Second place
First off, let's examine how desperate this season is. The Sox are currently six games out of first and the Twins currently have the best pitcher in baseball pitching every five days for them. It's hard for me to get excited about watching the Sox unless Mark Buehrle is pitching. Without the team's two best players, the Sox are just a shell of the team that was one game ahead of Minnesota at the break. There are a few guys on the team that I despise (Robbie Alomar, Ben Davis, Aaron Rowand, Timo Perez) and more that I just can't get excited about (Crede, Konerko, Everett, just about everyone other than Lee, Garland and Buehrle).
I admit it, I liked Guillen for a bit, but his mindset is ruining this team. The big boppers (Konerko, Lee, Thomas, Ordonez) are important, but the medium boppers (Uribe, Rowand and Crede) all can contribute beyond just laying down a bunt. And Guillen bunts too much with these guys. I saw him twice last week bunt in the first inning. First inning! That's absurd. Why waste 1/27 of the game that early?
Argh. I haven't written anything about Robbie Alomar largely because I despie him. I understand his value (moreover, I understand his HOF credentials, which he left, I think, in Cleveland) and I realize he was an excellent player, but the man spit on an umpire. That's all kinds of not cool.
That's not to say I wouldn't want him on my team, say, five years ago. Like I said, I understand his value (and I sometimes worry about not coming off as objectively inclined because I root for certain players. I do value performance over anything else), but on a losing team in a totally lost season, why bring in Johnny Umpire-Spitter, even if he did put up a .382 OBP at Arizona? So his brother, No Knees McGillicutty, will have someone to play cards with in the clubhouse? Come on. What a waste. Even if he was traded for a sack of baseball, he's not worth it.
You've got a second baseman already who needs reps, if only to confirm or deny if he's any good. If said second baseman moves to CF, where he is relatively strong, then the regular center fielder goes to right. OK, that would make sense, except the Sox haven't been doing that. Rowand and Harris have been together exactly zero times since Robbie Alomar came over. And in those three games, Alomar has compiled a whopping .182 BA, which, even if he walked a bunch, stinks.
All this adds to a lost season, as I said. Ozzie's a bad manager, and the Sox keep underachieving, so I'm starting to hate the team I love. It's very frustrating.
I recently commented on my best friend's blog about the Sox that explains my feelings recently:
"Dude.
There was an interesting thing on prospectus that called the Sox a "chain restauraunt." It hurts more than anything, because it might be true. The Sox are, for the most part, devoid of personality, but, admittedly, a lot of teams are(Do the Phillies have much personality outside of Bowa? The Indians? The Royals? The Pirates, Reds or Devil Rays? Nope.).
That said, I bet the Sox come right around their expected W/L record (maybe five games?) by the end of the year. Without Thomas and Ordonez, that team isn't particularly good. Considering the team is supposed to be an offensive juggernaut, it only has three regulars in the top 60 in the AL in OPS. Considering Cleveland is now in second place and has 6 players in the top 60, I'm not too confident with this team.
While two players don't make a nine-man lineup, two players can make a difference, if only because those two players are two more players likely to get hot. Their replacements (Everett and, uh, Robbie Alomar, maybe?) aren't nearly the players Thomas and Ordonez are.
So, what I'm saying is that the Sox won't underachieve all year. They'll start to get into some one-sided games (like that 11-0 game at KC last week) and it'll all even out. That's what happens to bad teams."
I stand by it pretty whole-heartedly. The Sox'll eventually turn into the team that stinks. Without Thomas and Ordonez, who cares?
All of this makes me want a team in the District more and more. Too bad it's unlikely to happen. That stupid team will be in NoVa and I'll have to drive 40 miles to get to the damned stadium. By contrast, Baltimore is actually closer to where I live, if only by a mile.
In other news, the Sox won last night, and Jose Contreras pitched a pretty good game. Cleveland's broadcaster's were saying something about him tipping pitches, which leads me to believe that the Sox coaches have not corrected his problems; he's just had a couple of good games.
Also, I don't know anyhting about Toni Ginnetti but the tone of Ginetti's story that ran this morning is just idiotic. The headline was "Davis hit resuscitates Sox ," and working in journalism, I realize that reporters don't write headlines, but the headline gets the gist of the story, unfortunately. The idea that the Sox are somehow resuscitated by a one-run game which Damaso Marte blew is ludicrous. Luckily, Konerko and Davis (both quoted a fair amount in the story) give the old cliché treatment, basically saying "we're taking it one game at a time."
I understand the nature of covering a team. A good friend of mine used to cover my beloved Missouri Tiger basetball team for the Columbia Missourian and he said being a beat writers is tedious. I'd have to think baseball, which has nearly four times as many games as college basketball, is more tedious. Every day, you need a new story. I can't imagine it's fun having to write "The Sox still stink" for four straight days.
But, come on. Unless the Sox go on a run (which is unlikely), yesterday's game was another win. Just another win.
I admit it, I liked Guillen for a bit, but his mindset is ruining this team. The big boppers (Konerko, Lee, Thomas, Ordonez) are important, but the medium boppers (Uribe, Rowand and Crede) all can contribute beyond just laying down a bunt. And Guillen bunts too much with these guys. I saw him twice last week bunt in the first inning. First inning! That's absurd. Why waste 1/27 of the game that early?
Argh. I haven't written anything about Robbie Alomar largely because I despie him. I understand his value (moreover, I understand his HOF credentials, which he left, I think, in Cleveland) and I realize he was an excellent player, but the man spit on an umpire. That's all kinds of not cool.
That's not to say I wouldn't want him on my team, say, five years ago. Like I said, I understand his value (and I sometimes worry about not coming off as objectively inclined because I root for certain players. I do value performance over anything else), but on a losing team in a totally lost season, why bring in Johnny Umpire-Spitter, even if he did put up a .382 OBP at Arizona? So his brother, No Knees McGillicutty, will have someone to play cards with in the clubhouse? Come on. What a waste. Even if he was traded for a sack of baseball, he's not worth it.
You've got a second baseman already who needs reps, if only to confirm or deny if he's any good. If said second baseman moves to CF, where he is relatively strong, then the regular center fielder goes to right. OK, that would make sense, except the Sox haven't been doing that. Rowand and Harris have been together exactly zero times since Robbie Alomar came over. And in those three games, Alomar has compiled a whopping .182 BA, which, even if he walked a bunch, stinks.
All this adds to a lost season, as I said. Ozzie's a bad manager, and the Sox keep underachieving, so I'm starting to hate the team I love. It's very frustrating.
I recently commented on my best friend's blog about the Sox that explains my feelings recently:
"Dude.
There was an interesting thing on prospectus that called the Sox a "chain restauraunt." It hurts more than anything, because it might be true. The Sox are, for the most part, devoid of personality, but, admittedly, a lot of teams are(Do the Phillies have much personality outside of Bowa? The Indians? The Royals? The Pirates, Reds or Devil Rays? Nope.).
That said, I bet the Sox come right around their expected W/L record (maybe five games?) by the end of the year. Without Thomas and Ordonez, that team isn't particularly good. Considering the team is supposed to be an offensive juggernaut, it only has three regulars in the top 60 in the AL in OPS. Considering Cleveland is now in second place and has 6 players in the top 60, I'm not too confident with this team.
While two players don't make a nine-man lineup, two players can make a difference, if only because those two players are two more players likely to get hot. Their replacements (Everett and, uh, Robbie Alomar, maybe?) aren't nearly the players Thomas and Ordonez are.
So, what I'm saying is that the Sox won't underachieve all year. They'll start to get into some one-sided games (like that 11-0 game at KC last week) and it'll all even out. That's what happens to bad teams."
I stand by it pretty whole-heartedly. The Sox'll eventually turn into the team that stinks. Without Thomas and Ordonez, who cares?
All of this makes me want a team in the District more and more. Too bad it's unlikely to happen. That stupid team will be in NoVa and I'll have to drive 40 miles to get to the damned stadium. By contrast, Baltimore is actually closer to where I live, if only by a mile.
In other news, the Sox won last night, and Jose Contreras pitched a pretty good game. Cleveland's broadcaster's were saying something about him tipping pitches, which leads me to believe that the Sox coaches have not corrected his problems; he's just had a couple of good games.
Also, I don't know anyhting about Toni Ginnetti but the tone of Ginetti's story that ran this morning is just idiotic. The headline was "Davis hit resuscitates Sox ," and working in journalism, I realize that reporters don't write headlines, but the headline gets the gist of the story, unfortunately. The idea that the Sox are somehow resuscitated by a one-run game which Damaso Marte blew is ludicrous. Luckily, Konerko and Davis (both quoted a fair amount in the story) give the old cliché treatment, basically saying "we're taking it one game at a time."
I understand the nature of covering a team. A good friend of mine used to cover my beloved Missouri Tiger basetball team for the Columbia Missourian and he said being a beat writers is tedious. I'd have to think baseball, which has nearly four times as many games as college basketball, is more tedious. Every day, you need a new story. I can't imagine it's fun having to write "The Sox still stink" for four straight days.
But, come on. Unless the Sox go on a run (which is unlikely), yesterday's game was another win. Just another win.
1 Comments:
Johan Santana. He's got an odd name. I wonder if his roots are Nordic and Hispanic?
I would like to comment directly on a couple of things you said:
-"It's hard for me to get excited about watching the Sox unless Mark Buehrle is pitching."
Dude, why are you so hot about Mark Buehrle? He's a decent enough pitcher, but he's nothing to write home about. He's given up more hits than innings pitched this year, and opponents are hitting .281 against him.
-"And Guillen bunts too much with these guys. I saw him twice last week bunt in the first inning. First inning! That's absurd. Why waste 1/27 of the game that early?"
On Monday night I was at a sports bar after my softball game with some teammates and we were watching a bit of the Sox game. I was shocked and appalled to see Ozzie Guillen call a bunt on a 3-1 pitch. With nobody on. The only player on the team who should be bunting at a 3-1 is the pitcher, and that's only with runners on base, and the pitcher don't bat in the league Ozzie manages. A 3-1 bunt with nobody on? That's like folding in Texas Hold 'Em with pocket aces. Just not smart.
- "All this adds to a lost season, as I said. Ozzie's a bad manager, and the Sox keep underachieving, so I'm starting to hate the team I love. It's very frustrating."
A lot of dumb sports columnists in Chicago have been writing columns about how Ozzie has "re-energized" the team (in fact, I think Phil Rogers' dumb ass wrote something on that). Well, injuries aside, he's managed them to a two games worse record than they had at this point last season (58-52 in '03), (56-54 in '04 - thanks, retrosheet).
Obviously, the Ozzeroo can't be blamed for stupid decisions Kenny Williams makes (the farm system has been sucked dry thanks to acquiring Garcia, Alomar twice and Everett twice). And obviously, the Ozzeroo can't be blamed for the injuries to the Big Hurt and to Magglio. I think he can be blamed, at least in part, for this team underachieving. The Sox are a power team, with lots of sock in their lineup. They should be patient mashers. They are not the '03 Florida Marlins. They are currently playing 5 games under their expected W-L differential, which is tied for the worst mark in the AL.
The good news for the Sox is that there's always next year. Jay Mariotti wrote about how the Sox are shaping up to look like a 3rd place team next year. Mariotti's an idiot (he thinks the Sox should try to get Nomar and let Jose Valentin go, and to move Uribe to short if they can't get Nomar; apparently Mariotti was unaware that Jose Valentin is going to hit 30 homers this year), but I think that he's right about Magglio; if the Sox don't have him, which it looks like they might not, it changes the ability of that team to score runs considerably. They could bring up one of their blue-chip corner outfield prospects, but I think they've all been traded in the Sox's fruitless postseason drives over the last two seasons.
Knowing the White Sox, they'll do something inexplicable this offseason like go after Derek Lowe and Kevin Millwood in the free agent market. That would give them a solid rotation, ready, able and willing to give up just 5 runs a game.
Post a Comment
<< Home