LVSoxFan

What's the quote about insanity being doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results? Second half '06: dismal. All of 2007, worst hitting team in BASEBALL. First two months in '08? What are we waiting for? It's time to get to the problem with subtraction: dump Walker. If the players STILL suck after a couple of months of a new guy, dump THEM. But for God's sake do something. I think everybody just cruises along because they know that Kenny Wannestadt and Enabler Ozzie won't do anything to them. Actually, isn't it about time for KW to smash up some clubhouse card tables? He put this team together. In Ozzie's defense, he can only work with what he's given.

Konerko would never go to Baltimore. After 2005 they wanted him and he said no way. I believe he was entertaining an offer from Anaheim. So that's problem #1 (although I had your same idea). Problem #2 is they'll want something more, like one of our pitching prospects. At least. And I was originally okay with that, but as ChiSoxfn pointed out, Roberts may be good for another year or two but there we are again. IMO you can't tweak this lineup and fix it because the foundation is broken down. I'm talking Dye, Thome, Konerko, Uribe... arguably AJ and Cabrera. Old, slow, and either victims of Greg Walker or the fire's fading or they're in decline. Even Swish seems to have dropped a level since joining the Sox. Here's who I'd keep: Quentin (what a find!) Anderson Swish (if you need to keep an older vet) The starters Maybe A.J. I'd love to keep Crede but that's a long-shot. As for who could go: Paulie Thome Uribe Ozuna Dye Cabrera and yes... Ozzie. The Garland comment about "tuning him out" really almost confirmed my worst suspicions about last year. Although Ozzie with a bunch of kids--who knows? Maybe it's the vets who've been tuning him out. If we get mid-June and we're still the 2007 Sox, blow it all up.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox15 @ May 14, 2008 -> 01:08 AM) Since the 2006 All-Star break this team hasn't done much offensively. So they had one good half of a season. Do you remember the years prior to the World Series when this was an all or nothing offense? We'd hit 4 HRs in a game, capped off by a Jose Valentin 3 run HR and score 15 runs and then the offense would be impotent for a week or longer. What were the results of the 2006 season by the way? Did we not finish 3rd in the division? Its not so much that going opposite field would solve all of our problems and nor would a speed injection on this team. Look at the Twins, they have what we all seem to desperately seek. Yet where are they? Sure they have more division titles and playoff appearances than us since 2000, but no rings to show for it. However it would be a refreshing and welcome change to see fundamental baseball played on the Southside. We can't rest on the laurels of 2005 or even our 2006 offense. Six of the nine guys who start consistently were here in 2006, and many of them had great years then and are terrible now. We had a great and awe inspiring offense in 2006 for the most part. But thats over and those guys seem to be shells of there former selves. I hope they prove me wrong. I TOTALLY remember. 2004 was a prime example. We'd win 14-2 one night and lost 2-0 the next. I call it the 2004 offense. You had lots of homers but no speed and no consistency. Call it smallball, call it smartball/Ozzie ball. That's why I was totally jazzed going into 2005 with all the moves we made; even if it didn't work out to a World Series, I admired the retooling effort and liked the thinking. And look what happened: we beat the Twins at their own game. And everybody else. Which is why I sit here shaking my head as to how we're right back in 2004 again. Even worse, we have a really nice pitching staff who's being repeatedly sunk by our zero offense. What we have is just like 2004: marquee players mixed in with scrubs or past-their-primers THEN: Maggs, Paulie, Crede (when he started to hit), Lee mixed in with... hell I can't even remember who was at 2B or in right field. NOW: Paulie, Thome, Cabrera, Crede... mixed in with Uribe (gasp) and Dye (worn out). Back then like now our farm offers us little hope beyond Fields, who is... a power hitter. Did anybody also notice we don't have a decent backup catcher? Granted Widger was no star but he had his moments of helping the team. Hall? Blow it up. Blow it up and keep the pitching. We're stuck with Contreras till next year. Time to have a fire sale. Keep Swish and Crede (unlikely), but off they go.

Can't argue with this much. Hell one of my Sox friends last night was talking that it's time to have our fire sale, unless you want to take this into the ASB.

This game ranked high on the suck-itude meter. That freakin rain delay... I knew we were in trouble when, taking our seats, they started rolling the tarp out. I've already been to three rain-delayed or rained-out games this season. Ugh. Buehrle just had an off night. File it. But this offense? This is getting beyond ridiculous. Are we really going to watch another year of this?

I was there, and that's the best game I've seen since Elvis night last year. Awesome. We kicked their ass. We ran bases, hit singles... perfect. THIS IS THE SOX THAT I WANT. And for Floyd... ugh, what a heartbreaker. But look at the upside: our question-mark new starter has almost thrown two no-hitters. Between him and Danks, our starters are KICKASS. Now if the O can just get it together...

Getting swept in a four-game series is pretty effin bad. Reminds me of the double-header I unforunately attended last year against Minny, where we got shelled in double-digits both games. It was the definition of corpseball.

Talk about a fake controversy. My God: it's in a locker room. It was a joke. I'm all for women's rights but for some people to say this was threatening to female reporters... spare me.

Seriously: welcome to your 2007 Chicago White Sox, boys! It, to me, is BEYOND THE DEFINITION of insane that Walker still has a job. For more than a season and a half we have been the worst-hitting team in baseball. Jesus, I COULD COACH THEM BETTER. WHAT IS THE MYSTERY HERE? Granted, the players themselves are the ones taking the pitches but God: do SOMETHING. Maybe the Sox won't get the memo until the attendance dives. And trust me: a few more weeks of this, you're going to see that happen pretty fast. This is nothing short of embarassing. We have major-league pitching (ANOTHER wasted fine start by Vaz this time) and a high-school offense. Pathetic.

Getting a bad ump call is part of the game. Sometimes it goes your way (hello, 2005 playoffs!), sometimes it doesn't. You can't blame loss five of a five game losing streak on bad umping. I agree, Hawk needs to shut it. I also agree that that dark, miserable feeling--it's called 2007--is starting to overtake me. The feeling of despair. Yes it's early, but after a season and a half already of corpseball, why shouldn't I be dreading what lies ahead? Face it: we are old and slow. Station-to-station is not what got us a WS title. We are home run-dependent. Our pitchers are going to wear out, fast, with so little run support. I don't blame Ozzie because this is the hand that KW dealt him. He can't make Konerko fast. The only short-term solution I would suggest is put OC in the leadoff spot; he's not hitting right now, but assuming he comes around, at least he can do something on base. That's great the Swish has a good OBP, but he is zero threat on the bases, which negates that. Shake it up. Do SOMETHING. Otherwise, if we're in corpseball mode by the ASB, I say, once and for all: blow it all up. Except for the starters (you can lose The Count): ship 'em all out and start young. I'd rather see young, hustling and even losing than another season of corpseball into September.

The only difference I can detect is Swish (who has a knack for getting on base but no speed) and CQ, the hidden surprise of this year. Thus far, Cabrera has been a wash offensively. Which leaves us with: Thome Konerko AJ Crede Dye Uribe You could argue that adding somebody like Pods in '05 literally changed the whole look of the offense in that he was such a baserunning threat once he got on base (plus it helped to have Gooch behind him). Not sensing that here. Got more of the feeling that we simply surrounded the big boppers with a different cast, but not a game-changing one. But that .077 percentage is downright pathetic, early or not. I'm already starting to count how many games we lost where we stranded bases loaded runners with no runs, and it's only one month in.

Why is everybody so quick to jump on me for the 2007 comparison? I already listed why this feels like 2007, although I admit it is EARLY. Lots of solo home runs. No base-stealing ability (okay, CQ is good at that). No oppo hitting. Very few bunts (at least BA tried the suicide squeeze, props for that call from Ozzie even if it didn't work). TONS of men left on base. Lots of pop-ups. Uribe is still in the lineup. We seem to score 9 runs or none, almost like every other day. Yes, on PAPER it is not 2007. But on PAPER the 2006 team was better than 2005. Oops. BTW did anyone check out SoutsideIrish's cool link to the breakdown by Cheat? Check this out: our BA with bases loaded since April 15th: .077 COUGH, COUGH. How poetic is that?

What I mean by slap-hitting is singles. Singles, doubles, bloop singles... I don't care. Just get on the damn base. I'm sooooo tired after a year and a half of everybody trying to crush the ball and... popping out. I know we hit home runs in 2005 but let's not kid ourselves that that's what got us to the big game--we hit situationally, we won a ton of one-run games, we irritated opponents on the bases. I remember a game against KC where we didn't even SCORE a run and we won (they walked in two). My point about big boppers is that you usually have one or two in a batting order. Having a B.O. with lots of guys who tend towards feast or famine... well, welcome to 2004. Or 2007. BTW greetings to you, fellow North Side Sox fan! I'm in Lakeview. Did you get a letter about the North Side Fan Appreciation Day game?

Sorry, but this is 2007 creeping back in all over again. How many freakin people left on base? Lots of solo homers? No thanks. Bunts. Slap-hitting. Opposite field. Taking walks. We aren't going to do squat unless we start doing this. It's called f-u-n-d-a-m-e-n-t-a-l-s. Remember? Way back in 2005? Back then they called it smallball, Ozzieball, smartball... whatever. We better fix this, and fast. Although I don't know how you do that with a lineup of feast-or-famine big boppers.

This team has 2007 written all over it. I can't believe I'm saying that. But what did everybody expect? We have old, station-to-station sluggers and black holes at the plate like Uribe. Our pitching is going to wear out, fast, with this lack of offense. Quentin certainly has been an absolute find and Swish is The Man, but Dye is slow and painful. Cabrera must have left his bat in Anaheim. Thome, after impressing with an opposite-field hit (!!!) early on, is back to grounding out the 2B/short left fielder. Paulie? Geez. Not sure how you fix all this, this glorious mess of marquee sluggers and scrubs like Uribe (or the guaranteed out Alexi Ramirez). I will say this, if we get to the ASB and this kind of 2007/2004 streak is still on, if Greg Walker still has a job I'm boycotting.

I'm goin. I hope they play. I'd say stabbing out a win before they leave would put us in a nice mindset for Baltimore.

What are they using bottled water for anyway? Can't they get a drinking fountain?

QUOTE (Steff @ Apr 21, 2008 -> 01:42 PM) I can't stand his trotting ass, but this start is nothing new. Every year it's the same turtle start and it's the same threads calling for him to be traded. Come July there won't be enough chap stick to go around. My name is LVSoxFan and I approve of this message.

I'll go with Floyd too.

It is official (per Channel 9 news this morning): Jimbo's WILL be open today. BTW you Northsiders trying to find a Sox bar; let me know. I'm in the 'hood too and am always looking for a Sox-friendly place.

Jim Thome going OPPOSITE FIELD? Amazing. Floyd was awesome. Way to drive the dagger in, JD! Swisher patrolling CF like a pro. Aaron who? Anyone catch Swish reading the lineup? LOL

And isn't Dye batting like .500 right now? Gotta love it. But that bullpen? THAT'S what I'm talkin about!!!!

I'm no B.A. fan (we used the call him AAAnderson here, right?) but I don't know why he's not in center. Defensively, he's great. Let's see if his hitting is finally here.

Danks gives me hope. Wow. 2 hits! NICE.

I thought the first game showed a lot of gut. I thought last night looked like... 2007 all over again. But hey: it's only two games in, and the Tigers are winless too. BTW Crede got hosed on that first base call. Everybody looked tight and unhappy--maybe it was the cold weather. I also noticed: geez, MacDougal throws an awful lot of pitches to get his outs. Wonder how long that will last. But it's two games, people, against the best team in the division. I agree: let's put BA in CF and see if his spring training success at the plate carries over. Might as well, right? Now or never.