i wish i had a 5-spot for every time i’ve seen that patented konerko pop-up-and-sulk move. it’s about the only thing he does consistently. i know colin disagrees, but it appears to me that konerko is completely lost at the plate and not showing any signs of coming out of it. it amazes me that someone who has experienced the success that konerko has can look as bad for as long as he has. i don’t want to say that konerko is done for, but nearly four months into the season this is very disconcerting. one can’t help but imagine what our sox might be like if we got a career average year out of paulie.

I wanted this to publish at Midnight central.

keep it up and you might actually be worthy of your title.

More speed, better defensively with Anderson/Wise in center and Swisher at first. NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA HEY HEY HEY PAULIE GOOD BYEEEEEE. I only wish the sox had the balls to Sexson that piece of crap.

how to explain Paulie’s troubles. Some of the ideas presented above make sense; it may be that his injury this year has troubled him more than we know and that he’s now pressing to catch up for lost time. Regardless, he’s not contributing much at all and is letting the team down in key situations. I doubt the Sox have what it takes to trade for Texeira. What about calling up Eldred to see what he can do? He can’t be any worse than what we’re getting out of PK at the moment. If Eldred sucks, nothing’s really lost.

but we could just as easily compare to Thome (and many lumped the 2 together at the beginning of the season). Both are 1st basemen, both walk, have power, little speed, and middling averages. Or Carlos Delgado could also be lumped in. Both Thome and Delgado have shaked their early-season funk in a big way. Why not Paulie? Thoughts:

1. Injury has hurt more than he lets on.
2. Is he more prone to disappoint himself (read: sulk) than the other 2? I think I saw Thome hang his head once or twice when he was not hitting but would be more likely to glare at the ump if he was rung up. I wonder if he gets pissed and Paulie gets depressed.
3. The “C” and WS hero things maybe help PK put pressure on himself, where Thome/Delgado don’t have that issue.

Who knows? Either way, he’s killing us, and he knows it. It’s in his head. Might be a good thing to give him a few days, not just one game, to figure it out and relax. Maybe read “Who Moved My Cheese?”. But we’re a better club with Swish at first right now.

...is that he’s lost the strike zone. I used to love the way he reached down for low strikes and rip the ball. More likely these days he lets those go for strikes. And he’s clueless on the inside pitches now, too. His approach looks tentative, not aggressive. What started out as mechanical errors has spiraled into a mental torpor.

Asked Sunday when he’ll be ready to return to the lineup, Carlos Gomez (back) said, “Maybe Tuesday.”
Gomez was taken off the field on a stretcher after crashing into the outfield wall while making a tremendous catch Friday. Denard Span will start in center field until he returns.

Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune

though at the present moment he is fairly screwed up. If Ozzie decides to bench him at some point I have no problem with that but Konerko is not really Sexson. Some of this man hate for Paulie is really kind of laughable. For a brief moment he actually looked as if he had turned it around before his injury and DL stay. Since then he has been awful. I wonder if he has a little Dye in him, that of he needs to 100% healthy or the fall off is too great.

To show something, that is, start hitting with some power, taking walks, seeing plenty of pitches - and so far none of that has happened. He has two more weeks IMO to show he can be a positive factor this year - if he can’t—then the BA to CF and Swisher to 1st (with Wise getting the odd start against RHP) seems like a smart move.

I really think he is just having a down year and coupled with bad luck and injuries he’s completely fallen off. I expect him to have an OPS around 820-850 next year.

God I hope he’s not Richie Sexson.

.225 .289 .526

i think i take back what i said.

PK’s problems, I’m probably more considered about the disturbing rise in the team ERA over the last month than the lack of productivity from PK. The team can overcome PK with the Wise/BA platoon or by moving PK down in the order (and thanks Colin for pointing out the likelihood that Eldred is no real solution). But it’s a lot harder to overcome blown holds and starting pitching that is showing more signs of missing the strike zone. I’m also worried about whether Linebrink and Thornton can come back to their early season performance, which I believe was a key to early season success.

Outfielder, left handed hitter. Came up last year and didn’t do that great, sent down , out of options for the Rangers and is killing the PCL this year. He is completely blocked in the Ranger system from moving up. Nelson Cruz.

http://www.newbergreport.com/article.asp?articleid=1061

Thank god

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/25982034.html

I’m feeling this series w/ the Twinkies. Sending good SoCal vibes to PK to wake up.

I was thinking about you during this series. Did you see what you did to our closer after Friday – went on crying and lost his closer position. Thought there was “no crying in baseball”.

BWAHAHAHA! Jones ist TOT! So we’ve (almost) ended the closing careers of both Borowski and Jones this year.

BWAHAHAHA! I love it.

Matchup: White Sox (59-44) at Twins (57-47), 7:10 p.m. CT
Probable Starters: Mark Buehrle (139 IP, 4.21 RA, 1.27 WHIP, 81 K) vs. Kevin Slowey (87 2/3, 4.41, 1.14, 64)
Pythagorean Record: Chicago, 60-43 (520 RS, 437 RA); Minnesota, 54-50 (510 RS, 487 RA)
Hit List Rankings: Chicago, #4; Minnesota, #16
Prospectus: While one Windy City team battles for its division lead in Milwaukee over the next four days, the other will do the same in Minnesota in what is another critical series. The Twins are 2½ games behind the White Sox, so winning three of four would pull them to within a half-game of their rival. However, Minnesota has lost five in a row to Chicago, as it was swept out of U.S. Cellular Field in four straight games at the beginning of June. Since then the Twins have gone 26-14, just a half-game behind the Tigers and Yankees for the best record over that stretch.

Unfortunately for the Twins, they might have to play their biggest series of the year without center fielder Carlos Gomez, because he suffered a frightening injury on Friday night when he crashed into the wall and had to be put into a neck brace and carted off the field. The injury turned out not to be too serious, but it is unclear when Gomez will return to action. Gomez hurt himself following a spectacular running grab, the type of remarkable play he has made all season. While the Twins will not miss the rookie’s bat—Gomez has been the worst offensive center fielder in the American League, with a -6.1 VORP—being without his leather is a significant loss. Gomez leads all major league center fielders in both Range Factor, at 3.34, and Zone Rating, .939. He has also thrown out six runners, second in the AL to B.J. Upton’s nine, and turned three double plays, more than any other center fielder. He has, in short, been a defensive maestro. Minnesota replaced Gomez over the weekend with Denard Span, who is outstanding himself in the outfield—his 3.02 Range Factor in right this season leads all fielders with at least 50 innings at the position. Span’s transfer from right to center, however, leaves Jason Kubel to play in the corner, and major knee injuries have led to limited range afield for him. The Twins could also put Craig Monroe out there against lefties, but he has played just two games in right this season and is a below-average defender. Minnesota has not been a good defense team this season—its 68.5 percent defensive efficiency ranks them ahead of only Texas in the American League—so it can be argued that getting Gomez’s circus act back in center is critical to the team even despite his unproductive bat.

too late, but I’ll be dreaming of great victories for the sox. I have tried leaving twitter on for the late ones but instead of the score in the game you get woken up with a message saying ‘Cabrera is a knobhead’ or some such nonsense every time, so I’ll be turning the phone off.

regards

Link:

Before the start of Friday’s game, many of the Braves players were asking about Bay. Some were under the impression that they were going to walk into the clubhouse that day and find him to be their newest teammate.

But a proposed deal, which would have brought Bay to Atlanta in exchange for four Minor Leaguers, was killed when presented to the Pirates owners for approval.

Still as the week progresses, the Braves will continue to pursue Bay, who is set to earn $7.5 million during the final year of his contract next year.

How does this fit in?

in Manny? i dont know where hed play but i imagine a Paulie Poreda Broadway deal would interest Boston… what do you all think?

Linky

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