What the Record Says They Are

by madvillian on Jul 25, 2008 9:50 PM CDT Comment 37 comments

Punchless Paul Konerko was 0-4 with four left on. Clueless Ozzie Guillen inserted a bad reliever into a a high leverage situation. Butcher Josh Fields booted a ball that led to a run for the opposition.

The Sox were down a run heading into the 9th and self-inclicted blunders were looming large; no doubt so predictable to even the most casual fan that half of Chicago talk radio and the Sox blogosphere lined up ready to point fingers.

It was going to be one of those losses. No depth, a crazy manager, and an overpaid and washed up bum at 1B: this team ain’t going nowhere.

But a seeing eye single from Quentin, a massive opposite field HR from Dye, and a solid 9th from a healthy looking Jenks (96mph on the heater) pulled victory from the jaws of defeat.

And that -- contributions from the good players -- more than bad managing decisions, more than bad production from 1B and below average defense from 3B, is what makes this White Sox team good. They have the horses to get around mistakes. It was on evidence in Texas and again tonight. It’s been on evidence all season really, a season now over 62% over.

If you add up the good and bad on this Sox team so far, in some crazy perfect equation of baseball prowess, it probably would say about 88-94 wins, given some leeway for luck and injuries along the way. There are just more good things than bad things. The run differential (+ 84), OPS+ (107), and ERA+ (117) – indicate such.

At this point, guys like Danks and Quentin and Ramirez aren’t flukes – they are good players. There is no reason to believe they will dramatically fall off. The Sox have been buoyed mightily by surprises, and the production from those guys should continue to excel given the evidence accumulated.

_____________________________________________

BP had the Sox at 72% odds to make the playoffs entering tonight. The chances had to rise a bit with the lead in the division now extended to 3.5 over the Twins and 6.5 over the Tigers.

As has been duly noted many times, the Sox are not a deep team. An injury to a big run producer or starter would be devastating, and might tip things in the favor of the Twins or Tigers.

But the hypothetical is only hypothetically speaking , (As a certain slugging LF from Stanford might say.), and until then it’s best to take things at face value over the long term.

This team is better than most. Take it for what it is.

SouthSideSox is a community driven site. As such, users are able to express their thoughts and opinions in a FanPost, such as this one, which represents the views of this particular fan, but not necessarily the entire community or SouthSideSox editors.

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Good job, mv

A recap, as it should be. Especially after arguably the biggest win of the year (the first after trailing in the 9th in 39 games). This was a big deal.

shaftr, the ghost author. cheat, the never-present manager. colin, the obfuscating author. wiz…well. who the fuck knows. at least he shows up to work.

by winningugly on Jul 25, 2008 10:04 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Do you hear the people sing?

Great, great win tonight – truly one we won in spite of ourselves.

Why so serious?

by reardenmettle on Jul 25, 2008 10:07 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

We've gone from no recaps to 2 in the same night! Thanks!!!

but he's the capt'n, or is that crap'n

by Brush Back on Jul 25, 2008 10:45 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I listened on the score

I was driving up to Northwestern Wisconsin and listened to as much as the game as I could. I could barely hear Quentin’s single and I could barely hear JD’s homerun.

I wasn’t able to listen to Jenks’ save, so I drove the last 90 minutes hoping they held on.

This is a huge victory (especially with Verlander pitching tomorrow).

MrROFL.com
My Twitter

by shaftr on Jul 25, 2008 11:50 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

and gomez (twins pesky leadoff cf) hurt himself tonight

he seemed to get on base every at bat against us.

Property of: PAUL KONERKO Track and Field Academy & Steakhouse

by thecip on Jul 26, 2008 12:05 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

wow hell of a catch

Property of: PAUL KONERKO Track and Field Academy & Steakhouse

by thecip on Jul 26, 2008 12:10 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

They'll just plug in Denard Span

Who is OPSing .900 after being nowhere near that in the minors….

Announcer: [A fan] from Frederick, Maryland, wants to know why you don't go out and get some more team speed.

Weaver: Team speed, for Chrissake, you get BLEEP god damn little fleas on the bases getting picked off trying to steal, getting thrown out, taking runs away from you. You get them big BLEEP who can hit the BLEEP ball out of the BLEEP ballpark and you can't make any god damn mistakes.

by hitlesswonder on Jul 26, 2008 1:19 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

which means

he’s not likely to continue.

are you trying to use stats around here? what the fuck do you think this is? - MM

by colintj on Jul 26, 2008 3:30 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

He hurt himself, too

Same way, same place as Gomez – freaky, man.

shaftr, the ghost author. cheat, the never-present manager. colin, the obfuscating author. wiz…well. who the fuck knows. at least he shows up to work.

by winningugly on Jul 26, 2008 6:09 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

From the Tiger's perspective, tonight really had to sting

0-2 on Q with 2 outs in the 9th, Fields was brutal, Paulie still not hitting, Floyd not real sharp…and yet they figured out a way to win. The true sign of a good team…a team with a 72+% chance of making the playoffs. I like our odds.

Even laid-back JD was doing some fist pumping going around the bases…good to see in a very big win.

"Everybody looks at the Cubs. Look at the White Sox. They're a pretty good ballclub." - Lou Piniella (6/29/08)

by tailgater on Jul 26, 2008 12:16 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

He hit a walk-off last year, IIRC

and last night his behavior reminded me of that – he is a competitor. Love JD.

shaftr, the ghost author. cheat, the never-present manager. colin, the obfuscating author. wiz…well. who the fuck knows. at least he shows up to work.

by winningugly on Jul 26, 2008 6:10 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think we're seeing...

how truly flawed both teams really are. Both teams gave away runs they shouldn’t have last night.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jul 26, 2008 10:01 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

way to shit on the victory parade, JRE

btw, glad to see you made the move safely. welcome back.

read the whole thing you stroke artist - kenwo4life

by rhythm on Jul 28, 2008 12:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was great

To see some emotion out of JD when he hit it, you could tell he was pumped. Awesome to see.

by Grinder in Training on Jul 26, 2008 10:08 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Casey Blake to the Dodgers

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3506150

"would've been a sweep if pablo was here" -Kenwo-

by Hazymania on Jul 26, 2008 12:25 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

For Carlos Santana no less

"would've been a sweep if pablo was here" -Kenwo-

by Hazymania on Jul 26, 2008 12:26 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Interesting

“But with the trade completed, he’ll become the Dodgers’ everyday third baseman, replacing slumping rookies Blake DeWitt and Andy LaRoche.”

Possible precursor to more deals?

"would've been a sweep if pablo was here" -Kenwo-

by Hazymania on Jul 26, 2008 12:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Who is the Indians' go-to guy after moving Blake?

Andy Marte?

Why so serious?

by reardenmettle on Jul 26, 2008 1:53 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would think so

Maybe Wedge was ordered to showcase Blake for a trade. I know many Indians fans were upset that he was blocking Marte. Not that Marte is a sure star, but in a rebuilding year he’s young, cheap, and has potential.

by madvillian on Jul 26, 2008 1:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Guess the Dodgers think they are good enough to make a WS Run

And in the weak NL, they might just be. Blake will be a type A? LaRoche now trade bait? KW should get on the phone with Coletti and sell him the “gamer” Konerko, lol. Maybe Kong would even waive his NTC to go back to Cali.

Who am I kidding. It’s pretty to think about though.

by madvillian on Jul 26, 2008 12:43 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

maybe kenny should get on the phone with plahtzke (spell!)

pk is the seasoned veteran your team need so much

did you know he hit a grand slam at the world series bill? first pitch too

The greatest trick the White Sox ever pulled was convincing their fan base that "Ozzieball" ever existed.

by The Wizard on Jul 26, 2008 12:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

linebrink dl, wassermann up

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_hardball/2008/07/linebrink-on-dl.html

The greatest trick the White Sox ever pulled was convincing their fan base that "Ozzieball" ever existed.

by The Wizard on Jul 26, 2008 12:59 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

ohhh funky delivery time!

i think it would be pretty sweet if ssh's kid and kenwo's kid had offspring together...whether you believe in nature or nurture, it wouldn’t be boring.-larry

by furby2056 on Jul 26, 2008 1:25 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Some blurbs on Danks and Floyd from BP

Danks appears legit, Floyd is not, what else is new?

John Danks: Thought to be the lesser property in a trade involving Brandon McCarthy, much like Volquez, Danks has thrived since leaving Texas. Also like Volquez, Danks’ 2008 breakout season has been a mixture of luck combined with an impressive true skill set. His ratio of 2.9 strikeouts per walk reveals he’s no fluke, but a 6.5 percent HR/FB rate is the fifth-lowest mark in the league. That’s especially lucky when you consider that US Cellular Field is one of the most homer-friendly parks in baseball. Danks is very unlikely to finish with a sub-3.00 ERA, but his component numbers suggest his breakout is legit.

Gavin Floyd: The double-digit wins, 3.50 ERA, and 1.20 WHIP are all pretty, but the component stats are ugly: 3.8 walks and 6.2 Ks per nine are both below league average, while a .225 BABIP and .77 strand rate are both extremely lucky. With a DERA of 4.36, Floyd is clearly someone who is unlikely to keep up his pace, and a severe crash may be looming.

He was a catcher with the Orioles back in the day. Sorry looking (expletive). My brother had his card. He looked like this little kid who got left at a bus station by his parents. You know why? Because he had to catch Hoyt Wilhelms knuckle ball five (expletive) years.

by onlysoxfaninboston on Jul 26, 2008 1:08 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

My only hope for Floyd is that his nasty breaking ball

allows him to outpitch his perirepheals and keep a low BABIB. The walks are troubling though, those walks are going to lead to 3 run homers, and we are already seeing that.

by madvillian on Jul 26, 2008 1:52 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

yeah that's why he needs to establish it early in the strike zone like i put in my recap

if he can do that then he can through it out of the strike zone later and get hitters to chase it…it’s no good if he’s throwing them in the dirt in the first inning

i think it would be pretty sweet if ssh's kid and kenwo's kid had offspring together...whether you believe in nature or nurture, it wouldn’t be boring.-larry

by furby2056 on Jul 26, 2008 2:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd like to be a fly on the wall...

and hear some of the organizational discussions regarding Floyd. If he can finish this season without imploding, do the Sox sell high on Floyd? Could the Sox get a young(ish) CFer for him (say, David DeJesus)? Then again, if you get rid of Floyd, you’re looking at filling two spots (the second presumably being Contreras’ current spot), so…

by CWSKeith on Jul 26, 2008 3:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Makes proper evaluations of Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda pretty important

and possibly Jack Egbert, but I don’t think there’s anything else to know at this point. He’s either going to figure it out or he isn’t, and counting on him is out of the question. He will have the opportunity to be a pleasant surprise in ‘09, but not much more.

are you trying to use stats around here? what the fuck do you think this is? - MM

by colintj on Jul 26, 2008 3:32 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Another Tribe Trade

It looks like the Indians are being both sellers and buyers. They trade a minor leaguer to the Cardinals for Anthony Reyes. He’s a pitcher who was great in the minors but struggled in the majors. Maybe the Indians think they can turn him around with Meloan. They give up Luis Perdomo, who looked pretty good in the low minors.

http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/027999.php

The greatest trick the White Sox ever pulled was convincing their fan base that "Ozzieball" ever existed.

by The Wizard on Jul 26, 2008 2:37 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

didn't reyes dominate the tigers in the world series a few years back?

i think it would be pretty sweet if ssh's kid and kenwo's kid had offspring together...whether you believe in nature or nurture, it wouldn’t be boring.-larry

by furby2056 on Jul 26, 2008 2:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

yes

8ip, 4h, 2r, 2er, 1bb, 4k, 1hr
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET200610210.shtml

but that was 1 game

The greatest trick the White Sox ever pulled was convincing their fan base that "Ozzieball" ever existed.

by The Wizard on Jul 26, 2008 3:03 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i think the change of scenery will do him and his flat-brimmed hat well

i think it would be pretty sweet if ssh's kid and kenwo's kid had offspring together...whether you believe in nature or nurture, it wouldn’t be boring.-larry

by furby2056 on Jul 26, 2008 3:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

konerko sits

lineup: Cabrera ss; Pierzynski c; Quentin lf; Dye rf; Thome dh; Swisher 1b; Ramirez 2b; Wise cf; Fields 3b; Danks p

The greatest trick the White Sox ever pulled was convincing their fan base that "Ozzieball" ever existed.

by The Wizard on Jul 26, 2008 3:06 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

alright!

4 lefties in the lineup tonight…let’s tag verlander!

i think it would be pretty sweet if ssh's kid and kenwo's kid had offspring together...whether you believe in nature or nurture, it wouldn’t be boring.-larry

by furby2056 on Jul 26, 2008 3:32 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs