Thornton, from all I could tell from the Tiger's radio broadcast, looked fairly sharp, and was victimized by a bad read by Dye, and a couple of bloopers. He did buckle down though and get that big strikeout to finish it. He was working ahead of the count (imagine that) and displayed a nice breaking ball--again, going off the Tiger's radio feed.

 

So, those that got to see the game live or on TV--any observations worth noting?

You know, even when this guy was having some poor innings in spring training, he consistently made good pitches throughout. Today, again, he made some very nice pitches, looked composed, and I heard Hawk say the gun at the stadium went off as high as 97mph.

 

I highly doubt this guy is going to make or break the pen this year, but, at this rate, he'll be able to do all that is asked of him--eat some innings and get out some lefties.

Reminds me of Schoenweiss or however you spelled the name.

The first time he pitched in ST I thought this guy could be a good one if he could locate an occassional breaking ball, and every time he goes out there now he does that a little better than the time before.

I fully expect him to get blown up in a game or two when he can't locate but otherwise he should be able to be a LOOGY at the least, and an eighth inning set-up man at best. Luckily there won't be any pressure on him to be that good.

So, I guess Borchard kinda paid off...

Yea, it kinda does look that way now, although I hesitate to make any solid conclusions after 9 games. Good to hear though that he seems to be making some progress. Even if he can get to respectability for a LOOGY, that is worth Borchard IMO, given the teams needs this year.

to me, his name will always be thortonson

 

so..

 

MATT THORTONSON..... YES!!!!!

You know, even when this guy was having some poor innings in spring training, he consistently made good pitches throughout.  Today, again, he made some very nice pitches, looked composed, and I heard Hawk say the gun at the stadium went off as high as 97mph.

 

I highly doubt this guy is going to make or break the pen this year, but, at this rate, he'll be able to do all that is asked of him--eat some innings and get out some lefties.

 

 

^^^

 

I have to admit I wasn't that high on Thornton in ST but he seems to be pulling it together and thats a defenite plus for the pen.

^^^

 

I have to admit I wasn't that high on Thornton in ST but he seems to be pulling it together and thats a defenite plus for the pen.

 

Agree, I don't expect him to throw with a low 2 ERA or 90 k's but the guy seems to be coming together and seems to be in his own now, hope he has a solid year.

Reminds me of Schoenweiss or however you spelled the name.

 

Not even close, Thorton has better stuff.

Agree, I don't expect him to throw with a low 2 ERA or 90 k's but the guy seems to be coming together and seems to be in his own now, hope he has a solid year.

 

 

If he can be a one inning guy, or even two innings, with an ERA under 3.75, it's more than we could have asked. He throws serious heat from the left side.

If he can be a one inning guy, or even two innings, with an ERA under 3.75, it's more than we could have asked. He throws serious heat from the left side.

 

Exactly, and will help the team more then Borchard on the bench.....

 

by the way I LOVE your sig.

The Tiger broadcasters were going on and on about him and what a find for the Sox if he continued to pitch as he was. They were complimentary of the entire Sox team the entire series.

The Tiger broadcasters were going on and on about him and what a find for the Sox if he continued to pitch as he was.  They were complimentary of the entire Sox team the entire series.

 

They seem to have a great amount of respect for the Champs.

Reminds me of Schoenweiss or however you spelled the name.

with about 10 mph on his fastball

 

I said it when I saw his first outing in ST. The guy has some nasty stuff, if he only attacks the strike zone, he will be tough to hit. Its hard to square up his first fastball, so theres strike one, then he can challenge the hitters from there.

If he can be a one inning guy, or even two innings, with an ERA under 3.75, it's more than we could have asked. He throws serious heat from the left side.

That pretty much replaces the output of Luis Vizcaino from last season.

 

It shows how important it is for Don Cooper to stick around for the long - term as well. If we keep Coop, then KW can trade for more guys like Thornton who have good stuff, but some reason whether it's a flaw in their delivery etc. just haven't had much success in the majors.

I didn't get to see him pitch but from the sounds of it he looked very good. I said this in the gamethread but one of the better stats of the day is he threw 22 pitches and 19 of them were strikes. I did see that breaking ball he threw to end the game(sportscenter) and I hope he uses that pitch more often, it wasn't a huge breaker but it was a quick-sharp breaker. If he can mix that in with his fastball he might just be pretty effective.

Yea, the Tiger radio guys are a good bunch IMO. I listen to them quite a bit here in MI, and they are always very complimentary towards the White Sox, even saying that the Tigers aren't in same class as the Sox, and until they take a series, have no grounds to stand on.

 

They mentioned time and time again what a great approach Iguchi, Thome, Konerko, and Dye have at the plate, and weren't afraid to rip into their own players if they saw something they didn't like. Furthermore, they seemed quite knowledgable about the Sox, mentioning the surprising spring of Logan as a factor in his making the team, and they even were familiar with the stories that came out of the Thornton signing--i.e. Williams and Cooper's thinking that he had a few mechanical flaws they could figure out. In general, they praised the job KW has done finding waiver wire guys (or in Thornton's case, about to be) like Jenks and Thornton that were low risk high reward types.

 

I'm not sure either of the guys' names that do the broadcasts, but evidently one of them is an ex-player, and unlike Singleton, he brings a good deal of knowledge to the table.

 

It was a pleasure listening to them today.

Edited April 14, 200620 yr by chitownsportsfan

I like Matt Thornton.

I like Matt Thornton. smile.gif

 

Yes, for now--I like him as well. Although I'm halfway to drunk drinking the Thornton spiked Kool-Aid from KW and Cooper.

Edited April 14, 200620 yr by chitownsportsfan

Reminds me of Schoenweiss or however you spelled the name.

Schoeneweis.

Thornton threw 22 pitches, 19 for strikes, and one of the 3 balls he threw was a strike that the ump didn't call. He looked really great, and didn't get flustered after what seemed to be endless bad luck (misplayed ball to RF, seeing eye single, and a broken bat dribbler).

 

He blew a couple fastballs by the hitters and also showed some nice control. If he can continue to do this, B-Mac and him will more than compensate for the loss of Viz, Marte, and Hermie.

Thornton threw 22 pitches, 19 for strikes, and one of the 3 balls he threw was a strike that the ump didn't call.  He looked really great, and didn't get flustered after what seemed to be endless bad luck (misplayed ball to RF, seeing eye single, and a broken bat dribbler).

 

He blew a couple fastballs by the hitters and also showed some nice control.  If he can continue to do this, B-Mac and him will more than compensate for the loss of Viz, Marte, and Hermie.

 

I refuse to get excited over this outing. Ask any mariner fan and they will tell you thornton has the ability to make hitters look foolish as hell for one, two, maybe even three innings... while hammering the zone. Little bit downt he road he will suddenly lose control and implode for a four spot... and those three scoreless innings he just threw go for naught.

 

We likely won't know if cooper is actually a god or not (everyone here seems to think so) until around the all star break.

Thornton looked pretty solid today. The Tigers got a couple of well placed hits, other than that I like to think it was a productive outing with the game semi-on the line.

with about 10 mph on his fastball

Shoeneweis threw 93-94. He could bring it for a lefty.

 

I have yet to see thornton hit 100+ on the gun.