SoxHawk1980

Can't get on base, has no power, horrible defense, no arm and gets thrown out too often on the bases. Can you say 0-tool player?

Wow, the Yanks are hitting and running at will, and the defense looks as horrible as ever. I don't think this team is ever going to wake up and play hard.

No, I wouldn't automatically take Vazquez out at the beginning of the 6th inning, but given how poorly he's pitched and how frequently he's imploded in the middle innings, you have to give him a very short leash in the sixth inning. Ozzie hasn't done so. He's waited and waited until Vazquez has gotten into serious trouble, and then he's left Vazquez in, in the hopes that he'll work his way out of it. Of course, Vazquez almost always fails.

I am so tired of this argument. No, it is not Ozzie's fault that the starting pitchers are pitching worse this year. But he is exacerbating their negative effect on the team by leaving them in long enough to make sure they have time to get shelled. Dozens of times this season a struggling Sox starter has gotten into the middle innings and started to collapse. Ignoring this, Ozzie has waited until the starter gave up a few runs in the middle innings before finally pulling the starter. Last night is a perfect example. Buehrle wasn't pitching well, but he was hanging in there. We were lucky that Buehrle made it through 6. Through that inning, he had 6ip and 3er. Then in the 7th, Buehrle gives up some hits and walks and Ozzie just sits on his hands until Buehrle has completely imploded. OZZIE turned a mediocre pitching performance into a complete failure. A moderately competent manager would have pulled Buehrle earlier and the bullpen would have given us a better chance to win. This is what Ozzie does. He has no idea how to handle a pitching staff and is managing to make the worst out of mediocre or poor pitching performances.

That is one of the problems with this entire team. They don't have the fire and the hunger they had last year. They won their championship and now they are playing and acting like they are fat and happy. Losing close games is ok this year. They take it in stride. And Ozzie LETS them take it in stride. He is supposed to be good at keeping this team in the right frame of mind. He's supposed to be the great motivator. When is he going to light a fire under this team. They needed it a month ago. Instead, he's letting them sleepwalk their way through the second half of the season. They are going to sleepwalk right into some October golfing.

Fixed. Do you really believe that because the Sox won it all in 2005, therefore everything Ozzie does for the rest of his career is right? One ring means that every decision he makes for the rest of his career is the right decision? In reality, Ozzie has some weaknesses. The biggest is that he can't make good in-game decisions to save his life. He doesn't know how to handle a pitching staff at all.

Feel free to add this too: The Sox are done, finished, finito. The starting pitchers can't pitch, period and Ozzie has shown himself to be a horrible manager. He can't handle a pitching staff to save his life. With starting pitchers like this and a horrible manager like Ozzie, this team has ZERO chance of making it to the postseason. - August 7, 2006

LMAO. Do you think that Ozzie EVER looks at statistics? I doubt he ever even takes a glance at them.

Ozzie will never learn. Last year proved to him that there is only one way to manage. He's going to leave any and all SP's out there until they completely blow up. That's just Ozzie. He'll never change.

He can't read a ball worth a damn. The only thing that keeps him from being a completely horrible defensive OFer is that he has the speed to make up for some misreads. Of course, even his speed can't make up for many of them. And, there is his unrelenting ham-fistedness with that rock hard glove of his.

It is true that Ozzie should have had BMac up earlier. But, when Ozzie made his visit to the mound, BMac was shown standing on a bullpen mound, looking onto the field and not throwing because he was warmed up and ready to come in.

Prediction for the post-game press conference with Ozzie: Q: Why did you leave Buerhle in so long in the 7th? A: As a manager, I've got to give my starting pitchers the opportunity to win the game. This team is only going to win the division if our starting pitchers can successfully pitch deep into games. In order to give us the best chance to win the division, I've got to give our starters the opportunity to go deep into games. We can't just have starting pitchers go 5 innings and leave the rest up to the bullpen. That will really burn our bullpen out, especially on this long stretch of games with no off days. [Yet again, Ozzie will show that he simply doesn't know how to manage during a game. He doesn't have the first clue how to handle a pitching staff. Yet again this season, Ozzie robs us of the chance to win a game. Expect many more of these.]

I don't think Buehrle should get most of the blame for this game. If Ozzie would have pulled him when he should have pulled him, Buehrle would have had a Quality Start = 6ip, 3er. Not great, but ok. Ozzie left him in long enough for him to completely implode. Ozzie had several chances to pull Buehrle before things got too ugly, and he just sat there, watching it. In this game, Ozzie has been the difference between keeping it close and letting it get out of hand.

Detroit is a lock. But can the Sox win the WC? Not with this kind of starting pitching. Not with a manager who doesn't have the first clue how to handle a pitching staff.

Ozzie left him in way, way too long. Possibly the most obvious instance in which Ozzie should have pulled a starter before he blew up, and didn't.

Yet another game where Hawk complains incessantly about the umpiring. Again, all the umps are out to get the Sox.

There are some things that Ozzie really knows about baseball and some things he doesn't know. Unfortunately, Ozzie doesn't know a damned thing about how to make in-game decisions. He doesn't know when to pull a SP, he doesn't know how to handle the bullpen, and in my opinion, he doesn't know when to use small ball and when not to use it. Ozzie would make a great first base coach.

What possible reason could there have been to leave Buehrle out there? He had been hit hard all game and was getting hit hard yet again in the 7th. Two runners on and Ozzie goes out there and doesn't pull Mark. Why? Does he really think Buerhle had a better chance of getting out of the inning that McCarthy at that point? I don't understand his idiocy at all.

Yet another example of how Ozzie is HORRIBLE at in-game decision making. Buehrle should have been pulled several hitters earlier and this probably would still be a 1-run game. Does anyone have the nerve and lack of intelligence to defend Ozzie now???

And now the balk. Ozzie leaves Buehrle out there twisting in the wind...and now imploding. And now even more hits. Thanks Ozzie!!!!!!!!!!

Now the bases loaded. Ozzie, can you please pull Buerhle, PLEASE??????

Another hard hit, Rivera almost got it out. Please, please, take him out Ozzie. This is long enough.

Given the quality of his play the past few years, I think he should be worried that in the near future, he'll be losing his significant paycheck and that hot wife.

And...for a guy who can't hit worth a damn, he sure plays sub-mediocre defense.

Sorry, I was thinking of VORP+defense, which was discussed in the last few weeks on BP. And Anderson didn't look too good.