greg775

Say what you want about Joe Crede -- the man gets clutch hits. Now somebody cite some bizarre sabermetric statistic telling me he doesn't get big hits. Bulls***. The man is a winner.

This is a scary thread. Entering the season the common perception was we had 3 good starters. Now I'm starting to think Gavin is another Gobble. Woe is our team if this is the case.

I agree, but the Sox have never acted like they play the game that way, evidence of the Sunday lineups last year and their overall demeanor. There's never a sense of urgency and usually the team finally gets going.

I like Anderson too, but I don't know if I'd call him a difference maker. The only difference he's ever made was that great catch to end the Twins game last year. He looks like an average major league hitter to me, and a great fielder. It seems like we have some famous, proven big league players, all older guys, and a lot of bad ones. Weird roster makeup, but I guess typical in this day and age of some players hoarding all the money.

Alexei needed some time off, evidenced by his nice 3-for-3 once he came back. He's been a mess at the plate. I don't blame Ozzie for not moving Alexei to centerfield. I blame Kenny (injuries notwithstanding) for having no options there. Why the hell would you move Alexei to centerfield after he played second last year and now is at ss and is already a wreck at the plate??? At least Ozzie is wise enough to tell Lilly what is up with his sad, sick style of hitting.

This was Oz's quote in the Tribune game story from today's game, when reporters asked if Lillibridge or Nix would be the odd man out Friday when Brian returns. He basically is telling Lillibridge to go down and actually get a clue at the plate.

Luke Hochevar was something like 5-0 in the minors and got shelled the other day. Amazing difference.

He definitely is the King of Ohfers lately. This is a serious question about the No. 2 hole. After the first at bat, does it really matter where you bat in the order? Is there some mathematical formula that says you will be the 2 hitter in every plate appearance? Of you sabermetricians out there ... does it really matter where you bat in the order after your first at bat if you are a 2 hitter? Where is Josh's power? I thought he was going to be a home run, RBI guy?

Yeah we do have a lot of concerns right now. Do you think Lillibridge is the worst hitter in modern Sox history?

Gavin needs to face our lineup in a simulated game to give him confidence. Of course, that might be the day we see the good Sox and Thome, Paulie, Dye each hit bombs and AJ gets four hits. This is a scary thread reading how a lot of you think Gavin doesn't have what it takes. We obviously need him.

Generally fans don't get as upset in May as they do once the Bulls and Blackhawks are just a memory. Unless your team is already out of it. We have played horses*** baseball for the most part this year. I am in on the nights we win; out on the nights we get shut out. Isn't that the life of a typical fan? Overall, I'm in for life because I've followed this team forever and will continue to do so. Right now, there are so many more negatives than positives out on the field and on the bench. The only saving grace is the overall mediocrity of the division.

I love how we're all praying for Brian Anderson to come back and save the lineup. Brian freaking Anderson, the definition of mediocrity at best. Lillibridge is like MacDougal. At this point ... please just get rid of him. Make the minor league fans watch him try to hit home runs and fail at it.

Like somebody said, what about the pitching then? The pitching as somebody pointed out has sucked in most all games except for Mark/Danks. Fire Coop as well. Ultimately KW gets the players and Oz makes the on-the-field decisions. If you want a revolving door, then fire Oz and KW and go that route.

OK, then why the f*** mention Walker? I read a story when he got extended where Oz said he puts in an incredible amount of work with these hitters. That's all he can do. He can't tell them all to hit the same way like Charlie Lau did. If we had that, people would be freaking upset as well. The bottom line is "fire the hitting coach" is a baseball cliche that will be around 50 years from now just as it was 30 years ago. Like the mod said, we have several players who don't deserve to SNIFF a big league roster. Period. When people are tempted to post about Walker they should just scream his name and NOT POST. It's a cliche to blame the hitting coach/pitching coach.

What is your point? Is Walker supposed to make all guys hit the same way? This is why players fail. If their swings suck, they are THEIR swings, they suck and they'll be out of baseball soon. We talk way too much about hitting coaches on here.

Cmon. Injuries happen. I'm sure they have the best equipment and training as everybody else.

Thankfully the banged-up Royals are sucking against teams outside of the Central of late. We are only 3 back. We need to start winning series at home and remain close to .500 on the road. We are sucking at home!

That was a great way to describe Lillibridge in your above quote. I would hate to see a stiff like Lillibridge cost Walker his job.

Wow. Those stats are amazing. Scary.

Since there's no winner thread ... Nice job Sox in finally destroying a crummy pitcher. Is Nix a good player? Signs are fairly positive. Another homer? Jimmy, way to go. Finally a Sox player destroys his old team. Seems like it's often the other way around. Maybe Lillibridge should try to miss the ball and he might hit it. Can we keep winning w/out Carlos? Hope so. He actually needed some time off heel or no heel. His slump has sucked. Backup catcher gets 2 hits? Wow. Nice. Pitching good enough. Let's beat Cliff Lee!

Looks like it's going to be one of those years, although CQ actually probably could use a week off because he's been a mess at the plate. Except we have absolutely nobody to put in for him. Lilly can't hit.

So now he's 4 of his last 18? One game can dig you quite the hole.

I do like Getz a lot. I hope he gets out of this offensive funk soon. In his last eight games, he's 5 for 32 with 3 walks and no RBIs. Immediately preceding this funk, he had seven out of eight games in which he had 2 or more hits with 6 RBIs and two walks.

Predictably, KW talking about this in the press leads to Bobby doing something about it, then admitting it when asked by the media. What players admit to throwing behind players? We lead the league in dumb. Baseball probably has to suspend Bobby for his comments.

Well, Ozzie is still "in." Since he usually tells it like he truly thinks it is, I'll believe him. We're looking at 14-18, however, with Clayton going tomorrow. Definitely not looking good with Floyd not getting ahead in the count this year.