caulfield12

QUOTE (scotty22hotty @ Apr 8, 2011 -> 11:06 PM) ugh 2 blown saves against two below average teams already... I hope this doesn't turn into another year of live or die by the bullpen. Especially with all of the FA bullpen help that was available. You hardly ever have great bullpens just by spending on FA's. Crain was great tonight, was close to great for most of last season...but you just never know from year to year. Linebrink was one of the best set-up guys in baseball for nearly a decade, too. They did get to the playoffs in 08 with big contributions from Linebrink (first half) and Dotel to a lesser extent, but it's a crap shoot and they definitely needed to add that DH to the offense. I remember the Orioles spending millions on 3-4 FA relievers and it blew up in their faces...I think it was Baez, Walker and Bradford?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 8, 2011 -> 11:00 PM) I'll amend what I said. When you don't have a lefty closer and have two other capable lefty relievers, Ohman should not be in your bullpen. Edwards wasn't THAT great (although he was part of StickMan, right?)...but Radinsky was absolutely nasty before injuries and Hodgkin's Disease took their toll. Danks is reminding me more of Greg The Bulldog Hibbard and less someone who should be paid $16-17 million per year. WALKS!!!!

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 8, 2011 -> 10:56 PM) If you're talking about somebody who has very little credentials as a reliever (like John Axford), then maybe it is fair to panic, but you're talking about one of the best relievers in baseball in the past three seasons. To say he simply doesn't enough to close a ball game when he has a career 2.93 ERA in save situations and a career 3.09 ERA in the 9th inning is one again, panicking. A sample size of 3 innings really doesn't tell you much about a reliever. I think people are going more by "looks," body language, their own assumptions (positive and negative) about Thornton as closer, with most having pre-conceived notions of his ability to do the job. Sometimes that ERA has been misleading, because he's given up a lot of runs over the course of his career that were inherited but not attributed to him. Do you have his inherited runners scored numbers with the Sox? I agree Ozzie and the team aren't panicking, but the fans and media definitely will be sounding the alarm bells. He's got to get right back out there tomorrow or Sunday and close another game or they'll have to shake things up for a week or two and see what happens. Minnesota and Detroit aren't off to great starts either, but the White Sox (before last year) are a traditionally front-running team that doesn't chase teams down in the 2nd half.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 8, 2011 -> 09:43 PM) Those two runs we gave away due to bad base running came back to haunt us as well. Gotta stop giving up outs on the bases. Well, the time Morel was thrown out at the plate...95% of the time that ball doesn't bounce back directly to the catcher in that way, not at USCF. Really a bad break at the time when we had runners at 1st and 3rd with Beckham up and no outs.

Remember that maxim we always hear...."great pitchers pitch over mistakes"? You just had the feeling that even though he COULD have gotten out of the inning that it was going to get away from Thornton. Sale was in a similar situation earlier this week when he could have collapsed/imploded (after the blown two run lead in a previous game) and he manned up. There's always been something about Thornton (and not just because he basically throws one pitch) that has worried me as the closer. Of course, it's easy to say now, but there were quite a few reservations. And it's not like some LH hitters haven't touched him up. Personally, I'd go with Santos. And it sucks to kill some of the "buzz" this team was generating before the home fans in the early season.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 8, 2011 -> 10:26 PM) Did we seriously commit two errors with two outs? I don't know how you can blame this on Thornton when that happens. No, the throwing error on Alexei was with only out out. Actually, both errors were with one out.

Really good teams hold late leads and also have the confidence to rally late in games. Our offense definitely has that ability, the defensive letdown was kind of flukey, but you just have to wonder how this bullpen can come together. Is Thornton's FB slow because of the weather and cold or is there something more serious going on?

QUOTE (stretchstretch @ Apr 8, 2011 -> 10:16 PM) I was sitting behind Paulie playing first at the AS game when McCann hit that ball off Thornton, and had a feeling at that very moment it was going to effect him And the homer he gave up to Thome as well.

I really think Santos or Sale needs to be the closer. Probably Santos, since Sale eventually will go to the rotation. They've already blown two games now in the first week when it took 86 to do that in 2005. The worst thing is breathing life into TB in a four game series when Humber's going tmrw...and there's no way I am paying John Danks $16-17 million a year.

Shirek's in the bullpen now? Nice to see Mitchell legging out a triple.

Why did Peavy only pitch one inning? He's already been pulled.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 12:58 PM) Jesus. That is Jaime Navarro country! Ooops, I was thinking about ERA when I was writing about WHIP.

Crazy start to the season. The Royals had four last at-bat victories in a row, and then these last 2 going into extras. It all comes down to the bullpen...hopefully this is a positive sign for Sale after Spring Training and blowing yesterday's game to Billy Butler.

How are the Rays 0-5 after five home games? What's up with them? Anyone been following that team?

QUOTE (WinorDie88 @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 03:47 PM) Wow we scored 4 runs to take a 1 run lead in the 9th??? That's a rarity for us. All with TWO outs, too.

Will Quentin win AL Player of the Week two weeks in a row? Darn that guy...just when you want to give up on him and he's left for dead, pilloried defensively...he resuscitates himself.

Now who closes this game??? I think if we blow TWO leads, it will be more upsetting (almost) than the September 2005 loss when we were up by 7 or 8 and blew it. When I woke up that next morning, I was absolutely stupefied. Really thought we were doomed to lose the division to the Indians at that point. (Despite Mark Teahen making an error....seemingly he's saved the game at least once, and just made another VERY good play in the 11th as well at 1B. Hopefully that's the end of Mark in the OF, but with Milledge as the only other option there, they might have to use Lillibridge more often defensively out there).

What a game. Woke up and realized they tied it incredibly, only to be more amazed that Thornton had actually blown it. And then to escape from the 11th? Wow. Hopefully an encouraging sign for Sale, and a bail-out for Morel (on what would have been an inning-ending double play), for now. Who's the real Carlos Quentin? Can we blow this opportunity to score now? That's why baseball is such an amazing game. Something new every day. The triple play on Sunday, something that hasn't been witnessed in most Sox fans' lifetimes.

Walker won't be gone until Ozzie leaves or he quits. He won't be fired.

Cabrera now 10/17 career against Buehrle. But the Royals' announcers are right...those two runs attributable to Milledge's horrid defense in the 1st really set the tone for this one, along with the 8th yesterday, the triple play and anemic Sox RISP BA since the beginning of game 3.

And the great hitting with RISP continues. With the exception of the early innings yesterday, this offense has been pretty miserable for 2 1/2 games now. It can't all be blamed on Dunn's absence. Typical White Sox. Overall numbers look impressive until you start digging into them a bit.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 01:20 PM) Realize that going "All In" with this rotation is not a wise thing to do. What else do you do then? Trade Floyd and Danks before they become free agents and/or their contracts expire? Dump Edwin Jackson to the highest bidder after he's been traded numerous times already? If the medical staff felt 90% or more confident that Peavy would be a similar pitcher to years past, waving the White Flag would be pretty inexcusable.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 01:15 PM) Calling for coaching changes now is silly for so many reasons. For the Ozzie/Walker haters, they will be long gone if this team sucks this year. Hope for the best, but take comfort in knowing that if they underachieve, there will be wholesale changes. Bouncing back in 08 will give some heart, but what are the odds that KW can find another combination of Danks/Floyd/Quentin/Ramirez to all have break-out/MVP/All-Star/ROY seasons? It's scary. You'd have to think it would take at least 2 and probably 3 years after a complete rebuild. And that's with complete confidence in Viciedo evolving into another Bobby Bonilla. I guess nothing is surprising with the Sox since the first half of 2006...the one thing I'm 98.9% sure of is that we won't be paying Buehrle $14 million next season.

Escobar's ball almost went out, that's all I know...Ramirez missed the tag at 2B, the throw back beat him. Baseball is ALWAYS a game of momentum. The "Danks is pitching" RISP struggles were epitomized by the triple play, which really did seem like a momentum shift in the first week. Now with Dunn out and Milledge's lack of defense leads to an early 2 run deficit. Of course, if the bullpen/Sale holds yesterday, it's okay and we're starting 3-2 on the road. Hard to expect 4-1, but 2-3 is a huge disappointment after the hot start we got off to. But the Royals are playing with total confidence and we're back on our heels now. Now back to the old ways of baserunning gaffes, bad defense and struggles with RISP. Last year, we were 2nd in the AL with RISP, but horrible the first two months and still not quite enough as we were playing catch-up all season, seemingly. Thankfully, we don't see the Royals again until the 2nd week of July.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 01:42 PM) 29 pitches thru 3 innings for Francis. 15 outs before Soria boys! At least it will save me one hour of sleep with Buehrle out there and the Sox new impatient offense without Dunn....3:43 am now, haha.