Tag / Rays

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#293 – Horacio Ramirez

Chicago+White+Sox+v+New+York+Yankees+C0Iftp-TclamName: Horacio Ramirez

Rank: 293

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2008

On August 8, 2008, the White Sox beat the Red Sox to remain tied with the Twins for first place in the AL Central.  The following day, they made a move to bolster their bullpen, acquiring Horacio Ramirez from the Royals for minor leaguer Paulo Orlando.

Ramirez appeared in 17 games in the final two months of the season, only 2 of which came after September 8, putting up a horrible 7.62 as the White Sox furiously battled the Twins for the division title.  Unsurprisingly, he was left off the playoff roster and, after the White Sox dropped the division series to the eventual AL champion Rays, his White Sox career came to an end.

Ramirez’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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All Star Break Standings

With the All Star Game on the agenda for tonight, it’s time to take a look at the team records for the 16 games I’ve been to in the first half.  It’s been a disappointing 3 months for both Chicago teams, although one of them was expecting it.

Team Won Lost Winning Pctg
Tampa Bay Rays 2 0 1
Minnesota Twins 2 0 1
Cleveland Indians 3 0 1
Chicago Cubs 2 0 1
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 1 1 0.5
Chicago White Sox 6 8 0.429
Seattle Mariners 0 2 0
Milwaukee Brewers 0 1 0
Miami Marlins 0 2 0
Kansas City Royals 0 1 0
Houston Astros 0 1 0
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#300 – Carlos Torres

09-03-09-kim-cubs24.jpgName: Carlos Torres

Rank: 300

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2009-2010

Carlos Torres joined the White Sox organization as the 449th selection of the 2004 draft out of San Jose State.  He slowly worked his way through the system and, when John Danks was unable to make a start in July of 2009 due to a blister, Torres was recalled to make his major league debut, holding his own en route to a White Sox victory over the Rays.  Torres ended up starting 5 games for the 2009 White Sox, finishing with a 1-2 record and a 6.04 ERA.

His 2010 season was even worse, as his ERA hovered over 10 until he managed to toss 2 scoreless innings in his final appearance of the season.  His White Sox career came to an end following that season, as he was given his unconditional release.

Torres’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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#301 – Guy Hoffman

ghoffName: Guy Hoffman

Rank: 301

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1979-1980, 1983

Guy Hoffman, hailing from Ottawa, IL, was signed by the White Sox as an amateur free agent on July 17, 1978.  Less than a year later, he was making his major league debut, throwing 2 innings of scoreless relief in a blowout victory against the Indians.  The rest of the 1979 season did not go as well for Hoffman, as he finished with a 5.34 ERA in 24 appearances.

After opening the 1980 season back in Triple A, Hoffman came back strong, posting a 2.63 ERA over 23 appearances.  Good fortune was not on his side, however, as he spent the entire 1981 and 1982 seasons back in Triple A.  1983 saw his valiant return to the major leagues, just in time for the White Sox to run away with the American League West title.  Hoffman spent the entire 1984 season back in Triple A once again, and following the season, the White Sox released him.

In a post-script to the Guy Hoffman era, his supposed female cousins were sitting behind me at the White Sox/Rays game back on April 27th, which they were sure to announce to the guys they were with.  Hopefully it got them the play they were hoping it would.

Hoffman’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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by jim

2013 Predictions

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles DodgersContinuing the tradition started two years ago and continued last year, here are my picks for the baseball season that is just getting underway.

American League

East: Rays

Central: Tigers

West: Angels

Wild Cards: Blue Jays, A’s

AL Champion: Angels

Cy Young: David Price

MVP: Mike Trout

National League

East: Braves

Central: Brewers

West: Dodgers

Wild Cards: Giants, Cardinals

NL Champion: Braves

Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

MVP: Matt Kemp

by jim

All Time Team Records

As we head into the 2013 season, here all the all-time team records in games that I have attended.

All-Time Team Records

Team Won Lost Winning Pctg
California Angels 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 12 2 0.857
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Philadelphia Phillies 10 6 0.625
Toronto Blue Jays 9 6 0.600
Chicago White Sox 209 171 0.550
Colorado Rockies 7 6 0.538
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 14 12 0.538
New York Yankees 9 8 0.529
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by jim

2012 Predictions Revisited

Exactly six months ago, I looked into my crystal ball and tried to predict the outcomes of the upcoming baseball season.  Now that the season has come to an end, and half of my predicted divison winners are headed home instead of the playoffs, let’s take a look back at how things unfolded.

American League

East: Yankees

The Yankees went down to the wire, not with the Red Sox as expected, but with the surprising Orioles.

Central: Tigers

After picking up free agent Prince Fielder, the Tigers were expected to run away with the Central division.  Instead, they underachieved much of the season and battled the overachieving White Sox for most of the season.  However, a late season collapse by the White Sox offense helped the Tigers take the division.

West: Angels

The Angels just may have been the biggest disappointment in the league this year. After dropping over $330 million in one day on Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, the Angels were expected to be at the top of the heap this year.  Unfortunately, things just did not work out and, even with the addition of rookie of the year shoo-in Mike Trout, the Angels were unable to make a serious run and finished in third place, behind the surging A’s, who swept the Rangers in the last series of the season to take the division title.

Wild Cards: Rays, Rangers

The Orioles and the Rangers will face off in the first wild card play-in game.

National League Continue reading →

by jim

2012 Final Standings

Another disappointing season comes to an end today.  The White Sox, who spent 126 days in first place, sputtered through September and dropped to second place.  The Cubs managed to lose 100 games for the first time since 1966.

TeamCity TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
Washington Nationals 1 0 1.000
Colorado Rockies 1 0 1.000
Kansas City Royals 1 0 1.000
Boston Red Sox 2 1 0.667
Tampa Bay Rays 2 1 0.667
Chicago White Sox 18 13 0.581
Oakland A’s 1 1 0.500
Houston Astros 1 1 0.500
Toronto Blue Jays 1 1 0.500
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by jim

Nostradamus Wept – AL Edition

With 81 games in the books, we are officially at the halfway point of the 2012 season.  The so-called experts at Sports Illustrated made some pre-season predictions that are looking a little off a this point.

Team Won Lost

Predicted

Wins

 PredictedLosses Comments
AL East
New York Yankees 49 32 95 67

After a slow-ish start, a long winning streak moved the Yankees back into first place despite an injury-ravaged pitching staff.
Baltimore Orioles 44 37 63 99 One of the surprises of the first half, theOrioles need only 19 second half wins to match their predicted output.
Tampa Bay Rays 43 39 92 70 Tampa has continued to keep things togetherwhile once again losing Evan Longoria for an extended period of time.
Boston Red Sox 42 40 91 71 After their collapse at the end of last season,the Red Sox have struggled to stay above .500 in the first half.
Toronto Blue Jays 42 40 85 77 The Blue Jays were having a strong half beforelosing nearly their entire starting rotation in one weeks time.
AL Central
Chicago White Sox 44 37 67 95 While most people did not expect the White Soxto be as bad as SI did, nobody thought they would be in first place at the halfway point.
Cleveland  Indians 42 39 80 82 The Indians have been right around where expected, a little over .500 instead of a little under.
Detroit Tigers 40 42 93 69 The Tigers were expected to run away and hide in this division, but they have been unable to outhit their poor pitching performance to date.
Kansas City Royals 36 44 82 80 Eric Hosmer’s sophomore slump has held back the developing Royals.
Minnesota Twins 35 46 72 90 Could this be the end of the Ron Gardenhire era?  The Twins are woefully bad for the second straight year.
AL West
Texas Rangers 50 32 94 68 After losing back-to-back World Series, the Rangers look to be stronger than ever.
Los Angeles Angels 45 37 97 65 The Angels, and new acquisition Albert Pujols, got off to a slow start before putting things together with the arrival of Mike Trout.
Oakland A’s 41 42 68 94 The A’s have been much better than expected in the first half.
Seattle Mariners 35 49 64 98 The Mariners have struggled offensively again in the first half.