The title says it all people, we're slumping, hard. Our pitching has not been bad lately folks, I'll say this, the pitching has been good enough to win (for the most part). You can still see a lack of confidence in a few guys, its early, thats normal. But the offense has really been struggling. The White Sox were shutout today as the surging Rays dominated every aspect of the game. There really is not much more to say.
Sticking with the optimistic theme that I have had during this losing streak. Its early, last season the White Sox had an awful April and by mid-season were right in the pennant race. This team is a better team than last year. Be happy they're getting the kinks out early and during a pennant race in late September. What frustrates me are the games we lost in the 9th inning so far this season, because this slump now and the losses that we are picking up now, are really magnifying those blown games.
But stay positive everyone, baseball is a game of adjustments, inconsistencies, and grooves. Our offense will adjust, our inconsistencies will level out and we will hit a groove.
Thats all I got
Honestly last night's game was David Price finally getting revenge for all those poor starts against us. No team will go that long without getting beat by him. He mixed his pitches extremely well, and had great defense to back him up. It was good to see Jackson fight through 7 innings, especially after giving up 3 in the 1st. Would have been nice to see a scoreless outing out of Thornton, but it will come eventually. Still not too worried about this team though.
ReplyDeleteGreat Points Mar, after Jackson gave up those runs in the first and came out and basically shut them down through the seventh, shows what kind of a competitor he is and really how much talent he has. Thornton's confidence is a little down I think, you can kind of see it when he's on the bump, doesn't look like his old self just yet. But I am absolutely not worried about this team at all, thanks for posting, I hope you're enjoying the blog!
ReplyDeleteSure am glad your staying optimistic, there are still a lot of concerns with the team. First things first, the pitching is what it is. With the exception of Danks, they are a bunch of over the hill pitchers who are going to give you high innings but are not going to be much over 500. They are a bunch of early 2000's all stars, doesnt do you much good in 2011. As far as the bats go, they are not the team Ozzie manages for. Once again, Kenny Williams has built his team that is going to excite the fans and fill the seats but not win games down the stretch. Carlos Quentin is known for starting fast and fizzling just as fast, he once again probably wont make it to the All-Star break healthy. Juan Pierre is old and is not going to help in the field or running the bases. He doesnt hit for average, cant steal bases, cant throw to the infield from left, and so far struggling to catch a fly ball. Ozzie wants a team that can run, this team sure as hell is not going to do that. This team is built for the wrong manager! Defensively they are lost, they have a shortstop playing second and a second baseman playing short. Third is not locked down, and the hot corner is not a place for question marks. They have gotten older all over the field and teams are going to find more holes with decreasing range from each player. The closer is a story of its own, they dont have one, atleast not in Thornton or Sale. Santos should be the closer and shows the stuff to do it, but it seems that they arent convinced of that. O well, you could always go out and pay big bucks to another former all star.....I dont think that Trevor Hoffman, or Eric Gagne are on a team. However, im sure the great relationship between Ozzie and Kenny will shine and they will pick up someone they dont want. With the Royals showing strength with the youngsters, and the always difficult twins, Kenny with have to chop this team apart or make another fan friendly move to either climb into the pennant race late or to keep the fans in the stand while to sox struggle and the organization struggles to pay the large salaries. Im glad your optimistic, but its also been said that baseball is a game of inches, and the sox are yards away from the winning combination in chicago. Remember you loyal sox fans, the 05 sox team wasnt didnt have all the high profile has beens, it was a bunch of guys that bought into the team idea. This group wont do that, they care to much about their stats and not many of them have shown they have to stuff to do the little (or inch) things it takes to win the game. Late in the season your going to hear a lot of "if that ball is hit one inch higher on the bat Adam Dunn wins the game with a two run blast". Because folks, its not about the long ball, its about fundamentals.....something most of these players have not shown throughout their careers!
ReplyDeleteThis was sent to me by "Ted," its been posted twice and mysteriously deleted both times. Im still not sure how it was deleted, but none the less here is what "Ted" had to say:
ReplyDeleteSure am glad your staying optimistic, there are still a lot of concerns with the team. First things first, the pitching is what it is. With the exception of Danks, they are a bunch of over the hill pitchers who are going to give you high innings but are not going to be much over 500. They are a bunch of early 2000's all stars, doesnt do you much good in 2011. As far as the bats go, they are not the team Ozzie manages for. Once again, Kenny Williams has built his team that is going to excite the fans and fill the seats but not win games down the stretch. Carlos Quentin is known for starting fast and fizzling just as fast, he once again probably wont make it to the All-Star break healthy. Juan Pierre is old and is not going to help in the field or running the bases. He doesnt hit for average, cant steal bases, cant throw to the infield from left, and so far struggling to catch a fly ball. Ozzie wants a team that can run, this team sure as hell is not going to do that. This team is built for the wrong manager! Defensively they are lost, they have a shortstop playing second and a second baseman playing short. Third is not locked down, and the hot corner is not a place for question marks. They have gotten older all over the field and teams are going to find more holes with decreasing range from each player. The closer is a story of its own, they dont have one, atleast not in Thornton or Sale. Santos should be the closer and shows the stuff to do it, but it seems that they arent convinced of that. O well, you could always go out and pay big bucks to another former all star.....I dont think that Trevor Hoffman, or Eric Gagne are on a team. However, im sure the great relationship between Ozzie and Kenny will shine and they will pick up someone they dont want. With the Royals showing strength with the youngsters, and the always difficult twins, Kenny with have to chop this team apart or make another fan friendly move to either climb into the pennant race late or to keep the fans in the stand while to sox struggle and the organization struggles to pay the large salaries. Im glad your optimistic, but its also been said that baseball is a game of inches, and the sox are yards away from the winning combination in chicago. Remember you loyal sox fans, the 05 sox team wasnt didnt have all the high profile has beens, it was a bunch of guys that bought into the team idea. This group wont do that, they care to much about their stats and not many of them have shown they have to stuff to do the little (or inch) things it takes to win the game. Late in the season your going to hear a lot of "if that ball is hit one inch higher on the bat Adam Dunn wins the game with a two run blast". Because folks, its not about the long ball, its about fundamentals.....something most of these players have not shown throughout their careers!
Well "Ted," I see a lot of holes in your "argument" here. Ill go in order. Our pitchers are not "over the hill" yes, Danks is a great pitcher, probably our best one, but most of our pitchers are young guys. Phil Humber is a rookie at age 28, Gavin Floyd is 28, Edwin Jackson is 27, Jesse Crain is 29,Chris Sale is 22, Sergio Santos is 28, Tony Pena is 29, and Jeff Gray is 29. So when you throw in Danks, that puts 10 out of the 12 pitchers on our active roster under 30....
ReplyDeleteThis team is a team that Ozzie can manage, easily. Pierre can run, Beckham can run, Rios can run, Morel can run, Ramirez can run, Teahan can run, Lillibridge can run, All of those guys plus AJ, can bunt. That is exactly what Ozzie needs, that with a little power in the middle, represented by Dunn, Konerko, and Quentin. Im not sure what more a manager can want, you have to have some guys in the middle who can drive the ball deep.
Im not sure how anyone can say Quentin fizzles at the end of the season when he hasn't played a full season yet, in 08 he played 75% of the year and still won the batting title, which is impressive all in itself. Hes been injured off and on since. Quentin is a good guy to have in your 3 or 5 hole.
I'm not sure what your Juan Pierre argument is based on, because he stole 56 bases last season and made 1 error in 149 games played. Hes a above average defensive guy who can jump start an offense, he plays his ass off everyday. Sure hes had a few rough plays this year, but thats always gonna happen to anyone.
This team is not lost defensively. There is absolutely no basis to your argument about guys being in the wrong position in the infield. Alexi Ramirez at short won the silver slugger last season and was a gold glove candidate, he has the most range of any short stop in the league. Beckham went from 3rd to 2nd which anyone who watches baseball knows is the easiest transition in the world, hes been stellar at 2nd. Brent Morel is not a question mark in the field. He has an above average glove at the hot corner. And Paul Konerko is the most underrated defensive first basemen in the league. Watch him play first sometime...
Im not sure how they have gotten older around the field, Gordon Beckham is 24 yrs old at 2nd base, Alexi Ramirez is 28 at short, between the 2 they cover a ton of ground, Brent Morel is 23 at 3rd. Rios just turned 30 and Quentin is 28, so with the exception of 2 guys on the field (Konerko and Pierre) and the pitcher and catcher obviously because that's a different case, everyone else is 30 or under... and lucky for us Konerko plays first, so range doesn't really mean shit and Pierre's legs are fine in left....
CONTINUED...
ReplyDeleteSure the bullpen struggled out of the gate, but they have been lights out as of late. Its 17 games into the season, I think our closer role will be just fine. Its a little early to say we just dont have a closer, theres 3 guys in that pen that can be a closer.
Please don't mention the Ozzie/Kenny relationship. It really is not a big deal (despite what the national media wants you to think). There are inter-club conflicts on every team in the majors, when two guys are passionate about something they're gonna but heads if they disagree. Kenny and Ozzie have been together for 7 seasons and have 5 winning seasons 2 divisional titles, an AL pennant and a World Series ring, I think their relationship is just fine...
This team does not need to be chopped up, don't mention the Royals, wanna talk about fizzling out every year. They always start hot and are never in it come June.
Sure the 05 team wasn't high profile, but this team is by no means an all high profile team. Just because we signed Adam Dunn doesn't make us a high profile team. Brent Morel? Carlos Quentin? Phil Humber? Gavin Floyd? Alex Rios? AJ Pierzinski? Come on man, theres nothing wrong with having a big name or 2 on your roster. This team is very similar to the 05. Good mix of veterans and youngsters, Little power in the middle and guys surrounding the power who will get on base and hit for a decent average. With a great starting rotation and a good bullpen...
Don't ever say this team doesn't care about anything but winning and the team effort, 3 guys on this team gave up money from their contracts so we could re-sign Konerko and get Dunn, because being on a good, winning, team. They have good chemistry and are never making excuses, they go out and play hard every day. This team is the furthest from selfish you can get!
The Sox aren't all about the long ball, just because we have 3 guys in our lineup that can hit the ball out of the ballpark. Their fundamentals are fine, I love how signing Adam Dunn and getting Konerko back, suddenly, according to you, changed our team to 9 selfish guys swinging for the fences, give me a break.