caulfield12

Saw highlight of Espinoza's homer...that stadium is really empty in the lower level down by the foul poles. I think the business side of "All In" has to come back into the conversation soon enough. Ozzie's not going to be able to keep starting Dunn much longer at home. Hopefully he'll go off on the fans again and say something that's a finally a fireable offense because there's no other way to get Pierre out of that line-up.

Livan Hernandez was the Grand Marshal of the 1997 Orange Bowl Parade. Little known fact, there. Everyone needs to bombard RONGEY with Adam Dunn calls. I'm even tired of Farmer's "booing him doesn't make him play any better" line. 7-5 in interleague's not going to get it done.

Teahen wasn't LIKELY to do anything against a LHP, but I'm not so sure Lilly versus Storen is a much better match-up. We'll see. Nope, not so much. Lillibridge is falling back to earth, finally.

Why would we ever think they weren't going to start the inning with Storen? McLaren called that bluff. You'd rather have Lillibridge versus Storen than Teahen versus LHP Burnett. I guess. That's the argument. So Alexei will hit next, then Pierre.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 26, 2011 -> 03:52 PM) Maggs, can you call up the postgame show just so we can hear Rongey say "you don't ph for someone with Dunn's pedigree?" I love that line. Sale's looked fantastic today, which is always something that warms my heart. I think I'm going to call in from the Philippines and pose that question. Sucks to see 2 1/2 GB flip to 4 1/2 in the span of about 5 minutes. We absolutely can't let the Tigers get too far in front of us. Their offense has a lot of holes, but Verlander just about looks unbeatable unless he ends up on the DL.

I'm going to predict we see PH'ers for Teahen and Beckham, but definitely not for Pierre.

They better let Lillibridge or Alexei Ramirez hit in the 9th. God, could this offense suck any more, with the exception of Konerko?

Dammit, that stupid wind has cost us homers by Konerko and Rios. Figures.

We have to be worst in the majors in going 1st to 3rd and 2nd to home. Rizzo was on talking about how their goal (Washington) in the offseason was to improve in this specific area, as well as the defense. It seems like we're getting worse and worse in this area, if that's possible. Of course, Juan Pierre now has locked up playing time for another week, SIGH.

Dammit Ozzie...we can't go down 4-1. Yeah yeah yeah, Teahen brought us back once from that deficit, but it's not a habit you want to go get into when you have Pierre, Dunn, Beckham, Vizquel, Teahen, etc. No need for Viciedo, though. Unless he's on that 25 man roster, KW.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 26, 2011 -> 03:10 PM) I give all the credit in the world to these stats...but yeah, I've gotta dispute you a bit there. The B-R guys are very good. The world's best math people are a different level. Are you saying they're quants working on derivatives? Long Term Capital Management Group? Counting cards in Vegas?

Tigers now breaking it wide open, up 5-2 and still batting. Peralta's career has been resuscitated, he looked he like he headed out of baseball the last couple of seasons in CLE with his offensive struggles combined with lack of range and defensive ability.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 26, 2011 -> 03:06 PM) WAR to me is a boring card game that some people actually, foolishly play in Vegas. To play that game at a table in Vegas is taking your money and ripping it to shreds. WAR, what is it good for? absolutely nothing! Reminds me of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour, haha.

3-2 Tigers. That's what happens when you walk Casper Wells and Magglio Ordonez before Miguel Cabrera. Not a good idea.

Uh-oh, Tigers in danger of tying or going ahead. Two walks in the 8th, including .186 Magglio Ordonez on 4 pitches. Bases loaded with 2 outs, down 2-1.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 26, 2011 -> 02:48 PM) It's truly a lose-lose situation with Dunn. You play him, he sucks. You bench him, you are benching $13 million a year. There is literally know way to win in this situation with Dunn. Unless it forces the White Sox to bring up Viciedo to replace him earlier than they would have replaced Pierre. Was Nick Swisher close to this bad in August, 2008 when he was benched?

The latest from Greg Walker. They're trying to get Dunn more balanced and out on his "right side" more, instead of loading and having all of his weight back. The phrase was "he's spinning around the ball and hooking/pulling everything" instead of taking a nice, balanced swing with proper weight distribution and transfer. Not sure how that can change his long/slow bat. We'll see.

2009, too...at one point, after Buehrle's no-no, they were tied for first that season.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 26, 2011 -> 02:40 PM) I'll have to take Paulie just being on the team then and watch him get the obligatory one at bat. Leyland and Verlander have made it pretty clear they don't care if he starts the Sunday before the ASB...meaning the AL will be without their best pitcher. Kind of sucks, but Justin seems to view the game itself as a joke because of the fan voting with all those Yankees (Jeter/Martin) and Red Sox. Ichiro will miss making it the first time, deservedly. Unless Mr. Bautista gets voted in, it will be a total shutout for the rest of the league, and Josh Hamilton.

Looked through the summary and noticed Dunn's up to his usual tricks. When is the insanity going to stop? They're going to have to look at benching him at home at some point. Of course, that will probably make the boos even louder when he does play.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/124546533.html Looks like Young JUST has a severely sprained ankle (same one he hurt earlier in his career) and won't miss more than a couple of weeks.

I like the Company Men a lot. In some ways, telling the story in that way, versus, for example, THE INSIDE JOB, was more interesting. Going to see an Indonesian horror movie called "The Empty Chair" today. Has anyone else seen The Tree of Life? Most of the critics loved it, my best friend hated it (and he's a huge Malick fan) and my personal opinion is somewhere in the middle. Looks like Green Lantern has already lost its legs at the box office, no surprise. What was more suprising is that it only made $16 million outside of the US. With a $300 million budget, it will be lucky to get to $175- 200 million worldwide. So much for that tentpole. Thor and X-Men also have had disappointing results, although many love X-Men. It will be interesting with Captain America, another "period comic" but with the added twist of fighting the Nazis. The Nazis were more of a small subplot in X-Men. I'm sure there will be some comparisons made between C.A. and Inglorious Basterds/Saving Private Ryan and the already-forgotten Sucker Punch. Bad Teacher, despite being blasted by most critics, is looking to end around $32 million and is breathing life into the new "female-dominated" comedy genre that started with Bridesmaids (although some would count Knocked Up as the first).

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,6752210.story Looks like Danks to the DL and Harrell back up. They'll make one last re-evaluation Sunday, apparently.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jun 25, 2011 -> 09:51 PM) Patience, grasshopper. I'm generally a cup-half-full kinda dude, granted, but I think Pierre is playing himself out of action quickly. Teahen's HR yesterday makes the decision more obvious for Ozzie, hopefully. A semi-power lefty as a PH and occasional rest for Q/Paulie may have some usefulness yet. A countdown aspect to this thread, not a new thread, might be appropriate. How many days is it now, exactly, till we effectively exclude an earlier year of FA for Tank? Countdown to TANK...or perhaps nothing It should be game 82 or 83, past the halfway point of the season. At least, that's the way I understood it. Correct me if I'm wrong.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 25, 2011 -> 09:49 PM) Good win. But these winner threads just aren't as enjoyable when the team is still below .500. It'd be nice to finally reach this milestone by July 1. The way this division is going, I wouldn't be completely shocked if first place at some point in the 2nd half is .500 or 1-2 games below. It's not unlike that NL West the Padres won where they were below .500 for a majority of the season and barely made it in. If Cleveland had maintained their earlier pace, we'd still be 8 1/2 game back and pretty much on the outside looking in. Fortunately, they haven't. But at least for now, the home crowds aren't buying it, either. Except for the Cubs, we've had a pretty consistent streak of 20-25,000 in attendance every game, even on weekends. That's a pretty good barometer of sentiment and frustration, and of course, the escalating cost to attend a game.