Autumn Dreamin

Sox and KC now tied at 5-8, both ahead of Detroit at 4-9. Road record is 2-5 for the season. Sox for the second time this year end a skid at 3. By this time last year, they had already had an 8 game loss streak (they had a 4L and 5L at this point in 2024). Win #5 comes on April 9th this year (April 20th in 2025, April 27th in 2024). The date to beat for #6 is April 24th. Team ERA over the last 7 games is 2.25 (18 total runs allowed). Second shutout in that stretch. Probably should get more than a 4-3 record out of that if they could start hitting some HRs again.

This is why pitchers don't challenge

Rule 5 pick, broke camp but never pitched. Feels like the Yanks have had enough big wins that they could have given him a look, but probably saw no need to risk their top tier pitching stats so far.

Good challenge

Max Banks has looked pretty nasty. 4 IP, 1 H/BB, 7K for Kanny today.

Not too bad, that's a relief.

Martin last start, Burke following Taylor, Fedde following Taylor

Bonds, Trout, Cabrera on offense. Brandon Crawford on defense.

Bergolla was running out from short to a ball in shallow LF. Ant tried sliding to avoid him, but they clipped legs and Bergolla hit the ground pretty hard. Antonacci stayed in the game, Bergolla seemed to have trouble putting weight on his right leg and got carted off.

Bonemer first HR of the season, DePino B2B

Dash put up 4 in the first. RBI doubles from Bones, Wolkow, and Burke.

Walking more and chasing less is good in general, but I watched this AB from him a couple games ago and kind of hated the passivity: The actual bat is too good for me to want him chasing a walk down one in the 8th with a runner on. But the Mets lineup is less dependent on his power so maybe it balances out. Other guys came through behind him and they won IIRC.

Fun fact: Davitt also moonlights for his hometown local paper: https://www.indianola-ia.com/opinion/staff-favorite-duncan-davitt-belief-bordering-on-delusional/article_6a1e8632-77f4-40e8-aa30-3e09218a52d6.html So however his debut goes, we'll probably get to read about it.

Much like the White Sox, I'm a sucker for an outlier lefty.

Taylor was available today, but Burke's short start means they never get to him. If Taylor opened, maybe Burke's second time through (where he gave up his 2 runs) is in the 5th or 6th instead of the 3rd. Instead, Sims gives up the deciding runs because Burke can't go a third time through and the 6th is still too early for a leverage-only Taylor. And that's totally a worthwhile tradeoff if a now rested Taylor gets a couple leverage innings that matter in KC. Hopefully he does! But the shortage of reliable arms remains the reason I liked seeing them get more creative with Taylor's usage. Every time the starter doesn't make it into the 6th, they are asking that "3 legged table" to cover the toughest pocket of a lineup twice at a minimum without guaranteeing Taylor or Dominguez gets either attempt (assuming Dominguez is pitching the 9th regardless of pocket). Arms that you could feasibly hide with favorable matchups vs. the 5-6-7 hitters with 1 out will keep getting overexposed against one of those pockets, then they'll burn better arms anyway trying to put out the fire and/or having to get them work in decided games. If the opponent's best get two tries against your starter and two tries against your pen, then how does neutralizing one of those latter two opportunities early compare to hoping for a chance to do it late? Considering the middle relief options available, well... Personally I'd take a situational approach with it. I'd probably open for Burke more often than not right now. But I'm not saying there's a "right" answer here, especially without seeing how/if the pitching stabilizes over a larger sample size. Starters getting 16+ outs with any consistency would work wonders. And if they can get the game to Taylor in leverage twice in their next 3-4 games, I'm totally fine with it not using him today. I just think it's a shame if it ends up that he was "saved" to throw in an 8-3 game in Kauffman instead.

The expectations I have for the season were always going to rely more on their June or July performance than their record two weeks in

They started 4-16 last season and 4-22 the year before, so honestly 4-8 barely registers to me. The pitching was fine enough, look moderately less hopeless with RISP and it shouldn't take them another two weeks to find win #5 like it did last year. Teel and Pereira should be back by then if nothing else, and they'll be past the service time cutoff for Antonacci and company. too

For those without MiLB streaming, CHSN will have the Knights game

Nice gesture by the Sox to celebrate Mune's 250th pro HR He broke a Japanese record as the youngest player to reach that milestone across NPB/MLB