Don't write this off yet.

 

Detroit's bullpen is beyond horrible.

 

Ozzie has written it off, as evidenced by putting in Richard and MacDougal.

They keep stating that OBP is the most important quality. Yet our examples of who has been trotting out there, is not exactly OBP guys.

no s*** man, i couldn't agree more.....we hear this BS conjecture of wanting obp guys instead of prototypical laedoff hitter...and they march dewayne wise and his .254 career obp, and his .238 career obp into the leadoff.....now i know getz is hurt, but why not fields leading off and betemit playing 2b????

i'll play devils advocate a little bit and say....middle relief looks horrible, Alexei looks really, really bad out there, and unlike my fellow sox faithful, im really worried about him. I personalyl don't think hes a very good hitter, and i honestly am not sure that he is the hitter he showed last year...i mean only 18 BBs in 400+ ABs...pitchers are really going to take advantage of him...CF looks like an even bigger hole than I expected (and I didnt expect much), and the defense looks terrible....also our base running has been as bad as ive seen....

 

also, as you pointed out earlier, ozzies philosophy of having someone fast leading off is really unsettling

I've also been worried that Alexei's year last year was a bit of a fluke. The scouting reports on him were not encouraging at all when we signed him. That being said, I think his problems right now are correctable. He just needs to stop looking for the fastball all the time.

 

Contreras really didn't deserve to give up 4 earned runs...he has been much better than a 6.97 ERA. I'm not drinking Hawk's kool-aid, but I think Jose will be much better when we get to "Cuban" weather, same thing with Ramirez.

 

Somehow Aaron Laffey, after getting bombed out of ST and his first AAA start, has shut down the Royals for 4 innings. I guess the baseball gods had to come down on the side of the Indians eventually, but still only a 1-0 lead for CLE going into the 5th. Long way to go.

Edited April 15, 200917 yr by caulfield12

no s*** man, i couldn't agree more.....we hear this BS conjecture of wanting obp guys instead of prototypical laedoff hitter...and they march dewayne wise and his .254 career obp, and his .238 career obp into the leadoff.....now i know getz is hurt, but why not fields leading off and betemit playing 2b????

 

I'm generally not a big "OMG HE STRIKES OUT TOO MUCH!!!11" guy, but Fields whiffs WAY too much to be hitting leadoff. Not to mention, when he's at his best, he's more of a guy who produces runs, and hitting him leadoff kind of offsets that.

Come on! Lets knock galarraga out and get to that pen!

I'm generally not a big "OMG HE STRIKES OUT TOO MUCH!!!11" guy, but Fields whiffs WAY too much to be hitting leadoff. Not to mention, when he's at his best, he's more of a guy who produces runs, and hitting him leadoff kind of offsets that.

yeah, but i just meant as a stop gap until getz gets back, because fields really doesnt strike out anymore than lillibridge does, and also has shown a keen eye so far this year

 

JD looked like he had never seen a slider in his life in that AB

Edited April 15, 200917 yr by daa84

yeah, but i just meant as a stop gap until getz gets back, because fields really doesnt strike out anymore than lillibridge does, and also has shown a keen eye so far this year

 

JD looked like he had never seen a slider in his life in that AB

 

There really isn't a perfect option, that's true. Fields might actually be the best option at this point, I'd have a hard time arguing he's not. Lillibridge couldn't hit pony league pitching though, so that's a bad point of reference.

Edited April 15, 200917 yr by whitesoxfan101

I'm generally not a big "OMG HE STRIKES OUT TOO MUCH!!!11" guy, but Fields whiffs WAY too much to be hitting leadoff.

 

And Wise, Getz, BA, and Lilli all get out to much to be hitting lead-off.

yeah, but i just meant as a stop gap until getz gets back, because fields really doesnt strike out anymore than lillibridge does, and also has shown a keen eye so far this year

 

JD looked like he had never seen a slider in his life in that AB

 

All of our hitters have looked AWFUL against offspeed pitches so far this year.

How bad is the Tiger bullpen if they don't trust taking out Gallaraga with a 5 run lead?

Paulie draws the one out walk.

Too bad we had to get rained out yesterday....we were on a nice roll.

Looking like 2 games, 2 shutouts on WGN...........Get excited.

All of our hitters have looked AWFUL against offspeed pitches so far this year.

 

I feel like I've been saying that for at least 10 years now.

Put 2 on the board here and give yourself a prayer

Edited April 15, 200917 yr by WHarris1

rich harden has 85 pitches and isn't even out of the 3rd inning yet

Meh. Quentin wasn't a question mark, and Linebrink hasn't proven anything (he's a great 1st half pitcher who struggles and/or gets hurt in the 2nd half). We're probably going to leave Tampa 5-7, and although the division is horrible and our pitching IF it stays healthy is pretty good, I'm not overwhelmingly happy.

 

The organization and Linebrink never really said how worried they were that Linebrink was going to require major surgery if he came into ST this offseason and had no life on his pitches. Linebrink talked to a doctor friend of my dad's in February, and he thought he might be at 60% when the season started.

I'd be happy if the bottom of the order showed some life here late in the game.

The organization and Linebrink never really said how worried they were that Linebrink was going to require major surgery if he came into ST this offseason and had no life on his pitches. Linebrink talked to a doctor friend of my dad's in February, and he thought he might be at 60% when the season started.

 

That's not a surprise. I am starting to think he's hurting going into most seasons, which is why he's usually hurt by July.

Seay in to face AJ.

How bad is the Tiger bullpen if they don't trust taking out Gallaraga with a 5 run lead?

 

 

Hawk's pet peeve, the dreaded pitch count.

 

Actually, this is a good test for the Tigers' pen to see if they can shut down the White Sox...Leyland needs to know what he'll get out them in the late innings.

 

Room service DP ball...typical of how this game isn't going.

 

90% of the time when you miss those two early scoring opportunities against a good pitcher, you can put a fork in that game. Plus our defense is one of the worst in the major leagues...in terms of errors AND range (yes, you JD and Fields)

Edited April 15, 200917 yr by caulfield12

Seay is not good. Let's get to him Sox!

If AJ walks i might die of shock.

nope he just hits into a double play, and order is restored.