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12 hours late

By The Cheat

I fell asleep almost immediately following the game last night. With the lights on. And the TV on the History channel. That's how I roll. Anyone wanna meet at Denny's for the early bird special?

Anyway, sorry for skipping out on the recap. I'm still trying to figure out Jon Garland, and I think that has a lot to do with his success this year. He keeps reinventing himself. He never seems to attack a team the same way twice.

I'm pretty sure Wiz will have a quotes post up by the time I finish writing this -- that's just the way thing invariably end up around here (Yep, ONE FREAKIN' MINUTE apart!) -- but I found this passage from Whalen's blog to be the most interesting thing I've read this morning.

Remember all those stories about how Ozzie would come in - when he was first hired - and turn up the music after a loss? He was trying to instill the attitude of, this is just one loss, forget about it, move on.

Well, the music hasn't been on after a loss in a long, long time. He hasn't done that.

I think he's a good baseball manager, a fantastic person to deal with and the right man for the job, but since the middle of last year when Detroit started pulling away, Ozzie has taken this job very seriously it's rubbed off on the players.

There isn't as much fun in this clubhouse as there once was.

That, in a nutshell, is what I think is wrong with this team right now. A little mindset change and they're right back in it; if they take themselves too seriously, though, this season could be a long one.

Ozzie has seemed to be pretty much the same guy with the media, creating diversions when his team is struggling and deflecting almost all of the blame... until recently. As Guillen grew tired of the losing on the road trip, with the offense getting shut down by the Twins and Jays pens, and the Sox pen getting beat down, he started to place the blame squarely on the players shoulders.

I think Ozzie's an excellent manager when it comes to how he runs his clubhouse and relates to this players, but it appears that he's running out of ideas this season as the players just aren't performing. Whalen seems to think that's, in part, because Ozzie himself has created a more tense environment. While I know we make fun of the fabled clubhouse chemistry powers of Aaron Rowand -- DRINK! -- I think Whalen is on to something here because it's Ozzie who sets the tone for the whole team. And there's no denying this team has been tight, pressing, afraid to lose, any number of sports cliches since the All-Star Game last year.

I don't think any one player can fix it. I don't think and one game can fix it. I don't even think Ozzie can fix it. These Sox need a real (non-Prinz/Bukvich) shakeup if they intend to get back into the race.

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