Sox Thawts - 5 September, 2009

Jonathon Papelbon... Paps was fined AGAIN for pitching "too slowly". That makes TWICE this week and SEVEN times this season.

Sources say that it isn't necessarily that he is "disobeying" the 12-second rule (although I personally adhere to the 5-second rule religiously)... that rule being that the pitcher has 12 seconds in between pitches to hurl (UHHHHHHH)... the next.

Nope, the word is that he is breaking the "2 minute, 20 second rule"... where an incoming pitcher has 2 & 20 (uh, Love Connection??? oh wait, THAT was 2 & 2 - never mind)... from the end of the exiting pitcher's last play to throw a pitch to the next batter... hmmmmmm, let's dissect the scenario...

- The defensive teams concludes a play...
- the manager decides to change pitchers...
- the manager walks SLOWLY to the mound (HOPEFULLY, but not always, signalling to the bullpen whom he wants to enter the game)...
- manager, catcher and departing pitcher (ususally) engage in some conversation - probably discussing his "parting gifts"...
- incoming pitcher sprints from the bullpen to the mound - mind you, the bullpen is generally as far away from the mound as possible...
- incoming pitcher needs a breather from the run in...
-manager, catcher and new pitcher engage in some (strategic) conversation...
- new pitcher is allotted 8 "warm-up" pitches - if the new pitcher is entering due to an injury, number of warm-up pitches is unlimited... go figure... time limit ?!?!?!
- umpire informs pitcher of situation - runners on, number of outs and count on the batter (if applicable)...
- pitcher gets "sign" from catcher...
- pitcher throws his first pitch....
ALL IN 2 MINUTES & 20 SECONDS !!!!

SOOOOOOOOOO... if it is THIS rule that Paps is "breaking", I'm thinking that Tito is at least 75% "at fault".. the manger certainly has more control over how long this process takes than the incoming pitcher... I'm SURE the Sox are taking this into consideration !!!!

The league implemented this rule to try to "increase the pace of the game".... for who's benefit ??? if I'm paying at least 50 bucks to sit in the stands to watch my favorite team play baseball, I don't give a rat's butt how long it takes.. I WANT MY MONEY'S WORTH... besides, the longer I'm there, the more money I will spend on "refreshments"... maybe they should ALSO prohibit teams from making FOUR pitching changes in 1 inning !!!! (RIGHT TAMPA BAY !?!?!?!) Nuf Ced

And where does the money from the fines go ??? Paps's fines started at $1,000 per "infraction" and have escalated to $5,000 for the latest... I believe we deserve to know what these fines are used for - besides making someone ELSE'S wallet more difficult to sit on !!!

Obviously I'm not fond of this rule and personally would prefer to see this roam the hallowed grounds of the Fens again.....
Take your fines and stick them where the sun don't shine...
BRING BACK THE BULLPEN CART !!!!!!
Not to mention it would help the unemployment rate (this bad boy needs a driver, RIGHT ?!?!?!) Uh, I'm available !!!! Nuf Ced


NOW !!!!!!!!! September.... 2009... please refer to this post from August 18th....

Dog days of August behind us, enter the dog nights of September... or at least the dog night of September 4, 2009 as the Sox looked like chopped liver last night. It wasn't pretty. Hell, it wasn't even ugly. It was... it was... DISGUSTING !!!! The only bright spot was...... hmmmm, I guess the only TRUE bright spot is that in giving up 12 runs last night... that limits the White Sox to 4 runs total over the next 3 games (uh, ERA of 4... x 4 games = 16... - 12 from last night = 4....) Nuf Ced

It was difficult viewing as the OTHER Sox scored all of their runs in the first 4 innings... starter Paul Byrd gave up 7 runs in 2-1/3 innings - hmmmm, 13 year old boys are looking better every day (ok, THAT came out wrong !!!) Junichi Tazawa was the sacrificial lamb and gave up the remainder of the 12 - although he DID pitch 3 innings of shut-out ball... perhaps TAZ should have started... or at least been brought in earlier.... or even Nick Green for THAT matter...Nuf Ced

With Taz pitching last night where do we stand today ??? - HE was supposed to be the back-up plan if Wake isn't able to "perform" today.... oh, wait... that's right.... the Sox have the deepest pitching staff in baseball... THAT showed last night !!!!

I'm not trying to be hyper-critical (cough, cough)... uh hem... and I TRULY LOVE roller coasters... but as I am planning ANOTHER visit (A View From The Fens) to the Fens later this month... I kinda would like that game to mean something.... not that I won't have a great time anyway (A Long Summer's Night at the Fens) but OBVIOUSLY making the playoffs is going to take quite a bit more effort than last night... NUF CED

As our "Bombers" were so "judiciously" getting "bombed" last night, the Texas Rangers were closing our lead in the wild card race to TWO games... apparently I'll be needing to purchase a LARGE bottle of extra strength Tums... PRONTO !!!!!!!!!

Ok, Wake takes the hill (and a pill I'm sure) today... gotta give him an "A" for effort (I guess) but being a 43 year old with a bad back myself... I wish you luck "Bud" !!!!! I'll be sure to have the Tums at hand.... and maybe a brewski or 2 also....

As always..... it's been real..... it's been fun..... and it really has been lots of fun...

NUF CED