And thats a White Sox loser...

[The Ginger Kid]

Kong's the reason Thome's walking so much -- who wouldn't want to pitch to him right now?

 

That run left on 3rd in the 9th came back to haunt them, simple as that. Thames turned on a high inside fastball, not an easy pitch to hit out. I tip my hat to him. But that should have brought them within one run, plain and simple.

 

Chins up, we took 2 of 3 and made them do something dramatic to avoid a sweep. We own the tigers and they know it.

[Wanne]

The offense has issues, Konerko being completely off his rhythm being problem numero uno at this time. Ozzie has botched the CF situation. And we have by far the worst leadoff hitter in baseball.

 

Despite all of that, we're 9-8 after starting 0-2, we're in the thick of the race, and we just took 2 of 3 from Detroit on the road. In the grand scheme, things are pretty good.

 

 

Seriously. For as crappy as this offense has looked so far this year....to be 9-8...I'll take it. Sucks losing games like this though.

[caulfield12]

Lets see how we do against the Royals, who have played us tough and have cost us in the past before we talk about the Twinks. The twins and the Tigers last year have made a history of beating bad teams, and playing decent against good teams.

 

The key to this year is beating teams like the Royals. If we play like we did against the Tigers this weekend against good teams, and roll the bad teams we are gong to the playoffs. If we struggle against bad teams this year, its going to be tough. The royals are a better barometer of how we have progressed. Our killer instinct against bad teams has be poor.

 

As far as Aardsma today. How he got beat, thats okay to me If you get beat on a fastball or pitching to a hitter. Tip your cap. If you get beat by walking a bunch of people and then giving it up. Then you feel like you got punched in the stomach.

 

With our pitching we should have the twinks record if not better.

 

The Tigers were 45-30 against the AL Central last year. We don't need to put up our 2005 record, but we need to go 12-7 or 13-6 against the Royals, that's for sure.

 

We're one game under against the Central right now, I think. The encouraging signs are Buehrle, the fact that we actually won 2/3 at Oakland and now we've taken 2/3 against DET and almost swept. If we could only figure out how to contain the Indians' offense and/or beat Sabathia, we'd be okay.

 

We also have 5 blown saves to lead the AL, with three leading to losses (Cleveland Game 2, at Oakland and now today). In the overall scheme of things, we should be 3 games over .500 (10-7), because we came back at Oakland in Game 3 against Duscherer and Street and we didn't deserve yesterday's game at all.

 

Of course, coming into today, New York is 0 for 5 in saves (as a team). Pretty amazing. Well, they say you can't win it in April, but you can lose it, and 1 1/2 games behind is definitely not out of the race, right?

[The Ginger Kid]

Minny has the easiest schedule by far in April -- someone else pointed out before the season even started that they would likely jump out to a lead. Sox have played more division games than anyone.

[Milkman delivers]

Not Ozzie's fault. Konerko's.

[BearSox]

There are more HR's than triples, but maybe you've stumbled upon what's wrong with the Sox offense. Maybe it's not that they are trying to hit homers, maybe they're making outs by way overusing their "triple swing".

I didn't say triples alone, I said triples, doubles, and singles, as a combination. Basically, the chances of you getting a home run is less then the chances of you getting a base hit.

 

 

Also, part of PK's troubles is that he isn't getting much to hit either because Dye isn't so hot as well.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

If you want to construct a team of line drive hitters that's one thing, but to expect this Sox team to become that is folly. That's not they way they were built.

 

By the way off the top of my head, the Sox have faced Sabathia twice, Santanna, Harden, Verlander Millwood, and Robertson so far this season. That's pretty tough and that they are where they are so far is a pretty good sign, imo.

 

How dare you look at the bright side of things ! You sir are a kool-aid drinking rose colored glasses fool ! Damn your optimism to hell ! Is green really necessary here ?

[witesoxfan]

How dare you look at the bright side of things ! You sir are a kool-aid drinking rose colored glasses fool ! Damn your optimism to hell ! Is green really necessary here ?

 

Is .223 excuseable because they've faced good pitchers?

[greg775]

The Sox are going to continue to face those good pitchers.

Thank goodness Kenny Rogers has been out.

[LVSoxFan]

Lets see how we do against the Royals, who have played us tough and have cost us in the past before we talk about the Twinks. The twins and the Tigers last year have made a history of beating bad teams, and playing decent against good teams.

 

The key to this year is beating teams like the Royals. If we play like we did against the Tigers this weekend against good teams, and roll the bad teams we are gong to the playoffs. If we struggle against bad teams this year, its going to be tough. The royals are a better barometer of how we have progressed. Our killer instinct against bad teams has be poor.

 

As far as Aardsma today. How he got beat, thats okay to me If you get beat on a fastball or pitching to a hitter. Tip your cap. If you get beat by walking a bunch of people and then giving it up. Then you feel like you got punched in the stomach.

 

With our pitching we should have the twinks record if not better.

 

WINNAH!

 

Yup, I couldn't agree more. Aardsma got beat challenging a batter. It happens. He was on fire until that pitch.

 

And you're right about beating the "bad" teams, which was our bread & butter in '05. We'd struggle against NYY or Boston or Oakland but we'd mow down our division.

 

I'm not about to slit my wrists over a tough loss today. Garland pitched great, we came back from not only three runs down in the first, we took the lead and had it in the bag until The Mistake.

 

We took the series, which in the end is always a win to me. Something else we were also good at in '05.

[Capn12]

We also have faced Paul Byrd, Jeremy Sowers, Carlos Silva, Chad Gaudin, Joe Kennedy, and Robinson Tejada. We also struggled mightily against them...so don't just say 'well we faced all good pitchers, thats why our offense sucks.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Is .223 excuseable because they've faced good pitchers?

 

Maybe , if it isn't I'm sure you'll tell me. If the pitching holds up , who knows , maybe we'll be the hitless wonders again. Should be a fun season. Loosen up a bit.

[witesoxfan]

Maybe , if it isn't I'm sure you'll tell me. If the pitching holds up , who knows , maybe we'll be the hitless wonders again. Should be a fun season. Loosen up a bit.

 

Yeah it should be a fun season; I can still be critical of a team that has this much offensive talent hitting .223 17 games into the season.

[RockRaines]

2 out of 3 in detroit and there is this much b****ing. Yeah it shoudl have been a sweep, Thames put a really lucky swing on a fastball heading towards his hands and it was tied. The rest went on the offense. Masset pitched well agsin.

[mr_genius]

yea, i'll take this 2 outta 3 in detroit

 

there is an amazing amount of whining here. i really don't get it.

[SoxAce]

We also have faced Paul Byrd, Jeremy Sowers, Carlos Silva, Chad Gaudin, Joe Kennedy, and Robinson Tejada. We also struggled mightily against them...so don't just say 'well we faced all good pitchers, thats why our offense sucks.

 

I see you don't know much about him. That kid is a serious stud.

[caulfield12]

I see you don't know much about him. That kid is a serious stud.

 

Byrd beat Contreras, the best pitcher in baseball, in the 2005 playoffs.

 

Kennedy looked like a stud when he was coming up in TB, b4 getting lost in Colorado.

 

Tejeda at least has good stuff.

 

Carlos Silva has had stretches in the last five years that he was VERY good, but not as much recently.

 

Gaudin is a classic 5th starter, but he's not horrible either.

[RME JICO]

yea, i'll take this 2 outta 3 in detroit

 

there is an amazing amount of whining here. i really don't get it.

Yeah, 2 out of 3 is nice, especially on the road. I guess it just leaves a bad taste in the mouth when you have a game slip away (similar to the OAK series), but the Sox did steal one in Game 2.

 

I don't blame the bullpen completely, they had done such a great job for a long stretch, they were bound to let up some runs. The problem is that it should never have been that close. 22 LOB (PK-8, Dye-4, Ozuna-4). Gooch should have been playing 2nd, then have Ozuna there tomorrow vs Meche. PK seriously needs a day or ten off. Konerko's ABs have been horrible, it seems like he is striking out or hitting into a rally killing DP.

[whitesoxgirl0838]

Not Ozzie's fault. Konerko's.

alot of people have been laying the blame on konerko today. although i can see where they are coming from, it takes a whole team to lose, not just one person.

[RME JICO]

alot of people have been laying the blame on konerko today. although i can see where they are coming from, it takes a whole team to lose, not just one person.

Here ya go:

 

Blame Breakdown

Konerko - 40% (0-6, 3K, 8 LOB, Rally killing GIDP)

Aardsma - 25% (1.0, 2 ER, BS)

Ozuna - 20% (0-5, 2K, 4 LOB)

Logan - 8% (0.0 IP, 1H, 1BB)

Dye - 4% (2-6, 2K, 4 LOB)

Masset - 3% (2.1 IP, 1ER)

[whitesoxgirl0838]

....and thank u for that,but im still sticking with what i said. hopefully this is just a slump for PK and everyone can get off his ass

[southsideirish71]

....and thank u for that,but im still sticking with what i said. hopefully this is just a slump for PK and everyone can get off his ass

 

He slumped for April and May in 05. Hopefully we are not waiting till June to see Kong breakout. He tinkers too much with his swing and gets into prolonged slumps. One lasted the entire season in 03. Hopefully he gets his head out of his ass, because we need his bat so Thome gets good pitches to crush Dye gets good pitches to crush. If one guy is struggling like Kong, then they walk Thome to get to Kong. If Kong crushes the ball then great, if he hits 200 or below then we are in for hard time scoring runs.

 

The 3-4-5 beast can be a monster to overcome for a pitcher. But we need them to be firing on all cylinders. The amount of walks Thome has seen is just a representation of the struggles of Kong. They are bypassing one of our sluggers completely just to get to Kong. Thats not good.

[whitesoxgirl0838]

He slumped for April and May in 05. Hopefully we are not waiting till June to see Kong breakout. He tinkers too much with his swing and gets into prolonged slumps. One lasted the entire season in 03. Hopefully he gets his head out of his ass, because we need his bat so Thome gets good pitches to crush Dye gets good pitches to crush. If one guy is struggling like Kong, then they walk Thome to get to Kong. If Kong crushes the ball then great, if he hits 200 or below then we are in for hard time scoring runs.

 

The 3-4-5 beast can be a monster to overcome for a pitcher. But we need them to be firing on all cylinders. The amount of walks Thome has seen is just a representation of the struggles of Kong. They are bypassing one of our sluggers completely just to get to Kong. Thats not good.

i know it isnt good...they need to switch konerko-dye and Thome around so Thome can stop getting walked every friggin time hes up to bat

Edited April 23, 2007 by whitesoxgirl0838

[TheChrisSamsa]

Here ya go:

 

Blame Breakdown

Konerko - 40% (0-6, 3K, 8 LOB, Rally killing GIDP)

Aardsma - 25% (1.0, 2 ER, BS)

Ozuna - 20% (0-5, 2K, 4 LOB)

Logan - 8% (0.0 IP, 1H, 1BB)

Dye - 4% (2-6, 2K, 4 LOB)

Masset - 3% (2.1 IP, 1ER)

 

I was at the game, with a bet with my girlfriend on who would buy the hotel last night. I had Ozuna having a better game than her boy (of course) Konerko... In the end, we split the room.. cuz they were both pretty pitiful.

 

Fun games to be at this weekend, but I was disappointed to not pull out the win on Sunday. Any time you have a team up 2 runs with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, you expect a win, but in the end, we took the series.. and as long as we take 1 of 2 later this week, we still take the five game series.. which is a plus in my book. We pitched our Sunday pitching staff.. wasnt that our excuse with our batting orders last year?

[knightni]

The main thing I see is that Ozzie sets up young guys to fail, not succeed.

 

Why else would he throw a young situational lefty out there against RH batters in an extra inning tie game?

 

Because they (Oz/KW) wanted an excuse to send Logan down to AAA.