gosox41

Last year the Sox started out with the same exact record. It was right around this time that the bullpen fell apart (the offense was already bad.) Who would have guessed the Sox would have won only 48 more games from right before Memorial Day until the end the season. Also, last year the Sox high water mark was 4 games over .500. Same with this years team. Hopefully they'll break that tonight and extend this winning streak.

QUOTE (RME JICO @ May 17, 2008 -> 10:29 PM) I hate to bump this thread up, but seeing Zito for the first time against the Sox seemed like a valid reason to do it. Also, he is now 0-8. He is on a bad team, but he looked like a BP pitcher out there tonight. He was lucky to only leave allowing only 2 runs because it could've easily been 6 or 7. He can think the White Sox offense for that. While the win is nice, the offense can't get it together. Either they can't creeate am opportunity or when one arises, they fail to take advantage of it. It's pissing me off. The Sox pitching won't be this good all season long. I don't see them maintaining an ERA under 4 as a staff. On the flipside, the Sox offense has shown prolonged times of not hitting. Take 2007 for the most recent example.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ May 15, 2008 -> 11:02 AM) when they were going over the pitcing matchups and heard the Sox would be facing Zito it interested me to no end. That should be an interesting game since the Sox have a record of making soft tossing lefties look awesome no matter how bad they are or are going, but Zito has been horrible this year. I really think I may lose my mind if Zito "finds it" against the Sox. I don't even think the Hawk could put a positive spin on the Sox getting shut down by Zito The Sox help a lot of pitchers 'find it'. Bob

QUOTE (WCSox @ May 12, 2008 -> 10:13 AM) Even against a mediocre team like Seattle, winning 2/3 on the road isn't bad at all. I imagine that we'll do at least as well in SF. Even if we "only" go 5-5 on this West Coast stretch, we'll still be in decent shape. I won't be satisifed with that. Not with the Twins playing well and the Indians heating up. This team needs to at least split with the Angels(aren't we not facing their 2 hottest pitchers though I know we get Lackey). From there they better be able to take 2 of 3 from San Fran. Series againt piss poor teams like that need to be won (or swept). While we might be in decent shape, a 6-4, 7-4 road trip would be much better. If this team wants to contend then they need to show up against the Angels. Bob

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 12, 2008 -> 02:00 PM) You can clearly see the age in Thome's swing. His power zone used to be to left center and he used to lace deadly liners to left field, now he's pretty much a pull hitter and is overpowered by some fastballs. I wouldnt mind shopping him at all. I actually liked the lineup better when he wasnt in it. I would also be shopping Dotel to the Brew Crew as a closer right now to see if we can snag a better 2B. I agree with you about Thome. He's also awful against lefties. Maybe Ozzie will figure it out and won't play him against any lefty...ever. Against lefties, having Anderson over Thome in the lineup actually makes it better as it adds an element of some speed. Tha and Anderson can hit lefties better. And having Anderson in CF makes the defense that much better (yes I think BA would have caught the ball in Floyd's no hitter). Bob

QUOTE (RME JICO @ May 9, 2008 -> 04:25 PM) Wow, teams are eating more and more salaries each year. Eventually teams will have more money tied up in released players than they have on their active roster, lol. Maybe it'll teach teams to avoid some of these idiotic contracts. I don't know how so many baseball GM's can continuously be suckered by signing stupid FA contracts. Bob

Outside of 2005, it seems like the Sox play awful on the west coast, especially on the first extended trip out there. I'm not sure why they play so lousy but it is so frustrating. I believe the west coast trip problems started back when Manuel was manager and he brough in Todd Rizzo to face the Angels (I think it was the Angels). The Sox would up blowing a decent sized lead, Rizzo was mentally shot, and I remember Manuel asking Rizzo if he could breathe. Ever since it's been one thing after another. Can this year be any different? It would be nice to break the losing trned of bad west coast play as well as the crapbal we've watched the last weeks. We need a nice 8-2 run in this trip, but I'm betting we go 3-7. I wish I had time to look up old box scores but it seems like every year the bullpen blows 2-3 games on the trip and this is also seeems to be the trip where the SP's start to come down to earth a bit. Here's hoping the Sox get it going for once on this trip and fall into the usual sucky losing baseball we've experience oh so much out there. Bob

QUOTE (rangercal @ May 8, 2008 -> 11:02 AM) If the sox Must have a fire sale, they might as well do it right. as far as hitters go: Keepers Carlos Quinten Nick Swisher Brian Anderson Josh Fields AJ Pierzynski Danny Richar Fire Sale Jim Thome Paul Konerko Jermaine Dye Joe Crede Juan Uribe Orlando Cabrera Pablo Ozuna Needs First Base Shortstop The only problem is PK, Dye, & Thome all have some version of no trade clauses. Yep, KW managed to lock uo our 3-5 hitters w/ no trade clauses (PK is 10 & 5 guy) when these represent everything that isn't small ball. So besides not having many options where we can demote these guys in the line up, we'r paying them a combined $32 mill out of pocket per season a to age and become less productive. Lovely. Bob

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ May 5, 2008 -> 08:28 PM) Until you fire the GM that built this mess, not much constructive change will occur. I give KW credit for the pitching, but this offense makes last years look like the '27 Yankees. This season is already lost, can't win with no offense, especially in the AL. Too bad we didn't realize last year our team showed it was old, and it wasn't a fluke year as many thought offensively. I agree. And it bugs the crap out of me that KW is so stubborn that he had to go with the same offensive strategy this year as last year (though Swisher, Quentin, and Cabrera are upgrades.) What also bugs me is how come the Sox seem to be the only team that is good (or on paper looks really good) that goes through extended periods of slumps where absolutely no one hits. I know good hitting is contaigous and I can see how that goes as it puts more pressure on the pitcher, etc. But I can't believe not one fricking player on this team can be hot right now. Is the psychological make up of this team that bad where they feel more and more pressure and becuase of it the suck more and more and then feel more pressure until they wind up hittin .225 as a team. It's KW's ego and football like menatlity that kep this team here and made this team bad. He simple couldn't admit a mistake from last year and now it's happening again. I think if he would have rebuilt this team like I and others were recommending, we'd be hitting better then we are now. Instead we have $26 mill of crap in our 3-4 spots (though some will be quick to pt out that Philly is paying some of that). Bob

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 5, 2008 -> 08:49 PM) Yup. Something tells me that Anderson and Uribe are finally going to get punished for performing this season and today. As they should be. Maybe they should be sent out, but that's debatable (especially for Anderson). No, the guys that have killed us are Thome and Konerko. They've hurt us the most, with Swisher and Cabrera running right behind. I'm defintely not advocating gettng rid of Swisher or Cabrera, but I doubt PK and Thome are going to start hitting becasue a career .210 hitter and 5th OFer were sent packing. Bob

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 2, 2008 -> 03:22 PM) I'm not worried about this offense in the least. Just wait and let it play out until about mid-June or July before people start freaking out. The problem is that if we wait that long we can be chasing 2-3 teams and be 10 games out. Not insurmountable, but I don't think this team has the ability to come back from a 10 game deficit with 2/3 of the season left. The reason I'm pissed is we saw this last year. How many more times do we need Thome to flail away at lefty pitching before Ozzie moves him in the line up or pinch hits him. The first game aside, Thome is pretty close to a guaranteed out against lefties. I'm only concerned because the guys we're counting on aren't producing. While Terrero, Gonzalez, etc all sucked in '07, I don't recall Thome getting hot until August and by then it was over for this team. We hope the proven veterans will hit, but overall they didn't last year. The fact that it carried into this year is a concern now. It's not just 27 games. It's the end of '06, all of '07 and '08. The teams we're playing are dealign with the same playing conditions and they're hitting better then us, as they're beating us. Bob

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 1, 2008 -> 07:38 AM) You're still missing the point. I'm not saying "The 2007 White Sox couldn't hit, so the 2008 can't either because they are identical teams." You're making that straw man up on your own. All I was saying is that you can say "they'll start hitting better" all you want, but there's no guarantee. AJ, Thome (he was right at his career avg for OBP, SLG, and OPS though), Konerko, and Dye all hit below their career averages last year, and they're on the wrong side of their prime years. Yes, this is a much better team than last year's simply because there won't be guys like Andy Gonzalez and Terrero getting regular AB's. But we still have a bunch of aging sluggers who may or may not hitter better as the year goes on. I'm just sick of hearing excuses about the weather (games like Monday are a different factor). The games that they can't seem to hit in in April count just as much as the ones in July. Losing these games early because you strand 10+ runners and lose by a run or two may kill you coming down the stretch in September. I agree about the excuses. If Ozzie starts making excuses for not hitting then he turns into Dusty Baker. Now it's time too rant because I'm PO'ed about this disturbing hitting trend. THis stuff about not hitting in the Metrodome is a crock. It's 75 degrees. If the players are psyched out then go with a more speedy team n their so the Sox dont have to stress and make excuses abou the fans being turned on (the elctronic kind, not the people). I don't want the team to start making excuses: It's too cold, it's too wet, it's too much of a dome, my hand hurts, me feelings are hurt, it's early, the Canadian dollar is too strong vs the US Dollar, we can't hit when we're in Canada because it's cold outside even though were in a dome---you all get the idea. I'm sick of the lack of execution. If players have problems like this, ship them out or DL them . I don't much care. But I do know I've the last 250 games or so, the Sox haven't hit well. And the simple fact is that the law of averages are kicking in and not hitting leads to lower OBP, which leads to less opps to score runs which miraculously leads to less runs. Novel idea. If the Sox continue to hit below .250 as a team, I'd bet a lot of $$$ that by the end of the year they will not be in the top half of the AL in runs scored. The Sox started off hiting so well with RISP. A .243 hitting team isn't going to hit 90 pts higher in batting average with RISP over a marathon season. Oh, and one more thing: don't bat Thome 3rd against lefties anymore. Rest him or demote him to like 7th because if you look at his OPS against lefties since the start of 2007 it is not so good. This one is on Ozzie. Bob What this offense is going through now is what I was afraid of with this team and why I wanted KW to break it up. A station to station team that can't even hit a freaking .250.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 28, 2008 -> 08:20 AM) They generally do, but after hearing "Don't worry, its April, its still cold" followed by "Don't worry, its May, its still cold" followed by "Don't worry, its only June, they HAVE to break out of it" last year, I can't hold that kind of hope. I agree. It's not the 25 games this year but the 162 games of last year that this team hasn't hit for a good average. Eventually the excuses run out. Pretty please, with sugar on top, hit the *&^*()& baseball before this becomes the same psychological thing as last year where everyone starts pressing. The way our starts have pitched lately, this team should be closer to 20 wins then 15. But the inability to get base hits has killed us. I won't panic but it needs to be addressed. Bob

QUOTE (WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Apr 28, 2008 -> 12:09 AM) Wow. If this is true, it's amazing how stupid people can be. Fifteen? Roger denied it, so it has to be false Bob

QUOTE (RME JICO @ Apr 27, 2008 -> 07:55 PM) You should almost consider it a positive. There is no way this will continue throughout the entire year. The hits will come as long as they continue their patience at the plate. I kept telling myself that last year and it never clicked. I hope it does soon because if it does the Sox will be dangerous. Bob

While the Sox are scoring more runs this year and they do have a lot more patience at the plate, this teams batting average is bad and concerns me. For all of 2007 the team had a poor batting average and this year they are pretty much the same. What I don't get is how a team that can have so many proven hitters continuously have such a sucky team batting average for such an extended period. Outside of Uribe, all the hitters in our everyday lineup have career batting averages exceeding .244, but there we are as a team. If this keeps up, the Sox will be not make the playoffs. I doubt Danks and Floyd will maintain their current pace. I'm not saying I don't like the walks and watching the hitters work the count, but why can't this team hit for a higher average? Or to think it it another way, if this team can maintain it's pace of walks and the team batting average increase, this team will score a ton of runs and then I'd really be excited about this team. Bob

QUOTE (WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Apr 15, 2008 -> 09:37 PM) Thome should never hitting 3rd against lefties, that's for sure. I'm not sure why Ozzie hasn't figured this simple concept out yet. Bob

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 4, 2008 -> 11:31 PM) Never in a million years did I think I'd say this, but Chris Singleton is awesome on ESPN. He was on ESPNews earlier, and he's on Baseball Tonight now. He's easily the best of the ex-baseball players they've had on the show in the last 5 years. I'm proud of him, as he looks like a natural at this. Good for him. I thought Ed was holding him back. Bob

QUOTE(Princess Dye @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 07:41 PM) My question to all: can Owens be up here if he's not going to be an everyday guy? Not based on Ozzie's quotes out of spring training. He loves Jerry's speed. Personally, I like Quentin and love the idea of havng Anderson being a late inning defensive replacement. Bob

QUOTE(southsidehawkeye @ Mar 28, 2008 -> 04:21 PM) I believe that he was telling the truth on everything that he said in his first book, I think history has proven him to be giving his honest word. However, when he says things like "It isn't the right time" when asked to provide proof on his A-Rod statements, he begins to look like someone who is simply trying to stay in the spotlight and make more $$ to me. Maggs was very shady with how he handled his injury, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he took PEDs, but I havent really decided if Conseco's new book is trustworthy or not. On a side note, if you had info on A-Rod and were writing a tell-all book on PEDs in the MLB, wouldnt you include the info in your first book? It just sounds really fishy to me. Back to Mags. Why didn't he press charges and sue Canseco when he was extorted by him? Something doesn't add up. This whole moving on thing is odd. If I were Magglio and had nothing to hide, I'd press charges against Canseco and just for fun I'd take him to court and sue him for slander. I'm no big city lawyer, but I'm pretty sure a good one wouldn't recommend his client go around spreading lies about someone, in writing, no less unless there was some truth to it. Can't you be sued (with a good chance of losing a lawsuit) for knowingly spread lies about an individual? Bob

QUOTE(jenks45monster @ Mar 28, 2008 -> 04:02 PM) Here's an excerpt from Mariotti's article today in the Sun-Times. It's an excerpt of Canseco's new book too. Do you think Canseco is lying here? I don't have time to look through the archives, but I'll bet some money that when the Sox signed Cancseco, Munsterboy didn't make one mention of him being a steroid freak. And if he were a steroid freak, in Eddie Munster' world, it's because Reinsdorf made him one. Bob

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Mar 9, 2008 -> 04:17 PM) I think you mean Lowry. Because I'd take Cain in a heartbeat for Crede. That's exactly what I meant. Thank you for the correction. Bob

QUOTE(lvjeremylv @ Mar 9, 2008 -> 07:29 AM) I And like you said, if by July we're under .500 and 15 games out of the playoff picture, you can bet we will be unloading a lot of players (probably Konerko, Dye, AJ, etc) and getting prospects in return. And yes, that will put us right back in the middle of the pack in terms of minor league depth. I think this should have been done last season. The Sox have had 1 1/2 years of bad baseball. Winning maybe 83 games in 2008 doesn't do much for me. Bob

QUOTE(whitesox94 @ Mar 9, 2008 -> 02:23 PM) a little bit of both, the sox want to get rid of crede and i guess the dodgers have an overcrowded b-pen Am I the only who thinks that KW is going to seriously undervalue Crede and give him away for a guy like this or that guy Cain in San Fran. IMHO, a team that wants to win now and needs a third baseman should give up a lot more then that. Joe is provin to be healthy and mobile. Sure he's a one year rental, but if you're in a win now mode you're getting a defensive stud wh ocan hit 30 HR's. Maybe I overvalue Joe but Joe is at least worth a good #3 starter or 2-3 very good propsects with one being a can't miss prospect. There's zero reason to trade Crede for an injured emergency starter...unless you're an idiot. The Sox have a chance to shore up their rotation or get some depth in the minors in case some of these older guys break down. Don't screw this up Kenny!!!!!! Bob

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 08:11 AM) Sure, the owners have them by the shorthairs during those first few years, but after that, they get the advantage. The guys who clamor for a long term 'security' deal, and then want it restructured 2 years later because other people are making more are the ones who are worse. You signed it, deal with it. The funny thing is that by being had by the short hairs means a mid-6 figure salary in this case. Rough life. Bob