caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 06:41 PM) Jackson just needs to go after these guys with the fastball on the 2 strike pitches. He's hung probably 80% of his sliders so far. His slider for the strikeout was close to the perfect pitch. Didn't that last ball that hit the bag...wouldn't Konerko have fielded it for an easy out? Or was it going to get past him for a double and possible runner scoring from 1st?

When was the last time we had a starter who could throw 97-98? Colon in 2003 is the only one I can think of in recent memory...it would take him until the 4th or 5th to get up to that speed, though. And it seems he threw more often at 95-96-97 when he was with the Sox.

Can they haze Kotsay by putting a fake line-up card in the clubhouse and making him think he has the day off?

Are you Dave Martinez?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 10:22 PM) The Ranger seems to think that Teahen and Viciedo are not good enough to take Kotsay off this team. I think I made this point clear in a post of mine back in a game thread a couple of days ago. Mark Teahen will produce 7 more runs than Mark Kotsay given the same number of PAs for the next 58 games. Dayan Viciedo will produce 11 more runs on offense (and this is based on a conservative guesstimate). Both of those guys can play 1B, maybe not as well as Kotsay, but they sure as hell hit a lot better. That's crazy. I mean, sure, he can echo the viewpoint of the players, nobody wants to see him DFA'ed when the White Sox are playing so well...but the only way anything will happen is if the White Sox fall out of first place. We heard the same arguments in 2006 while the White Sox were hot in the first half with Anderson hitting in the 100's...that his defense more than made up for his lack of offense, that we had plenty of hitters and could carry one superior defender. Except now the argument is not based on his actual ability (at this point in his career), it's based on these mysterious words like "chemistry," "moxie," "grinder," "he's the best pure baseball player on the team," etc. Well, if he was actually the best baseball player on the team, he'd figure out how to take outside pitches the other way and not roll into 4-3 and 3U put-outs over and over again. Even Jim Thome could do that OCCASIONALLY. He has warning track power at this point in his career, but, if he hits the ball on the ground, Viciedo's a lot faster getting to first in a foot race. So we're left with he hits left-handed, can play first base pretty well, has a hot wife and he tries hard and everyone in the clubhouse is pulling for him. You would think we were running a "team building/motivation" workshop and not a major league baseball team. They've even got KW buying into the fact they shouldn't change anything. We'll see.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 10:17 PM) It's not that there has to be a whipping boy. If there were no crappy players on this team, nobody would be complaining. We'd all be happy happy joy joy and I think almost everybody would want that. I don't know how you can't complain about Mark Kotsay. He sucks at hitting and he's is DHing the most games on this team. Chris Rongey brought this point up on the post game show, how there always seems to be one guy the Sox fans hate...well...let's run down this list. 2010 Mark Kotsay 2009 Dewayne Wise 2008 Javier Vazquez 2007 Darin Erstad 2006 Rob Mackowiak 3, if not 4, of the past 5 most hated people on this team are terrible baseball players. Kotsay is a even worse version of Darin Erstad. Ozzie keeps running this guy out there even though he hasn't proven he could hit in the past 4 months. Don't blame the fans for pointing weaknesses out, blame the players for not performing and blame Ozzie for trotting him out there. For 2008, you could add Nick Swisher to that list... If Brian Anderson was capable of hitting the baseball, the name Rob Mackowiak wouldn't be there for 2006. The funny thing is that Andruw Jones is actually hitting for a lower BA, but he adds defense and power, so nobody even complains about his complete inability to hit sliders or almost anything coming up to the plate these days.

I think the only argument left now is 1) he HAS to get hot again, he can't be cold forever, 2) the White Sox are in first place with him playing a significant role, so he can't actually he hurting the team that much and 3) superstition, if Guillen changes something in the line-up radically, the Sox will start to lose because Kotsay's not there. I'm not saying ANY of these are logical, but they're the reality we're left with...

Why didn't we just start Pena? We just gave this game away before it even started, based on the way Torres has shown ZERO control in Charlotte his last 3.

Can we sub Viciedo into that game now for Kotsay? Thanks. Ozzie.

At least the Rays came out ready to play again tonight.

The White Sox are the only team in baseball with a pitcher who throws 87-88 MPH with absolutely zero control. Somehow, we miraculously escaped getting run out of the ballpark that inning. Which shows how bad DET is going now...they really are begging to be put out their misery this season.

Maybe we should have started Miguel Asencio instead.

You would think we don't teach our minor league pitchers how to throw strikes. UGH! Just asking for trouble. 7, 5 and 5 walks in his last 3 AAA starts for Torres...Harrell couldn't throw strikes consistently (but survived) same with Hudson.

DH's are such a pain in the butt to sweep... It feels like the 1950's and the White Sox are deliberately hiding Viciedo so nobody will notice him, fortunately we can't lose him like the Dodgers lost Roberto Clemente to the Pirates.

Mark Kotsay is just "unluckier" than Nick Swisher. That's all that's wrong with him, lol.

Cabrera now 0 for 15 in his career against Buehrle.

Kotsay has surpassed Erstad and Mackowiak for most annoying Sox season of the 2000's. Almost hit three dingers in one inning. This should help Torres relax a bit for tonight's 2nd game...if we can take the first.

40 homers on the road, 80 at USCF 100 steals/48 times caught stealing (not so good, but the aggressiveness really got to Porcello in the 3rd inning) 1st HR for Pierre since September, 2008 Frazier tipped Alex's homer over the fence...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 10:25 AM) Forget Kotsay, Soxtalk needs to DFA BigSqwert. Can he bat left-handed with power?

Can't you just erase the first post? Would that reverse-jinx the jinx or is it too late? Are we doomed now to lose this double header and be 1/2 game out of first place after leading since July 11th? Just kidding bigsqwert...although I could have sworn, whenever I listened to Farmer and DJ, the White Sox lost every single game...so I've taken to never listening to the Sox broadcasters since June 9th! i know, it has zero impact on anything, not even the Butterfly Effect, but I guess it makes me feel more optimistic about the Sox winning

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 09:23 AM) Pierre LF Vizquel 3B Rios CF Paulie 1B Quentin RF Kotsay DH Alexei SS AJ C Beckham 2B Buehrle http://www.freep.com/article/20100803/SPOR...n-bigger-threat Comments from "distinguished" sportscaster Farmer on the current Sox team, haha.

Yeah, when I looked at the ESPN and yahoo sports sites and saw the Ozzie comments as "headline" stories and absolutely nothing here...I was a bit surprised, as there were already 2,000 plus comments at the ESPN story. Over there, it got political really quickly, digressed into a discussion of "English-only" citizenship, immigration policy, reverse racism/discrimination. It's amazing these days how a swelling tide of voices now scream "racism" over any comments relating to ethnicity without even taking a moment to find out the entire story...and this obviously goes for BOTH sides of the political spectrum.

Figgins, Ibanez and Matsui are all getting a lot of mentions. Perhaps the most interesting "new" name is Nate McLouth...wonder if KW would try for him?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 12:38 PM) Just looked over our schedule. I think 18-10 or 19-9 are possible for what we can achieve for the rest of the month. That'd make us either 77-55 or 78-54 by September. If that were the case, we'd be in pretty damn good shape. With this schedule, we just have to do what we've been doing. Beat up on the bad teams (Baltimore, KC, Cleveland), compete with the good ones (Minnesota, New York, Detroit). With the Twins' schedule, I'm thinking they'll go somewhere around 14-13. So that'd make them 73-59, making them 4-5 games back by September. I can dream right? I remember looking at the final weeks of the 2008 season and wondering how we could possibly lose it...then with the scheduling, how the Twins could possibly blow it, with the likes of Kansas City as their final series of the season. Now that the Twins' CLE-BALT-KC-SEATTLE part of the schedule is over, it's going to be interesting to see what team sustains its success. It used to be that the Twins almost always had the easier schedule coming down the stretch, for some reason...although in 2008, that Republican National Convention played a HUGE role in putting them into a tailspin because of the nearly two week road trip it created.

It's just because he's on the Twins, our hated rival, and he's pitching as well as he has since his early NL career. Just a couple of seasons ago, he was one of the biggest jokes and worst contracts in baseball, he's quietly redeemed himself a bit from that low point. Finally, because of the Jose Valentin/Leroy Nieman/Rollie Fingers/Snideley Whiplash Moustache.