almagest

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 11:47 AM) This reminds me of this comic: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty_calls.png Which reminds me of me... XKCD is great.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 02:54 PM) I don't know how anyone can think a strikeout is the same as any other out offensively but important for a pitcher. I happen to think they are important to a certain extent for a pitcher. Its situational. While there are good pitchers that don't get many strikeouts, there aren't a lot of bad ones who do. Usually when pitcher's k rates drop significantly, their ERA's and other bad stats rise significantly. I think it's already been said, but basically, if a guy has a good OBP and SLG, you don't mind the strikeouts as much. Taking lots of pitches and being selective naturally leads to more strikeouts. It's the same for pitchers, you'd like someone who has a great K rate, but if you've got a pitcher like Carmona with a power sinker who induces lots of weak grounders, you're not going to complain.

Looks to me like Cuzzi is starting to go for the reach-around.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 10:22 AM) Nothing like having something to look forward to, a Sox player having a slump, that's a fan Rooting for my favorite team takes a back seat to being right on the internet. Everyone knows that!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 11:41 AM) Think about this example...which team is a strikeout more valuable to. The Rockies or the Tigers? The Rockies have a ridiculously good defense. The Tigers defense looks like a disaster area. If I'm pitching for the Rockies, I want to pitch to contact. If I'm pitching for the Tigers, I don't want Miguel Cabrera or Magglio Ordonez having to make a great play, because they wont' be able to do it. Actually, Coors Field is an extremely hitter-friendly park to ALL batted balls, to the point of making strikeouts more valuable there, even with a good defense. Even the humidor they're using now doesn't help all that much. QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 12:17 PM) If you look at sabermetrics I'm pretty sure they will tell you that Javier Vazquez is a much better pitcher than Mark Buehrle because Javy strikes guys out, but when you watch both of them pitch without seeing the numbers, you know Buehrle's more reliable. That's pretty selective use of evidence. As a previous poster showed, the pitchers that lead the major in strikeouts are almost always above-average to great.

Just wait until Crede has a slump. We Fields supporters will have our day!

QUOTE (rcpweiner @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 12:49 AM) Well, Borowski certainly sucks. Maybe Kenny wasn't so crazy to spend some extra money fortifying the bullpen in a division where Borowski and Todd Jones are two of the closers. As brutal as the top of the 9th was, I'm glad I watched the rest of the game. What a terrible loss for the Indians.

I'm not upset with 6 IP+ 3 ER from Vazquez. I also like that we have Blackburn over 90 pitches through 5 innings, even though we haven't broken through.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 7, 2008 -> 07:44 AM) How about the sixth inning yesterday? One error, and the Sox just jumped on the throats of Detroit, turning a one run game into a laugher, against one of the best young pitchers in baseball. It reminded me of '05, when we would make teams pay for each and every little mistake they made. Of course, our offense is way better this year (so far), so we REALLY made them pay. I'd imagine it has to be rough for teams to know that one little dropped ball or wild pitch or HBP could lead to a big inning against us.

We're leading the AL in OBP (.370) and HR (10) according to mlb.com. It's so nice to see a team that can make these pitchers work and drive up the pitch count. We've gotten some good pitchers out of the game early against us. Also thank you to the Diamondbacks for having so many good young outfielders that they can afford to trade Quentin for an A-ball DH/1B.

Awful relay by Cabrera. 1-0 Tigers on the double by Inge.

Detroit looks to be trying to hit a home run every at-bat. They do that a lot, it seems.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 02:06 PM) The quote was strikeouts are the same as any other out. I took any to mean any. Silly me. BTW, did you see how the Astros got their go ahead run baserunner on base yesterday. A groundball "out" to second, bobbled for an error. Toronto tried to play the "fantasy baseball" style not caring about strikeouts or steals or hit and runs and failed miserably. And the Red Sox have done the same and have 2 World Series titles in the past 4 years. I'm also not sure how you can take one play in one game and cite that as decisive evidence.

Travis Hafner is a scary man. Solo BOMB off Huston Street. 6-3 A's, 1 out top 9.

6-2 Oakland now, top 8. Looks like we'll be tied with the Indians now. Not bad. Byrd looked awful today. If it wasn't for Oakland's awful offense, he'd probably have been knocked out in the 4th.

Indians currently losing 5-0 in the top of the 6th. Justin Duchsherer started for the A's, and looks fantastic. Always wondered why he wasn't a starter. ...And as I say that, he gives up two hits and now looks like he's hurt. Still, he's got a chance to be a solid starter. Ryan Sweeney 3-3.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Apr 4, 2008 -> 03:04 PM) not to mention that this tiger lineup is clearly out of synch True, but they did have quite a few 2 out hits and RBIs today, and looked good against Contreras. Then our bullpen slammed the door.

QUOTE(knightni @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 01:21 AM) He's really got it in for you, huh? It's a she. Probably should have specified that in the first place...

QUOTE(effectivelywild @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 03:44 PM) During today's broadcast, someone had emailed in the question as to whether the White Sox's offense would be as bad as it was last year. Hawk immediately answered "No" but offered little if any evidence for his opinion. So I thought I'd ask the board: will the offense be better this year? Specifically, what went wrong last year that you don't think will be the case this year? I don't think it's possible to be as bad. We have a better bench, and Swisher and Cabrera.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 02:46 PM) It doesn't bother me in April. Most of these guys are at 100 pitches tops, and Danks is a guy who hasn't been at 180 IP in a season yet. He isn't going to be like MB who can go 120 if he needs to. Right, which is why I think it's going to be important to closely monitor his pitch count, and when he starts leaving the ball up more, for every start.

QUOTE(lostfan @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 02:41 PM) I was thinking earlier today, is Cabrera really that much of an upgrade over Uribe at SS? Obviously offensively, yes he is a MAJOR upgrade, it's like going from a s***ty Neon to a Mercedes. But defensively they seem about equal to me. Yes Cabrera is a GG caliber defender but if Uribe had any kind of offensive numbers at all, he'd at least have been a candidate the last few years. Clearly and obviously Cabrera should be starting over Uribe at SS, but if they're both in the lineup I don't see why Uribe would be automatically at 2B. I guess because Uribe sucks and he isn't a fixture in the lineup the way Cabrera is and should be. Where oh where are you, Danny Richar? Ideally, I'd like to see Uribe in a pinch-hitter, 300-400 AB role at SS-3B-2B, like he had in 2004. Either that, or playing for some other team.

QUOTE(lostfan @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 02:28 PM) I will still give Uribe credit for being a fantastic defender, and arguably among the best at his position. Which is why making him the starting 2B is baffling, because his greatest defensive asset (arm) is worthless there.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 02:20 PM) Yeah, you definately wanted to make sure the kid didn't lose that game. You had to build his confidence and leave him on as high of a note as possible. Yep. It's a little worrisome to me that he's tiring after 80 pitches, but he's still pretty young and it's only his second MLB season. I think it's going to be really important to try to keep him around 90 pitches or so a game this year, so he can build up stamina gradually, and to keep his confidence high. It's also really obvious that he's going to have to have very good control to keep his pitch count low, otherwise he'll be gone after 5 almost every game.

QUOTE(lostfan @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 02:15 PM) Juan Uribe was half of our offense today, but he is still a really awful hitter with no plate discipline or contact ability whatsoever. Get excited about his occasional power streaks if you want but more often than not you can just add 1 out and skip him entirely to save time. Agreed. He just happened to run into a pitch at an opportune time. He'll do that about 20 more times this year, while still only posting a low-mid 600s OPS.

QUOTE(lostfan @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 01:49 PM) Danks only threw 87 pitches when he left the game, had he hypothetically gotten the one out he was pulled for, he probably could've cruised thru another inning. Stone said Danks looked tired, and was starting to leave the ball up. It was a good idea to get him outta there.