caulfield12

"I'm not down on myself," said Beckham, who was batting .115 with 11 strikeouts entering Tuesday night's game against the Orioles. "I know I had a good spring. I felt good in spring. I know it's right there. "It's just small mechanical stuff. For me, it's just being able to get my foot down and let my hands do the work. The hands are my money maker." Beckham said he started putting his front left foot down sooner after striking out in his first at-bat Monday. He went hitless in his next three at-bats but didn't strike out and believes he is making progress. "I'm making sure I'm on time to hit the ball," Beckham said. "There are a lot of ways to say that, but that's what we're going for. It's not about the hands or anything like that. It's getting my foot down." Beckham claimed he was unaware of suggestions he should sit, and manager Robin Ventura backs his embattled second baseman. "People can think what they want to think," Beckham said. "It's (nine) games." Ventura emphasized the focus on Beckham is on this season and not dwelling on his struggles the last two. www.chicagotribune.com/sports Haven't we all heard this before?

QUOTE (Andrew @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 11:06 PM) The average is just under 26K if you average over the years since '95... Lot of s***ty teams in there, too (you should look at the Sox LOSING history as well). Anyway, "Low", yes - but "10K by Wednesday" sounds like NBC today. Yes, there was a struggle from 1996-99 (these kids can play), but almost every winning percentage you can track from 1993-2000, 1993-2008, even 2012, the White Sox are going to rank anywhere from 3rd-5th. Behind the Yankees, Braves, and I would imagine you could add the Cardinals or the Red Sox as well, definitely the Red Sox. The point being is that while our winning percentage (not playoff appearances) has been very good...well, never mind. Just remembering the last White Sox draft choice inside of the top 10 should force you to recall the long string of pretty good play, with the exception of 2007. http://umresearchboard.org/resources/davis...nce_Winning.pdf I'll just refer to pages 20-31 in this economics report on the connection between attendance and winning percentage

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 10:41 PM) God I can't stand Cowley. I like how now that Chris Young is finally starting to hit (D Backs have only been waiting 7 years for that to happen) and NOW that trade is bad once again. Also, if anyone decides which team is fun or boring by the manager, that person is automatically an idiot. Last, Cowley was on B&B Tuesday afternoon. I swear within two minutes of saying the Ozzies Castro comments were blown out of proportion (full disclosure: I tend to agree) he then said that he hopes the media is going to do some "actual reporting" on the Peavy being in a bar story non-story in Wrigleyvile (on deadspin.com). So to summarize: you need a manager who is exciting to be relevant, but when he makes comments about a NATIONAL figure, it's no big deal. But players at a bar in their social life need some actual reporting done on the matter. Got it. Ladies and Gentleman, we have passed Mariotti territory. And here I thought that Jake Peavy was one of the three players he had left on the Sox to get quotes from, along with AJ and Thornton. Might be down to 2. And Ventura, who's not the kind of guy who would ever refuse to speak to anyone, it's not in his nature to hold grudges.

We were outdrawn by over 2,500 fans BY THE ROYALS. The Marlins had 24,544 (clearly they're not going to sell out many games this season, except weekends and if the team's doing well) for the return of Guillen/Cubs and it's higher than our average (quickly sinking) of 24,367. 27. White Sox, 24,367 28. Astros, 23.162 29. Royals, 22,218 (but have outdrawn us the last two nights) 30. Indians, 18,219 Yay, at least we're not Cleveland or Houston, perhaps the Twins. I can't think of too many other teams in a worse situation going forward, maybe the A's without a new ballpark. Even Pirates fans have many reasons to be excited. Can we manage to go below 10,000 Wednesday?

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/11969732-41...ness-error.html Interesting that Robin Ventura called Ozzie, not surprising with how classy he is, the Phil Mickelson of the AL Central. But it comes down to Guillen forgetting who his customers were and big business putting him in his room for five days because of it. Sure, there were other players in the game. Add in a media that treats a drop of blood in the water like it’s chum — and then, of course, an over-politically correct society that wants peanut butter sandwiches banned from schools because little Sally has a peanut allergy — and, well, light fuse, cover ears and duck. And who throws more bombs than anyone else in the Chicago media? It's like the pot calling the kettle black. Translation: (Malay: "Bagai meludah ke langit" or "Like Spitting into the sky" Norwegian)

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 11:09 PM) Good post. The thing about confidence? Who cares? Last year should have destroyed his confidence, what does it matter now? It's like worrying about offending Rios. I mean if we had a team leader who cared (maybe no team has a true leader anymore) somebody should ream Rios' ass for getting picked off on that Little League play. I mean alias should tell us ... when is the last time somebody got picked off on that play????? At first, I was like what are Jennifer Garner and Bradley Cooper going to tell us? The architect of the Titanic (you'd have to watch the show with Victor Garber to get that)? Elias Sports Bureau

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 11:05 PM) I did not know yu could not fine players anymore. Makes sense though. Coddled players. That was a mental mistake that cannot be tolerated. It only cost the Sox a chance at winning a game. Look how well the Bobby Valentine/Tough Love approach is working in Boston. They're 4-7 now, and in a world of hurt without a closer or Ellsbury. It's almost like they have to start over again without Pedroia, Youkilis, Ortiz, Beckett, etc. Might be the same thing with the White Sox starting almost completely anew...which will never happen with AJ, Peavy, Paulie, Rios and Dunn on the roster.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 11:05 PM) I did not know yu could not fine players anymore. Makes sense though. Coddled players. That was a mental mistake that cannot be tolerated. It only cost the Sox a chance at winning a game. Look how well the Bobby Valentine/Tough Love approach is working in Boston. They're 4-7 now, and in a world of hurt without a closer or Ellsbury. It's almost like they have to start over again without Pedroia, Youkilis, Ortiz, Beckett, etc. Might be the same thing with the White Sox starting almost completely anew...which will never happen with AJ, Peavy, Paulie, Rios and Dunn on the roster.

Kangaroo court and for violations of team rules/policy, but not on-field play (no matter how abysmal). Unless he did something like Albert Belle and beaned a fan in the stands with a thrown baseball, something absurd or out of the ordinary like that....which will never, ever happen with Rios, as long as he keeps getting his checks deposited every 2 weeks.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 10:56 PM) Ozzie didn't want to move him down to make the GM look bad, his ghost writer admitted that. I think Robin doesn't want to move him down because it could destroy any confidence he has. This situation is going to be a mess if he can't get it going soon, and there's really no reason to think he will, although he always has been pretty streaky. I feel a bit sorry for Walker reading (whether it's true or not, I'm not sure) 1) Our GM tried to challenge him to a fight, which I don't doubt because Williams is one of the least "professional" GM's out there...but Walk didn't take the bait and turned the other cheek. 2) That Reinsdorf, despite everything that transpired, wanted to keep Walker, too, this past off-season. That guy's loyalty knows almost no bounds. In the end, Konerko's still great, with or without Walk. Beckham/Morel/Rios/Dunn are all the same or probably worse. DeAza's worse, mostly due to lack of walks/OBP. AJ's about the only one you can say has outperformed expectations...or Paulie.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 10:46 PM) Soxtalk hated AJP, Soxtalk hated Konerko from 2007-2009, Soxtalk hated Contreras for half of 2005. Cheer for the Soxtalk punching bags, usually they turn out to be OK. Not so sure about Erstad, Mackowiak, Anderson (well, for me he was a punching bag), Juan Pierre and Bobby Jenks. I'll include DeWayne Wise, just for Greg, but he was never really a threat to be a full-time player so that's a different category. We hated the fact that KW never had a good solution for CF from the time Rowand left...and took it out on whoever played CFer, whether it was Anderson/Mackowiak/Erstad/Griffey/Pods/Pierre/Rios, a LONG line of mostly infamous names. KW should have been the punching bag more than those individuals, but it is what it is, or was what it was.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 10:47 PM) Also wanted Lilli cut... That was before Greg Walker fixed him, lol.

Which year was it that Paulie made a conscious effort in the offseason to do more conditioning and start watching his diet a bit more? Wonder if it was a coincidence. Obviously, he's not like Rock Raines or Rickey Henderson, it's really hard to tell the difference physique-wise, but something has definitely changed, probably 85% mental and 15% physical.

In AA and AAA, it's basically only Kuhn and McPherson. Neither players are going to make much of an impact with the major league team, barring a minor miracle. Lillibridge is the best bet for this season, scarily enough. For the time being, our best middle infield prospect is probably Carlos Sanchez, who's also arguably not going to be much of a threat to challenge an 800 OPS at the major league level. And he's only 19 and at least 2 full season away, if not 2 1/2. Probably the only way to add impact players at those positions is trading Floyd, Thornton, Crain...with the money due Matt and Jesse, it's hard to expect a premium infield bat back for either one. Unless AJ continues to hit out his mind and a starting catcher on a pennant contender goes down for the season, it's hard to imagine getting much back for him, either.

Justin Greene went from 4/25 to 7/28 with 2 doubles and a triple. Talk about increasing your average by almost 100 points in a game. Castro pitched a close to great game, ended up 7 K's. Saladino had 3 walks but still in the 120's. Trayce with a double, at 225. Carlos Sanchez 1 for 4 with yet another walk. He's the anti-Beckham/Morel in terms of OBP.

You just had a feeling when you saw bases loaded and Morel and two outs that a hit was pretty unlikely to pull off the comeback. Last night's blown 4-1 lead in the 8th/9th hurt about 10X as this one, because you knew from the get-go it would be a struggle against a soft-tossing left who we've never seen before and who resembles Bruce Chen in more ways than simply his last name. Having two chances to time the game with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs, what else is new? At least Fukudome hit the ball as hard as he did and took a good swing....Alexei continues his trend from 2011 in failiing in these situations when he was Mr. Clutch in his rookie campaign. Just always seem anxious with a runner on 3rd and a chance to drive him in....gets himself out a lot by swinging at pitcher's pitches and being too aggressive. Then there was the bonehead baserunning move that pretty much negated any positive to be derived from his 2 hits tonight.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 10:12 PM) Send Beckham down and bring up a third catcher. That frees up AJ and Flowers to DH. Dunn can sit. Start Lillibridge at 2B. I'm sick of watching Beckham and Dunn bat. Probably Gimenez, who's a very strong defensive catcher. Phegley should continue to get close to everyday play because of all the time he's missed due to injuries/rehab/recovery.

QUOTE (Andrew @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 10:30 PM) I would hitchhike on this wagon. Why Lillibridge isn't a starter over Beckham is an absolute f***ing mystery to me at this point.... I mean, this is the same team that gave a name/face to Uribe - and at that time I didn't think anyone could be more frustrating than him. But that was until we took on high dollars in guys like Rios and Dunn... (while he got another ring). 1) Uribe was a VERY clutch hitter. 2) He consistently put up 20 hr's and 65-75 RBI's per season. 3) He was great at getting runners in from 3rd and less than 2 outs. 4) He played SS, a premium position compared to 2B, at least at that time/era of baseball. 5) If Beckham or Morel could come close to a 700-725 OPS, it would be a minor miracle at this point. Almost every White Sox fans would take Uribe's average season from 2004-2006 compared to where he's at now (Gordon), and what they expect from him in the future.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 08:31 PM) I did take a break ... in the 6 month offseason. Time for baseball and time to b**** at all cept Paulie. No, not addressed to you. It's whoever was talking about "gloom and doom" posts.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 08:24 PM) lol! lots of doom and gloom around here already. some players are playing some really, really s***ty baseball right now, but not all, not by a LONG stretch. Ref***inglax fellas. You're right. But we've been having this same conversation back and forth, back and forth, since 2009. In the end, if it's not enjoyable, maybe it is best to take a break for awhile. There really was the feeling last year a significant part of the fanbase wanted the team to lose just so Ozzie and/or KW would lose their jobs...that someone from management would have to do SOMETHING. It's a bigger problem when you have a new manager and hitting coach and see the same problems. That's on the players, and the GM who acquired them.

It's hard to make the argument that Addison Reed has been so dominant and demonstrated the type of control where he's the surefire closer, either.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 08:19 PM) What makes no sense to me is Ventura was batting Lillibridge 2nd a lot during ST. Watch Ventura let Dunn face a lefty to start the 8th. Greg and Rongey are right, lol. When you pay someone $13-14-15 million to hit, they're not going to sit. And they're not going to get things figured out watching from the bench, doing soft toss, taking extra BP or watching video from the past. At least that's the theory. It's amazing how many managers refuse to PH for these guys, all evidence to the contrary.

Deck chairs on the Titanic, deck chairs on the Titanic. Even if we can make some cosmetic changes and have a 9-7 or 10-6 run instead of 8-8 or 7-9, in the overall scheme of things, it's going to have no effect on anything but having a lower draft pick in the first round next year.

What new? The RISP virus strikes again tonight. Brain cramps all over the diamond the last two nights. You'd also believe nothing had really changed. No matter what managerial style, the results are basically the same.

Farmer ALMOST thought Beckham had a homer or XB hit, lol. Reimold doing it offensively and defensively. Can't wait for all the articles that come out in the Trib and Sun-Times when we get under 10,000 for a game. Maybe it will happen tmrw if we lose.