AND THAT'S A WHITE SOX WINNER!!@

[ShoeLessRob]

Seems like they are trying to plug a shiny square into a triangle hole. 

[Soxbadger]

Just now, Balta1701 said:

If he isn’t the guy we added to lock down the 8-9, why did we bring him into a noncritical situation in the 8th when Kimbrel was already on the mound? 

There are consequences for when people dont perform.

And for all the talk of how could they do this to Kimbrel, they pulled Gio at 90 pitches and only giving up 3 hits. You could easily argue that Gio should have been allowed to start and then have Hendricks for the 9th. But they gave Kimbrel the chance.

[Balta1701]

2 minutes ago, ShoeLessRob said:

Seems like they are trying to plug a shiny square into a triangle hole. 

And they might be. But they have to give it time to see if it will work it’s way in, rather than panicking over a walk and a WP made worse by the catcher.

[Balta1701]

Just now, Soxbadger said:

There are consequences for when people dont perform.

And for all the talk of how could they do this to Kimbrel, they pulled Gio at 90 pitches and only giving up 3 hits. You could easily argue that Gio should have been allowed to start and then have Hendricks for the 9th. But they gave Kimbrel the chance.

Yeah, I didn’t like Kimbrel being put into that inning in the first place. That was even a time for LaRussas middle relievers he loves. But once Kimbrel was in, pulling him for a trio of bad matchup moves was worse. 

Interesting the lack of consequences for LaRussa when he doesn’t perform.

[Capital G]

As usual empty stadium. But man I had fun. I've gone to 41 games. 40 in tampa and 1 in Chicago. This is my 2nd win lol 

[PitchatRisktoZisk]

Thrilled we won and TA really was the man tonight. That said, the entire 8th was bizarre. Kimbrel got totally squeezed on the leadoff walk. That got into his head. He then was in position to get out of it. TLR made the decision he would prefer Bummer vs. Arrozarena instead of Kimbrel vs. Lowe. Really?!?! And all the righties after him? Real head scratcher to take out the guy you traded for to use in that situation. 

[hankchifan]

1 hour ago, Balta1701 said:

Yeah, I didn’t like Kimbrel being put into that inning in the first place. That was even a time for LaRussas middle relievers he loves. But once Kimbrel was in, pulling him for a trio of bad matchup moves was worse. 

Interesting the lack of consequences for LaRussa when he doesn’t perform.

Don’t agree on TLR. His bad decisions are being questioned nationally as the Sox have become more nationally prominent. TLR legacy as a HOF manager is being tarnished.  His 8 th inning decisions today were one of the worst I have observed in decades.

[hi8is]

2 hours ago, Harry Chappas said:

Sox are 3-1 against the best team in the AL

How do we have a record against ourselves?

[hi8is]

1 hour ago, ShoeLessRob said:

a shiny square into a triangle hole

I like these words.

[hi8is]

15 minutes ago, hankchifan said:

His 8 th inning decisions today were one of the worst I have observed in decades.

It was a total bonehead move.

[CeaseAndExist]

2 hours ago, hankchifan said:

IsBummer better than Kimbrel? Why then we traded for Kimbrel and gave up Madrigal and Heuer?  We could use a contact hitter like Madrigal, which we lack now. We need to give the ball to Kimbrel and not throw him under the bus like TLR did in the 8 th like a Yermin.

How would Madrigal help right now? He's injured.

Agree on Kimbrel though. We have a 11.5 game division lead. Got to see if Kimbrel can be the set up guy now, rather than have roles up in the air in October

[South Side Hit Men]

3 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

No it wasn’t the right decision. Not with Arozarena on the bench. 

Exactly. Let's be real clear here, Tony pissed his pants and fretted about inserting himself into the game and putting in a LOOGY, consistent with his platoon obsessions on both sides of the ball. 

2 hours ago, Soxbadger said:

There are consequences for when people dont perform.

And for all the talk of how could they do this to Kimbrel, they pulled Gio at 90 pitches and only giving up 3 hits. You could easily argue that Gio should have been allowed to start and then have Hendricks for the 9th. But they gave Kimbrel the chance.

He walked one of three batters, retired the other two batters. He just gained big momentum striking out the last batter he was allowed to face. he has a 1.22 ERA. Tony doesn't go with the 1.22 ERA guy, he goes with the left hander with a 3.88 ERA (its 4.22 now, and the inherited runner of course scored as well).

There are ZERO consequences for when Tony fails to perform, over and over and over again. 

[joejoedairy]

3 hours ago, Harry Chappas said:

Sox are the best team in the AL

fify

[gusguyman]

Tim didn't just save the game. He also saved Maloney's gamethread career. Can you imagine the scene if, not only had we lost today, but lost after blowing another sizable lead late? No wonder he hasn't been around the winner thread yet, dude probably entered into witness protection in the bottom of the eighth. 

[caulfield12]

5 minutes ago, gusguyman said:

Tim didn't just save the game. He also saved Maloney's gamethread career. Can you imagine the scene if, not only had we lost today, but lost after blowing another sizable lead late? No wonder he hasn't been around the winner thread yet, dude probably entered into witness protection in the bottom of the eighth. 

Sounds like a lucrative position…

[bmags]

I know people are really down on the Sox for being around .500 after the break but y’all should really check what happened to some of the other deadline contenders.

The Mets are now 6 games behind the braves. The reds have now tied the Padres for the wildcard. The Red Sox are third in the AL East now and will have a dogfight with Oakland for 2nd wc. 

[poppysox]

7 hours ago, Harry Chappas said:

Sox are 3-1 against the best team in the AL

What???  We are the best team in the AL!!!

[Dick Allen]

Kimbrel is great. Kimbrel is garbage. Kimbrel should close, Hendriks is garbage. Kimbrel shouldn't face lefties with games on the line.

Soxtalk on Kimbrel. 

[Kyyle23]

That home ump really sucked.  Especially when Crochet was in

[Bazox]

"He’s so clutch" 

Not a phrase we use over here what's it mean ?

[runtheballdown]

The ump missed three strikes on one tb batter alone when crochet was pitching. You fight all game to get in a position to win and then the guy behind the plate starts having a bad game

[Chicago White Sox]

8 hours ago, Soxbadger said:

You're acting like hes in his prime and not 33 coming off eras of 6.5 and 5.2 in the past 2 seasons.

I like you Badger, but this take is ridiculous.  He had a 100 percentile xwOBA when we acquired and has a Hall of Fame tracker record.  Those two bad “seasons” were a total of 41 games or 2/3 of a single season.  And he put up a 0.75 FIP over the second half of the 2020 season, so call it a bad 30 innings or 1/2 season.  On top of that, his 2019 season was impacted by a lack of spring training and 2020 was impacted by COVID.  I don’t care what his age is, to expect anything less than eliteness from him is crazy.  This is a dude who has put a 2.20 FIP across 613 innings.  The stuff is still there demonstrated by him being the most dominant reliever in baseball when we acquired him.  He is struggling right now and that could be for any number of reasons (switching teams, less defined role, health issues with daughter), but it’s definitely not because he’s over the hill or out of his prime.  He needs to get better and we need to keep throwing him out there until he rights the ship.  His value to this team come October is too important and we gave up a ton to get him.  If we lose a couple games in the interim it’s a small price to pay have a nasty Kimbrel pitching an inning every night in the playoffs.

Edited August 21, 2021 by Chicago White Sox

[Chicago White Sox]

8 hours ago, fathom said:

I get what Tony is saying and why Kimbrel is mad. As a closer he would have got the chance to get Lowe out.  I still feel like they’re calling the wrong pitch sequence with him. When he was on the Cubs this year, it really seemed he was throwing curves in fastball spots.  With the Sox it’s been way too many fastballs to start and he’s falling behind.

Fathom, not trying to be a dick, but how much Cubs baseball do you watch to have this knowledge?  I mean, it’s great info, but just surprising a diehard Sox fan like yourself would know this nuance of detail.

[BFirebird]

9 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

I mean, he got 2 outs before he got pulled. Yes he needs to be better than that, but he didn’t get the chance to lose the game. He loses the game, fine he got beat again. Give him the chance to at least win or lose. He’s a big boy.

I am in this camp. That is what we got him for. He didn’t have his best stuff but he got two outs without a run. Let him at least try to get out of it. 

[Chicago White Sox]

It’s very clear this board can’t be objective with Kimbrel because they hate the price we paid for him.  Which is funny, because many posters (probably not the same ones to be fair) couldn’t be objective with Madrigal because the draft position he was selected in.  Regardless, you can hate the Kimbrel trade without making hot takes like won’t be able to pitch the 8th inning or he’s suddenly not elite because of a few bad innings.  It’s possible, even likely that we greatly overpaid for Kimbrel while also brings a dominant weapon come October.  They aren’t mutually exclusive.