Tony La Russa isn’t helping White Sox, who may be beyond it

Oct 8, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa (22) walks back to the dugout during the game against the Houston Astros in game two of the 2021 ALDS at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

When it comes to criticism, I find it’s important to separate the things that aren’t to your taste from the things that shouldn’t be done, from the things that can’t be done. If you treat everything in the first category like the second or third, you run out of room for proportion pretty quickly. (Unless you’re funny, and then you might have an effective shtick.)

Take broadcasts, for instance. A national crew is never going to provide accurate assessments that also mesh with a fan base’s understanding like a local broadcast, in large part because that local broadcast shapes the fan base’s understanding. It’s hard to wear a suit right off the rack after you’ve bought bespoke. You’re in OK shape if it provides coverage without chafing or showing ass.

Fox Sports 1’s handling of Game 1 wasn’t stellar, but mostly because of the ads that aired over the actual game early and late. Adam Amin and A.J. Pierzynski seemed to be fine, aside from providing an inaccurate scouting report on the White Sox outfield defense at the start of the game. The Astros received a lot more praise, but they also never trailed in the game and won by five. Perform well, get compliments is generally how it works. If I missed additional incorrect insights, it’s because the voices blended in well enough to not distract.

If you aired every grievance against Amin and Pierzynski, your complaints about the MLB Network broadcast booth may be shrugged away, even though it actually provided a legitimately terrible audio overlay. I had my suspicions before the game when Buck Showalter said Bob Costas was the kid of the booth, because 1) Costas is 69 years old, and 2) four years older than Showalter. Sure enough, the game didn’t go a half-inning without the booth’s eldest statesman, 82-year-old Jim Kaat, likening Yoán Moncada to chattel, a comment for which he issued a perfunctory reading of a written apology between an RBI single and a bourbon ad in the fifth inning.

They were lucky if they referenced a player who retired after the players on the field were born. They complained about shifts, they complained about analytics. They were trying to figure out what Lucas Giolito threw as he went along. Costas mistook José Abreu for Andrew Vaughn, and he called Eloy Jiménez “Elroy” well into the game. It was a slog, and no way to present a baseball game in 2021.

(A broadcast booth doesn’t need term limits, but it needs to possess an updated knowledgebase, and somebody who can pull the conversation back into the present day. When paired with Jason Benetti, Steve Stone’s 74 years are irrelevant, except the times when they’re fodder for odd-couple comedy. When he shared a booth with Hawk Harrelson and Tom Paciorek during Hawk’s final year, the conversation turned to the dangers of guaranteed multiyear contracts within 10 minutes.)

* * * * * * * * *

The sense of proportion required to place broadcasts on a scale is also helpful when assessing managerial strategy. October baseball puts every decision point under the microscope. It’s understandable, because errors in preparation are harder to forgive than getting trumped on the field in a zero-sum game, but the vigilance in inspecting decision-making processes runs the risk of treating player performances as a secondary concern.

In terms of managerial moves, Tony La Russa’s decisions have matched the quality of the broadcasts. Game 1 was acceptable, even if you might’ve done some things differently. Game 2 is just about impossible to defend, to the point that it also made his Game 1 thought process worse.

Let’s go back to the biggest fork in the road on Thursday, when Lance Lynn pitched to Michael Brantley in the fourth inning with two outs and runners on second and third. Lynn could have walked Brantley to set up a righty-righty matchup with Alex Bregman for Reynaldo López, or Tony La Russa could have had a lefty better suited to retire Brantley. Both could have been wiser than challenging Brantley with a Lynn who wasn’t in top form.

But I could see reasons why Lynn pitched to Brantley, one being that Brantley finished the season hitting .252/.303/.309 over his last 34 games, which were interrupted by a knee problem. Lucas Giolito and the Sox struck out Brantley thrice in Game 2, so there’s reason to believe Brantley’s short of himself. It was worth investigating whether Brantley was a sneaky liability, especially his first two trips produced a weak groundout and a foiled bunt single attempt.

Beyond exploring a possible weakness, Lynn was attempting to maintain a three-run deficit during the first half of the game, when the Astros’ win probability had already spiked to 85 percent without accounting for the White Sox lineup’s Lance McCullers-specific issues. Playing matchups might’ve given them a better shot at a comeback, but it more likely would’ve been throwing good money after bad, and perhaps sending a message that a 1-0 series hole was insurmountable when a 1-1 split would do just fine.

La Russa chose Reynaldo López, Garrett Crochet and José Ruiz to get through the game, and the White Sox offense didn’t produce enough to make him regret a less aggressive approach. Four games remained, with better matchups in store for at least two of them.

* * * * * * * * *

Halfway through Game 2, the faith in the bigger picture seemed to be rewarded, even if the parts weren’t quite working as imagined. Lucas Giolito labored through four innings, but the Sox knocked out his counterpart, Framber Valdez, with four runs through the top of the fifth, which is what they had in mind on that side of the ball. A 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth shoved win probability in their favor, giving them a 71.7 percent likelihood of winning the game.

This was the point in the game where the failure in Game 1 could be converted into confidence going the relief route, because everybody saw that passivity poses its own peril. Lynn met his end when facing a lineup three times within five innings, so why try with an equally laboring Giolito? He’d thrown 77 pitches at that point, and every inning was a struggle since a 1-2-3 first, which accounted for three of his four strikeouts. Whether the White Sox turned to Michael Kopech for multiple innings, or started to stitch together five innings with Garrett Crochet or Ryan Tepera, La Russa preserved all his options for a heavy bullpen day.

Instead, La Russa let Giolito start the fifth, when he walked two of three batters around a deep flyout for Brantley. Then he called for Crochet, a rookie, to clean up the mess against the Astros’ two best hitters. Crochet didn’t have confidence in his slider, so he walked Alvarez to load the bases, then yielded a smashed single up the middle by Yuli Gurriel that tied the game.

The game didn’t end there. If only it did. Sox fans would’ve been spared the combination of deaths slow (another dastardly Aaron Bummer BABIP Betrayal) and violent (Craig Kimbrel’s bunch of nothing).

The latter — a curious choice considering Liam Hendriks came in to handle the eighth and final inning with a five-run deficit — was exacerbated by the presence of Leury García, who moved to right field because of a pointless pinch-hitting appearance by César Hernández in the top of the seventh that removed Adam Engel from the game. Garcia the right fielder now has a two-game streak of horrendous routes in his first inning of a game, as evidenced by his first inning on Sunday

… and the seventh inning on Friday.

* * * * * * * * *

That summary of three innings covers three courses of action where La Russa’s choices were eminently first-guessable. I haven’t seen any comment on Engel’s absence, which is a shame since that one could be the easiest to explain. Engel missed half the season with an assortment of nagging injuries, and after going 0-for-2 with a strikeout to that point, there’s a chance that the Vague Leg flared up on him once more.

As for the other two, where was Michael Kopech to supplement a short start? James Fegan explains:

An extended outing for Michael Kopech was never explored, though La Russa said the planned pitching strategy for a now vital Game 3 did not factor into it, and expressed confidence in Crochet’s ability to face opposite-handed hitters.

“If we needed him to win the game, we would have pitched him,” La Russa said. “But whatever happens on Sunday, we’ve got his length there. That’s another big asset for us. We didn’t have to waste it. He could have pitched an inning today and still been available. He’ll be even more available.”

Kopech isn’t so proven that you can reflexively strip that first sentence of its conditional properties. Pitching Kopech doesn’t ensure victory, which is why I recommend setting aside the proper noun. It’s clear they needed somebody besides Giolito, and Kopech had been designated that guy with his three-inning appearances, so he was probably that guy. But Crochet wouldn’t have been a ridiculous choice either given handedness concerns, at least if he didn’t inherit somebody else’s mess.

As for Kimbrel, the struggles over the course of his White Sox career forced La Russa to decide who to defend, and he tried to choose his player:

“His resume speaks for itself,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said Friday. “… It’s not an explanation or an excuse. You take it to heart. It’s not his situation. He willingly got ready to come in here and pitch. It’s a different situation.” […]

“He is his resume,” La Russa said of Kimbrel. “I hope we’re ahead on Sunday, and I think you’ll see what he’s done his whole career.”

La Russa is saying that Kimbrel remains unaccustomed to pitching outside the ninth inning, which reflects terribly on both of them. The Kimbrel story is a lot more sympathetic if it’s about the idea that his velocity peaked in June, and efforts to compensate for the loss of power have knocked him further off course, versus the idea that his mentality is so delicate that he can’t adjust his preparation methods even when you give him two months to iron out the wrinkles. That only makes the “Future Hall of Famer” tag more ridiculous than it already is, and now you understand why the Rays avoid marrying the guys who handle their ninth innings.

But if the remainder of Kimbrel’s 2021 season can’t be recovered, it reflects poorly on a lot more people — Ethan Katz, the White Sox front office — so the flimsy closing excuse serves the purpose of sparing them while fulfilling the requirements of answering a question. I retain the right to revisit this defense if La Russa actually entrusts Kimbrel with a lead.

* * * * * * * * *

Some solace can be found in the idea that the Astros are playing so well that even La Russa’s best work might not have made a difference. Were this a best-of-three, everybody could say the White Sox got outplayed. One fact that’s outside of La Russa’s purview: The Sox departed Houston still in search of their first extra-base hit. If you hadn’t been following this series and somebody told you the White Sox were limited to singles over the first two games, you’d probably assume they’re down 2-0. And they are.

The combination of the Astros’ talent and performances are making their own luck. Engel might not have made that catch. Kopech could’ve had one of his random blowouts, whether relieving Giolito or Bummer. Whenever the White Sox are beating themselves, it’s partially because the Astros are holding their wrists and drumming on their skulls.

That creates some irony, in that a disparity that might ultimately prove too large to negate even La Russa’s best possible work makes La Russa’s missteps all the more costly. The Sox have no dependable margin for error when the starters can’t get through five innings and the offense is only producing singles, so when La Russa and the Sox are halfway to a win in spite of those flaws, they need to do everything they can to see it through, especially since he already tried trusting a veteran and letting a situation play out to no avail. Some “mistakes” are merely calculated risks that backfire. They only become mistakes when they fail to inform future decision-making.

The good news is that the Sox will finally be inspired to pull out all the stops for Game 3. The bad news doesn’t require elaboration.

(Photo by Thomas Shea/USA TODAY Sports)

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FlyingSpaghettiMonster

Positively Renterian managing. But, at least Jerry is happy.

FishSox

What Jerry wants, Jerry gets. I wonder how he feels now about trying to sooth his conscience over firing TLR back in the day. But at least Jerry is happy.

And let’s not forget, having his wife’s initials on the uniforms. That’s important to no one, except Jerry is happy.

calcetinesblancos

That’s not a very nice thing to say about his wife. And this is coming from me, a not very nice person.

FishSox

Not warped, it shows the level of inappropriateness of the owner, which seemingly knows no bounds when it comes to smoothing his own feathers.

John SF

It’s true.

Not trying to be cold about a dead billionaire whose life’s work focused on jewelry sourced from literal modern slavery conditions and maximizing tax write-offs while minimizing nonprofit foundation expenses to push the boundaries of what types of personal publicity are considered “legal” by the IRS.

Actually wait. Anyway, my point is, even if she had been some sort of amazing wonderful person who loved the white sox rather than arguably a terrible person who didn’t really care about the Sox, it would still be weird and inappropriate to put her initials on the jerseys.

Baseball teams are much closer in function to public trusts than privately owned clubs, which is why you don’t see literally any other team doing something like that.

FishSox

Sorry you don’t see it Jim, but this character defect is the same one that allowed Reinsdorf to give the finger to everyone else in the world and hire TLR. The man is using his position as owner inappropriately and not in the fans best interest.

Otter

While I dont disagree with anything written here, I do think you’re burying the leade. The Astros are playing much better than the White Sox. We can (correctly) blast TLR for pulling Engel, but that doesn’t absolve Garcia misplaying the ball. The Sox have not been sharp and have made far too many mistakes on the field and in the dugout.

calcetinesblancos

I’m honestly not sure what your point is.

I like Leury but Leury is not an outfielder, and sometimes like yesterday it’s very obvious. TLR should know that, and it’s especially hilarious when they shuffled everyone around and took out Engel for what exactly? To keep Leury’s bat in the lineup? You also still had Mendick on the bench if you need him, although as we’ve seen it appears that TLR thinks his main job is pinch hitting .

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

texag10

It’s a shame we don’t have a Billy Hamilton like player on our bench….

As Cirensica

I can’t stop imagining in game 3 a White Sox offensive explosion where TLR finds the team in the 6th inning with a 5 run lead, and finally bringing Kopech to do “mop-up” innings. That’ll be the most White Sox thing ever.

FishSox

HAHAHA…that’s gold right there…nicely done

karkovice squad

It’s hard to wear a suit right off the rack after you’ve bought bespoke. You’re in OK shape if it provides coverage without chafing or showing ass.

I mean, this isn’t public access TV. Is it unreasonable to expect pros to put the time and effort into getting their suits tailored?

Last edited 2 years ago by karkovice squad
John SF

I know Jason Bennetti is the gold standard. But it’s worth noting that he does a LOT of research before calling any game, even if he goes into that game already knowing quite a lot about the team.

What’s painful about guys mixing up players and mispronouncing their names is that is shows zero research or care.

Surely for an MLB Playoff game we should expect closer to the jason benetti default for a regular season college basketball game than the level of preparation I put into cramming for a geology quiz in college. And beyond that, it’s astonishing that even that bare minimum level of prep wasn’t on display.

GrabSomeBench

Gold Standard? Then gold must be hitting rock bottom. Benetti routinely misses plays, misses outs, misjudges flyballs and yes, even thinks there are hits that are outs. He spends too much time talking about nonsense, including sox math. I want analysis not some third grade math problem

Joliet Orange Sox

Great post by Jim – well written and insightful. I think the adjective to describe such coverage is margalusian. An example of using this adjective in a sentence would be Álex Rodríguez is the least margalusian announcer ever.

On another topic, I was unable to load new comments yesterday in the game thread after some point. I would reach a point where I would see a box that said “load new comments” but when I clicked it just loaded the previous comments again. I expect this happened to lots of people not just me. I also suspect that there is a known solution to this problem that was posted in the comments that I can’t see. I expect we will have another huge game thread tomorrow night and I’d be interested to know the fix for this problem.

Joliet Orange Sox

It appears to be fixed for me. Thanks!

I’m not sure if it is fixed for others. The comments I can now see make it clear others did have the same problem yesterday.

Foulkelore

Sample size of two: it looks good for me now too. Thanks, Jim. I hope we get to enjoy it being fixed for longer than one more First Pitch.

metasox

I had the same problem but after about 100 comments. We will next time.

As Cirensica

I had the same problem for the first 2 game threads. I notice this issue starts to happen after 125 comments mark.

Last edited 2 years ago by As Cirensica
imperiousk

I remember the broadcast, when complaining about the shift, were mentioning the positioning of Anderson and whoever was at 2B being far from second base in the middle infield, when the same was also true of the Astros infield with no comment. But I guess that’s the leeway you get when the Astros keep hitting grounders up the middle and the White Sox keep hitting barrels straight to Altuve.

They also mentioned Leury as “not an everyday right fielder,” so the blame on the route and gaffe seemed to be experienced based, when most of his MLB career has been spent in the outfield. He’s obviously not an Adam Engel outfielder, but just a weird, lack of research comment to me.

To Err is Herrmann

I like how you, Jim Margalus, are always fair and accurate, giving La Russia the benefit of the doubt on his game 1 handling of Lance Lynn.,That sets up how strange his handling of both Lucas Giolito and assorted relievers was in game 2. I think Craig Kimbrel just ran out of gas after July. He did not pitch many innings his two terrible years in 2019-2020, but he also had nothing in the 2018 postseason with Boston. This is from memory, but I believe his ERA in 2018 ALDS was 4.75, ALCS was 11.50 and World Series was 4.50. I was nervous about giving up Nick Madrigal but 1) I was shocked in a good way that the Sox Front Office Triumvirate was making a win-now move, and 2) I don’t remember any coverage at that time indicating Kimbrel was losing fastball velocity. But given his past 2 months with the White Sox, there is absolutely nothing to suggest he would do anything other than collapse against the Astros yesterday. I know La Russa will be back next year. He is a good manager, but not a great one, not anymore. His babbling about Kimbrel’s resume made no sense to me. Kimbrel is finished for the year.

To Err is Herrmann

Thanks for this. That leads me to my main theory of the past month, he is having mental game issues. No way to prove that, of course, but 0.49 ERA to 5.09 ERA, can anyone see that coming? But isn’t that September velocity concerning? I actually am not looking to blame anyone in the front office. It looked like a win-now move at the time, and you can’t fault a front office for that. To be honest, I don’t understand how Kimbrel could fall apart so thoroughly. I knew as soon as I posted my earlier response you would have the data I knew you must have had up at the time. I did not doubt you reported it, I just did not remember reading it. When the same front office that told us Andrew Vaughn was our uncontested DH and Adam Eaton our RF in March, I was stunned when they rolled the dice on a big win-now move in July. I probably was unable to process anything at the time.

To Err is Herrmann

Yes, I agree it’s a superficial analysis. Losing 1.5 mph from May to September is no good in a closer relying on overpowering speed. He apparently does not pitching chops to make up for that. It did not seem to me then, but it should have, that Hahn just replicated Tatis Jr for Shields, though a refreshed Kimbrel could have another good half season next year. This winter I read Dorfman’s “The Mental Game of Baseball” and I keep looking for ways to work it into conversations I have. I will stop now, as it has probably become annoying.

karkovice squad

I don’t have the same takeaway from that data. It’s not great to have your mid-season and April averages to align.

I think the general expectation for a healthy pitcher is that their monthly avg velo ramps up until/thru August rather than looking like a rainbow from April through July.

Last edited 2 years ago by karkovice squad
soxygen

Every time I saw Kimbrel pitch in 2019-2020 he looked lost and over the hill.

I did not see him pitch in the first half of the year, but he is subject to the laws of nature and sample size. An older guy who had not pitched well for a couple of years, and was successful in a really small sample of work…well, I think you just look at an 0.49 ERA and say “this guy is getting lucky, and odds are good he gets back onto his previous aging trajectory pretty soon.”

Last edited 2 years ago by soxygen
itaita

It helps i was not very confident heading into this series so its much easier to flip into dour mode and just look forward to the offseason.

Greg Nix

Kimbrel’s option is going to be the hottest topic of the Off-season Plan Project.

roke1960

There’s no way he pitches for the Sox next year, even if he was very good. You don’t pay almost $30M for two relievers, even if they’re both elite. The question becomes, will anyone be willing to trade for him?

jhomeslice

I don’t see how they risk picking it up, and not being able to trade him. With the payroll constraints they operate under, they cannot afford to waste the money it would cost to keep him.

Shingos Cheeseburgers

There’s value there, just not for the Sox. Pick it up and find a trade partner so the only thing you get for trading away Nick Madrigal isn’t a gigantic flop for three months.

metasox

I doubt the Sox ever expected to hang onto him. But I suspect they intended to pick up the option and trade him to offset some of the cost of acquiring him.

FishSox

I believe in the adage, “You are who the scoreboard says you are”

  1. The reason the Astros are ready and we aren’t is AJ Hinch. He taught them how to be ready to play everyday and how to win. TLR just handed the locker room to Abreu and Anderson and told them to report back if they needed his intervention. Because of that, we had a season of long offensive and defensive droughts, with no correction. That is why we aren’t ready to play now, TLR never taught them. Baker looks smart because he just rolls the ball out and tells them to go to work, they already have the tools. If you got outsmarted by Dusty Baker, your a breath away from a drool bucket.
  2. Kimbrel should not have made the post season roster. To be surprised by his results is an act of willful ignorance.
  3. Crochet went back to back twice this year, and both times gave up a run on his second day. As he did in game 2. Willful Ignorance again.
  4. Staring Lynn in a park that he lacks success, throwing 90%+ fastballs to the best fastball hitting team in MLB, is another act of willful ignorance. He should have been the game 3 starter at home.
  5. He left a fading Gio in for a 3rd time through the order, instead of going to Kopech who’s last outing was electric with 3 innings and 6k’s…smoking hopium.
  6. Engle’s splits against RHP’s is the best of his career, no reason to sub in Hernandez as LHB….hitting the hopium hookah again. He catches the ball that Garcia botched, not much doubt.

Anyone that could simply trust that they people on the field are going to be the people they have proved all season that they are, could have more success than TLR. The fact that this team still hasn’t learned how to prepare for games, makes it a lost season. Isn’t this a lineup that should be mashing the ball and terrifying opposing pitching? Underachievement is about 3 rungs up the ladder from where we are right now, and that, lays squarely at the doorstep of TLR.

soxygen

Great piece, Jim.

I don’t particularly care for LaRussa, and did not approve of the process that led to his hiring. I hated the culture war within Sox fandom that the hiring engendered. And I think he has made many bad decisions in the regular season and a few in the post-season.

In the end, circumstances- and Jerry – didn’t give him much margin for error. We have a young roster with some holes. Young, talented teams can compete when those holes are filled. We came into the last offseason needing another starting pitcher, a right fielder, a left handed bat, a backup catcher…and we still need those same things. This roster, as constructed, is just not as good as Houston or Tampa. I’m not sure that Tony has done much damage to our actual chances of winning the series, but he sure hasn’t helped and we never had any margin of safety.

To quote Richard III: A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

calcetinesblancos

Yeah wasn’t that “culture war” you mentioned sad? They took something awesome and inserted a controversial person into it that didn’t help anything.

Root Cause

I will admit that I come here to vent. I am not on the spot to be fair, balanced, or even professional.

That said, we saw Kimbrell struggle in all of 2021 wearing black and white, we saw Garcia struggle in RF, and we all saw Gio struggling in the 4th inning. TLR isn’t perfect and he shouldn’t have to be.

I would like to see in-game decisions working half the time- I don’t think that is too much to ask. So to be fair and balanced, what moves did he make that kept us in yesterday’s game? I am not being snarky, I just can’t think of one.

To Err is Herrmann

I saw a guy blundering like he was experimenting in an early August game. I like chipporter’s word hopium here. I was neutral on the TLR hire. I liked the built-in Hollywood movie story of the old, crusty, curmudgeonly hard drinking manager taking the rag tag team of youngsters to the top, but I thought we would see some smart and creative managing and bullpen mgt and at times this year we did. I was never a fan of the idea of hiring AJ Hinch because his uncorroborated story of smashing the monitors rang false but in any case he seemed to have not asserted himself in that situation. But more to the point if yesterday’s game, I would have expected the 76-year-old version of Tony La Russa to have done much better. If we win 3 straight, I will of course not post for a while.

LamarHoyt_oncrack

Success is often defined by an ability to admit mistakes and correct them. Will the Sox be able to do that with TLR? It will take more than that, but it is clear that TLR hinders more than helps this team. How good a manager he was between 10 and 35 years ago is not relevant to his skills now.

It would be bag of hammers stupid to risk throwing away another year of the rebuild watching him flounder because his acumen and perhaps even cognitive abilities are in decline. That’s not a cruel ageist comment either, people in my family have experienced cognitive decline at younger ages than him, alcohol related as well. TLR has never struck me as being particularly sharp or looking the part of an inspiring leader with good energy, all year.

They need an improved roster for any manager to work with, but still it would be best if they correct their mistake with him and move on. He alone isn’t the difference in them winning or losing the series, but they should not risk him being that next year.

calcetinesblancos

I think it’s a fair thing to wonder when it comes to him declining. His press conferences make me think he is because lots of times he’s unintelligible or sounds like he forgot what he was saying in the middle of a sentence.

jhomeslice

The Sox look dull and lifeless, just like their manager.

texag10

I, for one, loved hearing about how good Gio’s curveball was and learning that 104mph line drives are actually bloop singles.

MLB has really pissed off just about everyone with their postseason coverage so far. Broadcasts freezing on certain platforms, awful overlays and scorebugs, and shitty offensive booths. I heard Abner Doubleday’s name more yesterday than all other games combined. Fucking hell MLB. That’s sure to get the kids interested in baseball.

soxygen

The Abner Doubleday stuff was ridiculous. And for what it’s worth, I think the position actually evolved later and for the purpose of being the cutoff man for the throws from outfielders, ergo the word “shortstop.”

texag10

Bitching about shifts that have been around since the 40s or earlier is peak “Old man yells at cloud” material

soxygen

If you ignore the specific Doubleday reference and just take him to mean “the game should be played as it was played in the mid 19th century” he is just plain wrong. Here is a description of the shortstop position from the time:

“His position is generally in the center of the triangle formed by the second and third bases and the pitcher’s position, but he should change it according to his knowledge of the striker’s style of batting.”

https://www.vbba.org/1860-beadles-full-text/

DrCrawdad

Game 2, such a demoralizing agent. When the game ended I turned off and tuned out. I couldn’t handle any autopsies.

Win game 3 then game 4. Put pressure on those cheating bazturds.

lifelongjd

Thanks, Jim. Very insightful and balanced piece. I’m sure taking a day or so to breathe and calm down made the writing much less reactive and tamer.
I agree on most points. The reasons the Sox are down 2-0 are because they haven’t hit well, they haven’t pitched well, and haven’t played good defense. Blaming TLR is easy, but the players just haven’t performed. Not defending the manager at all, but not pitching Kopech is not the reason the Sox are 0-2 (I mean honestly, he’s a fastball pitcher mainly and we’ve seen what Houston does to fastballs).
Seems like TLR was always going to be the fall guy if one was needed, but I think that’s letting the players off easy. Plus Houston is just better and more experienced.

FishSox

This post seems to ignore the fact that TLR is the one that put that specific lineup out there. Kimbrel? Garcia for Engle? He’s also the guy that set the defense, wide open up the middle for a sinkerballer…that’s simply not smart.
Also, Kopech is much more than a FB pitcher. Lynn is a FB pitcher. How many times have you seen hitters look stupid on Kopechs slider?

lifelongjd

I said I wasn’t defending him. Not ignoring any of the questionable decisions. All those things you mention don’t add up to overcoming a 10 run deficit in 2 games.

ParisSox

All of this is true. At the end of the day, you see a much better and more disciplined team on one side. Better in just about every aspect.

Not that this changes the outcomes but I see the Sox being a lot more sloppy than they were in the regular season for hitting the cutoff men with good crisp throws, backing up plays, etc. The ball seems to be rolling around on the turf a lot more on them.

Doesn’t change the outcomes but does make them look less disciplined than the Astros.