I will be attending my first game of the year tonight as the White Sox take on the Angels. It's just my luck that a cold front moved in overnight and the temperature is supposed to drop below 50. On top of that, baby Claire woke up at 5:30 AM, so I didn't get much sleep.
But enough complaining, the Sox are in first place. I'll post my thoughts on what I think of the Cell redesign this weekend.
Friday, May 28, 2004
Thursday, May 27, 2004
NL First Baseman On Fire
I was doing a little research to see how the Cubbies were doing on their offseason trade with the Marlins (actually I know how the trade was working out - the Sox fan in me just wanted to enjoy looking at the numbers) and was surprised to see so many NL first baseman tearing the cover off the ball.
Choi has the seventh highest OPS - at .946! Albert Puljos is right in front of him at .950. In fact, 5 NL first baseman have an OPS greater than 1.000, which is more than any other position in either league combined. In fact there are only 15 players who currently have an OPS greater than 1.000 in both leagues.
By position they are:
C - 1 (1 AL)
1B - 5 (5 NL)
2B - 0
3B - 3 (1 AL, 2 NL)
SS - 0
OF - 4 (1 AL, 3 NL)
DH - 1 (Big Frank)
I would expect Casey, Overbay and Wilson to drop below 1.000 in the near future, while Puljos may end up joining Thome and Helton.
Derek Lee, who has career OPS of .818, is currently struggling at .778. While that isn't that far off his career average, he has finished with an OPS above .870 in 3 of his last 4 seasons as a Marlin, which is more in line with what the Cubs thought they would be getting when they made the trade.
Choi has the seventh highest OPS - at .946! Albert Puljos is right in front of him at .950. In fact, 5 NL first baseman have an OPS greater than 1.000, which is more than any other position in either league combined. In fact there are only 15 players who currently have an OPS greater than 1.000 in both leagues.
By position they are:
C - 1 (1 AL)
1B - 5 (5 NL)
2B - 0
3B - 3 (1 AL, 2 NL)
SS - 0
OF - 4 (1 AL, 3 NL)
DH - 1 (Big Frank)
I would expect Casey, Overbay and Wilson to drop below 1.000 in the near future, while Puljos may end up joining Thome and Helton.
Derek Lee, who has career OPS of .818, is currently struggling at .778. While that isn't that far off his career average, he has finished with an OPS above .870 in 3 of his last 4 seasons as a Marlin, which is more in line with what the Cubs thought they would be getting when they made the trade.
Monday, May 24, 2004
One More Thing About This Weekend
One of the main reasons I started this blog was that the newspapers always seemed to leave out important details in their game reports. I haven't been able to watch a lot of games this year, but did catch most of the 9-1 loss on Saturday.
In that game, the sox were down 4-1 in the fourth when Paul Konerko came up with two men on and one out. I don't remember the pitch count, but Konerko tagged a Radke off-speed pitch that hooked just left of the left field fair pole. The Sox were within a couple feet of tying the game at 4.
Konerko ended up striking out and the Sox didn't score. Guillen had his second tier relievers eat up some innings and the Sox ended up losing in a route. But if Konerko keeps that ball fair the whole complexion of the game changes.
To me, that was a key moment of the game and it doesn't even get mentioned in the Trib. Maybe they could print one less Cub article and give the Sox an extra paragraph to print more game details.
In that game, the sox were down 4-1 in the fourth when Paul Konerko came up with two men on and one out. I don't remember the pitch count, but Konerko tagged a Radke off-speed pitch that hooked just left of the left field fair pole. The Sox were within a couple feet of tying the game at 4.
Konerko ended up striking out and the Sox didn't score. Guillen had his second tier relievers eat up some innings and the Sox ended up losing in a route. But if Konerko keeps that ball fair the whole complexion of the game changes.
To me, that was a key moment of the game and it doesn't even get mentioned in the Trib. Maybe they could print one less Cub article and give the Sox an extra paragraph to print more game details.
A Good Pummeling
At the start of the season, I figured the Sox had a chance to win the division this year, but I sure didn't expcect them to. I predicted that they would again finish second to the Twins.
After this weekend's thrashing of the Twinkies, I am starting to think the Sox will win the division. I know I am probably just setting myself up for another September crash, but what I saw this weekend has changed my mind.
It's not what I saw from the White Sox bats, although it was impressive. It's what I saw from Minnesota pitchers that gives me hope.
Silva, Greisinger, and Sanatana were all hit hard by the Sox. Lohse is being hit hard by other teams. The only dependable starting pitcher they have right now is Radke.
The Twins will not win the division without three strong starting pitchers (and by strong I mean ERA under 4.50). I'm sure most Twins fans were hoping their Big Three would be Santana, Radke and Lohse. Lohse was probably the big question mark going into the season and he has not responded.
But Santana is the big disappointment. And if they don't have Santana, they don't have a chance.
After this weekend's thrashing of the Twinkies, I am starting to think the Sox will win the division. I know I am probably just setting myself up for another September crash, but what I saw this weekend has changed my mind.
It's not what I saw from the White Sox bats, although it was impressive. It's what I saw from Minnesota pitchers that gives me hope.
Silva, Greisinger, and Sanatana were all hit hard by the Sox. Lohse is being hit hard by other teams. The only dependable starting pitcher they have right now is Radke.
The Twins will not win the division without three strong starting pitchers (and by strong I mean ERA under 4.50). I'm sure most Twins fans were hoping their Big Three would be Santana, Radke and Lohse. Lohse was probably the big question mark going into the season and he has not responded.
But Santana is the big disappointment. And if they don't have Santana, they don't have a chance.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Sox Win, Twins Lose, Thomas Rocks
Only 17,640 turned out last night in Minnesota. I'm surprised all those Sox haters up north didn't come out to jeer. They're probably happy they stayed home after the Sox routed the Twins 10-3.
The Sox have now outscored the Twins 24-10 in their four games this year. Unfortunately, 21 of those runs were scored in two games and the Sox have only managed 2 wins.
I mentioned the other day how frustrating it is watching the Twins comeback to win so many games the last few years. I thought it may have been some type of cognitive bias, but it turns out the Twins have had a awful a lot of these types of wins the last few years.
Black Betsy has the facts here.
The Sox have now outscored the Twins 24-10 in their four games this year. Unfortunately, 21 of those runs were scored in two games and the Sox have only managed 2 wins.
I mentioned the other day how frustrating it is watching the Twins comeback to win so many games the last few years. I thought it may have been some type of cognitive bias, but it turns out the Twins have had a awful a lot of these types of wins the last few years.
Black Betsy has the facts here.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
G#@D*#@ Twins
The only thing worse than watching the Twins come back from 3 down in the 9th on a grand slam, would be watching them do it against the Sox.
Actually, I didn't watch it. but followed on sportsline.com. Watching that crooked number pop up is like a punch in the gut (unless of course its for your team). This wasn't as painful watching them come back against the Angels last year when the the tying run ran over Molina at home, jarring the ball loose and breaking his arm, which then allowed the winning run to score. That play took about five minutes for Sportsline to process! But this one was still painful.
Actually, I didn't watch it. but followed on sportsline.com. Watching that crooked number pop up is like a punch in the gut (unless of course its for your team). This wasn't as painful watching them come back against the Angels last year when the the tying run ran over Molina at home, jarring the ball loose and breaking his arm, which then allowed the winning run to score. That play took about five minutes for Sportsline to process! But this one was still painful.
Friday, May 14, 2004
Old School Manager
One thing we know for sure this season is that Ozzie Guillen is an "old school" baseball manager. Meaning he will let his starters throw a lot of pitches and will sacrifice bunt at any time during the game.
The starting pitchers have a few years under their belt, so the extra workload may not be cause for concern.
As for the bunting all the time, it's driving me crazy. A manager can't score any runs for the team, but he can sure cost them runs by sacrificing all the time. If he wants to bunt late in games to try and score an insurance run I have no problem with it. I wouldn't do it, but I don't think it will make much difference in the long run.
But Guillen sacrifices in the first inning to try and "put an early run on the board". And it seems he always sacrifices with runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, unless Big Frank or Maggs is up.
Yesterday, they were down 5-3 in the sixth, with runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. They game was in danger of being called early because of rain. The Sox needed two runs to tie and a big inning to take the lead. So what does Guillen do? He has Joe Crede attempt to bunt the runners over. As if this wasn't bad enough, Big Frank was the runner on first. Even if he gets to 2nd with one out there is a good chance he won't be scoring on a single.
So Crede lays down a bunt but the Orioles nail Maggs at third, leaving runners on 1st and 2nd, but now with 1 out. Konerko ended up hitting a three run homer so the move didn't hurt the Sox yesterday (but who knows, maybe Crede would have gotten on base and the Sox could have had an even bigger inning).
There's no denying that trading outs for bases will cost the Sox runs over the course of a 162 baseball game season. It is a proven fact.
Just like hitting on 12 even when the blackjack dealer is showing a 2 or 3 is the best percentage move to make on the blackjack table, letting your batters swing away and trying to maximize your run scoring potential is the best move to make on the baseball field. If I see someone making the wrong play on the blackjack table I can walk away and find a new game. Unfortunately, its not as easy to walk away from your favorite baseball team. So it looks like I will have to put up with Guillen giving away outs all year, and hope whatever "motivational" skills he brings to the table makes up for it.
The starting pitchers have a few years under their belt, so the extra workload may not be cause for concern.
As for the bunting all the time, it's driving me crazy. A manager can't score any runs for the team, but he can sure cost them runs by sacrificing all the time. If he wants to bunt late in games to try and score an insurance run I have no problem with it. I wouldn't do it, but I don't think it will make much difference in the long run.
But Guillen sacrifices in the first inning to try and "put an early run on the board". And it seems he always sacrifices with runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, unless Big Frank or Maggs is up.
Yesterday, they were down 5-3 in the sixth, with runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. They game was in danger of being called early because of rain. The Sox needed two runs to tie and a big inning to take the lead. So what does Guillen do? He has Joe Crede attempt to bunt the runners over. As if this wasn't bad enough, Big Frank was the runner on first. Even if he gets to 2nd with one out there is a good chance he won't be scoring on a single.
So Crede lays down a bunt but the Orioles nail Maggs at third, leaving runners on 1st and 2nd, but now with 1 out. Konerko ended up hitting a three run homer so the move didn't hurt the Sox yesterday (but who knows, maybe Crede would have gotten on base and the Sox could have had an even bigger inning).
There's no denying that trading outs for bases will cost the Sox runs over the course of a 162 baseball game season. It is a proven fact.
Just like hitting on 12 even when the blackjack dealer is showing a 2 or 3 is the best percentage move to make on the blackjack table, letting your batters swing away and trying to maximize your run scoring potential is the best move to make on the baseball field. If I see someone making the wrong play on the blackjack table I can walk away and find a new game. Unfortunately, its not as easy to walk away from your favorite baseball team. So it looks like I will have to put up with Guillen giving away outs all year, and hope whatever "motivational" skills he brings to the table makes up for it.
Interview With Kerry's Triceps
For those of you out of town, the Chicago Tribune publishes a dumbed down version of the paper called Red Eye. It sells for half the price (25 cents) and tries to inject some humor into their stories. Today they published an interview with Kerry Wood's triceps.
Unfortunately, their attempts at humor usually leave much to be desired which isn't all that surprising. After all, if these were good writers, they would be writing for the Trib, right?
On a side note, once the the Tribune started publishing Red Eye, the Sun Times immediately tried to undercut the Trib by passing out a dumbed down version of the Sun Times (stay with me here and just assume the Sun Times could be dumb downed any further) called Red Streak. They actually weren't expecting Red Streak to succeed, but rather trying to kill Red Eye so the Sun Times could have the dumbed down market for themselves. It doesn't look like the strategy has worked and now the Sun Times has increased their newstand price to match the Trib at 50 cents. It will be interesting how many people still prefer the ST at the same price as the Trib.
Unfortunately, their attempts at humor usually leave much to be desired which isn't all that surprising. After all, if these were good writers, they would be writing for the Trib, right?
On a side note, once the the Tribune started publishing Red Eye, the Sun Times immediately tried to undercut the Trib by passing out a dumbed down version of the Sun Times (stay with me here and just assume the Sun Times could be dumb downed any further) called Red Streak. They actually weren't expecting Red Streak to succeed, but rather trying to kill Red Eye so the Sun Times could have the dumbed down market for themselves. It doesn't look like the strategy has worked and now the Sun Times has increased their newstand price to match the Trib at 50 cents. It will be interesting how many people still prefer the ST at the same price as the Trib.
Sox/Twins
The first big series of the year starts today, if it stops raining, against the Twins. Seth at SethSpeaks has a player by player match-up. For the most part, they are hard to quibble with, but the last two are howlers. Seth gives a "slight advantage" to Big Frank over Lew Ford at DH. I know Ford is off to a hot start, but he wasn't even on the major league roster to start the season. And since he is DH'ing, it doesn't matter that Ford is a bettr defensive player. Advantage Sox.
He also only gives Ordonez a "slight advantage" over Jacque Jones. I guess you could call a higher career OPS of 120 points slight, but I wouldn't!
He also only gives Ordonez a "slight advantage" over Jacque Jones. I guess you could call a higher career OPS of 120 points slight, but I wouldn't!
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Housekeeping
I have always wanted to do two things on this blog. One is to add comments. The second is to post pictures. Well the blogger upgrade has added the comments and I finally took five minutes to learn how to post (someone elses)jpeg files.
I was going to to put up a picture of Brittney or Xtina, but decided to keep this site PG. So here are your 1917 Chicago White Sox:
I was going to to put up a picture of Brittney or Xtina, but decided to keep this site PG. So here are your 1917 Chicago White Sox:
Monday, May 10, 2004
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Can We Get Back To Baseball
In today's Tribune, Dusty Baker stated that he wished the Alou peeing story would die quickly and also hinted that he thought a KC star reporter broke a taboo by reporting some Cubs clubhouse antics. It looks like he's talking about this column by Jeff Passan.
There is nothing that awful in the column. I assume Dusty is objecting to the guy writing about Kerry Wood passing gas in the clubhouse. I'll have to agree with Dusty that a player should be free to let one go in the clubhouse without it being reported in the papers the next day.
There is nothing that awful in the column. I assume Dusty is objecting to the guy writing about Kerry Wood passing gas in the clubhouse. I'll have to agree with Dusty that a player should be free to let one go in the clubhouse without it being reported in the papers the next day.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Can We Rely On Koch?
I was actually thinking the Billy Koch could end up being a decent closer this year. He looked sharp this weekend against the Blue Jays and had only one completely miserable performance so far this year. He was getting some strikeouts, not walking a lot of batters, and hitting 94 on the radar gun. Overall, he looked much better than he did at any time last year.
That was until last night. Koch walked the bases loaded (while getting two strikeouts between the first and second walk) before giving up a 2 run single to Mora. Koch then "saved" the game by inducing Tejada to ground out to Uribe at short, who made a nice play on a hard hit ball.
His ERA now stands at 5.11, but he has gotten 13 Ks in 12.1 IP. I still think he can be an effective reliever for the Sox this year, but I would hate to count him closing an important game.
That was until last night. Koch walked the bases loaded (while getting two strikeouts between the first and second walk) before giving up a 2 run single to Mora. Koch then "saved" the game by inducing Tejada to ground out to Uribe at short, who made a nice play on a hard hit ball.
His ERA now stands at 5.11, but he has gotten 13 Ks in 12.1 IP. I still think he can be an effective reliever for the Sox this year, but I would hate to count him closing an important game.
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