stretchstretch

last season here we come!!!

all that said, the CURRENT World Champions are Juan Uribe and Aaron Rowand

Hoping this isn't deleted, but after not visiting in a while, I'm surprised to see no threads following what's happening with MN, who after winning 94 games and finally getting home field against NYY in their brand new super stadium are on the verge of getting swept in convincing fashion. throughout the last decade, the main issue with MN winning the division is seeing this story unfold again, something many here b*tch about during the course of the year as they make the annual late season charge to the title.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Sep 28, 2010 -> 10:22 PM) has the whole board boycotted?? or just not care?? i know the seasons over and all but still do pirates message boards end halfway through the season?? this is still your team!! this was the earliest I completely checked out since winning the WS, and I've been pretty die hard since the 80s. Realizing that MN is going to flat out own us for the foreseeable seasons just drops depression like a hammer. Realizing how much we mortgaged our future with big money aging vets, and fixer upper bargain castoffs, has really sunk in. We don't have the budget to buy the rising star players like the top 3-4 teams, we don't have a mgr that can do special things with what he has, our prospects are mostly very average, and our few bright spot vets are aging and susceptible to sustained injury......ah, I could go on but why bother at this point. When Prospectus comes out next year having us at a 500 team, and counter rage starts here, and the 100 "IF ONLY" statements start flying around the board, it will be just tired hack foreshadowing of the mid-season rage this board and Sox fans will be in, again, over the same old problems of a 100M team with little to show for it. Yeah, keeping Thome would have helped, but MN would still be looking at us in a cloud of dust in their rear view mirror.

no sarcasm here, just trying to figure out why anyone would post the Sox natl TV schedule on Sept19th, when they are an abysmal 10 games back and looking as bad as any of us have seen them in years..? Most people here want a White Sox break, not a reminder of any kind.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 11:32 AM) You realize the Red Sox have a limitless budget and were almost 30 million more than us this year, yes? And that the "genius" GM they have signed Lackey and Cameron this past offseason. And the "genius" over at Tampa Bay had roughly 64 #1-3 draft picks. I'm not calling them bad GM's, but all this bulls*** about how there is apparently a treasure trove of genius GM's out there better than KW is getting ridiculous. You have to take other factors into account, the Rays wouldn't be anywhere without sucking ass for a decade and hitting the jackpot on a couple of the dozen #1 picks they had. KW has built some solid teams which underperformed, won more playoff games this year than most, and has a ring. Lets please not turn this into a Bears backup QB scenario. Here Fkn Here!!!! The Red Sox are the Yankees with melted helmets, thee decades of hyping them as the Yankees whipping boyz on ESPN paid off with a large national following that puts them in the elite revenue category, they can in fact buy whomever they want just like NYY, so spare me this crap about how godly Theo Freakin Stepstine is.....give him the Pirates and let's see how brilliant his silver spoon Harvard ass is

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 01:12 AM) Yeah but there are no guarantees. Royals, Pirates, O's, Indians, haven't they all been trying to rebuild that way? As painful as this season has been, we have what most baseball people think is potentially a great staff. We have to keep that staff intact and tinker some more and make some big time changes with the everyday lineup. exactly, we just bring up Span, Kubel, Valencia, Cuddyer, Punto, Hardy, Repko, Young from AAA and we're all set......oh wait nevermind, we don't have a farm system

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 12:08 AM) I think the gist of this thread is that the game has changed. Look all around baseball at the moment. At all the playoff teams or near playoff teams. Other than the Yankees, you see elite, homegrown, and more importantly, cheap and controlled talent up and down their rosters. The Rays, Rangers, Reds, Rockies head the list. And the Twins have obviously flourished at this for years. Yes, I know most of these teams sucked for years before they got to this point. But they're hear now. And it doesn't look like they're going anywhere anytime soon (especially the Rays, they're deeper than Oprah's asshole pitching wise, majors and minors). This is why guys like me, fathom, russ, I think Ace, ect, were so against the Jackson trade. It's not because we think Jackson is the second coming of Todd Ritchie. It's because it was a horrible business move. There was just no real logic behind it. Other than Cooper's insistence that he could "fix" him. But when you're already up against your financial threshold, and you already have glaring holes all over the place that need to be filled, you don't have that option. Somebody used the word "piecemeal" to describe the way the Sox run things. And that's a PERFECT way to describe it. I think that's what I mean when I say the '05 title was a fluke. Yes, we were the best team that year. But the way that team was put together was no formula for a sustained run, obviously. We added a lot of guys coming off down years or that nobody wanted and it magically came together for a year. And we've been doing that ever since with one division title to show for it the last 5 years. Unacceptable. I guess I'm one of the few fans that would welcome a "rebuilding" period (i.e. a down year or two) if that ultimately meant we were building for a sustained run of success. Finishing 2nd/3rd every year is like making out with a relative. Your ass is sitting at home watching the playoffs just like the teams that lost 95-100 games. Except they at least get a top 5 pick to work with. first, I have to say thank you for what is perhaps the quote of the year, literally sprayed coffee on my desk. second, yes, exactly, as a fan I'd rather watch the growing process with lowered expectations, than sit hoping beyond hope (on TV, PC, Cell), day after day from April-Sept that somehow this year's Sox team will align their $110M payroll of castaways and nonames to outlast MN on Oct1st, and again, end up bitterly bitterly disappointed and wondering what has to change. If they start over and rebuild, at least their will be no guessing why they're not good, we'll know.

QUOTE (hitlesswonder @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 10:21 PM) Giving up on 5 or more seasons until the Sox accumulate enough top 5 picks to have decent cheap talent isn't anything I want to watch. but honestly, have the last 5 seasons not been equally grueling being led to believe you were built to contend based upon an illusion? since 2005 we head into ST with optimism (and a bunch of "if onlys") and sit on a roller coaster of hope for 6 months. unless of course we are in fact built to succeed and it really does all come down to poor coaching? come to think of it, the Sox new tag line should be

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 10:13 PM) Would you be happy with making the playoffs and losing ever year? How do you value success, if winning is all that matters then shouldnt it mean nothing if you aint got no ring? Sox spend to win. I will support them as long as they try to win. For most of my life they tried way less and I supported them, why am I going to go give up now? 1 in 8 playoff teams ends up with a ring, so the chances are very slim of being "the one", so I'll take winning the division and being on Natl TV every October over attempting to recreate lightning in a bottle 2005

MN has miracle finishes in the last two weeks of the season, not the Sox, season's dead.....

Hi White Sox, this is the Twins. We're going on the road where we suck, and will give you a chance to actually get back in this thing while you play bottom feeders at home for a while. Oh, nevermind.......back to our plans to lose three straight to NYY in the playoffs, bye!

won 8 of their last 11 by one run....geez

QUOTE (joeynach @ Sep 8, 2010 -> 09:52 PM) They did it again, scored 4 runs on 5 hits, Royals had 3 runs on 8 hits. Thats 5 wins in the last 9 games in which the Twins have been outhit (at home) and won the game. I swear to you this is absolutely insane and something you will never see again. not to mention, one run wins to top it off

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 7, 2010 -> 07:16 AM) Its been such a crazy season, to be out at this point would make you question whether you really are a fan at all. no, to be out is a sign of being a long time Sox fan and having been conditioned for disappointment. If you are old enough to name the '83 roster, and the years after, you know what I'm talking about......and yes I'm well aware of 2005, that does not change anything

This is a great post. I had been thinking of something similar, but couldn't put my finger on what exactly seemed so odd. They get W's but in such a completely unimpressive fashion, and it's so painful when the Sox are stringing together so many wins and gaining absolutely no ground. I watch the MN highlights; the seeing eye singles, the bloop shots at exactly the right time, the seemingly automatic runs in 7-9th that result in that one run lead, not tied and win in extras but just that one extra run, the lack of scoring by the opposition in late innings even with Nathan out the entire season and late inning pitchers whom I cannot name even one......just does not make sense, they are a complete baseball enigma without an obvious explanation. I truly believed that once they left the dome, they'd never win another ALC title again, but apparently the stadium is not the explanation. If I could see the numbers and know precisely what they do right to explain the inexplicable?

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Sep 5, 2010 -> 04:48 PM) Great win. It would be nice if the Twins would lose once in a while. what sucks is they won't get the ridiculous chop shot over the drawn in 3rd basemen, or "coaches hand touch" called out at 3rd, or the magical Span seeing eye grounder between first and second in the playoffs, and they'll exit first round as always as a waste of the ALC representative. If the wins they were getting were solid, I'd have no problem with them winning the division cleanly, but the garbage they get to sometimes to pull games out of their butts is infuriating, especially at home, even with the trampoline dome gone

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Sep 1, 2010 -> 02:34 PM) Sorry, but it's lodged WAY too far up there at this point. when did Frank marry Pete Sampras' wife???

QUOTE (Cali @ Sep 1, 2010 -> 02:17 PM) Unfortunately since Detroit sucks this sweeps gonna net us ZERO games gained on Minnesota.... tough to think we could be looking at 2gms back if DET didn't plunk in two runs last night, ughhh

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 1, 2010 -> 02:14 PM) Yes. hopefully that statue will be of him rounding first base with fist raised in the 7th inning on Oct 23, 2005 as I watch from (what was at the time) sect 134, row 10, seat 10

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Sep 1, 2010 -> 02:12 PM) Not really. But his batting AVG is so ridiculous and the fact that he plays CF will help his case. I would say Paulie has a good shot at finishing 2nd or 3rd. Unfortunately, that doesn't get you anything but a massive contract from a team like the Red Sox. yup, his RBI/HR total are right there w everyone else, but a guy hitting .361 in Sept, and making a number of highlight plays each week in CF makes him a shoe-in, plus his whole "story" gives that extra attn factor that make even the sternest voter want to reward his storybook comeback

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Sep 1, 2010 -> 02:06 PM) Josh Hamilton disagrees I was thinking the same thing, then looked up the AL leader boards and as good as PK's numbers are, it's just a year where a couple guys are having those insane once in a career years simultaneously between JH and Cabrera

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 1, 2010 -> 02:00 PM) Way to go Sale! Proud of Ozzie for not being afraid of letting Sale close it out. again,that's because he is a master tactician who always knows what strings to pull!!

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Sep 1, 2010 -> 01:56 PM) What did Teahen do? All Gameday says it was a force out at third what happened?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 1, 2010 -> 01:42 PM) Ozzieball Execution at its finest, you go Greg!!!! Whatever Ozzie did, it was the right move if we won I guess.. He made PK hit a 3 run bomb, just knows how to push the right buttons at the right time, what a tactician!!