WCSox

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 01:59 AM) No, this isn't true at all. To keep it simple, he doesn't even come close to using the personnel given to him in the best possible situations. Marte was absolutely horrid down the stretch last year, everyone on this board could have told you what he was going to do that night and Boston and Ozzie almost blew the darn game by putting him in there. LOL at all of the Internet geeks who think that they know how to manage a team better than Ozzie.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 12:36 PM) I don't see a problem at all. I see more problems with players not executing in certain game changing situations that cost us games than I do Ozzie's moves costing us games. While I think it's incredibly stupid to put Mackowiak in CF with a healthy (and recently-productive) BA available, I agree in general. The vast majority of the blame goes on the players for lack of execution. However, Ozzie needs to knock this crap off. Even if he doesn't like BA's attitude towards winter ball, making comments like that to the press is completely unprofessional and counter-productive.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 10:06 AM) I was just about to post the same thing. Who quits first? The players, the coaches, the fans, or the ownership? The white flag trades tells me sometimes it's the ownership, last years fans jumping off the cliff in September, tells me sometimes it's the fans, I wonder if we can really ever tell if it's the players. Good point. I don't see any evidence of the players or coaches quitting. What I do see is a group of tired/injured players dragging right now. And I don't see any evidence of the coaching staff throwing in the towel, either. But I do see a lot of fans "quitting" on a manager that won them a championship less than a year ago. Ozzie is nowhere near perfect and never above reproach, but I think that he deserves better treatment than this.

No, but I think that a number of fans here have quit.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Sep 6, 2006 -> 08:03 AM) I just wish you guys would come up with a new argument. It's not his fault the pitching is bad, or that the hitting is bad when it is, and he brought us a championship. Nobody is naive enough to buy that crap anymore, and I wish a new defense of Ozzie would show up. Well, it ISN'T Ozzie's fault that the starting pitching is crap. Nor is it Ozzie's fault that Freddy struggles to hit 90 on the radar gun now. Nor is it Ozzie's fault that Thome, Dye, Jenks, Buehrle, and (possibly) Contreras have been playing through injuries recently. I'm really glad that you're not Kenny Williams, because you obviously don't know how to evaluate managers.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Sep 5, 2006 -> 02:57 PM) What made him more awesome was that he understood his role once he got off the DL and Jenks was closing. A lot of pitchers would have been offended by it, but he just took it and did what he could for the team. Hermanson is pretty much awesome. ^^^ And I wish him success elsewhere next season. I'm REALLY glad that Kenny nabbed MacDougal and Riske and decided to take a chance on Thornton.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 5, 2006 -> 11:24 AM) Promised and saw at the end of last year, he was the best the Sox had for the final month, I'd say that's more of an indication of what he's capable of than what he's done out of the pen this year. Kip Wells also looked like a bad-ass in a limited action in the late summer of '99. I don't think that B-Mac's mediocre pitching this season is necessarily due to the fact that he's pitching out of the 'pen. IMO, the inconsistency has more to do with youth and inexperience than anything else. Papelbon was brought in as a starter and did a pretty good job after being reassigned to the 'pen last year. I do agree that what B-Mac did in limited action last summer is a good indication of what he's capable of. But, like Jon Garland, it may take some time before he can sustain that level of performance over an entire season.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 4, 2006 -> 08:16 PM) Your best pitcher vs a bad middle reliever Tavarez was a pretty good middle-reliever from '03-'05. He had a bad April and June but given his track record, it's not surprising that he's pitching well again.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 4, 2006 -> 07:21 PM) McCarthy deserves some criticism...he's been real bad this year in close games. It's just such a waste of a season for him, and he's not a reliever with his stuff. Just last week, people criticized Ozzie for not using B-Mac in big-game situations. I'm so sick of people making excuses for Golden Boy's mediocre pitching this season. He's had all freaking season to adjust to the sporadic work that a long-reliever gets. At some point he has to get the job done, despite the fact that he's been a starter thoughout his career and despite how many innings he has or hasn't thrown lately. I really think that B-Mac will eventually be a very good pitcher, but he has a long way to go.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Sep 2, 2006 -> 07:50 AM) Yeah the defense behind him in his last few outings hasn't exactly been fantastic. Still we need Jose to turn it around. If he's hurt, he needs to tell the Sox Brass ASAP. If he can pitch effectively through the injury without any negative long-term effects, I'd rather have him out there. He wasn't lights-out last night, but the defense behind him was atrocious.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Sep 2, 2006 -> 01:17 AM) If we're not there, I'll be cheering for Oakland all the way. I know Frank has a ring (and it's well deserved), but it would be awesome to see him get one playing a bigger part in it than he did last year. ^^^ A steroid-free Frank reaching 500 career HRs would also make him a lock for Cooperstown. Here's hoping...

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Sep 1, 2006 -> 11:42 AM) Did you honestly just bring stats to a Vazquez discussion? Are you not aware that he sucks. Every year there is a new scapegoat, this year its Vazquez. I mean where was the "B-Mac lost another game" thread after last night. Oh yeah every one is an apologist when it comes to him: "he takes a while to get ready", "hes not getting consistent work". Where are the: "Some times it takes a pitcher a year to get settled in a new league and new ballpark" threads? Anyways I like Javy and basically feel that if he can get comfortable with the Sox and the AL he will become one of our best pitchers for a few years. I'm not sure that I share your optimism, but I think that the Sox need to stick with him for at least another year, especially since Freddy looks like he's already on the down-slope of his career. Also agree that B-Mac gets way too many free passes here. I like the guy and think that he may be the next Mussina, but I'm getting sick of the excuses as well.

There's nothing wrong with Hawk being a homer as long as he's objective most of the time. Anybody who's had the misfortune of listening to Rex Huddler's commentary during Angels games knows the difference.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Aug 31, 2006 -> 12:43 PM) I will gaurantee right now that Zito will not get more than 5 years $75M, Oswalt got a ridiculous amount of money and years, I can't see him getting anymore than that even if the Yakees and Red Sox are bidding for him. Zito has been less consistent and less dominant than Oswalt in recent years. Agreed that he'll get less money.

QUOTE(stretchstretch @ Aug 31, 2006 -> 10:38 PM) However, the problem is we were a good asshair away from losing the two games we did win in this series, so it was a weak 2-3 rather than a solid series for the pale hose..... Agreed, but the bottom line is that we won the series. How many games did the Sox win by an "asshair" last season? A win is a win. Given that our two worst starters took the mound in the D-Rays series and one of them actually put up a quality start, I'm not feeling that pessimistic. We also took over the WC lead in that series. I think that there's a lot to feel good about at this point.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 31, 2006 -> 05:21 PM) The other side of that token though is this...if we were to sweep a team, that leaves us room to go 1/3 against a team, say Minnesota, or Detroit, or Oakland, etc., and still be able to come up with 97 wins. Agreed, but my point of contention has to do with people expecting sweeps and throwing a hissy-fit when it doesn't happen.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 31, 2006 -> 03:58 PM) It's the end of August.....and we're 1/2 game up in the Wild Card. If I were to take a step back, I would realize how fortunate we are to be in this position. This has been a very frustrating season so far....but we're still in a much better position than we've been in any of the last five years besides for 2005. We control our own destiny, and that's a lot better than having to hope that teams can beat the Twins like we've had to hope for in previous seasons. By no means is this team clicking on all cylinders right now, but they still find ways to win games. Just as last year where a 2 run lead in the 3rd inning seemed like a guaranteed victory, the games this leads this year don't feel safe even after Jenks retires the 26th out of the game. It's time for some solid September play...and it would be nice to see us get off to a good start by not making Runelvys Hernandez look like Cy Young/McCarthy. Nice post. Given how mediocre our starting pitching as been, how our 'pen isn't lights-out like last season, and how incredibly tough the Central has been this year, being in the Wild Card lead with barely over a month to go says a lot about this team. Despite the adversity, these boys are still finding ways to win games. Whatever happens from here on out, I'm proud of them.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 31, 2006 -> 04:20 PM) It shouldn't be. It would have been good enough in 05. Not this year. I hate being like this, but that is the situation at hand. Our pitching was also a hundred times better last year than it is now. Given that, I'll take 2/3 against the D-Rays. QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Aug 31, 2006 -> 04:22 PM) That's the same stuff I heard after complaining about the sox only taking 2/3 from the Cubs and Pirates earlier this season, or the split with KC. These are the teams they need to sweep. If they miss the playoffs, it'll be because they can't beat really bad teams. Sweeps are icing on the cake and it's unreasonable to expect the Sox (or any other team) to sweep anybody... even the bottom-feeders. Winning each series is a more reasonable goal. If the Sox win 2/3 of their next 29 games, they'll end up with 97 wins. That'll almost certainly get them the Wild Card... and possibly the division title if the Tigers continue to suck.

QUOTE(ottawa_sox @ Aug 31, 2006 -> 03:54 PM) Vazquez gets pulled early ........ we go right to the vaunted Thornton and McCarthy and lose. Still it's Ozzie's fault. Ridiculous how our manager gets blamed every time. ^^^ Even though the Sox played an ugly series, they won two of three, got a quality start out of Javy (when was the last time that happened?), got a decent outing out of Garland, and captured the WC lead. A sweep would've been nice, but it's unrealistic to expect one... even against the Devil Rays. It wasn't pretty, but they won the series. That's good enough for me.

QUOTE(G&T @ Aug 31, 2006 -> 12:58 PM) 20 double plays on more bad hitting by PK.Nothing like pulling a hanging curvie ball that off the outside corner. Paulie's extraordinarily difficult to watch when he's slumping. Way to pick him up, A.J.

When facing RHP, I'd rather Pods be in the lineup. If he's getting on base, he's a tremendous help to this offense. Gload or Mackowiak can come in as defensive subs later in the game.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 30, 2006 -> 04:59 PM) OPS This season: Cantu: .685 (.559 in August) Nawton: .886 (1.093 in August) Wow, I had no idea that Naaawwton was on such a tear. Good for him.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 30, 2006 -> 04:49 PM) Baldelli, CF Upton, 3b Crawford, LF Norton, DH Witt, 1B Cantu, 2B Young, RF Zobrist, SS Paul, C Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, but why is Cantu hitting 6th and Greg Freaking Norton is in the cleanup spot? I had forgotten all about Josh Paul. LOL.

QUOTE(Bonderman38 @ Aug 30, 2006 -> 02:00 PM) Guillen is the only one that has been horrible. Ordonez and Thames not good either. Inge ain't that great, either. Maggs was one of the better defensive RFs when he was in Chicago. Not sure that happened to him. That said, I'd trade our defense for Detroit's current starters in a heartbeat.

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 30, 2006 -> 04:32 PM) IMO, he's a jag, but he's a great pitcher. Couldn't have said it better myself. I respect his borderline-HOF skills, but he's not the type of player I root for.