South Side Hit Men

Why do people need announcers when they watch TV? I usually play music at home, now at a brewery with music on and no game sound. People more worked up about AJ than the actual game.

So he can beat Tony’s ass and not leave a mark.

Same as it ever was.

Don’t like Robert grimacing there, hope he’s ok lunging for the bag.

You really should pull Abreu at this point, put him on an IV and in bed, and hope he’s better tomorrow.

$40 more million of this. Go have a case a beer and two pizzas, your work is done this series, perhaps until March.

You got to go Lucas, Rodon, Cease and Lucas if it goes five. No way I pitch Lynn vs. the Astros again, especially in a Game 5. Ricky knew enough to start his Ace in Game One, made no sense going with Lynn in Houston.

Warm someone up Tony, or it’s going to be too late. This is why you start your Ace in game one, not Tony’s buddy.

Solid K to hold it to one. Sadly, Maldonado is the lone “easy” out in the lineup. Get’em Sox, need to take more pitches and get to their bullpen.

Fat Bastard needs to get Maldonado.

This is the only time all season the Sox tweeted their lineup before it was released by the Boys in Vegas: https://www.baseballpress.com/lineups Hope Sheets got a lot of work in at 1B the past several days.

Fear lots of running by the Astros with Sheets trying to hold runners, coupled with Lynn (15 SBs allowed) and Grandal.

Laurence is referring to signing Adam Eaton ($8m) over Michael Brantley ($16m) this off-season.

Again, they outspend every team because the high revenue teams are tanking, and using the bullshit Luxury Tax as a pathetic excuse to screw over their fans. Andrew Friedman ran the Rays, also took them to the World Series in 2008, whupped the Sox in the playoffs with a much smaller payroll, the same relative cheap ass payroll TB’s current GM is forced to work with. The Rays FO could say the same thing about the Sox (it’s so easy to be Rick Hahn with double our payroll), but they don’t because they are professionals and among the best in the business. Andrew left them with great FO talent, and he’s also built a great team in LA.

They probably should just rest him for this game, let him hydrate and come back stronger tomorrow. He’s gotta be real bad for Abreu to not be able to play 1B. Speaking of bad, I hope Sheets isn’t playing 1B.

Regardless, what you said is silly if you believe that Tony would hold the lineup in an effort to piss of Dusty, or you think Dusty gives a rats ass if he gets the lineup 3 hours before the game, or two hours before the game.

This is silly. Tony was praising Dusty yesterday at the press conference. Dusty isn’t going to change anything, and the Astros (and Sox) are already prepared.

This. I don’t even like him on the taxi squad, TBH. I don’t want him ever fielding in a playoff game, and his bat isn’t good enough to be considered. I would have rather the Sox DFA Goodwin before the playoffs this year, vs. when they DFA’d what would have been a very useful Detwiler before the playoffs last season.

It was six weeks, than he injured his back. Was pitching from behind this season with the intentional late start to preserve his arm. He went the previous two seasons with only a couple of months, due to owner collusion (2019) and the owner lockout (2020). He’ll likely bounce back somewhat next year, and he will start unless the Sox resign Rodon or at least one other starter. Kopech can’t go a full season off of his short base this season. The Sox were fortunate to go relatively unscathed this season in terms of starter injuries, and I wouldn’t expect the same good fortune next year, especially if there is a deep playoff run.

Barring an illness / Abreu’s status, lame if they are holding it for “competitive” purposes. Here is the Astros lineup. 1. Jose Altuve (R) 2B 2. M. Brantley (L) LF 3. Alex Bregman (R) 3B 4. Yordan Alvarez (L) DH 5. Yuli Gurriel (R) 1B 6. Carlos Correa (R) SS 7. Kyle Tucker (L) RF 8. Jake Meyers (R) CF 9. M. Maldonado (R) C

That's not true either. Teams can compete for fans instead of resting on their monopoly status. Boston, Cubs, Giants and Mets could try to compete with the Dodgers, but use the "Luxury Tax" which in most years lower than an Adam Eaton 2021 salary, as an excuse to fuck over their fan bases and pocket higher profit than they would if they spent the same portion of revenue as the Dodgers or other teams. The Sox have generally spent a good portion of their revenue on players. My historical issue with JR has been his influence and stewardship over the game (taxpayer stadiums, installing Bud Selig, cancelling 1994 as leader of the hardliner group of owners, near annual collusion, etc.).

I don't see Hamilton getting any starts, he'll be reserved for a late substitution either running and/or defensively. Eloy Luis and Leury are likely starting in the OF today.

It's smart to have a backup middle infielder in case of an injury. Mendick / Romy at this stage is a coin flip, he's only coming in for an unexpected injury. This was the best roster possible, at this stage with the current known performance and health status of those on and off the roster.