greg775

Are you implying we don't want Thome back? Just wondering.

Seeing criticism of Thome and Dye (a double play waiting to happen?) make me think the dreaded disease has hit a lot of Sox fans. WE ARE SPOILED. Thome is getting criticised more than Anderson. Amazing. I haven't been able to get back to Chicago to see any games in person, but I am hoping the Cell hasn't had this spoiled attitude. From what I can tell on TV the crowds have been loud and not as crazed as some on this board. Some players do not deserve ANY criticism in my book and Dye, Konerko, Thome and Crede are 4 of those. Perhaps Bobby also.

Amen, brotha.

I think Internet fans are pretty demanding when we're debating the value of Jim Thome. I mean ... c'mon. He's had a monster season. We need Jim Thome. As far as Gload. I know Ross Gload. And Ross Gload ain't no Jim Thome.

Fathom, not blasting you. I just wondered why you think Jim T. isn't as irreplaceable as those 3 you mentioned. Who we gonna have hit in JT's place?

True, he has a big mouth. I personally like his style, just as I like Ditka. Mariotti will have a lot of fun covering the next manager who says "we play them one game at a time" like the Royals' Buddy Bell.

Nice post. That made me smile on a night the sox played like crud.

OK, whitesoxfan, I'll play the game. Who is a good manager? Piniella? I would agree but check his record. He is human, also. Cox? Uh, the Braves have underachieved a lot in the postseason in his tenure. Torre? I like him as well. The Yankees have not been lights out however with the highest payroll in humanity. It's OK to blast Oz. I don't care. I just am saying I personally think people will find a lot of fault in our next manager and the manager after that. I can't see Oz lasting here much longer. He loves the Sox too much and is too passionate. He can't stand the criticism. He'll be quiet the next 20 years managing the Cardinals or Braves or Blue Jays.

Tony 72 you are assuming the starters need some message sent. It could be as simple as they want to win, but just have s*** stuff this year. For whatever reason. I don't think they need any messages sent. If they suck they suck. I think they are trying to get hitters out. It just ain't happening this year.

I don't see how you can call Ozzie a poor manager. You'll get your wish soon enough. He'll be gone and like I said, be like LaRussa and manage 25 years somewhere else. And guess what ... you'll be on our new manager's ass also. Because managers are hired to get fired.

It's all Mark has to give. One has to wonder if he just is worn out from last year or if this is gonna be the Mark B of the future.

I think Oz is great. Players win games, not managers. I have a gut feeling the Oz haters are not going to have to worry about him much longer. I think Mariotti will win his vendetta and Oz will leave the team after this season if not before. His columns blasting Oz, like today's where he indicates Oz again violated protocol by playing the race card, will drive him from the team. He'll come back and manage somewhere else where he's less passionate (the guy truly loves the White Sox; even his critics must realize that) and he'll pull a LaRussa and manage a quiet 25 years somewhere else. Too bad, cause like Ditka, he's a great great personality and will forever be remembered fondly for pushing all the right buttons last year. Blaming the manager is so easy. Mariotta thrives on it. Just like get ready for his constant columns on the Bears' QB situation which will be coming up shortly. It's easy to call for a new manager and for the second string QB to play. Mariotti sux.

Like fathom said, I'm IN. But I won't be surprised if we continue to suck the rest of the season. There are no signs of coming out of this since none of our starters are guaranteed to shut teams down and come up with wins like last year. This year, it's Det's starters.

It's so frustrating, I want to just say I'm done with this team and give up hope, but I can't. Maybe we'll someday pull our head out of our ass but right now we are a terrible terrible excuse for a team. We can do nothing with Det. or Minnesota. It's amazing how bad we are right now against our rivals. It's easy to blame Ozzie. I never get into blasting managers too much. It's the players who are sucking IMO.

McCarthy wasn't needed on the ML roster this year the way he was used. The Sox should have kept him in the minors STARTING. Stupid use of him this year.

Who cares about his clock? If he can help us win games now we need that. If Pods continues to suck, can he play lf. Can the guy run? I want the pennant this year. The Sox have a real chance to get it done if somehow they get their heads out of their ass and play ball. In the past, there aren't a majority of seasons you are still in the race in late August. We are in the race even if our guys aren't playing like it. Why can't the Sox play with some urgency and get it done again this year??? Bring up anybody who can help us and who cares about his arbitration clock?

I don't know why Brian Anderson gets let off the hook by so many fans. Has he proven he can hit yet in the big leagues? I mean I like his defense as much as anybody but you can't tell me he's done better than Rowand did. Again, I like his defense and his potential I guess, but Brian Anderson does not appear to me to have star potential as a hitter. I know ... Crede took a while too. We shall see but to say we'll have one of the best cf's for the next six years, I dunno about that. Even the biggest Brian supporters have to admit he has been a C- at the plate to D plus to go with his A-plus work in cf.

It sure sucks that our only hope is we pull our heads out of our ass eventually. Losing 5 of 7 this time of year is ridiculous. We just ain't that good despite the fact we are 22 over .500. There really are no positives right now. We just lost five of six to Minnesota and a slumping Det. team appears primed to pull a Yankee-Red Sox thumping on us. Can we somehow win 2 games in this series????

Exactly fathom. I was thinking about this yesterday ... if we had the lead the Tigers had right now would we think the division title was ours? No way. It's all up to the Sox. They have the team capable of building on the current record and making the playoffs and making a splash. But will the team do it? If I had to bet I'd say no, but it's still out there for the sox if they get their heads out of their collective ass and start pitching, playing defense and running the bases with some brains.

I was tempted to start a new thread with this but decided it is not worth it being it's about The Cub. Did you see the page 3 story in sports in usa today on Monday? Wow ... Dusty getting death threats from Cub fans and letters that call him the n word. It really paints Cub fans in a bad light. I'm sure any team's fan base has some sickos capable of this, but cmon. If sports dominate your life so much you'd send the manager of the Cub a letter calling him the n word and threatening him ... well you deserve a cop come knocking on your door. What ever happened to sports being a series of games to escape life's crap? The Cub fan who sent Dusty that letter is a fricking idiot and deserves to be arrested if he threatened Mr. Baker. Mrs. Baker won't even let theiir 7 year old stay to watch the games cause of people yelling cuss words at Dusty. Amazing.

I can't believe that one post wondering if we wanted the team in the playoffs the way it is playing now. Are you serious? Of course we do. Especially with our team's playoff experience. We win the opening game of the playoffs and you want to see a fanbase get concerned: it'll be the fan base of every team "expected" to beat us in the playoffs. We need to scratch and find a way in. My guess is we'll know after this Detroit series whether or not our players "want" to get back and make a splash. We lose all 4 and that will tell us we're pretty much done. We win 2 or more and the beat goes on.

Man this year is going by fast. Just yesterday it seemed Boone Logan was the talk of spring training. That was fool's gold, though, thinking he'd be a bullpen standout this season. We needed more than Boone.

Yeah but it still sucks Minnesota swept us at the Cell and won 2-3 in Minnesota. Not good.

I just don't think he's very good. He's OK. He's not good.

The team doesn't make me sick, but we certainly don't have the magic. Today the error hurt Vazzie, but our pitching hasn't been great, like you said our defense hasn't been great and we don't run well. Whether it's true or not, it's possible some of the minor moves we made in the offseason have hurt, not helped. I think we miss Rowand. We miss a healthy Hermy obviously. McCarthy, if indeed he's as good as some of you think, has defnitley had a wasted year not being allowed to start. All we do is slug, like you say. It's sad, cause we really could have gotten back in the division race instead we've lost what, four of six. We can't do a thing with Minnie and I fear Det may put us out of our misery and win all four. It's gut check time. Do the Sox keep plodding away, hanging in there, for a magical run? Or are we fatigued and ready to check it in??