Game 126 Preview
Freddy "All I'm Askin' Is For Some Runs" Garcia 11-8, 4.87 for the ChiSox
vs.
Zach Miner 7-4, 4.15 for the Motor City Kitties
This is a rematch of Aug 13, when we beat the Tiggers 7-3.
Miner is 1-3 with a 7.00 ERA in his last 6 starts.
The Sox are...
losers of 6 of 8.
7.5 back in the division.
clinging to the slimmest of WC leads.
floundering instead of rising to the challenge
severely shortening my life span.
2 or 3 early runs would be ideal.
Lets go Sox...please!
Thome, Thome, Thome (chanted a la Toga) is my Pick to Click
I know it seems like there's no point to make a pick to click considering how badly everyone is struggling, but imagine how rewarding it'll feel to pick the player that breaks out of his slump...so readers make those picks to clicks as comments!
vs.
Zach Miner 7-4, 4.15 for the Motor City Kitties
This is a rematch of Aug 13, when we beat the Tiggers 7-3.
Miner is 1-3 with a 7.00 ERA in his last 6 starts.
The Sox are...
losers of 6 of 8.
7.5 back in the division.
clinging to the slimmest of WC leads.
floundering instead of rising to the challenge
severely shortening my life span.
2 or 3 early runs would be ideal.
Lets go Sox...please!
Thome, Thome, Thome (chanted a la Toga) is my Pick to Click
I know it seems like there's no point to make a pick to click considering how badly everyone is struggling, but imagine how rewarding it'll feel to pick the player that breaks out of his slump...so readers make those picks to clicks as comments!
posted by Jeeves at 9:03 AM
24 Comments:
I'll take Konerko.
Let me have AJ...and if the Sox don't win tonight I may see the inside of achurch for the first time in a few years.
I'm taking Alex Cintron.
I think the Sox just might bust out of it today. This will be their first game against a non-All Star caliber pitcher since Radke (or even Bonzer) and they know it's gut-check time.
Maybe AJ can do it???? I'll go with him.
WTF is this whole Pick to Click thing?
I see Hawk and crazy DJ do it before every game and they NEVER explain it. Is it just as simple as they are saying I think this guy will have a good game? Or is there some measurement involved and there is a definitive answer as to who was the best Pick to Click choice? And does the person who has the correct pick win something? IMHO it's the stupidist thing, but then again there's lots of stupid things to pick from with those two.
For example.....
Last night Kenny Rogers has got some guy 3-2 and DJ says, "Boy, it doesn't matter what the count is to old Kenny, he doesn't care if it's 2-2, 3-2, 1-2, 1-1,....." and the crazy bastard keeps goin on and on listing every possible combination of balls and strikes...... and the hilarious part is that the whole time DJ is saying the count doesn't matter to Rogers, Kenny is using his fingers and mouthing "3 and 2?" to his catcher trying to find out what the count is. I thought I was going to wet my pants!!!
Seems to me like there are 2 very obvious things Ozzie should do...... low hanging fruit as they call it in the POS corporate world.....
1) Replace Vasquez with McCarthy
2) Replace Anderson with Gload
I'm not sure Gload can play the outfield, I've seen him play 1st base, but how can you have a guy this good not playing every night?
A) I don't think McCarthy should go into the rotation at this point this year. I do think he should be roped to Vazquez so that the second Vazquez shows signs of tiring, McCarthy can just switch spots with him and take over. It'll be like Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear in Stuck on You.
B) If you want to change an outfielder, its Pods, not BA, who needs to go. Plus, Gload has an on-base percentage in the .320 area. The replacement, in LF and at the top of the order, should be Roblo Mackozuna (it's another two-headed creation; why are baseball managers so freakin' uncreative when it comes to player usage). Although, Pablo may be hitting himself out of the platoon. Mack's on-base average is still over .370 and Pablo is in the .360 range.
Yes, Pods is the one that would need to go...just some quick stats.
Since the ASB...
Pods - .219 BA, .581 OPS
Anderson - .284, .762 OPS
About the pick to clicks, they're just for fun. It's something that'll keep you extra interested in the game. Even if a losing effort, you feel that more inclined to cheer for your own pick to click.
Yeah, but how do you measure that he "clicked"?
I see you have standings on whose selections were correct. How did you determine that? Does their play in the field come into the equation?
But Pods has that likeability factor. He's the blue collar, working his butt off trying to be better kind of guy...... I think he is upset that he's playing poorly.
Anderson, on the other hand is the easy going, California surfer dude type who doesn't seem to care...... he's like Spicoli from FT@RH.
BTW, I'll take Mackoviak over Anderson any day of the week too.
I'm not sure how fair it is to look at Gload's stats. He hardly gets to play. My admiration for him is puely empirical from the times I happen to catch him pinch hitting or something he seems to always come through. I've seen him make some nice plays at first base too.
I'm not like a hardcore Sox fan in that I don't watch every inning of every game, but from what I've seen, I can't think of another guy who looked as talented as Gload and played as little as he does. I think even Ozzie commented that if he was on any other team he would be starting..... now maybe Ozzie is just trying to blow sunshine up Gload's ass to keep him happy on the bench??? could be...
Yah, I would like to see Gload play more. I've always been a proponent for him playing more even though he is a liability in the field. This is the man that batted .321 in 110 games in '04. I guess the injury last year really put him out of the White Sox plans.
There are a lot of different things that go into a pick clicking. Generally, but not always, multi-hit games and game winnings hits are a good way to define clicking, but there are other things like clutch hitting or defense or other stuff that can help constitute someone clicking.
It's not an exact science, as I'm sure you can tell. Just something to get people invovled.
I redid the entire lineup on my blog, I wish Ozzie would consider it.
People seem to have stopped slurping Papi and Manny. The Sox 3-4-5 hitters finally getting some due. Albeit from Phil Rogers.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=rogers_phil&id=2557327&lpos=tv1&lid=tab1pos2
JD and company just made Phil Rogers look like a smart, smart man.
"Hang a gold star on that one!"
First runs in 16 innings!
Do I have to participate in the poll?????
Or can we all just assume that we know my answer?????
anonymous...the Pick to Click thing started as a random conversational tool by Hawk in 2000 to help DJ "make his bones"/"cut his teeth"/be more comfortable in the booth since he had no broadcast experience whatsoever. Initially they didn't even say Pick to Click. Hawk would say something like, "I'm gonna pick Frank Thomas today to do well cuz I like the matchup against such-and-such a pitcher." DJ would then put his two cents in. It evolved over the next year and half into the PtC. The marketing department then latched onto it and got a sponsor for it, and since Hawk and DJ work closely with the crew, they were added to the list.
Their PtC is based solely on offensive stats and I believe only one guy gets a tally on their total at the end of the night. There is no "winner" of anything tangible unless they have a quiet side bet for golfballs which wouldn't surprise me at all. (One thing that's always bothered me though is that they never revisit the previous night's PtC and explain it. Time constraints maybe; Or maybe they think like Mark McGwire: they're not there to talk about the past.)
Our PtC is much more subjective, and it's a fun way to get people involved in the site, to connect with the other fans, and to have bragging rights. Is it a silly game? Maybe, but baseball is also a game so take it for what it's worth. For us, more than one person can "win" a PtC in a night, and no one has yet to complain about whether or not their PtC actually clicked.
All of that was to say it's just another way to enjoy the game. We are committed fans but as I said before it is a game. No one, except degenerate gamblers, takes it too seriously.
A few other things...
1) Anonymous...If BA looks nonchalant in CF its because he's worked HIS tail off to be a great fielding CFer. He is great, and I mean that in the most superlative way possible, at reading the ball off the bat. No one in the league and certainly no one on the the Sox is better at it. Have you watched Mack in CF? He almost always misreads a ball hit right at him, and has cost the team many runs by doing so. He's way more suited for LF. Ross Gload can hustle, but doesn't have near the speed you need for CF and he doesn't read the ball that well off the bat either. Look at some of the adventures he's had in RF this year. The bad link, right now, in the equation is Pods. He may be likeable, he may be hardworking, but so was Rudy, and Dan Devine knew better than to ever play the guy. I'm not saying Pods is Rudy-like -- he has more talent -- but he's not producing and no amount of likeability should matter if your team is losing and you're a big reason why .
My solution, not that it matters, is platoon Mack & Pablo in LF and leave BA alone. He's hitting much better than earlier in the year. Mack and Pablo have been much better with the bat than Pods, so do the lefty-righty thing using Pods as a pinch hitter/runner when the situation calls for it.
2) You spoke too soon, Jeeves. Here's an ESPN front page story calling Manny & Papi one of the best ever. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=2558374
I've gotta go pick up a friend with a flat tire, so the recap won't be up til late or in the morning, unless someone else wants to do one.
Got a little nerve-wracking, but I'll take a win any way we can get it.
Now take tomorrow's game and go into the weekend on a somewhat of a roll.
I'll get up a recap.
This has got to be a record. I must say, I"m quite proud of how this little blog has grown.
I'm not sure if you guys know it or not, but you were mentioned yesterday on the site www.toptensources.com
I'm not quite sure how that site works, but they had a feature on baseball on their home page and there was a link to one of your blog entries. It seems to be gone now when I drill down on there site into the sports --> baseball section. It must be constantly updated...... but that's how I found you guys.
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