LVSoxFan

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 10:21 AM) Well, Schmidt's Gay was a great skit. Another one of my favorites that I never see is from when Alec Baldwin hosted. The skit was about an American spy plane that had an emergency landing in China (which I believe actually happened). And they're all treated extremely well by the Chinese, but Baldwin's character wants to try to take over the entire country. "Let's just say I was keeping it warm." Milkman you can find this skit on the Best of SNL: Alec Baldwin DVD. It also includes the outrageously funny sketches: -Tony Bennett Show -Joe Pesci Show (with Baldwin as DeNiro) -Your sketch -The "gay voicemail greeting" sketch -The "zingers" And a couple of other classics. Priceless. Well worth at least a rental.

I wonder whether they were really Yankees fans or Cubs fans with Yankee jerseys. Because: 1) Why would they cheer the Cubs?!?! 2) "Flukes play here"? That sounds like a bad retort to "The Flubs". How would New Yawkers know about that phrase? 3) Putting the jerseys in bags when they left? Huh? The one sad phenonenom I've witnessed over the past few years is Cub fans showing up to cheer AGAINST us, which I thought was: definition of loser. If I had to guess, that's with whom you were dealing last night. BTW Yankees fans may be bad, but Boston fans are the worst. At the Cell at least.

First it was Freddy in the pen for BMac. Then Javy (full disclosure: I suggested this too), now it's Buehrle. I guess I'm torn between whether you let the staff work it out--at this late, crucial time--or you perform radical surgery on the starting rotation in hopes of salvaging the season. I'll be the first to admit I don't know what the answer is, or if Ozzie is being stubborn or steadfast. I do know that Javy was lights-out last time, that Freddy looked good last night and Buehrle? Well, apparently he went through this in 2003 for a stretch and then just snapped out of it. But for all the trashing of all of them, including BMac: enough already! In the end, Ozzie's going to make this call and if we get burned because of it, well: we have something to talk about all during the offseason, then.

For whatever it's worth, my baseball expert Cubs-fan co-worker marvels at Dye and says he's not only the MVP of the Sox, but of the league, easily. Hard to argue. Talk about Mr. Clutch, BTW...

Props to: Freddy-- you pitched well. Lots of Ks. I like it. Paulie--the original hero J.D.--the ultimate hero Jenks--you held them off, although I was worried if he had to go another inning Crede--as always, you kill from both sides of the plate WTF awards to: Pods: Damon openly disrespected your arm by turning third and you didn't even challenge him Macowiak: my God, man, is there anything you can't bobble in CF? Cotts: these days you're like a guaranteed run when you appear; the guy didn't even have to swing this time Special award to: Cintron: for standing so far up in the batter's box that the Yanks protested, but you got the clinch hit. Love it. All in all, a good win. Can we please just leave Anderson in CF once and for all? WTF is with all the flip-flopping?

Nice work, VAFan, that just about sums it up. I guess we'll all have a much better idea what the future holds after this weekend. :0

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 03:08 PM) I find that very hard to believe. You must have been the only person to call that, aside from the 10 people near me at the Catcher's Inn on 35th. I'm sure. But I mean I KNEW it. Like it wasn't a wish, I just stood there, transfixed, because I knew it was coming. Just one of those weird moments.

Here's a nugget for ya: I called the Konerko grand slam. I just KNEW he was going to do it and I told everybody at the bar prior to the first pitch. And then, BAM. How weird is that? My favorite part is that, after they caught back up, AJ's on the mound with Ozzie and he says oh well, we'll just have to break their hearts again. And that's just what we did. Magical.

I have to admit, like Milkman has said, this is the JFK-type mystery of this year to me. Like: how does something like this drop so dramatically (particularly with Freddy) barring injury? Amazing. But it's killin us, that's for damn sure.

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Aug 8, 2006 -> 12:08 PM) Hey, I was watching the PostGame, and it was MELTON who said this, and he brought up a very good point. (by the way, the postgame show, with Garfien & Melton is very informative and entertaining) When I saw Thome crush that pitch into leftcenter, the first thing I thought was ....>SO WHAT, there was nobody on when he did that (thats another thread right there) , why couldnt we have baserunners on? The top of the lineup needs to be making things happen, way too many strikeouts from Pods (Ive said it a dozen times, Pods needs glasses) You are correct, and I agree. And I had the same reaction to Thome's homer: a lot of good this is gonna do this, ugh...

Oh I understand pitching is our #1 problem--no argument here. I'm just saying, though, it's so odd how we can't climb out of 2-run and three-run holes. Look, when Jose gives up only two runs and we still lose, you gotta wonder.

I agree with letting Buehrle slide on the tarp. Everybody needs to loosen up. They DO look AWFULLY tense all the time.

I think part of being a fan is being negative when things are down, without being defeatist. Let's rephrase: being realistic. I think this season is hard because we all had such great expectations. I knew we would never duplicate 2005--that much was obvious in the first month--but I don't think anybody ever thought we'd look this lackluster all season. Yes, we're 20 games over .500, but it's not been pretty. And that's part of it too: 20 games over yet we're a distant second behind Detroit, who is--unbelievably--40 GAMES over. That is sick. Nobody even expected them to be in it this year (although doesn't that sound familiar). Me personally I can handle a loss but it just seems that this team has no fight. There's no spark, there's no never-say-die attitude, a lot of frowns. Remember in 2004 when Tori Hunter's runover of our catcher sort of symbolically marked the end of our season? Because, as Ozzie said then, THAT was the kind of play we were lacking--that fire. In 2005 it was there all right, and look what happened. This year it just seems AWOL. Here's the best way I can put it: Ozzie: the genius of last year seems to be a lot more fallible/questionable this year Pods: the base-stealing maniac of last year just seems lost, behind the plate, on the basepath, in LF Gooch: my favorite all-around player, he seems listless at the plate these days Thome: no complaints Konerko: no complaints Dye: no complaints Crede: his hitting is a bit shaky but really no complaints A.J.: you wonder if his pitch calling is that great this year, although he's the last I'd blame Uribe: the defensive genius of last year seems lazy Bench: Pablo showed early brilliance but seems to have cooled. Cintron and Mack sure aren't blowing my socks off. Gload was the hero, once, but... same deal. Then comes pitching: Buehrle: My GOD, what has happened to you? Freddy: are you hurt, lazy? Both? Same with you. Jose: was killin' 1st half, but now has lost what, four in a row (although I don't blame him with little run support)? Garland: no complaints Javy: do I even need to say it? Bullpen: Politte flamed out. Hermy's probably never coming back. Cotts has been spotty. Riske I still can't decide. Jenks: no complaints. Thornton: no complaints. BMac: on and off, but generally I'm satisfied. So while last year was a smooth cruise, as you can see above there are question marks all over the freakin' place, and I guess that's what's made this season tough. I don't expect us to win the WS again--that's hard to do--but I did think we were the team to beat in the central. A third place potential finish just seems too much to take. But it IS still not over, so no white flags from me yet.

You know, watching us slog through another we-won't-come-from-behind loss last night, Hawk said something that struck me (or maybe it was Melton afterwards, I don't remember): our leadoff hitters are biting it, and so is the bottom of the order. Everybody's been on Pods (.190 since the ASB) but he pointed out that Iguchi has been cold too. What that means to us as a team is that when the Big Bats get up, there's nobody to bat in. Think about it: when was the last time you saw a Thome homer with men on base? I'm not saying it NEVER happens, but it seems like a troubling trend. Sometimes Konerko will bat in Thome or Dye will bat them both in but then comes... the bottom of the lineup, which ain't exactly on fire of late, either. And if you think about it, this explains a lot. When the middle of the order goes cold (as we've seen during that horrendous stretch), we're totally screwed. But when they're hitting well but getting no support from in front or behind, it sort of explains how we can't come back from three-run or two-run deficits that should be no problem. Hell, Thome's homer last night... a solo shot. And then... nothing. I'm not sure what the solution is to this, but is sure does make a lot of sense. When we're down two or three and I wonder: how can we not come back from such a small lead? I'm starting to wonder if opponents know that if they get through the middle of the order, that's all they have to do. Thoughts?

Actually what we're "due" for is to finally click. Hawk has said it many times, but he's right. We've never really seen this team gel yet and play to their potential on paper. Remember, on paper, these guys are superior to last year's squad. Yet the pitching was shaky to start. Then, when we needed it with the pitching, the offense would go AWOL. Or we'd score some good runs and then the pitching would give it all back. Sometimes the starter was good and the bullpen sucked. Sometimes vice/versa. Either way, to date it's never really felt "complete." Part of that also, IMO, has been Ozzie's sub-craziness all season, where you don't see the same lineup night after night. IMO we've got a window of a couple of weeks to finally start firing on all cylinders; any later than that is too little, too late. Ideally, that would occur as Detroit FINALLY hits some sort of a slump. We'll see!

Actually I see the next two weeks as a way to turn the season around, so I'm looking forward to it. Look, if we scuffle against the Yankees and don't kill the Tigers and don't sweep the Royals (or close to it), then I'm not going to have any delusions about how we'll end up this season. Let's be real here: Detroit is BETTER than we were last season (at least so far) and being that many games over .500 is insane. And that's also the sad part: we are 20+ games over .500 and we're a distant second? Geez. Unless the wheels fall off Detroit in the last two months--which granted, could happen to anybody--we're looking at wild card or nothing IMO. Nine games is a BIG lead for a team that hot. Although, weren't we up like 13 at this point last year, and almost blew it?

Unless Detroit completely collapses I don't see us catching up to them at this rate. Their winning percentage is just sick. It's like they keep inventing new ways to win just when you think they finally lost one.

For whatever it's worth my baseball stat-nut, fantasy league sports-geek co-worker (who is a Cubs fan but pays close attention to the Sox) said, when I first approached him on this question a while back, without hesitation: He's hurt. The only other explanation he could think of, when asked again today, was that he's worn out from the combo of the WS last year and in particular the WBC. For whatever it's worth. He and I don't believe that with Buehrle because a) he never threw that hard, B) the dropoff is not as severe as Freddy's and c) even he seems to agree it's a placement issue. But I agree with Milkman: this truly IS like the JFK mystery to Sox fans. I've never seen anything like it. Is there any precedence for this--the caveat being for somebody who was NOT obviously injured?

Well there's some optimism for ya! I'll go along with that, Jenks. For now.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 12:46 PM) And yes. Sorry, thought it was too obvious. Oh trust me, I got it.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 3, 2006 -> 12:15 PM) My post? Nope, sorry: the one above you...

Agreed. We succeed or fail on the basis of our starting pitching and they just have not been inspiring this season. But again: I'm not ready to throw in the towel until the end of the month. Let's see how August treats us.

Point taken. BTW I didn't say you said the season was over. That was just a general comment.

Shouldn't that be green above me? Interesting take Joey; you're right: sometimes it's the casual observer that notices things us "experts" never catch.

I see your point about Freddy and yes, that's lukewarm praise. Milkman, I was there twice last year and we lost both times at KC. This is when we were #1 wire-to-wire and were supposedly invincible. Sorry, but I don't "expect" us to sweep ANYBODY. It's always a bonus, but that's what it is: a bonus. I DO expect us to take the series each time, especially from teams like KC. That served us well last year and would probably serve us well this year, except we haven't been doing it and with Detroit so far ahead, it's a little more urgent than that. But KC has been one hot-hitting team these days--I'm sure you heard Hawk & DJ talking about that--so I'm not going to tank the season just because we didn't sweep them. This is baseball--you know that! Watch, we'll end up sweeping the Yanks or something. That's how it always works out. But I agree with you on Freddy; when I'm reduced to saying that our #2 starter (or whatever he is now) "wasn't awful," that ain't exactly inspiring.