Baseball

Detroit Tigers fans are justifiably too excited for words about the Tigers' prospects for the 2012 season.

The Tigers added Prince Fielder to an already-strong core comprised of superstars Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera. RF Brennan Boesch is back, and will play right field every day. Up and down the lineup are dangerous, powerful hitters like the aforementioned Boesch, as well as SS Jhonny Peralta, C Alex Avila, LF Delmon Young and even 2B Ryan Raburn- hitters who should do well to complement the explosiveness of Cabrera and Fielder.

Continue reading "This Year's Detroit TIgers Will Not Repeat 2008"

Second baseman Brandon Inge has been placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to March 30th. That means he'll be eligible to play on April 14th against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago. 

Continue reading "Detroit TIgers Place Inge On 15-Day ..."

To compete, a baseball team needs pitching and defense. An old adage maybe, but it exists for a reason. A team that continuously gives up runs ends up yanking their starters early in games and taxes their bullpen, lessening their effectiveness over time and thereby compounding the problem over the season. Ironically, trying to keep games close hurts the team in the long run. But with one of the best fielding percentages and team ERA’s in the league, the Toronto Blue Jays are competing.

Continue reading "Why the Jays won't compete: the importance ..."

Just picture it: it’s the top of the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays are holding a slim 2-1 lead over the New York Yankees. Up to bat is Derek Jeter with Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez on deck. Cito Gaston, in order to shut the door on the game and the series gets on the phone and brings in the big gun, Pedro Luis Lazo, winner of two Olympic Gold medals with Cuba and current closer of the Blue Jays. And even if he gives up a run its okay, because leading off the bottom of the ninth for the Jays is Alexei Bell, who hit 30 HR with 100 RBI with Santiago del Cuba last year.

Continue reading "Part Time Jays: How to add a little ..."

So we've had a couple days to think about this madness, what with the White Sox having had yesterday off.  And they needed a day off to rest and recuperate.  And so did we.  I've had time to consider this, and my time has taught me that if my actions indeed have any bearing on how the Sox play, then I need to be more positive.  And so the last bad thing I'll say is this: we did drop three of four to Tampa, but the Rays are a good team this year.  That's all I'll say.

Continue reading "A New Hope"

It has been a while since my last post, which was bitter to say the least. A month and a half later I can hardly find much to complain about when it comes to the Cubs. They look like the best baseball team in the National League right now (obviously their record doesn't disagree), and after a 7-0 homestand this week, my baseball excitement is at its peak. I can't miss a Cubs game anymore. I make a point to try to watch or listen to every game, and I went to two games during the undefeated homestand. They have just been so entertaining to watch. Their play has been solid all around, and their offense has just been hilarious. Geovany Soto has been incredible, and he looks like he is going to be a legitimate NL all star catcher for years to come in the shadow of Mike Piazza.

Continue reading "Cubs Tearing Up the National League"

 Our team ERA remains a phenomenal 3.42, placing us at #2 in all of Major League Baseball.  Only Oakland has a better ERA (3.27).  We've given up just 394 hits.  Only the Diamondbacks, A's, and Braves have given up fewer (respectively: 393, 390, 389).  For comparison, the Pirates have given up 524; the Twins, 496; the Tigers, 453; the Royals, 441; and the Indians, 432.  By any measure, the Sox are excellent in this category.  And that trend extends even further, as you might imagine it should.  Our pitchers have allowed a total of just 182 runs.  Again, only the A's have done better, allowing 181.  But wrap your head around this: we've given up just 26 home runs.  That's it.  26!  That's good enough for the best in MLB.  The next-best A's have allowed 32 HR, while the worst-in-this-category Astros have allowed 73.  And yet, the Astros are 29-23, while the White Sox are 26-22.  The difference, of course, is that the Astros have scored 253 runs (fourth in the National League), while the Sox have scored just 218 (ninth in the American League).  

Continue reading "Consistently Inconsistent"

Well, there's so much to discuss.

First of all, I want to take a moment to just be happy that we've won five in a row.  That's awesome, and nothing can take just that away from us now.  I'm not saying anything has turned around.  I'm not saying that the season from here on out will be peanuts and crackerjacks.  I'm not saying that we have nothing to worry about.  I'm just saying it's nice to have won five games in a row.

Continue reading "Bullpen Bull...."

 In Major League Baseball as a whole, only the Phillies and the Marlins have bombed more balls.  And yet, in terms of total runs scored, the White Sox are tied for 17th in MLB (that's out of 30 teams)-- and we're tied, of all teams, with the Rays.

Continue reading "Sox-ual Healing"

I call it "Baseball Heroin," as it's all too easy to sit for hours flipping between games, immobile, helpless to the draw of constant, and constantly changing, baseball.

This year has the added bonus of being able to watch either the home or away feed for a game, so I can tailor my watching to the team I like, or switch between the two to get a different perspective on a game. This somewhat ameliorates some of the problems DirecTV has been having this year with feeds--I'm one of the many, many people who woke up at 3AM on Opening Day in Japan . . . only to find that DirecTV's satellite problems were blacking out the broadcast. A handful of games later on in the season experienced this same problem, but these problems have been by and large small ones.

Continue reading "Saturday: The Black Hole of Baseball"

Bring back day games for the World Series. Baseball's being lost to other sports, in part because kids don't watch the games (live or in person) the way they could when the games were in the daytime. Sure, ratings are higher at night, but how much does this affect ad revenue, really? And even if it does, sometimes you've gotta sacrifice the present for the future, instead of the other way around.

Continue reading "How I'd Change Baseball"

I never liked the "Soriano Hop". I never thought it would actually cause him to hurt himself though. I am not a Soriano fan. He's an absolute offensive mammoth when he gets hot, but when he's not hot, he has very little value to this team. And he is a terrible leadoff hitter when he's cold. His on-base is .230. Let's face it: this is one of the worst contracts  in baseball right now, second maybe only to Barry Zito.

Continue reading "Soriano Injures Himself Hopping"

Finally, the baseball buzz is heating up here in Chicago. I hate the time between the end of football and the beginning of baseball. Especialy this year. I stopped watching Bulls game over a month ago, for obvious reasons- like their absolute suckage causing my eyes to bleed. And as for the Blackhawks and the NHL (RIP), I have been trying to get back into them this year, and the Hawks look like they have a good future ahead of them, but I'm still not to the point of being a raging hockey follower.

Continue reading "Let Baseball Season Begin Already"