Alright boys, today is the third & final game against the Cubs at Wrigley.  The Sox will be going for the sweep this afternoon after winning game two by a score of 7-4 despite a pitching matchup that heavily favored the Cubs on paper.  The Sox’s offense exploded for another five HRs last night, three of which came from Abreu giving him an AL leading 10 on the year.  We have now won seven straight behind a group of hitters that lead all of baseball in fWAR.  Unfortunately, wins by the Twins & Indians keep us a game back from the Central lead, but both clubs should terrified by what the Sox are doing right now as this offense is going to a real problem for years to come.

On the mound today for the Sox is Dylan Cease, who has a 4-1 record on the season despite an ugly looking 6.16 FIP.  As mentioned previously, poor command is really hurting him this year as he’s been unable to hit his spots and is too often falling behind in the count (his first pitch strike % is 5 points worse than league average).  This has resulted in a 15th percentile K rate (6 per 9) and a propensity to give up the long-ball when missed over the plate.  For Cease it all starts with the four seamer and if he can locate that pitch better, he’ll quickly find favorable spots to leverage his slider & changeup which have been effective this year in generating whiffs.  At some point it’s going to click for him and perhaps facing the team that drafted him will bring the best out of Dylan today.

For the Cubs today will be Yu Darvish, who sits at 4-1 on the season with a 2.02 FIP.  When this guy is on he is an absolute monster and that appears to be the case this year.  Darvish has a monster of a repertoire, with StatCast showing at least six different pitches thrown this year and with some of them having various off-shoots (including hard & soft versions of his cutter).  Almost all of them are of high quality, with his cutters, four seamer, slider, & curves all generating whiff rates above 28%.  His cutter in aggregate is ranked as one of the best in the game (FG has it 3rd overall) and he now uses the two versions of it over 50% of the time (up from 15% just two years ago) to setup his array of breaking balls.  No matter how you slice it, this dude is going to be a real challenge for us today.  That being said, his BB/9 & HR/9 rates are not sustainable and if our guys can lay off the junk outside of the zone (easier said than done), we may set ourselves for some walks and hopefully a few mistakes in the zone.  

Looking at the matchup data, Edwin is the only guy who has faced Yu a material amount of times (25 plate appearances) and actually has a 1.059 OPS against him.  For better or worse, I’d roll with him at DH today and start Abreu & McCann at 1B & C respectively as both are hot right now and each have a bomb off Darvish (SSS admittedly).  I hate leaving Yasmani on the bench and I’m sure people will call me crazy, but I want to maximize our chances of putting any Darvish mistakes in the bleachers and that means rolling the dice on Edwin even if Grandal is probably the safer play.

Let’s fucking go boys!!!!!!!!

Don't stop, get it get it!

Good stuff!

Hopefully Cease has a good start today. That’s all I‘m really concerned with.. They are playing with house money today and a loss wouldn’t be a big deal. 

 

I wouldn’t complain about a sweep though ?

I just want Robert to hit another ball that will make me believe that yes, if someone was sitting in that seat they would be dead.

Worth noting (albeit it was summer camp) last time we faced Yu the Sox had the first 5 runners reach base and we scored 5 runs.

Just now, DoUEvenShift said:

Worth noting (albeit it was summer camp) last time we faced Yu the Sox had the first 5 runners reach base and we scored 5 runs.

I believe Eloy put one close to the centerfield concourse 

I also hope the Sox can stop the alarming trend of hitting fewer homers than the day before.

 

btw. Based on other statistical trends Abreu will homer four times today,

Edited August 23, 20205 yr by GermanSoxFan

I like this lineup. Grandal will get Abreu and Jimenez a chance to see quite a few pitches, and Robert has maximum protection today. Let's get it!

 

Can’t complain about this lineup. I am surprised to see Moncada in the lineup after him last night instead of giving him a couple days off before the Pirates series. Not going to complain though because him on one leg is better than anything Goins can offer

Please miss bats today Cease. 

I assume we are underdogs again today? 

Homers: Abreu, McCann, Moncada, Mazara onto Sheffield.

5 minutes ago, SonofaRoache said:

I assume we are underdogs again today? 

Yes, pitching matchups favors cubs for sure.  As it did yesterday.

surprised EE is out of the lineup tbh

6 minutes ago, pettie4sox said:

Yes, pitching matchups favors cubs for sure.  As it did yesterday.

I'd like to see us do another bullpen style day, this time with our good guys since we are off tomorrow. Cease until he sucks, and then Foster, Det, Burdi, etc. 

 

1 hour ago, GermanSoxFan said:

Hopefully Cease has a good start today. That’s all I‘m really concerned with.. They are playing with house money today and a loss wouldn’t be a big deal. 

 

I wouldn’t complain about a sweep though ?

Yep, anything today is just gravy at this point. Just no injuries is all I ask. 

The Sox are living rent free in the Cubs heads at this point, so I won't be totally shocked if we give them another shellacking but just to get 2 wins in Wrigley is great by itself.

https://twitter.com/mlbbrucelevine/status/1297564739019603970?s=21
 

Bruce has lost it. 

Just now, Blackout Friday said:

https://twitter.com/mlbbrucelevine/status/1297564739019603970?s=21
 

Bruce has lost it. 

What does it say?  I keep getting 'tweet unavailable' when i click the link.

1 minute ago, SouthWallace said:

What does it say?  I keep getting 'tweet unavailable' when i click the link.

He must have deleted it. Here’s a screenshot. 
 

 

3 minutes ago, Blackout Friday said:

He must have deleted it. Here’s a screenshot. 
 

Geeezus.  Why even retweet that?

There is no way the team can keep up this home run barrage. One sign of a good team is the ability to win low-scoring games. A 3-2 type of win would look good.