Can anyone recall a more gut-wrenching few weeks?

[ILMOU]

...in a season that became interesting and made us all care about the games again with a passion, I can't remember a more painful, substantial stretch of games as we've experienced since the first game in Baltimore on August 6. Despite the Bad Bobby we'd been dealing with, we still figured our pen was deep. We were riding high for the most part, coming off 3 of 4 in Detroit.

 

Since then, we've gone 5-11:

 

We've lost 8 one run games out of the 11 losses

Blown 5 saves

Lost 5 extra inning games (all road walk-offs)

Each of our top 4 relievers has had a significant hand in blowing games

 

 

We've had so much bad mojo, it almost seems inevitable that a better stretch is coming.

 

Or it just might not be our year.

[shipps]

I am comfortable with being done. I am very much at peace with that. This team didnt come through for us other than that unbelievable stretch of games. I am thankful for that stretch though. It made for a good and exciting month of Whitesox baseball.

[ILMOU]

I am comfortable with being done.

 

I'm still feeling a searing pain - won't be comfortable for awhile yet, I'm afraid.

[Balta1701]

2006 and 2008 had some serious gut wrenching, it's over weeks.

[Quin]

I'm praying that this is just another streak and that we go on a winning one now.

[Paint it Black]

Late August/early September 2005. The Indians couldn't lose and we couldn't win.

 

Yeah the past few weeks have sucked, but at the start of the season I thought the Twins are better and they are. At least this team gave me a month where I didn't want to miss a pitch, and coincidentally enough I was unemployed, so it was a nice escape from reality.

[Cali]

Part of me wishes the streak never happened, so that it could all blow up in Ozzie's face and the team get a nice restructuring in the off-season, plus bonus, we'd get a nice high draft pick.

 

Now we'll get the 18th-19th pick or so, Ozzie will keep this job, and we'll get more of the same because, it almost worked....

 

But damn those 10 games were quite nice... And the pitching was phenomenal.

[chw42]

2006 and 2008 had some serious gut wrenching, it's over weeks.

 

08 was the worst. That final week sucked so f***ing much.

Edited August 22, 2010 by chw42

[MexSoxFan#1]

It's Chicago Bears time!!!

[Greg Hibbard]

August 8 through 23, 2005 was pretty bad.

[clyons]

Mid-September 2003, starting with the infamous Jose Paniagua game and culminating with Loiaza laying an egg in the dome to cap off a three game sweep there, was much worse, and I think will forever remain my low point in a lifetime of White Sox fandom.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Honestly, we should all be fortunate enough that they gave us 6-7 great weeks of outstanding ball. This team could very well be a 4th or 5th place team right now, and we would have stopped watching 2 months ago, but I am glad they at least gave us reason to watch.

 

I feel like since our insane run, we have been playing with house money.

[BigEdWalsh]

Or it just might not be our year.

Sadly.....that's the truth of it, so it would seem .

[greg775]

Late August/early September 2005. The Indians couldn't lose and we couldn't win.

 

That was the worst stretch of being a sports fan in my life. It was pure agony. Also exciting, but very agonizing.

 

This team is acting a lot like last year's team. That road trip where we got our ass handed to us by NY, Boston and I think it was Minnie last year was really s***ty. Really pissed me off.

This team just doesn't have it.

 

Edited August 23, 2010 by greg775

[southsider2k5]

Am I the only one who remembers the mid to late 80's?

[Dick Allen]

Even if Minnesota wins tonight, the Sox are only 5 back. I think if it gets to 7 or 8 its OVA, and we can all say the Sox would have won the WS if Joe West didn't umpire any of their games, but really, the Sox have only themselves to blame for the predicament they are in. As I stated before, the 2 losses to Minnesota when the Sox had the lead in the Twins final AB cost them 4 games in the standings. I think Hawk said today in the last week or so, the Sox have blown 5 games when they had the lead in the 7th or later. That's not on Joe West. That's not because Edwin Jackson misses a start. That's because the Sox blew it. They obviously showed they weren't as awful as they looked the first couple months, and they simply couldn't be as good as they were when they had a 26-5 stretch. I believe they are below .500 vs. AL teams. Face it, especially without Peavy, and if Thornton and Putz are hindered, they aren't exactly elite.

 

All that said, maybe they get on another role. I believe my playoff money is due Sept. 7. As of now, I am paying it. Hopefully that won't change in the next 2 weeks. They do have a tough schedule, but ARod is now on the DL. Boston is having a hard time fielding a full team. They are catching breaks. They have to win at least 2 at home vs. MN, and have to beat the crap out of Det, Cleve and KC from here on out. They are games on paper they should win.

[Milkman delivers]

Honestly, we should all be fortunate enough that they gave us 6-7 great weeks of outstanding ball. This team could very well be a 4th or 5th place team right now, and we would have stopped watching 2 months ago, but I am glad they at least gave us reason to watch.

 

I feel like since our insane run, we have been playing with house money.

 

I don't agree with this logic at all. Sure, I thoroughly enjoyed that run, but it doesn't make up for yet another disappointing season.

[Rowand44]

As a whole, nothing will ever be harder for me than 2003 was. These last few weeks have certainly sucked hardcore though.

[Balta1701]

Am I the only one who remembers the mid to late 80's?

Yes.

[LVSoxFan]

To answer the OP question, yes, nothing was worse than the swan dive in 2005 which we managed to pull out of before it was a death spiral. To go from first place all season to being potentially knocked out was a fate worse than death. It was so bad I literally couldn't watch some of the games--wouldn't watch. Wouldn't go, even though I had tickets. So let's keep things in perspective.

 

Before this year's resurgence everybody had written this team off by June, so it just doesn't compare. Them coming back was simply a pleasant surprise. But let's be real: the warning signs have been there all season--most notably an inability to beat division opponents. That's always a red flag. It was a problem before the ASB, it's a problem again.

 

And then losing what should be winning series against teams like Baltimore or KC--not good.

 

I haven't written off the season yet, but I'm not being blindly optimistic either.

[The Ginger Kid]

Am I the only one who remembers the mid to late 80's?

i recall some brutal times there as well. It's hard to try and relate how disappointing '83 was, since it was so long ago and people don't get it.

 

the funny thing about this season is that by the end of May I had pretty much accepted that this season was a failure, so when the big run came in June I was pleased but more surprised. Seeing them fade now is tough, but for some reason not as tough as if they'd been in it all year. The first two months of this season were just DISGUSTING.

 

and no, i'm not saying it's over. but they've dug themselves yet another deep hole from which to climb out of.

[scenario]

Am I the only one who remembers the mid to late 80's?

 

No.

 

I went to some of those games.

 

 

[RME JICO]

What I hate about this stretch is that we have actually scored runs and still lost. The pitching, which carried the team for most of the season really dropped off.

[ILMOU]

To answer the OP question, yes, nothing was worse than the swan dive in 2005 which we managed to pull out of before it was a death spiral. To go from first place all season to being potentially knocked out was a fate worse than death. It was so bad I literally couldn't watch some of the games--wouldn't watch. Wouldn't go, even though I had tickets. So let's keep things in perspective.

 

Before this year's resurgence everybody had written this team off by June, so it just doesn't compare. Them coming back was simply a pleasant surprise. But let's be real: the warning signs have been there all season--most notably an inability to beat division opponents. That's always a red flag. It was a problem before the ASB, it's a problem again.

 

And then losing what should be winning series against teams like Baltimore or KC--not good.

 

I haven't written off the season yet, but I'm not being blindly optimistic either.

 

Good to hear the varied opinions on the worst times in our personal histories as Sox fans. Sadly , there's too many recent examples of painful collapses -the near collapse in '05, the post ASB collapse in '06, the last couple weeks in the '03 and '08 seasons. However, in those other instances, the games were not as consistently close and heartbreaking. In the last couple weeks of '03, for example, we purely and simply "laid an egg", and didn't even really compete as we expected to. In the other bad periods, far more blowouts were involved, where you said to yourself - we're just BAD right now. Many other very bad stretches obviously occurred in seasons that were already lost.

 

IMO, nothing rivals this current stretch for games that consistently teased you til the very end, only to leave you in anguish.

[greg775]

But let's be real: the warning signs have been there all season--most notably an inability to beat division opponents. That's always a red flag. It was a problem before the ASB, it's a problem again.

 

I remember hearing a guy call Les Grobstein's show one night when we were red hot and he said, "I can't see us dropping off the rest of the season."

As usual, everybody got fooled during the 25-5 run. Players thought we should stand pat; KW couldn't pull the trigger except on Berkman deal that Berkman nixed and the Jackson deal which was dumb. That deal meant nothing. Pitcher for pitcher.

Our leadership needed to make a couple moves, not just one, and didn't.

So we sit at home in October. Sucks.

It baffles me why teams are so eager to trade in the winter and can't pull the trigger during the season.

It's such a marathon. We were in it at the break and made no attempt to get better.

Edited August 23, 2010 by greg775