Thad Bosley

Superb win!

Double digit hits.

Gonzalez making it all the way into the 6th turning out to be a blessing.

What a beautiful inning!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 25, 2016 -> 09:08 AM) Very clearly, Hawk isn't the same guy anymore. I really believe his eyes are failing him, which has led to a shortfall in his ability to see a lot of plays happening. That said, his excitement and love of the game, along with this authentic portrayal of how he is feeling at any given moment are absolute gold to me. He is elated when I am elated. He is sad when I am sad. He is pissed when I am pissed. You just don't get that out of announcers anymore, except for a very few guys. It is one of the reason I absolutely love Pat Foley too. I found myself thinking "this is it?" when Abreu hit the extra inning walkoff the other day. I truly missed Hawk having a coronary on screen for a walkoff. After saying all of that, I know it is time for a change, but that doesn't mean I want to let go of Hawk. The dude is the soundtrack to a good portion of my life. I know we had a thread talking about people overreacting to the death of a celeb or music star, but I will legitimately bawl when Hawk is gone. Right.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Apr 25, 2016 -> 04:52 PM) He continues to be the worst broadcaster in the city. Wrong.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 24, 2016 -> 09:26 PM) Gone are the days of comparing every single player to Ted Williams and Carl Yasztremski because you are too senile to name a player from the current generation. Gone are the days of saying every player is the " best in the American League " because you are too old to think of a different adjective Gone are the days of blaming the umpires every single day just because your bosses didn't put together a good enough team This is uncomfortably harsh on the "old" thing.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Apr 24, 2016 -> 03:11 PM) Awful thread. 100% agree

QUOTE (Lillian @ Apr 24, 2016 -> 02:55 AM) I said it once, and I'll say it again. To those who find reading a thread entitled "Avi Has To Go," annoying: if you don't want to read anything negative, then don't read threads with titles like this one. The only thing more annoying than a negative thread, while the Sox are in first place, is wasting time and energy, having to refute some absurd argument which actually asserts that we shouldn't criticize anything, because the team is playing .650 ball. Just because some think that the winning results should simply be enjoyed, without critical analysis, does not preclude others from being interested in discussing ways to improve the team. Moreover, such discussions are not negative. A sense of urgency to fix whatever problems the team does have, precisely because it would be a shame not to, given how close this team is to being a real contender, shouldn't be considered negative. I, for one, am very positive about a team that can be in first place, with a couple glaring deficiencies. Just imagine what they could do, without those deficiencies. Replacing Avi with a productive left handed bat, in the middle of this lineup, would not only improve the offense, but it would afford the luxury of improving the critically important defense, as SS. If they had a solid 1 - 6, they could live with Saladino's questionable offense, in order to have a really tight left side of the infield. It is worth noting that, in his very brief career, he is a .247 hitter, when batting in the 2 hole. He can turn around a fast ball and would likely see plenty of them, hitting in front of the middle of the order, especially an improved one. He's also a decent bunter and a smart player. However, with no production out of DH, it's hard to carry a potentially weak bat at SS, which is just one more reason why replacing Avi is worth discussing. Look at this lineup, with a decent, productive bat, instead of Avi: RF Eaton SS Saladino (another option would be to flip Saladino and Jackson, in the order) 1B Abreu DH Solid Bat, preferably LH 3B Frazier LF Melky 2B Lawrie C Avila/Navaro CF Jackson If the productive replacement for Avi could play a solid defense in LF, that would further improve the defense by allowing Melky to DH. Is it any wonder that some of us attach such importance to finding a good replacement for the struggling Garcia? While a productive LH bat might seem ideal as the replacement for Garcia, Lillian, I wouldn't get too caught up on that idea. A RH like, oh, I don't know, someone like Yoenis Cespedes and hIS sparkling .991 OPS would look just fine in the clean-up spot in our lineup. Now where can you find someone just like him!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 24, 2016 -> 09:05 AM) Its sad that people can't handle an opinion other than their own. It is also sad that people can't enjoy good baseball. Nice to see some introspection going on here, because these two sentiments absolutely apply to you.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 24, 2016 -> 08:47 AM) Exactly. Misery. You gotta love a board admin who constantly, each and every day, tries to derail and deflect constructive conversations around the ball players and team and turn those discussions into these kind of personal attacks and insults. Every single day this goes on. And the irony is that not one fan, in this case the ones discussing the problem that is Avi Garcia at the moment, not one of those fans comes off even remotely negative or miserable. The only time Misery rears it's ugly head is when SS2K5 and DA chime in and begin with the attacks and insults. It is only at those points in the discussion when the whole thing begins to go negative.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 08:03 PM) Exceed? Nah. We just need the guys who are good to actually be good, and the guys who are OK to hit OK. It would be a bonus if the guys who suck could hit a step above sucky. If you get historical norm seasons from Frazier, Abreu, Cabrera, Lawrie, Jackson, the catchers, and Eaton, that alone goes a long way. Add some not awful seasons from Garcia and Rollins, and the improved defense and solid pitching, and there is enough here to compete. What, pray tell, is the "historical norm season" of which you preach "there is enough to compete" of the: - non-PED Cabrera - unproven Lawrie - post-2013 Jackson - post-concussion Avila - 37 year-old Rollins - Avi Garcia EVER

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 18, 2016 -> 10:50 AM) I love how you refer to posters complaining when the Sox are winning as "thoughtful". Just remember, the one exciting season you claim the White Sox have had probably in 100 years, included 15 regular season wins scoring 2 runs or less. This year there has been 1. I just wonder when margin of victory become so important in MLB. LOL - ohhhhhh, Dick Allen. You are something else, you know that? I wasn't referring to posters who complain. If I was, I would be referring to you, because nobody but nobody moans and groans about pretty much everything on this site more than you. It's gotten to the point of just being comical watching you carry on, accusing others of complaining when nobody wears the complaining badge better than you. Meanwhile, the "thoughtful" posters I was referring to are people like Lillian, for example. She is clearly an astute follower of White Sox baseball, always optimistic in her outlook for the team, but not afraid to articulate a legitimate concern about the team. In this thread, that concern is about an offense that is currently last in the league, picking up where it left off from last season. Her critique is fair - she rightfully acknowledges the uptick we can all expect once Abreu and Frazier get their acts together. But outside of those two and Eaton, you look up and down our lineup and, well as Lillian concludes, "we'll see".

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 18, 2016 -> 08:47 AM) The team is 8-4. It isn't 2015. It will be if they lose their next 10 games. Keep that in mind. You must have been very disappointed in the 2005 WS. Blew a lead in game 1. Had to come back in games 2 and 3, and only scored 1 run in game 4. No blowouts. Not acceptable. THE WHITE SOX ARE CURRENTLY IN FIRST PLACE Um, newsflash - nobody is questioning where the team is in the standings today on April 18th. What a few of the more thoughtful posters are simply questioning is whether with this anemic offense if the team will be able to maintain this position going forward. In other words, with the league's worst offense at the moment, will you be able to claim in big, bold words on May 18th that the Sox are in first place? June 18th? September 18th? That's all people are wondering about right now, and it's a legitimate concern. If you'd stop with the constant scolding of others around here you might have time to realize this yourself.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 17, 2016 -> 12:19 PM) LOL. You have admitted you can't determine if a season is exciting or not until it is over. And the only way for a season to be exciting is to win a WS. Hence your numerous 1 exciting season under JR ownership posts.The fact is, I see this team not hitting but still 8-3. It is a reason to be optimistic about the future. In basketball, when a team shoots 30 percent in a half and has the lead or is only behind a little bit, it is thought of as a good sign. I liken this start to that. Expecting impending doom is a miserable way to look at things. The only one apparently "miserable" around here today has been you, Dick Allen. All of the rage in these various posts in this thread which have almost universally agreed by everyone to be a complete overreaction on your part to the simple topic at hand. There really is need or call for your Angry Bird routine. This is a fan site/message board for a baseball team. Fans will have and express concerns about the team - that's the way it works. I'm sorry you have such a difficult time with a point of view on things that is different than your own. That's what seems to make you so miserable all of the time.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 17, 2016 -> 10:49 AM) Why waste your time on baseball at all if your strategy is to be miserable even when things are going well? Just kick yourself in the nuts and get it over with. Lol - such a silly thing to say. No contributor to this thread has acted as if he or she is "miserable", outside of maybe you and Dick Allen, given comments like this one and the overreaction by Dick in his earlier comments. All that's going on in this thread is an acknowledgment by several astute posters of the fact that the baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. So while the sprint of the past two weeks has been awesome and very enjoyable, there is a legitimate concern about sustainability given this team's shortcomings on offense. You can be a very happy person and have this concern.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 17, 2016 -> 07:22 AM) Probably close to their career numbers. 2005 was a benchmark year. We have seen numerous posts about that offense being balanced etc. just remember that team won 15 games scoring 2 runs or less. So far this year, the team has 1 win scoring 2 runs or less. It just fascinates me people can't enjoy 8-3 in first place best start in 34 years , despite 9 of those games being on the road. I don't think there's a Sox fan alive who hasn't enjoyed this first place start. We're winning for the first time in a very long time, and the experience is quite refreshing. I think the point some are trying to put forward in this thread is the sustainability of the winning given the continuation of the poor offense we saw all of last year. We were dead last in offense last year, and now early on we find ourselves third to last. It should get better as the season moves on, but when you acknowledge that the only real upgrade in the offense over the winter was Frazier, and to a lesser extent Frazier, it's fair to question whether the offense as currently constructed will be good enough for the long haul.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Apr 10, 2016 -> 07:40 PM) For April 10 we've got one of the most dramatic moments in franchise history both audio AND video. It was Opening Day 1981 in Boston and Carlton Fisk returned only wearing a different uniform. He would immediately make the Red Sox pay for his contract debacle late in the game. Announcers: Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall. Courtesy: WGN-TV. http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2016/04/t...k-gets-revenge/ Mark Yup, once upon a time HE was OUR announcer on THAT station. And then HE wasn't. Thank you, Jerry. Thank you, Eddie. Brilliant move.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Apr 9, 2016 -> 07:26 AM) absolutely love hawk. Will tremendously miss him when he goes. I'm 31 years old and hes been the only voice of my favorite team I've ever known. I love the personality, I love the homerism. I love the stories about the old players. Even if many or most of them are embellished, don't you sort of want that? There's a romantic quality about baseball where guys get made into Tall Tales in a way and become legendary for it. IMO Hawk helps perpetuate that. Does he make mistakes and say stupid things in the booth? Of course. But he's broadcasting the baseball game I'm watching. He's not managing my retirement funds or diagnosing disease. Terrific post! My sentiments exactly.

Playoff-caliber teams often find ways to come back late in games like this one to come from behind and win. Let's see how it goes!

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Apr 6, 2016 -> 09:32 PM) Look at the Reds, Braves, and Phillies lineups though. Nah, I don't want to be talking about our team in the same breath as those teams this year if I can avoid it.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Apr 6, 2016 -> 09:29 PM) Aside from Garcia the Sox lineup is all MLB players. Maybe not all good MLB players, but at least there's less of the usual garbage. One would hope, given this is the MLB.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 2, 2016 -> 06:38 PM) Leave it to the King of the buzzkill to take the absolute worst out of an off season that saw a ton of improvement in this line up, especially at 2nd, 3rd, and C. We don't need a ton of career years to avoid being "last in offense". We need career average years from most of the team, which we didn't see from a lot of players last year. Lol - well, I was just working off of your "while not ideal...doing the best we can with what we have" sentiment. I certainly wouldn't equate that to some sort of excitement buzz that I then came in and trampled all over. And I also wouldn't call replacing many of Tyler Flowers' at-bats with those from Avila as a "ton of improvement" at that position. But I did account for the improvements expected at 2nd and 3rd when I said the team would be better offensively than they were last year. But when you see all of the at-bats earmarked for the likes of Jackson, Avila, Rollins, Garcia, and Cabrera, well then, you tell me. Last in the league in offense again? There's as good a chance at that as there isn't, unfortunately.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 2, 2016 -> 06:04 PM) While not ideal, it is the best use of the players we have. Oh, it's far from ideal, wouldn't you say? The team that was dead last in offense in the league last year STILL features Melky Cabrera in the middle of the order, STILL will be giving regular at-bats to Avisail Garcia, and NOW is graced with the offensive juggernauts that are Austin Jackson, Alex Avila, and Jimmy Rollins. That's not very promising at all. We will probably be better overall offensively than we were last year, but seriously, with this cast of characters, we could still be last in offense once again. We are going to need some big time career years and surprises to avoid that outcome.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Mar 25, 2016 -> 03:10 PM) Fangraphs projections have the four collectively at 5 WAR, I think it's fairly reasonable. The guys they are replacing were collectively worth -0.1 WAR last year, so that'd be a big upgrade. Not really that much into projections at this point. Just reality. We have four/five guys in our starting lineup upon whom we should have plenty of skepticism about based on "actual" recent performances. Garcia, Avila, Rollins and Jackson should scare the h-e-double-toothpick out of all of us at this point.