caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 01:18 PM) This is a great post. Unfortunately, when the Tigers are playing like they are right now, they might be the toughest team in baseball to beat. It happens, and you have to hope the Sox can recover against the Twins. We should have a pretty good crowd tmrw night if the heat doesn't kill off the crowd, or rain. If we did manage to take out Liriano, that would give them a needed shot of confidence in the arm. Ultimately, this isn't like those years when we lost to the Twins and always muttered to ourselves that we had the better talent...you can't make that argument with this Tigers team, especially when Konerko's just a shadow of his former self...and Dunn's in danger of falling back below .200. Not only that, but our bench has been exposed this week. That Escobar mistake was a huge one in the 9th the other night.

QUOTE (Caesar @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 01:14 PM) Of course it is. That should be your goal every year. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way. Adding a SP will do nothing for this team I don't think because they can't hit. They're still in the top half of the AL in runs scored. It's simply the fact that we're ice cold now and DET is playing like the best team in baseball. We ran over the Cleveland Indians when they were in a similar position. We were hot and they were cold. Playing 16 out of 19 on the road is suicide. Thursday's game didn't help. But it's not over yet by any stretch of the imagination.

QUOTE (Caesar @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 01:12 PM) Now ask yourself the quetion that fathom asked Marty. I don't think a SP will make a difference. This team cannot hit, and it hasn't been able to hit post asb for as long as I can remember. They survived in 2008, even without Quentin.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 01:08 PM) Question for you....do you think even with a solid starting pitcher acquisition that this team can contend with the Tigers the rest of the year? And they already have Smyly, who was an early favorite for AL Rookie Pitcher of the Year. They will certainly fix 2B, and get rid of Raburn/Santiago (as a starter).

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 01:08 PM) I think the clock started ticking on KW after the Boesch homer. Why? Better yet, don't bother to respond. Carry on with your anti-KW rants, if it actually makes you feel better. No matter what, you (and everybody else here) have no CLUE whether the person who would replace him would do better. How many years will you give a new GM before you turn on him? 2 years? 3 years? 5 years?

Farmer said the team looks tired. Of course, that will happen when you give back the lead every time the offense scores. Well, we've been on the other side of this, when we had our own 14-2 run. But do we really face Liriano tmrw? Just goes from bad to worse. I wonder how many times in MLB history the two teams fighting for first had six consecutive games (in the standings) go to one team in the rivalry?

Batting practice continues. Cabrera's homer was around 490.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 12:53 PM) How do you know Beckham has no trade value? Well, if you were a GM of an opposing team, who would you trade your 2B for to replace him with Beckham? Yeah, I know, Joe Borchard had almost no trade value and we got Matt Thornton for him. But it's not like we are going to get Weeks or Ackley. Maybe Jermile Weeks. Betancourt. Robert Andino.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 12:52 PM) Didn't we sweep the Rangers? For a while there, this team looked like they could contend with anyone. Of course, we said the same thing in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010 and now this year.

QUOTE (Caesar @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 12:50 PM) Be my guest. What's the point of trading someone who has negligible trade value? Do you want to start Tyler Kuhn or Escobar there? Bring back Lillibridge and start him at 2B?

Caesar, what, if anything do you actually enjoy about the White Sox? List 3 things. As far as trading away anyone from our current roster (with the exception of the bullpen)....doesn't make any sense because you're fighting with 5-6-7 teams just for the right to face one of the two best teams in baseball, the Angels and Rangers.

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 12:43 PM) Why is Flowers starting today? Because he's country strong? Probably because he won't be able to stand by late August if Ventura keeps playing him at this pace.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 12:41 PM) Sorry, but the team was struggling before that choke job and the Tigers were playing their best baseball of the year. But that was the tipping point. There's no way we would be in the process of getting swept now had they won that game. Friday, yeah...but not Saturday and Sunday, and not with Sale. Can't believe Scott choked away the British Open.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 12:34 PM) Unless the offense magically reappears, adding one starting pitcher isn't going to lead the way to the promise land. Also, there is absolutely no way for you to predict how the team will be next season. I don't think anyone would expect them to beat the Angels or Rangers in the Wild Card game. Let's just face it, the Tigers are better, especially with the injury to Danks and the rookies filling up the pen. We will forever be haunted by Escobar, Thornton and Reed from Thursday night's game...and Ventura's inexperience.

It's not like the Tigers are going to get any worse in the near future. Just can't wait for Victor Martinez to come back and be the full-time DH.

QUOTE (kapzk @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 12:24 PM) How the f*** does Berry hit a Hr, that too opp. field. The funny thing is two organizations totally gave up on him after never giving him a chance. Not unlike Humber, except Berry's good now.

Well, if we're going to collapse, we might as well do it convincingly before KW trades away someone we'll actually need next season.

Like a broken record.

Great, here we go again. Sigh.

Let's see if we can NOT follow the trend of giving up runs after we score....and giving up a plethora of 2 out RBI's.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 10:52 AM) I don't see it as interesting at all and is misplaced since it has nothing to do with Baseball. Because we have a lot of female fans, for one thing. #2, do you really think they would have signed Albert Belle if they would have known the tepid reaction he would get from fans? Sure, he had a great season statistically, mostly when it didn't really count or matter, but from a business standpoint, it was a tactical mistake, some would even say close to a disaster. #3, it really does matter to White Sox fans when they have players like Konerko, Thome, Dye, Buehrle, Crede, etc., who they can get behind and support...knowing they are "good guys" off the field and on. You really think that Sox fans don't care? I think you're being naive to believe the perception of the players has nothing to do with attendance. One of the most non-likeable players the last 3 years was Alex Rios, and a good percentage of that dislike was for his attitude and behavior, which has changed remarkably this year. Dunn caught something of a break because he was perceived as a "good guy" by most in the press and media, people went out of their way to defend him and explain/rationalize away his poor season last year for a number of well-documented reasons. So I do think it matters. Every player that puts on that uniform represents the organization, represents the manager, the GM and the owner...it's important, probably even moreso than the background of a new CFO you were hiring having the same "red flag" in it.

Thought it might be easier to do it this way, and bifurcate the thread into a baseball/trade related one...and one for the off-field issues. It really is an interesting issue from a psychological standpoint, having had players like Belle, Canseco and Manny Ramirez on the team in the past, not to mention not so famous ones like D'Angelo Jimenez or Wil Cordero.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 22, 2012 -> 02:41 AM) I don't know why you have the right to a legitimate defense when he was caught doing it. He did it. To the attorneys out there: If I was guilty of killing a few people in Kansas and the national media didn't give a f*** about the case, wouldn't I be tried within a month and after a trial that lasted, oh about a day, quietly be sent up the river or given the death penalty? In this case, I hate the fact it's going to be highly publicized and he's going to get a great defense team who want the publicity, etc. This man killed a f***ing 6 year old and her mother; he killed eight others, wounded 70 or something. He has no rights. Why? Cause there's no doubt. He was seen doing it. He did it. The only court case will be a bunch of made for TV crap. Damn I can't believe that coward didn't take his own life or raise his gun to a cop so he could have got Bonnie and Clyded. f***. And I dont think you have to be f***ed up in the head to do what he did. You watch pretty much any action movie and people are getting assault guns and blowing zillions away. I'm sure he just took on a character. He isn't insane. He ordered all the ammo. he's guilty; kill him please. I think I need to speak to a minister about why evil like this happens. I'm not going to argue about whether you could kill a few (2-3, by definition) and the case wouldn't become so famous. The fact of the matter is that no death penalty trial ever is over in just one day...because then the defense provided would probably be considered incompetent and the case would likely to be retried or appealed over and over again. That's why there are myriad organizations and a network of lawyers out there who exist to provide pro bono work in these situations, like the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, AL. They specialized in this...a one day trial could never occur. As far as wanting to live in a country with no rights for criminals, move to Thailand, Singapore or China and commit a drug crime. By definition, to commit an act like that, it has to be an act of insanity in a sense, even if planned out with malice and forethought. Greg, as far as your last question goes...about why God permits evil to exist in the world, it's the oldest question in the book. Many will use events like this as their reason for not believing in God. Or perhaps they feel that God doesn't exist so it's not such a harsh penalty to let the victim off easily by silent injecting him with potassium chloride and shutting down his heart. Would you feel there was justice and peace for the families at the end of that standoff had he just shot himself in head? Then, all the victims' families would spend the rest of their lives wondering why he did it. That still might happen. But the majority of the time, executing someone doesn't ever bring peace or closure because you can never bring that family member back. There are many Christians who believe that no matter what a person has done, it's not their place to judge or condemn another human being, that only God can do that. There are many passages in the New Testament...."let he who is without sin cast the first stone, judge not least ye be judged, etc." That question always gets thrown out there..."what would Jesus do?" Would Jesus forgive the shooter or condemn him to death? Well, of course, that's where you have the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" avenging God of the Old Testament. Yet they co-exist, do they not, just as peoples' reactions to these events will always differ. Inevitably, someone will say to those who want him to have a life sentence without the possibility of parole..."if it was your family member who was one of the victims, would you still feel the same way? You wouldn't want revenge? You wouldn't want the satisfaction of watching him die in front of you?" Well, believe it or not there are just as many believers as non-believers who wouldn't feel any better about watching him die. It's kind of like the idea that only through evil or bad things happening can we understand the nature of free will, grace and peace or forgiveness. Without bad things happening, how could we ever learn to appreciate good? Wouldn't life be pretty dull if God created the world and programmed us like robots to carry out his will and never to sin? Would that be pleasing? At least, that's the Christian perspective on it. Holmes had recently withdrawn from a competitive graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado-Denver, where he was one of six students at the school to get National Institutes of Health grant money. He recently took an intense three-part, oral exam that marks the end of the first year of the four-year program there, but university officials would not say if he passed, citing privacy concerns. The university said Holmes gave no reason for his withdrawal, a decision he made in June. "The focus of the program is on training outstanding neuroscientists and academicians who will make significant contributions to neurobiology," the university said. The doctoral program usually takes five to seven years to complete, it said. In a resume posted on Monster.com, Holmes listed himself as an "aspiring scientist" and said he was looking for a job as a laboratory technician. The resume, first obtained by The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, paints a picture of a brilliant young man brimming with potential: He worked as a summer intern at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla in 2006 and mapped the neurons of Zebra finches and studied the flight muscles of hummingbirds while an undergraduate at the University of California, Riverside. He also worked as a cabin counselor to underprivileged children at a summer camp in Los Angeles in 2008. In a statement, Camp Max Straus confirmed Holmes had worked there for eight weeks. The camp provided no other detail about Holmes but said such counselors are generally responsible for the care and guidance of roughly 10 children. Neighbors and former classmates in California said although Holmes was whip-smart, he was a loner who said little and was easily forgotten — until this week. www.yahoonews.com

Pitcher Nestor Molina, who was acquired from the Blue Jays for closer Sergio Santos, returned to the seven-day disabled list at Double-A Birmingham because of recurring discomfort in his right elbow. Molina missed 2 1/2 weeks because of tendinitis but was shut down again after pitching two innings Tuesday. chicagotribune.com/sports There's a big surprise, Molina on the DL again.