Buyer or Seller? posted by David

With the Dog Days of August about to begin, now is the time for teams to decide whether they are buyers or sellers – that is, whether they should mortgage their future and go for it this year or trade away their veterans for up-and-coming prospects.  “Going for it” says to a team’s fans that the organization thinks it has a legitimate chance to win it all, but a more conservative approach can send just as strong a message.  While a middle-of-the-pack team may have to acknowledge that this isn’t the year, going out and building for the future – as long as it is not the distant future – can usually be taken to mean that the front office is willing to sacrifice an outside shot at the playoffs in order to increase its chances of winning in the long term.  Buyer or seller, every GM will be busy until tomorrow’s trade deadline.

How ‘bout that?

How about Buster Posey?  The 22-year-old rookie has been on fire since taking over as the Giants’ starting catcher when Bengie Molina was traded to the Rangers.  Though his 21-game hitting streak came to an end on Thursday, Posey has helped San Francisco go 17-8 in the month of July, in the process taking the lead in the Wild Card race.  It won’t be easy to edge Jason Heyward and Stephen Strasburg, but Posey has a legitimate chance to claim the National League Rookie of the Year award.

How about José Bautista?  Bautista leads the power-happy Blue Jays with 75 RBI and a .585 slugging percentage (teammate Vernon Wells, who is second, has driven in 55 and slugged .515), but more impressively, leads the majors in homers.  The journeyman played for Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh before finding a home in Toronto, and while he has always shown some pop, the Dominican native’s previous career highs were 16 homers (2006), 63 RBI (2007), and a .420 slugging percentage (2006).

ChiSox Play Longball in 11-0 Rout of Mariners posted by richard Kagan

The Chicago White Sox hit last night and Gavin Floyd went 7 strong innings to get the win, as the rolled to an 11-0 rout of Seattle on Tuesday night.  The Sox are hot at home and have won nine in a row.  The White Sox, who turned around its season winning 26 of 31 games after June 8th, are playing solid baseball at the end of July.

Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez, and Andruw Jones, went deep for the ChiSox. Jones' 3 run blast put Chicago ahead 11-0 in the 5th and the game was all but over.  Ramirez collected 3 hits and has been torrid of late.  He ihas been contributing much at the plate in recent weeks.  Konerko hit a home run in his second straight game.  He has 23 for the season.

Floyd, like the rest of Chicago's starting pitching, had a dominant night.  He's been effective and efficient and the offense clicked into high gear.  The Sox scored 4 runs in the bottom of the first to set the tone for the night.  The Sox have a slim lead over the Twins, but look like they are in the hunt for the rest of the season. 

Danks' Gem Paces Sox to 4-0 Win posted by richard Kagan

Chicago White Sox pitcher John Danks pitched two hit ball for over 7 innings and Alex Rios continued his hot hitting as the Sox blanked the Mariners, 4-0 Tuesday nite.  With the win, The Sox pick up a game on both Detroit and Minnesota, who both lost earlier in the day.  The Sox lead increased to 3 1/2 games over both teams, their largest lead of the season.

The Sox rebounded for their tough loss to Minnesota the other night with a 6-1 win in Seattle.  The followed that game with Danks' strong outing.  He is becoming the ace of the staff with a diminishing ERA and mounting wins in recent starts.

Rios had two hits to reach .310 for the season.  Paul Knoerko added two hits also.  Chicago is looking pretty good on this west coast road trip that next moves to Oakland.  The White Sox play in Seattle on Wednesday.  The team is getting strong pitching and timely hitting.  That was was propelled them back into the race and now the team has leapfrogged the Tigers and Twins into the Divison lead. 

It looks like this is going down to the wire ---unless the White Sox continue to play superb baseball and put this race out of reach.  That may be wishful thinking but after the torrid pace the Sox have been on, one can think fanciful scenarios.

Sox Have To Shake Off Tough Loss posted by richard Kagan

The Chicago White Sox were close to winning a game up in Minnesota, where gettings wins is as rare as finding gold coins in the street.  They led 6-3 going into the 9th inning and closer Bobby Jenks and Sergio Santos played "Who wants it more?"  The Sox seemed to say "We don't want to salvage a split" and slip away with a 2 1/2 game lead over the Twins, their nemesis in recent seasons. 

The Sox played Santa Claus on this mid-summer day and before you knew it,  the Twins had erupted for 4 quick runs and the game was over.  All you need to know is that Jenks let this one get away.  He walked guys and the Twins' Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer came up with key hits.  Dalmon Young's single drove home the winning runs.  Rios was charged with an error on the throw from the outfield. The Twins had 4 hits in the blink of an eye and the Sox were up to their old tricks.

When you win 26 out of 31 games, you can't be faulted for giving one away.  The positive thing it is only July, and there is a lot of baseball to played. Gordon Beckham appears to be coming out of season slump got 4 hits and Carlos Quintin drove in two runs with a well hit double.  If Beckham and Quintin continue to produce, the Sox will wins some games.

But you have to get the outs and today the Sox didn't get them.  Tough loss.  The Sox have to win on the road against Minnesota.   They place here a little out of sync.  Almost expecting something bad to happen.  Today, it did.

All-Star Game thoughts posted by David

Thank goodness Joey Votto (.314/.422/.589 with 22 home runs) was elected to the National League All-Star team via the Final Vote.  Billy Wagner, Carlos Gonzalez, and Ryan Zimmerman are great players and were all worthy of roster spots, but Votto should have been the NL’s starting first baseman over Albert Pujols, and it would have been a travesty had he not made it in the end.  Votto leads the NL in both On-Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage and is tied for the lead in home runs; if the season ended today, he’d likely be voted the league’s Most Valuable Player.  It’s too bad, then, that Votto went 0-2 and did not make an impact in the game.  (Each of the other first basemen on the National League side – Pujols, Ryan Howard, and Adrian Gonzalez – went 0-2 as well.)

In case you missed it, the pitchers who looked the most dominant among all the flame-throwing hurlers who took the mound on Tuesday night were not the starters, Ubaldo Jimenez and David Price.  The best of the best were Florida’s Josh Johnson, who looked strong in retiring all six hitters he faced – all of them starters for the American League – and Detroit closer Jose Valverde, who struck out the side in order in the top of the ninth to at least give the AL a chance to make a dramatic comeback.  Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander, and Phil Hughes, like Jimenez, each gave up a couple of hits and Jonathan Broxton, who earned the save all showed they are not untouchable. 

How ‘bout that?

Sox Climb To The Top, Win 8th In Row posted by richard Kagan

The Chicago White Sox beat KC in a 15-5 rout, hitting 5 homers in the game, including Carlos Quintin's grand-slam for good measure.  It was his second HR of the day, when four Sox players hit home runs in a 7 run spurt.

The Sox rapped out 18 hits, many of them long balls, as they drive to the top, made contact, just before the All-Star Break.

Things are looking good for the Sox.  The only bum news is that pitcher Jake Peavy is lost for the season.  Other Sox pitchers have performed great during a month of games that saw Chicago rise from baseball purgatory to the top of the heap.  Eqrlier this month, the Sox ended an 11 game winning streak, now they are an 8 game win streak.  Pitchers have been doing their job and today, the hitters finally did theirs.  Quintin is red-hot and has greatly improved his power numbers in a series of multi-homer games.  Andruw Jones hit his 400th home run, a real milestone. 

Just as losing is contagious.  So is winning.  And the Sox are raging right now.  The team heads into the break with a half-game lead over Detroit.  And lead the Twins by 3 1/2 games.  They've been playing at an .800 winning percentage, and that is very hard to maintain for a long period of time, but the Sox have done it long enough to right their season.  Now, they are in the thick of things, and have a good chance at taking this division.  Earlier this year, the Sox looked dead in the water, and now, they are on top of the Division.  Ozzie Guillen the Sox manager was qouted as saying he is "shocked" at how quick his team hit the jet-stream to breeze by two contending teams, the Twins and Tigers. 

Danks Hurls a CG Two Hitter in 1-0 Win posted by richard Kagan

The White Sox starting pitching is good.  Jake Peavy goes out the other night with a torn muscle in his upper back that could sideline him for the rest of the season.  Ok, up steps Jonathan Danks, who when he is good, he is really good.

Today he was great, striking out 7, no walks, and gave up only two hits going the distance for a complete game shutout.

That how pitchers did it in the old days.  When Billy Pierce, the great lefty for the ChiSox would hurl his gems.  Danks has the stuff.  And, he helped hot Chicago win their 5th game in a row, to solidfy their 2nd place position in the AL Central.

They are neck and neck with Detroit which holds a slim .5 game lead.  The Sox recent winning streak got them back in the watercooler conversation.  Now, you can talk about them quite seriously.  Sure, they will miss Peavy, but this team is on a roll, and has 4 solid starters.   The team may be in the market for another starting pitcher.  The team is at the high-water mark for the season at 8 games over.600 so we are not talking chopped liver here.  The squad is capable of going 15 games over .500.  They need to hit the ball.  You can't rely on Alex Rios or Paul Konerko to win you games.  You need to come up with somebody else.  How about Gordon Beckham?  If he could get untracked, they would be in the race.  The Sox need quality starts but now needs quality hits.  Someone has to drive in runs with runner in scoring position. 

Juan Pierre is having an excellent season stealing bases, getting into scoring position.  Someone needs to stroke a hit to drive him home.  When you are good you are lucky.  The Sox made 5 errors and hit two batters alone in the 9th inning, yet held on the win over the Angels.  Heck, they are making this team look average, and the Angels are a pretty good team.  The ChiSox have talent, even better talent than their rivals on the northside, the Chicago Cubs.  They have to continue to play well and show that they deserve to be taken seriously as a contender.

Sox Make Five Errors En Route to 4th In Row. posted by richard Kagan

All one can say is the Chicago White Sox has turned around their season.  They are winning games.  They are now in second place with a win and a Twins loss last Wedneday night.  The bad news and the Sox have to get ready for this, is Jake Peavy, a former CY Young winner, was placed on the DL and is likely out of the season.  If he is out, the Sox have chance now to make the adjustments.  The can bring in Daniel Hudson who has been pitchning well in the Whits Sox famr system. Or they can try to trade for a pitcher.  All I can say is, a trade is going to cost you.  You have to give up to get.

The Sox don't have much depth to part ways with Andruw Jones.  You can't let Paul Konerko get away because he is the Captain of the team and having a very good year, and still could wind up on the team, if someone gets hurt and can't play.  But they are getting the job done.  Winning a series vs the Angels is a step in the right direction.  They are putting pressure of teams in front of them, and passed one of them.  The Sox are back in the race.

Can they weather this blow of losing Peavy?  They have to.  Good teams find ways to win.  And, at 7 games over .500 they are much better than they were a month ago.

Sox In Race To Win It posted by richard Kagan

The Chicago White Sox won a big game 5-3, against the Texas Rangers.  Alexei Remirez hit a big two run blast in the 6th inning for the winning Sox.  The Sox climbed back in the race on a sorching hot streak.  They cooled off a bit on this road trip, dropping two out of three to KC, and then righting themselves with a big win tonight.  This coupled with losses by the Twins and Detroit give Chicago a fighting chance to do some damage right before the All-Star break. 

Right now, they would have to be one of the surprise teams in the AL.  Not because of where they are, but where they've been.  The Sox were in the outer reaches of the Twilight Zone before Interleague Play began.  And, then the ChiSox went on a winning streak that catapulted them back to Earth.   Things might not be so great between the manager and Ken Williams the Gen. Mgr, but winning is a healing elixir.  The team knows it can compete and is finding more confidence as the wins mount.  There is talent in the pitching staff.  Now, if some hitters can pick it up, this team should be flirting with first place soon.   Maybe then Ozzie can get some credit.  But really, it is the players who are performing well.

Actually, they need to win some games before we can laud them.  They have the talent to win this thing, now they have to go out and prove it on the field.

Who's on first at the Midsummer Classic? posted by David

With All-Star rosters set to be announced this weekend, I’m hoping that fans made good decisions in for whom to cast their final ballots.  While voting began not long after spring training ended, the true All-Stars have revealed themselves over the entire first half of the season.

The race that I care most about is the one for American League first basemen, where the Royals’ Billy Butler deserves serious consideration but has tough competition.  There are three first basemen who have clearly earned a spot on the AL squad: Justin Morneau, Miguel Cabrera, and Kevin Youkilis.  Mark Teixeira (.232/.345/.408), however, belongs at home.  Butler (.322 batting average, .377 On-Base Percentage, 42 Runs Batted In) should be left off the roster only if Joe Girardi chooses to carry only three first basemen AND Kansas City is represented by outfielder David Dejesus (.331 average, .398 OBP, 35 RBIs).

How ‘bout that?

How about Josh Hamilton?  After hitting just .265 in April and .294 in May and combining for nine home runs and 27 RBIs in the first two months of the season, Hamilton caught fire in June.  His numbers for the month included a .454 average, nine homers, 31 Runs Batted In, and an absurd slugging percentage of .815 – not to mention the 23-game hitting streak he carried into July.  If he continues to hit this well, Hamilton has a real chance at winning the first Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

How about Adrian Beltre?  Coming off five disappointing years in Seattle, Beltre’s .349 batting average entering Friday was second in the majors only to Robinson Cano’s .353, and his 53 RBIs had him tied for seventh in the American League.  In 2009, Beltre drove in 44 runs ALL YEAR.  (He spent some time on the Disabled List but played in 111 of his team’s games.)  In roughly half a season (76 games) in 2010, he has 12 home run runs; last year he hit just eight.  Beltre’s signing is looking like the best of the offseason.

Indians INF Marte sore, unavailable to pitch (The Canadian Press)

TORONTO - There was bad news for the beleaguered Cleveland Indians bullpen on Friday — infielder Andy Marte needed a break. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Fan hit by broken bat at Rays game (AP)

A fan seated behind the first-base dugout was injured by part of a broken bat in the sixth inning of the New York Yankees' game at Tampa Bay on Friday night. The barrel of the bat of the Yankees' Robinson Cano went into stands on his single. Stadium medical personal treated the fan in the seating area and put a brace on his neck, then used a back board to take the fan for treatment. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Joyce HR, Davis pitches 7 IP as Rays beat Yanks (AP)

There's no secret to the success of the Tampa Bay Rays. Strong starting pitching and a better than expected bullpen, along with sturdy defense and just enough offense keyed a blazing start in April. Now they're using the same formula to close in on the AL East-leading New York Yankees after fading badly in the standings in June. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Joyce HR, Davis pitches 7 as Rays beat Yanks (The Canadian Press)

[read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

AP source: Yankees on verge of acquiring Berkman (AP)

Lance Berkman is headed to the New York Yankees, who plan to complete a deal to acquire the former All-Star from the Houston Astros on Saturday, a day after the World Series champions obtained outfielder Austin Kearns from the Cleveland Indians. New York will send a couple of prospects to the Astros, likely to be reliever Mark Melancon and infielder Jimmy Paredes, and Houston will pay part of what... [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports