greg775

Still a nice #3 pitcher on this staff I can't think who Nos. 1 and 2 are ahead of him right now. Mark has sucked of late but so has pretty much everybody on the squad. I don't blame him any more than the other starters.

If it's a problem then Coop should speak up. I thought in all the interviews he acts like it's his staff, etc. If there's been a problem and Coop has watched quietly then he should be fired. p.s. If what you say is true, the Cards haven't had much of a problem with their staff.

just hang on and hope the ride's a fun one Good advice; great advice. I just can't believe we are imploding like this.

Yet some people still refuse to even consider that Ozzie might be somewhat to blame for our starting pitchers tanking. What does Oz do regarding his pitchers that any manager in America would not do?? Fathom maybe we'll blow the lead and you'll get the wish and Oz will quit. Who do you think will be any better in handling pitching? It's not like Ozzie is reinventing baseball.

Nice song, poem. Baseball is not life; but it is the best sport there is. And if we blow this lead and don't make the playoffs it will have to affect how we look at every other season. If a 15-game lead on Aug. 1 is not safe, how can any great efforts in April May and June be taken seriously in the future?

I love Oz's quotes. We suck. He knows it. You know it. I know it. Can we make the playoffs? Doubtful. Like you all said Cleveland is simply going to rout the Royals; those games will be over by mid-game. We on the other hand will be lucky to win one in Minn. Ouch.

Likely they scratch a win out in Minnesota and Cleveland sweeps KC... so 2.5 game lead going into the series against Cleveland with Cleveland hot as hell and Sox stumbling over themselves.... lead may be gone by Wed. So sad, but so true. Bye bye White Sox we hate to see you go.

I'm just saying we have to do something. It's slip, slip, slipping away and we are helpless to stop it.

We are officially starting to blow the lead after tonight's collapse. For the first time it seriously looks like the Tribe is gonna pass us by. So we need to get Frank to dress for the rest of the season and be bench coach, morale booster or some such thing. We need Frank in the dugout for moral support or to help Oz kick some butt. We can't let this magical season slip away without a fight.

One other thing. In case no one noticed, the slipping lead is mostly due to Cleveland's stellar play, not our downfall. Oh we've noticed Cleveland. We also noticed while they are beating A's 2 of 3, we lost to KC at home one game and lost to them again Wed after scoring 9 runs. We are in trouble. Face facts. We all want us to win and think we can win; but the team is showing no signs of playing good ball like we did earlier in the year.

By the Chicago Tribune KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- With an American League Central title within reach, manager Ozzie Guillen met with 14 veteran players before Wednesday night's game to stress the importance of playing well down the stretch. "I told them, 'Let's pick it up,'" Guillen said. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes and carried into the Sox's batting practice session. Guillen briefly explained the status of embattled left-handed reliever Damaso Marte to his players and said the veterans fully supported whatever decision was made on Marte, who hasn't been with the team since being sent home Sunday for arriving late to the ballpark. --Yuk, the vets didn't pick it up and we lost. Another bad sign is this, read the first 3 graphs KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City manager Buddy Bell knew it had been a long time since the Royals back from a deficit entering the ninth inning. “I knew it was over 100 games,” Bell said. “We’d get close, but not over the hum The Royals rallied with three runs in the ninth to defeat the Chicago White Sox 10-9 Wednesday night, snapping a franchise-record 102-game losing streak in which they trailed after eight innings. The last time they won with a deficit entering the ninth was Aug. 31, 2004, against Detroit. “It is nice to break that streak,” said Mark Teahen, who scored the winning run. “I’m definitely enjoying it.” Angel Berroa’s double drove in the tying run, and Jermaine Dye’s fielding error allowed Teahen to score the winner. Chicago lost for just the fourth time in 17 games against Kansas City this season, and had its AL Central lead cut to five games over the Cleveland Indians — the smallest lead for the White Sox since before play on June 16. “The grass is a little wet,” Dye said of his error. “I was trying to cut the ball off and give us a chance to hold the runners.” White Sox closer Dustin Hermanson (1-4) blew his fourth save in 38 chances. “I made some mistakes and paid for it,” he said. Hermanson, who has been bothered by a sore lower back, did not pitch on Tuesday as manager Ozzie Guillen opted to leave Bobby Jenks in for a two-inning save. “Obviously, every time we have a lead in the ninth inning I want to be in there,” Hermanson said. “I think they are trying to help me, not overuse me. I think they’re doing the right thing, trying to take care of me, trying to protect me.” White Sox starter Freddy Garcia gave up seven earned runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings. “When you score nine runs, you should have a win,” Guillen said. “We pitched poorly. Freddy pitched really, really poorly. We have to look ourselves in the mirror and pitch better.” Matt Stairs started the rally with a one-out single. Emil Brown and Teahen followed with consecutive singles to score pinch-runner Chip Ambres. Berroa then doubled to right to bring in Brown with the tying run, and Teahen scored when Dye had trouble picking up the ball. “My job is to keep running until he (third base coach Luis Silverio) stops me,” Teahen said. “I don’t know what happened with the ball in right field.” Said Stairs: “Finally, we took advantage of the other’s teams mistake instead of them taking advantage of our mistakes. That’s probably our nicest win of the year. Hermanson has done especially well closing games. To sneak in there and take a game with some clutch hits is nice.” Chris Demaria (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his first career victory. The Royals jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first on Mike Sweeney’s two-run homer and Teahen’s RBI single. The White Sox took the lead with a six-run third. Tadahito Iguchi hit a three-run homer, Dye had a sacrifice fly and Juan Uribe added a two-run shot. Uribe is hitting a major league-best .465 in September, with six home runs, 13 RBIs and 12 runs scored. Kansas City closed the gap to 6-4 in the bottom of the inning. Terrence Long led off with a single, advanced to third on Stairs’ single and scored on Freddy Garcia’s wild pitch. Carl Everett had an RBI single in the fourth and Joe Crede hit a two-run homer in the fifth to stretch Chicago’s lead to 9-4, but Garcia let the Royals back in the game. “I’m just really disappointed on how I pitched,” Garcia said. “I should pitch better. It was a terrible start.” Stairs had a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and the Royals scored two more runs in the seventh. Berroa led off with a triple and scored when left fielder Podsednik had trouble picking it up. Andres Blanco tripled with one out and scored on Aaron Guiel’s sacrifice fly. Rookie left-hander J.P. Howell, who held Chicago to two hits and two runs over six innings in a victory last Thursday, allowed six runs on seven hits in just three innings. Notes: Sweeney has 35 doubles, the most by a Royals player since Carlos Beltran hit 44 in 2002. Sweeney hit his 20th home run, the sixth time in his career to reach that mark. ... Iguchi’s 62 RBIs, 42 extra-base hits and 29 multi-hit games rank second among AL rookies. He leads AL rookies with 200 total bases.

Could we have gotten Pods without giving up Caballo? I wish we had one more bat like Lee or Maggs rite now. Though I do love Posednik and his spark.

Fathom, you are amazing. Freddie our highest paid pitcher has to go six fricking innings. Blame the players! You want him to play the relief game that early? Maybe so but Freddie was pathetic. I really truly believe he should donate tonight's salary 100,000 or whatever it is to Hurricane Relief. He can't win with 9 runs when we need a win with Cleveland never losing! disgrace.

Everett, Dye, AJ, Crede, etc., our lineup just isn't very good. That's why it's amazing we get 9 and lose. It's a sign that we are really really in deep s***. We are not sharp on the mound and on the field and without that we are cooked. I wish somebody would step up and save our ass. Everett is the logical choice to lead. What's his problem? I thought he was the great clubhouse guy. WE NEED FRANK BACK.

If Minnie takes care of us this weekend, the race could be tied by next Tuesday.

I don't understand why Freddie failed us tonight. He knows his last outing sucked and we needed him. He got all that run support. Why are these guys not playing like they did earlier in the season? It's supposed to be time to step up. Thanks to the Trib for printing our magic number in June. It's a marathon of a season and right now we are going nowhere fast. Freddie should be fined for tonight's game. Donate tonight's salary to Hurridcane Relief. I'm sure he made about 40,000 minimum tonight.

I wish we hadn't won 1 zillion games in a row early and built a 15 game lead because it is not fun simply trying to hang on.

We overachieved some early. We had chemistry. It all is about our starting pitching. Our starting pitching SUCKS now. And if it don't improve and we don't catch the ball, we're going to do the media a favor and let them forget the 69 Cubs and mock our Sox.

Freddie sucked, Hermy sucked, so many guys sucked. We had a chance to get two more runs when Pods made the out. We are playing bad baseball and if we don't win the division we deserve what we get. Total national mockery and criticism. I blame the players. Not Oz. Freddie was horses*** against a pathetic team. This doesn't bode well cause now Jon and Mark will probably suck in their next starts also. Those 3 are the keys to our seasodn.

Hermy gets the first out and we get smoked. The Twins are going to kick our ass this weekend unless we wake up. It's all up to the Tribe. It's their division to lose now. We are a mess of a team.

We deserved to lose ... AGAIN. That's all you can say. It's gonna go down to the final day, folks.

We are in such a funk

If we lose we do not win the division. Let's win!

Put on the reverse jinx. Whoever posted that the only guy they feared was Sweeney take it back now!!!

I wish we had the tub Stairs and Graffy on our bench instead of Ozuna and Timo and Widger.