greg775

This is like a bad dream.

Nice field job with the shift by the Sox. I can't believe the shift isn't against baseball's unwritten rulebook. How can big leaguers agree to shift when it is SOOOO embarrassing when a player hits into the shift. It's so "selfish." Imagine this. You take your eight year old kid to the game. A lefty is up. there is one guy standing at the traditional SS position, three guys on the right side of the infield, one in short right field. All you have to do is plop the ball on the left side anywhere for a hit. Q: "Daddy, in Little League you tell me to look at the defense and hit it where they are not standing. Why does (fill in the blank) so and so not just hit it where the third baseman should be? He'd get a hit every time?" Uh son ... it's just the way it is. Big leaguers do what they want to do. They don't try to get on base for the team even though it'd be so easy to bunt it to third."

The Matt pitching thing is so overrated. He coulda just as easily been lit up in those 3, count em, 3 outings. It's not like he was throwing 99 or something. It shows you in fact how hard it is to get a hit in baseball. There are 8 defenders out there and it's likely more than not you are gonna hit it at somebody in the field especially with all the shifts.

Is Illinois jinxed? No offense, but the Underwood hire was a slam dunk and now he is facing a crucial year three. Meanwhile Beard who was no hotter a coach prospect than Underwood has struck gold?

Staging a hate crime is dangerous business (greg is capn obvious again). But some of these things escalate quickly and people riot over things that allegedly were done to Jussie (the bleach, the noose, etc.). Jussie deserves to at least lose a lot of cash over this. He could have picked a better way to draw attention to himself and further his career. You don't need to go inflaming a city over alleged attack over race/sexual orientation. Shame on Jussie if he is guilty. Kudos to Chicago cops for fine work.

Second city, I don't know if you are a believer but I'll pray for you and your GF. I am concerned about your situation and urge caution in getting married for a while. A GREAT friend of mine married a woman with depression and anxiety and they got an anullment within 2 months because of the horrible situation the anxiety/depression caused. I know you love her because you said you do, but I preach caution in tying the knot. Have you set a date? My friend got married despite the problems and simply had to get the annulment despite loving her. He married another woman just a year later and they are happy with a child. I'm not applauding the situation as the woman with the anxiety did not want to break up the marriage but he felt strongly he needed the annulment. The woman with the anxiety is doing better as well which pleases me! Good luck second city.

Leury and Yolmer are average bench players. Not starters on a contender.

I despised acquiring Alonso but I must confess I like his approach at the plate. If he keeps this up, I will enjoy him being in the middle of the lineup. We got what we deserved in going 1-2 in KC. The pitching overall was good. Batters not named Garcia, Sanchez and Palka had decent hitting series. Eloy didn't do much but you can tell he's going to rake. I salute McCann for today. If we had upgraded CF and 2B last winter I'd feel OK about our lineup, but we didn't. Still have black holes in Yolmer, Leury, Palka, McCann, and jury is out on Alonso. And our outfield defense is going to show up especially on the road. Can't see us winning many series on the road. GO SOX! I'll take one of three in KC; in the Cell I expect us to beat that rotten KC team 2 of 3 though.

What do you think of greg's point about all this offspeed crap? Me likey the Sox pummeling it when that's how we make so many outs. Before you know it we'll be getting fastballs. So far Alonso looks like a professional hitter (hmmmm, he's from other organizations?)

I can learn to tolerate/love Alonso if he keeps this up.

Elevate, Alonso, elevate.

I never piled on. Too early to bury any of our prospects.

If we can win this game, still a big if, as it enters the final three innings, we actually aren't in horrible shape. Because the Royals have been throwing so much off speed slop, it's been good practice for our hitters as they see offspeed crap in coming weeks/months. unlike Giolito who has been mixing it up, these guys are feeding our guys slop. Can't hurt, all this practice against offspeed crud.

Finally hit the offspeed crap. Nice.

Move the runner McCann.

Cause Matt is fun for greg to watch

The plan will be to flip guys again at the break. Any effective veteran relievers as well as Alonso and Jay and McCann if anybody wants them. I'd guess if we really stink they might trade Abreu. That's my guess. Maybe even trade Palka? If we gel and are in the race, I guess they'll just enjoy that and keep everybody.

The biggest thing I hate about this case was Smollett insisting after he got off with no jail time that the attack occurred and he's not told any fibs at all. It's embarrassing to the City of Chicago when he does something like that. If he just shut up and didn't act like he's been vindicated I'd be better with him getting off. You get away with something, just shut up and move on, don't rub Chicago's face in it. No harm no foul so I don't even think Jussie needs to go to jail over this case. I do wish his pocketbook would get hit and hit hard, though.

Fathom is right about defense. He's totally right. Our front office knew Eloy wasn't dandy defensively so you just can't have Palka out there in rf with Eloy in lf. It'll be one of the worst defensive outfields in a long time (unless of course we want to lose one more year, tanking). I still like our pitching staff and bullpen. Don't like our 2B option or cf option right now. And catcher is disgracefully bad. Oh well, Eloy and Moncada are hitting.

I assume you are against Jussie paying back the city of Chicago for wasted resources. I contend if you or I did this, we'd probably be locked in the slammer and they'd throw away the key so to speak. Jussie should be so grateful for no jail time he should pay up. You know, as much as people think I'm despicable on here, I am FOR THE CITY OF CHICAGO in almost all my posts, cept for the high taxes forcing some peeps to leave. I love Chicago and Chicago got played (allegedly). p.s. Like the police chief said, I'm all for this playing itself out in the courts. If Jussie was attacked, let's throw the attackers in jail. If not, pay up, Jussie.

Has it been mentioned Tatis/Shields trade may ultimately be deemed the worst in Chicago baseball history? Currently it's Broglio/Lou Brock.

Rodon actually looked great, albeit he got tired/lit up in the sixth. I can see why Rick let him try the sixth. Unless we go to openers, a starter should be able to go six consistently. Wish he woulda sucked it up and got thru the sixth. Our pen did look pedestrian in Game One. I'll stick with my 88 wins and a winning record after 30 though greg is concerned about 2B. I get mad about certain things and it's stuck in my head that we coulda had Yoan at 2B and Davidson at third with Davidson not blocking anybody and I think that's a much more effective lineup than our current 2B/3B combo. I think we moved Yoan a year too early.

I don't want to hear about age concerns after signing Jay and Alonso and McCann. That really makes no sense.

Seriously, second basemen are supposed to be a dime a dozen. Nothing against our starter, but cmon, it'd be nice to have a second baseman who is league average or better in offense and defense.

He was very good through five though. Let's hope he can extend a bit deeper in the future. I enoyed watching him pitch thru five.