VAfan

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 10, 2005 -> 01:57 AM) That's AAA You missed the point, obviously. What is your measure of someone who's "hot"?

Wow, Ozzie yanked him to start the 7th even though Buehrle can't get the win and had tossed only 84 pitches. It was an inning too late, but I'm impressed.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 10, 2005 -> 01:47 AM) Check his game log. He's hot. He's 7 for 29 with 2 walks in September. When did that become "hot"?? That is awful. Ross Gload went 45 for 107 in AAA in August with 7 HRs, 14 2Bs, 24 runs scored and 24 RBI. That's hot.

I should have written it. Buehrle should have been hooked after Konerko gave him a 5-4 lead. He hasn't pitched even a half inning in this game with the lead, blowing leads each of the last two innings, as well as giving up runs in the top of the first. If I were Ozzie, I would have sent him a message that this kind of pitching is not satisfactory right now. To me he seems to have lost a lot of the intensity he had early in the season.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 10, 2005 -> 12:00 AM) Absolutely not. All that would do is f*** up that gorgeous swing of his. His stance is perfect for his swing, the lean-in that he does helps him keep a shorter stroke a leg kick would just would just elongate his swing. Rowand has been hot of late, it's not time to start f***ing with him. Maybe I should have put the "leg kick" in green. But "hot of late"??? Who are you watching. He's got a .266 OBP in the month of August, and its bumped all the way up to .290 in September. That sucks.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 10, 2005 -> 01:25 AM) Actually the postseason rotation will not be a dilemma for Ozzie at all. He'll pitch the hottest guys at the moment, in the playoffs and in an order that will set them up for the best chance to win. Sure, sounds easy, doesn't it? But to set up the rotation, Ozzie may have to make a move to line guys up in mid-September, before he even knows whether we'll be playing Oakland, LAA, or the Yanks. Right now it is Buehrle, Garland, El Duque, Contreras, Garcia. With that order, it would be relatively easy, especially with McCarthy around, to lead with Contreras or Garcia. But if you want Garcia pitching on the road, yet still want Contreras to pitch one of the first couple of games, especially if we're playing the Yankees, it could become dicey.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Sep 10, 2005 -> 12:46 AM) No. It's only two runs so far tonight. Also, Garland and Garcia haven't been otehrworldly lately. Also, I can't think of a worse thing for the lockerroom or for Buehrle's confidence than to start someone else. Spoke too soon? Given a 4-2 lead, Buehrle can't even hold it for half an inning.

The Angels may be the last postseason team we play until October, and Buehrle didn't start out any better against them tonight than he has recently against Boston or the Yankees. Plus, we know he has trouble with Oakland. Should Ozzie use someone else to start the first game of the postseason? And how will he know if Buehrle is up to it come October if he doesn't have a solid opponent to test him against between now and then? I think the postseason rotation is going to pose a huge dilemma for Ozzie.

Anyone think Rowand should also try a leg kick? I know Ozzie has used him at just about every place in the lineup, but we need him to hit like he did last year.

Phil Rogers has no clue about this stuff. He's just making it up. Without Crosby, the A's probably aren't going to make it at all, and he has them first. Meanwhile, Boston really has been the hottest playoff team and with the way they play at home, are likely to crush their opening opponent. He has them last. The Sox are going to have a tough time advancing at all, but I believe that has as much to do with our history as our team. If we win 100 games like we last did in 1917, I'd say the sky is the limit for this team, regardless of how we get there.

Crede should start every postseason game. The rest might also help his bat. This year he's been either very good offensively, or just awful. Look at these splits by month. April 79 12 24 6 0 2 9 5 3 9 0 0 .304 .368 .456 .824 May 84 8 13 2 0 3 9 5 2 17 0 1 .155 .211 .286 .496 June 80 11 22 3 0 6 17 5 2 10 1 0 .275 .333 .538 .871 July 69 10 21 5 0 4 12 4 0 11 0 0 .304 .342 .551 .893 August 58 2 6 1 0 1 1 2 1 10 0 0 .103 .148 .172 .320 Total 370 43 86 17 0 16 48 21 8 57 1 1 .232 .285 .408 .693 We would all love April, June, and July's offense. .300+ hitter, .345 OBP, .530 slugging, .875 OPS. We just have to hope October is like one of those months. We know we are going to get the solid D. Ozuna can't match any of those numbers, not even against lefties. And his numbers against righties are like one of Crede's bad months. vs. Left 83 10 27 4 0 0 3 2 3 9 8 5 .325 .364 .373 .737 vs. Right 91 14 21 2 2 0 7 4 1 12 5 1 .231 .271 .297 .568 Forget about Blum. He doesn't have the D or the O to compete. When he's played 3B a lot in the past, he's made a lot of errors. Lastly, Crede is the only one of these guys who can hit the long ball, which can win a postseason game with one swing. Sure, I might agree with those who want someone better next year, but for right now, Joe Crede is far and away the best 3B option we've got.

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Sep 9, 2005 -> 02:31 PM) I was going to vote for that staff as the best in my lifetime. The 1964 team is all but forgotten. They finished one game behind the Yanks. There were no divisions or expanded playoffs back then. The Sox just couldn't handle the Yanks, losing the first 10 times they played them and 12 our of 18 overall. The starting rotation featured two hard throwing lefties, Gary Peters and Juan Pizarro. Joel Horlen, Ray Herbert and John Buzhardt gave additional strength. The bullpen was anchored by two knuckballers, Eddie Fisher and Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm. For one year excellence no pitching staff can compare to the one in 1964 in my lifetime. Overall 1917 gets my vote. 1964 CWS Pitching Staff STARTERS W-L ERA SV L Gary Peters 20-8 2.50 0 L Juan Pizarro 19-9 2.56 0 R Joe Horlen 13-9 1.88 0 R John Buzhardt 10-8 2.98 0 R Ray Herbert 6-7 3.47 0 R Fred Talbot 4-5 3.70 0 BULLPEN R Hoyt Wilhelm 12-9 1.99 27 R Eddie Fisher 6-3 3.02 9 L Don Mossi 3-1 2.93 7 L Frank Baumann 0-3 6.19 1 L Frank Kreutzer 3-1 3.35 1 I also thought of the mid-60's Sox staffs that were sunk by having no offense. The phrase "Hitless Wonders" may or may not have been coined for those teams, but it certainly applied. Of course, these teams also pitched before they lowered the mound after Yastremski won the AL Triple Crown hitting below .300. So maybe the question should be - which is the best pitching staff on a Sox playoff team? On that score, I'd say the 1983 and 1993 teams starting rotations were as good, but their bullpens were weaker. But if this staff can win one or more playoff series, then they will immediately vault to the top of the heap in my book!

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 9, 2005 -> 05:26 PM) slightly better defender? I dont think so. We've had this discussion, haven't we? Juan has the stronger arm, but I don't think his range is that great, and Vizquel never makes errors. But I'm also happy we have Juan, so don't nitpick.

Prior to the trade deadline, I thought we should swap Contreras and Uribe (and Brian Anderson) for Vizquel and Schmidt. Now I wouldn't even make that trade heads up. Contreras has obviously found something that he didn't have before in his current win streak. Unlike Brandon McCarthy, I don't think it's a new arm angle. But pitching 3 straight games without a walk is amazing for him, as is walking 5 guys and still shutting out KC for 7-2/3 innings. But what really caused me to write this post is Uribe's "leg-kick" transformation. Of course he's not going to keep this pace up, but here's what he's done since August 31, after he instituted his new leg kick. Aug. 31 @TEX L 9-2 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .284 .361 .645 .242 Sep. 1 DET W 12-3 4 1 3 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .289 .370 .659 .247 Sep. 2 DET W 9-1 2 2 1 0 0 1 3 2 0 0 0 .293 .379 .672 .248 Sep. 3 DET W 6-2 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .295 .380 .675 .251 Sep. 4 DET W 2-0 Did not play Sep. 5 @BOS W 5-3 4 2 3 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 .299 .393 .692 .256 Sep. 6 KC W 6-5 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 .299 .400 .699 .256 Sep. 7 KC W 1-0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .301 .405 .706 .257 Sep. 8 KC L 4-2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .298 .401 .699 .254 Monthly Totals 24 6 11 3 1 3 8 2 1 0 0 .519 1.042 1.560 .458 With it, I hope we get a lot more of the guy who finished 2004 with a .506 slugging percentage and an .833 OPS. Since he's also younger and a slightly better defender than Vizquel, I'm happy the Sox have Juan. Now if only Aaron Rowand could find his 2004 bat......

Why does Ozzie insist on using Marte to ruin a perfectly pitched game?? This is plain bad managing. We all know Marte is the shakiest pitcher in our pen. Why doesn't Ozzie see it.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 7, 2005 -> 01:04 AM) This is being discussed in another thread started by me. And the title also misled me. With all due respect, "BMac blessing in disguise" is not a name for a thread that I would go to to discuss that BMac should go into the starting rotation and El Duque should go to the bullpen for the rest of the season. Change my title if you like, but respond to the subject.

QUOTE(White Sox Josh @ Sep 7, 2005 -> 12:42 AM) uh take a look at El Duque's record in the playoffs. It's outstanding. Im sorry, I love what Contreras has done all year to, however El Duque will be in the starting rotation for the playoffs. El Duque hasn't done squat in the playoffs in years. He's a shell of his former self. You want to start our worst pitcher?

That's what the Sox should do the rest of September after tonight. It gives the Sox a better look at McCarthy in advance of next year, and it both rests El Duque and gives him a chance to adapt to the bullpen where he's certainly going to go for the postseason the way Contreras has been pitching.

What I don't get is that Cotts appears to remain below Marte in Ozzie's eyes, since Marte usually pitches later in ballgames than Cotts. Yet Marte has issued 30 walks and given up 38 hits in around 43 innings. Somehow this hasn't cost us big time yet, but I'll pull my hair out if Ozzie has the same warped subsitution rotation in the postseason.

QUOTE(JimH @ Sep 5, 2005 -> 07:27 PM) Once again, you missed the "just in case" part. Not what actually happened. It was the absolute right decision if their motive was to have a 12th pitcher just in case, nor did it cost them a couple of games because your premise is based on an assumption that Gload would've delivered. I know of no crystal ball that assures a guy will hit. But I don't think you understand, so let's leave it alone. I understand perfectly, I just think it was a terrible decision. We played a whole lot of August with only 12 healthy position players, not the 14 who had helped us to baseball's best record. And for those of you defending Adkins, you do realize that he essentially blew two of the games in which he pitched. We had Vizcaino to fill that job, and he would have liked the work!!

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 5, 2005 -> 07:33 PM) Whatever happened...all I can think about is this... We have a kid that just took the best power hitting lineup and the best overall lineup in baseball and totally shut both of them down for 14 2/3 innings. 5 hits total, 0 runs. This kid will be making $400,000 or so next year. And if he can do this...he's got a shot at winning 15 or more. Salary flexibility...thy name is McCarthy. We'll have him around for years at a cheap price. In a few years, we may very well have a Buehrle, Garland, McCarthy, Gonzalez, etc. rotation. And no one in baseball will be hitting it. Whatever happened...thank God we didn't mortgage this kid for some free agent to be. I agree. See my "Don't Trade Brandon McCarthy" thread in the Trade Winds section.

Okay, even I didn't see back-to-back outings completely shutting down Texas in Texas (when they had creamed Buehrle, Garland, and El Duque) and then Boston in Boston. (Do you think any other pitcher on our roster could have done that?) Anyone still think we should have traded McCarthy?

QUOTE(JimH @ Sep 4, 2005 -> 04:11 PM) Yeah, I can ... for the 20th time, and I'll probably have to do it for the 21st time because you keep going back to numbers and splits and everything else that doesn't matter in this instance. Let me try this slowly ... They wanted a 12th pitcher JUST IN CASE it was necessary to have a guy eat some innings if one or more of the starters couldn't go deep into a game. But that lame idea evaporated the day they sent Gload down when Everett pulled his groin. Adkins didn't even "eat" any innings until his last game, after a month of losses when it was pretty clear from day 1 we needed an extra bat. Face it, it was the wrong decision, and it probably cost us a couple of games. Thankfully we had a 15 game lead at one point.

QUOTE(JimH @ Sep 2, 2005 -> 07:30 PM) 1. Guillen plays to win, not to play favorites. So far, 7 1/2 game lead in the division on Sept. 1 - could be better but could be one hell of a lot worse. So much for the conspiracy theory. 2. Seeing as they built the team around pitching, it made more sense to have an extra bullpen arm vs. a bat that would play sparingly. He did not know that Adkins wouldn't be needed due to the starters not experiencing a blowout. Better safe than sorry, keep those arms fresh for September. But this has been explained at least 10 times already. 3. Ozzie buried Gload? Hmmm ... Ozzie is the guy who gave Gload his first real big league chance last year. Sorry, this conspiracy theory of yours simply does not hold water. 4. Gload would have played every day in August and could have been the best hitter during that time? Ohhh-kay. Please forward those winning lottery numbers for next Saturdays Powerball drawing if you'd be so kind. 5. We agree that it's silly to spend so much time on Ross Gload. Those who believe in these off the wall conspiracy theories are spending that much time. By the way, I see nothing wrong with what Gload said, he wants to play like any other athlete. It's his career. My guess is, the clubhouse could care less. They know him and know what kind of guy he is already, and by any account I've heard he is a solid citizen in the clubhouse, not disruptive at all. Okay, if it is NOT bad managing (did I use the word "conspiracy"?), then what is the choice to play Timo Perez instead of Ross Gload?? These were Gload's lines in August when our offense sucked: 8/3, 2 for 4, HR 8/4, 2 for 4, HR, 3 runs, 2 RBI 8/5, 0 for 4 8/6, 1 for 4 8/7, 2 for 5 8/9, 0 for 3, run, RBI 8/10, 2 for 4, 2B, run 8/11, 2 for 4, run, RBI 8/12, 4 for 5, 3 2Bs, run, RBI 8/13, 2 for 3, HR, 2B, run, 2 RBI 8/14, 1 for 2 8/14, 1 for 2, 2B, run, RBI 8/15, 0 for 4 (in 1-0 loss, Charlotte held to 2 hits) 8/16, 2 for 4, 2B, 2 runs, RBI 8/17, 1 for 3 8/18, 0 for 3 (Charlotte held to 2 hits) 8/19, 3 for 5, HR, 4 runs, 5 RBI 8/20, 2 for 4, RBI 8/21, 1 for 3, 2B, run 8/22, 1 for 2, HR, run, RBI 8/22, 0 for 3 8/23, 2 for 3, 2 2B, RBI 8/24, 2 for 3, HR, 2B, run, 4 RBI 8/25, 2 for 4, 2B 8/26, 0 for 4 8/27, 2 for 4, 2B, run 8/28, 2 for 3, HR, 2 runs, RBI 8/29, 0 for 4 8/30, 2 for 4, 2B, run, 2 RBI 8/31, 0 for 4, 2 runs Totals: 45 for 108, 7 HRs, 14 2Bs, 24 runs, 24 RBI His average started at .356 and ended at .364. He had 16 multi-hit games. He never had 2 games in a row without a hit. Do you want Timo Perez's August splits? Here they are: 12 for 56, 0 HRs, 4 2Bs, 5 runs, 4 RBI. Meanwhile, this is what we got out of Jon Adkins instead: DATE GAME W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR BB SO AUG 02 TOR 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 AUG 13 @BOS 0 0 6.75 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.2 4 2 2 0 1 0 AUG 16 MIN 0 1 17.18 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 5 5 5 0 2 0 AUG 17 MIN 0 0 13.50 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 AUG 28 @SEA 0 0 8.64 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.2 3 1 1 0 1 1 August Total: 0 1 8.64 5 0 0 0 0 0 8.1 13 8 8 0 4 1 An 8.64 ERA. In 5 appearances, he helped us lose 2 games, and offered no value in 2 other games. His lone value game was his last, when he pitched 3.2 innings of mop up duty in a game we were routed. Now explain to me again why sending Gload down and bringing Adkins up was the right move. Can anyone explain this?

I was making a joke, but only Steff picked up on the green text. Still, after last night's game, Contreras has to figure in the postseason rotation, perhaps even among the first 3. Lately he's been really hot through the first 5 or 6 innings, which makes him a natural match for a good long reliever. El Duque should fill that role. Frankly, I could see the postseason rotation look a lot like it looked to start the season: Buehrle Garcia Contreras Garland If you love Garcia on the road more than at home, you could flip Contreras and Garcia.