Gamethread: 6/26/2011, 1:10 p.m.; Nationals @ White Sox

[Jordan4life_2007]

There's a lot of worst things about this game but I would say it was Adam Dunn and his 4 K's.

 

I never thought I'd say this in my life, but he might be worse than Pierre. This is unfathomable.

[oldsox]

Dunn 0for4, 4 K's, 2 for 14 for the series. They should make up an injury and put him on the DL. This the worst performance of the year for him. Nothing good from playing him. No one on the bench wanted to talk to him...

[elgonzo4sox]

I never thought I'd say this in my life, but he might be worse than Pierre. This is unfathomable.

 

Does Dunn's WAR go down by one since today's loss can be pinned on him? If so, he is indeed lower in WAR than Pierre now...

[kitekrazy]

I seem to recall from last year the Sox had trouble hitting the Nat'ls pitching.

[caulfield12]

The White Sox had won 17 interleague series in a row before today.

 

Listening to Ozzie, he said he had a sit down with Dunn and KW even came in to say they weren't panicking, that the front office was behind him.

 

Ozzie says "he can't bench that guy," he's paid too much to sit, so many millions of dollars, etc.

 

Seems like he's still determined to play Dunn once or twice against Colorado and the Cubs at 1B or RF.

 

 

Didn't even know anything about Santiago, like what pitches he threw...."he's another Puerto Rican kid from New York," great Ozzie. Acknowledged he doesn't know much about the minor leaguers, haha.

Edited June 26, 2011 by caulfield12

[Jordan4life_2007]

Does Dunn's WAR go down by one since today's loss can be pinned on him? If so, he is indeed lower in WAR than Pierre now...

 

Hard to say. Dunn is a DH and WAR accounts for defense. Will know tomorrow, I guess. But at least JP makes contact with the damn baseball. Meaning something flukish can always happen when you put the ball in play. Dunn. K and that's it.

[chw42]

Hard to say. Dunn is a DH and WAR accounts for defense. Will know tomorrow, I guess. But at least JP makes contact with the damn baseball. Meaning something flukish can always happen when you put the ball in play. Dunn. K and that's it.

 

It's really hard to have -.4 WAR tacked on in one game.

[Jordan4life_2007]

It's really hard to have -.4 WAR tacked on in one game.

 

And that's where my laziness comes in. I didn't check where Dunn was at. Either way, they're both terrible.

[iamshack]

Jeesh, I feel like we could have easily swept that series...

[elgonzo4sox]

Hard to say. Dunn is a DH and WAR accounts for defense. Will know tomorrow, I guess. But at least JP makes contact with the damn baseball. Meaning something flukish can always happen when you put the ball in play. Dunn. K and that's it.

 

I wasn't entirely serious with my question. I think WAR is a decent stat to rank players relative to each other, but I think that replacing a bad player with a good player can make a much bigger difference in actual real world wins than the difference in their WAR numbers.

[elrockinMT]

Someone to drive in runs is needed. In house that is Viciedo. He could play between Juan in LF or move ove to right and also DH. But, someone has to be dealt or injured. Don't wish either on any of our guys, but Viciedo might breath some life into this offense. We have some real dark holes in that line up right now

Edited June 26, 2011 by elrockinMT

[ILMOU]

You can easily pin this loss on Dunn. Twice he came up with two on, and he also started an inning late when we desperately needed at least one run.

 

Agreed. And you have to wonder why Ozzie has him back in the 5 hole when AJ has looked better at the plate than he has in years. That alone may have made the difference on a day like today, considering the man-on-3rd-one-out situation after Paulie knocked in our only run.

[Balta1701]

Jeesh, I feel like we could have easily swept that series...

You're right.

[chisoxfan09]

There has to come a point in time where changes have to be made in order to try and improve the situation (I am not saying wholsale changes but something). You just can't keep trotting out the same recipe for mediocracy day after day and expect any level of consistency. Dunn seemingly cannot snap out of this on his own and for the love of God he justs needs to sit for an extended period. We are past the point where the 14 million dollar salary is what is keeping him in the line-up.

Edited June 26, 2011 by SpainSOXfan09

[PeavyTime]

Would you rather see Lillibridge, Ramirez, Pierre or Teahen, Ramirez, Lillibridge? Ozzie, you pinch hit for the wrong guy!

[The Ginger Kid]

Dear Kenny,

 

Please, whatever you do, DON'T change this lineup. The last thing we want is for anyone to think you're panicking. Any effort to add a jolt to an offense that's been stagnant since April could be misconstrued as a lack of confidence in the current group of underachievers.

 

Sincerely,

 

AFan

[dpd9189]

3-3 this week at home vs. the Cubs and Nats is NOT acceptable.

[winninguglyin83]

At some point, Dunn has to sit and stay seated -- no matter how much money he is making.

 

No way you can justify playing him at all the next six games in NL parks.

 

He hit the century mark in Ks today -- and has 22 more than Mark Reynolds, 276 more than BJ Upton and 45 more than Jeff Francouer.

 

I'd really know if The Chairman has ever called Kenny Stanford into this office and asked "WTF is this?"

[Soxfest]

3-3 this week at home vs. the Cubs and Nats is NOT acceptable.

Walker thinks it is a great homestand ask him!

[OilCan]

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/...-chorus-of-boos

 

“We talk to him this morning; we talk to him about it, how we feel about him,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “It was a great conversation. But the only thing is you can pitch batting practice, take extra hitting and talk to them, but in the end of the day, he’s the one who has to come out of that. What can you do about it? Nothing. You have to keep plugging in the lineup and make sure he knows we are behind him.”

 

 

“A lot of the fans here, it’s the first time they have seen him play and maybe they’re putting a little pressure on him,” Pierre said. “Hey, we have his back in here. I know me personally that’s all I want to say to him. ‘I believe in you and we have your back.’ As a team I think we should be more vocal about it.

 

“The fans doing what they’re doing, I don’t agree with it but they paid their tickets and want to do it. But this guy is scratching, fighting and clawing and he’s not giving away any at-bats. He comes to work every day and I’m just pulling for him.”

 

Bold font is my doing.

I could have really scalded these two for what they said about Adam's struggles, i.e. "not giving away any at bats...100 Ks before HALF the season isn't giving any at bats away???" and blah blah blah, but then I read the next quote:

 

“Situations like this, I’ve been there, a lot of guys have been there,” Paul Konerko said. “There’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen trying to help him. I try not to say anything unless we just get to talking about it. He’s hearing it from a lot of different places right now, so you just try to be supportive.”

 

Konerko knows all about it. He was even benched for a time during the first half of his wayward 2003 season. He ended up batting .234 with 18 home runs and 65 RBI that season, before turning it around the next year with 41 home runs and 117 RBI.

 

“In the grand scheme of things, if he wants to play 13 or 15 years in this game, to have a few bad months is such a blip on the radar screen,” Konerko said. “It’s hell when you’re going through it, but you just got to think big picture. Once you get over that hump and get by it, you’re a better player for it, and better hitter and everything will be better for it.

 

“Once he gets over it, he’ll probably be on his way for the next five years in a row. He’s been a great teammate even through everything he’s going through and I have to respect him for that.”

 

 

IMHO - Dunn should just shield off everyone else except his captain, Konerko; his batting coach Walker, and Ozzie about anything related to hitting, and tell the rest of the league/fans/media/etc to STFU.

Edited June 26, 2011 by OilCan

[Soxbadger]

Just got back from the game, Ozzie should never have ph Teahen because Washington wanted to put Storen in the game. He basically played right into their hands, I get that its a lefty/lefty, but if the Nationals are going to screw around and not start the 9th with their closer, I say you go for it.

 

Frustrating game, ball didnt seem to be carrying to left field.

[greg775]

3-3 this week at home vs. the Cubs and Nats is NOT acceptable.

 

Whadduya mean? That's a .500 record which is better than the team's overall win percentage.

[lord chas]

hmm think i made the right choice hitting the links today and skipping this game...

[Dick Allen]

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/...-chorus-of-boos

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bold font is my doing.

I could have really scalded these two for what they said about Adam's struggles, i.e. "not giving away any at bats...100 Ks before HALF the season isn't giving any at bats away???" and blah blah blah, but then I read the next quote:

 

 

 

 

IMHO - Dunn should just shield off everyone else except his captain, Konerko; his batting coach Walker, and Ozzie about anything related to hitting, and tell the rest of the league/fans/media/etc to STFU.

I don't boo players except Jaime Navarro, but I do think people have the right to boo someone making a ton of money playing a game. If its too much, I'm sure Adam has made more money already this year than millions will make in a lifetime, he can go home. That said, when the game begins, Dunn is not booed. He's not booed when they announce the line ups. He's not booed when he's announced as the hitter, he's booed when he strikes out, and we haven't seen this rate of strikeouts for a long time. It looked to me like Friday night he may have something to build on, but something is very wrong. He's late on 86 MPH fastballs. He's fanned 16 times his last 6 games. He has 11 games with at least 3 strikeouts. He's only had 9 games with at least 3 plate appearances where he hasn't struck out at least once.

Edited June 27, 2011 by Dick Allen

[caulfield12]

I don't boo players except Jaime Navarro, but I do think people have the right to boo someone making a ton of money playing a game. If its too much, I'm sure Adam has made more money already this year than millions will make in a lifetime, he can go home. That said, when the game begins, Dunn is not booed. He's not booed when they announce the line ups. He's not booed when he's announced as the hitter, he's booed when he strikes out, and we haven't seen this rate of strikeouts for a long time. It looked to me like Friday night he may have something to build on, but something is very wrong. He's late on 86 MPH fastballs. He's fanned 16 times his last 6 games. He has 11 games with at least 3 strikeouts. He's only had 9 games with at least 3 plate appearances where he hasn't struck out at least once.

 

 

Farmer's been on the fans for this, and it goes something like "booing a guy will never help him out of a slump (it will only make things worse...)"

 

What will his family, his children attending the game think about Chicago fans?

 

He's a part of the White Sox family...it's our responsibility to support him. How does being negative help the situation?

 

DJ's response was more like "it goes with the territory...when you're scuffling or playing under your expected level of performance, you know it's coming." Just have to take it an at-bat at a time and slowly put together a good game, then a good streak of positive at-bats, etc. Get back to basics, see the ball, hit the ball. Basically, the fans are paying good money for tickets and its their right to express their feelings and emotions, as long as they're not profane or disrupting others' enjoyment of the game.

 

I never thought at any point in this season I'd be much more concerned about Dunn than either Rios or Peavy, that's for sure.

Edited June 27, 2011 by caulfield12