More "Candid" Comments

[Lip Man 1]

If this has already been discussed I apologize but I was struck by three more comments from our brilliant field manager in the Chicago papers today...

"To be where we are, we have to feel pretty good, I'm not overly concerned with the division."-- Daily Southtown

Yes he feels great that with "superior" talent, he has the Sox one game ahead of the Royals who have a pitching staff held together with tape and bandages and that he has them tied with the Twins who have had numerous key injuries to their players while the Sox have been relatively healthy all season.

"The most important thing at this point of the year is not to do anything to lose a game." --To Bill Jauss of the Chicago Tribune.

This from a man who has his top left hander warming up in the bullpen but STILL allows Scott Sullivan, a righty, to pitch to David Ortiz (a lefty) in a key situation. AFTER Ortiz hits the home run, he brings him in. Also he takes out Carl Everett one of his top hitters and replaces him with Willie Harris for DEFENSIVE purposes in a TIE game. Naturally with the game on the line Harris has to bat and takes a called 3rd strike .[/

and finally... "We're going to have to be very careful with him when we go there (Boston) "-- talking about Ortiz to the Sun Times.

I guess Manager Gandhi was sleeping the past few years when Ortiz was with Minnesota and lit the Sox up on a constant basis throughout the season .

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I read comments like this from this imbecile. I guess I don't understand baseball! (at least according to Manuel and sportswriter / radio guest Joe Cowley)

Lip

[chosk8]

I am in no way an expert either, but the sky is not falling. Every loss does not need to be blamed on Manuel. I am in no way a Manuel supporter either. Two decisions he made yesterday that had me and my buddy shaking our heads at the game were the decision to leave Sullivan in to pitch to Ortiz and putting Harris in to play center. I see the point to putting in a defensive replacement, but not in a tie game. If you are going to make that move, put Rowand in center. He's flat out a better fielder than Harris and if his spot in the order comes up, at least he has a chance to get a hit whereas Harris doesn't. That being said, I'm sure Manuel isn't alone on these decisions, although he does have the final say. I'm sure these options were all discussed among himself, Nossek, Cooper, etc. While we have the luxury of second guessing and hindsight, his decisions are "seat of his pants" decisions. And contrary to popular opinion, none of the members here at WSI would be better managers than JM. Like I said, I am not a JM surporter. I want him gone as much as the next guy, but it gets tiring to hear after every loss that is was Manuel fault. Our hitting with runners on second and third a few times last night and the bases loaded once was atrocious.

Also, the entire quote from the Daily Southtown was...

"To be where we are, we have to feel pretty good," always optimistic Sox manager Jerry Manuel said. "I'm not overly concerned with the division. I'm more concerned with our team ."

I don't think JM is saying he isn't concerned with the division. The part you left off completes the quote. He's not concerned with the other teams in the division, he's concerned with ours. If we take care of our business, winning the division will take care of itself. I believe if the same question was asked of Pena or Gardenhire, they would respond similarly: "I'm not concerned with the other teams, I'm concerned about mine."

I do believe that both KC and the Twins are doing more with less, and this is due to the manager. I think we are all pounding sand complaining about our manager, he isn't going anywhere until, at the very least, the end of the season. No team has pulled away as the clear cut winner of this division so far this year, so why is it that everyone expects the Sox to do so now? I agree they have the talent to pull away, but that is the nature of the beast with this division. It's going down to the wire, 7 games apiece with KC and Minnesota. This will decide it.

[duke of dorwood]

Losses like that are his fault-as have been numerous ones this year. What a dolt. Can you imagine what he says in the dugout when he's awake?

:firejerry

[maurice]

Originally posted by chosk8
none of the members here at WSI would be better managers tha[n] JM.

I find that very hard to believe. I'm not saying that the average Sox fan would manage better than JM, but at least a few of the more knowledgable folks here would do better than that lying boob.

[SouthBendSox]

at least the fans here care

that lying clown couldnt care less

as long as he gets paid

fire this baffoon

[A.T. Money]

Manuel screwed Wednesday's game up big time. Those comments make me wanna cry.