kitekrazy

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 08:29 AM) If the Sox sweep the Twins and somehow end up winning the division this year, they'd be better darlings of baseball than the Twins. Teams generally don't make the playoffs after being 9 games below .500 and 9.5 games back in the standings, and it's pretty significant when it does happen. The Twins were expected to win this division from the onset of the season, and anybody picking someone else was going out on a limb. Pre-season favorites aren't "darlings." It's just as rare for a team to win 25/30.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 07:01 AM) It's hard to determine what's worse. The hate and loathing for all things White Sox or the undying love and admiration for the entire Minnesota Twins organization. Nothing wrong with admiring an organization that tends to do things right because of a limited budget.

Trading Rowand for Thome eventually cost the Sox $$$.

QUOTE (stretchstretch @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 11:45 AM) glad to see we got this thread back to addressing the OP, some good theories and stats have come out of it. personally, I find the fact that many other top teams have mediocre second halves revealing as it puts us in the company of the "elite" squads in comparing 1st half to 2nd. now, couple that with an observation that MN is unique in seemingly being able to fill injured spots with "no-namers" out of the minor system at almost any position, and they come in immediately contributing, would really answer the 2nd half trend Morneau goes down, no problem, Nathan lost for the year before the season begins (Sox fans jump with glee), no problem....no need to go out to the FA market, or squeeze something in at the trade deadline, just pull up a guy that no one has ever heard of and he comes in with rock solid defense, speed, smart baserunning, above avg offensive numbers, and so on.......how many times can someone recall a MN guy make his big club debut who sits at or above the Mendoza line for weeks? or a pitcher than with ERA north of 5 over a period of three weeks, consecutive blown saves, etc Their philosophy is much different than the Sox and maybe closer to Ozzie's. My biggest rant about the Sox organization is playing defense is the lowest priority. How many kids on the organization that fans recommend to play DH or 1st?

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 11:51 AM) 99% of the time, I'd agree with you. However, the situation with the 2010 Sox is extremely unique, and we talked about it before the year how it almost seemed like KW was trying to set up Ozzie to be the fall guy if this offensive (in more than one way) strategy didn't work. I agree. There's a lot more to signing a player since they have an agent with demands, owners have budget restrictions ect. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/deluca/2606...fe.suntimes.com There's some intelligent comments (not by the author). Did anyone ever consider that Thome may be a better fit for the Twins than the Sox? 31 teams balked at signing Thome and the Twins may have offered his last chance at being on a team only at their demands. The DH by committee is only a failure because it's filled by Kenny's lightning in a bottle approach. Kotsay was kept to help give PK a rest at 1st while Paulie can DH. Thome gives you no options other than needing a pinch runner. His 2009 numbers are not what you want from a DH anyway.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:47 AM) You don't fire a guy for being in the pennant race. Good call. Maybe the team isn't really that good. Right now is a bad time for the bull pen to fail. Where's the angst against Coop? How about Walker?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 08:47 AM) The weird thing...since the AS break, we're in the middle of the pack in terms of ERA in the AL, and actually slightly better than we were in the first half so far, and we're 3rd in the AL in runs scored since the AS break when we were only #9 in the first half. We're actually playing slightly better right now than we played on the whole in the first half, based on those numbers. The problem is...the Twins have the #1 offense and the #2 ERA in the AL since the AS break. That team ERA will get back to reality if they make it to the post season.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 09:53 AM) People need to stop playing this card. The Sox have been bad over the past week because the same players that dominated the league for the past two months haven't been executing. It's as simple as that. You get an A+. Their offensive categories aren't really as much as people think.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:36 AM) No matter who was managing the White Sox, we would still kick the NL's ass, and our team would still be constructed with holes in it because our GM tells us we have to live with choices like Mark Kotsay for budgetary reasons. Glad to see someone got the memo realizing this isn't Ozzie's team.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 05:20 PM) He's terrible at bunting You must be thinking of Thome. IF Pierre was bad at bunting his lifetime average would be much lower.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 05:24 PM) Either way, if he hits a grounder in that situation on a hit and run, it's most likely going to get the runner to second anyways. And if he gets lucky and finds a hole, you have first and third, nobody out. I'd rather have that than just bunting in that situation. Plus, you don't have to worry about Pierre not making contact or a strike 'em out throw 'em out because Pierre makes lots of contact and rarely strikes out. You play to your players' advantages. Which is why I woudl have him bunt. That is his advantage.

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 05:17 PM) They draft well and develop well. And when someone gets hurt, they plug in someone else and not miss a beat. This where I think the Sox tend to fail. They do well taking some other system's talent.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 05:17 PM) Well the hit and run will most likely avoid a DP since he hits the ball on the ground 55% of the time... That's why I would rather have him bunt. That would be the only player on the team I would rather have bunt.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 05:09 PM) but i'd argue that a more tactical manager could probably be getting a hell of a lot more production out of them then Ozzie is. How so?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 05:07 PM) I didn't get the whole bunting with Pierre thing after Perry had just given up a homer and a 4 pitch walk. At least try a hit and run. I do. People think Pierre is too fast to hit into a DP. He doesn't hit the ball hard and he doesn't hit liners. He's hit into DPs. He's good at bunting and he may have a better chance of getting on base with a bunt as well.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 05:04 PM) Just amazing that Ozzie continues to play for one run when they're playing a softball game in this bandbox. I don't think there is win win situation which way Ozzie goes since you have players with poor plate discipline.

QUOTE (BearingPro @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:48 PM) It's strange how the Sox tanked right after the trading deadline passed. No. When they got Freddy, they still tanked.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 01:52 PM) The Sox went into this season with 6-7 legitimate MLB hitters available. The Twins went in with 10-11. That helped. What about the previous years?

QUOTE (BearingPro @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:48 PM) It's strange how the Sox tanked right after the trading deadline passed. KW should have followed his instincts and made a big move. Minnesota is far and away a better run franchise, from the front office to the field and with the extra cash they are raking in from the increased attendance, the Sox will be hard pressed to compete going forward. No doubt Kenny tried. Fans like to believe opposing GMs are naive in willing to give up an Adam Dunn. Maybe the price was too high without totally depleting the farm or removing a key piece on the current team. I would like to see the Sox model what the Twins and Rays are doing but I feel KW may need to go for that to happen. Veeck knew the only way to improve the franchise on a small budget was to invest it in scouting. An extra bat may have helped to win the division but still lacks talent to win the World Series.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:46 PM) Something that's frustrating is that our pitchers didn't take advantage of the shadows. With shadows that bad, no way a hitter can pick up the spin of an offspeed pitch. Instead, Castro kept calling for fastball after fastball. It's no surprise that Alexei missed Perry's slider by a foot, as there's no way anyone could have seen that pitch. All of the damage the last 2 innings by either team was done against fastballs. That could be a reason why AJ is valueable. No matter how hard a ball comes in, if it's in a hitter's sweet spot, they'll nail it.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:31 PM) Yes, but they did get him off the hook and the pren blew it I doubt Freddy would have given up 13 runs if he went all the way.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:28 PM) The only thing that would be the perfect topper to this game would be Jenks coming in now and getting booed? Hopefully they're not saying goodbye to the 2010 season. Everything was going great until Jenks blew that final game in the first series after the break in Minnesota. That will go down as the key game, the Mariners' loss when Vizquel keyed the comeback, losing 3/4 to the Orioles...not being able to beat the Twins 2/3 at USCF. The supposed strength of the White Sox, relief pitching, has abandoned them at the worst possible time. At least it doesn't feel like 2003 when we had the best team in baseball arguably. We're far from that. You can go back to the beginning of the season when they couldn't hit, field or pitch. That inedible winning streak put them back in it. I still can't believe that happened. Not to mention getting owned by Cleveland and KC.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:25 PM) Pena's ERA going to be over 5.50 after this inning. Can't wait until he's out of this organization, and we get an actual long man. I wouldn't be too sure. The organization really believes in this guy. I wanted him gone last year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:23 PM) Thanks for destroying any motivation the fans have for coming out the rest of the season. Well, the Yankees and Red Sox fans can at least give us some additional revenue for our payroll, that's about the extent of it. We've seen this before and it wasn't under the same manager.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:21 PM) That's your argument for why Thome wouldn't help this team. Yes. Get over it.