tray

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ May 15, 2016 -> 08:29 PM) Miguel Gonzalez has not lost us a game in his 3 starts facing TOR, TEX and NYY all on the road. Let that sink in. No 5th starter is going to be dominant he is doing what a 5th starter is supposed to do which is keep us in games. Not his fault the bullpen blew leads in the last 2 games. I would agree that he is minimally acceptable as a 5th starter on most teams. However, if the Sox want to win the Division this year, they will have to find a fifth starter who is more competitive and goes deeper into games. Gonzo has given up 19 hits and 10 walks in 15.2 innings. (1.85 WHIP and 5.17 ERA). He has been on the brink of disaster on several occasions which could easily have blown those games wide open and made those stats ugly. The bullpen is a separate issue except to the extent that a starter like Gonzo can't make it through 5 innings which then increases the outs the pen has to cover.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 15, 2016 -> 06:54 PM) Who would you replace Gonzalez with? He's at least kept the team in the games he's pitched in. The rest of our 5th starters can't really say the same. I watched the games he pitched in. Gonzo was more lucky than good. He was on the tip of disaster in several innings. The reason he has to go is because of what Plesac said. He can throw strikes but doesn't because he does not trust his pitches in the zone. I don't know who the Sox should bring up as the next contestant in the 5th starter derby. Not Erik Johnson, not Scott Carroll and not Gonzo for sure. That is why I suggested possibly skipping the 5th spot for one turn while that is being discussed and decided on.

As Dan Plesac correctly pointed out, Gonzo was afraid to pitch in the strike zone because he knew that anything he threw in the strike zone would probably get torched. Gonzo walked his way off the roster, or at least I hope he did. RH and KW would be crazy to keep this guy on the roster and give him one more start. That was more painful to watch than looking at his sideburns. Then the bullpen - Zach Duke was awful and Matt Albers stunk it up again. Even Nate Jones gave up a bomb. Rome crumbling before our eyes again. The good news is that the Sox have time to find someone else for the 5th starter spot. Maybe go to a 4 man rotation for one turn.

In the last few games it looks like Avi is once again very susceptible to off-speed pitches, especially when they are low and outside.

I don't get most of the criticism of Hawk and I find most of it to be uncalled for or just plain pathetic. By the way, I have to discount any criticism that Hawk is a "homer" because so much of that comes from cubfans. Perhaps those who are old enough to remember Harry at Comiskey never tired of hearing "Holy Cow" for a decade followed by another ten years of it at Wrigley. Now Harry Caray's memory, the horn rimmed glasses, his restaurants and his 7th inning stretch call (which he did for 10 years at Comiskey) are part of cub tradition and remembered fondly by older Sox fans.. I wonder which announcer Hawk's critics believe has been as good or better than Hawk" Maybe Vin Scully, Harry Kalas, or one of the other all time greats? Baseball is a game of tradition so trashing someone who is a big part of White Sox tradition is something that I find to be curious. Anyone who does not understand that Hawk went down to see Frazier because Hawk was personally concerned (as opposed to going down there because no beat reporter was there) is missing the point. Hawk loves the team that he has been loyal to for decades and loves the players. He was one himself and knows what it is like to be injured on the field and what a serious injury to a key player could mean to this team. I think Hawk is doing the right thing by cutting down on games until another full-time announcer is decided upon. My own opinion is that the new play-by-play person should not be Jason Benetti. Benetti has been just awful and I am being generous because he is a nice young man. I am going to start putting on the radio so I do not have to listen to his trite nonsense, his sophomoric questions and his lame attempt at being the straight man comic in his back and forth with Stone. When Hawk indicates he wants to retire, I hope the Sox start to audition guest announcers to take over play by play full time after Hawk retires. Although Dan Plesac may not be a candidate, it will be very interesting to hear Plesac and Harrelson in the booth at Yankee stadium this weekend.

QUOTE (Deadpool @ May 12, 2016 -> 03:24 PM) Except Soler isn't hitting, right? Yes, I hear Soler has been struggling a bit but I don't watch any cub games. As far as Avi, perhaps his trade value would be greater if he could play first base reasonably well. As a DH, his trade value is limited unless he rakes against both LH and RH pitching and can hit somewhere around 25 home runs.

I wonder if Garcia's surge at the plate in the past two weeks has raised his trade value. Unfortunately he still profiles as a Right Handed DH and a substandard corner outfielder. In that sense, he is somewhat similar to the guy the Cubs have - Jorge Soler. That kind of player has to hit a ton against LH and RH pitching to stay on a roster or to have much trade value as a DH.

Hawk is a national treasure - one of the greatest baseball announcers of all time. The way Hawk immediately left the booth to check on Frazier after he injured himself yesterday to make sure he was alright and give fans a quick report showed us a lot about this man. Most 75 year old men would not have done that or could not have done that. I find that criticism of this man to be pathetic. But I consider the source - normally Cub fans who detest Hawk while they deify Harry Caray, a sloppy announcer and a drunken fool.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ May 11, 2016 -> 09:32 PM) Protect the runner on ball 4? No, trying to protect the runner from what actually happened - a strike out/throw out in case it was called a strike . I think he would have had a better look at the pitch if nothing was called and Abreu wasn't in motion. In any event I thought Sanchez should have been up there to sacrifice bunt to get the tying run to second with one out. That's usually the strategy in that situation.

In a one run game with a guy on first and no out, Ventura should have told Carlos to bunt. The decision to hit and run on a 3-2 count was questionable. It looked like the pitch was a ball and that maybe Sanchez swung to protect the runner (Abreu) who Ventura had sent. Too bad Frazier didn't get his last two or three at bats because things might have turned out different in this game.

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ May 11, 2016 -> 01:42 AM) Lawrie was ruled safe at 2B on the field and Texas challenged and it was reversed. You were thinking of the close play at 1B that they didn't challenge. Would've left 1st and 2nd with 2 out if overturned. Thanks, that must have been it. It was Garcia I believe who was called out. Anyway, the inning was over and the broadcast cut to commercial so fast that I did not see if there was that typical procedure that they follow in the dugout to determine whether to challenge. Hawk said something like, "OK I guess they are not going to challenge" and that kind of bothered me since they did not show a replay.

Alright already, I know, hindsight is 20 / 20 but I have a question about the last out in the top of the 8th, I believe. I think Lawrie was forced out at second base for the third out. It looked like he was safe or that the call was close enough to challenge, at least to me. If overturned that would have extended our inning with two men on. I was expecting a challenge by Ventura but it appeared as though he either saw the play clearly enough to not challenge, or perhaps he felt that the night was long and it was the 8th and we had a big lead. Maybe he simply exercised poor judgment. Did anyone else note that? I wish I could see the play again because maybe I am mis-remembering this and I apologize if that is the case. I just hate to give up a possible chance to score runs by not challenging close plays.

Hard to imagine another NFL team in the same market, and literally down the street from the Bears. There already was and they played in Comiskey Park while the Bears played in Wrigley Field. I'm not sure if another franchise will ever come to Chicago again but it is possible. As far as a future ballpark for the White Sox, it may not be in our lifetime but the lakefront is a logical place to build the next one.

Cub fans are the only people who are fixated on attendance figures at Sox games. They dream of the possibility of the Sox leaving Chicago, but that is never going to happen. First of all, the Sox have been in Chicago longer than the Cubs. Secondly, the league would never allow it. Third, Reinsdorf's sons have never indicated they would ever be interested in selling. Cub fans keep repeating a comment JR made to the effect that if his sons sold any team, it would be the baseball team but that doesn't mean they would even want to and if they did, chances are it would be to someone like bill Wirtz or a group of Chicago based investors, including those who already have a stake in the team. It is inevitable that the lakefront will be developed from McCormick Place South. That has been discussed since the Burnham Plan and brought up numerous times over the years including when the City was bidding for the Olympics. The City is now discussing bringing the Lucas Museum here (although Rauner opposes what appears to me to be a very sensible plan to locate it where McCormick Place East is). Eventually, that is going to happen. As part of that there there will likely be a new stadium. The White Sox are the logical tenant along with either the Bears or another NFL franchise ( perhaps a successor to the NFL's Chicago Cardinals) for a stadium right on the Lake. Until then, neither the White Sox nor US Cellular are going to go anywhere.

Jason Benetti's home run call "Oh my goodness," is at worst, a pussification of a home run. At best, Benetti simply used that trite expression because he could not come up with anything original or better. A grandmother says "oh my goodness'. I don't agree with Hawk's opinions and politics all the time and I understand he can't go on forever, but I would have liked to see him back full time this season. Instead of Benetti , I would have preferred that someone else be chosen as his successor, preferably a former major league player who has wit, personality and is more familiar with the game and the players. Benetti seems better suited to the radio side, not as the primary TV play to play man. As long as he is doing that job though, I wish him well and hope he improves.

So what if Danks pitches to contact against the BoSox, gets great defense and survives until the 6th inning? He gets another 5 starts to maybe win another game ? Danks provides opposing line-ups with confidence at the plate and that can extend to subsequent games in a series. He throws gopher balls that turn into tape measure home runs - ball busting game changers and momentum killers. If that continues it could impact attendance at home games where Danks is the scheduled starter. That is a problem that Sox management will not tolerate.

I would be surprised if Danks gets another start.