Alright boys, today is game two of a three parter at Wrigley.  The Sox absolutely demolished the Cubs in the series opener last night, winning by a score of 10-1 thanks to a strong outing from Dallas Keuchel and six bombs that travelled a combined 2,547 feet.  The Sox have now won six straight and sit just one game back of the Twins for the division lead.  This team is on fire but far bigger challenges await these next two games.

One of those challenges will be Kyle Hendricks, who makes the start for the Cubs today.  Kyle is off to an excellent start this season with a 3-2 record and a 2.71 FIP while generating lots of weak contact via his sinker / changeup heavy approach and pinpoint command of the strike zone.  Hendricks has faced the Sox seven times in his career and despite a 1-3 record he’s actually been pretty good against us posting a better than career average FIP (3.26) & strikeout rate (8.5/9).  That being said, rosters obviously change over time and only two members of our current team have more than 10+ plate appearances against him in Jose & Tim.  Both have been awesome against Hendricks posting OPS’s of 1.134 & .900 respectively.  If the offense can just avoid chasing Hendricks’ curves & changeups outside of the strike zone, they’ll hopefully see more 87 MPH four seamers in the zone and have a chance to score more runs than expected today.

As for the Sox, we’ll be rolling with Reynaldo Lopez today fresh off the IL.  I’ll be honest, I was a huge fan of his when he was first acquired in the Eaton trade and would love to put a positive spin on what he might offer today, but he has simply failed to show much development under Cooper.  Despite elite velocity, Reynaldo has struggled due to inconsistent / poor spin on his four seamer and an inability to command his secondary pitches.  That being said, occasionally it all clicks and he’s able to dominate like he did against the Cubs back in 2018.  And if nothing else works, at least we have StatCast’s “similar pitchers” to dream on!

Let’s fucking go boys!!!!!!!

C’mon Reylo, pull your head out of your rear end for once and do something. No room for error with Hendricks on the bump. If we get behind early good luck scoring on him.

Alright Reynaldo, let's drop that ERA a few dozen today.

ReyLo 10ks

White Sox 10 runs.

I feel like the Sox will get destroyed in this game which means they’ll probably win. Because baseball is weird.

I like how the Sox matchup against this nerd “The Professor”. 

beat the fucking cubs again

Lopez needs to be kept on the World's shortest leash.  We have 1st place in our sights...this is no time for Ricky's gentle management technique. 

Rocking a new profile pic for this bizarro game with Reynaldo Lopez.

We're due to receive an ass kicking. Each win just adds to how horrible the next loss will be. That feeling of gloom and doom as the clock ticks closer to the start is filling the room. 

Go Sox!

 

I pushed in big on the Cubs tonight on Fanduel, but wouldn't be sad at all to be wrong. 

Just now, southsider2k5 said:

I pushed in big on the Cuns tonight on Fanduel, but wouldn't be sad at all to be wrong. 

You’re betting against your own team?

2 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

You’re betting against your own team?

Root with your heart, bet with your head.

Lineup looks awesome, even with Mazara being bad him this year, him in the 8 spot against a righty is amazing LOL.

3 minutes ago, ptatc said:

Root with your heart, bet with your head.

Agree, but I could never put money against my own team.  Winning a few bucks at the expense of my team wouldn’t feel like a win at all to me.

This is Mazara's last chance.  If he can't hit Hendricks he serves zero purpose. 

I never have faith in Lopez.  Hopefully this is just an opener on  short lesh. 

24 minutes ago, ptatc said:

Root with your heart, bet with your head.

This.

24 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Agree, but I could never put money against my own team.  Winning a few bucks at the expense of my team wouldn’t feel like a win at all to me.

I agree.especially w the Cubs involved.

I didn't realize that Mazara is only 25 years old. I'm really hoping he can find his groove soon. That is so young to have to give up on him.

Only 3 of the Sox homers last night went at least 440. Let’s see if they can do something about that tonight.

Some of those HRs last night went so far that Cub fans would have needed a relay throw to get the ball back to the field

16 minutes ago, sin city sox fan said:

Some of those HRs last night went so far that Cub fans would have needed a relay throw to get the ball back to the field

QOTR

40 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Only 3 of the Sox homers last night went at least 440. Let’s see if they can do something about that tonight.

440 is really long, the average homer in mlb is around 400 ft.

Starting to wonder if Ricky has something against McCann. He’s 3/7 lifetime vs Hendricks. Grandal and EE are a combined 1/10.