LVSoxFan

The guy in the Sun-Times today also mentioned the previously unthinkable: Konerko going. He pointed out (HELLO! Thank you, thank you) that PK may lead by example, but he's not a clubhouse "leader" by any stretch of the imagination. No, this was not Mariotti FYI. He also pointed out that the problem is in no small part due to certain players being fat n' happy from the '05 WS victory (How now brown cow! How now brown cow!). And after hearing that over and over from very reliable sources, at this point I say: yeah. Blow it up. Blow it all up. This team is beyond embarassing. I care more than they do, and that's unacceptable. Somebody else in the Sun-Times said this--pause, light fuse: Fire Ozzie. Hire Tony LaRussa next season. //dives for cover

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 30, 2007 -> 03:09 PM) I've never been there so I have no idea. Harold is a wonderful guy, but imo brings very little to the table. I think that's obvious. I don't think he's well received. He has a bad rep of a vile mouth. IMO, that's why. I like Harold and he was my hero back in the late 70s and 80s but I hear ya: I cannot see how this guy inspires anybody. He's a... wait for it... another flatliner. That's how he played, fine. As a coach? Mmmm.

QUOTE(RibbieRubarb @ Aug 30, 2007 -> 02:42 PM) 2005 White Sox=1985 Bears Wrapped up in their success and lost the hunger. How now brown cow! How now brown cow!!!!

What are we fantasizing about Fisk as? GM or manager?

LMAO! That's certainly a NEW game thread title!

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 30, 2007 -> 11:59 AM) Mark a fireball who "fires up the team and spits piss n' vinegar" Honestly that is the first time I have ever heard anyone use anything like that to describe Mark. Mark is very quiet, reserved and focused. The tarp sliding is about all the piss n' vinegar you'd get out of him. He's way more a big kid than a big stern adult. Very unconfrontational. Bad writing on my part, I was unclear. I meant that Buehrle is definitely a cheerleader, seems to always be watching the game, always pattin guys on the back, having a laugh when it's due--I love the play last weekend where Big Poppy just walked into the dugout after Buehrle fielded his comebacker and they both just cracked up. In other words: some EMOTION. Some joy. Some measurable excitement (granted on the mound he is a cool customer). You're right about the big kid analogy: he still has a childlike enthusiasm for the game. I remember when we won in '05 him bounding out of the dugout. And that's just as valuable, IMO, as the "piss n' vinegar" types.

Let me clarify: I love PK and Thome and they "lead" through their class and their skills. But as far as dugout firebrands who fire up the team and spit piss n' vinegar, they're flatliners. Nothing wrong with that, but it's just true. I can't imagine either one overturning the card tables after a loss or calling out a teammate for lollygagging or telling the guys in the dugout when they're behind not to give up. And I think that's what's missing on this team. Sure Ozzie WAS like that, but when he's the only guy, he's probably sick of trying at this point, as he strongly suggests. Who on the team fits that bill, besides Buehrle? PK: no Richar: rookie Uribe: hell no Fields: rookie (Crede? no) Pods: MIA, although he seemed to have that when he was back. For two weeks. Owens: rookie Dye: hell no Vaz: no Garland: LOL Jose: LOL really LOL again Danks: rookie Erstadt: maaaaybe, but I'd say no Pablo: plays with fire, not sure if he's a fiery personality though A.J.: as noted, more of an internal competitiveness (although he did yell at Owens for botching that bloop single throw into home during Boston series) A bunch of flatliners, we got us. Yer gonna hate me for this but here goes: the few glimpses of Cubs games I see, you got guys doing the "jump n' bump" after an inning over, Big Z always looking psychotic, lots of energy and high-fiving in the dugout... you can SEE it. They also have a manager who basically did Ozzie's rant back in June. We look like a bunch of old men who would rather be somewhere else. If this is what 2008 holds for us, I say: gut it. Gut it all. I'd rather see AA guys try and fail then emotionless "pros" who phone it in. Thank you!

Well one guy can't turn a whole hopeless team around, like Baltimore. What's so maddening with us is we HAVE talent, but it's disappeared. I'm glad Ozzie did this. Although it is way too late. It's time to start calling these guys out on their embarassing lack of enthusiasm. I've never seen corpseball like this before. Interesting that somebody above mentioned when Sheffield was gone, the Tigers lost their spark. Sometimes one guy, regardless of stats, can be a "leader" on our team with "leaders" that really only have stats. Sound familiar? Hmmm... Anyway, way to go Ozzie and he's right. I'd be embarassed to be paid what they're paid and to be that bad.

That it was. Because it was so noticeably awful.

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 28, 2007 -> 03:36 PM) Did you really? Did your thoughts change once spring training started? Good point, Steff. Sure, we usually suck in ST but this year if I'm not mistaken was goadawful--to the point where people noticed how bad it was, right? And where usually you say "Aw, ST doesn't mean anything" apparently this year it was a sad precursor to what would be our season. Maybe we ought to pay more attention to ST, huh?

Not a lot new here, but interesting to see it all summarized in one article. They also mention the Houston firings. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-w...p&type=lgns

I say start with KW and replace him with... Steve Stone?

So we'll give it one more year before heads roll? I guess I could go along with that.

Interesting story today: Houston fired their GM and manager. After not getting the NL in '04 and losing the WS in '05 and last year, the owner had had enough. When will our owner have had enough?

Pros about Hawk: love the homerun call (my all-time favorite), and when he goes nuts when we make a really good play Cons: everything else. DJ, yes, does disintegrate into "schwetty balls"-like inanity with the two of them up there, but I've heard him without Hawk and he is NOTICEABLY more animated and interesting. Having Stoney in the booth for that week just showed how we could have greatness. Although I'd offset Stoney's interesting-but-flatline delivery with somebody a bit more excitable, or more of a loose cannon. But I'm tired of Hawk's hillbilly "wisdom" and sayings in... Chicago, where he never played. Nobody gives a crap about the BoSox, dude, especially back before power windows. Or the lackey-ism when the team is blowing chunks, like since July '06. Reinsdorf hated Harry because Harry would lay into the team--something we'll never get with the Hawkeroo. Replacing our entire broadcast team???????? Yesss. RANT CONCLUDED.

OMG that ill-Loaiza Twins game and Cotts at Yankee Stadium!!! LOL!!! I rember those... OOF. I agree with the poster who said it's better to suck from the get-go then cruise until the end and then fall over a cliff, like we almost did in '05. What exacerbates all this is... 2005. We thought that even if we don't repeat, we would at least see some years of being in the race and that we had finally overcome our 2nd place jinx in the then-Comedy Central. To be in dead last only two seasons later is brutal. And the blowouts--oh, the blowouts. I can't recall getting this shelled so often by so many teams, this weekend being the prime--but sadly not the only--example this season. I'm used to what we always do: kick ass for most of the season, then fall apart in mid-August or September. '05 changed all that. So when we fell apart after the ASB last year that I WASN'T used to, and we've basically had the same season since July 2006. The inability to put together any win streak past four sure sucks too, because then the week after week you're playing a zero-sum game.

I will say that when you get somebody as emotional as Ozzie, perhaps that is a problem. Or better: somebody who doesn't hide their emotions. Sure when things were good and he was bouncing around the dugout in '05 we loved it. Then after the ASB Cliff of 2006 gone were the smiles and the clowning and the "Let's go boys!" and instead we got Sulking Ozzie, sitting there, hell... bringing me down. Plus, the tirades with the pitchers in front of the team. I think of managers like Joe Torre, LaRussa, Leland, the Cleveland guy, Gardenhire... they're pretty much poker faced during games unless they get pissed. So I wonder if he's awesome when things are good but those manic/DP lows are what's just exacerbating the problem. Just a thought, don't know this for sure.

WITHOUT A DOUBT. Check out my record below. Opening Day blowout, being at five of the six Cubs games and being 1-4, being at a -20 wind chill game Saturday of opening week (at least we won that one), going to my first doubleheader since the 80s and getting shelled both games by the Twins. Never having a win streak more than four games. This season to me has been like the third Matrix movie, where everything that sucked about the second one was expanded and even more featured in the third. The misery of 2nd half '06... it's like they took that and said "Here, have a whole SEASON of it!" I can't wait until it's over and that I've NEVER felt.

LOL Gregory! Yeah, I guess you could go that way too...

We all have talked about firing Walker for almost all season. I was curious: so you get his job. What do you fix in our hitters? What are they not doing that they should be doing? I'm talking more about the regulars and not the new guys because we don't even know if the new guys can even hit, period. But we all know hitting's a problem and that's been covered at length. There's a lot of smart baseball people here; pretend you're a scout and have watched the Sox all season--what's your report? (Only because I don't know a ton about baseball but have learned a ton here).

I'm watching the Little League championship. I already saw today's Sox game twice Friday. And yesterday. This is like Groundhog Day, from hell.

You could look at it that way, but that's living in the past. Something I'd rather not do. And something the organizations seems to be doing.

This season is so far gone I'm fine with seeing what LF looks like with Fields in it. Why not? If we lose every game from this point on, none of it matters anyway, so you might as well start setting up for 2008.

I think what people want to say is: I'm embarassed that these are the Sox I'm a fan of. I've never really felt it before but when we were swept by the Cubs at home I remember being embarassed. Same thing when we got swept in the double header (sound familiar?) with Minnesota here, both games which I attended. I'll never stop being a Sox fan, but they're not giving us anything--anything--to deserve our support right now. We're all frustrated; thankfully this is over in a month.

The look on AJ's face after he got plunked and walked to first base pretty much summed up the entire season. It was a look of "Get this over with already."