Baseball

Series Preview – White Sox vs. Mets: Take A Bite

By Andy Jonathan 1520 0

vs.

 

RECORDS: White Sox 46-57   Mets 50-55

GAMETIMES: Tuesday/Wednesday 7:10 Thursday 1:20

TV: Tuesday WGN, Wednesday/Thursday NBCSN

And that’s when the CHUDs came at me: Mets Blog

 

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Reynaldo Lopez vs. Noah Syndergaard

 Lucas Giolito vs. Jacob deGrom 

Dylan Cease vs. Zack Wheeler

 

PROBABLE METS LINEUP

Jeff McNeil – LF

Pete Alonso – 1B

Robinson Cano – 2B

Michael Conforto – RF

Wilson Ramos – C

Todd Frazier – 3B

Amed Rosario – SS

Juan Lagares – CF

 

PROBABLE WHITE SOX LINEUP

Leury Garcia – CF

Yoan Moncada – 3B

Jose Abreu – 1B

James McCann – C/DH

Eloy Jimenez – LF

Jon Jay – RF

Tim Anderson – SS

Wellington Castillo – DH/C

Yolmer Sanchez – 2B

 

This has the makings of an interesting series. The pitching matchups are about as marquee as the Sox could hope for. Tim Anderson and Eloy Jimenez are both going to be back in the lineup, which hopefully means less Adam Engel and AJ Fieri on my TV set. Also, the MLB trade deadline is tomorrow which could add some intrigue to the games, as both the Mets and Sox have pieces to move.  Some of which have been linked to the other team. While I’m not holding my breath that the Sox will trade for Syndergaard or Wheeler, it would be pretty hilarious to watch one of those guys amble out of the Mets dugout and walk across the field to head right into the Sox one.

The Mets come into the series on somewhat of a roll, having won four in a row and five out of their last six games. Overall, they’re 10-5 since coming out of the All Star break having scored 94 runs in that 15-game span.  Their pitching has been pretty lights out, having only given up 48 runs in that time. Syndergaard in particular has looked more like his old self after having a rocky first half of the season (just in time for the trade deadline!). In his last seven starts he’s gone 3-1 with a 3.43 ERA and 45 Ks compared to 15 BBs. This is a far cry from the 5.00+ ERA he sported at the end of May. He’s still vulnerable to the long ball, which works in the Sox favor playing at home and having Eloy and Tim back.

On the offensive side, the Mets still have their table set for them by super utility man Jeff McNeil and Amed Rosario.  Both of them get on base at a prodigious clip and allow rookie (and noted Paul Konerko Fan) Pete Alonso to knock them in. Alonso has slashed himself to a .258/.363/.596 line with 34 HR and 77 RBI so far in the season. The scary thing about that line is his BABIP currently sits at .269, which shows despite the gaudy stats he’s actually had pretty bad batted ball luck.  If he were to rise to the mean…man. Dude is a pretty special hitter, and I’m super glad to have him on my fantasy team.

On the other side of the field the Sox have been the polar opposite of the Mets.  Having gone 4-13 after the All Star break and scoring a meager 51 runs in that span while giving up 92, the Sox are hoping the return of Eloy and Tim to the lineup and the ejection of Dylan Covey to the Negative Zone will help those splits. They’ll have a decent chance with Lopez, Giolito and Cease taking the bump against the Mets. Lopez has been above average post ASB with a 1-1 record and a 1.90 ERA over his last three starts. Lopez’ has found the control on his fastball, being able to dot it at the top of the zone with added movement. In addition his off-speed offerings have been in the lower part of the zone, keeping hitters off balance. Most importantly he’s lasted longer in games, as he’s gone 21 innings in those three starts.

Offensively the Sox have been…offensive. Anyone not named Yoan Moncada has been scuffling, especially Jose Abreu. Hopefully with some protection in the lineup for him now Abreu will settle back down and his OBP will rise back up to it’s usual .390 area. Anderson hit pretty well during his rehab stint in Charlotte and had no issues in the field so the hope is that he can hit the ground running.

Trade deadline implications aside, the Sox have a decent shot at winning this series if all breaks their way. I’d prefer to not think about the other side of the coin. Here’s hoping that not only they win the series, but score a starter from the Mets in the process to fill that void in the rotation.

Let’s go Sox!

 

Baseball

Series Preview – White Sox vs. Twins: Monkey Knife Fight

By Andy Jonathan 2200 0

vs.

Records: Twins 61-40   White Sox 45-54

Gametimes: Thursday & Friday 7:10/Saturday 6:10/Sunday 1:10

TV: Thursday/Friday/Sunday NBCSN – Saturday WGN

Ozzie Guillen’s Kryptonite: Puckett’s Pond

Pitching Matchups:

Jose Berrios vs. Lucas Giolito

Michael Pineda vs. Dylan Cease

Martin Perez vs. Chevy Nova

Kyle Gibson vs. Dylan Fucking Covey Again

PROBABLE TWINS LINEUP

  1. Max Kepler – CF
  2. Jorge Polanco – SS
  3. Nelson Cruz – DH
  4. Mitch Garver – C
  5. Marwin Gonzalez – RF
  6. Eddie Rosario – LF
  7. Jonathan Schoop – 2B
  8. Luis Arraez– 3B
  9. Miguel Sano – 1B

 

PROBABLE WHITE SOX LINEUP

  1. Leury Garcia – RF
  2. Yoan Moncada – 3B
  3. Jose Abreu – 1B
  4. James McCann – C
  5. Ryan Goins – SS
  6. Jon Jay – LF
  7. AJ Reed – DH/Appetizers
  8. Yolmer Sanchez – 2B
  9. Adam Engel – CF

 

Here we go again with these guys. Since the last meeting between the two rivals, the Sox and Twins haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory. The Twins have gone 9-10 whilst the Sox shit all over themselves post-ASB to the tune of 6-10. The Twins come into the series having given up approximately 3,000 runs to the Yankees while scoring 2,900 in a series where the Bronx took two of the three. The Sox did the opposite, giving up hardly anything to the Marlins but not hitting anything after the first night win.The Twins could really use a series win to turn their fortunes around, and the Sox could use a few wins to build momentum of their own after gagging out two losses against one of the league’s worst teams.

The Twins come into the series as one of the hotter hitting teams in the AL. Unfortunately for them, the Regression Monster has come home to roost for their starting rotation, which has been giving up as many runs as the Twins have been blasting out. Jake Odorizzi, Martin Perez, and Michael Pineda have all seen their ERA rise dramatically in the past few weeks. Even staff ace Jose Berrios has had a few rough outings of his own, though not to the extent of the other three. Kyle Gibson is the trend breaker, as he was never that good to begin with so he didn’t have that far to fall.

Like I mentioned above, the offense for the Twinkies has been carrying them to most of their wins. Polanco, Cruz, Rosario, and Kepler have been banging out hits at an alarming rate, and Miguel Sano has cut his strikeouts and gotten his OBP up to more respectable levels to go along with his considerable power. The Twins are still missing wunderkind Byron Buxton, who’s been banished to the dark room with a case of brown brain after making yet another highlight reel diving catch in center field. CJ Cron, who had been having a pretty solid year as well, goes back on the IL with more thumb issues, forcing Sano into the field and a call up for prospect Luis Arraez. Arraez has acquitted himself pretty will to the MLB level so far, sitting with a .379 average and over .900 OPS. Granted its a small sample size with less than 150 at bats under his belt, but still not too shabby.

The Sox on the other hand are having trouble putting the bat on the ball, despite the nine-run outburst Monday night against the Fish. They’ve struck out 32 times as a team in the last three games, and that’s with facing only one real quality pitcher in Caleb Smith. The starting rotation has improved, with the exception of Dylan Covey, who is unable to make it through an opposing lineup more than 1.5 times per night. This could be helped with an opener, but alas this is a bridge too far for Renteria who just wants you off his lawn. Yoan Moncada is the only player hitting consistently right now, as Abreu is scuffling and regression seems to have come for McCann. Eloy and Anderson can’t get back here fast enough to provide some protection for these guys. Lucas Giolito and Berrios go head-to-head Thursday night in a marquee pitching matchup for Guys Who Are Really Good But ESPN Doesn’t Know Who They Are. Dylan Cease gets his first stiff test of a lineup that can put any of your mistakes into orbit, so control of his fastball his going to be key. Nova is Nova, so lets just hope everybody hits for him again.

Taking the series or even splitting with Minnesota would go a long way to washing the taste of dirt out of the Sox collective mouths after the Miami series. If it’s gonna happen, Giolito is gonna have to be on his game tonight and set the tone. Lets go Sox, get me some more beers.

Baseball

Series Preview – A’s Vs White Sox: To The Coliseum

By Andy Jonathan 1765 0

   VS.

 

RECORDS:  A’s 50-41  White Sox 42-44

Game Times: Friday 9:05/Saturday & Sunday 3:05

TV:  Friday & Saturday NBCSN/Sunday WGN

Still Bashin’ Bros: Athletics Nation

PITCHING MATCHUPS:

Game 1: Mike Fiers vs. Chevy Nova

Game 2: Chris Bassit vs. TBD (Probably Dylan Cease)

Game 3: Brett Anderson vs. Reynaldo Lopez

 

PROBABLE A’S LINEUP:

1. Marcus Seimen – SS

2. Robbie Grossman – LF

3. Matt Olson – 1B

4. Khris Davis – DH

5. Matt Chapman – 3B

6. Josh Phegley – C

7. Ramon Laureano – CF

8. Mark Canha – RF

9. Franklin Barreto – 2B

 

PROBABLE WHITE SOX LINEUP

1. Leury Garcia – SS

2. Yoan Moncada – 3B

3. Jose Abreu – 1B

4. James McCann – C

5. Eloy Jimenez – LF

6. Jon Jay – RF

7. Yolmer Sanchez – 2B

8. Ryan Cordell – CF

9. Zack Collins (hopefully)- DH

 

 

So now begins the back nine of what can be considered a fairly successful first half for the White Sox, despite the sub .500 record.  There are a couple of storylines that bear watching, mostly the usage of the younger members of the Sox roster from here on out.  Kicking off the 2nd half is a series against the Oakland A’s, a team with playoff aspirations and the record to back it up.  They’re currently locked in a battle with the 2 Texas based teams, jockeying for position in the AL west.  The smart money is on the Astros to sew it up on the back 9, and the regression monster finally coming for the surprising Rangers.  This leaves Team Moneyball to take their standard spot as the other AL wild card team, destined to be smoked by Tampa Bay or Boston.

The A’s have made it this far mostly living off their surprising starting pitching, anchored by Mike Fiers and the surprising Frankie Montas, though I guess it’s not THAT surprising since he just got popped with an 80 game suspension for performance enhancers.  Fiers actually has been one of the better AL starters since May, tossing a No-No earlier.  He currently sports a respectable 3.87 ERA, with a 1.10 WHIP.  He doesn’t strike many people out, but he keeps the ball in the yard, especially at the canyon-esque Coliseum he calls home.  He’s also a giant dickhead, and is probably upset he’s missing out on a chance to throw at Tim Anderson’s head.  Brett Anderson and Chris Bassit have also been solid, even if most A’s fans couldn’t pick them out of a police lineup.  Their bullpen is also lights out, and is set to eclipse the 6.0 WAR they put up last season during their surprising wild card run.  Fangraphs currently has them as the most successful pen in the majors so far this season.  Closer Blake Treinen has for the time being lost his spot to Liam Hendricks due to a rotater cuff strain, but should resume the gig now that he’s off the IL.  He wasn’t exactly lights out before the strain, however, posting a 4.17 ERA and blowing 4 saves.  His slider, which had been his out pitch in previous years, has been ditched for a new cut fastball.  Apparently it’s not cutting enough, because it’s being hit harder than any other of his offerings.

The A’s hitters, while not the murderer’s row offered up by the Dodgers or the Twins (ugh.  Really?), can still hurt you top to bottom.  They currently sit right in the top third of the league in hitting according to Fangraphs, and the team BABIP actually shows they’ve been the victim of some bad luck thus far.  Matt Chapman leads the way again, building off his impressive breakout season last year.  He’s already knocked out 21 dingers thus far, and maintains an .887 OBPS, which is exactly the type of player that gives Billy Beane night sweats.  Khris Davis, though hampered by some injuries so far, continues to provide pop in the heart of the lineup.  Old Friend Marcus Seimen continues to provide much improved D up the middle, and has added a little pop to his game, slugging .105 above his career average.  Even though Timmy has SS locked down for the future, this trade still stings seeing what Seimen has turned into.

As for the Sox, while it was fun seeing Giolito, McCann and Abreu in the All Star game (despite Jose going GIDP in his only at bat) it’s time to get back to doing what they do best: sit just below .500 while playing entertaining baseball for most of the time.  With no starter officially listed for Saturday yet, one would have to assume it would be start #2 for Dylan Cease.  If not, I guess we get to see more of Hoss Detwiler, though Covey may be available as well.  I’d much rather Covey slot into long relief, as it seems to be his destiny on this club.  Nova gets the start tonight, and it will be interesting to see if he can build on the little streak he had for himself before the break.  With 2 of the 3 A’s starters set to be RHP, this would be a good time to give Zack Collins a few starts either behind the dish or at 1B to give Jose a breather.  Will it happen?  With Palka being sent back down, you’d think so but we shall see.   Having a few extra days off will probably help a few of the Sox starters, as nagging injuries to Leury and Yoan could’ve used the extra time.

While the Sox -71 run differential screams 2nd half regression, some of that could be mitigated by having more than 2/5ths of an actual MLB starting rotation.  Either way, I’m hopeful for the future (and a Luis Robert September callup) and excited to see what the trade deadline and the 2nd half brings to the team.  Time to crank it up, fire it up.

Let’s Go Sox!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baseball

Series Recap – Sox Take 2 of 3 From Tigers: STONE COLD! STONE COLD!

By Andy Jonathan 1277 0

BOX SCORES:

Game 1: Rain Out

Game 2: White Sox 7 – Tigers 5

Game 3: White Sox 9 – Tigers 6 (12 Innings)

Game 4: White Sox 5 – Tigers 11

 

Wow.  Lots to talk about here, from Dylan Cease’s first ever MLB start and win, to Jose Abreu and Yoan Moncada refusing to let the Sox lose in game 2 of the doubleheader, to Reynaldo Lopez’ continued struggles in game 3 today.  There’s a lot to be excited about, and the double comeback win in game 2 is the kind of rally that fans of the team will remember for a long time.  It was FifthFeather in fact who tweeted that the game forcibly reminded him of the Christmas Blackhawks game in 2007 against the Oilers which was the birth of the Hawks tremendous run throughout the 2010s.  Let’s hope this is in that vein, as the core group of guys seems to have a little something special going on.  The quest for .500 continues, and the Sox edge ever closer.  To the bullets!

 

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

-I used the title above in reference to my favorite WWF moment ever, when Mick Foley won his first World Title on Monday Night Raw, January of 1999.  Foley (then in his Mankind persona) was facing off against The Rock (then the Corporate Champion of Vince McMahon) in a no DQ match.  Just when it looks like Foley is going to lose, the glass shattering beginning of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s music hits and the place goes apeshit.  Austin tees off on the Rock’s head with a chair and rolls Foley over for the 1-2-3.  It’s the loudest I’ve ever heard a crowd before, and Moncada and Abreu’s home runs in extra innings reminded me of this moment.  You could almost hear the glass break as Abreu somehow turned a low and away changeup from Nick Ramierez and pulled it into the Sox bullpen.  Just like on Raw, the Comiskey crowd goes ballistic and it gives me chills.  It’s probably the most exciting moment this team has had since Thome’s bomb in the blackout game against the Twins.  In a way, those 2 home runs may end up serving as bookends for the rebuild.  Let’s hope.

-Yoan Moncada also homered from both sides of the plate that night, the one from the left side being the most impressive (not just because it tied the game), as he absolutely murdered a cutter off Tigers closer Shane Green and put it 462 feet away from home plate.  I know the ball is juiced, but goddam that was a sight to behold.

-Lest we forget, Dylan Cease had his first ever major league start AND win.  He worked 5 innings, 4 of which were more than acceptable.  He came in the first, clearly bothered by nerves walking 2 and plunking one.  This resulted in the only two runs he gave up until he hung a curveball to Jeimer Candelario in the 5th.  He didn’t let that faze him, however, as he then mowed down Harold Castro with a nasty curveball after that.  He was still overthrowing his fastball, but I feel now with the first start out of the way that should abate.  His curveball is plus stuff, and his change has some sick movement on it.  I’m eager to see what he can do from here on out.

-It wasn’t all roses and dingers however.  Reynaldo Lopez had another shit outing, giving up 6 and only going 5.1 innings.  His off speed stuff just wasn’t where it needed to be, so the Tigers just zeroed in on his fastball and crushed it.  The bullpen didn’t fare any better, as noted arsonist Juan Minaya came in and promptly gave up 2 more runs.  Renteria didn’t have a whole lot of options however, what with the double header and extra innings games the previous day.

-Daniel Palka should never start in front of Zack Collins again.  If someone plays shitty defense at 1st base and bats below the Mendoza line, I’d rather have it be a prospect then the journeyman.  Seriously, Palka is hitting .022 right now.  What about him says “play him over our first round draft pick?”

-Yolmer Sanchez was heating up at the plate, so naturally someone stepped on his hand today and he had to leave the game.  Hopefully he doesn’t miss much time.

-Next up is the Cubbies and another chance to blow past .500 so I’m sure it’ll be a split.  Onwards!

Baseball

Series Preview – Twins vs. White Sox: The Evil Has Landed

By Andy Jonathan 1374 0

                 VS

Records: Twins 52-38   White Sox 37-41

Gametimes: Friday – 7:10/Saturday – 3:10/Sunday – 1:10

TV: Friday/Saturday NBCSN – Sunday WGN

Uff Da: Puckett’s Pond

Pitching Matchups:

Jose Berrios vs. TBD

Michael Pineda vs. Chevy Nova

Kyle Gibson vs. Lucas Giolito

PROBABLE TWINS LINEUP

  1. Max Kepler – CF
  2. Jorge Polanco – SS
  3. Nelson Cruz – DH
  4. Mitch Garver – C
  5. Luis Arraez – LF
  6. Eddie Rosario – RF
  7. Jonathan Schoop – 2B
  8. CJ Cron – 1B
  9. Miguel Sano – 3B

 

PROBABLE WHITE SOX LINEUP

  1. Leury Garcia – SS
  2. Yoan Moncada – 3B
  3. Jose Abreu – 1B
  4. James McCann (C/DH)
  5. Eloy Jimenez – LF
  6. Jon Jay – RF
  7. Zack Collins (C/DH)
  8. Yolmer Sanchez (2B)
  9. Ryan Cordell (CF)

 

So the White Sox managed to avoid Total Disaster for at least a few days, but now it looms large again in their windshield with the arrival of the world destroying monster that is the…Minnesota Twins?  Yeah, no kidding, I don’t get it either.  What a difference a year makes.  This time last season the Twins were moping along in the middle of the AL Central, nothing really special.  Both their young breakout stars in Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton had soul crushingly bad regression years, so bad that they were both sent down to AAA.  One of the two (Buxton) turned his shit around and set the world on fire down there, only to be roundly ignored by Twins management in what can only be described as service time manipulation.  Miguel Sano continued playing shitty, then ended up lacerating his foot somehow, and spent the entire offseason recovering from surgery.  The difference between the two has continued, as Buxton has been mashing the ball, and Sano (having missed all of spring training recovering) has been striking out in approximately half his at bats.  Normally the Twins probably would’ve sent Sano back down, but due to a rash of injuries he’s been forced to work through his issues at the big league level.

Elsewhere on the infield, Jorge Polanco is raking at a clip that earned him a spot on the AL all star team next month.  He’s hitting a cool .321 with an over 900 OPS.  I don’t know how sustainable this is, as his career OPS is somewhere around the range of  .780, and his BABIP sits at .350, which hints at some regression coming.  That being said, he’s currently the most dangerous hitter in the Twins lineup along with Max Kepler, who’s corrected most of his K issues from last year, while retaining his power levels.

The Twins pitching staff is fronted by ace Jose Berrios, their best pitching prospect since Johan Santana rolled his way through the AL central.  He’s backed up by a career year from Jake Odorizzi (who the Sox miss this turn) who has somehow not let an insanely high fly ball rate turn into a bunch of gopher balls.  Reclamation project Michael Pineda continues his return from maladies that included tommy john and knee surgeries.  When healthy during his tenure with the Yankees he struck people out at a very high rate, but was susceptible to the long ball.  That continues this season, where his HR per 9 stands at an unsightly 1.67.  Next closest on the rotation is Kyle Gibson with a 1.25.

For the Sox, the main storyline right now is the injuries to Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada.  Timmy figures to be out at least a month with a high ankle sprain, while Moncada is dealing with a contusion to his knee.  Yoan figures to be day-to-day and I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts tonight.  If he can’t go, it would probably mean Jose Rondon taking reps at 3rd.  Zack Collins figures to get more playing time now that Yonder Alonso has been DFA-ed to the Big AAA In The Sky.  Who is starting on the mound for the Sox tonight is yet to be determined, but with no moves as of yet, it figures to be a bullpen game.  If Carson Fulmer can repeat the efficiency that he showed against the Red Sox the other day, perhaps letting him go 3 to 4 innings might help an overtaxed bullpen.  Ivan Nova goes Saturday, with Giolito taking the bump Sunday.  They’ll all have their work cut out for them, as the Twins lead the AL in most offensive categories and score runs at an alarming rate.  Anything but a sweep here will probably feel like a win, so Lets Go Sox!

 

 

Baseball

Series Recap – White Sox Lose 2 of 3 to Red Sox: Complete Meltdown Avoided

By Andy Jonathan 1114 0

Game 1: White Sox 5 – Red Sox 6

Game 2: White Sox 3 – Red Sox 6

Game 3: White Sox 8 – Red Sox 7

 

I had a good portion of this recap typed up and ready to go after Alex Colome blew the save in the 8th inning today, little did I know that Jose Abreu still had one in the chamber to save the day with a blast over the green monster.  That dinger salvaged what was shaping up to be a disastrous 3 game stint against the BoSox.  Up until that point, the bullpen was burning through goodwill like it was an open methane pipeline on the side of a landfill.  In addition to that, it looks like Tim Anderson is going to be on the shelf for a good amount of time after a high ankle sprain Tuesday night.  Hopefully you weren’t on Twitter, because a phalanx of trolls came oozing out of the sewers to proclaim that Timmy is getting what he deserves for daring to have fun playing baseball.  Oh, and Moncada got drilled on the knee by Sale and left the game too.  Things don’t get any easier this weekend with a series against the Twonkies looming.

 

To the bullets:

Numbers Don’t Lie

-So the bullpen seems to have reverted to being shitty again.  The White Sox had leads in every one of these games, and in every instance the pen coughed it up.  Ruiz, Marshall and Minaya were particularly heinous this series, giving up 7 earned runs in 5.1 innings between the 3 of them.  Fry and Colome were unable to keep the BoSox at bay in the 8th inning today, getting beat by themselves and a boneheaded play by Jose Rondon, who was filling in for Moncada at 3rd.  On the plus side, Carson Fulmer looked more than serviceable Tuesday night working solidly through the first two innings of the bullpen game, striking out 3.  Hopefully this is just a blip on the radar before the pen settles back down to the more efficient version that had been showing up before.

-The defense was pretty abysmal as well.  The aforementioned blunder by Rondon, who decided to try and come home to peg Eduardo Nunez (who was halfway to the dugout by the time the ball got to McCann) on a ground ball instead of taking the easy out at first.  Tim Anderson in game 1 trying for the cross body throw instead of going to 3rd to try and save the game except Moncada really wasn’t covering the bag so whatever.  Speaking of not covering, Reynaldo Lopez threw one in the dirt that McCann had trouble with so instead of covering home like a big boy he got mad at himself and hung his head while Devers motored home uncontested.  Not a good look all around.

-The hitting, however, looked very good all series.  Realistically if you score 16 runs in a 3 game series you should probably end up with more than one win, but see the section above about the bullpen.

-Losing Tim Anderson hurts.  Just when it seemed like we had finally gotten rid of Cordell in the starting lineup with the arrival of Jon Jay, this forces Leury to SS for the foreseeable future, bringing Cordell back into the CF picture.  Things get even ickier if Yoan is forced to miss any time from his kneecap getting zapped by Sale today.  Maybe this means the return of Palkamania, but with Collins already up and not playing because of Alonso reasons I can’t see that being much help.

-Speaking of that scenario, why in the frozen fuck do you bring up Collins and then sit him for the gigantic waste of space Yonder Alonso?  Just DFA him already, his OPS is less than Nick Madrigal’s batting average in AA.

-Favorite Son Lucas Giolito looked better this time around than he did against the Cubs.  He was definitely getting squeezed by home plate ump Bill Welke, who’s zone was only slightly better than the one in Giolito’s previous start.  He seemed to be overthrowing his fastball, resulting in a definite loss of the zone at times and netting him 4 walks on the evening to go with 7 Ks.  He mentioned his body flying open during this start, which was a concern for him all last season.  Hopefully McCann and him can come up with a solution quickly, as the Twins aren’t going to give him much of a break.

-Speaking of the Twins series, the Sox have a “TBA” starter listed for Friday night’s game.  While I’d love to see Dylan Cease show up and mow down some Twins, I can’t see the Sox making this his first MLB start after his last few subpar outings in Charlotte.  More likely than not we are looking at another bullpen game, which is not even a coinflip the way some of them are throwing right now.  If they DO have a pen game on Friday night, I’d like to see Fulmer get more than 2 innings this time around.  It’s not like he’s close to being the worst starter they’ve thrown out there the past few weeks.

Onward…

Baseball

Cubs-Sox Meditation

By Sam Fels 1459 0

Instead of our usual spotlight, for the Crosstown series the three of us who have been covering baseball so far this year–yours truly, Hess, and AJ–got together to talk about the status of each team heading into this two-day gimmick on the Northside. 

Fels: We used to joke around here that these games meant little to Cubs fans and everything to Sox fans, because lord knows in the past I’ve come across more than enough Sox fans who had a “DEY COULD WIN TWO GAMES ALL YEAR BUT IF DERE AGAINST DA PACKERS I’M HAPPY” attitude about these. But it seems in the past couple Sox fans also regard these crosstown games as a ginned-up gimmick. That about right?

AJ: I would agree.  The fact that CSN (now NBCSN) has tried to turn this thing into an NCAA Football kind of rivalry with some Monopoly token kind of trophy has had the opposite effect and actually highlighted how goofy the concept is.  That, and the fact that in our heart of hearts most Sox fans that follow the team closely know the best we could hope for these past few years was a series split.  I’m wondering if now that the team is trending upward we might see a resurgence of that type of behavior.  I know personally that as much as I’d like the Sox to smoke the Cubs it’s far more important to not get clobbered by Minnesota so if they lose 3 of 4 I’m not gonna be too pissed about it.  

Hess: I am right there with you both, but I still think it is fun and kind of important that they play each other. Is it a true rivalry? No. The most heated moment in the history was the Barret-Pierzynski fight, and even any Sox who thinks they wouldn’t punch AJ when aggravated and they had the chance is a liar. But there is something fun about having them play one another, especially with the teams in the current states, as the Cubs represent everything the Sox are hoping for out of the rebuild. And the NBCSN commercials for it are nauseating.

Flipping to you, Sam – The Sox are set to see Jon Lester on Wednesday, who seems to be having more hills and valleys with his play this year than the Rocky Mountains the Cubs left behind last week. What’s been his deal?
Fels: Well, he’s old. Lester’s stuff has definitely declined a bit, which makes his margin for error somewhere in Hendricks range. Lester hasn’t been able to blow anyone away in a while, which is fine, because he could just beat the corners into submission. But now as his stuff plays even lower, he really has to hit the corners and nothing else and when he misses it’s ya-ha time. He’s been trying a new approach and trying to get inside more than just merely staying not the outside corner, but again, he can’t miss. Some days he doesn’t. Some days he does and he gets shelled. There seems to be no in between. He also hasn’t quite figured out how to make his change as effective as it should be.

Looks like this week could be the debut of another Sox toy, in Zack Collins. Is this just a Wellington injury fill-in? Is he here for good? How worried are you about the swing and miss in his game?
AJ: At this point with the hilariously bad production out of the DH spot (.191/.294/.357!?!) I’m excited to see what he can bring to the table.  I’ve set my expectations fairly low, so if he can make me forget Yonder Alonso is a thing that is here then I’ll be thrilled.  The swing and miss portion of his game seems to fit right in with most of the hitters in MLB now anyways, what with the Three True Outcomes and all, so that part doesn’t concern me as much.  What does concern me is his ability to actually stick at catcher.  If he’s unable to play there at least half time then we are looking at a career DH, as the dearth of 1B prospects the Sox have are probably gonna boot him from there.  My guess is that he’s here until Castillo is healthy, as the Sox want to try and feature The Beef as much as possible to trade him in 2 weeks.
Hess: The funny thing about the swing-and-miss in Collins’ game is that in all reality, he doesn’t swing much. He’s one of the most patient hitters I have ever seen, and only really swings if he either really has to or really gets a pitch he likes. That has resulted in hilarious strikeout and walk rates in the minors so far, as he’s basically walked or struck out in half of his MiLB PA’s. But a 15%+ walk rate is nothing to scoff at, even if it comes with a ~30% K-rate. I echo AJ’s catching concerns, but I saw him do it in person and was actually encouraged, and I also saw him play a competent 1B in person. If he can be a C/1B/DH combo with a high OBP and big power, you will never hear me complain. In terms of who he might be replacing, I would think Collins is here the rest of the year, and either Castillo or Alonso get DFA’d on August 1 if the Sox can’t get anything for them.

Speaking of new faces, the Cubs are still waiting patiently for Craig Kimbrel to arrive in full. Is he going to solve their bullpen issues well enough, or are they still gonna need to look elsewhere? And relatedly, do you think they’d be wanting enough for back-end help to pay up for Alex Colome from the Sox?
Fels: Kimbrel definitely won’t solve everything, but he’s an improvement over what they have. It pushes Strop to be the fireman of sorts, or would if Maddon were in any way creative with his bullpen usage. They’ll still be on arm short, maybe two, because Maddon may have broken Cishek last year. Right now, Kintzler and Strop are the only ones they can consistently count on. Edwards was good upon his recall, but his hurt again and you can never quite trust him. There’s a chance Alzolay ends up being another arm late in the year, but even that will leave them one short I think. And while I’d love to tell you it’ll be my guy Dillon Maples…

Colome is a name they will definitely be connected to but I think their preference is going to be someone who throws left-handed. Will Smith maybe. And I don’t think they’re going to be too interested in forking over the boat for any other reliever.
The Sox are floating around .500 without surpassing it, but that won’t change their plans much. Still, other than Colome is there anyone they can get meaningful things for at the deadline now?
AJ: The only other players who might be worth anything at the deadline would be James McCann or Jose Abreu and at this point the offer would have to be fairly impressive for the Sox to budge on either.  Though Tim Anderson has come a long way I think Abreu is still the face of the franchise, and having him here to mentor the other Cuban kids matters more than most may think.  

As for McCann, even though his BABIP is insanely unsustainable his defense and his work with Giolito combined with his super affordable price make him pretty unmovable unless a team came along with a deal Hahn couldn’t refuse.
Sam, what’s up with Javy right now?  Is this just the inevitable result of his free swinging ways catching up to him?  Or is this something more to do with the foot injury he was nursing for a few weeks?  Maybe a combination of both?
Fels: You always worry about injuries lingering, and if it were they definitely wouldn’t tell you. But mostly I think this is just how Javy is, that there’s going to be a couple weeks or month, maybe even six weeks, where he makes you tear your hair out (if I had any) and then the rest of the time he’s the best show on Earth. He’s definitely gotten a little pull-happy and whereas in May and April he was actually taking a noticeable number of walks he hasn’t walked at all in June. Maybe the heel injury has slowed his swing a touch, we’ll never know. Once he starts going back to right field again, he’ll probably put up stupid numbers again. Javy doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I learned long ago to stop questioning it.

All right, feels like we’re ready to go for these two stupid games. Let’s get through it.
Baseball

Series Recap – Sox Swept In DC: Swiss Army Fail

By Andy Jonathan 1218 0

Game 1: Sox 5 – Nats 9

Game 2: Sox 4 – Nats 6

 

That’s what I get for being overly positive in my previous recap.

The Sox came into this shortened series against the Nats on quite the roll, having won 6 of their last 7.  In those 6 games, they found quite a few different ways to win games.  In this 2 game series, they found a bunch of ways to lose them, unfortunately aided and abetted by their coach.  God, the only thing dumber than sac bunts in baseball are the “unwritten rules.”   To the bullets.

 

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

– As I mentioned above, the Sox created ways to lose these two games.  In the first, it was a complete and utter meltdown by Reynaldo Lopez.  He was staked to a 5-0 lead by some nifty hitting in the first two innings, not the least of which was Yoan’s 11th dinger of the year which was an absolute BOMB.  In addition to that it was some timely hitting by (who else) James McCann and surprisingly Eloy, who worked the count in his favor by laying off some curveballs just off the outside of the plate forcing Strasburg to come inside with a fastball.  He laced it into the outfield for a run scoring single.  I’d like to see a lot more of this from him, it gives me hope.

-Sadly, the first 2 innings were the only ones that featured any offense from the Sox as 6 of their 8 hits were contained within.  After that it was a parade of soft contact against a tired Strasburg and the Nats dumpster fire of a bullpen.  They didn’t even really threaten again until the 9th, but that fizzled out quickly with Abreu popping out in the infield.

– Reynaldo Lopez just didn’t have it tonight.  Even though he got through the first 2 innings unscathed he threw a ton of pitches, and the cracks burst open the next 3.  Nothing he threw around the edges of the plate was close enough for a strike call, and the fastballs he did throw well caught way too much of the plate, as evidenced by the fact that Rendon positively ate his lunch with 5 RBIs off a double and a dinger.  This is 2 shitty starts in a row for Rey, both featuring him not being able to command his fastball with any degree.

– The 2nd game was a literal comedy of errors, as the Sox committed blunder after blunder in the field, most of which resulted in runs.  Dylan Covey didn’t pitch too poorly and deserved better than what his D gave him.  Yolmer made an error cutting in front of Tim Anderson, then Tim responded by dropping a pop fly in the infield.  The Sox looked like they wanted nothing more than to leave DC as fast as they could, and Renteria helped them along as best he could.

-Jose Abreu and Wellington Castillo tied the game for the Sox in the top of the 8th with a pair of home runs, which held up until the top of the 9th.  Timmy led off with a single, which brought Ryan Cordell to the plate.  Renteria promptly had him lay down a bunt to try and move Tim into scoring position.  Naturally it was a terrible bunt that ALMOST turned into a double play, but Cordell barely beat the throw to first.  Rondon laced a single that Robles had trouble with and would’ve resulted in Timmy most likely being on 3rd with 1 out, but instead it was 1st and 2nd.  Ended up being a moot point since All Around Good Guy Sean Doolittle struck out both Leury Garcia and Yoan to end the inning.

– Not to be outdone by his previous Galaxy Brained decisions, Renteria brought Colome in even though it was a non-save situation.  He proceeded to throw 7 straight balls, then gave up a walk off home run to Turner, bringing this short but brutal series to an end.

– The Sox now sit 3 games below .500, and need a sweep against the Royals to get back to where they should be.  So I’m guessing they’ll lose 2 of 3.  Fuck.

 

 

Baseball

Series Wrap – Sox Take 3 of 4 From Tribe: Feelin It

By Andy Jonathan 1230 0

White Sox 10, Indians 4

White Sox 6, Indians 1

White Sox 2, Indians 5

Lucas Giolito and Tim Anderson 2 – Indians 0

 

Is…is this what pride in your team feels like?  It’s been so long, I suppose I’d forgotten how nice it was.  While the Sox still have quite a ways to go hauling themselves up the side of the Sisyphean-esque mountain that Sox management has created for itself, this is a nice marker for a team that may just have deigns on competing this year.  Even if (when) the bottom drops out and the boulder rolls back over them, it’s cool for a weekend to own a team that has knocked their collective junk in the dirt the last 5 years.   Make no mistake, while the Sox are climbing up one side of the mountain it seems the Indians are picking up speed on the other side, hurtling down towards the burning shores of the Cuyahoga.

Let’s talk about some stuff, shall we?

 

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

– If you would’ve told me two weeks ago that Manny Banuelos and Dylan Covey would outduel Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer I would’ve laughed and pushed you into the street (I’m a terrible person).  Night one saw Carrasco unable to keep his breaking pitches out of the zone, resulting in quite a few of them going back the opposite direction at speeds normally associated with satellites falling out of orbit.  Banuelos did just enough to keep the noodle-armed tribe off the basepaths and in the field, then let his offense do the rest.  Abreu, Alonso and Eloy had 7 RBIs between the 3 of them, with Jiminez breaking the ice with a 2 run double.  It’s nice to see Alonso contribute something to the equation, but he still shouldn’t be hitting fucking 4th.

 

-Night 2 saw the Covey give up a lead off bomb to Francisco Lindor (God it’s gonna suck when the Cubs sign him) that killed a Super Ropes vendor in the right-center seats.  This had me primed for another Covey Special, where I can turn the game off in the 2nd inning (the outcome predetermined) and fire up Mortal Kombat on my PS4.  I decided to keep it on a little longer, and was rewarded by the other side of the lineup jumping Bauer for 6 runs (2 earned) and making the Indians pay for some seriously shoddy D.  Covey ended up getting a quality start on the evening, plus his first win since August of 2018(!).  I’m happy for him, but if this team has any interest in making this season more than just a stop on the Eternal Rebuild Train, then he can’t be the 5th starter much longer.  Time for me to start beating the Marcus Stroman drum, eh?

 

– Game 3 was the lone blight of the weekend, with the Sox repaying the Cleveland error-fest of the previous night with the type of base running normally seen when I’m playing MLB The Show shitfaced in my basement.  The Sox ran into a double play with the Indians not even having to throw a pitch.  If you really wanna see it, you can watch the video here, but I’m not going to waste any more time on it other than to say that Yolmer and Tilson know what they did, and they better not fucking do it again.  The Sox stranded a shitload of players, Renteria left Nova in too long and pitched Herrera too much.  Fart.

 

– Game 4 was another masterful performance by Lucas Giolito, and another blast by Tim Anderson.  Seriously, I’m running out of superlatives as to just how good Gio has looked these last few outings, so instead just watch this curveball over and over again.  It’s hypnotic.  Gio ended up going 7.1 innings, with Bummer and Colome finishing off the Tribe for the series win.  The only downer on the day was Eloy striking out in each plate appearance today, still seeing a steady diet of breaking pitches.  I’m not ready to call him Pedro Cerrano yet, but the similarities are getting somewhat striking.  I still have faith he’s gonna get his timing down and send Alonso to the bottom 3rd of the order where he belongs.  Timmy continues to be the most entertaining thing since Ozzie Guillen, and his pose after he murdered the cutter from Plesac (who actually pitched pretty well) made me cackle like a mental patient.  More please.

 

Next up is a quick 2 game series against the Nats.   Thankfully the Sox manage to dodge Stephen Strasburg, who is back to his old dominating self.  The Sox currently sit 1 game out of .500 and 2 games out of the 2nd wild card spot.  The Nats are a beatable shitshow right now, then it’s another helping of the Kansas City Trash Goblins.  There’s no reason for the Sox to be anything but at least 2 games above .500 by the end of the week.  In the past, this is where the trap door would open and the Sox would plummet to the depths of the AL.  I have a feeling this time might be different.  ONWARD!

 

 

Baseball

Series Wrap – Sox Sweep Royals: KC Trash Edition

By Andy Jonathan 1338 0

 

Game 1 Box: Sox 2, Royals 1

Game 2 Box: Sox 4, Royals 3

Game 3 Box: Sox 8, Royals 7

 

 

The Sox managed to sweep a moribund KC team this week with some excellent Giolito pitching, solid offense in games 2 and 3, and a little help from Mother Nature in game one.  What does it all mean?  In the grand scheme of this season, not a whole hell of a lot.  The Royals are intentionally bad, with not much in their future that’s going to change the situation (unless watching Billy Hamilton bat .185 is your thing), and the Sox are 3 starters away from having an average MLB rotation.  That being said, the series was pretty fun, with some added spiciness tonight to add to an already simmering Hate Stew for these two teams.

 

TO THE BULLETS

 

-RIGHT TO THE SPICE!  With Tim Anderson missing the first two games because of a sore wrist, it looked like we might not get a continuation of the shenanigans that occurred the last time these two teams met.  That ended up not being the case, as Tim was in the lineup tonight and the first pitch from Glenn Sparkman sailed right over Timmy’s eyebrows and off the visor of his batting helmet.  Granted this was probably not an intentional pitch (it was a changeup that Sparkman lost the grip on and not a 4 seamer), but with the officiating crew well aware of the dumb shit that went down a few weeks ago, home plate ump Mark Carlson wasted no time sending the moon faced Sparkman to the showers.  This prompted Ned Yost to stop digging in the dugout trash long enough to come out and vomit some old timey coachins on home plate, but Carlson was not to be swayed.  Much to Anderson’s credit he kept his cool and walked down to first, later to get the last laugh in the bottom of the 8th, when he laced a double off a good Ian Kennedy slider to put the Sox ahead for good.

 

-Timmy shouldn’t have had to be so heroic however, but the continued mismanagement of the pitching staff by Renteria lead to the Sox blowing a 7-1 lead.  Going into the 6th, it was pretty clear that Rey Lopez was running out of gas.  That combined with the dreaded 3rd time through the order lead to him being charged with 4 runs in the inning.  Lopez ended up going 5.2 and throwing 118 pitches, 32 of which came in the 6th when it was clear he didn’t have it anymore.  Jace Fry and Marshall came in and performed admirably, but then it was KHT (Kelvin Herrera Time) and all of a sudden the game was tied.  It wouldn’t shock me to see Herrera on the IL here shortly, as he hasn’t been right since he tweaked his back awhile ago.

 

-Alex Colome had himself a heck of a series, getting the win in the continuation of game one yesterday, then getting the save later that night.  Tonight he was called on again to close out the win as well, pitching a solid 9th for his 11th save of the year.  With the emergence of James McCannonballs as a legit (at least for now) backstop, the trade that brought Colome here can be viewed as one of Hahn’s better moves in the past few offseasons.

 

-Lucas Giolito is now officially A THING.  It looked like his start against the Astros might have been a mirage if you watched the 1st inning in game two.  He started out pretty wild, walking one and plunking one, then giving up a bomb to Alex “Soul Stone” Gordon.  After that shot, Gio pulled his shit together and mowed the Royals down for the next 7 innings, never throwing more than 16 pitches in an inning.  His changeup is a thing of beauty, and his fastball has some pretty hilarious movement on it.  Top that off with 2 more offspeed pitches and he looks like a legitimate “top of the rotation” kinda guy.  To think this time last year I watched him give up 8 runs in 1.2 innings to a god awful Orioles team.  It’s a very welcome change.

 

-Jose Abreu and Yoan Moncada are hitting for power again!  They’re both still striking out too much, but I have a feeling once the weather settles into a warm pattern those folks sitting in the first 10 rows of the OF need to pay attention.  Moncada’s dinger tonight was also opposite field, which is awesome to see him taking what the pitcher is giving him.

 

-Eloy is still seeing nothing but a steady diet of sliders and curveballs.  When he gets his eyes timed with his wrists he’s gonna be right back to murdering the ball, mark my words.

 

-Leury Garcia started out the year with a brutal stretch, but over the past few weeks has turned things around completely.  He’s a Marwin Gonzalez-type player, with value all over the diamond and can also provide a little offense.  His robbery of Jorge Soler tonight was a well-timed thing of beauty, resulting in Soler tipping his cap to the diminutive center fielder.  I still don’t care for him leading off, but you can do a lot worse than him right now.

 

-Yonder Alonso is now batting .172, which is exactly what you want out of your fucking cleanup hitter.  /wanking motion.

 

-Next up is a 4 game series with the Tribe, with 3 of those starts featuring some form of Banuelos, Covey or Nova.  I’m sure Jose Ramierez will be hitting .340 by Monday.