Orioles 6, White Sox 2: Tony La Russa lets Lance Lynn languish
The one-hour, 21-minute rain delay that preceded this game pushed it out of the window of time I had before a friend’s kid’s birthday party, so I had to cut out after the Orioles scored one on a solo shot in the top of the third, answered by Lenyn Sosa scoring from first on a rare pair of Baltimore blunders in the bottom of the inning.
I was able to check back in on the game as it was coming to a close.
First, I saw the score itself: Orioles 6, White Sox 1 (which turned into 2).
Then I saw the line score, which showed Baltimore scoring four runs in the top of the seventh.
Then I checked the box score, and saw that all of those runs fell on Lance Lynn’s tab.
It’s hard to think of a situation where a starting pitcher could give up four runs in that late of an inning in a defensible manner. Maybe I can picture a pitcher cruising through six innings on 70 pitches, then gives up two singles, an error and a grand slam over his first 10 of the seventh, or some similar kind of sequence that represents a swift and stunning reversal of fortune.
Lynn’s seventh-inning downfall unfolded more slowly. He plunked Robinson Chirinos with one out. Two batters later, he walked Jorge Mateo on six pitches when he started 0-2, which put him over 100 pitches and brought the lineup around for a fourth time.
Granted, Cedric Mullins’ bases-loading single was a swinging bunt off the end of the bat on a quality cutter that left the bat at 18.4 mph, but then he plunked Trey Mancini on the hand with his first-pitch fastball up and in to make it 3-1, and that ended his day.
In came José Ruiz instead of a higher-leverage option, and he piped a fastball that Austin Hays rifled into the left center gap to unload the bases for a five-run lead.
Lynn finished with this line: 6.2 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HR
He started the inning with this one:
Then again, even that line probably wouldn’t have been good enough to win. The Orioles scored their second run in the top of the fifth when Leury García crossed in front of Lenyn Sosa well on the right side of second and booted another seemingly harmless Mullins grounder, and far enough away to allow Mateo to score from second.
The White Sox scored a second run themselves, but only during Dillon Tate’s second inning of work in the ninth inning. He plunked Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger to start the inning, but got three consecutive groundouts to limit the damage and cap off yet another uninspiring effort on that side of the ball for the White Sox.
They did manage 10 baserunners after being held to two on Friday, but they were held homerless for the fifth straight game, and their attempts to sequence productive plate appearances resulted in an 0-for-7 performance with runners in scoring position. Gavin Sheets led off the second with a shift-thwarting single through the left side, only to get thrown out trying to advance on a ball that Chirinos caught between his mask and neck and recovered for a well-on-time throw. When the balls aren’t going over the fence and most of the fast guys aren’t allowed to run their hardest, the runs don’t come running.
Pair that lack of offense with a run-prevention unit that is both limited by injury and managed reactively, and this is what you get.
Bullet points:
*Sosa made his first start atop the order while playing second, and he went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Mateo robbed a bit for a first hit with a leaping grab, but Sosa did score the run from first because his legs allowed him to exert effort, and he also made his own falling stab on a sinking liner, so there were things to build on.
*Reese McGuire completed a SHOTHO to end the fourth inning.
*The Orioles now have more wins than the White Sox this year.
Record: 33-37 | Box score | Statcast
Its just TLR holding the team back really. While i don’t hold Lynn against him today since that Mullins hit was just a bit of bad luck why would you bring Ruiz in instead of Graveman or Kelly and let Jose/Foster or whoever start an inning with the bases empty.
The biggest frustration over LaRussa is you know that Hahn doesn’t have the power to give him the boot and Jerry would never fire his friend. So unless Tony resigns himself its a situation that wont get solved any time soon.
I think the only way Tony is gone is if the players collectively revolt and threaten to publicly demand trades and trash Tony in the media if he isn’t sent packing. Doubt that would happen (and Jerry might still not care), but perchance to dream.
There just isn’t much hope until Jerry is gone
Jerry has the coaching hiring ability of Al Davis in his later days. In Essence everybody just laughs after they see the coaching hires he makes similar to Al.
Our general organizational incompetence reminds me a bit of the Buffalo Bills in the later days of Ralph Wilson.
Both of those organizations only got a better trajectory when their respective owners passed away. Alas I think we are in a similar hole.
You dont even have to look out of town. Look how the Blackhawks fortunes changed after Bill Wirtz kicked the bucket.
Yeah, but I think we should be past glorifying Rocky Wirtz for his work.
I don’t know if it is injured guys in the lineup or playing minor leaguers, but the team just looks like it is running out of gas
They are playing like they are half dead – the personification of their manager.
Half-dead would be spry for Tony.
It’s all just sad. But they’re getting the results that are deserved from the process. Hahn and KW should have never been around for the second rebuild anyway, so I spare no sympathy for them.
Just the idea that you’re saving Kelly for the 8th…it’s so preposterous that you don’t think it can be real life. But then you realize his bullpen strategy since he’s been here has centered on earmarking certain pitchers for certain innings. The fact that this strategy has been obsolete since Andrew Miller was on the Indians…well…that just induces more delirium.
It’s not Hahn or KW. TLR is the de facto GM. He has the ear of the Chairman. He has the power. What he wants is what he gets. And what we the fans are getting is screwed. It is embarrassing and a total mistake to have TLR here. But who is going to own up to it? JR? Not a chance. I talked to a long time Cardinals fan today. He said the Cardinal fans ten years ago wanted him gone despite the 2011 championship. He went on to say that Molina and Pujols were the guys that held the team together back then despite TLR. Major League Baseball has moved on from the TLR era. Yet he we are.
There’s really no reason to believe Hahn doesn’t share in the blame other than you’ve already sunk too much time into defending him online
Holy shit, this. I mean, sure, Jerry went over Hahn’s head to hire Jerry, and I’m sure TLR had more than a hand in dipshittery like signing Leury to a 3-year deal, but it’s not like he’s to blame for various preceding blunders like Nomar Mazara and Kelvin Herrera.
(Adding on to TG’s comment):
Or acquiring Machado’s friends and family or
Or acquiring little value in return by trading Semien and Bassitt, Montas and Kimbrel
Or being incapable of stabilizing RF and 2B
Hahn’s very long transaction history clearly illustrates he was only good at one thing. And only Jerry and Fangraphs-minded fans who are obsessed with extracting value from players for peanuts seem able to elevate Hahn’s skill for getting cheap contract extensions to god-like status.
And that excellent skill he possesses falls well short of what is required for building a team that can contend for several years.
The Peter Principle
Indeed, except it was known in far fewer in 9+ years that he is incompetent as GM
You guys say it’s all Hahn’s fault and I disagree, but that doesn’t mean that I think Hahn gets a total pass for what’s on the field. If you all my comments, not just on this thread, but all of them, I think the Sox are a mediocre organization from top to bottom, including Hahn and the whole baseball operations staff. An organization where loyalty to JR counts for more than ability.
I never said that
Nobody said that.
I don’t think there’s a single person on this message board that has exclusively laid blame on Hahn. Everybody acknowledges the wide net of blame to be cast. Don’t take pointed criticisms of Hahn, Jerry, Tony, or any other individual to be exclusive assignment of responsibility in what I believe we all know is a collective failure.
Maybe a “Cocoon” sort of thing could happen? I don’t feel like an awful person wishing for that. Jerry can do it in a pool, climb a tree and then blast off into space forever. (I don’t want to watch any of these things any more than I want to watch these Sox games.)
Compared to watching most of these games, I’d prefer to watch re-runs of Alf.
Live action or cartoon?
Never mind, either would be preferable.
The problem with this analogy is that there was a sequel and they all came back.
Sosa finally plays – and hits leadoff. Having a guy make the jump from AA and then making him the leadoff hitter is a mockery – stupid and totally unnecessary. Then Lynn who is coming off an injury goes almost 110 pitches and winds up with 6 runs instead of 2.
The only “hope” is if this team goes further south and winds up 10 out by allstar break, and by some act of mercy TLR is gone. Even then they have a pretty mediocre roster. But TLR’s WAR by now has to be like -6 or -7. You can’t say he lost today’s game, but he hurts their chances to win in SO many games that you know he has cost them several. If they get swept by the O’s, and then lose more than they win against the Angels, Giants, and Twins, there might be a glimmer of hope that we will live to see the day TLR is fired, or quits.
Trade deadline is 8/2. If the team is falling out by the AS break, you are more likely looking at a white flag. Though I could envision La Russa stepping down in that instance.
The problem with any potential White Flag trade is that any players that have actual trade value right now, save for Abreu and Cueto, are almost certainly going to be needed if they intend to compete next season.
Right, I am not expecting much. Though if Gioloto was pitching well, he would have been an interesting possibility. It could have been like the Berrios trade.
But a white flag would be about more than trades. It is also about conserving resources for yext season. So not playing guys who are broken and potentially making things worse. And it is about giving some playing time to a few young players.
I’m not convinced resting their players for half the season is going to make their health woes any better in 2023.
Batting Sosa lead off is TLR’s FU to the front office. Sosa should play, yes, but at 8th or 9th in the batting order. 72 hours ago the guy was in AA for God’s sake. And someone puts in the leadoff spot that belongs to a guy like Anderson? Like I said, FU to Rick from Tony.
The fans need to start saying FU to Jerry. Seriously. They are drawing 23K per game and should be drawing less than half that. Fans are morons for paying to see this shit, at this point. If you are not rich, it is a waste of money. If you are rich, it is a waste of time.
Withdraw support from this team, buy no tickets, shirts, hats, etc, until they get a new manager at least. If they don’t, root for the Jays to get it together and take down the Yankees in October. Or find any team to root for… just don’t waste time or energy with this one. Or forget about baseball altogether. Fans deserve better than this charade, brought to them by several complete a-holes.
Most casual fans picked a game or two and bought those tickets before the train went off the rails. Calling them morons for enjoying a day in the sun for something they already purchased seems a tad harsh.
I doubt they pre-sold that many tickets. I’ve never had problems getting tickets a day or two ahead of games. I stand corrected, you are of course right if they bought them way ahead of time. If I had done that I would look to sell them. Honestly, how can anybody enjoy a day in the sun watching this nonsense? I’d rather be anywhere else enjoying a nice day than Sox park. Who needs dealing with traffic, parking, food at the game. Going to see them isn’t even worth the price of the gas to get to the park.
But people who buy tickets now, and don’t have them already, are morons. That’s fair. There is no justification to support a team with this bad an ownership unless someone is a sheep.
Lord! You are a narrow-minded person. Look, it’s not me, but some people just want an afternoon out with the family during the summer in the sunshine. Morons! That’s what they are!
I prefer to advocate for things that actually could happen.
This MIGHT be okay (showing faith in the call up I guess?), but there have been so many insane lineups.
Yeah, the whole situation would probably raise fewer eyebrows were Tony’s lineups not routinely batshit crazy.
Yes, leadoff for Sosa and 8th for Leury was not putting Sosa in best chance to succeed. It would seem better to put less pressure on him, but whatever. In Tony’s world, these gambits are “confidence builders.” I think the chant each game sihould be more “Tony, what are you doing?” 67% of time and “Fire Tony” 33% of time.
Things that need to happen in the next week or so to turn this around:
Again a GM with 2 playoff appearances in 9 years is in no position to give ultimatums to his owner.
Hahn has no power over the financial budget. That is set by the owner. And that owner never has and never will pay market value for any player or coach, be they in MLB or the NBA, no matter the record of success that player or coach brought to the team. See Phil Jackson among others.
The team payroll is nearly $200 million and 7th overall. They are all to blame. Hahn doesn’t deserve a pass at all.
But Hahn works in an organization that is owned by a guy that never pays full fair market value for players or coaches in either the NBA or MLB. And right now $63.6MM goes to players who are on the injured list. And, yes, $13.5 MM goes to Garcia, Harrison and Velasquez who total -.5 WAR. Did Hahn want to sign Garcia to a three year $16.5MM contract or did TLR insist on it? And Harrison and Velasquez are one year deals. Is Hahn or the training staff responsible for so many players on the injured list?
Look, I’ve been on message boards for years where one person or another keeps trying to assign blame for Hahn’s signings and trades to somebody else. Why Teflon Hahn became a thing is beyond me, but yes, there were better players he could have signed this season and previous seasons for the same sort of money he spent on total busts.
And the 2020 playoff appearance is starting to feel more and more like it needs an asterisk. Past 60 games that team’s lack of starting pitching was going to get exposed badly.
Hahn should resign to save his career. But I don’t know his personality or financial situation. Maybe he can’t afford to quit or he knows he can’t get a comparable MLB job after so many years with the Sox. And rumor is that Hinch can and will opt out in Detroit come October.
His career as one of those “escape your debts through bankruptcy” lawyers.
Hahn is a rich man right now in part because he’s a willing sycophant. He isn’t looking to save his career because he knows this IS his career.
Save his career? Which team in their right mind would hire Hahn in a FO role?
Like I said in my comment, maybe Hahn knows he can’t get a comparable job because he carries a long White Sox stink. Sometimes you should read beyond my first sentence.
So get this…the Rocco & the Twins basically limit Chris Archer to 75 pitches per start.
Disregard
Maybe they can get somethiing for Abreu, Burger, Pollock, Graveman, Kelly and Hendricks.
I want Abreu to have a chance of winning so part of me wouldn’t mind if it came to that.
Nothing is going to happen as long as TLR is around. And the party line is that they are not out of the wild card race, so let’s hang tough and get Grandal, Eloy, Hendricks and Yoan back and we will go on a big win streak with a favorable schedule. LOL.
Abreu, yes, something decent, not great.
Burger, probably a bit less than Abreu, but given the length of control and cost it doesn’t make as much sense to move him.
Pollock, lol, nobody wants to pay his salary and his buyout (or, worse, eat his player option) for replacement level production.
Graveman, sure, but the return is going to be tempered due to his remaining money and they’d have to find a replacement on the open market again.
Kelly’s probably not going to generate much interest given his injury struggles, lack of activity, and remaining year at considerable cost.
Hendriks, sure, if he can return from injury looking sharp, he’ll bring something decent also.
If the plan is to win in 2023, I don’t see any of these guys bringing a return that changes the outlook for that goal.
Quore…..”If the plan is to win in 2023, I don’t see any of these guys bringing a return that changes the outlook for that goal.”
If TLR is slated to manage, the plan is not to win in 2023.
If they got rid of TLR the vibe would change, and good things might start to happen. Honestly he is one of those people that you just avoid. You are right, they are sunk in 2023 if he is still around, he will be even dumber, more senile, and closer to death next year.
Yeah, I can’t argue with that.
This is managerial malpractice. Lynn is just back from the injured list. 6 innings was good enough for Cease, why not Lynn? Then Ruiz? Why or why? The guy has been ineffective this year and so a reasonably close game (except if the Sox are down a run the gap might be too huge) is blown up and Lynn gets the bad stats. And Sosa batting lead off? You’ve got to be kidding. That is a move a manager makes to ‘eff a guy he doesn’t want around.
Look, it is crystal clear the team is on strike against the HOF manager. They are telling the whole baseball world they want a change.
I think letting Lynn start the 7th is defensible even if I wouldn’t have done it. Lynn had thrown 86 pitches when the 7th started and 6-7-8 were coming up for the Orioles.
The indefensible was not having Lynn on a very short lease. In fact the opposite was true as Lynn was allowed to hit two batters and walk another (along with the infield hit) as his pitch count rose to 109 before pulling him. By then bringing in Ruiz (who struggles in high leverage) with the bases loaded to face Hays was just the insanity cherry on top of the lunacy sundae.
I preferred the false hope and fun rise of the eleventy- seventh rebuild to the Reinsdorf-LaRussa reality tour.
Yesterday, I thought Sosa would start at second base but I was wrong. Today, I thought he would bat ninth and play shortstop but TLR’s adopted son was at short for some reason. I wasn’t in a good mood when the game finally started. I get that TA needs to rest because he has a busy social life but couldn’t he DH and put Vaughn in the outfield?
As I watched the game today and saw the stat line for Lynn before the inning started, I said, I hope LaRussa has someone ready to go. When Chironos reached base, I said “Take him out”. Then Matteo walks, I yelled Take him out. TLR probably couldn’t hear me because I was at home and he can’t hear very well. Even the swinging “bunt” hit did not make me feel good and I yelled again to take him out. No response.
When TLR did make a move, he decided to go with a guy who let’s more inherited runs score than anyone on the team. I wondered “Was TLR mad at Lance for yelling at Joe McEwing in the last game for their stupid shift decision?”
I can’t take watching this team and the incompetent manager who apparently is auditioning to be President.
Your “busy social life” is a cheap shot. You don’t know shit. STFU.
How bad is Tony la Clown? The year Ozzie quit the White Sox was 2011. That team had Adam Dunn with almost 500 PAs and a -2.9 fWAR (not a typo). Ozzie was criticized for making lineups to lose on purpose and yet he ended up 4 games under 500. Just like right now. Pathetic.
Because Sosa went from not playing to batting 1st and Lynn Pitching over 100 points to internal friction somewhere. I can see TLR doing it intentionally just to rub it in someone’s face because they made a ‘suggestion’ or ‘observation’. Just because we believe TLR has total control doesn’t mean he has or that there isn’t some internal fighting going on within the stakeholding beneath Jerry.
That’s the only positive sign. To bat a guy just up from AA at leadoff is utterly ridiculous. It maximizes the number of at bats he gets and hurts their team’s chances to win, just like if he hit Leury leadoff. It does smell of rubbing in someone’s face.
TLR is an a-hole, and so is his boss. Hahn is more of a pussy than an a-hole. It’s freaking time somebody said SOMETHING about TLR. A player, Hahn, somebody. This team has no backbone or self esteem for nobody to come forward.
Place blame where you will, but it’s becoming increasingly evident that this White Sox roster is simply not very good at baseball.
Winning baseball teams must have genuine ballplayers, not one-dimensional guys with a lack of baseball instincts–not knowing how or when to take advantage of baserunning opportunities, going the other way when the situation dictates, getting better jumps on defense because of anticipation and feel, etc., etc. Not sure if these things can be taught or they are inherent. But I’d much rather have TA on first base than Yoan Moncada late in the game when a run is critical, even though they are both fast runners. Keep the ballers, launch the “physical specimens” who lack the feel for winning baseball.
Position Keepers:
TA
Vaughn
Robert
Abreu (if he were not so old)
That’s about it. Mendick/Engel/even Leury Garcia understand the game, but lack starter talent. I had thought Madrigal had this gene, but apparently not.
Find players like:
Louis Arraez
KiKi Hernandez
Chris Taylor
Michael Brantley
Willson Contreras
Players who find ways to beat you, even without elite talent.
And then pay for elite talent gamers.
Jose Altuve
Paul Goldschmidt
Jose Ramirez
etc.
Players you hate to see come to bat in a clutch situation.