caulfield12

Very questionable ball/strike call there against Escobar which caused a 10 pitch AB and then the call at the plate. Sale at 66 pitches. Will be lucky to get through 5. Which exposes the Sox bullpen while Chen cruises through 7 and 8 and they can save their 2-3 best relievers.

60+ pitches already. tie game...close play at the plate. Butler comes through again vs. the Sox. What new? Sale entered 8-2, 1.74 ERA at home this year. Hasn't give up more than 3 runs at home all season. Probably was out at home...Royals' crew isn't even convinced that he was safe. Had another strike call against Escobar that missed by an inch. Rios took 1 1/2 steps before he threw that ball. Not sure why...but it cost them. SIGH.

Flowers with 49 K's in 123 AB's. About as easy an inning as possible for Cy Chen. AJ hit the ball hard but right to Cain in CF.

14/34, .424 AJ against CHEN. Whoa.

Got a fastball up to 94. Not many swings and misses on Sale pitches today. Almost all foul balls, maybe one swing and a miss, heading for 40+ pitches through 2. Thankfully tailor-made DP 6-4-3 gets them out of the inning. Sale's "weariness" and innings pitched seems to be the topic of conversation with all scouts regarding Sale/Strasburg.

Foul ball signal after what looked like a double play ball...chopped off Pena's foot, apparently.

Third consecutive 2-0 count goes against Sale. Moustakas rips a ball to RCF, 1st and 3rd, trend of giving back the lead over and over and over again seems to be playing to form.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 8, 2012 -> 03:21 PM) Ho hum, Viciedo crushes the soft-tossing LHP! The problem is that Marty34 will use this as further evidence that Viciedo should ONLY play against LHP. 20 HR, 60 RBI's for Dayan. Heading for around 25 HR, 68-74 RBI's. Certainly not a bad season, and some of those homers have been huge. Perez killing the Sox as well this season. 13 game hitting streak. Sale getting behind in the count yet again. Grounds a single through the left side of the INF. High towering pop-up to short LF...Viciedo calls off Olmedo and Ramirez. Chris got down in the count 2-0 AGAIN.

Rios K's in an extended at-bat. Almost 30 homers surrendered by Chen this season.

Blacked out in China at 4:23 am, lol. I might be the only one of 1.5+ billion attempting to access this game from MLB.tv, but no dice. Gameday Audio.

Viciedo oppo field homer to deep right. 1-0 White Sox. Hitting 3rd for the first time this season. White Sox only team with 5 players at 20 HR, only team in the majors like this. YOUK not too far off from accomplishing it as well if he has a hot SEPT. 8/39 in career for Konerko against Chen. Hitting with a 995 OPS against fastballs this season.

Yikes. Chen has given up 5, yeah, that's ONLY 5, earned runs in his last 5 starts agains the Sox....combined. 1.30 ERA, 34+ IP

Ramirez up after Wise flyout. 2/24 career against Chen.

Chen must have an ERA of around 6 in games NOT started against the White Sox this year... 20 pitches by Chris to get through the 1st. 12-15 would be better, but he SEEMS to have a better fastball today than last time out.

Escobar crushes the 92 MPH fastball up and out over the plate. What new? More fastballs, 91-92-93 to Gordon. Another interesting stat for Chris. Only gave up 4 homers in his first 100+ IP. Has given up 12 in his last 52+.

90-91-91-93-93 First five fastballs of the game today.

Chen is someting like 4-0 with a 1.34 ERA in his last four starts at USCF. White Sox coming in with a 13/68 RISP streaking during this stretch where we're 3-8.

Notice Scioscia's key pinch-hit of Callaspo for the normally more "dangerous" Trumbo in that situation. Needed a contact hitter...same problem in Sox game, Gordon Beckham is most definitely not a contact hitter by any stretch of the imagination. Then again, even if we scored the go-ahead run, what were the odds of Reed being able to save the game? Not good at all.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 10:24 PM) I am usually as optimistic as anyone here, but this team has lost its mojo...they know the Royals and Tigers own them, and they aren't focused. I hope they prove me dead wrong. Dead wrong. But I don't see them heading to the Postseason. And as Fathom said, the manager is not helping the cause. 4-9 against the Royals now. 6 losses in a row. 7 losses in a row to the Tigers. So 8-19 against both teams, combined. 13 consecutive losses.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 10:24 PM) I am usually as optimistic as anyone here, but this team has lost its mojo...they know the Royals and Tigers own them, and they aren't focused. I hope they prove me dead wrong. Dead wrong. But I don't see them heading to the Postseason. And as Fathom said, the manager is not helping the cause. Or some miracle will have to occur with the Tigers just collapsing down the stretch and handing it to us, like the Twins in 2008. Liriano has gone from a very good acquisition to the enigma he usually is...and he's also exposing the bullpen to 4 innings of stressful pitching.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 10:23 PM) Well, if you look at the whole picture (stats on the year), you'd see that something killing the Sox is their bullpen management. It really feels like 70-75% of the bullpen decisions Ventura has made since the start of the Orioles' road series have backfired.

Ramirez rips a homer to tie the game the previous AB. Notorious fastball hitter, Mr. Ramirez. Beckham, all season long, has been hitting about 0.050 against anything over 95 MPH. Herrera, 96-101 MPH fastball. Beckham, DEAD. Surprise? Shouldn't have been.

LOL at announcers on SECOND Cain homer. "That's why you don't bunt."

Jackson, Cabrera, Fielder, Verlander, Scherzer and Leyland.... Too many advantages for DET. Any one run lead with Addison Reed the remainder of the season has a 40-70% opportunity of being a blown save, pretty much.

Dear KW: Please JUST BUY the entire Royals' bullpen this offseason. That MIGHT work for 2013.