caulfield12

"Craig Kimbrel, he's our closer." Great job, Topps National Baseball Card Day promo. Someone's trollin' the Cubbies.

I know which one Pierce Brosnan would be drinking, lol...but shouldn't it be a martini, shaken not stirred? And who the heck is this Robert Mondavi dude who bottled/vinted Woodbridge Wines? Those commercials are EVERYWHERE you look/listen these days. It's like the Dos Equis "Most Interesting Guy in the World" dude with the beard. Somehow, that gig's earned him $10+ million, nice job if you can get it.

Well, I have a can of Coca-Cola (no peanuts, forgot to buy)...one Corona in the refrigerator, and unfortunately, no IRISH nachos in the huge green helmet. Or Dippin' Dots, although we do have a small shop in the local mall that sells them here in Wuhan, believe it or not. We even have MLB shops in every mall, nobody actually follows baseball, but it's just for fashion, the NYY/LA hats and jackets that cost 50-75% more than they would in the US. Last time I checked, they even had the blue/red/white Sox batting practice mesh jerseys, but for $56 and they were "replica" and not the real I think Majestic ones.

If they get the best of the Cubbies and the playoffs look more and more realistic, it's going to be 36 X 100, haha. My excuse at 1:00 a.m. in the morning is that it's the very last time I can watch a full game except on the weekends (Sat a.m. and Sunday a.m. usually.) Then, back to school full-time. Have to follow through the MLB.com site on phone, but SoxTalk isn't as much fun on cell phone because my phone typing sucks compared to having a laptop sitting in front of me and watching/listening with iPad. Abreu has reached base 19 consecutive games against the Tigers, fwiw.

https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-robert-9-reasons-sensation-youtube

Why? After all the time off, the starting pitching will be limited to 2–4 IP per start...batters’ timing will be out of synch, etc.

https://theathletic.com/1989963/2020/08/12/white-sox-say-they-took-dallas-keuchels-words-to-heart-then-they-showed-it/?source=dailyemail Pressed for what would actually constitute the need for “professional at-bats,” which Keuchel talked about when he addressed his teammates and then on a Zoom call with reporters, Renteria boiled it down to not swinging at junk. Even outside of their 14-runs-in-seven-games stretch, the White Sox have the second-highest out-of-zone chase rate in baseball this season coming into Tuesday’s breakthrough and the fourth-highest swinging strike rate. “We hit .400 in the zone,” Renteria said before Tuesday’s game. “Somebody had to say it, and I think it was the right time for him to say it,” Anderson said. “Hopefully that will light a match under some guys and get them going. I don’t see anything wrong with what he said.

All things considered, we could use Bassitt and Montas even more than a SS right now. https://whitecleatbeat.com/2020/07/23/chris-bassitt-showing-build-off-2019-breakout/ And he’s even speaking out against Astros and the “double standard” in baseball...

https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/batvspitch/_/id/34401/matthew-boyd Engel 4/11 against Boyd career, Mazara 1/8 with a triple. Abreu has absolutely crushed him, Jimenez and McCann with strong numbers as well in SSS.

Has the hardest Infield throw recorded this year at 93.5 mph. Behind some outfielders in the statcast era who have that 4-5 extra steps running into a throw with all momentum moving forward. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2634518-yankees-aaron-hicks-unloads-record-breaking-105-mph-throw-for-run-saving-out

Think Moncada was down around 73. Disappointing, but it would still average out to be the 3rd fastest player on most big league teams.

This was not a master stroke of talent genius by the Padres this was damn luck. Damnable luck. Note the other three teams in on Tatis. Padres/Blue Jays/Indians...all excellent organizations for cultivating young prospects and strong farm systems, traditionally. Calling it all "luck" makes no sense, if that was the case the White Sox would be in the playoffs once every 5 years or so. Are the Mariners, Marlins, Padres and White Sox simply unlucky, especially those first two organizations? Were all the teams that passed up on Trout unlucky, or passed on Walker Buehler, or 100 teams that passed on Dustin May, etc.? Eventually "luck" becomes a pattern/trend/habit. If the White Sox believed Hostetler was just unlucky in drafting, they wouldn't have "promoted" him out of having anything to do with the draft. The son of former Major League infielder Fernando Tatis, Tatis Jr. has a strong arm and fluid actions on defense. The right-handed hitter has displayed raw power to his pull side and has a knack for barreling up the ball. What's more, his repeatable swing has impressed evaluators. On defense, he could end up at second base or third base. Scouts like Tatis Jr.'s makeup and mature attitude. https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/white-sox-sign-fernando-tatis-jr/c-134059696 https://theathletic.com/884960/2019/03/25/everybody-was-surprised-but-here-we-are-an-oral-history-of-how-the-padres-acquired-fernando-tatis-jr/ Here we go again.

"Right now, we THINK the Cardinals are going to be back" Rob Manfred The Cardinals’ visit to Detroit, to play a doubleheader on Thursday, was postponed. The Chicago White Sox moved Saturday’s start time back from an afternoon game to 6:10 p.m. (St. Louis time). If Friday’s scheduled game vs. the White Sox is postponed, that later start would buy time for the Cardinals to get results from Friday’s tests and play Saturday’s game a full week removed from the most recent new positive result. A ‘credible’ schedule The postponement of the doubleheader means the Cardinals have had 15 consecutive games — a fourth of their season — postponed. The commissioner agreed it would be “difficult” to cram 55 games into the final 44 days of the schedule. “I think whether you get all the way to 60 or not, that’s difficult at this point,” Manfred said. “I think that they are going to play. I think it’s possible for them to play enough games to be credible, to be a credible competitor this season.” He did not define a threshold of minimum games. If a team or multiple teams play fewer than the 60 games on the shortened-season schedule, Major League Baseball will use winning percentage to determine postseason berths. https://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/mlb-commissioner-manfred-right-now-we-think-the-cardinals-are-going-to-be-back/article_8e95de0d-2bbe-5980-9e1f-03f

Fastest way to a "cheaper" national title for programs like Bama and Clemson, obviously. As an Oklahoma fan, no idea how they can possibly not have issues with all the Texas schools...

Southsider2k5 did it too, lol. Seriously, despite that 1-5 slide, providing this "statistical prediction" on a regular basis can at least validate that we're on the right trajectory for making the playoffs. (For example, at the time of the James Shields trade in 2016, the odds at that time were closer to 33%.) Of course, adding 3 teams in each league changes the equation pretty dramatically.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/sprint_speed?year=2020&position=&team=&min=10

https://www.mlb.com/padres/video/padres-relay-nabs-taylor-at-home https://www.mlb.com/video/tatis-jr-s-92-8-mph-throw https://www.mlb.com/news/padres-are-must-watch-team-in-mlb By the way, our old friend Yonder Alonso is joining the Padres and reuniting with Manny Machado...

6th Astros 82.2% 7th White Sox 69.4% 8th Red Sox 37.1% 9th Angels 34.5% 10th Tigers 33.2%

90% of the drama went out of this one in the first inning. Somewhat nice to have a game where you're not on the edge of your seat the whole time. Then the most interesting question became how many runs would Carson Fulmer allow against his former teammates...? 1 1/2 behind DET, 1 behind the INDIANS after the Cubbies took out the Indians in CLE (weird to be rooting hard for the Cubs, but that's where we are.) Robert and Moncada couldn't be any colder if they were filming Eight Below II...

Heuer's proving that even with high 90's stuff, no easy outings...even against DET, who have actually produced more runs offensively than the "loaded" White Sox line-up.

Bugatti Chiron/Lamborghini/Ferrari/Maserati/Lykan Hypersport

Should have let Gonzalez get one more batter to quality for the win.

You can't watch again until Eloy Jimenez makes another out. Btw, we need a unique jewelry collection for female White Sox fans with the pieces designed from leftover scraps from Old Comiskey, that would be awesome. Like the old green metal bleacher seats, or the chain link fence where you could peak out onto the field from LF at ground level (picnic areas?)

Let's not getting into "coasting" mode after we put up the early crooked number. Put our boot on their neck and crush their spirits, lol.

Be more patient, Mendick. Work the pitcher. Go up to the plate with a purpose/goal/intention. Fake Bunt #1 out of Engel and Moncada for the game. Cubs @ CLE interesting series of tonight.