Dick Allen

QUOTE(JimH @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 10:36 PM) Definitely not absolving others of blame, not at all. Just saying the lack of execution is a team wide epidemic, not just limited to Rowand, etc. Jenks made a good pitch to get the first out and hold Ford at 2nd but he should have been smarter or the catcher should have been smarter after that ... they have a much better chance of getting Lecroy and Jones out by going up in the zone a little bit. The guy who really did his job and then some was McCarthy. As for Rowand, hard to nitpick because he's been very good defensively but that's been two very costly midjudges, they can't afford mistakes. It looked like Rowand got an awful jump on Ford's double in the 11th. Anyone see the replay?

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 10:29 PM) And you know what....it makes me even happier we didn't trade him. I was down on him earlier in the year when he threw his straight high fastball and didn't throw his change-up. Since he's come back, he's been fantastic. In the long run, we'll be thankful we didn't trade him. Not to sound even more negative than I am, but unless we got about 2 or 3 offensive contributors on this team for McCarthy, I still don't think this team would have had enough to win the World Series. I agree. The Sox are probably the only team in baseball that has a #3 hitter with the lowest average in the line-up.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 10:27 PM) Pretty hard to stay focused when your offense has 3 opportunities to score and doesnt. Its also hard to have 1-2-3 innings when your CF doesnt know what he is doing. 1 run in 20 innings after the homerun that was supposed to turn this slide around. I'm choking just thinking about it.

Hats off to BMac, he was awesome tonight matching Santana pitch for pitch. In fact he may even have been more impressive. The fact that he's a rookie makes me think he could be a star.

QUOTE(JimH @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 10:13 PM) There's a whole other side to this equation, and that's for people who like to come here and not listen to non stop negativity. I would feel differently if it were just now, i.e. these last two weeks. It's been the whole damn season. Those who have an opposing viewpoint have as much right to express it as he does. I am here a lot and since Feb. 2003 I have about 6500 posts. He's been here a year and a half less and has 1.5 times as many. Maybe when people dominate the board and post non stop, criticism will get flung their way. Just an observation. The majority of his posts are in game threads where totals add up quickly. I don't think its fair to say he dominates the board. The fact is he watches or is paying attention to just about every game, and is usually commenting on it. People don't have to read his posts. They can put him on ignore, but he was the one who did call this collapse. I don't think its right to criticize people for being correct. Its not his fault the Sox keep losing winnable games.

QUOTE(Harry&JimmyRocked @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 10:11 PM) the funniest s*** is the fact that ozzie is saying he'll retire if the sox win the world series. He should retire right now.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 10:00 PM) How so? I didn't see the play, but wasn't Widger on first base? And BTW, I thought also that Widger should have been pinch ran for. Someone needs to tell Ozzie we have an extended bench. I'm thinking a pinch runner who is going to steal second. If he's thrown out, Crede with 5 career walk off homers is leading off the ninth.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 09:26 PM) I'll tell you fathom, publicly, right here and right now. Every time you bash this team, and say they are not going to make the playoffs, you turn around and say "please don't question how much I root for the Sox". f*** that. You know, if you did, you'd say something positive once in a while. 95% of your posts are about what is wrong... but we're supposed to believe that you're all Sox, all the time? I have trouble with that, and I know others do, which is what gets us into these conversations. I *WILL* question you based on your history here. Sorry, but that's the truth, and I'm just calling it as I see it. I'm getting tired of people laying into fathom and questioning his loyalty to the Sox. First off, if he wasn't a Sox fan he wouldn't have over 10,000 posts on a whitesox message board. The guy is a fan,and a very knowlegable one at that. Jerry Reinsdorf was on Channel 11 several months ago, and he stated he always thought negatively about things when they went wrong, and I don't think you could question his loyalty. He was going nuts tonight when the Sox failed to capitalize on their chances, and when they eventually blew it. John Paxson was in is box and when Jones ripped the 2 run double to make it 4-1, he knew JR well enough to start heading home. Fathom is the same way, as are many others including myself. Anyway, my point is if you don't like what fathom has to say, put him on ignore, it will only be your loss.

I just got back in the game, can someone tell me why Widger wasn't pinch run for with a guy who could steal second in the 8th. The run would have scored on Crede's single.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 04:45 PM) You're going to hear a lot of b****ing from Hawk tonight if this lineup struggles. That would be refreshing.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 04:40 PM) He's done this at least the last couple times Santana has shut us out. You know...I wonder what righties would be hitting against Santana if you could exlude the White Sox. The OPS is about .150 higher for lefties as well. Maybe a couple of his pitches will find a bat tonight.

Righties are hitting .203 against Santana and lefties .260. Looks like Ozzie is applying the same philosophy he uses with his relief pitchers to the line-up now.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 03:35 PM) How ass backwards would that be? Hawk goes out of his way to praise the likes of JP Howell, Scott Elarton, Kysle Loshe instead of taking the offense to task, then speaks his mind when they are up against a bona fide Cy Young contender. I don't buy it. Because they keep doing the same thing over and over again against Santana. I imagine he wants to stack the line-up with lefties to take away Santana's change.

Ozzie said at Soxfest that the White Sox would win the division. This was at a time when Willie Harris was the starting secondbaseman, and the guy Ozzie himself called the team MVP a month and a half ago wasn't part of the organization.If winning 91 or 95 games is good enough to win the division or if the number is 80 like San Diego that's fine. If the number of wins needed to win the division is 96 or more, and you have 95 you have failed. Managers basing their performance on the number of wins, and not championships or playoff appearances is akin to players only caring about their individual stats. Ozzie also said a month or so ago when the Sox still had a double digit lead that if they didn't win it was his fault. So it appears Ozzie really has not matured much from when he was here as a player. He can talk the talk when things are going fine, but when trouble hits his tune changes. This is not a trait of a great manager.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 01:53 PM) Better suggestion would be to trade him to a team desperate for a leadoff hitter. I know it won't happen, but a lot of teams might overpay for him. If they gave KW a #2 pencil they would be overpaying for him.

QUOTE(knightni @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 11:34 AM) Hafner hits all those homeruns because the ball flies away from screaming at his ugly face. My friend and I were commenting on the handsome Mr. Hafner last night. His scoreboard photo looks like Shrek.

It ain't cool bashing AJ's wife. I bet she would find these pictures interesting.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 01:20 PM) I have already charted a full scale EXCUSE-O-MATIC to explain our late season slide. Entire point is to make sure the persons held responsible aren't identified. I mean, don't teams blow 15 games lead every year? Excuse #1: "Guillen obviously was good enough to build a 15 game lead in this division." Ignore the collapse, mismanagement of in-game situations, and odd lineup shuffles. Excuse #2: "Offense has drastically underachieved." This, of course, is a possible prelude to suggesting "this offense is fine and can't be expected to be this terrible next season." We've seen the numbers (aside from HR's) over an entire season. Oh, it can and WILL be repeated. Excuse #3a: "Williams did all he could last offseason changing this team's philosophy; #3b: teams weren't willing to deal a the trading deadline; #3c: it's not his fault the offense didn't perform."All can be addressed with several suggestions. First, our 'philosophy' needs revision (ozzieball is bulls***). Second, the inactivity relating to other teams or their outrageous asking prices is irrelevant. Point is he failed to make a move and will be remembered for it. Finally, it's Williams duty to upgrade this offense. If he doesn't, UH OH--GOODBYE in 06'. Most likely the offseason of 06'; but regardless, next year is his ass on the line. Whether this club wins 91 or 97 I will not accept a lineup comprised of nearly the same people. Although possibly the biggest excuse may come from this man: You know DJ, it's just one of these things with baseball. One day you're on top, next day-- POOF, you're struggling to compete. That's why you play the games, and that's why I love this game. This post is nothing but the truth.

The play in KC where he's standing in foul territory waiting for the ball to come down in fair territory and it goes for a triple and error for a virtual inside the park home run on a play that is made in the Pony league sums it up for me. Carlos Lee wasn't very good defensively, but you are really stretching it if you say Pods is a defensive upgrade.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 12:20 PM) Disturbing: "This was disappointing because I didn't feel the energy," A.J. Pierzynski said of Wednesday night's game. "We can't have that right now. That's what was disappointing." No energy. Hm. That's great to hear. I mentioned this somewhere earlier. The team looked bored to tears last night. Between pitches they are all looking down, there was no look of intensity at all. How does that happen in a game as important as last night? If Manuel was still managing the lack of energy would be blamed on him.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 11:29 AM) Who else do we have that we can put in there? You can leave him in there, but he shouldn't be leading off. The Sox need someone leading off who may be able to produce runs. Go back to a couple of guys who did lead off last year a few times if necessary. Rowand or Uribe should lead off tonight. My preference would be Uribe. He's been taking pitches and might lay into one. It would be better if he had one more at bat than Pods tonight rather than the other way around.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 11:01 AM) Here's a thought on how to beat Santana: Pods bunts for a single. He steals second. Iguchi sacrifices him to third. Carl hits a sacrifice fly. Sox lead 1-0. Call me crazy, but if you want to beat Santana, you'd better start playing "ozzie" ball again. Pods is hurting. He is stretching his groin a lot when he's playing the field and has a little limp when he is jogging. I really can't see him stealing consistently, and if he's not, you must move him out of the lead off spot.

QUOTE(Wiredawg1 @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 10:41 AM) Let him try that s*** again, and Guerhle will be digging Pronk's foot out of his ass. Any way you slice it, that was a s***ty thing to do, and i'm fairly sure he knows what will happen to his happy ass if he tries it again. I can't believe people condone s*** like that in MLB. Calm down. It wasn't a fastball and it wasn't intentional. Hafner gets bean a lot because he's right on the plate. The pitcher has as much right to the plate as he does. God would Hafner look nice hitting 3rd in the Sox line-up.

When times are tough isn't that the time true leaders shine and not go crying to reporters about being booed even though "he" has 91 wins? Why is it that in his mind he is only responsible for the wins and not this horrible play down the stretch? Pressure makes you show your true colors, and its become apparent Ozzie's aren't pretty. Obviously the job was a lot easier for him last year when he had a team with nothing to play for in September. My advice to him is go manage a little league team in Miami and leave managing in the big leagues to guys who have stones.

2 of the best modern day managers will be available this off season in Piniella and Leyland. If the Sox won the World Series and Ozzie walked away it would be like winning back to back lotteries to me.