soxrwhite

The twins have been on fire since the all star break, and still can't shake the White Sox. Don't think they aren't nervous about the three games down in the big city gainst us. The inagural year in the Target could still be unlucky!

I've noticed. I scan the standings daily and with the sweep of the Red Sox we moved past them in the WC. Stranger things have happened but we are still closer to the Twins and we play them. Some one will falter, just hope it is not us. I already hate the "don't stop now boys" but it does seem appropiate for this string.

Fine time for the bullpen to be in shambles as every game is vital and no lead is safe! Sale still seems to be a mystery to the rest of the league and he throws strikes. Let him close a game or two and see what happens it can't be any worse than Jenks. Bobby was in a similiar situation in"05. I know I said before stick with the plan and dance with the guys you brought but I can't watch Jenks blow another game.

Jackson is capable of throwing a lot of pitches. Didn't he throw something like 140 in his no hitter? I hope he gets a complete game. Our bullpen is more than scary it's terrifying. No lead is safe. Only Sale and ( I hate to even say it but ) Linebrink are throwing half way decent now. Every game is vital at this point.

I got the feeling the mighty twins are going to stumble. Another one game playoff? Can Thome do the same thing for them he did for us in'08? Where would that leave the Ozzeroo?

I've always enjoyed Hawk, but this season I have caught myself thinking why doesn't he just shut up sometimes. His act has finally worn thin. His crying about umpires has gotten really old. His pumping up of favorite players ( Beckham the Georgia boy, Piersynski, Beurhle ) is tiring. All the same references to the past over and over again is wearing on me. I would like a change just to get a new perspective. Rooney and Stony would top my list.

In a perfect world Jenks would be a lockdown closer. At this point in time he is the girl we brought to the dance and we should dance with her. Juggling the pen around to experiment now is foolish. Leave the plan in place and go with it............of course there's always Linebrink.........

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 09:55 AM) Let me ask you this, since56: I challenge you to watch and listen to every game for the rest of the season, because I will be doing that. Will you? Or will you just quietly disappear into the woodwork and come back at a more convenient time? Let's all fight with each other about who is a better fan, okay? Have you ever come up with any answers? Kenny Williams quit on the fans when he didn't make any moves before this season started...when he agreed with Ozzie to go with Kotsay/Jones over Thome/Jones as the DH and didn't shore up the offense at the trade deadline. He obviously felt this team wasn't properly positioned or he would have done a lot more than adding Edwin Jackson...who you can argue was just as much about solidifying the 2011 starting rotation as us making the playoffs this year. But I'll make a bet with you (you can name the price) that the White Sox make the playoffs over the Twins. I'll even let you assign the odds. So, how about it? Did I touch a nerve,quitter?

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 09:53 AM) Our retaliation should be beating the living s*** out of them on the scoreboard nothing more, nothing less. Start on the scoreboard finish in the parking lot!

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 05:35 AM) It's too late for this season, unfortunately. KW really has to take a long, hard look at himself in the mirror and see if he still has the burning fire and energy left to do his job effectively. Ozzie does, too. One of the observations from this series is that "the White Sox beat themselves," or, "if you wait around long enough, they'll make a mistake." This particular comment has come from both the Minnesota t.v. and radio broadcasters (I think the direct quote was "that's a stupid play by Ramirez" to throw home) alike. How often do we say that about other teams? Not very often, right? Or is it simply that we're harder on the Sox because we watch them all the time? The problem and resulting question, of course, is how do you teach players not to make stupid plays? If Ozzie's going to stay around, I really wish that JR would make him bring in some new coaches (of course, I might as well believe it will rain frogs like the end of Magnolia while I'm at it). And I'm not sure any of us have seen solid reasons or tangible evidence to believe that Buddy Bell has turned around our minor league system...or, if he is, it's basically like turning the Titanic around in mid-ocean and we're missing the progress. Drafting philosophy? Perhaps that's changing a bit...but coaching/instructionally? Here's the main difference between the Twins and White Sox. If you look around the diamond, all of their everyday players except for Hudson and Young spent time growing up/maturing/developing in the Twins' system. Many of them came up together, they won together, advanced level by level...grew to trust each other and believe in each other (Koskie, Mientkiewicz, AJ, Rivas, Guzman, Hunter, Jacque Jones, etc.) What do we have? We have a rag-tag collection of talented players from all over the place, but they can't play with cohesion and sustain it. One simple example, there was a flyball that fell in the outfield that Rios or Pierre could have caught...but they don't trust each other, so as they were in the same line, both thought the other would get it, no communication or leadership from Rios, the ball falls in and it leads to some early damage and everyone saying "oh, no, here we go again." Of our everyday position players, none of them came up in our system. How do you instill "the White Sox way" when there's no such organizational philosophy to be translated from the minors to the majors. I guarantee there's a "Twins' way" and it started with the foundation built by Tom Kelly and continues to this day with very few fundamental changes in organizational strategies (just a much bigger budget). Or look at the situation with 3B this year...you have Ramirez playing with yet another person surrounding him to his right that he didn't trust or feel comfortable playing with and it took him until Vizquel was put into the line-up to have 100% confidence he wouldn't have to worry everytime the ball was hit to that side. Another obvious observation: Their pitches consistently got OUR hitters out with offspeed pitches, whereas our pitchers have thrown way too many fastballs (without much life on them in the case of Putz, Thornton and Floyd) and pitched right into the strengths of the Twins. So it might take a change in managerial philosophy, new coaches all around. In all honesty, I wouldn't be uspet at all if Omar Vizquel was the manager next year (once again, something that will never happen). Ozzie's done a very good job, but his act has worn thin, and you can only go the same well so many times motivationally with the same team/group of players. There's something very wrong when you're 4-21 against your main rival in the second half of the season over the last 3 seasons. I would like to keep KW, but I'm very concerned he doesn't have the patience to try to build another great team from inside the organization and be patient for 2-3 years. Something else that's interesting...we have sort of evolved over time into the Twins, and they've become more and more like the mid 00's White Sox teams. The problem is that we still have to play 81 games at USCF. The Twins have adapted and adjusted (they still have the #1 defense) and we have too, except our adjustments were made to prepare us for a National League schedule, unfortunately. We actually have more speed and athleticism, overall, than the Twins, and yet they're a much better ballclub across the board. I don't know how we can expect to play smarter if we keep the same players and coaching staff in place, but that's on JR I guess. If we're really going to be stubborn and try to win with "small ball" in a small park, then we have to get a lockdown closer (like the Twins had in Nathan), and where exactly are we going to get that on the FA market? It seems it will have to come from either Santos or Sale. And the other problem is we might need Sale as a starter in 2012 or sooner. So, to summarize: 1) Stop making so many stupid plays (see coaching staff) 2) Develop players and bring them all up to the majors together, stop trading them 3) Find a lockdown closer 4) Hope and pray that Peavy is 100% next year 5) Hope and pray that Santos, Sale, Beckham, Viciedo and Flowers are all ready to make big contributions next year 6) Hope and pray that the fanbase will be patient if you finally articulate a strategy that can produce a 3-5 year winning team and not just an occasional blip on the radar every 5 or 10 years In my opinion, we're almost as good as those Twins' teams from 2002-2004. The problems are fourfold, 1) the Twins have surpassed us in terms of major league talent, minor league talent and perhaps even in payroll for next year, 2) we have no Joe Nathan, 3) as good as Danks and Floyd can be, they aren't "aces" in the category of Johan Santana that you can count on for big-game performances (one exception, Game 163) and 4) Jake Peavy, if he's not healthy, there's really no way to come up with anything resembling a solid backup or fallback plan. Finally, I'm tired of these "Camp Coras" and lip service in spring training and occasionally during the season to fundamentals...if we're not going to be able to pound teams into submission, we have to do the little things right, and do them consistently and not suddenly and conveniently forget they exist once the season starts. As much as Ozzie can be a poor in-game manager, one of his biggest weaknesses is talking or stressing something, saying the right things, then one or two days later it's like we never said anything at all, whether it's about Bobby Jenks or bunting, you have to follow through with those types of organizational decisions or the players will start to tune them all out and just shrug their shoulders and say "that's Ozzie being Ozzie." I've already come to terms with losing AJ and Konerko. In the next 12-18 months, we'll go through the same thing with Thornton (he's the best trading chip and Sale makes him a bit less needed if he can give you some major league ready talent back), Danks and Mark Buehrle. They'll try to extend Jackson if he pitches well, but that won't be easy with Boras. Brooks Boyer might have his work cut out for him marketing the White Sox without Konerko and Buehrle. When he started, he must have thought he was in heaven with the 2005/06 seasons. Now he'll really have to earn his money! Quitter.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:54 PM) After seeing the reaction of White Sox fans over the last week and a half, I hate to say it......but we don't deserve a World Series title. Good fans support their team through thick and than. Good fans have confidence in their teams at all times. Good fans convey that confidence onto the team and inspire them to achieve positive results. The White Sox fan base is just the opposite of this at this point in the season. Tonite, the Twins blew a four run lead and than blew a one run lead. If we did that in a game, a high majority of our fan base would give up on the game. Compare this to what Minnesota fans did tonite. They went into the bottom of the 10th confident that their team would come back from the first deficit of the game and the team accomplished the task. Every team is going to have some bad losses during the season. Every team is going to blow some games during the season. Get real people...there are 162 games in the season and no team has ever come close to going 162-0. It's how we react to a bad AB, a bad inning, a bad game, or a bad week that makes this team winners or losers. And if you don't think the fan base plays a part in that reaction, you are definitely mistaken. The negativity of this fan base has to end if we are to ever win another World Series....not just in this season, but anytime in the foreseeable future. Sox fan with a Cub fan mentality. All is always well if just pretend it is.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 06:50 PM) Everyone in the organization, including the announcers, slob all over the Twins every year. How about getting the attitude where you want to rip off their heads and s*** down their throats instead of conceding to them before we even play them. All of the Metrodome excuses made me want to kill someone. My feelings exactly. If they are so damn good then where are the World Series trophies? I don't buy all the accolades. Such a great organization, when the league was talking about downsizing a few years ago they were one of the candidates. They have a good September record but what about October? For any of you Twin lovers out there I hope their plane goes down with you on it! P.S. This season is not over yet. GO SOX!

What's with all the negativity? The Twins are not all that. Their ballpark is not working out so great for them. Wait untill the weather cools down and and the ball really goes no where in Minnesota. Their pitching is inconsistent ( except Pavano ) and only so so . They fear us as much or more than we fear them. They are a good team but not unbeatable.

Just in case...Who is the backup behind Castro?

I think a hitting coach goes over opposing ptchers and preps hitters as to what to expect from them. Makes sure they know the dimensions and ground rules in all ballparks. Advises them as the team approach& how to respond to hitting in situations that call for placement of ball. I'm sure they do some tutoring on a guy's swing but who would make it all the way to the bigs with their swing and then change it? I don't think he deserved much blame early or a whole lot of credit now. I'll bet he is doing nothing different than he has always done.

It seemed Walker was being blamed when the Sox were not hitting. Does he now get praised because they have improved?

If Mark Teahan were still with the Royals would he have been a trade deadline left handed bat teams would have pursued?

Not Juan Uribe. Uribe is totally wild at the plate. Viciedo while still undicsiplined will never be that kind of free swinger. Of course he will never have Uribe's glove either. I'm thinking more of a Carlos Lee. Is his future already that of a DH? You can't use him at third he'll kill us there with that iron glove.

I was at the game. He was shaky at first but settled down and his body language began to show some confidence. Everything the Sox do lately seems golden. Maybe this is our year!

What is the big confusion on this trade? The Sox got an established starter to take Peavey's spot. He can eat up a lot of innings and help keep the bullpen fresh. He is more what we need at this point in time than a rook who we don't know what he is going to give us. Hudson potential? Maybe, but so did Brandon McCarthey . Any one miss him? Dunn would be seperste deal. I don't think we need him. Ozzie changed this team from the sort of regular dh who strikes out alot, hits into double plays and can't run. He has the type of team he wants. Lets leave it alone now that we have another starter and keep it going the way we have been. Detroit is falling back and Minnesota is overated. They don't have the pitching. Starting or relief. GO SOX!

If Jackson isn't right just have coop fix him!

If we get Jackson I hope Coop can fix him

Viciedo goes down for sure. Teahan is utility. Ozzie will stack the lineup with left handers at times and at other times play the hot bat ( Kotsay,Teahan). I think people who want to dump Kotsay forget he is our only backup at first if Konerko get injured.

I feel so much better with Pierre-Omar batting 1-2 & Alexi-Vizquell at third and short that I think not only should he come back but the Sox NEED him to come back.

Been a Sox fan since the sixties. A few good years here and there. Since Kw and Ozzie have been running things we either win or are competitive every year This franchise has gained alot of respectability in the last 5-7 years. We have become accustomed to being close and or in the playoffs and world series. Lets not get greedy and end up worse off than we are now. I believe the Sox will continue to knock on the door and even win another championship with this tandem. ..........There are times they can really piss ya off though!