greg775

I've already predicted but as an addendum ... if we go 3-3 at home versus the Royals and O's with a lot at stake, how in the heck can anybody predict better than .500 on this trip? That stuff about playing to our competition doesn't cut it on the road. 5-5 would be a monumental miracle. 2-8 is rearing its ugly head at us.

Baconator, if we sweep in Boston you get the call of the year award. It just doesn't seem remotely possible.

I have a feeling the results of the poll will change if we lose today's game to the s*** O's which we could do on a Sunday day game. 1-3 in Boston. 0-3 in NY 1-2 in Minnie for 2-8. The Cub game could go either way. My real hope is SOMEHOW 2-2 in Boston (odds of that just aren't good with Boston's home record and recent destroying of Detroit; why should we do better than a good Tiger team in beantown?) 2-1 in NY (beating a team 2 of 3 after they want to kick our ass for what we did to them in the Cell is not likely; plus the Yankees are damn good, especially at home. 2-1 in Minnie (Minnie's getting it back together finally in kicking KC's ass; we don't win in the dome). That would be a miraculous 6-4 and would likely keep us breathing depending on the Tigers' 10 games. Only way we can do 6-4 is with extraordinary pitching and average defense. We're not capable of great defense, but are capable of average.

Castro needs to hit today; we know Lilly won't. Can't have two automatic outs. I assume Rios is playing. We need a BIG GAME from him.

I agree on the Oz criticism on the Thome thing. Even I, an Oz lover, said immediately to pinch run for Jimmy. Luckily the O's bats didn't have it last night and we won a boring 4-1 game. I thought that was pretty big not to run for the plowhorse Jimmy. Thinking as to why he did that, it's pretty amazing Oz must have thought we might need Jimmy's bat in extra innings. That was interesting to me that he'd think that way.

I don't know if Peavy will give us a morale boost. Mark's perfect game didn't give us a morale boost. The Rios acquisition didn't exactly light us on fire, though he's been OK. We've had some exciting wins where we come right back and lose. I don't think our team is capable of rah rah morale boosts. We basically need good pitching, make that great pitching the rest of the way, if Peavy gives us great pitching, awesome.

Best case scenario on road trip: 5-5. Worst case: 2-8. Likely: 4-6 at best. That's my feeling. If that keeps us in the race ... great.

Note to you: Media reports said he needed 2 days off because of his f***ing injury. Some should consider reading the reasons for some of these moves.

I'm very glad we won. Praise for Danks and Beckham's defense. Some bad ball as well: • AJ thrown out at third before plowhorse Jimmy Thome can even touch home plate on a blast off the wall. • Just three runs off a hack who threw 95 pitches in four innings and then we score one the rest of the way. • Dye can't get that big body moving and drops a blooper for a triple? Little bit frustrating we couldn't knock out Hernandez, but a win is a win especially this time of year with our season on the brink.

This is one of the biggest mismatches in baseball history tonight. I'm not saying we'll win, no way I'll say that, but how the heck can Hernandez shut us down on a Saturday night in the Cell? Cmon Sox. Start winning games you should win.

Glad you are confident that those games will matter. We dropped a game to Detroit tonight. Realistically IMO we are going to go 3-7 at best on that upcoming road trip. Depending on how Detroit does in that same span, we could be totally buried by Peavy time. How bout 1-3 in Boston; 0-3 in New York, 1-2 in Minnesota for worst case trip scenario of 2-8? Best case scenario would be 2-2 in Boston (not likely), 2-1 in NY (I'd be SHOCKED), 2-1 in Minnie (what am I smoking?) for a road trip of 6-4. Does anybody out there think we can do 6-4 or better on that trip which is being amazingly optimistiic? If we are 5-7 back when we play Detroit it simply won't matter. We ain't going to roll through them.

I believe the "don't care anymore" threads. I agree. I'll be first to not give up and root like mad if we turn into gangbusters, but as of now I just see crap. Win one, lose one with the road trip of all time coming up. It's time for them to show us diehard fans something.

So we are 2-2 in our big home chance vs. KC and Baltimore. Whoopie. Good job, guys. It's laughable.

Me too, Jester. You'd think the decent crowds would inspire them a bit to take care of the lousy teams, but not really.

You know what? If our manager and veterans are serious about somehow winning this thing... tonight would be the night for somebody to completely freak in the locker room. Turn over tables. Cuss each other out, etc. Ain't gonna happen though. That's not our team. But if Thome, Konerko, AJP, Dye want to actually do anything this year, it's time for such a display. Again ... it ain't gonna happen tho. But it's time. We're going nowhere.

I know. I just have a sneaky feeling at this time of the season it will be a Boston massacre of us, followed by a NY massacre. Boston has a GREAT home record and needs the wins. At least if we lose all 7 we'll know where we stand: out of it.

That we do. I just for the life of me can't see us doing better than Detroit did there recently and the Tigers lost 3 of 4. Losing to Baltimore is no good with that road trip coming up.

Amen, brother. I don't get mad anymore. My expectations have changed. We don't have "it." If we somehow totally transform into some amazing juggernaut team the final six weeks, great. I haven't given up, but c'mon. We just don't have it this year. And yes I will cheer like mad if we find "it" somehow. I'm just not sweating it any more to where I get upset.

Be careful what you wish for in closers. Matt can be awfully wild on a given night. We shall see how good a closer he is if Bobby isn't brought back.

I loved your post especially this part. I think relievers outside of closers are held to a different standard. I am of the opinion Dotel and Liney have sucked and Thornton has his good and bad nights as well. I do not agree with Hawk that Thornton was an all star who got screwed. Carrasco has been good for what a team should expect him to do. That new lefty sucks, thankfully I forgot his name. And the guy we got for Allen ... the verdict is still out, but he has not been any better than average. I realize most bullpens are average to s***ty and ours is the same IMO. Except for Bobby; still pretty darn good. And I'm glad we have Thornton, but the rest of them ... see ya later.

Lexi just doesn't seem right at ss in my opinion. Not good enough. Too volatile a player.

Alexei never should have been moved. He should have sat at second base the next 15 years.

Ok. • Below average defense. I guess some might say average. I'd say below average. • Unreliable middle relief, i.e. set up men. • Slow on basepaths still. • Don't have the "it" factor to rally late or beat bad teams in an attempt to get 10 over .500 which would win this division. • 3 good starting pitchers, though what is up with Mark since the perfect game?; Jose and No. 5 very poor.

Sorry if I misinterpreted. If I could summarize most of the things I've read, I'd say most realize we are a severely flawed team. I thought that was a correct interpretation. My bad if I am wrong. In the underachiever thread it was 90-20 people saying we were underachievers. I figured that it was safe to say "most" after reading that thread.

Detroit lost so we can be really really happy ... for one night at least.