greg775

I think we'll go 4-9 starting with going 1-2 vs. Detroit and 2-2 vs. Seattle followed by 1-2 vs. Cleveland and 0-3 at Minnie. We already swept Detroit and did nothing after that. We won't sweep them again, in fact we won't win the series. And the poster who said Oz may call out a player or an anonymous player may call out Oz could very well happen. I'd suspect it'll be an anonymous source like a Riske or somebody not worth a s*** anyway.

This is what I was trying to say in regard to my position on this thread. The Critic said it for me. I agree wtih The Critic wholeheartedly. This is my stance on the season from my perspective as well. Though I would add the bullpen also faltered and we had the automatic out in cf coupled with the butcher on days the automatic out didn't play. As well as the automatic out in lf. I realize I'm being too hard on BA. I know, he hit .300 the last 3 months; but like some other poster pointed out he wasn't exactly mr. clutch.

Um, I beg to differ on that. I do agree with you however we underachieved. No doubt. But cmon.

Fathom I'm sure you'v enjoyed some of the games this year. If not forgive me for misreading you. There have been plenty of seasons worse than this one.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 03:16 AM) So you reference a game we eventually lost, and 4 out of 6 wins against one of the worst teams in all of baseball? Yep, I had fun watching a lot of games this year. Sorry, but I did.

You want to know about more disappointing seasons? Ones where we were out of it in early summer! I've been a sox fan my whole lilfe and 20 games over .500 is NOT nearly the worst season I've gone through. There were some great games to enjoy this season. I remember one game where it looked like we still had the magic of a year ago when I believe it was Iguchi hit a bomb on a sunday night game. The four of six versus the Cubs were good. We had a lot of great wins. Only one team can win it all. This season unraveled unfortunately when we were keeping within striking distance of Detroit, a team that just would not lose a series except when they played us. Then we finally had a s***ty week and the Tigers kept winning and upped their lead on us to 8 games or whatever. We lost the magic and it was time to start blaming whomever you wanted to: Oz, Pods, bullpen, KW, everybody had their favorites. Oz mostly. If you want I'll go through the list of Sox seasons year by year and tell you ones much worse for me, but I don't feel like doing that now. and yes I've watched the Royals, a once proud franchise be out of it before the All Star break for the last 10 years now. If we are in "contention" all year I don't consider it a wasted season to be a fan. There were some great games this year. We just don't have what it takes to get in the playoffs. Baseball is a great sport and I'll be sad when there are no more games to play in a couple weeks.

No it isn't. Are you serious? There have been plenty worse than this monstrocity of mediocrity. Many many many worse than this.

What a predictable capper to our strange letdown of a season. Chants of MVP, MVP as Frank beats us in two of the games. My gawd. I hope next season is better. Remember Boston at least made the playoffs after winning the WS. Then they had a worse year this year. We did not follow it up with a playoff berth. Hope we can rebound next year. As fathom said ... Frank embarrassed everybody in the sox organization this weekend. he got the last word. Good for the Big Hurt.

Well then chalk that one up as a big negative toward Oz, cause Alomar sucks. Give Oz a D- on his performance appraisal for that one. I never said the guy was perfect, but I don't see how the cf disaster can be blamed all on Oz. Ditto the bullpen blowups. If our starters were pitching worth a damn, even Oz wouldn't have made the mistake of asking for alomar. But if he wanted Alomar, dock his pay next year for that one.

Why should we quit talking about the guy who helped bury our chances yesterday? KW wishes Frank would go away. The A's GM is laughing every day at what a steal he got in Big Hurt.

KW worked on a lot of possible deals if we are led to believe the papers. He didn't back off because of Oz. Of course Oz is going to say he likes his current team. The team is incredibly inconsistent in all areas. How is that Oz's fault? It's obvious Oz got sick of BA's outs early and gave up on him as an everday player. If that bothers some of you, fine, but that's what happened. The other options were not there, so Mack is the platoon guy and he is a butcher. Who else did you want out there? Also Pods became a disaster making 2 of our 3 of positions pretty weak. Our ss position didn't hit, we got no backup catcher the days AJ doesn't play. Our bullpen has not been winning caliber. Our starters have performed average at best, terrible during the stretch Detroit pulled away. Oz's big crime in my mind is for whatever reason the magic was gone this year. If the players are sick of Oz and quit on him, I guess KW must find that out and if it's the case, Oz probably will be discarded like Ditka.

How can anybody complain at all about Jermaine Dye? What a season! You know Sox fans are spoiled when there are any complaints about that guy. There are no perfect ballplayers. If we had Ryan Howard we'd probably have some complain after he popped up in the clutch.

Mack was acquired as a super sub expected to play. Who are the better options?? BA has NOT been the answer. Second guessing is very easy of the GM and the manager. In hindsight, yes we shoulda done all we could to pick up Soriano.

Why is it so hard to realize Ozzie does not make up the roster. He uses the guys provided to him by Kenny Williams!!! Think he wants to put in Boone Logan??? You guys sometimes act like Ozzie is the do all. He didn't make up this average roster; KW did!

In retrospect, I'd rather have had last year's team and made no changes. We won the World Series with Rowand, Thomas, Blum, etc. This year we are not going to make the playoffs. Thome turned out to not be a big upgrade over Hurt. Our new bullpen is not good. And Mack turned out to be just another guy. BA was a downgrade in cf. KW gets a C for his effort this season, worse than the team which probably deserves a B-minus.

Next to BMac, Thornton gets let off the hook more than anybody in the world of Internet fan. For some reason those two get a free pass by many fans.

I don't think it's a non story. Frank's performance made it a big story. We let him go. I think everybody thought Frank would be out of the limelight in Oakland, hit about 15 home runs or something while being on the DL all year. The bottom line is he's Oakland's best player and we are not going to the playoffs. Yet Oz is the only guy that seems to get blamed on this site in management. KW deserves blame for this one. Frank ain't going away and he wants to play four more years.

Here's tonight's game story: It's kind of an extra kick in the gut that Big Hurt is producing big time and we are continuing to play s***ty baseball: OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Forget AL Comeback Player of the Year, Frank Thomas is making a case for MVP. Thomas hit his 37th home run, passed the 100-RBI mark and helped Oakland beat his former team, leading the Athletics over the Chicago White Sox 7-4 Saturday. “To us he’s definitely the MVP,” A’s second baseman Mark Ellis said. “It’s hard to argue with Jermaine (Dye), but as far as importance a team? I think Frank is more important to this team than others are to their teams. Yes, I’d vote for him.” Thomas drove in four runs for the AL West-leading A’s, who won their third in a row. Thomas has 485 career homers and has 102 RBIs mark the 11th time in his career that he’s reached the century mark. “I never stopped believing in myself,” Thomas said. “Everybody else in baseball may have, but I trusted my doctor. He said I would be back. This is very special. I was hitting .175-.180 after two months and to turn it on, I’m proud of myself.” Thomas was limited to 108 games over the past two seasons, hitting a total of 30 homers and driving in 75. After the White Sox let him go, there was some bad blood between him and the organization. He signed an incentive-laden contract with the A’s in January. “It’s really bittersweet,” Thomas said. “I look at the uniform I wore for 16 years and it’s kind of weird. I’m all about winning right now. We have a special chance to reach the playoffs. We’ve won a lot of games where we’ve shaken our heads asking how. But that’s what playoff teams are all about.” Dye hit his 42nd home run for Chicago, which started the day two games behind Minnesota in the AL wild-card race. The White Sox lost for the 22nd time in their last 26 games in Oakland. Javier Vazquez had his winless streak extended to seven games despite departing with a lead. The A’s rallied for four runs in the seventh against four White Sox relievers, taking advantage of four walks. “I was disappointed,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “The Thomas home run changed the whole scenario and our bullpen couldn’t do its job. They couldn’t throw strikes. Frank is one of the best right-handed hitters I ever saw.” Barry Zito (16-9) struggled all day, walking a career-high seven, He gave up four runs and seven hits in seven innings, and won for the fourth time in five decisions. Joe Kennedy and Justin Duchscherer pitched the eighth and Huston Street pitched the ninth for his 34th save in 42 opportunities. “Frank has been a huge factor in our success,” Zito said. “We see him in the clubhouse every day and you can’t help but be inspired by his work ethic. He expects to carry the team and to hit the ball hard. I know he’s our MVP.” Ellis singled home the tying run in the seventh against reliever Mike MacDougal, who blew his first save opportunity. Matt Thornton (5-3) allowed two runs in the seventh. MacDougal walked Thomas to force in the go-ahead run and Boone Logan walked Eric Chavez to force in another run. Jay Payton followed with an RBI single off Dustin Hermanson. “I wasn’t good and that’s about all you can say about it,” MacDougal said. “I couldn’t locate my pitches where I needed.” Vazquez, 0-3 in his last seven starts, allowed three runs and five hits over six innings. Pablo Ozuna doubled to lead off the Chicago third. After Tadahito Iguchi popped up trying to bunt, Dye worked the count full against Zito before hitting a line drive off the left-field foul pole. It was Dye’s first homer since nearly hitting for the cycle against the Cleveland Indians last Saturday. Thomas’ sacrifice fly in the fourth cut the lead to 2-1 but Sandy Alomar Jr. singled behind Juan Uribe’s single and Brian Anderson’s double in the sixth to make it 4-1. In the sixth, Thomas hit Vazquez’s 1-1 pitch into the left field bleachers to make it 4-3. “That home run changed the whole momentum of the game,” Ellis said. “We jumped on that and got it going.” Notes: A’s RHP Rich Harden tested his sore right elbow in a simulated game and will start on Thursday pending the outcome of Monday’s side session. ... Dye snapped a 23 at-bat homerless streak. He averages a home run every 11.9 at bats. ... A’s OF Mark Kotsay was held out of the starting lineup after reporting a stiff back following Friday night’s game.

Ozzie stood up for his players; they want a cold beer after a game. He said he'd pay for the beer. I think it's great. As much as some of you hate Oz, would Jerry ever fire him? I am an Ozzie lover. Am I safe in thinking he'll be our skipper next year? Reading this site everyday makes me think he could get the axe. We should do a poll after the season who still likes Oz and who hates him.

I cant believe some of you hate Oz so much, the one guy who led us to the first World Series title in chicago history since horse and buggy was the main form of transportation. How soon we forget the ticker tape parade? Why not hate KW who gave Oz BA and Mack to pick from instead of automatically penciling in Rowand. Both sucked this year. BA on offense; Mack on defense. And yes I know what BA is hitting since the break. Fire Oz and replace him with ... who. Joe Girardi??

Good article but I cant believe he said our bench was maybe the best in baseball.

With all due respect some of you sometimes think you know soo much and won't accept anybody else's take. OK so Fred is 14-9 instead of 14-6. The guy just flirted with a f***ing perfect game. But you think he's finished, he's toast. Think about what he did LAST YEAR. Sometimes I think you guys think the Sox will someday get 5 superior starters. Name one f***ing team in baseball with 5 superior starters??? Freddie Garcia is NOT a stiff. Sox fans are starting to remind me of fans of some college teams that act like their team is the ONLY one out there. My god. Freddie Garcia will have a job on any staff in baseball, why not ours???

True, but I was thinking we would not go in the tank against the A's. I wouldn't be surprised if we lose all 3 now. I thought we'd go 2-1 then could sweep Detroit at home and continue their slide. But you are probably right. It's probably the Twins. I just wish we'd play good ball more than 1 day at a time max.

Last year was the year of the Sox. This will be the postseason of the ex Sox. Frank, Maggs, Este Loiaza, et all. Please no Juan Pierre next year. Geez we don't want that guy. If we don't make it this year to postseason we should make a lot of changes. Truly go to Ozzieball. The home runs didn't help us win it this year. Let's face it ... our GM also made many errors. The new centerfielder WAS NOT as good as the old one. Experiment failed. And the guys who helped us win it the year before had no staying power. Pods, Uribe were NOT GOOD. And the revamping of the bullpen DID NOT WORK as well as whatever happened to our starters for six weeks. END THIS SEASON and rebuild baby.

We are incapable of stringing wins together, even though the pennant has been there for us to take. Unf***ingbelievable. I agree ... please 15 games come and go and put us out of our misery. This season will go down as a great opportunity wasted. So sad.