White Sox April Thread 2009

SportsWorld · Post #1 » by **SportsWorld** » Sun Apr 5, 2009 8:25 am

April 6, 8, 9: VS Kansas City
April 10-12: VS Minnesota
April 13-15: @ Detroit
April 16-19: @ Tampa Bay
April 21-23: @ Baltimore
April 24-26: VS Toronto
April 27-29: VS Seattle

NoSkyy · Post #2 » by **NoSkyy** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 8:44 pm

April 6th, 4-2 (W) against Royals (1-0)

We lead the AL Central guys! Go us.

Shootdabull · Post #3 » by **Shootdabull** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 3:44 pm

Well were off to good start. I thought Kenny would have done a little more in the off season to bring in some speed (we are very slow 3-7) and a center fielder. We are going to need a good year out of Getz & Fields so its good to see them starting off well.

Next up is Greinke who is coming off a decent year but we have had success against him in the past. I'm interested to see if Floyd is able to put together another very good year. I'm thinking 2-0.

cold5 · Post #4 » by **cold5** » Thu Apr 9, 2009 5:44 am

Bull was right except opposite Greinke shuts you guys down. 2-0 Royals. Will be interesting to see this division. Don't think Sox can win it but it's such an open division that I think possibly the only team out of it are the Tigers.

Shootdabull · Post #5 » by **Shootdabull** » Thu Apr 9, 2009 4:02 pm

cold5 wrote:Bull was right except opposite Greinke shuts you guys down. 2-0 Royals. Will be interesting to see this division. Don't think Sox can win it but it's such an open division that I think possibly the only team out of it are the Tigers.

Greinke was good last year, but we had pretty success against him the past few seasons. I was hoping it would continue, but atlas the bats were cold and KC was just better.
We have a good shot at 2-1. I think Danks is a pretty good pitcher which should keep us in the game. I don't know much about Davies other than he has been around for a few years and is usually around .500.
As far as the division goes I think we have as good a shot as anyone. Every team some holes and if Jose can pitch well it will be a big boost. The fifth spot looks pretty shakey as I'm not sold on Colon's comeback. Like last year we need several things to go right for us and I think we can win this division. Staying healthy will be a key along with good starting pitching.

Shootdabull · Post #6 » by **Shootdabull** » Thu Apr 9, 2009 9:57 pm

Ouch we wasted two good outings from floyd & danks. I hope bats wake up soon.

Shootdabull · Post #7 » by **Shootdabull** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:11 pm

Two out of three from the twins - I'll take it. A win today and we are back on top. Miner was very good in his first outing of the year so I am expecting a tight ball game today. I would be nice if we could pick up a few runs early.

Shootdabull · Post #8 » by **Shootdabull** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:11 am

Well so much for my Pitchers dual - good win today. The bats were alive - congrats Dye & Pauly.

SportsWorld · Post #9 » by **SportsWorld** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:15 am

Tomorrow:
John Danks, LHP (0-0, 0.00)
vs
Rick Porcello, RHP (0-1, 7.20)

Wednesday:
Jose Contreras, RHP (0-1, 7.20)
vs
Armando Galarraga, RHP (1-0, 1.29)

I think the Sox take tomorrow's game but lose on Wednesday. No shame in taking 2 of 3 on the road though.

Shootdabull · Post #10 » by **Shootdabull** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:41 pm

SportsWorld wrote:Tomorrow:
John Danks, LHP (0-0, 0.00)
vs
Rick Porcello, RHP (0-1, 7.20)

Wednesday:
Jose Contreras, RHP (0-1, 7.20)
vs
Armando Galarraga, RHP (1-0, 1.29)

I think the Sox take tomorrow's game but lose on Wednesday. No shame in taking 2 of 3 on the road though.

I agree Danks has been looking good. I have very little confidence in Jose, so split sounds good to me.

cold5 · Post #11 » by **cold5** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:43 am

I have a feeling that your center fielder Anderson won't provide any offense at all. You guys don't have much room for error in your lineup or rotation. Buehrle isn't really a true ace he's more like a no. 2 starter on a good team and no one else is. Ozzie and KW are really relying too much on guys who either haven't thrown 100 innings for several years or who haven't been good for several years (cough cough Contreras). KW really needs to make some trades and get something done to make you guys succeed in the regular season let alone the playoffs. With all that said your division is still for the taking. Unfortunately I hate to say it but there are already some signs of a 2006 repeat. Relying on young guys to provide key roles and the same with old veterans. Getz and Richard will be much less of a problem for you guys than Contreras or possibly Konerko, Thome, or Dye. Dye and Thome will probably perform, but Thome's stats have gone steadily down for a number of years now. He'll probably hit something like 27 dingers and 85 homers with a .240 average. Dye will possibly be a problem in the field but probably not. I do not see Konerko having great numbers. Your bullpen also has signs of decrease. Jenks really gets overused which got clearly shown during that Minnesota series at the end of the season last year in Minnesota. You guys should have signed Pedro instead of Colon and gone with Richard instead of Contreras. Also should have traded Konerko and maybe Thome and Jenks for young talent. It might have been better to totally instead of partially rebuild to not totally waste a season. That might happen at the trade deadline anyways. Prediction I'm going with prospectus's total except inflated of 78-83. But the division has a ton of problems and unless somebody makes a big trade like Cleveland to improve rotation, Minnesota to improve lineup, KC to improve back end of rotation, Detroit to improve pitching staff there's no clear winner at all. Just my thoughts but I might be totally wrong as you guys do hang in there when things don't look too well.

Shootdabull · Post #12 » by **Shootdabull** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:08 pm

Hey cold5 five I agree we have some issues, but I think we are good enough to compete for the division. I agree with you on Anderson. He has a good glove but has not shown he can hit. He is a decent guy off of the bench but I would rank him a bottom five starting center fielder. While I also agree Buehrle is not Cy Young material he is usually pretty consistent and good for around 15W's. The starting pitching that I'm encouraged are that both Danks and Floyd are coming off of good years and they both have one good outing already. I think they are going to be very solid in the 2-3 slot. Kenny is rolling the dice on Jose & Colon and this could sink us. I was hoping Kenny would make some moves in the off season but I think he is stuck with our base cloggers. With $$$ we are paying Pauly, Thome & Dye I don't think he had a ton of offers so I think they are probably hard to move at this point in there careeers. They will still come up with the long ball from time to time. I think we will stay around .500 which should keep us in the mix for the division as all the teams are flawed.

cold5 · Post #13 » by **cold5** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:10 pm

I forgot McDougal too. That was not a good call by Ozzie and KW. He has no control at all. Him and Contreras were horrible today. I don't know what KW and Ozzie were thinking using Contreras, Colon, and McDougal. You guys might be forced to bring up Marquez and start Richard if they get injured or in case Contreras continues his failure. But Ozzie and KW let Contreras continue sucking game after game two years ago. You guys should be able to compete because no one in your division is a lock to do well except maybe Minnesota when Mauer and Baker come back. But they still have some issues. Or if anyone else makes a big trade.

Shootdabull · Post #14 » by **Shootdabull** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:15 pm

Jose looks bad hopefully Colon will come through or it could be a long season. I think your right that they will keep sending him out there because he is making a lot of $$$$. From what I've seen from Clayton, I don't think he is the answer either. It looked like Lance Broadway has a decent curveball maybe he could step in.