So that was a disaster of a series.

[Balta1701]

I place the odds at 70/30 that Kotsay is the one Kenny dumps because of how much Kenny has been hunting for a bat.

After his last couple outings I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Viciedo back in AAA, and I'm not sure I can be that angry about the decision. The scouting report is now out on him.

[Balta1701]

I'm a fan of my game writeup today.

[Y2HH]

We wasted those quality starts on a mediocre team, and we looked dead ass in terms of any sort of offense. If they don't turn it around starting tonight, it might be over...we can't sustain a prolonged slump right now without losing heavy ground to the Twins.

[NorthSideSox72]

We wasted those quality starts on a mediocre team, and we looked dead ass in terms of any sort of offense. If they don't turn it around starting tonight, it might be over...we can't sustain a prolonged slump right now without losing heavy ground to the Twins.

Over? Sheesh, we're tied for first. "Over" is an incredible overreaction. Winning this series is definitely big, but its not "over" for either team even if one sweeps the other.

 

[BigSqwert]

Over? Sheesh, we're tied for first. "Over" is an incredible overreaction. Winning this series is definitely big, but its not "over" for either team even if one sweeps the other.

So true. Although many of us will throw a fit if we get swept it would be far from over.

[Y2HH]

Over? Sheesh, we're tied for first. "Over" is an incredible overreaction. Winning this series is definitely big, but its not "over" for either team even if one sweeps the other.

 

It's over if we go into any sort of sustained slump was kind of what I said. And I truly believe it is. We will not be going on another 25-5 run this year, and we've shown how afraid of the Twins we seem to be already. Our team looks scared every time they plan the Twins, I'm not sure why I feel like that, but I do. And what's sad is I think we're WAY better of a team, yet we continue to let their scrub ass players beat us. Not their stars. Their scrub players that wouldn't even be bench players on other teams.

[BigSqwert]

It's over if we go into any sort of sustained slump was kind of what I said. And I truly believe it is. We will not be going on another 25-5 run this year, and we've shown how afraid of the Twins we seem to be already. Our team looks scared every time they plan the Twins, I'm not sure why I feel like that, but I do. And what's sad is I think we're WAY better of a team, yet we continue to let their scrub ass players beat us. Not their stars. Their scrub players that wouldn't even be bench players on other teams.

The team was doing fine last time we played them. It was Jenks that crapped his pants on the road.

[Y2HH]

The team was doing fine last time we played them. It was Jenks that crapped his pants on the road.

 

Yea, I know, cooler heads need to prevail here...but after that series with the O's, my faith in this team took a severe ding.

[BigSqwert]

Yea, I know, cooler heads need to prevail here...but after that series with the O's, my faith in this team took a severe ding.

We just better pray that we play the wild card in round 1 (if we make it to the post season) and get home field advantage. We suck on the road.

[Balta1701]

We just better pray that we play the wild card in round 1 (if we make it to the post season) and get home field advantage. We suck on the road.

We're 30-29 on the road on the season.

[BigSqwert]

We're 30-29 on the road on the season.

But our best offensive players have terrible splits on the road. We'll be asking our pitchers to throw shutouts against the cream of the crop.

[Balta1701]

We'll be asking our pitchers to throw shutouts against the cream of the crop.

But I'm not allowed to be hard on Edwin Jackson's performance last night?

 

Part of the reason why our guys have terrible home/road splits is that our home ballpark is the best HR hitting ballpark in baseball. Our home/road splits should be excessive.

[BigSqwert]

But I'm not allowed to be hard on Edwin Jackson's performance last night?

 

Part of the reason why our guys have terrible home/road splits is that our home ballpark is the best HR hitting ballpark in baseball. Our home/road splits should be excessive.

 

That's just part of it. You can't attribute Carlos' .188/.267/.376/.643 to not playing at USCF. He's got to put up better numbers than that on the road.

 

[Y2HH]

That's just part of it. You can't attribute Carlos' .188/.267/.376/.643 to not playing at USCF. He's got to put up better numbers than that on the road.

 

Yes, he does. Those road numbers say just about everyone on the team is better than he is while on the road...and being who he is, that's sad.

[RockRaines]

Those O's have a horseshore up their collective asses. I've never seen so many gork shots, bleeders and ridiculous plays win a series for a s*** team like that. It happens, move on to the actual important series of the week.

[chw42]

We're 30-29 on the road on the season.

 

8 of those wins were against the Cubs, Pirates, and Nationals. We're 22-28 against the AL on the road.

 

This team's been completely different at home though.

Edited August 10, 2010 by chw42

[Chisoxfn]

I call BS. Yes, we lost 3 of 4 to the worse team in baseball, but they played well and the Sox pitched well as a whole in the series and weren't terrible offensively. It was the lack of the key hit that killed us. The team was a few bounced from winning 3 of 4 and at the end of the day to me that means it wasn't a complete disaster.

 

We weren't going to win all the time and we've been on the lucky side more often than not as of late so it doesn't shock me and I expect this team to respond from it in this key 3 game series.

[Greg Hibbard]

The only positive that I take away from this series is that by losing 3 of 4, there's no danger in the team being unfocused and overconfident and lacadaisical going into this series with the Twins. I think we'll see the best from everybody. Let's hope it's enough.

[chw42]

The only positive that I take away from this series is that by losing 3 of 4, there's no danger in the team being unfocused and overconfident and lacadaisical going into this series with the Twins. I think we'll see the best from everybody. Let's hope it's enough.

 

The hitters seem to become more relaxed at home. They came away from that Oakland series hitting like crap too. Then they went on a nice run at home, albeit that was against the Mariners.

[whitesoxfan101]

But our best offensive players have terrible splits on the road. We'll be asking our pitchers to throw shutouts against the cream of the crop.

 

Yeah, we survive on the road because of our pitching. We thrive at home because of our pitching combined with the ballpark making our offense look better. That is why the Baltimore series shocked me though. They suck, they can't pitch, and their ballpark is good for hitters. Seems like a situation we'd thrive in based on how this season has gone, but I really wonder if some of our players got caught looking ahead to the Minnesota series. I certainly hope not, but regardless, losing 3 of 4 to teams like Baltimore is how you end up 2 or 3 games back at the end of the season and wondering where it went wrong.

[Greg Hibbard]

Yeah, we survive on the road because of our pitching. We thrive at home because of our pitching combined with the ballpark making our offense look better. That is why the Baltimore series shocked me though. They suck, they can't pitch, and their ballpark is good for hitters. Seems like a situation we'd thrive in based on how this season has gone, but I really wonder if some of our players got caught looking ahead to the Minnesota series. I certainly hope not, but regardless, losing 3 of 4 to teams like Baltimore is how you end up 2 or 3 games back at the end of the season and wondering where it went wrong.

 

 

I wonder if there's something about that Ballpark's dimension and the stuff of their starters that threw us off.

 

Millwood has a career 3.14 ERA against us.

Guthrie has a career 3.83 ERA against us.

 

I guess in retrospect, it's really not surprising that those two guys would do well against us, considering that.

[whitesoxfan101]

I wonder if there's something about that Ballpark's dimension and the stuff of their starters that threw us off.

 

Millwood has a career 3.14 ERA against us.

Guthrie has a career 3.83 ERA against us.

 

I guess in retrospect, it's really not surprising that those two guys would do well against us, considering that.

 

Well I'm guessing Millwood had a pretty good career ERA against us because he's been a pretty good pitcher (although not that good), but at least we won that game. The Guthrie game didn't piss me off as much as the other losses in the sense that he's at least been a decent pitcher this year (4 ERA, 1.2 WHIP). The two that piss me off are the Bergesen and Matusz games. Bergesen has been absolutely awful this year (although he did pitch well against us twice last year, however he was actually pretty good last year so that makes sense) yet we couldn't touch him, and we looked absolutely lost against Matusz last night, who although was a high draft pick a couple of years ago, has an ERA a little over 5 and a WHIP about 1 and a half. Have to hit guys like that, period.

Edited August 10, 2010 by whitesoxfan101

[MexSoxFan#1]

This was the first bad series the team has played, basically, since the first week of June. That's two months, and that's pretty amazing. This was bound to happen eventually, and it happened on the road, against an underachieving team who just got a new manager. Losing 3 of 4 is nothing to panic about, at all.

 

The only really scary thing is the offensive woes, and the fact that the Sox are still without a major league DH. Not sure there is any way to address that at this point, but perhaps getting Teahen back might help a bit, if he plays over Kotsay.

That series vs the Twinkies after the ASB was also a doozy...

While I don't want to exagerate, losing 3 of 4 was bad, don't give a crap if they got a new manager, you simply don't lose to the worst team in MLB if you want to go deep in the playoffs IMO.

 

Twins fans are chomping at the bit, saying stuff like "this guys aren't so good, if we get anything from our starters, we should win the series"...nice.

[BigSqwert]

While I don't want to exagerate, losing 3 of 4 was bad, don't give a crap if they got a new manager, you simply don't lose to the worst team in MLB if you want to go deep in the playoffs IMO.

And we don't have too many easy teams left on our schedule. If we're going to make the post season we definitely have to earn it now. Other than the home series vs Baltimore the other easy teams we have left are KC and Cleveland and they've played us very tough all year.

[Greg Hibbard]

That series vs the Twinkies after the ASB was also a doozy...

While I don't want to exagerate, losing 3 of 4 was bad, don't give a crap if they got a new manager, you simply don't lose to the worst team in MLB if you want to go deep in the playoffs IMO.

 

Twins fans are chomping at the bit, saying stuff like "this guys aren't so good, if we get anything from our starters, we should win the series"...nice.

 

I think the Orioles right now are better than the Mariners, and certainly better than at least 4 National League teams.