chw42

So who's winning the Enron Award for biggest drop-off?

Wigginton's going to regress and suck for most of the second half. He's not what you want.

Let's hope Mark pitches like he always does against KC, he's owned them in his career.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 03:09 PM) The players are smart enough to realize that, too, so it really serves absolutely no purpose to say something that is not true. Unless Ozzie really does hold that dumb position, which is possible. What if their are players on the team that think the team does need a good LH bat to make a serious run? They guy took Mark Kotsay over Jim Thome. It really shouldn't come as a surprise that he would say such a thing.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 01:16 PM) How much would you guys be willing to give up for a bat? Would you do Hudson and Flower for Dunn? Is Dunn enough to put this team over the top? No and maybe.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 12:07 AM) ESPN the other night said they have the best research department. No, SoxTalk does, and it's name is Kalapse. That's such a bad lie. BTW Kal, the .378 wOBA paired with LaRoche's defense at 1B gives him exactly 2 WAR for the rest of the season.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 01:14 AM) I think tru makes some decent points. People will freak if the Royals sweep us this week. And they did take 2 of 3 from a not bad St Looie team. The Sox did a great job against the NL, but we have such a freaky organization I could see panic setting in if heaven forbid we lose all 3 in KC or even 2 of 3. This got us right back in it. An 11 game streak will work wonders in wiping out huge deficits in the standings. Now that we are in it, we are back playing the AL and it would be damn nice just to keep winning 2 of 3 against teams we should take 2 of 3 from. Keep it going Greg, underestimate this team, just like when you did when this last streak started. It's working.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 26, 2010 -> 02:19 PM) I wonder if Oz would get criticized heavily for letting, say, Peavy throw 150 to complete a no no. The Rays have to feel a little shellshocked getting no hit so much. As good a team as they've had, it's bizarre. I'd probably call for his head. With no hitters being so damn common lately, it wouldn't mean much to me. Plus, you're talking about a guy's career. 15 minutes of fame on SportsCenter isn't worth it. And weren't you the guy getting all sensitive about back problems with Joe Crede? You know how you can avoid chronic arm problems? By not throwing 150 pitches...

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Jun 27, 2010 -> 02:26 PM) Totally agree, pitch count is a joke. It might be a joke when some guy can't throw more than 100 pitches because of this or that. But when a guy throws a game and a half's worth of pitches, that's alarming.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 11:27 AM) I want some a donkey on this team!

We better at least win the series against KC. Our next 7 games after that series are against legit teams (Rangers and Angels).

It looks as if Rios is slowing down a bit. I think this was expected since he's not a .320 hitter. .300 is a lot more realistic. That said, he looks to be hitting better after days off. Maybe 3 days off instead of being at the ASG will be a really good thing. We really need fresh legs after the break since we're going to Minnesota for 4. This almost reminds me of 2005, where we went to Cleveland for 4 right after the break.

That Knicks lineup looks like crap in comparison to what the Bulls and Heat have.

QUOTE (Chi Town Sox @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 09:34 AM) Not that it has to do with LBJ, if you look a few tweets down on Screamin Steven's Twitter, he tells someone that the Bears should go out and get TO hahaha this guy is amazing. The Bulls should sign Allen Iverson too TO on the Bears might be disaster since Lovie looks like he has no control of his team. I can just see he and Cutler arguing.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 09:10 AM) Well, they did have Everett, and he was dangerous enough as a left handed hitter to at least force the opposing manager to make a pitching change, late in a game. Carl Everett was worthless that season. He posted a .317 wOBA, a .745 OPS, and a WAR of exactly 0.0. He gave replacement level performance. Mark Kotsay can almost do what he did.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 09:27 AM) So what happens in 2014 that they don't win it all??? Is Lebron gonna try to play baseball for a year too??? Yup, he'll be playing with Birmingham.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 07:08 AM) I'm starting to think it's the other way around with Konerko's recent power surge. If somebody like Torii Hunter or Brett Gardner gets on the team and Alex Rios doesn't, that's just sad.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jun 27, 2010 -> 08:05 PM) Brett Gardner scares me, I could see Girardi taking him and Rios staying home. Same goes for DeJesus (as the Royals 1 rep). He's probably going to take Soria as the lone Royals guy. If anything, Konerko is in more jeopardy than Rios is. That's unless Rios really tanks in the next few weeks.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 27, 2010 -> 05:34 PM) lol @ the people who thought Jenks should be on the All-Star team There is no remote chance that Jenks gets in the ASG unless a bunch of guys get hurt. I just tried to project the rosters of the AL... And I had to leave off both Soriano and Rauch because of the clusterfub of good closers on bad teams. Starting Position Players (based on voting) C - Joe Mauer (Twins) 1B - Justin Morneau (Twins) 2B - Robinson Cano (Yankees) 3B - Evan Longoria (Rays) SS - Derek Jeter (Yankees) OF - Josh Hamilton (Rangers) OF - Carl Crawford (Rays) OF - Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners) DH - Vladimir Guerrero (Rangers) Projected Lineup 1. RF - Ichiro Suzuki 2. 2B - Robinson Cano 3. 3B - Evan Longoria 4. 1B - Justin Morneau 5. LF - Josh Hamilton 6. DH - Vladimir Guerrero 7. CF - Carl Crawford 8. C - Joe Mauer 9. SS - Derek Jeter Reserve Position Players C - Victor Martinez (Red Sox) 1B - Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) 1B - Kevin Youkillis (Red Sox) 1B - Paul Konerko (White Sox) 2B - Dustin Pedroia (Red Sox)xx 2B - Ian Kinsler (Rangers)* 3B - Adrian Beltre (Red Sox) 3B - Ty Wigginton (Orioles) 3B - Jose Bautista (Blue Jays) SS - Elvis Andrus (Rangers) OF - Alex Rios (White Sox) OF - Vernon Wells (Blue Jays) OF - Shin-Soo Choo (Indians) OF - Torii Hunter (Angels) Starting Pitchers RHP - Jered Weaver (Angels)x LHP - Cliff Lee (Mariners)s LHP - Francisco Liriano (Twins) LHP - David Price (Rays)x LHP - Jon Lester (Red Sox) RHP - Clay Buchholz (Red Sox)xx RHP - Phil Hughes (Yankees) LHP - Andy Pettitte (Yankees)* LHP - Ricky Romero (Blue Jays)* RHP - Jeff Niemann (Rays)* Relief Pitchers RHP - Mariano Rivera (Yankees) RHP - Jose Valverde (Tigers) RHP - Neftali Perez (Rangers) RHP - Joakim Soria (Royals) RHP - Andrew Bailey (Athletics) Representatives By Tea Angels (2) - Torii Hunter, Jered Weaverx Athletics (1) - Andrew Bailey Blue Jays (3) - Jose Bautista, Vernon Wells, Ricky Romero* Indians (1) - Shin-Soo Choo Mariners (2) - Ichiro Suzuki, Cliff Lee Orioles (1) - Ty Wigginton Rangers (5) - Josh Hamilton, Vladimir Guerrero, Ian Kinsler*, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Perez Rays (4) - Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, David Pricex, Jeff Niemann Red Sox (6) - Victor Martinez, Kevin Youkillis, Dustin Pedroiaxx, Adrian Beltre, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholzxx Royals (1) - Joakim Soria Tigers (2) - Miguel Cabrera, Jose Valverde Twins (3) - Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Francisco Liriano White Sox (2) - Paul Konerko, Alex Rios Yankees (5) - Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Phil Hughes, Andy Pettitte*, Mariano Rivera Total All-Stars - 38 Active All-Stars - 34 * - Replacement for another player x - Pitches on Sunday, cannot pitch in All-Star Game xx - Injured for All-Star Game s - Projected Starting Pitcher Snubs and Almosts C - Jorge Posada (Yankees) C - John Jaso (Rays) 3B - Alex Rodriguez (Yankees) 3B - Michael Young (Rangers) SS - Alex Gonzalez (Blue Jays) OF - Nelson Cruz (Rangers) OF - David DeJesus (Royals) OF - Nick Swisher (Yankees) OF - Brennan Boesch (Tigers) OF - Magglio Ordonez (Tigers) OF - Brett Gardner (Yankees) OF - Ben Zobrist (Rays) SP - Felix Hernandez (Mariners) SP - Justin Verlander (Tigers) SP - John Danks (White Sox) SP - Shaun Marcum (Blue Jays) SP - Carl Pavano (Twins) SP - C.C. Sabathia (Yankees) RP - Rafael Soriano (Rays) RP - Jon Rauch (Twins) There's no way Jenks can make the team.

If you really think the Royals are better than the Braves or even the Cubs, you really need to get a bit of a reality check. Go look at interleague records this year, it's almost even.

QUOTE (Hollywood_AU @ Jun 27, 2010 -> 04:06 PM) Also the 4th pitch. That was a hanger.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 27, 2010 -> 04:05 PM) The ump that called that pitch a strike to end the Tigers/Braves game yesterday thought that pitch to Rios was outside. Yeah it was pretty much in the same location as that one.

That third pitch to Rios was such a bad call. Got Marmol back in the count.

I guess I'm going to have to root for Argentina for the rest of this tournament. Although that Spanish team sure has some good players...

This is what happens when our pitching fails us. Somebody was due for one of these outings, turns out it was Danks.