Introduction and a First Rant
>> Saturday
First off, let me take a moment to introduce myself. I'm Danny, the newest member of YCS. Somehow, Matt felt that there weren't enough amateur hacks writing for this fine blog, and that it was high time to add one more amateur hack to the fray. So, in a moment of mental incapacitation, I decided to accept and publicly associate myself with the rest of the clowns here at YCS.
Born and raised in New York City, I bleed Jets green, Rangers blue, and Knicks frustration. New York baseball somehow managed to bypass me, and I found myself a fan of the Chicago White Sox, with a soft spot in my heart for the L.A. Dodgers as well. I have been in Milwaukee for the better part of the past 8 years, so I do feel a local connection to the Bucks and Brewers, and find myself rooting for them as well. Right now, I am hoping to find a job in the sports industry here, and I may have done just that in the marketing department of the local AHL hockey team, the Admirals.
Being a Marquette alum, Marquette WARRIORS basketball is my life and obsession, And in the collegiate game, I also go for UCLA basketball and football, and Notre Dame and Rutgers football. Seeing as I'm dating a Notre Dame alum, I'm sure there will be plety of rantings and musings coming from me about their much-anticipated season.
I suppose that is more than any of our twelve readers (most of whom are posters here as well) would care to know about me, so on to the good stuff. I found myself sitting here the past couple of days, wondering what to make my first post on, and the White Sox went ahead and answered the question for me.
I'm still on a high from last season. August/September swoon nonwithstanding, the Sox put together a dream year that culminated in bringing home some hardware. Aside from a shaky first week, 2006 looked very promising for a repeat. Now, the doubts are beginning to form, and I think that it's safe to say that I am officially on the ledge.
Losing 6 out of 7 after the All-Star Break, and falliing 6 1/2 games back, things are becoming a little precarious. I'm finally convinced that this Tigers team is the real deal, and not an April/May fluke. That said, the Sox need to right this ship fast, and start stringing together some wins. There is a competitive AL East charging up right behind the White Sox, and the Yankees are only 2 and a half games back from the Wild Card spot that the Sox had seemingly locked up as their fallback. In addition, the Twins have finally learned how to win as well, and as of this morning, are only 3 games back from the Sox in the AL Central standings.
Hawk Harrelson (who I still maintain is one of the best broadcasters in the game- people, a local broadcaster is SUPPOSED to be a homer!) made an excellent point during the finale of the Sox-Tigers series (Incidentally, this point was made before the Sox took the gas, and Hawk stopped talking). Last year's White Sox never really beat themselves. Sure they were outplayed sometimes, but no team is going to go 162-0. Everything seemed to be working in perfect order. When one bat went cold, another one in the lineup was right there to pick up the slack. All the pitchers had their best stuff most games, and when they didn't, there was usually enough run support to keep the team competitive.
This year, it is starting to seem like all the Sox are doing is beating themselves. The last 2 against Detroit served as a perfect example of this. Wednesday night, the first 4 hitters in the order failed to reach base, and all the team could muster was 4 hits, and 2 runs, both on solo home runs. This seemed like it might be enough, until Javier Vasquez' usual implosion hit in the 6th inning. One grand slam later, and the Sox are down and out. Thursday was no different, as the Sox failed to bring their A-game. A broken up double play with 1 out led to Detroit scoring the go-ahead run on the next at bat, and here we are again. It's been downright uninspiring, and yes, sadly, I think it is time to climb out onto that ledge. I will concede that there is plenty of season left, and here's hoping that this team can put together some of the magic from '05, and reel me back in off the ledge.
Whew! Soapbox off.......
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5 comments:
What really surprises me is the inexplicable mediocrity of the starting rotation. The rotation that was so good last year (minus El Duque, plus Vasquez--an upgrade) is not even average at this point. Garland seems to be getting better (plus his walk totals this year reflect last year's performance more than the previous years' performance--a good sign that he'll keep pitching well in my opinion), but Buehrle has tanked, Contreras has fallen off, and Garcia has just sort of sucked.
Buehrle seems to have the so-called "dead arm" stretch every year where his cutters and sinkers stop moving for a few starts, and he gets rocked. But this stretched definitely seems longer and more pronounced than in the past (without actually looking at previous years' stats). Hopefully something more serious isn't up with his arm.
Garcia has never been a huge favorite of mine (I favor control pitchers), and he had years or significant portions of years just like this back in Seattle. What concerns me is that his Ks are down and hits are up relative to the rest of his career. That usually means he can't put the funny stuff on the ball like he once could. That's not a good sign. It might not be a permanent decline in his game, but it could be a case where he has to adjust his approach considerably to be a good pitcher again. But as for this year, I'm not very encouraged.
I still maintain that Contreras is one of the best few pitchers in the AL (as in, Liriano, Santana, Halladay, then him), and as long as his arm is fine, he'll be back to sub-3.00 (and very likely sub-2.50 ERA) ball for the rest of the year.
Vasquez is also much better than he's pitched lately, so I don't see any reason why he won't snap out of his rough stretch. He'll be fine.
But still, Buehrle and Garcia kind of worry me. Thankfully this year, they don't rely so much on pitching and should score plenty the rest of the year (as long as Ozzie stops fucking bunting).
As you know Pat, I side with Danny on the Hawk issue. Come on; how can rip Hawk and turn a deaf ear to Santo's homerism. Remember the way Santo stuck up for Todd Hundley when he was hitting below his BAC?
I never heard that "juiced ball" thing, but I get the feeling you're exaggerating. When Hawk does give opinions, you'll find he stays pretty objective. He's just very good at using that dead air to avoid comments that reflect negatively on the Sox while using his excitability to hype up the small triumphs.
His playing-days stories are often rather insightful and not the candy-coated, self-agrandizing tripe you usually get from former players in the booth. His only problem is that his partner is an uninsightful, non-objective yes-man schlub that never challenges Hawk to qualify his analysis.
And I still prefer Hawk's overt bias over the shifty, disguised-as-objective, pro-ownership spin that the typical hand-picked schill uses. Say what you will, but I think Hawk adds a unique personality to baseball broadcasting.
But DJ still sucks. Horribly.
It's all moot. Bob Uecker owns you all.
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