caulfield12

4th opportunity to get to -1 game under .500. Let's go, boys!

There's no way we replace Morel with Kuhn, any more than the likes of Cook and Gartrell were going to replace Quentin. Heck, you can add De Aza to the list, too, probably. Color me skeptical on Kuhn, but I'd just be happy with another Craig Grebeck or Ozuna. Unfortunately, Lillibridge already does a lot of these same things, so it's pretty rare you have 2 players replicating the same skill sets on the same bench, not with just four players and two of them having to be Teahen and the back-up catcher. When I hear names like Reed, I also think of Jeff Abbott. Put some pretty outstanding seasons offensively in the minors and never came close to producing at the major league level. Then again, hitting was pretty much his only "plus" skill, and without much power.

The Rangers and White Sox (some will also argue the Twins, but their underperformance has as much to do with injuries) are the two main enigmas in the AL. Like usual.

That article on Reynolds was interesting. No way that I'd consider Zach G. a star though. Can't even imagine watching a movie with him carrying it. Some interesting omissions from his list of 24: Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Colin Farrell, Bruce Willis, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey, Russell Brand, etc.

The 2005 offense had "complementary" players like Uribe, Rowand and Crede. Those same players would be #3 options on this team after Quentin and Konerko for offensive firepower. Thomas raked in the middle of the summer when he was actually healthy. Pods and Iguchi were very dangerous together the first four months. We haven't gotten anything like that level of production this year...especially the steals and getting out of top for early leads in games on a consistent basis, not since the first 2-3 weeks of the season. Pierre hasn't intimidated anyone at all this year...opposing teams WANT him to run so that they can throw him out. We're really missing that 3rd option offensively that was supposed to be Dunn, the role filled by Dye and Thome previously. As far as not addressing the pitching before 2006, we did exactly that with the Javy acquisition. It just didn't work out as well as expected, but remember all the talk of having TOO MUCH depth with McCarthy on the outside looking in? Javy just didn't get the job done except when the pressure was diminished. As far as the team not having a clear or coherent identity (call it a "strategic vision"), I'll definitely agree with Cowley on that. KW tinkers way too much, and it has consequences.

Rongey arguing that Viciedo won't make a difference to this line-up. Ugh...same argument we heard that Kotsay didn't hurt the White Sox last year. I was actually ALMOST thinking if Rios continues to struggle that I'd be okay with Pierre in CF and Viciedo in LF. ALMOST. But how long can they keep trotting Dunn out there? If Lillibridge continues to slump, there's no other option against LHP (for Dunn), because you need Castro and Teahen isn't going to be starting against lefties, either.

Unexpected victory with our "Sunday" line-up, coming down from 3-0 and 4-1. Beckham finally showed some life, and his defense alone makes his presence palatable. Pierre with a huge game, finally. A stolen base by Juan and caught stealing by AJ. HOW???? 9-6 in interleague so far. Dunn might be the one getting replaced by Viciedo. How many times have we been 2 games under? 5-6-7 times? Sergio recovered nicely from being down in the count to Smith and wiped them out again. Crain bailed out Sale, but Chris got the key strike-out of Helton at least. 5-8 in extra innings. 13 games is a lot for just half a season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 30, 2011 -> 04:41 PM) Yeah, this has been a rough 2 nights for Street hasn't it? What did Street do poorly tonight? C'mon Sergio, not the leadoff walk, whatever you do, make him hit it.

Who'd a thunk it? Wow, have to give credit to Pierre for picking up Paulie there. Great job of turning on a fastball. Beckham woke up today, too. Thanks, Morel. Too bad we didn't have a pinch-runner available for Paulie there.

Well, this is a strange game. Fell asleep and couldn't believe we'd somehow tied it. Nice recovery by Sale to get the K on Helton. That was the key. This team really has a knack for protecting Peavy for some odd reason.

QUOTE (chiguy79 @ Jun 30, 2011 -> 02:48 PM) Comparing career OPS is sort of useless when our players have obviously regressed...we bought high and are stuck with them. How many players do we really have that are in their prime? Quentin and Ramirez. Beckham, god knows what you have with him, but it's not like Ozzie and Walker can make a great baseball player so bad or below average for so long, anymore than they gave the Fountain of Youth drink to Konerko. Rios? That's on Walker and Ozzie? Really? And Morel's a rookie, what could have realistically been expected from him, especially vis a vis the majority of Sox hitting prospects for a decade?

Why can't you just strike out, Dunn? It's becoming laughably bad now.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 30, 2011 -> 02:30 PM) Because this offense should be 100+ runs better than it is to this point in the season. Cue the "well, we're 9th in the AL in batting average and 9th in runs scored, our ERA is only 7th...it's not like there is a huge disparity, Cooper is overrated" argument.

About to say at least the pitcher's not leading off and then remembered it was Pierre, Oldmar and Dunn. How can you blame Walker for this team not hitting? Harry Houdini couldn't do anything with these guys. Maybe that explains the dearth of "Fire Walker" threads or even Dick Allen's willingness to argue on his behalf. Feels like the mid to late 80's White Sox offense....playing in Old Comiskey. Brutal.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jun 30, 2011 -> 02:14 PM) He was extended to be in a utility role. Screaming about bench signings is kind of ridiculous. Pierre? Obviously. Rios? He is losing that gamble. But to complain about the bench is a bit much. I'd love to see KW put together a couple teams with a more competent manager before I vilify him as well. That's even dumber. Why would you give someone $4-5 million per year to sit on the bench??? Basically, that's the same as Juan I Can Never Be Benched Pierre is making. I just can't buy that the idea of the extension was to make him the 25th man on the roster. That position is for guys like Vizquel or Lillibridge that you pay maybe $2-3 million combined. We're not the Yankees that we can pay bench players $15 million plus.

6 consecutive cutters at 86-90 MPH? HMMM.

Peavy in real trouble again here. How well do screwballs work in the Colorado air?

Teahen now 4 for his last 34. Well, at least one of those 4 hits was exciting. Why does it feel like a line-up with Pierre leading off, Dunn 3rd, Rios 4th and Teahen 5th is basically conceding the game? Could Ozzie have made a worse line-up had he just drawn the names out of a hat as he suggested doing during our 4-18 streak?

Just don't get the logic of resting Quentin AND Konerko. Quentin, I get. But the only legit offensive threat we've had the last week, along with AJ?

Of course, losing (or winning) this game has VERY little to do with Juan Pierre, but why, why, why does he always seem to come up with RISP or in key situations?

Our patented "passed ball/hit-by-pitch" offense. Winning (or losing) ugly. Wow, can't believe he walked Peavy, too. What are the odds that Pierre comes through with a 2 run single here?

Was reading that Verlander has a 0.72 ERA in his last 7 starts. That doesn't even include the no-hitter against the Blue Jays. 10+ K's (including 14) in 3 consecutive games. The Mets had scored something like 56 runs in the 4 games coming into the match-up, so you're not going to get a hotter line-up against him. Laughing at the Rockies' radio team saying "Beckham had a fine year in 2010." .252, 9, 49. I guess that's what we're left to expect now.

He was at 87-89 towards the end of that inning. Almost all of his pitchers are at the same speed, relatively speaking. Not a good recipe for success.

Have a bad feeling about this.... They'd be better off just letting Santiago go out there or whoever. We'll see if this has any lingering effects.

Peavy's velocity is down. 89-91 pretty consistently. Does he always throw like that in the beginning of the game and then get it back up closer to the mid-90's as the game goes on? Can't seem to put Tulowitzki away at all, not missing bats. Five foul balls now on 3-2 pitches, 13 pitches. Ugh. 3 run homer.