TheBigHurt

LOL! Ozzie finally got what he wanted. Nice.

Yeah, but what difference does it make who our leadoff hitter is when we simply cannot hit (out of the f***ing infield, at least) with RISP? I mean, seriously. I don't think having Grady Sizemore or anyone else you can think of leading off for us would make that much of a difference.

It's sad, too... Pods getting on with a walk and even stealing a base (maybe even TWO) won't help anyone bring him in...

I remember it constantly being discussed how dangerous a combination Dye-Thome-Konerko can make in the lineup. It also has to be one of the (if not THE) slowest 1-2-3 punches in the entire MLB.

Seriously... WHY does this team insist on running/stealing for second when they NEVER succeed? Ozzie, I know you like your smallball, but these guys are too old and slow for "Ozzieball" to work. The Sox are beating themselves with this "aggression." It's stupid aggression.

I know this is the broken record of all broken records, but the way this team has consistently failed to string hits together, get sacrifices (just hitting something out of the f***ing INFIELD would be nice), get clutch hits, etc. is making me REALLY annoyed with this team's look on offense. You simply CAN'T tell me everything is going great with Walker and the team when it comes to batting practice/instruction. Seriously, I hope the guy doesn't ruin Quentin. Seriously, I never even get the slightest bit excited when the Sox have bases loaded with 0 outs much less 1 or 2 because I expect them to fail and they almost always do, seemingly.

It's like no one on this board notices Wise and Owens can't hit, either... until we find a "legit" CF/leadoff hitter BA should be out there, period. Oh, typical. Jose pitches pretty wlel all game and as usual we miss offensive opportunities. That's what we get for scoring 10 the other day, I suppose.

Way to get out of an inning, Jose!

Wow, what a play.

As others had said, I felt at first that Pods is better than Wise or Owens and still do, but if that means Pods in CF over BA... I'm gonna be STEAMED.

Ah, so you're one of those people from the "One bad season means he sucks" crowd. LOL.

One question: why?

Wow, all the constant posts like this really show you what a clusterf*** this team is.

So we're going have OWENS starting in CF over Anderson, right? If that's the case... f*** Ozzie. I'm dead serious. I reallly just don't think I can have any respect left for the man if he does that.

I'm laughing my ASS of right now...

*Shrugs* Hey, man... I'm not trying to change anything, I'm not holding up a "Fire Ozzie" sign. I just get really annoyed when our play suffers because of an absolutely idiotic decision he makes and then I read posts where people brand him as an excellent manager. All I'm trying to say is that I see a lot of denial about these things. It just annoys me that people try to make up ridiculous points to try and deny it or make it seem okay, that's all.

Another post based solely on opinion as far as I can tell. I can give credit, but how often does a game swing in a way that makes a manager look like a genius (Well... Ozzie anyway, lol)? It's easier for a manager to look bad than to look good. I give Ozzie that because surely he does a lot of good things, too. I'm not trying to say he doesn't. As you said, people are louder when a game is lost than won (not totally, but often) but a loss highlights a manager's decisions more. Bad decisions for the most part seem to affect a game more than good ones because good ones are mostly just sticking with the right guy in the right situation based on guts and statistics; unfortunately Ozzie seems to use more guts and seems clueless on the stats. But AS USUAL, you are presenting the common argument of "Let's cover up all the stupid things he does by presenting useless information or information that in no way counters the point." Saying, "Well, Ozzie makes some good moves, too" does not change the fact of what I am saying. You and many others that support Ozzie seemingly no matter what he does (even during some of the real embarrassments such as when he'd leave Pods in the OF in the 9th in a 1-run lead game when BA was available) don't seem to get this. And not to try and demonize the man, but how often do you really get that sense of, "WOW! Ozzie just made a spectacular move!" Occasionally, but not often. I don't want to not give any credit, but if you're going to present an invalid point at least do it correctly; use examples as I have. Another example of a terrible argument people like yourself seem to throw around: "The players love the manager and playing for him." Yeah, because a player will always get on the mic and talk about how they hate their manager or think he is stupid, right? When the Sox win 7 in a row, if Ozzie is directly responsible for some of those wins I will give him credit. I still see NO validity behinf your argument. Simply put, you and other "Ozzie praisers" are simply hiding behind assumptions, presenting "points" irrelevant to the discussion and constantly deny Ozzie's constant asinine decisions. I don't want to insult you, but for a "great mind" as I see you being called, I'm still waiting for a point that actually counters anything I've said or proves it untrue. All I'm seeing is denial, assumptions and shots at me that are irrelevant and merely deter from the point.

Bait you? LOL. Nice cop-out. All I'm trying to do is get some sort of valid point that supports the idea that Ozzie isn't clueless; that would work better than denial, and denial is all I see. I haven't seen ONE valid argument in this respect, and probably because there isn't one. As has been said, he makes so many inexcusable and idiotic moves, decisions and LACK OF them that it's hard not to notice. Smarter baseball minds have decided he's a good manager. Okay, well direct me towards them so maybe I can actually hear so logic, mention to me some of the logical things they've said to support that, or give me some logic yourself. I'm not a great baseball mind, but I look at Ozzie and I see constant mistakes game after game where he doesn't put his team in the best position to win by pulling pitcherws when they are cruising, leaving them on the mound when they should be pulled, pitching to guys who clearly should be put on (Morneau comes to mind), putting guys on who should be walked, constantly ignoring stats (he does this so much it makes my head spin), not putting his best defense in this game when it's close (or nearing the end with a slight margin in lead or loss), etc. etc. etc. and I don't believe I should have to note all this; it's obvious to anyone who actually pays attention. If that isn't a bad in-game manager I'd really like you to define what a bad in-game manager is, please. I'll wait for your reply.

Uh, I never said that. Still love how the ones who try to defend Ozzie are the ones with no real points to make

I don't ever wanna relive that nightmare season ever again.

And every other team since at least 2005?

LOL!

That's fine. It's just that you said it in response to my criticism of Ozzie, so it only makes sense that you'd be directing it at me; otherwise what's the point of saying it?

Well excuse me for not saying "Yay, Ozzie" after every win (and since when is a manager always directly responsible for every win?). Trust me, I give credit where it is due and I actually rather like Ozzie's baseball attitude, but his constant mismanaging and stubbornness overall is a big hurdle for this team and you simply can't deny that when he makes mistakes, they are so terrible that even average joes like ME on this board can point them out and say, "WTF?!" And he makes them OFTEN. Uh, you kinda DID. You said Ozzie bashers come into threads after games like these. Ozzie was in the discussion; I never said anything about Ozzie doing any bad managing today.

Ah, because every time the Sox win a game, Ozzie is directly responsible. Sorry I don't praise the man every time we win a game. Have you ever considered how many games the Sox HAVE won in spite of Ozzie? How many games Ozzie's ridiculous mistakes have costed us games? Probably not. There is simply NOTHING anyone can say as an excuse for Ozzie's constant mismanaging on the field; NOTHING. The irony is, no one really tries, just tries arguing around an argument rather than try to support a point, but I guess I can't blame them since there ISN'T one. And I'm just talking in general. I never cursed Ozzie once during today's game so take your assumptions elsewhere.