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Are the Sox done?


VAfan

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3-1/2 back, with the remaining schedule we have looks brutal.

 

Do you think the team is done, with only the upcoming road trip to Boston, NY, and Minnesota to drop us out of sight of Detroit?

 

Or will the team actually play better against tougher competition, the way we took 3 of 4 against the Yankees when they were here, then beat the Angels in a series?

 

The floor is open.

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Is anyone else getting really sick of this s***?

 

I was sick of it in April and May. At this point, I accept what this team appears to be, and that's a pretty good team having a not-so-great year.

 

The only thing I have left to hold onto is that we seem to play better with our backs up against a wall. We could be well under .500 with how bad we have truly been this season, but the team is able to stay in it. There were a couple moments this season where we could have really gotten behind Detroit, but we haven't completely imploded yet. These next few games are of the same ilk. Do we want to go to 4.5 or 5.5 games behind Detroit? Not really. I'm kinda hoping the guys feel like they have their backs against a wall right now.

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Well, the odds are not looking that great.

 

On paper, we should be better now than last year's team, but we're certainly not proving that on the field of play.

 

It just doesn't "feel" like we have the team to get it done this year, but Minnesota really handed it back to us the last week of the season after we'd been swept up there and things were looking really, really bleak.

 

11-12, 10-13, 9-14....those look like the three most LIKELY records to come out of this upcoming stretch (the Bataan Death March of games, like Minnesota's road trip during the GOP Convention).

 

Detroit is back close to their high water mark of the season, and they're showing the ability to rally (in two games this week, ironic, because the White Sox were ALSO able to knock out former pitcher Aardsma, our ONLY come from behind victory of the season in late innings, amazing!), at least at home, we're they're winning .667 of their games.

 

They're not a good road team, 25-36. We've play fairly well this season on the road, but it's expecting too much for Peavy to just come in and pitch like an ace and for all the cogs of the machine to suddenly click. We're one of those teams that appears to be better than it really is, the opposite of 2005...a team that just knew how to get it done and had the confidence that nearly every 2 and especially 1 run lead was their game for the taking. Where the team was much better than the sum of all its individual parts but a well-oiled machine that just knew how to get it done.

 

We've had a couple of nice runs since May, but those were followed up by implosions against sub .500 competition when we should have been putting ourselves 10-12 games over .500 and squarely into the thick of things.

 

This mentality of waiting for the Tigers to lose or choke when they're getting such good starting pitching on a consistent basis from Verlander (really the best AL pitcher since the first month of the season), Jackson and Porcello and surprising contributions from rookies like Thomas and Raburn (we've been able to produce one rookie OFer in years to put up an 800+ OPS for the Sox), the Jackson trade (stroke of genius), releasing Sheffield, winning the biggest games of the season against us (particularly the DeWayne Wise out at home, or not, game)...

 

You can't really make ANY argument at this point that we deserve to WIN the division. If we play better the next 35-40 games and beat DET, great, but I don't see them imploding (barring a pitching injury) like MINN did down the stretch, especially at home, where they've had wonderful fan support nearly all season long.

Edited by caulfield12
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QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 05:23 PM)
So if they won last night, I'm guessing we wouldn't see this thread.

 

 

Probably not.

 

Then again, we all felt that 4-2 was the "worst case scenario" for this stretch and hopes were high for 5-1/6-0.

 

This team just doesn't have anything close to a "killer" instinct, with the particularly damning evidence of all those lost opportunities to sweep our opponents gone by the wayside and the likelihood of ANY sweeps the next 3-4 weeks virtually non-existent on the road unless the starting pitching miraculously finds another gear and the offense gets a second win (Konerko, Beckham, Dye, Ramirez, Quentin, Rios)and really kicks it into gear again down the stretch.

 

Likely? Not really, about 25-35% odds I'd say.

 

But possible.

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They COULD still pull this off, but it's not looking very likely in my humble opinion. This season has been an extremely frustrating one because they have hung just close enough so as to tease us. I'm hoping like hell as I'm sure we all are but I'm just thinking it ain't happenin' this year. Hoping they prove me wrong! :gosox1:

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QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 07:01 PM)
as I've stated in other threads, the Tigers do not impress me, especially on the road, I don't see them pulling that far away

If the Sox are relying on Detroit failing for them to win, they will fail.

 

The only teams the Sox need to worry about are the Red Sox, Yankees, Twins, and the other teams left on their schedule.

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I'd be the first to suggest the Sox are done if I actually believed it. This upcoming roadtrip certainly plays an important role in their fate, though. It'll one of the longest, certaintly the toughest, roadtrips of the season They'll be fine if they don't lose more than a game in the standings.

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QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 04:17 PM)
This upcoming roadtrip certainly plays an important role in their fate, though. It'll one of the longest, certaintly the toughest, roadtrips of the season

 

This is true. It'll be a good indicator.

 

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