joejoesox

this team isn't good, at least not right now if the pitching doesn't suck, it's the hitting, if the hitting doesn't suck, it's the defense, if the defense doesn't suck, it's the pitching the only part of the season where we were firing on all cylinders was when we won those 5 games in a row, and that was with the lineup in a very different shape than it is now how long will thome be given the 3rd spot in the lineup before ozzie realizes he's not producing, even against righties also, AJ seems to want to crush the ball every time he gets an at bat, i'd like to try and change his plate mentality a bit and shift more into "get on base" mode what about a lineup like this? 1. Pierzynski 2. Quentin 3. Dye 4. Konerko 5. Swisher 6. Thome 7. Crede 8. Cabrera 9. Uribe my reasoning for this lineup would be that perhaps it would give AJ a chance to raise his batting average or on-base percentage by trying to just get on base instead of always trying to drive guys in. obviously he won't be leading off every inning, and he will eventually be in RBI situations, but starting the game off with a more on-base approach might be better for the type of natural ability he has, which over his career he's shown that he can be a great contact hitter. quentin has done well batting 2nd, in fact he's arguably our best hitter so far this year, and I wouldn't want anyone else hitting behind AJ right now assuming AJ is getting on base a bit more leading off. Dye is swinging a pretty good bat right now, and is a genuine RBI guy. I think it's fitting (right now) to give him consistent at-bats in the 3-hole. I'd leave konerko in the cleanup spot, because mainly I'd like to see Dye generate most of the RBI's, and let Konerko get on with nobody onbase, or hopefully a runner at 2nd or 3rd already (Dye has great gap-power, getting extra bases) as he's been hitting into a lot of double plays from the games i've been able to watch. Swisher batting 5th seems appropriate, given his good batting eye and his ability to get on base at a pretty good rate would allow konerko to reach 2nd frequently due to Swisher taking walks frequently. Thome batting 6th makes a lot of sense to me in this type of lineup, as he (like Swisher) has shown over his career to be able to get on base via the walk, but also is a power-guy that can drive in a lot of runs. I don't really see Jim GIDP as much as Paulie does, so situations with slower guys on the base-paths don't really frighten me with Thome at the plate. Also, batting 6th might take some of the pressure off of him and allow him to climb out of whatever kind of slump he's in right now. 7-8-9 (Crede/Cabrera/Uribe) Crede has been a great clutch hitter this year, though not so much lately (tonight, he had 2 RBIs however). I think over his career he's shown he's comfortable hitting in the lower part of the batting order, so I would keep him hitting 7th. He doesn't have a great eye or great plate discipline, however he's a true RBI threat and would be able to generate a decent amount of RBI's in this spot. Cabrera moved down in the lineup to 8 I think would be interesting to see. Other than his 4 for 5 vs Seattle, he's looked nothing like the OC we've seen play for the Angels, so far this year. This would give him a chance, in less-pressure situations, to bat a sort of poor-man's 2-hole at the 8 spot, which could help him raise his average and give Juan (who's had a hot bat lately, I'd like to see this team take advantage of it) possibly more RBI chances feel free to disagree, I had put a lot of thought into another lineup change and I think this one wouldn't be too terrible to try all of the defensive miscues we've had lately, though, won't be fixed with a lineup change though, so this would only (maybe) fix part of the problem. the big picture is consistency and this team has shown pretty much nothing resembling consistency all year, hopefully it changes but I don't see it happening against a lineup like we saw today with Vlad, Torii, Matthews Jr, etc.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 7, 2008 -> 10:03 PM) I'm pretty sure the Sox were in the 11 to 14 range in the AL in runs scored during the 2nd half of 2006. i'll take those numbers I posted at any point in the season, I don't care if they correlate to being 11th or 14th in the AL, half of our lineup did a pretty good job for the whole year, a minor slump at the end or not, the numbers were still impressive.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 7, 2008 -> 09:57 PM) Crede absolutely sucked the last month of the season, and Thome struggled the last two months as well. Everyone points to the starting rotation falling apart, but our offense sucked it up as well. they sucked the last part of the year, who cares? what difference does it make when they started slumping, whether it's at the beginning, the end, or the middle of the season, and your'e talking about TWO god damn players, yet in every thread on this board you see this stated repeatedly over and over "our offense (implying, the entire offense) has sucked from the second half of 2006 until now" i'm done arguing about this, it's pretty ridiculous, nobody is going to give an inch on their opinion of the matter, so arguing either way is futile.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 7, 2008 -> 09:52 PM) So you want a fire sale, but don't want Greg Walker fired? i wouldn't shed a tear if Konerko or Thome weren't in a Sox uniform after this year, if this is what we're gonna get for the rest of the season don't get me wrong, i don't hate these guys or wanna see them "collide in the field" like some other bozo's, but a fire sale generally implies the players, i have no problems with our coaching staff except maybe ozzie and the fact that I think he's a toolbag.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ May 7, 2008 -> 09:52 PM) The 2nd half of 2006, all of 2007, 5 weeks into 2008... 2006 Post All Star Break: Thome - .274 .420 .522 .942 Konk - .313 .377 .541 .918 Dye - .313 .371 .595 .966 Crede - .270 .311 .498 .809 AJ - .262 .292 .427 .719 the only player of those 5, over half our lineup, that had a bad 2nd half of 2006 is AJ.

i just realized we've been shut out 2 of the last 3 games, and we also just gave a hitter the cycle. haha fire sale plz.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ May 7, 2008 -> 09:49 PM) Oddly we keep bringing players in, and magically they all have the same exact issues. I see a pattern. Dont you. Oddly, we brought Thome in in 2006 and he hit 42 Home Runs, and drove in over a 100 runs and hit .288. Oddly, Dye hit over .300 that year, so did Paulie. Greg Walker needs to be fired. The only pattern i see is on this message board.

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ May 7, 2008 -> 09:48 PM) If that is the case, then no coach anywhere should be fired at any point. i can think of a few reasons why a 3rd base coach would be fired, legitimate reasons.

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ May 7, 2008 -> 09:42 PM) How do you guys think the Sox evaluate Greg Walker at his job performance? I am being serious here... what do you think they look at that makes them think he's an asset to the team? I can't even imagine there being another pitching/hitting coach, given the talent he has to work with, that has done a worse job than Greg Walker. it's the players responsibility to take that coaching to their at bats, which they don't seem to be doing. that's the players at fault, not the hitting coach.

Good game, Mark. Good game, offense.

30 minute delayed start

QUOTE (False Alarm @ May 7, 2008 -> 08:32 AM) i don't think i've seen anyone talk about kenny's comments before the game yesterday in this thread. they basically echoed what tex has been saying, talking about how inappropriate and disappointing the incident was and how they'd had seminars on proper conduct in the locker room and with PR and everything in spring training, so this was exactly what they didn't wanna see. i think he mentioned something about speaking with the player(s) involved too. so it looks like there is a proper code of conduct, and i think the organizational response has been about right. i stand under the "players were wrong but no big deal" umbrella, btw. just wanted to make sure kenny's comments got mentioned here. That's what Kenny HAD to say, you do realize that right?

With the troubles the Sox have had this year facing soft tossers, Livan could potentially send this team back in time.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ May 7, 2008 -> 07:41 AM) LOL! Zing! Lots of hatin in that thread crow tastes like sh**, FYI

Cooper has a pretty impressive resume so far. If you can look past 2006 and parts of 2007, he's coached a pitching staff to a world series win, as well as being part of a no-hitter, and then looking at the reclamation project in Gavin Floyd who's nearly pitched two no-hitters this year, and helping Danks become what looks to be (knock on wood) a healthy, reliable addition to the Sox rotation for years to come Let's lock this guy up for another 4-5 years KW

Reporters should not be allowed in locker rooms. I don't give a rats ass how much money the players make, there needs to be a line drawn when it comes to their own personal time where they are excluded from the media and/or fans, and the locker room (the place where they dress, and shower) is obviously the perfect place for this seclusion/privacy. Also, a few pages back someone mentioned men and women both have equal rights in locker rooms. Unfortunately, at least in other Women's sports (Basketball, Soccer, etc.) male reporters aren't allowed into the women's locker rooms. Double standard. And before you proclaim me as a pervert, it's just as perverted for women to be given glances of men walking around with no towel after taking a shower, as a man seeing a woman doing the same thing. The last statement doesn't have anything to do with the doll incident, it's just a ridiculous double standard that takes place on a daily basis, a double standard that everyone tolerates. Now, these players should've put the dolls away after the joke had been made, given how the media CURRENTLY is allowed to enter the locker rooms (Ridiculous rule, needs to be changed) and report on pretty much whatever they want. However, Carol Slezak shouldn't have written the column on this as she was not even THERE when it happened. In fact, I don't believe ANY women were present when it happened, ergo she's "claiming" (Yes, there's a chance that this is all a publicity maneuver ala Mariotti, to draw more attention to the paper and/or herself) to be offended by something she'd only heard about, not seen with her own eyes.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 7, 2008 -> 12:36 AM) Your answer was good enough for me. It just proves that there have in fact been successful no hitters when a defensive replacement was used. There have also been successful no-hitters where a player or fan has said "No Hitter" during the game. Yes, it's actually true. BELIEVE IT.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 6, 2008 -> 09:55 PM) I did not see one person call or even hint at calling you a racist. Ok, if they're not, and I'm overreacting about it, then I apologize

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ May 6, 2008 -> 09:46 PM) Hakeem Olajuwon went to college at U of Houston. He's not Nigerian? No The fundamental difference between Carlos Quentin vs Ozzie/Pablo/Profundo Uribe Those 3 were all born in latin countries, and likely attended school systems vastly inferior to ours and probably didn't attend much (if any) college education, or play College Baseball Carlos is an american, whom probably has latin parents. He attended american school systems, College (Stanford), and has shown an incredibly high baseball IQ. The 3 aforementioned players, however, have shown mind boggling approaches at the plate, and baffling managerial decisions at times. Not to mention some of the things Ozzie says to the media just leave you scratching your head (This goes beyond the realm of baseball IQ and more towards IQ period) I'm not a racist, it wasn't meant to be a racist comment, people here threatening with quoting it or whatever because I hurt their feelings or whatever, are reading too much into what I was saying. I can see how the wording of it could've been misconstrued, however I was making a point about a few latin (born) players on our team and how they're, basically, stupid. God, I can't recall how many times Rongey and Boers have called Uribe an idiot, stupid, etc. And the national feelings toward Ozzie Guillen are, well, not great.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 6, 2008 -> 09:41 PM) This kind of reminds me of a guy I know on another board who waited until 3/4 of the season was over so McCarthy's ERA finally eclipsed that of Danks, and he could be justified in ripping KW for making that trade. But not a peep before that. except for the fact that I've been saying for the past few days that firing walker would be an absolutely knee-jerk reaction and would be ridiculous. but yeah, the similarities are there. making this too easy.

QUOTE (rafacosta @ May 6, 2008 -> 09:40 PM) So, if he was born here and have Latin parents (and name)...he is not Latin? I'm pretty sure if he starts to suck you will define him as Latin... Quentin went to Stanford, yeah I'm gonna start labeling him an intellectual idiot if he slumps. Logical.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ May 6, 2008 -> 09:34 PM) Did the Sox trade Cabrera and Quentin immediately after the game or did I miss something? Quentin is an american born citizen, who attended american schools. I was obviously referring to players FROM latin countries. Cabrera, I excluded him from another post, although I haven't seen enough of him to make that decision. My main beef is with Uribe, Ozzie and Pablo, none of which are naturally from the US. Stop turning this s*** into a racist comment, those 3 people are idiots when it comes to baseball. Some could argue for Ozzie, but I sure wouldn't, and from a LOT of people's posts I've seen around here, a lot of people think Ozzie is a moron.

We only had 11 hits tonight, Walker's gotta be on the way out the door.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 6, 2008 -> 09:31 PM) Are you f***ing kidding me? That better be green. Other than Cabrera perhaps, no it wasn't meant to be green. Hawk mentioned something very similar last year during a broadcast which was much more generalizing than what I said, he went as far to say that about most latin players. I just think Ozzie and Uribe, and to a point Pablo, are idiots

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ May 6, 2008 -> 09:29 PM) Good point . I mean a players manager puts the best defense out there in the last inning of a no hitter. I can't think of a single latin player or manager on this team that has an above average baseball IQ.