caulfield12

QUOTE (jphat007 @ May 8, 2010 -> 05:49 PM) Yeah, no way AJ shouldn't have been at 3rd on a 3-2 pitch with 2 outs Cox should have been down the line. Then it would have been much easier to notice Lewis' bobble and keep AJ moving towards home. Lewis doesn't have much of an arm, just a notch or two above Pierre/Damon/Pods. YAY! Dayan Viciedo actually just took a walk. Miracles do exist.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ May 8, 2010 -> 05:48 PM) Everybody can play him shallow. Unless its a speedster people are going to have a tough time scoring from 2nd on a JP hit. Better than none tho thats for sure At least he now has 2 hits with RISP this season.

Jeff Cox costs us a run. But AJ wasn't looking up at his 3B coach either. What else can we mess up this year? Plus AJ didn't go 1st to 3rd on the bloop hit, but still doesn't matter. Beckham with his easiest RBI of the season.

32 K's in 36 IP, 21 BB's for Jake 26 pitches through 2, now at 5.97 ERA, looking more and more respectable by the inning

Paulie continues to carry this franchise on his back...along with Jones and Rios. Only 3rd homer allowed in 21 IP by Cecil, only gave up 1 ER last time out against the Murderers' Row Indians. Daniel Hudson eerily tracking Peavy's season, scoreless first inning with one hit surrendered, 6.29 ERA.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 8, 2010 -> 06:18 PM) Very nice AB by Beckham, he took some pretty good pitches. The MO has been to attack him after 2 strikes to the outside, down and away.....with offspeed stuff. Gordon has to get that inside-out swing to RCF and up the middle going with those pitches. Paulie, Paulie, Paulie (Molitor).....Yoooooo, Adrian!!!!!

Beckham with more walks in a week than Alexei in a season.

I'm to the point I'd rather see Jayson Nix leading off and playing LF. Seriously.

Well, FWIW Beckham and Teahen are playing over Vizquel and Nix tonight.

Great reaction Pierre. Was adjusting his sunglasses and totally gave up on a ball that should have been caught in FOUL territory. Ridiculous. Peavy at 90-92 on the gun I'm watching. Last two pitches at 93-94. Seems he's close to being 100% after the slow start to the season.

Red Sox Nation Grumbles Like an Entitled EmpireBy DAVID MARGOLICK Published: May 7, 2010 The Red Sox are off to a troubled start, and barely a sixth of the way into the season, the Web sites and comment boards in Boston are warning of a long and miserable summer. But to any longtime Sox fan — born before, say, 1990 — it just ain’t so. To us, this year promises to be a cathartic trip down memory lane and, maybe, a return to tradition, and sanity. Online commenters are calling for the release of David Ortiz, whose slugging helped to deliver two World Series titles. Check out the online fury that follows every Sox loss these days: the perfervid denunciations of “Big Floppy,” David Ortiz (D.H. stands for “doesn’t hit”), and Terry “Francoma” and “Nancy” Drew and Marco “Scatterthrow”; the wilting attacks on General Manager Theo Epstein (better known these days as “Boy Genius”); the indignant vows to give up and watch the Bruins or wait for the Patriots (training camp is only 10 weeks away)... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/sports/b...amp;ref=general David Margolick is a contributing editor at Newsweek.

Will there be some kind of betting/gambling scandal with Guillen's family that emerges after this season, because some of his line-ups seem as if we're beginning the game with the deliberate intention to lose it...ALMOST makes me wonder sometimes, what's going through Ozzie's head, playing Teahen against a LHP when Nix has more pop, especially against LHP.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 8, 2010 -> 02:28 PM) The only platers who i want active value for are Konerko, A.J. and Paulie, and maybe Jones. Everyone else is young enough to be on this core, or crappy enough to not have any value (Pierre, Kotsay) Putz could end up giving us a very nice return if he can get back the explosiveness on his FB and splitter.

Already too many questions about Flowers to get a huge return in trade. He has more value to our organization as AJ's replacement, and as a high OPS line-up match-up advantage over every player in our division but Mr. Mauer.

He should have an extra homer and 34 RBI's, but the suspended game (top of 5th) stripped those stats away for now.

Ozzie will be in "moderate/medium-high" trouble if this season spins away completely and we lose 90 games. KW's trouble with JR, about 2-3 on a ten scale. I'd put Ozzie at 6-7, with the possibility of escalating to 7-8 with more games (losses) last night due to atrocious decision-making. BTW, AJ's 10 and 5 year rights kick in before July, I don't know the exact date, but trading him gets a heckuva lot more complicated after JUNE.

But you really think the Orioles are going to come in and win three in a row against MINN on the road? I would bet against that happening. Of course, it's baseball, anything is possible, but Baker's not too shabby either.

Jamie Kotsay wouldn't even put her husband in the line-up so much...and certainly not in the 3 or 5 spot. Yet Ozzie's "man crushes" (I Love You, Man!) for Vizquel and Kotsay continue unabated.

QUOTE (jeffro2525 @ May 8, 2010 -> 03:02 PM) An opportunity to gain some ground. Twins lose game one of their DH... It was good to see Liriano get hit. A Baltimore favored pitching matchup for the nightcap as well. Baker vs. Millwood... Peavy has admitted to scoreboard watching...he should be all the more juiced tonight with an opportunity to get a little closer to the Twinks...I'm trying to keep it positive. Why would Kevin Millwood be favored over Scott Baker, pray tell? You mean the Kevin Millwood of about 5-7 years ago? Then I would happen to agree with you...

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ May 8, 2010 -> 02:33 PM) We are 7.5 games back, 6 games under .500 and only have 3 guys hitting the ball and the pitching just hasn't been there for the most part. This rotating DH thing has been a nightmare. Ozzie has been outmanaged in most of the games thus far. We are built for now and next year and so far have been failing bad. Its obvious KW laid an egg by listening to Ozzie's wishes. He wanted a high OBP guy in the middle of the lineup but failed to bring him over. We need to start thinking about the future if this thing continues to unravel. If we don't finish May .500, something needs to be done with the organization. I think a change at the top needs to happen. I'm not saying KW needs to go- i'm more or less leaning toward axing Ozzie- his rants are getting old and he doesn't seem to have the team pulling on the same side of the rope like he used to in the past. That being said, I'm not a big fan of firing a manager during a season. Before that happens, I would like KW get some value back for certain players. 1. Sell high on PK. He is playing way over his head right now- it would be a perfect time to deal him for young arms. KW can use those young arms + some to aqcuire Adrian Gonzalez. Why trade PK to bring in AGon if the season is a wash you say? Well, you would have AGon for cheap for 1.5 seasons- if we struggle in 2011- you can deal him for probably more talent than your giving up for him. 2. What about AJ? I would see whats out there? Maybe bring in a few mid-level arms that can hopefully develop in our system. I want to see what Flowers can do sooner than later. 3. What about Peavy and Rios? Its simple, nobody are going to want these contracts and to be honest with you i dont mind. I love these 2 players. Rios has been great this year- his defense is solid and he is perfect in the 5 or 6th spot. Peavy is looking better and better each time out. If there are a few guys making the big bucks on our team the next few seasons, i wouldn't mind it being them. In fact i wouldn't mind if KW keeps the rotation in tact. 4. Teahen and Pierre- I'm not a big fan of both of these guys. Teahen's defense is below average and his hitting is subpar at best. I want to improve 3b. If anything start thinking about developing Viciedo over there. As far as Pierre goes, get this guy off the field. Yea he can steal them with the best but his defense is attrotious. There is a reason LA made him their 4th OF and primary pinch runner. Thats what he is. 5. Ozzie and his coaching staff. Ozzie said, i will go down first before his coaching staff. Well maybe its time to go because Walk isn't maximizing his hitter's potential and Ozzie is getting outmanaged frequently these days. No way we'll take on Adrian Gonzalez without him agreeing to a LT contract extension. And that's NOT happening, forget it. Yes on trades of PK, AJ, Jenks, Putz and Andruw Jones, depending on what we can get back in terms of value. We might LISTEN to offers on Alexei Ramirez as well, if they decide he won't become the player he was in 2008 again and cut the cord. Still, Beckham shouldn't be moved to SS, so we'd have to find a SS who can put up a 700 OPS, Escobar is too far away. Even if you traded Paulie today, you would get a B or C prospect back...not a Top 4-6 type guy in any minor league system. You just want to offload the money from the payroll and give playing time to Flowers and Viciedo there, as well as someone who's just a stopgap like Josh Kroeger to get you through the remainder of the season. No for Viciedo at 3B, he's already been moved off that position to 1B/DH and maybe LF/RF (possibly). Morel is our best candidate, the big question is his bat, but at least he can defend. We might need to play Nix there as a stopgap, or a veteran for first half 2010 until Morel is ready.

QUOTE (Special K @ May 8, 2010 -> 02:36 PM) Is anybody going to even mention the fact that Guillen made a terrible decision to let Buehrle pitch the 8th? What is the point of having a lockdown 8th inning guy like Thornton if you don't use him in those spots. I won't even suggest the idea that he use Santos either, because that would make no sense for a guy who hasn't given up a run all year. I suppose Randy Williams is the only pitcher who deserves to be out there with the game on the line. Guillen is such a joke at managing our pitchers that he costs us tons of close games. It's unfortunate that Guillen wanted close games with the NL Lineup he's been begging for as well. Yes, everyone in game thread mentioned it....as well as not using Thornton/Santos/Putz with a tie game as well. Not Bobby's specialty, those situations.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 8, 2010 -> 11:40 AM) I know I'm probably beating a dead horse but I can not adequately express how much I hate having a guy at the very top of the order who 36% of his hits this season have not left the infield and is actually struggling to get bunts down even though once a week Scott Reifert posts a pic of him taking extra bunting practice before a game. When you hit leadoff you're going to get some RBI opportunities and I expect you to come through on occasion, so it would be nice if you were capable getting the ball past the infielders and reaching first that way or perhaps putting it past an outfielder for extra bases like 5 times a month. I never thought I would say that a .216 AVG was empty because, well it is a .216 AVG but when you have 0 XBH, 8 infield singles, 1 bunt single and 7 walks through 128 PA and you have 1 measly hit in 27 PA with RISP (.042/.115/.042/.157) that's a pretty empty .216 and you're just not anywhere near a major league caliber baseball player. Juan Pierre actually has more GIDP with RISP than hits this season. Which is exactly where Damon (despite only one homer, as expected in that stadium) and Pods (2009) would come through, with those big RBI's when they were needed...Pierre just doesn't have the type of bat to hit sac flies, doesn't hit it hard on the ground very often through the middle of the infield, you could see his deperation with that bunt attempt last night to make something happen. And he's slower than Chris Getz now.

6-3 now. I guess Liriano is human after all. The first time the Twins have lost the first two games (knock on wood) of a series this year. But we still have to take advantage of it. Then again, the Twins just got a base hit and they're never out of any game 100%, especially at home.

Liriano already has a 2-0 lead on a Morneau homer. We could be anywhere from 6-9 games back at the end of play today. Nine would be ugly, but KW (and the attendance/apathy) might get the message, 9 GB would be enough to spur some kind of action...ANYTHING...to shake this team out of the doldrums.

IRON MAN 2=2.75 stars (first one was far better, Scar-Jo is cute and thinner and spunky, but MEHHH like Teahen and Transformers 2...if Robert Downey, Jr., wasn't such a talented actor, it would be worse, Mickey Rourke was ridiculous and I missed the seriously underrated Terrence Howard) KICK-ASS=3.25 stars (I liked this movie a lot more than I thought I would, but understand those fixated on the over-the-top violence too) Has anyone seen How To Train Your Dragon? Not for me, just considering whether the 3-D cost would be worth it for a 13-14 year old boy....my g/f and I would be taking him to the movies. That movie has held up remarkably well in the theatres.