iamshack

Now go score some goddamned runs!

QUOTE (SoxAce @ May 12, 2010 -> 01:42 PM) I'll give Juan Pierre credit. He is trying to make me hate him less. This is one of those game that if Danks can give you 6, you take him out cause he's been battling all day, pitch count be damned. If he is still in by the 7th giving up 10+ hits even with 80 pitches, Ozzie should be fired. RIOS! Holy s***! He's already at 83 pitches, so chances are he'll be near 100 if he can get through 6 anyways....hopefully that will be enough for Ozzie.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 12, 2010 -> 01:41 PM) looks like he hurt his arm Oh my ahhm. It's broken!

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 12, 2010 -> 12:12 PM) The Royals have a very strong farm system and two really really good offensive prospects (Hosmer and Mosfauka or whatever the hell his name is). Mellville isn't panning out as planned ,but he still has middle of the rotation upside and the Royals have invested a ton in the draft and have a very strong system. Hochevar is looking like he has a ton of potential and his stuff has improved significantly over the past year or so (velocity, etc). So I don't know that I'd trade a guy like Greinke who is signed IIRC. I just spit out water onto my desk. Moustakas

I can see you guys are keeping your usual positive mojo going once again this afternoon...

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ May 12, 2010 -> 12:22 PM) If Teahen, Kotsay and AJ can not hit Carl Pavano they have no business being the team. Same thing with Beckham, Quentin and when he plays Nix against the likes of Dana Eveland. The bullpen should be used today to its fullest extent with the day off tomorrow. There are a lot of hitters around the league that have struggles with Pavano...he's very similar to what Garcia is to us...

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 12, 2010 -> 12:19 PM) 33 consecutive games of not hitting is a long time. Well, if you want to believe that Q is not going to hit, and Beckham is not going to hit, I can understand that. They do not have particularly long track records. However, I believe they will hit, and hit a lot. .

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 12, 2010 -> 12:16 PM) We just have way too many guys in the lineup where you are confident that they'll do absolutely nothing. But every lineup can make you think that when they are struggling. Think how much you thought that of Pierre...and now he's hitting .425 in May. Some of these guys are going to hit. You just have to have patience.

Danks has not been particularly sharp in several outings this year.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 12, 2010 -> 12:31 PM) I can see this team getting a little swagger back if we hold on to win this game.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 12, 2010 -> 10:42 AM) 16-0 Ick...I think Cecil Fielder hit a pair of bombs...what an awful day that was...

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 12, 2010 -> 10:40 AM) Who didn't homer in the opening game? It was a disastrous blow out to open the new park. 16-1?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 12, 2010 -> 11:06 AM) What's with all the stiff necks. They all blowing each other after a win? Doesn't seem like a frequent enough activity to cause stiffness...

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ May 12, 2010 -> 09:26 AM) I can see a woman naked in 3D every night if I want. Again,

I don't mean to imply that as fans we shouldn't look at anything that's out there that we want to take some interest in; by all means, have at it. But my experience has been that throughout the course of the baseball season, if you choose to, nearly every game can be justified as a "big game;" every series a big series; all kinds of points along the way become critical points along the roadmap. And what happens is these things rarely unfold as you think they will. Until you get til about August (this is assuming you don't fall completely out of the race), the season will have been "on the line" several times, you will have lost several "must-win" series, and countless "big games," and yet, you will still be presented with opportunities to get back into the thick of things. So if you want to live and die with all these things in May, more power to you. All I'm saying is that if you take care of your own business, these things have a way of sorting themselves out throughout the long season and you find yourself within 5 games or so with about 40 left to play. That is when I start worrying about things like schedules and "must-wins."

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 12, 2010 -> 09:20 AM) Who said we wouldn't? Who said its not important to win games? Those are sort of obvious platitudes, this is a different subject. How many we win depends in part on who we play. Same for MIN. Therefore, this is important. Also, its important now for the reasons I stated - the next month will determine KW's path. In August, that isn't really an issue, typically. So you're going to start "schedule watching" on May 12th as we are 14-19. Ok.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ May 12, 2010 -> 07:56 AM) If I want to see a naked woman in 3D... a strip club works just fine. Well, I dont need a strip club as I am married, but you get the point.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 12, 2010 -> 08:03 AM) Disagree - I think its a good thing to look at the near future, since the near future will determine what if anything happens with the team in June-July. Next few series for both teams is important. Well you can say this all year long...the next few series are always important, barring a complete collapse. But until you start winning more than 50% of your games, who or what the Twins do doesn't mean a damn thing. Let's get our own house in order before we start worrying about what our neighbors are up to.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 12, 2010 -> 07:47 AM) Bingo. And please Ozzie, no more Jenks in important situations. Unfortunately, the fact that he had Putz and Linebrink up behind Jenks didn't make me feel any better. I think we're stuck with him...

Too early to be looking at this stuff IMO. We have to start taking care of our own business before we even concern ourselves with who the Twins are playing. Start winning series'.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 11, 2010 -> 06:12 PM) Well, if you had the aforementioned crystal ball, you'd know that. And how are you so sure that one of us doesn't own one. Because if one of you did, you wouldn't be able to keep the secret...you'd be blabbing all night long about exactly what was going to happen...

I don't think it's incredibly likely that this team wins much of anything, unless the Twins come well back to earth. That being said, I do know that this roster is better than what they've shown and that several of these players are better than what they've shown. Does that mean they will go 77-53 to win 90 games? Most likely not. But from what I've seen thus far, can I say with any more certainty than I could on day 1 whether they would win 90 games? Not really, to be honest. Am I even worried about what the Twins are doing on a daily basis at this point? Absolutely not. I know that we need to start winning series, string a few 3 and 4 game streaks together, and avoid losing streaks ourselves. If we can do those things, I'll look up again at the All-Star break and take stock of what needs to be done then.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 11, 2010 -> 04:18 PM) I guess we have different opinions of this team. I don't they lose games because they're unlucky; they lose because they're bad. The bullpen has moments of brilliance, but they've also had moments of being horrible--including Thornton, who is probably the best lefty reliever in baseball. They don't hit in the clutch. Their OBP is awful. The defense has been bad. Winning teams win, and losing teams lose. That's how it goes. If they want to start winning now, and in bulk, great. I won't be holding my breath. And I'm sorry, 13-19 is a TON worse than 16-16 at this point in the season. That's why those tough losses are tough...because they stay in the standings all year long. They don't leave the loss column. No one is saying ANYTHING about luck. And I am not disputing the difference in the record. What I am saying is from your impressions of this team - that they are bad - you think you have a pretty good idea of just how bad they are. And yet, with just 2 or 3 single different occurences inside of literally thousands of them, our record could be DRASTICALLY better. So what I am challenging is not the facts, but rather, that when just a few individual occurences out of thousands can impact a team's record so dramatically, that you have not seen nearly enough to make any kind of accurate judgment on might happen in the remainder of the next 130 games. Not even close.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ May 11, 2010 -> 04:12 PM) I would say you are both right. The Sox could easily have the 3 extra wins they need to be .500 right now with as close as a lot of games have been. But what about the close games they've won, like in the sweep of Seattle? Additionally, even if we ignore those, the Sox would have to come up with a stretch of ball six games above .500 to get back to break even, so as easily as this team could be .500, the difference between that and 13-19 is still significant. Well for them to win anything, they certainly are going to have to have plenty of stretches where they win 5-6 more than they lose. No one is saying anything different.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 11, 2010 -> 03:06 PM) Shack-- There's a huge difference between 13-19 and 16-16. I hate to break that to you, but there is. Just do this...assume the Sox are out of it until they get to .500. When they get there, then see how many games out they are, and go from there. Until they get to .500, there's no point in being Mr. Positive. No, there isn't...there is a huge difference between how that shapes your impressions of the team. Think just how easily 3 losses could have gone differently and been wins....now if you think you can predict with THAT much certainty just how good or bad this team is, after just 32 games, you are on crack. I am sorry, but you just can't. Edit: By the way, don't mistake my argument for being Mr. Positive. I have not stated one way or the other whether I think this team will win this division or the Wild Card. All I'm attacking is this silly and ridiculous notion that after 32 games you can say with any degree of certainty that this team is incapable of winning the division.