South Side Hit Men

Tony should have screamed the take sign. Should have screamed it to Mendick as well. Hendriks solely reserved for save situations. Take sign solely reserved for unwritten rules situations.

Glad Robert is in Winston-Salem. Eloy can’t injure him at this point.

Perhaps if we had someone more worried about the take sign on 3 - 0 with 13 balls in 15 pitches in a tied game. Too bad a Twins position player wasn’t pitching in a blowout, you would have heard the take sign all the way in China.

No Tim tonight, Leury is Tony’s choice to set the table. 1. Leury Garcia (S) 2B 2. Yoan Moncada (S) 3B 3. Jose Abreu (R) 1B 4. Brian Goodwin (L) CF 5. Andrew Vaughn (R) LF 6. Gavin Sheets (L) RF 7. Jake Burger (R) DH 8. Zack Collins (L) C 9. Danny Mendick (R) SS

So to recap, 4 run lead, nobody on, burn through your best two pitchers to get the last six outs with a double header the next day. Tie game in extras, “told” both were available today. Don’t use either Kopech or Hendriks, even after two reach to load the bases, use your two least experienced rookies instead, lose the game. Brilliant.

Surprised they didn’t bunt here, make Crochet attempt to field a baseball.

They are being reserved for low leverage situations.

16 pitches 13 balls 3 strikes / all via contact 0 runs. Tim and Mendick needed to take once it was obvious he couldn’t locate the plate.

Don’t swing at all Mendick.

Vaughn continues to strike the ball well, results will follow.

Hoping the team knocks one in to get a win for Lynn, who gutted it out today without his best strikeout arsenal.

Gold chains, music videos. “Partying, eating Twinkies”. These things matter, imagined or otherwise, much more than actual performance, at least to the usual suspects.

Billy replaces Hamilton.

Still have at least one or more innings this game, and seven in the second. No need to burn through both yesterday, with a DH today. 1 Run Game = High Leverage 4 Run Game = Low Leverage.

Yes, this is why people were concerned with burning the two best relievers in a four run game yesterday.

$800 for a pair, hard pass.

They have no answer for Tim Anderson. Most teams don’t. He is the Sox spark plug and MVP.

Keuchel’s is the closest to being an albatross, if he vests (and drops in 2023 worst case). They are paying Donaldson $14M more over the same period, and Joshis garbage compared to Yoan, Tim, Luis, Eloy, Lucas, Lynn, at minimum. Who exactly will Minnesota recruit to play up there? More over the hill unproductive players like Happ, Pineda, Colome (sorry big guy)? Then they announced they are having a hissy fit and will trade Buxton next week, their only legitimate potential star, because he won’t sign their garbage lowball contract. The Twins are among the worst teams in baseball, and it’s only going to get worse from here. Reap the whirlwind.

The report posted is to pimp the as of yet under/severely underperforming hotels built in Wrigleyville, similar to pimiping non existent economic benefits to build sports stadiums, host the Olympics, and other taxpayer boondoggles. The Cubs are nowhere close to drawing "30%-40%" of attendance (12,000-17,000 fans per game) from out of state, it is complete and utter rubbishit. Any advantage of out of state attendance is primarily driven by the fact their two division rivals are closest to Chicago are the Cubs' division rivals (Milwaukee and Saint Louis), and both have spent enough to field competitive teams drawing significant numbers of fans (home and away). There is not a lot of demand the past few years from Detroit or Cleveland to watch their tanking teams play at Comiskey Park II. The Cubs have a much higher season ticket base, nobody is buying season tickets from out of state. http://www.mlb.com/cws/downloads/y2009/cp_brochure_09.pdf I'd expect the Cubs to have similar demographics, perhaps slightly higher income / higher % of city residents vs. suburban due to north side/ north shore income disparity vs. south side / south suburbs.

I believe Lopez will perform a lot better than people expect, both today and beyond. He pitched well Friday, granted in a low leverage stress free outing. Lopez will be important to take up 1-2 innings throughout the second half, save stress on Bummer and Hendricks on days Kopech/Crochet aren't scheduled for their development outings. I expect him to remain up the rest of the season if he can pitch well the next two weeks, and the Sox passing on a swing man before the deadline. Foster and to a lessor extent Jimmy Cordero were able to perform in that role last year, but Foster was ineffective and Cordero is out. Ruiz is the other 1-2 inning guy, but he really should be reserved for very low leverage situations (up/down several runs).

Co-sign. Also pleased Adam is healthy enough to start back to back days for only the second time this season (June 10-11). Believe Jose may DH the second game, with Tim the lone player manning the same position twice (Vaughn shifting to 1B and Goodwin to LF for Game 2). Expecting this lineup for Game 2 against the tougher starter (Berrios): SS Anderson 3B Moncada #; DH Abreu; LF Goodwin ^; 1B Vaughn; 2B Garcia #; RF Sheets^; CF Hamilton; C Collins^.

Outside of 2005, Ozzie Guillen was overall a poor manager. Good managers are able to assess their team in the first half, and utilize their knowledge and best position their players for success in the second half. Ozzie's teams finished 64 games over .500 in the first half, and 3 games under .500 in the second half, during his tenure with the White Sox. First Half / Second Half 2004: 43-38 / 40-41 2005: 55-26 / 44-37 2006: 53-28 / 37-44 2007: 36-45 / 36-45 2008: 45-36 / 44-38 2009: 42-39 / 37-44 2010: 43-38 / 45-36 2011: 39-42 / 39-40

I am not averse to Cleveland and Detroit getting new ownership and attempting to win, or Kansas City shedding their Neanderthal approach to baseball and life, and giving the Sox a good fight, just to fall short in the end. It will better prepare the Sox for war in October. All three of these teams have proven worthy postseason competitors when they have qualified more often then not, since the creation of the AL Central. My wish for complete annihilation, for no mercy sensei, is reserved solely for the Minnesota Twins led by their captain Josh Donaldson. For 30 years they have proven incapable in all but one instance of advancing even a single round in the playoffs, and in a majority of their playoff appearances, they have failed to win a single game. They have embarrassed themselves, their Central brethren, their mothers, and the human race, hopefully for the last time in 2020.

Most baseball fans have fun in any stadium, even the putrid ones like Tampa, or closed ones like Montreal and the Metrodome. It's silly that Cubs (or any other) teams fans brag about attendance, but the Cubs and Sox earned their attendance, or lack thereof, the previous decade. The vast majority of Cubs fans in attendance are from the area. They have an 100,000 + season ticket waiting list. Hopefully the Sox will have sustained success this decade which will also result in high demand and competitive teams as well. The Sox and Cubs had similar attendance throughout the decades, rising and falling based on the teams fortunes, until Jerry came up with the brilliant SportsChannel scheme, kicked Harry Caray over to WGN / the Cubs, and the 50/50 town became a 60 Cubs /40 Sox town. Since both teams have abandoned over the air broadcasts, and new Sox ownership will take over sometime this decade, I expect the split to revert a slow march back to normal over time, assuming both teams retain a similar stadium capacity. Average yearly wins and game attendance: 1900s: 83/ 6,578 vs. 90 / 6,165 1910s: 80 / 7,312 vs. 83 / 5,324 1920s: 73 / 8,119 vs. 81 / 10,563 1930s: 68 / 5,379 vs. 89 / 11,388 1940s: 71 / 9,257 vs. 74 / 11,548 1950s: 85 / 14,518 vs. 67 / 11,235 1960s: 85 / 13,444 vs. 74 / 10,914 1970s: 75 / 13,740 vs. 79 / 16,909 1980s: 75 / 18,641 vs. 74 / 22,096 <= Jerry Arrives - Disconnect between winning and attendance began (Sox better team/less fans - first time in Chicago History). 1990s: 82 / 25,741 vs. 74 / 29,554 2000s: 86 / 27,161 vs. 81 / 37,503 2010s: 74 / 22,212 vs. 82 / 36,873 Turned into

Since he's been on the IL 3 times, and been injured several additional times including missing all but two at bats in the playoffs last year, it's a pretty sturdy limb to stand on. Tony is not the only Sox employee with Life Call. "We're sending help immediately, again, Misses Fletcher."