First Pitch: White Sox vs. Yankees

Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the White Sox

TV: NBC Sports Chicago and TBS

Lineups:

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LamarHoyt_oncrack

Why have Lamb on the team if he isn’t going to start ahead of Mendick if they need a 3b for a day? Mendick might be the only guy on the team you can say this about, but Lamb is the better hitter, even vs lefties.

snoopy369

I don’t even understand why Mendick is up. Thought they sent him back down after the Field of Dreams game…

Flitcraft

Some hours ago, Leury Garcia to IL w/concussion. Mendick got the call.

snoopy369

ah missed that, thanks… still wish someone else had been called up! But I suppose you do need a MI backup.

jhomeslice

Grandal has played 4 games in his rehab stint. Since he is not recovering from a 3 month layoff the way Robert and Eloy were, hoping his time in the minors is shorter. They still seem lethargic and could really use him.

snoopy369

Is Tony a conscientious objector to instant replay or something? That’s the second call they should’ve reviewed – the first one was super borderline and I could give them a pass, maybe, but not that – clearly a missed call by the ump. What gives?

ForsterFTOG

Don’t question. All part of the master plan.

calcetinesblancos

The dumb part is that I thought he was clearly safe in real time; I was surprised by the initial call. So the fact that they didn’t challenge it even when looking at it again is just stupid, especially this late in the game.

They went easy on the Sox in the broadcast by saying it looked close, but even they knew he was clearly safe.

snoopy369

The thing that really worries me is this is the sort of thing that causes the team to lose faith in the manager… the manager is supposed to have your back and challenge close calls that go against you, even if they AREN’T right, if there’s a chance. As much as I’d rather games go faster, from the teammate point of view it seems like a betrayal to have neither of those calls challenged, actual effect on our likelihood to win aside…

DuhSox

As I understand the replay process, the Sox have a person (perhaps more) in a booth reviewing the play with a coach on a dugout phone relaying to TLR that he should or should not challenge the call. IMO, TLR is only doing what he is being told, and I think the players understand that. The person(s) that should be held accountable is in the replay booth. Now on a close play even on an incorrect call there is no guarantee that it will be overturned. But on plays like this and the one on Judge earlier, that are clearly wrong, they should be challenged and will be overturned. If I am TLR, tonight there is someone new reviewing replays. And in this situation, even if you think the call was right, review it anyway, what do you have to lose.

Flitcraft

How much of a jinx is it for me to mention that’s 4 innings of 0 H, 0 R pitching (5 BB, incl. 1 v smart IBB) from this bullpen?

Consider it jinxed that much, because I’m mentioning it.

LamarHoyt_oncrack

It’s jinxed, because Foster was not in the game yet. Lest we forget why they got Kimbrel and Tepera.

Flitcraft

Went with Foster on back-to-back days instead of Crochet, for instance, who made a longish appearance yesterday, but by some measures only marginally more so. But okay.

Kopech did not pitch yesterday. He’s not available? A serious question because otherwise I’m baffled.

jhomeslice

I try not to get too caught up in the ups and downs of the season, but they just don’t look very good against good clubs. Houston at the start of the 2nd half was the only exception that comes to mind.

Going to be a rough couple weeks if they don’t play with a lot more fire than this. I just want them to look like a playoff team rather than the default winner of a pitiful division.

ImmortalTimeTravelMan

Not being good against good clubs is the reason this team is overhyped. They have technically won 2 series against over .500 clubs: 3/4 against the Rays and the second series against Houston. If you want to stretch they won the first series against the Blue Jays but they weren’t over .500 at the time they were playing them. It’s real easy to build a solid record when you win 7 games against Baltimore and play Detroit and Minnesota over and over.

HallofFrank

That’s a little unfair. They won a series against the Rays, Blue Jays, Astros, and Cardinals—all are over .500. And it’s worth adding that all but one of the Yankees games were 2 runs or less. Most of those could have gone either way and just didn’t go the Sox way.

Plus, the hype around this team has never been because of what they’ve done with the revolving door of AAAA players they’ve endured. The hype is what they’ll look like at full strength. We’re getting glimpses of it now, but the hype isn’t unwarranted.

ForsterFTOG

“And it’s worth adding that all but one of the Yankees games were 2 runs or less. Most of those could have gone either way and just didn’t go the Sox way.“

All due respect, that’s 2018 speak.

LamarHoyt_oncrack

No kidding. They win in October or go home. They don’t get points for being close. They’ve won games they could have lost too, like Thursday.

We’ll see how they do the next 11 games. Not a good start to this test against potential October opponents.

HallofFrank

Obviously that’s true, but I’m talking about predicting future success—i.e., winning a playoff series against the Yankees. The Sox went 1-5 against the Yanks this year, but based on how the games went I feel just fine about how the Sox stack up against the Yanks. They weren’t outclassed and, in a small sample size, sometimes you just lose close games. That’s not a reason to panic.

metasox

In a way, I wish the Sox played a tougher schedule. I feel if they played in the East, they would either not make the post-season or make the post-season and be a better club for having played a tough schedule.

jhomeslice

I am afraid you may be exactly right. I feel like all their stats are probably a bit skewed too as a result of weakness of schedule, and that their sometimes dominant rotation isn’t really that great when facing good hitting lineups. Toward that end, will be really interesting when the play the Jays.