Sunday Game Thread

[Lip Man 1]

Garfien was asking on Twitter yesterday if the Sox have ever played well in Oakland. I told him to look up the records between 1977 and 1982 for his answer.

Yeah it's a quirky ballpark and that does give the A's an advantage much like the Metrodome did for the Twins but when you cut through everything in a lot of those years, the small market A's have simply put a better product out there than the Sox. That's a front office issue...not a stadium one.

By the way the A's just got Homer Bailey from K.C. for a minor league player. 

[vilehoopster]

In defense of Rondon's decision to throw that. Now I know the results, but was it really a crazy play for him to try and get that out?  I actually think the idea was correct, but obviously it, blew up in the execution. 

Let's say he does what everybody here says is the obvious choice, that Rondon runs that ball down and doesn't throw it; just holds it and we pitch to the next guy. 

Well, let's look at the situation now. Men are on 1st and 2nd and nobody out and with Fry (who has already given up two hits in two batters) pitching, what are the odds that Oakland wins in that situation, I would say something like 80%, at least, at least. 

I understand that he completely screwed up the throw, but if it had been a good throw, he would have gotten the guy at 2nd base clearly. Rondon was in a very tough situation and tried to make a great play, which, clearly, costs the Sox. 

But as far as I'm concerned, Rondon is low on the list of whom to blame for this loss. 

As soon as Eloy hit the home run, I texted my friend: "Okay, Lopez pitch the 7th, Bummer pitch the 8th, and Colome the 9th and the Sox fly home with a win".  Later I told my friend, "Or Bummer gets 5 outs and Colome gets four outs. Either way the Sox win". But no, Renteria goes with Marshall who has been 50/50 lately and the Sox get burned. And when he brought out Herrara in the 8th, I thought like people on this board that the Sox must have decided to tank and Renteria is losing on purpose. 

Actually, If I'm pointing a fingers for this loss, I'm pointing at Renteria, Marshall, and (really pointing at Fry) then Rondon. 

[poppysox]

4 minutes ago, vilehoopster said:

In defense of Rondon's decision to throw that. Now I know the results, but was it really a crazy play for him to try and get that out?  I actually think the idea was correct, but obviously it, blew up in the execution. 

Let's say he does what everybody here says is the obvious choice, that Rondon runs that ball down and doesn't throw it; just holds it and we pitch to the next guy. 

Well, let's look at the situation now. Men are on 1st and 2nd and nobody out and with Fry (who has already given up two hits in two batters) pitching, what are the odds that Oakland wins in that situation, I would say something like 80%, at least, at least. 

I understand that he completely screwed up the throw, but if it had been a good throw, he would have gotten the guy at 2nd base clearly. Rondon was in a very tough situation and tried to make a great play, which, clearly, costs the Sox. 

But as far as I'm concerned, Rondon is low on the list of whom to blame for this loss. 

As soon as Eloy hit the home run, I texted my friend: "Okay, Lopez pitch the 7th, Bummer pitch the 8th, and Colome the 9th and the Sox fly home with a win".  Later I told my friend, "Or Bummer gets 5 outs and Colome gets four outs. Either way the Sox win". But no, Renteria goes with Marshall who has been 50/50 lately and the Sox get burned. And when he brought out Herrara in the 8th, I thought like people on this board that the Sox must have decided to tank and Renteria is losing on purpose. 

Actually, If I'm pointing a fingers for this loss, I'm pointing at Renteria, Marshall, and (really pointing at Fry) then Rondon. 

Two runs scored isn't going to win many games.  The offense is lethargic.

[bubba phillips]

Not going to win many games when you score 5 runs in 3 games.

However, today should have been a win, but our crap defense gave it away with 2 unearned runs.  Damn shame when you have  the rarity of a well pitched game and nothing to show for it.

Encouraged by the Lopez effort.  After his lousy outing just before the All-Star break, he said in an interview with MLB.com that we will see a different Reynaldo in the 2nd half.  He said he knows what he needs to work on.  Hope he's right.  So far, so good.

[greg775]

1 hour ago, Lip Man 1 said:

the small market A's have simply put a better product out there than the Sox. That's a front office issue...not a stadium one.

I was thinking about that today before the game knowing we were going to lose again. The A's pretty much always have a better roster than us and just as importantly don't sleepwalk against the Sox. They realize all Ws count the same and the wins they automatically rack up against us help them a lot in the big picture of pennant races. But Lip Man is right. They do always have a better product.

[whitesoxbrad]

2 hours ago, poppysox said:

We might be seeing quite a bit of Herrera as the FO hopes to trade him at the deadline for salary relief.

No one will take him

[Thad Bosley]

6 hours ago, Richie said:

That was a bunt for a hit. Which is usually the player's decision. 

It absolutely was not.  Leury’s position was in sacrifice mode the entire way.  

[chitownsportsfan]

On paper the Sox were likely to get swept given those pitching matchups.   Oh well.    The season is going to get tougher and probably less enjoyable from this point on:  I'd suggest everybody reset expectations and just try and enjoy the progress because at times I'm expecting it's going to be ugly down the stretch.  

[Richie]

1 hour ago, Fan O'Faust said:

It absolutely was not.  Leury’s position was in sacrifice mode the entire way.  

Nope. He squared late. 

It wasn't even close man. He didn't drop the bat head until the pitcher was into his motion out of the stretch. 

[Richie]

42 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

On paper the Sox were likely to get swept given those pitching matchups.   Oh well.    The season is going to get tougher and probably less enjoyable from this point on:  I'd suggest everybody reset expectations and just try and enjoy the progress because at times I'm expecting it's going to be ugly down the stretch.  

Yeah, but I feel like we've said this a dozen times after a 3 game skid and we always seem to respond. We're a resilient bunch, for what that's worth. 

I agree, they COULD go on a huge skid... but until I see it...? I don't know, I think they do this little limbo with the .500 mark the whole season. 

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, Richie said:

Yeah, but I feel like we've said this a dozen times after a 3 game skid and we always seem to respond. We're a resilient bunch, for what that's worth. 

I agree, they COULD go on a huge skid... but until I see it...? I don't know, I think they do this little limbo with the .500 mark the whole season. 

We’re bottom five in MLB In runs scored/runs allowed.  Maybe even worse than the entire NL, and the Royals last time I checked.

Other than KC and the Tigers to bail out the record a bit, we’re a high 60’s win team masquerading as a low to mid 70’s win one.

Progress...sure, but that still depends on Jimenez and McCann/Collins, our four best prospects (including Cease/Kopech) in 2020 and the crapshoot that is free agency.

I guess because we can see those final four (or 5/6 depending on Dunning and the remaining outfield prospects) pieces coming into play, everyone can at least envision a 2013 Royals or 2015 Cubs’ progression next year.  Of course, that requires everyone staying healthy or at least not having any rehab setbacks.

[Richie]

3 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

We’re bottom five in MLB In runs scored/runs allowed.  Maybe even worse than the entire NL, and the Royals last time I checked.

Other than KC and the Tigers to bail out the record a bit, we’re a high 60’s win team masquerading as a low to mid 70’s win one.

Progress...sure, but that still depends on Jimenez and McCann/Collins, our four best prospects (including Cease/Kopech) in 2020 and the crapshoot that is free agency.

I guess because we can see those final four (or 5/6 depending on Dunning and the remaining outfield prospects) pieces coming into play, everyone can at least envision a 2013 Royals or 2015 Cubs’ progression next year.  Of course, that requires everyone staying healthy or at least not having any rehab setbacks.

Yeah, I would agree with all of this. 

[SCCWS]

2 hours ago, Richie said:

Yeah, I would agree with all of this. 

I don't. Luckily for the Sox, the Central is awful. Both Tigers and KC are 30 games below .500. This year we are on pace to win 76 obviously helped by a shitty division. But the flip side is it is also a division where we can jump up very easily.  We were w/o the services of TA for a good chunk of time.  In addition, the 2nd half should see contributions from Cease and possibly Roberts.  Playing in the Central next year could make this 75ish win team an 85 ish win team.  This year the W/C looks like 90 will be the finish line