New Topics
Sox won in extra innings last night. Well, a big WHOOP-DE-DOO to them! They fight off elimination for an extra day.

As the regular season winds down it looks like I’ll have to focus on the "Chicago Sports" part of the blog title. I can’t wait to start looking in depth at the Bears. I’m just drooling over the possibilities.

“Hey, did you catch that quarterback draw that went for 3 yards? Man, that was unexpected.”

Or

“Man did those Bears did a great job shutting down Moss and Culpepper. All they had to do was let Minnesota run for 200 yards. That's strategy my friend.”

I guess I can always jump on the Huskie bandwagon. But I’ll think I’ll wait one more week.

Say What
Ben Jacobs covers all the bases with respect to Peter Gammons latest column at the Universal blog. He also takes a whack at Jayson Stark's latest.

Sox Hatin'
I guess winning the division isn’t enough for some people. I think a Sox fan must of ran over his dog or something.

I never really understood why the White Sox generate so much hostility. Last week, in about his tenth post in a row dancing on the Sox's grave, Gleeman made comments about how cocky and arrogant the Sox were. I guess he’s talking about Ray Durham’s comments – last year. Uh, well, he’s no longer on the team. Or maybe he’s mad because Billy Koch said the Twins got some lucky bounces last season. Hardly cocky and arrogant stuff.

Anyway, I went to the game Friday night and had a good time. The Sox won, and its fun to watch them play when their hitting well. As for this club being cocky and arrogant, that’s not a very apt description. Konerko’s a good guy. Magglio says less than ten words a season. Lee seems to have a good time playing. Thomas can be difficult, but I’ve never seen him disrespect other teams. Manuel’s nickname is “Gandhi” for crying out loud.

As far as I can remember, Valentin is the only player to make any type of arrogant statement this year, after sweeping the Royals in KC. If anything, the Sox lacked confidence against the Twins and were too deferential. I think they could of used some arrogance.

So where does the hostility come from? Is Hawk that annoying? I guess I’ll stick with my dog theory.

Twins Geek V. Rogers
Yesterday, Twins Geek wrote about each managers strategy in the fifth inning of Wednesday's game:

"In the fifth inning last night, the Twins were beating Jon Garland and the Sox 3-0 and were threatening again. They had runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. Garland looked tired. The left-handed Kelly Wunsch and the right-handed Scott Sullivan were warmed up in the bullpen. And designated hitter Jacque Jones strode to the plate.

And Jerry Manuel didn't bring in his left-handed reliever.

But it gets stranger still. After swinging and missing twice, Jones fisted a ball into left to score a run. Again, there are runners on 1st and 2nd, and the left-handed Corey Koskie came up to bat.

And Jerry Manuel did bring in his left-handed reliever.

So what does this tell us? It tells us that Jerry Manuel would rather see Jacque Jones bat against a tiring right-handed Garland than see Matt LeCroy bat against a left-handed Kelly Wunsch (ERA 2.04). Or maybe even against a right-handed Scott Sullivan."

So it sounds like Twins Geek doesn't have a problem with Manuel, only with Gardenhire playing Jones.

But Phil Rogers had this to say:

"But according to those who talk to them privately, Gardenhire and others in the Twins' organization consider Manuel's job security the best thing to happen to them since the Cleveland Indians downsized.

Whether on television or in person, they often shake their heads about Manuel's maneuvering. The one that had them talking Wednesday was Manuel bringing in lefty Kelly Wunsch to face Koskie, one batter after Jones, another left-handed hitter, had delivered a run-scoring single."

Who's right? Well, I have to diasgree with both. I think Jacque Jones brings a lot to the Twins lineup. He has good speed and decent power. He's stikes out a lot, but has better numbers against righties than LeCroy.

With that said, Rogers is also wrong. I don't think Manuel is a good manager, but I have no problem with letting Garland pitch to Jones in that situation. Garland was pitching on something like six days rest, and was not even at 80 pitches. He shouldn't have been that tired. Now, as it turns out Jones singles and the Twins go up 4-0. Then it was time to go get Garland out of there.

I also believe, that if Koskie and Jones were reversed in the order, the exact same scenario would have played out. Maybe it wasn't the right strategy, but hardly an example of incompetence.

Friday Football Picks
The football picks are up over at SethSpeaks. It looks like I’m all alone with the Bills and Raiders. If they both come through I might be able to move into second place.

Last week’s record: 9-7
Year to date: 20-12

Look Familiar
While Frank will take most of the heat for not producing, Magglio is just as guilty. Take a look at their numbers for this series (sorry about the tables):

AB H R 2B 3B HR BB K RBI AVE
Ordonez 11 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .273
Thomas 12 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .083


Their numbers in the 2000 LDS:

AB H R 2B 3B HR BB K RBI AVE
Ordonez 11 2 0 0 1 0 2 1 1 .182
Thomas 9 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 .000

Ugly stuff.

Only a Flesh Wound!
Yesterday, SethSpeaks.net sent quite a few people over to get the White Sox fan’s perspective on this series. At least that’s what he said. It’s more likely he was sending Twins fans over to enjoy my misery.

But I have to admit, I don’t feel all that bad. Sure I can’t watch the games because they are making me sick, but I would rather go down head to head than because the Twins beat Detroit seven straight times.

From the innings I have been able sit through, this is what I’ve taken from the games. The Twins haven’t pitched that well. I think the Sox are just choking. There were certainly pitches to hit last night and the offense didn’t come through. This offense has gone through some very bad stretches this year so this isn’t all that surprising. But with that said, Twins pitchers have been given a ridiculous strike zone. I’m talking an extra inch all around. It’s a lot harder to bat 0-1, 0-2 than it is 1-0, 2-0.

So that’s my perspective. Now go celebrate with Mr. Gleeman. I did find some humor in his post yesterday. He ended it with “How do you like them apples”. I had a friend who said that all the time in junior high (87-88) and I always thought it was funny. Even then it sounded like something people would have said in the 50’s, like “How do you like them apples, daddio!”. Anyway, if they used that line in Good Will Hunting, make that reason number 101 that I’m glad I never saw the movie.

Now please, no e-mails saying “you got to watch that movie, it’s so good.” People told me the same thing about Titanic, and I’m still pissed I wasted three hours of my life on that movie. I would have walked out half way through, but after investing an hour of my time in the movie, you better believe I was going to get the satisfaction of seeing that boat sink and watching someone die.

So I learned my lesson - trust your instincts when it comes to picking movies to watch. And my instincts tell me that Matt Damon sucks. And that Ben Affleck really sucks. And any movie they are in together will suck at a standard exponentially higher than their own individual suckiness. So put it on the board - I will never watch Good Will Hunting.

But I’m not Dead!
The Sox aren’t dead yet, but the obituaries are being prepared. There's not much to say about last night’s game. Loaiza, the Sox ace, pitched like crapfor the second start in a row. But since he’s even being ripped on our local Fox morning show, I don’t see the need to pile on. So I’ll just move on. I’ll just watch these final two games and see how things play out. Of course if the Sox start losing these games, I'll pop the X-Files DVD back in and watch an episode like I did in the 4th inning last night.

Baseball Journalism
Last week I commented on a post from Ben Jacobs at the Universal Blog who thought Carlos Lee was having a disappointing season compared to last year. I agreed that it wasn’t a breakout season for Lee, but thought it was good nonetheless.

Anyway, Jacobs wrote that he was sure most journalists and even players probably thought that this was a breakout season for Lee, just because his average, HRs and RBIs were up this year. Well he nailed this one, as there were articles in both papers today about Lee having a breakthrough season. The Trib article touts him as a possible future MVP candidate, while the Sun-Times says he is having a Frank or Mags type season. Lets take a look at their numbers for this year.

Ordonez 2003 OBP/Slug/OPS - 388/561/949
Thomas 2003 OBP/Slug/OPS - 387/556/942
Lee 2003 OBP/Slug/OPS - 337/517/849

Not quite. I don’t think Lee will ever have a Magglio or Thomas type season.

Big Games
Tonight is a rematch of last Thursday's game. Loaiza had one bad inning as the Sox lost their biggest game of the year. Let's hope we don't have a repeat performance.

On paper, the Sox have a small edge in starting pitching in all three games.

Game 1 - Radke vs. Loaiza
Game 2 - Rogers vs. Garland
Game 3 - Lohse vs. Colon

Radke and and Lohse have been pitching well for the Twins lately, but I still like Loaiza and Colon in games 1 & 3. Rogers is certainly capable of good games, but with the way the Sox hit lefties, I also have to go with Garland in Game 2.

Offensively, I would have to say both teams are about even. They do different things well, but end up averaging about the same amount of runs per game.

Relief pitching definitely goes to the Twins. The Sox have improved in that area, but the Twins have been unhittable lately with Hawkins and Guardado in the late innings.

So what do the Sox need to do to win this series? Score early and hold the lead. The Sox have not been able to mount large combacks this year, and were unable to score more than 1 run when down in games 3 & 4 last week. Coming back aginst the Twins bullpen is even more difficult. So the starters will need to get the job done if the Sox want to see first place again.

Down to the Wire
After the Sox lost their last two games to the Twins and their first to the BoSox, I was afraid the pennant drive was about to unravel early. But after two impressive wins against Boston, the White Sox have shown that they are in the race to stay.

What will it take to make the playoffs? Well, there are 4 series left and they need to win each one. They don’t need to sweep them, just win them. That will leave them at 9-4 and also give the Twins two losses. If the Twins can go 9-1 against Detroit & Cleveland they would still end up on top. But I don’t think that will happen. And if it does, it will at least be good to know the Twins earned their way into October.

The biggest hurdle for the Sox will be trying to win on the day their fifth pitcher starts. Danny Wright just had a disastrous start Friday night against Boston and I would hesitate to start him again. For the year he has a 6.31 ERA as a starter and 3.24 ERA as a reliever. Wright has proven himself to be an effective relief pitcher and poor starter.

If the Sox drop Wright down to the pen, they still need to find a fifth starter for two games, as today is their last day off. There has been some talk of going to a 4 man rotation which I don’t think makes sense. These players have been pitching on four days rest their entire professional lives. To alter their routine with 13 games to go in the season, tied atop the standings, just doesn’t seem rational. So what do you do? I would start Schoeneweis. He has also had trouble in a starting role which is why Anaheim moved him to the bullpen. But he at least has a few years experience, and if he gets in trouble, Wright can come in for long relief. I know this isn’t a great option, but what else is there?

Friday Football Picks
The picks for Week 2 are up over at SethSpeaks.net. I'm currently in second place. This week the Bears have the privilege of getting pasted on national TV. I like to be optimistic but I don't see how the Bears can win. They have a weak defensive line and bad cornerbacks, not a good combination. And dare I say, their middle linebacker is a tad bit overrated. Now, I love Urlacher, and I'm glad he's on my team. But he's not great a shaking off blockers. So without a good defensive line in front of him, its harder for the Bears to exploit his athletecism. That said, there is only one other middle linebacker who I think is better and that's Ray Lewis.

They are equally inept on offense. I didn't want the Bears to sign Kordell Stewart (I had hoped the Bears would have tried to sign Griese). But after they signed him I hoped for the best. But last week he stunk. Maybe it's not all his fault. He does have a moron for an offensive coordinator.

Last weeks record: 11-5
Year to date: 11-5

OOPS
In an earlier post, I blamed Manuel for calling for a bunt, down 4-1, with runners on 1st & 2nd, and no outs. Well, it turns out Alomar bunted on his own. So my apologies for blaming Manuel. And after Alomar failed to catch a relay throw that may have cost 2 runs, my argument in favor of Alomar's defensive skills is also starting to look rather foolish.

Advantage Twins
Well, everything is even again with 16 games left. But while the Sox have a much harder schedule, there are a few bright spots:

1. The Sox do not face Pedro this weekend.
2. The Sox will most likely miss Johan next week unless Gardenhire decides to hold him back for the Sox series.
3. The Sox have Monday off, so they will not need to pitch Wright against Minnesota.
4. Minnesota is only 5-8 against Cleveland this year.

So while the Sox blew a big opportunity today, there is still a lot of baseball yet to be played.

Manuel Thinks Small
Last night, with the Sox down 3-1, Manuel had Jose Valentin sacrifice runners over to 2nd and 3rd. Now this put the tying runner on second with one out so it’s a defensible position. Personally I would have liked to see Jose swing away.

But today the Sox are down 4-1 with runners on 1st & 2nd with no outs and again Manuel has R. Alomar sacrifice. The Sox don’t need two runs they need three. So Manuel takes an out away and decreases the chances for a big inning (and they don’t score at all). Anyway, I thought the strength of the White Sox was hitting home runs, not situational hitting. Let’em swing away!

UPDATE: Alomar bunted on his own (see above).

Must Win
Before I talk briefly about last nights game, I would like to thank all those who work to make this country the place it is and strive to bring freedom to others less fortunate than ourselves.

It's been strange two years. Things have gone pretty much back to normal, but normal is not what it was before 9/11/01. And for the many who criticize our current administration I believe it is important that they put forth an alternate vision of how the Middle East should be transformed. This region is the source of many of the worlds problems and must be dealt with in some fashion.

On to baseball.

It’s hard to be upset with last nights loss. This was the one game that Minnesota should have won and they did. But still, the Sox did waste a good opportunity to score in the 7th and they were able hit some balls hard in the first couple of innings off Santana. Oh well.

It looks like the Twins got a make up call in the fifth. On Tuesday they had a runner thrown out at third who was clearly safe. Last night that had a runner called safe at first who was clearly out. This was the start of their two run fifth inning and turned out to be a very important play. The Twins jumped ahead 2-0 in a pitchers duel and didn’t look back.

If the Sox win today I’m sure I’ll post my thoughts going into this weekends Boston series. If they lose I’ll probably post my football picks.

OBP/Slugging
It seems that a lot more people are taking in interest in the Sox lately. First, just as I was about to do a lengthy post on the Sox offense since the break, Aaron Gleeman inaugurates his new website on that very topic. Of course his analysis was much more in depth and better written than anything I was going put together, but still, I don’t care how painful it becomes for him to write about his Twins, writing about how great the Sox are is my job!

At least Ben Jacobs at Universal Blog has the decency to criticize a White Sox player and give me something to write about. Jacobs actually calls Carlos Lee’s season a disappointment after his sabermetric friendly numbers from last year. Lee actually has about the same OPS this year, but it’s made up of a lower OBP and higher Slugging %. Now, OBP is considered the more important of the two numbers by many, so by this standard he is having a worse year.

Now I would like to make a couple of points here. First, I do sympathize with this line of reasoning as I too have been waiting for Lee to have a breakthrough season. However, the 2002 season was the year I stopped expecting one. Sure his numbers were good last year, but I was hoping for an Ordonez type year. So after last year, I figured Lee would continue to put up numbers close to what he did in his first 4 seasons, and this year he has. And if you look at his numbers they are pretty impressive, 292/336/505, 28 HR, 32 2B, 100 RBI. I would hesitate to call those disappointing unless your name is Rodriguez or Bonds. He has also gone from from one stolen base last year to 17 this year and has continued to improve in the field. Overall, I would have to say Lee is a better player this year than last.

Now one possible reason why his walks may have dropped, which accounts for his overall dropoff in numbers, is that he has batted second in over a third of his games this year. He’s probably seeing a lot more pitches to hit this year with a rejuvenated Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez batting behind him. This would account for his lower walk totals and increase in hits. This can not be proven in any way, but it makes logical sense to me.

Now I would like to make one final point about OBP and slugging. OBP counts a walk is the same as a single. But we know this is not the case. You can’t drive in a runner from second with a walk, advance a runner from first to third, or score a runner from third unless the bases are loaded. A single also brings the possibility of a defensive error into play. A batter that has a .400 OBP on 20 singles and 20 walks in 100 TPA, is a better offensive player that a batter with a .400 OBP on 40 walks in 100 TPA, but OPB wouldn’t reflect it. Only slugging % would reflect the difference. Now if Lee traded about 20 singles for 40 walks, he would have about the same numbers this year as he did last year. In essence, for every point his OPB went up his slugging % would go down the same. Now this may in fact be a good trade-off, but exactly how good? One point of OBP can't be worth that much more than one point slugging. How about 30 singles for 40 walks? OBP would be lower but OPS higher. Is that a good trade-off?

Two Down, Two To Go
I don’t have much to say about last night’s game other than it was very hard sitting through that ninth inning. They won and that’s all that matters today.

The pressure was on the Sox to win the first two games of this series. Now that pressure is squarely on the back of Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins. This is the one game in the series that they are supposed to win. If the Sox can pull out a win tonight, they’ll be in a great position to sweep with Loaiza pitching tomorrow.

Paulie! Paulie!
Paul Konerko is probably my favorite White Sox player. I’m not sure why. He’s not the best hitter on the club, although he is good. I guess its because he seems to be a straight shooter. And maybe its because I could probably beat him in a foot race. For whatever reason, it made it harder for me to watch him struggle earlier in the year. Well, struggle, might not be the best word. He just sucked. And even though he’s been a fan favorite the last couple of years the boos started coming in June.

Coming into this year, Paulie had career numbers of .282/.344/.477. Not superstar numbers, but good enough to enjoy a nice long career playing baseball. His monthly numbers to start the year:

Mar/April .230/.299/.368
May .181/.261/.241
June .098/.174/.098

Through June, he only had 11 extra base hits in 208 AB. He hit bottom on July 8th when his season numbers were .183/.254/.274. But then something changed. Since the All Star break, Paulie has returned to form. His monthly numbers since:

July .342/.372/.671
Aug .301/.371/.548
Sep .500/.571/1.000 (5 games)

Since July 1, he has had 26 extra base hits 187 AB and brought his season numbers up to a respectable .256/.321/.441. Not exactly good, but no longer the subject of what’s wrong with Paulie stories.

Now this leads me to my first e-mail question. Paulie has been red hot over the last 11 games hitting over .500 with 6 home runs and 16 RBIs (going into last night). But he had been 1 for 27 lifetime against Lohse. So my question is, do you sit Paulie and put in the left handed Daubach, or do you hope Paulie can break through against Lohse during a hot streak? Let me know what you think.

1 Down, 3 To Go
The Sox pulled out the first game 5-2. They scored all 5 runs with two outs in the first. Some good hitting was on display, but there were also a few bad pitches. Two pitches stand out. With one out and the bases empty, Lohse threw a breaking ball to C. Lee that was low but over the plate. Carlos lined it down the line just foul. Now you and I might say to ourselves, “El Caballo just nailed that pitch, we better not throw that again.” But I guess Pierzynski and Lohse said to themselves, “El Caballo just nailed that pitch. He would never expect us to throw that again.” So Lee gets the same pitch, nails it again, but this time keeps it fair for a two bagger.

The second questionable pitch was to Miguel Olivo with the score 3-0 and the bases loaded. Lohse let go a fastball straight down the middle of the plate that Olivo smashed for a two run double. Now Olivo hits breaking balls like Serrano from the movie Major League. I’m sure the Twins were hesitant to throw breaking balls after Lohse had already walked two and with the bases loaded. But I would still only throw junk to Olivo until there were two balls in the count. He smashed the fastball, the only pitch he has shown the ablity to hit, on a 1-1 count.

After the first, Lohse pitched very well. But five runs were enough as Colon went the distance. Colon didn’t have his best stuff and had to walk a tightrope a few times. The Twins did have runners on 2nd & 3rd with no outs in the 7th. But Colon snagged a liner back to the mound, struck out Manischewitz and got LaCroix to pop out on a high fastball.