Have the Sox just gotten fat and lazy?

[LVSoxFan]

At this point I would like to gloat for, say, 30 seconds because I posted last week about how we looked eerily like the 2004 team and people crucified me. Well, most anyway.

 

Here's my take, forgive me for stating the obvious.

 

-Yes we do not seem as hungry in the sense that if we get a lead (which we are consistently blowing this year) we just sort of wait for the game to end with us winning.

 

-Obvious but true: our team was and is built around pitching and defense. When those falter, we are doomed. No matter how many HRs Thome pounds. Right now the pitching is--well, very 2004-like and the defense has been subpar. A lot of missed DPs, inexplicably booted balls, outfield misjudgments, and when was the last time you saw us throw out somebody coming home?

 

-I've said it before, I'll say it again: where in the hell are the other people on the team stealing bases? It's Pods or nada apparently. What happened to stealing and bunting? The suicide squeeze? This won us games last year. Lots of 'em. Are we just waiting for Thome to get to the plate?

 

-The bullpen is atrocious. Politte especially. Guys like Thorton and the new guy obviously have stuff, but they're not locating. Plus our starters seem to be maxing out at six innings, which means... more Politte.

 

-Another shade of 2004. Does everybody remember that in 2005 Frank barely played? And yet, without his huge bat, we were killing. I wonder if introducing a slugger again (Thome) has somehow upset the chemistry resulting in yes, better averages but not the complete team concept we had in 2005. Just a thought.

 

-The death sentence for us this year: average with RISP. Just like that other year...

 

-And while there's not the dreaded "five hole" in the rotation like 2004 that was a guaranteed loss, it seems like each pitcher on his every other apperarance sort of creates that five-hole by having a bad game. Everybody's done it this year; Buehrle, Garland, Vasquez, Freddie. Contreras gets a pass because he's been so stellar.

 

Having said all this the season is merely a third in, so I'm not pushing any panic buttons. But I would surely give up the long ball and the 11-2 blowouts for our 2-1 wins at any time. There were plenty of double-digit wins in 2004 but plenty of desert-like hitting droughts like yesterday.

 

Please, please come back my little one-run win wonders.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

-Another shade of 2004. Does everybody remember that in 2005 Frank barely played? And yet, without his huge bat, we were killing. I wonder if introducing a slugger again (Thome) has somehow upset the chemistry resulting in yes, better averages but not the complete team concept we had in 2005. Just a thought.

 

Didn't we play well when he played?

 

Trying to remember but I think I recall us playing better with him than without him...or maybe I'm wrong...

[southsideirish71]

At this point I would like to gloat for, say, 30 seconds because I posted last week about how we looked eerily like the 2004 team and people crucified me. Well, most anyway.

 

Here's my take, forgive me for stating the obvious.

 

-Yes we do not seem as hungry in the sense that if we get a lead (which we are consistently blowing this year) we just sort of wait for the game to end with us winning.

 

-Obvious but true: our team was and is built around pitching and defense. When those falter, we are doomed. No matter how many HRs Thome pounds. Right now the pitching is--well, very 2004-like and the defense has been subpar. A lot of missed DPs, inexplicably booted balls, outfield misjudgments, and when was the last time you saw us throw out somebody coming home?

 

-I've said it before, I'll say it again: where in the hell are the other people on the team stealing bases? It's Pods or nada apparently. What happened to stealing and bunting? The suicide squeeze? This won us games last year. Lots of 'em. Are we just waiting for Thome to get to the plate?

 

-The bullpen is atrocious. Politte especially. Guys like Thorton and the new guy obviously have stuff, but they're not locating. Plus our starters seem to be maxing out at six innings, which means... more Politte.

 

-Another shade of 2004. Does everybody remember that in 2005 Frank barely played? And yet, without his huge bat, we were killing. I wonder if introducing a slugger again (Thome) has somehow upset the chemistry resulting in yes, better averages but not the complete team concept we had in 2005. Just a thought.

 

-The death sentence for us this year: average with RISP. Just like that other year...

 

-And while there's not the dreaded "five hole" in the rotation like 2004 that was a guaranteed loss, it seems like each pitcher on his every other apperarance sort of creates that five-hole by having a bad game. Everybody's done it this year; Buehrle, Garland, Vasquez, Freddie. Contreras gets a pass because he's been so stellar.

 

Having said all this the season is merely a third in, so I'm not pushing any panic buttons. But I would surely give up the long ball and the 11-2 blowouts for our 2-1 wins at any time. There were plenty of double-digit wins in 2004 but plenty of desert-like hitting droughts like yesterday.

 

Please, please come back my little one-run win wonders.

 

 

I am a person who complains about our offense probably the most on this site over the years. This years offense is fine. We struggled to score runs yesterday because we are missing our number 3 hitter, our starting hot hitting catcher, and our leadoff guy. I would rather see our starters playing against the lefties than seeing the 3 or more scrub lineup in. That is the reason our O doesnt score runs when these changes are made.

 

Our pitchers need to start attacking the zone. Getting ahead, finsihing guys off. This year our pitchers are constantly in hitters counts, which in turn is why they are getting hit hard. Our pitchers collectively need to start pounding the zone in more. Last year we threw in a lot, Garland, Garcia, Buerhle and Contreras pounded the inside part of the plate, then went outside for the K or out pitch. This year we are attacking the outside part of the zone, almost afraid to go in. The minute this changes our pitchers will have more success.

 

Our defense has been spotty. Ozuna throwing himself on the ground in LF is not good. He needs to be a backup for the infield only. Mack should backup the corner OFs. And we should aquire a guy to platoon with Brian in CF, someone who is an actual CF.

 

In the pen, Politte needs to figure it out or go. Get a right hander who can throw strikes.

 

The team is not far off, it just seems that way with how we have played over the last 2 weeks.

[BigSqwert]

In the pen, Politte needs to figure it out or go.

I think over 2 months is enough time to figure it out. Like Ozzie said, we don't have guys up here to work on their stuff. They're here to win another championship.

[Buehrle>Wood]

I'm starting to wonder if it is partly Thome's fault, even indirectly for a few reasons. First, it meant the loss of Rowand who was pretty fiery, in addition to being a centerfielder who could hit and play defense properly. Second, while our offense has certainly stepped up a notch as a result, I wonder if this hasn't affected the mindset of the team. Like others have said, we're not the hungry, scrappy team we were last year and it seems like we're willing to make some mistakes in the field and pitching because the team seems to think they can score the runs to make it up.

I don't even know what to say to this.

[SoxHawk1980]

I don't even know what to say to this.

Me neither. Thome has made this team better, even with the loss of Rowand. The offense wasn't particularly good last year and it is good this year, significantly because of the addition of Thome. This team is slumping because of a poor bullpen and inconsistent starting pitching. Even though the offense is improved, they aren't going to average 6 runs per game. The offense won't usually be able to pick up the pitching. This team lives and dies (as it did last year) on pitching. If half of the rotation and most of the bullpen struggles over a stretch of games, then we're going to lose more games than we win over that stretch.

 

The only question is whether these pitching problems are a short-term slump or signs of a more serious problem for the season.

[Gregory Pratt]

I do think they could use another "Overrated" chant from Kansas City to kick them in the ass harder than Ozzie Guillen can right now.

 

However, it's just a slump like all teams have. They'll snap out of it, and I'm willing to bet it's against Detroit tomorrow.

[LVSoxFan]

I agree with your post Southsideirish--good points.

 

And as for whoever was asking about were we better with or without Frank last year, my point was that without him most of the season (almost all of it), we were just fine. So not having a slugger didn't seem to hurt us.

 

I'm not dissin' Thome, I'm just wondering if the jacked-up offense has somehow upset the chemistry that was there during our "Ozzie ball" last year.

 

BTW when was the last time you heard anybody mention that phrase? Or small ball? Or use it to refer to the Sox this year?

 

DING.

 

Hmm...

[Heads22]

How many of these games during our little slump have we actually held the lead during the early innings?

[LVSoxFan]

Seems like a lot, doesn't it?

 

Man, yesterday, Crede hits that MONSTER homer and we're up 2-0... but not for long.

 

I'd rather not have the lead then keep losing it like we seem to be doing.

[Wedge]

How many of these games during our little slump have we actually held the lead during the early innings?

 

We held a lead in each of the Cleveland games, didn't we? We also held a lead in each of the Texas games.

[Kalapse]

We held a lead in each of the Cleveland games, didn't we? We also held a lead in each of the Texas games.

Which is more of an indication of poor pitching especially out of the pen than it is a lack of "ozzie ball".

[fathom]

Someone else said this, but it sure seems true. We've been getting out to an early lead, and then it just seems the team sits back, waiting for the other team to rally. Our hitters start to swing for the fences, and our pitchers are giving up a TON of base runners. Our defense has been bad almost all season, and Ozzie's yet to find a good balance between offense/defense. Baseball is a game of adjustments, and we're getting our asses kicked in that aspect.

[The Ginger Kid]

Someone else said this, but it sure seems true. We've been getting out to an early lead, and then it just seems the team sits back, waiting for the other team to rally. Our hitters start to swing for the fences, and our pitchers are giving up a TON of base runners. Our defense has been bad almost all season, and Ozzie's yet to find a good balance between offense/defense. Baseball is a game of adjustments, and we're getting our asses kicked in that aspect.

true, and that's why I think the offense will be sparked by adjusting the style of play to getting runners on, getting them over and getting them in. I could be wrong but it seems to me that a lot of runners are left stranded on the base paths. I like the idea that Ozzie's running drills with guys who aren't getting the job done at the plate. It could go a long way to straightening out the offense.

[fathom]

true, and that's why I think the offense will be sparked by adjusting the style of play to getting runners on, getting them over and getting them in. I could be wrong but it seems to me that a lot of runners are left stranded on the base paths. I like the idea that Ozzie's running drills with guys who aren't getting the job done at the plate. It could go a long way to straightening out the offense.

 

The thing is, this team doesn't have a lot of fundamentally solid players. We have way too many players taking called 3rd strikes, and we're bunting too early and often, which is limiting our ability to score more than one run in an inning. We don't exactly have the shutdown pitching that we did last year, and one early run isn't going to be enough right now.

[The Ginger Kid]

The thing is, this team doesn't have a lot of fundamentally solid players. We have way too many players taking called 3rd strikes, and we're bunting too early and often, which is limiting our ability to score more than one run in an inning. We don't exactly have the shutdown pitching that we did last year, and one early run isn't going to be enough right now.

but I think that's the point of the drills. I think these guys can alter their focus and start playing fundamentally better. Taking third strikes has been a huge problem and Ozzie's been harping more about "good at bats" than anything else.

 

And don't overlook all the dingers hit in May by the middle of the order. I think a lot of guys grew complacent waiting for the Earl Weaver special instead of making things happen. Obviously, that only works for so long.

[henry wiggins]

Which is more of an indication of poor pitching especially out of the pen than it is a lack of "ozzie ball".

 

Seems so to me as well. If the Sox get a lead -- and they still do that in a lot of games -- the starter can't hold it, in fact often goes out and gives it up in the very next inning; and if the Sox play catch-up and come from behind to lead late, the bullpen can't hold it.

 

The very essence of Ozzie-ball, small ball, grinder ball, is pitching. Without pitching, it's what we've seen: sucky baseball.

 

I don't get the "why aren't they playing the game they did last year" lament, though. This is a different year, a different team. Way better hitting, Series rings on most fingers, different chemistry (and I don't think that bringing Rowand back will return us to the 2005 Sox), and an attitude on the part of other clubs that the Sox are THE team to beat. The Sox can't use last year's recipe for this year's success. They flew under the radar so much last year, and a Series winner just doesn't have that option.

 

They're in the process of formulating the recipe that will work-- they're too good not to. It will be an interesting summer.

[fullcollapse]

We held a lead in each of the Cleveland games, didn't we? We also held a lead in each of the Texas games.

 

last year these games were automatic. a couple of early runs was all we needed... ah the good ol days. it just gets really frustrating, because we know this team should be winning these games. just when we thought the pen couldn't get any worse, it did. hopefully this is our slump that everyone has and after this we play much better.

[That funky motion]

We have had the lead 21 of the last 22 games.(the shutout by the Tribe)

 

This is very sad.

[UC76]

I think it's too early to say the Sox have become fat and lazy, but I am worried. Last year they played like they had something to prove, like they were underdogs who knew they had to do evey little thing just right to win. So most every little thing did go right.

 

I'd love to see that edge back. I miss it.

[CanOfCorn]

I think it's too early to say the Sox have become fat and lazy, but I am worried. Last year they played like they had something to prove, like they were underdogs who knew they had to do evey little thing just right to win. So most every little thing did go right.

 

I'd love to see that edge back. I miss it.

 

Being in second place behind the Tigers might just give them that edge this week. At least, I'm hoping so.

[Steff]

Yes. Rock, quick, get over to the cell. They should get on your workout program immediately.