caulfield12

Flowers got credit for a caught stealing...but what happened was the runner came off the back after being safe. The throw beat him, but it was a bad tag apparently. Still, Flowers has been more successful than the major league catchers. Of course, they don't have to deal with the likes of Floyd, Contreras and Jenks not holding runners on base.

Hensley, the starter for the Diamond Jaxx, jumped all the way from the first month with Clinton (Midwest) League over their High A team all the way to a AA start tonight... Pretty unusual move so early in the year for an organization (in this case, the M's and their new GM Jack Z) to jump a guy all the way up two leagues. Wonder if they think he can help them in Seattle as early as this season? Or maybe they just wanted to see how well he could do against Birmingham? Well, it makes for an interesting storyline, I guess. So much for Hensley. Gave up his first earned runs of the season, 3-0 Barons going to the 2nd. Tyler Flowers with a two-out RBI single, Viciedo doubled (down the right field line) in Flowers and Brandon Allen, who'd walked. Beckham grounded out. Poreda supposedly throwing 98 on the Birmingham stadium gun. Actually got a strikeout with curveball.

For that, you'll have to refer to "The Girlfriend Experience," probably. New Soderbergh movie starring Sasha Grey.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:51 PM) The Sox have been home run or naught for 5 years(or so). We have had pretty good pitching to at least save us in some instances. Now, we are stuck with 2 young and getting better kids, one solid foundation, and 2 pitchers who have already had their 9 lives. It is amazing that this management can widdle away so much money and try to sell us on an improved product. I cannot even imagine how we will ruin next offseaon with a ton of money off the books. Besides MacDougal and Contreras, where would you have cut away from the team to be more "payroll efficient" like the $65 million 2005 World Series champions? Konerko? Thome's option vested, and we couldn't have deliberately prevented him from getting to that mark without a huge fight with the union. Of course it's silly to spend $13 million on a DH, but we also received $22 million from the Phils, so a good part of it was subsidized. There's even rumors of a "handshake" agreement between Gillick and KW that the Phillies would kick in money if the White Sox 2009 option for Thome vested. Besides jettisoning Swisher (which looks debatable now), Cabrera, Uribe, Crede and Vazquez, what could we have done realistically? Nobody was going to take Paulie's contract unless we sent them money, and probably no AL team would take Thome for $13 million. If Thome wasn't around, our best DH candidates would be Betemit and either Kroeger, Flowers or Brandon Allen.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:49 PM) Nix can also play 3B as well as SS. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/Fielding/N/Jayson-Nix.shtml Jayson Truitt Nix has played all of 9 (yes NINE) games at 3B in his entire career (majors/minors). He was playing SS and 2B in our minor league system. What do you base your comment upon? Chris Getz has more experience at 3B, actually. And Betemit.

There's overly optimistic, there's realistic/pragmatic and then there's overly pessimistic. As far as 2009 goes, there has been no reason to be optimistic, other than the fact that the warm weather is ahead of us and no team in the division has run out in front like the Tigers in 06 or the Indians in 07. Arguably, this is the weakest year for the division (winner) but the most parity and overall depth, top-to-bottom, since the current version of the AL Central was formed. Think of it like the 08-09 Big 10 Conference in BB. I am very optimistic about the future, even as soon as next year, IF we can find at least one more starting pitcher. I am very pessimistic that pitcher will come from our current minor league roster of pitchers. This argument (really a war) raged on in 2006 as the hopes for the season faded and then those who felt the White Sox were still as good as 05/06 finally gave up the ghost or disappeared in that dreadful 2007 season. The difference is, at that time, the hope for the future was Wasserman, Fields, Owens, Brian Russell and Andy Gonzalez. The future, due to the reinvigorated farm system, looks a lot brighter at least. Thankfully the Tigers traded away Maybin/Jurrgens and Robertson/Willis/Sheffield/Renteria all went into the tank, or the Tigers would be the best team in the division. Now, with Magglio/Guillen/Polanco aging, they're up against the same issue the White Sox have. OTOH, with Granderson, Cabrera and Inge, they still have a nice, younger core of players to build around.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:36 PM) Have you seen the White Sox approach at the plate. Pull the ball and fly out, every f***in time. Just for once, can we find someone to get some solid singles!!! You've just diagnosed the main problem (right now) with Carlos Quentin, although nobody seems to have a problem with it, as long as we're winning. The only hitters who have consistently sprayed the ball all over the field have been Konerko and Getz, and AJ, when the mood strikes him, but not consistently, as he'll go through lulls where he'll roll over and pull almost everything to the right side. Dye just is very streaky, but he can hit the ball anywhere when he's going good. Alexei is really pull-happy right now. Corky Miller can't even manage to hit the ball to the right-side of the diamond to advance a runner, but he's never been asked to contribute anything with the bat in his career. I think the biggest concern has to be with Fields, Pods, Ramirez, Anderson and Lillibridge. If they're not power hitters (in the case of Alexei and BA), are they doing enough of the "small ball/fundamental" things to help the team win??? And answer has been pretty muddled or unclear so far. I also noticed that Alexei looked up at the scoreboard right away last night to see if he had been charged with an error. It's a natural tendency for many players, but it's annoying and reminds me of Cabrera from last year. He should be more concerned with hitting at least .260-.280 in order for his power and low OBP to be worth anything to the White Sox this season.

Rowand, Crede and Ray Durham are the answer to your question, that's pretty much it. Of course, Ordonez and Lee were non-drafted, so you have to give them credit for having a Latin American pipeline in the 90's. I wouldn't be comparing Getz to Ray Durham just yet.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:28 PM) Pujols hit .200 in the 2006 WS. Okay, I'll ask this question. Can the argument possibly be made that we (2009 White Sox) are better or even with that 2006 Cardinals' team?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:23 PM) If the White Sox win 75 games this year and win their division they have a chance to win the WS. If they win 85 games and come in third they have a zero percent chance of winning. I would take the winning the division. BTW the pct. of WC winners and not so good team winners of the WS is ALOT higher than the pct. of White Sox winners even after being awful for many years, so I'm taking the Lloyd Christmas approach "So you're saying there's a chance." As for 2005, I mentioned the ball rolling through Grafinino's legs. That was game 2. Iguchi homered next for the White Sox lead and their final runs of the night. If the ball doesn't roll through his legs, once again, a much longer shot than a WC team or the playoff team with the worst record winning the WS, the series is 1-1 And if El Duque isn't around to save the day game 3, there's a very reasonable chance the Sox would be down 2-1. Who knows what happens after that, but the odds would be against them and even if they came back the pitching rotation could be screwed up for the next round. I'm not saying that is what the Sox should shoot for year after year. I've bashed them for the first time ever this year in regards to going cheap. Their roster is far from what I had hoped it would be, far from the aggressiveness the GM always chirps about. But they aren't going to spend money so we just must try to enjoy what we have to look at, and thank our lucky stars the AL Central is pretty weak. Come October, I'd rather be the first place team in the AL central than the 3rd place team in the AL east, and that team or even the 4th place team probably is better. I'm assuming you are talking about the "awful" time from the mid 60's through the 1980's (of course, 1967, 1977 and 1983 were nice, but blips on the radar) and not the last 20 years. If you compare our records with any team in baseball from pretty much period in baseball (for a ten year period) starting from 1990 through 2008, we trail only the Yankees, Braves and, in some comparisons, the Red Sox. We've been remarkably consistent in terms of putting out decent/good to very good/great teams over that time period, with the Bevington/early Manuel years being the only "lull" period.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:18 PM) Agreed, nicely put. Also... If all a fan gives a damn about is championships, and everything else is irrelevant, then that fan (for basically any team) will go through life very disappointed. Having a team make the post-season is way better than not, and making a run at a division title is way better than being in the basement all year. See Braves and Indians fans from the 1990's, Browns, KC Chiefs and Buffalo Bills fans from the 80's and 90's and Susan Lucci fans hoping for a daytime Emmy award for her. We all know the answer, but do A's and Twins' fans feel more of a sense of accomplishment because their teams consistently competed in the playoffs more often than not? Of course, Yankees/Cubs/Red Sox fans are in a different category, but I think we have almost reached the point where we could compare our franchise to the Cardinals, although they own the city of St. Louis in terms of fan support. I'm thinking more in terms of attendance and payroll, although I can't imagine we will come close to their attendance numbers this year.

2003 Marlins, 91-71 1997 Marlins, 92-70 1990 Reds, 91-71 1987 Twins, 85-77 2001 Diamondbacks, 92-70 Those were the teams, that, looking back over the last 20-30 years, along with the '06 Cardinals, seem the most "anomalous." However, they all won 90+ games, with one exception, the Twins, who had a simply incredible homefield advantage. The D-Backs had amazing starting pitching, the Reds had a lockdown bullpen, and both those Marlins teams were incredibly talented. The only comparison and hope for the White Sox is the example of the Cardinals, but we certainly don't have a player as singularly good as Pujols.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 4, 2009 -> 11:48 AM) Maybe I just remember the 1987 Minnesota Twins and the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. I will never get sick of the White Sox making the postseason where anything can happen. Who knows, if Quentin doesn't get hurt and the White Sox are able to align their rotation correctly in the playoffs, what happens last season. You don't have to lead everyday like the 2005 White Sox. If the ball doesn't go through Graffinino's legs in 2005 and El Duque is left off the playoff roster like KW wanted and most of Soxtalk wanted as well, the White Sox probably don't make it out of the first round then. Anything can happen, any team can get hot. I don't think this team is good enough to win, but if they get there its not like the NBA where only a couple teams have a realistic shot. Look at how many wildcard teams have won it all. If the WS title is the only thing that floats your boat, 1 in 92 years must make you very ornery. I know a quick exit sucks, but at least you have a shot. There is nothing to indicate the White Sox are on the verge of a long run of winning WS. There is a lot of luck involved. Yes, true. But, if you remember, those Twins teams only won the World Series because of that tremendous home field advantage. Everything really has to fall your way. Yes, the White Sox had all the breaks go their way in 2005, but, then again, having someone like Albert Pujols (no, Carlos Quentin isn't close to him in terms of overall hitting ability and going to the opposite field consistently) and the Tigers' entire pitching staff collapse in terms of errors also helps. It's kind of like small market teams who can point to the A's, Rays, Twins and Marlins as "success" stories or reasons for hope. Then again, if you remember that 2003 Marlins team, they had just about incredible pitching...while the 97 Marlins' World Series was bought with free agents, largely. But their pitching wasn't bad, either. The Red Sox approach seems the best for now....albeit we will always be $40-50 million below their payroll. Continuous development and nurturing of the farm system, occasional international stars (Dice-K, our "Cuban" connection) spliced with "value" acquisitions where you are "rolling the the dice" with minimmal, low risk/high reward deals that are quite unlike the Yankees (Colon, Baldelli, Kotsay, Smoltz, Penny, Saito).

Has anyone see "Man On Wire"? I thought that movie was very bizarre/strange...it won so many good reviews, but I would watch Borat, Bruno, American Movie or Waiting for Guffman about 100 times before watching that movie again.

4.37 if Contreras had an ERA of around 5.50, and SIXTH in the AL. However, even at 6th in the AL, we have one of the worst offenses (currently) in baseball. Yes, that will turn around and come back to at least league-average (barring any more injuries, or Quentin/Thome/Dye/Konerko missing extended time), but that won't be good enough. Assuming (a big one) that Contreras had 3 quality starts in a row, then you're also going to expect Buerhle and Colon to continue pitching so well? That Colon won't miss a start for most of the season? It looks like Floyd will be inconsistent and around .500, and that Danks is starting to press a little bit because of the lack of offensive support. It will be VERY interesting to see how this team responds psychologically to the challenge of facing Greinke and Davies (Sox killer since 08) on the road. KC's back in first place by 1/2 game, along with the Tigers. Will we get any clutch hits or continue to struggle?

Jenks isn't worth that kind of money, although I think he'll probably end up closer to $8 million next year in arbitration. This is just going to be a "muddling through" year, which is unfortunate, but necessary. Nobody is going to run away with the division, because all of the teams have numerous weaknesses. In all likelihood, the team that gets that best starting pitching (probably KC or DET) will take the division. Having watched a game in DET this past weekend (versus CLE), I have a sense that the Tigers will win it, because their bullpen is much improved with Zumaya back, Seay has been very effective, and then they have Rodney, Perry and Dolsi in the minors has a great arm, too. Verlander is finally starting to get himself straightened out, and they still might get contributions from Robertson, Willis and/or Bonderman. What we DO need to find out this year: 1) Are Fields and Anderson everyday, reliable players? Ditto Getz. 2) Can Ramirez be effective at SS? 3) Where will Beckham end up playing? 4) Do we have any starters capable of solidifying the back end of the rotation next year? Poreda? Richard? I've given up mentioning Marquez, Egbert and Broadway. Replacing Contreras won't be difficult at all (hard not to improve on his numbers), but getting Colon's numbers (so far) from one of our minor leaguers, doubtful! 5) Can Viciedo field well enough to stay at 3B? 6) How can we blend playing time for Allen and Konerko...since the Sox don't want a rookie like Brandon to be the primary DH, do they? 7) Is it too soon to add Shelby and/or Danks into the CF conversation, or will KW have to make another move? Is there a future for Jayson Nix with this organization, and where would it possibly be?

2000 4.67 ERA, 4th in AL, 95-67 2005 3.61 ERA, T1st in AL, 99-63 2008 4.06 ERA, 6th in AL, 89-74 2003 4.17 ERA, 4th in AL, 88-74 (arguably one of our best teams this decade) 2006 4.61 ERA, 10th in AL, 90-72 (3rd in AL runs scored, but not enough to make up for pitching) 2001 4.55 ERA, 8th in AL, 83-79 2002 4.53 ERA, 8th in AL, 81-81 2004 4.91 ERA, 12th in AL, 83-79 2007 4.77 ERA, 12th in AL, 72-90 2009 4.71 ERA, 8th in AL Conclusions: 1) Recent Sox history would indicate we're a team that will top out at 83 wins. 2) We're an abysmal 13th in the AL in runs scored, and we are leading OAK only because they have played 2 less games. Not to mention the fact that we simply don't have the type of offensive firepower to compensate for below league-average pitching like we did in 2006. KC and Detroit are the two teams most likely to win the division, IMO, unless Minnesota sees a dramatic improvement in their starting rotation (Liriano/Baker). One could argue that 83 wins will be enough to take this division, but that hasn't typically been the case that a team in our division finished first with less than 85 wins, maybe it was the Minnesota Twins one of the years they won the World Series (1987/1991). Realistically, we're very fortunate to be at .500 when you consider Contreras, Ramirez's struggles, injuries and all the line-ups with Lillibridge, Miller, Owens and Pods. We could just as easily be 11-13 or 10-14.

The problem is, you sacrifice a lot defensively with Betemit. OTOH, Nix has very little experience at other positions...and Betemit was pretty good against RHP last year. We just don't have very many complete offensive AND defensive players on this team. Betemit was one of the few players to look good batting yesterday (even against a LHP), and yet he's going to sit again tonight against Greinke, unless Thome doesn't play again. Then you have the "benching" of Getz against all LH starters, which isn't terribly logical either, especially with how ineffectual Lillibridge has been offensively (yes, I realize he slapped two more singles to RF last night, but that's all he can do).

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...,0,254400.story Kind of an interesting move, as Getz has a lot more experience at that position over his recent career than Nix...Fields will sit one game as a precautionary move due to swelling throughout last night's game. Also, possibility that Dye might come back today...

Nix is getting love 1) because he's "new" to many, 2) everyone is sick of talking about Pods/Wise/Owens/Lillbridge, and 3) he was raved about on the ESPN national broadcast tonight and looked good at the plate. It's fine to play the likes of Lillibridge and Nix against a Zach Greinke, when the score very well might be 1-0 and you need all the defensive help you can get. The problem is that the likelihood of stringing together 3-4 singles in one inning against Greinke...well....it's not that high. It's not like Lillibridge and Pods can get on and you automatically assume they're at 2nd or 3rd on their own. No way. Brent hasn't refined his SB technique and Pods is/was done a long time ago in terms of being a real effective basestealer. Therefore, you just have to take your chances with players like Ramirez and Betemit, based on their offensive track records and the fact that with the weather heating up, there will be a tremendous amount of slugfests. Not to mention the fact that with Contreraras seemingly done, and whoever starts in the fifth spot very iffy at best, we'll need to outslug our opponents to win 60-70% of the time, and then rely on the pitching 30-40% of the time. Last year, that formula was reversed, with the pitching being the dominant factor. If you look at our best teams recently (2003, 2005, 2008), our pitching was around an ERA of 4.00 or less in all those seasons, and it was very good in the first half of 2000 before it broke down in the 2nd half. None of this talk about our line-up really matters if we don't get consistent quality starting pitching.

Nix has almost no experience at SS in his career...Getz has played SS (a little, but he lacks the arm for regular play), 3B and the outfield a little bit, I think it was predominantly LF. Lillibridge had two hits tonight, which is more than I can say for the likes of Josh Fields. I think there are still significant concerns about Fields being an everyday player. In that case, I'd almost rather see Getz at 3B and Nix at 2B. For those counting on Fields hitting 20+ homers this season, whatever he's changed in his approach, he's still striking out and just swinging and missing an extraordinary amount for an opposite field singles hitter. It would be fine if Fields was going to put up Brandon Inge numbers this year, but I think he won't come close offensively, and certainly not from a defensively standpoint. As for throwing in the towel because we look pathetic and we're facing Greinke tomorrow without Dye, some people here really need to snap out of it. We were 14-15 at this point last season, and the division exhibits even more parity that last season even. Unless something dramatic happens (like Dontrelle Willis returning to Cy Young form), then any team can win this division, with the possible exception of Cleveland. Cleveland just seems to have too many holes in their rotation and middle relief to be taken seriously at this time. Our defense didn't help at all...Fields had a ball go right past him he didn't make a play on, Lillibridge is an embarassment in CF (from all standpoints) and Betemit can't even seem to play 1B at an "adequate" level. There's just no reason at all he shouldn't have snared that ball Nix threw from deep in the hole. None.

Why wouldn't we want to face Padilla, he has a 7.43 ERA and a WHIP near 2? He hasn't been very good for a couple of years now, although he has beaten the White Sox at least once.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Apr 29, 2009 -> 08:54 PM) "Wake Up, Alabama" was conceived by my friend who produces the show. They specifically hired ditzy women to host the show, there's like 5 of them. The original ad campaign was billboards that said "Wake up with ____" and it had one of the women on it with their name. I guess it's supposed to be the Alabama-ized version of "The View," essentially.

Is that the same Joshua Fields who used to pitch for us (on West Tenn)?

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?g...oakmlb_texmlb_1 Sweeney made an amazing, Hunter-esque catcher to rob Kinsler and save the game today for the A's.