11 minutes ago, Colome's Hat said:

Funny story.  I was supposed to go on a date with this woman tomorrow night and scheduled it specifically because it was an off day.  Had to cancel it now because of the rainout.  I literally can't schedule dates with people because I can't schedule till after the postseason or if the Sox do get eliminated.  As a Sox fan, this shit is so foreign to me.  Like I have not seen the Sox in the playoffs (last year excluded) in my proper adult life where I did things like went on proper dates with people.  I'm pretty sure I was seeing someone when the Sox made the playoffs in 2018 but can't remember but also that was like sophomore year of college.

Or you could invite her to watch the game and learn a lot from drop.

1 hour ago, chw42 said:

Just speaking of this from a win expectancy standpoint. The White Sox were actually favored in game 2 with the Giolito vs. Valdez matchup 52-48 by ZiPS. I think we'll be favored tomorrow since it's a home game, so ZiPS might actually favor us in both games, albeit very slightly. That being said, even if we are favored to win both, our probability of winning the series will still be around 25%. 

A win tomorrow probably makes the series a 50/50 proposition.  When Rodon is right he can pitch with anyone.  I feel a whole lot better today than I did last Friday.  Lastly...that crowd support is a real thing.  McCullers will be tested by that crowd big time IMO.

1 hour ago, chw42 said:

I think that's what we tried to do in game 1 and we did nothing but make weak contact all game. 

Still need to put the ball in play and hope all those atom balls from game 1 don't find a fielder in game 4.  The guy has wicked stuff and great control of it.  Maybe Roger Bossard can do some magic with the infield. ?

1 hour ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

The strategy on McCullers is to look for a fastball in your preferred half of the zone and take anything else until you have two strikes.

In the 2 regular season starts against us, McCullers only gave up 4 hits. Of those hits, 1 was on a change up and the other 3 were on sinkers. We had zero hits off his slider or curveball. 

In game 1 of the ALDS, the Sox had 2 hits on the sinker and 2 on the slider. After watching some of the games in which McCullers coughed up some runs, it was pretty evident that you either hit his sinker or he hangs the curve or slider. That's how he gets in trouble. You're not gonna hit his wipe out slider no matter how hard you try. And if he's got the sharp break on the curve or it dives out of the zone, good luck. 

As he tired in the 7th in game 1, he started hanging his slider and the Sox hit 2 lasers for singles off them. This matchup really is about Lance McCullers more than it is about the White Sox offense. If he is executing his breaking pitches, you really just have to tip your cap. However, if there's one pitch the Sox should be able to hit, it's his sinker. The Sox were one of the best sinker hitting teams in baseball this year. We basically decided to not swing hard in game 1 on them, because we averaged an exit velo of 86 MPH on 10 balls in play on the sinker. That approach will not work. 

You have to hit his sinkers hard and hope he hangs the breaking stuff. The approach really should not be around trying to hit his breaking pitches. I think it was extremely uncharacteristic of the Sox to have such weak contact against the sinker in game 1. We may hit a lot of grounders, but we usually hit them pretty hard. 

6 minutes ago, chw42 said:

In the 2 regular season starts against us, McCullers only gave up 4 hits. Of those hits, 1 was on a change up and the other 3 were on sinkers. We had zero hits off his slider or curveball. 

In game 1 of the ALDS, the Sox had 2 hits on the sinker and 2 on the slider. After watching some of the games in which McCullers coughed up some runs, it was pretty evident that you either hit his sinker or he hangs the curve or slider. That's how he gets in trouble. You're not gonna hit his wipe out slider no matter how hard you try. And if he's got the sharp break on the curve or it dives out of the zone, good luck. 

As he tired in the 7th in game 1, he started hanging his slider and the Sox hit 2 lasers for singles off them. This matchup really is about Lance McCullers more than it is about the White Sox offense. If he is executing his breaking pitches, you really just have to tip your cap. However, if there's one pitch the Sox should be able to hit, it's his sinker. The Sox were one of the best sinker hitting teams in baseball this year. We basically decided to not swing hard in game 1 on them, because we averaged an exit velo of 86 MPH on 10 balls in play on the sinker. That approach will not work. 

You have to hit his sinkers hard and hope he hangs the breaking stuff. The approach really should not be around trying to hit his breaking pitches. I think it was extremely uncharacteristic of the Sox to have such weak contact against the sinker in game 1. We may hit a lot of grounders, but we usually hit them pretty hard. 

Patience patience patience patience.

So… game started 5 hours ago.

Did we win or what?

10 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Patience patience patience patience.

If it isn't straight, don't swing

1 hour ago, maloney.adam said:

 

would be nice to see us shut them down offensively for one fucking game

2 minutes ago, joesaiditstrue said:

would be nice to see us shut them down offensively for two fucking games

Better

20 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Patience patience patience patience.

The umpire is gonna matter, because Hamri had a huge zone for game 1 that benefited McCullers. In fact, his zone accuracy and consistency was worse than Hallion's last night and we really didn't hear that much complaining about it. 

Vic Carapazza will be behind the plate in game 4 and he rates as above average in accuracy and consistency: https://www.umpscorecards.com/umpire.html?name=Vic Carapazza. He actually umpired a game for McCullers this year against Minnesota. A game in which McCullers gave up 4 runs in 4.2 innings, one of his worst starts of the year. 

Here is the strike zone for that game: 

The scorecard may say he has a huge zone, but it looks like he switched his strike zone mid-way through the game or something. Seems like there were a lot of calls McCullers did not get on the corners earlier in the game. 

Edited October 12, 20214 yr by chw42

2 minutes ago, chw42 said:

Vic Carrapazza will be behind the plate in game 4 and he rates as above average in accuracy and consistency

Don’t you mean he rates as below average?

2 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Don’t you mean he rates as below average?

No he's 65th percentile in accuracy and 87th percentile in consistency. 

Edited October 12, 20214 yr by chw42

off topic but how the fuck does Cash leave in his starter to give up 5 runs on 2 outs in an elimination game? WTF?

1 minute ago, joesaiditstrue said:

off topic but how the fuck does Cash leave in his starter to give up 5 runs on 2 outs in an elimination game? WTF?

His starter gave up 5?

11 minutes ago, chw42 said:

No he's 65th percentile in accuracy and 87th percentile in consistency. 

So below average?

Just now, hi8is said:

His starter gave up 5?

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/rays-vs-red-sox/2021/10/11/660927#game_state=live,game_tab=boxscore,game=660927

1 minute ago, joesaiditstrue said:

off topic but how the fuck does Cash leave in his starter to give up 5 runs on 2 outs in an elimination game? WTF?

It wasn't his starter. I'm guessing he left him in to try and get Verdugo. I'm not sure why he had to face Martinez. 

Just now, hi8is said:

So below average?

For percentile, the higher the number, the better. 

3 minutes ago, joesaiditstrue said:

off topic but how the fuck does Cash leave in his starter to give up 5 runs on 2 outs in an elimination game? WTF?

This sucks because if the Sox don’t pull this out who the hell do you root for between the cheaters and the asshats?

2 minutes ago, JTB said:

This sucks because if the Sox don’t pull this out who the hell do you root for between the cheaters and the asshats?

It's ok, the Dodgers are probably gonna shit all over whoever comes out of the AL. 

Just now, chw42 said:

It's ok, the Dodgers are probably gonna shit all over whoever comes out of the AL. 

Unless it’s the White Sox of course

Just now, TheTruth05 said:

Unless it’s the White Sox of course

Obviously

Based on the amount of swearing here and how much I enjoy it, did you know Friday is National Cursing Day?  I so hope the Sox are in game one of the ALCS that day.  This place could be epic. ?

7 minutes ago, JTB said:

This sucks because if the Sox don’t pull this out who the hell do you root for between the cheaters and the asshats?

I think we matchup pretty favorably with Boston plus HFA

11 minutes ago, hi8is said:

So below average?

This isn't how percentiles work, sir.