BobDylan

Thanks.

I messed that up, I had just looked at the recap from yesterday's game. How do I fix the thread title?

www.whitesoxcentral.com Game Recap: http://www.whitesoxcentral.com/main.html

He started working both sides of the plate after that bomb, but you're right. ...He'll learn sooner or later that this isn't Japan.

www.whitesoxcentral.com Game Recap: http://www.whitesoxcentral.com/main.html

Good closers will make it seem that way.

My question is...who the hell voted for July? 4 people? That's some mighty confidence in your players. :headshake

You can always read the WhiteSoxCentral.com previews: http://www.whitesoxcentral.com/yankeespreview.html That focuses in on the Yankees too, but it's the start of the season and we all know what we should expect from the Sox. However, Yahoo has no excuses.

www.whitesoxcentral.com Game Recap: http://www.whitesoxcentral.com/main.html

I love this board. Where else can you call Jones a jackass and get away with it? Nowhere! And the great thing about it is that Jones really is a jackass.

We'd go down the tube.

You say that like we have an abundance of aces.

I know it has been discussed here, but he wrote this about the Sox: "This is Magglio Ordonez's team. He's miles ahead of the rest of the boppers. The only guy who makes anywhere near the impact is unsung shortstop Jose Valentin." I e-mailed him with: Jose Valentin is light years away from not only Magglio Ordonez in terms of impact, but from Mark Buehrle, Frank Thomas, Damaso Marte, Carlos Lee, Esteban Loaiza, and perhaps even Joe Crede. (A bit of an overstatement, but you get my drift) While you may argue that Jose is the leader of the White Sox, then I dare you to answer where he has led us to. His declining batting average is a major concern for the White Sox, and the only reason the Sox are paying him is because the market of SS's is weak. They can't go out and get a Nomar, or an A-Rod because of obvious reasons, so a player like Jose is a gem to them. He's a good player in certain respects, but he's near the bottom of his playing career, and he's near the bottom of the talent in the White Sox organization. If he were to be 'let go' nobody would shed a tear. However, seeing a guy like Marte or Crede go, then you'd see some angry letters pour in from fans. I'll take my powerful lefty, developing third baseman, hall of fame DH, developing ace, coming of age stud left fielder and newly born ace pitcher over that old, gloveless short stop any day of the week and twice on Sunday. His response: Hey, it's always great to hear from Jose's family. Seriously, though, unless the Sox can find a way to teach a little discipline at the plate (see the deteriorating walk/strikeout numbers of guys like Lee, so-called super prospect Joe Borchard and others), it's going to catch up with them. It's a decent club in the right division to get away with their shortcomings. But the way they're developing players (or not) is becoming disturbing. I'd love to see them do well because I like a lot of their guys but I just don't see a plan right now. My response: I love Jose, most Sox fan's do. He's a fan favorite. However, your argument is weak. While you say Carlos Lee's BB are down and his SO numbers are up, his runs scored, RBI total, HR total and BA all went up. Now, I'm not a baseball genius, and I don't get paid to say Jose Valentin is the only player near Magglio Ordonez, but when run production goes up, as a manager, I'm saying to myself, 'hack away big man'. Carlos is an agressive hitter, when you take that away and tell him to walk, his run production and the overall threat of him as a hitter drops dramatically. Many people use BB and SO's to dictate hitters, but in actuality, they don't matter. Some hitters don't walk, others draw 100 a season. What kind of hitter would Vlad be if he didn't swing at all the crap? Chances are not as good. And what's wrong with the way they are developing players? Mark Buehrle started his 3rd season opener in a row, Jon Garland is expected to have a big year, Carlos Lee has come into his own, Aaron Rowand had a huge spring, Joe Crede is being called 'the next Robin Ventura', and they have players like Ryan Sweeney and Jeremey Reed in the minor leagues. I see no problem with player development. My suggestion would be to stop going off of Baseball Tonight and actually look at the Sox. They have a lot more than people give them. Give them a pitcher or two and they are a legit threat to win this thing. I just found this interesting and thought I'd share it with you.

Well, win or not, we'll know how good we are after leaving NY.

I had a lot of people tell me that after reading the recap. I guess there weren't many people comfortable with Koch. However, I felt fairly comfortable for some reason.

www.whitesoxcentral.com Preview: http://www.whitesoxcentral.com/yankeespreview.html

www.whitesoxcentral.com Recap: http://www.whitesoxcentral.com/main.html

I don't think Guillen treated it as a 'save' situation. He treated it as a 'let's get the hell out of here and win situation'. If he were to go with Koch, he'd have started him in the 9th, whether the score was 7-3 or not. I'm under the belief he should have started Koch in the ninth and went from there...but all this criticism about him pulling Koch is crap. It was obvious what he was trying to do, Marte just didn't get the job done.

Stay in school, don't be a fool.

Unfoulkenbelievable! I despised that trade the second he made it. Though I thought Billy looked better today than he did last year.

www.whitesoxcentral.com http://www.whitesoxcentral.com/main.html :puke on this game

I disagree. Even with a 4 run lead, it's the first game of the season against the team you'll be fighting all year. With an off day tomorrow there is no reason Ozzie should have been toying with anyone that wasn't a horse. I don't disagree with leaving Politte in for the ninth, but I don't see his thinking in leaving him in after that first BB. Like it's been said, I can't complain about Marte blowing the lead. He's the best pitcher in the bullpen and he just flat out sucked.

When I saw Politte out to start the ninth, I was a little peeved. When I saw him walk the first batter, I told myself...you take him out now. He didn't, and he walked another man. I was all for seeing Marte, our horse, come in for Koch. I wasn't at all for seeing Politte struggle out there in the ninth. This would have been a much different inning had Koch or Marte started it.