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it's a 4 run game, will is rightfully trying to have Taylor limit his innings. I get the decision and and he did the right thing once it became in doubt and burned Taylor regardless. Not many mangagers can do that.

I'll allow a 15 game Royals winning streak if it means they sweep Cleveland.

Sox were due. Feel like they've been on the other end of this for a few weeks.

Difference between him and Schultz is night and day.

Vargas is our best hitter now. I feel better with Vargas coming to bat with RISP than with anyone else on the team.

The timeline of Colson's season is mostly just a mixture of slow start that was immediately countered by an even hotter streak and then he just kinda hung in there for a while around league average production. Then around the beginning of July the productivity starts dropping almost uninterrupted and it hit bottom around the first week of August before he started to slowly climb up but never getting back to the old holding pattern of ~league average. So there's a few things that change around the same time of the productivity drop: the whiffs started increasing and his launch angle went up for what I'm sure are related reasons. He just started missing the ball. I'll note that his xwOBA did not drop until a couple weeks after his actual production had begun dropping; if you want to say there's a mental element, you wonder if a bad run of luck affected him negatively. There's a change in his attack direction (how much the bat is angled towards pulling at point of contact) but the timing doesn't match anything very clearly and it's been inconsistent. Bat speed consistent. The up/down angle of his bat fairly consistent. A couple things that jumped out: his chase rate jumped and never came down starting around mid-May. Initially, he was still hitting well enough anyway. But I think this change in his approach might have been the beginning of his troubles. The other thing that jumps out is there is no slump against LHP. Always beware of small sample sizes, but he really is a different guy against them and I think it is probably because they can't easily exploit his weaknesses. We've always known he has a couple holes or more gently put, soft spots in his game. Slow stuff low and in is very hard for him to hit. Hard stuff up and away is likewise a problem. And he hasn't hit them even when he's going good. So the simplest thing to say about Colson is that it's important that he at least makes pitchers hit those spots in the zone because he is utterly hopeless at even just staying alive when he chases those pitches. He tended to chase the breaking stuff low and in from the get-go, but it has increased as of late. And his tendency to chase the high and hard stuff has seriously cranked up. Pitchers have noticed and have greatly increased how often they are throwing those two pitch + location combos. Since the beginning of the season, RHP have nearly doubled the rate at which they are throwing either high+away heat or low+in breakers. Sometimes they are missing the spot, giving Colson an opportunity to hit it or take it for a ball. There are probably sometimes they are missing the spot according to my definition but still basically hitting it (like high-middle may work nearly as well, IDK). A lot of the increase is driven by pitchers not saving it for 2 strikes and starting to just attack his weakness from the jump. I hesitate to simply call this phenomenon a case of him being "figured out" because I think part of the reason pitchers are doing this is because he has become much less disciplined against these pitches. Why? I don't know. And then the last ingredient is clear to many of us watching lately: He hasn't hit the meatballs as well lately. We saw that AB last night, for instance, when he got two bad misses over the middle that he fouled back before wiping out to more slow s%*# in the dirt. The at bat terminates with a happy ending if he just kills the mistake.

It has been painful to watch and I feel bad for the guy. If he had back issues then rest him Otherwise he needs to concentrate on contact and not to drive everything out of the park. His performance is key to establishing the Sox as a legit post season contender. I wonder how many runners he failed to drive in.

Sox are in first place, this sure beats shoveling snow.

I think there's a serious chance to Taylor gets run down so I think Will has to take some risks to try to keep him out of games. Pitchers who fail to execute are going to put managers in difficult positions. I think Will did just fine with this one. A bunch of guys went out there today and didn't do what they were supposed to. You run out of buttons to push and you still need to compete tomorrow.

Thankfully a 2 pitch save for Taylor isn't much different from just having him warming anyway

No

No need for him to be throwing change ups

Thought it was a strike. Think it's worth it with 2 challengesz

Usually when you have a Peters heater you need to see your doctor.

Bonemer 3-3, 2 2B, HR, BB

They should have never traded for Brenton Doyle, because I hate two-run singles.

Break this fucking thing open already.

You can't because they have 3 hitters who have close to 30 home runs. Do the guardians?

How is it possible there hasn’t been one relief prospect that did enough in the minors to get promoted to the majors this year? Just crazy development incompetence.

Just took a look and here are the last 14 day batting avg and ops of some hitters: Ant. .208/.604 Mune .140/.643 C Mont .177/.497 B Mont. .229/.694 Meidroth .216/.606 Call it a team slump or guys pressing but it isn't just one player. Maybe the old, guys trying to hit 6 run homers.

On the radio side, weeks ago DJ was saying that Colson needs to work on hitting the ball the opposite way to help him break out of this. I remember thinking don't they have coaches to work on that with him?

That's not why we call you crazy

I voted no, obviously I've been saying this for a month now if they do make the playoffs, it'll be because they were just the least bad team that limps in it isnt controversial to say that they just don't have the pitching right now to make a serious run at anything I also don't buy the argument of "just make it in, it's a crap shoot". maybe for teams with more veterans with experience, and a decent starting rotation, this team unfortunately has neither I also admit that my predictions are often straight horse s%*# and based 100% on whatever gut feeling I have that particular day 🤔

Boers and Bernstein voice GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR FIRST CRAP

Sox in the postseason in the postseason is like the Jamaican Bobsled team winning the bronze. It's nice but they are not ready.

Let's go Sox!

It sounds like these guys are being coached for power above all else, because when you do hit it its hard and does damage. I am not necessarily sure I agree with that approach. Pitchers seem to be better than ever nowadays and we need to be able to fight off tough pitches, and go with what the pitcher gives you, which is sometimes opposite field. The approach worked great for a month or 2 earlier this year but the league figured it out and they've been .500 since.

Unfortunately this year has been mostly turning gold into crap.

His grandmother, Sally, passed away. Here's a nice story from several years ago about her and the rest of the family: https://medium.com/gordon-edes/road-to-boston-paved-with-benintendi-cd59045cf0fd

Not the innings he's going to give them. Itll be no better then what you saw last night.

Every single time I read "Tra La, Tra La" I get a sinking feeling that something bad will happen to the team.

I don't know whats going to happen but if they make it in on the side of the bracket with Houston and Texas or something like that, they could win the ALDS. There is going to be an extremely flawed team in the ALCS this year. Why not us?

I don't want to make fun of you because I think you have a learning disability. Like genuinely.

Last night was the first time where I thought it looked like he was just throwing away his plate appearances due to his head not really being in the game at all. I don't mean it like he wasn't putting forth effort or anything, but in the sense that he looked like he really had no idea what he was doing. Made me wonder if he's the one about to go on bereavement leave.

can we move Fedde to #3 and stop fucking around please

Watch out for Burger, again.

it's so obvious that he has 1 swing only, would be nice to see him make adjustments after 2 strikes. if the coaches aren't telling him this then we need new coaches quite frankly

Meidroth plays SS and Antonacci 2B.......................grichuk/Doyle LF. CM needs a reset and a break

I am also not willing to always take the Sox talking heads at their word.

Sure, they'll make the playoffs. Remember, The White Sox Are Coming, Tra La, Tra La!!!!

Yes, but expecting a 2020-ish playoff performance. This team is in desperate need of SP options it doesn't have right now.

Or what will be higher, his batting average or his strikeout total. The thing that is bothering me is for a guy who whiffs as much as he does, usually on a high fastball, he seems perplexed as to how it could possibly happen. 17 games he has fanned at least 3 times, 5 golden sombreros.

I think they win the division by 4 games with an 86-76 record. And will get the #2 seed. This team seems to get amped up to play teams within their division. Kind of think each series against our divisional rivals is where we end them.

I don’t know what will happen, but we’re 36-36 since June 1st. Anything goes with this team, but just maintaining that .500 record the rest of the way should give them postseason games. 16-15 for 84 wins. A four game winning streak right now, please.

Yes. There is no indication the White Sox will do what the Tigers did last year.

I disagree with that comparison; Colson doesn't have the walk totals that Dunn produced. Colson is not a finished product at the plate and will need to make adjustments. At 24 yrs old he has his whole career ahead of him. Unfortunately both Mune and Colson are tanking at the same time.

I am a YES for the playoffs

Did you expect anything else? Merkin is a shill for the team.

So if there was no series of trades that make this team a legit contender without trading their top prospects, I’ll take back Boston Smith, Mason Adams, etc., cuz the guys Getz got for them stink. I’d rather have the younger guys back.