Chimpton

More likely Hahn will now trade him for a AAA pitcher just when he is actually hitting!

I woke up at 4.15 am here in the UK to see the Whites Sox 4-2 down in the bottom of the 9th and watched the game from then on, what a big win this could prove to be, the offense seems to have finally come to life and we are getting hits throughout the line up not just relying on one or two hot players. The hustle and drive to win also seem to be back after so long in the doldrums, winning breeds winning and if the Sox can maintain and build on this momentum something great might just happen second half of the season.

Especially as there is still the hope that Moncada is young enough that he could improve his offensive numbers again if injury free (a big if I know) whereas Grandal and Lynn will fall away with age.

Seriously need an internal investigation into whatever they are doing in pre-season strength and conditioning, and in game warm ups etc because the number of hamstring problems and other muscle injuries to position players is getting ridiculous. I know that injuries are expected over a 162 game season but we are not even at halfway and virtually every position player has spent time on the IL, it is hardly surprising that so few of them have any offensive rhythm. Not only that the hamstring injuries have not exactly come when players are using explosive speed which is when they are most common, Grandal was jogging to first and Eloy was hardly sprinting. This number of injuries suggests more than a 'bit of bad luck' and smells more of lack of conditioning and preparation.

After a good series against Detroit this was a real downer, and yet another hamstring injury, somebody really needs to look at how players are warming up and the strength and conditioning preparation in Spring Training because this many muscle problems is not 'normal' wear and tear.

Thanks, that is what I thought.

Just a question from one who doesn't know, but what is the convention when a team puts up a position player to pitch, are you supposed to take it seriously and get a hit and try to get runs or go easy on them, just curious because there was 3 innings of it today which is the first time I have seen so many innings of position pitching players in one game

Vaughn is still young and the way he has coped with playing new positions in a stumbling team has been impressive, there is a lot more pressure on him to perform regularly due to the injuries but he seems to have the temperament to go with the talent and that above anything else is impressive.

Might have been 'only' Detroit but that was a good effort from the beat up White Sox to make it drama free, but a week or 2 without injuries would be nice!

Fair point.

The point is should the closer have been the one 'ready to go' in that situation.

The Indians fiasco can't be used as an excuse to always pitch your closer no matter what the lead. If you are seriously saying that Hendricks was the only reliever capable of defending a 5 run lead then we are in more trouble than I thought.

We could always organise a rota of SoxTalk posters as guest managers for the rest of the season.

Well we could always trade Vaughan for Craig Kimbrel. ?

So instead of 'burning out' one of the other relievers you burn out your star closer.

I think the bigger question is does Jose want to do another year. Before this season he was sounding a bit like this could be his last season if his love of the game wasn't there, but maybe his good recent form will change his mind.

Spoken like a true fan, be happy because we are not as bad as we should be! ?

Or 2 weeks after TA gets back, or 2 weeks after Grandal gets back or Eloy gets back, or whoever the next injury is.

There is probably someone on the Detroit fan site saying exactly the same thing about the White Sox! ?

That is far too sensible a suggestion for it to happen, instead he will be trotted out again and probably make the injury worse and miss the rest of the season!

But surely the manager is supposed to get the best out of players and that doesn't appear to be the case at the moment with most WS players. If managers were as irrelevant to a team's success as you imply then why even bother with employing an expensive manager who is supposedly vastly experienced, they might as well have stuck with Ricky Renteria because he was no worse than TLR. And with TLR's influence with JR I find it hard to believe that all the 'bad signings' like Harrison and Garcia were totally down to Hahn. And what is wrong with fans venting at a team that is stumbling along under .500 that is supposedly in its 'window' for 'sustained success'? Being supportive and ra rar ra is one thing when a team is going through a blip or one bad game but a season long blip and even the most enthusiastic fan begins to lose faith.

Can we panic now?

All the more reason to get rid of TLR and give any new manager a good half a season or more to sort things out, because another month of this and it will be time to panic.

Paying fans have every right to boo and chant if they want to, it might not be common in baseball but over here in the UK it is quite common in 'soccer'. And the boos are not just a response to this one game, they are the result of massive frustration at an underperforming team, and TLR is the manager. Yes a walk off would have got cheers but it would merely have papered over the cracks. And your defence of TLR is a bit much because he is the one making things worse by his errors and line ups. Harrison may be rubbish but it is TLR playing him and Garcia virtually every day, and even having Garcia as lead off hitter! He is the one mishandling the BP and intentionally walking a guy on a 1-2 count that has everyone in baseball confused.

Another hamstring injury for a Sox player, it makes you wonder what strength and conditioning work ever happens, he wasn't even sprinting hard at the time. And he was just beginning to hit again!