TLAK

Rongey just said Hermanson's in the pen tonight. As to Jenks, I think it best to get him 100% checked out and NOT send him out there with a sore hip so he can hurt his arm.

A baseball adage is it doesn’t matter who you play, it matters when you play them. The teams that the White Sox just played, Tampa and Kansas, have both been playing good ball of late. Kansas is even and Tampa -1 over the past 2 weeks. Breaking even with them, despite their poor reputations, is not the collapse some would have you think. But the White Sox will soon run into some other very hot teams. Using records since 8/20, the White Sox have the toughest schedule among American League contenders. In the chart below WPCT is that team’s win percentage and SOS is the combined winning percentage of their opponents, based on the last 2 weeks. The White Sox play 3 at Boston (.286), 4 v Cleveland (.750), 3 at LA (.500), 3 at Oakand ((.750), 3 v Detroit (.385), 3 v Seattle (.667), 3 more at Cleveland (.750) and finish with 3 at Minny (.500). Only 6 games against teams who aren't playing well and one of them is freaking Detroit. I think the White Sox will need 16 more wins to get in. The odds are against them, if they do get in it will be a hell of an accomplishment, worthy of our cheers.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Sep 1, 2006 -> 06:28 PM) Guillen is never going to have good english grammar.guess he needs to go to grammar school.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 30, 2006 -> 10:46 AM) Could someone repost the link to his site?

This is what it has taken to win the Wild Card: year NL AL 2005 HOU 89 BOS 95 2004 HOU 92 BOS 98 2003 FLA 91 BOS 95 2002 SFG 95 ANA 99 2001 STL 93 OAK 102 2000 NYM 94 SEA 91 1999 NYM 97 BOS 94 1998 CHC 90 BOS 92 1997 FLA 92 NYY 96 1996 LAD 90 BAL 88 1995 COL 77 NYY 79

Jerry Owens was on White Sox weekly a few minutes ago and said he heard through his agent that 'something' might happen today. Thats all he said.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 08:34 AM) Rip 'em all, but leave Elvis night alone. Thank you, thank you very much. Agreed, Elvis night rocks. Kelly Wunsch told a joke about it, "You know you're a White Sox fan if you win the Elvis contest and you didn't know it was Elvis night".

As the announcers like to say, if you watch enough baseball you'll see everything. To that I add that if you live long enough, you'll see everything twice. Here is a link to a short write up on the White Sox 1984 season. Some of the parellels are striking. One thing about 84 I'll always remember was a headline in the Sporting News over a picture of Tony Larussa, it just said "The Wheels Came Off". 1984 So don't be angry or heart broken if the White Sox don't turn it around, 88-90 wins is still a great season. Having lived through some very tough years with this team, I can be positive about a negative situation.

The Tigers are now in great shape, splitting with the White Sox just about iced it. At 81 wins with 34 to go, a .500 record puts them at 98 wins which should be plenty. And the majority of their remaining games are against the less successful teams. You can spin these numbers anyway you want but I see it as the division is Detroits unless they collapse.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 24, 2006 -> 08:44 PM) When's the last time a Cy Young winner has had an ERA right around 4? Never. The highest in history is Lamarr Hoyt of Your Chicago White Sox in 1983 3.66 (he went 24-10 though). Next are Clemons 2001 3.51 and Colon 2005 3.48. The best? In 1981 Rollie Fingers won it with a 1.04. Bob Gibson had a 1.12 in 1968 going 22-9, wow.

The team reached it's high water mark of 27 over on July 6, for the following 7 weeks they are 6 under. 7 weeks is not just a bad streak that 'everyone' goes through. This is just not playoff caliber baseball, and they have shown me no reason to believe they will turn it around. It's not impossible, but I see no evidence which would lead me to expect it. I'm in as a White Sox fan, follower and devotee. But I'm out as to predicting this group will make the post season. There are 7 weeks left, at the current rate of play they will end up at about 88 wins. A good season but no cigar.

Updated SOS:

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 19, 2006 -> 09:57 PM) Glad to hear that Cliff is going to get taken care of. Once he heals up, he will be a great set up man again for someone. Could that someone be the White Sox? If BMAC starts next year there is an opening. As a homer, I hated it when Cal Eldred came back with the Cardinals instead of the Sox, if Cliff's shoulder is really fixed he'd be a great righty situational.

From WhiteSox.Com Scott Merkin:

Get 'em Ozzie! Don't take s*** from nobody!

Ozzie is becoming predictable, in close games he uses Cotts, Riske and McCarthy when they are behind. He goes MacDougal, Thornton and Jenks when ahead. My druthers would be to go more situational in either circumstance. The way he's rotating the pen gives me a sense that he doesn't fight as hard when behind, he lays back and hopes for an offensive explosion from the big boppers; sometimes he gets it, sometimes not, Oh Well. If he had used 5 guys to keep the game at one run last night, the offense could have played more aggressivly to force the issue. He had Kong, Dye and Crede in the bottom of the inning. In a one run game they take a different approach than down 3. It might have turned out the same anyway, but the game would have been harder fought. Just my take.

QUOTE(Contreras @ Aug 18, 2006 -> 12:39 PM) They're like...Identical. Except Pods is a tiny bit better. So, basically...Owens sucks. CC, is this based on the numbers or have you seen him play? No disrespect, just looking for some info on how he's been handling himself.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Jerry Owens. Ozzie named him as a possible September call up. I know he P'd offed Joey Cora over the winter and started off terrible at Charlotte but I see he's climbed to .264 AVG .330 OBP 37 SB. I think the present White sox starting lineup definitely needs more effective speed. I also haven't seen him in a box score for about a week. Can anyone who watches the Knights let us know how he's playing, beyond the numbers? Is this guy close to becoming a Major Leaguer?

As the senior Javy basher on this site, since December 20, 2005, I would like to point out that he pitched well enough to win last night. Runelvys was just a tad better. This game was decided by the White Sox defense not making plays while KC was making them. I give it to Javier when he deserves it, but not this time.

Here it is on a chart.

Kansas City David DeJesus LF .302 Mark Grudzielanek 2B .287 Mike Sweeney DH .209 Mark Teahen 3B .286 Emil Brown RF .283 Ryan Shealy 1B .234 John Buck C .242 Angel Berroa SS .236 Joey Gathright CF .215 Mark Redman P (7-6, 5.49) Chicago WSox Pablo Ozuna LF .339 Tadahito Iguchi 2B .291 Jim Thome DH .297 Paul Konerko 1B .300 Jermaine Dye RF .327 AJ Pierzynski C .308 Joe Crede 3B .304 Juan Uribe SS .247 Brian Anderson CF .216 Jon Garland P (12-4, 5.16) Umpires: HP: Brian O'Nora. 1B: Chuck Meriwether. 2B: Phil Cuzzi. 3B: Jerry Crawford. Beware of Mark Redman. He's had control problems lately. If he is over the plate, he can shut anyone down. A key is to watch if the Sox can stay patient.

QUOTE(Bonderman38 @ Aug 12, 2006 -> 11:57 AM) Who ever said that needs to have a mental checkup. They were going over the line ups before the game, playing which one would you take. The White Sox they took were Kornerko over Casey, Thome over Young and Crede over Inge. They went with the Tigers everywhere else. So they were homers -like we don't have any around here.

I sat next to some folks from Michigan last night and they were rating Magglio Ordonez higher than Jermaine Dye. I knew it was ludicrous but I didn’t realize just how crazy until I looked at these numbers this morning. Not only is he out playing Maggs by a good margin but the $11 million difference in salary equates to a stud starting pitcher. Hindsight is 20-20 but you have to say Thank You Scott Boras! And a salute to KW for picking up JD, I can’t think of another free agent signing that so perfectly met a teams needs, both on the field and financially.

RetroSheet is a volunteer organization dedicated to making basic play by play information publicly available through its web site. They have message board and a member inquired about David Ortiz's success in game winning situations, asking where he ranks amoung all players. Tom Raune queried the pbp data and replied. Going into 2006, guess who is the best 'walk off' player over the past 47 years? It's Joe Clutch Crede!

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 07:04 PM) I actually met the guys who invented the Shawon-o-meter. They went to high school with one of my best friends in college. The Shawon-o-meter dissappeared from Wrigley when those 2 got jobs. Lee Elia wasn't too far off in his rant.