Kenny Williams for GM of the Year

[lostfan]

I thought this thread was a joke too. I'm not going to pile on though.

[caulfield12]

The only thing I keep going back to is 2003...

 

We were 7 games behind the Royals and the Twins were 7 1/2 games back at the ASB.

 

But that White Sox team was incredibly talented (although not a cohesive team until July/August), the Royals were a house of smoke and mirrors and this year's Twins are better than the 2003 Twins, and we also have the Tigers to contend with in the middle of everything else.

 

I just want to at least be able to pretend we're in contention, which means a .500+ record and maybe getting within 4-5 games of Minnesota/Detroit.

[ThunderBolt]

The Tigers, Nationals and Indians swept the Pirates right before we did. If we're going to throw a parade, we better get in line.

[SoxAce]

The Tigers, Nationals and Indians swept the Pirates right before we did. If we're going to throw a parade, we better get in line.

 

They are now almost as bad as the Orioles. O's fans might have to hold off that Anthony Rendon parade. I can't see the O's being nearly as bad as the Bucos, especially with the Bucos calling up their prospects who will have growing pains. Might be good for them in the long run to as they can stick Pedro Alvarez at 1B. They do need pitching though.

[Sox72]

That makes it even more impressive.....the Pirates were due for a win and we prevented it from happening. Why can't people be happy that we are finally a playoff contending team?

 

Forget all the other responses. I love the enthusiasm. It's nice to see a little optimism on here.

[greg775]

Beating up on terrible NL Central teams isn't exactly setting any kind of records here. Let's see them beat up on the Twins and like teams, then I'll start seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

I think a lot of us are cautiously optimistic as we creep closer to .500.

But we also wouldn't be shocked (how could we be?) if the team immediately loses 5 of 6 and is back to s***sville.

I will say that as OF TODAY I give Kenny and Oz and the pitchers a lot of credit for not giving up. AS OF TODAY.

[sin city sox fan]

Any of the cynics ready to start giving Kenny some credit yet? We just beat the Phenom and continued the winning streak! Kenny and Ozzie have done a wonderful job of being patient just waiting for this team to explode....and they are doing just that right now!

[Kalapse]

Hard to trade your old and/or expensive players when there's no market for them.

[JohnCangelosi]

Hard to trade your old and/or expensive players when there's no market for them.

This is exactly right- KW just hasn't had a market for getting rid of our guys yet. Wait until late July before the deadline and see what he does as teams become more desperate and actually want to make moves. We have a long way to go if we're going to be buyers at the deadline, and I hope we really are but we still need TCQ and Beckham to start hitting amongst many other things to convince me we can compete this year...but it's sure good to win, no matter who it's against

[greg775]

I know the NL supposedly sucks, but every day I add it up and usually the AL only wins one or two more games per night.

If the NL sucks so bad, why isn't the AL winning 75 percent of the games in interleague?

[Heads22]

I know the NL supposedly sucks, but every day I add it up and usually the AL only wins one or two more games per night.

If the NL sucks so bad, why isn't the AL winning 75 percent of the games in interleague?

 

That's simply unrealistic.

[Felix]

I know the NL supposedly sucks, but every day I add it up and usually the AL only wins one or two more games per night.

If the NL sucks so bad, why isn't the AL winning 75 percent of the games in interleague?

You realize that the NL teams we have played (Pirates, Cubs, Nationals) are all in the lower tier of the NL, right? There are certainly NL teams that are good, and it'd be foolish to expect a .750 winning percentage from the AL, even if it's the superior league.

Edited June 19, 2010 by Felix

[greg775]

You realize that the NL teams we have played (Pirates, Cubs, Nationals) are all in the lower tier of the NL, right? There are certainly NL teams that are good, and it'd be foolish to expect a .750 winning percentage from the AL, even if it's the superior league.

 

I'm just saying that with so many snide remarks, like "Mark could pitch in the NL and he sucks in the AL," "Jenks might be able to close in the NL," etc., and all the mockery of the NL makes me wonder why the AL isn't simply beating the piss out of the NL every night.

What's the total season series now?

Does the AL have five more wins or so?

Some make it sound like the NL is as bad as AAA ball. Yet if AL teams played AAA teams wouldn't they win about 80-90 percent of the games?

 

 

As far as KW and Oz ... being two under .500 with a lineup this s***ty. Somebody is doing something right. This is proof you don't need to go fire everybody. The Royals, who got a little boost immediately after the firing, are back to s***.

Edited June 19, 2010 by greg775

[G&T]

I'm just saying that with so many snide remarks, like "Mark could pitch in the NL and he sucks in the AL," "Jenks might be able to close in the NL," etc., and all the mockery of the NL makes me wonder why the AL isn't simply beating the piss out of the NL every night.

What's the total season series now?

Does the AL have five more wins or so?

Some make it sound like the NL is as bad as AAA ball. Yet if AL teams played AAA teams wouldn't they win about 80-90 percent of the games?

 

 

As far as KW and Oz ... being two under .500 with a lineup this s***ty. Somebody is doing something right. This is proof you don't need to go fire everybody. The Royals, who got a little boost immediately after the firing, are back to s***.

 

There is plenty of evidence that pitchers gain about a run on their ERA when switching from NL to AL. However, the real problem with you argument is that you aren't looking at the matchups. Not every AL teams plays every NL team. For example, the Sox are playing the Cubs, Pirates, and Nats. The Twins are playing the Phillies, Mets, Colorado and ATL. Which schedule would you rather face?

The Twins are better than the Sox, but they aren't going to sweep the Phillies and the Mets the way the Sox can sweep the Pirates.

 

Put another way, there are teams in the NL that are better than some AL teams. So the matchups are going to dictate the winning percentage.

[Kalapse]

We're also dealing with a sample size issue here. 140 inter-league games have been played, there are 2430 games played in a year: that's 5.8% of the total games played in a season. When looking at such a small sample, in the middle of a baseball season (compared to say a playoff series) there will be anomalies.

 

That's like trying to judge a player's worth based on 35 PA out of 600 in a given season.

[iamshack]

What has happened the last few years is that 3-4 AL teams have absolutely whipped their NL opponents, and the rest of the games seem to be split.

 

Outside of 2007, the White Sox have consistently been one of those teams that has beat up the NL.

[greg775]

The Sox have closed the gap on first-place Minnesota to just 5½ games. And while it has come against the likes of the Cubs, Pirates and Nationals, Guillen wasn't complaining.

 

''This is the big leagues,'' Guillen said. ''I guess we're just lucky to beat these guys. We have to face people three times, and someone else has to face them 19 times. They're good, we're not. No matter who you face, this is the big leagues. There is a lot of competition out there.''

 

Ozzie made a good point in the Sun Times article today. Some teams get to play Washington 19 times. We play them 3. And the Sox should apologize? The Sox are a bad team and the others are good?

I'm not saying the Sox are a contender yet. I'm just saying beating s***ty NL teams doesn't make this streak unimpressive. Somebody gets to play Washington 19 times. And Pitt and the Cubs 19 times.

[T R U]

I don't have a problem with people being optimistic, ide like nothing more than for this team to make the playoffs..

 

but, can we settle down until this team is either over .500 or beating the AL teams.. we couldn't sniff a 3 game winning streak until interleague were we've already had two 4 game win streaks..

 

We are 10-6 in June so far.. that would be 6-1 vs the NL and 4-5 vs the AL

 

When interleague is over, if we continue to be hot against AL teams ill buy into it..

[Milkman delivers]

I don't have a problem with people being optimistic, ide like nothing more than for this team to make the playoffs..

 

but, can we settle down until this team is either over .500 or beating the AL teams.. we couldn't sniff a 3 game winning streak until interleague were we've already had two 4 game win streaks..

 

We are 10-6 in June so far.. that would be 6-1 vs the NL and 4-5 vs the AL

 

When interleague is over, if we continue to be hot against AL teams ill buy into it..

 

Agreed 100%.

[knightni]

Exactly. If they beat Min, Det, Bos, LAA, Oak, etc. over the next 4 weeks, then they deserve the praise.

[elrockinMT]

I thought this thread was a joke too. I'm not going to pile on though.

 

 

me too

[iamshack]

I understand the hesitancy because we are beating weak NL teams here, but I think this is more a coincidence than you guys are willing to admit.

 

Baseball is not a game like football or basketball. It is a game where 1 or 2 players can heavily influence the outcome of the game and render the talent disparity between the teams as a whole almost entirely irrelevant. I don't really care who you play, winning 10 of 11 baseball in the major leagues is a hell of an accomplishment, and it's a great sign that this team has things back on the right track.

 

I wouldn't be shocked if the starting pitching continues this run and we continue winning series from solid teams, whether that be the Braves, or solid AL teams.

 

I can understand the skepticism, but this wasn't just a few series' wins we put together. This is a genuine damn good streak of baseball and I tend to think we'd be beating just about whomever we would have run up against right now.

[LittleHurt05]

I understand the hesitancy because we are beating weak NL teams here, but I think this is more a coincidence than you guys are willing to admit.

 

Baseball is not a game like football or basketball. It is a game where 1 or 2 players can heavily influence the outcome of the game and render the talent disparity between the teams as a whole almost entirely irrelevant. I don't really care who you play, winning 10 of 11 baseball in the major leagues is a hell of an accomplishment, and it's a great sign that this team has things back on the right track.

 

I wouldn't be shocked if the starting pitching continues this run and we continue winning series from solid teams, whether that be the Braves, or solid AL teams.

 

I can understand the skepticism, but this wasn't just a few series' wins we put together. This is a genuine damn good streak of baseball and I tend to think we'd be beating just about whomever we would have run up against right now.

 

LeBron James & Peyton Manning say hello.

 

Seriously though, I agree with you. Its no coincidence that the Sox went on this streak at the exact same time that the starting pitchers turned it around. On Friday & Saturday, we scored a total of 3 runs, yet we went 2-0. In March most people thought this team had a chance to compete because of the rotation. It may have took them 2.5 months, but they are finally showing why that was expected.

[iamshack]

LeBron James & Peyton Manning say hello.

Yeah, and do you remember Michael Jordan's game against Boston in the playoffs at the beginning of his career, when he put up 63 and we still lost?

 

You've got to have players around you in basketball and football...but in baseball, as in hockey, if you've got a stud arm or a stud goalie, you can win games you've got no business winning...

[lostfan]

This recent stretch was the way I expected the starting pitching to be like for the entire year. If they didn't completely bomb there's a reasonable chance this team is in first place right now.