greg775

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.

How come, heads? Why no Olivo?

It's Tigers or we're hosed. Twins won today and face a horrific pitcher tomorrow. Hard to believe it's come to us vs. Detroit with us having a fighting chance to overtake those slumpers.

Garcia may be average but he is 14-6. Why does he HAVE to go?

Olivo would be a better backup for AJ. Get Olivo.

Balance is right. ESPN deserves more blame. I was watching here on ESPN because the office I was in doesn't get WGN and as they cut in blabbering about perfection and the next pitch Fred lost the no no. Mariotti just picked another spot to ride the Hawk and I think some of that column should have been printed in green. It was bait of Hawk.

Hey I wanted to personally congratulate some of you who pointed out the Tigers' flaws back when they were winning every series, it seemed like every game. They were winning so many I couldn't conceive of them struggling like they have. As a reminder, who out there was proclaiming the possibility (probability) of a Tiger collapse? I wanna know who on here I should be respecting more. Good calls to those of you who predicted Tiger woes. p.s. They ain't dead yet of course, but they have sucked of late.

I wonder if Juan is a headcase. You don't hear much about him. It seems like he's pretty damn aggressive at the plate and when he hits his occasional bomb ... wow. In other words, can't our hitting coach get through to him? Doesn't Juan appear to have the tools to be a much more productive hitter? That said ... if we can upgrade we need to IMO. I'd rather keep Iguchi. I think we need an upgrade offensively at either ss or cf, keeping one of the 2 because of their defense and not getting rid of both.

Exactly. I'll stand by my pick in last night's game thread. We're done cause we're too inconsistent. I'm hoping giving up will be reverse superstition.

Detroit is definitely shaking right now just as we were last September. The Twins look damn good still. We win one, lose one. Hanging in by a thread. If we can keep getting reasonable starting pitching (especially head to head against Detroit in the 3 game set) we got a chance. I don't like our chances of overtaking the Twins, but Det ... it's possible, tho not probable. We've just been too inconsistent. Even today ... what's that s*** from Iguchi?

Do you think Oz will fine Iguchi or bench him or were the baserunning gaffes not laziness, just something bizarre???

I can't imagine anybody dying to get Freddie right now. Not bagging on him. I know he's had some gutty outings of late, but he, Jose and Mark haven't been too dandy the second half.

Thanx, I sure get sick of seeing our guys face lefties, especially AJ, Jim and of course Pods.

I'm out; i hope I can look back and say I was wrong this day. On Sept. 12 our team's hopes died.

I wish AJ coulda got the big hit with runner on second. Woulda been a huge win.

I didn't mean it to be trite; I guess I've been thinking about that documentary all day and inserted it in my Sox comments.

Good line, fathom. Like Tony this is the first night I've felt deep down we are done. Hope Sox can prove me wrong but for first time I feel like it is over. Too late and we have shown no reason for optimism that we could overtake Minnie. Maybe if Detroit keeps losing.