mmmmmbeeer

Serg has been great since he's been thrust into the closer's role....this dude was hanging by a thread to a major league career a little over a year ago and is now our closer. He's going to have bad nights just like every other closer. Nights like this make him stronger in the long run. We've got top of the order coming up...wouldn't write this game off yet.

MB AD PK Let's take 3 more from them

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 1, 2011 -> 02:45 PM) That was a nice example of Mr Big RBI, multimillionaire Adam Dunn not coming through with a big hit in the inning. His handful of walks this year have not led to many big innings. At some point he needs to knock in some runs. Yeah...I was kind of waiting for Hawk to say the house line for the Dunn walk.

I remember during the last Oakland series either Hawk or Stoney pointing out a discussion they had had with Kurt Suzuki. Apparently Suzuki feels that Alexei is one of the few guys in baseball that is making adjustments pitch to pitch rather than at-bat to at-bat. I think that's a pretty good compliment to receive from a solid catcher.

Miami's defense has just been unreal these last 2 games...I know they had a good defense throughout the regular season but, good lord, they're just everywhere. Rose seems to be catching flack nationally for this performance but wtf is he supposed to do with the way that Miami is defending him? I wish I could look at the first 3 games and that there were some easy answer. There are answers like getting Watson and Rose on the floor at the same time so that Rose can create off the ball, dump the pick and roll to prevent easy double teams on Rose, etc...but none of them guarantees you anything as they're experimental. I do firmly believe that the spacing between games has played greatly to Miami's advantage which, to me, makes the series swing a bit in the Bulls favor if they can take game 4 on Tue....eventually Wade, Lebron, and Bosh will get tired playing the minutes they're playing.

It just kills me to read all these articles about tonight's game making the Bulls the underdogs in this series because of game 2. It's like none of the writers even watched the game to realize just how poorly the Bulls had to play for Miami to win. It's as if none of them realize that Korver being on the floor opened up Lebron for the final 5 minutes. It's as if game 1's ass whooping never happened. If I see one more pic of Lebron's swollen head I just might lose it.

2 hitters with averages over .275 in the lineup tonight, one of which is in limited at bats. For being "all in", these personnel decisions, from the players on the field to coaching to front office, are just baffling.

Was Santos unavailable tonight?

I can respect the view that this has been a debacle since '06....but I see firing Guillen and KW both as throwing the baby out with the bath water. Nearly every year it's been a matter of performance...outside of last year, when have we gone into a season as an underdog? We're consistently picked to finish 1st or 2nd in the division at the beginning of each season. The rosters are there, the performance isn't. By all means, fire KW, but atleast see how another manager does with these "good on paper" rosters before doing so.

No one on this board, no one in the press, no one in baseball thought this team, as constructed, would be this horrible. So how the hell can anyone fault KW for not knowing it was bad? What I see each game is a lack of preparedness, a lack of intensity, a lack of fundamentals, and a lack of confidence. None of these have anything, whatsoever, to do with the GM.

What happened to Ozzie's line about "when I'm not having fun I'll quit". Apparently he's having a blast right now.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 2, 2011 -> 08:33 PM) Rose had zero free throws. I guess that's what happens when the other team doesn't try to kill you every time you drive into the lane. Unbelievable that he didn't make it to the line. Inexcusable, really, for the league MVP to not draw a single foul all game. I hope he plans on actually playing in the rest of this series or we're screwed.

How about a steaming pile of s***. With a Sox logo on it of course to kind of round it out.

The good news is that noone, not writers, not fans, not saber sites, saw this team performing this poorly. It's nearly impossible to fool everyone so I've got to believe that eventually the talent on this team will have to show up. The opposite can be said for CLE and KC. But in the meantime, I've got much better things to do with 3 hours of each day than to watch these professional baseball players pretend that they suddenly forgot how to play the game as individual performers and as components of a team. It's truly embarrassing. I was screwing around on the computer and listening to the mlbtv feed in the background last night when Dunn was up with the bags juiced. I flipped over to actually watch and thought to myself, "alright big man, this is why we brought you here....do some damage." Then he watched strike 3 cross home plate. I should've known not to watch. As someone else pointed out, if the diehards aren't wanting to watch this monstrosity, what in the world are casual fans thinking? If this team continues to play like this, even slightly better than this, the franchise is doomed for several years. I know this is getting away from the point of the OP but what I'm getting at is that coming out of the gate this poorly can ruin attendance for an entire season. If they go on a little run, given the way they've performed, people will be thinking that it's a lucky run and forget that the run represents what this team was built to be. And when that attitude change prevails (could happen when 10 games back in APR) then they still won't show up at the park.

I remember watching that last blown save and thinking to myself how badly those guys needed a break to get their heads straight and reevaluate their approaches to closing games. Then I began to reminisce about how baseball is such a difficult game because, with a 162 game schedule, you just don't get those opportunities to refresh yourself mentally...MT and CS would just have to suck it up and learn on the fly.........then came 6 more losses and a nice week long mental break for the pen. Baseball is a funny game.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Apr 20, 2011 -> 07:57 PM) For whatever reason, the Sox, except in 06 and 05, start terribly slow. It seems like in April, they simply suck in all phases of the game. It's early, yes, but at the end of the year, we're always looking back thinking how did we blow this season, and it's usually in April. It's almost as if you're implying that they are repeatedly unprepared heading into each season....as if spring training is spent joking around and coddling veterans.....eh, it's probably just the cold weather.

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 06:26 PM) so whats up with peavy? came out after one inning. Man, like s*** isn't bad enough as it is you go and post this?

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 14, 2011 -> 11:03 AM) Doesn't feel like it's just a closer issue to me. We've been watching this pen give up runs starting in the 7th inning on. If only it were just one guy I'd be happy, knowing they could turn it around. I think the pen is just tense right now...we're seeing the results of folks not knowing their roles and the mental havoc that can play on pitchers. I think that obtaining a closer (Hanrahan please!) would really get the rest of the pen back on track quickly as they no longer feel like every appearance is a tryout for a bullpen position.

QUOTE (flippedoutpunk @ Apr 13, 2011 -> 04:42 PM) yeah its the two pound nacho thinggie.. anyone venture into the Bacardi At The Park yet? I'd like to try it out before a game, I like how its open at 11am so you could be completely annihilated by the time the game starts. Man, that picture in your sig is the funniest s*** I've seen in a good while.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 08:45 PM) How, again, is Thornton not a closer? His D has screwed him for the second time. His stuff didn't vaporize overnight. Sometimes playing the role of a contrarian can make it seem you aren't watching the game. I mean, really? His stuff may not have evaporated overnight, but it sure as hell evaporated over the offseason. 3 ropes tonight, a 3 run bomb the other day, 2 strikeouts on the season, not may swing and misses but lots of foul balls. The dude is off and I don't know if it's the pressures that come with being a closer or if his arm is wearing down...either way, he's not the Matty we've appreciated the last couple of seasons.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 11, 2011 -> 08:36 PM) I will place a hex on anyone that gets on me for calling JP out for the worthless trash he is ever again. I was really enjoying this game until he decided that winning this game would be a bad thing. I guess Suzuki sucks too for allowing the wind to move Alexei's foul ball away from his glove.

Juan messed up, no doubt...but that was 3 hard hit balls off our closer and I, for one, had absolutely zero faith that Matt would have gotten the third out any way, making the error academic. He looks like absolute crap out there. An 83MPH slider down the heart of the plate to the leadoff hitter was pretty much all I had to see to come to this conclusion.

Didn't get to watch the game today but half of that was because I was expecting us to get our asses handed to us.....enjoy an 85 degree day in beautiful Atlanta or sit on the couch and watch Humber get shelled? I was very pleasantly surprised to see how well Humber pitched today. Granted the Rays pretty much blow at this point but, nonetheless, Humber stepped up and filled that 5th rotation spot perfectly.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Apr 9, 2011 -> 09:13 PM) [Pierzynski] was upset, because he thought I did it on purpose. I told him, 'I didn't mean to do that.' I wasn't mad at anything. The bat slipped. I think if I tried to do that, it wouldn't happen. I spoke to [White Sox manager] Ozzie [Guillen] and I apologized. I called him over and apologized." lopez. ok he may have apologized but no way in hell was it non intentional, when has a bat ever landed there? stupid idiot I feel like a dick for defending Lopez, but I really do feel like it's all good at this point. Maddon straightened him out and now that you posted that he apologized, well, it's all good. He's never going to admit to doing it on purpose or he'd be facing a possible suspension. The fact that he apologized and his manager apologized makes me think there will be no retaliation. Maddon runs a pretty tight ship and is one of my favorite managers...a real up and up guy who, I have to believe, takes care of nonsense like Lopez pulled on his own.

Maddon already said it was a bad move my Lopez. I think it's done, no reason to throw at him.