Guest blogger: Julie B. on the White Sox

You sit or send both of those ice cold bats to AAA. And you bring up Fields to play first base and sign Barry Bonds! Kenny also needs to get a BONEFIDE starting pitcher in here and move Buerhle to the 5th spot. He still has gas in the tank, as does Jose and will be pivotal in the playoffs. They could make it to the ALCS where I suspect Boston will be waiting. And if its Boston, its over. Only the Cubs can possibly stop Boston. Will be an improvement from last year and bring the club back to respectability. This is Paulie's and Thome's last hurrahs on the southside.

Julie, my pride and joy blogdaughter,

Just a kernel about Paulie: he is .375 in his last 6 games which is a significant jump from his .199 average the nite he unloaded on Jimmy Tibble to win the game vs. the Royals.

I could not agree more with your assessment that the Sox, if left alone and at their current pace, will win the division, but that's about it. While I am disappointed by the Detroit sweep, I am not that surprised...they were flat in Detroit. A good team gets hungry again quick after being swept....they really do need to turn it on vs. the Rockies and the Pirates and play with intensity before visiting the Northside, which according to the S-T fan pages is the home of many surgically enhanced lady Cub fans. (Hey, if Elliot Harris can do gratuitous photos, we can do gratuitous swipes at fake anatomical parts.)

The Sox gambled on the 'big 3'(Thome, Konerko and Dye) being consistent power hitters over the long haul. This is their 3rd year together and the decline is obvious. I doubt Kenny will attempt a transaction with either of them - there just isn't much out there to get in return.

The starting rotation has been a terrific surprise...I saw Floyd's near no-hitter in April in that horrible rainstorm and he's got a fan for life. Danks impresses too. The big keys for the rest of the season will be Buehrle's resurgence, a steady Contreras and equally steady Vasquez. The bullpen may occasionally disappoint, but in all they have been tremendous. Yes, Dotel gave up the game yesterday but even Mariano Rivera loses games, and against the Royals no less.

I'd love to hear from Noles or Juan or others better schooled in stats than I am.

As Ozzie would say, "there's a lot to lob about this tin." Cheers!

Yes Julie, the Sox have what it takes to win the division. 07' was just a bad dream with the injuries and all. The great against the division is killer, and good on the road, Det played for their lives last week, that won't happen again, they're done.

Cannot keep Paulie and Thome in there if both are ineffective...

Quentin needs to go down now, and bring JD or Swish(if he stays hot) up to 3, Missile should bat 1, OC 2, AJ 3, Q, JD 5, Crede 6, Thome, Paulie, Swish. Just glad Uribe is not here, this lineup thing is just crazy. Thome, Konerko, JD, Crede are about the same person. If they are effective a great 3,4,5,6, if not 5,6,7,8, and we are on if not now.

Still think Det is in too big a hole, so is Cleve. Minn. does not have the pitching, and KC....he gone.

Julie axes: "And as much as I like Mr. Incredible, he's not a superhero anymore, and how long do we have to watch Paulie swing at pitches that are already in the catcher's glove? He hasn't been right for a season and a half. At this rate, the Sox would get a half a bag of balls in a trade for him. So what to do?
_________________________________________

Trade him for a fifth of Scotch, (single malt) and a roll of quarters.

I think Ozzie is crazy, and there is nothing wrong with that. It does seem to work on the Southside. The pitching has been fantastic and is worthy of a team to go deep into the playoffs. I trust young Danks and Floyd, and Buehrle has really been good recently. They go 5 deep. Shh...the bullpen has been solid. I worry about the lineup since Konerko's and Thome's slumps have been going on for a season and a half. If some of the newer acquisitions continue to hit, we will have a chance to win the division. To go any further, we'll need to stay healthy, continue to play solid defense, and have Paulie or Jim get on base.

Julie B., come on.

Mediocre bats? The White Sox are THIRD in the American League in runs scored. THIRD. That's most certainly better than mediocre. You can't just scroll down the batting average column, see that a bunch of guys have low batting averages, and just assume that the team has no bats.

And don't pick on Thome. He's on pace for around 30 homers and 90-something walks, which is just fine, thank you very much. As soon as he starts getting a tad luckier on where those batted balls fall, he'll be looking good again. Of course, he cannot go from 1st to 3rd on a single, so all of this is probably irrelevant.

(If anyone didn't get that the last sentence was sarcasm.....wow.)

Regardless if they win the division or not, they have had what it takes to derail the Bulls.

So Noles, you believe in luck, but not chemistry? BA's notwithstanding, how many men have we left on base? We have to be around 3rd in the league in that category too. The week after Ozzie's rant we scored a ton, which likely lifted that average, but this team should be hitting more, and more consistently. I find it interesting that you didn't acknowledge Konerko.

Momma, I think you hit on something here. We may have figured out why no one pays attention at Wrigley!!! Fake boobs! The women can't see over them and the men can't see past them.

P.S. Paulie's gonna have to string together more than 6 good games for me to believe he's out of the slump.

First, I'm glad to see Julie B. getting a shot at this, but I digress. The White Sox have the horses (and I mean CLYDESDALE HORSES) to get it done, but it comes with a huge warning sign. If they didn't have the pitching, they'd be a .500 team at best rather reminiscent of the station-to-station Boston Red Sox teams of the latter half of the 20th Century. Kenny W. says that he was forced to build this type of team for The Cell. It's certainly evidenced by their success at home. However, last I checked, we play 81 games on the road as well. There still needs to be a modicum of balance and the ability to create when the opposing pitchers are "on," the batters' eye and friendly trade winds aren't there to greet them.

We are a plodding, no-speed, station-to-station, 16-inch softball-like team with solid starters and relievers. It spells danger whenever the other team's pitching is shutting us down. We can't "create" runs to save our lives. We'll typically win 10-2 (better than last year's 10-9 scene) and then lose the next game 2-1 or 1-0. How many of you recall that it's very possible to score a run without a hit? If there's one team out there that might require four singles to score a run, it's us.

Tell me which opposing pitcher whose locating his pitches wouldn't love that scenario! Big hits, like Juan Uribe's against the Rocks, have been few and far between. By the way, I'm really sick and tired of getting beaten by pitchers with "no names" or having bad individual trends that are broken against us--my biggest reason for not being a Greg Walker fan.

Let's keep the faith. I try to, but it's by no means the team I would have put together and it often frustrates me to no end.

Julie B., Will you marry me? You are a wonderful, insightful sports fan. PERIOD. Kudos to you.
If Ozzie keeps his Carlos Zambrano-esque rants to a minimum, they will win the division. Right now, I agree with you. They will not get far in the postseason, but alas, we have been surprised before. I hope we get very surprised. Remember in 05? The starting pitching was lights out for most of the postseason, and that was pretty much all they needed. They just have to get flpping hot at the right time.

One has no further to look than 2005 for an answer. The division is theirs for the taking, barring any major injury(ies). We have yet to hit as a complete team, and Paulie is just swinging at EVERYTHING to try to get going. Once he realizes PATIENCE is his remedy, he'll come along, and hopefully bring Thome with him. Detroit and Cleveland have glaring weaknesses to compound their injuries, and Minnesota WAS playing over their heads for a while there.

As for the whole kit-and-kaboodle, we again go to 2005 for the answer. Nobody, not no one, not no how, gave the Great Wizard of Oz' boys any shot that year. Heck, they weren't even supposed to get past WILDCARD Boston from the get go, let alone anyone afterwords. But stranger things have happened in the Emerald City. We need improvement on the road, Jenks to remember how to FINISH, our pen to remain strong, and click our Nike spiked heels three times and repeat;

There's no place like home.
There's no place like home.
There's no place like home.

October will reveal the 'horse of a different color', and I won't be surprised one iota if he's Black and White!

Another soft tossing pitcher giving the Sox trouble. This team can not make adjustments between at bats. Greg Walker and OZZIE HAVE GOT TO GO.

Ozzie please stop playing Uribe. If you were by me, I would give you my version of a tirade.

This division is up for grabs. Yes last week was great but this week has been the pitts. Home Run swinging again.

I posted something and it didnt get put up???? I know for sure, i didnt swear!!

Is there a train derailing of Metra, or is that screeching sound this Blog coming to a halt....between these last two posts and Whities rotisserie baseball post. I think I just got whip lash!!!

The pythagorean W-L formula has the 2008 WSox on pace for 97 wins yet their record projects them at 90. Why? Because they are a feast or famine team.

They have by a wide margin outperformed the 2005 team in gm's they've won & underperformed the 2005 team by about 15% in gm's they've lost.

The bad news is that 90W probably won't win the div.

Tribe Aug-Sep: 2007 36W-20L, 2006 33W-25L, 2005 38W-18L
WSox Aug-Sep: 2007 24W-32L, 2006 28W-30L, 2005 31W-28L

The good news is it's just 15% more fight in tough games that separates 2008 from the 2005 class. If they can muster just 10% more fight then they should win over 95 gms & be capable of beating BOS or LAA in the playoffs.

Let's not forget Barry Bonds. His #'s are undeniable. So to is the fact that Aug has been his career best month. It's the worst month for the WSox in the Williams era.

Noles tries to sell you on Thome's 30HR/90RBI but he fails to separate them into W's & L's.
Bonds 07:(54W/1170OPS, 72L/944OPS)
Thome 07:(59W/1210OPS, 71L/770OPS)
Thome 08:(34W/939OPS, 28L/620OPS)

In a tough game, Thome is next to worthless & Bonds is probably the best bat on the team & can get from 1st to 3rd on a single :)

Juan,

Can you calculate the odds of the next powerball numbers for me?

No way do I want Bonds. Mr clubhouse cancer even the Sox announcers do not like him. Just ask Ed Farmer. It would also be interesting if Kitty visited the clubhouse when Mr Bonds is off dressing in his private shelter.

Juan, it sounds like you are the one forgetting about Barry Bonds. You do realize that he's facing 15 felony counts of lying to a grand jury, right? That comes with the package. Here's another suggestion: Sammy Sosa! All power, no feds. Clearly no one wants that kind of baggage. Otherwise the Cubs would've signed Roger Clemons already.

That is the thinnest veil I've ever seen, 99 comments!

Julie - If we are leaving a lot of guys on base, that means the offense is good at getting them there in the first place. Eventually hits will come with guys in RISP. There's no disease plaguing the White Sox preventing them from getting hits with RISP. Last time I looked (it was awhile ago), they weren't even doing poorly in that category.

And yes, I believe in luck, a thing that exists and affects baseball games, but not chemistry, which certainly exists but has approximately no effect on the outcome of a baseball game.

It's not really interesting that I didn't mention Konerko. I don't really like him. He doesn't provide above-average production for a first baseman, and he's a GIDP waiting to happen. Though his walk rate is up this year, his best years are behind him and fading fast. He might bounce back with a little better luck, but I have to believe his walk rate has been something of a fluke thus far, because he's never really done that before.

Juan, your W/L OPS stats could not be less relevant. Maybe the White Sox win games BECAUSE Thome is having a good game? It's not like that proves that Thome just rolls over and sucks whenever the game is close. Couldn't be further from the truth.

Thanks, Al. Unfortunately for you, I'm taken. I will however move you to 1st next lifetime for being so sweet. That's quite a leap - you started at 5x!!!

*Dead blog, in the middle of the road.

Dead blog, in the middle of the road.

Dead blog, in the middle of the road; ...

... Stinkin' to high Heaven.*

OK..here is my Guest Guest Blog Question...

1. How long will Roman leave this up as top post even with ...more sports news in 3 days than almost the ENTIRE SUMMER.....I mean...TIGER'S AMAZING ONE LEGGED OVERTIME WIN OVER ROCKY, LAKERS STAVE OFF EXECUTION,CUBS ON KILLING STREAK...

WoW...

My over under is 2 more days....

P.S.(it still wont help)..:)

Juany Boy, I actually laughed out loud reading those stats. I think its great you wanna get all sabermetricy and whatnot, so just start subscribing to Baseball Prospectus and read Moneyball. Seriously, it's worth it.

Hey I know what you can do until Roman posts: read The Fantasy Factor!

http://blogs.suntimes.com/fantasysports/2008/06/mondays_best_and_worst_of_fant_1.html

Can we really advertise our own stuff here? Roman, you better watch your back - young Ricky O. is planning a hostile takeover.

Roman responds: Yeah, I noticed.

Ricky sez: "Hey I know what you can do until Roman posts: read The Fantasy Factor!"

Lots of sporting news this weekend, but It's Tuesday now, and the latest topic heading was put up on Friday. Hope Roman is ok, because he's been MIA for awhile.

I suppose I could use this forum to comment on just about any of the other sporting news, and I'll admit that I've been guilty of doing that in the past, but I'd much rather post "on subject".

Tossing out my thoughts about golf or basketball on a White Sox blog just doesn't seem appropriate. Then again, by the time we're given the opportunity to express our opinions about the U.S. Open, or Game 5 in the NBA playoffs, it's already old news.

Here's hoping there's a Bears thread before they're eliminated from the playoff race, six games into the season.

Roman responds: I'm not sure how many times I have to tell some of you, especially guys like you who have been around for a while, BECAUSE there is so much going on I'm extremely busy at work. The more stuff going on, the less time I have to blog. Sorry I didn't post Monday. I'll do better.

Roman sez: "Sorry I didn't post Monday. I'll do better."

No complaints here; only observations. I understand your situation. There are so many things I need to do, and not nearly enough hours in the day to attend to even half of them.

I'm continually faced with tough choices, like, "Should I do the laundry, take out the garbage, shop for groceries, or have a drink?".

After choosing option #4, the rest of the list goes away.

I enjoy the forum, and the opinions of it's inhabitants.

No complaints here either, except for the Fantasy Blog Ads!!!

I'll make this simple so even Noles can understand it. In the last 192 gms he's played Thome has sucked in 99 of them. Only the Thome fan club would find that irrelevant. It's about as irrelevant as his $15.7m.

Don't get me started on Konerko. His #'s are even worse.

See Juan, that's a damm shame, I like when you give baseball stats. You give the important ones, and not just overall stats, most fans don't realize the difference between a .300 hitter and a person who hits .300 with 2 outs, after the 7th inn., down by 1 or score tied, with men in scoring position, facing the toughest bullpen pitchers, against the best teams.

A lot of fans think the two .300 hitters are the same, but one is very clutch. Don't let the fans dilute your GREAT statistics, baseball is probably the only game that you can effectively say stats mean a lot. The right ones no doubt.

statistics, baseball is probably the only game that you can effectively say stats mean a lot. The right ones no doubt.
Posted by: Chuck | June 19, 2008 06:25 AM

Ron Burgundy says: That doesn't even make sense.

Hey 33....are you still checking your Guest Blog?

If you're still posting, I'm still checking, 99.

Do you play the jazz flute?

thats personal

Makes a lot of sense, Culz(99). Jamal Mashburn averaged 18 points a game in his NBA career. That means he's averaged more points than Rodman, but Rodman was a pivotal player on 5 championships.

A Thomas 1,000 yard rusher his rookie year, Ladanian 1,800 yards rushing. Walter Payton never achieved any of those stats, whose the better RB.

Stats do lie and you know this, hell Orton had a better passer rating than Griese and Grossman last year, and you telling me he's a better qb. Baseball stats can be manipulated to accurately reflect the situation...they take so many.

35% of Stats are made up!