Offense Absent at Richard's Broadway Show

by Christopher Michaels on Sep 18, 2008 12:10 AM CDT in Recaps

Ozzie Guillen and the White Sox made a shrewd move by waiting until the last possible minute to announce Clayton Richard as Wednesday's starter, and were rewarded with a surprisingly good outing. But Ozzie pushed his luck a little too much, and the shaky Sox pen put the game out of reach in short order.

I was confused in the lead up to this game that nobody in the mainstream media seemed to think Clayton Richard would get the start. To me, he seemed to be the obvious choice. The Yankees aren't the Royals, after all, and have a number of good left-handed hitters. So, even though Richard isn't a major league starter, he was still a better option than Lance Broadway for this game. Heck, even Broadway was dropping hints this week. Though I can't seem to find the exact quote now, Broadway said something like "they haven't told me" in regards to whether he was getting the start Wednesday.

For 6 innings, Richard make the Sox look like geniuses. He skated through the first 5 innings giving up only 1 hit, and worked out of trouble in the 6th, striking out Derek Jeter with 2 men on to end the inning. In the 7th inning however, Richard was unable to extricate himself from some self-induced trouble.

Richard walked the incredibly unclutch Alex Rodriguez, who advanced to second on Jason Giambi's groundout. With two outs and Xavier Nady due up, Ozzie came out for a mound visit, but didn't pull Richard, who had only given up 3 hits in his 6.2 innings of work.

Ozzie should have pulled him there. Richard isn't one of the other 4 starters, and isn't deserving of the long leash I've called for just a few days ago. Heck, he had never gone this deep into a major league game before. But with the bullpen as poor as it's been, it was hard to argue with leaving Richard in for one more batter. The results begged to differ. Richard quickly fell behind Nady, and then gave up a single back up the middle to even the score at one, the incredibly unclutch A-Rod scoring the tying run.

That definitely should have been Richard's last batter. But Ozzie left him, with Robinson Cano, who had 2 of the 4 Yankees hits in the game, due up. Cano quickly doubled down the right field line, and only then, with the go-ahead run 90 feet from home did Ozzie go to his pen. Predictably, they provided no relief. But it might have been a different situation if Ozzie had tried harder to protect the Sox lead.

Even though Ozzie made his mistakes in this game, it's easy to place too much blame on him for the Sox loss. The real loser in this game was the Sox offense. 5 times they put the leadoff man on base, including 3 leadoff doubles. Yet they were only able to productive out their way into 1 run, let alone any actual hitting with men on base.

The Sox dropped their record to 9-31 when they fail to hit a HR, highlighting their inability to produce runs in other ways.

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In paragraph two, weather should be "whether".

"god, you’re fucking stupid."
-- Larry

by SSH2005 on Sep 18, 2008 12:17 AM CDT 0 recs

That last line is sickening...

The Sox dropped their record to 9-31 when they fail to hit a HR, highlighting their inability to produce runs in other ways.

Wow, that is bad. This is one of the worst offenses to watch if they aren’t hitting homers and when they get guys on base, they seem to go into homerun mode like some idiot playing “MLB The Show” and using the power swing button all the time instead of the contact swing button.

"god, you’re fucking stupid."
-- Larry

by SSH2005 on Sep 18, 2008 12:19 AM CDT 0 recs

it's an ugly stat. but not as ugly as it sounds considering those games account for about a quarter of all games played and their record in the other three-quarters is good enough that they're in top 5 or 6 in mlb in win %.

three cheers for wu, the all-time leader in opos+.

by Toonderstrook on Sep 18, 2008 12:28 AM CDT up 0 recs

context motherfucker context!

by onlysoxfaninboston on Sep 18, 2008 9:00 AM CDT up 0 recs

Who cares?

In other words as Toonder correctly points out there record is 75-36 in games they do homer. They homer in about 2/3 of the games they play. Duh its not rocket science.

If there is a beef on my end is Ozzie needs to embrace it fully. Way too many sacrifices with players who frankly can not do it. Flat out wasting some outs, losing a couple games they probably would have won.

I am curious though. How do you get that specific info. What is the record of Phil, Florida and Milw (next on the HR list) when they don’t homer in a game? Or a team like Boston?

The SSS motto should be the answer to "What is our deepest fear?". Or maybe just Prozac.

by Tdogg on Sep 18, 2008 5:58 AM CDT up 1 recs

three cheers for wu, the all-time leader in opos+.

by Toonderstrook on Sep 18, 2008 9:55 AM CDT up 0 recs

i know, i have the googles too, but

is that W-L stat inclusive of shutouts?

I don’t want my beer to taste like fruit or honey. I want pussy to taste that way.

by thatshortkid on Sep 18, 2008 12:24 AM CDT 0 recs

The Sox are 12-60 when they don't hit a HR

since the ’07 All-Star Break

by Christopher Michaels on Sep 18, 2008 1:12 AM CDT up 0 recs

OZZIEBALL BABY WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"term: pussy, user: larry, count: 11

term: pussy, user: all, count: 83" - wiz

by Where Triples Go to Die on Sep 18, 2008 1:21 AM CDT up 0 recs

I don't mean to mislead

but I did the math wrong

It’s only 12-50

by Christopher Michaels on Sep 18, 2008 1:23 AM CDT up 0 recs

or should I say KENNYBALL?

You know I would be pissed about this stat if it wasn’t for the fact that there are no speedy “ozzieball” players that are any good, except Ichiro/figgins(iffy)/sizemore.

"term: pussy, user: larry, count: 11

term: pussy, user: all, count: 83" - wiz

by Where Triples Go to Die on Sep 18, 2008 1:23 AM CDT up 0 recs

Love to have Grady

the other 2 I could live without. IMO, Chone is pretty overrated and Ichiro is not worth that contract.

"Deserve's got nothin to do with it."

by U-God on Sep 18, 2008 9:10 AM CDT up 0 recs

With the extra revenue Seattle makes

from Japan, I’m willing to bet he’s worth the contract

brndnprkns: I'm pretty sure the "badass" value of your life is closer to Gigli than The Dark Knight

by whitesoxmatt on Sep 18, 2008 9:11 AM CDT up 0 recs

true

but i doubt we’d make the same extra revenue

"Deserve's got nothin to do with it."

by U-God on Sep 18, 2008 11:49 AM CDT up 0 recs

These next four games are almost as big as the Twins series, IMO.

"god, you’re fucking stupid."
-- Larry

by SSH2005 on Sep 18, 2008 12:32 AM CDT 0 recs

Speaking of our beloved Carlos Quentin...

Maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention, but it certainly seems like getting him back by the playoffs (if the Sox get there) doesn’t look terribly far-fetched, what with the cast being removed today and him potentially taking some BP this weekend in KC. Seeing that the playoffs don’t start until that Wednesday (or Thursday), he’s basically got another two weeks of recovery time.

Seeing that this is an inexact science, what would be a reasonable percentage to put on Quentin having another meaningful at-bat for the White Sox this season (this is with the assumption that the Sox are ‘lucky’ enough to get to the post-season)?

by CWSKeith on Sep 18, 2008 2:05 AM CDT 0 recs

Very surprising

But from what Ive read so far I would guess 50/50. I’m sure Carroll will address it either today or tomorrow in his column.

The SSS motto should be the answer to "What is our deepest fear?". Or maybe just Prozac.

by Tdogg on Sep 18, 2008 6:01 AM CDT up 0 recs

Q is made of steel.

He didn’t need a doctor, he needed a welder.

INTERESTING FACT…As a first class relic, Q’s soft cast can be used to consecrate holy ground.

Uribe whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."

by thecip on Sep 18, 2008 9:04 AM CDT up 1 recs

sorry. second class relic.

Uribe whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."

by thecip on Sep 18, 2008 11:25 AM CDT up 0 recs

heeeeehhheeeeeeeehhhhheee

...and then some depressed fucked-cake eating.

by homesickalien on Sep 18, 2008 12:30 PM CDT up 0 recs

Fuck Carlos Quentin.

We need the bullpen to settle down.

We go nowhere as it’s been the last 2 – 3 weeks.

Everyone get down on their knees tonight.........

and say a little (or maybe a medium sized) prayer for the Sox bullpen. Call in some chits.

by ballyb on Sep 18, 2008 2:41 PM CDT up 0 recs

We are totally fine without Q! But he sure is fun to watch - I'd like to see him swing a bat again this (post)season.

agree on bullpen.

...and then some depressed fucked-cake eating.

by homesickalien on Sep 18, 2008 3:17 PM CDT up 0 recs

100%

What are the chances of another team getting a hold of kryptonite for the playoffs?

www.stallingtheman.blogspot.com

by Raf on Sep 18, 2008 2:48 AM CDT 0 recs

Well his kryptonite is himself

So as long as no one asks him to create a rock even he can’t move, I think no other part of him will implode

-Jeeves Life in the Cell

by jeeves on Sep 18, 2008 8:26 AM CDT up 1 recs

at what website can i find players ranked by DER for each position?

by onlysoxfaninboston on Sep 18, 2008 9:27 AM CDT 0 recs

DER is a team only stat.

Hardball times has their defensive win share metrics up and I believe you can get Zone Ratings at Fangaphs and PRM stats from David Pinto. In general though individual defensive metrics are much less precise than DIPS theory metrics and the offensive metrics.

by madvillian on Sep 18, 2008 10:53 AM CDT up 0 recs

where do you get the individual dips then

phil rogers today discussed the merits of oc’s defensive performance with fielding percentage and number of assists, and i just want to know how the other stats rank him. fuck precision, i’m just curious you know.

by onlysoxfaninboston on Sep 18, 2008 12:10 PM CDT up 0 recs

THT has fielding win shares up

that they buy from bill james.

nothing gets ‘em wetter than infrequent postings on the city’s second favorite team

by colintj on Sep 18, 2008 12:11 PM CDT up 0 recs

thanks

by onlysoxfaninboston on Sep 18, 2008 12:16 PM CDT up 0 recs

I thought...

that Guillen was pushing his luck when he sent Clayton back out for the sixth. Once he pitched out of the jam in the sixth, I figured his night was over. I was shocked to see him back out for the seventh.

I know that Guillen has no faith in anyone in that bullpen not named Jenks or Thornton, and I don’t blame him. But he’s got to realise that he’s got no choice. Richard had nothing left for the seventh.

I don’t know what this team is going to do. This reminds me more and more of the 2000 team, which also was wracked with injury down the stretch and staggered into the playoffs.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Sep 18, 2008 9:27 AM CDT 0 recs

Staggering into the playoffs would be fantastic...

I don’t care if they get kicked to the curb in the first round, if the Sox manage to win the division with a team that few though would compete and with a shortened rotation, a bullpen engulfed in flames, the AL MVP hurt I will be suitably impressed.

by hitlesswonder on Sep 18, 2008 10:06 AM CDT up 0 recs

Dangerously unpredictable

The other playoff teams should be afraid to face the WS. The WS starting pitching has been solid recently. Defense has been very good (with a few minor exceptions). The offense is very unpredictable and the bullpen, well, it might take a miracle for our relievers to throw a breaking pitch for a strike. I am hoping that our offense starts to get even a little hot and some of our relievers start to get warm. If that happens, watch out!

"What now? Let me tell you what now. I'ma call a coupla hard, pipe-hittin' n*****s, who'll go to work on the homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'ma get medieval on your ass."

by thekever on Sep 18, 2008 10:17 AM CDT up 0 recs

I agree

Lately they have 2 of the 3 secret sauce but the relief pitching is a big minus. What I hope for is Wsox at Tampa. Boston at LA.

The SSS motto should be the answer to "What is our deepest fear?". Or maybe just Prozac.

by Tdogg on Sep 18, 2008 11:36 AM CDT up 0 recs

Naw

That teams injuries were more of the starting pitching variety. Besides its been studied already and there really isnt a strong relationship with Sept record and playoff performance.

The SSS motto should be the answer to "What is our deepest fear?". Or maybe just Prozac.

by Tdogg on Sep 18, 2008 11:28 AM CDT up 0 recs

mike mussina

for both his career and this year righties hit him much better than lefties
this year RHB .322 AVG, .867 OPS. LHB .242 AVG, .595 OPS
in the last month he has a 5.10 ERA and 1.5 WHIP but is striking out 9/9 IP
GS, in 49 ABs, has a .163 AVG, .563 OPS
BA in 6 ABs - .333 AVG, 1.000 OPS
AJ in 38 ABs - .342 AVG, .842 OPS
DYE in 56 ABs - .357 AVG, .904 OPS
THOME in 51 ABs - .275 AVG, .986 OPS (6 HRs)
Darrin Jackson crushes mussina with a .429 AVG and 1.571 OPS in 7 ABs

i’d like to see BA given a start and GS on the bench.

i’d always believed mussina was a robot, then i read living on the black by john feinstein (about mussina and glavine) and it confirmed for me that he is, indeed, a robot, but i think he had some kind of whining program installed to make him appear somewhat human.

brian anderson would've caught that...

by BuehrleMan on Sep 18, 2008 10:22 AM CDT 0 recs

hmm, i think i'll bench mussina tonight

by onlysoxfaninboston on Sep 18, 2008 10:42 AM CDT up 0 recs

hey, look everyone

just as i always suspected, osfib is really joe girardi. ;)
who are you going to start instead? i vote for ponson.

brian anderson would've caught that...

by BuehrleMan on Sep 18, 2008 11:46 AM CDT up 0 recs

i'm in a yahoo rotisserie league

i don’t have any other starters slotted in for tonight.

by onlysoxfaninboston on Sep 18, 2008 12:07 PM CDT up 0 recs

thanks! good stuff. I also hope for a GS benching. BA has been producing offensively....and this stat only makes me want him in more.

...and then some depressed fucked-cake eating.

by homesickalien on Sep 18, 2008 12:38 PM CDT up 0 recs

Red Sox vs Rays

Probably discussed before on previous threads, but who do we match up better against?

by onlysoxfaninboston on Sep 18, 2008 10:44 AM CDT 0 recs

jockeys ~ piranhas. i'll take the rays.

three cheers for wu, the all-time leader in opos+.

by Toonderstrook on Sep 18, 2008 11:41 AM CDT up 0 recs

Ev'rybody funny. Now you funny, too.

"I suck... the Sox don’t." reply actions 25 recs
by SSH2005 on Aug 6, 2008 1:08 AM EDT

by winningugly on Sep 18, 2008 12:04 PM CDT up 0 recs

and hey, i'm sober. whaddya know!

three cheers for wu, the all-time leader in opos+.

by Toonderstrook on Sep 18, 2008 12:05 PM CDT up 0 recs

first time for everything!

this isn't hard. you live in a port city. and you're a slut. do the math. -larry

by rhythm on Sep 18, 2008 12:10 PM CDT up 0 recs

it's not for lack of trying. someone at work hid my mouthwash.

three cheers for wu, the all-time leader in opos+.

by Toonderstrook on Sep 18, 2008 12:13 PM CDT up 0 recs

count yourself lucky

last night, someone hid my crack pipe and I had to improvise by snorting coke off a stripper’s tits. Classy, I know.

this isn't hard. you live in a port city. and you're a slut. do the math. -larry

by rhythm on Sep 18, 2008 12:14 PM CDT up 0 recs

She be a howlin about the front rent, she'll be lucky to get any back rent

she ain’t gonna get none of it

"Deserve's got nothin to do with it."

by U-God on Sep 18, 2008 12:30 PM CDT up 0 recs

According to Will Carroll, unlikely the Qunicorn would ride until the LCS

Carlos Quentin (30 DXL)
Just nine days since having an ORIF (open reduction, internal fixation) procedure—one you and I would call having a screw inserted in the wrist—Quentin had his cast taken off. That’s a pretty good sign, but it’s still quite a ways from being able to swing a bat in anger. The White Sox will be watching closely as Herm Schneider works his rehab magic. While this is a good first step, it’s still unlikely that Quentin will be ready for the Division Series, and even the LCS will be a challenge. Ozzie Guillen is using the last few weeks of the season as something of a tryout for Quentin’s roster spot, costing Nick Swisher some playing time.

White Sox, that’s baseball.

by vince_ on Sep 18, 2008 11:49 AM CDT 0 recs

hmmm it says he should be ready for the LCS

not if we get there… you think carroll knows something we dont?

by Jbasic89 on Sep 18, 2008 11:55 AM CDT up 0 recs

he's from the future!

nothing gets ‘em wetter than infrequent postings on the city’s second favorite team

by colintj on Sep 18, 2008 12:05 PM CDT up 0 recs

Do you think he'll tell us if, in the future, they really have flying cars that turn household garbage into fuel?

this isn't hard. you live in a port city. and you're a slut. do the math. -larry

by rhythm on Sep 18, 2008 12:11 PM CDT up 0 recs

butthead!

Uribe whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."

by thecip on Sep 18, 2008 1:52 PM CDT up 0 recs

this might seem daft

but I’m guessing in a lot of the games they don’t homer in they will be facing very good pitchers, and in a lot of those games the Sox knocking in the odd homer wouldn’t have made that much difference anyway.

regards

....fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts

by hoodlight on Sep 18, 2008 11:56 AM CDT 0 recs

there's a ton of selection bias at play there,

that’s one example.

nothing gets ‘em wetter than infrequent postings on the city’s second favorite team

by colintj on Sep 18, 2008 12:06 PM CDT up 0 recs

could you describe the selection bias more specifically?

by onlysoxfaninboston on Sep 18, 2008 12:11 PM CDT up 0 recs

it's clear what the sox were designed to do on offense and by specifically selecting for an event that

that slugged very poorly that night, you can’t expect good results.

nothing gets ‘em wetter than infrequent postings on the city’s second favorite team

by colintj on Sep 18, 2008 12:24 PM CDT up 0 recs

this is how i see it

i want to know simply whether presence of home run predicts victory, by comparing games with home runs to games without. games are units of observation here.

but you gotta adjust for types of shit (e.g., park, team, quality of starting pitchers (using VORP), because these are factors that could independently predict victory in the absence of homeruns, and they may correlate with presence of homeruns.

i think ‘selection bias’ but is the wrong word to use here, because we’re selecting games here for our analysis, and we would use all the games played, its pretty well defined. but its a bias, i would call it ‘confounding’ rather than ‘selection bias’.

by onlysoxfaninboston on Sep 18, 2008 2:23 PM CDT up 0 recs

Postseason Schedule - tentative

My knuckles are also bleeding due to my knocking on wood for the last hour.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/ps.jsp

"Jenks, who was never afraid to say "no" to a hamburger..."

by BobbySouthSide on Sep 18, 2008 11:58 AM CDT 0 recs

you're no smarter than q! wear some gloves, bss.

three cheers for wu, the all-time leader in opos+.

by Toonderstrook on Sep 18, 2008 11:59 AM CDT up 0 recs

Good point

Always after the fact, like my wife Toonder….my poor knuckles.

"Jenks, who was never afraid to say "no" to a hamburger..."

by BobbySouthSide on Sep 18, 2008 12:12 PM CDT up 0 recs

Your wife is named Toonder, too?

That funny.

"I suck... the Sox don’t." reply actions 25 recs
by SSH2005 on Aug 6, 2008 1:08 AM EDT

by winningugly on Sep 18, 2008 12:51 PM CDT up 0 recs

i was thinking about how cool it would be

if we did end up in the world series with the cubs and we beat them. i think my life would be complete. i imagine it would feel something like when buddha achieved enlightenment

by Jbasic89 on Sep 18, 2008 12:10 PM CDT 0 recs