I'm sick of all the negatives, so I'm going to start off with a negative and turn it into a positive. Thus far the Sox offense has flat out blown, but lucky enough its gotten a few clutch hits when needed.

 

Jermaine Dye, Aaron Rowand, Joe Crede, Juan Uribe. I think we can pencil in all 4 of them as dissapointments offensively early on.

 

However, Crede is in the mist of a 5 game hitting streak. Uribe was hitting the ball yesterday, picking up two doubles and looking a lot better. The past two days Rowand has been hitting the ball well and appears to be back to last seasons form.

 

Then you have Dye that has yet to get out of his funk and Konerko may of gotten himself out of his short funk.

 

Plus this team is 6-3 with one of the worse offenses in baseball. That is going to change. The pitching has held up and kept them in games. "Smart Ball" has actually worked and the Sox have executed surprisingly well. There are at least a couple game where runs scored using "smart ball" were decisive in the outcome of the game.

 

Now if what I think I see is happening, I think you'll see the Sox offense waken up. Ozzie should swap Rowand and Dye in the lineup and regardless of that I think your going to see the club score some runs against the Mariners this weekend.

Since i don't expect much out of Crede and Uribe batting 8th and 9th, they haven't been HUGE disappointments to me.

 

My biggest concern so far this year has been Dye. He has done absolutely nothing for me, and has had some terrible at bats. IMO, he's trying to pull the ball a little too much as well. Dye really needs to start earning all this money.

I agree, this is a good offense and so far some of the better offensive players on the team have struggled. Juan looked good last night, Joe's looked good since the start of the Twins series, Pauly's coming out of his minny and funk and so is Aaron. Once some of our main guys start getting it going then this offense is going to be very dangerous imo.

I can't even think of the last time I saw Dye hit the ball hard. I think the only time all year that he has was that soley shot against Cleveland to tie the game up.

 

He just looked miffed at the plate right now. I was watching and if you look at his swing, he's diving out towards the dugout and then at the same time trying to go opposite field. Its really not a good combination.

 

He's got to get that stride fixed because if he continues diving towards the dugout on his swings he's going to be in for a long year.

Our obp is gonna be sad.

The 1st inning yesterday is where we should have and could have went for Cleveland's jugular.

 

Don't get me wrong, sac flies are dandy and all. But we had 1st and 3rd with no outs and our big hitters up with Elarton throwing hangers all over the place and only got one run out of it. When we get a golden opportunity like that, we need to take it. Could have really changed the pace of that game...

Jermaine may just not be that good anymore...

 

His three year splits are BAD, but obviously those are effected by injurys. Still he's .240/.306/.429 vs. RHP since 2002, that's not the line of somebody who I'd like hitting behind Konerko.

Our obp is gonna be sad.

 

does our team OBP of .276 not excite you somehow?

Jermaine may just not be that good anymore...

 

His three year splits are BAD, but obviously those are effected by injurys.  Still he's .240/.306/.429 vs. RHP since 2002, that's not the line of somebody who I'd like hitting behind Konerko.

 

Another reason why Rowand shouldn't be batting 6th...

I'm sorry, did I see the record right? Is that 6-3? We are only 9 games into the season people. We haven't even hit double digits yet and we are already switching batting order? Let the players get comfortable. If this is still going on by the end of May (first quarter of the season) THEN you can start worrying.

 

We are in first.

Pinero is good, but hopefully our bats awaken tonight. It's his first start coming off an arm injury.

I'm sorry, did I see the record right?  Is that 6-3?  We are only 9 games into the season people.  We haven't even hit double digits yet and we are already switching batting order?  Let the players get comfortable.  If this is still going on by the end of May (first quarter of the season) THEN you can start worrying. 

 

We are in first.

Wrong attitude at this point, IMO.

 

Just because you are in first NINE GAMES into the season doesn't mean there aren't problems you can fix.

Wrong attitude at this point, IMO.

 

Just because you are in first NINE GAMES into the season doesn't mean there aren't problems you can fix.

 

 

I agree in fact i see more problems than positives right now. Our pitching and very timely hitting is doing it right now. We need to get hot.

Jermaine may just not be that good anymore...

 

His three year splits are BAD, but obviously those are effected by injurys.  Still he's .240/.306/.429 vs. RHP since 2002, that's not the line of somebody who I'd like hitting behind Konerko.

 

He has 31 at bats. I think we're overreacting. He is in a new environment. New team, new coaching staff, new fans. Let's give him a chance before we start jumping on him like he is Joe Crede.

 

You know there are guys that like to hit in warm weather. Outside of the dome, we have played in some cold weather. We have also faced some fairly good pitching. I think we need to relax.

 

At the same time...same league, same baseball, same batters box.

 

His at bats are just brutal right now, no excuse for it.

I agree he looks uncomfortable, I just think it's too early to say he's finished.

Edited April 15, 200521 yr by shakes

Every player goes through slumps. Whether it's at the beginning, middle, or end of the season. Let's see what plays out first before we end his career and say we are doomed. Like I said, 9 games into the season does not a season make.