Masset to start tomorrow

by The Wizard on May 19, 2007 5:46 PM CDT in News Comment 38 comments

Seems Ozzie and Coop weren't comfortable starting Jose tommorrow, so Nick Masset will make his first Major League start instead. Like Ozzie said on Wednesday:

"Jose is a little older and needs a little more sleep."

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I'm scared

by ymj0000000 on May 19, 2007 5:54 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Sweep.

by CWSKeith on May 19, 2007 6:04 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Sweep indeed

The worst part about saturdays game was the fact that it was a great game. The problem is we support an inferior product. Wrong color hats and all that.

I wish Danks was starting tomorrow.

This could get ugly gentlemen.

by Gus on May 19, 2007 6:29 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Break out the dustpans.

We're getting swept.

by Dongfang Hong on May 19, 2007 7:05 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Deep down, this team has character.

We'll see it tomorrow.

by ballyb on May 19, 2007 7:22 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

some good news

josh fields hit a grand slam against toledo

by The Wizard on May 19, 2007 7:40 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm curious

what our man Ozzie had to say after Meltdown II?

by ballyb on May 19, 2007 7:43 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Let's just hope he is better against the Cubs...

than the other righties out of the bullpen.

Honestly... 2 game where our team overall produced games that could have been winners, and we couldn't hold on due to bullpen trouble. These 2 losses can be pinned directly on the shoulders of 2 players (Mac and Aardvark, and Logan didn't help matters). But really, thoughout the season, our bullpen has produced fairly decent results. These games just particularly hurt because of the abuse we are taking from our Cub fan friends (unfortunately it is a sad fact of life that we all must have at least one). As long as the bats can come around (and that just may start soon) and the bottom doesn't completely fall out for the starters, then I expect this team to be within sight of Cleveland/Detroit for most of the season. Maybe even compete for a playoff spot.

by CatBrains on May 19, 2007 7:45 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

1/4 of the way through the season

Time to start counting the numbers.

123 games left and realistically the Sox need 95 wins to get into the playoffs. That means that each of the next three 40 game blocks the Sox need to go 25 up and 15 down. Typically, over a season a 95 win team has 3 good winning streaks of about 10 games and plays .500 ball the rest of the time. The Sox have the first quarter of the season without a winning streak so now they have used up their crap allowance for this season. Can they go pedal to the metal for the rest of the season? Don't think so with all the "if's and but's" they have on this club. We'll know a lot more 20 games from now...

Canada's finest

by MarkD on May 19, 2007 8:05 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Playoffs?

Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs. Are you kidding me? Playoffs? I'm just hoping we can win a game, another game.

seriously, this team may be a bit worse than we collectively expected but anyone who thought this was a likely playoff team was delusional. 95 wins - which you rightly point out as the usual wild card target - was not happening unless some other teams acquired very serious injury issues or we had some luck. we have two teams in our division who are clearly better than us, not to speak of the other division. with this poor start, we've pretty much shot any chance of seriously competing. i just hope they do enough to keep it interesting.

Stay grindy, my friends.

by larry on May 19, 2007 11:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Is this a serious post Larry?

I know you like to be sacarstic but r u for real? I have watched several Clev and Detroit games and they are not "clearly" better. All the teams have some issues. But considering the division leader and the wildcard leader are directly in front you with a massive of amount of head to to head games to play it seems silly to be talking about it being over.

by Tdogg on May 20, 2007 9:06 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

the twinkies

have a better run differential, and they're behind the Sox in the standings. There's 2 clearly better teams, and an arguably better team in the division.

by Paxson Jackson on May 20, 2007 10:14 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

pointing out run differential

Is not proof of anything. You wanna bet the Twins will finish ahead of the Sox? Clev and Detroit are certainly playing better right now. But neither team pitches or fields better overall.

As I said the team is getting to full strength and with so many head to head games left its ridiculous to saying this team is out of it.

by Tdogg on May 20, 2007 10:50 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not going to bet, or predict,

or get into a who-knows-more-about-baseball contest. The Sox don't score enough runs, and that counts for plenty. Thome will help, but you can't realistically expect the other hitters to do any switch flipping, and have the division start sucking at the same time.

by Paxson Jackson on May 20, 2007 12:15 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I can realistically expect the team to score

More runs then they currently are. To your point the Sox are not 10 games back. How drastic of a change are we talking?

Obviously the Sox are fortunate to have their record with the number of runs they have scored. But again with pitching and defense in tact, the offense may be a "problem that is corrected little easier"

Thome helps is an understatement. Even in the limited sample they scored a full run more a game with him in the lineup and that was with everyone being crap.

by Tdogg on May 20, 2007 1:06 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

the offense picking up will certainly help

and it will pick up. the question remains whether the pitching will remain "intact." their ERA - especially for starters - is nice and low. it's tough for us to expect them to continue to be around 3.70. i'm worried that a lot of the offensive pick-up will be negated by a slow-down of the pitching.

Stay grindy, my friends.

by larry on May 20, 2007 1:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

chipper is right

the bats cant possibly stay that cold(AJ cant possibly stay this HOT), and it looks like Dye has turned that corner, but we cant realisticalyy expect the pitching to keep up its stelllar pace.
Friday and saturday showed us the bullpen aint bulletproof. The starters will get shelled in time as well.
I have more faith that the pitching stays tight, but the bats, Im not expecting salvo after salvo anytime soon.

by Gus on May 20, 2007 10:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

yes, i'm serious

the reason you probably don't think i'm serious is because i don't couch my "oh, the sox aren't going to the playoffs" with ridiculous language, calls for trading the entire team, firing everyone, and so on.

the indians and tigers are better than us. i thought this before the season and nothing has changed. i don't believe the twins are better than and don't think they'll finish ahead of us. you can certainly differ but we've got more problems and more potential problems than either of those teams do. plus, each of these teams have been playing great without some important parts - detroit especially.

before the season, i predicted us with a 3rd place division finish and around 86 wins. very little has changed. this doesn't change my enjoyment of watching the team or make me believe they're "out of it." they certainly can do it, but they've put themselves in a position where they need not only themselves to play better but they need other teams to play worse. that's not usually a recipe for success so i'm not optimistic about it.

i'll also note that this isn't a minority position. maybe people don't think this sort of stuff through, but the southsidesox poll before the season predicting how many wins we'd get had 10% (38 people) pick the sox to get 95+ wins. historically, you need 95 or more to get the wild card. there's still the division but i don't recall many people posting about how we were going to take the division - and less than 95 wins for that, when people seemed convinced the wild card would come from the central, seems incongruous.

Stay grindy, my friends.

by larry on May 20, 2007 12:33 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

No you dont

Which is why I take your post seriously. Personally I believe in Detroit's staying power a little more. And you may be right we might end up 3rd. But the Sox have quite a few games vs those direct threats. And with the rest of AL approaching its own makeshift parity 95 wins might not be needed this year.

Maybe the 2 meltdowns of the Cubs taints things a bit. But they are still pitching very well overall and "that" was the basis of most pre season predictions. So far most have been dead wrong about the staff.

Canada Mark was right about a lot of ifs and buts. Ill give you that. But if the bats become resonable and the staff stays the same come August/ Sept if they are hanging around Ill take my chances with the squad.

by Tdogg on May 20, 2007 1:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i'll certainly take my chances, too

i don't think this is a bad team. 86 wins is a nice total. i just think both those other teams are better than us. and i disagree with detroit having more staying power. i've picked the indians to win it all. detroit's starting pitching just doesn't strike enough confidence in me and their offense relies on creaky old guys (sound like another central offense?).

maybe you're right about other's predictions but i thought the basic consensus on here was that the pitching would improve some over last year while the offense would decline some, leaving us pretty much in the same position as we were last year.

Stay grindy, my friends.

by larry on May 20, 2007 1:29 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't like to see this out of you, Larry!

Hitting is getting marginally better and in all likelihood will continue to improve to CLOSE TO WHAT's PROJECTED (taking into consideration Erstad, aging, all that).

We had 2 bullpen meltdowns (however, Mac does look really bad, this is Aardsma's first really bad outing), but overall the bullpen has been average to above average.

We're 4 1/2 games behind and have had one of the most difficult schedules in baseball. We only have to catch 1 of the 2 teams ahead of us to be in contention for the wild card.

Remember, pitching & defense.

by ballyb on May 20, 2007 10:13 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i know we all like to point out

how we've played a tough schedule. we certainly have. strength of schedule analysis can pretty much go either way, especially at this point in the season. i'll just note that BP's analysis, linked below, whcih takes into account more than just strength doesn't suggest that much would be different for us. i haven't seen much evidence that playing crappy teams helps us win more.

link

Stay grindy, my friends.

by larry on May 20, 2007 12:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

White Flag

I know I was against Contreras starting over Danks, but this isn't a better solution. Masset was going to have to pitch anyway because the starter was going to be on a short-rest induced pitch count. All pitching Masset does is put added strain on a bullpen thats done nothing but shit the bed recently.

Thumbs Down. Exactly the type of iceberg in the Atlantic that I saw coming this weekend. What a mess.

AIM: SouthSideCheat

by The Cheat on May 19, 2007 10:40 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I am only paraphrasing slightly...

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the White Sox and their fans last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'

by RustyJ on May 20, 2007 1:17 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Holy mother of christ.

Ozzie, after our bullpen shows their complete lack of a trace of the Tom Sellack manliness we thought they had, you give them a start as a reward?

It's one thing to anger Mike North. I'm all for that.

But this? This is giving them shaved pubed, waxed eyebrowed mfers way more pleasure than they ever deserved. Huge towel party at Spin tomorrow.
And it's a shame.

by chrome on May 20, 2007 3:35 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Reward?

I don't think allowing Masset to start is a reward. He doesn't want to bring in Contreras or Danks on short rest and have them bat.

As long as he doesn't bring out the Sunday lineup, the Sox will have a chance. The hitting is slowly coming out of its black hole, and the bullpen will tighten up.

by RME JICO on May 20, 2007 8:11 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree.

Hitting is VERY SLOWLY improving.

We gave them 2. We'll win this one.

by ballyb on May 20, 2007 9:54 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I sure hope so

I'm one of the reactionaries TDogg referred to, admittedly, and I'm close to regretting my despair. But with 2 losses to the Cubs already in the bag, and Masset starting (giving way to a fledging bullpen) things aren't looking too good.

But sometimes, you just have to say screw it.

GO SOX!!!!!

by southsider80 on May 20, 2007 9:57 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why isn't Floyd being brought up?

I know Ozzie likes to screw the Sox out of sweeps, but does he need to assist the Cubs in obtaining one?

This series is making me ill. Wake me for the fire sale. I'm interested to see who we get.

by southsider80 on May 20, 2007 8:13 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I see its time for

"The season is over blah blah crap" again. Yes the losses hurt to the Cubs. Yes its a good chance they will get swept today. But that doesnt change the fact that the team is now starting to get healthy and over the next 2-3 weeks we will see what we really have.

The Sox are not 10 games out. The Sox dont have 5 teams ahead of them in the wildcard. Maybe they will one day this season (it sounds to me almost like some of you secretly want them to be). But until that happens this Chicken Little shit is getting old.

by Tdogg on May 20, 2007 9:12 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Ozzie and Cooper just realized Contreas is

a little older? Hasn't he been with the team for 3 years? Masset pitched 16 innings this year. He should have been in the minors honing his pitches. Sisco piched 12 innings this year. Either he or Masset should be in the minors getting better. With the starting pitchers going deep into games, I would think the Sox would have been better off with another hitter.

by squeegeeman on May 20, 2007 12:32 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

big jim

[Nathaniel Whalen]

The Sox expect Jim Thome (strained right ribcage) to rejoin the team today after rehabbing with Triple-A Charlotte. Thome, however, won't be activated off the DL until Monday. "He might change and say he wants more at-bats, but I don't think he likes the life in Triple-A too much," Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said.

well, he's not in charlotte's lineup today...

by The Wizard on May 20, 2007 12:58 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

i thought i saw jim on the field

during the pregame broadcast. could've been someone else, though.

Stay grindy, my friends.

by larry on May 20, 2007 1:02 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

We'll know more in 22 games

Say the Sox are about 31 up and 31 down in mid-June. That leaves 100 games to play and to reach 95 wins the Sox would have to go 64 and 36. I just don't see this club as having the stuff to go 64 and 36. So they need either to show something significant in the next 22 games, be about 10 games over .500, or we're all going to be spending the summer looking up at Detroit and Cleveland.

P.S. So far our divisional "head-to-head" has done nothing to inspire confidence. Sad to say it looks like the specter of playing the Twins and Cleveland intimidates the crap out of our guys.

Canada's finest

by MarkD on May 20, 2007 1:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think it was Larry....

who said he hopes they just "keep it interesting" and I completely agree. I don't think we are good enough to get to the post-season but I'd at least like to play meaningful August games...

by stanchar on May 20, 2007 1:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

ballyb and Tdogg, take a bow

for beng the only positive posts re: our chances today. I haven't been around all weekend until today and was able to watch the middle innings (missed the end - I hate our bullpen). Gotta agree w/ larry - I thought 85 wins was doable at the start of the year.

Hope I'm wrong - at least we're busting out of the hitting slump - just in time for our relievers to slide. Ah, well, it IS interesting.

by winningugly on May 20, 2007 6:20 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

and that's all you can ask for

i'm sure we'd all prefer interesting in the 2005 style but we all know that isn't possible. this year so far has certainly piqued my interest more than others. lots of interesting storylines (danks, bullpen, offense, potential free agents - just to name some) to follow.

Stay grindy, my friends.

by larry on May 20, 2007 6:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

in case you hadn't heard, sweeney was send down

[Scott Merkin]

Jim Thome rejoined the White Sox on Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field, as planned. But the prolific slugger returned to the roster one day earlier than originally thought, as the White Sox activated their designated hitter following a five-game injury rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte. To make room for Thome, outfielder Ryan Sweeney was reassigned to Charlotte following Sunday's batting practice.

by The Wizard on May 20, 2007 6:41 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs