CaliSoxFanViaSWside

We need to will a series win into existence. You must be pretty busy. I think you'd be normally be all over this playoff series. It is tough to make the lineup . Do you do matchup or go with our 2 hottest OPS guys for September in Grichuk and Doyle. Because of them the Sox got much better against LHP and because of the Colson slump against both hande Peters was bad in September and July but scorching hot in August. He seems beat up. Got hit by pitches a lot in September but overall his 2nd half has been underwhelming So very hard to say don't use Grichuk or Doyle even against RHP. So i wouldn't hesitate to get him out of the game and I wouldn't bat him 6th. Bottom of the order. Meidroth has had a really good 2nd half. One of our best OPS guys . I'd keep him near the top of the lineup against all pitchers. No way I bat him 8th. I want our best hitters near the top or middle of the lineup getting as many AB as possible. He shouldn't hitting 8th. Teel is showing good signs of life especially in the last week and his OBP has been outstanding in the 20 games he played in September. He also hit 3 HR in those 20 games. Pham made the playoff roster because Houston has a lot of LH Relief pitching Colson terrible in September and the 2nd half. I'd start Meidroth at SS . You have too. Antonacci at 2nd and Grichuk in LF . Game 1 is a BP game for the Stros starting RHP Blubaugh so after that maybe the have a bulk innings LHP. Their LH relief pitchers are Josh Hendrickson a 29 YO Aussie called up at the end of the season only 2.2 IP. Bryan King isn't very good . Neither is Bennett Sousa and that's it besides Hader for LH RP. Need to hit Blubaugh hard and start the game hot.

Sandlin's splits against LHH may have changed since he started pitching really good in the minors and got the call up despite most fans clamoring for Thorpe. If you separate his last 3 starts from his earlier call up he has a 3.45 ERA and 2.08 FIP with only 1 walk and 16 K in 15.2 IP . I'm pretty sure in the those 3 starts there were plenty of LHH. But I think it's obvious he's made some changes to his pitch mix and has better command. It's a small sample size of course but you're either going to have to trust him or Fedde or both in the series because it's all hands on deck and they have been 2 of our best bulk innings pitchers lately. Fedde's had a 2.96 ERA in his last 85.2 innings since the start of June but he's better at home and gives up a lot of fly balls so they all have their warts. There are no perfect solutions and the same goes for the lineup. The 1st 2 games are crucial of course and they are going to get criticized no matter how they deploy their pitchers if we lose the series Why'd you use Fedde in the bandbox ? Why did you use Sandlin when LHH kill him? Why did you start Davis Martin when he sucked in his last start ? Burke had 5 starts in Sept , 3.47 ERA , 3.27 FIP 23.1 IP, 24K but 12 BB is a lot.

The Sox have a really good record when Fedde pitches 3+ innings in any role. Something like 19-9.

Has that been the criteria in the past or are you just looking for a lucky charm ? We're hardly ever in the playoffs so I have no idea if its Ron because he had the last winning game thread accidentally or what . A Mod needs to step up here and provide some direction .

I'm good with it like this. Basically its the what have you done for me lately 2 best pitchers. Sandlin and Burke both pitch great in their last start. Maybe a blister problem or I heard something about DMart's calf the other day. Feel like he's held together by duct tape these days. His last outing did nothing to convince me otherwise. They're mostly hoping Sandlin can go 6 have the lead when he comes out and pitch you best RP's to get a win in game one. It's a tall order but nothing comes easy if you want to advance.

I'd just IBB him most of the time. Don't even waste 4 pitches nibbling. Hard to walk him if men are on base but with 2 outs I would. Depends on a few other things too .

I'd be totally shocked if they called up any of them especially McDougal since he walked the world in his only appearance. The bullpen started to get better once guys like Hagen and Hicks stopped walking so many guys.

Sox have been pretty steady one way or another since the bad start ended. They rarely have any momentum winning or losing. Unfortunately the bad string of games when the Sox got to 9 games over .500 made then drop to only 2 games above. They recovered to go 7-3 in their last 10 to finish 6 games above but that bad stretch along with Cleveland having a really good final 35 game stretch going 24-11 was our downfall for not winning the Division. Hitting went through a bad stretch, pitching too with fatigue/ minor inuries being a factor. Colson still in a huge slump. It's been a while since Peters and Antonacci hit a HR. Beni ended his little HR drought in the last game and Mune has leveled up finally. I just don't feel as strongly about hitting RHP as I used to. But I think it's improved against LHP with Grichuk still being crazy good and Doyle surging. Not sure Pham will make the playoff roster for the Wild Card series since Houston is a RH starting pitching dominant . Some guys are just going to have to step up. Seems like when we lose in the playoffs the hitting falters most. But if we can win some close games while scoring 4-8 runs we have a shot to beat them. Our relief pitching has to hold a lead once we get one.

Hey you are a great guy ! I finally tried this and I am now able to use Soxtalk from my phone. I just did it. Wasn't sure Id be able to figure it out but I tried it first on Firefox on my PC for a trial run then applied what I learned to my phone. I must have Soxtalk in dark mode since it's all black with white font. THANK YOU ! Guess I'll find out if it's viable every day as an alternative to https. EDIT Looks like my DNS SERVER is default Cloudflare. 30 minutes ago if I had seen me talking like this I wouldn't have thought it was me. Thanks for the tip and education !

Maybe this is the game thread ?

Not sure why you're so testy. It's baseball talk . Not asking you to agree with me just to support your theory. I supported mine with facts and modern metrics. You supported yours with historic suckage which you either can't or refuse to define. That's basically the definition of meatball theory fandom, using only hyberbole to support your unqualified observations. I see it therefore it is. Your bluster is all you got.

I've said it before but with the popularity of pro football a week to week mentality has overtaken fan logic and the " every team wins 50 (usually) and losses 50 and the highs and lows of the 162 game schedule is now treated like a week to week 17 game schedule. People panic with a bad stretch and get overly exuberant during a good stretch. Same thing with roster moves that don't immediately make an impact or trading away a guy who makes a good 1st impression with his new team. People can talk s%*# about everything bad in a weekly matter over and over and when things turn it's routinely forgotten and pointing out how very wrong people are is considered gauche. There is no depth perception, no seeing the forest for the trees, no big picture perspective.

You could make it. There's no rules on who can make it after a loss.

That's not my narrative though. It's a narrative that is perhaps coincidental but nevertheless happens to HR Derby participants. Throw in the injury along with it and and it seems like 2 really good reasons why he could've messed up his swing. Not sure what historic suckage is. Please explain that and use some context please. I'm only asking you to define your parameters. Also please define a "good player" again. I don't see much strength in your opinion nor how define being back or a good player again. Would hitting .230 and slugging .500 bee good enough or does his K rate have to be better than a certain percentage ? Lay it all out for me bro. I 'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you did some reading and you understand that the angle of his swing was found to be very different than what it was pre-injury and post injury/slash HR Derby. But just in case and for others sake here it is. The "Good" Period: Murakami's attack angle averaged 18.8 degrees, allowing him to cleanly square up the ball. The "Slump" Period: His average attack angle jumped to 21.5 degrees. While a 2-to-3 degree shift sounds small to the casual observer, in modern baseball metrics, a jump of that magnitude mid-season is massive. It completely altered his swing tilt into an extreme "uppercut" path. This change caused his squared-up contact rate to plummet from over 21% down to a meager 12%, explaining the sudden rise in high fly outs and strikeouts.

2005 rematch. Sox beat them then and will beat them now ! LFG White Sox fans ! Sox Pride ! Ditch the past ! Embrace Mune Mania !

He's still a rookie in MLB subject to the ups and downs of that time in your career. He missed a lot of time and then was thrust into the HR Derby right away. Both of those things have been known to mess up a swing as finely tuned as Murakami's . If you do indeed hate to be right then don't cling to your narrative. He could have had 40-45 HR's if he didn't get hurt and if he was healthy the HR Derby maybe doesn't mess up his swing. He could've been even better instead of going into such a long slump. They desperately need what he provides and should make every effort to resign him. Tell me what , in your opinion, would Murakami have to do to be considered "back" ?

I did see this ! After the recent game in the post game show I think.

Wasn't there a surprising lack of Mune jersey's early in the season ?

I can't be the only one who has no idea what the reference is. Now I know. Munenori Kawasaki: The line famously originates from Kawasaki during his time with the Toronto Blue Jays, where his energetic, wholesome, and charismatic post-game English interviews—highlighted by his proud declaration of "I am Japanese!"—became an all-time sports meme. [1] I dont think I ever heard of this either .

I see it every time I sign in and post from my PC since still can't get the site on my phone. Soxtalk.com

Unless you can predict the future you don't know that. He was behind Smith, Schultz, Sandlin and likely Thorpe. Colorado is a bad team. They can give him rope which the Sox could not. If we're honest the best you can say is maybe. Our lineup against lefties which has been a problem is doing well lately with Doyle, Grichuk and Pham contributing... Much better than the injuries bros of Hays and Pereira . Plus improved late inning defense. Pham 1.000+ OPS down the stretch is huge.

I didn't know there was one until just a little while ago.

Really good pitching all game too !

Hanging out with Shingo Takatsu before the game got him pumped !

I don't think any of them have said anything considered nice about the Sox making the playoffs yet except Lip. And they call us butt hurt. Their pain runs deep. Or they just don't have it in them to be nice ever. Highly doubt anyone's made as big a deal out of Doyle contributions lately as has been made about his failures. Onto Colorado but 1st keeping an eye on the Boston game !