South Side Fireworks Man

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Sep 14, 2011 -> 03:39 PM) This may be just legend, but I'd always heard that Ozzie said, "If AJ is on the other team, you hate him. If he's on your team, you hate him less." If Ozzie is the manager of the other team, you hate him. If he is the manager of your favorite team, you hate him more.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Sep 14, 2011 -> 04:10 PM) I would have used Flowers... he can atleast elevate the fuggin' ball to get a run in. AJ hit that ball hard. Flowers may have struck out, but I guess then at least Viciedo would have had a chance to win the game, so pick your poison. Not letting Sale pitch to Inge resulting in Leyland getting his preferred Avila/Santos matchup was the real backbreaker today.

Just got home but I was listening to the top of the ninth on my way home. Ozzie chose not to start the inning with his closer - ok. But when Leyland put Inge in to pinch hit, Ozzie pulls Sale and goes to Santos - boneheaded stupid move. Leyland wanted Ozzie to do just that and then put in Avila to face Santos. I just knew what was going to happen and I burst out laughing when Avila hit that HR. Stupid Ozzie.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 13, 2011 -> 09:24 PM) Let's see if Ozzie is a man of his word and keeps quiet if he leaves http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,1570904.story He won't say anything bad about the White Sox. That's Oney's job.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Sep 13, 2011 -> 04:26 PM) That's crazy talk. Just keep winning series.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 13, 2011 -> 05:18 PM) Danks, Floyd, Contreras, Buerhle, Jackson, Vazquez, Jenks, Thornton, Linebrink, Dotel, Koch, Wells, Colon, Loaisa, Peavy, all they could do is pitch and all have gone through extended slumps, at least the pitching equivalent of 50 AB. Its time to get rid of Cooper. Yeah you win. Cooper sucks. Get rid of him too. Just keep Walker and rebuild around him.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 13, 2011 -> 04:48 PM) Yeah. Those 50 plate appearances tell you the whole story. No, only a small part of the story. All the other players I mentioned plus the results of the past few years tell the rest. OK, I give up. Walker is the best hitting coach ever and should be given a 10 year extension even if KW and Ozzie are gone after this season. He'll turn these hitters around if it takes him 10 years to do it!

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 13, 2011 -> 04:40 PM) Lol@Betemit. I want Walker gone. But that's reaching there. The point with Betemit is the one and only thing he could do relatively well was hit. But with the Sox, he couldn't even do that. Just another of Walker's failed students.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 13, 2011 -> 04:15 PM) If they can find someone who would take AJ's full salary, then going with that wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. He's still got an OPS comparable to AJ's despite the low batting average, and there's reason to believe he can get better from here too. I agree that if someone were willing to take AJ's entire salary it might serve the Sox well in letting him go. But to say getting rid of AJ should be the Sox' focus this offseason is ridiculous. And just to remind people, the reason AJ is making $6M next reason is because he deferred a couple million of his salary so that the Sox could re-sign Konerko. He did the Sox a favor and if the Sox want other players to give them similar considerations in the future it may not be wise to appear overanxious to dump a guy after that. Besides, AJ has the right to veto any trade. AJ is definitely on the downward side of his career but he's still a contributing member to the team. AJ is very underappreciated by some people here.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 13, 2011 -> 04:16 PM) You do realize Walker took over halfway through 2003 don't you? Kind of ruins your post. No, it doesn't ruin my post. Paulie went through other periods of extended slumps after 2003. And Paulie did learn a lot because of those extended slumps which is a credit to him. He probably learned more from those slumps than from Walker and look at what he had to go through before he finally figured it out. Although I wouldn't credit Walker with Paulie's current success, even if you insist on doing so it would prove the exception to the rule. Walker has a track record of watching his hitters go through extended slumps. Walker's body of work includes the sub-par results from his hitters like Rios, Dunn, Swisher, Betemit, Uribe, Beckham .....

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 04:40 PM) Who is going to take AJ and his 6M salary next year? ...Because they're set at Catcher with Flowers and his .218 batting average...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 13, 2011 -> 03:55 PM) Are you talking about 2003? When he was recovering from a broken foot that he played through down the stretch in 2002? Because yeah...Paul Konerko is Greg Walker's biggest success story by far, and there is little you can say to diminish that. Konerko might well be the smartest hitter in baseball. So what you're saying is if we give Walker another seven years or so with Beckham, Rios and Dunn he may turn them around as well. Awesome. Paul Konerko learned a lot from his extended slumps and has become a smart hitter but I credit Paulie more for his own success. A better hitting coach may have helped him learn a little faster and helped to shorten those months long slumps to maybe week long slumps. Walker has not produced adequate results with many of the hitters he's had like Beckham, Swisher, Rios, Dunn, Betemit, etc. And under his tenure, the team's hitting approach overall has been poor.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 13, 2011 -> 08:50 AM) Llink Yeah, he really helped Paul Konerko alright. He watched him go through a couple off horrendous half-season long slumps until he "figured it out." What a genius that Walker is.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 10:11 PM) I think its safe to say Morel found his power stroke. Too bad Beckham never found his.

QUOTE (God Loves The Infantry @ Sep 10, 2011 -> 06:11 PM) Ozzie Guillen is such a freaking moron. De Aza is 2 for 3 with 2 doubles, and Dayan replaces him?! WTF! This is bulls***. KW ought to fire his stupid ass on the spot. If KW tried to fire Ozzie, Ozzie would just call JR and JR would make KW sit in the corner. KW couldn't even fire the batting instructor. JR does not let his GM make any important decisions, that's why this organization is so dysfunctional. QUOTE (God Loves The Infantry @ Sep 10, 2011 -> 06:17 PM) Gordon Beckham is useless. I'm so over this f***ing experiment. He should be booed as much as Adam and Rios. And that's not any sort of compliment to those two goons either. Screw them all. Beckham would make a great utility infielder, taking Vizquel's role next year.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 10, 2011 -> 06:39 PM) OZZIE MUST BE FIRED OUT OF A CATAPULT INTO A BRICK WALL. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 10, 2011 -> 06:42 PM) If either Dunn or Ramirez are playing on Sunday, Ozzie should be fired on the spot....whenever that line-up card is posted. Ozzie should just be fired. Now. Period.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 01:55 AM) There are...depending on the return. Of course, considering he's heading for a $7.5-8.5 million this offseason (arbitration), his value's even lower than it was at midseason 2011, when KW passed on the opportunity to trade him. Passed on the opportunity to trade him for whom?

Yes, f*** Ozzie indeed.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Sep 4, 2011 -> 09:41 PM) I think it's safe to say that the other 29 managers in MLB wouldn't say "I hope we don't get swept" just before an important series.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 4, 2011 -> 09:05 PM) Yep, he looks absolutely lost at the plate. He looked far more comfortable last year when he got called up. It's called the Walker effect. See Gordon Beckham.

Ozzie has completely lost the team. Even Konerko is playing like he doesn't care anymore. I turned the game off about a half hour ago. If they don't care why should we?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 4, 2011 -> 11:24 AM) Always remmeber there is next year. Ozzie sticks up for himself and there is nothing wrong with that and we have good players who are having bad years. Do some tweaking and some look at themselves in the mirror and make the needed changes this off season and 2012 can be a fun time for sure. Cause this year was no so much Forget Ozzie and forget JR and the White Sox if Ozzie is still here next season.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 3, 2011 -> 07:00 PM) KW needs to clean out his locker. KW needs to laugh all the way to the bank as he cashes another one of his paychecks. JR pays him GM salary without any GM responsibilities. He can't tell his manager whom to play, he can't hire or fire a manager as he chooses, heck, he can't even fire a lowly batting coach without the owner interfering. KW should continue to be a yes man to JR and kiss his ass--that's the way you keep your lifelong job for the White Sox under Jerry's regime. Maybe Jerry and Eddie will put the Sox back on Pay-per-view again next season so we can break our viewing habit and get this team out of our summers. Can't wait to see them convince Governor Quinn to spend billions of taxpayer money to build another monstrosity of a stadium so that they can renovate it over the following decades to make it somewhat nice.

Sell, Jerry, sell!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 3, 2011 -> 04:00 PM) Why are they getting tagged in the first inning then settling down? They aren't ready to pitch. If the Sox never scored their first time through the line up, you would blame Walker. He's always been the problem according to some. Who are you going to blame next year? If Walker was as successful with the hitters as Cooper has been with the pitching staff the Sox would easily be in first place. Cooper has a much better track record of success than Walker has.