caulfield12

QUOTE (ChrisLikesBaseball @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 09:15 PM) AJ and Peavy at odds. I don't even mind that. We need someone to get upset and show some emotion occasionally. At least they both are showing they want to win.

Sort of a minor miracle we still have this lead. With Crain extended yesterday in the rainout, it's going to come down to Bruney and Thornton, seemingly. They really don't want Sale to face Aramis, do they?

Or when we leave RISP with less than 2 outs, the other team scores in the following at-bat 90%+ of the time this year. Except when Humber is pitching.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 10:29 AM) Why on Earth is it the owners job to articulate a public vision for the franchise? Remember the days when the Blackhawks finally had their ownership hire good people and then just get the heck out of the way? Because it's definitely not coming from Hendry and Cranester, so a vacuum exists....basically. He hasn't YET hired the good people who are going to turn that organization around, clearly. So everyone's waiting for that first definitive move.

I think what's most alarming is that in all our blown saves, we've only recovered to win maybe one of those games. I don't know the exact numbers, but a lot of blown saves end up in tie games...I'd guess most teams win 30-35-40% of the time they blow one. The White Sox, not so much. Goes with the 3 comebacks in late innings (I think against KC and Seattle).

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/colu...&id=6689555 Article ripping Ricketts for his lack of a coherent, audible message and direction with the Cubs

That's what Dan Gladden, a former Minnesota Twins outfielder who serves as a Twins radio analyst, suggested Wednesday on "The Danny Mac Show" on WSCR-AM 670. "What Ozzie does well is he deflects the critcism from the players and I think every good manager does that," Gladden said. "That's why he'll have those outbursts and some embarrassing moments at times. He's deflecting the criticism from the players and it's on him. "But at the same time, it's almost like enough is enough, it gets old, we've heard this, we've seen this before. Keeping guys loose in the clubhouse ... let the players dictate and decide what kind of a clubhouse they want, (it) shouldn't be decided by the manager. He's won a World Series, you can't take that away from him, but I think it'd be distracting as a player." chicagotribune.com/sports

You obviously didn't hear the nonsense for 45 minutes with Barry Rosner. Seriously, 20-25 minutes were spent debating the "manliness" of wearing Buzz Lightyear children's sunglasses. At least I'll give Rongey credit for admitting that they really were "filling dead airtime" and not entertaining anyone at that point. And then Rosner at least five times intimited he had some semi-secret solution to the nation's energy crisis. It was inane. Surely there was SOMEONE better to talk to for a full 45 minutes at a Cubs/Sox game. As far as "scaring him away" by saying anything or something critical...I'd like to think it would make him better at his job to hear both positive and negative feedback. Now it's not like he can come to my classes in China and provide me feedback, lol. By its nature, he has a very public job, it goes with the territory. If nobody notices you at all, that's when you really know you're in trouble working in a media. job.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 12:00 AM) F*** Walker I could care less about his feelings, Sox do not care about ours with his ass being around after 5 s***ty years...........F*** Walker! Well, we lead the majors with 247 quality starts since the beginning of 2003. That might tell you that our success (or lack thereof) might be more on the side of the inconsistent/sputtering/erratic offense than any other statistic.

Usually he's fine. But last night, they were having some kind of technical difficulties or there was someone in the studio making fun of one of the callers. It's one thing to take a "company line" but quite another to belittle Sox fans. Today, the argument was that many others in baseball didn't see Lillibridge as an everyday day option. That's fine. But this whole idea....well, we don't know how Viciedo will hit, even though he hit the last two years in the minors, he did VERY well in the beginning at the major league level and still finished with solid numbers, he raked in ST and then he's been among the best minor league hitters for 2 months straight. Sure, he could fail, yeah. That's true. But there's less of a chance that he fails than the chance the Juan Pierre becomes the type of player offensively and defensively he was for the last 4 months of 2010. We're only talking $2.5-2.75 million. Less than Linebrink, less than Teahen, less than Manny for one month. Which brings up the next argument. We don't have a replacement. Look at all the struggles with Cabrera, Wise, Owens, Swisher, Erstad, Pods, etc. It's hard to find a replacement "spark" at the top. Well, just give Alexei Ramirez a chance. It's usually a good thing when a Silver Slugger is maximizing his at-bats while the worst WAR player in the AL is replaced from that same line-up.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 21, 2011 -> 11:48 PM) Walker tallks just too talk, he has not helped GB much at all. GB needs a new approach from someone new. That's why you can bring in Ventura now without offending Walker. He's gone through that huge slump at the beginning of his career....he has the right personality to get along with almost anyone. He's a lefty, of course...and had a really unorthodox swing adjustment from Hrniak, but he might be the guy. As long as it stays "within the White Sox family," Walker might actually appreciate someone else coming in and taking some of the pressure off both of them. He's already got his hands full with Pierre, Teahen, Morel, Rios and Dunn anyway.

That part at the end of the article about being "too close" to Beckham, seems to be spot on. Maybe they could try to bring someone like Ventura in to work with him individually...of course, that could backfire and things could go from bad to worse, but I'm not sure where rock bottom is at this point. But the longer he sits, the more it's going to play mind games with him...causing more doubts and "overanalyzing/overthinking" to enter into his head. You wonder what the relationship is with Konerko and Quentin. Both those guys have had periods where they struggled with adversity and didn't handle it well at all...their maturity and guidance might be what it takes to get through to him.

Now he really outdid himself in the post-game. "You never pinch hit for Adam Dunn." C'mon, if he's so mentally weak that he can't recover from the humiliation of Lillibridge, Beckham or Castro hitting for him until he gets his act together...you'd have to think that even he would agree it's better for the team for someone else to take a shot. They obviously aren't going to bench him for Viciedo, but Ozzie in the next couple of weeks has to be open to other options in those situations. Nick Swisher contributed a lot more in 2008 than Dunn has so far and Ozzie was willing to pull the plug on him for Wise. Dunn has a much bigger contract, but they basically allowed Swisher's value to go to zero...just a salary dump.

Kudos to Konerko, Morel, Crain and Santos. Typical Buehrle start. HOPEFULLY Santos has gotten his confidence back. Maybe working his way through those games against the Dodgers and A's will only make him stronger, because he was dominating tonight. Got a little worried he was messing around with Soriano too much, but he got him out. Still doesn't answer the looming questions about Dunn and Pierre, but we got a much needed win. 4 1/2 behind CLE, and 3 1/2 behind DET. Twins only 2 back of us and winners of 15 of their last 17. We desperately need to break through the 2-3 games under mark and get back to .500 finally.

Dare they PH with Beckham? Gordon hasn't hit lefties that well this year. Ozzie will hold Castro back. I think we're a week away from Dunn getting pinch-hit for in these situations.

C'mon, Sergio....don't let up with him down 0-2.

Well...this is dangerous. Anytime you extend Santos for more than 3 outs, the results are usually not good. Can't blame him for not letting Thornton face Ramirez though. If Morel would have let that ball go, Santos could have started the 9th against Ramirez. Greg, everyone in the stadium and world could see that Morel never should have played that ball.

How are the Twins on a 15-2 run? Their starting pitching has been very, very good, but those everyday line-ups? Rios, you still suck. Morel really sucked it and delivered. Thankfully he gave him a slider or change instead of throwing the FB when he had him down 1-2. That forced the expected fastball the next pitch.

Rongey is cracking me up. "You know that guy, the 40 Year Old Virgin...who can't talk to women with any success? Well, you can't or don't tell him to stop talking to women. He has to figure it out himself. He just can't sit on the bench and give up trying." Our justification for NOT benching Adam Dunn or Pierre but benching Beckham.

Juan Pierre, the gift from the Dodgers that just keeps on giving.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 21, 2011 -> 04:55 PM) I agree it's time for Ozzie to move on. He shoulda been fired when we were sucking eggs at 10 under .500 or wherever the Sox were in late May. I just think he's a good manager. Just too bad the team is so dysfunctional. If we can him, I prefer Sandberg. I think he'll be tough, yet quiet. Let's say Sandberg is a total flop, won't that alienate the fan base even more? Will any Cubs' fans or neutral observers be turned on to the White Sox because of this move? Will it have one iota of effect on public perception? Because it seems a bit desperate to take the Cubs' #1 icon from the 80's and early 90's and make him the poster shot for your organization. Sandberg is a pretty quiet guy...not like Baines, but they either need someone who's going to immediately get and receive respect by his mere presence (don't think Ryno quite meets that standard) or a dynamic younger presence who can inspire and lead in the Dave Martinez mold. The feeling I have about Sandberg is similar to the reason why I'm 98% sure Robin Ventura would never want to be a full-time manager.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 21, 2011 -> 04:47 PM) Sox just what the doctor ordered for Garza. Cubs 6-1. Memo to Adam Dunn. You could be THE difference in this game as you could have been yesterday. You may want to earn some of that money at some point. Greg, since you are constantly predicting we'll lose games, why do you think Ozzie should keep his job? Do you really blame everything on KW and the players and not on the manager at all....after watching this same show for 2 1/2 years now? Not, Ozzie will be great in the NL, Ozzie will lead the NL is sacrifice bunts to move the tying or winning runs into scoring position in the first six innings, Ozzie will be missed and the White Sox will become irrelevant without his crazy antics, Ozzie loves the White Sox and is loyal to a fault to JR (ooops, not so much, going by his recent comments). What makes you believe he can turn around this mess?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 21, 2011 -> 04:29 PM) fathom will hate me for this. But the summer of '09 set this franchise back at least 5 years. I think signing Dunn AND losing the first round pick was just as significant...and the loss of Hudson dating back to last summer. Simply because Dunn is impossible to unload unless he's hitting. If Rios could throw together two months of 800 OPS baseball and pick it up a bit defensively (and stop loafing), then there's a better chance someone would bite. The Dunn market is limited to about 5 teams in baseball. But the combination of Rios, Peavy, bringing in Teahen and Pierre and dumping Swisher was almost as bad....the diametrically-opposed opposite of Danks/Floyd/Ramirez/Quentin in 2007-2008. One thing that DJ and Farmer mentioned constantly in the DBack series was how much they hustled....came after you on the basepaths, running down the baselines, everything done with a sense of urgency, intensity and purpose. He attributed this to the respect that Gibson, Trammell, Baylor, Matt Williams, etc., have from those young players. Juan Pierre always hustles, but we have a number of players dogging it down the 1B line, notably Rios. Some will excuse AJ because he's so slow, but he has a propensity for doing that, too. McKeon benched Hanley right away to send a message. Remember Maddon and Upton? It's back the zero accountability thing. Bradley was lifted in the middle of a game this year for his attitude and lack of hustle. The Twins struggle with Delmon Young in this regard, as well....which is why they've tried to trade him numerous time since they acquired him. Has Ozzie ever done anything similar with Rios for his apparent lack of hustle. Not slumping offensively, but just the cavalier attitude he sometimes shows towards the game of baseball? It's a crime with how hard Lillibridge tries because he would be playing everyday for Maddon or Gibson (at least while he was hot) and Rios would have had an extensive period of riding the pine, not just 2 games.

Or "These Kids Can Play" Can you imagine another rebuilding era built around that notion?

QUOTE (chiguy79 @ Jun 21, 2011 -> 09:39 AM) Dunn will cost KW his job... White Sox 2011- "The Lost Season" I thought that was 2001 or 2007 or 2009.