GT 8/22: SOX @ TB, 12:10

[pettie4sox]

I sorta agree, I want to see this team with Grandal in the line up.  I don't know how they fix RF, they sorta need Engel and Hamilton to be healthy, then you can alternate Vaughn and Eloy at DH?

[hankchifan]

25 minutes ago, The Mighty Mite said:

Doesn't matter who we face, at this point we will be the underdogs.

I rather face the Rays than the Yankees.

[hankchifan]

3 minutes ago, pettie4sox said:

I sorta agree, I want to see this team with Grandal in the line up.  I don't know how they fix RF, they sorta need Engel and Hamilton to be healthy, then you can alternate Vaughn and Eloy at DH?

Sounds like a good plan.

[hankchifan]

2 hours ago, BigHurt3515 said:

The Trop is just so damn depressing to play in

You are right.  Looks like a circus canvas tent.

[shago]

55 minutes ago, hankchifan said:

Today was one of the most embarrassing losses of the year.  Team was dead.  Hope TLR, TA , Abreu start kicking some ass and get this team motivated and hungrier going forward.

TLR is currently sleeping on the plane to Toronto

[Mokena94]

1 hour ago, maloney.adam said:

We haven’t played one game this year at full strength. That’s the problem. We are playing bench guys and backups that are not used to playing regularly.

This is spot on. Guys like Garcia, Goodwin, Lamb, Hamilton, Collins, and Zavala are not bad as bench players, but we have relied upon them FAR more heavily as regulars, due to the injuries. And more than they are capable of.

You take these guys, and throw in Mercedes, we have probably received the maximum contribution you could expect from them.

If you take the injuries, and the consistently bizarre line up decisions, it is pretty easy to see why there have been so many ups and downs.

 

 

[The Mighty Mite]

25 minutes ago, hankchifan said:

You are right.  Looks like a circus canvas tent.

I've seen a lot of games there since the Rays came to be in 1998 and the Sox have always struggled in the Trop, probably about .500 in the games I have attended. It just seems like it's dark in there and maybe the Sox don't see the ball all that well while at the plate. The Rays hit well there so I guess they're are use to the darkness.

Edited August 22, 2021 by The Mighty Mite

[IWokeUpLikeThis]

1 hour ago, maloney.adam said:

Question for the board, in your opinion which games do you think are more important, regular season games or playoff games? And why?

Home team playoff Winning%
NFL 64.7%
NBA 64.5%
NHL 55.3%
MLB 54.2% 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-home-playoff-game-is-a-big-advantage-unless-you-play-hockey/

I think there are times Home Field makes a difference. For example, my HS English teacher - she believed and would always tell the story of how the energy of the crowd gave Scotty Pods the adrenaline rush to hit that HR. But it rarely makes the difference in deciding a series, IMO. 

[CentralChamps21]

1 minute ago, IWokeUpLikeThis said:

Home team playoff Winning%
NFL 64.7%
NBA 64.5%
NHL 55.3%
MLB 54.2% 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-home-playoff-game-is-a-big-advantage-unless-you-play-hockey/

I think there are times Home Field makes a difference. For example, my HS English teacher - she believed and would always tell the story of how the energy of the crowd gave Scotty Pods the adrenaline rush to hit that HR. But it rarely makes the difference in deciding a series, IMO. 

Those percentages are very weird given that hockey and baseball give actual tactical advantages to the home team where football and basketball don't.

[SonofaRoache]

10 minutes ago, IWokeUpLikeThis said:

Home team playoff Winning%
NFL 64.7%
NBA 64.5%
NHL 55.3%
MLB 54.2% 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-home-playoff-game-is-a-big-advantage-unless-you-play-hockey/

I think there are times Home Field makes a difference. For example, my HS English teacher - she believed and would always tell the story of how the energy of the crowd gave Scotty Pods the adrenaline rush to hit that HR. But it rarely makes the difference in deciding a series, IMO. 

It's all relative. We are much better at home against quality competition. Other teams may not need HFA, but we haven't won a playoff series yet, and have struggled big time on the road this year. Winning a game 5 or 7 on the road is a tall order to ask. 

[Big Hurtin]

10 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

Those percentages are very weird given that hockey and baseball give actual tactical advantages to the home team where football and basketball don't.

In football, crowd noise can really affect the opposing QB / offense.

[SonofaRoache]

11 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

Those percentages are very weird given that hockey and baseball give actual tactical advantages to the home team where football and basketball don't.

The crowd in basketball and football is significantly bigger than any tactical advantage NHL and the MLB gives. 

[Buehrle>Wood]

1 hour ago, IWokeUpLikeThis said:

Home team playoff Winning%
NFL 64.7%
NBA 64.5%
NHL 55.3%
MLB 54.2% 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-home-playoff-game-is-a-big-advantage-unless-you-play-hockey/

I think there are times Home Field makes a difference. For example, my HS English teacher - she believed and would always tell the story of how the energy of the crowd gave Scotty Pods the adrenaline rush to hit that HR. But it rarely makes the difference in deciding a series, IMO. 

So for MLB that is presumably negligent?  Ie the better team will play more home games so makes sense theyre slightly better.

[South Side Hit Men]

3 hours ago, tray said:

I  preferred trading for middle to late inning relief pitchers rather than giving up Madrigal and Cody Heuer  for a second Closer with a bad attitude. One poster here  posited that the Kimbrel trade virtually guaranteed a WS this year and next.  If that happens I will eat crow with a big smile, but I doubt I will have to.

So now Hahn has  his two-headed Closing monster. Meanwhile the rest of the Sox pen does not appear to be play-off ready...not even close. Hard to win games unless we score a ton of runs or our starter goes 6 or 7 innings.  Ruiz? LOL.

Looks solid to me (and most). Nearly or perhaps every team in baseball would trade their current bullpen for the Sox.

ERA through yesterday:

• Hendriks 3.19 ERA
• Kimbrel 1.40
• Kopech 2.74
• Crochet 2.41
• Lopez 1.08
• Tepera 2.77
• Burr 2.59
• Ruiz 3.31

[South Side Hit Men]

3 hours ago, tray said:

I  preferred trading for middle to late inning relief pitchers rather than giving up Madrigal and Cody Heuer  for a second Closer with a bad attitude. One poster here  posited that the Kimbrel trade virtually guaranteed a WS this year and next.  If that happens I will eat crow with a big smile, but I doubt I will have to.

So now Hahn has  his two-headed Closing monster. Meanwhile the rest of the Sox pen does not appear to be play-off ready...not even close. Hard to win games unless we score a ton of runs or our starter goes 6 or 7 innings.  Ruiz? LOL.

PS - What’s with the “Bad Attitude” tag on Kimbrel?

Tony said he handled the situation wrong postgame, Kimbrel and Tony had a discussion, and all three (including Katz) are good.

https://theathletic.com/2783600/2021/08/22/craig-kimbrel-ok-after-talk-with-tony-la-russa-about-quick-hook-im-not-going-to-be-upset-and-carry-it-over/

Tony

Quote

“Thinking about the potential Hall of Fame closer that he is, I sent him the wrong message,” La Russa said Friday, after Aaron Bummer had taken five batters to record the final out in Kimbrel’s stead. “If it had worked out, I still send him a bad message. And that’s not what I think of him. He’s certainly a key part of what we have going forward. Win the game and try to repair the damage to Craig.”

Kimbrel

Quote

“We had a great conversation,” Kimbrel said outside of the White Sox dugout at Tropicana Field. “I told him how I felt, and he told me how he felt. We move on and get ready to play the next day. That’s part of this game. There are going to be things that happen that sometimes you agree with or disagree with. But if you can talk about it after the fact and get things worked out, that’s always a positive. I would take it as a positive because we talked, got things worked out and move forward from there.”

Katz

Quote

“I mean, Craig Kimbrel’s fine; he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball, with a great track record,” pitching coach Ethan Katz said. “He evaluates every single outing. We’ll have some conversations about it, and he wants to know if there’s something we see. But he’s been great about everything. He wants the ball every day, and he wants to go out there and compete and pitch in these big moments for us.”

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by South Side Hit Men

[SCCWS]

4 hours ago, maloney.adam said:

We haven’t played one game this year at full strength. That’s the problem. We are playing bench guys and backups that are not used to playing regularly.

Did you check out the Tampa lineup today? Every team is playing w guys out of the lineup. We  had a huge hit losing Eloy and Robert at the same time which left us w a AAA OF. But we just saw the Yankees playing 5 subs in series  against us last week.  Archer looked overpowering in his brief stint , we get him out of the game early and their bullpen throttles us. 

[hankchifan]

18 minutes ago, SCCWS said:

Did you check out the Tampa lineup today? Every team is playing w guys out of the lineup. We  had a huge hit losing Eloy and Robert at the same time which left us w a AAA OF. But we just saw the Yankees playing 5 subs in series  against us last week.  Archer looked overpowering in his brief stint , we get him out of the game early and their bullpen throttles us. 

Could it be that our back ups are not as good as those of the Rays or the Yankees? For example Goodwin, Lamb, Mendick....

[SCCWS]

4 hours ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

One good thing that came out of losing these last two games is that it makes the Yankees less likely to overtake Tampa for the division and the Sox less likely to overtake Tampa for the #1 seed, so the chances of facing the Yankees in the ALDS just went way down.

I think Tampa has a more difficult schedule than Yankees finishing with 6 road games against Houston and NY and Yankees have 6 left w O's and Rays 3. AL East  other than O's will beat up on each other for the next 6 weeks. Should be some great games with playoff implications. 

[hankchifan]

6 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

This does not seem like the best baseball performance.

Because it wasn’t.

 

[SCCWS]

7 minutes ago, hankchifan said:

Could it be that our back ups are not as good as those of the Rays or the Yankees? For example Goodwin, Lamb, Mendick....

Yankees for example Gardner (.212), Odor (.222) and Higashioka ( .169. ) and they were w/o their closer.  We lost 2 of 3 at home  

[hankchifan]

6 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

Yet measurably MUCH worse in LF.

Eloy didn’t look good in LF today, particularly on short fly balls.  He looked too slow coming in.

[hankchifan]

1 hour ago, South Side Hit Men said:

PS - What’s with the “Bad Attitude” tag on Kimbrel?

Tony said he handled the situation wrong postgame, Kimbrel and Tony had a discussion, and all three (including Katz) are good.

https://theathletic.com/2783600/2021/08/22/craig-kimbrel-ok-after-talk-with-tony-la-russa-about-quick-hook-im-not-going-to-be-upset-and-carry-it-over/

Tony

Kimbrel

Katz

 

This was unnecessary drama.  TLR committed an unforced error.

[hankchifan]

6 hours ago, fathom said:

Then why would you draft him, and also where the hell did his velocity go 

Good lefty pitchers, both starters and relievers ,are valuable commodities

[hi8is]

Welp, fuck that. See ya tomorrow.

[southsider2k5]

29 minutes ago, hankchifan said:

Could it be that our back ups are not as good as those of the Rays or the Yankees? For example Goodwin, Lamb, Mendick....

All three of which may not be on the playoff roster