IWokeUpLikeThis

That senile old fart doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing batting Goodwin cleanup. Send him down to manage the AA team.

Anyone catch the end of the game thread late last night? Vulture’s profile was renamed something like “Damn C***s” with an avatar of that quote. Like he was going on a big “Fuck y’all” to the entire board. But then the profile was switched back to Vulture.

I’m hoping ESPN will dig up Gary Thorne out of Baltimore with hockey returning to the network next year.

O’s, not Hoes, Jason.

Unless Bernstein and Leila have mastered a deadpan sarcasm delivery, they sound 100% genuine. If so, that's why I generally consider radio talkshow hosts to have zero brain cells.

Kopech was returning from a leg injury on a slippery field. Hendricks hadn't pitched in 5 days and 2-3-4 was due for the 8th.

Personally, this has been the best summer of my life. I love La Russa Ball where the next guy always steps up and the train keeps rolling. Very reminiscent of his Cardinal teams. It’s fun to watch and it’s the most invested in a team I’ve been. I’ve also made a lot of friends with LaRusstans on Discord and here. Tony La Russa has impacted my life positively and I’m grateful for it.

IMO, batting him lead off was a "last chance" for Eaton to showcase himself and change the organization's mind with a big game. Hahn, La Russa, & the front office didn't just come up with the idea to DFA him in the last 24 hours. It was likely brewing for a few days, in anticipation of Engel returning, and they wanted to be certain Eaton had nothing left before writing off $8 million as a sunk cost.

Yes, this does not read like a manager who’d object to a DFA: "Because of his veteran status, he doesn't feel like he needs to go down to the minor leagues for a rehab," manager Tony La Russa said. "I think because he's got that kind of short stroke, smart hitter, he can come in right away and give you good at-bats." "The one thing you make clear, they could choose not to go to rehab, the guys that play the best are going to play the most," La Russa said. "Will be interesting to see (Eaton) compete against our young guys." Given: - La Russa’s quotes - Goodwin’s tweet - Sox are eating EIGHT MILLION This looks like a decision everyone was on board with. Eaton rubbed Tony/Rick/etc the wrong way not taking a rehab assignment, and his personality apparently rubbed teammates the wrong way. $8 million for addition by subtraction...on and off the field.

Len and DJ said the same during the game

Sit him and all starters with soreness. Go 83-79 and win the WS like ‘06 Cardinals.

Collins didn’t know either the count or number of outs

Len and DJ both saying that’s 100% on Moncada, fwiw

Tons of coaches have had success without “physically getting into it”. There are other ways to get your point across, like having an adult conversation. And we don’t even know if he’s not physically able. That’s an assumption.

La Russa said today pitchers are part of the process and they will look at the spray charts for Keuchel’s starts and see what they find.

Dusty is tough.

"Lucas Giolito...worst pitcher in baseball. 2018. But he had something you couldn't see in the stats."

All that said, I am surprised Tony doesn’t argue with umpires as didn’t he get into numerous confrontations with the Cardinals, or is that just my imagination?

There was an article last year interviewing college football officials, and they named Urban Meyer as the coach who argues least, going on to say they’d go through entire games without interaction. People could name good and bad coaches who argue or don’t argue with officials. I don’t think there’s any impact with MLB umpires. What makes an actual impact is the catcher’s ability behind the plate. ron posted this earlier: https://www.soxmachine.com/2021/07/02/unfavorable-strike-zones-have-been-costly-to-the-white-sox/ Based on umpire scorecards, the Sox are +0.25 runs when Grandal is catching and -10 runs when Collins is catching. This points to Collins being SO bad, that the Sox get docked that many calls when he is catching (as little as he does). It's most definitely a Collins issue. Tony bitching wouldn't change that.

Yes, if I’m in the clubhouse, I’d have a hard time liking this guy. He’s always whining and just generally comes off as me-me-me-me. A bad moment or two could be written off but it’s a pattern with him.

Keuchel went on a bit of a monologue postgame about OF’ers having to play back in Detroit’s park and how it’s not fair to pitchers working their butt off. Ozzie in the studio is peeved. Says after every outing the guy has an excuse about something—“they left me in too long”, “they didn’t take me out soon enough”, “the outfielders are too deep”, etc. Keuchel is the one player on this team I really get the sense Ozzie doesn’t care for.

Yes. In a perfect world, Keuchel is the one with an expiring contract, and Lynn/Rodon have multiple years left. Oh well, organization’s still in a great spot all things considered.

He absolutely should’ve been pulled. Tony appeased Keuchel after his whine-fest to the media last week, when he should’ve not let his pity-party influence his decision and instead make the right call backed up by facts.

Give it up for Keuchel - what a performance after publicly griping to the media that he’s owed staying in games longer citing his contract (critical in-game decision-making metric) and lefty/lefty matchups (lefties hitting .297 against him). Whew - Keuchel sure showed everyone today. I’m sure he’ll be pounding his chest in the press conference.

He batted .267 and .260 with a 144 and 138 OPS+ in the 2 years before joining the Sox.