For Minnesota to catch us now...

[caulfield12]

Maybe the scheduling Gods are finally shining upon us...

 

Bannister, K. Davies and Brandon Duckworth for the next three games.

 

No Gil Meche or Greinke, who gave us a lot of trouble the last time we faced him...actually, both pitched well, if I remember correctly.

 

Of course, it's very possible that the Royals will also be riding a 7 game winning streak coming into Friday!!! OTOH, you have to think that their luck has to turn soon, and our Top 3 against (well, Danks is equal to any of them) against their Bottom 3 SHOULD SHOULD SHOULD be good for at least 2 wins out of three. And we've never historically struggled playing in KC like we have at Minnesota, Toronto, TB, etc.

 

BTW, does anyone want to buy 100 shares of AIG??? I completely forgot buying it in 2005 at $50 per share, of course, now the brilliant Edward Jones stock brokers call my mom in Iowa advising her to sell. Great advice!!! Please tell me why the brokers never have the "inside info" to call maybe when the stock isn't down 96%!!!!

Edited September 18, 2008 by caulfield12

[Greg Hibbard]

I don't think the Twins are choking.

 

When you have 5 starting pitchers who don't have even 1 full season season of MLB under their belts... and you compete this deep into a season... that's pretty amazing.

 

They've been overachieving all year. I think what we're seeing is the long season finally catching up to those guys.

 

 

I'm sorry, but they ARE most certainly choking.

 

No team has a worse record in MLB than the Twins over their last 24 games - largely against 3rd, 4th and 5th place teams, and yes, largely on the road - but even Seattle on a 7 game current losing streak is 11-13 in their last 24. The Twins are an embarrassing 8-16, and 5-10 in September. I don't care how mediocre you are, when 11-13 would have been good enough to have the division lead, YOU DID CHOKE!

[Steve9347]

I'm sorry, but they ARE most certainly choking.

 

No team has a worse record in MLB than the Twins over their last 24 games - largely against 3rd, 4th and 5th place teams, and yes, largely on the road - but even Seattle on a 7 game current losing streak is 11-13 in their last 24. The Twins are an embarrassing 8-16, and 5-10 in September. I don't care how mediocre you are, when 11-13 would have been good enough to have the division lead, YOU DID CHOKE!

Yet we've only managed to gain like 2 games on them in that period.

[caulfield12]

Yet we've only managed to gain like 2 games on them in that period.

 

 

Well, the White Sox can always hide behind the excuse of losing Quentin, Crede, Contreras, Konerko and Linebrink for large stretches of this season.

 

The Twins don't have a similar excuse...their bullpen has really imploded dramatically, whereas ours has been pretty horrible for the last 2-3 months...really, since the beginning to middle of July, right around the All-Star break.

 

Nathan has lost 2-4 MPH off his fastball, his location is way off, he's throwing an alarming number of pitches in each appearance...and his 3 BS in the last month are what he usually has in one season. I think the Twins' bullpen was SO good in 2006, only one game lost when leading going into the 8th inning, it's hard not to describe it as a choke.

 

You can argue that Crain, Guerrier, Reyes, Nathan and Guardado are choking...or that, for whatever reason, they simply aren't VERY good right now. Hard to say which...but I think the Twins have had the lead in quite a few of the games they've lost in the last month. Not to mention numerous games they barely hung on to win that should have been blowouts.

 

Once again, the Twins received no immediate punishment for their sins because the Yankees defeated Chicago 5-1, keeping the Twins 2 1/2 games back in the American League Central with 10 games to play.

 

The White Sox are 8-11 in their past 19 games, but the Twins are in an 8-16 spiral. They boarded a late flight to Tampa, Fla., where they'll open a four-game series tonight against the Rays, who own the majors' best home record at 55-22.

 

"At this point, you just see what we're made of," Guerrier said. "We lose three here at a time we need to be winning some games. It's going to be tough going to Tampa. They're fighting for a spot, and we've got pretty much our backs against the wall."

 

from startribune.com

Edited September 18, 2008 by caulfield12

[Texsox]

I'm sorry, but they ARE most certainly choking.

 

No team has a worse record in MLB than the Twins over their last 24 games - largely against 3rd, 4th and 5th place teams, and yes, largely on the road - but even Seattle on a 7 game current losing streak is 11-13 in their last 24. The Twins are an embarrassing 8-16, and 5-10 in September. I don't care how mediocre you are, when 11-13 would have been good enough to have the division lead, YOU DID CHOKE!

 

I have a hard time to call it choking when they are in second with a team that projected to be 3rd or 4th in the division. I understand where you are coming from, and if you want to call it choking, I can understand, but I like to put their record into some context.

[knightni]

BTW, does anyone want to buy 100 shares of AIG??? I completely forgot buying it in 2005 at $50 per share, of course, now the brilliant Edward Jones stock brokers call my mom in Iowa advising her to sell. Great advice!!! Please tell me why the brokers never have the "inside info" to call maybe when the stock isn't down 96%!!!!

 

How do you forget $5,000?...Mr. Rockefeller.

 

 

[SoxFan562004]

You did note that he only included the contending teams right?

lol, nope totally missed that. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm playing the sick card on this one and I was all drugged up

[scenario]

I'm sorry, but they ARE most certainly choking.

 

I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time imagining how someone could say a lineup with Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, Brian Buscher, Matt Tolbert, and Alexi Casilla starting for them is "choking".

 

Five position players with less than 5 years of MLB experience between them... and almost all of them performing above their minor league averages.

 

Add that to 5 starting pitchers none of whom have a full year in MLB under their belt.

 

Overachieving is a more appropriate term... not choking.

[caulfield12]

How do you forget $5,000?...Mr. Rockefeller.

 

 

That wasn't the worst, lol...I bought JDS Uniphase at the height of dot.com bubble at around 110 per share...it went up to around 140 when it was added to the S&P 500 Index, and then I rode it all the way down to $2.96 per share. Actually, I don't mind writing it off as a loss...although I will hold onto AIG and maybe something positive will come of it.

 

Maybe Warren Buffett will swoop in and that might help my Berkshire-Hathaway....actually, I think MSDW and Goldman Sachs and many regional banks are getting shorted simply because they are banks, and things will slowly correct over time, although I certainly have little hope for my AIG investment.

 

Thankfully, I don't have more than 100 shares...imagine being a lifetime AIG worker and having your entire retirement tied into that stock and seeing your future eviscerated in a little less than 2 weeks??

 

I don't think anyone really was out on the forefront and accurately forecasted what was coming with AIG and now the other two Wall Street investment banks.

Edited September 18, 2008 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time imagining how someone could say a lineup with Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, Brian Buscher, Matt Tolbert, and Alexi Casilla starting for them is "choking".

 

Five position players with less than 5 years of MLB experience between them... and almost all of them performing above their minor league averages.

 

Add that to 5 starting pitchers none of whom have a full year in MLB under their belt.

 

Overachieving is a more appropriate term... not choking.

 

 

If Hunter and Santana were still around, I have a hard time imagining the same fate befalling the Twins. Those guys simply wouldn't have let it happen...although I have been a little surprised with Nathan's dropoff. And we knew Liriano was due for a bad start, although he still has something like 15 consecutive victories dating back to Rochester in June/July and then the Twins over the past 5-6 weeks.

Edited September 18, 2008 by caulfield12

[ptatc]

That wasn't the worst, lol...I bought JDS Uniphase at the height of dot.com bubble at around 110 per share...it went up to around 140 when it was added to the S&P 500 Index, and then I rode it all the way down to $2.96 per share. Actually, I don't mind writing it off as a loss...although I will hold onto AIG and maybe something positive will come of it.

 

Maybe Warren Buffett will swoop in and that might help my Berkshire-Hathaway....actually, I think MSDW and Goldman Sachs and many regional banks are getting shorted simply because they are banks, and things will slowly correct over time, although I certainly have little hope for my AIG investment.

 

Thankfully, I don't have more than 100 shares...imagine being a lifetime AIG worker and having your entire retirement tied into that stock and seeing your future eviscerated in a little less than 2 weeks??

 

I don't think anyone really was out on the forefront and accurately forecasted what was coming with AIG and now the other two Wall Street investment banks.

 

Hold on to it. As they start to sell off the bits and pieces you never know what might happen.

 

[elrockinMT]

Minny might catach us if our bullpen doesn't step up

[southsider2k5]

Their bullpen would have to step up first...

[southsider2k5]

Their bullpen would have to step up first...

[Greg Hibbard]

I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time imagining how someone could say a lineup with Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, Brian Buscher, Matt Tolbert, and Alexi Casilla starting for them is "choking".

 

Five position players with less than 5 years of MLB experience between them... and almost all of them performing above their minor league averages.

 

Add that to 5 starting pitchers none of whom have a full year in MLB under their belt.

 

Overachieving is a more appropriate term... not choking.

 

So in other words, we can't say that the 03 and 04 white sox, who were projected not to necessarily win the division didn't choke either. They just "overacheived"

 

 

 

 

 

[Texsox]

So in other words, we can't say that the 03 and 04 white sox, who were projected not to necessarily win the division didn't choke either. They just "overacheived"

 

Everyone has their own definition of choking. Arguing your definition is better than the next person's might be fun, but probably not.

 

In my definition, there has to be an absence of legitimate reasons for not winning. Those reasons would include, lack of talent, injuries, key blown calls, and maybe a couple more. So I would have a difficult time, for example, labeling it choking if the Sox went .400 for the rest of the season and lost to Minny. The Sox talent, when healthy is probably .500, and they have injuries in key positions.

[Balta1701]

Everyone has their own definition of choking. Arguing your definition is better than the next person's might be fun, but probably not.

 

In my definition, there has to be an absence of legitimate reasons for not winning. Those reasons would include, lack of talent, injuries, key blown calls, and maybe a couple more. So I would have a difficult time, for example, labeling it choking if the Sox went .400 for the rest of the season and lost to Minny. The Sox talent, when healthy is probably .500, and they have injuries in key positions.

Quite frankly, I disagree. We have a solid closer, a lot of power in the lineup, and at least 4 currently average or better starters, 2 of whom are quite young and have the sky as their limit at this point. And we have a freaking deity patrolling LF when he's healthy. You can argue over a lot of things, but talent-wise, with those key guys...this team is certainly above .500 if everyone is there.

[LVSoxFan]

This bullpen better stop handing over games left and right if you want to see bubbly a week from Sunday.

 

Just a thought.

[scenario]

So in other words, we can't say that the 03 and 04 white sox, who were projected not to necessarily win the division didn't choke either. They just "overacheived"

 

I think you really stretched to make that connection.

 

Those Sox teams were loaded with veteran players.

 

This current Twins team is not. Alot of these guys were playing for Rochester last year... some of them THIS year.

 

Big difference.

 

[southsider2k5]

Quite frankly, I disagree. We have a solid closer, a lot of power in the lineup, and at least 4 currently average or better starters, 2 of whom are quite young and have the sky as their limit at this point. And we have a freaking deity patrolling LF when he's healthy. You can argue over a lot of things, but talent-wise, with those key guys...this team is certainly above .500 if everyone is there.

 

I think the big point is that going into the season, who besides Kenny Williams, actually saw the White Sox that way?

[Texsox]

I think the big point is that going into the season, who besides Kenny Williams, actually saw the White Sox that way?

Exactly, and even the most optimistic had their hopes on Konerko, Crede, and Contreras contributing at their usual numbers, not being injured.

 

Balta, I agree. "if everyone is there", but they are not, which is why I would not call it a choke at this point and under the current conditions.

[elrockinMT]

Their bullpen would have to step up first...

 

 

don't repeat yourself

[elrockinMT]

This bullpen better stop handing over games left and right if you want to see bubbly a week from Sunday.

 

Just a thought.

 

 

Amen! Thornton and Jenks are about our most effective now. Jenks struggled for a few games, but I think that was just a blip

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

That wasn't the worst, lol...I bought JDS Uniphase at the height of dot.com bubble at around 110 per share...it went up to around 140 when it was added to the S&P 500 Index, and then I rode it all the way down to $2.96 per share. Actually, I don't mind writing it off as a loss...although I will hold onto AIG and maybe something positive will come of it.

 

Maybe Warren Buffett will swoop in and that might help my Berkshire-Hathaway....actually, I think MSDW and Goldman Sachs and many regional banks are getting shorted simply because they are banks, and things will slowly correct over time, although I certainly have little hope for my AIG investment.

 

Thankfully, I don't have more than 100 shares...imagine being a lifetime AIG worker and having your entire retirement tied into that stock and seeing your future eviscerated in a little less than 2 weeks??

 

I don't think anyone really was out on the forefront and accurately forecasted what was coming with AIG and now the other two Wall Street investment banks.

Try Wells Fargo, by far the most stable bank out there.

[fathom]

Kansas City is playing great baseball right now. Shealy's been on fire, and we all know what Aviles does to our pitchers. This will not be a weekend series where we can score less than 10 total runs and expect to win the series.