Greg Hibbard

I feel it's amazing that given last year's turnaround, people are willing to evaluate this team when they are 2 games below .500 a tenth of the season in. I think I'll wait until we're at least 40 games in.

I see a lot of fans jumping off ledges in a way I did last year around this time. Boy, was I ever wrong about that team. A few things to consider. If this team had a 1-4 road trip, and then came home and played 6-4 ball by splitting TB and winning both OAK and LAA, would you have the same perspective on their chances? Of course not. I think we wipe the slate clean and start over on this road trip. One of the most reassuring things is that the two teams ahead of the Sox, the Indians and Royals, are the most vulnerable and likely to slip, whereas the two most dangerous teams are still behind the Sox. I think the Boston Red Sox would LOVE to be 7-8 right about now. I'll take a .500 April if it brings every issue to the table and the team is willing and able to address it.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 14, 2011 -> 12:43 AM) um i think our starters are doing exactly what I'd expect. MB had two s***ty games, one good. EJax 1 good one great one meh, Danks same thing, Floyd 1 good one bad, Humber one good. How's that unsustainable? So you'd expect our starters to average 7 innings pitched and 3.23 ERA all season?

QUOTE (hi8is @ Apr 13, 2011 -> 09:54 PM) Our pen will get straightened out. Adam Dunn is back in the lineup. Juan Pierre can't keep making so many errors and mental mistakes. We're 7 and 5 after playing some of the worst ball possible... Let's take this as a sign that this team will be down right dangerous when our ship is righted. Sorry...I do not agree at all we are playing the worst baseball possible. Our lineup is hitting the cover off the ball, in general, at an unsustainable statistical clip that won't last the whole season. Our starters are pitching out of their heads, with a sick era overall, at an unsustainable statistical clip that won't last the whole season. Our defense and closers are playing as bad as you can imagine, at an unsustainable statistical clip that won't last the whole season. So, many things are sort of all over the map right now. I feel our record reflects a schizophrenic performance, if anything.

Each and every season, every major league team has to respond to unforeseen challenges that come up during the first part of the season. Those that respond well and weather the storm are usually those set to go far. The White Sox in 2010 dug themselves a huge hole by unexpectedly not being able to hit - at a severe outlier of a clip. The hole they dug ended up not being too deep, but it took them a while to correct it. In 2011, it appears the bullpen is the issue, and it also appears to be a severe one. How they respond will determine the season, but I hardly think anyone can predict the entire season on April 13th.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Apr 13, 2011 -> 04:10 PM) Ha ha this is comical. I kind of agree.

I hear statements like this all the time - "we NEED to win this series." Certainly, winning two out of three games at home seems to be fairly reasonable expectation for a competitive team, and seems like an easy pattern to fall into for all of us. Breaking things up mentally in terms of opponents faced feels fairly natural. However, the early 4-game Tampa series got me thinking. Expecting to win 3/4 games felt off to me, even with as down as Tampa has been. However, expecting a split felt wrong, too. Certainly we aren't going to play .750 at home, nor are we going to be happy with .500, overall. After reflecting on it, I don't know that I buy into evaluating the team on the basis of that, constantly, which is what I seem to do. Is it really fair to evaluate a team based on three game snapshots over the course of a long season? Isn't this what actually contributes to people's see-sawing opinions on the team - people going from "Sox are worldbeaters" to doom and gloom in a matter of minutes? I feel as though it would be better to set mental expectations for homestands and roadtrips, and that's what I've tried to do instead this season. Does anyone else do this, rather than look at each individual series? How often and in what way do you evaluate the team?

QUOTE (qwerty @ Apr 12, 2011 -> 02:52 PM) Thornton has murdered right handed hitters three consecutive seasons. Yes, he has still a good BAA, but in each of those three seasons Thornton's average against righties is significantly higher than lefties. Given that he's having problems in general this year, wouldn't it stand to reason that a right hander is more likely to have subsequent success? Ozzie is Mr. Right/Right and Left/Left, which is why last night made even less sense.

Can someone please tell me why they brought in thornton to face two righties instead of a righty.

my bigger question is why did Thornton come in to face 2 right handers instead of either Sale or Santos, given what we were just told about closer-by-committee and matchups?

Looks like Operation Shutdown part II!

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 12, 2010 -> 04:02 PM) It all matters. 1 championship - only, what, 3 other AL teams have that? Yes. LA Angels, Boston twice, New York, and if the winner this year is from the AL it will be 4. In other words, at least 24% of the rest of the league, perhaps 32%, are doing it as well in that department. so 3 other teams did it, and of the 10 who haven't, how many are constructed with a payroll such that they can compete? I don't count 2000, because KW wasn't running the team. These teams have 2 or more since 2001: Boston, New York, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle, LA Angels. So the Sox are among 8 teams out of 14. Ok... I think they're 6th, actually. Is 6 out of 14 something to be proud of? Twins, Yanks, Red Sox, LA Angels, arguably the Blue Jays, arguably at least one other AL west team do it as often. Again, is being among 6 out of 14 really something we should be hanging our hat on?

We have to keep winning. This is a critical stretch. We need to come out of this 7 game stretch 4-3.

the twins are 28-10 in their last 38. Honestly, it's a friggin' miracle we aren't more than 4 back. the Sox were 38-13, then 5-11, now 7-4 in their last 11. One bad 16 game stretch seems like it will do us in.

Why is nobody mentioning that AGAIN the Twins are performing well above expectations? Everyone on this board would have been ecstatic with 89-90 wins in April, as everyone thought that would win the division. I have the Sox winning 89-90 games as it currently stands. The Twins probably win 94-95. Nobody thought the Twins would be capable of that, much less without Morneau.

When does the team expect him back?

years from now people are going to look back at this season and wonder what the hell Kenny was thinking when he essentially went with the equivalent of a Royals DH platoon and felt he could win with it

damn, think I was just a hair too slow.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Aug 26, 2010 -> 11:08 AM) No doubt in my mind. Sophomore slumps are common - Troy Tulowitski, Geovany Soto, Josh Hamilton (kind of) - just to name a few recent examples of players whose early impressions turned out to be accurate, eventually. The fact that Gordon's seemingly turned it around already tells me he's primed for a BIG year in '11. Hopefully, he'll be in the two hole. Eventually, I can see him in the 3 hole, if he develops 20+ homer power (shouldn't be a stretch in our park). He already basically has 20 homer power (17 over 162 games). I could see him getting to 25, but not much above. I could easily see him hitting for 55 doubles some year soon, though. I actually like him in the 9 hole, because I like him on 2nd with Pierre and Vizquel/Ramirez coming up, but I really don't like the fact he usually gets one less at bat per game than he probably should.

Must win.

.295/.335/.473/.808 in his last 258 abs with 18 2bs, 2 3bs, 8 HRs...even with his horrible April and May, his 162 game avg is .263/.332/.424/.756 with 38 2b, 2 3b, 17 HR...he even somehow is 162-averaging 82 RBI despite living in the 9 hole for most of this year... Is it finally safe to say this kid is a fixture/starter for the next 4+ seasons at the ML level for our Sox, barring injury?

what is the timetable for making a claim? how long does each team have? Is it simultaneous?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 25, 2010 -> 01:16 PM) Rios CF (Last 28 days: .216/.255/.299/.554 with 8 GIDP) Hmm, but he's 17 for his last 65, for a .261 average, and has hit safely in 12 out of his last 15 games. Not much pop, with just 3 doubles and 1 triple, but still...

Mojo.

TEAHEN DH