stretchstretch

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 30, 2009 -> 02:19 PM) I love how so many people here constantly call for the heads of coaches and managers, but express comparatively little outrage at the players' lack of execution. fact: since August 2005, this team has changed a WHOLE lot of names and faces, including signing many big name players and maintaining a top 5-10 MLB payroll.... yet every Aug-Sept including 2005 and since, I've essentially wanted to slit my wrists watching this team the last two months of the season....Ozzie has been the constant during this time and with widely varying staff when the coach is the only common denominator on an "underachieving" star studded lineup, you have to look squarely at the leader and wonder why so many players, both young and veteran, seem to lose focus, intensity, will-to-win, hustle, etc in the key stretch of the year? I have been and will always be in the camp that says we won the WS in spite of Ozzie Guillen, rather than because of Ozzie Guillen....as has been stated too many times, the Sox were 0.5 game away from not making the playoffs in 2005 after being up by an ungodly amount heading into August. I also believe the relief of not having one of the biggest collapses in MLB history allowed them to loosen up in the playoffs, but that just like all seasons since the mgr was not able to keep his club battling and focused the final two months of the reg season. fact: this team has absolutely nothing to lose changing managers. players from many different teams that arrived on the sox clearly do not respond to him when things start going bad, and after FIVE CONSECTIVE August-Septembers of the same basic result, this fan for one, will try just about any other manager out there, knowing the only thing I have to lose for the pathetic amount of hours and emotion I put into them, is another pathetic final two months. hell, I'd take Jerry Manuel's "do nothing" approach at this point

enjoy September folks, talk to you in the offseason.........

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 26, 2009 -> 06:29 PM) We can take solace in the fact it's due to a fluke occurrence and it's not conditioning or existing injury related. yes, but an occurrence that's not surprising the way this season's gone so far......I mean it's another sign to the faithful not to put our hopes in a savior

QUOTE (Wanne @ Aug 25, 2009 -> 11:03 PM) Oh I'm in...just not expecting too much and am not putting so much emotion in it anymore. I'll still watch and cheer...just not gonna let it effect my nights anymore. what's your secret, and where can I buy some??

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Aug 26, 2009 -> 04:03 PM) Anytime Dye wants to start improving these post ASB numbers let us know. .184 BA .292 OBP .288 SLG .580 OPS 4 homers His numbers are so off he must be hurt. His first half numbers .302 BA .375 OBP .567 SLG .942 OPS 20 homers WOW! talk about two different guys!!

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 26, 2009 -> 11:49 AM) Maybe the team is tired from the record heat of the summer? How many 90+ degree games have we played in this summer? Two? c'mon, half the roster is from south of Florida. it's like my son's coach (former Dodger coach '74-'98, Mark Cresse) says on hot days "hey listen, there are thousands of kids in the Dominican who play in this every day of the year and their parents have to beg them to come off the field. if you can't take this you'll never compete with those guys"

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 26, 2009 -> 10:32 AM) WE'RE STILL ONLY 4.5 BACK!! and that would matter if we were surging from 7+ back like MIN, and DET was slumping, but it's the opposite......Detroit has looked like absolute winners against LAA the past two days, and we've looked absolutely pathetic for three straight series, two of which were against the worst the AL has to offer........and overall the team just looks lost in nearly every facet of the game, including confidence, people point to a lot of places, but I have to question the leader/manager of a team who seems to make it's fans want to slit their wrists EVERY August/Sept for the past 5 years!!!! (yes including the WS year)... a lot of players have come and gone but as a franchise this is a constant.... the problem among those on this board is the same as the past 5 seasons.....on paper we have "so much" talent, but the execution does not match what we expect from the Names on continuous basis...... we all need to start reading the STATS of these players/team objectively/unemotionally and disconnect from the vision of what we think the players SHOULD be doing or are capable of. To a non-Sox fan the record in one run games, record when down in late innings, runs scored, runs against, LOB (our personal trademark), stolen base totals, staff ERA, tell the ENTIRE story, we're just all too blind to see the obvious because "Quentin was going to be the MVP" "PK and Dye were so great the first half" "what a resurgence by Pods" "Buehrle had a perfect game" "Alexei has five GSs in less than two years of pro ball" "Beckham is a ROTY candidate" "Floyd was untouchable for 3-4 consective starts" "Contreras was awesome for 3 games since coming back from the minors" but when you add up those mini facts they don't translate to a consistently performing team, and tends to negate the lows which outnumber these highs and leads to our current record and downward trend in the playoff race

oh, and for a quick barometer, BAL has not won a series since KC on July 28-30th and during that stretch, have given up an avg of 6-7 RPG, compare that to what we scored at home, in summer, when they're putting Guthrie (who?) and Berken (who?) on the hill.............

QUOTE (CSF @ Aug 24, 2009 -> 11:38 AM) Besides, the Sox seem to play up to the level of their competition, so maybe they come in focused & ready. Though it would be nice to play that way vs. some of the also-rans as well. funny how much this line being used on this board due to what we did AT HOME against LAA, NYY, TB we'll see how this works out when we're playing in their park........and with a completely Mendoza'd PK and Dye

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 24, 2009 -> 07:22 AM) I'm not really scared because it isn't as if we're in first and trying to hold off a charging team. We have been inconsistent and underachieved for the majority of the year. If we have a great stretch here with these games I am confident we will be in the playoffs. If we falter, it's b/c we didn't deserve it and we'll have to look towards 2010. Uh...... don't look now people...... but there's another team in this division that just won 5 of their last 6, is now only 4.5 games back, has an extremely easy remaining schedule against near or below .500 teams (which they typically do what they're supposed to against) having already finished up with LAA, NYY, and BOS, plays us at home for an automatic 3 game gain on the Sox, and finishes against KC at home, not to mention they're putting up about twice as many runs per game as we are to make up for any pitching issues they might have. the current division leader plays us 6 more times and has 10 games remaining against TB and LAA the talking heads have said very little about MIN, but here's a prediction, when they sneak up and take this division in the final week, don't say you weren't warned, it's not like they haven't done this a few times before

QUOTE (Hollywood_AU @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 09:46 PM) Tigers go down! A's b**ches!!!!!

QUOTE (ChWRoCk2 @ Aug 21, 2009 -> 08:14 PM) This Game is Ova. f***ing terrible game, need to pray Detroit loses. you know what, fk that, I'm tired of praying they lose to allow this pathetic group to get a playoff spot they didn't earn. I say let DET win the games they should and make the Sox earn the division, if they fall short they don't deserve it, no 500 team should be representing a division in the playoff

playing a 49-72 team with a 5.4 ERA guy on the hill, at home, with by far our best home park pitcher, and we get embarrassed, offensively at least. teams like this don't win divisions, and if by some miracle DET totally folds to allow our .500 play to eek a playoff spot, this heartless group is an easy 1st round exit for those of us out of town watching the game on gamecast, and seeing "insert player name grounds out shortstop, pops out to second base, etc" with runners in position, inning after inning, game after game, it becomes factually clear what this group is made of.

QUOTE (DaveBrown85 @ Aug 20, 2009 -> 05:37 PM) I got this from espn mlb rumors. "Diamondbacks right-hander Jon Garland has cleared trade waivers, according to a report on FoxSports.com. The question will be if any team would be willing to take on Garland's hefty contract, which has a minimum of $4 million remaining. The Fox report says finances could prevent Garland from being unloaded." I think that if he didnt have that much money take a shot cause i dont think Jose and Freddy are going to fair to well. why stop the 05 reunion tour at Pods and Freddy??? I'd like to see me some Guch at 2nd base while we're at it!!

these are the games we need to go our way....

I look at the lineup on paper and I'm ecstatic, factor in that we added Kotsay, Rios, and Peavy, we should all be expecting to take this division at a minimum, we are simply underachieving in a big big way the fact that in the wins we have pulled off of late, PK's name is never mentioned, Dye's name is never mentioned, Quentins name is never mentioned, AJs name is rarely mentioned--if the three veterans from this group were performing to their paygrade and Q was giving 70% of last year, we'd be in 1st by 5 games right now, considering how hard DET is trying to hand this thing to us.

ozzie, LOL "Every time this guy hits a home run it's history," Guillen said. "One thing about Jimmy is he's really humble. If it was me, I guarantee you everybody in the stadium would know I [tied] Reggie Jackson."

QUOTE (RME JICO @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 11:09 AM) They have 7 players batting over .290 and have won 5 in a row. Great time for them to lose a few. Also, there pitching hasn't been very good. Lackey with a 4.00 ERA, Saunders at 5.07, and Santana at 7.31. Both Saunders and Santana have struggled of late, so those 2 games with Floyd and Danks taking the mound should be wins. take it from a local, they are awesome, hit for power, avg, all fields, speed at most positions, and great in late game situations, this will be a real test, even at home. they had an 8 gm winstreak prior to the one two losses prior to the current 5 gm streak, they're playing out of their minds right now, granted it was aginst KC, MIN, CLE, OAK

Just saw the final here on the left coast.....holy sh*t 7run 7th seals it

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 08:48 PM) I can't believe we're 3 outs away from being 1 game out. kiss of death

what's the LOB for this game?

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 06:12 AM) Watching SportsCenter = fail. That's your problem right there. ESPN/Sportscenter is single handedly to blame for what we see in the All Star games these days. It's their choice of coverage and over dramatization of certain teams and personas that is causing kids across the US (and some adults as well) to vote in favor of a 260avg jason bay, or 200 avg Veritek over those with actual AllStar numbers (who have to rely on player and coach voting). as a die hard fan of a team on the outside of their circle this is beyond infuriating. I can remember when the voting was still fan based at the parks, and the punch cards at least came with a summary of the guys key stats for some reference. The sponsor laden online voting now doesn't even list a single number for a "fan" to reference....and that's just the way they want it..... disgusting ESPN always argues, eg on Colin Cowherd's show, that they just give the people what they want to see, I would vigourously counter that they've successfully swayed people to take innterest in their interests, to the point now where a historically unsuccessful team like Boston now has the same unlimited funds to buy any free angent they want, and risk losing quality free agents to only the one team richer than they are....

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 4, 2009 -> 02:08 PM) Yeah, it's easy to say that now. But I don't think our hitting against Hochevar was the problem today. Floyd's bad 5th and 6th innings along with Alexei's lackadaisical play had more to do with it. Now if Hochevar pitched a complete game shutout today, you'd have a much better point. Brian Bannister has a 8.15 career ERA against us and we beat him up good earlier this year. Now if only Clayton Richard can give us a decent outing tomorrow... I hear you but you're kind of proving my point, losing the overwhelmingly favorable pitching matchup just happens, I never said the exact reason(s). Today, fact is Floyd DID have that 5th and 6th compared to his 1.7 ERA the past X starts or whatever the number is. Fact is we scored 4 runs against pitching according to the matchup we should hv lit up. Fact is people relax or whatever the reason, today it was Alexei, but it still happened. Simply put, the Sox don't as a team, for whatever reason, give that complete effort in these situations, I don't know why but they do....

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 3, 2009 -> 09:21 PM) Do Luke Hochevar and Brian Bannister scare you? of course it was easy for me to wait for the results of this game, but to reiterate my initial point with "kiss of death", you hv to be a sox fan for about one season over any of the last 4 yrs to know they hv an eery tendency to lose when the pitching matchup is OVERWHELMINGLY in our favor, and do the opposite when it's not....it's a Chicago White Sox trademark and 3/4s of the people on this board are well aware of it.... as soon as I read the pre-game articles on how unhittable Floyd has been the last month, and the followon pregame posts here saying the same, all I could do was grin having been there too many times before....

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 3, 2009 -> 08:50 PM) Now that we got Greinke out of the way, we should expect a sweep. kiss of death, thanks.