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Wide Man Cock

The true perspective is that To really enjoy a team you have to analyze everything that is wrong with it. Not just today but the future and the past. Rooting out every flaw brings joy and happiness. The ultimate experience is finding something horribly wrong that other fans haven’t figured out yet. Folks that just go to games and cheer and don’t know all the problems never have as much fun as fans who already know how bad the 2024 line up will be.

A new younger manager.

Been following game threads for a very long time and thought maybe we should put these games of late into some perspective. On August 2, 2005, Sox fans woke up to a 69-36 record and a whopping 15 game lead. By Sept. 23, that lead shrunk to a game and a half with a record of 91-61. The Sox finished the season winning 8 of their last 10 and the postseason was well, fantastic. Two points: One, do not get overly comfortable thinking the Central is decided even though this year's version of the Indians is probably not near as good as the 2005 team. The 2005 Indians won 93 games and I think it is a stretch that they will win even 90 games this year. Secondly, however, and more importantly, like all sports, how the team plays in September and beyond is so much more important than these games in August. I don't agree with Tony's decisions all the time but I do think he knows what lies ahead. We have a luxury no one else in our league has right now, especially the teams we have been playing the past couple of weeks. We have time to settle our bullpen, get Kimbrel accustom to his new role, get players rested and ready because we do have a September and probably an October this year. I would like to win more games too and have been frustrated with some of the results lately but I also believe this team may just be a different beast come Sept. 23. Every other team in the league would love to be in our position.

Poppy the last 2 innings

TLR once again playing 4D chess against the SoxTalk crybabies

im glad TLR is showing everyone the short hook. Cant get it done? Go sit your ass down.

Just stopped in to say this is pathetic. Way too quick of a hook for Kopech.

With Leury back, can we DFA Lamb and recall Sheets already?

I don't freak out over 9 innings. His WHIP drops to 1.2 without the intentional walk. Romine's home run leaves the yard in a third of the ballparks in baseball and it still needed the wind blowing out 10 MPH in 83 degree weather at Wrigley for it to leave the yard. His ERA is less than 3 without that fluke. Kimbrel has 4 wild pitches in his last 4.2IP and they're all pitching to Zavala. He had 3 the whole year pitching with the Cubs. The Sox are 3rd in baseball in wild pitches and third in passed balls. You would think they have a really wild pitching staff but they also have the lowest number of HBP of any team in baseball. Zavala has 16 wild pitches and 7 passed balls in 214.2 innings. For catchers with at least 200 innings caught, Zavala leads the league in passed ball/inning and is 4th in the league in wild pitches/inning. But yeah, go off on the 9 innings.

There's plenty of them around here for ya.

i havent felt bad about a win in a long time

12 LOB and 3 thrown out on the bases. Doing everything possible to lose.

No one instills confidence in his guys quite like TLR!

Keep Yoan at the 2nd spot

4 innings, we've already left 6 on base. Getting some more hits with RISP tonight, but still also leaving runners on.

Welcome to Soxtalk.

I hated the deal when it first broke and I hate it even more now that he's reverted to being bad again.

I get "rest, load management, healthy for the stretch run"...I get that. But to put that 5-9 up against a good team when you still could be in the running for at least one round of homefield advantage is just laughable. Andrew Vaughn should be playing EVERY game that Grandal & Anderson are sitting out. I loved the moves Hahn made at the deadline (including Kimbrel- it's going to work itself out by October), but the move he didn't make - an impact bat - is surely slapping us all in the face nearly every game...and yet they still sit AV 2 games at least a week. I don't understand it. And Mendick getting a week of starts in late August may quite honestly prove that Hahn blew it this season.

I think he just posted above you.

How can I take your post seriously when you say this about Hall of Famer LaRussa. The guy has done a masterful job amid all the injuries and actually is more baseball smart than any "expert" on this board. Yes he is. Substandard manager? Geez. Suffice it to say no manager in this day and age of analytics can survive scrutiny. I'd say in a significant percentage of losses in close games you can point to 3-4 second-guess instances involving the manager costing the team the game. LaRussa does a fine job with what's available to him. I can't take your long post seriously when you make a statement like that about a Hall of Famer/grade A manager.

I don't see how you can blame Tony LaRussa for a lot of the things you blame him for. Why were the 2005 Sox so good in 1-run games? You said it above -- they were a veteran team. They had top of the line starting staff, and the bullpen didn't blow leads. Why are the current Sox sloppy? Again, they have several rookies, and guys playing out of position. Their current main backup catcher has 2 passed balls a night. The 2005 Sox had Crede and Uribe and Iguchi. (BTW - the Cesar Hernandez throw to third last night reminded me of one Iguchi turned in the 2005 playoffs.) Is it poor bullpen management, or a bunch of relievers who are not reliable? Did Tony LaRussa ruin Jason Kimbrell, or is he just not pitching as well as he was earlier in the year? Did Tony cause Hendriks to tip his pitches against the Yankees? Is Tony the reason Bummer goes through stretches where he can't throw strikes? Tony uses his whole roster, and it has been to very good effect for the most part. Is that an "obsession" over platooning? ******** Having said this, I would agree with the premise that the 2021 Sox have a much bigger hill to climb than the 2005 Sox. The 2005 Sox went wire to wire, had the best record in baseball, and were the best team in baseball. The 2021 White Sox can beat anyone if they are on their game, but they could also lose to anyone else in the playoffs if they aren't.

He has a 4.24 FIP, 1.29 WHIP, 5.79 ERA and has given up 2 homers in 9 innings. He also has 4 Wild pitches in those 9 innings. He's also got the 3rd highest contract on the team. Again, the excuses for Kimbrel are laughable. He needs to be dominant, not just another guy.

Lol. I "crowed" about Grandal catching 120+ games this year because is he is one the best 2-3 catchers in the game. It sucks he's had knee issues this year. Shit happens. Doens't change the fact that this team is far far far far better with Yasmani catching and in the lineup as opposed to not. No amount of bullet points you make up to try to prove your dumbass point is going to change that.

People keep comparing 2005 to 2021. I was confident by May 2005 the Sox had a serious shot at the World Series. I do not have the same confidence this season. Here are the primary differences as I (and I believe many others) see them between the two teams: Health: The 2005 lineup and starting staff was healthy all year. AJ played 128 games, the least among the nine starters. Half of the 2021 Sox lineup will be fortunate to reach 128 games this season, with starters Grandal and Engel likely having lingering issues and availability concerns through the playoffs. Tested vs. Untested: The 2005 was a solid experienced team. A 30 year old second baseman was their "rookie". The 2021 team has three untested key rookie starters, one learning multiple positions on the fly and two with under 100 games over 2 seasons due to various injuries. Manager: Ozzie managed the starting staff well, and more often than not pushed the right buttons when managing the bullpen, comfortable changing closers on the fly. Ozzie was familiar with the team, he and Kenny made moves in the offseason to address holes, they were ready to play. Tony does not have a handle on when his pitchers are gassed, prefers a push button approach and also did not have two key contributors capped in terms of usage. COVID: Beyond Tony, the current team is coming off of the 102 game owner lockout from last season, and unlike 2005, we just don't know how the starters, especially Rodon and Cease, will hold up with the substantial increase in year over year innings. Competition/ Home Field: In 2005, I didn't see any team the Sox' equal heading into the playoffs. In 2021, series vs. Tampa, Houston and New York seem to most as coin flips the Sox can win, but are not necessarily favored to win. There also appears to be a good chance the Sox will be going through all three rounds on the road, whereas the Sox had home field advantage throughout 2005. The NL has the Dodgers and other teams who are playing much stronger than the 2005 Astros if the Sox reach the World Series. Can the Sox overcome these burdens / difficulties? Yes. Are they facing a greater challenge than the 2005 team heading into the playoffs? Yes. Do many people feel the consistent mistakes, poor close game management (Tony is 12-20 in one run games, Ozzie was 35-19 in 2005), Tony's obsession over platooning (hitting and pitching), sloppy baseball fundamentals under Tony La Russa (Tony's sloppy team is 25th in errors, Ozzie's team was 9th) , and poor bullpen management (Tony's team is 21st in blown saves (9 from bottom), Ozzie's team was tied for 11th despite having 3 closers) are likely to cost the Sox in October? Yes. The Sox not only have to overcome solid playoff opponents but also their substandard manager, and substantial injuries. Despite going "all in" except for the manager position (AJ Hinch is having a great season in Detroit), there are many legitimate question marks heading into the postseason. This is the reason many fans have expressed legitimate concerns this year, regarding the substantial obstacles this team is facing vs. the 2005 team.

Kimbrel is broken. I'm not sure if putting him in the closer's role alone is going to fix his issues. His fastball is down half a MPH with the Sox than it was when he was on the Cubs. You can maybe attribute this to him not having the adrenaline of a save situation. This velocity is more or less similar to what he threw with the Cubs in 2019 and 2020. He's also throwing the fastball for a ball 42% of the time, up from 34% with the Cubs in 2021. Even when Kimbrel was bad for the Cubs in 19-20, he only threw his fastball for a ball 36% of the time. The biggest difference is how his curveball has looked and performed since he moved to the Sox. Below are 3 pitch heatmaps of his knuckle curve. The 1st is his time with the Cubs in 2021, the 2nd is his time with the Sox, the 3rd is his time with the Cubs in 2019 and 2020 (when he was pretty bad). 2021 Cubs 2021 White Sox 2019-2020 Cubs His map with the Sox looks a hell of a lot more like his map with the Cubs in 2019 and 2020 than in 2021. Granted, maybe his location hasn't been quite as erratic, but he's clearly throwing the pitch more out of the zone and towards the left handed hitter's batter's box. If this is the shape of his curve, there's no way he can effectively throw it to left handed hitters without hitting them (which he did in his outing against Oakland). It may explain why he's struggled with lefties so far with the Sox and why he's throwing the knuckle curve about 5% less. His curveball with the Cubs in 2021 was mostly in the lower part of the zone or out of the zone, but not enough to hit a left handed hitter. I read this FanGraphs article earlier in the year that stated how Kimbrel kind of fixed himself in ST: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/craig-kimbrel-is-dominant-once-again/ If you've watched him so far, this looks like it's happening again. He's missing with the fastball a lot glove side and his curveball is once again inconsistent and all over the place. Whatever he did in ST to fix himself, he's gotta do it again. A change in roles alone won't fix him.

I mean it was a rough 8th again but maybe next time just take an edible and a walk around the block.

Great Colson game. 2-2 with a 2B and a walk

Kimbrel will probably get a save opportunity tomorrow if there is one. So we'll finally see how that goes.

Fire Katz bring back Cooper

We'll all die someday, might as well enjoy the ride. We'll win. Eat Arby's.

I rag on Collins framing as much as anyone but it's nice to have a catcher who can actually block a pitch from going to the backstop back there.

It's been really difficult to watch the bullpen, specifically the "strength" of the bullpen. Absolutely ridiculous for this shit to keep happening

It's a reflection of the leadership.

The only team that might love to strand runners more than the Sox

Should have gotten the chance to pitch out of it IMO

Build the deepest bullpen in baseball and somehow Hendriks getting 5 out saves is still required

Only send him with 2 outs, not with one. Collins is slow. Abreu is coming up. Second bad send by Joe recently.

I know this is a lot of ifs, but if Robert had stayed healthy and he wasn't in the same league as Ohtani, he would have been an MVP candidate this season

#3 has some merit to be honest, Ray

To be fair, all fans are idiots

Don’t care.

If we did a drinking game that included Bacon saying "leak" or "leaking" we'd all be passed out by the 3rd inning

Personally, I would wonder what took Tony so long.

Frank being essentially a non-player for 2005 was the one thing that always saddened me about that season. His career was built to finally, at long last, climax as a factor on a Word Series team that year.

July 29, 2021

We are 3-0 in games started by Jose Berrios this year. His ERA is 4.50 in those 3 starts.

LaRussa is asleep in the dugout blah blah blah LaRussa is a button pusher blah blah blah LaRussa doesn't have the fire and the passion blah blah blah

Wow. A lot of which struggling guy deserves to be where? If you think our system is better than near the bottom, realize a power hitter who isn’t hitting for power and striking out 43% of the time moved up four spots.

Clearly Pilkington is going to win several Cy Youngs in his future, and most likely, if he stays healthy, be in the HOF. Hernandez is up there in all time terrible, but not as bad as Madrigal who definitely would be the worst player ever to put on a major league uniform if Zack Collins wasn't standing in the way.