greg775

I was catching up on my sox reading and saw this Mariotti column. My gawd ... why does his paper let him write this stuff? It's the same stuff every time he writes about the Sox? It's old, vindictive. He should write about something else. I don't get the impression Oz is crazed or bitter. I think he's a wild extrovert.

I never thought of it that way, but I'd agree.

I remember all the great Pudge moments as a Sox. But I also remember him not quitting til they tore the uniform off his back. It got to the point he couldn't catch the ball anymore. He was truly a guy who loved baseball, playing until he simply couldn't function.

Out of state, but grew up 103rd and Homan, Chicago. That is (was) basically Sox country in Mt. Greenwood, but there were Cub fans around as well.

I agree with Steve's assessment pretty much, but I'd give Swisher a C minus and Dotel C minus. On base percentage is great but he's got to hit better than his current average. Swisher might deserve the same D as Cabrera. Paulie and Thome have to step it up. I might give Thome a D minus and leave Konerko at F.

If AJ bats second again it'll remind Pudge of the days he batted second for the Sox.

It's funny how things change so quickly in baseball. The great road trip puts the Sox back atop the division standings for now and things are looking promising again. But heading into the road trip and after the first two Angels games, it looked like the same ol s*** and KW was a moron, etc. I thought we would go 2-8 on the trip and be pretty much toast. Now it looks like KW is a genius with all those things you mentioned and it looks like Oz is a genius again. A week of not hitting and losing baseball and KW and Oz will be morons again. Sox have played pretty well in the wake of the furor over the doll. Keep making KW look good, Sox. Great great road trip.

That type of road trip can really define a team. Wow, 7-3? That is damn impressive. Splitting with a WS contender and winning two other series including a sweep of the Barry-less Giants. Not bad at all. Great trip. Can they keep it going at home and emerge as serious WS contender? Or do the M's and Giants suck so bad we learned nothing?

Not a bad idea, Balta, he certainly looks like the real deal.

Are you guys high on Dotel or ready to boot him to the curb? I wonder how we'll do in our 19 games against the Royals? We are reasonably decent so far this year against our own division.

Dotel looks like he wasn't worth the money. Yikes. After we lose these 4 I hope we can take 2 of 3 from the Giants somehow to go 4-6 on trip.

Disappointing loss after grabbing the 3-0 lead. We're playing a good team, one very capable of mopping the floor with us 4 straight. And you know Garland is going to shut us out in Game 4.

Downey I think is overall good. But that was not a good effort. The Sox don't deserve a standing ovation. Anybody who has followed the team closely realizes the team just is not playing well. I'm grateful we are in the race, but that's about it. Jimmy, Paulie - A joke thus far. Any sane person would agree. Or a C minus at best. OC and Swish - Very disappointing starts. OC got four hits two nights ago, Swish has looked better at the plate. I applaud them for that. AJP and Dye - Doing pretty well. Earning their money, but lots of clutch hits lacking. Quentin - Marvelous. Bobby - Great. Linebrink and Dotel - Decent of late, especially Linebrink. Starters - Yes they have been very good. Most of us are excited about them. Uribe - We applauded his hard slide and effort there. Crede - I think everybody respects his comeback. He'll at least rap a clutch hit once in a while. I think most of us are hopeful. But most of us I think are sick of the awful station to station baseball when our big boppers are not hitting the ball out of the park. And like many sluggers in the AL and NL, our sluggers are not doing so. No standing ovation. But no stadium full of boos either. Not as long as the rest of the division continues to sputter as well.

We are a dysfunctional team. Struck out looking? My god. At least he had 2 hits. Paulie and Thome should be embarrassed as well as Mark and Oz tonight.

Wow Rodriguez gets a cheap save.

Dunno. My mood tends to change.

A DP will be sad.

I believe ... that we are at best a .500 team. At worst, I could be convinced a pretty low win percentage.

Vlad is licking his chops at 4 games against the team that got him out of his season-long funk. Woe to our Sox.

Mark's line tonight 5 2/3 innings, 10 hits, eight runs, six earned. Adelweis' line: same 5 2/3, 9 hits, but only four runs, four earned. We are going NOWHERE until we get a clue about driving in runs. Thanks Cabrera for picking up your team tonight and leaving 7 on base!!

I bet Paulie and Thome feel really good making out against some guy named Bootcheck.

We led this game, 3-0? At that point of this road trip the Sox were 2-1 on the trip and probably feeling like a real team again. Now they are just a bunch of jokers once more, pretenders.

Vlad and all Angel fans are thanking the White Sox for bringing his bat to life finally. If we win another game this series it will be a minor miracle. I stand by my 0-4 in Anaheim and hopefully 2-1 in SF, but could be 1-2. DOGS TONIGHT! -- Cabrera has left 7 on base! Seven. Entire Sox offense for not knocking out Adenhart Mark for serving up meat and not responding after Oz's bad decision to pitch to Vlad. Thome and Konerko for continuing to suck. Wasserman, bye bye it was nice knowing you.

I am outta here before I say more stuff I will regret later in frustration. I will say if we lose this game, pencil in a sweep. This was the winnable one to keep us rolling after 2 of 3 in Seattle.

Vlad entered the game with 3 home runs. He's having a s*** season, yet he can bash the big hit in a big game. Paulie and Thome have to start hitting some bombs like that. Sure it's on Oz, but Oz is afraid to manage the veteran players. It's also on Mark for serving up the meatball.