we've been putting other games affecting the pennant race here: Rays have a no hitter through 5 (Cobb) but tied with Boston 0-0 going into the bottom of the 5th in Tampa. Baltimore plays later at Seattle, 9 p.m. start. So cheering against TB, cheering against Baltimore, simply because having some insurance in case DET goes on a tear will help alleviate some of the pressure and stress that we felt in 2005 down the stretch. Balt 2 games ahead of the White Sox for 2nd WC. Although the Orioles have a pretty easy schedule down the stretch, mostly BOS and TOR. 2-1 BOSOX, no hitter broken up on an Ellsbury 2 run tater...

Such a strange set of emotions game to game with this new WC system. Now instead of cheering against the Orioles and Oakland, we're cheering FOR THEM and the Yankees/Rangers...in order to dishearten the Angels and especially the Rays before we end up playing them. Meanwhile, GO OAKLAND! White Sox all the way up to an 85.5% probability of making the playoffs at ESPN.

QUOTE (Cali @ Sep 17, 2012 -> 05:47 PM) Win 2 of 3 in KC somehow and I'm gonna feel really good about the rest of the season. Plus, the Tigers are on the road and have the tough out against a white hot A's team. If we can bump up the margin to 4-5-6 games after this weekend, that REALLY would put a lot of pressure on DET and they would probably fold the way they've played recently. Scherzer, Verlander and Cabrera/Fielder/Jackson are the only thing keeping them viable as a playoff team. Sox get Hochevar (must-win Tuesday night to take the pressure off before facing...), Mendoza and Chen. THANKFULLY, no Guthrie at least. Division would OVA if KW would have picked up Jeremy, lol. Have the Sox announced a starter for Thursday's game yet?

Make Paciorek stay with all the broadcasts until the Sox lose another game. Maybe he can break the KC jinx, lol. Wow....so nervous in the last 3 innings. Had the feeling that the Wise play would come back to bite us, but Ventura's management of the pen worked 100% beautifully today. Phew.

If Cabrera comes up this inning against either Reed or Crain, I'm just going to turn off my computer.

Thornton with the adrenaline going. One of the few pitches he has thrown this season at 96 or 97. Reed vs. Jackson...season on the line, possibly. Wise better be thanking his lucky stars that the relievers are bailing him out or he could go down in history like Brant Brown or Jerry Dybzynski.

Beckham should have busted his butt, but he had no reason to think there would be any kind of play at home or that Wise would be going for 3B on a ball hit to LF. Harrelson about to have a heart attack there. Just unbelieveable brain cramp in such a big situation.

OMG. That play might define the season. ZERO REASON FOR WISE to tag up and to go 3rd base. ZERO.

C'mon Dunn....CONTACT CONTACT CONTACT. Don't get down in the count 0-2.

Great curve! Myers with the most emotion we've seen out of him all season with the Sox. That leaves Garcia/Laird (maybe Avila against Thornton?)/Austin Jackson Probably wouldn't put Thornton out there knowing Infante and Cabrera are following. And Avila's been bad enough this year you probably don't go batter by batter there even in the 9th. That might change, though, if Garcia gets an XB hit. Don't want to see Crain in the game against Cabrera, though. We saw that show last year.

Interesting no Thornton here. Guess he's holding him back for a possible match-up with Fielder in the 9th.

No Cabrera and Fielder again in 2012 please. Rinse, repeat.

Looked like Tanks was safe again at 1B. Would like to see a replay.

Young 2/7 with a double against Crain, but Peralta only 1/18 against Jesse.

0/24. Fathom's guy still untouched on the season against lefties. If not for Young's presence, you'd be tempted to leave him in there against Boesch, but they'll go Myers or Crain in the 8th against Young. Crain has the better stuff, so I'd probably go with Jesse against Young/Peralta, then Thornton...for Boesch. Although Ventura very well might choose Myers over Crain. Don't have their career averages against those guys.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 17, 2012 -> 02:30 PM) I would have left him in to face Fielder. 0/23 is hard to argue against. But yeah, Nate's been tougher on lefties this season than righties, flying in the face of conventional wisdom.