CentralChamps21

I understand why you brought it up, but in the end Cleveland had the Wild Card gift-wrapped for them and couldn't take it, so clearly they weren't the threat they seemed like when they cut into the lead earlier.

They choked away the Wild Card? I don't think that bothered the Sox a whole lot.

I don't have a problem with Tony wanting to be old school and ordering Yermin to take on 3-0. It's not a decision I would make, but I don't think it's a huge deal if that's what he wants to do. I have a problem with running out of the dugout to yell it rather than having the 3B coach give a take sign. I also have a problem with making a big deal out of it publicly.

It was Gary, not Hammond, and Hard Rock just built a casino on the site.

A no-hitter seems like a bit less of an accomplishment if the Tigers can have one.

hi8is hates off days, or so I've heard

That's something a manager does when his team just went 3-10 against division opponents, not 10-3. When you're 10-3, the manager should become invisible and let the players have the spotlight.

You don't call out a player. That's stuff that's handled in private in every sport. Plus, the manager yelling "take, take" from the dugout during the pitch while the hitter is focusing isn't guaranteed to deliver the message anyway.

I don't have a problem with the Twins throwing behind him and getting the pitcher and manager tossed. I have a huge problem with the Sox manager publicly calling out his own player, and doubling down in his response to other players' support of their teammate. He could have made it very clear in private that what Yermin did wasn't acceptable. Doing it publicly didn't prevent him from getting thrown at, which is presumably the reason he did it.

My biggest problem last night was going to Kopech for just one inning. Kopech isn't like the other relievers in that he's probably not pitching back to back days if you limit him to one inning. You're already burning him up, and he's been great, so use him for two innings instead of one. Plus, there's no excuse for letting Sano face a lefty after he's already homered twice. Have to get the best matchup possible against him.

The Cubs traded Cameron Maybin to the Mets for $1. Not $1M Not $1K $1.00

I thought one of the biggest "unwritten" rules of baseball was not to criticize your own players to the media. Not long ago, he was bending over backwards to downplay the struggles of his white pitcher. Now he calls out his Dominican DH. Yes, I said it.

Rank is not as relevant if you don't know standard deviation. If the Sox have the worst net umpire bias but are within a couple standard deviations of the entire dataset, then it isn't really significant as somebody has to be the worst. But if they're the worst and also 3+ deviations out, then that's a red flag.

When he does swing early in the count, his contact isn't the best, but the reason that he doesn't go deep into counts is that he doesn't get thrown a lot of pitches outside the zone. He gets to 2 strikes pretty frequently. At that point he has to swing if it's in or very close to the strike zone.

At least it was Leury over Hamilton and not Leury over Madrigal.

Finally we've hit on the true reason Madrigal sucks. He's hitting those 0-2 pitches for opposite field singles rather than fouling them off like he's supposed to so he can get his P/PA average up.

Yes, the average would be zero unless someone is calculating things wrong. What we're looking for here is a standard deviation, and how many deviations add up to that 11.55 figure. Not taking any statistics classes right now, or I might have done this one as a project.

Grandal has had Garcia batting behind him in a lot of games. He's going to take a lot of walks when that's the case. He's also had Vaughn behind him a lot and Vaughn is still unproven, though I imagine Grandal will start getting better pitches to hit when Vaughn is behind him. He needs to be in front of one of the big bats in the lineup. He'll get more pitches to hit and start turning a lot of those walks into doubles and homers.

I'm waiting for the day when instead of charging the mound right after getting hit intentionally, someone goes down to first, waits until the pitcher is delivering the next pitch, and THEN charges the mound.

With Pineda pitching I'm expecting: Anderson 6 Eaton 9 Moncada 5 Mercedes DH Lamb 7 Vaughn 3 Grandal 2 Hamilton 8 Madrigal 4

I think there would be a bit of a vulnerability to bunt singles with 6 outfielders.

He almost never swings at bad pitches, so it's not like he's leaving walks on the table. The only way he's really going to walk more is if you bat Leury behind him.

I think he is simultaneously getting the maximum out of players yet making strategic blunders that is minimizing the results of those efforts. Winning this much with this roster is a product of 1) there was no superteam in the AL before the season started and 2) just about everybody is having injury problems.

I must not be paying close attention because I haven't noticed Stone going after Moncada. That said, he's old and maybe it's time to find a new partner for Jason. Gordon Beckham does a good job in the studio so maybe give him a shot.

If the roster is 100% back and healthy, there is plenty of offense without having to stick both Eloy and Vaughn in the OF and force Robert to cover that much ground. Rotating days off among Eloy, Vaughn, Abreu and Mercedes keeps them fresh, and let the Adams take care of RF.