White Sox raise white flag
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Sep 01, 2009 
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So much for the White Sox. They have traded Jim Thome to the Dodgers and Jose Contreras to the Rockies. The Dodgers also picked up Jon Garland from the Diamondbacks.
Teams had until midnight to acquire players that could be eligible for the postseason roster.
Thome has played four games at first base in the last four seasons — none in the last two years. How Joe Torre will use him is somewhat of a mystery. Maybe they figure he pinch hits for now and then is the DH if they get to the series. Garland provides rotation depth. Why anybody would want Contreras is uncertain.
Kenny Williams certainly keeps it interesting. How does he explain taking on Alex Rios and Jake Peavy and their salaries then turning around and giving up with a month to go? Meanwhile, don’t they have to shut Peavy down now? I’m just thankful I don’t have to back to that dreadful park to cover any postseason games.
The postseason picture is shaping up in the AL. The Yankees and Angels are in, the wild card will be Boston, Texas or Tampa Bay and either Detroit or Minnesota wins the Central.
Yankees need a Red Sox-Angels bloodbath then home field advantage against the winner.
its sad really….
Has 2 500 HR hitters ever been in the same lineup? That’s pretty sick.
nevermind.. Griffey/Thome
Pat M.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:24 am
New thread……GB. I maybe doing a Savannah trip in early December……>>>>>
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Hey, PAT M, that sounds great. He’ll have to go to River Street, have some good food, good drinks (Is there any other kind?). We’ll get together with Dennis and talk trash about Randy.
Also Sosa/Palmeiro.
Actually the Contreras acquisition may not be that bad. We all know he has shown flashes of brilliance. We also all know he has never pitched consistently in the AL. Pitchers seem to go to the NL and put up better stats. A lot of the hitters will have never faced him. Considering he’ll only be making 5 starts for the Rockies, they may turn out winners on this. They just need a little push to get them in as the wild card and he me be able to help them do that.
i can’t wait to see the moves tomorrow! do we sacrifice swb and trenton’s playoff chances just to backup joba? does “the eyes” battle “guess the molina” for the #2 job? does bruney finally disappear? do we see austin for the first time and shelly for the last? and, of course, all the ramifications of the 40 man roster and the rule V draft!
GB, I’ll be flying into Savannah, but I have a few days at Hilton Head for a Cadillac Conference…..I usually stay at the Hampton Inn righ tacross the Street from River Street…..Savannah is one of my favorite cities…..I’ll know more in a few weeks……Definately hang out for a night….
Pat M.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:38 am
GB, I’ll be flying into Savannah, but I have a few days at Hilton Head for a Cadillac Conference…..I usually stay at the Hampton Inn righ tacross the Street from River Street…..Savannah is one of my favorite cities…..I’ll know more in a few weeks……Definately hang out for a night….
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without a doubt. That sounds like a great time. Dennis will or should be back from the Great White North (Maine) by then. We can talk trash about Randy and rag Dennis about the Red Sox. Two of my favorite things. Dennis sounds like he’d be a lot of fun to be around. He lives pretty close to River Street, I believe.
I’ve noticed a theme here. Every time we crush a team in a series, they do something about it. We killed the O’s one day and they released Matt Albers. Padilla screwed up and they kicked him out too. The White Sox get rid of 2 of their men too.
Brad Penny and John Smoltz can go along with my post too.
Hey.
We live two blocks from River Street on Oglethorpe. Amy and I will walk down and meet you guys as we get back Dec 1st. You will rag me on the Sox for 20 min and then spend the rest of the night looking at and chatting with Amy!
Look forward to it.
Pat M. – A few doors down from the Hampton on Bay St is the Staybridge that has Amy’s photography all over the lobby. Pretty cool. I am a too proud!
-dennis
Yankees need a Red Sox-Angels bloodbath then home field advantage against the winner.
Exactly Pete, I think we come out of a Angels-Red Sox win – win. If the Red Sox make it, then I like how we match up especially at home. If the Angels make it, then it would mean they got past their nemesis the Red Sox and might make them vulnerable…as karma would have it.
At least we get the lesser division for the ALDS and then would have a better chance in a 7 game series.
I think it will be Yankees and Sox ALCS. I think the Twins will take out the Tigers in the Central down the stretch causing a Yankees vs. Twins ALDS matchup. I think this will be a fun October.
Dennis, I’ll check it out…Also I need to find that tavern that has all you can eat oysters for $ 20.00….The dates will be set in a few weeks, but in the past it’s always been the first week of December…..Lookin forward to it……
Yes, we get El Nino & Cervelli back.
Speaking of the White Sox, is Peavy even going to be ready for them this season?
The Dodgers are a very strange team this year. They were playing well and starting to really gel as a team while Manny was out (not a total surprise). They are short on pitching but have a surplus of position players and now they have more.
It doesn’t make too much sense.
Dumb GM. Gets Rios/Peavy…now trades…. he has no plan
ALDS is probably the only thing that can stop the Yankees, since anything can happen in a short series. If we look at the 1-2 punch
Yankees
Sabathia — Burnett/Pettite
Minnesota
Baker — Pavano?(puke in mouth)
Detroit
Verlander — Jackson
Angels
Lackey — Kazmir/Santana
Rangers
Feldman — Millwood
Rays
Shields — Garza/Price
Red Sox
Beckett — Lester
I only see Detroit being a big problem because Verlander is just untouchable when he’s on and Jackson is a flamethrower.
Beckett & Lester is no walk in the park my man……
Yeah Beckett and Lester is no walk in the park, but facing them in a seven game series is not as hard. The worst matchup is the ALDS. Two dominating pitchers can set the tone.
dennis-Costanza
September 1st, 2009 at 1:54 am
Hey.
We live two blocks from River Street on Oglethorpe. Amy and I will walk down and meet you guys as we get back Dec 1st. You will rag me on the Sox for 20 min and then spend the rest of the night looking at and chatting with Amy!
Look forward to it.
Pat M. – A few doors down from the Hampton on Bay St is the Staybridge that has Amy’s photography all over the lobby. Pretty cool. I am a too proud!
-dennis
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Dennis, at least you have some redeeming value..you have Amy to offset your Red Soxness. This should be a great time had by all. If it’s winter, Randy probably won’t be selling too much bird food in his store. Need to set something up tomorrow, since he’ll be dragging himself into here. I can taste a good steak tight now. Can’t eat seafood, because I’m allergic to the iodine. I can’t eat the heck out of a side of cow, though.
So Yanks get Verlander, Edwin Jackson, either Bonderman ( off the dl ) or Washburn……The easy days of waltzing thru the playoffs are long over……
correction: I ***can*** eat the heck out of a side of cow, though.
Pat M.
September 1st, 2009 at 3:02 am
So Yanks get Verlander, Edwin Jackson, either Bonderman ( off the dl ) or Washburn……The easy days of waltzing thru the playoffs are long over……
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That’s about it. There are no real Super-Teams. Just a lot of really good teams with strengths against the Yankees and flaws the Yanks can exploit.
But that’s if the Tigers even win their division. The Twins have been playing solid baseball of late and are only 3.5 back. The Tigers have collapsed before in Sept. So the Yanks might not face Verlander or Jackson. I hope the Twins win the division.
Verlander would be tough to face, but so would Sabathia for the Tigers.
The Tigers have some thumpers, and Granderson has always given the Yanks problems, but their offense is still very inconsistent.
If Yankee starters can keep their team in the game, the Yankee offense is more than capable of outlasting the opposition’s offense and scoring runs in the later innings after the starters are out of the game.
That was the formula of the dynasty teams.
The problem with the Yanks the last few years, especially 2005 to 2007, is that the Yankee starters weren’t doing their job and changed the complexion of those games pretty early.
It’s tough for an offense to come back from being in a 5-0 hole against good teams because the hitters tend to change their approach at the plate and get too anxious trying to make things happen.
Every yankee starter doesn’t have to outperform his counterpart every night. They just have to keep the games close with this offense.
So Yanks get Verlander, Edwin Jackson, either Bonderman ( off the dl ) or Washburn……The easy days of waltzing thru the playoffs are long over……
—
A guy you can get to, but who is tough, that CC must counter.
A guy experiencing success for the first time, and has been poor lately, who will be facing a beastly veteran
Garbage
and more garbage
Color me not impressed with the Tigers. I would really, really think of it as being a failure if the Yankees let the tigers knock them out of the ALDS. They don’t have our offense, our bullpen, or our starters.
Anything can happen in 5 games, but for the yankees to let Edwin Jackson and Jarrod Washburn/Bomberman decide the playoffs would be crazy.
Split the verlander games and beat Jackson/Porcello/Washburn/Whoever. Thats it.
“I’m just thankful I don’t have to back to that dreadful park to cover any postseason games.”
Pete – What makes the Cell so bad?
OMG. I feel like Rip van Winkle. I just woke up to find that the Dodgers got Thome AND Garland. I was mad about that for some reason, but when I cleared the cobwebs from my head I realized it was only Garland. I was thinking Harden, haha.
We could field a team with all the players the Yankees knocked out. lol. The All-DFA Team.
Oh, and I just feel awful for Hairy Jerry.
And that Andy’s such a good teammate. Giving up a solo shot to pick up his teammate and then consoling him afterwards.
I hope that Andy can stay in this zone for 2 more months. It would be huge for us. Did Andy climb in the ol’ DeLorean? He doesn’t throw gas, but we’re seeing that crafty, wily Pettitte we’ve always loved. Even when he was pitching hurt.
Pettitte was special last night because his curve ball was extra nasty and had more bite than any start he’s had all season.
Hopefully, Burnett’s curve ball has that extra nasty as well like his last start. Of course, good command of his fastball would be nice.
And the Red Sox now have to travel to TB where they’ve had all kinds of problems the last couple of years.
We could very well see the Yanks gain a little more ground in the AL East race over the next few days.
I wouldn’t be terribly upset if the Red Sox missed the playoffs altogether. haha.
Too bad Holland was burning last night. Jeez, keep your team in the game, your offense can get it back if given a halfway decent chance.
And Toronto! Where was all that suppressed offense against Boston? I’m beginning to think Jim Pir-one has a point about Toronto laying down against the beanies.
Well Andy is just one of those guys who prove they are pitchers and not just throwers. There is just so much a guy has to learn to ever really be considered a pitcher. Some just never get it mastered. He is a walking reminder just how far Joba has to go. Andy has learned to get the most out of what he has in the tank. Sometimes it aint enough but overall sure glad he pitches for us.
Hard to understand what Kenny Williams’ plan was when they got Rios and Peavey. At least this makes sense, though it is in conflict with the other moves.
Chances are they decline the option on Dye and move Rios to RF because he’s not a CF. Don’t think Peavey has the innards for the AL. I like Danks, though.
So cool to watch Pettite have the kind of year he’s enjoying. One of the least appreciated things about him is that in 15 seasons he has never had a losing record. And Andy has won at least a dozen games in 14 of those 15 seasons. He won’t get into the Hall of fame, but he’s destined for monument park.
Is there any doubt he’ll be back in 2010?
My opinion based on the most recent playoff years is if the Yanks can avoid the disappearing bats situations of past years that they can win it all. A Rod in particular. I just remember the agony of missed opportunity after missed opportunity and the first round exits. Game 4 of the Red Sox series in 2004 is one that especially hangs in my memory, not so much the blown lead, but the failure to come back in extra innings and get the win.
The key this year in the first round is that the Yankees MUST win the 2nd game before the other team does. It forces their opponent to play at least one single elimination game without the Yankees having to do so as well and it also forces their opponent to have to win the series against the Yankees by winning Game 5 in New York. Psychologically, once the Yankees get that 2nd game before the other team does, they will feel like they have them by the throat.
In ’05, ’06, and ’07, the Yankees opponent won the 2nd game before they did and went on the knock the Yankees out each time.
Jeez, Pete. I’m the biggest Yankee homer around but it makes me nervous to hear you waltz them through the ALDS to the ALCS. I’m sure Detroit will show up for that series. I have total confidence in our boys that they’ll win but you are bordering on cocky. As fans, sometimes we’ve got to tone it down a little bit and stay humble.
I’m still hoping Texas takes the wild card, but it’s not looking good when they can’t even beat on the lame Jays.
Dodgers getting desperate. Not a championship caliber team since the All Star break. Torre burning out his bullpen as usual. Not likely to make it past the 1st round of playoffs.
Every team feels threatened in a 5 game series. Too much luck is involved.
Best case scenario for us is Detroit has a must win Sunday or play in game on Monday and has to use Verlander in it.
That said, if I were on Detroit I’d be looking at our lineup, our pitching staff, our bullpen and saying this team is very hard to beat 3 times in 5 games.
I hold out hope Texas gets in over Boston so we could face them instead. Conversely, losing in the playoffs to Scott Feldman could be too much to take.
Chicago looked like it did not care last weekend against the Yankees.
Fear of the unknown, of what could happen. ,
Damn, that’s the coolest car ever!