sunofgold

Fuku has had some success against Adams. Should have used him as PH for De Aza or LB.

OK. Rios has hustled yesterday and made some catches today. At least he is doing something. Morel and Beckham have stunk it up the most these two games.

Reed in again. Interesting. No Crain...is Crain our closer tonight. Didn't necessarily need to use Reed yesterday.

Getting into the late innings....our bench consists of AJ, Escobar, Viciedo, and Fuku....I think all four could be inserted right now and be instant upgrades. AJ for Flowers. Escobar for Morel Viciedo for Beckham (move Lillibridge from LF to 2B) Fuku for Rios Do it. Do it. Call a timeout and swap in/out four players.

3 runs, 6 IP for Peavy is good. Little bit shaky at time, but against Texas it is good. Only 1 walk and he kept them in the park. Somebody in the bottom of our lineup has to produce offensively. Tonight it really has just been our captain PK on the offensive side.

Cooper says he wants a closer and doesn't want 'closer by committee'. Ventura won't name a closer and won't say whether or not he is going with 'closer by committee'. To me, it seems like Ventura and Cooper aren't seeing eye-to-eye. This could be bad news if this is the case. They need to talk it out, be on the same page, and tell the same thing to the media. Cooper doesn't know what is going on. The relievers don't know what is going on. White Sox fans don't know what is going on.

Yeah, but the lineup changed. Was it erroneous reporting or did Ventura change the lineup? Then the question is: why did he change the lineup? I can only speculate..Viciedo has a minor injury (thus a precautionary move). Viciedo got hot at the end of spring training and hit a double yesterday. Really no reason to rest him here.

QUOTE (jeffro2525 @ Apr 7, 2012 -> 04:45 PM) This line-up just looks pretty bad. 5-9 of Rios-Lexi-Flowers-Morel-Beckham looks pretty gross. Where is the lineup? Now they move Morel? He should have never been in the second spot to begin with. Don't mess him up? White Sox management seems very too secretive lately. What is going on? Have they named a closer yet? I have the right to know. Yeah!

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 7, 2012 -> 10:26 AM) DeAza CF, Morel 3B, Dunn DH, Konerko 1B, Rios RF, Alexei SS, Flowers C, Viciedo LF, Beckham 2B Is it safe to say Flowers will be Peavy's personal catcher? Or at the very least, he'll catch about 75% of his starts? It's not like they have a day game tomorrow. Maybe Flowers will catch for Peavy. However, Holland is a lefty thus that could be reason. Morel in 2nd spot again. Hope that he proves me wrong. I would like to see Viciedo batting at least ahead of Flowers. Viciedo was getting hot at the end of spring training. Potentially, maybe #5 in our order.

Even our relievers don't know. Is this RV keeping it a secret or KW telling RV to keep it a secret. Seems more like a KW move to me.

Yesterday was a tough frustrating loss, but win today and I will be happy. We have hit Holland well in the past, but Peavy has struggled against the Rangers. Hopefully that was a "not-100% healthy" Peavy and he says he is 100% now. Closer situation is frustrating just b/c there is no need to hide that information. If it isn't closer by committee, I am thinking that they have fallen in love with Santiago and think that can be the next Mariano Rivera. If that is the case, then that means Santiago won't be moved into a starting role (like Sale) but molded into being a elite closer for a long time. This could be good for the White Sox but Santiago hasn't proven yet that his is a major league closer. Guess we will probably find out soon. I am feeling better about our bullpen overall. I was worried a little bit since Sale moved into the rotation and Santos was traded. Still not sold on Nate Jones but if he doesn't work out there are other guys to try from AAA.

I am hoping that Adam Dunn has the greatest comeback season in the history of the Chicago White Sox and Major League Baseball. That would be sweet.

Wonder why he is so good on opening day. Guess he plays best on 6 months rest.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 6, 2012 -> 09:51 PM) It's hard to strike out four times. We prolly shouldn't over-react after one game, but maybe AJ is a better candidate for the No. 2 hole. Beckham would be perfect if he could finally learn how to hit consistently. It isn't hard to strike out four times. I could do that on 12 pitches. It is hard to hit four home runs in a game.

I think Ventura is going to have a different closer for each game. Depending on the situation. That is the best that I could get out of interviews and news articles. Closer by committee is fine by me. Give them all chances and see what happens.

AJ is the best option in the 2nd hole. right now. He can bunt, pretty good at moving runners over..if you start the runner he is pretty good at hitting the ball into the open hole. I don't like having our catcher bat 2nd and I don't know who would bat second on days when AJ rests.

Well, doesn't Santiago have a chance to be a starter? Maybe even next year? Reed has potential to be a closer or you could try Thornton one more time. He did have some bad defense behind him early last year. Personally, I wouldn't mind closer by committee until somebody proves that he is the ONE!

That was Dunn's 8th opening day home run. Trying a record with Frank Robinson and Ken Griffey Jr. Also, Dunn hit 2 home runs in openers in Cincinnati in 2005 and 2007. Way to go Adam! Keep it up.

Kosuke Fukudome is 2-4 and 2 walks against Mike Adams in his career. There is my argument for Pinch hitting him for Rios in the bottom of the 8th with Lillibridge on 2nd and two outs. Take it or leave it. lol

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Apr 6, 2012 -> 02:50 PM) Santiago is the closer and he knows he is. C'mon Robin. Just say it then. What is the reasoning of keeping it a secret? Not a good first day for Ventura but I still believe in him. I didn't like many of the moves today. But the worst moves were not naming the closer and having Morel in the second spot. The other moves that I didn't like you could make arguments that it was the right or an acceptable move. Now Morel can be moved back down to the lower portion of the lineup...like 8th. Viciedo should be batting higher up. And name the closer. Fixable right? haha!

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 6, 2012 -> 02:49 PM) That's a really passive aggressive way to tell him he's an ace. "Hey, go get the last 2 guys in the lineup, then I'm pulling you. You can't get Kinsler out for s***." I'd rather see him come out early, not get spent, and get the quality start. Plus, let the BP get their toes wet. Well, actually, I have no problem having him face Kinsler again. That is true. He is our ace. Have him get out his Achilles Heel in the game and boost Danks' confidence. Danks is a workhorse. Let him pitch.

Still had a chance to pinch hit with Fukudome for Morel in Morel's 4th AB. Morel already had struck out 3 times. And if Fuku gets on then Dunn would have been up with a runner on base. Have a decent bench, seemed like some good spots to use Fuku especially for Morel.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 6, 2012 -> 02:44 PM) Danks was real bad from the 76-90 pitch mark last year. No problem with taking him out so early in the season. It's also nice to get an inning in for two of your main bullpen guys. Wow. Isn't Danks suppose to be our ace. Have to show confidence in him. He could have handled 8 and 9 in the order. Maybe take him out for Kinsler but at least Danks could have handled their 8-9 hitter.

I kinda didn't like how Ventura managed this game and I have been supporting him. Morel batting second? He never has batted second before and boy did he look uncomfortable. Having De Aza try to steal second with Dunn up there and of course Dunn walks Taking Danks out early in a close game kinda is a give up move. Not thinking about possibly extra inning game. Not using a pinch hitter for Morel or Beckham or Rios etc

Wow. Tough loss here. Pitched good enough to win. Just not enough clutch hitting today. Somehow I have a feeling that Escobar going to be our starting 3B before this season over. I know that it is only one game but that is my feeling. Still don't know if we have a closer or going by closer by committee. Ventura should just clear that us. No point in keeping it a secret. Just say "______ is my closer" or "I am going by the situation. Closer by committee".