FoxForce2

So who is the George Lucas & spouse related company that has shown interest in buying the Sox? Maybe they'll bring in Tim Allen to manage the team and we can all get to play the aliens in Galaxy Quest. And then there is Crash Davis -he's been in the wings for awhile.

I wonder what Pollock really thinks of coming from a club like the Dahjahs to an outfit like the Sox. Where are Ricca and Accardo when you need them?

There is something off in TA's game of late. As in - very off. Personal problems?

Not much evidence that it's working. Maybe they've been doing the Nugenix thing instead.

I'd go: 1. TA -SS 2. Vaughn -LF (GASP!) 3. Pito -1B 4. Grandal -C 5. Eloy -DH 6. Pollack -CF 7. Engel -RF 8. Burger -3B 9. Leury -2B

The SI article is worthwhile and asks the right question of "Does April play-performance matter in the big picture of a team's end-of-season results?" but too broad brush to depict a possible correlation between poor/good starts and end results with a valid degree of precision. I'm limiting the focus to the playoff era; taking the playoff teams and then jumping backwards to the start of the season to see if any meaningful connection can be made. Obviously, even if a parallel can be fleshed out, there are the questions of why and how to be resolved, i.e. the dynamics of a team's performance - injuries, trades, morale, and so on over the course of a season have to be considered.

I've been rooting around for data comparing April performance against overall season numbers (team numbers). This 2017 SI article is pertinant. https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/04/13/april-starts-best-worst

Stupid is as stupid does. The past week, we've sure looked 'this bad'.

Me neither. Stress on the arm and good hitters are going to learn to sit on the 4-seam. Great right now though.

So how many pitches does Kopech go?

Kopech is looking great, but he has got to come up with more than just 4-seams.

Light showers in the vicinity. Temps rising over the next several hours and through the night. Unsettled conditions tomorrow with temps dipping back into the 40's on Sunday. Windy all three days. They'll get all three games in. https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=44.97902000000005&lon=-93.26493999999997#.YmM4XimS6pp

See my edit. No, I believe I've seen him use the term before in posted tweets.

They haven't 10-dayed him yet. But yeah. it wouldn't surprise me if they post-dated it.

I don't do much tweeting. Who is Daryl Van Schouwen? Does he really not understand the difference between a homestand and a homestead? Or is he just being clever? EDIT: OK Sun-Times guy. Still don't get the malapropism. Or is that his version of a Hawkism?

The X-dians can brand themselves however they want, everyone in baseball should just call them the Spiders and be done with it.

There is a lot more to the Cards history and legacy than TLR. I have two primary teams in my heart - the White Sox and the Cardinals. The Sox side has dreams of achieving the Cards' consistent success. I'm hoping this year isn't just a daydream.

How long did it take you to put that together?

I only half believe that Wheeler's wife's call was the deciding factor in his decision. There are more than a few players around the league that are less than thrilled about playing in JR's outfit. Pitchers really do prefer organizations that stress development of fundamentals in field-play among other things --- and don't quibble over 50K in arbitration with their top starters. Or make careers of opposing the MLBPA and sometimes even opposing the fanbase. Not to mention...

Seattle's Best is usually on some kind of sale in my area. Not a half-bad brew. I'm going with Dunkin for the most part though, both bean and ground.

Yeah, I doubt Leury has been lobbying to bat third. Mostly.

I do. He's a quality Ute. Hitting him #3 and playing him as often and for as long as TLR does is nutzo. I'm not going political here, but the news media ran pix of Pres Biden attempting to shake hands with an invisible 'other' last week. Is TLR's behavior the past few days any less bizarre?

Leury at #3 again. I'm speechless.

Over the last couple of years, Keuchel has been at least on controversy-simmer over some of the remarks he's made re: fielding play behind him. I felt that at least some of his earlier remarks were taken out of context by many in that he wasn't specifically criticizing individuals for their play, but was (mostly), pointing out TEAM weakness and poor positioning calls in his remarks. In yesterdays' post game comments, Dallas has raised the controversy a full notch; things may not be at a roiling boil, but the pot is hot. Basically, he came up just short of going full-on diss of TA's and the team's abysmal field play. At the same time, other than the Ramirez dinger, he certainly didn't own up to his own flaws in the fiasco. The Keuchel situation isn't far from getting team-toxic. Keuchel has publicly stated on 2-3 occasions that he's a ground-ball/contact pitcher that needs a quality fielding team, (especially the infield), behind him to be effective. The Sox, even with Moncada in play, simply don't meet the criteria of a top 25% defense. The Cardinals or Braves - they ain't. But even if that were the case, Keuchel glosses over the hard-hit rate he's been surrendering at least since last June. The guy has been getting hammered way too often to think about relying on him as a regular starter - but what choice do the Sox have at this point? This a true rock and hard place situation for everyone involved.