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Poor guy . I hope some of those hard comments in the game thread makes a few of us realize those are human beings out there not toys to stomp on because their performance makes us unhappy. I know that's how the whole sports and fan dynamic works but we don't always get the perfect perspective.

Games like this is when I miss Hawk. Instead of the cornball comedy hour, Hawk would just sit in silence and sulk with the rest of us.

If only there were a spot where he could just hit and not have to worry about throwing

Hey that’s demeaning to people who are 4 years old.

Alright guys, today the Sox look to win the rubber match and take the series! On the mound for the Twins is a guy that Sox players have little track record against, but one who poses a dangerous threat. As the Statcast data below shows, Maeda is a highly effective pitcher without gaudy velocity numbers, with his success driven by frequently changing speeds and getting hitters to chase sliders (against RHs) and changeups (against LHs) outside the bottom part of the zone. The slider in particular is deadly (Fangraphs ranked it 3rd overall in pitch value last year) and Maeda deploys it against righties over 50% of the time. Guys like Eloy, Abreu, & Robert will likely be pummeled by sliders down & away and will need to lay off the ones outside of the zone if they want any chance to be successful. On the mound for us is a guy coming off a very disappointing 2019 season and with an incredibly poor track record against the Twins. His career OPS against current Twins hitters is a whopping .970 and that’s over 110 ABs. I said this a ton last year, but he desperately needs to find a way to get his secondary pitches working. Obviously his fastball velocity is great, but it’s lack of consistent spin means he can’t use it 60% of the time. If he’s unable to command his slider today and goes too fastball heavy he will get destroyed by the likes of Cruz, Donaldson, & Garver. Regardless of pitch mix, having Grandal could be a game changer for Lopez as he was the most impacted starter in all of baseball last year by poor pitch framing. I know this may not be the most optimistic way to start a game-thread, but clearly this is not an ideal matchup for us on paper and I want to appease the baseball gods by being respectful of that fact. That being said, who gives a fuck because this is baseball and anything can happen on any given day, especially when you have a Luis Robert! Let’s fucking go!!

I think Tiger Woods already apologized for this one about twenty years ago...or was it schitzo? This whole "hard/tough guy" mentality thing is ridiculous. We're becoming a society of thugs and lacking in basic common decency as well as a sense of empathy for our fellow human beings.

I'll just toss this in there, you shouldn't be using derogatory terms for people with mental handicaps to describe Ricky Renteria. He is quite simply an idiot when it comes to making lineups.

All the comments about Lopez faking injury or illness during the middle of a Pandemic is exactly why I didn't think we deserved baseball to come back and why it shouldn't be played right now. Just shameful... have some perspective before you continue to clown a kid out there busting his ass. SMH

Ok Ricky

Decent attempt at covering up the fact that RR thought Maeda was a lefty.

I posted this in the other thread: The extra inning rule with a man on 2nd. Watching MLB Network earlier, and Mark DeRosa nailed it— if they were going to do it, start it in the 12th inning. Play real baseball for at least 2 more innings. And he’s right. This is unscientific, but I looked at last year’s first 60 games for each team, and the average team played 5 extra inning games and 11 total extra innings (rounded up). Most games that go to extras, end in 10 or 11 anyway, so that would have been the way to go. Me personally? I would have no problem with ties after 12, but if they’re going to play the man on 2nd thing, start it in the 12th.

Someone needs to get fired for Delmonico batting 2nd and even being on the team.

People (and their family) who have a mental disability strongly prefer the word isn’t used. So, people with basic human decency avoid using it in that context, as there are plenty of other words you can use to convey the same message. But like I said. Basic human decency.

Insofar as the rotation goes, Cease should be No. 3, Rodon 4 and bring Dunning up to be the 5. ReyLo can pitch out of the pen in the 8th when we are up by at least 6+ runs.

Lineups don't matter

Very low confidence in Lopez, was surprised they slotted him to make this series. would love to be proven wrong!

The ball was 100% not catchable

I watched Ozzie on the pre and post game shows. I think he is a better Manager that Renteria and by a wide margin.

Why? lol If you couldn't tell that I was clearly being facetious in each of those individual replies. I question if you are 4 years old, sir. Perhaps you're socially challenged? When I said that Yoan Moncada was probably "dead in a gutter" based on how the day had gone. A part of your brain should have activated which signals to normal, socially functional people "Hey, this guy is messing around". Your brain failed to do that. Interesting.

I like Delmonico a lot...but I don't want to watch him play baseball.

FO already trying to use the broadcasters as organs of the PR dept. Nice.

The baseball gods do their thing.

I know Cruz is good and I know he's a juicer and I know some guys have a team's number, but this is absolutely absurd at this point. Something has to be going on here.

Robert-Moncada 1-2 please

Lopez being forcibly removed from the rotation is an upgrade, as long as he's replaced by Dunning or Lambert and not Gonzalez.

Some stout ERAs. Since we’re going off on some interesting tangents...let’s lose the 83 uniforms until 2023.

I think you just wrote a nice epitaph for your Sox posting career under this particular avatar/screen name. ADIOS!

They did. They used to be clinical terms for a level of intellectual disability. As everyone knows, I'm autistic and I don't have a huge issue with the use of the term "retarded" with proper context. If you're using it to describe someone with an actual learning disability/intellectual disability then yeah it's hurtful. I've been called that and I don't appreciate it. It's a gray area in my book and tread lightly. In case you didn't know, retarded is actually a synonym for slow. Calling someone a retard in general is distasteful. It's not PC or anything it's about having respect for fellow human beings.

Really?

And I was so happy this morning. How quickly things can change.

Garfien will check in shortly about how Delmonico this winter caught a cat falling from a tree. While recovering from that well documented shoulder surgery that supposedly kept him from being any good at the game of baseball.

Can’t say I’m shocked that an injury opens up time for Engel and Delmonico. Both of them have had nine lives.

"Delmonico" is Italian for "miss the cut-off man"

All good! And definitely agree, Lopez should have been the #5 starter IMO.

he just sucks.

This is what happens when you have a "gut" manager who "likes a kid" for whatever reason. Instead of one who can look without bias at what the analytics have been saying for years. What other team trying to be competitive brings back a guy in his 5th year to be your #3 starter coming off of a season where he posted a 5.82 ERA and a 1.457 WHIP? Sick of Ricky

Fucking pathetic all around. This team isn't winning with Ricky, period. He's gotta go

This is my issue. Shouldn't have started this game period.

Lopez: OUT (talent)

Do the white sox not have a gun in the bullpen? A 5mph loss in velocity is usually a clear sign someones hurt. Why would they throw him out there if they knew his velo was down so much?

Here comes Gio. It's finally happening.

every advanced stat says he's horse shit.

Sup

At least I finally know who the person laughing at all my positive Collins posts is. Regardless, not sure what Mazara has to do with Collins. Would you actually rather Delmonico as a lefty off the bench than Collins? And let the record show that Abreu & Collins both put up 99 wRC+ against RHP last year. The difference is that when Collins came back up after making some adjustments in AAA he put up a 130 wRC+ against RHP. Small sample size no doubt (60 PAs), but I like what I saw from him and believe there is a role for him spelling Grandal, Jose, & Vaughn going forward.

Moncada should be the DH but I don’t really care about the day off. I’m more upset that Abreu is starting over Collins against a guy who destroys RHH but is susceptible to walks against LHH

Lopez throws a shutout and Nicky launches some homers just to spite us

In his ten best starts last year Lopez was 8-0 with a 0.80 ERA, struck out 11 per 9 and 3 1/2 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio. That's not a single fluky start...that's a third of the season. And Lopez the year before, at 24, was pretty good with sub 4 ERA in 32 starts. There is something there. To say he can't put it all together is just too pessimistic. Fulmer basically strung together nothing so to say he just needed to put it together was too optimistic.

I get not wanting to burn him out early but I'd rather play him against Minny and sit him tomorrow.

Yeah i don't like this match-up at all. I would have preferred Cease.

I've been firing Coop since like 2012. If Fulmer become a stud in Detroit, that needs to be his last straw.