Well Al today Mary Otti says we should not of bought our bubbly for celebrating our pennant listen Al that ship has saled. Yesterday before our game here in Det. Ozzie Guillen sent me and some of the boys out to buy some cases of the good stuff that we can shake up and pour on each others heads once we atchieve our Magic Number. I wanted to buy the Andre Cold Duck but Chris Widget who has quite the palate Al said the only stuff worth getting was Pipe o' Headsick '00 it has overtones of mulberry and patchouli and a nice crisp finish. We picked up about six teen cases only then little Gucci started screeching Bad drink Jack! Bad drink Jack! so to keep him quiet we also had to get a couple boxes of Sierra Missed Free. Course then we did not get to pop it open what with losing to the Tigers and all but Al it is only a madder of time.

Does Mariotti reject readers' use of the a-word and the s-word? Cause those two don't even seem arguable like this choke crap. The White Sox played way over their heads for 3 months thanks to great pitching and it was good enough to get a mediocre team into the playoffs. Now they are back to the slightly above .500 team they are on paper. They could still win it all like the Marlins did a few years ago.

reject my use of the c-word—“I am not a choker,’’ the Blizzard of Oz declares daily

Machosportswriter is in for a serious asskicking once Guillen realizes that Mariotti is calling him a ####.

Looking at it, if the Sox split the series with the Tigers, that pretty much figures to put them in the playoffs, since they'd be 96-63 going into the last three at Cleveland. Now, of course, they could get swept there in which end they'd end the season 96-66, which almost certainly would put them behind Cleveland and might put them into a playoff game for the Wild Card. (The Yankees would have to go 4-2 to match that record, Boston 5-2, so either one could do it, I suppose)

Despite that loss, the odds of the White Sox missing the playoffs are still pretty low, and it's definitely premature to call it a choke.

And if Mariotti knew baseball, he wouldn't slander Inge that way. What a blank he is.

The White Sox need to win just 3 of their last 6 games to make the ALDS. 2 wins would guarantee no worse than a playoff.

Batting someone in the 3-hole with an OPS over .740 might be a good way to win some games.

The lesson is, you just don't pitch to Brandon Inge.

I've thought for a while now that Brandon Inge was underrated by most Primates. At least, he's been pretty good at the plate against the Indians and I like his defense a lot.

if the white sox lose 3 of 4 to the tigers, the use of the choke word will be appropriate. because unless that happens, the white sox are almost assuredly going to make the playoffs.

they'll also be the team others will most want to play.

For me the funny thing is that even if the the Sox blow the AL Central they still in all probability make it in via the wild card. Which means history isn't really going to view what happened these last couple of months as anything meaningful or important. Now you can say you don't mind the Wild Card and such but one of the drawbacks is that destroys all-time historic seasons. If they blow the lead do you think they will supplant the 69 Cubs in Chicago for all-time choking? Nope because they would still make it in through the wild card and could even win a world series. If their is a Wild Card even the 69 Cubs lose their historic significance.

there is a historical semi-precedent for what the White Sox are doing--I'm surprised no one's mentioned it--the Phillies had a 16 game lead (in the loss column) on Aug 24th, 1976; that lead was whittled all the way down to 3 by Sept 17th; but then they "blew it" by finishing the season 13-3 and winning by 9 games

so no one remembers them

so no one remembers them
I (mis)remember them -- I always thought that was in '78. Even after that bad stretch they still won 101 games.

Or maybe they went through a similar stretch in '78. IIRC, Randy Lerch hit two homers in the game that sort of broke the spell (and pitched well to boot).

Has anyone noticed that there is a reasonable chance that the Red Sox, Yankees, Indians, and White Sox could all finish with identical 96-66 records? Hell, if the Angels win their last six, the top five would have that record.

Now, of course, they could get swept there in which end they'd end the season 96-66, which almost certainly would put them behind Cleveland and might put them into a playoff game for the Wild Card. (The Yankees would have to go 4-2 to match that record, Boston 5-2, so either one could do it, I suppose)

They'd both have to do that, of course, since someone has to win the AL East. Pretty hard to do, since they play three games against each other.

I cannot let an article about choking go by without mentioning the 1995 Angels.

I've thought for a while now that Brandon Inge was underrated by most Primates. At least, he's been pretty good at the plate against the Indians and I like his defense a lot.

As someone who routinely cursed his work as a catcher, I admit that Inge has become better as a hitter than I ever thought possible. He is an overall plus as a 3B, and I am happy to admit I was wrong about him.

Looking at it, if the Sox split the series with the Tigers, that pretty much figures to put them in the playoffs, since they'd be 96-63 going into the last three at Cleveland. Now, of course, they could get swept there in which end they'd end the season 96-66, which almost certainly would put them behind Cleveland and might put them into a playoff game for the Wild Card. (The Yankees would have to go 4-2 to match that record, Boston 5-2, so either one could do it, I suppose)

2 more wins guarantees the Sox at least a WC playoff. Since the Red Sox and the Yankees play 3 against each other, one of them is has to have at least 2 more losses, giving them 66. 2 more wins for the White Sox guarantees them no worse than 66 losses.

(The Yankees would have to go 4-2 to match that record, Boston 5-2, so either one could do it, I suppose)

The Yanks have three more games against the Orioles, who look about as bad as it's possible for a team to be. Miguel Tejada is the only thing standing between them and the '62 Mets.

The O's winning any of those three games would be an upset on the level of Villanova over Georgetown.

I was trying to think of a parallel to Inge: someone who didn't hit well enough even to play a right-of-spectrum position when he came up, but later hit well enough to hold his own at a more hitterly position. Jose Oquendo, maybe; but the Mets brought Oquendo up much too young to find out if he could hit anything. Inge was 26 and still a dreadful hitter.

Mari Otti has written this choke column 7 times this month... 7 times!

Here's what the Sox have done after each column.
Sep 1. W - start of 7 game winning streak
Sep 15. L
Sep 18. W
Sep 20. W
Sep 22. L - won next 3
sep 25. W

I was trying to think of a parallel to Inge: someone who didn't hit well enough even to play a right-of-spectrum position when he came up, but later hit well enough to hold his own at a more hitterly position. Jose Oquendo, maybe; but the Mets brought Oquendo up much too young to find out if he could hit anything. Inge was 26 and still a dreadful hitter.

Eli Marerro, who is Inge's number one comp at age 27, jumped from a .225 BA to a .266 BA from year 26 to 27, and has seemed to maintain that new level somewhat. However, did continue to play a number of games as a catcher until age 28 (44 games that year).

I was trying to think of a parallel to Inge: someone who didn't hit well enough even to play a right-of-spectrum position when he came up, but later hit well enough to hold his own at a more hitterly position.

From .691 OPS Centerfielder to .981 OPS Third Baseman: The Melvin Mora Story

Mike Sweeney went from a 90 OPS+ catcher to a 130 OPS+ first baseman overnite. Because of Jesus.

I've thought for a while now that Brandon Inge was underrated by most Primates. At least, he's been pretty good at the plate against the Indians and I like his defense a lot.

He is an adequate player. It'd be nice if he could hit like last year as a catcher.

I remember the '76 Phils. I think there was more panic than usual because of 1964 - and also the 1950 team almost blew a 7-game lead in the last two weeks before winning the pennant on the last day.

Ex-Sox GM Ron Schueler was a reliever on that '76 team for what it's worth - not a whole lot. A few other Sox/Phils connections from that team: Dick Allen, Jay Johnstone, Jim Kaat, Greg Luzinski and Ron Reed.

"Eli Marerro, who is Inge's number one comp at age 27, jumped from a .225 BA to a .266 BA from year 26 to 27,"

Eli had good minor league numbers- Pecota would not say they were comparable at all. Inge's minor league numbers suggested someone who'd struggle to clear the Mendoza Line- which Inge did in fact struggle with his first 800 at bats or so. Plus they are only comparable after Inge's age 27 season.

If you look at Inge's 10 BBRef comps through age 26- it's gruesome- NONE of them (save Inge) learned how to hit. The best career OPS of the entire group was George Gibson with an 81. Gibson also had the most career at bats- 3776.
Inge's minor league numbers suggested someone who'd struggle to clear the Mendoza Line- which Inge did in fact struggle with his first 800 at bats or so.

Even looking at Inge's 10 age 27 comps- teh list is still gruesome- only 2 ended up with career OPS+ of over 100. And those 2 guys played from 64-74- their raw numbers may have been similar but in fact they were not comparable to Inge- tehy were distinctly better players.

Even assuming Inge's [failed?] conversion to catcher deflated his hitting numbers a bit, I tend to assume that his age 27-28 performance is an example of a sharp peak. I'd be quite frankly shocked if he manages an OPS+ north of 100 much beyond 2006...

Sweeney hit in the minors too. Marrero and Sweeney are example of good hitter who struggled in their first exposure to MLB pitching and took awhiel to adjust.

Inge is much rarer (perhaps Mora is a better comp) a flat out bad hitter who just simply began hitting at an unusually late age

The Yanks have three more games against the Orioles, who look about as bad as it's possible for a team to be. Miguel Tejada is the only thing standing between them and the '62 Mets.

The O's winning any of those three games would be an upset on the level of Villanova over Georgetown.

You were
saying?

Like I said, Patrick Ewing is overrated.

Villanova took Georgetown to overtime in the regular season in 1984-85.

two home runs from Brandon (Frickin’) Inge, he of the .235 career batting average

Why is he using batting average to say how unlikely it was he hit 2 homers? What's next "two stolen bases from Dimitri Young, he of the 27 career triples"?

Well, everybody lost, so the Sox now only need 1 win to clinch a WC playoff.

Do you think Mariotti's unlikely villian, you know the one that prohibits him from making valid points is, Woody Paige?