Greg Hibbard

I wish I saw anything in Dunn's swing that made me think he was even close.

I think .275-.280 is a likely season for Pierre at this point, given his start. He's never been below .275.

With Juan, it might just be that a .296 career hitter is reverting to norm. It will be interesting to see if anyone bothers to give guillen any credit for sticking with him should he continue to climb

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jun 30, 2011 -> 04:30 PM) Sox win 6 in a row Greg Hibbard will start a thread about how these White Sox aren't so bad after all Sox lose 9 of the next 13 I don't understand why I've become some unwitting beacon of foolish, blind optimism in some people's eyes I think I've started 3, maybe 4 threads over the past three weeks The White Sox haven't come close to playing their best ball and despite that, they have the third best record in the AL since May 6th

did he really just walk the leadoff hitter

Pierre groundout to tie, we exhaust the bullpen, lose on an infield single in the bottom of 15

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 30, 2011 -> 12:39 PM) I think you can go back and add one if you wanted to. Aha! Poll added! Thanks!

sorry for not making this a poll, guys. Was up very early in the AM.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 30, 2011 -> 12:12 PM) A legitimate streak will be impossible with so many players performing at a sub-standard level. We're f***ed if/when PK ever cools off. We've already seen CQ and Ramirez cool down considerably the last couple weeks. so your answer is "4"?

I also think their two best chances at long streaks will be August 8th through 21st, and September 15th through 28th.

The longest winning steak the White Sox have had this season is a single 4 game streak. They have also won 3 in a row twice. This is anamolous, particularly for a Guillen-led Sox team. Under Guillen, the longest winning streaks have been: 2010 - 11 (also a 9, 7, and 5 gamer) 2009 - 7 (2 four gamers) 2008 - 8 (with two 7s) 2007 - 4 (5 times) 2006 - 8 (twice) 2005 - 8 (three times) 2004 - 5 (4 three other times) Generally speaking, it would seem like we are due for at least one longer streak this season, if not several more 4 game ones or a 5 gamer. What do you think the longest winning streak of the 2011 season will be? I'm going to guess 7 games.

I wonder how much of our team ERA is attributable to bullpen blowups. I'm not saying that's justified, but we are in the top five in QS, and just three shy of the AL lead.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 30, 2011 -> 08:10 AM) Again...worth adding is the comparison to the rest of the league. I'm harping on this a lot lately...but offense is way, way, way down everywhere. In 2005, the White Sox staff put up a 3.61 ERA, and that was tied with Cleveland for the best in the AL, Houston and St. Louis were better, and the best ERA in the league was 3.49. In 2011, the White Sox staff has put up a 3.84 ERA, and that's good for 14th best in baseball (strangely, 13th best is Cleveland, 0.01 runs better than us). The best ERA in the league is 2.98. The average ERA this year is 3.83, in 2005 it was 4.28. Offense is down. A lot. Hawk was noting last night I think that he's never seen so many 2-1 and 1-0 games. For once, he's right, we haven't seen this level of offensive performance since baseball got "Big". fair point, but I think we should talk in terms of AL only, because NL eras are so different. They are 7th best in the AL this season, and .01 away from 6th best.

I guess the most "encouraging" thing is that our stats seem much more in line with the 2005 corpseball edition than the recent 07-10 editions. The pitching stats seem better and the hitting much worse. I'm with the people who say it's hard to imagine this team playing worse. And yet, somehow playing our worst means 3 games under .500 and 4 games out.

but then again.... 1993 White Sox first 81 games 42-39 last 81 games 52-29 Just sayin'. I had forgotten how mediocre their start was and how hot they got in the second half. Just sayin'

Here's the most hilariously absurd thing: Pierre's just barely ahead of Dunn in OBP despite Dunn having the worst season imaginable (.311 vs. .308)

Why not just send him away for three weeks with the hitting coach of his choice? Whoever he feels can help to get him mentally/physically right, so that he can come back in the second half and hopefully contribute. We don't need him @ col or @ cub, and the last two series before the break we could get a look at viciedo for other reasons (pierre).

It's time for a winning streak, people.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 26, 2011 -> 11:27 AM) LH is the kind of pitcher Sox struggle against! The White Sox have hit .356 off of him in 3 career appearances to the tune of a 6.88 ERA. This is all 2008-2010, too.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jun 24, 2011 -> 05:37 PM) It can't possibly be hyperbole, as it's what I'm actually doing. And I'm doing it because, despite their climbing, I am very confident that they will do the same thing they've done many times before and choke down the stretch or, at the very worst, make the playoffs with a weak record and get booted. This would result in Ozzie and KW keeping their jobs for another few years. I firmly believe that that is the worst thing for the organization moving forward. We've been over this. Ozzie and Kenny have been together since 2004. In '04 they had season ending injuries to their two best hitters in late May and still ended up with a very competitive record. They never led. In '05, we all know what happened. In '06, I will concede that a 12-17 september was a choke job. In '07, they tanked very early. In '08, they won the division. In '09, they were never close to first place late in the season. In '10 they obviously choked down the stretch. So to be clear, when you say "will do the same thing they've done many times before and choke down the stretch" - you're referring to the '06 and '10 seasons only? We have two seasons where they "choked down the stretch", and two seasons in which they made the playoffs, one of which was winning the world series. Yet you favor one over the other so much you are boycotting the team. Seems like a really extreme position to have.

One of these days when we all least expect it Dunn is just going to crank three homers in a game.

I just learned that Juan Pierre and I share a birthday. Ugh.

Caulfield - you refuse the directly answer the question I asked, despite doubting that this white sox team was "climbing" on the previous page. To this point, what winning percentage would you have needed to see over the past 43 games to convince you this team was "climbing"? You also claim that Minnesota has done a better job of "climbing"... Does their recent 15-2 stretch mean more to you than the 8-25 they immediately did before that? If so, shouldn't the White Sox most recent stretch of 26-17 mean more to you than the 4-18 they put up previously? The Twins have now lost their last two - does that mean as much to you as the two games the White Sox lost up in Minnesota? There is a serious double standard at work here. Even if the Twins go 19-0 against the White Sox, they have go .500 against everyone else just to win 84 games. Does anyone honestly think they can do either of those things?

Let's go back to May 6th. What winning percentage since then would you have liked to have seen to convince you this team was "climbing"? .700? .800? .900?

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jun 24, 2011 -> 01:52 PM) It's something I'm doing right now. I refuse to buy another ticket until some changes are made, namely removing Ozzie and likely KW. I'd stop watching the games entirely, but I just don't have the heart for that. Supporting them financially no matter what they do is, IMO, a terrible mistake. If this isn't hyperbole, I don't know what is. This team is 4.5 games out, and climbing. If they don't make the playoffs this season, I agree that changes need to be made. It boggles the mind that you would boycott this team as they continue to gain ground in the division.