We haven't had a good tirade on this blog in awhile. Rest assured, this one has been building up for most of the baseball season. Maybe I've gone too easy on the mediocre mental midgets known as the 2009 Chicago White Sox, but it's open season now after I read Paul Konerko's comment in the Sun-Times this morning after last night's lay-down-like-dogs 5-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
"Baltimore has played us tough this year," Konerko said. "We just have to win series, but the first game is always the most important of the three. One day at a time. I know it's a cliche, but we can't play Boston or New York before we play Baltimore."
"Just win series." God, I hate this mentality. I've been hearing this crap all year. Not just from Konerko. A.J. Pierzynski and Jermaine Dye have said it too. Ozzie Guillen, Don Cooper and Greg Walker as well. Even Gordon Beckham has talked about the "importance of winning series." Great. We've already infected the best young player we've had since Frank Thomas with our mental cripple bullcrap.
It's OK to give away a game to last-place Baltimore. We're just trying to win series. It's OK to give Jeremy Guthrie his first win since July 19 (which, BTW, was also against the Sox). We're just trying to win series. It's OK to wait until tomorrow to play well. We're just trying to win series.
Now you know why the Sox have swept only two series all year. The Sox are 2-9 this year when trying to sweep a series. They should have been able to go 4-7 just on accident. You can't help but wonder if there is a correlation between that failure and this "just win series" mantra they've been chanting all season.
There's a few things the White Sox need to understand:
1) The teams that win the most games go to the playoffs, not the teams that win the most series.
2) 3-0 is a much better record than 2-1. You think there is a difference between three games over .500 and one game over?
3) You can't win every series. It's not realistic.
4) You can make up for not winning every series by sweeping someone every now and then.
This last road trip was a great case in point. The Sox took the first two in Oakland, and then laid down and died on Sunday, despite a great effort from pitcher John Danks. "Oh, well. We took the series. No matter that we lost two out of three in Seattle, and could have made up for it by sweeping Oakland. We'd rather 'just win series' and settle for mediocrity. Hooray for second place!"
Despite all their sins and their pedestrian 62-60 record, the Sox still have a chance to go to the playoffs. They are only 3.5 games back of a mediocre Detroit Tigers team with 40 games to play. But every game is crucial now. EVERY GAME. You can't just brush off bad losses to bad teams because you're trying to "win series." Whether you won or lost last night's game is immaterial. All that matters is THAT DAY'S GAME.
My patience isn't wearing thin. It is gone. I received the invoice for playoff tickets in the mail last week. The money is due Sept. 2. The White Sox aren't going to see a dime of my money until Sept. 2. And they might not see a dime if they don't show me something in the next week or 10 days. Enough with the mental mistakes and enough with the pissing away of winnable games. It's time to get it together and play the game right.
I have been doing a lot of thinking, and I want to personally change my opinion on this division. The White Sox are going to win it. Detroit is going to have a very bad stretch soon, and the Sox have done well against the upper-echelon teams, so there is no reason to think it won't continue in the next couple weeks.
I spent the day at my Jehovah's Witness congregation hall and contemplated my life. The Lord does not want us to hate, so, from now on, I shall follow in that path. I would be a hypocrite otherwise. If the Sox do win the division, I will not hate it any more. My hate for Chicago has been set free.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! Nice one!
I find it funny that our blogger loves to thumb his nose on the Tigers. That's rich by our JB. Sure I expect stupidity from whitesox901 since he is a dope, but I expect better from you, JB.
It's funny that you would go mock the Tigers. Last I checked, the Tigers win series and they beat teams they should be beating. When the 2008 AL Central Champs* accomplished that?
The Tigers are superior than the White Sox. They can hit with runners in scoring position and they can defend. The White Sox can't say these things.
I have been saying all along they have been overrated all year, and they were never good. When are White Sox fans going to accept that fact? I look at JaytheJoke and WSI, and it seems fans are thumbing their nose on the Tigers and talking playoff opponents.
Here's something to think about. The Tigers lead the division by 4 games now. Put that in your smoking pipe.
Even better, the Tigers don't need to rely on the commissioner this year to give them a playoff spot like the White Sox did last season.
Still using the ol' asterisk eh Timberwolf? Yeah...and I'm the dope.
That asterisk is staying forever, and I enjoy writing it too. The fact White Sox fans are ticked off makes it even a pleasure.
We all knew what took place in September. There wasn't no coin flip. The commisioner made it a point to make sure the 2008 AL Central Champs* were playing the Twins at Satanville (my cute nickname for Chicago). The commissioner wanted a Chicago/Chicago World Series after the Yankees would not qualify for the playoffs so he spiked it.,
Funny thing is the Cubs got swept by three games in an embarrassing fashion by the Dodgers, and the 2008 AL Central Champs* went out meekly against the Rays.
So much for Bud Selig's dream.
Maybe Bud should just worry about promoting baseball teams instead of worry about wanting a big team making the series for ratings.
That asterisk is staying forever, and I enjoy writing it too. The fact White Sox fans are ticked off makes it even a pleasure.
We all knew what took place in September. There wasn't no coin flip. The commisioner made it a point to make sure the 2008 AL Central Champs* were playing the Twins at Satanville (my cute nickname for Chicago). The commissioner wanted a Chicago/Chicago World Series after the Yankees would not qualify for the playoffs so he spiked it.
Funny thing is the Cubs got swept by three games in an embarrassing fashion by the Dodgers, and the 2008 AL Central Champs* went out meekly against the Rays.
So much for Bud Selig's dream.
Maybe Bud should just worry about promoting baseball teams instead of worry about wanting a big team making the series for ratings.
It's one reason why I enjoyed the Cubs and the 2008 AL Central Champs* demise.
God your so effing stupid Timberwolf. Like Bud really went out of his way to get the White Sox in the play offs. I can't beleive anyone can actually be that delusional, crazy and in its own little world that someone actually believes that. What other conspiracy do you got? FDR knew the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor and didn't try to stop it just so we could get into WW2? Your mom must of really been quite the pot smoker when she was pregnant with you.
You are right, that asterisk is going away, and I never really enjoy writing it eithr. The fact that it made me look dumb isn't ever a good thing
We all knew what took place in September. There was a coin flip. The commissioner made them flip a coin too see where a tie breaker would be played. Sox won it, so the 2008 AL Central Champs were playing the Twins at the Greatest City on Earth (my cute nickname for Chicago).
Funny thing is the Cubs got swept by three games in an embarrassing fashion by the Dodgers, and the 2008 AL Central Champs went against a well rested Rays.
CabbagePatchKid Wrote: "There wasn't no coin flip."
I am so glad you admit that, Timberwolf! I mean, if there "wasn't NO coin flip," then that means there WAS clearly a coin flip. I'm sure you were aware that a double negative forms a positive if you were the journalist you claim to be. :)
Our residential idiot here mentioned to me about coin flip so I am just telling that idiot that coin flip never happened. I did not in any way referred to a coin flip other than talking about what he said. I am not sure where you are going with that, HEATHERINCHICAGO.
I wish I Ccould just be ignorant all the time like Timberwolf and not even care...
Aren't you ignorant all the time, whitesox901? Your next educated comment on sports or anything in general will be your first. You add nothing but garbage here. You know nothing about sports, and often times, you copy whatever other people say. Come up with an orginal thought that is not made by someone, and then I will start taking you seriously. It's probably why you don't post JaytheJoke knowing full well folks like Tyrone Briggs, TomD, Dave, Madhouse, Niteowl, and others would call you out. You don't even have the guts to post there since you are scared.
Yeah, like I care what some guy i've never met and probably never will meet on the internet thinks about me, right, that's why I don't post there. And when was the last time I copied someones post?