First Pitch: White Sox at Tigers
There’s no doubting that Leury García has $5 million of utility to any ball club, but I had my reservations about the three-year deal he signed with the White Sox because of his tendency to find himself a little too involved with some very important plans. He shouldn’t be starting in a corner outfield spot two postseasons in a row, and yet two different managers have felt compelled to put him there.
The reason he’s starting at shortstop and batting sixth on Opening Day is different — Tim Anderson is serving a two-game suspension to start the season, and Yoán Moncada is out — but there’s always some logic that puts him in the middle of things.
At least we’re seeing the benefits of the trade for AJ Pollock. With Anderson out, Pollock is a natural choice for a backup leadoff man.
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Time: 12:10 p.m. CT
Lineups:
| Order | White Sox | Tigers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AJ Pollock, RF | Robbie Grossman, RF |
| 2 | Luis Robert, CF | Austin Meadows, LF |
| 3 | José Abreu, 1B | Javier Báez, SS |
| 4 | Yasmani Grandal, C | Jeimer Candelario, 3B |
| 5 | Eloy Jiménez, LF | Miguel Cabrera, DH |
| 6 | Leury García, SS | Jonathan Schoop, 2B |
| 7 | Josh Harrison, 2B | Akil Baddoo, CF |
| 8 | Andrew Vaughn, DH | Spencer Torkelson, 1B |
| 9 | Jake Burger, 3B | Tucker Barnhart, C |
| SP | Lucas Giolito, RHP | Eduardo Rodriguez, LHP |
Weather: At the moment, it’s raining.
It’s opening day, and I’m already tired of Garcia in the lineup, lol. Can’t wait for TA7 to get back.
Nobody plays 162 games anymore. I’d rather have Anderson (and Moncada and Lynn) miss games in April than October.
Do we get to choose now? Just kidding.
What’s the over/under on the number of times that Ohtani NFT commercial is streamed during the online broadcast? I feel like I’ve seen it five times before the opening pitch.
YAAAY! WHITE SOX BASEBALL!!!!
Eloy adding red.
Rodriguez is having control problems but both Jose and Eloy missed on middle middle fastballals in the low 90s but somehow missed but Eloy can muscle a low inside fastballs for an RBI somehow lol
Damn, that was a cool intro on NBC Sports Chicago. It’s a long way from Don Cooper slinking into the shadows.
Nice to see how we do against one of the better lefties in the division on opening day.
Based on the Zips depth chart, the other 4 AL Central teams are somewhat RHP heavy. Their LHP are projected to pitch only 21% of their projected innings in 2022. As a point of comparison, it looks like 29% of baseball plate appearances last year involved a LHP, so the AL central this year is light on LHP relative to the league last year.
Please don’t kill yourself Andrew
Is it too early to quibble about lineup construction?
Do you think Andrew Vaughn and his .955 OPS versus LHP should be hitting higher in the order? If so, then we’re in agreement!
If you want a reason, I’d guess it’s to spread the switch hitters out in the lineup for the inevitably switch to a right-handed reliever and the ability to be replaced by Sheets if/when that happens. So La Russa has a strong-side lineup against the starter with the ability to balance the lineup by having the 4, 6, and 8 hitters turned around.
I’d rather have Vaughn/Sheets at 6, but yes, that is probably TLR’s sober reasoning.
He didn’t spread them out very much though, with Grandal 4th and Leury 6th. I think putting Vaughn 6th and Leury 7th would have been a better choice.
My understanding is he was looking at Leury as a second leadoff man, a couple of table setter types in front of a couple of thumpers.
Leury against lefties should not be seen as anything but a bad option.
Scratch that. Early season error. I was thinking Leury was better as a lefty batter. And it is too early to quibble about the lineup.
Tom Tango’s “The Book” has a great chapter on lineup construction. According to The Book “from slot #6 through #9, put the players in descending order of quality.”
Tony is a hall of fame baseball person…but…
Leury’s OPS versus lefties was .717 last year. That’s definitely worse than Vaughn’s .955.
You’re right, but someone I saw said this was Tony’s thinking.
I was always under the impression that the #7 hitter is the “second leadoff”
Jake Burger is a MLB-quality player. It’s neat to have an MLB-quality player in reserve when another player goes down.
We aren’t used to depth. It is like a magic unicorn to us Sox fans.
You know, I usually would get mad at Eloy for not chasing that ball down and limiting that hit to a single but honestly, I’m just happy he’s not injuring himself out there.
I’m liking this “Professional Right Fielder” concept so far.
Wow, is this what it feels like to have a good hitting corner outfielder?
61 pitches was the limit for Gio? He threw more than that in his last spring training start.
I suspect weather is also a factor.
You’re probably right.
Why is Lucas out after 4 innings?
Seems a little strange. I did think for a moment that Gio tweaked something is his upper right leg earlier in the game. Hope this is just cold weather, gonna be a long season choice.
Abdominal tightness according to twitter.
Rotation is kill 🙁
It would be nice if Sousa can be a decent relief option this year. We could use some development wins.
Here’s the answer on Giolito
Was that sold by Harrison? Very crafty if so.
Jerry Reinsdorf called the Commish’s office and told them to end the inning lol.
Or maybe it was a crafty way of minimizing contact.
Harrison didn’t jump, but he shouldn’t need to any more with the Utley rule protecting him like it did there. Usually it applies to going far out of the base line to break it up, but high school (and college?) is strict about going past the base like Candelario did even without taking out the MIF making the turn.
Pollock didn’t *need* to have three hits to endear himself as the everyday right fielder but I’m certainly not complaining
I’m sure Mazara had at least 3 total hits during his entire season, but it sure doesn’t feel like it.
So, use Graveman for a couple more hitters, have Bummer come in and overlap Meadows, and then bring in Hendriks starting with Baez. That sounds good.
No reason to ride Graveman that hard, just give Bummer the 8th. It’s not like he’s a LOOGY
I posted my comment to start the seventh, so Graveman should be done with Bummer to start the 8th, which is what I meant. Give Bummer the 9-1-2 hitters, then bring in Hendriks starting with Baez.
Ah yes in that case I agree lol
Miggy is full on fat Elvis these days. I enjoy the Tigers being bad.
Yeesh
Grandal motioned for someone to come out of the dugout after the hbp
Vaughn!
Boom! Tony’s so smart.
If you had “Andrew Vaughn mashing lefties” and “Tony using 5+ relievers” then come on down and collect your prize.
Andrew Vaughn Breakout campaign incoming.
Liam just wanted the win more than the save
So much for that
[Curb theme playing]
I love having a killer bullpen. It means I don’t need to worry when we take a lead into the late innings.
Contrary to popular opinion, apparently we didn’t spend enough on the bullpen.
😂
Hit the wall first, I think
I took a lot of crap from some folks for suggesting that AJ Pollock was a lousy right fielder.
ok
Now I wish we still had Kimbral
Aw, phooey
God I love this team’s commitment to just emotionally obliterating its fans
Your response is great 😂
Wow, that finish was atrocious. Kudos to Vaughn in the clutch!
I was already pissed after seeing how Suzuki did in his debut, so I’m glad we just kept the misery coming.
I cannot recall an opening day loss that has ever stung this much. Woof.
I missed the game (at work). It appears it can be summarized as “womp womp”
With Tony on trombone
I only caught part of the game on the radio. Was this a typical LaRussa bungling of the bullpen?
Maybe… but really Bummer and Hendriks were bad.
I’m always suspicious of Tony when I see a pitching line with two hits and a walk. I assume Bummer was looking like shit while Tony was taking his siesta.
At some point you have to blame the pitchers for pitching poorly
There wasn’t really much for him to do different, Bummer and Hendriks just did not have it today.
He brought in Hendriks for the 4-out save (good move!) and Liam immediately gave up a 2-run single to Miggy. He then stuck with Hendriks for the 9th with the slim lead via Vaughn’s dinger and it did not go well. The remaining options in the pen were uhhhh Banks, Ruiz, Foster, Reylo, and Velasquez, so I think they were probably screwed either way. Get well soon Joe Kelly…
I hope this at least means I eventually don’t have to see the stupid aggro music video that precedes Liam’s shitty performances on the mound.