Now Playing In Chicago: Choke Job Theater

[aboz56]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay20.html

 

My favorite line:

 

'You can't get nervous,'' Ozzie Guillen said afterward, trying to keep a brave face. ''Our guys battled back. We played our tails off. It was fun to watch.''

 

I'm glad he's having fun. Because everyone else in Soxdom is dying a slow death and dreading the next 13 days.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[The Critic]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay20.html

 

My favorite line: 

I couldn't have said it better myself.

....oh, but you've TRIED.....

[fathom]

KW sure seems confident

[SoxFanForever]

KW sure seems confident

Is there any evidence that KW is actually still alive? I haven't heard a peep out of the guy in months.

[fathom]

Is there any evidence that KW is actually still alive?  I haven't heard a peep out of the guy in months.

 

Read the article. Doesn't exactly seem like KW is very confident right now. I usually don't like Mariotti's articles, as you can tell he's always on his high horse. However, his last two articles about the Sox have been excellent.

[bjm676]

''I've been here a long time, and I think they've earned the right to feel a little nervous and a little anxious on the whole situation,'' Williams said. ''I feel a lot of it too, honestly. All you can say is you've got a good group of guys to pull for because they want it and they want it badly. Hang in there with us, give us a little bit of your support and stay off those ledges.''

 

Of course, someone may have to pull Williams off such a ledge if the Sox fall apart and miss the playoffs. ''Oh lord, you don't want to be around me if that happens,'' he said.  ''You can't allow yourself to think that way. As soon as you allow yourself to open that door, you're inviting a certain amount of negative feeling to surround you. So we're full steam ahead.''

 

He has a right to be pissed. Also, I see Mariotti throws in how he failed to obtain a bat. Must we get into that again?

[SoxFanForever]

Read the article.  Doesn't exactly seem like KW is very confident right now.  I usually don't like Mariotti's articles, as you can tell he's always on his high horse.  However, his last two articles about the Sox have been excellent.

Yeah, just read the article. I kinda laughed at the last paragraph with Howry's comments. Sad but true. I usually hate Mariotti as well. However, I think he is expressing the feelings of a lot of us including you and I.

[Balta1701]

Is there any evidence that KW is actually still alive?  I haven't heard a peep out of the guy in months.

I thought I read like 8 KW quotes in the papers this morning.

[FlaCWS]

The Sox were pieced together, on a whim and a prayer, for one regular season. The Indians were built for a series of title runs and currently are a model of cost efficiency, with a $41 million payroll that is nearly one-half that of the Sox. Knowing the Sox face intense pressure not to become the all-time chokers, the intruders were only happy to contribute to the squeezing anxiety.

 

 

I don't agree with this. Yes, the Indians have a lot more young stars than the Sox, but I have no reason to believe we can't compete for a few more years (assuming we retain Buehrle and Garland). We already have Garcia locked up, in addition to AJ, Iguchi and Dye. Sure, we could lose Konerko to free agency, but the bottom line is that this team - right now - is built around those big 3 starters. As long as they are here, we will contend. We may not have the horses that Cleveland has, but we are not a team built for one season.

[The Critic]

The Sox were pieced together, on a whim and a prayer, for one regular season. The Indians were built for a series of title runs and currently are a model of cost efficiency, with a $41 million payroll that is nearly one-half that of the Sox. Knowing the Sox face intense pressure not to become the all-time chokers, the intruders were only happy to contribute to the squeezing anxiety.

I don't agree with this. Yes, the Indians have a lot more young stars than the Sox, but I have no reason to believe we can't compete for a few more years (assuming we retain Buehrle and Garland). We already have Garcia locked up, in addition to AJ, Iguchi and Dye. Sure, we could lose Konerko to free agency, but the bottom line is that this team - right now - is built around those big 3 starters. As long as they are here, we will contend. We may not have the horses that Cleveland has, but we are not a team built for one season.

 

No, apparently they were built for HALF a season......

AYE'M YOOST KEEEDEEEEENG.....aye theeenk.......

[ZoomSlowik]

I am so sick of hearing about how we didn't go out and acquire a bat or a pitcher at the deadline. Is Danys Baez really going to solve our problems? Were we supposed to give up half or roster or farm system for guys that their teams didn't really want to trade, like Griffey, Huff, Schmidt or Burnett? Come on. There just wasn't much to be had, and what was there was ridiculously expensive. Jay would probably be whining and moaning about how we traded away potential stars for stop gap solutions if we had done it.

 

The constant complaints about our offense are getting old too. Our offense hasn't been our problem recently. At least make the right complaint if you're going to gripe. In our 8 losses in September, we scored at least 5 runs in 5 of them. What's funny is of our 10 wins this month, we scored 2 runs or less in 4 of them. It seems that our problem is that we can't get the quality pitching and hitting in the same game, not that we can't score.

Edited September 20, 2005 by ZoomSlowik

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay20.html

 

My favorite line: 

I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

 

Imagine that. The f***ing tool is right for a change.

[Kid Gleason]

Didn't we get swept going into the All-Star break? I had a bad feeling about things with that happening.

 

Nice article.

[SnB]

Didn't we get swept going into the All-Star break? I had a bad feeling about things with that happening.

 

Nice article.

and then came back and swept the indians in a 4 game series, that pretty much helped me get over it.

[Kid Gleason]

But I seem to remember that those games we swept the Indians in we still didn't look anything like the team in the beginning of the season. I haven't felt good about our chances since that sweep before the break. Wasn't it Boston that did us in?

Edited September 20, 2005 by Kid Gleason

[The Critic]

But I seem to remember that those games we swept the Indians in we still didn't look anything like the team in the beginning of the season. I haven't felt good about our chances since that sweep before the break. Wasn't it Boston that did us in?

It was Oakland.

I was at that Saturday game.

Ouch.

With my Cub fan/A's fan nephews.

Double ouch.

Surrounded by random A's dopes.

Triple ouch.

[Texsox]

No, apparently they were built for HALF a season......

AYE'M YOOST KEEEDEEEEENG.....aye theeenk.......

 

 

[LVSoxFan]

It was Oakland.

I was at that Saturday game.

Ouch.

With my Cub fan/A's fan nephews.

Double ouch.

Surrounded by random A's dopes.

Triple ouch.

 

Yes indeed, I was at all THREE of those games--a sweep. That was brutal. Even moreso because we always get spanked by them there, but manage to pull games out at home. Not this time.

 

We then swept four games from Cleveland and then things got weird.

 

We lost a home series to the Tigers. I remember being at the afternoon game (long rain delay). Then came Boston, which everybody said would be a playoff preview. We split with them. Barely.

 

After that, it was off to KC. I was at two of those three games. We lost 'em both. We lost a series to KC, who had not beaten us all year!

 

Then things rebounded when we managed a four-game sweep of Baltimore, even including an ESPN game! Yay! Only to erase that by losing a home series to Toronto. I think we lost a home series to Seattle as well.

 

Then it was two out of three--AT Yankee Stadium! Yay!

 

And then came Boston at Boston: lost the first two, then the third was rained out when we were up 5-2. And at that pint we started veering into our awful almost-.500 ball. Minnesota. Yankees take 2 of 3 here (that four HR inning was the only thing that saved us in game 3). Crappy series in Minneota and Seattle and especially Texas followed.

 

And then September came.

 

So I'd say things began to start to wobble with that away Boston series with the game three rainout, even though the cracks began to appear in late July.

 

Either way, in other words: all after the ASB, which was my biggest fear.

[Texsox]

I usually agree with Jay, but one thing in this column that is just wrong or at least mis leading, who was really available? Who the hell did anyone pick up that is making a difference? What closer did he expect Kenny to pull out his ass? Jenks is as solid as any reliever that may have been obtainable.

[LVSoxFan]

I usually agree with Jay, but one thing in this column that is just wrong or at least mis leading, who was really available? Who the hell did anyone pick up that is making a difference? What closer did he expect Kenny to pull out his ass? Jenks is as solid as any reliever that may have been obtainable.

 

I agree with you totally. Unlike most Sox fans, I read Mariotti all the time. Sometimes he's full of s*** (can we swear here/!?); but often times he's the one who will say what nobody else will.

 

On this one though, I think he's wrong. From all accounts, KW went after Griffey and a Cincinatti owner squashed the deal, either because he didn't want to let him go or he wanted something exorbinant for him. Sure they said something about they think they can do it with what they have, and there's some truth to that.

 

But I think KW made some bold moves this year, Ozzie's been great (except with the pitchers), and I highly doubt JR said no to some potential season saver--in the record year--because he's just so damn cheap.

 

I think Mariotti is probably disappointed like all of us are--he was talking up the Sox a lot the first half--and it's easier to blame this on management (feels better) than on the team itself. Or Ozzie.

 

But let's look at what's not happening here when you wonder where it's going wrong. I think we can all agree, pitching slump aside, that it has been a terrible year OFFENSIVELY. Sure it was fun to win all those 1-run games and have our pitchers win our games with shutouts, etc. But that masked a problem.

 

That problem was uncovered even back then when a pitcher had a bad outing or we made a lot of defensive blunders--somebody got a few runs on us, we weren't coming back.

 

And forget all the talk about "small ball": small ball doesn't mean low-scoring, it means moving runners around the bases with hitting and stealing instead of homers. We've played sort of a bastardized version of that: small scoring ball. Get an early lead and pray that the pitchers can hold down the offensive lineup of the other team. That's a pret-ty thin line of defense.

 

The other thing about this team that's eminently frustrating is they all have the POTENTIAL to be good hitters--they've shown that.

 

Podsednik: hitting well recently but where oh where are the stolen bases? That's what you were brought here for!

 

Iguchi: great all-around hitter but prone to slumping and striking out

 

Everett: great power, switch hitter... and totally streaky

 

Konerko: great power, but feast-or-famine--also a streakmeister

 

Dye: great power.... streaky

 

Rowand: was great last year, has been AWFUL this year

 

Crede: has shown flashes of brilliance in '04 at the plate, but this year has been AWOL

 

I could go on, but about the only person who seems to always be a threat at the plate is Ozuna.

 

You look at a team like Boston with that middle of the order and it's no wonder they're always winning.

 

It's almost like our talent is there, but everybody needs to go to batting camp for a summer!