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South Side Sox
Danks Struggles, Sox Slumber<p><a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/mlb/players/l.mlb.com-p.9327">John Danks</a> didn't have <em>it</em> Wednesday night. From the game's very first pitch, it was clear he didn't have his good control or anything capable of putting hitters away. In fact, he induced just 3 swing-and-misses on the night. Of particular trouble was the location of his changeup, which he routinely left up, never once throwing it for a strike below the belt (as <a href="http://brooksbaseball.net/pfx/location.php?xml=http://gd2.mlb.com/components/game/mlb/year_2008/month_08/day_27/gid_2008_08_27_chamlb_balmlb_1//pbp/pitchers/433579.xml&batterX=0&innings=yyyyyyyyy&s_type=2&sp_type=1&h_size=700&v_size=500">illustrated below</a>). </p>
<p> <a href="http://assets.sbnation.com:/imported_assets/19710/location_php.png"><img class="center" src="http://assets.sbnation.com:/imported_assets/19710/location_php_medium.png" alt="Location_php_medium" /></a></p>
<p><em>All</em> of his pitches were up. I wasn't able to see anything wrong with his mechanics, but I'm no pitching coach. If it was any of the other starters, I might be worried. But Danks has been, by far, the most consistent starter the Sox have run out to the mound this season; he's allowed a hiccup here or there. We can overlook the inability to get <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/mlb/players/l.mlb.com-p.1347">Juan Castro</a> out for one day.</p>
<p>Offensively, the Sox weren't able to mount much of a threat against <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/mlb/players/l.mlb.com-p.12782">Radhames Liz</a>. In hindsight, it's funny--well not funny, but not ironic either--that I deleted a two sentence line from <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/2008/8/27/602451/brushing-up-on-radhames-li">the BUO post</a> stating that Liz is the type of pitcher that the Sox would either destroy or get completely shut down by, with no middle ground. I removed it because I thought it sounded a little SSHish, a little too absolute. </p>
<p>I'd argue that 2 runs with 5 walks against 3 strikeouts is somewhere in the middle ground, but Liz was effectively wild, allowing just 3 hits. And the lone home run he allowed was of the solo variety. With Danks struggling and then replaced by a poor excuse for a pitcher, it <em>felt</em> like the Sox got dominated, and made for yet another snoozer of a game. </p>
<p>As for that poor excuse for a pitcher, <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/mlb/players/l.mlb.com-p.18608">Lance Broadway</a>, let's steal a line from Denny Green; <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/2008/8/13/593080/beckham-signs-broadway-sta">he is who we thought he was</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/sportsblogs/southsidesox?a=KdR5aP"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/sportsblogs/southsidesox?i=KdR5aP" border="0"></img></a></p>Game #133: WhiteSox (76-56) @ Orioles (62-70)<!-- BEGIN WIDGET -->
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<a href="/mlb/teams/CWS">Chicago White Sox</a>
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Wednesday, Aug 27, 2008, 6:05 PM CDT<br />
Oriole Park at Camden Yards<br />
<p class="pitchers">
<a href="/mlb/players/l.mlb.com-p.9327">John Danks</a>
vs
<a href="/mlb/players/l.mlb.com-p.12782">Radhames Liz</a>
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Partly cloudy with a 60-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing in from right field at 10-15 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 75.
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<p class="content-c"><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/2008/BAL200808270.shtml">B-R Preview</a> | <a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2008_08_27_chamlb_balmlb_1">Live Boxscore</a> | <a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_08_27_chamlb_balmlb_1&mode=preview">MLB GameDay 3D</a></p>
<p class="foot clearfix"><span class="link-more"><a href="/event/event/l.mlb.com-2008-e.21353">Complete Coverage ></a></span></p>
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<p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/sportsblogs/southsidesox?a=Pyfwcr"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/sportsblogs/southsidesox?i=Pyfwcr" border="0"></img></a></p>Brushing Up On Radhames Liz<p><i>We need a new thread and I wanted an excuse to make Liz jokes.</i></p>
<p>Liz is your typical big stuff, little command, flyball inducing, minor league strikeout machine. He features a mid-90's fastball and a sharp, but inconsistent slider (think Edwin Jackson), and a show-me chaneup. He found limited success in the O's bullpen last September, and might ultimately end up there long-term. But for now, he's in the 0's rotation, back from a 4 start stint in AAA, giving up too many free bases and too many HRs on his fastball.</p>
<p><i>Colin can add to this if he'd like. I just wanted a new thread</i></p>
<p><strong>
[Note by The Cheat, 08/27/08 2:38 PM CDT ] </strong> Because of lagging site values since the loss of Wiz to the wolves in his mother's basement--<a href="http://www.dnscoop.com/">we're down over 50%</a> according to dnScoop--I've upgraded Colin to Editor. And because we all know that Colin won't be up to the task, I thought I should give him some help. So without consulting them, I've upgraded our most rec'd posters, <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/users/The%20Actual%20El%20Guapo">The Actual El Guapo</a> and <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/users/thecip">thecip</a>, all the way from the mailroom to the executive suites. </p>
<p><b>[Update by Colin, </b><b>08/27/08 4:00 PM CDT]</b></p>
<p>I said below that Jackson is a good comp, but it looks like his extended tour in the majors has given him the relative polish that Liz lacks. Against righties, Liz hasn't thrown even 50% of his sliders for a strike. This is the inconsistency Cheat referred to. More updates possibly to come.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=py8szOdT08ycUyMh6ohN_aQ&gid=21">HUPGOOD</a></li>
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<p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/sportsblogs/southsidesox?a=JCrV0O"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/sportsblogs/southsidesox?i=JCrV0O" border="0"></img></a></p>Floyd Wins a Snoozer<p>The Sox had as many hits against <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/mlb/players/l.mlb.com-p.9199">Brian Burres</a> before he recorded an out Wednesday as they did in <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/2008/4/26/461164/danks-sox-lose-in-6">8 innings of effort in April</a>. The recap of that game describes a fait accompli, all but over when John Danks lost his perfect game and shutout in the 6th inning. This game had pretty much the same feel, though thankfully with the teams reversed.</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/mlb/players/l.mlb.com-p.1350">Orlando Cabrera</a> led off the game with a bloop double, and <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/mlb/players/l.mlb.com-p.7041">Nick Swisher</a>, batting in the #2 hole with AJ Pierzynski getting the night off, hit a HR in the game's second at-bat, to set the tempo for the night. All told, the Sox pounded out 9 extra-base hits on the evening, including 3 by Cabrera, to give themselves a 6-0 lead by the middle of the 4th inning and send the gamethreads into a blissfully sweet slumber.
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<p>Looking back at that April recap, the Sox have come a long way from the team "weighed down by three automatic outs at the bottom of the lineup." They've been downright dangerous from 1 through 9 since the addition of their new hitting coach at the deadline. Dare I say, they're even beating up the teams and pitchers you're supposed to bash into last week, the RA Dickeys of the baseball world. They almost look like a playoff team. Almost.</p><p>
The last 30 games will tell the story.</p>
<p class="content-c">* * * * *</p>
<p>Swisher left the game after fouling a ball of his leg. The leg was last seen in the mouth a wolf roaming Baltimore's inner harbor on a skateboard*, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPEeCYPGjm0">which is a dangerous place for a skateboarding wolf, dude</a>. It's not known if <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com/2008/7/1/562690/via-soxmachine-swisher-has">Swisher's prosthetic leg</a>, fashioned out of a discarded baseball bat (ash, not maple), will be ready in time for tomorrow's game.</p>
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<em>* Everyone knows wolves can't ride skateboards. Stupid.</em></p>
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