LVSoxFan

You need to read the Sun-Times today. Garland was hanging out in Ozzie's office shooting the breeze after that incident; so much for a big grudge between those two. I don't think he's lost the team, but this whole collapse has been awfully strange. I do agree that this entire team is built on starting pitching, and when that's not happening--as it really hasn't been--it all sort of collapses. That still, however, doesn't explain the AWOL offense. 3.5 runs per game since the ASB. That is awful.

Sorry I got the timeline wrong with Buehrle's Cubs game and yes, we started to falter heading into the ASB but let me put it another way: heading in to the break, I thought: good, just what we need (since we were sliding), a rest. A lotta good that did us.

Granted, if I'm not mistaken we had lost a series going in to the ASB but holy sheeeet, did you see the Sun-Times today and how everybody's numbers went over a cliff after the ASB? What I'm looking for--and admit I might never find--is rationale. I'm soliciting theories both realistic and more out there, because again: the ASB seemed to have triggered something in the Sox that we haven't recovered from since. Buehrle was fine if not overpowing until that first game (EDIT) with the Cubs before the ASB he gets rocked like I've never seen before, ever. Yeah, there was that 7-run game at Minny but most of them were unearned, and he recovered and actually won that (ESPN) game. The bats that were racking up 20 against St. Louis went cold. Our bullpen became iffy. AJ now looks tired. Pods seems like a shell of himself. And Paulie, save for the dinger here and there, doesn't seem so .300 anymore (although his fielding has been good). Errors? Uribe, usually a rock, has made a few. Back to that ASB, back to that ASB. What is it about that break? Perhaps the team was tired and running on adrenaline going in, and that four days off (or whatever) physically brought them down to how tired they really are? I realize this is all speculation but what the hell: we have the day off (thank God). What say you, Soxtalk?

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Jul 26, 2006 -> 04:15 PM) This isn't meant to criticize you, LVSoxFan, but why don't people hold this issue for our minor league system as well? We're willing to emulate Minnesota's team philosophy of pitching and defense, why not attempt to follow a similar order for their method of scouting? Or developing players? Find out the particular players they look for in trades or drafts and attempt to mimmick it. Can't disagree with you. I think, post-WS, KW has fallen in love with the art of deal-making and even moreso now that he has some $ to spend. But yes, take a mid-market approach and run with it. I mean, sheet: Minnesota's without three starters? No problemo, just bring up three. And look at them.

We can recover when we start producing on both sides. Granted, giving up seven runs is unacceptable, but this 2-3 run sheet is killing us. Or being unable to score but once during a game. Somebody in the game thread talked about how Minny sprays balls all over the field and hits homers when we make pitching mistakes. HELLO. HERE'S MY LESSON: DON'T HATE MINNESOTA. DON'T ENVY THEM. E M U L A T E THEM! IT'S WHAT WE DID LAST SEASON! WE'RE STILL NOT MATHEMATICALLY OUT OF IT YET, SO...until that time, I'd suggest we take a look at them as something which should be emulated, and quick.

I'm going to watch my 2005 DVDs tonight and try and remember what it was like. Because I can't.

QUOTE(illinilaw08 @ Jul 26, 2006 -> 02:13 PM) Have you ever been in a Turkish prison? Attaway JD 3-2 I'm in one right now. It's called "U.S. Cellular Field".

QUOTE(Wedge @ Jul 26, 2006 -> 02:08 PM) looks like I picked a bad day to quit sniffing glue LMAO. Looks like I picked a bad day to stop drinking. Hey, do you like movies about gladiators?

Score please?

I agree with you about the slump thing. Things have just gone SO horribly wrong this month and we have not gotten ONE break, that you almost have to laugh it off and keep moving ahead, knowing that the worm is gonna turn at some point.

This isn't as bad as 2005 because there we had something to lose. We've never been in first so thus far we haven't been in a position to lose anything... that we never had. It doesn't mean that it doesn't suck royally and you wonder how, with a team that on paper supposedly was far superior to '05, this could happen. You wonder how in the hell a Detroit team on the verge of implosion last year (Pudge wanted to be traded, remember?) just cannot lose. You wonder how Minnesota, without three starters, is like the Cleveland of last year (and Cleveland, whom everybody expected to battle us for 1st place, is AWOL). Welcome to baseball, I guess. It sucks, and hopefully we'll pull out of it, but no: that last month in 2005 was absolutely gut-wrenching. A free-fall. This is more like a slow, torturous death, LOL...

Um guys: when that guy said "This is the team we got away from in '05" he means the '04 team that we got away from when '05 started. In other words: see if this sounds familiar--the feast or famine, home run-crazy team of 2004 that could score 12 runs or get shut out. The most startling statistic from last night was when they flashed the graphic showing how we lead either the league or the majors in runs generated by home runs. That is NOT what won us the WS last year. Fine, we cranked a few game-winners during the playoffs but over the course of the season "smartball" was what kept us winning (and our shutout pitching). What's killing me is all the rally-killing at-bats. We just CANNOT get anybody in. At least post-ASB. I wonder if we are a bit too slugger-heavy and slow and maybe that's our problem. In other words, I'd rather have an Ichiro than a Barry Bonds. What to do? I don't know at this point.

Yeah but on the other hand aren't we in danger of overthinking this and making the team so stressed out that they fail? Sheet, just win the game. The streaks will follow, as somebody said here.

Leyland, hands down.

Yeah I wouldn't say the Tigers have had a "funk" yet either. Losing a series isn't a funk. Not saying that they will for sure, but I can't imagine they're going to go all-out all season. Even we had our September swoon last year.

Hey here's something I thought of last night which you reminded me of. Remember what happened between '04 and '05 after we came in second yet again to the Twins? I'll tell you: we copied them. KW admitted it back then, everybody knew it--we weren't going to win with our combination of scrubs/superstars and our feast-or-famine HR derbies. So we decided to ape the Twins' smallball approach. And it sure as hell worked. So last night I'm watching them and I'm wondering: these guys are missing THREE of their superstars (relatively speaking) and they're just KILLING. They're playing like the Twins of OLD, and they made us look impotent and uptight (whereas we embarassed them last year more or less). In other words, they looked like we used to last year. And, missing three starters (big bats). I'm starting to wonder whether our/their type of team even works with too many big bats. Losing theirs seems to have sparked them. We have more than a few boomers and... well, here we are. But that's not the point of my post. The analyst in me wants to ask: what are they doing that we're not doing? Since we followed their lead in building our WS team, I'm trying to look at what's different about them. I'm guessing pitching would be #1. Santana, Liriano. Radke sure looked good last night. But what else?

I second that.

That's an interesting observation about letting talent like this manage themselves. You're probably right.

Is that what he said? LOL. That's a good one.

I guess deep down my point was: I'm tired of being down two runs and knowing that we won't come back from that. And I'm not the only one who gets that feeling. You could feel it last night when Javy gave up the lead; you could feel it Friday when I was there after Buehrle's five-run inning. Oh well. We'll see what happens.

Well let's not get too crazy; the team is still 20 games over .500 and by any stretch that's a great season--it's just that Detroit is so invincible this year. And Minnesota's doing what Cleveland did last year. I think expectations are sky-high this year to repeat and that's what's causing a lot of the tension all-around--including here.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 10:12 AM) hmmm....all I saw was not only Dye, but Thome also walking in Ozzie and Jon's direction in the dugout. It looked like they were ready to step in if it got ugly. Of course, we have no idea what might have been said by Dye. By the way, I have a whole new level of respect for JG based on how he handled that incident. It takes a big man to stand there and take it the way he did. Wow I had not heard that Steff! That's bullspiff. Look, there's a fine line between being an emotional manager and being a loose cannon, and I wonder if Ozzie's starting to erase that line. Going bat-sheet on Garland I thought was too much, and if he's punishing JD for intervening, then he's putting personal ego issues ahead of the team. KW needs to put the leash on Ozzie.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 09:47 AM) I'm gonna go with what I was told on the matter. But thanks for your info. This is what Hawk was saying during the broadcast last night. Why, what did you hear?

Well that's kind of what I'm saying. We had a powerhouse offense 1st half, and now they've gone AWOL. Should they wake up again, as I think they will, then maybe things aren't as dire as they seem. Also, people may remember that in '04 and even last year, Crede and Konerko weren't exactly good 1st half hitters and this year inexplicably they've been hitting around .300 since the get-go. So maybe their little "slump" has just moved later into the season. The point of this thread is not to be defeatist, the point is, we haven't "clicked" yet, and I think when we do things will happen.

How about our offense? I did a little math since the ASB and in the ten games since the ASB we are averaging 3.5 runs per game. The meat of our lineup has been atrocious lately, and as Hawk and DJ point out on what seems like every night now, we are dependent on the long ball. Well, dependent to lose, because while the homers just keep coming, they're solo shots (Konerko, Uribe last night) or too little, too late (Anderson--AND a solo shot, of course!). Clutch hitting sucks, we finally started bunting and excuse me: when did we last steal a base? Only Pods apparently can steal a base on this team, so nobody even bothers to look at first when anybody else is there. And Pods hasn't even been doing that! We also have a maddening habit of jumping out to an early lead and then blowing it, and then never coming back. When I was at Friday's game and the Rangers went up 5-2, the wind was sucked out of the crowd and, apparently, the team. We were only then down three runs, people! We can't make that up?!?! Last night the crowd gave up and apparently so did Javy when we went down 3-2. A one-run deficit, and everybody's throwing in the towel. In the sixth. What kind of defeatism is that? The pitching has NOT been bad lately. Contreras threw a two-run game in Detroit and we lost. Freddy through a good game, and we lost. Buehrle gave up one bad inning, but we were only down three runs. And we lost. Last night we managed to score all of two runs. So while I understand people are questioning Javy (what UP with that third-time around sheet?) and Ozzie (what UP with leaving him in that long?), I think you need the pitching to boost the offense and vice-versa, and that's not happening right now. When Javy gives up the inning and we're only three runs down, the offense should go out and shoot right back. We don't do that these days. What's the solution? I don't know. But I also believe that this streak is so absurd, and so bad, that that's all it is: a streak. If Minny and Detroit can just be cruising almost on auto-pilot right now and we can be this bad, surely things can reverse themselves as the season winds on. Which is why I'm not even close to calling it yet.