caulfield12

There's just no way the Indians go down easily the next two innings if Jackson doesn't get a big hit here. It's baseball karma. Especially when you had the first two hitters reach by errors and they're TRYING to give you runs...if nothing else, we would have been able to preserve Robertson for use in a possible save situation in the second game.

This is become a Tuesday night in Arlington debacle if they somehow blow this lead after the last two innings. Jackson has a chance to go 4 for 4. Inning still on life support.

It's uncanny.

At least Abreu did his job there, moved the runner into 3rd. Soxtalk meltdown if we don't score 2 runs here in...

It's okay, they still have Jennings for the second game. Rajai Davis has always been a much better offensive player than a defender. C'mon Jose, let's pick up this run. Relax. Three-run lead. No pressure.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ May 23, 2016 -> 05:11 PM) Why is Duke not being used when Santana and Kipnis come up? It is strange. Bottom of the order, you had Putnam up and warm and then you bring in Duke for an entire inning? Albers warming up now. I guess they can use Jennings there (Santana/Kipnis), hard to understand Ventura sometimes. Probably leaves Duke in now for the next two. Usually he doesn't face five hitters, but okay.

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ May 23, 2016 -> 05:09 PM) Even if Eaton singles Navarro is not scoring Unless he hits a double, triple or homer, right? At any rate, no point crying over spilt milk.

Ventura going to the pen right away in the 7th. Duke in. At least we can't blame baserunners already being on for any problems the relievers have here.

Would be interesting to see if Eaton was bunting on his own there for a hit. That I can live with. Being forced to bunt by Ventura, not so much. Not unless you have Cabrera hitting behind him.

And that's why it wasn't a great idea. Rollins. No contact again on a cutter up at his collarbone. Walk Frazier, of course. Thankfully Cabrera's coming up instead of Abreu (didn't think I would say that ever after the first 2-3 months last year).

Waiting for the SNL jokes...and there it goes from Farmer & DJ. Let me guess, Benetti also mentioned it with Cheri Otero? Jackson 3 for 3. Trying to get off the bottom page of the qualified WAR and OPS numbers. Still not sure it's a great play with Rollins not being one of your better hitters behind Eaton, but it's equally important that the team's really playing unselfish/fundamentally-sound baseball as much as anything.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 23, 2016 -> 04:57 PM) Really nice to see Mat pitch with some real ease that inning. Whether it's the creeping shadows or Latos, we'll take both. Never hurts to be lucky with the timing of the sun. Of course, have seen that go against the White Sox enough times on a late Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

Who knows, maybe Ranaudo will be the answer...but you can understand why Ventura is hesitant to go to the bullpen until at least one baserunner reaches. Zach Duke warming up.

Harrelson will blow a gasket if Latos walks the first hitter after taking a three run lead. (OOOPS, keep forgetting it's Benetti because I usually follow the radio feed/s.) Struck him out swinging. Now the shadows are really taking their toll on the hitters.

Hopefully the White Sox can relax a bit now and get back to the way they were going before... Thought the Frazier grand slam was going to be it, but the Cabrera single yesterday and Lawrie's hit seems to (at least for the moment) have taken the pressure off again. That said, you can't fall asleep with this Indians' offense, even without Brantley and 32 year old journeyman Martinez out there.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 23, 2016 -> 04:46 PM) Suddenly that contract seems like a potential trouble spot 17:$10.5M, 18:$11.5M, 19:$12M Not THAT big a deal. Could be worse. He'll come out of it eventually. Just a lot harder for him with the team and Jose struggling collectively. Lawrie with the biggest hit of the season so far. Not quite Crede off Riske, but more for the fact that it bailed out Jose Abreu.

The thing about adding a Santana or Shields is that it takes some of the pressure off Fulmer and Adams. Dammit, Abreu...this is not Giancarlo Stanton bad, but it's frustrating. More and more weight on his shoulders. 2-0 fastball, ready for it and popped it up instead of hitting it up on the concourse in LF. Loaded up too much. Trying too hard instead of relaxing....same principle's true in golf, too.

Huge time for a three run homer here by Abreu. Had a good swing the first time...might not get that pitch again from Clevinger.

Seems Frazier is very comfortable playing against the Indians. Faced them enough with the Reds, that's for sure. Need to get the lead back with Frazier at 2nd, 1 out.

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ May 23, 2016 -> 04:36 PM) 2 bad pitches 2 scrubs take him out.lets get some more runs fellas. I'm not sure I wouldn't rather have Marlon Byrd's veteran bat than Avisail's. If Garcia hit one out, wouldn't their fans think of him as a scrub, too? A 4.5ish ERA is all you can realistically expect out of a 5th starter. That's if you're lucky. 4.75-5.25 is just as likely (see Danks).

Zach Putnam up in the pen. Gotta keep the game at 3-3. Weird atmosphere, doesn't seem like a battle for first place. Feels like one of those August/September Sox starts in Minnesota at 11 a.m. when the Gophers had home game at night.

So much for the advantage of the creeping shadows. Bottom of the order causing all kinds of problems. Would have been better to go with fastballs rather than offspeed stuff because it's so hard to identify pitches at this time of the day.

Thanks, Greg! Although he was right about KC (of course, every series he always says they will sweep us, taking 2/3 or 3/4) and OKC (so far). I will start to think he's on a real predicting hot streak if the Warriors lose "must win" Game 4.

Hostetler's the one calling the shots now, in conjunction with Hahn, yes? You pretty much have to give every new scouting director that same benefit of the doubt, otherwise, why hire them? That Braves system/approach (started in KC with Schuerholz, then moved to Atl) has had a ton of success with high school/prep kids. That said, as White Sox fans, we're trained to expect collegiate pitching with more immediate payoffs...trying to plug gaps in the big league roster as quickly as possible, rather than taking the patient, long-term developmental approach. Who's the Daz Cameron in this draft who started out as a consensus Top 5-7 pick and could end up anywhere from late first round to the end of the 2nd? Taking that "prep upside" guy at 26 would be another approach if we can make the draft pool work in our favor.

It would have been like the Twins making it last year (as a wildcard). The feeling this year, at least now that the White Sox aren't going to run away with it (for the moment) is more like those 2008 and 2009 seasons that went down to the wire and where the division winner's in that 86-89 win range rather than the lower 90's. I think it's fair to say MOST who made predictions were in that 81-85 range, in the hunt all season but just a player or two short. I think the Nate Silver/538 projection had us winning the division at 88 games as of the Sunday evening update. Of course, there's a huge divergence with FanGraphs, who has CLE clearly winning and teams like KC and Detroit with almost no chance.