southsideirish71

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:41 PM) I want to throw up right now. That game was ours for the taking. The f*cking Konerko DP killed our chances to win the game. If you have to rely your setup man to go 3 seperate innings you know your pen is in shambles. The Twins own us and the division. Well we keep bunting late, and teams keep setting up the DP. The minute our manager gets over his love for the NL and stops wasting outs with bunting and running into them, the minute we might actually put a crooked number on the board. Teams in the AL put up multiple runs by hitting extra base hits and hitting home runs. Our team for some reason believes that runs can be scored only one at a time.

QUOTE (hometeamfan @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 08:24 PM) Mark Kotsay is a stud!!!! Compared to Brian Anderson and maybe a Joe Borchard, sure. As a full time DH, yikes.

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 08:20 PM) How so? I never mentioned Kotsay in the post and have always ripped him like everyone in these game threads. I wanted Damon. My horse in the derby was Vlad. I think even people who didnt want Thome never thought in a million years on what our DH grouping would be.

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 08:14 PM) That is one of the reasons I don't miss Thome. He has his hot streaks, like he has now, but he clogs the bases and whiffs when you need contact. Or you could have a guy who has a season long cold streak peppered by a good game here or there and have the home announcer talk about how he gets robbed on his crushed 4-3 out.

We had Thome on our team for years. We watched team after team go after him up an in with velocity. And he were are, we get to 2 strikes. The second a weak half swing on a fastball up and in with heat on it. And then we play throw slow s*** to him. Its almost like we do the opposite of what is successful in hopes that it will confuse the opposition.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 08:02 PM) wtf pierre????? People completely forget how to run the bases when they come here. Its just amazing.

They need to have an alternative Hawk Free broadcast, like SAP II. The only thing that could possibly make him worse is if he teamed with with Skowron all the time. That might be what hell is like.

We are in the midst of baseball hell. We dont invest enough resources in the draft, so we can build from within. We are kind of cash strapped so reinforcements are not on the way. We are not good enough to beat the twins, yet good enough to meddle around mid level only to piss down our pant leg in the second half. The changes we need to make cant happen because we have an owner who wont go overslot, we have a GM that just goes for it ever year, and we have a manager who falls in love with lefty slappy no talented hitters. Mix in some guys who are coasting and earning a paycheck and you have the makings of something that will break your heart in August for the next few years. At some point a f***ing plan needs to be assembled so we can get better and become elite.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 10:44 PM) Very disappointing to see the Sox fail to sign anyone above slot after the first round. Until our team gets with the program of investing in the draft or investing in the international signing period we will have problems with the farm. Investing in the farm should be the number 1 priority right now. Its the pipeline for either having in house candidates to fill gaps so we don't have to overpay for players, or it allows for the aquisition of a super talent. Think of what could of been if we invested a bit in the draft a few years back. Methinks if we had drafted a bit better and had better kids in the stable besides Lance Broadway and Josh Fields we may have had Miguel Cabrera. We treat the draft like its a nuisance. Something we almost wish we didnt have to do because it requires investing money into an unknown. We had a great draft position this year and f***ed it up on kids we couldnt sign without going over slot which of course we are not going to do. So why draft the kids anyways. Its almost like a cop out. Most teams, unless they are named the Whitesox. This is how we circle the toliet bowl year in and year out with our farm system. Its not going to get better until someone else takes over, and they convince Jerry that this is a sound plan and can actually add value.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 01:59 PM) Bah, Alexei didn't make Gordon not go down with the glove. There was no way he was going to get the out on that but he tried to anyway. Gordon did what a lot of young players do. He tried to make a play and went for the barehand, instead of doing the smart thing which was to keep the ball in the infield. He has done a pretty good job at 2nd this year.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2010 -> 10:19 PM) This is BY NO MEANS praise of Andruw (I am not very good anymore) Jones, but doesn't he have more homers than Thome this year? He has 15, and sports a .973 OPS and has 38 RBIs with 42 walks in 241 ABs. Andruw Jones has 15 as well, sports a .744 OPS with 36 RBI and 34 walks in 267 ABs.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 14, 2010 -> 10:16 PM) Maybe you should have watched last year as well. Your theory assumes he would be just as effective for the Sox. Your Thome envy ruins any baseball sense you could have. Go back to watching more Twins baseball and you might see another side to this. You take the 2004 Chicago Whitesox all or nothing offense and give them this pitching staff and we are running away with this thing hiding.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 14, 2010 -> 10:09 PM) Exactly. This team will always have scoring challenges because they think of nothing but swing for the fences unless you are Jaun Pierre. The roster has changed but you still see the same lame hitting like last year and Thome was part of that. This team has scoring challenges because our primary DH has an OPS of .685. Thats the equivalent of having Podsednik as your starting DH. This team has challenges because 5 of the starters are at .700 OPS or below for the year. Its hard to score runs when you lack the ability to hit with power or to drive the ball. We have guys who can do that. However we have a lot of substandard offensive players on this team getting lots of ABs. This team is not trying to hit the jack, or more to the point. Those not named Andruw Jones are not trying to hit a jack in every pitch. This year its not that. This year is just a lack of offensive talent.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2010 -> 09:59 PM) I have nothing against Putz's complete body of work. I just think it's ridiculous that anybody is pointing to other reasons for losing tonight's game when if Big Bobby blew tonight's game there'd be ONLY one reason we lost. Big Bobby Jenks. I'm sad we lost. But Putz blew the game in Baltimore and blew the game tonight. The other reasons are fine and dandy, but you have to use those same reasons in the games Jenks blew. I loved the writeup on the site. That correctly identified the reason(s) we lost tonight. Nice article. I must remember to read those summaries more often. They are well done. The offense blew the Orioles series. Some of the worst pitchers in the game and we pretty much looked like it was Cy Young in his prime. Sure Putz blew the game tonight, he had the lead and coughed it up. He gets the L. But it is a bit myopic not to see the elephant in the room with what our offense has been doing a lot this year.

Since 2004 we have had 2 winning August's. And thats with the grindiest grinders who ever grinded at times during that tenure. We have to reverse that trend if we want to win this division.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2010 -> 09:28 PM) Good article! I can't believe some of the Oz haters are overlooking the reason we lost tonight's f***ing game. We led 2-1 in the ninth, folks!!! Yes the massive 2-1 lead. How could we have coughed up that one. We should put our hands together for our offense for grinding it out against the mighty Rick Porcello. Too bad the damn pitching staff can't keep throwing sub 2 run beauties.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 14, 2010 -> 09:15 PM) And Hell...we're getting the pitching to do it too. Wasting great starting pitching irritates me more than anything. The pitching pretty much has done its job over the last week yet we are dropping series because our offense is taking a nap in August.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 14, 2010 -> 09:05 PM) We had our chance to build a bit of a cushion playing the Orioles and the Twins at home. That's gone, and now we're really looking to be in bad shape because we can't match up with teams like the Yankees and Red Sox offensively, unless we get shut-outs every time out. The idea that we could compete with no DH because our manager wants to be in the NL is kind of a joke. Ozzie was crazy for wanting it, Kenny was stupid for letting it happen. Now here we are and its pucker time and the bats are being squeezed real tight. This supposed versatility that the floating DH would bring us is a joke. We knew from the beginning that the offense would be challenged and here we are in the dog days trying win pitching duels with teams because we have a terrible offense in a homer haven park.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 14, 2010 -> 05:43 PM) There is nothing wrong with Kotsay that some basehits and RBI's won't cure Or Talent.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 12, 2010 -> 10:12 PM) What's our record against AL teams besides Seattle? 8-14 against the AL East 21-23 against the AL Central 20-11 against the AL West ( 9-1 versus Seattle) 49 wins - 48 losses If you take away the Seattle games. 40 wins and 47 losses.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Aug 12, 2010 -> 09:57 PM) i really shouldn't be as mad as i am....this twins teams is simply better than we are...thats something i've known all year The reason that you are mad is why I am mad. If we came in here and played relatively mistake free baseball and lost, then sure. Disapointing. But that however is not the case with the post-ASB matches against the twins. We work and find new inventive ways to f*** up. Kicking the ball and having multiple situations where you can get a run only to see the ball not leave the infield. That to me is the definition of "death by 1000 paper cuts". I don't tip my cap to Liriano tonight. He is a great pitcher. We had more of a hand in the result than Liriano having a great game.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 12, 2010 -> 09:52 PM) Don't discredit how good of a job the Twins do at throwing our hitters offspeed pitches when they get 2 strikes on them. It seems simple enough, but you rarely see the Twins make 2 strikes mistakes to our hitters. They scout our team and know it better than we do. They pump in a ton of breaking pitches, in fact its so odd that our team hasn't figured this out in all of the years we have played them. If they just looked breaking pitch first in these situations they would have a better chance. However our guys go up their swinging for the fastball they never happens.

I feel like I am in the f***ing twilight zone. How many years post ASB do we give up the booty to the twins. Year in and year out the same formula. Mental mistakes + poor situational hitting + bad pitches. If we excel at anything its locating players who have issues with the pucker factor. We put more pressure on ourselves in situations that the pressure is on the opposition. This just sickens me. We should be winning tonight. And here we are, with the boogeyman once again walking out with a 2nd half win.

Nice win. Now lets let Floyd do his thing tomorrow night and get a few runs and put the twinks in the rear view mirror. Time to make them bleed. If you could make GOD bleed, people will cease to believe in HIM!" Whiplash

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 10, 2010 -> 10:06 PM) 99 percent of the people on here didnt want Thome back while watching him last season. Hindsight is a fun game. In my hindsight I wanted Vlad Guerrero over Thome. I stick with my call on that. Never in a million years did I think we would be rocking a sub 700 OPS DH platoon in a pennant race in August.