103 mph screwball

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 01:40 PM) Hilarious. It's like you're considering these paid professionals to be children on a little league team. I don't think so. I think they are human beings that react to stress like other human beings. If you think that a "professional" can not be negatively affected by booing from the home crowd, how would you like it if you were having surgery and people in the operating room were booing the surgeon. I don't see that as a positive. Since I want the Sox to win BADLY (getting depressed I'm ashamed to say), I hope for things that are positive. They can not be motivated more than they already are. They need to loosen up. Konerko is one the most uptight players and I think that rubs off on the rest of the team. How about Konerko in a Flash costume? Might give him an edge to keep him from getting picked off.

They are too tight. They need something to make them stop thinking about failure. Ozzie needs to go bezerk like Maddon did at the Cell to the point of making the clubhouse laugh. They need to plunk Lopez and clear the benches. The need something unusual or funny to distract them from the fact that they are not playing well. This is why booing them at the Cell does not help even though it is every paying fan's right. They know they are sucking. They don't need to be reminded. In fact booing them hurts the team and makes them more likely to do things that tended to generate boos to begin with. Trying harder does not help. Stress that is too high causes your brain not to work as well and gripping the bat a little tighter can make a difference. Boo lack of effort. I don't see lack of effort. They need to all do a shot of their favorite beverage in the clubhouse before the top of the first. They need Paully to wear a spiderman outfit in the club house. They need distraction and relaxation from whatever works for them. Then a win will happen. Then another....and this part of the season will be a memory and playing and watching baseball will be fun again.

Please put your negative comments in the Buh-bye threads. This is the positive thread that will actually inspire the team to turn it around and go all the way to the World Series. This is the thread that gives the team confidence. Dunn will go on to hit 40 bombs! Coop fixes Matt and he becomes the most dominant closer in the American League! The defense will improve! The offence will play up to expectations! The fans will stop booing the Sox at home! Tickets to the games will be difficult to get due to routine sell outs! KW will have money for a big trade deadline move but will not see how it would be possible to improve the team! Peavy comes back healthy and be an ACE the 2nd half including throughout the playoffs. GO! SOX!!!!!!!!! Being negative and telling a team they suck is counterproductive. They need to relax and play ball up to their talent level. I'm still ALL IN!!!!

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 07:13 AM) The overreactions on this site are hilarious. No one here has any real news, yet everyone is suddenly a team physician with access to private information. STFU and wait a couple hours before you officially quit on Peavy and this team. Agreed! Hell, at the beginning of the season, I'd be happy with a .500 record for April the way they seem to start slowly. I am not giving up on this team yet, I just may have to look away at times because it is too painful to watch. Fans have a right to boo the Sox. I have a right to boo the fans. BOOO!

Well, the current bullpen slump has me frustrated to the point of looking for creative solutions. How about a six man rotation and letting the pitchers go 120+ pitches and complete more games. Not sure on the math, but wouldn't that result in similar IP per season?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2011 -> 10:08 AM) Never. It was a hit and run to stay out of the DP. On a ground ball, it may have moved a fielder out of position a led to a hit and prevented a double play. However, I think it is more likely that it could cause the double play. 1. It could move the fielder to where the ball may have been hit to and Konerko would still not beat a throw. 2. A line drive and Paully is dead meat. 3. TCQ strikes out and Paully is out by a mile. Do hit and run with guys who actually have a prayer of making second even if there is a strike out and don't do it while Braden's control was inflating his pitch count.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 12, 2011 -> 09:56 AM) I highly doubt Ozzie gave Konerko an explicit steal sign, if anything that was a hit and run, or Konerko misread something, I don't believe Ozzie would EVER send Konerko on a straight up steal...ever. You are right. I do not think it was a straight steal either. It was a hit and run. It still ended up to be a caught stealing that gave Braden a gift out. The benefits did not outweigh the risks of a hit and run. Ozzie himself could not convince me otherwise.

I'm not ready to give up on Pierre just yet. Errors happen and he doesn't have a history of making too many. He has made some catches that other would not have gotten to. He is not hitting the way everyone would like him to yet, but he is having a better April than last year and with Morel, AJ and Ramirez getting on base, he has even had some nice RBI. Get him a little rest, change the steal sign, and cheer for him to put the errors behind him.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 12, 2011 -> 08:50 AM) Also, it's funny to listen to Sox fans talk about how Ozzie is such a bad tactical manager. I've heard, on repeated occasions, from other teams fans and announcers and radio personalities that they'd LOVE to have Ozzie as their teams manager. While I understand many here at Soxtalk would love to see him fired, the fact is he'd have another managerial job with another major league team tomorrow. Some tactics seem like such an obviously bad idea. 2nd inning against Braden, Konerko walks on 6 pitches and then TCQ works a full count. Great! Even if we don't score, let's tire out Braden since apparently he has a supernatural changeup. Why the heck do you send Konerko for a certain caught stealing? The only thing I can think of is to hopefully get him to third on a Quentin single. It certainly wouldn't stop a double play and would be more likely to cause one on a line out. Konerko is a dead duck and he shouldn't have bothered sliding since it was not even close. Braden can go back to the windup and faces the minimum that inning. Come on Ozzie! Sometimes the gamble is not worth it. I can deal with Pierre and Rios running into an occasional out, but I'm sick of giving away base runners. Ozzie doesn't think I know the game well enough to have an opinion, but I thought it would be funny to talk about Ozzie as such a bad tactical manager. Crap like that bothers me more than Pierre missing a fly ball. Hopefully the Sox can bounce back the way have earlier this year after tough losses. My apologies to Ozzie if Konerko was stealing on his own or forgot how many outs there were after leading off the inning.

I will have to follow DJ and Farmio from work. GO SOX! As for Mark Teahen, I was happy he got some applause when he was announced yesterday. Poor Will Ohman got booed at the home opener. OUCH!

I too love the MLB app. Gameday audio cost 19.99 and the app with gameday audio plus video highlights and more only costs 14.99. I tried to use some of the ballpark features at the Cell yesterday. I was unable to use the check in feature. My 3g reception stunk and it wouldn't work. Anybody have better luck with verizon?

Nice to have the win for the trip home. I hope the place is rockin' tomorrow! My first opening day since 2005!!

SWEEP! Set the tone for the season! You let a team think it's ok just to win series, then they will settle for that. SWEEP!

29 hits in first 2 games! Keep it rolling tomorrow! Let's SWEEP! No let down like last year.

Another important April Win!

Santos giving the Indians fans some hope.

I like the movie Major League. The Indians are in that. They have that going for them.

Sox crushed em. They lost focus with a two touchdown lead. BIG APRIL W!! A lot of players with their first hits. Nice.

Ozzie just wants to let everyone play, including the bullpen. Hate to see the pen throw so many pitches in a 14-0 game.

TCQ! Let's run the pitch count up to 50!

I hate strikeouts Come on Paully! Get us that first run!

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 05:32 PM) At least Sale, Thornton, and Sergio are having some fun w/ this snow..... http://www.csnchicago.com/03/31/11/Sox-Dra...&feedID=661 Don't hurt yourself boys! It makes me nervous to hear those guys risking their arms throwing anything but baseballs. Please be careful! I was all for Mark tarp diving, but take it easy with the arms!

Sox need to approach April like they are trying to clinch the division in September. April is the key for the Sox. Let's not let any of these slip away. Not literally of course, but as a literary description of baseball dominance and as a tip of the hat to an old poster here, let's Nuke Cleveland! Go Sox!

Way to go Jake, but try not to put TCQ into a slump

How about until Milledge is off the roster? Might be a week, or it might be ten years.