I'm going to say offense. I think our only runs over the weekend came off of homeruns... that isn't good.

Definately the pen. The offense and starters go through their phases, but they at least have plenty of talent and are proven. The pen has a few guys that scare the crap out of me. Jackson has been terrible, Cotts has been erratic at best, and Adkins they don't trust in any close situation. We need one more RH arm out of the pen.

What worries me the most is the pitching and the offense. Imagine if this slump were to happen in the playoffs

What worries me the most is the pitching and the offense. Imagine if this slump were to happen in the playoffs 

It already did in 2000.

I'm concerned with Loaiza more then anything so I guess I would have to say starting pitching.

I am going to go with offense due to the fact that they cannot put consecutive hits together in a inning.

It already did in 2000.

Our pitching is a lot better then before. It’s just that some of the starting pitchers do well and later do bad. It seems like Loaiza has two personalities. There’s the one where he allows only 1 run in 8 innings (Sox vs. Marlins) and there’s the Esteban that allows 6 runs in one inning (Indians vs. Sox).

 

The only two guys that I can rely on at the moment are Garcia and Buehrle. And there’s also the offense, which can be very streaky. A good example is scoring 15 runs in one night and the next day they score only 2.

Our pitching is a lot better then before. It’s just that some of the starting pitchers do well and later do bad. It seems like Loaiza has two personalities. There’s the one where he allows only 1 run in 8 innings (Sox vs. Marlins) and there’s the Esteban that allows 6 runs in one inning (Indians vs. Sox).

 

The only two guys that I can rely on at the moment are Garcia and Buehrle. And there’s also the offense, which can be very streaky. A good example is scoring 15 runs in one night and the next day they score only 2.

I'm most concerned because all of the runs we scored this past series were on HRs. That isn't a healthy offense.

I don't know which one would be the result of this the most, but I can't believe we're only .5 a game up on the team we've played to a 7-3 record up to this point. We could murder the Twins in the season series, and we still could not get in the playoffs. I thought that was one of the problems that prevented the Sox from getting into the playoffs, beating the Twins.

 

I guess not.

Starting pitching scares me the most. We need to have better SP

The thing that bothers me is how much this team is always "owned" by somebody. If you are a true champiship team, is there really any team out there that "owns" you? If we can't perform against Oakland, or West Coast teams, then IMO we really aren't ready for a WS title. I just don't see them pulling it off. I don't think it is one part of this team that is truely going to stink it up, I kind of get the feeling that one part or another will fall apart, especially depending on the team we face.

 

But with the offense, do you ever feel comfortable when we have two outs and runners in scoring position? I usually can guess the outcome, and it usually involves a ball being caught by an outfielder. Whereas if we scored in the previous inning, I pretty much know that if the other team gets anybody into scoring position, they will get the guy in.

 

This team makes it work, yes, but it is also not performing like a Series title team. It has holes all over it, and the guys that shouldn't be holes, eventually seem to become such at a time when we should take off with the division. These games against Oakland should have sent us over the top, thanks to KC beating the Twins. But as is usual with this team, it doesn't strike when it should.

 

So, shouldn't there be an "all of the above...with the exception of Shingo" choice?

In my opinion, we are two players away from being really good - a catalyst for our offense and another solid bullpen arm. Whether that catalyst (sp?) be Willie Harris playing everyday and playing confidently, Juan Uribe returning to his April/May form, or a trade for a Jason Kendall type player, we need someone at the front of our order who can get on base consistently.

 

And of course, another BP arm. Takatsu, Marte, Politte are the only three guys I trust at the moment, and Politte is sort of a hot/cold guy. One more solid BP arm would really strengthen our bullpen.

Pen, Pitching, Offense (In that order)