caulfield12

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 09:29 PM) Pierre wouldn't be the first guy to lose a step at 32 or 33, also all those steals take a toll. Which should have figured into consideration with players like Pods and Pierre who had taken so much abuse from constantly running in their 20's. Look at what's become of Chone Figgins, for another example.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 09:26 PM) Obviously the White Sox have several copyrights on how to strand a runner at 3b. One of them is definitely the: Pop up in the infield weak hit to the pitcher, Im pretty sure thats their go to move. Messing up a bunt attempt always seems to work well, too. Sprinkled in with numerous double play balls when there's a runner at first and third. Or simply having slow runners at 3rd who can't score on anything but sac flies to the warning track.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 09:25 PM) Sox need to figure out some sort of way to magically score runs that doesnt involve hits. Im thinking swinging at passed balls for dropped 3rd strike. Or maybe just trying for walks and being beaned. Im just not sure that a team of AAA players would be consistently held under 3 runs so often. Its just unbelievable. If Lillibridge would have gotten hit by the ball the other day and made the play last night, we might be .500. Of course, without him earlier in the season....we're 6-8 games under. Where have you gone, Juan Pierre's "burst."

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 09:21 PM) Nice, now we know how other fans feel when their team faces the White Sox and get into a jam. But not out of it just yet. 1st error for Buehrle in 57 starts. Nice recovery there, Mark. Self-inflicted damage doesn't sit too well with him. You knew he didn't want to give up the lead after making a rare personal error out there. Would rather leave him out there than have a bullpen pitcher give up a run (and the lead) Mark wanted to erase. Buehrle definitely didn't deserve to be in a position to take the loss.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 09:20 PM) Ozzie wouldnt have ph for Mark, just like he didnt for Gavin yesterday. Ozzie would rather leave a pitcher in to long than take him out to early. Especially with how much the bullpen has been stretched in the last week. Even with the off-days, they're taking some wear and tear.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 09:16 PM) Greg Walker's name surprisingly absent from all discussion of the Sox's offensive woes. Just give up? That discussion has been run into the ground so many times I guess everyone's sick of even having it. Plus, we know absolutely nothing will change (with Walker's status) as long as Ozzie's the manager. and then figure out new and amazing ways to lose from the 6th-9th innings or in extras. i forgot to add maddeningly inexcusable defensive lapses in key moments

Wigginton with the patented "bat toss." Hope they knock him on his butt next time up, as long as it's not going to lead to a run if we hit him.

This team is like Groundhog Day. Get early lead....flail away on offense for 2-3 innings after scoring, be shut down by the opposing bullpen and then figure out new and amazing ways to lose from the 6th-9th innings or in extras.

Rios is 10X better coming in on the ball. Well, you can say that for 90% of outfielders, but that was a nice play preventing an XB hit. 10-6 Mets.

AJ having a nice rebound season offensively. Probably the only choice for KW because you can't go "All In" with Tyler Flowers coming off his 2010 minor league season.

Yay, a hit with a runner in scoring position. The real question is whether we can give Buehrle more than a one-run lead.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 08:20 PM) Hell, Alexei should have about 3-5 more errors this season if not for favorable official scoring. Ramirez or Rios? I'm guessing you mean Rios in CF (not the one with the Russian name). 8-6 Tigers only down by 2 now. Who threw the shutout for the Twins against the Dodgers today?

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 08:19 PM) yank worthy? didn't see it. Probably not. Just bad habits and bad technique playing the ball...moreso than laziness. It's all about fundamentals of proper OF play.

Here we go again with Rios. If he just starts off in the beginning and runs quickly back to the wall and THEN finds the ball again, there's a 90% chance at least that he catches it. You can't drift or run along with the ball or turn and then re-adjust over and over.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 08:12 PM) The Sox bats are not heating up with the weather. What is going on? Tip your caps again. Well, we've learned that Juan Pierre probably shouldn't steal for the rest of the season and that our line-up with a pitcher hitting offers even shorter games and less resistance. Unless we keep going to extra innings because both teams are offensively challenged.

You'd think we were on the West Coast playing a Friday night game with the lack of activity in game thread tonight. I guess the Cubs will draw everyone back for at least 3 days. DET coming back against the Mets, it was 8-2 and it has been trimmed to 8-5 in the 6th.

Seems like Pierre lost it in the light bank. Erased by DP. Probably better that he didn't miss it and give up a triple or inside the park home run.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 07:45 PM) At this point now he's back covering for his player. probably as he should be. You just don't know with Rios. Maybe that is the best approach for him, psychologically. But to show him wholehearted support, that hasn't seemed to have empowered him to play as well as he's capable of. Look at the examples with Upton/Maddon and the situation down in Miami with Hanley Ramirez. Perhaps because they're stuck with Rios over the duration of his contract, they can't force the issue in the same ways they did with Javy/Cabrera/Swisher.

We both got clowned/owned with the suggestion he even consider running again. Jimenez used to get it up there in the upper 90's. He's 90-94 tonight. That's quite a drop-off. Any rumors?

Pierre's actually been hitting a lot better the past week. But it doesn't do much good if he can't steal anymore. He's just quit trying to be aggressive....like what happened to Pods after his injury, he got tentative. Can't win for losing, I guess. This is the perfect illustration of why he's practically worthless now. And Ianetta had to throw over Morel, it wasn't an easy throw by any means. Now 10 steals, 10 caught stealings, 50/50 proposition but in reality the odds of him succeeding now are about 25% at best.

QUOTE (Real @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 11:43 AM) I'd still rather keep Kenny than Ozzie. Ozzie's been nothing but problems the last few years, a lot of it having to do with his f***ing family being interjected into his job as the Sox manager. The two things should've never be allowed to overlap, something Jerry should've put his foot down over years ago. Kenny's worst acquisition (and one that I actually supported) is probably Rios, as at the time I wasn't aware of his lackadaisical effort, "I'll play hard when I feel like it" mentality.. I just thought he was an all star outfielder who can hit about .280.. I wanted Peavy as did about 95% of the posters on this site, and being unaware of any arm injuries beyond a brief DL stint in SD for elbow soreness (which MRI's showed no damage..), I didn't have any beef with that acquisition and I was really excited about it. And when he's actually been able to pitch for us, he's been pretty damn good.. Crain was a good signing, and Dunn was a good signing (though the red flags were there, like moving to a new league playing a new position (read: Waiting in Dugout with bat in-hand)), nobody predicted this would happen.. NOBODY. So you can't use hindsight with the Dunn signing, because what's happening now (even with the red flags) was simply not predicted by anyone to happen Getting Alexei, Viciedo.. two guys who weren't coveted by anybody in the majors... well, those are pretty obvious to me at this point to be great signs, nobody can argue that Ramirez, definitely. Viciedo, not so much. He had scouts from about 20-25 different major league teams for his showcases. There were many articles (Jeff Passan specifically) written about where he would sign, the dollars involved, the odds of the White Sox getting him because of Torres as his agent and our already-existing Cuban Connection with Alexei, Contreras and El Duque in the recent past. You can give him credit for writing the biggest check, but I'm pretty sure it was the most expensive Latin American free agent signing in history.

Cleveland already won....looks like DET will lose, so we can't afford to go 6 games back after we were so close to being just 2 1/2.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,3398645.story Ozzie officially backtracking completely on the idea he was sending message specifically to Rios and not to the rest of the team. Hmmm. Doesn't make sense to single out ONE player, then cite examples that he hasn't hustled before, then turn around and say you're directing your anger about it towards the whole team. No wonder our organization is foundering in complete disarray.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 10:17 AM) What? So it's Kenny's fault that the team doesn't play the game right? I disagree but I don't wanna turn this into another Kenny vs Ozzie or GM bashing thread. Who else in baseball had the brazen arrogance to actually believe they could turn around Rios' lackluster/nonchalant attitude about the game and make his contract a good one fo their organization to put on their books? Only KW. At least 75% of that has to go on him for the initial acquisition in the first place.

I'm awaiting KW's response. It should be interesting. On one hand, Rios is the poster child of what's gone wrong the last 2 1/2 years and that one's all on KW and JR. Even moreso than Dunn, he represents the "talented tease" this team has been ever since 2005. A collection of talent that's never seemed to be better than the sum of all its parts. You just wonder if this will blow up into something larger or will it quickly settle down and be forgotten? With Peavy and AJ, beating the Cubs took all the starch out of the situation, but losing games (and especially to a Cubs team in free-fall this weekend) won't be so easily excused or overlooked by anyone.