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Now we know that HGH doesnt prevent Covid, thanks for testing it out Cruz!

please give this guy a day off and get him the fuck out of the top of the line up thank you.

Because LaRussa doesn’t clear his lineup decisions through them

This is continuing on some of the discussion that was going on in the game thread. Vaughn has hit an atrocious .043 with runners in scoring position and less than 2 outs and we're obviously wondering...how? How does a guy who looks so good the rest of the time be so horrible when it really matters? With RISP and 2 outs, Vaughn is striking out 28.6% of the time and walks only 4.1% of the time. This is in comparison to a 20.6% K rate and 10.6% walk rate with no runners on. It's like he's a completely different hitter up there. But wait, that's not all. Below are the pitch profiles he faces in these 2 scenarios. The first one is with RISP and 2 outs and second is with nobody on. Notice how the pie looks pretty different? That's because with no runners on, Vaughn sees some type of fastball almost 60% of the time. He only sees a slider on 23.6%. With RISP and 2 outs, he sees a slider 43.7% of the time. That's a huge difference in pitch profile. Vaughn's numbers on sliders: .136 AVG with a 35.4% K rate. Vaughn's numbers on fastballs: .344 with a 12.8% K rate. Most likely explanation: when the going gets tough, teams follow the scouting report a bit more and possibly throw pitchers who have better sliders against Vaughn. Who, despite his improvement this year vs. righties and sliders, still struggles mightily against them.

If Lopez can get through 4 innings allowing 2 runs or fewer then he's done his job, and if the offense can't top that then fuck them.

Doesn't make it any less frustrating, and like Fathom said, I'm sure Vaughn's exit velo numbers go way down with RISP... but... no hitter as good as Vaughn will ever sustain a .217 BABIP over an extended period of time. He only has 102 PA's this year with RISP. In the grand scheme of things, that's nothing. Vaughn is clearly pressing up there, but the strikeouts not spiking is a good sign. His pitch recognition is good and he'll eventually start doing damage in RISP like he does in every other situation. Hopefully it starts happening soon.

But they’ll just flip that switch and go on a tear come October ??

We are going to miss Madrigal.

He's banged up you fucking idiots. That stink you smell is a million dumb hot takes about him sitting yesterday going up in flames.

There is no doubt that TLR's biggest failure this year has been an almost across the board regression in his bullpen.

For the home field doesn’t matter crowd, if today’s result holds we will be 3-11 on the road against current playoff teams without going to Oakland yet.

Who’s going to hit the laugh emoji now

Just about every trade deadline acquisition has not worked out well.

All this shit could have been transmitted much more clearly pregame yesterday. If they had said TA was banged up yesterday, nobody would have been outraged. They didn’t say that. They said he had the day off and didn’t really clarify that.

1. Resting our two hottest players TA and Robert at the same time. 2. playing Goodwin, Mendick and Lamb at the same time. Terrible defense. 3. When Sox scored 2 runs in the 8th to make it 6-4, he stuck with a AAA pitcher,Wright,who promptly gave back the 2 runs. 4. no effort to come back not only leaving Wright in the 8 th. But not pinch hitting for Mendick and Lamb in the 9 th. I don’t say TLR cost us the game, but he sure looked like he punted with the lineup he put up.

You can put in on the board..... yes!!! Sorry wrong announcer. We win. Screw you Jason haters who didn't vote, did it without you.

The White Sox would seem to have a shutdown bullpen that should be the envy of baseball. They have two All-Star closers in Liam Hendriks and Craig Kimbrel. They have a lefty who can crank it up into the high 90s in Garrett Crochet. They have another lefty who has an unhittable slider in Aaron Bummer. They have a future TOR starter who can hit 100 mph on his fastballs and then break off some wicked breaking pitches in Michael Kopech They have a journeyman reliever in Ryan Tepera. And they also have former starter long man/spot starter who's having the best stretch of his career in Reynaldo Lopez. Then they have Jose Ruiz, Ryan Burr, and sometimes Matt Foster. Still injured is Evan Marshall. Yet, from game to game, do Tony LaRussa and Ethan Katz know what they are getting when they call these guys in from the bullpen? We all know about Hendriks twin meltdowns against the Yankees. Kimbrell also gave up a HR to the Yanks that put the Sox behind in the 8th inning of another game. Kimbrell also came in with a 4-2 lead in the 8th and threw 7 balls in a row last night. Aaron Bummer can be devastating, but also seems to have stretches where he can't locate his pitches. Michael Kopech seems dominant, but gave up a 2-run HR to Matt Olson that lost the series finale to the As. You get the picture. My question -- is this volatility from game-to-game unusual for such a highly touted group? Why can't they be like the Royals pen that locked down every 7th-8th and 9th inning in their World Series run? What do you think? I'm hoping they figure it out over the next month+ going into October. One benefit then is the Sox could move another starter into the pen, and they can likely shorten the list of relievers they might need. But that's not going to solve the ups and downs of their top guys. They really need their "A" list pitchers to pitch like "A" list pitchers. The 2005 Sox seemed to have a much easier job of it. Just rely on your starters to carry the load. They won the ALCS with 2/3 of one inning pitched by someone out of the bullpen! Crazy. This year, how far this team goes may depend on that bullpen locking down leads or keeping the Sox close enough for a late game strike of their own. Sorting that out is going to be a challenging task.

TLR is currently sleeping on the plane to Toronto

In all sports, coaches/ mangers have input on the roster. If it works posters compliment the person they like, if it doesn't they blame the guy they don't like. In reality none of these decisions are made in a vacuum by a single person. It is made by the group. I know people today love to blame a single person but that just isn't the way it works.

Regular season games are more important up to the point that you are qualified for the playoffs (or 99+% likely to qualify), and then playoff games are more important. The great unanswered question is whether the best chance for playoff success is a more rested team playing more road games in the playoffs or a less rested team playing more home games in the playoffs. I think home field advantage is worth pushing for but we won't really know until we get there.

No but it might be nice to give him an off day once a month.

Hahn is part of the problem. His skillset doesn't lie in the field of evaluation of sports talent. No owner will ever make him President or EVP. Better off at Amazon than 35th and Shields.

LaRussa won’t give up his guys.

My guy Rodriguez 1-2, SB. 7 game hitting streak. Not a doubt in my mind he'll be in AAA next season.

Pretty sure being a shitty offense is bad luck on the road.

How disappointing, but I’ve been told these games don’t matter and they’re going to unstoppable come playoff time!!

Tim Anderson’s late game heroics prevented two sweeps vs. NY and TB. He is the player the Sox can ill afford to lose, can see him sitting a game or two in Toronto. Hope the Sox can avoid both teams/stadiums in the playoffs.

@tray

Crochet needed to get Phillips out. The intentional walk was the right move. Cruz the other night, same thing. Guys need to do their job. The whining about LaRussa is justified at times but today it's a lack of offense as it was yesterday and for most of Friday. Tampa started shit pitchers and the offense did nothing. Maybe the offense needs to do something.

Walking in a straight line is typically not his strength

Joke’s on you, they’re gonna lose by like 8

August 22 and this old asshole is still trying to "get a feel" for what guys he wants in what situations? Fuck outta here

I'm finding it difficult to believe we will win this game.

Thanks again, for punting the series. Definitely not important games, am I right? More important to be the road team in the postseason.

Vaughn up with 2 outs and RISP...might as well have just sent Eloy there.

He has a 7+ ERA, so only the Sox seem to have a problem

Who needs HFA when you can't beat good teams on the road yet. Wait.....

Meanwhile how many of these “this game doesn’t matter” efforts will this team have during the 2nd half of the season. Been way too often already. If Hahn and company were planning on this approach, he should have upgraded the bench at the deadline.

This is getting ridiculous with the resting. Your just punting away multiple games now if that’s case in this situation. If TA is hurt, than I can understand but cmon! You got to try for home field advantage.

I agree...and extra bench-bat like Sheets or legs like Hamilton are more useful in playoff baseball IMO.

This season is going to end one of two ways. If the Sox flame out early in the playoffs people will say that our division sucked, we weren't big game tested all year, and Larussa screwed up with lineups/matchups/in game decisions and cost us the series. If we make it to the WS, people will say Larussa was an f'ing genius for resting players along the way, managing his roster to keep the team afloat despite all the key injuries, and he is still ahead of his time as a manager. The narrative is already written. It is only a matter of which scenario plays out.

I loved Jimmy Piersall.

Never been this excited for the return of a sub .200 hitter and doubt I ever will be again. I wouldn't be shocked if Yasmani finished the year very strong.

It's starting to come back to me why I wasn't very keen on TL back in the day.

No. They should just get outs instead. Pretty simple.

Put him on the Yankees and he's a lock for the top 100

We made it to the game driving 84 miles from Punta Gorda and yes I was pissed. TLR and I are just about the same age and pretty sure I have more on the ball than he does. I was a good friend of Jimmy Piersall back in his broadcasting days with the Sox and he hated TLR, I can only imagine what he'd be saying about him now.

That’s actually pretty cool, even if none of them are top 100 prospects. Burger & Sheets have really put themselves on the map this year and give us some options this offseason. Also, it’s nice to finally have some legit left-handed bats in the system. Three of the top 6 are lefties in Montgomery, Kath, & Sheets plus we have a resurgent Mieses at #22.