chw42

Should have thrown Lopez at least 1 more fastball.

I've only heard it every time we play the Royals.

Veterans come to die in Chicago. Just like receivers come to die in Chicago.

Royals balling out on defense.

Heasley finally broke out the slider and our guys are baffled.

Swung at ball 4.

Seems like he can only pull the ball.

Need a deep enough fly ball from Pollock here.

It's almost like a Nick Swisher effect. When you're going well and you do that, fine. But if you're not really earning your paycheck and showboating on every hit, it might irk some people.

Harrison high stepping into 2nd while hitting under .200 just feels kind of wrong.

I think so.

Fucking Isbel

Melendez looks like he'll be a decent hitter. His power in AAA last year was insane.

My proposal is to have Grandal catch the first 6-7 innings of a game and have McGuire catch the rest.

The ball boy was right in the middle of that play lol

He had a lower wRC+ in 2020 in 45 PAs.

Isbel is annoying as hell.

Leury got robbed, but if you're the bottom of the order, you can't be getting out in 1-2 pitches per AB. At least take some damn pitches.

Way to pitch around the double. Dylan probably has to pitch backwards to these guys. They're looking to swing early in the count.

Merrifield hit this one a lot harder than the one last night.

Maybe don't throw first pitch fastball every AB Dylan.

Benintendi made a nice play.

Not a good start for Dylan.

It's almost the exact opposite of last season. Last year we won by blowing teams out, but blew a lot of close games. This year, we don't blow anyone out and only win close games. Our run differential was really good last year because of our blowout wins, but that didn't exactly translate to playoff success.

You got me intrigued enough to look. Here's all the situations this year with a runner on third and how Liam threw his pitches. I'll also list who was catching at the time. I know this is a small sample and a very specific situation (also, I don't think I want to sift through more data than this at 1 AM), but I think the results kind of speak for themselves. 5/14 vs. NYY - 12 pitches, all fastballs. Grandal catching. 4/8 at DET - 9 pitches, all fastballs. Grandal catching. 4/16 vs. TBR - 9 pitches, 6 fastballs, 1 curveball, 2 sliders. McGuire catching. 4/24 at MIN - 4 pitches, 4 fastballs. Grandal catching. 5/7 at BOS - 4 pitches, 3 fastballs, 1 slider. Grandal catching. 4/13 vs. SEA - 2 pitches, all fastballs. Grandal catching. 5/9 vs. CLE - 1 pitch, 1 fastball. McGuire catching. Final count: Grandal - 31 pitches with a man on 3rd base, 30 fastballs, 1 slider. McGuire - 10 pitches with a man on 3rd base, 7 fastballs, 1 curveball, 2 sliders. FWIW, Hendriks with men off base, Liam throws 63% fastballs, 25% sliders, and 12% curve. With men on base, it goes to 76% fastballs, 14% sliders, 10% curve. With RISP, it goes to 81% fastballs, 11% slider, 9% curve. With a man on 3rd, it's 90% fastballs, 3% slider, 2% curve. I think the fact that Grandal has called 1 breaking pitch all season with a man on third speaks volumes about just how little confidence they have in him blocking pitches in the dirt. It's only 31 pitches, but these are all very high leverage pitches. You're basically telling opposing hitters to only expect fastball when there's a guy 90 feet away from scoring. McGuire's sample probably isn't big enough to make any real judgements on, but his ratio of pitches is much closer to what Liam's career numbers are with a man on third. I think this is a lot more telling of what the Sox think of Grandal as a defensive catcher right now.