This, like everything, varies by airport.

My theory is that at busier checkpoints, they're more likely to let it slide if you don't take your freedom baggie (or an individual bottle of liquid/gel) out of your bag. Smaller airports don't have as much to do so they're more thorough.

I flew out of LGB recently---no one else in line at TSA---and had forgotten to put a hotel size bottle of lotion in my Ziploc. The screener dutifully did his job and called for a bag check when he saw the lotion. After another screener took it out of my duffel and made sure that it fit in my Ziploc, they let me go.

The idiocy in this whole thing is that a full 20-oz bottle of water in another pocket of my bag made it through the same X-ray and bag check untouched.