Allsox

I was in RF, Sec 102, Row 20 with my younger sister. We have shared partial season tix in the bleachers for 5 yrs so the entire time, we couldn't believe we were at a World Series Game. When Paulie hit that slam, I just hugged my sister and we both just jumped up and down like little kids along with 40000 "little" Sox fans for the longest time. Then when Pods hit his HR, we just looked at each other saying "OH MY GOD!" and watched the Sox celebrate at home plate. I'll never forget that moment as long as I live. For X-mas, I bought my sister the picture frame with Pods' swing with a place for her ticket. All it needs now is Pods' autograph

If the score holds, Mack's 1st inning error and subsequent double play ball in the 2nd will be to blame, not that Ozzie doesn't deserve 99.9% for starting him in the first place.

"I am really interested to see how the Sox respond to Chien Ming Wang's sinker. While I don't have the stats handy, don't the White Sox have difficulty facing pitchers they have never faced before? Let me know if this is wrong. Although, Wang has struggled away from Yankee Stadium, he has a record of 4-3 and an ERA of 4.99, at home, he has a record 9-1 and an ERA of 2.66." The White Sox have problems against pitchers with good changeups. If Wang's sinker is floating, Thome will light him up all night. Just need Pods and Gooch to get on base though. Oh, and Freddy to man up and stop throwing junk all night long and pound some Yankees inside.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 02:21 AM) I don't think it's hard to understand this. Yes, the offense is the best in baseball. But, it can still get better (the point Balta is making). To which my question still stands: How does changing the lineup help the pitching staff pitch better?

If I'm reading the thread right (I like to think that I am), changing the lineup is going to help the pitching staff pitch better? As pointed out by some posters, the Sox offense is #1 in runs scored. Offense isn't the problem, the pitching staff not protecting leads (Such as today's 3 run lead over a slumping team or giving up 15 runs to the Cubs when the offense scores 11) is the problem. Freddy, Jose, Mark and Javy have been very inconsistent for the last two months and when the offense hit a slump after the break, it was finally exposed. The 6 - 3 road trip, while good, still showed signs the pitching staff hasn't come around. We better hope the O doesn't go into another slump cuz if they do, the Sox might be toast.

QUOTE(winninguglyin83 @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 04:08 PM) bad night for us. Boston wins on a miracle rally. Detroit pulls ahead in the late innings and wins. we spit the bit against the worst team in the league and make Teahen look like George Brett. it's early August and we have four starters with ERAs at or above 5. We are who we are -- and this year we simply might not be good enough. Sad, but true. Sigh, I really hope you're wrong but I don't see any holes in what was written

Quotes like this one from Freddy after the game doesn't help lighten the mood either: "I never pitch good here, but today I thought I pitched good," Garcia said. "In seven innings, we scored two runs. What can I say?" HOW ABOUT SAYING I SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SHUT DOWN THE WORST BASEBALL TEAM IN THE LEAGUE? Friggin moron

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 02:15 AM) 2005 grinder play worked with 2005 Sox starting pitching. True dat!

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 02:10 AM) With Freddy on the mound, you try and break the game open. Playing for one run that early on usually leads to you regretting not getting more runs later in the game. Sox had some momentum going there but Cintron just killed it with that double play. This was a game that required some '05 grinder play but either Ozzie forgot how that went or forgot his own edict about bunting better. Now Uribe homers, that extra run would have helped.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 02:05 AM) Two reasons we're currently losing tonight: -Freddy Garcia's subpar pitching -Pods' defense But hey, at least it's something new, and not the same thing that always beats us. Another thing that killed them was not playing some smartball early on, especially with Jim and paulie out. There was no reason why Cintron shouldn't have tried a suicide squeeze in that 3rd with runners on the corners and one out.

Would it kill Sox pitchers to change the gameplan during the game from nibbling the corner early to jamming guys inside later?!? The whole game, Sox starters nibble that outside corner to death early but don't bother jamming guys inside at all. I can't count how many opposite field hits righties and lefties have had against all the starters except for Garland who's been throwing that sinker on everyone's hands.

Crap! Just when it looked like Vazquez was gonna cruise through two!

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Jul 26, 2006 -> 07:49 PM) Incredible. Man are they hot. I wonder how many 2 out runs they have this series. Even though they can't play any worse, I still believe the Sox aren't done yet for the Wild Card. The Twins can't keep that type of pace up and they've beaten the Sox with their 7-8-9 hitters in this whole series. That won't get it done against Det this weekend.

Sox score 3 in the 4th, Twins score 2 right back and now, the Sox go out 1-2-3. And $100 says Ozzie's gonna leave Buehrle out there so he can try to get the win still even though he's the reason why the Sox are losing the game.

YES! A BASE HIT WITH A RUNNER IN SCORING POSITION! WAY TO GO JOE! NEW GAME 3 - 3!

Nice job by Dye, now a double by AJ. Why couldn't he do that in the 2nd inning?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 26, 2006 -> 07:07 PM) 73 pitches, 54 strikes for Mark Buehrle through 4 innings. He may not last the 5th at this rate. There's a reason the Bears grabbed Griese. Thank God Angelo recognized that fact as well. If Rex and other key players stay healthy, the Bears will make it to at least the NFC Championship Game this yr! And the Sox continue to make Carlos Silva look like Johan Santana

QUOTE(chisoxfan79 @ Jul 26, 2006 -> 07:01 PM) No he will be hurt by next Tuesday but Orton and his beard will come to the rescue Great, if that happens, we're gonna hafta to countdown to Spring Training of '07 then. Orton just plain sucks.

After the WS last yr, I told my wife I could care less to what they did this yr. Well, the last two weeks, I've been pretty steamed and my wife reminded me of what I said. I told her I'm greedy, that I want my Sox to be an "elite" baseball team that's talked about like the New York Yankees are or how the Bulls were in the 90's. And I think that's what Kenny and JR want as well. It's just a shame the players don't want it as bad with the way they've played the last 3 weeks. I can understand being a little tired but I thought that's why Ozzie plays the bench so much

I don't see how this trade makes sense for the Sox unless Kenny makes another deal with Soriano. Granted, Soriano is hell of a trading chip but that's an awful lot to give up just for some bullpen help.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Jul 20, 2006 -> 08:16 PM) June 8-19, New York Yankees go 3-8 vs. Oakland, Boston, Cleveland, Washington and Philadelphia May 28-June 8, Detroit Tigers go 2-8 vs. Cleveland, NYY, Boston, and Chicago May 29-June 15, Boston Red Sox go 5-10 vs. Toronto, Detroit, NYY, Texas and Minnesota We just got off of a 2-7 stretch against the 3 of the top 5 teams in baseball. Thank god this stretch is over, because it was seriously a nightmare. Remember, we had a 1-8 stretch of similar baseball against the contenders in the middle of last august. Here are the facts: All four of the best AL teams have serious weaknesses, even in their pitching staffs. All four of the best AL teams have some holes in their lineups. All four of the best AL teams have 1 or 2 shaky bullpen arms. All four teams are really close, and over some stretches, some are going to look better than others. Now, the issues that need to be resolved: 1) Widger, DFA now. We all know this, obviously. Anyone would be better. 2) We apparently need a leadoff hitter who can play left field. Seriously, I think this cannot be stressed enough. Podsednik is going south in a hurry and he's adding very little to the team, and Ozuna's value has just about peaked out. 3) We need to run Vazquez out of town and start McCarthy. If we do those three things, I really think the rest of the problems will take care of themselves. Good post but: 1) Widger isn't the reason they're playing like garbage. Buehrle gave up 11 runs with AJ starting so the crap that Widger calls a bad game simply isn't true. Bad pitching is bad pitching regardless of who's catching them. 2) About the only thing left for Ozzie to do with the leadoff spot is start Mac there til Ozuna is healthy and Pods is out of his slump. LEAVE BRIAN ANDERSON OUT IN CF FROM HERE ON OUT! No reason to sit him as he's becoming a ballplayer. 3) Keep starting Vazquez BUT at the 1st sign of trouble, put in McCarthy. Brandon can't pitch more than 4 innings so it makes no sense to start him now.

I hope Ozzie starts Anderson ahead of Uribe now. Brian's the only one that showed up at the plate today next to Crede.

Well, if there's any good news, the starting pitching's coming somewhat around. Garland's been good, Vazquez, save for a bad slider was decent and Jose went 7 strong allowing 2 runs. The bad news is there's absolutely no execution on offense right now. Need a bunt? They can't do it. Need a hit with runners in scoring position? Can't do it. I understand hitting will go into a slump but I didn't know it could be this contagious save for Brian Anderson.

C'mon Chris, get a hit and make the entire board apologize.

C'mon Joe! Take a good swing and drive the damn ball!