Jerksticks

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 25, 2011 -> 08:05 PM) The ghost of Jim Thome? That's a new one. lol. All Jim Thome did was sport a wOBA of .393 and provide 11 WAR in his time in Chicago. Which is pretty good considering he obviously didn't play the field. This offense doesn't suck because a HOF was great at what he was supposed to do. Probably cost us a playoff appearance last year in not having him. All true. But those stats don't paint the whole picture...and the whole picture sucks. Allow me to throw the other paint on our masterpiece: All the 0-fer nights All the ground balls Basically anything that wasn't a HR or a laserbeam double was an out 3 hits to knock in his glorious, stat-padding walks All those f***ing Ks Useless against lefties A great stat-padding night once a week to make you forget all the previous failure. Any parallels to this year's DH? I mean we all knew Dunn was gonna be the same all or nothing hitter that Thome was, but now it seems everybody but Paulie suffers from Thomeitis, pullitis, longswingitis, uselessitis...whatever you wanna call it. It only wins ball games some of the time, but in no way is it a model for grinding down pitchers each night. Been goin on for way too long now so I'm all in favor of moving the fences back at least 100 ft in every direction til we pull our heads outa our asses and rid ourselves of this awful ghost.

Anybody on this team that also played on a Sox team with Thome should be traded immediately. I'm so sick of watching all these guys do the Thome: You know, close your eyes and swing hard as f*** at everything. We've been all or nothing for so long I can't even remember what team baseball looks like. Thanks Jim. Your poison still remains, potent as ever...sucking the soul out of once line-drive hitters. Even poor young Beckham has a BS pull swing now. It's too bad Ozzie is gonna take the blame for all the long swings.

Same old White Sox offense: can't foul pitches off, gotta take huge cuts at everything even with 2 strikes. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why the running mistakes get so magnified on here.

I can live with his streakiness, but nothing pisses me off more than the music man playing The Outfield song AGAIN after he gets on base. Overkill city. Cringe worthy. What a horrible man overdoing it like that.

Nice. Season apparently saved with this news.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 24, 2011 -> 12:44 AM) The bold is what bothers me the most. I don't remember him ever looking so out of shape. He's a bit on the portly side.

I will say this about Alexei lately.. He seems to be seeing the spin and location of the pitch much earlier than most of our hitters. Take yesterday for example: The way he was just dismissing pitches like they weren't worth his time to even load for was amazing. As if to to say, "Get that garbage outa here; gimme something to hit." Haha, looked like Barroid.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ May 22, 2011 -> 05:32 PM) I'm wondering if he got old really fast or he's hiding an injury. Yea he looked slow getting started on that tag play today. Can Kemp really throw out Juan Pierre? I couldn't believe how close that was.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 22, 2011 -> 01:14 PM) What puts more pressure on the opposition...having a runner on 1b and 0 outs or a CS and 1 out? C'mon man. Why take an obvious observation and try to make it your point? Juan Pierre has stolen an insane amount of bases during his career and led the league last year. I dislike typing the obvious, why make me go there? I feel like I have to. Juan usually steals bases and scores, but he's not this year. Again, the obvious, but how is that Ozzie's fault- using a player's proven skill set? Sometimes I feel like I'm playing cards with my brother's kids or somethin.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ May 21, 2011 -> 11:00 PM) The sac bunts and the obsession with stealing bases drives me up a wall. NL style baseball sucks anyways, but it irritates me when this team is built to slug. Giving up outs sucks. With that being said, Ozzie is still a top 10 manager in baseball right now. Yea but they aren't slugging so what do you do? What do you do if your sluggers are striking out or grounding into double plays or popping up? I'd do what Ozzie is doing- put some pressure on the pitcher with the running/fielding game since the batter isn't putting any pressure on him. I understand your point that we are a slugging team, but if our guys were hitting the ball Ozzie would look like a genius taking the extra bases. Those outs caused by the running game shouldn't be as magnified as they are since we are losing. But I think the pitching staff is turning it around just like last year. This season could get tasty real fast.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 22, 2011 -> 12:11 AM) Greg you're projecting some here. For all you know and can see here without going back and reading posts, Cangelosi actually agreed with you the whole time about Thornton not closing. I'm in the "Thornton earned the opportunity and blew it" camp. Bobby Jenks sucks in Boston, and is hurt. I have not, nor will I criticize Ozzie for going with Thornton. He was the logical choice at the time. They weren't using Santos. Thornton was an All-Star so he was the guy. He pitched himself out of the role. Oh well. Not Ozzie's fault. Agree. Has any man ever earned a shot at closing more than Matt Thornton did? You just have to give him more than a few tries at it, and they probably would have given him even more if his blown saves weren't so blatantly killing our team. Forget about the stats and the standings, think about the impacts that had on the team in the locker room. Man said he could get the job done but he couldn't. He took all the wind outa the team's sails. Demoted himself right down the totem pole. He failed his one big shot at a closing gig. I think he's gotta be messed up in the head from the weight of letting the team down.

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ May 21, 2011 -> 05:32 PM) The lack of enthusiasm on this thread tells it all. Or did the end of the world happen in the USA today? I am not sure as I'm overseas. Maybe some are being judged for all the hate and negativity directed towards other men. Hating people on your own team...thankfully the players don't feel that way.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 21, 2011 -> 05:24 PM) I think there's some jealousy of Ozzie. He's outspoken, rich and will be in baseball all his life. Many people think they are as smart as Ozzie baseball wise which is a joke. The man has been in the game a zillion years and knows baseball. Many of us would get fired immediately if we said some of the things Ozzie says and I think jealousy has set in with some Sox fans. Every team has stiffs like Juan Pierre that are still playing despite the fact fans hate him (them). It's easy to get mad when he picks the wrong reliever. Now Crain is the guy everybody wants in the setup role every night when the game is close. You have to use your entire roster and Ozzie is as qualified as anybody to make these decisions. My feeling is the real Ozzie haters don't blame the players as much as they should. Instead of saying Dunn is a worthless piece of s***, they blame Ozzie for batting him third. Guess what? He's on the roster and a slugger with a history of doing well. You bat him third or fourth. He has to produce. But he sucks, so blame Ozzie for batting him third. In my world, that's dumb. Anybody who picked that first choice is delusional. Or sorry I guess you people are smart enough to be baseball managers, you just didn't pursue that career path. Excellent post. What's also interesting is that none of these arm chair managers are consistently watching other managers go through 162 games. They have nothing to compare Ozzie to anyway which makes it even more absurd. Let's take the Thornton example since it's cost us the most games. Thornton wanted to close, waited in the wings for years and earned it, and completely crapped himself out there. What's Ozzie supposed to do? He put his best guy in the toughest situation. You can argue he should have stopped putting Thornton out there after 2 BS but what kind of confidence does that instill in your other players, giving up on them quickly if they fail? Hogwash. I'm sure Ozzie is running out of rope for JP and a decision will be made soon. But he's giving a proven player (even though what's proven irks many of us) a chance to right the ship. I love that. Same with Beckham. He's giving them the chance to overcome because we become a better team if they do. That's all you can ask of Oz. Exhaust all options with the player before giving up on them. It's not his fault the players are sucking.

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ May 21, 2011 -> 03:54 PM) Can't we just start Lillibridge everyday already instead of Pierre??? Cmon Oz wake up You really think that's just Ozzie's call? Isn't that a $5M decision? Once you go there, you go there. Better be certain.

I hate your thread; not you, just your thread. I can't believe 19 people smugly picked that first choice. Embarrassing. I happen to think Ozzie is a genius at managing the players he's given. We have some awkward situations on the team this year. Give it some more time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 21, 2011 -> 03:45 PM) 4th straight game where the starters have given up 2 or fewer,. Nice! Umpteenth time in a row The Bridge comes through. Y'all still want Milledge?

I don't know if that was a ball or strike but it was impossible to hit.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ May 20, 2011 -> 09:42 PM) another case of a s*** player beating the Sox do they even employ a scouting department? Man vs man. Their man beat ours. It happens.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ May 20, 2011 -> 01:58 PM) With that mod statement above, this site is probably the best with the mods/administrators not being dicks. Go to WSI or RealGM and they all have this arrogance to them. Here it ain't that way. Absolutely. I'm just gonna go ahead and say that Daver guy over there is one of the worst human beings on the planet. I got banned in 05 or 06 for calling him out for crossing his own lines. No response, just Bansville. They didn't like Jerksticks over there. Many of you don't as well but at least you fairly tolerate me. WSI is a dinosaur of how internet community should be. But it works for them so whatever.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 19, 2011 -> 05:30 PM) Good news.... @CSNChi_Beatnik Brett Ballantini Hafner, Cabrera out, Buck too? Lotsa Wahoos in the M*A*S*H unit tonight. Could aid a Gavin bounce-back game. Pronk! Pronkness! The Pronkster!!! GFY you HGH-using, Vin Diesel-lookin has been.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 19, 2011 -> 02:15 PM) How about the youngest? Let's figure that one out, too. I have a baby penis, if that counts. (^That can be taken several ways)( Nice all around there. Let's have a girth thread next. Everybody gets one of those flexible fabric tape-measures and takes a picture with it wrapped around. All new members (yes members) must post a girth pic before talking baseball.

I think it would be cool, out of respect, to give the oldest poster some sort of "Elder" designation. Either come up with a cool signature or some title under the avatar where it says "A, AA BHam" etc. If this exists already sorry for the time waste.

So are there people who can't even see this thread? Mind blow, thread lost in space.

Mods do you know?

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ May 18, 2011 -> 01:49 PM) I will agree with that. I don't want him up to bat five times a week, but I think Ozzie's stubbornness to not realize he is a much better option that Pierre is sickening. That's what really peeves me; that KW and Ozzie for some reason think Pierre is still an adequate player. There's just no way they can think that now. I refuse to believe that they are unconditional supporters of JP.