Jerksticks

Looked pretty solid on paper, no? Looked like some good progress in only 2 offseasons. Sucks it aint working out.

It's the at-bats. Every AB is terrible and looks like a softball game. Our team has no "game" at the plate, just thoughtless swings IMO. No grinding down pitchers, no short swings the other way, no trying to aim the ball, not seeing pitches the first time through. Our SP is losing the pitch count battle every inning of every game. Even most Sale games. We see fewer pitches. Why do our players just mindlessly hack? Why can't they play the game? I dunno whose fault that is to be honest. Maybe USCF is the culprit?

QUOTE (shipps @ Jun 12, 2015 -> 04:43 PM) Yeah. Whats crazy to me is that its not like they dont have the resources to get bigger, stronger, quicker. The players physical floors shouldnt be as low as what we are seeing. Get your butt in the weight rooms and work on it naturally. of course they wont ever be monsters as they were in the steroid era but they can certainly be better than this. And i think the low BAs of today's game are a result of the current crop growing up in the steroid era. I think some of the fundamental "arts" of the game got pushed to the side for big hacking HR swings- like how to foul balls off, take what the pitcher gives you, choke up on the bat, hit the ball where they ain't, hit the ball to the right side to advance guys etc. Much of the craftiness that was fun to watch is gone.

It seems like most teams have some absolute blackholes of suck in their lineups these days.

The working class man comment was ridiculous. I bet nearly every working class man already has Saturday & Sunday off...and he would probably have no problem getting the friday off too because, ya know, for some reason companies give people PTO days that they must take or else lose them. Hell, he's flying to California! I bet the working class man would lump a few more of his PTO days here- Thursday thru Tuesday? Incredible you would use that as a crutch man. Jusy say you're wrong, you're sorry & we'll all instantly forgive you ?

Nice job Robin! You personally made the guys hit some timely homers! Sweeping the Astros feels way better than sweeping the As.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jun 10, 2015 -> 08:23 PM) Good grief its only three days,lol. According to the CalPoly website, the graduation ceremonies are Saturday and Sunday. With all the prep of packing, getting to the airport early for check in, a 6+ hour flight and then going through baggage claim, its a full day of travel. Same thing for the return flight. So Robin needs Friday for travel, Saturday and part of Sunday for graduation and then fly back. Yep, three days sounds about right. I really hope Robin enjoys the time with his family. Well said my friend.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 10, 2015 -> 07:25 PM) I see one comment before yours complaining that Ventura wouldn't be managing, maybe two if you count someone calling it excessive. There's about three comments literally the opposite of what you're talking about, expressing pleasure, with the rest specifically stating their lack of a problem. Unless those specific two posters want Ventura out then I don't see your point. And even if they do, I would imagine their complaints would be more along the lines of "this is indicative of my problems with him, i.e. he doesn't care enough" (not that I agree), not "I don't want Ventura managing" "Wait, now I want him managing!". But you have a big habit of taking Soxtalk as one voice and then haughtily comparing statements from entirely different posters as if they're hypocritical. I see your point but dude, you can't turn a blind-eye to the ridiculous Robin-bashing and FO-bashing that has infiltrated the bloodstream of Soxtalk. It's only because we've stumbled out of the gate and quite a few players (maybe 6 of them) are batting around .230. I think commenting on the knee-jerkers and anxious men posting here is fair game, no? The haughtiness comes from the bashers, who make everyone else out to be idiots if they don't HATE kw, jr, coop and rv. It's ok to poke fun at the nervous nellies a bit, no?

Mercy. Haha man sometimes I wanna puke when I read some of these hate-filled comments. It seems like genuine hatred. Real hate! Mercy, it's just baseball! ?

Coats has some quick hands. Did you watch his 2 HR game highlights? Lightning hands.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jun 9, 2015 -> 04:03 PM) Flowers and Soto in the same lineup. Woof. Max woof indeed.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jun 7, 2015 -> 02:41 PM) I will simplify for you. If a team is 4 games behind 1 team, they only have to win 4 straight while the other team loses 4 straight to tie. If a team is 4 games behind 2 teams then the odds of both teams losing 4 straight is greater. If the other two teams are playing each other it is impossible. So for each team added to the equation the odds are greater. Thus when you are 4 games out in the wildcard behind 6 teams, in reality you are farther out than 4 games. I get it but this isn't the last few weeks of the season. There are 100 games left. There's so much mediocrity in the teams ahead of the Sox it ain't even funny. TB, NYY, Boston, Baltimore, Minnesota, Cle, Houston etc. I still think we're better than all those teams if we get our baseball head out of our baseball ass.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 7, 2015 -> 04:12 PM) We're embarrassed too, Kenny. For even believing in this team coming into spring training. I'm not embarrassed. It's just baseball. I like that we have a bunch of good, young players. We need some more but things are definitely looking up. I even still think we could get hot and make a run at it this year. Melky, wake the f*** up man! We need you!

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 6, 2015 -> 09:38 PM) Well, Month 2 is in the books, and 14-13 is better, but not good enough. The Indians started 10-17, and they came back with a 16-11. -54 run diff after 54. 196 runs scored. 3.63 run average. They pretty much have to be the best team in the AL the rest of the season to make the postseason. Ain't happening. They just need an 8/10, 10/13 kind of run to be right back in the juicy thick of things. Shark we needja tmrw man.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jun 6, 2015 -> 12:03 AM) Hotter bat, equal or better defense. Let Melky get his head straight for a few games. Whatever his approach is right now just isn't working. I think down in the order is a good start. He's gotta stop swinging at the first pitch. I feel like you should only do that when you've been hot at the plate for a nice stretch.

This division is for the takins.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Jun 5, 2015 -> 11:57 PM) I see. So therefore, if I understand this correctly, the decision-making structure and decision-making process in place today is, for all intents and purposes, the same one that was in place before Kenny and Hahn got promoted. The only real difference today is this notion that Hahn does more of the day-to-day chores that Williams used to. But when it comes to: - setting strategy and direction for the ball club - deciding on and making player/coach personnel moves - establishing draft policy, or minor league decisions, or - making any other major decisions on any other aspects of running this organization It's the same three people including Reinsdorf going through the same process and having the same discussions the same way they were when these two came together with Hahn's promotion to GM in 2002. Again, despite their collective record of failure as a management team - on our way to the 12th out of 14th season of no postseason play under this "team effort" - who wouldn't like to see a clean slate and get out from under from the Jerry/Kenny/Rick management team right about NOW! Me. I would not like to see that at all. Every year we have a damn good shot on paper. Somehow this "failure of a management team" turned our last core into a solid new core without a s*** ton of losing & drafting etc- basically did that overnight while you were sleeping like ninjas. f***ing geniuses if you ask me. Everyone needs to quit taking our record personally.

Hawk & Rowand was great. Steven Stone needs to bow out to Rowand's greatness.

My man!

Extend him! Extend him! He'll be more expensive at the end of the year! Extend him without watching him pitch!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 2, 2015 -> 07:17 PM) They should just call the game right now. This is the area that kinda scares me about this roster Dick. I know I'm the one harping this all the time, but s***, we do not grind pithers down during the first trip through the lineup. You gotta see everything he has the first time up. The only mindset should be "how many of this douchebag's pitches can I foul off?" There should be a contest among our players to see who can foul off the most first time through, $100 ante or something. Just my opinion.

Nice to see Avi is still 100% cleared to be in RF. Nice job Herm, getting him healthy.

I just hope the players start hitting so people on here stop wishing for human beings to be fired from their jobs. Mercy.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Jun 1, 2015 -> 06:44 PM) If KW is still making all the decisions, Hahn is too soft to even deserve the job. But you know JR, KW & RH all work together and like working together. So why say something like that? U mad bro? ?

^^ nice post. And I'll add the Cubs basically cheated to get where they are. I mean has any major market team ever lost ON PURPOSE for half of a decade, simultaneously signing guys for one year rentals and flipping them at the deadlines? Sure it works when you lose on purpose. I'm glad we've had good teams on paper almost every year since 2000. Losing on purpose is despicable.