fathom

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 07:04 PM) true, and that's why I think the offense will be sparked by adjusting the style of play to getting runners on, getting them over and getting them in. I could be wrong but it seems to me that a lot of runners are left stranded on the base paths. I like the idea that Ozzie's running drills with guys who aren't getting the job done at the plate. It could go a long way to straightening out the offense. The thing is, this team doesn't have a lot of fundamentally solid players. We have way too many players taking called 3rd strikes, and we're bunting too early and often, which is limiting our ability to score more than one run in an inning. We don't exactly have the shutdown pitching that we did last year, and one early run isn't going to be enough right now.

Someone else said this, but it sure seems true. We've been getting out to an early lead, and then it just seems the team sits back, waiting for the other team to rally. Our hitters start to swing for the fences, and our pitchers are giving up a TON of base runners. Our defense has been bad almost all season, and Ozzie's yet to find a good balance between offense/defense. Baseball is a game of adjustments, and we're getting our asses kicked in that aspect.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 11:28 PM) Trouble was, we had our best defense today on the left side of the infield, and I can think of at least 3 balls that wound up in the outfield after just barely getting past Crede and Uribe, 2 of the doubles and a hit past Uribe. Gload had one skip past him real fast also IIRC. 2 of the other doubles were just out of Pablo's diving range, so that hurt our left side defense also. We got really really unlucky on where those doubles wound up today...they were all about a foot from someone's glove. A big play in the game was Crede's inability to knock down Tex's double down the line, which ended up being the go-ahead run. Crede's been great on those plays all year, and that ball just trickled underneath him.

With the way that Buehrle pitches, we need our best defense on the left side of the field. Against a lineup stacked with righties, there's going to be a lot of hits towards the left side of the infield. It's the same reason why you need your best infield in the game when Garland is pitching.

Gonzalez would cost the Sox some big time prospects. The last thing we need is another lefty reliever. Also....S. Torres is BAD! He's definitely not afraid to blow a game.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 04:57 PM) Give me af***ing break. The White Sox were compared to the f***ing 1927 Yankees last year. I supposed the ball just bounced the Red Sox way back in 2004 after they were down 0-3? How many f***ing series do you want to win to cheer you up? How convinient is it for you to make this post when the Sox are going through a tough stretch? :rolly :rolly :rolly :rolly I've been saying this all year. We had a magical season last year, and no one should have expected us to execute/catch breaks like we did last year. I was the main person on this site saying that Politte was going to be awful this season....and that I would have been happy with a 4.50 ERA. I'm still hopeful that this is a playoff team....but I've seen nothing to suggest we're a front-runner for the World Series. Yes, we were the best team in baseball last season. However, we had career years from a lot of guys, including Garland, Cotts, Politte, and Hermanson. QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 10:02 PM) Agreed. It's a nasty period of baseball right now. However, it is pretty damn frustrating that we could be in 1st with a decent cushion, if we had won a few of these games the last week. I'm very happy that we're in the position that we're in. Things could be a lot worse than they are right now. You can't really get upset about it....if we continue to struggle, then we don't deserve to be in the playoffs, etc.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 10:00 PM) :headshake How many times are we going to see this exact same post on this board? Can we throw Aarow into the starting pitching rotation? How about the bullpen? No? End.of.story Thanks...you said it a lot more politely than I would have. It's amazing we won the World Series last year with Michael Jordan/Babe Ruth slumping.

- The World Series banner looks fantastic! - We're not going to lose tomorrow

I simply love how Hawk said today that the chemistry with this year's team isn't there. If I recally correctly, on our last homestand, he told Sox fans that this was the best and most exciting team we've ever had.

QUOTE(elrockinMT @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:31 PM) Kudos to the Ranger's who seem to have a rookie pitcher that knows how to pitch and get people out unlike our team Kudos to the Rangers who can develop guys that can come up and contribute immediately in the majors. Kinsler is a much better hitting prospect than anyone I've seen come up on the Sox in a long time.

We've been outplayed by teams with better overall hitting than the White Sox. Our best asset is our starting pitching, and if they keep underachieving, we're not going to the postseason.

So, in the last 6 games, we only scored after the 4th inning ONE TIME?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:25 PM) And what do we do when Konerko needs time off? And that's a very good question...and goes to show you that there's something missing on our current roster.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:23 PM) He has an off day tomorrow, and he hasn't exactly been sharp lately. At this point, the only way he's going to get better out of the pen is to work out of the pen. Yeah, it's just a mess with him. I don't think he's a good fit for the bullpen at all, but that's not my decision to make. I know he's said that his arm has been sore when he's pitched a few games in a row.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:22 PM) So just out of curiosity, now that we're seeing where Gload actually can be useful, given that it's sort of hard to expect Thome to play 150 games a season right now, do we really have a roster spot we could fill with another outfielder? Why do we need Gload? Can't that be Konerko at first base, and then use someone like Mackowiak at DH?

QUOTE(JimH @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:17 PM) Anderson not backing up is an issue unto itself. It is not related to Ozuna at all. Brian made a mistake, he has made a few today. Ozuna is an entirely different story. He is an ingiter at the plate, a perfect 25th man, but they still need an OF who can handle all three positions defensively ... it is something they've needed all season. Yeah, I don't think we have enough time to count how many times we've said that we need another outfielder on the bench. There was a perfect opportunity to try and spark the bottom of the order, and have Ozuna DH and bat 9th today. He'd be the perfect table-setter for the top of the order. QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:19 PM) If we want BMac to get acclimated to the pen, he should be in right here. I think it's good to give him rest, as he's going to be our primarty righty set-up man vs the Tigers. The Tigers don't have many lefties, so McCarthy's going to be needed in the series.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:15 PM) Except that the Cubs didn't win the division in 1998. Let's not grasp at straws here. We're having a rough stretch: all good teams do. Listen to KW when he says 2005 is over. That noise is me turning on WGN and rooting for the Cardinals.

Since when did I start watching one-pitch mode? This is disgusting. Ozzie has got to be embarrassed by the mentality this team has right now.

Instead of blaming Anderson for not backing up, lets start with the problem that caused it. Ozuna has got to stop playing in LF. Even when he catches it, it's a f***ing circus. This isn't Spring Training anymore, and his defense has really hurt us this year. I have a lot bigger concerns than Anderson's mental mistakes in the outfield.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:06 PM) There's a lot of games in the next two weeks that are pretty important. They need to find their edge, and in a hurry, or Detroit will run away with this division. No one is running away from the Indians.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:06 PM) There is a reason why only his option was picked up, i.e. he didn't get a new extension. It was a no brainer to pick up his option for 2006 but note that he has not been extended, he is a FA after this year. The organization knows full well that he gets down on himself way too easily. They thought he was over the hump after contributing to a World Series team ... guess not. I agree about the aiming part. That's why when he's actually tried to go inside this year, he's hit the hitters. I'll say this about Cliff....I'll always appreciate his contributions for 2005.

I think we might have seen Politte's last batter for a long, long time.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:02 PM) Why am I still watching this train wreck? How do teams like Toronto and Texas ever lose? Both teams seem like their hitters know every pitch that is coming.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:01 PM) Anderson misses the cut off man. Yikes. He has made several mistakes today, not to say he's the only one, far from it. DJ is ripping on him. Today's game is the type of game that will get Mackowiak more playing time. He might not be good on defense, but the organization feels he plays the game the right way.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 08:01 PM) With Pujols hurt? They may be right. That's definitely true...their June schedule is a monster though.