SoxHawk1980

Jump on the Mark Buehrle merry-go-round! Just step into the batter's box and he'll take you on a ride around the bases.

Watch your language. That kind of thing isn't allowed around here anymore. And no one is rooting for the Sox to lose. We're just wallowing in their persistent, consistent failure.

We've really got the whole team working together to keep this losing streak going. Pitchers, position players, manager, coaches. Maybe the grounds crew can ruin the field and get us a forfeit.

Great, now we give away runs. Thanks Joey.

It certainly isn't helping.

Hell yes, we'd better root for the Tigers. This team isn't winning the division. All of our eggs need to be in the wildcard basket. We're competing with Minnesota and New York for the remainder of the season.

Boy, if the Twins just sit on that change up, they'll hit a dozen HR's off of Buehrle today (because Ozzie will be sure to leave him in for 7 innings to make sure he gives up that 12th HR).

Actually, I think that most people are calling him not an upgrade. And that isn't because of one game with the Sox. That is basically because 1. He was done being a decent major league player about 3 years ago. 2. He was only good enough to be the Rockies #3 catcher. 3. He's about 47 years old now. 4. His hitting and defensive skills have deteriorated to approximately the level of your average American Legion baseball player. But he is a great clubhouse guy!

No, it is not just you. It is you and some other fans who will support everything Ozzie does because the Sox won the championship last year. For you and your ilk, nothing he does is worthy of criticism. He gets a pass on anything and everything. Everything he does is right because...well because he's Ozzie.

No one is saying that any comments on a message board are going to affect the outcome of games. No comments, either positive or negative, by fans on a message board make the team better or worse. This board is about talking about the Sox. That is what we are doing. Some critically analyze the team, and some cheerlead. It is equally "wasted effort" to criticize the team, and to cheerlead.

Overall, yes. He certainly made many more mistakes in the regular season...and this year.

The facts are the facts. Ozzie handles the pitching staff very badly. He leaves starting pitchers in too long too often. Very often, he just leaves them in long enough to get hammered, and then leaves them in for a few batters more. Additionally, his mishandling of the bullpen is well documented. Also, he loves to play bench players so much that we are typically playing with 7/9ths of the regular starting lineup. I can't believe you think his in-game decision making is even decent. And some managers can make bad pitching worse. Two starts ago, Vazquez starts to get hammered in the 6th. Ozzie leaves him in to take more punishment and allow more runs to score. Vazquez's last start, he again starts to implode in the 6th and Ozzie leaves him in to allow more runs to score, AND start the next inning (allowing two baserunners before finally being pulled). These are just two examples of many, many examples of poor handling of pitchers. Most major league managers aren't that bad.

Is Ozzie putting the team in situations to succeed when he plays his bench players almost as much as his regulars, including against the first place Tigers? Is Ozzie putting the team in situations to succeed when he routinely leaves starting pitchers out there long enough for them to fail and bury the team? The pitchers and position players aren't performing well. Ozzie isn't performing well either, in that he's making horrible in-game decisions. There is lots of blame to go around, including for Ozzie. I'd be happy to, but I doubt KW would agree to it.

So that championship gives him a pass for everything he does and doesn't do for the rest of his career? In reality, he's good at some things and bad at other things. His in-game decision making has always been bad.

Take a pill, man. Yeah, it is Ozzie's job to "redirect" this team to winning, and he clearly isn't getting the job done. And I'm going to keep criticizing this team for as long as they deserve criticism. If you don't like it, maybe you can start your own board where people limit their posts to, "Go Sox!" "I love the Sox!" "Ozzie is great!" Hardly worth the effort it takes to type that crap.

Works for me. His performance in games deserves to be bashed.

Ozzie is a good manager outside of the actual game. During the game, he's one of the worst managers in baseball. His in-game decision making is just plain horrible.

Calm down, gramps. This team needs to do many things to start winning again. The key is starting pitching. We've got 1 starting pitcher with an ERA under 4.50. If the starting pitching doesn't come around in a consistent way, we're cooked. Ozzie needs to do a better job of handling the SP's and the bullpen. The problem is that he doesn't know how to do it and I doubt he's going to learn any time soon. And of course the team needs more consistent hitting. Not just a few hits a game including a couple homers. That isn't going to get it done. But I think one of the biggest problems is that this team doesn't have the fire in the belly to win quite enough. They don't show the hunger they had last year. They aren't fighting for it like they did last year. Ozzie needs to do something about that. That's his job.

Neither being a smart fan nor being a blind homer fan lead to anything. But I think intelligent fandom is its own reward. I don't like going through life or a baseball season with my eyes closed, and then whining about smart fans talking about baseball reality.

Clearly you have forgotten that being a grinder is more important than actual hitting or defensive skills.

Blind optimism and rah-rah cheerleading will lead to NOTHING! Open your eyes and be a smart fan.

But his veteran leadership will completely turn this team around. It doesn't matter that he's 47 years old.

Stop complaining? Why? Their performances are certainly worthy of complaint. If they play well, there won't be complaining. Instead, they are rolling over and playing dead. They deserve lots of complaints.

You're right. This is the team that KW put together. He accumulated a bunch of slowish power hitters. This is not a small ball team.

Ozzie got drunk on all of the early season HR's andnow he is just waiting for them.