fathom

QUOTE(SoxAce @ May 30, 2007 -> 12:48 AM) Seriously the umps alone have cost Danks a few earned runs this season. It's getting ridiculous. What have the umps done tonight to cost him?

That's what happens when you walk the #8 hitter. It's going to be fun listening to Hawk whine now. Danks has nothing for the second straight game....we need to score a lot today.

We better hope Danks is effectively wild tonight.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ May 30, 2007 -> 12:39 AM) I don't mind him at all. He's played well. Hopefully we'll get a FA for CF for next season and Ersty could be in left next year or as a 4th OF. We both know Erstad would never, ever be in our plans as a 4th outfielder. If I had to guess right now, we'll see Rowand in CF and Erstad in LF next year.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ May 30, 2007 -> 12:38 AM) What, when Rowand was one of the 3-4 best in the game 2 seasons ago. Brian Anderson was one of the 3-4 best in the game last season. Ya, that would mean superb. In fact I think Erstad has been as good as those two were (or at least very close). See, I never bought into the hype of either of those guys defensively. All three of our recent center fielders are terrible at throwing accurately with anything on the ball, and all of them make too many mistakes for their "billing". Erstad has been fine on defense, but he's nowhere near as good as Hawk, Ozzie, etc. make him out to be.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ May 30, 2007 -> 12:34 AM) One bad read...big whoops. It sucked and it could have bit the Sox but the guy has played superb in center. I know the Mackowiak experience made everyone appreciate anyone that can catch the ball, but his defense is just incredibly overrated right now. For someone that can't contribute anything with his arm, he's made too many mistakes out there. That's already 6 or 7 he's made this year.

Wow, that ball was clearly fair.

Wow, Danks has no command of his curve right now. Hunter's going to be sitting on the fastball.

Well, a 2 out run for the Twins would just give them so much momentum here.

Haha....nice read by Erstad after Hawk is praising him. What a joke.

Pretty early for Yaz stories.

Damn, he hit that ball hard.

Remember Bonser throwing like 6 straight curves in the dirt to K Cintron last time we played here in two consecutive at-bats?

Why is Cintron playing after Bonser made him look pathetic last time?

QUOTE(WCSox @ May 29, 2007 -> 11:20 PM) I don't understand how the 2006 and 2007 squads are so tremendously different from the '05 team in terms of personnel. Sure, there's been some turnover, but not a tremendous amount. I agree that Ozzie's unconventional style can be problematic at times, but I'll take his kick-in-the-pants style of managing over Jerry Manuel's style of "managing" any day. Especially for this under-achieving squad that needs a flame lit under their collective ass right now. When you replace Carl Everett with Jim Thome, you no longer should be bunting in the 1-2 spots of the lineup. When you have such a powerful 3-4-5 like the Sox have had in 2006 and 2007, you should have high OBP guys at the top of the order and screw the speed factor. However, Ozzie always has to have his slappy guys at the top of the order. I never said I blame Ozzie for this entire mess. It's just like what Dick Allen so accurately described.....no one thinks they had more of an impact on winning than KW and Ozzie.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ May 29, 2007 -> 11:15 PM) How is it that their bullpen is good year in and year out, when we get told putting together a bullpen is a crapshoot? They develop a few good relivers every couple of years. I can't think of the last guy who contributed to our bullpen that was from within.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ May 29, 2007 -> 11:08 PM) You look at the Twins line-up and you wonder how they don't lose 90 games every year. Great bullpen and a manager who will get his starting pitcher out of the game sooner, rather than later.

QUOTE(WCSox @ May 29, 2007 -> 10:46 PM) So are you laying the blame on Ozzie for the Sox blowing a 6-game WC lead at the break? What about their below-average pitching last year? Don't you think that may have been more to blame? Do you blame Ozzie for a lineup of veterans who haven't been hitting this year? Or a bullpen that's been sucking big-time for the past month and a half? You said you'd give him a lot of credit for motivating the 2005 team. That's fine....I agree he had the perfect temper for that type of team. However, the 2006 and 2007 team are very different, especially in regards to personnel. I don't think Ozzie's style fits this personnel at all. In sports, when almost every aspect of your team is struggling, then that's when coaches start to get fired.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 29, 2007 -> 11:07 PM) I dunno, we lost 1 year of Foulke before he hit FA right? Yes, Koch sucked. But Cotts had a dominant 05 to help us win a ring and has been turned into another hard thrower who may well wind up being another good releiver. Yep, at least the trade resulted in a huge cog for our WS team. It's funny how KW went after Koch because he wanted a hard thrower in the bullpen. Koch is similar to a lot of our relievers now....declining velocity, shaky command, and trouble getting the big out.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ May 29, 2007 -> 11:00 PM) I knew someone who pick that one. Amazing. A trade that has worked out fabulously for us, and its somehow one of the worst ever. In five years, sure, we may look back and wish we had Young. MAYBE. Or maybe not. Either way, we got an above average SP for a big question mark, so its kind of ridiculous to even mention it as one of the worst trades ever. How's it worked out fabulously? Vazquez sucked for the Sox last year, is making a ton of money, and the guy we traded Young for in order to make room (Anderson), is already back in the minors. Chris Young is going to be a damn good player in this league, and is definitely worth more than Mr. 102-108.

I'll be stunned if Perez isn't up with the big league team within the next 2 months.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ May 29, 2007 -> 10:20 PM) Re-signing Podsednik is one of the worst signings. That signing went far beyond Pods, and had such a dramatic impact on this 2007 team. Javy Vazquez for Chris Young

QUOTE(29thandPoplar @ May 29, 2007 -> 09:27 PM) You are confusing arrogance with confidence/competitive nature but seeing as you want them both fired ASAP I can understand why you say that. There wasn't a bigger fan of KW during the offseason prior to 2005 than myself. He was making moves that made sense. Hell, I even agreed with the Lee for Pods deal. However, after the 2005 season, he became arrogant and thought that Cooper could fix any pitcher and that Ozzie would gel any combination of players into a championship team. KW's comments during this last offseason were pathetic though. QUOTE(WCSox @ May 29, 2007 -> 09:59 PM) 2005 was mostly the result of a few players having career years (Garland, Cotts, Politte, Hermanson), others having near-career years (Buehrle, Garcia), and a few more getting hot down the stretch (Contreras, Crede, Jenks). That said, I don't think that they would've gone all of the way without the intensity brought to the team by Ozzie and AJ and the cameraderie between guys like AJ, Crede, and Rowand. That intensity carried over into last year, where a team with below-average pitching went on to win 90 games in the toughest division in baseball. As much as some people like to throw Ozzie and KW under the bus for their arrogance, what they brought to the organization worked pretty well for two years. Their time may be up, but it's difficult to argue with their track record. If you're going to give the "arrogance" credit for their 2006 win total, then why aren't they criticized for blowing a 6 game Wild Card lead at the All-Star break? Whatever Ozzie was doing right from the start of the 2005 season to the 2006 ASB is no longer working, as we've played below .500 for far too long now.

QUOTE(Steff @ May 29, 2007 -> 08:59 PM) This monster was created when folks chose to give all the credit to Kenny and Ozzie for winning the world series and will go on until a new manager and gm win another.... I think another monster was created after winning the WS, and that was the monster known as the arrogance of KW and Ozzie.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ May 28, 2007 -> 06:35 PM) IF that was all it took, count me in. But I think you'd have to find a way for salaries (albeit you could probably sign Gordon to a fat contract and that would help even out the salaries). He cheated on his wife. I'm not saying I'd cheat, but that is all he did. The rest was bunch of bulls***. And well, fact is if you are going to hate on athletes for cheating than your going to probably hate almost every athlete out there. I really like Kobe. Like you said, if you're going to start hating on guys that cheat, you might as well hate 90 pct of the guys. Kobe Bryant and Barry Bonds are two of the most hated players in sports....yet there's no one more exciting to watch when they're at their best.