May 21, 20169 yr Yes, we do and it wasn't very long ago that some on this board derided those of us who wanted to talk about addressing them. Remember: "The team has the best record in the League. Don't be such pessimists." We sure don't look like the best team in the League. Take away Sale, and this is a .500 team, at best.
May 21, 20169 yr 8 run 8th seems to have killed every aspect of this team that is not Chris Sale. Hitting is now looking like corpse ball days Starting pitching and defense is not what it was and granted it was not going to be league best but it needs to be better. I think the bullpen will right itself. New York and Houston handled the Sox rather easily as did KC last night. Teams go through funks. In regard to the White Sox, history dictates they may not come out of it.
May 21, 20169 yr I actually thought this was about the acquisition of Huston Street, lol... And not a NASA reference..."Houston, we have a problem." It was actually 7 runs in that 8th inning and 1 running in the 7th, but the point still stands. It's why I started the Ventura extension thread right after that game, having an immediate sense as a Sox fan it was going to constitute a defining moment in the season.
May 21, 20169 yr Disgust with the losses aside, this team should find some middle ground sooner than later. I think we have two fair assumptions that we can make. The first is that they're not as good as they initially played (.600+ winning percentage), and the second is that they are not as bad as they are playing now. This provides hope that yes, they can go on either another great run or find their way to a middle ground. Some people will argue that they are as bad as they are playing now, but I don't think that's fair. It's a slump, and a pretty ugly one at that but things will turn around. The kicker is that it just sucks watching the slump continue for what seems like forever with each passing day. The other crappy part is that we're in a homestand with KC and Cleveland with still no end in sight for the slump. I'm hoping like everyone else is that last night was rock bottom, because things can only go up from there. I also do want to acknowledge the arguments against the Sox, such as weak starters like Latos, Gonzalez and some pretty bad offensive players as well as what seems like a declining bullpen. These are definitely real issues but all teams in baseball deal with issues like those. It's about how you overcome them. For instance, the Royals were able to overcome using their #6 or #7 (right?) preferred starter last night. Obviously they'd rather have someone else, but they're still able to win the game.
May 21, 20169 yr The scary thing is there are quite a few similarities with the Minnesota Twins of last year...except the Twins did more of their damage on the offensive side than pitching/defense. They were 10-12 and 5 GB on April 30th and got to 32-21 by June 4th (a 22-9 run of baseball, similar to our 23-10 record). Tied or leading the division for about 10 days. Oscillated back and forth in that 5-10 games over .500 zone (peaked again at 50-40) but were never able to make another run at the Royals for the remainder of the season, finishing at 83-79. Obviously, we've led the division for most of the first 7 weeks of the season...but it seemed readily apparent from the scheduling this run of games against ALCD opponents and a string of other pretty good teams would make or break the season (barring some miraculous patchwork by Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams at midseason). Of course, the main difference is these Royals and Indians teams aren't nearly as good as the Royals last year (especially post-Zobrist/Cueto). Which at least provides a half measure of hope for those looking for something to cling to.
May 21, 20169 yr QUOTE (South Sider @ May 21, 2016 -> 08:51 AM) Disgust with the losses aside, this team should find some middle ground sooner than later. I think we have two fair assumptions that we can make. The first is that they're not as good as they initially played (.600+ winning percentage), and the second is that they are not as bad as they are playing now. This provides hope that yes, they can go on either another great run or find their way to a middle ground. Some people will argue that they are as bad as they are playing now, but I don't think that's fair. It's a slump, and a pretty ugly one at that but things will turn around. The kicker is that it just sucks watching the slump continue for what seems like forever with each passing day. The other crappy part is that we're in a homestand with KC and Cleveland with still no end in sight for the slump. I'm hoping like everyone else is that last night was rock bottom, because things can only go up from there. I also do want to acknowledge the arguments against the Sox, such as weak starters like Latos, Gonzalez and some pretty bad offensive players as well as what seems like a declining bullpen. These are definitely real issues but all teams in baseball deal with issues like those. It's about how you overcome them. For instance, the Royals were able to overcome using their #6 or #7 (right?) preferred starter last night. Obviously they'd rather have someone else, but they're still able to win the game. I would only add that they have not had any major injuries this season. Many teams already have lost a starter( pitcher or everyday) on the DL for the season. Unfortunately, the Sox will probably lose a key player as well like we did w Jones last year.
May 21, 20169 yr Adam Eaton: +15 Defensive Runs Saved in 2016 The Rest of the White Sox: -19 Defensive Runs Saved in 2016 At least we've moved to the middle of the rankings instead of the bottom 3.
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