9/26/2012 Postgamer

[Jollyroger2]

Originally Posted by Dan H

The Indians came to play; the White Sox didn't. The White Sox are folding like a lawn chair.

This. Saw this coming for weeks with lackluster play against both the Tigers and crap teams like the Royals. But people here kept posting "first place in September" playing the fiddles while the city burned.

Can't even take a home series from the Indians. What a colossal choke-job...

[soxfanreggie]

My hope is for a law of averages type performance now where we start to trend up. We now have to hope Detroit loses more than we do because it is in their hands.

[Jurr]

Look at the schedules and be afraid.
I fear that this season will come down to the sheer fact that
the Sox could not handle KC and the Tigers could.

[Jurr]

Originally Posted by Jollyroger2

This. Saw this coming for weeks with lackluster play against both the Tigers and crap teams like the Royals. But people here kept posting "first place in September" playing the fiddles while the city burned.

Can't even take a home series from the Indians. What a colossal choke-job...

I don't know that this would be considered a colossal choke job.
The Sox haven't really had a stranglehold on first. Did the lead ever exceed 5 games?
This team played above its prediction all year, helped by a very mediocre division.
This was never a world beater roster. It just played well enough to lead a bad division while Detroit found itself.
This thing isn't over, and the Sox may very well play good baseball and snatch this division. To say that they choked is false. They just stopped playing better than they actually were.

[Frater Perdurabo]

What are the Sox, 6-12 against the Royals? What if we went .500, 9-9? We would still be in first place by two games. Is that really so unreasonable for us to expect?

[Brian26]

Originally Posted by kittle42

Really, the game was lost when they couldn't put more than 3 on the board when Masterson wanted to hand them the game in the first. From that point on, it was just waiting for the inevitable - which dragged out way too damn long.

I said that when it happened. Two free runs sitting there, pk on 2nd and aj on 3rd, and the sox couldn't make it a 5-1 game, which would have loosened our pitching up and perhaps the bats too.

[mahagga73]

Originally Posted by PalehosePlanet

Choking, slumping, team and a heartbreaking end for us fans.

Still have a chance, but it doesn't look like we're snapping out of this slide.

Shouldn't be a surprise, the Sox do this every year, suck in September. I think we all know that if they win this division it is going to be a fluke. They are choking plain and simple, even though it's not officially over yet.

[mahagga73]

Originally Posted by Frater Perdurabo

What are the Sox, 6-12 against the Royals? What if we went .500, 9-9? We would still be in first place by two games. Is that really so unreasonable for us to expect?

Those Royals sure helped us out a lot, lol. The Sox always underachive in the division .I would be interested in seeing their division records since 05 , it has got to be under .500 most years. This is where they keep on blowing it.

[aryzner]

Originally Posted by Frater Perdurabo

Our roster is top-heavy, but our best players are just not as good as Detroit's.

DeAza v. Jackson?

Dunn v. Cabrera?

Paulie v. Fielder?

Viciedo v. Delmon Young?

Even Andy Dirks is out-performing Rios, for a lot less money.

That's not a choke.

We have better fielders, but we neuter that advantage by surrendering so many walks.

That is the very definition of a choke.

Andy Dirks is not out-performing Alex Rios. For one thing, Rios can actually stay healthy.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by Jollyroger2

This. Saw this coming for weeks with lackluster play against both the Tigers and crap teams like the Royals. But people here kept posting "first place in September" playing the fiddles while the city burned.

Can't even take a home series from the Indians. What a colossal choke-job...

Up until this week, the Sox have played pretty well for most of the 2nd half against everyone aside from Detroit and Kansas City. So it's not like it was unreasonable for anyone to think they could have bounced back to some form now that those two teams are off their schedule. But, oh well...

As for "colossal choke-job," eh, the Sox never really had a strangehold on the division. Their lead was never more than what? 3 games? Talk to the Braves or Red Sox last year who blew 10+ game leads in September. THAT'S a colossal choke-job. This just sucks.

[tstrike2000]

Unfortunate, a game they could have won despite the million man march of walks. Of course, that's been the case for the better part of a week. This was one of the few games I've been to where people were streaming for the exits with a one or two run lead. Myers allowing the homer to a guy hitting .091 with no homers pretty much sealed it for many. I know the Sox are trying to rest pitchers, but I've never seen so many pitching changes in my life. The losing is a team effort. If we get the lead, we can't hold it, if we get good pitching, the offense fails, and the managing down the stretch has been poor.

It's not over, but it's starting to feel like it.

[Frater Perdurabo]

Originally Posted by aryzner

Andy Dirks is not out-performing Alex Rios. For one thing, Rios can actually stay healthy.

I am not criticizing Rios. He's our best player. He's earning his contract.

But in an admittedly smaller number of games due to injury, Dirks has a higher OPS at much less cost.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by mahagga73

Those Royals sure helped us out a lot, lol. The Sox always underachive in the division .I would be interested in seeing their division records since 05 , it has got to be under .500 most years. This is where they keep on blowing it.

Uh, you realize the Sox are actually above .500 against the division this year, right? 35-34 against the Central, albeit with 3 division games left.

Anyways:

2012 - 35-34
2011 - 32-40
2010 - 32-40
2009 - 34-38
2008 - 44-29
2007 - 39-33
2006 - 40-36

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by amsteel

True, but do you expect them to sign any 'impact' FAs? The sting of signing Peavy and Dunn will make management trigger shy on big deals for a while.

In fact, with so many FA opportunities (much more than I initially thought: AJ, Dayan, ADA, black hole @ 3B, & Beckham) next year could be terrible. Really ****ing terrible. I'm already picturing a nightmarish mess of over the hill guys signed to 1 year deals (a la Hudson) and never-has-been/never-will-bes (a la Lopez and Johnson)

Might want to step off the ledge their, chap, as Dayan, De Aza, and Beckham are not FA after this season.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

This came up a few weeks ago and a poster (don't remember who) said you can't trust Cotts and linked to a more "reliable" site that said (if I remember correctly) that he is arbitration eligible.

Cots is an extremely reliable site (it's basically the most respected website in the business for this kind of stuff), it's just very technical and uses actual MLB CBA terminology, they expect users to have some sort of basic understanding of baseball contracts.

De Aza is signed to a 1-year-deal because he's still in his pre-arb years (you can tell that by the MLB service time he has accrued, which is listed on Cots). ALL PLAYERS PRE-ARB are signed to conditional 1-year-deals. But he's not an FA at the end of this season, his player rights are exclusively under the control of the White Sox under his pre-arb and abritration years. CBA 101 stuff, guys, come on.

Crappy carpenters blame their tools.