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5 reasons to still have hope


Greg Hibbard

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QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 11:39 AM)
Oh, Im sorry, were these teams built just like the Sox, along with all the same external factors? Do they have better, worse, or the same talent/leadership/management/coaches?

 

Given this, any team is utterly incomparable to any other team. What is the point? This is a game that relies about trends to make comparisons. The Sox have been trending upward since May, and finally gave up on their two biggest offensive liabilities.

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QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 11:41 AM)
The White Sox might have the best pitching of the group. And with good pitching anything can happen.

Including a .500 finish just like how they've played all season with that pitching staff. Possible? Oh yea. Likely? Not really.

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QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 12:40 PM)
I'm loving the youth movement, but I'm not counting on them in pulling us over the Tigers.

 

I'm not counting on it either, but I also am not going to discount the possibility. The team has been actually enjoyable to watch the past few days, the pitching is hot, the young players are playing well, Dunn has finally been benched, Rios appears to be on his way there as well, the Tigers pitching outside of Verlander remains suspect and the Tigs blew it down the stretch just 2 years ago in almost the exact same situation.

 

I'm sure Tigers fans haven't started printing out playoff tickets yet.

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QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 11:43 AM)
Including a .500 finish just like how they've played all season with ....

 

with Dunn and Rios as everyday players in the middle of their lineup, which fans like you never fail to point out has been the biggest problem in putting together anything consistent.

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Above and beyond that, it's just the fact that everyone expects to be seeing plenty of Dunn and Rios again next season.

 

It's almost like a curse, in the sense that finishing 1-2-3 games back might give JR enough reason for optimism not to make any changes with Guillen, the coaching staff or KW.

 

Sure, we all want them to make the playoffs (I think except Milkman, haha) because that means this team lives to fight it out in 2012...at least the probability is much higher. And, of course, if they did go on that extended run, they just might do some serious damage in the playoffs coming in as the "hot" team along with the Brewers and D-Backs.

 

Leyland and DET have never held together in the 2nd half. They've collapsed in 2006 and 2009, but to the Twins.

 

This is a much different Sox team. The problem is that it's sad that everything will go back to Baseball Economics 101 and we might end up getting off to a slow start again in 2012 (behind Dunn and Rios)...that's really doing to demoralize everyone.

 

Or, we could be faithful/optimistic in Dunn/Rios/Beckham. But how many want to put themselves in that camp if changes aren't made and the exact same situation with Guillen, Walker and KW continues?

 

Everyone's been burned by believing in this Sox team over and over again...I can't even imagine most season ticket holders would get excited about this run unless it brings them to 2 1/2 or 2 games back. You have the feeling the attendance definitely won't trend upwards even a tick until that happens. Maybe just because of the enjoyment of seeing Viciedo hit, that's definitetly a new reason to attend a game in person. And if he keeps hitting, not even Quentin returning will keep him on the bench because Ozzie will have to use Carlos as the DH.

 

 

Edited by caulfield12
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QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 11:44 AM)
I'm not counting on it either, but I also am not going to discount the possibility. The team has been actually enjoyable to watch the past few days, the pitching is hot, the young players are playing well, Dunn has finally been benched, Rios appears to be on his way there as well, the Tigers pitching outside of Verlander remains suspect and the Tigs blew it down the stretch just 2 years ago in almost the exact same situation.

 

I'm sure Tigers fans haven't started printing out playoff tickets yet.

I am loving the changes, I just think they have been made too late. We're 5 games back at the end of August, that's quite a feat to overcome and the Tigers have only been playing better too.

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QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 11:49 AM)
I am loving the changes, I just think they have been made too late. We're 5 games back at the end of August, that's quite a feat to overcome and the Tigers have only been playing better too.

Well, you let us worry about our heartstrings and you can watch episodes of Breaking Bad or something ;)

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QUOTE (SnB @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 11:51 AM)
I'll take ANY meaningful baseball in August/September, even if it's just hanging on by a thread.

 

I'm not happy about it, but I'll still be watching and hoping.

 

That's how I feel about it too, but it doesn't give Kenny/Ozzie a pass if they get close but come up short.

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QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 11:49 AM)
I am loving the changes, I just think they have been made too late. We're 5 games back at the end of August, that's quite a feat to overcome and the Tigers have only been playing better too.

 

5 games back, still 6 left with Detroit.. not to mention Cleveland, KC, and Minny for the whole month of September.. Its amazing what a difference it makes when you remove a black hole from the middle of the lineup and replace it with production..

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Last time I checked, neither the Tigers or White Sox were known for their second half runs. I get that we just swept a god awful Mariners team and won last night against a Twins team that I don't even recognize. But we've seen this movie before. They're going to HAVE to beat Detroit. And when I say that I'm talking a minimum of 5-1 against them and play pretty much lights out against everybody else.

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QUOTE (Papa Tru @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 11:47 AM)
where is milkman and sqwert to crown Cleveland and say this is the worst team in the league?

 

damn he beat me in!

 

Haha, nobody ever crowned Cleveland. We said they could compete for the division and that they couldn't be outright written off as you had done. The fact that they are half a game behind us and were ahead of us through the last week of August shows that indeed we were correct. And if the Sox still have a chance, so does Cleveland.

Edited by Milkman delivers
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QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 11:56 AM)
Last time I checked, neither the Tigers or White Sox were known for their second half runs. I get that we just swept a god awful Mariners team and won last night against a Twins team that I don't even recognize. But we've seen this movie before. They're going to HAVE to beat Detroit. And when I say that I'm talking a minimum of 5-1 against them and play pretty much lights out against everybody else.

Realistically, win 4 of the 6 and make the other 3 games up out of the remaining 24. The Tigers will choke as their pitching staff wears down and their old asses break down.

 

 

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QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 11:56 AM)
Last time I checked, neither the Tigers or White Sox were known for their second half runs. I get that we just swept a god awful Mariners team and won last night against a Twins team that I don't even recognize. But we've seen this movie before. They're going to HAVE to beat Detroit. And when I say that I'm talking a minimum of 5-1 against them and play pretty much lights out against everybody else.

 

4-2 would be fine, but anything less and the Sox are done. 2 against Verlander is going to make it extremely tough.

 

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QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 12:56 PM)
Last time I checked, neither the Tigers or White Sox were known for their second half runs. I get that we just swept a god awful Mariners team and won last night against a Twins team that I don't even recognize. But we've seen this movie before. They're going to HAVE to beat Detroit. And when I say that I'm talking a minimum of 5-1 against them and play pretty much lights out against everybody else.

 

I think 4-2 would also be fine, especially if they can make up one more game before the series this weekend. Their schedule down the stretch is very favorable with them all of a sudden playing the Twins like they are the Indians. What scares me is having to play Toronto to close out the year.

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QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 09:56 AM)
Last time I checked, neither the Tigers or White Sox were known for their second half runs. I get that we just swept a god awful Mariners team and won last night against a Twins team that I don't even recognize. But we've seen this movie before. They're going to HAVE to beat Detroit. And when I say that I'm talking a minimum of 5-1 against them and play pretty much lights out against everybody else.

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

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QUOTE (ChrisLikesBaseball @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 09:42 AM)
All of the Tigers fans I run into seem to remember these two years pretty clearly. They're not counting any chickens before their eggs have hatched

 

I don't know about that - go over to Motown sports and you they're already plotting their playoff rosters. They don't fear the Sox one bit.

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