caulfield12

But wouldn't you agree that playing in Chicago, Philly, Boston or NY is just a totally different animal? In terms of pressure, the media especially, expectations...the West Coast/AZ has always been perceived as more laid-back. A lot of the Eastern media doesn't even pay attention to what's going on out there after their bedtime. Soriano certainly thought that it was tougher to play in Chicago than even for the Yankees. Remember Conteras, how Cashman gave up on him simply because he was failing in head-to-head match-ups against the Red Sox? There's just nothing close to that anywhere else.

Selig will surely make the fine for his buddy JR be surrendering either Hanley, LoMo or Josh Johnson for compensatory damages.

BTW, how could the DBacks do such a poor job evaluating Haren and Saunders? That's a lot worse than Jackson for Hudson/Holmberg.

But can't you also argue the Mets, Twins, Royals and A's have bad coaching staffs because they didn't see anything in Humber? Or somehow we had a vision for Santos' future as a reliever/pitcher that they didn't conceive of?

FWIW, Jeff Conine is the most popular choice with most south Floridians. The question that ownership group has to answer (partially) is who is the name that best sells season tickets and is the face of the franchise with Hanley and Josh....is it Guillen, Bobby Valentine or Conine? That area is one of the high intensity demographic regions for Hispanics in the US, and that's another feather in Ozzie's cap. However, many wouldn't be surprised to see Dave Martinez also get at least an interview.

And Hanley Ramirez has had quite a few attitude issues that need readjusting. His overall offensive stats this season still aren't better than Ramirez....and Alexei is on a completely different plane as a fielding SS.

Probably our Women's World Cup coach after today.

You almost feel it was one of those "team of destiny" things with Japan after the earthquake. They dug back into the game from being down twice with less than 15 minutes to play both times. Lots of second-guessing will occur over the order of the penalty kick takers for the US. Abby Wambach is the only one who didn't melt down under the pressure. Japan deserves it, just for beating the 2 time defending World Cup Champions Germany on their home turf.

Maybe if we "mean Tweet" Guillen enough about pitching to Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera, he'll just quit. Not likely, but never hurts to try. This machisimo thing against Venezuelan opponents needs to end.

The South Beach media must be really looking forward to the first annual LoMo/Oney Twitter War. Perhaps Joe Cowley will go south with the Guillens to cover and shill for them.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/...t-florida-fired Tampering charges? Good riddance! Please leave...now. The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end. Maximus

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 01:52 PM) That doesn't apply in this situation. There really hasn't been chronically underperforming hitters. Except for Rios and possibly Beckham. The jury's still out on what we actually have with Gordon. It's certainly not unusual for 24-25 year olds to have some struggles in the majors when they've had so little time developing in the minors.

Trade Jackson if we're not within 5 games back on July 31st. In all likelihood, we'll have 3 teams ahead of us at that point...the odds will be against any type of comeback.

Why even bother caring about this team when they're just so erratic and inconsistent? It feels like we're trapped in the 2009 season again, except that year we at least tied for first place at one point.

One out away from 25/25 in save conversions. This game SUCKS.

Missed a hanging offspeed pitch after the steady diet of fastballs. Somehow Gordon got Lillibridge over the 2B, but he should have been there with the steal with how slow Valverde is to the plate.

We might have the worst hitting bench in the history of the AL. WHY WHY WHY force Beckham to do somthing he's not comfortable with when he's been hitting so well the last 15 days?

Lillibridge please. Be careful if you're going to steal....Beckham's not automatic with contact, and Valverde's control is non-existent. NO BUNTING!!!!

Maybe Valverde's more comfortable with RISP against him? AJ swinging at a crazy pitching out of the strike zone. At least we're elevating his pitch count over the last couple of games.

One thing's for sure, we'll never be in a better position to sweep a team. Humber's been our "ace" all season long and has now given up 4+ runs in his last two outings. We just can never seem to get over the hump. That's something like 1-7 now this season when we're 2 games under .500, sad.

Great recovery by Humber against the Tiggers' 3 best hitters (along with Boesch).

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 12:03 PM) Why did Beckham not try to break that up? He's been taking lessons from Alex Rios in not exerting too much unnecessary energy? 17 innings string with the Tigers not scoring just broken....note to AJ: No low and inside hanging curveballs to LHB's.

Sizemore was pulled from that Orioles game early. Wonder why. 3-0 behind the infamous Jeonmar Gomez. O's starting some jokester I've never heard of who's getting rocked, HR's by Hafner and Santana already. (OFC, he's wearing a Cubs' hat in his pic, Atkins???) Beckham now 6/10 in this series.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 11:39 AM) Thome, Thomas, Rowand, Uribe for starters. Uribe got to the point where he was only a minor league invite to spring training with the Giants. After playing like the NL Rookie of the Year, his career was definitely on the brink....as we only had to give up utility man Aaron Miles to get a franchise-quality SS when he's right. Uribe has a big-time prospect and was heading for Angel Berroa territory in COL. Rowand has arguably one of the five-ten worst contracts in baseball these days. Thomas didn't sustain his success for long with TOR/OAK, and his average went way down as he sacrificed for power. Thome was used very wisely, but he wasn't going to hold up for 500-600 AB's. And he certainly hasn't this year. We were one year too early parting with him, though.

8/10 batters with good swings, aggressive early in the count. And one walk. Pierre with the only bad result. Tigers really have to start looking at Ubaldo Jimenez or Derek Lowe right now. Sign Greg Walker now before his rates double.