caulfield12

Fine, since you asked... https://www.mlb.com/news/dane-dunning-jonah-heim-stand-out-for-rangers Also, interesting they notice how hard he gets the 2nd/3rd time through and were planning to tandem start him...can’t remember the last time a Sox rookie pitcher threw 51 strikes in 70 pitches...Buehrle? “The right-hander looked like he might be in for a tough night when Bo Bichette clubbed a solo home run off him in the first inning, but that was the only run Dunning allowed in the contest. The 26-year-old was expected to tandem start with Wes Benjamin on Tuesday, but Dunning was efficient enough with his pitch count -- he tossed 70 pitches in total (51 for strikes) -- that he remained in the game long enough to pick up the win. After a solid rookie campaign with the White Sox last season, Dunning is off to a strong start with his new team following an offseason trade. He's next expected to start Monday at Tampa Bay.” cbssports.com

Keller gave up 6 in 1 1/3rd against the Rangers and has a 40.50 ERA. Something has to give, right? Rainout and he gets skipped over...probably.

Of course not! And, if he does, he’ll invariably be slower than the Flying Molina Brothers.

That second ALCS game until the Crede hit late looked like the series might be getting away...Boston and Houston, definitely not.

That’s one annoying habit of publications...premature rushes to judgment after less than a week watching a player get less than 30-40 plate appearances. Usually the select group here who follow college baseball closely take in 5-7 different starts from pitchers, plus the CWS from quite a few as well,

First reading I thought it said "waxed," then again, I thought a poster was calling you out personally in the post-game and not Tony LaRussa...

You can probably anticipate with the way Foster struggled in ANA, was giving up hits on his change-up (only one allowed last year), his fastball location wasn't consistent (up and down in the zone, usually he's down when he's most effective, with a bit of sinking action)...that walk after being ahead in the count and then not being able to put away the hitter SHOULD have been the kiss of death for his appearance. No later than when it was 4-4, if not 4-3.

Well, we can argue about Konerko in 2005 vs. Abreu coming off an MVP award. It's pointless to pick Abreu after what Paulie did that series, the ceremony with JR, etc.

Not TA or Luis Robert... definitely go with Giolito of the last two seasons over every starter but Contreras, who started the lone loss against Paul Byrd. Abreu as DH clearly over Everett. Bummer/Crochet over Cotts.

That's precisely the roles that Fry and Cordero occupied last year...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tencent-bets-billions-gamers-more-200000937.html I'm not much of a gamer myself, own 300 just shares of Ten Cent (tcehy) stock...but the future gaming numbers are incredible in scale/scope. In no way advocating that one should invest here, as the risks short-term are extremely high on Baidu (search), Ten Cent, Baidu and JD.com due to all the internal politics here. By the way, that TJ Sports is a privately-held company. XD is one I've also been monitoring (2400.hk), that is attempting to deliver game content for free with a different revenue-producing model. Also, mods can feel free to move this to financial, but it's also "sports" related due to the gaming aspects, and comparison to audiences for more typical sports products like the Super Bowl or NBA Finals.

When we were really going well last year, and, granted, 50% of it was against bad KC and Detroit pitching, the line-up really fed off the momentum from each other, it really felt like a team. Now, we feel like the typical White Sox "collection" of talent but there's just something missing...the fun-loving nature of Eloy, the fiery leadership and intensity of Tim Anderson, etc. Winning cures all chemistry problems...but it just seems like every aspect of our organization (TLR/JR vs KW/Hahn) is kind of at a loggerheads with itself. After 5 years of rebuilding, we should have more cushion than forcing Andrew Vaughn to learn LF on the fly in important regular season games. It's almost like we're in a transition year (moving on from Rodon/Lynn to Kopech), but still trying to compete with all these moving parts, and young, inexperienced pieces. Looking back, the obvious mistake is the front office believing that the bullpen arms we had were going to repeat and we didn't even need to add a single stabilizing veteran presence outside of Hendriks (who we currently can't manage to get a lead to). Now we might still have the talent to cover there, but somebody has to step up and start performing. We're obviously not going to blow more than 50% of our leads, it will all start to even out, but we need to get back to basics and just retiring the next hitter in front of them (and believing in the defense behind them as well.) Of course, watching this first week, hard to blame any starting pitcher for not expecting the absolute worst outcome for any ball put into play except either a K or ball out to Luis Robert in CF.

Eaton, Madrigal, Leury, Moncada...besides the entire bullpen situation, those are the obvious "self-examination" candidates.

Two more weeks to go before the mysterious second Chinese vaccine shot...

It's definitely a time for our veteran leaders to get everyone together on the plane coming back...before we get blown out of the water by the Royals' offense. If we lose tomorrow, it has to be addressed on the off-day. If they were playing clean games and just getting beaten by better teams/players, that would be understandable. Thankfully, we also get to face Royals' pitching, so it should be fairly even.

Dunning, in retrospect, would have been the best choice over Cease. But it could have worked until Crochet went out early with injury. Then it was going to get overextended, just like today...with guys like Foster and Marshall (Anaheim.)

What REALLY sucks is waking up at 6:00 a.m., seeing the White Sox taking a 4-1 lead and then watching them immolate so spectacularly that you have to forget it about it for the rest of the day somehow. I think that Bobby Jenks 2008 loss to the Twins and their Harrelson-fellatioed CF haunted me for days since it happened in the morning.

Sounds like more wasted money. That said, if anyone watched Madrigal these past 7 games and wrote a scouting report...it would be so demoralizing he wouldn't have been been drafted in the first five rounds despite supposedly being the "most advanced bat" in his age group for most of his high school/collegiate career.

Somehow his taking responsibility will be spun as a positive sign that he gets it, and is perfectly suited for today's game, taking the pressure off his players ala Ozzie Guillen by becoming a sideshow unto his self.

It's really going to hurt this "rebuild" if we have a polarizing fight with JR over his hand-picked manager as a fanbase. That said, the logical thing to do would have been to go with Hinch, with his background in analytics and forward thinking. Overall, it's just sad that we keep bringing guys like Ventura and LaRussa from the past and tarnishing their White Sox legacies, thinking somehow it's appeasing the fans...when all it is accomplishing is actually the opposite. This is ONLY about JR's ego, thinking he knows better than everyone else. Maybe in business, but definitely not in baseball. His stubbornness is going to jeopardize what should have been a White Sox renaissance with the Cubs' star descending.

Now what, you want an upvote for that, lol? Dunning is a pedestrian pitcher over the long term, like a Chris Bassitt, and Balta will make this point about Lynn/Dunning more often than I need to. That said, having Bassitt, Montas and Semien never prevented the A's from making the post-season. And Tatis, as it turns out, isn't going to be out for very long...unless he re-injures it again, in which case he will miss the remainder of the season with surgery.

What was he supposed to do with Rodon stuck back on the active roster? He had to figure out if Carlos was someone he could count on in the bullpen, yes? It all might have worked out quite differently had Crochet been able to go longer in that game...but we'll never know, obviously. I don't like how we lost the sense of urgency to crush the Twins and Indians, but it's becoming quite apparent that a managerial change didn't clear up all the issues. Obviously, in LaRussa's defense, taking away 2 of the top 4/5 offensive performers in any line-up and going on a West Coast road trip isn't going to typically result in a 5-2 start, especially with the White Sox history out there. It definitely FEELS like we are a .500ish ballclub as currently comprised. But the real test begins against a surprisingly stout Royals' offense.

Even Drake "Little Big League" LaRoche would have this team at 5-2.

Trying hard to imagine how the defense could possibly have been THIS bad, as well as the bullpen management, under Renteria. Drawing a blank. I liked SOME of the decisions in the Angels' series, but TLR's really going to have to up his game. At least as a White Sox fan, you don't expect to have great managers. But we shouldn't have managers who you actively have to overcome so many tactical mistakes just to be a middling .500 ballclub.

They really have to bring Lopez up, unfortunately. He's the only one who can really cover so many innings in games like the situation today...in order to protect the rest of the bullpen. Obviously, they're probably NOT going to pull the trigger QUITE so early, it is "just" 7 games and it's not like they are buried in the standings. That said, the lack of urgency almost feels like the last two weeks of the 2020 season. This whole thing of having to be so careful and overprotective with Crochet and Kopech requires the acquisition at some point of another stabilizing veteran presence like Cishek was supposed to be last year. It's also quite obvious that Jimmy Buff Arms Cordero was abused last season, but he was that bridge pitcher that we're really lacking at the moment. Ruiz/Lopez Marshall/Foster (one has to be gone) Kopech/Crochet Heuer/Bummer/Hendriks