First Pitch: White Sox vs. Blue Jays

Toronto skyline
(Christine Wagner / Flickr)

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dwjm3

No Stone again?

Foulkelore

He always takes off for their Toronto trips. I can only assume he’s wanted by the Mounties for many, many crimes in Canada.

Shingos Cheeseburgers

I’m just gonna assume the latest sabermetric trend is putting the least competitive at bats in the lead off spot

Whoom

I was just typing…. Why on earth is Grandal leading off. He has had what? One good at bat in the past two weeks?

Shingos Cheeseburgers

It’s actually fine since he would have been out at home by 55 feet on that Vaughn double

metasox

I figure La Russa looked at who was playing and decided he may as well draw names out of a hat. That said, Engel has hit a bit better recently and might be interesting getting some leadoff time while Anderson is out.

soxygen

Engel would have been the better choice at lead off.

soxfan

I legitimately started typing this comment before Vaughn’s dinger.

That lineup…I don’t…hate?…it.

Yasmani’s been bad, but if batting first puts him in an OBP frame of mind, then I can imagine him working deep counts and going away from the shift. While the lineup lags a lot of pop, putting Vaughn, Abreu, Burger, and Sheets in order maximizes what’s available. The bottom is bad, but again – there’s not much to work with. My one quibble is I’d probably put Mendick after Engel to see if you can get a reasonably cromulent top 6, but Tony likes turning his lineups over so here we are.

a-t

Grandal leading off means his weak grounders are only one out instead of two!

CaptainEuphemism

With this lineup, I expect that double play opportunities will be pretty limited.

soxygen

I get that speed isn’t the thing that matters most in the lead off spot, but can’t let this go without mentioning it: baseball savant ranks sprint speed for base running – Grandal is #422 of #423. Only one major league player is slower – Martin Maldonado.

Last edited 1 year ago by soxygen
CaptainEuphemism

Are the both slower than Miguel Cabrera? That’s scary…

andyfaust

benetti: (after forgetting how many outs there were) I think you’re starting to rub off on me.

beckham: i’m not afraid to do it. I will rub off on you, Jason.

Last edited 1 year ago by andyfaust
soxygen

Gordon really has a way with words.

Last edited 1 year ago by soxygen
andyfaust

soxygen

Springer out there making plays in center for a team that was willing to pay him center field money.

Joliet Orange Sox

Jason and Gordon are thinking of Bedford Park as more of a quaint small town and less of an industrial site than it is.

Last edited 1 year ago by Joliet Orange Sox
CaptainEuphemism

Bedford Park is most appealing to people who haven’t been there before, right?

soxygen

I didn’t hear the pre-game show…do we know who is available to pinch hit?

soxfan

How soon can you get to Toronto?

soxygen

I could get there pretty quickly (from up here in Maine) but… like a lot of the guys on the active roster… I am listed as day to day.

Last edited 1 year ago by soxygen
a-t

I don’t particularly enjoy La Russa’s slow hooks for starters over the past week.

Joliet Orange Sox

The aftermath of Grandal’s fly ball was just awful baseball.

Nellie Fox

Awful is being conservative. Players who are lazy should not be in the dugout.

metasox

From what I have seen of McGuire’s defense, I certainly wouldn’t describe him that way. Just surprised he became a spectator on that

Last edited 1 year ago by metasox
Joliet Orange Sox

I don’t think they were being lazy, just foolish. Mendick ran for some unfathomable reason. McGuire looked because he couldn’t believe Mendick was running. He was running plenty hard if Mendick stays on first like he’s supposed to.

Last edited 1 year ago by Joliet Orange Sox
metasox

Runner on 1B sometimes draws the throw but needs to stop and make sure the run scores

Shingos Cheeseburgers

At least they’re stupid in addition to being bad

SocksO’Graham

Robert tests positive and is in Canada. Cease and Graveman banned. Living in a simulation.

Nellie Fox

If I see another major league player not hustling, I am going to throw up.

BuehrleMan

Wow. The White Sox really put the “duh” in base running fun-duh-mentals. I just turned on the game and saw that. Mercy.

Shingos Cheeseburgers

I am in awe at least one run didn’t score on that run down

a-t

You know, if you told me the Sox would score five runs with this lineup and Gausman starting, I’d have expected to be a lot happier. Still not totally unhappy but this game could easily be 6-2 Sox right now

Last edited 1 year ago by a-t
digger0910

“I wonder how Tony’s gonna play it.” Lol.

soxygen

Fortunately, Jake’s grounder was a little to soft for the triple play

ForsterFTOG

Badly coached clown show.