southsideirish71

QUOTE(Dam8610 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 10:30 PM) Why be negative when there is very little to be negative about? Every time there's a slump, up go 50 threads about "(insert player's name here) needs to go!" or "Our offense sucks and can't score any runs!" or "KW needs to get Griffey here YESTERDAY!". Players are going to have streaks where they're good, and streaks where they're bad. If a few players go on bad streaks at the same time, the team might lose a few games in a row, but obviously this team is capable of winning, or they wouldn't have the best record in the AL (and in baseball if St. Louis lost today), and a commanding lead in the Central. You probably think that the offense has been stellar all year long and this is just a recent think as of this series. In April we hit .255 as a team Our opponents are held to .229BAA 20% of our runs are via the dong In May we hit .254 as a team Opponents held to .252BAA 29% of the runs are via the dong Big Frank comes back In June we hit .271 as a team Opponents held to .241BA 28% of our runs are via the dong In July we hit .279 Pitching starts to slip. Opponents batting .275BAA 24% of our runs are via the dong Frank is on the DL In August we hit .234 Our opponents are held to .254BAA 40% of our runs are via the dong in August We need a bat like Griffey in the lineup

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 10:23 PM) I'm glad that was the last game i attended for the foreseeable future. This team makes me sick. Thank god we dont get Griffey. With everyone hitting so well, I guess he would have to bide his time on the bench and hope one of our hitters falls back to earth.

QUOTE(Dam8610 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 09:50 PM) Now I'm "sipping the kool aid" because I'm confident that the best team in baseball since April will come out of a slump that has taken place while one of the teams most important players who produces a great deal of runs has been on the DL? Okay, I guess I'm just a homer fan with no idea of how baseball works. You guys are right, the Sox are going to go into the playoffs and get their asses handed to them, no contest. Our starters had a 2.99 ERA in the first two months. Our pitching was lights out. We scratched enough runs across the board to win. In late May we started to slump a bit. Then Thomas came in gave us life. Then the cub series happened. We scored a lot in that first game. We then lost that series getting shut down. We then had problems hitting Detroits team on the road. We beat up Tampa then got swept against the As. Thats how we finished up the second half. Its not like we have been hitting well all year or this is only a two week slump. We have sucked for a while and our pitching has been doing great.

QUOTE(Chisoxrd5 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 09:41 PM) Brings up the question: Slump or just not that good??? It's not like we've had any long stretches of hitting the cover off the ball collectively as a team. I'm just happy for our huge division lead to give us a cushion to sort this offensive slide out. (10 out 12 games scoring 4 runs or less) Just watch the team when they get 2 strikes on them and men in scoring position. Teams like the bosox/angels/twins/ and very much so the As shorten their swing and make contact. When a man on second and less than 2 outs hitting the ball to the right side to advance the runner. Hey maybe it doesnt work, but then again maybe it gets through. Our team still has a very long looping swing(you can hear over and over farmio and rooney, theres a big cut and he is out). Too many Ks, to many popups. Not taking enough pitches. I have been saying all year long and have been attacked. We have been near the bottom in singles and doubles and near the bottom in OBP. That is a very alarming trend. It means we dont get on base a lot, we dont string hits together and we dont hit a lot of gap line drives. But again we are near the league lead in homers just like years before. I think the hitters have the talent but they are stubborn or stupid and just go up there hacking like animals.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 09:31 PM) remember last year when valentin and uribe hit like .128 and .129 in august respectively and crede was at like .180.......thats exactly what this august has felt like Thats odd, lets look at this years august stats. Crede is batting .136 with a .174OBP. Thats pretty sexy. Jermaine Dye before tonight was hitting .188BA with a .231OBP. Timo even with his offensive outburst over his last few games is still batting .192BA with a .276OBP. Pablo Ozuna has a .143BA with a .200 OBP. Arow is batting .240 for the month with .279OBP. Gooch is hitting .222 for the month. Its so odd to see large segments of our team all slump at the exact same time.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 08:41 PM) Jerry Reinsdorf has said to KW that the purse strings were open this year. He's said that he'd value a White Sox championship more than all those titles with the Bulls. I'd like to think he means it. We need that bat. You know 1 thing that probably really is hurting us as well? The simple intimidation factor. There's just no one in our lineup that is really really frightening when you look at it on paper. Konerko's close, dye is when he's on fire, but other than that...who's there that you don't want to face? JR said that last year. He said it the year before. and before. KW AT SOXFEST SAID WE WERE SAVING MONEY SO WE COULD MAKE THE BIG MOVE IN JUNE AND JULY. I remember after Hawk did his usually blow job of the crowd, this is the best team I have been around, this is the best soxfest ever, that the money in the kitty was a surefire way of us making the big move in June/July. GEOFF BLUMM THE BIG MOVE. MOVE OVER KGJ, WE HAVE GB

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 08:34 PM) Jumping in here late, but I think the scouting of this team has finally caught up with it. "Flying under the radar" works when you don't have the best record in baseball. This team since right before the ASB has been scouted, rescouted, and I bet that the scouts can pretty much tell you when our batters are scheduled to take a s***. They know every tendency, every everything. GOOD TEAMS adjust. Let's see how long it takes. If they don't, it tells you something. Its the same scouting report as last year. Spot your fastball on the outside corner 90% of the time. Then throw the occasional breaking pitch to keep them honest. Play them to pull. You do this and medicore pitching can destroy our team.

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 08:21 PM) Yeah 4 hits. Someone predicted we'd have 4 hits, I wonder if it'll stand. I ALSO PREDICTED 9KS, THE 4 HITS SO FAR IS A GOOD GUESS

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 08:17 PM) I became concerned when Pods hit the DL. Supposedly speed never goes into a slump...but when we lost the speed, we suddenly hit a slump. This team started to have problems when Thomas hurt his foot.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 08:16 PM) Take away some rain from Boston and this is a 3 game losing streak instead of a 5 game one. But you are going on the idea that we would hold them down. We had a bigger lead in game one and blew it later. This could be a 6 game losing streak.

QUOTE(JimH @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 08:11 PM) Please read what I said. I did not say they are all popping up because they are all trying to go the other way. I did say a lot of pop ups result from trying to go the other way. I realize you are a fan of blanket blame theories, but please try to quote me in context. Have you seen how many balls Uribe is hitting foul to RF lately, he is clearly trying to shoot it the other way. So does Crede. The problem with those two is, not enough hitting smarts and not enough hitting talent. Crede steps in the bucket everytime in his stance and tosses the bat at the outside pitch. That is a big difference from letting the ball get back on you a bit more and hitting it to right with authority. Uribe is trying to hit. But year after year of the same thing happening in August and these are not the same players. What do you think the theory is of why we suck after August 1.

Last year when we died in August we had a 7 game losing streak. We were tied for first and after that little crapper we were down big time. After this loss we will be at 5 games. This is our annual August f*** up.

QUOTE(JimH @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 08:05 PM) To blame this all on Greg Walker is shortsighted and flat out wrong. He's not the guy up there hitting, nor does he preach to constantly pull the ball. If you've ever played the game, a lot of pop ups result when you're trying to go the other way. This falls on the hitters missing pitches to hit and guessing wrong. Personally I think as a group, our hitters aren't that smart. We do not have a group of deep thinking disciplined hitters. Now, if Walker is not preparing them in the clubhouse, he can be blamed for that. However the last I checked no one on this board is in the clubhouse or has had a conversation with Greg Walker about his teaching philosophy or hitting philosophy. Nor does anyone on this board know how much time he spends preparing the hitters and going over film. However, this board is very good at creating scapegoats and putting the devils horns on one guy. My suggestion has always been they need more pesky hitters, guys with a good eye at the plate who can work counts. Clearly, the White Sox do not have enough guys like that. Nor are they developing enough, it seems. Sure Jim they are all popping up because they are all trying to go the other way. Just like last August. The not smart part I think I can agree on, but they are pulling the ball and trying to get lift and extend. This is exactly what they did last year at this time. They started to press and it became the popup brigade.

QUOTE(ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 08:02 PM) Is Ozzie retarded? Why is Buerhle still in? There is absolutley no need to have him still in here when he's already over 100 pitches and the game is not in doubt. One, he hasnt been overly effective, and two, theres no need for the extra innings. He throws enough as is and its just pointless to push him here. The same reason that Ozzie let Garcia pitch the 9th inning, after being down a few runs, and throwing 110 pitches, and having an hour rain delay. He goes with his gut. PLEASE SOMEONE PUNCH HIM IN THE GUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 07:59 PM) Yes Rickey's name was thrown in there for dramatic effect to show how desperate we are. Dont worry Ozzie will probably think the reason that we didnt hit well tonight is we didnt get enough TIMO. When Timo was our DH last week and we were barely getting hits against the mighty yankees mash unit pitching staff, that was a warning sign. And people wonder why ESPN and other media outlets dont believe in this team. When they look at the boxscore and see 217BA DH TIMO PEREZ NUMBER 7.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 07:55 PM) man, people need to lay off of walker for our guys not hitting oppo, our # 1 and 2 guys do it probably more than anyone in the league. konerko is a power hitter, and never has gone oppo. carl does on occasion, usually from the leftside tho....AJ does it, tho not as much. but the fact is that compared to other teams, we do it alot more. there are teams out there who id say rarely ever go oppo. Because pulling only is a great way to hit for a high average and not constantly ground out to the left side. But if you think that this approach is working, then by all means keep the kool aid a flowing.

10Ks When crappy pitchers get 6 or more Ks on us night in and night out. What did you think this guy would do.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 07:52 PM) check that......it took them teh last 2 weeks They hit oppo a bunch of times in the Orioles series. The last time we hit the ball well. Then of course Greg corrected that.

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 07:50 PM) Did you see that? Aaron's Amigos !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They still believe. They are drunk.

We get our 2nd hit. How pathetic is this. IT TOOK THEM 7 f***ING INNINGS TO REALIZE THAT YOU NEED TO GO OPPO TO GET ON WITH CHANGEUP PITCHERS.

Yeah we get our first hit tonight in the 7th inning. I predicted we would have 4 hits.

ITS TIME FOR A CLOSE DOORED MEETING KW AND OZZIE NEED TO BEAT THIS TEAM. I THOUGHT THE PURPOSE OF GETTING RID OF CARLOS LEE AND ALL THIS IS SPEED NEVER EVER EVER SLUMPS AND THAT OZZIEBALL WOULDNT HAVE THE OLE 15 RUNS ONE NIGHT AND 1 FOR THE NEXT 4. THIS IS THE SAME f***ING TEAM WITHOUT CARLOS LEE WHO WAS A POWER HITTER(A MEATHEAD AND ALL) BUT A 300 HITTER. AND NO MAGGS, WHO IS ALSO A 300 HITTER WTH POWER. NOW WE ARE A 250 HITTING TEAM WHO HITS THE OCCASIONAL SOLO DONG.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 07:17 PM) The Sox have been down by 5 runs in each of the last 2 games, and by 4 runs in each of the last 5 games. Well post allstar break the Twins have been hitting 232 as a team. But against the best pitching staff they come alive.

QUOTE(tony72 @ Aug 17, 2005 -> 07:13 PM) I almost hope the lead goes down ...so Kenny and Jerry realize that this team needs help and snaps out of their complacency... Dont worry it will be about 6 to 9 games by next week. And I still remember KW at soxfest after he was explaining why he didnt go and spend money on Clement and others. We will use that money in June/July to GO FOR IT. It flexibility to go for the brass ring. 1917 was a long time ago and I want to win. THATS BULLs***. JR gets money in his pocket for all of these sellouts, Geoff Blum is cheap, and the playoffs will get more money.

4-0 and Ozzie Manuel has no clue.