Dick Allen

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 18, 2007 -> 10:05 PM) The guy up is a switch hitter. You bring in a guy that is right handed, forcing the hitter to switch to the left side anad he cant get out lefties. To say this was anything but a dumb move is beyond me. Pagan is hitting .412 with 2 homers in 17 ABs vs. LHP so far against lefties and hitting .600 against righties. If MacDougal isn't ever going to be able to get out LH hitters, the Sox are in big trouble.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 18, 2007 -> 10:01 PM) If you are telling me that Konerko and Dye cant hit because of Thome's missing presence then I question your logic. When Thome was here, they would walk Thome so they could get to one of the automatic outs behind him. Until Konerko and Dye prove they can hit, the only thing Thome will be is another baserunner to strand. Thome collects walks in bunches. When he's hitting well, he also walks a ton because he is seeing the ball so well. At the beginning of last season he was walking a ton too when he was hot. Konerko and Dye were hitting well then. I really don't think he was being pitched around, at least not most of the time. I don't think his absence is the reason the other 2 have been horrible. The Sox would be hitting more than .220 or whatever it is now if he hadn't been injured though. QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 18, 2007 -> 10:11 PM) Konerko had terrific numbers with the previous hitting coaches also. The only thing Walk did for Konerko is give him a boost in power. But then again, his maturity as a slugger could of did that also. Crede had one good year, and he was a guy who hit like crazy in the minors. Him struggling here is a big disappointment. Thome was healthy. If Thome is healthy he hits. Walk has nothing to do with that. AJ used to be an all fields hitter, Walk sure helped him cure that. So when they do well its because of the player, but when they struggle, its the hitting coach? The thing about hitting or not hitting in the White Sox case is you can know exactly what you are doing wrong and work on it and work on it, and not be able to do anything about it until someday it just clicks. I do think the Sox should think about adding some offense before they get too far behind.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ May 18, 2007 -> 09:58 PM) Thome was with them as they declined every month since last June. Thome was with us when we sucked early this season. Thome;'s absence isn't the source of our ills. Everyone else's absence is. Come on, DA. Someone has to be held accountable and you can't fire the players. But you know that this organization's hitting approach as a whole is bad If there was no doubt in my mind that a different hitting coach would make all the difference, I would say fire him. Chances are, if they brought someone else in the results would be the same. They players like working with the guy. That wasn't the case with Joshua and Ward. That's also why Walt Hriniak was let go about 10 years ago. He was gruff, and really tough on the young players. Konerko has had excellent numbers with Walker as his hitting coach. Dye has been terrific. AJ hasn't hit for as high of an average, but has been pretty productive and has had several huge hits. Thome made a nice comeback last season. Crede exceded everyone's expectations from Sept 05 to Sept 06. I just don't see how Walker can go stupid overnight. The offense is built to hit homers. That's not Greg Walker, that's KW. The leadoff man has a pitiful OBP, and has had one for several years. By the end of the season, most of these guys will be at their career norms, if not better.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 18, 2007 -> 09:43 PM) The entire team is all not hitting. What is it, a coincidence? f***ing luck? Or maybe a large scale conspiracy. Ward and Von Joshua were both fired for teams that couldnt hit that would look like the 27 yankees compared to our group. He is now working with Sweeney on power. The entire team cant hit, and he is trying to make our rookie line drive swing guy hit with power. Is he f***ing nuts. They are also playing without Thome, and for some reason, the genius GM has a roster that has even had to resort to Brian Anderson DHing in his absence. I just don't think Walker has gone from a decent hitting coach, if you look at individual numbers the past couple of seasons, to the village idiot overnight. The Cubs worked with Ryne Sandburg on hitting for power, and the Twins did the same with Kirby Puckett. I really doubt Walker wants Sweeney swinging from his heels. He probably wants him a little more aggressive.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 18, 2007 -> 09:40 PM) Lefties hit Mac very well, and Pagan hits righties better. Guillen stated after the game that Pagan hits lefties better. He is using only a myopic set of stats this year, .500 versus lefties, versus .high .300s against righties. Over his career Pagan has hit better from the left side. Pinella must of nearly wet the bed when we brought a righty out to flip him around, especially one who struggles against lefty batters. Buerhle needed to be lifted. If Ozzie brought in a lefty and Derek Lee came to the plate, how dumb would everyone have called that move?

If its the hitting coach that makes Paul Konerko hit .310 instead of .190, and Jermaine Dye .320 instead of .215, the guy should be paid more than A-Rod.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 18, 2007 -> 09:10 PM) 4 strikeouts out of the last 6 outs of the game. WTF does this guy do for a living. And I have heard comments that they are working on Sweeneys power. Thats it. The man has to go. The minute you start f***ing with a kids swing, before fixing the entire team who cant hits swing then you have no clue what you are doing or how to manage priorities. To me, Sweeney's power can wait how about fixing the contact issue, or Konerko, or Dye or the rest of the hitless wonders. FIRE GREG WALKER NOW!!!!! On the park gun at Weeds on the Wall field. I had to look to find it. Its on the light bar on the 3rd base side. They dont use it on every pitch. Logan was hitting 95 on the gun with his fastbal. Mike McDougal was hitting 91. Something is not right with that boy, he cant throw hard and he cant throw strikes. Almost everyone in the bullpen has really struggled at some point already this season. The starters are really doing a job. They are almost a lock to go at least 6 innings every game. Melton was talking about the bullpen last week, saying even when they aren't giving up runs, they aren't having easy innings. I just hope its better than its showed, and better than I thought it would be. A lot of people got caught up in the radar gun with these guys before the season started. The problems are, the velocity isn't there for several of these guys so far, and really none of them have much of a track record of major league success. Most of them have had their moments, but everyone of them has question marks. I really don't fault Ozzie for bringing in MacDougal initially. For all we know, Aardsma might have had the same results. I do question letting him continue in the 8th after he showed he wasn't going to be effective and it was a 1 run game. Dempster may have had a tougher time breathing had the game been closer in the 9th. I almost think Ozzie is anticipating having to use the bullpen a lot on Sunday with Contreras having a shorter recovery time, and also Vazquez tends to fall apart quickly after cruising along, so that may be why he didn't want to go through few guys today, but this was a game that they should have won.

AJ's clip was on the website as well. He really didn't say anything controversial at all, just that he was dissappointed he wasn't playing and he didn't need a rest. I don't know what happened between AJ's and Ozzie's appearances, thats the big question, and when Ozzie came on and North said, "hey Ozzie, what's going on?" Ozzie may not have known at that time he was on the air when he replied, "shut the f*** up". Listening to sports radio shows when you are a manager is only going to piss you off. Ozzie should get some Rush CDs to listen to on his ride to the park.

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ May 18, 2007 -> 03:58 PM) I see. I didn't realize we went undefeated in games against teams with worse records in 2005. You're missing my point. In a game you are up 3-1 in the bottom of the 7th with 2 out and nobody on, you need to win.

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ May 18, 2007 -> 03:55 PM) Honestly, this site is almost unbearable these days, and I don't understand it at all. We keep winning series and some people will never stop being negative about every little thing no matter what the sox do in terms of the big picture. Seriously, things like "this team is finished" and "might as well not bother showing up" and "fire kenny and ozzie right now" should be reserved for times when we are: a) losing 7 of 10 B) in 4th or 5th place c) losing series d) losing a single series this month e) losing series When you are in a tough division, you can't afford to be losing games like this. Games you should win.

QUOTE(chisoxfan79 @ May 18, 2007 -> 03:54 PM) Since Dumpster had a blow up yesterday he probaly strike out the side against us With only a 1 run lead, if something happened with one of the first 2 hitters, he might have fallen apart. With runs to work with and an offense that simply has a tough time scoring, he should be fine.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 18, 2007 -> 03:53 PM) Some bullpen we have....is that three guys with an ERA above 6? But they all throw 95. If you add a few MPHs on to their real velocity.

QUOTE(JohnCangelosi @ May 18, 2007 -> 03:51 PM) Admittedly the cubs have gotten a bunch of cheap hits but the decisions made by Guillen to KEEP FU*&ING MACDOUGAL IN IS FU*&ING GOD DAMN INEXCUSABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Giving Dempster a couple of runs to work with is inexcusable. But there are those that really think Ozzie Guillen is 100% the reason the Sox won the WS in 2005.

QUOTE(TitoMB345 @ May 18, 2007 -> 03:43 PM) I mean, atleast a 1 run loss is respectable. But now we're going to lose by 3+ to the f***ing Cubs. :puke losses to the Cubs are never respectable

Toby Hall is a DH. The run that scored on the pitch that got away should have been handled and that throw was awful.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ May 18, 2007 -> 02:11 PM) Mark is laboring to get outs. At least he's not like he was his last appearance on this mound.

QUOTE(G&T @ May 18, 2007 -> 02:05 PM) Wow. That might be the worst AB I've seen this year from PK. And that says a lot. He's been fanning at a big clip this season. The wierd thing is that he fanned less than he normally does his one bad season.

Buerhle needs to shut them down here, and the Sox should score a couple next inning. Toby Hall will be stepping to the plate.

QUOTE(Brian @ May 18, 2007 -> 02:03 PM) I think the wind is blowing out to left. Best yet, it shut Hawk up in the middle of another boring rant. I wonder what kind of success Yaz had against Catfish.

JD is starting to heat up. He probably has been ignoring Walker.

QUOTE(G&T @ May 18, 2007 -> 01:56 PM) Murton strikes out. 2 out. I'm surprised Barrett hasn't tested Hall. Buerhle's good move is the only thing keeping the runners from moving.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ May 18, 2007 -> 01:54 PM) Cubs batters will cry about every called strike today. Sounds like Hawk everytime the Sox are trailing.

I really hate Barrett. Anyone sees the t-shirts they are hawking near the 35th St. red line? Make the world a nicer place, punch a Cubs fan in the face.

At least this turns the line-up over.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 18, 2007 -> 01:45 PM) Hey, hey Toby Hall fits right in! Walker already screwed him up.