Smallball can definitely be boring, but it is fulfilling when they do it right.  I'd rather they be boring and win than be exciting and lose.  Besides, a sac fly when it's close and late is pretty exciting to me.

 

Watching home runs on the high-light reels is like watching basketball slam dunks. Boring. Scoring any other way involves actual running. Running is more exciting. I find triples, home runs and suicide squeezes more exciting than home runs. I'm thrilled at the prospect of a more varied offense.

Edited April 5, 200520 yr by ottawa_sox

I know it's just hindsight but it's a shame that Hermanson didn't serve his 1 game suspension today instead of on Wednesday since we didn't need him.

It's good to see us win a 1-0 pitching duel

Watching home runs on the high-light reels is like watching basketball slam dunks.  Boring.  Scoring any other way involves actual running.  Running is more exciting.  I find triples, home runs and suicide squeezes more exciting than home runs.  I'm thrilled at the prospect of a more varied offense.

 

I'm much happier seeing the Sox win 1-0 than 10-8. That said, we're going to need to get at least 12 wins and an ERA of less than 4.70 from both Contreras and El Duque if we're going to win the Central. This team doesn't have the power of the '00-'03 squads to be able to "play comeback" in the late innings.

QUOTE(TheBigHurt35 @ Apr 5, 2005 -> 09:09 AM)

I'm much happier seeing the Sox win 1-0 than 10-8.  That said, we're going to need to get at least 12 wins and an ERA of less than 4.70 from both Contreras and El Duque if we're going to win the Central.  This team doesn't have the power of the '00-'03 squads to be able to "play comeback" in the late innings.

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That's bulls*** and you know it.

 

You don't need power to play comeback. If anything you need more contact to play comeback, and guess what, we have more contact hitters.

That's bulls*** and you know it.

 

You don't need power to play comeback. If anything you need more contact to play comeback, and guess what, we have more contact hitters.

does anyone have the record of the sox in one run games over the past couple of year, or 1-0 games. i believe we had a losing record in 1-run games.

This team doesn't have the power of the '00-'03 squads to be able to "play comeback" in the late innings.

 

The Twins teams of recent yrs shows how to stage comebacks without power guys [even though the Sox have enough guys who can hit late inning HR's, far more than the Twins ever did]. The twins staged comebacks for two big reasons--they had a great bullpen and manufactured runs. The bullpen kept them in games, giving the Twins time to chip away at leads. And the Twins didn't rely on HR's to put runs on the board.

 

The 2005 Sox should be better in both respects. Thus they should be better prepared to comeback and win games they've been trailing

does anyone have the record of the sox in one run games over the past couple of year, or 1-0 games.  i believe we had a losing record in 1-run games.

 

Not last yr. I think the Sox were like 27-19 in 1 run games in 2004

I didn't see the game, but I'm just hopeful that the team can maintain good position until Frank comes back.

 

Good signs:

We had pretty good defense

Buerhle pitched well, ideally this indicates he will not have a "snakebit" year a la 2003

 

Things I'd still like to see this year:

End the curse of the Left Coast

B-Mac coming up and dictating either a 6 man rotation or moving Contreras to a set-up role

AL Central title

Frank stays healthy once he gets back

 

I could get into a statistical/probabalistic argument about why having a comeback team is better than having a power team, in terms of come-from-behind victories, but I won't.

I'm much happier seeing the Sox win 1-0 than 10-8.  That said, we're going to need to get at least 12 wins and an ERA of less than 4.70 from both Contreras and El Duque if we're going to win the Central.  This team doesn't have the power of the '00-'03 squads to be able to "play comeback" in the late innings.

 

If we get 12 wins from Duque and Contreras, that's 24. Another 16 from Garcia and 20 from Buehrle put us at 60. That leaves about 30 more wins for Garland, B-Mac, and the pen. I like our chances, I'll be honest.

I didn't see the game, but I'm just hopeful that the team can maintain good position until Frank comes back.

 

Good signs:

We had pretty good defense

Buerhle pitched well, ideally this indicates he will not have a "snakebit" year a la 2003

 

Things I'd still like to see this year:

End the curse of the Left Coast

B-Mac coming up and dictating either a 6 man rotation or moving Contreras to a set-up role

AL Central title

Frank stays healthy once he gets back

 

I could get into a statistical/probabalistic argument about why having a comeback team is better than having a power team, in terms of come-from-behind victories, but I won't.

 

 

Actually, during the game. I was thinking that Buehrle would probably be the snakebit pitcher this year. Things turned out well, but I did have my moments of wondering if he was going to be the tough luck guy.

That's bulls*** and you know it.

 

You don't need power to play comeback. If anything you need more contact to play comeback, and guess what, we have more contact hitters.

 

Of course, you don't NEED it, but it's the easiest way to do it. It's a lot easier for Maggs or Carlos to hit a homer than it is for Pods to get on base, steal second, advance to third on a groundout, and score on a shallow sac fly.

 

Agreed that manufacturing runs and having a strong bullpen is a better strategy overall than relying on the long ball. However, I'm not convinced that the Sox have all of the pieces in place to implement the former strategy. Sure, the Sox have been needing a guy that can steal 70 bases for sometime, but Pods is going to have to significantly improve his OBP to be effective. And I haven't seen anybody on this team bunt effectively for a LONG time. And, while I like our 'pen overall, I still don't put it in the same league as some of the former Twins 'pens.

 

My point was that I don't see the Sox scoring as many runs as in previous years. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong about that this season (I hope I am). But that's the way I see it now. Thankfully, their rotation is the strongest I've seen in about a decade. If the Sox see a bit of a dropoff in run production, their success will hinge on the #3 and #4 spots in the rotation. If the aging Cubans can stay healthy, they'll be in good shape. If not, we're looking at second place again.

Anybody know who's pitching Thursday & Friday?

well it depends on what type of comeback you had in mind..... if we were down by 5-6 than yeah last years team would be a lot better suited to make a comeback but if we are only down by 1-2 i like this team because instead of just swinging for the fences(and striking out) we get runners on and move them into scoring position. its a lot more reliable than a luck HR by Konerko at the end.

well it depends on what type of comeback you had in mind..... if we were down by 5-6 than yeah last years team would be a lot better suited to make a comeback but if we are only down by 1-2 i like this team because instead of just swinging for the fences(and striking out) we get runners on and move them into scoring position.  its a lot more reliable than a luck HR by Konerko at the end.

 

The problem that I see with the Sox switching to a "manufacturing runs" approach (which, in the end, is the best way to go, provided the pitching is strong) is that I'm not convinced that all of the pieces are in place for that at this point. Outside of trading for Pods (who needs to improve his OBP from last year) and dumping Jose "home-run-or-strikeout" Valentin, I don't see much of a difference in the general makeup of their lineup. Starting the season without Frank and his .400+ OBP will hurt. Tad is an improvement at the plate over Willie Harris, but that isn't saying much. And I haven't seen ANYONE on this team bunt effectively since the Gene Lamont days. Their offense probably isn't going to change from the '98 Indians to the '98 Yankees in one year.

 

That said, I hope that these guys prove me wrong and play some stellar fundamental baseball this season.

MB = Da Man!!!

 

 

 

WOO HOO!!!

 

 

Here's to a 20 win season for Da Burly Mon!!!

I agree that you can make comebacks without homers but only small ones. You can't Ozzie Ball your way from 8-0 down. The solution I guess is to try not to fall down 8 runs

well it depends on what type of comeback you had in mind..... if we were down by 5-6 than yeah last years team would be a lot better suited to make a comeback but if we are only down by 1-2 i like this team because instead of just swinging for the fences(and striking out) we get runners on and move them into scoring position.  its a lot more reliable than a luck HR by Konerko at the end.

 

A homerun is the only play in baseball that ensures at least one run. I don't know how you can say that.

 

But, I really don't care how we win. A win's a win, we can analyze what went wrong, but in the end, that increasing number on the left side column is the most important thing...

I think we won a 1-0 last year on getaway day in Minnesota. It completed a road sweep. Garland pitched 7 scoreless innings and it was his best outing of the year IMO.

I forgot it was Judy that threw that well that day. I still don't know how we beat Santana. Ogod to get those runs early I guess. Was it a Lee 2 run homer that gave us our 2?

I think we won a 1-0 last year on getaway day in Minnesota.  It completed a road sweep.  Garland pitched 7 scoreless innings and it was his best outing of the year IMO.

 

No dizzle.

 

 

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb..._day_by_day.jsp

I forgot it was Judy that threw that well that day. I still don't know how we beat Santana. Ogod to get those runs early I guess. Was it a Lee 2 run homer that gave us our 2?

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Yep...

 

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...recap&fext=.jsp

I think we won a 1-0 last year on getaway day in Minnesota.  It completed a road sweep.  Garland pitched 7 scoreless innings and it was his best outing of the year IMO.

For the record, in 04 the Sox were

 

Shut out 8 times.

0-13 when scoring 1 run

1-23 when scoring 2 runs

 

this adds up to 1-44 in low scoring games.

For the record, in 04 the Sox were

 

Shut out 8 times.

0-13  when scoring 1 run

1-23  when scoring 2 runs

 

this adds up to 1-44 in low scoring games.

So what you're saying is, expect 44 bad losses now?

At then end, I also agree with whoever said that all the pieces aren't in place to play Ozzie ball effectively. We have a team that on days will look great playing it and others in which it will look horrible. Hopefully it works for at least 90 games.