“I could tell right when I walked in,” Ventura said. “I got there from airport and you could kind of tell it was flat. You’re trying to get them going and it was flat the whole time. The first play kind of set me off from there. It was just flat the whole time, and the position we’re in with as many guys hurt and the way we’re trying to get through this period right now, you can’t come out flat. You don’t want to see it any time, but there are exceptions to it. Right now, you can’t play that way.”

Teams often get accused of looking flat when they don’t hit, as the White Sox often were in 2013.

 

Lack of offense and lack of energy go hand in hand.

 

“It has nothing to do with that,” Ventura said. “I can tell the way we are by the way it is in our dugout. I can tell. And I know what it’s like. It’s not like I haven’t had a day when I felt flat. You can either give in to it or you can try and change it. And I didn’t think anybody tried to change it. They knew what I was thinking during the game. They knew exactly what I was thinking during the game. That’s what comes out.

“There are times when you try to help them by not having batting practice on a day game but we seem to, as a group, have a day like that when you give them some rope to let them rest and it ends up going too far. And you can say it’s lethargic or, whatever, but I know what it feels like I’ve been on a team that it happens like that. It’s not like I don’t know from experience or know what it looks like.”

 

Catcher Tyler Flowers said he thought the White Sox looked flat in large part because of Anderson. But he also said he’s so focused on working with the pitcher that he doesn’t have time to take stock of the clubhouse and dugout as Ventura would.

“He gets to oversee everything,” Flowers said. “He can take in everybody’s energy or their lack thereof. Kind of easy for him to see all that. … It seemed like he wasn’t pleased with that.”

 

Flowers said the White Sox have played with good energy this season, that it has consistently been good. While Ventura agrees for the most part he doesn’t want any lapses and chose Sunday to send a message.

 

“It’s your responsibility of showing up every day and what it’s supposed to be like every day,” Ventura said. “And that wasn’t there yesterday.”

 

www.csnchicago.com (Dan Hayes)

Edited May 13, 201411 yr by caulfield12

Routine manager stuff. Seems like it's about the right time for the excitement of the season to wear off and everyone start thinking of the looooooong summer ahead. Of all the sports it seems like baseball has the worst grind. I know the NBA and NHL have to bad, but baseball is just so long.

He should rip himself for batting Leury Garcia 1st.

Frankly it seems like Sox have played every day for 2 months. I kinda expected this.

Am I reading this wrong, or is this from the other day?

Am I reading this wrong, or is this from the other day?

 

No, caulfield is a day late

If Robin senses some flatness in the team and wants to call it out, that's fine, but even at 2 under .500 this team is overachieving. Their best reliever has been out nearly all of the season. Their best starter has been out for half of it, along with their second best position player. Other starters have hit the DL.

I think we've got this all wrong... The reporter misquoted Ventura. He was actually referring to one of the players' wives as being "flat"

Players rip Ventura saying he had a "flat" day at the park. First with the lineup, batting the team worst hitter Leury Garcia 1st, and then overmanaging by pinch running for Dunn and leaving himself not enough outfielders.

 

Players noted this wasn't the first time Ventura has appeared flat, noting the time he let Cleto pitch a critical 9th inning and ran out of pitchers due to a slavish obsession with "matchups".

Am I reading this wrong, or is this from the other day?

Those quotes came from before the Oakland game. They are not the post game comments of the last Diamond back game.

He should rip himself for batting Leury Garcia 1st.

When in doubt, speedy guy on bench = leadoff hitter.

The problem is when Eaton is out, the Sox don't really have a leadoff hitter on their roster. So no matter who is there, when a game is lost and the guy leading off doesn't have a good game, Robin is an idiot.

The problem is when Eaton is out, the Sox don't really have a leadoff hitter on their roster. So no matter who is there, when a game is lost and the guy leading off doesn't have a good game, Robin is an idiot.

 

If you don't have a leadoff hitter then put whoever gets on base the most up there.. Garcia, De Aza, and Beckham are not those.

Is there anyone who still believes Ventura is going to be the one who leads the White Sox to their next playoff appearance?

Put Abreu for all care. Just anybody but your two worst hitters on the team

Is there anyone who still believes Ventura is going to be the one who leads the White Sox to their next playoff appearance?

 

No, so the sooner he is gone the better

The problem is when Eaton is out, the Sox don't really have a leadoff hitter on their roster. So no matter who is there, when a game is lost and the guy leading off doesn't have a good game, Robin is an idiot.

Nope, batting the worst hitter on the team leadoff is incredibly stupid. I don't care if there isn't a clear answer to the leadoff problem, what is clear is that Luery is not the solution. Unfortunately, White Sox managers equate speed to leadoff hitting and have done this same bulls*** for years.

 

But please continue to justify every stupid decision Robin makes.

Put Abreu for all care. Just anybody but your two worst hitters on the team

 

Its simple, put Ramirez up there until Eaton is back or Semien (At least he will take pitches)

I still don't understand, today, why you wouldn't prefer to have either Semien or Sierra hitting there (yes, I understand he already pinch ran, but that was completely unnecessary to take Dunn out at that moment as he wasn't even the tying run...Ramirez was, and he was able to steal 2nd on his own)?

 

Are you telling me that you can't read the back of their baseball cards or simply go to thebaseballcube.com?

 

If Semien's now expected to strike out when he came into the season as your system's best combination of patience and relatively decent/high contact rates, what does it say that he has already fallen so low in the eyes of the manager in terms of trustworthiness, even though he's had huge hits at least 4-5 times already this year in similar situations?

Edited May 13, 201411 yr by caulfield12

Is there anyone who still believes Ventura is going to be the one who leads the White Sox to their next playoff appearance?

 

Absolutely.

Is there anyone who still believes Ventura is going to be the one who leads the White Sox to their next playoff appearance?

Yes. He isn't going anywhere, and I put up $5k when you said any amount of money. I'd go higher if you would like.

I still don't understand, today, why you wouldn't prefer to have either Semien or Sierra hitting there (yes, I understand he already pinch ran, but that was completely unnecessary to take Dunn out at that moment as he wasn't even the tying run...Ramirez was, and he was able to steal 2nd on his own)?

 

Are you telling me that you can't read the back of their baseball cards or simply go to thebaseballcube.com?

 

If Semien's now expected to strike out when he came into the season as your system's best combination of patience and relatively decent/high contact rates, what does it say that he has already fallen so low in the eyes of the manager in terms of trustworthiness, even though he's had huge hits at least 4-5 times already this year in similar situations?

Sigh.

 

If you are supposed to look at the back of their baseball cards, how come you didn't do it?

 

Leury was hitting .357 vs. LHP with 3 doubles when he went to the plate.

 

 

If you don't have a leadoff hitter then put whoever gets on base the most up there.. Garcia, De Aza, and Beckham are not those.

So Adam Dunn should lead off. Gotcha.

Is there anyone who still believes Ventura is going to be the one who leads the White Sox to their next playoff appearance?

Not me If Ventura keeps making the same mistakes over and over, White Sox do not have to worry about making any kind of a playoff appearance under his watch.

Edited May 13, 201411 yr by Soxfest

So Adam Dunn should lead off. Gotcha.

Over Leury Garcia sure