Paulie4Pres

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 30, 2009 -> 03:28 AM) Quentin (4 MVP) has been slow, streaky, and swinging for the fences all year. To top it off, he's been injured for most of the year too. For some reason, you aren't calling for his head. I think this team is in dire need of a 3Bman to move Beckham back to the middle where he belongs. Rolen sounds about right to me. He sure has been. The difference is, last year, when he was healthy, he was not. He was consistent, wasn't fast, but wasn't slow, and was hitting a lot of line drives for base hits and doubles. He's also quite a bit younger. Twelve years younger than Thome, eight younger than Dye, six younger than Konerko, and six younger than AJ... He hasn't hit his downward slope, like the others have, and honestly, is just entering his prime years. But thanks for pointing out that Quentin's situation this year is nothing like the others.

So, we going to run out Beckham, Nix, Getz now? Fields gets brought back up?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 10:59 PM) Yes, saying Beckham and Pods are not problems on this team is so lol worthy. I mean, really? More or less, they are our two best position players at this point. I'm not talking about the PLAYERS. Pods and Beckham are irreplacable on this team right now, but it has nothing to do with Pods playing CF and Beckham playing 3B. You're missing the point. Just because Beckham is a stud, doesn't mean we don't need a natural 3B. Beckham should be playing SS, and I'd gladly have him there instead of Alexei, except, we have no 3B... I'm not saying that Beckham is bad at 3B, just that it isn't his natural position. He was put there because we have no major league options at 3B. Just because Pods is having a comeback-player-of-the-year type season, doesn't mean we don't need a natural CF, either. I'd much rather we had a major league CF, so we could move Quentin to RF, Dye to DH, and Pods to LF, and improve our defense pretty dramatically(at least while Thome is sitting). This team is extremely flawed, and if you can't see that, well, I don't really know what to tell you.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 10:52 PM) They are far from a problem and KW can and should be commended for his handling of both players.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 10:36 PM) If we were going to compete for a World Series, we have those covered, actually. CF = Pods/Wise = Brutal at CF/Brutal at the plate Leadoff Hitter = Pods = anomaly this year 3B = Beckham = SS actually, but we have noone on the team that can play 3B and not suck completely at it. I'd say we're "winging it" with those three this season, to be honest.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 10:28 PM) What? That's a pretty damn formidable middle of the order. They're all slow as hell, streaky, and swing for the fences almost every at bat. You can realistically live with two of them in the middle of the order, but we need some more speed on the basepaths. The only way to score those guys is home runs, or 3-4 consecutive base hits. We are just too SLOW. STARTING pitching has been solid, but our bullpen has been pretty flawed since 2005 as well. You can have an entire staff of Mark Buehrles on the team, and it wouldn't matter if we're only scoring 2-3 runs a game....

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 10:20 PM) Other than terrible mishandling of the last couple roster spots, KW has done a pretty damn fine job managing our rosters. Ozzie has had plenty to work with. Because a lot of teams compete for the World Series without any kind of major league caliber leadoff hitter, center fielder, or third baseman?

Ozzie really hasn't had anything to work with since '05. I mean, sure, he has his flaws, and gets outmanaged a bit, but come on. What can he do with PK, JD, JT, and AJ in the middle of the lineup year after year? There's nothing that can be done with these guys. They're not getting any younger or faster with half their lineup locked in place. You can add CQ to that this year, as well. He's just as one-dimensional as they right now, because of the foot injury. God, where would this team be without Pods coming from nowhere, and Beckham being a rookie phenom?

No, I don't think anyone is calling for KW to be seriously fired, but at some point the guy has to be held accountable for giving Ozzie the same tired, slow, fundamentally inept team to work with, year after year. When given lemons, you might be able to make lemonade, but when given dogs***, you really can't make anything out of it. Know what I mean?

The White Sox offensive rankings in the ML are: 29th in Doubles 26th in Triples 5th in HR, yet 14th in Runs 20th in BB 13th in SB 15th in BAVG The White Sox defensive rankings in the ML are: 27th in Fielding Percentage 25th in SB against 26th in Total Errors This team is not good enough to win the division, even a division as bad as the AL Central. They CANNOT play fundamental baseball to save their lives. This is basically the status quo since 2005. I'm about done watching them. They're just not a fun team to watch anymore.

QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 09:48 PM) Get rid of our slow and soft "leaders." And fire the manager who's in the tank before we go up there -- and the GM who built a team of guys who can't play fundamental baseball. But, since none of that is going to happen, I guess just keep losing. I fully endorse this message.

QUOTE (Baines3 @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 09:46 PM) What in the world do we have to do to win a game in that place. Play good fundamental baseball, and stop swinging for home runs every at bat? Our veterans should watch Beckham bat more often. He seems to be the only ones that "gets it" at the plate. They all want to hit home runs every time up, instead of just going with the pitches they're given, and driving the ball.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 09:45 PM) At least he was looking for the first pitch fastball. Hawk's going to make that sound like the most vicious line drive in history. Terrible loss...bad offense, bad scouting, and questionable managing. Hell of a series! This is pretty much the story of our last 3 seasons?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 09:45 PM) How can the Sox blame any of the 3 losses on the ballpark? They can blame it on having a bad baseball team?

Getz was safe at first if he runs on that dropped third strike..... Another example of poor baseball instincts...

We take so many fastballs right down the plate, it is ridiculous. I don't understand our approach at the plate at all.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 09:18 PM) i've seen worse sox teams; and this one was unanimously picked to finish 4th or 5th this season. I guess my point is that we've been watching the same exact baseball for almost 3 years now. Boring, slow, sloppy, uninspiring, and frustrating. We lack the fundamentals that almost every other team in the MLB seems to have no issues executing day in and day out. We haven't had a CF or a leadoff hitter since 2005. We don't seem to do any of the "little things" right, ever. We only win if we hit a bunch of home runs or if the pitchers thrown an amazing game and go eight innings. We have almost NO line drive hitters on this team, aside from Beckham. Everyone goes to the plate trying to crush the ball 500 feet. We are terrible base runners. We are terrible defensively. We can't hold baserunners on. We can't throw baserunners out when they steal. What DO we do well? Prediction for the 9th? Line drive base hit for Beckham, followed by a DP, and a fly out.

At what point is management held responsible for this team?

One reason. No alternative.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 11:21 PM) It's sad that you can make a case for this. BA, Fields, Poreda, Beckham, and McCarthy, maybe even, Clayton Richard can all attest to this. That being said he seems to have a good relationship with Danksy and Floyd. He would really have no leg to stand on if he messed with Danks' and Floyd's spots in the rotation... Their spots are completely untouchable by the current pitching staff. Aside from that, our young white players are consistently held to different standards than their non-caucasian counterparts. There is ZERO reason Colon should start over Richards, the same way there was ZERO reason for choosing Wise over Anderson. The young white players have to play like all-stars to keep their spot, while the others are allowed to suck perpetually? Give me a break. Ozzie has serious issues with double standards.

Richard >>>>> Colon. The reasoning for Colon getting the initial start over Richard in the first place boggles the f***ing mind. WHAT IS OZZIE SMOKING? WHY IS WISE STILL ON THIS TEAM? I'm beginning to believe some of the racism crap we've seen floating around about Ozzie.

I would love to see some statistics on how many runs we've scored in innings 6-9 this year, compared to what we score in innings 1-5. I can't imagine our sixth through ninth inning totals being even 25% of our totals for the first five innings. Why does this team suck so bad in the late innings? Because they're all old and tired? I really just don't get it. If the Sox are losing after the 5th inning, I pretty much just turn the game off, because is is almost a guarantee that they ARE going to lose the game. They're something like 0-43 when trailing going into the ninth.... I'm lost.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 26, 2009 -> 10:04 PM) That's always the argument. Yes you have the right. But people like me can call you a bad fan. Yes a bad fan. Why? The guy is a closer, one of the toughest jobs on the field. In that role has a good to excellent track record and a spot in our lore with the WS title. He is likeable, not a bum. A true fan would shut the f*** up when he sucks or scream at the situation, not the player. Booing is unproductive and not a classy thing to do IMO. The fans are booing the result more than anything. It really wouldn't matter WHO came into the game, loaded the bases, and then walked in the tying run. They'd probably get boo'd in pretty much any ballpark in the country, and it wouldn't matter who it was blowing the save. The situation is pretty much unacceptable for any closer, especially one making millions of dollars a year, to record maybe 12 outs a week.

Exactly. Eleven saves with a 3 run lead, of which, I can recall several in which he gave up a couple runs before squeeking out of it. He's been had this year. Period. A 4.33 ERA doesn't lie.

QUOTE (bobryansson @ Jul 23, 2009 -> 12:47 AM) As you can probably guess from my screen name, my dad was a Sox fan and lived his life, growing up in Bridgeport with Mayor Daley #1, without ever experiencing a World Series championship. These are my thoughts, based on how I was brought up to behave as a fan. I hope that I can pass them, as I have passed my love of the Chicago White Sox, on to my children. There are 2 ways to look at cheering/booing, from the "I need to express my feelings." point of view and the "What will support my team?" point of view. In addition, and I think it still matters, is the idea of good sportsmanship. I think that the latter two thoughts (team support and sportsmanship) trump the first (the need to express feelings). I try to control myself accordingly. Does anybody think that Bobbie and Ozzie and the team aren't equally frustrated and disappointed? Does anybody think that they don't know the fans won't be happy with serial poor performances? Does anyone doubt Bobbie's effort or his desire to win? Is booing going to help him get better? Don't we really "owe" him the support inherent in accepting a bad spell? It's very difficult to be a player in the MLB. What is the boing except a lack of the ability to control when and how emotions are expressed? It is a game. It's fine to get hugely angry at the events as they unfold, but it is wrong to direct booing at the player when the outcome is bad. I think it is only OK to boo when there is a lack of complete effort and when there is an example on the field of poor sportsmanship or cheating. Silence while exiting the game is fine, as noted in a post above. Obviously, this is America and fans do pay a lot of money to see these game, so there is a "right" to boo, but I think it is wrong and we, as fans, need to control ourselves. Sorry for the long post. This is just, as you can tell, at "hot button" issue for me. Thank you to those who've gotten through this. Steve LOL. Yeah, I'm sure it's really difficult to get paid MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars a year to play a GAME, as you pointed out in your post. It's a game, and he's getting paid millions of dollars of WE THE FAN'S MONEY to play it. I don't agree with booing, but you're dead wrong that we owe him anything. Fans pay for their right to boo him.