Tag / Mariners

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#353 – Kevin Beirne

Name: Kevin Beirne

Rank: 353

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2000

Kevin Beirne was drafted by the White Sox in the 11th round of the the 1995 draft as an outfielder, but was quickly converted to a pitcher and finally made it to the big leagues on May 17, 2000.  Beirne appeared in 29 games for the division winners, but did not make an appearance during the 3 game division series loss to the Mariners.

Following the season, Beirne was packaged along with Mike Sirotka, Brian Simmons and others in the trade that brought David Wells over from the Blue Jays.

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

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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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#361 – Randy Williams

Name: Randy Williams

Rank: 361

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2009-2010

Randy Williams made his major league debut in 2004 with the Mariners and, after splitting 2005 between Colorado and San Diego, he disappeared from the big leagues until he resurfaced with the White Sox in 2009.  He did a decent enough job that, combined with 11.1 scoreless innings in spring training, the White Sox brought him back in 2010.

The results of that decision were not pretty, as Williams posted a 5.40 ERA and a 2.320 WHIP in 27 appearances.  Following the season, he was not offered a contract and went on to become a headache for someone else.

Williams’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →

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#366 – Rod Craig

Name: Rod Craig

Rank: 366

Position: OF

Year With White Sox: 1986

After spending time with the Mariners and the Indians in the late 70s and early 80s, Rod Craig resurfaced for 10 games with the 1986 White Sox, getting 2 hits in 10 at bats.  He was granted free agency following the season and that was it for his career.

Craig’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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All Star Break Standings

As we head in to the All Star Break, the White Sox are in first place and I’ve been to 20 games.  Here’s the team’s records for those 20 games.

TeamCity TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
Washington Nationals 1 0 1.000
Kansas City Royals 1 0 1.000
Boston Red Sox 2 1 0.667
Chicago White Sox 12 8 0.600
Seattle Mariners 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.

 

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#384 – Todd Ritchie

Name: Todd Ritchie

Rank: 384

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2002

Following the 2000 playoff loss to the Mariners, Kenny Williams traded for David Wells, thinking a front-line ace would help solidify a promising young staff and lead the team back to the playoffs.  When that didn’t turn out as planned, he turned his attention to Pittsburgh and Todd Ritchie, hoping that after 3 steady seasons with the Pirates, the right hander would stabilize the White Sox rotation.  That move was even worse.

Ritchie was acquired from the Pirates in December 2001, in exchange for Josh Fogg, Sean Lowe, and Kip Wells.  12 months, 1 week, and 1 wildly disappointing season later, he was granted free agency, after which he pitched in 9 more big league games before calling it a career.

He started 23 games for the 2002 White Sox, managing to win only 5, while allowing nearly 100 more base runners than innings pitched with a crowd pleasing ERA of 6.06.

Ritchie’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →