fathom

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 10:04 PM) Alexei has horrific April/May's. Should we not play him till June every year? I wouldn't object

Hell of a day for the state of Minnesota

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 06:06 AM) I think his post makes sense in he's saying because of the utter venom on here this year we really don't deserve a title. I don't know about message boards of other teams, but wow ... this one is NEGATIVE. Even when we were 25-5 it was ultra negative. Weird. It's the economy, baby. The ONLY negative thing that was talked about during that stretch was how would we fare against the AL teams.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 05:56 AM) Next year's staff has a chance to be impressive. Despite Freddy's quick spiral down, he got wins in the beginning when the so called studs were duds. Well, if the rotation is Peavy, Buehrle, Danks, Jackson, and Floyd, they better win a lot of games 2-1 because that's a ton of money that will be locked up with our rotation with money being needed to fill holes at 1B (if PK leaves), DH, C.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 04:53 AM) Yeah, tough to say. Danks just really can't seem to keep his s*** together versus the Twins in the early innings. He often settles down eventually, but how many times does he struggle mightily in the first few innings againstt them? Always puts us in a huge hole from the get-go. Should have anticipated that tonight I guess. It is unreal how Danks seems to have the same game every time he pitches in Minnesota.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 05:47 AM) Well, you know me...I am a pretty big optimist....but these losses start cumulatively wearing on me... Coming out of the ASB, winning 25 of 30, I really felt like maybe this team had put it all together and could put together a strong run during the 2nd half and outlast Tigers/Twins. So much negative has taken place since then, it really felt like to me coming into the game tonight that the Twins are the stronger team, and were in the driver's seat to win the AL Central.

QUOTE (Cali @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 04:43 AM) DO you take the over or the under of 11 K's for Liriano tomorrow? Under...you figure he'll pitch 7 innings, so there's 21 outs there. Pierre will have at least one bunt out, and make contact at least in one other AB. There's 19 outs. Rios will hit into 2 double plays, so there's 15 outs remaining. I would predict maybe 8 K?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 05:41 AM) What a killer....what an absolute killer this is...sometimes I wish I would have chosen soap operas instead of sports... This is a 6 out of 10 for me on the frustration scale. The Sunday game after the ASB, where Jenks blew it, was a 10 out of 10.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 05:38 AM) There's no way of knowing Thome would put up those same numbers with the Sox. Some guys play better for other organizations. Swisher isn't the same suck player for the Yankees. Well, can we get our players to perform better then?

Not exactly a movie, but the ESPN 30 for 30 about Hank Gathers, and the resulting scene with Bo Kimble shooting a lefty FT, always gets me.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 04:25 AM) Greg is actually being pretty logical in my opinion. And I hate to say it, but I can't stop thinking about Rongey telling us that the pitching would be the thing that would ultimately sink us if we lost. Kotsay has actually been very good during these last few weeks. It has been the pitching which has done us in. We managed to win games in spite of Kotsay earlier, and maybe it's partially his fault that the staff is worn down, due to pitching in so many high-leverage innings, but since we were 1.5 games up on Minnesota to 4 games down suddenly has very little to do with our DH situation. But a portion of those games have been in really low scoring games (ie: Saturday's game and the extra inning game in Seattle). A better DH could have led to more runs, and thus more insurance for our pitchers.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 04:24 AM) Vlad, pure and simple. Hitting .297 with a .839 OPS. That was my pick, and the one I wanted the most. He was never going to play here due to Ozzie and others.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 04:20 AM) BTW, what were the options in FA for acquiring another DH? Branyan and Gomes!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy s*** people, why are some people so freaking stubborn? Those that wanted Thome gone were also under the impression that KW would acquire another hitter that could get those at bats as the DH. Everyone and their mother would have wanted Thome back if we knew that Kotsay/Jones would be the alternative.

I refuse to watch ESPN for 24 hours now with the highlights, as well as the Favre stuff. Will someone please alert me if ESPN shows naked footage of a sex tape with Minka Kelly in it? Thanks!

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 04:02 AM) You think the Hahn era will start now? Yes...as in starting around November. No inside information or anything like that. Just a hunch.

QUOTE (IamtheHBOMB @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 04:01 AM) The one good thing to come out of this is that KW will be able to tell Ozzie to shut the f*** up from now on when he gives his ridiculous input on roster moves That's if KW returns next season...still think he'll go the Paxson route.

QUOTE (daggins @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 04:00 AM) You're right, it won't be popular, because it's stupid. Change has to come from the top, and Sox fans won't stop being cynical until they are conditioned to expect victory instead of defeat. Its the Sox that don't deserve a WS, not the fans, because there have been some very poor decisions made over the last couple of offseasons that could have easily remedied the problems plaguing the team. This is so true! How's the return on the investment in the trades for Swisher and Javy coming along KW?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 03:49 AM) Honestly, if you were a player in the clubhouse, could you even respect your manager after the last week? Sure, if you were latino and felt slighted you didn't have an interpreter.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 03:57 AM) Actually, if Thornton would have had his good fastball, there is no way Thome even sniffs it. Apparently he just did not have it when he went back out there for the 10th. Agreed completely!!!!!!!!

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 03:54 AM) The negativity of this fan base has to end if we are to ever win another World Series....not just in this season, but anytime in the foreseeable future. You obviously didn't see all the choke avatars on this site during September of 2005...and keep saying every team has bad losses like this if it makes you feel better. 6 horrible blown saves since the ASB, as well as a few losses when tied in the opponents last AB. That's more than some teams have all year.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 03:53 AM) the pitch to thome was also 92. Ugh, that pisses me off. Hell, I thought it was a slider at first.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 03:51 AM) Yeah, I saw that. I also saw most people very excited that we were running Matt out there again for the 10th. I can only imagine the reaction had we gone with someone else there and that guy would have blown it. We didn't get it done. No one can save a damn game for us right now. It's really inexplicable and I don't know what else to say about it. Yep, the only real move I'm mad Ozzie made was not PH for Kotsay with bases loaded. I thought he managed very well besides that. The Twins are playing now like we did a few months ago. They're just a sensational team, end of story.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 03:50 AM) Once again you people are underrating the importance of a DH who can play the field. Bolt, you know the DH position won't make or break the Sox.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 04:47 AM) Thornton was at 15 pitches there. It was perfectly ok to go with him there. Certainly we would have probably turned to Putz had he not imploded against Detroit, but Matt should have been able to get it done there. He just didn't. Those top of 9th and 10th were extremely long innings though. I remarked in the game thread that the first pitch to start the 10th was only 92 mph to Young.