chw42

This home plate umpire has been the suck so far.

IF we can keep this at one run, we're lucky. Callaspo kills us.

Of course, Kendall scores. Bad inning so far. Not getting the calls and two seeing eye hits.

Those first two pitches weren't strikes (according to pitch f/x), but they sure as hell looked like it. BTW, Detroit already up 4-0.

This Royals team can hit a little bit. 16th in runs scored and 2nd in batting average.

We might be in for a bad offensive day.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 06:53 PM) As much as we need a LH bat, I'd still rather see Jones than Kotsay. His upside is much higher, and he has never had much of a problem hitting RH pitching. He also improves the defense when he's in the outfield. But then we've discussed all of that earlier in the season. I understand that Jones' average really went south, but that may be attributable to his lack of playing time. Kotsay has proven that he can produce while playing very sporadically. After all, he's a great pinch hitter. However, Jones is a slugger, and he needs to play regularly to keep his timing sharp. If they are only going to play him versus lefties, they would be better off not playing him at all. Jones has actually been worse than Kotsay the past month and a half.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 05:53 PM) Boers sources may be old, but he rarely ever quotes them and they are trustworthy and have been around the NBA a long time, so if Boers ever cites his sources it would be really strong in my book... And Jason works with B&B...so maybe this has some credibility.

Jason Goff is kinda trustworthy I guess... It depends on who his sources are...

QUOTE (G&T @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 03:11 PM) No hitters are so damn common because the Rays keep getting no hit. Pretty much, lol.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 28, 2010 -> 05:08 PM) i remember at one point the mariners were like...90-40 and I couldn't believe my eyes. Ah, when Brett Boone was a world beater. He was also on roids.

This Lerew guy has a 91 MPH fastball, with a slider and change-up. Through two starts, his fastball has been clobbered for a run value of -2.9. Although he has used his slider and change-up effectively, posting slightly above average pitch values for those two pitches. He tends to give up a decent amount of home runs.

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.