Negative Catch All ~ House of Blues

[Frankensteiner]

Swisher had to be on the juice, right? How else do you explain the drop in performance. There's no power, and the few times he hit the ball hard, it made it to the warning track.

 

[fathom]

Swisher had to be on the juice, right? How else do you explain the drop in performance. There's no power, and the few times he hit the ball hard, it made it to the warning track.

 

He's from Oakland....who wasn't on stuff there?

[claydude14]

Do we lead the league in quality starts that are given up as losses?

[Hawkfan]

Who are these Fu*$In' Guys?

[Frankensteiner]

This is the only team in baseball that would be a contender AFTER having a fire-sale. Take Uribe, Swisher, OC, Thome, and Konerko and flush them all down the toilet.

[Swingandalongonetoleft]

Swisher had to be on the juice, right? How else do you explain the drop in performance. There's no power, and the few times he hit the ball hard, it made it to the warning track.

 

I think if Ruth put on our uniform he'd be grounding into double plays left and right as well. Maybe we should make like Tampa Bay and just be the Sox. Seems to be working for them...

[lord chas]

ugh, this is getting depressing.

[heirdog]

The worst part is that the "throw-in" in the Swisher deal, Sweeney, would be so much more productive for us right now...not 2 or 3 years from now but right now. Of course, if we didn't have Swish, we would have Alexei in there right now and Sweeney would probably be rotting in AAA.

 

Cleveland continues to win. Minnesota always seems to be right there. Detroit may or may not turn it around. Looks like we'll be battling for last with KC and/or Detroit for 3rd in the division.

 

Hopefully KW makes some trades soon...of course it will be the variety of Danks, Quentin, Richar and Fields for Roberts so that we have some of the best players of the past on this team.

 

Can't wait to see a young line-up so we can finish last in the division but at least have some hope for the future. Is last with maybe 70 wins that much worse than 3rd or 4th with 75-80 wins?

 

LF: Owens

1B: Swisher

RF: Quentin

DH: Dye

C: Pierzynski

3B: Fields (when off DL)...Crede/Uribe until then

CF: Anderson

2B: Richar (when off DL)...Getz until then

SS: Ramirez

 

SP: Vasquez, Danks, Floyd, Contreras, Broadway

 

Keep the bullpen but replace Wasserman with MacDougal or some young gun

 

I know this is not realistic but I am just so frustrated with this 2007 White Sox 2.0 team

 

 

[greg775]

Are you guys high on Dotel or ready to boot him to the curb?

I wonder how we'll do in our 19 games against the Royals? We are reasonably decent so far this year against our own division.

[iamshack]

Are you guys high on Dotel or ready to boot him to the curb?

I wonder how we'll do in our 19 games against the Royals? We are reasonably decent so far this year against our own division.

 

Again, he got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam. Did you even watch the game, or just look at the box score?

[heirdog]

Are you guys high on Dotel or ready to boot him to the curb?

I wonder how we'll do in our 19 games against the Royals? We are reasonably decent so far this year against our own division.

 

Not sure that Dotel has been a real problem...he lost tonight but he really should not have. He got out of the 7th inning jam with 2 big Ks and then that crap play by Dye.

[Cochise]

After every game and every series, it seems more and more likely that we are looking at a 100 loss team. I think its time we stop kidding ourselves into thinking that this offense is going to wake up from the dormant state it has been in since the 2006 All-Star break. We had a better record last year at this point. Though our starting pitching is vastly improved and could prolong 4-24 stretches like last year, I wonder how long Danks and Floyd will hold up. Buehrle has been terrible, and Contreras could fall apart at a moment (also the guy is probably in his 50s). And Vazquez showed his 6th inning allergic reaction last week, lets hope that doesn't happen all over again. I also don't feel like our pen is that great, this team is eerily similar to last season's, sans an Erstad here and an Andy Gonzalez and Luis Terrero there. So if we are in the same boat as last year at the All-Star break, I think we'll be cutting our losses and dealing the older guys and beginning the rebuilding process. All that seems to add up to a team that threatens to lose 100 games or something near that. Then again, maybe things will turn around and I can eat crow and say I panicked about a season thats only 6 weeks old with plenty of time to right this ship. I am fine with that.

[Frankensteiner]

After every game and every series, it seems more and more likely that we are looking at a 100 loss team. I think its time we stop kidding ourselves into thinking that this offense is going to wake up from the dormant state it has been in since the 2006 All-Star break. We had a better record last year at this point. Though our starting pitching is vastly improved and could prolong 4-24 stretches like last year, I wonder how long Danks and Floyd will hold up. Buehrle has been terrible, and Contreras could fall apart at a moment (also the guy is probably in his 50s). And Vazquez showed his 6th inning allergic reaction last week, lets hope that doesn't happen all over again. I also don't feel like our pen is that great, this team is eerily similar to last season's, sans an Erstad here and an Andy Gonzalez and Luis Terrero there. So if we are in the same boat as last year at the All-Star break, I think we'll be cutting our losses and dealing the older guys and beginning the rebuilding process. All that seems to add up to a team that threatens to lose 100 games or something near that. Then again, maybe things will turn around and I can eat crow and say I panicked about a season thats only 6 weeks old with plenty of time to right this ship. I am fine with that.

 

This is not a 100 loss team.

 

Could be a pretty decent team if coaches, managment, and/or players show urgency to get things done. Now, the theme with the Sox org and players is stubborness so it's anyone's guess if things get resolved (i.e. hitting coach needs to be fired, approach needs to change, etc.). It's at worst a .500 team in my oppinion.

[heirdog]

After every game and every series, it seems more and more likely that we are looking at a 100 loss team. I think its time we stop kidding ourselves into thinking that this offense is going to wake up from the dormant state it has been in since the 2006 All-Star break. We had a better record last year at this point. Though our starting pitching is vastly improved and could prolong 4-24 stretches like last year, I wonder how long Danks and Floyd will hold up. Buehrle has been terrible, and Contreras could fall apart at a moment (also the guy is probably in his 50s). And Vazquez showed his 6th inning allergic reaction last week, lets hope that doesn't happen all over again. I also don't feel like our pen is that great, this team is eerily similar to last season's, sans an Erstad here and an Andy Gonzalez and Luis Terrero there. So if we are in the same boat as last year at the All-Star break, I think we'll be cutting our losses and dealing the older guys and beginning the rebuilding process. All that seems to add up to a team that threatens to lose 100 games or something near that. Then again, maybe things will turn around and I can eat crow and say I panicked about a season thats only 6 weeks old with plenty of time to right this ship. I am fine with that.

 

Unfortunately, we may be well under .500 at the ASB but only 6 or 7 games out and so KW will try and package the last few scraps in our farm system and some young players to get a journeyman bat and plug him in the line-up to turn the offense around. Thome, Konerko and Dye if allowed will hit their 30 HRs each (65 of which will be solo shots) and we will continue to win one game 10-7 and then lose a bunch by 1 or 2 runs where we score 3 or less.

 

[soxfan3530]

After every game and every series, it seems more and more likely that we are looking at a 100 loss team. I think its time we stop kidding ourselves into thinking that this offense is going to wake up from the dormant state it has been in since the 2006 All-Star break. We had a better record last year at this point. Though our starting pitching is vastly improved and could prolong 4-24 stretches like last year, I wonder how long Danks and Floyd will hold up. Buehrle has been terrible, and Contreras could fall apart at a moment (also the guy is probably in his 50s). And Vazquez showed his 6th inning allergic reaction last week, lets hope that doesn't happen all over again. I also don't feel like our pen is that great, this team is eerily similar to last season's, sans an Erstad here and an Andy Gonzalez and Luis Terrero there. So if we are in the same boat as last year at the All-Star break, I think we'll be cutting our losses and dealing the older guys and beginning the rebuilding process. All that seems to add up to a team that threatens to lose 100 games or something near that. Then again, maybe things will turn around and I can eat crow and say I panicked about a season thats only 6 weeks old with plenty of time to right this ship. I am fine with that.

No way this is a 100 loss team with the pitching we are getting. if this continues we should be around .500 or a little below sadly.

[Cochise]

Unfortunately, we may be well under .500 at the ASB but only 6 or 7 games out and so KW will try and package the last few scraps in our farm system and some young players to get a journeyman bat and plug him in the line-up to turn the offense around. Thome, Konerko and Dye if allowed will hit their 30 HRs each (65 of which will be solo shots) and we will continue to win one game 10-7 and then lose a bunch by 1 or 2 runs where we score 3 or less.

 

So dang frustrating how arrogant and stupid the front office can be. This is my main beef with KW and Ozzie. There are obvious problems when your pitching staff is as good as ours and we have a record like we do. You see an offense that has been mostly terrible as a whole for over a season and a half and yet the hitting coach is not on the hot seat. Our pitching has been great, but they have to be flawless due to this anemic offense. Its sad then when the opposing team scores a pair of runs in the first inning it feels as if the game is already over. It is also sad that when the game is on the line, your team is down by a run or two and the "heart" of your order is up, and again it feels like watching is pointless. That is, unless you're a masochist and like watching guys like Thome and Konerko look like shells of their former selves and strike out or swing at the first pitch and pop out. Yet Ozzie is stubborn and won't move these veterans from their spots in the heart of the order, or rather the part of the order with no heart. Remember in spring training when Ozzie said he wasn't going to tolerate losing? Remember when KW was busting Swisher's balls for not hustling on a ground out? Where is that intensity from Ozzie and KW when this offense has blemished so many quality starts from our pitching?

[stretchstretch]

Unfortunately, we may be well under .500 at the ASB but only 6 or 7 games out and so KW will try and package the last few scraps in our farm system and some young players to get a journeyman bat and plug him in the line-up to turn the offense around. Thome, Konerko and Dye if allowed will hit their 30 HRs each (65 of which will be solo shots) and we will continue to win one game 10-7 and then lose a bunch by 1 or 2 runs where we score 3 or less.

 

I hate the fact that you're so correct here.............

 

[stretchstretch]

Well kids, button them up because the ride is about to get real bumpy.

 

Twinks

@Seattle

@LA Angels

@ San Fran ( we luck out so far with the back end of their rotation facing Cain on the Sunday)

Cleveland

Angels

@ Cleveland

@ Tampa

 

Yikes

 

 

good, I'd rather have them be fully exposed, do or die, and if they die, I can stop wasting my energy and hope all summer, better to get the truth on the table right here and now..........rather than a string cupcakes to lure me into a false sense of security like we just got barely taking 2-3 from a horrific seattle team

[stretchstretch]

So dang frustrating how arrogant and stupid the front office can be. This is my main beef with KW and Ozzie. There are obvious problems when your pitching staff is as good as ours and we have a record like we do. You see an offense that has been mostly terrible as a whole for over a season and a half and yet the hitting coach is not on the hot seat. Our pitching has been great, but they have to be flawless due to this anemic offense. Its sad then when the opposing team scores a pair of runs in the first inning it feels as if the game is already over. It is also sad that when the game is on the line, your team is down by a run or two and the "heart" of your order is up, and again it feels like watching is pointless. That is, unless you're a masochist and like watching guys like Thome and Konerko look like shells of their former selves and strike out or swing at the first pitch and pop out. Yet Ozzie is stubborn and won't move these veterans from their spots in the heart of the order, or rather the part of the order with no heart. Remember in spring training when Ozzie said he wasn't going to tolerate losing? Remember when KW was busting Swisher's balls for not hustling on a ground out? Where is that intensity from Ozzie and KW when this offense has blemished so many quality starts from our pitching?

 

 

I hear you but when you have $27M in payroll between PK and JT, what are you going to do, bench them on principle? You have to sleep in the bed you made this season, like it or not. It's the resigning of dead weight that's the problem......a simple inability by KW to make tough moves before they get out of control

[Cochise]

I hear you but when you have $27M in payroll between PK and JT, what are you going to do, bench them on principle? You have to sleep in the bed you made this season, like it or not. It's the resigning of dead weight that's the problem......a simple inability by KW to make tough moves before they get out of control

 

I agree that you have to play them because of what you're paying them. But they shouldn't be untouchable. I was mainly advocating dropping them in the order and breaking them up. Because lately its become almost 2 automatic outs with PK and Thome back to back in the lineup in whatever order. Also, a few days on the bench to clear their heads of whatever crap has affected them for over a year and a half. Though its likely that wouldn't do any good.

[Swingandalongonetoleft]

Somebody on the score said it today, I think it was Abbatacola. If you're .500, you're .500. This was said in regards to the white flag trade. If we're under .500 but only a few games out of first at ASB and pick the last few weeds out of our drought stricken farm for hired help, then management changes need to be made. I don't think KW would do that though, you're really shorting him there with that statement. KW is not George Steinbrenner. Some fans here are really the what have you done for me lately type (and by lately I mean in the last 4 hours). He needed a DH after 05 so he got Thome. He's not Father Time, he can't control Thome's age. Konerko seemed like a leader after that great year also, and he was a 30-40 hr producer before then too. The decisions he made with our offense would have been made by most every GM in the game. It's not his fault that you guys are all smarter than he is.

 

Paulie, Thome, and lots of times Crede and AJ frustrate me too. For now they're here to stay. I liken it to being in a tough cash bind with car payments, credit cards, and phone bills due. You're gonna have to skip the bars for a while until it's cleared up. In this case, it's looking like we're skipping the bars until April of '09. For the optimistic part of this post, I was up to my neck in credit card and dental bills (wrecked tooth, capping required, alcohol involved). Like an angel out of heaven my refund check came, and it greatly alleviated the situation I was in. Maybe Thome starts jacking one out every 5 at bats and Paulie masters the art of not grounding out or K'ing looking. Doubtful, but I always looked at 7 games out by late June as the quitting point except in fluke situations. It's mid-may, and although some in our division are gathering steam it's not lost yet.

 

I hate OCab though. I thought we got rid of him after last season and the Cubs picked him up only to let him go also?

Edited May 14, 2008 by ChiSox35

[Cochise]

good, I'd rather have them be fully exposed, do or die, and if they die, I can stop wasting my energy and hope all summer, better to get the truth on the table right here and now..........rather than a string cupcakes to lure me into a false sense of security like we just got barely taking 2-3 from a horrific seattle team

 

I don't know how I feel about a team falling apart this early (if a team is going to fall apart that is). I am literally foaming at the moth come April when the season starts and its a pretty disappointing feeling to be let down this early. Also, like 2007, the summer feels so empty without constantly following the Sox. However, if the team pulls a 2003 or a 2006 and blows it in the final month of a season thats pretty disgusting itself. I just hate losing. Unfortunately it has been all too common throughout my lifetime. Maybe if this team is without a pulse by the time the break rolls around, there will be a firesale and it will be interesting to see some young prospects play. Maybe the White Sox will field a speedy young team that can hit to the opposite field and can score from second on a single. Thats a lot of maybes. Maybe after all of that we can resurrect the old "these kids can play" slogan. Because the team we have currently is loaded with anything but "Kids" and most of them can't really play. Unless you consider trying to lift and pull a ball out to the Dan Ryan "playing." If so, you may be able to find a job as an assistant hitting coach.

[Cochise]

I don't deny that nearly everyone on this site (myself included) often freaks out after a loss and calls for the firing of KW or Ozzie and trades of various players or benching some guys and calling up others. People fall into panic mode far too easily. It is only May. Funny enough, all is glorious and we are playoff bound when we string together some wins, sometimes even predictions of 800 runs scored. Things can get a little goofy, and in many ways thats just the nature of being a fan and posting your emotions at that particular moment. Some of the wiser posters remind the rest of us that hindsight is 20/20. Sure Paulie, JD and Thome had a great year in 2006, and they have been pretty mediocre since. We would have been livid if KW traded them after that season, and he would have been crazy. For me, and I think for most Sox fans, our anger stems from the fact that this offense just hit a wall and no one seems to know why and it seems like not enough has been done to fix it. You can't say nothing has been done, because KW brought in guys with good track records (Swish, OCab) who also seemed like despite how they performed, they wouldn't let the team go through the motions like they did in 2007. However, though it is only May, things in 2008 seem all too familiar and look eerily similar to last year. Which for me was one of the worst seasons I have ever had to live through as a Palehose fan. And thats what I love about being a White Sox fan. We will not and do not accept mediocrity.

[witesoxfan]

I don't deny that nearly everyone on this site (myself included) often freaks out after a loss and calls for the firing of KW or Ozzie and trades of various players or benching some guys and calling up others. People fall into panic mode far too easily. It is only May. Funny enough, all is glorious and we are playoff bound when we string together some wins, sometimes even predictions of 800 runs scored. Things can get a little goofy, and in many ways thats just the nature of being a fan and posting your emotions at that particular moment. Some of the wiser posters remind the rest of us that hindsight is 20/20. Sure Paulie, JD and Thome had a great year in 2006, and they have been pretty mediocre since. We would have been livid if KW traded them after that season, and he would have been crazy. For me, and I think for most Sox fans, our anger stems from the fact that this offense just hit a wall and no one seems to know why and it seems like not enough has been done to fix it. You can't say nothing has been done, because KW brought in guys with good track records (Swish, OCab) who also seemed like despite how they performed, they wouldn't let the team go through the motions like they did in 2007. However, though it is only May, things in 2008 seem all too familiar and look eerily similar to last year. Which for me was one of the worst seasons I have ever had to live through as a Palehose fan. And thats what I love about being a White Sox fan. We will not and do not accept mediocrity.

 

Erstad and Podsednik are not in White Sox uniforms in 2008. Carlos Quentin is in a White Sox uniform in 2008. It's not eerily similar.

[StrangeSox]

Erstad and Podsednik are not in White Sox uniforms in 2008. Carlos Quentin is in a White Sox uniform in 2008. It's not eerily similar.

 

The performance, not the names on the jerseys.

 

The Sox are now 0-10 when they don't go yard.

Edited May 14, 2008 by StrangeSox