How come it took this long to start a thread, I think it's a Soxtalk record.

 

Anyway, one more wasted Danks outing. And please Ozzie, everybody else has seen enough of AJ in the 2 spot. We need more people on base ahead of Quentin.

AJ can't bat second and griffey serves no purpose on this team.

Who is our best candidate to hit 2nd, though?

 

Chris Getz? Ramirez?

 

We really don't have any fundamentally-inclined, bunting, hitting to the right side capable guys on this team. It's definitely not Uribe, and Ramirez is a rookie and just doesn't have enough patience at the plate...something like 9 walks.

 

Cabrera should be 2nd, ideally. AJ is ONLY there because he makes contact 90% of the time and he's fairly good at doing what is required of him depending on the situation...up until the string of GIDP's recently.

 

Another area where somewhere like Tad Iguchi's real impact wasn't easily quantifiable, but you only appreciate it when it's missing/gone...or Crede's defense (when healthy).

Edited August 12, 200817 yr by caulfield12

Who is our best candidate to hit 2nd, though?

 

Chris Getz? Ramirez?

 

We really don't have any fundamentally-inclined, bunting, hitting to the right side capable guys on this team. It's definitely not Uribe, and Ramirez is a rookie and just doesn't have enough patience at the plate...something like 9 walks.

 

Cabrera should be 2nd, ideally.

 

Another area where somewhere like Tad Iguchi's real impact wasn't easily quantifiable, but you only appreciate it when it's missing/gone...or Crede's defense (when healthy).

 

And AJ has patience at the plate? I think Ramirez, Swisher, Griffey, even Thome are better options. We need more people on base in front of CQ.

I would be completely for going back to a 1-2 of Swisher-Cabrera.

 

Swisher - CF

Cabrera - SS

Quentin - LF

Dye - RF

Thome - DH

Ramirez - 2B

Griffey/Konerko - 1B

Pierzynski - C

Uribe - 3B

 

or something along those lines...I love JD in the cleanup but he could potentially work well hitting behind Thome in the 5th spot too with the Griffey/Konerko hitting 6th and Ramirez hitting 7th. But yeah, AJ can drop in the order again and that would be perfectly fine by me.

I would be completely for going back to a 1-2 of Swisher-Cabrera.

 

Swisher - CF

Cabrera - SS

Quentin - LF

Dye - RF

Thome - DH

Ramirez - 2B

Griffey/Konerko - 1B

Pierzynski - C

Uribe - 3B

 

or something along those lines...I love JD in the cleanup but he could potentially work well hitting behind Thome in the 5th spot too with the Griffey/Konerko hitting 6th and Ramirez hitting 7th. But yeah, AJ can drop in the order again and that would be perfectly fine by me.

 

I would have no problem with that, if it was all up to me I'd go-

 

Cabrera-ss

Swisher-cf

Quentin-lf

Dye-rf

Thome-DH

Ramirez-2b

Griffey/Konerko-1b

Pierzynski-c

Fields-3b

Not a lot to like about this team right now. I'm really starting to worry. The Twins will simply not fade. Our pitching is in shambles right now (save a rare good start from a starter every now and then). We've got injuries all over the place. No legitimate replacements to step in for those injured guys. And with our crappy minor league system, there's not much KW can do in terms of bringing in reinforcements.

Swish is too streaky for 1 spot, too K prone for the 2 spot

Not a lot to like about this team right now. I'm really starting to worry. The Twins will simply not fade. Our pitching is in shambles right now (save a rare good start from a starter every now and then). We've got injuries all over the place. No legitimate replacements to step in for those injured guys. And with our crappy minor league system, there's not much KW can do in terms of bringing in reinforcements.

 

The bigger issue is our bullpen is making it so comebacks are very difficult.

Swish is too streaky for 1 spot, too K prone for the 2 spot

 

Nick Swisher has currently reached base safely in 12 straight games and has reached base safely in like 30 of his past 34 games. I don't think he's too streaky; he just isn't a real flashy player.

So through our 7 game homestand, we're 4-3. The Twins play 6 of 7 on the road and go 4-3 in that same stretch. Wasn't this supposed to be our magical stretch of home games where we blow the Twins out of the water?

 

So yeah, 4.5 game lead here we come!

It woulda been nice to take 3-4 versus Boston Frankenstein but that's no easy task. We really need to sweep KC. I don't think it's easy to sweep anybody though, especially a team we've played so much of late. Royals certainly don't fear us. We need to keep Butler quiet. He's hit a few bombs the second half and is hitting much better aside from an oh for 5 the other day.

It woulda been nice to take 3-4 versus Boston Frankenstein but that's no easy task. We really need to sweep KC. I don't think it's easy to sweep anybody though, especially a team we've played so much of late. Royals certainly don't fear us. We need to keep Butler quiet. He's hit a few bombs the second half and is hitting much better aside from an oh for 5 the other day.

 

I know winning a 4 game series against Boston was no easy task but people here were predicting us blazing through this home stretch like it's no problem: 4.5 game leads at the end of the month, expecting an 8-2 homestand record, etc. This just isn't a very good team right now.

Nothing you could do here. Our bullpen just isn't very good and Beckett was back to his old ways today.

 

BTW- Frankensteiner: that stretch isn't here right now where everyone thought we'd gain ground, it's coming up when Minnesota has a 14 game "roady" which includes 4 in Oakland and 4 in Anaheim.

 

BTW- Ken Griffey sucks.

Edited August 12, 200817 yr by whitesoxbrian

I was watching the game while helping my friend move from one dorm to another. That is terrible that such a good performance by Danks goes to nothing. Let's sweep KC.

So through our 7 game homestand, we're 4-3. The Twins play 6 of 7 on the road and go 4-3 in that same stretch. Wasn't this supposed to be our magical stretch of home games where we blow the Twins out of the water?

 

So yeah, 4.5 game lead here we come!

 

I don't think anyone foresaw Crede's back injury lingering as long as it has nor Contreras blowing out his achilles (but if you did see that, you should have let him know about it...maybe just give him a shove and a nod about not covering first on that particular play).

 

The Twins also played the mighty, mighty Seattle Mariners and proceeded to lose the series and then played the ever so tough Kansas City Royals (who I fully expect the White Sox will sweep, though I obviously can't be certain of that).

 

This is also just the beginning of the Twins roadtripping. A 14 game and 10 game road trip mixed in there while the Sox have 9 of their next 12 at home and like 19 of the next 31 are at home too.

 

My only cause for concern are the injuries that are occurring to this team, but there have been some trades that have been made that look like they'll help the Sox down the stretch. Horacio Ramirez may or may not be a suitable bullpen arm but he's been solid this year and if Carrasco sucks I could very easily envision the Sox either picking up Paul Byrd or calling up Poreda and giving him a shot down the stretch. Otherwise, the rest of everything will work itself out. The offense is generally too inconsistent to go on a long winning streak, but if they keep hitting homers, they'll be a good team down the stretch.

Really cant be 2 upset with a split vs Boston, although I thought we could have very easily won the two games that we lost. Now that being said, we have 9 games vs not very good teams, I think 6-3 is a must during this stretch if not 7-2.

Swish is too streaky for 1 spot, too K prone for the 2 spot

 

He gets lots of walks and gets pitchers pitch counts up early. He's the logical choice whether in CF or 1B

I think Oz should try Alexi at lead off and have Ocab hit 2nd. See how it goes.

Linebrink's out until at least September now.

I don't think anyone foresaw Crede's back injury lingering as long as it has nor Contreras blowing out his achilles (but if you did see that, you should have let him know about it...maybe just give him a shove and a nod about not covering first on that particular play).

 

The Twins also played the mighty, mighty Seattle Mariners and proceeded to lose the series and then played the ever so tough Kansas City Royals (who I fully expect the White Sox will sweep, though I obviously can't be certain of that).

 

This is also just the beginning of the Twins roadtripping. A 14 game and 10 game road trip mixed in there while the Sox have 9 of their next 12 at home and like 19 of the next 31 are at home too.

 

My only cause for concern are the injuries that are occurring to this team, but there have been some trades that have been made that look like they'll help the Sox down the stretch. Horacio Ramirez may or may not be a suitable bullpen arm but he's been solid this year and if Carrasco sucks I could very easily envision the Sox either picking up Paul Byrd or calling up Poreda and giving him a shot down the stretch. Otherwise, the rest of everything will work itself out. The offense is generally too inconsistent to go on a long winning streak, but if they keep hitting homers, they'll be a good team down the stretch.

 

I very much doubt it. We always find a way to lose to crappy teams, especially the Royals this year.

Linebrink's out until at least September now.

 

Wow, and he's signed to a 4-year deal. He's seemingly been hurt forever.

I don't think anyone foresaw Crede's back injury lingering as long as it has nor Contreras blowing out his achilles (but if you did see that, you should have let him know about it...maybe just give him a shove and a nod about not covering first on that particular play).

 

No, no. The predictions were made after it became clear Crede had more back pain following his rehab start and would be out indefinately. In regards to Contreras, if you're were basing this team's chances on an ancient pitcher with an injury history, a sore elbow, and batting practice stuff over his last 2 months of pitching, you are even more insane than I thought.