dasox24

damn, Paulie struck out swinging... runners on 2nd and 3rd, 2 outs

Sox up 2-0 on Jose's sac fly!

Bases loaded for Jose, no outs!

Up 1-0 on Frank's single ... runners on 1st and 2nd for Carlos, no outs

It's good to see Valdez doing well so far!

Gonzalez was ready for Pulaski SPORTS COLUMN By BUCKY DENT Bristol Herald Courier PULASKI – Bristol manager Jerry Hairston had a question for Gio Gonzalez before Monday night's Appalachian League opener at Calfee Park. "Man, you ready?" he said. "I'm always ready," said Gonzalez. Gonzalez backed up his confident talk in his first professional inning by striking out the side – the White Sox's highlight of the evening – in an 11-3 Pulaski victory. Relieving starter Jay Marshall in the bottom of the fourth with Bristol trailing 6-1, Gonzalez showed the 803 fans on hand why the Chicago White Sox used the 38th overall pick of the Amateur Draft on him. Anthony Garibaldi swung through a 92-mile-per-hour fastball for the first out. Emmanuel Sena flailed meekly at a full-count changeup for the second out. Eugenio Velez watched a fastball shave the inside corner for strike three. Sena and Velez reached base a combined five times and scored three runs. They had no shot against Gonzalez. "You saw the exhibition he put on out there," said Hairston outside Bristol's locker room. "He threw three pitches for strikes. He went right after guys. He looked real good." At 5-11 and 180 pounds, Gonzalez isn't going to intimidate anyone with his size. But his three-pitch arsenal (fastball, curve, change) belies the fact he won't turn 19 until weeks after the Appy League season concludes. Blue Jays manager Gary Cathcart noticed one thing about Gonzalez while working the third base coach's box. "What I liked about him is that he had pretty good command of his breaking ball," Cathcart said. "Obviously, that gives his fastball more life. The ball came out of his hand pretty free and easy." BriSox pitching coach Bill Kinneburg found something else to like about Gonzalez's outing. "For a high school kid, he's very polished," said Kinneburg. "His ability to throw the curveball and changeup at this point in his career is very good." Gonzalez had a thought behind every pitch. He started Sena off with a changeup that dove below his bat for a strike. The first pitch to Velez was a curve that barely missed the outside corner. "You rarely see that in a high school kid," Kinneburg said. "He's something special." "He knew what he wanted to do with the hitters," said Hairston. "He just went about his business. He was cool and calm. I'd sure like him to be here for a while." Managers are fond of saying that baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. And rookie league baseball has a way of turning a guy who looks like a can't-miss prospect one night into a confused mass of humanity the next night. But based on one inning and 17 pitches on a cool night in the New River Valley, Gonzalez is in this for the long run.

Good article! And, I hope that Reed's o.k.

oh, well, I was just repeating what it said about Kris on Future Sox under the top 50 prospects thing. So, at least he used to be able to hit 94. I guess he can't anymore, which sucks.

I do think that Kenny should acquire another starter if possible. All I was saying is that I don't want Jennings, Chacon, or any other 5th starter, and hopefully Rauch could keep him away from acquiring a 5th starter until more teams are willing to trade and we can get a #3 starter.

That's a good move by Detroit. I think they're gonna be a pretty good team in 3-4 years.

Also, the Padres signed Matt Bush.

That's funny that you mention that b/c when I first glanced at "MIF" the first thing I thought of was "MILF" Oh yeah, and at least Koch never tried to hurt any of his teammates; I hate this Valdez guy already

Last I remember he was trying to decide whether to have surgery or not, and the decision is supposed to be made in late June/early July, so we might hear something in the next 2-3 weeks about what they decide to do since we haven't heard anything yet.

What's really sad about this is that Bush wouldn't have even been their first pick had signability not been an issue w/ other guys (i.e. Weaver, Drew), and now b/c they had to pass on guys b/c of signability issues, they have to have a guy with character issues.

a. I'm pretty sure his fastball can reach 94 and is consistently around 91. b. He was throwing 83 in his first outing back.

You can say that again... If we had sent him to the minors, we'd be without one of our top 2 relievers (Marte being the other) and a closer.

Well, we tried to bring in Person to be our 5th starter, but he got hurt (it wasn't even an arm injury, i think he tore his ACL), so at least they had someone lined up for the 5th spot until spring training started when Person got hurt. Once ST starts, it's kinda hard to make a trade for a big time pitcher until the trade deadline. So, I guess we'll have to settle on another mediocre starter or wait until the deadline to get a bigger name.

I don't think that he meant we should get Bong, but rather that we should handle our young guys the same way that the Reds did with Bong.

haha ... it's sad, but true

Nice Yas!

I'd rather do something like this if we did do this trade: Michael Spidale and Enemencio Pacheco for Jennings and Chacon However, I'd rather just not make this trade b/c hopefully Rauch will show us we don't need a 5th starter for now, and can wait to get a #3 at the deadline.

I think that this is a little ridiculous to have our starters dominate the staff like they have; I mean, it's not like these guys are on the all-city team b/c of their performances (which would be great if they were); they're only there b/c a bunch of Sox fans were biased and voted for only Sox pitchers a thousand times. As much as I hate the Cubs and love to see them do bad, you have to admit that Zambrano should probably have more votes than any starter b/c he's simply been the best in Chicago and more than one Cubs starter should have been on the team; Schoney really wasn't deserving of a spot, but I'm fine w/ Buehrle, Esteban, and Jon. Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed this, but Mike Jackson has more votes than any Cubs reliever in the reliever pole today. I mean, seriously, all I read on here when Jackson pitches is how much he sucks, and y'all are telling me that he's better than someone like Hawkins. Anyway, as great as it is to see an all-city team loaded w/ Sox players, I wish it was b/c they were truely deserving and not cheaply voted on.

Igoudala is my choice for the Bulls! I also really like Snyder for Nevada. This guy carried Nevada by himself in the NCAA tourney. He's a really good defensive player, already has a NBA body, and can score. Of course, he's not worthy of the #3 pick, but would be great at like #10 or 11.

I agree w/ you on Dampier is going to Memphis. The Grizzlies were really interested in him at the trade deadline this year, and is gonna go after him hard in free agency.

I know that Minny signed at least one of their first round picks, Kyle Waldrop. I don't know where they sent him, though.