fathom

Good thing we're leaving Buehrle out there to die. Maybe Ozzie will realize next year that a good way to avoid fatigue is to cut down on an inning or so every few starts.

So....anyone else think this team quit on Ozzie?

SWING THE FREAKING BAT! I'm convinced AJP is the most overrated player in baseball.

I'm concerned that next season, there's going to be 3 lefties in our division (Rogers, C.C., and Johan) that we have absolutely no chance against. We have got to add some lefty pitching hitting specialist this offseason.

This team is the epitome of unclutch right now. Jermaine's going to end up being around 5th in the MVP voting.

What a shocker...one time thru the order, and no hits.

I can't watch the game, but it seems like our players are really fired up. Since our core guys haven't felt like playing in September, why not just play Sweeney, Fields, and Gload every day. I guarantee they'll play their hardest.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Sep 19, 2006 -> 12:37 AM) RBI's say more about the players ahead of you getting on base and in scoring position than you as a hitter. OPS% and OPS+ are the best ways to judge a hitter IMO. You don't have to agree with it, I personally don't care. As long as a guy is getting on base, he's doing his job. He's been getting on base, but he hasn't been knocking in runners. Thus, he'd be better suited for the leadoff position, like I said. He's just another one of the guys who's been disappointing in the 2nd half of the year. Do we have more than 2 hits after 5 innings today?

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Sep 19, 2006 -> 12:25 AM) Yeah, because he hasn't had over a 1.000 OPS since then, right? Well, he should be our leadoff hitter then, because he's been brutal at knocking in runs.

Tigers fans in this thread...enjoy the postseason this season. You never know when you'll get back there, so make sure you buy the DVD!

Managers have been fired before when their team completely quits like the Sox have.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Sep 19, 2006 -> 12:12 AM) Do you have confidence that he'll bounce back next season? I don't. I think the days of him being a #1 or 2 starter are gone. He'll give you a 4.50 ERA with a ton of innings pitched. However, for the salary he's about to demand, he's not worth it.

Like I said yesterday, I hope the crowd gives this team hell tonight. These underachievers deserved to get constantly booed for their lackluster effort.

I've been disgusted by Buehrle's attitude over the last few months...and it's blossoming tonight into a full-fledged disaster. It's time to shut him down for the season.

Let's see if Buehrle can keep up his streak of allowing a run in the first inning for his 250th straight start.

Out. I was "In" until Saturday, when we blew a 3 run lead, and the Twins won with Silva on the mound against C.C.

Since Thome has sucked against LHP lately, and hasn't had any success vs Rogers this year, can we let Fields DH tonight? Nothing has worked against Rogers all year, why not try something new?

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 03:30 AM) I believe it was you that said it best before...this year would have been immensely heart-breaking if we had not won a championship last year. And just to be clear, I do find this year's collapse saddening, just not at the level some people are making it out to be. It ain't easy to repeat, and the pre-season favorite usually doesn't go all the way... Yep, I'm 100 pct behind the comment you're referring to. If the Sox didn't win the WS last year, and then collapsed in the 2nd half of the season like we did this year, it would have been so hard to handle. QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 03:33 AM) All I wanted was a chance. I realize how hard it is to repeat. I just wanted to see this team make it to the playoffs. This season has been a complete bust. I just wanted another DVD to watch.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 03:26 AM) You know, atleast in 2003, even though they eventually choked, the Sox gave the fans of Chicago a hell of a run. 7 games back at the ASB, only to take a 2 game lead in the division come mid-September. It's just unfortunate that it couldn't have turned out better. This year, they've been sitting on the pot all year, waiting to s***, waiting to s***, and they waited too long. Instead, they have finally been kicked into the s***ter. And that Twins team was awesome.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 03:19 AM) Not that it matters, but I have been to 33 games this season,24 of them wins, and that was the best game I was at all season. Yep, that was a game I really thought we would win. If I recall correctly, we had a 9 game winning streak going into that game. For my money, I still believe that the turning point of this season was Cora sending Iguchi home foolishly against the Royals. We had won 5 in a row, and had started to get our swagger back. Iguchi is thrown out easily, Vazquez implodes in the 6th inning, and we've sucked since then.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 03:19 AM) Fathom I'm sure you'v enjoyed some of the games this year. If not forgive me for misreading you. There have been plenty of seasons worse than this one. Sure, there's been some great wins this year. Nothing makes a person feel better after getting their appendix removed than seeing AJP hit a 2 out, 3 run homer against the Cubs. However, I think it's safe to say this is the most disappointing 2nd half of the season I can remember.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 03:14 AM) You want to know about more disappointing seasons? Ones where we were out of it in early summer! I've been a sox fan my whole lilfe and 20 games over .500 is NOT nearly the worst season I've gone through. There were some great games to enjoy this season. I remember one game where it looked like we still had the magic of a year ago when I believe it was Iguchi hit a bomb on a sunday night game. The four of six versus the Cubs were good. So you reference a game we eventually lost, and 4 out of 6 wins against one of the worst teams in all of baseball?

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 02:55 AM) I expect that to take a dip next year though. I think that the Sox organization still believes we have one more year in our "window". QUOTE(jphat007 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 12:10 AM) I'm not at all suprised that we got swept out there. Hopefully next year we play them out there early on. Get our losses over with. For the past two months it seems like we never could get the big hit or the big pitch, especially with two outs. Execution just seemed awful in every way. And when we did get a big hit or big pitch in a situation like that, it seemed like we couldn't go out there and do it again. Anyway, very dissapointing. We will end up getting exactly what we deserved. It'll be interesting to see what happens in teh offseason. I wish you could go out and buy 'execution'. Great post...I'm proud of you.

On the bright side, at least we were in contention for the whole season, which means our attendance was superb this season. That can only help for next year's payroll. I'm not even that pissed off right now, as this team has done nothing since the ASB to make me think we'd be able to hang with the Tigers and Twins down the stretch.

BTW, I think Crede's back has really hurt his swing. He looks so stiff and mechanical at the plate again. As soon as we're eliminated, I hope we rest him, and then he gets the minor surgery to get better.