I blame ozzie

[SoxFan1]

It seems like almost every good pitch they are getting is fouled off or grounded right to someone so far..

The main reason I'm still optimistic, outside of the fact that we still have a great pitching staff with 158 games left, is that the 3 games we've lost have been really flukey. The Indians and Twins have hit the ball hard about 5 times in our 3 losses combined where as we seem to be hitting balls hard right at guys. Now to be fair, guys like Teahen and Pierre look absolutely horrible and have yet to hit a ball hard, but there's 7 other guys in the lineup.

[Jordan4life_2007]

They've shown some good plate discipline overall, but if you wanna talk about skewed numbers, that would be it. Carmona accounts for 25% of those walks, and the majority of the rest is against the amazing Indians pitching staff.

 

We're 4 games into the season. All numbers are skewed at this point. But the BB shows the approach hasn't been all that bad. We're hitting like .150 as a team right now. I'll go on and assume that won't last.

[ThunderBolt]

.316 team OBP, 22nd in the MLB.

 

EDIT: That was through 3 games. Including tonight, .323 team OBP, last in the AL.

The numbers are very telling, and i'd agree that OBP is going to be a huge problem for this team. MY point, however, still stands when we do get on-base, we're not going about things the right way.

Edited April 10, 2010 by Thunderbolt

[SoxFan1]

The numbers are very telling, and i'd agree that OBP is going to be a huge problem for this team.

Your point still applies thought. Even when we do get on base, we aren't doing anything with them.

 

Through 4 games, we have 24 hits and 24 BB and we still only have a .323 team OBP. And when you factor in the 3 HBP and 1 IBB, thats not good.

[SoxFan1]

We're 4 games into the season. All numbers are skewed at this point. But the BB shows the approach hasn't been all that bad. We're hitting like .150 as a team right now. I'll go on and assume that won't last.

Its at .185 now, and there's no question that will go way up, but the fact of the matter is, you have to look past the BB numbers. Carmona couldn't throw a strike to save his life. 25% of our walks came from him. Should we really be praising them for not swinging at bad pitches? How many runners have we left on base?

[Jordan4life_2007]

Its at .185 now, and there's no question that will go way up, but the fact of the matter is, you have to look past the BB numbers. Carmona couldn't throw a strike to save his life. 25% of our walks came from him. Should we really be praising them for not swinging at bad pitches? How many runners have we left on base?

 

Who's praising them? The offense has been bad overall. And I don't know why you keep bringing up Carmona. Even if you remove him, we've drawn 18 BB in the other 3 games. That's a 6 per game average. That's pretty good. We won't stay at that pace all year. But we won't hit .180 either. And as has been mentioned, we've hit a ton of line drives right at fielders.

[greg775]

Now to be fair, guys like Teahen and Pierre look absolutely horrible and have yet to hit a ball hard, but there's 7 other guys in the lineup.

 

Don't forget Jones and Kotsay looking overmatched.

[Balta1701]

Its at .185 now, and there's no question that will go way up, but the fact of the matter is, you have to look past the BB numbers. Carmona couldn't throw a strike to save his life. 25% of our walks came from him. Should we really be praising them for not swinging at bad pitches? How many runners have we left on base?

Liriano was also trying to be plenty wild last night, our guys just kept swinging early in the count at balls out of the zone, especially in innings 3-4. Once the lineup rolled over to Beckham in the 5th and they took some pitches again, people got on base again.

[AWhiteSoxinNJ]

I blame Kenny Williams.

 

Teahen blows

 

Kotsay blows

 

Team can't produce runs, get on base, or hit.

 

Reminds me of the 2009 team.

 

It's unbearable to watch, I turned it off after the 10th inning because I knew we were going to lose.

[Balta1701]

By the way....in terms of "ozzie shouldn't have left pena in there for the 3rd inning"...if you're in Ozzie's chair...how many innings do you think it'll take before your team scores again? I think he might have accurately expected they might pull off a run in the 14th or 15th if it got that far. The only way he was going to win the game was to get his pitching staff that far...which means pushing everyone for more innings once it got to the 9th.

[soxrwhite]

Why did Teahan pinch run and then stay in to play first? Kotsay (like him or not ) is a first baseman. He can run as well or better than Teahan can certainly play first better and then Teahan hit into a double play when he came up to bat. Kotsay could have done that too. What was Ozzie thinking here?

[joeynach]

So far the only things thats really failed the sox is their bullpen. They have blown 3 late inning leads in 4 games. Its something none of us pictured because of the strength of the arms in our pen. SO either some serious regression towards the mean is in order, or our bullpen is all smoke and mirrors. Its one or the either.

[Balta1701]

Why did Teahan pinch run and then stay in to play first? Kotsay (like him or not ) is a first baseman. He can run as well or better than Teahan can certainly play first better and then Teahan hit into a double play when he came up to bat. Kotsay could have done that too. What was Ozzie thinking here?

With Jones at DH, Kotsay was his only real backup OF, while he also had Nix as a backup IF so he could afford to use Teahen.

[Disco72]

I would love to see someone measure the correlation of temperature to runs scored for the White Sox.

 

This is a couple of years old, but it addresses temperature effects in MLB. I thought about doing the correlation between temperature and runs scored for last season's White Sox, but I'd also have to do the rest of the league to have a meaningful comparison. Maybe if I get bored later...

 

The main reason I'm still optimistic, outside of the fact that we still have a great pitching staff with 158 games left, is that the 3 games we've lost have been really flukey. The Indians and Twins have hit the ball hard about 5 times in our 3 losses combined where as we seem to be hitting balls hard right at guys. Now to be fair, guys like Teahen and Pierre look absolutely horrible and have yet to hit a ball hard, but there's 7 other guys in the lineup.

 

Exactly! I'm not sure why people are ignoring this. It would be one thing if the Sox were getting blown out, but they have all been close games. In some ways, that is far more frustrating, but you can't deny that the Sox have had some "bad luck" to go along with some of the legitimate criticisms of the team.

 

So far the only things thats really failed the sox is their bullpen. They have blown 3 late inning leads in 4 games. Its something none of us pictured because of the strength of the arms in our pen. SO either some serious regression towards the mean is in order, or our bullpen is all smoke and mirrors. Its one or the either.

 

Stats aside, I actually think the starters have not helped either. Thus far, their inability to go late in games has put more pressure on the bullpen. I argued this offseason that the Sox did not need Carrasco (or a guy like him) because the starters would consistently go late in games, but their pitch counts have really hurt them in the early going. Hopefully Pena does not have any negative effects from going too long last night.

[southsideirish71]

So far the only things thats really failed the sox is their bullpen. They have blown 3 late inning leads in 4 games. Its something none of us pictured because of the strength of the arms in our pen. SO either some serious regression towards the mean is in order, or our bullpen is all smoke and mirrors. Its one or the either.

 

 

Its the American League. You need to score more than 3 runs to win on a regular basis. I know the Hawk is getting on the pen, but that is deflecting the real issue and thats our offense. If this offense is mediocre we will win a lot of games with our pitching.

 

 

[lostfan]

Stats aside, I actually think the starters have not helped either. Thus far, their inability to go late in games has put more pressure on the bullpen. I argued this offseason that the Sox did not need Carrasco (or a guy like him) because the starters would consistently go late in games, but their pitch counts have really hurt them in the early going. Hopefully Pena does not have any negative effects from going too long last night.

Peavy's the only one that it's really fair to put that blame on, IMO. We know that Buehrle threw a gem, then Peavy had a pretty mediocre outing, then Floyd and Danks had quality starts. Floyd gave up 2 runs and Danks gave up 1 earned run, the other was Ramirez's fault because the inning should've ended there. You can't reasonably expect Buehrle, Floyd, and Danks to go 7 or 8 innings all the time and give up 2 runs etc.

[Harry Chappas]

Sox bullpen is doing its job despite the idiotic ramblings of the Hawkeroo they can not be expected to shut a team out for 3 innings every night that simply is not going to happen with the defense that is out there. We have now learned already that the entire infield and right field are no better this year and the arm in left has not improved but the range has. Center though is a huge upgrade.

[RockRaines]

I blame violent TV

[Real]

Small sample size, but just throwing it out there

 

Our relievers have an ERA of 3.94, definitely not terrible, not in the slightest. Our starters ERA is 2.25. Just hit the damn ball and we'll win games, it's as simple as that really

[watchtower41]

Small sample size, but just throwing it out there

 

Just hit the damn ball and we'll win games, it's as simple as that really

 

 

When was the last time you've seen a Sox team do that?

[Real]

This game could get ugly early because Freddy is gonna have to go 6 innings, and if he starts getting hit around we'll end up on the receiving end of a rather nasty loss unless we start scoring runs. Bullpen can't be used before the 6th today, that's what Ozzie just said

[Real]

When was the last time you've seen a Sox team do that?

 

5 days ago?

 

So once a week, and we're good!

 

lol

[Disco72]

Peavy's the only one that it's really fair to put that blame on, IMO. We know that Buehrle threw a gem, then Peavy had a pretty mediocre outing, then Floyd and Danks had quality starts. Floyd gave up 2 runs and Danks gave up 1 earned run, the other was Ramirez's fault because the inning should've ended there. You can't reasonably expect Buehrle, Floyd, and Danks to go 7 or 8 innings all the time and give up 2 runs etc.

 

I don't mean to say that the starters have been terrible, nor do I want Ozzie to burn them out early in the season. However, other than Buehrle's opening day, the Sox haven't had a "bullpen saving" start by any the next three guys. That, combined with back-to-back extra innings games has put more pressure on the bullpen to cover more innings earlier in the season than I expected. As others have said, the blame is more on the offense and the defense for losing those games than the bullpen.

 

This game could get ugly early because Freddy is gonna have to go 6 innings, and if he starts getting hit around we'll end up on the receiving end of a rather nasty loss unless we start scoring runs. Bullpen can't be used before the 6th today, that's what Ozzie just said

 

Freddy should have no trouble going 6 innings. People (not calling you out specifically Real) were already losing it in last night's game thread that Freddy was going to get killed today. In Freddy's 9 starts last year (when he wasn't as healthy as he supposedly is now), he went at least 6 innings in 8 of the 9 starts. He gave up more than 3 ERs in only 2 of them. Today's game is on the offense to get a lead so that hopefully Putz and Jenks can finish what Freddy starts.

[SI1020]

I don't think they were too bad tonight. I mean, it was Linebrink. We all know he's the trash reliever and the last guy to go to. Peña was forced to throw for too long.

Forced to throw too long because Ozzie burned through his bullpen. I would like to see what he would have done if the game went 18 innings.

[Disco72]

Forced to throw too long because Ozzie burned through his bullpen. I would like to see what he would have done if the game went 18 innings.

 

Given the amount of innings the bullpen has had to throw, what would you have done? It seems nearly impossible to avoid "burning through" a bullpen when you have to throw 4-5 innings in back to back games.