tray

Does Robert look like he gained a little weight from last year to this year to anyone else ? I'm not suggesting that is unnatural or that if he did that it might be related in any way to the injury, I'm just curious. Looking at the video of him running to first base a few times he just looks like more like a linebacker than a fullback. Perhaps I just didn't realize he was that big and strong.

Fuck

Omg please no. Robert gone means season ovah Turn out the lights the party's over ...

It is too bad that, unlike other countries where elders are revered, people in this country find older people embarrassing and fail to take advantage of their education and life experience for their own benefit. Bennetti called the move into question by asking a rhetorical question about the propriety of that move. Ham then scored from 1st on a double. Lamb would either have been tagged out or not scored. Regardless the move was a reasonable one... some reasons including the desire to possibly stay out of a double play with a fast runner at first base and for defense the rest of the game. Bennetti never admitted he was wrong. OK he questioned it but he was wrong and that was not the first time Benetti has done that. I wonder if JR is picking up on the fact that Bennetti has been injecting doubt about LaRussa's legitimate in-game decision making into the broadcast, and doing so with impunity to this point. I will try to advise. Interesting comments made by Ozzie Guillen in support of TLaR and against Hinch on the latest edition of Hangin' with the Hurt.

Eloy will return to his position on the roster and in the outfield as soon as he has rehabbed. Feigned concern that he might get injured again doesn't matter, even though it has become a thing here.

I can't respond to your comment on this this forum.

Steve Stone commented after one of Vaughn's strike-outs in that game that he was a young hitter was being "taken advantage of" by a veteran pitcher. In short, he was dominated. LaRussa didn't want that to happen again with the game on the line against Cleveland's Closer. As CaliSoxfan said yesterday, LaRussa is also trying to put Vaughn in situations where he is more likely to succeed. That wasn't one of them. Give me a break. That game was lost by Keuchel's walk-a-thon, not by LaRussa. The last 3 relievers that the Sox faced haven't given up any earned runs to us in a while. The Indians have a strong back end of either bullpen. If you trail after 6 innings, you are probably going to lose.

Vaughn had a far greater chance of hitting into a double play than Leury. Vaughn is by far the slowest player on the team. That was a consideration.as were Vaughn's prior at-bats in that game where he looked entirely over-matched. He put swings on balls that he missed by a foot. Leury had at least been making contact and had several RBIs in the games against Detroit. The LaRussa critic derangement syndrome continues. Proceed.

Vaughn in LF, Robert in CF and Eloy in RF . Yermin is our DH. Bam, bam bam, as Stacey King would say.

I agree CaliSoxman. In fact, Tony has made a lot of good decisions and a few bad decisions, like every Manager. Meanwhile look at what other Managers and their teams have been doing around the league. How about AJ Hinch challenging Madrigal's single while trailing 11-0? Senior-type moment? Beyond that, the Tigers do not look like they even want to be on the field...not motivated and lacking concentration. Errors everywhere. How about Cubman Ross managing a last place club with a lot of premier talent who have looked terrible and depressed their fan base? If the Sox go into an extended drought, JR might think about asking Ozzie to be LaRussa's bench coach for 2021 with the tacit understanding that he takes over as Manager in 2022. As it stand now though, LaRussa has the team motivated and winning. The player look like they are into it. None of them have expressed the kind of ill will toward Tony that Cub fans and other disgruntled haters have. The mindless criticism of Tony strikes me as bizarre. I have never seen anything quite like it save for Harry Carey in his White Sox career before the Cub organization put a muzzle on him. Bennetti has now started to question some of Tony's decisions in real time and that has not always been done respectfully. LaRussa vs Bennettti may develop into a thing if he keeps it up and JR will be the final arbiter of that.

Fans are fickle. Rodon was blasted by them for years, and almost all of them were on board when Rick Hahn DFAed him. All aboard now though.

Bennetti is getting aboard with those questioning LaRussa, and that may get to be an issue....for Bennetti as much as it is for LaRussa. I hope it is. I am growing sick of Bennetti and his brand of intellectual arrogance. He is self-absorbed with his own humor for much of the broadcast. The anti-LaRussa ageism reminds me of the age related criticism some levy against Biden. Seniors are an easy target. Meanwhile, nice job by LaRussa loading the line-up with lefties for game one, including switch hitting and slumping Leury G. Mize seemed to be bothered with LH hitters. Eaton almost hit that one out. I agreed with letting Hamilton hit with bases loaded and no out because there was little chance he would hit into a double play, as the Sox did several times Tuesday. Very impressive pitching performance by Carlos but I am worried about Cease if he starts walking batters early.

pseudo-intellectual BS.

It might be the kind of flu-like symptoms Rodon had. i.e., Diarrhea instead of upper respiratory issues.

Needless to say, Gio has to make some adjustments. His routine including about 30% change-ups (including many high and out of the zone) may not be sustainable. Aside from that, he had no business grooving Cabrera with two outs and nobody on base. WTF were he and Grandall thinking there? Walk that fat fuker in that situation. No?

Was he vaxxed for Covid? Yes or no.

Beautiful night for baseball.. shitty night to read about Burgur on the White Sox site.....Burgur, another player who profiles as a DH ....just the kind of organizational depth we don't need to even read about now.

Yes that was the point.

Does Madrigal's skill set at the plate fit well in within the WSox line-up? On another team with less power up and down the line-up, your answer might be different. Using Benetti's volleyball analogy, someone has to set up the ball so others can spike it. Watching Madrigal's at bats has been almost as enjoyable as watching Mercedes. He sees the ball and can put a good swing on it when he wants.

Agree. Framing pitches is also a code for trying to cheat. As we know, Grandal was sought after. in part, because he was a good framer.....he could get pitches that were outside the zone called as strikes. That has now gone to his head and he is literally trying to catch pitches before the batter hits them. If you want to fix a problem, the first thing you need to do is to admit that you have one. Ignoring this won't make it go away.

We did not see as superimposed strike zones on telecasts years ago and did not have ball/strike calls questioned based on video technology. That is why some people suggest that similar technology be applied to improve the accuracy of ball/strike calls. Instead of a blanket rejection of the idea, perhaps consider some kind of compromise solution.

I wonder if the two dimensional rectangle we see over the plate is accurate, whether it is the same height and width as the strike zone the umpire perceives, whether the zone gets adjusted for a player's height, and whether it is really positioned at the front of the plate. Bill Veeck famously mocked the strike zone with Eddie Gaedel. Players don't seem to take advantage by moving up and back in the box, which they can do from pitch to pitch. If a pitcher has a good sinking pitch, why not move to the front of the batter's box to get it before it sinks into the lowest part of the zone? Another issue is catcher "framing" or in Grandal's case, catching the ball almost off the hitter's bat in an effort to alter an umpire's perspective and grab a strike call. IMO, that part of the game has gotten ridiculous. Framing pitches is not something that was always this prevalent in the game, at least as far as I recall.

It is pretty clear that umpires have difficulty determining if a sinking pitch is still in the strike zone when it crosses the plate. That's not a slam against umpires, it is just a limitation on human depth perception from their vantage point behind the plate. Imagine an ump trying to determine whether a pitch is inside or outside if their vantage point was from the side of the plate. Maybe there can be some kind of compromise with a partially automated system, i.e. a way to outline the strike zone for umpires in order to aid their depth perception. Fans see an outline of a strike zone on their TV screens but umpires lack the same advantage. Another idea would be to allow for an appeal of ball/strike calls based on video replay....perhaps for one pitch per inning. That one doesn't sound too good, does it? If the analytical scorecard of umpires mentioned above is based on a system that is presumably 100% accurate, why not switch to it ? Try a few automated strike zones in the minors for a year or two and see how they work.

I didn't realize that Kopech has been friends since childhood with Pat Mahomes, part owner of the Royals who said he is on "the wrong team." I guess we can just about kiss Kopech's ass goodbye after he hits FA if he keeps pitching like this. Let's win one before that happens.

Collins 3 infield hits helped his BA today, but I'd like to see him get more consistent hard contact and jack some some HRs.