I can't take it anymore...

[longshot7]

we won the World Series..............

[chisoxt]

Kenny Williams: I love the guy. He put together a World Series championship team. For that, I will forever be greatful. He without a doubt upgraded the offense and bench. However, Kenny really blew it with the Vazquez trade. I questioned it all the way back in December. You had a guy in Brandon McCarthy who was more than ready and capable to step into the rotation. Yet he trades a top 20 prospect and a decent middle reliever (I don't care about Duque) for a guy that had been known around the league as an underachieving headcase, who had already been traded twice in two years. And what really makes me mad is with Javy basically demanding to be traded, the D-Backs HAD to move him. What I'm saying is, we didn't have to give up as much as we did. Atleast that's the way I see it. The D-backs were the ones being held hostage here. Yet we overpaid.

 

That has been and still is Kenny's biggest weakness - he falls in love with a player and trips all over himself in trying to acquire him. Many times, these guys are either unachievers like Vasquez, or veterans on their career down-sides like Carl Everett, Sandy and Roberto Alomar. Heck as we've seen with the latter three, they were acquired and reacquired again!! The trade that sent top prospect Chris Young to Arizona for Vasquez will end up being worst than the Sammy Sosa and Wells/Fogg trades. (it would have been nice to have Chris Young as a Plan B for center field, and then have used the 'Vasquez money' to sign some capable short relievers like Howry or Eyre. As the poster said, wasn't McCarthy supposed to have stepped into the fifth spot anyway?? Kenny clearly outsmarted himself here.).

 

Kenny's best deals are the little ones that he makes where he gives up very little, such as acquiring Cintron, Mahoviak, Uribe, and signing Dye, Pyrzinski, and Iguchi. Frankly, Kenny's bigger deals make me nervous. The Tome deal worked fine, but here again, nobody wanted him and the Phils had to deal him.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Even with that...we lead the WC by one game.

 

We led the WC by 6 games at the break. We led the WC by 3 games just a few days ago. We're 16-21 since being a season high 27 games over .500. The Twins have been playing at an unreal level for 3 months now -- even without Liriano. I'm just lookin' at the big picture.

Edited August 20, 2006 by Jordan4life_2006

[cgaudin]

We led the WC by 6 games at the break. We led the WC by 3 games just a few days ago. We're 16-21 since being a season high 27 games over .500. The Twins have been playing at an unreal level for 3 months now -- even without Liriano. I'm just lookin' at the big picture.

 

Oh my God! The sky is falling. The End of the World is upon us! The Sox missed the playoffs!....C'mon, people. RE-freakin'-lax! It was Johan Santana in HIS ballpark today, not to mention we gave them extra outs. I didn't expect a win under any circumstance. The Sox outfield is poorly coached, plain and simple. Had Anderson hit the cutoff man, the Sox would have still been in the ballgame. Had the ball been thrown to second base, the infield would not have been pulled in for the subsequent hitter, and it would have been a routine double play for Uribe. These are the growing pains of an immature center fielder, the learning curve, if you will. Nevertheless, 3 runs is not usually going to do it with this pitching staff anyway. The Sox offense has struggled against good pitching. That's a statistical fact. If the Sox make the playoffs, don't expect they will advance, cause there's NO WAY they will with the way this offense is constructed. If there's no long balls, we usually lose. I don't find that to be a GREAT offense, powerful yes, but not great.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Oh my God! The sky is falling. The End of the World is upon us! The Sox missed the playoffs!....C'mon, people. RE-freakin'-lax! It was Johan Santana in HIS ballpark today, not to mention we gave them extra outs. I didn't expect a win under any circumstance. The Sox outfield is poorly coached, plain and simple. Had Anderson hit the cutoff man, the Sox would have still been in the ballgame. Had the ball been thrown to second base, the infield would not have been pulled in for the subsequent hitter, and it would have been a routine double play for Uribe. These are the growing pains of an immature center fielder, the learning curve, if you will. Nevertheless, 3 runs is not usually going to do it with this pitching staff anyway. The Sox offense has struggled against good pitching. That's a statistical fact. If the Sox make the playoffs, don't expect they will advance, cause there's NO WAY they will with the way this offense is constructed. If there's no long balls, we usually lose. I don't find that to be a GREAT offense, powerful yes, but not great.

 

One, I hate the attitude that since it's Santana we should automatically accept defeat. Two, we've destroyed plenty of good pitching this year. The offense is indeed great. It would be even better if Podsednik would show some semblance of an actual professional ball player.

Edited August 21, 2006 by Jordan4life_2006

[cgaudin]

One, I hate the attitude that since it's Santana we should automatically accept defeat. Two, we've destroyed plenty of good pitching this year. The offense is indeed great. It would be even better if Podsednik would show some semblance of an actual proffessional ball player.

 

Can't argue that Podsednik is no longer a catalyst, but it's not entirely his fault. The offense is designed to be a power offense not a "small ball" one. To tell you the truth, it was Anderson who effectively lost the ballgame with that one idiotic throw to third, along with a few taters left over the plate by "Half-game" Vasquez once again.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Can't argue that Podsednik is no longer a catalyst, but it's not entirely his fault. The offense is designed to be a power offense not a "small ball" one. To tell you the truth, it was Anderson who effectively lost the ballgame with that one idiotic throw to third, along with a few taters left over the plate by "Half-game" Vasquez once again.

 

That's just today. This type of stuff has been going on all year. As I said in my original post, this team has done one thing well this year -- hit.

[chisox72]

Can't argue that Podsednik is no longer a catalyst, but it's not entirely his fault. The offense is designed to be a power offense not a "small ball" one. To tell you the truth, it was Anderson who effectively lost the ballgame with that one idiotic throw to third, along with a few taters left over the plate by "Half-game" Vasquez once again.

 

Ozuna threw that ball to third, not Anderson.

 

Today was a rough one, as expected with Johan on the mound. But the time for BS is gone, and the time to step up and not suck is here.

[fathom]

Ozuna threw that ball to third, not Anderson.

 

Today was a rough one, as expected with Johan on the mound. But the time for BS is gone, and the time to step up and not suck is here.

 

He's referring to the Redmond single.

[CYGarland]

It's not even Detroit anymore.

 

It's the Twins who have suddenly starting scoring and have the best ERA since the break. Not to mention the best all around bullpen.

 

I agree the whole "isn't good" approach is a little too far, but I'm not convinced we are any better than the Twins or the Tigers at this point in the season. They are pitching, we are not. They're even starting to score at the same rate we are. There is plenty to worry about.

At this point i wouldn't be surprised if the Tigers continue slumping and the Sox and Twins pass them up for the playoffs. Right now i would say the Twins are the best team in the division, and were 2nd.

Edited August 21, 2006 by CYGarland

[SoxAce]

When I saw the name of this thread and then looked at who started it, I was surprised to see it wasn't fathom or myself.

 

when I saw the thread title I thought Milkman made it

 

 

To be honest, when I saw this, I thought whitesoxfan101 made it since this is what he usually says in these type of thread titles..

[greg775]

The team doesn't make me sick, but we certainly don't have the magic.

Today the error hurt Vazzie, but our pitching hasn't been great, like you

said our defense hasn't been great and we don't run well.

Whether it's true or not, it's possible some of the minor moves we made

in the offseason have hurt, not helped.

I think we miss Rowand. We miss a healthy Hermy obviously.

McCarthy, if indeed he's as good as some of you think, has defnitley had

a wasted year not being allowed to start.

 

All we do is slug, like you say.

It's sad, cause we really could have gotten back in the division race instead

we've lost what, four of six.

We can't do a thing with Minnie and I fear Det may put us out of our misery and

win all four.

It's gut check time.

Do the Sox keep plodding away, hanging in there, for a magical run?

Or are we fatigued and ready to check it in??

Edited August 21, 2006 by greg775

[stretchstretch]

THE THREE REASONS WHY WE STRUGGLE THIS YEAR:

 

1. Buehrle

2. Javy

3. Freddy

 

 

ding, ding, ding......think of all the games we could have pulled out 5-4, 3-2, 2-1 if we had pitching that wasn't automatic for a blowup inning. Today Javy's was the 3rd and from there we had a large hole for the offense to climb out of, assuming the pitchers don't give up even one more run for the next 6 innings

 

Santana's last 10, the guy just doesn't lose that much, and when he does it's on the road and his team scores

 

Start Log

DATE OPP RESULT IP H R ER HR BB SO GB FB TBF #Pit Dec. Rel. ERA

8/15 Cle W 4-1 8.0 3 0 0 0 1 9 5 11 27 99 W(14-5) -- 3.10

8/9 @Det W 4-3 7.0 4 3 3 1 2 10 8 4 27 110 W(13-5) -- 3.24

8/4 @KC W 8-5 6.0 4 4 4 0 3 8 7 4 25 99 -- -- 3.22

7/30 Det W 6-4 5.1 9 3 3 0 4 2 12 4 28 105 -- -- 3.11

7/25 @CWS W 4-3 7.0 7 3 3 2 0 6 12 5 27 106 W(12-5) -- 3.04

7/20 TB W 6-4 6.0 6 3 3 1 4 7 1 6 26 101 W(11-5) -- 3.00

7/15 Cle W 6-2 7.0 5 2 2 1 0 7 6 9 26 92 W(10-5) -- 2.93

7/9 @Tex L 2-5 7.0 7 5 5 2 1 7 8 7 29 94 L(9-5) -- 2.95

7/3 @KC W 6-5 5.2 6 5 4 0 3 7 8 3 25 103 -- -- 2.76

6/28 LAD W 6-3 7.0 2 0 0 0 3 9 4 7 26 105 W(9-4) -- 2.59

Complete Game Log

[Hangar18]

Heres the thing ...... Do we want this particular team, playing the way they are, in the playoffs?

Certainly not. We only have 2 consistent starters, 2 consistent hitters who can change the game for you(Dye/Pods), and at best 3 decent pitchers in the bullpen. Thats not getting us far in the playoffs. Not at all. This nonsense of giving up 10 hits a game, bullpen follies, resulting in a team ERA around the 5's will not a division win. I was called "off the wall" for suggesting it, but we know the offense cannot be counted on to score 10 runs every nite. We should be a game out, but just cant put it all together.

I really hope the bullpen and the#4 and #5 Starter is addressed in the offseason.

 

Sleepy and Stretch are also on the money

[Balta1701]

Even with that...we lead the WC by one game.

"Even with that, we still have the best record in baseball." - people in April/May.

"Even with that, we're still in first place" - folks in May

"Even with that, we're still in the wild card lead" - people now

"Even with that, we still finished 20 games over, and since the AL Wild Card and the team with the best record in baseball were in the Central, it's ok to finish 3rd." - October.

[mreye]

I'm not going to read every post in here. I just want to say wow. I thought it was myself writing that. It is spot on how I have felt these last few weeks.

[southsideirish71]

Heres the thing ...... Do we want this particular team, playing the way they are, in the playoffs?

 

The answer to this question, is yes. I want any of my whitesox teams in the playoffs. Once you are in, anything can happen. Its about who is the hottest over a 3 week period.

[Harry Chappas]

There are two problems with this team.

 

1) Vazquez seems to break up any type of roll. See KC game two and yesterday.

 

2) Pods is unable to contribute on a daily basis. He is basically a platoon player.

 

Not to mention we got rid of gascan Cliff for gascan Neil. Both games were winnable, not saying we would have won but a 1 run deficit with two to play and two run deficit going to the 9th would've given hope at least. Also I thought Uribe may have run into one in 8th.

[southsider2k5]

I swear my baby cries less when we take her pacifier away, than goes on here when the White Sox lose...

[Soxbadger]

If you cant take it anymore there are 20+ teams that need more fans.

 

Good luck.

[mr_genius]

i still think we can win it all

 

[Soxbadger]

Why wouldnt you think the Sox can win it all?

 

They have a better team than last year and they have done outstanding against teams with winning records.

 

Its just not cool to think the Sox can do it.

[fathom]

Why wouldnt you think the Sox can win it all?

 

They have a better team than last year and they have done outstanding against teams with winning records.

 

Its just not cool to think the Sox can do it.

 

Correction...the sox have a better roster than last year. On a "team" level, last year's team blows this year's team away.

[greg775]

I can't believe that one post wondering if we wanted the team in the playoffs

the way it is playing now.

Are you serious?

Of course we do.

Especially with our team's playoff experience.

We win the opening game of the playoffs and you want to see a fanbase

get concerned: it'll be the fan base of every team "expected" to beat us

in the playoffs.

We need to scratch and find a way in.

 

My guess is we'll know after this Detroit series whether or not our players

"want" to get back and make a splash.

We lose all 4 and that will tell us we're pretty much done.

We win 2 or more and the beat goes on.

[fathom]

I can't believe that one post wondering if we wanted the team in the playoffs

the way it is playing now.

Are you serious?

Of course we do.

Especially with our team's playoff experience.

We win the opening game of the playoffs and you want to see a fanbase

get concerned: it'll be the fan base of every team "expected" to beat us

in the playoffs.

We need to scratch and find a way in.

 

My guess is we'll know after this Detroit series whether or not our players

"want" to get back and make a splash.

We lose all 4 and that will tell us we're pretty much done.

We win 2 or more and the beat goes on.

 

It reminded me of the posts from people who were saying that once the Indians got close to catching us in the standings, they wondered if we really wanted this team to make the playoffs. Once you get to the playoffs, everything changes. You don't need to be the best team...all you need is timely hitting and pitching, and you have a great chance.