Time for a Shakeup

[Ozzie Montana]

Zoom this lineup is the same thing as we had before.  This is why our offense has been getting shut down like they have. 

 

We took out Maggs and Carlos who were both .300 hitters with big power and all.

We insterted Pods who can hit 300 and Dye who is a 270 hitter.

 

Konerko is going for power only hence his low BA. 

AJ is batting 40 points less than his career BA. 

 

I dont want a monster lineup.  I want a high OBP team that can move runners over and get them in.  Not strand runners all over while they pop up.  I have seen that offense before.

ditto

[SoxFan1]

Zoom this lineup is the same thing as we had before.  This is why our offense has been getting shut down like they have. 

 

We took out Maggs and Carlos who were both .300 hitters with big power and all.

We insterted Pods who can hit 300 and Dye who is a 270 hitter.

 

Konerko is going for power only hence his low BA. 

AJ is batting 40 points less than his career BA. 

 

I dont want a monster lineup.  I want a high OBP team that can move runners over and get them in.  Not strand runners all over while they pop up.  I have seen that offense before.

In his defense, that is what we saw tonight.

[southsideirish71]

In his defense, that is what we saw tonight.

 

 

Actually we saw that for most of the detroit series also outside of some hits against bad relief.

 

Cy Douglas had a 3 hitter going before Trammel got stupid and took him out.

Bonderman shut us down 3 hits.

Robertson shut us down 4 hits. The bullpen blew that one.

 

And tonight we have Clement not nearly at his best. The same clement who has been hit very very hard in the last 3 starts. But hey we hit a lot of nice long solo homers. YEAH US. More power stats.

[fathom]

Actually we saw that for most of the detroit series also outside of some hits against bad relief.

 

Cy Douglas had a 3 hitter going before Trammel got stupid and took him out.

Bonderman shut us down 3 hits.

Robertson shut us down 4 hits.  The bullpen blew that one.

 

And tonight we have Clement not nearly at his best.  The same clement who has been hit very very hard in the last 3 starts.  But hey we hit a lot of nice long solo homers. YEAH US.  More power stats.

 

We haven't beat any tough righty this whole season (Radke might be the best we've beaten). We really, really struggle facing pitchers with a sweeping slider. Of course, the reason for that is you can't pull those pitches very effectively.

[ZoomSlowik]

Those monster lineups sure hurt Boston and St. Louis last season.

 

 

Well, they did win the World Series last year...?

 

In case you guys haven't noticed, the Red Sox pitching isn't the same as it was last year. Their bullpen was a lot better, Schilling was healthy, and Pedro Martinez was their #2. That's a much better combo than this year's team. St. Louis didn't have to go through the AL, and they eventually got smacked because they couldn't score runs.

 

I know our offense isn't perfect, but it can work with our pitching. It has for most of the year. Crede seems like he is starting to hit, which will help, and our offense gets much better if Frank ever gets it figured out.

 

Frankly Boston's lineup doesn't scare me that much. Ortiz and Ramirez are monsters, but that's only two of the 9. The other players aren't going to beat you with any regularity. In a playoff situation, I think our guys will get through without getting hurt that bad.

[Ozzie Montana]

I'd like an offense like the oakland A's. They make you work the count and walk a ton.

They are not a power-hitting team but they get the job done. I dont see anyone on their team try to pull the ball. They just slap the ball the other way and bloop it. Kendall kept on doing it to us.

Edited July 22, 2005 by Ozzie Montana

[southsideirish71]

Frankly Boston's lineup doesn't scare me that much. Ortiz and Ramirez are monsters, but that's only two of the 9. The other players aren't going to beat you with any regularity. In a playoff situation, I think our guys will get through without getting hurt that bad.

 

 

I am sure that Buerhle thought they were a piece of cake.

 

High BA, leading the league in singles, doubles, OPS and OBP. What this mean is that not only do they have the power. But they constantly put pressure on a defense. They are constantly on base. They constantly hit the ball and put it in play.

 

Our pitching is a series of guys who dont really strike out a lot, they let the hitters put the ball in play. This is not exactly a good mix. Buerhle, Garland and Garcia will give up runs. The idea that they will just shut down good hitting teams is very myopic at best. Our offense needs to hit better to support our pitching. We have seen numerous times this year and for the past few years that when a pitcher spots a fastball on the outer half our guys will shut down because of their pull happy tendancies.

 

We are not a playoff tested team. We have some players who have played in the playoffs. But you should review our record as a team this year with big crowds. We dont play well with the large crowds. The spincters gets a bit tight and we s*** all over ourselves.

[fathom]

Frankly Boston's lineup doesn't scare me that much. Ortiz and Ramirez are monsters, but that's only two of the 9. The other players aren't going to beat you with any regularity. In a playoff situation, I think our guys will get through without getting hurt that bad.

 

J. Damon is easily the best leadoff hitter in baseball this season. Varitek is one of the best hitting catchers in baseball.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

I am sure that Buerhle thought they were a piece of cake.

 

High BA, leading the league in singles, doubles, OPS and OBP.  What this mean is that not only do they have the power.  But they constantly put pressure on a defense.  They are constantly on base.  They constantly hit the ball and put it in play.

 

Our pitching is a series of guys who dont really strike out a lot, they let the hitters put the ball in play.  This is not exactly a good mix.  Buerhle, Garland and Garcia will give up runs.  The idea that they will just shut down good hitting teams is very myopic at best. Our offense needs to hit better to support our pitching.  We have seen numerous times this year and for the past few years that when a pitcher spots a fastball on the outer half our guys will shut down because of their pull happy tendancies. 

 

We are not a playoff tested team.  We have some players who have played in the playoffs.  But you should review our record as a team this year with big crowds.  We dont play well with the large crowds.  The spincters gets a bit tight and we s*** all over ourselves.

 

 

Like I said in an earlier post this team is too much like the 2000 team. It's just too easy to shut our offense down.

[nitetrain8601]

Instead of reading this thread, I just decided to put my rant in here(it's better than making another thread). I just got back from the game. I was really really pissed. I was hoping I sat in the UD at the end of it so I could throw my brother off of it since he was a Red Sox fan and a gloating one at that.

 

Couple of things:

Buehrle needs to show me that he can go out and beat bad hitting clubs. All of tonight was horrible, from the first pitch. When he actually got ahead of hitters(0-2, 1-2 counts) you knew after the 3rd that the guy would get a hit. And they proceeded to hit him and hit him hard. This isn't the playoffs yet and he needs to learn how to buckle down like a true ace. He's our guy, so he needs to be able to make 5 runs into a win.

 

Iguchi is just lost. Couldn't turn a couple of DP's quick enough(what happened to that fast arm?). His offense is really sucking and it looks like he has caught PK-itis. Pull and hope for the best. His only hit was an an opposite field hit. Gee, I wonder where I should be aiming at. Trot Nixon never shifted right at all for whoever came up to bat.

 

Joe Crede, I love you and I love how you got a clutch hit, but you need to catch that ball. As soon as he dropped it, I said, "f***, now he's probably going to make us pay with a HR." And it happened. C'mon Crede, I want you to be a part of this team, not only this seaosn, but the future and with a defensive play like that, it makes management and fans wonder.

 

Pitching and defense is what this whole team is built on. Well we had 3 errors and our pitching gave up 6 runs. Not going to win that way.

 

Ozzie needs to learn that Viz is not a 2IP. Use guys strictly one inning. Get it, got it, good "su-chi" man.

 

Last but not least, offensively this team needs to get back to what it was doing at the beggining of the season. Pods doesn't nearly bunt as much(yes I saw him try on 0-1 pitches when you should try straight out of the gate). Iguchi has caught PK-itis like I said earlier and Carl Everett looks like the only guy not lost at the plate. Oh AJ, how I want your offense to show up one day. Uribe, well I just lost hope on you. Timo is a better hitter than you and it's not even close.

[nitetrain8601]

Like I said in an earlier post this team is too much like the 2000 team.  It's just too easy to shut our offense down.

 

Very true. What's our record with big crowds, cas it doesn't seem good at all. I guess when all the flashes are popping and the crowds are there, the team shuts down.

 

Also, it was nice to see fans there, but from where I was sitting(RF 108) it didn't seem loud at all except for when Timo threw out that guy at 3rd and that was until the whole crowd realize the run still counted.

[southsideirish71]

Last but not least, offensively this team needs to get back to what it was doing at the beggining of the season. Pods doesn't nearly bunt as much(yes I saw him try on 0-1 pitches when you should try straight out of the gate). Iguchi has caught PK-itis like I said earlier and Carl Everett looks like the only guy not lost at the plate. Oh AJ, how I want your offense to show up one day. Uribe, well I just lost hope on you. Timo is a better hitter than you and it's not even close.

 

 

Our offense over the last 20 days is vintage corpseball. We live and die by the home run. If we hit home runs, we score and life is good.

 

In the beginning of the season we werent a good hitting team. But we used our speed and our wits to manufacture runs. I assumed that when the temperatures got hotter that we would add power to that formula. Right now we look exactly like the 2004 and before team. We run a few guys and steal a few bags. But we dont hit and run. The sacrifice bunt is a waste because our guys strike out so much with men on. I cant wait for Gload to get here. He needs to start ASAP.

 

Now to make things better we are facing a knuckleball pitcher. That will f*** up our swings for a while.

[Heads22]

If Crede makes one error every 45 games, I'm not going to b****. s*** happens, move on, Jesus.

[fathom]

Iguchi is just lost. Couldn't turn a couple of DP's quick enough(what happened to that fast arm?). His offense is really sucking and it looks like he has caught PK-itis. Pull and hope for the best. His only hit was an an opposite field hit. Gee, I wonder where I should be aiming at. Trot Nixon never shifted right at all for whoever came up to bat.

 

 

Iguchi should be thankful for the awful Willie Harris game against the A's before the break. It made people praise him for being able to get the runner over to 3rd with less than one out. However, Iguchi has been getting in the habit of just hitting grounders to 2nd base lately, and we're giving up the out to advance the runner. Instead of basically playing smallball, I'd rather see the Sox try to put big innings together. Iguchi is batting a little over .200 this month. In no way am I giving up on him, but he's become overrated on this site. Iguchi and Uribe's defense have become overrated, and Dye and Everett's offense has been underrated. Dye basically carried this team for 30 games.

[SoxFan1]

I think 99% of all Sox fans were thinking the same thought after Crede's botched pop-up......

 

"Damn, Manny is gonna make us pay."

[WHarris1]

Iguchi should be thankful for the awful Willie Harris game against the A's before the break.  It made people praise him for being able to get the runner over to 3rd with less than one out.  However, Iguchi has been getting in the habit of just hitting grounders to 2nd base lately, and we're giving up the out to advance the runner.  Instead of basically playing smallball, I'd rather see the Sox try to put big innings together.  Iguchi is batting a little over .200 this month.  In no way am I giving up on him, but he's become overrated on this site.  Iguchi and Uribe's defense have become overrated, and Dye and Everett's offense has been underrated.  Dye basically carried this team for 30 games.

Uribe's defense overrated? Haha--do you watch every game?

[nitetrain8601]

Iguchi should be thankful for the awful Willie Harris game against the A's before the break.  It made people praise him for being able to get the runner over to 3rd with less than one out.  However, Iguchi has been getting in the habit of just hitting grounders to 2nd base lately, and we're giving up the out to advance the runner.  Instead of basically playing smallball, I'd rather see the Sox try to put big innings together.  Iguchi is batting a little over .200 this month.  In no way am I giving up on him, but he's become overrated on this site.  Iguchi and Uribe's defense have become overrated, and Dye and Everett's offense has been underrated.  Dye basically carried this team for 30 games.

 

I agree completely.

[greg775]

If Crede makes one error every 45 games, I'm not going to b****. s*** happens, move on, Jesus.

 

Best line of the night. Get a grip some people. We are 11 games up.

[KJean]

If Crede makes one error every 45 games, I'm not going to b****. s*** happens, move on, Jesus.

 

 

THANK YOU. My thoughts exactly.

[Leonard Zelig]

Couple of things:

Buehrle needs to show me that he can go out and beat bad hitting clubs. All of tonight was horrible, from the first pitch. When he actually got ahead of hitters(0-2, 1-2 counts) you knew after the 3rd that the guy would get a hit. And they proceeded to hit him and hit him hard. This isn't the playoffs yet and he needs to learn how to buckle down like a true ace. He's our guy, so he needs to be able to make 5 runs into a win.

 

 

 

 

Boston is a bad hitting team?

[The Beast]

I think the White Sox just look a little flat right now. A little tired and confused. Maybe its the growing pains that is what they are battling through.

 

I do see a trade in the works though. I don't think Kenny is satisfied right now. Thomas is not healthy, his situation is a mess still, I just hope he doesn't end up like f***ing Magglio Ordonez.

 

Vizquel is not the answer, he's expensive, and I don't think we'll trade for him for the sole purpose of our other needs.

 

I can't stand seeing that piece of f***ing garbage bulls*** Vizcaino out there. He can't get anyone out it seems. Lets give another bomb up to Manny, give him a cookie every time.

 

I think we'll need to keep Konerko and Thomas though, that would be stupid to trade them. Gload obviously isn't 100%.

 

Get some pitching, get some position players, and for all of you complaining, grab a cold one, sit back, relax, its going to be a wild ride.

[nitetrain8601]

Boston is a bad hitting team?

 

I'm saying he shouldn't be giving up hits like fat people are in line for getting free cake samples. It was happening all night and a big inning was inevitable. I would be fine if he was just rocked in the 4th or some other inning, but the whole night when Buehrle was pitching, you knew the big inning was coming and you just hoped Ozzie would take him out in time.

[fathom]

Uribe's defense overrated?  Haha--do you watch every game?

 

Yes I do, and he's a very good defensive SS. However, his defense isn't good enough for me to overlook his terrible hitting this season. People earlier this year were saying that the difference between Uribe and Omar's defense this year is the same as the difference between Crede and Ozuna. I completely disagreed with that belief. Uribe is an above average defensive SS.....but I wouldn't say that he's an amazing defensive SS.

 

Anyways, our overall infield defense has been spectacular this season (besides for Iguchi's pretty sad range). Our outfield defense has been much worse. We have a below average throwing outfield, and don't get stellar jumps on the ball.

[WHarris1]

Yes I do, and he's a very good defensive SS.  However, his defense isn't good enough for me to overlook his terrible hitting this season.  People earlier this year were saying that the difference between Uribe and Omar's defense this year is the same as the difference between Crede and Ozuna.  I completely disagreed with that belief.  Uribe is an above average defensive SS.....but I wouldn't say that he's an amazing defensive SS.

 

Anyways, our overall infield defense has been spectacular this season (besides for Iguchi's pretty sad range).  Our outfield defense has been much worse.  We have a below average throwing outfield, and don't get stellar jumps on the ball.

Where would you rank Uribe among defensive SS in baseball?

 

How many guys make that play to get Nixon at home that easy?

No one makes the play he made in Detroit to save the game.

[fathom]

I'm saying he shouldn't be giving up hits like fat people are in line for getting free cake samples. It was happening all night and a big inning was inevitable. I would be fine if he was just rocked in the 4th or some other inning, but the whole night when Buehrle was pitching, you knew the big inning was coming and you just hoped Ozzie would take him out in time.

 

In my car on the way home, I was begging Ozzie to take Buehrle out before the 7th inning. You knew that those guys, seeing him for the 4th time, would likely not go down quietly. Ozzie ALWAYS leaves his starting pitchers in until it's definite that they shouldn't be out there. Ozzie is hands-down the Manager of the Year so far, but he just doesn't have a good feel for when a pitcher is done with, and needs to get taken out BEFORE the runs come.