greg775

Because of pitch counts. See Gregory's article on Black Jack. Would Ozzie have let him go through the ninth with his count already in the teens? I hope so, but I wonder. Paulie's error was huge. I don't know if we'd have won the game. Boone and Dotel were meat.

I don't know about his blunder costing us the sweep. If Ozzie let Mark finish the game I'd agree with you. Pitch counts indicated Mark was done and the Royals were not going lightly. And yes I'd gamble on Paulie busting loose. I could be wrong, but Thome also could bomb; Dye might bomb; Swish might keep sucking. There are no guarantees.

I don't know about that. I like what Wise has done. I like Anderson. Not a big Swish fan yet. Let Paulie play and if he finishes the year like this, I guess dump him for peanuts in the offseason. If he gets hot, we'll be that much better off.

That's what I'm saying as well. If you are going to blast Konerko with legions of stats, at least accept Dick's assertion that Swish has been s*** except for June.

I agree Pants, but I wonder if he'd have opened the ninth with the dreaded pitch count over 110.

Almaguest you didn't respond to Dick's post. He pointed out Swish had ONE GOOD MONTH. He also pointed out some major flaws.

Thome has been getting some hits lately so the heat has been off him on this board. All Jimmy is gonna have to do is have an oh-fer in Texas for many to say he's through as well.

That's what I don't understand as well. Paulie has sucked with his meager 8 homers in a year he's been hurt some. Swisher has also been average at best and I don't think he's a great centerfielder. One stolen base. Yeah he's really fast. I want Swish lovers to respond to Dick's two posts!

Is he expected to play a good center field and hit above .250?

Good conversation article. That actually could be a good new niche in the world of blogs, etc. A person travels around and interviews some sports greats and writes it in that type of tone. I'd love a discussion of pitch counts. Jack McDowell classifies as an expert and I trust him on it. He said Halladay is not his hero but the guy who "lets him" pitch deep. I mean last night watching the Royals game you could just feel that Greinke and Mark "knew" they were about done because of the pitch counts. In the eighth inning, Mark should have dug deep and finished the shutout. Same with Greinke going 9. But because of some fantasy pitch count idea, both guys knew they were finished. In a mid summer night game, Mark B should have pitched a shutout last night. Pitch counts and the idea behind pitch counts has negatively affected the game. Kudos to you and Jack for pointing it out! You should email your quote to sporting news and SI and Hawk and DJ and see if it gets some play. I'd love to hear Hawk, DJ discuss it!

Robin is greater than Joe, but hey, why bag on Joe with "one of the most overrated plyers in sox history" line? The NFL Hall of Fame goes by winning. If you don't win a ring in that league your career is tarnished greatly. I take into consideration players that got us a f***ing World Series title. Some people that bag on Joe act like WS titles are easy to get? We may never see another WS ring for decades or a full lifetime. If that happens, someday Crede will be a legend around here.

I want to understand why Swisher gets a free pass from so many and Paulie the wrath? Swisher looked like an ant in center field last night. He's not a great defender and he's made as many frustrating outs as Paulie and also is on the wrong side of even .250. Oh but he walks a lot. So Paulie has sucked big time. We're still in first place and he is not finished yet. Andruw Jones??? My god. Just say no to that idea. Keep Paulie and tell him to get his head out of his ass and start hitting like Paulie.

If by long night you mean long 4 hour game that we win, 12-11, OK. But even if he gets clobbered how do you know the Sox won't outslug them? So if Gavin has a bad outing we suddenly have 3 iffy starters in Jose, Javy and Gavin? How the heck do we have one of the best records in baseball?

If we actually win the series, for me it's much easier to take a loss even when there are obvious goats. We won two of three so it's a success. I mean the Sox coulda got swept this week in KC if not for some come from behind heroics. Today we were six outs from the sweep but KC came back. If Paulie can hang onto the throw ... great, but it might have been something else. The game wasn't over yet.

Paulie needs to start driving the ball ... and fast.

What about Wilbur Wood and Smoky Burgess. Just kidding. But Wilbur was good for a chubby guy.

It is frustrating when he pops up after swinging late on the heater. Hopefully he'll become Paulie again.

Didn't they pick an all White Sox team a few years ago? Who was on that one? You might compare it to yours.

I tend to think of it as it's a very good game (although admittedly frustrating at the time) and if we hang in there we might pull it out. And who knows the WAY we pull it out might be something the team can use later in the season or postseason. Face it, it's tough to win on the road even when there are only 15-20,000 fans on hand. Get a grip, man, and try to enjoy the games.

I agree. I can't believe the one post saying you never liked Paulie. My god. What a fickle fan! Never liked Paullie?? Putting Swish at first and Wise/Anderson in center is not a better option than Paulie. He just needs to start being Paulie. But to say you never liked Paulie ... that is insane. Look at his career!!! Ingrate.

Boy that statement is 100 percent accurate! It's so true. That's what the postgame talk shows are for. After Game Two, Royals fans were livid about the balk. After Game One they were furious Grudz hit into the game ending DP instead of lofting a sacrifice fly and so many other things. Went to the game tonight. 14,000 paid attendance. I was hoping inwardly that somehow Mark could pitch a complete game 1-0 victory after Dye's mammoth bomb. But with the fabled pitch count approaching 110 you knew it wouldn't be a complete game in this day and age. Knowing Mark wouldn't pitch a complete game, I just had the feel things would go to hell which they did quickly in the 8th. Greinke and Mark were equally good. Ozzie said after the game every game in the series was a tough one and sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the opposing pitcher and team. I think the WAY all three games went, we were lucky to win 2 of 3. They were all close and all crazy games. It would have been nice to get the final six outs and the sweep. It makes you mad to see it go to hell like it did. But if we can keep winning series after series, we'll be right there.

I'd like to see us keep winning and the Tigers get buried deeper as somebody else said. It'd be nice to take it one team at a time in burying.

He's there every day. He has a good read on the clubhouse. He's a very good writer. If this was Hawk saying it everybody would believe it? People tend to hate print reporters for some reason and like the electronic guys. What's not to believe? Dye from all accounts is well liked; OC isn't. Why blame the writer? If Oz thinks the guy is wrong I'm sure we'll hear about it in some outburst soon. I believe the writer. He's good. Those ballots shouldn't be made public BTW and I don't know why he hates Canada. That one is baffling. Maybe he got mugged up there.

The last 2 nights make up for some of our more horrible losses. They really do. We pulled both out of our ass. It'd be nice to play well in all aspects tomorrow and sweep 'em. Greinke throws heat. Hope Thome can read his fastball and deposit a couple. Might be a good day to rest Paulie and play Wise/Swish combo.

Two in a row in KC that have been real fun. Can you imagine how the Royals feel blowing significant leads two nights in a row? And losing on a balk? OC and Alexei are quite the newcomer combo. Congrats to you who wanted Dotel to close. That's amazing stuff. 3 strikeouts? My god. It'd be nice to win going away tomorrow, but Greinke is damn good. So is Mark when he's Mark.