caulfield12

Imagine if the White Sox had had to use 12 players from their AA and AAA rosters this year. It wouldn't be pretty, it hasn't been for the Twins. Pavano sucks, Morneau's a shadow of his former self, Mauer's new girlfriend is the DL and Young's on the DL as well, THome is ouchy, Cuddyer has something like 0 homers and 4 RBI's (0 for 20 with RISP), they have ZERO middle relief, Nathan has lost his closer's job, Alexi Casilla and Tolbert are getting a ton of AB's along with the likes of Butera and Rene Rivera, Repko, Tosoni, Hoey, Luke Hughes, D. Hughes, Burnett, etc. This isn't your usual Twins team, that's for sure. It's a miracle they're not 12-16 games below .500, to be honest. Blackburn and Liriano were both in danger of losing their spots in the rotation and now they're both on mini-rolls.

@LAA 2 games (1-1) @Oakland 3 games (1-2) TEX (1-1) CLE (1-1) LAD (2-1) If we can manage to go 6-6 our next 12 games, they've bought themselves a reprieve for the moment. But then comes the really challenging part. AT Texas (3) AT Toronto (4) AT Boston (3) DETROIT (the same team we've lost about 8 games in a row to) Somehow, we have to go 12-10 in our next 22 before our next long homestand, which would put us at 6 games under .500. And then we have to figure out a way to beat the Tigers. At that point, we MIGHT be relevant again in the division race.

Andrew, I think everyone realizes it. That's why everyone has been so despondent and apathetic so far this season, along with our atrocious minor league system that offers no quick remedies, with the possible exception of Viciedo.

QUOTE (Andrew @ May 9, 2011 -> 11:16 PM) None of that made sense... Why would you change anything? Peavy... Let HIM middle relief/long man... In conclusion - Screw Peavy in '11 until he proves. So far, all we do is pay him to get operations anyway (and talk....big). I wouldn't, I was replying to GREG. There's no point in putting Peavy in the bullpen. The only way we get any value (or potential trade/dump) from Peavy is as a starter. Period. He's not used to the rhythm of working as a reliever. It would be silly to start doing that now coming off a major injury. So far, all we do is pay insurance premiums to pay ourselves back for all the time he's missed.

QUOTE (Andrew @ May 9, 2011 -> 11:12 PM) Who cares. They need to go like 15-3 to be relevant. If they do that at LA, at Oak, TEX, CLE, LAD (NL), at Texas, at Toronto and at Boston, they'll be back in the conversation as the best team in baseball.

Why would we make Jackson the closer when the job is clearly Sergio's? Makes zero sense, especially from a future trade possibility standpoint. I think they'll just have to take it series to series with Peavy. I bet the Las Vegas odds don't favor him making 25+ starts for the Sox this year. LOL at Angels' announcers. Chris Sale reminds them of a LH Mike MacDougal. Please, don't jinx him with that comparison. Where/how did Sale lose 3-5 MPH on his fastball?

That looks more like the Alexei Ramirez from last year. Nice play, made it look relatively routine. I'm just wondering now how many runs our bullpen will give up? Don't want to give any momentum to the Angels. Sale warming. Angels had only given up 3 homers TOTAL in the previous 7 home games at the BIG A.

QUOTE (Real @ May 9, 2011 -> 10:52 PM) we'll find out about 8 or so games from now, because if they have they'll be right around .500 We better bring our bats against the Rangers and Indians if the weather heats up at USCF. So now Gray and Pena get to audition for them to decide who stays on the big league roster?

Heckuva defensive play by Bourjos. Alex, you got robbed. Nice to see some of our hitters going the opposite way the last 3-4 games. Beckham with his 7th double. Most runs since we scored 9 against the Rays on April 21st. That seems like a LONG time ago.

QUOTE (Real @ May 9, 2011 -> 10:47 PM) relax, they're still 14-22 if they win tonight keep things in perspective (and maybe you are, and if so, that's good), until this team gets to .500 and goes on a TEAR, their wins are more/less meaningless flame away! This might be the EASY part of our schedule this month. We still have to play Texas, Cleveland, the Dodgers, then AT TEXAS, AT TORONTO and AT BOSTON. Don't think anyone needs to be reminded of of how poorly we've played at those last three venues in our recent history. If we're .500 at the end of MAY, I think everyone in baseball will be amazed.

I was more concerned about Jackson's mental game than our ability to turn a DP, but it was nice. Although with Hunter these days, he's not much faster than the Flying Molina brothers. Dunn with his Jim Thome impersonation to LF.

That'll work. Remember when Torii Hunter used to be fast? Viciedo-esque homer there by Alexei. Lots of things to build upon tonight. If Peavy can actually beat Chatwood or Chatsworth or whatever his name is, then I MIGHT be a believer again. Looks like Wells might be out for awhile, too.

Dammit AJ, 98% of MLB catchers would have thrown him out with that poor jump. Bad mechanics, hesitated, then one-hopped the throw. Hunter already has 3 homers against Jackson in his career.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ May 9, 2011 -> 09:23 PM) Has any other team won more than 3 games in the last 3 days? While at the games this weekend, I saw us doing the little things which make a difference and this team is jelling now better than it has at anytime this year. It's time for all the naysayers to start believing once again and dump your big bowl of doomsday in the garbage can. If their fundamentals and mental mistakes that doomed this team Friday night can be limited, and Guillen prevented from losing games with managerial decision-making, we'll be fine. The big question mark is at Oakland. It's one team we've always struggled with, almost as much as the Twins, but particularly on the road. If we take 2/3 out there, it will silence a lot of people. Then again, we're not facing Haren/Weaver/Anderson/Gio, only Cahill. Peavy's start WED night will go a long ways toward determining the "state of the team" and how fans feel going forward. Oh-oh, our normal bottom of the order has returned, thankfully Beckham's homer got us off to a positive start. Note to KW: Next time, try acquiring a leadoff hitter who has the possibility of improving instead of regressing in his career. Say, someone under 30?

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ May 9, 2011 -> 09:16 PM) It's amazing how we've gone from a struggling organization to the hottest team in baseball in the last 3 days. Do you really feel 100% comfortable with this lead? I feel a LOT better with Santos now, but he's not an option tonight, which makes things a lot scarier. Hope they try Crain instead of Sale/Thornton for once. BTW, where are all the Jackson haters??? Nasty sliders tonight the last 3 innings. This is his no-hit stuff, minus the high 90's fastball. He's let up a bit with that pitch in order to have more control.

Attaboy Carlos. I like this offense tonight, not scoring all the runs in bunches but mounting consistent threats with back to back to back good AB's. Encouraging. And an AJ walk? What's the world coming to? Back to the old Rios. Chasing offspeed stuff off the plate and high fastballs he can't catch up to because of his hand placement.

Twins lose again. Last place and worst MLB record ours no longer if we can hold this lead.

They were really attacking Beckham with a steady diet of down and away sliders in that at-bat. Jackson with one of his first fastballs this season at 97. Unfortunately, it resulted in a single. I've noticed a few swinging strikes on his slider, so that's encouraging. He has to throw sliders and changes to get them off that fastball. Seems we have the "good" Jackson for tonight. We must have the biggest disparity in MLB history between our own percentage of caught stealing on the basepaths and the our percentage of throwing out opposing baserunners!!!!

There's your runs, Edwin. Don't E-JAX-ulate the lead away now, please. Twins and Red Sox in a good one, tied in the 11th. Papelbon blew the lead after a controversial balk call moved the typing run to 3rd. Lesson to opposing managers this year, don't pitch to Jason Kubel.

C'mon, CQ. A three run bomb would be nice about now. Keep the line moving, boys! Too bad Paulie can't run...

I'm guessing Jackson doesn't have any of his secondary pitches going again tonight?

Beckham>>>Smoak

Pretty soft Angels line-up compared to years past when they had Vladdy and a healthy Morales.

This is the game of Alexi/Alexei/Alex....must be a first in major league history, three players with a variation of Alex as their name. And, we're off to our usual first three innings struggle scoring runs. At least Dunn walked and his OPS is finally over 600 now. I guess one positive is we've taken down Soria and League, who was 9/9 in save opportunities before Sunday (yes, I know it was the dreaded tie-game appearance for a closer, but Sergio made it through the same two innings League was attempting).

I'm not so sure Magglio's not done. They have V-Mart, Avila and Cabrera, but I'm not sure they have enough offense unless the likes of Jackson and Boesch can repeat their 2010 seasons. They've had a lot of problems with their middle infield stability (especially 2B) and Inge isn't nearly as much of an offensive threat as he was 3-5 seasons ago. Seems he's really regressed. As usual, I think it will come down to the bullpens. But I guess if you were betting at this point in the season, a lot of people would obviously go with the Tigers, it's the most logical pick because of their talent and current position in the standings.