Texsox

Good point but starters everywhere are throwing less innings. Expand the roster by two or three pitchers and eliminate a "starter". Everyone tosses one or two innings.

I'm surprised that more of our players aren't getting tossed since Tony got in the dugout. I can't believe anyone would expect Tim on his own to be focused enough and be in check emotionally to remember that bumping an umpire is bad.

Unless something amazing happens between now and Tuesday evening I won't be engaged. I'll cheer the inevitable re-re-retirement announcement of TLR. I imagine a top tier FA signing may get me back excited. But they may have lost me for good this time. And by that I mean downloading schedules, checking box scores daily, planning Chicago trips around homestands etc. I don't see myself engaging with the Astros or any other team and strongly as I did the Sox. I see it more and easing away from MLB baseball.

At the high school level, we've seen the numbers of officials decline slowly, now quickly. This year I heard something interesting. If a coach in our area is reported twice by officials for "abusive behavior" the organization will stop sending officials to that coach's games. At first it seemed like a power play by the organization but after I thought about the plan it made sense. Abusive behavior by players, coaches, and fans is at the top of the "why I retired from officiating" list. It made me remember when I was hit with one technical years ago that wasn't me. A parent behind me yelled and the official called it on me. Thankfully I had experience with the second official who moved in quickly to change the scoring to a fan. It was a very serious infraction in my district to get hit with a T. The second official knew that. The second official and I had a moment the previous year that became a running joke. He blew a call. Everyone in be the gym knew it. I walked over and quietly asked him what he saw. He told me what he saw and I quietly replied "are you sure that was here, today?" smiled and walked away. Early in games he would make a call and say "yep, right here, today! Can you believe it?"

Damn. I hate people.

Yeah it's a shitty division. It's been a shitty division all season. My vacation is about over, I'm going to be busy. My team is getting started, I need to be coaching. Perhaps I'll look past all the Astros news to see the standings, but I think I've seen enough. None of the better players are likable. If this should be a fourth place team, I'd be cheering Leury and Harrison. But it's a first place team in theory and I should be cheering for a blowout win so those guys could play a couple innings at the end of the game. I shouldn't see them batting at the top of the first. When the playoffs start without the Sox, I'm putting on an Astros hat. Why fight it? It's my home market team that MLB crams down my thoughts ( and throat)

This team is so bad their star player needs coaching on not bumping an umpire. I wonder when players on other teams learn that? T Ball maybe? High School?

First couple of days back to work after eight weeks vacation. Still better than watching this team.

That could be fun.

Wouldn't is be great if the best teams were about five games over .500 and the worse teams about five under? Real parity.

Playoffs are just fake drama. 162 games are meaningless once you add any type of playoff. What difference does it make if it's two teams or twelve? You just decided a team with a worse record could be the champion. Unless there is a tie there is nothing to playoff. Play a balanced season against every MLB team and the team with the most wins is the champion.

Damn right. Playoffs are stupid. Just make the season a giant tournament and winner take all. Why play a 162 game season just to determine who you play later? Everyone plays everyone and best record decides. Playoffs just make owners money.

I would be happy if they just gave all their current players a few million dollar raises each. That's why I don't get all the criticism over Garcia's contract. When the worst player in baseball is earning over $5,000,000 annually it makes sense that every player should be getting more. Last April everyone wanted higher player salaries and competitive teams in smaller markets.

2022 White Sox - The Future is Bright - We Can't Work Forever!

Setting Standards So Low You Can Trip Over Them™

Yep

If there was someone there that could play every position I'd agree. It's not like he's blocking anyone. With all the injuries having anyone that can cover every position has been great. We talk about how all the inconsistent lineups that Tony used was bad for the players. Garcia is the biggest victim. He must travel with five gloves. He's literally batted in every spot in the lineup. Tony puts him high in the order when he's slumping. Tony's managing probably screwed up Garcia more than anyone. I don't want the above to make it seem like I think he can be a starter for most clubs. I'm saying I'm cutting him some slack for having the worst position on the team. Bigger villains in that dugout.

I've seen the pick off a couple of times in high school and college games. When I was catching it was something my coach taught us to watch for. A lot of times the runner will turnaround and stroll back to the base.

He's always healthy and that is actually saying something with this team.

Had to? Or choose to? With Tony I am never certain.

Because we have Tony to blame.

I just can't imagine this team ever winning a game

Yep 1

Walk off walk?

He was smart enough to put it in his contract.