caulfield12

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:09 PM) Its the same thing over and over and over. Their game plan is simple. Throw lots of breaking pitches and pitch backwards. We get very aggressive and get ourselves out. When we get men on, throw breaking pitches and expand the zone. Our game plan is the opposite. Throw lots of fastballs, because for some reason in all the years we have played them, we haven't figured out that they hit fastballs. They catch the ball and play good defense. We pucker up and kick the ball. They hit the cut off man, We over throw the ball and allow the trailers to get into scoring position. They shorten up their stroke and make contact with men on. We swing from our heels and have no game plan. 3-1 and 0-2 are the same count as far as we are concerned. They pound the zone with strikes, we like to get behind hitters. Because you know, no one is expecting a 2-0 fastball. The twins run the bases aggressively. We run fast, sure into outs more than other teams, but we run fast. The big change besides running into so many outs and caught stealings is sacrificing so many potential big innings by bunting runners over. I knew as soon as I saw that Guillen was going to have Alexei (already with 2 hits) bunt the runners over to 2nd and 3rd that somehow the bases would end up loaded and we would inevitably fail to get them in. That's been the formula all season long against Minnesota for the Sox.

I think 78-84 wins was what the majority predicted, as Minnesota was clearly the favorite, with many picking Detroit second. That said, after 90 games, we were in first place by 4 1/2 games and had the Twins reeling and on the ropes before Jenks choked the fourth game of that series away and that was the beginning of the end...followed by the loss to the Mariners that Jenks also blew the following series.

Well, we can cheer for Aaron Cunningham (now hitting .325), Jon Garland and Clayton Richard to hold off Uribe and Rowand, haha. I really hope the Padres win that division...and to see Chapman become a star for Cincy in the post-season (Dusty's return to glory), definitely rooting for Atlanta over Philly, and likewise the Rangers and the Rays. Anyone but the Yankees or Phillies.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 08:54 PM) Flowers, Viciedo, Lilly, Morel for starters. They might actually, you know, beat the Twins. I guess we're still "in it" though, even tho we are 7 out. You know if we win the next two, it's just five out. So cmon out and pack the Cell, fans, will be the marketing cry. Don't give up. I think White Sox fans know better. With the exception of one "lucky" post-season game (because of the coin flip, a rule later changed), that's the ONLY possible reason to have hope...but yet here we are with another late-season, second half home game against Minnesota "choking" it away with the bases loaded and the relievers blowing up in innings 7-9.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 08:51 PM) yep...for as hard and unlucky as he hit the ball the first few months, he's been the exact opposite since the ASB. Balta was so freaking right about trading him when his value was high. His contract is going to be such an albatross. I wouldn't say that...yet. Look at players like Alexei Ramirez and Beckham who looked completely worthless the first two months, or Quentin looking like an MVP and now untradeable again in the span of 45 days. Gavin Floyd was one of the worst pitchers in baseball the first two months and one of the best ever since. This team is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. That's why it must be so difficult to decide what direction to go in for the front office and JR.

It might have been better had Thome hit another walk-off. That would have pointted the media glare more squarely in the direction of Ozzie and KW. Now they can simply make the argument that Minnesota's better, tip your cap, hang wiff 'em, Peavy's out, etc.

Now entering the game, Jose Paniagua (Bread and Water) Oops, that was 2003. At least that particular season-defining series, they won the first two and then lost the last five in a row against Minnesota down the stretch.

Perfect. The White Sox have absolutely sucked with the bases loaded against Minnesota in the 2nd half.

Look at everything that went "wrong" with the Twins and their solutions.... Morneau out=Thome in Punto/Harris injured or ineffective=Danny Valencia and Alexi Casilla are there to save the day Blackburn/Baker/Slowey go into a funk=Brian Duensing pitches like an All-Star, AAA castoffs/DFA's throw admirably and Blackburn/Slowey/Baker all return to normal Span, Cuddyer and Kubel all disappoint (you could also include Mauer and Morneau)=Delmon Young, Thome and Valencia help pick up the slack Let's not forget the veteran, stabilizing influence of Hudson and Hardy up the middle. Nobody talks about either of those guys, but I'm pretty sure they still have under 20 errors combined up the middle Nathan hurt=Rauch, Crain and Capps step up and hang in there and save MOST games, at one point a couple of weeks ago (and it has to still be true), the Twins had only lost 2 games all season they were leading after 7 innings Both Liriano and Pavano pitch like All-Stars and certainly frontline starters...

Rongey is getting on the fans for calling in and complaining after a victory. I think he must have been reading Greg's posts, haha. Called Quentin's at-bat "gutless and feminine" which I would laugh if he said that to Carlo's face. CQ has been totally lost at the plate these last 2-3 weeks, there's no doubt about that. Rios seems to be coming out of his tailspin a bit, though.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 08:36 PM) The Sox beat the Royals and Joe West's umpiring crew. How did Harrelson handle it? Farmer and DJ were trashing them, said they should be fired/reassigned and that they clearly have a vendetta against Guillen and the Sox. Four balk calls against Buerhle when no other crew has called one?

Atta boy, AJ. We really needed to get a clutch hit and get back in the win column to keep hope alive. Worried a bit about Beckham's wrist. Prefer they just shut him down for three days and bring him back against MIN on Tuesday. Sale continues to be effectively wild, only has given up runs in a single appearance out of 13 trips to the mound.

Matt LaFatta....aka LaPorta, homered to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. Hope springs eternal. Pavano, of all pitchers, only 3 IP away from 200 at this point in September.

This year, with this playoff system, the FedEx Cup plays, and that is entirely because of Tiger. No man can make something buzz like Mr. Woods, and his struggles make this interesting. It's like when the Cowboys or Yankees are in danger of missing the playoffs. Sure, the Jaguars or Twins might be cruising into the playoffs, but nobody cares about that. They care about the mighty sports franchises falling flat on their respective faces. It's our culture to praise negative news over positive news, and this year's Race to the Cup is that perfectly exemplified. Thought this was funny that the Twins were specifically mentioned in a golf article (yahoo sports) as a team nobody cares when they win or get to the playoffs. Doubt we'll feel that way with their fanbase occupying USCF next week.

How is it that Carl Pavano looks like Carl Pavano with the Indians and then morphs into a legit #2 starter with Minnesota? Well, one can only hope that he pitches in the playoffs against the Yankees and beats them, kicking further dirt into the face of Cashman and all Yankees fans. But I doubt it happens...just want to see it.

I'm going to threaten to burn down this website just so I can be a national celebrity like "Reverend" Terry Jones. Because you spelled Allah incorrectly and dishonored Islam, I will have to start by burning my Jerry Dybzynski cards and 1977 collared White Sox jersey.

The last 2 1/2 games in the standings probably shaved off at least 5,000 in attendance for every game in this series. Unfortunately, we don't even have the Twins' games on the weekend to maximize attendance with the first home games for Manny Ramirez, so I'm afraid you're going to hear at least 30-40% Twins' fans during the weeknight games. I think it's safe to assume at this point that the ROI in Ramirez's contract isn't going to come close to $3.8 million. If the Royals take 2/3, they tie us for the first time in the season head-to-head in many years (unless they managed to do it in 2007, haha). But I would think it goes all the way back to the 80's or maybe once or twice in the late 90's when they last won or tied a season series against us.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 08:13 AM) I am sure no one feels worse about the year Teahan has had than Mark Teahan. However, we have possible replacements for Teahan in our system and he might get used as a super sub. I remmeber Ozzie saying this after Mark came off the DL. Problem with that is he isn't a good defender from what I have seen and gets paid a lot of money. I still wonder why Uribe and his great glove wasnt signed again two years ago, but it is what it is I guess. But Uribe is a great super sub. I think it's because they wanted to cut Uribe's salary from 2008 more than 20% if they were to bring him back...as they didn't envision paying starter money for a back-up (which, ironically, is exactly what they're now doing with Teahen). I know Buehrle offered at least $1 million of his money to the FO to keep Juancito around.

Maybe it was at the World Baseball Classic or something....seems they always end up fighting it out with Japan in the end. At any rate, there's no way the Indians are trading Choo to us, he's arguably their best player unless Sizemore ever returns to form.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 12:19 AM) These are not sustainable things in baseball...neither is their run of like 19 wins in their last 22 games. Thats unheard of this late in the year after guy break down and injuries start to pile up. Except they basically did the same thing in 2006 and 2009...last year again without Morneau down the stretch.

Damn you, Joe Borchard! If he ever became the franchise player many thought he was capable of evolving into, there never would have been a need to trade Rowand for Thome (that was actually okay) or for Nick Swisher, in which case we'd still have Gio Gonzalez. It has been interesting how one particular position/issue on this team has seemed to doom us for much of the last five years....CF, leadoff hitter, this season no LH/DH power. The first half of the decade, it was the lack of a fifth starter.

Albeit with less facial scarring than Liotta or Danny Trejo. The other issue is Teahen has one of those swings (like Andruw Jones) that doesn't seem suited for pinch-hitting duty. He can have a "decent" (depends on which position and "decent" has been recalibrated as a word after the first two months of offensive non-productivity) bat if he's playing everyday and in a rhythm, but that's unlikely to happen playing only once or twice a week.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 05:37 AM) Speaking of Bobby Jenks and frightening discoveries: Jenks 52.2 IP 54 hits 26 ER 61 K/18 BB 4.44 ERA 1.367 WHIP Linebrink 48 IP 46 hits 24 ER 45 K/13 BB 4.50 ERA 1.229 WHIP And I think Linebrink is more maligned here...especially by those who still love Bobby. But how many really important or high-leverage/pressure situations has Linebrink been in this year? Maybe 3 or 4? You could take DJ Carrasco's stats from 2 years ago and probably compare them favorably too, but it wouldn't mean very much in the overall scheme of things.

First of all, there's no way that KW should trade Pierre unless we have ANOTHER option for leadoff, and Mitchell's probably 18 months away...and, at this point, we're far from certain if he can be an ideal leadoff hitter. Maybe. V-Mart, Beltre, Crawford, etc., dream on. The problem with letting Konerko go is that then you're relying on a LaRoche, Carlos Pena (the 1B version of Carlos Quentin, albeit a much better defender), Overbay, etc., even at their highest upsides Pena is the only one who approaches Konerko's output this season. As for trading for Choo, if you offered Quentin, Danks2, Flowers and Morel, that's not even a certainty to get it done. As far as Manny Ramirez goes, I'd like to see him show some XB pop before I even thought about bringing him back...there's a 95% chance baseball will never again see "classic Manny" again, because of age and being off the drugs. The only place we can trade from is our position of strength, but that comes with a very questionable assumption Peavy will be the same pitcher he was before. If we don't resign Garcia, send Sale to the minors and trade any of Danks/Floyd/Jackson, it's going to be an incredibly risky move...unless Peavy can prove in ST he's ready to go. The only way you can trade Thornton is if you keep Sale in the pen, and it seems starting in AAA is his destination...so, with no Threets, you basically have to keep Matty. It's scary to think what our offense is going to be like without Konerko AND Quentin, and with a new catcher (granted, AJ didn't light up the OPS numbers this year)....that would leave the core of our offense as Rios (hopefully he can repeat an 800 OPS at least), Beckham and Alexei. That's very scary. Viciedo, in particular, will have to produce in that scenario. As for Konerko to the Twins, they do have other options, like Cuddyer, with Valencia seemingly ensconced at 3B, and you have to create playing time for Kubel/Young/Thome. Keep in mind, they have some talented outfielders like Hicks and Revere, so Cuddyer is likely to stick at 1B for the future if for some reason Morneau couldn't ever come back (which would be not unlike the Puckett glaucoma situation). With the Twins likely to be paying Capps at least what Jenks is getting this year, plus Nathan's salary, they're unlikely to be spending $10+ million on another player not already on their roster. They're certainly not going to non-tender Capps after trading Ramos for him and without being certain of what they have in Nathan until the very end of spring training at the earliest.

It shouldn't be that puzzling, we're just not that good....it's kind of funny, we might end up close to 90 wins (still) and yet the feel all season long with this team versus the 2006 team was a completely different one, wasn't it? Of course, that team was coming off the World Series title, a "mini-dynasty" seemed at least possible, and that offense just destroyed other teams in the first half. We've been favored by an NL schedule this year (with the exception of the Braves, and that was at home...in ATL, the Braves are very tough) and the fact that we could beat up on the Mariners (8-2). And the Cubs have had much better teams over the last 10 years as well, obviously. Other than that, we've been very average against the rest of baseball. We've got some very good starters, some very TALENTED relievers and Konerko, with offensive outbursts from Rios and Quentin occasionally. That's an oversimplification, but not too far off. Which makes it all the scarier that we have at least a 50% chance of losing our best offensive player, after losing Dye and Thome and not replacing either very adequately.