What a hack...Anyone read his article on ESPN about how the Sox can't get healthy and how the wild card might come out of the Central? Every word of the article is tired. Really. It is obvious at this point in the season to make these statements, but how about making real predictions based on team personnel performance?
He says there are major concerns over Keith Foulke...Why? Granted he hasn't pitched well to start the year, but are there really people out there that doubt his ability?
He brings up the concerns over letting Pedro and Lowe walk...First off, neither of those guys chose to resign with Boston. Lowe's 9MM/year was "an insult" and Pedro got "no respect". What about the fact that Clement and Arroyo are a combined 7-0. Throw in Wake at 3-1 with a 2.97...That's there 3, 4, and 5...Find a group of 1, 2, 3 with a combined 10-1 right now...Plus, Schill and Miller will be back and Wells will be, too.
In another place he says the Jays are driving in tons of runs and without much help from Vernon Wells...Look out is the tone...What about the fact that we've scored more runs than the Jays? AND you could make the argument that there are guys in the Sox lineup under-producing.
If he wanted to make a case about the entire bullpen, I'd listen but I guess he didn't want to do the analysis. Laziness. But let's talk about it a bit...Timlin is solid and his numbers back that up. Dinardo and Myers a combined 9 appearances (4 innings)/Zero runs, Mantei has a 3.81 ERA with 11 Ks in 10 2/3 innings, Embree's ERA is inflated because of one bad outing but he's been very good (was our best until said outing) and Foulke seems to have found himself (3 straight saves for the first time since last April '04).
The Sox are 16-12 and heading home to play Seattle. They are 1/2 game behind Minnesota for the wild card and in second place in the East. Oh, and they are 2 and 2 against the invincible Orioles...
I can't stand inflammatory writing based on garbage. I understand that it is cool to try to create stories these days, but this is why there are so many undereducated, whiny yahoos...He's terrible and I used to sort of look forward to his articles...
I was just happy that there was an article on ESPN that I COULD read.
ReplyDelete"Find a group of 1, 2, 3 with a combined 10-1 right now."
ReplyDeleteWell I'm gald we are in the AL
While, the White Sox are close - depending on who thier 1-2-3 are (they may even be 12-1).
Garland 5-0
Beurhle 4-1
Garcia 3-1
Dookie 3-1
Contreras 1-0
Not a bad rotation for now 16-2!!! That is insane.
Most of the good pitching teams are in the NL.
The Cards are looking good.
Mulder Carpenter and Marquis are each 4-1. Not too shabby.
FLA is pitching well (Willis, Beckett and Burnett). The Braves have been okay - they don't ave gaudy win totals for their pitchers b/c they don't score runs in bunches.
Nope, not too shabby on any of those. My point was that our starting pitching is actually very good and people are acting like the sky is falling. I could only put together 12-2 with the best 3 White Sox, 12-3 with the Cards...We might need to wait another round of starts for Arroyo, Wake, and Clement to compare (add in Halama as current and we are at 11-1), but I think you can see that there aren't MAJOR concerns with how the Sox rotation is going. Wouldn't you concede that the Sox staff is up there with the tops now even with the injuries?
ReplyDeleteI think the Sox rotation is okay, but we do have some questions. I'm glad these injuries are now and not in September. I don't think I would want to head into the playoffs with that rotation. We don't have that front of the rotation stopper. Of course you could argue that none of the current leading teams does (except MN).
ReplyDeleteIts nice that we have the next two weeks against a couple of the weakest hitting teams in baseball.
Last week of May and first half of June we should know what type of team we have (Yanks, Baltimore, Angels, and St. Louis)