chw42

Randy Williams must have an awesome pickoff move. I also noticed that he threw pretty hard too.

QUOTE (soxfan3530 @ Aug 6, 2009 -> 03:33 PM) where did Nix get this reputation of being a very good fielder? i have seen him make a tons of errors. You must not have seen his play at 2B earlier this season. I don't think SS is really Nix's primary position. He's a kickass second baseman though.

Another first place team, another series win.

Looks like somebody finally found the pitch value charts on fangraphs.

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 07:52 PM) Dipsh*t in Cincy has a sign that says "Wrigley Field South". Someone needs a geography lesson. Just goes to show you that Cubs fans never got through high school.

John Lackey should hide every time Carlos Quentin comes to the plate.

Nice inning for Jose.

When they get Torii Hunter back, this lineup will be scary as hell. 1. Figgins 3B 2. Abreu RF 3. Hunter CF 4. Guerrero DH 5. Morales 1B 6. Rivera LF 7. Napoli C 8. Aybar SS 9. Izturis/Kendrick 2B That 2-7 is very powerful and they have the speedsters to get on.

Are they seriously pushing Morales to the 6th spot? He's easily their best hitter right now.

A.J.'s going opposite field a lot lately. I think this is a good thing...

Longoria's better. More power, better D.

lololol

Come on guys, when was the last time we had this kind of excitement for a prospect this early in his career? I don't think Mike Caruso or Aaron Rowand excited people this much. The last one who had this kind of effect was probably Frank Thomas. In that respect, it's not totally crazy to think that Gordon can be in the hall someday. But if you don't think about it that way, it's absolutely insane.

Phil Rogers needs to make a public apology to KW. I'll be laughing my ass off when Tyler Flowers is putting up a .850 OPS for us in the next couple of years.

Epstein wanted Hernandez that badly? Wow... Gonzalez would have been a good fit for Seattle.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 08:01 PM) I remember in 1997 with Roberto Hernandez, we went through Bill Simas, Matt Karchner, Bobby Howry, Keith Foulke, Tom Gordon, Damaso Marte, Billy Koch, Shingo Takatsu and Dustin Hermanson before we got another good closer in Jenks. In fact, there was a deluge of semi-questionable closers prior to Bobby Thigpen like Bob James, Ron Reed, Dennis Lamp, Salome Barojas, Ed Farmer, Mike Proly, Lerrin LaGrow, Jim Willoughby, and Dave Hamilton. Keith Foulke and Dustin Hermanson were actually serviceable though.

If we want Dye back next year, please DH him. PLEASE! It hurts me to watch him out there, running in place for balls down the line. He's still got a great bat and good power. He's a perfect fit for the DH.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 02:05 PM) He said the opposite. Wow, I suck at skimming.

The Angels can kick some ass on offense right now, but their pitching isn't all that good. We've found ways to play the Angels quite well these past couple of years. We've hit Lackey well as of late. Saunders has always been a pain in the ass, but he's struggling. We killed Santana last time out. I think we'll be okay. Their bullpen is also quite vulnerable. Brian Fuentes is a mess right now.

Did this guy seriously say that Poreda will lead a team to the WS? HAHAHAHA!

It's funny that the Rays actually lost this game... There's been three games this year where guys have had no hitters/perfect games through 5 innings and their team lost. Randy Wells, Mark Buehrle, and now James Shields.

Here's how good Beckham is... Among all 3B with at least 200 plate appearances, his wOBA (weighted on base average) is only 7 points behind both Evan Longoria and Chipper Jones. He's ahead of Chone Figgins, Ryan Zimmerman, Scott Rolen, Brandon Inge, and Casey Blake.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 11:28 AM) He did exactly what most rookies do, who succeeed later. He started hot (April), and pitchers adjusted to him (May). The question with rookies is usually, after the first big slump, how do they recover? That is the sign of future success. And the fact that he did decent in June and great in July, to me, says he is likely to have success. I can see him being a .300-ish hitter consistently, .350 OBP territory, some good doubles numbers, good speed, high steal rate, and good defense at second. I'll take that from a second baseman. He should be a .300ish hitter with his speed. His approach at the plate has been getting better, but he needs to be more of a slap hitter to utilize his speed more. He still pulls the ball a lot. Having Scott Podsednik around should help him.

QUOTE (maki @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 08:38 AM) Since June 28th, the Sunday Cubs game, where he fairly clearly turned it he has hit .364, OBP somewhere just south of .400 and slugging is .523. He has 9 doubles, 1 triple, 7 SB, and 0 CS. This is all over a span of 26 games. He's had 7 errors all year and his F% has been in line with his peers, although he has had a few infrequent mental lapses, many less than the left side of the IF. I think it can be argued that if you haven't noticed how productive Getz has been as of late you haven't been watching. He seems much more disciplined at the plate and comfortable overall. Even if he reverts back for awhile its still likely he hits .270 or so on the year, should steal 20-25 bags which could probably be more if they ran him more frequently, and will anchor the bottom part of the lineup that has been a huge part of the Sox resurgence. If he finishes the season with a line similar to what he shows now that will be a huge success and bode extremely well for his future. Our best case scenario next year is Getz forcing Kenny/Ozzie's hand and making them move Alexei to center if Viciedo is ready or a cheap FA is available, moving Beckham where he belongs. That leaves us with 1 hole at OF/DH. Or course this depends on the quality or CF or 3B available given who's ready internally, but its always been easier to plug a hole at 3rd rather than center. All that being said, Beckahm seems to be your 2009 AL ROY. Romero is faltering a bit. He doesn't appear to be the K pitcher we may have seen earlier in the year, and the rest of the peripherals are also coming in a bit. With Toronto out of it they're not going to be pushing him come 4 weeks from now. Porcello is in the same situation as well. Yeah, like I haven't noticed that he's raised his batting average nearly 30 points in the past couple of months... Problem is, it's still not good enough to win him rookie of the year honors. Not even close. Could I be wrong in a month or two? Maybe. But when you're hitting .360 in the past month, you're kind of due to slip a little bit.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 10:56 AM) Chris Getz is exactly the kind of player the Twins have killed us with for years. Everyone always complained about it and people kept wishing we'd get some players to play the game like that. Chris Getz is that player. He will probably get better, though never be a star. He does things the right way and can do the little things. He also adds some much needed speed to the roster. Now, though, despite having a repsectable rookie season, there are people complaining about him. I just don't get it. If you can call what I said complaining, okay. I never said Getz was a bad player, I just don't like the fact that people are overrating him.