caulfield12

Rios, Flowers and Fukudome all fail with Paulie on 3rd after a rare triple (outfielder tried to make a miracle catch ill-advisedly), does suck to have that feeling in the back of your mind from 2011, "here we go again," and then of course we give up a run right away with Ohman on the mound the next frame to extend to a 2-0 lead. Team has been pretty flat recently after going on that nice stretch of play where they won 7 of 9 or 8 of 10 or whatever it was.

Melton: Beckham threw the ball over to 1B on one hop to get it there faster. Note: Other than the likes of Ozzie Smith, Dave Concepcion or Omar Vizquel taking the ball deep in the hole and bouncing it with the fast delivery on Astroturf, that's not really true.

But we also have Ramirez, DeAza, Escobar, Viciedo, Santiago and Rios, 6 players with Hispanic origins. Plus, we've got Fukudome now. That's right around the average now in baseball, 6-9 Latin Americans per team. Two of our better prospects in Mitchell and Trayce Thompson are African-American. There have also been a few times in the last 20 years when the White Sox (I think) started an all-black/Hispanic team.

Does the Sun Times family of newspapers have any connections with a Miami or Florida paper? That might be his only way to stay relevant going forward.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Mar 30, 2012 -> 11:39 PM) Walking around looking at houses can very easily look like someone scoping out an empty house to rob. It could have also been Martin looking for a particular house in a neighborhood he wasn't yet totally familiar with. I still see little reason why it was wrong of Zimmerman to be suspicious. Since the guy was black, many people are going to jump immediately to racism and won't be talked down from it. If the majority of crimes in your neighborhood (which has also seen a rise in crime recently) are committed by black youths covering their faces up, it's only logical to be suspicious of a new person in your neighborhood looking like that, especially if you're familiar with people who live near you. I thought he didn't put his hood on until after he became concerned Zimmerman was following him or going to try to approach him?

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Mar 30, 2012 -> 09:40 PM) Morel left the game early with tight back. He keeps on having these back issues.. It will be interesting to see if they choose to go with Lillibridge or Escobar, if it's a longer-term thing. With the anticipated offensive struggles, you'd think Brent would get the first shot. Sale Reed Santiago N. Jones Escobar Morel Ramirez Beckham Viciedo Flowers (we have to be able to take 60-70% credit for his improvement defensively) 40% of the major league roster being homegrown isn't shabby at all for the worst farm system in MLB. Not to mention the development of Santos and Daniel Hudson.

QUOTE (Cali @ Mar 30, 2012 -> 09:29 PM) We know what we're getting out of Bruney. We saw it last year. He's not a pitcher. Jones is younger, and it'd be nice to see what they have in him. The team isn't competing so it'd be nice to see if Jones can hack it. Develop a nice young hard throwing bullpen core: Reed, Jones, Santiago Not to mention Stewart will be throwing 92-95 out of the pen as well. He has a lot of experience as a reliever from his time in the Reds' minor league system. Not Balta's planned-for outcome this offseason, but we still have a lot more insurance than recent years with Axelrod, Simon Castro, Doyle and Molina, along with Hector Santiago.

So the bullpen shapes up like this now. Thornton Crain Reed Santiago Ohman Stewart N. Jones Bruney, Axelrod and Stults on the outside looking in. In Santiago and Stewart, you've also got 2 guys who can give you 2-3-4 innings.

I'm going to predict that we see Nathan Jones a lot earlier than expected. The guy's consistently hitting 97 MPH with his fastball, whereas Bruney's much lower, unless he's working on a sinker that we don't know about, as opposed to the four seam riding FB. At any rate, Jones has a LOT more potential, if he can control that mid 80's slider. In unrelated news, Alex Rios still sucks. K, two groundouts and a GIDP. OPS sinking into the mid 500's again. UGLY.

7 K's for Dunn now in 45 AB's, but most of them have come in the last week. Still, he would have 2 game stretches last year where he'd record that many strikeouts. A no-hitter by O'Sullivan through 4 2/3rd. Alexei Ramirez of all people walked to break up the perfect game. Shades of last year against the Royals with the offense. If Cain can hit this well in the regular season, they'll finally start getting a return on that Greinke deal. It doesn't seem like Esocbar is ever going to be more than a good field/no hit type of SS. Didn't realize Bruney had such a low ERA, 0.73. Of course, saying that, he's officially jinxed for this game and will surrender multiple runs. And his fastball's only at 90 or 91 on the radar, that's not going to work in the regular season. He used to throw 94-97 when he was with the Yankees and D-Backs.

Perhaps Stults was always a long shot to make the team, but his ERA's still around the low 3's, 3.38. The main question is do they want to let Stewart and Axelrod both continue to work as starters at Charlotte? You can see them going with Bruney and Stults as the last guy out of the bullpen/spot starter/innings eater in blowouts. Going by how they're talking, you'd have to think they will keep Stewart in the pen and send Axelrod down.

QUOTE (Cali @ Mar 30, 2012 -> 07:03 PM) Ugh... I hate Physioc and Hudler and now they're the Royals broadcasters... No, I think they're just doing the game for MLB.com. Normally, on the RSN, it should be Bob David and Ryan Levebvre, the one who got into it with Milton Bradley and the manager's son.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 30, 2012 -> 05:00 PM) He has a history of calling 911 for just about everything. So no. It's not a history of calling about black youths and only black youths. He calls 911 for just about anything he sees. So that's wasting lots of taxpayer dollars and resources (the Boy Who Cried Wolf), he should have been taken off the Watch. Has one of his hunches ever turned out to have prevented an actual crime in progress, or has it always been simply suspicion a crime might be committed in the future?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 30, 2012 -> 04:58 PM) A couple is 2. A few is 3-6. Several -- is SEVEN or more. I always thought of several as 2-3, probably 2, but also POSSIBLY 3. Or you're joking? A few DEFINITELY can't be 4-5-6 weeks.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 30, 2012 -> 04:55 PM) Zimmerman's first reaction to the 911 operator asking was, "I think he's black...", he wasn't even sure. Yea, that sounds like profiling based on race to me. Not necessarily, just that he thought he KNEW that Martin was a minority, and maybe he was already ASSUMING he was black. Or he said that because of the neighborhood he was in, I don't know how diverse that particular neighborhood is, though, in terms of different ethnic minorities. Had he ever reported a white teenager for suspicious behavior in all of his time on the Neighborhood Watch? Or anyone who wasn't black? Imagine if it turned out he was "white," and he had made that comment. Then wouldn't that ALSO be proof of racial profiling? Anything can be twisted around to suit an argument on one side or the other.

Maybe it was just a subconscious act to put his hoodie up when he felt threatened, it probably made him feel safer? Once again, has a black Neighborhood Watch guy killed a white teenager based on something so generic as "suspicious behavior"??? Darrin Jackson often wears a hoodie too, he could just as easily been a victim had he gone to this particular store on this particular day.

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 30, 2012 -> 11:07 AM) I could see KW being quick to trade Viciedo this year, in all honesty. The only replacements we have are Fukudome, Lilly and Jordan Danks. It's not like we have Roberto Clemente being blocked in AA. Trayce Thompson is about the closest we have to a legit RF prospect, and Mitchell belongs in LF, and he's at LEAST a year away, still. Doesn't make any sense to sell a 23 year old we control for so long at a low valley, he will spike back up. KW's legacy as a GM rests with Viciedo as much as Molina.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Mar 30, 2012 -> 12:41 PM) I've been at spring training and have seen every game but one. It's been a blast. Maybe seeing these guys day in and day out has clouded my mind but I'm feeling way better about the team than I did before spring training started. I'm not worried about Dunn. He should be pretty much back to his old self. He won't hit for a great average and he will strike out a lot, no doubt. Until late, he was making great contact and not striking out at all. But he'll do the Adam Dunn things we expected last year. At spring training you can get pretty close to the players. I like Adam Dunn. He's a nice guy. He has fun. He seems to love the game. I'm pulling for him more than ever. Gordon Beckham is very serious and seems to be very determined to improve and hit the way he thinks he should. His work ethic is something else. To watch him at 2B day in and day out has been a joy. He makes those occasional outstanding plays that just have you going "Wow!". Often when he's not in there and a ball gets past Saladino or Garcia or whomever, I always think, "Beckham would have had that". I look for him to have a good year. Konerko started out so bad and I was a little worried. But the hits started coming and he has been tearing it up, though still homerless. Not worried though. The homers will come. Escobar was a surprise. He has hit so consistently well and has displayed a little power even. His fielding has been decent. The pitching has been good, even great at times.The guys who matter anyway. Each of the starters have had impressive starts, especially Sale, Humber and Peavy. No worries at all about Sale as a starter. Brian Bruney surprised me. He's been good all spring. He's in great shape and not that it means anything, but he's too a real nice guy. I like him. Young guys who have impressed besides Escobar have been Jordan Danks (well, not exactly young) and Trayce Thompson. Thompson has made much better contact than I expected to see. He's smooth in the field and has a good arm. Seeing him homer yesterday was awesome! As for Ventura as a manager, it's tough to say from seeing spring training games. I'm not worried though. I feel good about him. I like this team. For me, Saladino, Thompson and Hector Santiago this spring. Looking for ANY reasons to be excited about our young players. Heck, might as well be enthralled with Jose Martinez being 4/7.

especially #'s 3, 4 and 5... 1. The team needs to win: No one wants to come out and see a loser and in baseball with so many games, if the team is for some reason out of the race come August the attendance numbers will be abysmal for the last 40 games of the season. 2. The team needs to own its market: Right now it could be argued that the Dodgers are the least relevant pro team in the city. With the Lakers being the Lakers, the Kings and Clippers on the verge of exciting playoff runs, and the Angels signing Pujols, there isn’t a ton of time for the Dodgers in the conversation of casual sports fans. It doesn’t help matters that USC football and UCLA basketball also add to an already cluttered sports landscape. 3. Going to Dodgers games needs to become cool: Not only are there great sports teams to watch nearly every day, there are concerts and theater productions in town almost every night. Fans are that much more conservative with their sports dollars because there are hot concert tours coming through nearly every weekend. The Dodgers need to be what the cool kids are into in order to get fans to pass on these shows in order to go to more baseball games. 4. Recognize the importance of what is happening online: If you were to poll 10- to 16-year olds living in L.A. if they would rather go to one Dodgers game or download the new Angry Birds game, the answer would be resounding in favor of the video game. Kids are online at all times with the proliferation of iPhones and like all MLB teams, the Dodgers especially need to capture these young eyeballs and hearts. It’s not just about providing games and highlights online, the team needs to take a new approach and not only demand its players but compensate them to interact with fans on Twitter and Facebook. Every key player should be tasked with promoting upcoming games and giveaways and all should be encouraged to hand out those oh so precious “retweets.” 5. Use food value as a draw: This is another move that all MLB teams need to embrace but the Dodgers especially since they have such a large stadium. Teams understand the importance of adjusting price for when the Phillies, Yankees, and Red Sox come to town – why not extend that philosophy to the concessions? Give fans a reason for coming out to the park when a less popular team like the Brewers comes through town. Have specially priced concessions to really build some brand loyalty. Yes, teams look at discounting tickets as a way to get people to spend at the concession stand, but if this is a long-term investment for Magic he needs to rebuild the brand first before asking for the fans hard earned money. The good part While Magic does have a lot of obstacles in front of him, he does have some strong assets to work with. The Dodgers have a great promotional calendar built and almost every night provides a promotional item give away (bobbleheads, miniature Cy Young trophies, replica stadiums, t-shirts, sweat bands, etc.) and that builds fan loyalty and gives them a reason to come to the park that particular night. They have a dedicated and capable sales staff that given the chance to pitch a winning team will successfully get a lot of former corporate clients back on board. The investment team has its challenges but it does have lots of assets to capitalize on the upside potential. AP.com/sports

Other than AJ (on his way out), Peavy (likewise), Ohman, Thornton (likewise, probably), Crain, Rios, Dunn and Konerko, this is very much a mid to late 20's team. It's quite possible the only "true" veterans on the team in 2013 will be Rios, Dunn and Konerko, and there's really no guarantee that all 3 will still be around.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Mar 29, 2012 -> 09:48 PM) or any of his Dennis DeYoung/Styx references. Those really make me cringe. Yeah, I would rather he talk about his kidney donation experience than Styx...which inevitably causes DJ to go to "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto" every time.

There are no references to golf from either Hawk or Farmer (as well as Notre Dame) the entire season. Hawk also doesn't mention Savannah or Valdosta, GA.

QUOTE (Cali @ Mar 29, 2012 -> 09:52 PM) Yahoo! Sports AL Central Preview... Pretty much on par with everything else anyone has said. This part made me laugh however: Sale >>>>>>>>>> Clayton "5 innings of okay, followed by complete collapse" Richard Not to mention 1-2 balls on simple infield plays thrown down the RF line, interspersed with high pitch counts and busted pickoff attempts at 1B.

Now the current trend seems to be that having TJ surgery actually makes pitchers better after one full year of rehab. The concern with Chris Sale has to be over the shoulder/rotator cuff/labrum. Doctors haven't yet pioneered miracle cures to automatically fix those problems like they have with elbow and knee ligaments.

Colby Lewis, Holland and Matt Harrison announced for the Opening Series. Darvish will be the starter the 9th against the M's (I guess we should look at it as they're avoiding our potent offense for the even more punchless M's) and then Feliz, who we ripped in Spring Training, will be their 5th starter.