1st place by Labor Day

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

No problem. I can only respond to what you wrote but it does seem like people take it so seriously. I follow the Sox religiously and have for a long long time but they're not a reason to get more than momentarily upset. I'm not particulary religious but some Soxtalkers could use this.

 

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

 

[maggsmaggs]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

 

Come on guys, we have seen this act time and time again this year. They get to .500, and then lose a few games. Then, they get back to .500, only to lose a few games. Repeat.

 

They aren't fooling me, and they aren't going to make up 5.5 games in the last two months.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

 

Come on guys, we have seen this act time and time again this year. They get to .500, and then lose a few games. Then, they get back to .500, only to lose a few games. Repeat.

 

They aren't fooling me, and they aren't going to make up 5.5 games in the last two months.

Do you really care if they fool you ? So what if they do. What have you lost ? Hmmm that's weird. I go to art.com to look up the Serenity prayer and now there's a banner of it in the ad space.

[sin city sox fan]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

 

Come on guys, we have seen this act time and time again this year. They get to .500, and then lose a few games. Then, they get back to .500, only to lose a few games. Repeat.

 

They aren't fooling me, and they aren't going to make up 5.5 games in the last two months.

 

In other "runs" though, we were just struggling to scrape by and not playing sound baseball. This weekend, we played like the best team in the majors and it definitely gives reason for optimism.

[southsider2k5]

Let's not delude ourselves, very bad Twins team. Anything less than 8-2 over their next 10, will dash hopes.

 

You better come up with something better than that to help save Ozzie's job.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

You better come up with something better than that to help save Ozzie's job.

That's for sure. I want Ozzie gone as much as the next guy but also want the Sox to go on an incredible run. Can't have your cake and eat it too.

[greg775]

How I hope you're right- and you can always dream. Unfortunately the mantra for the 2011 White Sox has been to tease, tease, tease just enough to keep our interest right when we were ready to move on to something else.

 

I hope this isn't another fools gold moment but it certainly is nice to watch them play 3 consecutive ball games like this in Minnesota. Going to Baltimore against Showalter is a bit shaky as he out manages Ozzie each game, so we're going to have to rely on just beating them with the talent on the field if to continue to make up ground. I am still watching the games, hoping that we can get hot and peel off a 10 game winning streak, so from this standpoint I guess I am "in"...

 

 

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

 

Come on guys, we have seen this act time and time again this year. They get to .500, and then lose a few games. Then, they get back to .500, only to lose a few games. Repeat.

 

They aren't fooling me, and they aren't going to make up 5.5 games in the last two months.

 

Good thread, but no way am I on board.

Let's see if the Sox can win more than 4 games in a row and can keep hitting home runs like today.

We ain't scoring runs any other way and it's time to hit a ton of home runs in August.

I don't know how the Sox actually pounded Minnie three in a row, but it was nice.

 

As far as these posts. ...

1.) Buck Showalter outmanages Ozzie? What is this, a chess match? Players win games. Buck hasn't exactly turned Baltimore around. Balt is 44-67. I'm sure people in Baltimore are already tired of Buck just as many here are tired of Oz. Guys with 44-67 records aren't exactly beloved by fans.

2.) You are correct. Sox have proven nothing except that they can actually beat the Twins. Halleluia! Finally.

Edited August 8, 2011 by greg775

[whitesoxfan101]

We'll probably get back to about .500, then crap our pants for a week. It's what this team does. At this point, I'd be surprised if Detroit doesn't win this division by 5 games or more.

[JohnCangelosi]

Good thread, but no way am I on board.

Let's see if the Sox can win more than 4 games in a row and can keep hitting home runs like today.

We ain't scoring runs any other way and it's time to hit a ton of home runs in August.

I don't know how the Sox actually pounded Minnie three in a row, but it was nice.

 

As far as these posts. ...

1.) Buck Showalter outmanages Ozzie? What is this, a chess match? Players win games. Buck hasn't exactly turned Baltimore around. Balt is 44-67. I'm sure people in Baltimore are already tired of Buck just as many here are tired of Oz. Guys with 44-67 records aren't exactly beloved by fans.

2.) You are correct. Sox have proven nothing except that they can actually beat the Twins. Halleluia! Finally.

Not always, you've watched enough White Sox baseball to see Oz make decisions that truly cost us the game. No sense in getting into specifics but you know what I'm talking about. Surely, on paper, our pitching should shut this team down (still not convinced about our offense) and we should beat these guys senseless each and every game. But if we get into a tight one, I do worry that Showalter would out maneuver Ozzie and steal one, that's what I was talking about.

[Rowand44]

Not happening.

[Reddy]

i refuse to get on board with this team. refuse.

[SouthSidePride05]

It would be nice... but I don't see it happening. I'll watch the team regardless if they're 10 games out or in first place by Labor Day.

 

It cracks me up when I hear from "fans" who say they only follow the team if they're contending. When people say, 'I wish they'd stop teasing us so I could move on to something else', it just makes me cringe. Where's the loyal fans who stick with the team through thick and thin? If you only follow the team when they're contending, you're a truly pathetic fan. Where's the f***ing loyalty?!?

[Greg Hibbard]

I can totally understand not really following the team if they are on their way to a 67-95 season.

 

Not really following the team when they are 55-58 and 6.5 out with 6 weeks left to play in a bad division is sort of insane.

 

It's unlikely the Sox will win it, but they still have a chance. You can't say that about more than half the teams in the majors.

[Greg Hibbard]

No, Greg, don't go to the dark side, too.

 

I'm going to take the optimistic route and say they have a pretty good chance to make it...but they have to make up some ground next week.

 

Who are DET and CLE playing against?

 

If Humber can come back around (50/50, right?) with the six-man rotation giving him more recovery time, and Rios and Lillibridge play like they have the last two games, they could actually do it. You have to like what you saw out of Carlos Quentin too, 2 opposite field doubles. Harrelson's right, he does that consistently and he's a .285-.305 hitter and close to MVP level again. He's just so naturally strong, he doesn't need to pull everything to collect homers all over the diamond.

 

My pessimism has more to do with Detroit's recent surge than not believing in the Sox.

 

I believed the Sox would win games against the Twins this season, and even after the 11-22 start I felt they'd win at least 80 games.

 

After 11-22, winning the division was always gonna be about how well everyone else played more than how well the sox played.

Edited August 8, 2011 by Greg Hibbard

[SnB]

Win 5 of the next 7 and then we'll talk.

[bigruss]

It would be nice... but I don't see it happening. I'll watch the team regardless if they're 10 games out or in first place by Labor Day.

 

It cracks me up when I hear from "fans" who say they only follow the team if they're contending. When people say, 'I wish they'd stop teasing us so I could move on to something else', it just makes me cringe. Where's the loyal fans who stick with the team through thick and thin? If you only follow the team when they're contending, you're a truly pathetic fan. Where's the f***ing loyalty?!?

Ugh, I f***ing hate people who say this s***. "OMG you don't think the Sox can win!? HATERZ NON BELIEVERZZZ!!!"

 

Of course I want to see the Sox win, but at the same time I'm a realist and when I look at this team, how theyve played up to this point, and their tendencies to s*** their pants when they reach .500, yea I'm going to say that I don't think this team will win the division, or even get in first place at some point.

[BigSqwert]

Ugh, I f***ing hate people who say this s***. "OMG you don't think the Sox can win!? HATERZ NON BELIEVERZZZ!!!"

 

Of course I want to see the Sox win, but at the same time I'm a realist and when I look at this team, how theyve played up to this point, and their tendencies to s*** their pants when they reach .500, yea I'm going to say that I don't think this team will win the division, or even get in first place at some point.

 

So you're saying you're not a big fan of Cub-like eternal optimism?

[LVSoxFan]

It's going to take more than one good series after a piss-poor year for me to get back on the good times train.

 

Plus, while Rios may have a "new" approach to hitting where he could turn the corner (not sure I want to hold my breath), Dunn is still Dunn.

 

But hey: anything is possible. I just will take a pass on the kool aid right now. OHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHH.

[kwolf68]

 

This is still a sub .500 team no matter how wonderful it was beating a hapless Twins team...beating them, even in their sorry state, was still good since we seem to NEVER beat them.

 

Still, this team has lost more than it was won and I am not confident they will do anything else other than mutter to 77-80 wins this year, 6 games out of the race.

 

If they hope to finish first in the division, the first order of business is getting over .500...Jake Peavy's start yesterday was encouraging, but the Twins have what? ... 4 or 5 actual big league hitters? It's a really terrible team, but Jake's breaking stuff was biting hard and I bet he'd have done well against most people. So if you can get big time starts from Peavy....that's another arm in the mix.

 

And I still think we have the best pitching in this division...so ANYTHING can happen, but the doubts remain until they actually pass the first hurdle...that amazing dash to .500

 

 

[Greg Hibbard]

It really hasn't been a piss-poor year, though.

 

It was a piss-poor 22 game stretch, and then a slightly-better-than-mediocre 3+ months after that (89 win pace over the last 80 games).

Edited August 8, 2011 by Greg Hibbard

[Milkman delivers]

My God, it's amazing how gullible some people are.

[southsider2k5]

My God, it's amazing how gullible some people are.

 

More amazing than that is the group that hates everything to do with this team, yet is watching all of these games and spending a ton of time bellyaching about it.

 

If it is that bad, walk away.

[Chisoxfn]

This team played perhaps it's best baseball of the season over the weekend. Rios seems to be turning things around and the pitching continues to be rock solid. With Ozzie's motivation, I still believe the potential of this team will be realized. In the game thread, I mentioned first place by the end of the month. Looking at the schedule, I think the more realistic possibility is Labor Day weekend when we wrap up a series with the Tigers. I know some may think I'm crazy, but I firmly believe the Sox will be in first place when we leave Detroit. Who's on board?

 

Jump on board this crazy train or sentence me to insane asylum.....than let's look back in a month and see who was right.

The offense still struggled to get "clutch" hits. Dunn is horrific defensively at 1B so there were unearned runs that played a part. In general it was a nice series win and outside of losing to two of the best teams in baseball (Boston & New York) this team has played good in the 2nd half of the season. Problem is, Detroit went on a nice run when the Sox suffered that set-back.

 

If Rios hits like he did this weekend, than yes, the Sox do have a chance. But I don't expect that to happen. Oh and Dunn either has to hit or be moved down in the order as well.

[Milkman delivers]

It really hasn't been a piss-poor year, though.

 

It was a piss-poor 22 game stretch, and then a slightly-better-than-mediocre 3+ months after that (89 win pace over the last 80 games).

 

For a team that had the expectations the Sox did before the season, that's still pretty piss-poor.

[Milkman delivers]

More amazing than that is the group that hates everything to do with this team, yet is watching all of these games and spending a ton of time bellyaching about it.

 

If it is that bad, walk away.

 

And if we walked away, posters like you would be calling everyone fair-weather fans. We can't complain when the team so obviously needs much restructuring, and if we refuse to be blind to those needs, we're just dark clouds. We can't win.

 

But either can the Sox, so I guess we're a perfect fit.