caulfield12

QUOTE (Cali @ Mar 7, 2012 -> 04:41 PM) Did Thompson get an at bat yet? I saw he was in the game, so now my interest is back haha. Hoping to see an AB before the game is over.... He hit a fairly weak double play ball to SS. Looked like he had a bit of patience...then again, the pitcher just walked the two preceding batters, so he didn't have much choice but to wait for a pitch to hit. Brian Bruney in for the 9th. Let's see something besides center cut fastballs, Brian.

Thompson hustles out on a double play ball, Saladino really took out the infielder at 2B and the run scores...ball goes into dugout. At least the young guys are trying. Escobar with a weak groundball to SS off the end of the bat...at least he has Pablo Ozuna's old number 38, unfortunately not his ability to get on base.

Michael Blanke sighting. White Sox go down 1-2-3 against the Univ of Texas phenom Youngman. Eric Stults in. Ray Olmedo into the game as well. They've got Escobar playing 3B today, with Saladino at SS and Lilly at 2B. Olmedo's playing 2B now for Brent. Gallagher 1B, OF of Williams, Thompson and Mitchell. Blanke C. Need to double-check, maybe Mitchell's the DH and Delwyn Young in RF. At least someone gets on base, Gallagher with the walk. Four pitch walk to Saladino for the 14th pick in the 1st round last year.

Saladino, Kenny Williams (GREAT!!!) and Trayce Thompson in the game now. Stewart throws the ball down the RF line and Gallagher wasn't even on the bag holding him on. Why would the Brewers be stealing with a 7 run lead? C'mon Stewart, get your head out of your you know what. Just get the freakin' batters out.

Morel with his 2nd hit (flare). Wild swing on an outside pitch K's Mitchell, but that 3 run blast was a no-doubter and about the only highlight today for the Sox. If he's back as legit prospect again, I'll be glad to trade that for an 0-3 record so far in ST. Another solution for the Melton problem is listening to the MLB.com feed, but it features former Brewer Bill Schroeder so it's about as biased as Hawk.

They're either thinking of dealing Thornton and replacing him with one of those two guys (assuming Reed is the eventual closer) or they're not quite ready to commit to going with Santiago/Stults/Veal, etc. The bullpen looks right now to have basically four rookies, and that has to be a major concern to Ventura. It was pretty unlikely they would break camp with 3 lefties, so we'll just have to wait and see what develops.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 11:36 PM) Not sure this has been mentioned, Dennis Kucinich loses in Dem primary. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73713.html A Super Tuesday primary night that was supposed to bring clarity to the Republican nomination fight is on track to leave things nearly as muddled as ever, as the 10 states voting across the country scattered every which way and the most important battleground, Ohio, remained too close to call.. Mitt Romney entered the day’s contests tantalizingly close to a secure hold on the GOP nomination, and is still likely to run up his lead in the delegate count. If the current numbers hold in the Buckeye State, Romney may well deal a symbolic blow to his opponents by putting the key swing state in his column. Romney appears, however, to have missed his opportunity to put to rest doubts about his strength as a candidate and claim the status of presumptive 2012 nominee. While his challengers will have failed again to break open the race, Romney is headed on the same path to the Tampa convention as ever: a grinding march fueled by financial and organizational advantages, rather than personal political force and the sincere affections of the Republican base. Alexander Burns, politico.com

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 10:22 PM) Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. See the Stanley Fish column in the NY Times today... http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/...Fish&st=cse

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 11:02 PM) Molina isn't a tall lefty though. He's a righty. Veal is the lefty. I know. Somehow I put this post that should have been in the gamethread here accidentally. But the Angels announcers were talking about Veal and quoting Cooper on "tall lefties" and they used the Matt Thornton Miracle as an example. I wish Molina was a lefty, I would feel better about him after the way he got lit up like a Christmas tree yesterday.

1.2% of the vote right now is for "other"....11,568 votes, with Santorum's narrowing margin about 2500 votes at 11 pm EST. Who are these people who are voting other? Ex-Rep. Martin Frost Attorney, former Democratic congressman : There is an Army expression that describes the state of the GOP race: SNAFU (situation normal all fouled up). PermalinkTweet Martha McKenna Democratic media consultant, McKenna Pihlaja : Even if Romney eventually becomes the nominee, the Republican primary process has been hard on him. He is spending millions of dollars communicating with voters, but his numbers keep dropping. Independents are increasingly soured on Romney. It is hard to imagine that Santorum or Gingrich can upset Romney to win the GOP nomination, but this process is not serving Romney well. He's spending huge money in battleground states that will decide the election in November and his popularity keeps dropping. Romney may win the battle, but it looks like he's losing the war. PermalinkTweet Christopher Hahn Democratic consultant; FOX News contributor : Here's the question Newt and Rick should answer. If you can't figure out ballot rules, how can you be trusted to figure out our military policy in the Middle East? Whatever happens in Ohio Rick can't take all the delegates because he failed to file paperwork. In Virginia only Romney and Paul qualified. Tonight would have been a different story had Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich been serious well organized candidates. They're not. Organization is what separates a serious presidential campaign from a book tour or road show. It's hard to see any path to the nomination for anyone other than Romney.

With SuperPACs now, what is the motivation for Santorum or Gingrich to leave the race? It's like 3-4 more months of everyday publicity for their careers...especially positioning Santorum for 2016 to be the "Huckabee" conservative darling. Gingrich and Romney hate each other. Paul and Romney have a bro-mance. Sure, the math gets harder and harder for Santorum, but the media would love to have this campaign go on indefinitely, there have been so many good soundbites, twists and turns, and numerous gaffes.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 08:45 PM) What do you mean no way to beat Romney in VA? Paul is getting 40% of the vote, you dont think Santorum may have gotten 1 district? According to Wiki, this is how the VA delegates work: The three super delegates are unbound. 33 delegates are awarded on a winner-take-all basis by congressional district. The other 13 are awarded to the candidate who wins a majority statewide, or allocated proportionally if no one gets majority. [3] So 33 were by congressional district, I think Santorum may have been able to win a few of those. I meant him not competing there, while not gaining any delegates, the media doesn't focus at all on that state. Same with Massachusetts.

North Dakota also is now looking likely for Santorum. Maybe Paul wins AK in the late night?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 08:40 PM) Getting zero delegates there makes this night a blowout even if little Ricky takes Ohio, because the race is about delegates. Clearly Romney wins the most delegates, but Santorum wins the PR war and the media can keep this horse race going. Romney will lose at least four states, two of his victories were basically uncontested (one his home state)...and Michigan was another form of "home state" advantage for Romney. That's not counting N.D. or AK, which could both go against Romney, as well as Wyoming. He'll win Idaho, but nobody cares about Idaho, since it's 33% Mormon and the media expects a win. But it's just as much about how damaged the candidate is...and Romney's reaching a critical point where Santorum is ready to go on and fight for the next 2-3 months, same with Gingrich, even. If we were talking about 2008, I would agree that was mostly about delegates, because Obama and Clinton had very very few philosophical differences. Everyone knew the party would unite in the end for the general, whereas this GOP race has practically fractured the party and the social topics side is a losing one for the GOP. They are risking alienating all independents/moderates, women, Latinos and young people. You can't win a general election when it SHOULD be a focus on the economy, and Romney's plan for creating jobs is just about as ephemeral as fog or mist.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 08:31 PM) Gingrich and Santorum gotta be kicking themselves over the Virginia debacle. Au contraire, not having to contest VA and Massachusetts (no way to beat Romney there anyway, although it would have been the ultimate embarassment, it's not in Santorum's sweet spot electorate-wise)...is actually helping Santorum, because it has put all the attention on Ohio, and Romney was predicted to win a close one coming into tonight and it looks like that bet was off and everything will be up in the air again. If Romney can't do well in the South...and is struggling with those battleground states like MI, OH, PA and Illinois, the GOP might have to step in somehow. It will also be interesting to see what happens with ND and Alaska. If Paul can finally come up with a win somehow. Santorum can also play the "David vs. Goliath" storyline that he has almost no money or budget for campaign organization and couldn't register in 100% of Ohio, Virginia, etc. In the end, it might help Romney get more delegates, but this GOP race has always been about public perception. Romney has trailed Gingrich twice, Cain, Perry and Santorum. That's an awful lot of uncertainty.

Santorum going to make this a race again. Things would really be interesting if Paul or Gingrich were to drop out, particularly Newt. He's got to do well in AL and MS. He (Gingrich) lost to Romney in Tennessee and it looks like he might lose in OK as well. It's so interesting to follow. If Santorum would have been able to keep his foot out of his mouth, he probably would have taken both MI and OH. Then the race truly would have been up for grabs. As it stands now, Santorum has about a 25% chance, at best. The story will be that MASS and VA were sure things (lowest turnout ever in Virginia) for Romney, but that Santorum outperformed him in the most contested state (Ohio) and that Romney is still super weak, especially in the South, with evangelicals, Tea Party members and "true" conservatives. That has to be worrying the GOP, no matter how many party leaders come out and endorse Romney...that the base will be suppressed and independents will be too turned off by all the negatives.

Please, not another 78-84 win team. Hopefully they come out and surprise everyone, or just suck from the get-go and it's obvious to everyone in Chicago they're rebuilding and playing youngsters and dealing veterans for the highest possible return is the only possible course. A 78 win Sox team and a 68 win team won't make more than a negligible difference at the turnstiles anyway. And maybe if they completely tank again this year and Molina's a bust, then KW will have no choice but to resign. But that's the doomsday scenario.

It should be either Danks or Peavy. With Jake, it's all about marketing him as a trade possibility from June onwards. With the expanded playoffs and renewed competition in the AL East (with both the Yankees and Red Sox holding back on offseason spending so far), the pressure will increase on both those teams to make pitching moves as the season goes along.

86-88 wins is more likely for WC. You know the AL East will beat each other up with those four teams now (including Blue Jays), perhaps suppressing the victory totals, but then you have to add the Angels into the mix with Pujols and CJ Wilson. If you believe the experts the Angels/Red Sox/Rays and maybe the Blue Jays will be fighting for that extra spot in the playoffs.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 04:19 PM) So how does Beckham's stance look? Trying to get that stock to come back up since he's one of the few I felt ballsy enough to get an authentic jersey of a couple years ago! Same as last year. Looks like he's a bit too far off the plate.

Yay, Mitchell took an 0-2 pitch and lined it to LF. Nice things from Drew so far these first two games. Mitchell steals 2B, catcher's indifference. At least he's being aggressive. McPherson K'ed twice, and Ozzie Martinez did something uneventful and boring to get out...just like his namesake the former Sox manager. Olmedo grounds out to end the game, 4-3 PO. Sox with 9 hits and 9 LOB. Danks and Omogrosso struggled. Beckham 2 hits. Drew Mitchell with 2 hits in 2 days.

Ryan Langerhans sighting. Trout still not quite ready to play. Angels announcers claiming Anthony Carter tops out at 97 MPH. Not so sure about that. Brandon Short with a nice diving/airborne catch in the outfield that got the crowd a little bit excited. Carter gets the Angels 1-2-3. Dallas McPherson with a couple of plays at 3B the last two innings.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 04:40 PM) The only thing left to do is send Kenny packing I'm waiting for the first person to go off on why we're so terrible in the spring no matter who the manager is and who leads the preparation...and predictions for less than 70 wins and 1.5 million or under in attendance.

Six walks so far by White Sox hurlers, and counting. Veal gets out of it finally in the 7th, top of the 8th with Sox batters getting 2 more opportunities. Will hopefully get another Mitchell at-bat, hopefully he can carry forward the good momentum from yesterday. Brandon Short K's. Delwyn Young, former Dodgers 4th OF. Unassisted PO to 1B. Josh Phegley up. Hit by low and inside pitch. LH Tyler Kuhn up to bat. Kuhn a career .314 minor league hitter who we didn't protect, UWV product. Another unassisted grounder to 1B. BLECCCCCH.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 01:00 PM) Does Molina have any velocity at all? The video stuff I've seen of him shows nothing but slow meat. Molina's velocity is fine. It's all a matter of control/location and his offspeed stuff. He consistently is around 89-94 as a starter. Repeat delivery and consistency in attacking direction towards home plate, the two keys for a tall, left-handed reliever according to Cooper. Veal struggling with his control, hit a batter but wasn't awarded first and a walk as well.