caulfield12

JoeCoolMan, I'd guess?

No, I'm not crazy. I have only been to two games in Wrigley Field in my lifetime. Once was my first game (ever) in 1979, Cubs/Cardinals. And then one other time when my best friends were going to school at Northwestern (must have been 1990-1992) and there wasn't a Sox game that day so we just rode the EL down from Evanston. I am ONLY (and very theoretically) going to a Cubs' game because 1) I miss baseball, haven't been to any game in person since May, 2009, 2) the Cubs are actually playing well, 3) I will wear my original "Sosa 25" authentic Sox road jersey, lol. Actually, I have to get pages added to my passport for the 2nd time (11 am appointment) and then go to the Chinese Consulate on East Erie Street for my work visa...so I was thinking I might be waiting around all day/afternoon with nothing to do. Otherwise, it's shopping I guess on Michigan Avenue. Or to see a movie like "Change Up" or whatever's coming out tomorrow. I've also never been to games in Milwaukee or Minnesota. Everyone I know says the MIL ballpark doesn't feel like a real outdoor game/experience (even with the roof completely open), so I was thinking of doing the crazy/insane and road tripping to Minnesota for Saturday/Sunday games. I would like to see TARGET FIELD at least once, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to get tickets since they're technically always sold out these last two years, especially weekend games against their hated rivals (that they're 29-7 against since May 09) the White Sox. But since the Twins are 8 games back and just lost 2/3 to the Angels, it might be possible to get decent seats. If anyone is insane enough to do either, call me (563-359-1504, I don't have a cellphone in the US) or leave me a private message here or e-mail me at jewisler@yahoo.com. Maybe nobody wants to see another White Sox loss (on the road in "Twins Territory" to boot), but it would be better to suffer with fellow White Sox fans, haha. Or Greg and I can report live from a Royals/Sox game next weekend. Greg, up for a game? Haven't been to a Royals/Sox game either since 2006 or 2007. Want to see how that stadium looks like after all the renovations, especially the outfield concourse. Was going through my old baseball card collection and found two Kenny Williams autographs and one of DJ with the Quad City Cubs from 1982, haha. At least they signed my cards, there's that. Of course, so did Bonds, Sosa, Palmeiro, Canseco, Roberto Alomar and Gary Sheffield. I guess it's cool to have Tony Gwynn, Gary Carter, Willie McGee, Lance Johnson, Brooks Robinson, Jimmy Piersall, Claudell Washington (1979 Topps, the very first one and what turned me into a White Sox fan), Sweet Lou Whitaker, Dunston, Andre Dawson, Cecil Cooper, Saberhagen, Ivan Calderon (favorite player in late 80's), Andres Galarraga, Harold Reynolds, Devon White, BJ Surhoff, Benito Santiago, Barry Larkin and Ellis Burks. Memories. And, for some reason, I had about 50 Hensley Bam Bam Meulens rookie cards. That turned into quite the bust. Typical Yankees' prospect. Ty Griffin, what was I thinking? Steve Sax? Cory Snyder?

Okay Greg.... With KW and Ozzie and Walker all still around, what percentage of faith do you have that Beckham will ever again look like the same hitter as 2008-2009 with the Chicago White Sox Professional Baseball organization?

Lindsay or Reed or Infante, just try ANYONE else. Thanks!

Fat chance of that happening. Rios, in the end if he actually sticks around all the way into 2012 and is named opening day starter/leadoff hitter...will end up doing more damage to this franchise financially than the $38-40 million it would cost to buy him out. Just watch.

We were 9 games under last year as well, but that 26-5 stretch really evened things out. We've been between 5 and E for almost 2 1/2 months now. Just stuck in neutral but going backwards on a steep hill. Last year, at this same point in the season, we were 62-47 and probably in first place still (for a fleeting moment).

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 4, 2011 -> 09:05 PM) Well, I thought THE CHANGE UP was hilarious but it is getting ripped to shreds by critics. Oh well. Not boxoffice.com, they love it. Cowboys & Aliens is worse than Wild Wild West. What the hell were Jon Favreau and Spielberg thinking?

Except Bruney ended up tiring Crain out from having to go two nights in a row and he (Jesse) just wasn't as sharp with his stuff. Crain has really hit a bad patch again at the worst possible time for it. Sunday's loss really killed all the good vibes this team had going at that point. And then he got pummeled yet again by his former team in the 9th tonight. Time to move on and bring up a youngster who's legitimately a part of the future of this organization.

Jordan Danks and Tyler Kuhn with good games today. Viciedo at least got his first hit since coming back. Rienzo pitched well as a starter....must have been on a pitch count. Addison Reed continues to pile up numbers.

Darn you Cliff Pennington and Juan Pierre. You were both the downfall of that 7-4 team.

The 4-18 stretch, the games head to head against the Twins (as well as starting out 0-5 against DET) and the most recent Sunday/Monday games against the Red Sox and Yankees. That's what killed this team...largely. That and Dunn/Rios/Beckham/Morel/Pierre (first two months). Last year, it was easy to point to the Jenks blown save and Thome walkoff against Thornton as the two key big blows to the Sox.

Except Jordan Danks, Flowers (maybe he was just a product offensively of the PEDs there with the Braves, to a large extent), Mitchell (not anyone's fault)...I'll give them credit for Viciedo and Sale, but obviously Beckham's also regressed, which (of course) has zero to do with Buddy Bell. Still, let's face it, we're somewhere between 28th-30th in terms of where our system sits right now. It's pretty brutal and barren. In the end, we've taken a number of steps backwards from where the 2009 season started, with Birmingham as a monster franchise filled with prospects up and down that roster. I really loved to listen to those Barons games the first half before everything was torn apart. The two crown jewels of this timeframe (Beckham and Sale) spent very little time in the minors at all. So then the question becomes, what players have progressed and made themselves quality prospects? Who can we point to this year? Addison Reed, maybe. Tyler Kuhn as a fringe utility player who might or might not take Vizquel's or Lillibridge's spot someday. But we don't have any of the bats (beyond Viciedo) that can do monster damage at USCF at any of the corner positions. Maybe Trayce Thompson. And Saladino's seemingly an improving prospect. Escobar will never hit well enough to make much of an impact, and with our line-up as is, you can't even contemplate about giving him a starting spot anywhere on the infield. Hopefully, Mitchell's last 6-8 weeks are much more indicative of his overall future. Crosses fingers. 24-32 at home. That should be enough for the front office to stand up and take notice alone. Where has the home field advantage that was so obvious in 2008 gone....the last three years, they might as well have been playing at Grant Park or the Brewers' stadium for all the difference it has made to the W/L percentage.

Which is what we were saying at the end of 2007 as well, right? That's the ONLY reason to hope, that KW turned things around twice (2004-2005 and 2007-2008) in total course reversals. But the Tigers, Indians and Royals all are better positioned (for the next five years), and the Twins are drawing 40,000 per game and have a beautiful new stadium.

It is way too kind to KW...though. That's the weakness. There's 20 mistakes that he has made since the end of 2008 we could list. Wilder, etc. What has Buddy Bell actually done that's had a positive impact? Recommending the Mark Teahen trade and then long-term extension? How has Bell improved our minor league system? Is there ANY evidence that we can point to at all? Only 3 positives. Viciedo, Humber and Santos.

Look at the White Sox line-up and approach tonight. Gordon Beckham's swinging out of his ass against sliders 2-3 feet off the plate that Roberto Clemente or Vladimir Guerrero couldn't hit. He simply cannot hit an above-average major league fastball up in the zone with that stance. Rios, Dunn, Quentin and Ramirez are trying to pull nearly every pitch...how many DP balls and two-hoppers to 3B and SS do we need to see in one year. There's no reason Alexei Ramirez should be hitting into so many double plays, none! Other than Konerko, Pierzynski (sometimes) and Pierre, how many of our hitters take the ball and accept hitting it where it's pitched? Perfect example tonight was Konerko's solid base-hit to 2B/RF through the hole. At least Morel's TRYING to do things correctly up there, but he's just overmatched and needs to play everyday in Charlotte to regain some confidence. You have the sense that those four are the only team players offensively, and maybe Lillibridge, although his offensive approach for the past 6 weeks has been absolutely miserable. At that size (and speed), you have to cut down on your swing, make contact more consistently and put the ball on the ground. Period. If all these players are tuning out (or listening but the results never show up in the games)....then you HAVE TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT...unless you want to eat the contracts or trade Rios, Dunn, Beckham and even Ramirez or Quentin. Here's the thing. Profit/loss or cost/benefit analysis comes into play more than anything, and JR's a wise businessman if overly loyal to a fault. One thing he knows for sure. Whatever our season ticket base is now, let's say 16-18,000 per game, it's going to be cut down to 7500 to open next season if Guillen, Walker, Williams, Dunn and Rios are all back. It might even be down to 5,000, but the last thing he can afford to do is cut payroll by $30 million, lose Buehrle, bring in no new talent or reason for hope (other than Viciedo) and not change a a single thing operationally/strategically in terms of the direction of the franchise. I don't think JR is dumb. Something has to give between now and the end of December. It simply has to.

I'm sure he's flattered so many people noticed him in one day, lol.

Except if we started the season with Santos as our closer, we might not have had that 4-18 stretch that buried our season right off the bat and killed any fan enthusiasm for the Sox this season. That and feeling confident Morel was ready to play everyday.

I wonder if this is simply a back-handed way to snipe at us for the Teahen/Oney thing? If nothing else, as they say....all publicity is good publicity. Maybe it should serve as yet another sign to JR that something is SERIOUSLY wrong with his organization and the overall level of discontent of the fanbase. Not that you need to express it with death threats against KW or OG to get your point across. I think I've joked about having Rios "kidnapped" next season so they wouldn't have to pay his contract. I suppose sensitive Mr. Rios could take that literally and begin thinking a cabal was forming in dark corners...but I've never seen anyone who SEEMED serious or in any way threatening. You never know with the internet, of course.

At that point, the score was already 8-1 I think....he saw a two-run blast into the RF bleachers, can't remember who hit it for the Yankees, maybe Chavez.

Isn't LaRussa going to be much too expensive? I wonder if they think it would be better to slash payroll to $85-95 million if they have a big-time manager to market. Same philosophy the Marlins are taking with Guillen/Valentine. And at least they have Hanley and Josh Johnson to promote. We might not even have Konerko and Buehrle the way things are headed.

De Aza cares at least. That was one enjoyable highlight from last night. Probably will be benched again for Rios because of the back of Alex's baseball card. Rios 4/16 with a triple and 4 RBI's against Colon. That guarantees him CF, I guess, despite what De Aza did last night. Or is Nova starting instead? In that case, there would be ZERO reason to start Rios over Alejandro.

But actually sending a message to even ONE player might wake SOMEONE on this team up. Probably not. Maybe they've just decided it's too late to try and the habits of this team are already ingrained too much to change them.

His inexcusable act ended up in the Sox having to burn through Thornton, Crain and Santos last night. You just can't get tossed when you and Ohman have ONE CLEAR RESPONSIBILITY...to "take one for the team." They need to start sending messages (unfortunately it's hard to do this with the likes of Rios, besides benching him) by sending players down or releasing them. Try Lindsay up in the pen for awhile and see what he can do. Accountability. A little of it would be nice.

Still, the point that Sox fans or message board posters are "ignorant" about something simple like the difference between Venezuelans and Mexicans...it's just too simplistic to throw out stuff like that and "tar and feather" an entire board. I bet Ozzie Jr. is just taking the amalgamation of all the hate and racism that is projected towards his father (especially from talk radio callers or letters received at USCF) and painting with far too broad a brush. Fans don't like his father? They have to be racist, right? That is the only possible reason, if you're his son. The irony of course is how many prejudiced or outright biased statements that his father has made since he became manager of the White Sox. There's plenty of reasons to be upset about his managerial performance, but his ethnic background shouldn't be one of them, any more than Obama's race. There is that fringe out there that would not vote for Obama if he saved them all from drowning personally...and certainly Sox fans who have never approved of Ozzie because of his constant cursing or whatever, but c'mon Junior. Try to have a more nuanced viewpoint instead of seeing everything in black and white. Does anyone really believe Ozzie Jr. took the time to read about immigration reform or slam/political topics? Really?

By the way, Rongey finally admitted in the post-game that the Sox MIGHT need more leadership in the clubhouse. Someone the other players respected who could get on everyone...and also with a sense of humor, I guess in the Rowand/Everett mode. He was having a little bit of difficulty articulating exactly what it was, but you just have the sense there's something terribly off with the chemistry, clubhouse, atmosphere around this team. You don't get the sense that most of the players enjoy being around each other much or want to stay after games. Obviously, it can't be Jake Peavy because he's been hurt so much and has pitched more like a fifth starter than an ace for the majority of this season. Beckham was also supposed to be that Jeter-esque leader and franchise cornerstone and we know where we're at with Gordon at this point in time. This is the danger of KW's approach...these players didn't all come up together and weather adversity and learn to win as a unit. They've always been a collection of spare parts and castoffs and former 1st round draft picks from other organizations. That approach can work every once in a while, but it's simply not a recipe for developing a consistently successful winning franchise. During this five-game losing streak, there have been NUMEROUS mistakes from a fundamentals standpoint that aren't being addressed or corrected. The only player who was supposedly called out for this was Lillibridge, and yet Rios does it 2-3-4 times per game without being held accountable. Quentin and Ramirez should or could be superstars under the right instruction, but they just do whatever they feel like doing at the plate and don't seem to be "team first-oriented" in terms of advancing runners or changing their approach with runners on base or 2 strikes. Fine, Walker doesn't teach "pull/hook," but he can't at least TRY to get some of these guys to take outside pitches to the opposite field instead of trying to go around them...resulting in weak grounders to 3B and SS. It's been the same story all season long. Doesn't matter if it's KW's fault or Ozzie's, both need to go. The sooner the better.