Posts tagged JimThome at FanHouse

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Tom Fornelli and Eamonn Brennan discuss the ALDS between the Rays and White Sox.

Eamonn and I took a look at this series and broke it down into six key areas: Starting rotation, Bullpen, Defense, Lineup, Bench, and Manager. Then for good measure we throw in our five-star lock of the week predictions, because we're psychic mediums in our spare time.

All of the debating goodness after the jump.

After losing their best hitter, Carlos Quentin, for just about all of September, the White Sox nearly missed the playoffs this season, and needed to win three straight games against three different teams to get to Tampa. The reason for this is because the White Sox offense lost any kind of consistency it had while Quentin has been relegated to the bench.

They're a team that relies heavily on the home run, and without Quentin in the lineup they've become more long ball dependent than ever before. While Carlos still lead the team with 36 homers this season, he's the one White Sox slugger who decides to throw some doubles, singles, and walks in his arsenal as well, and when Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome hit their moonshots, he's usually on base.

Of course, not having Quentin available for their series against the Tampa Bay Rays won't help their chances to get by the young upstarts, but should they pull it off, Carlos thinks he might be available for the ALCS.

But the subsiding pain has raised Quentin's confidence to the point where he thinks he could be ready should the Sox advance to the AL Championship Series.

At last, the playoffs are upon us. After a grueling 162-game regular season, it's time to finish with a flurry. There's a tripleheader on tap starting this afternoon, but until the games get underway, how about we here at FanHouse whet your appetite with some prediction-flavored hors d'oeuvres.

Our crack blogging team made their picks last night all the way through the World Series. After the jump you can see all the predictions, but before you check them all out, a few demographic notes:

--Despite the American League's clear dominance right now, an overwhelming majority picked a National League team to walk away with the title.

--The biggest underdog? The Phillies according to our guys. Only two people picked the Fightin's to beat the Brewers in the first round.

--No one picked the Red Sox to repeat. I guess everyone is spooked by Josh Beckett's injury.

--Both of our resident Cubs fans picked them to win the Fall Classic. They're either going to be very happy at the end of the month or are being set up for another tremendous letdown.

With that out of the way, enjoy, and feel free to make your picks in the comments. (And if you want a good laugh, check out our preseason picks).

Four days ago, I wrote this:

"It isn't certain, but the 2008 White Sox are probably done. It's tough to feel too bad for a team that won the World Series three years ago, but it's easy to feel bad for Ken Griffey, Jr. and Jim Thome."

At least once a year, baseball takes me from concrete and pragmatic to dumb and happy. This was that.

Tonight's Dugout is after the jump.

It isn't certain, but the 2008 White Sox are probably done. It's tough to feel too bad for a team that won the World Series three years ago, but it's easy to feel bad for Ken Griffey, Jr. and Jim Thome.

Thome has twice come close to a Series ring. Griffey hasn't. I'm not sure which is worse. Of course, individually speaking, the World Series isn't a recognition of merit so much as a fulfilling and momentous experience, so we can't really call it a crime if these guys never win a championship. Maybe it's just a bummer.

Today's Dugout is after the jump.

With Hurricane Gustav hitting the coast recently and Hurricane Ike using Great Aether on a bunch of Texas, we were bound to get horrible weather throughout the United States. Thankfully rain delays are only slightly more boring than the actual game of baseball, so when there's no real news to be had one can make fun out of what they have. I was lucky enough to have the White Sox and the Tigers in the same place when the doubleheaders started getting scheduled.

Additional Dugout Universe notes:

- If you haven't already, don't forget to read Mike's article about his trip to Tropicana Field over at Progressive Boink.
- Dugout T-shirts are still on sale, and can be worn over the head like a thin hat to guard you from rain
- In lieu of a better archiving system, you can now click most players' photo for an easy link to their Fanhouse tag, where you can read all of the other Dugouts featuring that player.
- Tonight's murky Dugout is after the jump.

Deep and sincere kudos to our classic namesake for hitting yet another milestone in his storied, rosy-cheeked, Faulknerian man-child career. 536 is something to be proud of, even if it's still 33 less than Rafael Palmeiro.

HEY GUYS, the last Dugout of August is after the jump.

He's one of the most hated players around the league, and I understand the the thought process behind every fan that boos him when he steps to the plate or is introduced to the crowd. He is A.J. Pierzynski and he may have just saved the White Sox season on Sunday afternoon.

The Sox were on the verge of being swept at home for the first time this season and possibly falling even further behind the Twins when some heads up thinking by Pierzynski saved the day. After Paul Konerko singled home Brian Anderson with two outs in the ninth inning and sent the game into extra innings, A.J. led off the bottom of the tenth with a single.

That's when the odyssey of A.J. began. First he showed once again that he's the smartest base runner the White Sox have by tagging up from first on a deep fly to center by Carlos Quentin, and getting into scoring position with one out. Then a few seconds later he became the dumbest base runner in the world when he took off for third on a Jermaine Dye grounder to short.

A.J. was quickly caught in a rundown when the gears in his brain began grinding. There's no way a slow-footed catcher was going to be able to outrun a bunch of middle infielders, so he needed a new plan.

Ozzie Guillen doesn't end. He just goes on and on, my friend. Some people started interviewing him not knowing who he was, and they'll continue interviewing forever just because Ozzie Guillen doesn't end. He just goes on and on, my friend. Some people started interviewing him not knowing who he was, and they'll continue interviewing forever just becau-

Supporting the White Sox is a lot like being Luke Wilson's character from Idiocracy. It's a righteous cause, but more often than not you're left wandering around thinking they're all dumb****s.

Tonight's Dugged-out is after the jump.

Walkoff Walk points us toward this MLB.com feature (which should be your first hint that something went horrible wrong here) about the Arizona Diamondbacks and their, ahem, interesting taste in music. This is apparently a running feature on MLB.com, and boy, is it enlightening. For example, favorite songs include "Swing" by Trace Adkins (Stephen Drew), "No Leaf Clover" by Metallica (Jim Thome), "These Are My People" by Rodney Atkins (Chad Tracy) and so forth.

There aren't a whole lot of sophisticated choices in there, but not everyone is an unabashed music snob like yours truly, so that's fine. What's worse than having questionable taste in music is not caring enough about the one song you're asked to think about all year. Take it away, fellas:

Drew: "At one point I didn't even come out to any music. For me, I don't really care about it. The other guys were saying they wanted me to have a song, so that's how it works for me. It's country and I like country music, so it's not too bad. I'm a low-key guy. I just go out and play every day and just have fun with the guys."

Jackson: "I just like the beat. There's no particular reason. I just heard it and liked it. It's got a little techno beat in it, too. That's how I roll."

Thome: "I just kind of roll with it. I'm not an overly big music guy, so whatever they play is fine. No biggie. I don't even really hear it up there. If I would think about it, I probably would, but I don't pay much attention. I'm focusing what I'm trying to do. So no big deal."

I don't ask my baseball players to have taste in music, or to really even care about music in general, but come on, guys: Please, please, please give your intro music a little consideration. Think about it a little bit. Cultivate it carefully. In some cases, it's all we really know about you, and if we think you're a metal head when your favorite new album is Erykah Badu, you're just deceiving us.