June 23, 2023 Sox & Sox in Chi Town

[vegasbob]

Taking the layup win here with Brayan Bello about to shutdown the White Sox, restarting the winning of games and series.

 

OTOH, Lucas Giolito is no pushover at 5-4 / 3.24/ 1.24 WHIP, on a losing team 32-34 in a loser's division

 

After getting their bats shattered yesterday, time to heat up the offense, missing the Verdugo sparkplug , and trying to get Rafael Devers on track.

[mvp 78]

Giolito:

Hard Hit 36th percentile

xSLG 32nd percentile

Barrel % 27th percentile

Chase Rate 35th percentile

 

Let's see some loud contact for the offense today!

 

I will continue to ignore all the blue on Bello's Statcast page too...

[Maxbialystock]

Bello and Paxton are the Sox two best starters--going in the first two games vs the Chisox, with Crawford slotted for game 3. That looks pretty good to me and could be an opportunity to take a series or even get a sweep.

 

However, Dugo leaves a big hole, especially with Devers and Duvall not bringing too much to the scoring table.

 

Everybody but everybody on talksox seems to think good defense is the key to winning, and I think that is horse hockey. Pitching and hitting are way more important. Yesterday the Sox defense played errorless ball and even made some good plays--and it made absolutely no difference at all because Ryan owned the Sox lineup. That could happen again today.

 

Another worry--and here I'm going to the other side of the argument and saying that defense can make a difference--is that yesterday Connor Wong started/played his 5th game in 5 days at catcher. So Caleb Hamilton of Woodinville, WA is likely to be the Sox starting catcher very soon in his very first MLB game.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

May the SOX be as successful as the hit musical HAMILTON. Edited June 23, 2023 by SPLENDIDSPLINTER

[notin]

May the SOX be as successful as the hit musical HAMILTON.

 

Should be twice as good. We have twice as many Hamiltons…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

 

Everybody but everybody on talksox seems to think good defense is the key to winning, and I think that is horse hockey. Pitching and hitting are way more important. Yesterday the Sox defense played errorless ball and even made some good plays--and it made absolutely no difference at all because Ryan owned the Sox lineup. That could happen again today.

 

 

Sometimes you're right. But good pitching is obviously the best defense, and great pitching can nullify great hitting.

 

And if good defense isn't always the key to winning, few can deny this: good defense is often the key to not losing.

[vegasbob]

Should be twice as good. We have twice as many Hamiltons…

 

If only John Henry would use a few million of his Benjamins, frankly the Sox would be better

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

If only John Henry would use a few million of his Benjamins, frankly the Sox would be better

 

Or ten times his amount of Hamiltons...

[vegasbob]

So , after much discussion on Talksox, the great Bobby Dalbec is returned to the greener grass of MLB. Reyes goes on 10 day IL, probably making our own Kike the semi-perm Ss for the next week. Dalbec can PH for him when needed , and go in the SS slot, lol.

 

Walter served his purpose so it's back to WooSox for him. Chris Murphy returns, and Tayler Scott becomes Walter's seat companion on the trip east.

 

In all seriousness the major and minor injury ( & bereavement ) bug has caught the Sox in a tough situation presently. Need to scavenge some wins this weekend . The Marlins, Blue Jays and Rangers await for 9 games after the Chicago series. The former 3 teams are a combined 34 games over .500 before today's action.

[Bellhorn04]

So , after much discussion on Talksox, the great Bobby Dalbec is returned to the greener grass of MLB. Reyes goes on 10 day IL, probably making our own Kike the semi-perm Ss for the next week. Dalbec can PH for him when needed , and go in the SS slot, lol.

 

Walter served his purpose so it's back to WooSox for him. Chris Murphy returns, and Tayler Scott becomes Walter's seat companion on the trip east.

 

In all seriousness the major and minor injury ( & bereavement ) bug has caught the Sox in a tough situation presently. Need to scavenge some wins this weekend . The Marlins, Blue Jays and Rangers await for 9 games after the Chicago series. The former 3 teams are a combined 34 games over .500 before today's action.

 

When you look at our respective records against good teams and bad teams this year, what you learn is...

 

Nothing.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Ref

Turner

Masa(DH)

Devers

Duvall

Wong

Arroyo

Kike(CF)

Hamilton(SS)

[Bellhorn04]

The Days of Hamilton are upon us!

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

The Rangers also have a player wiith the last name Duran.

The most common last name in MLB is Rodriguez. Johnson is the 2nd most common.

There are 5 MLB players with the last name Hamilton as of today.

Edited June 24, 2023 by SPLENDIDSPLINTER

[vegasbob]

Ref

Turner

Masa(DH)

Devers

Duvall

Wong

Arroyo

Kike(CF)

Hamilton(SS)

 

But no Duran nor Casas against a RH'er? Duran was 0-9 with 5 K's after his 3 for 3 double binge. vs Minn. Casas went 3 for 13 overall vs Twins. Must be a scheduled day off.

[vegasbob]

No joke, I see Dalbec taking groundballs with a fielder's glove at SS in the pregame. Just be ready Bobby, things are happening. You are being showcased for trade bait.

[Bellhorn04]

Personally I think the Dalbec promotion makes some sense. Why not give him one more shot or maybe increase his trade value a bit. Not much to lose. I assume Casa will still get the majority of starts as long as his signs remain positive.

[moonslav59]

Personally I think the Dalbec promotion makes some sense. Why not give him one more shot or maybe increase his trade value a bit. Not much to lose. I assume Casa will still get the majority of starts as long as his signs remain positive.

 

I would not bench Casas anymore than scheduled days off, and since Turner can play 1B while Yoshida DH's, I can't see using Dalbec at 1B. Plus he sucks on D at 1B.

 

Casas has been coming along since the first week of the season.

 

.745 OPS since April 9th (.345 OBP)

.789 OPS since April 24th (.352 OBP)

.810 OPS since May 23rd (.366 OBP)

.930 OPS since June 16th (.370 OBP)

 

He's hitting LHPs about the same as RHP's, so I don't see a platoon called for.

 

If Dalbec is going to play SS, God bless our team.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Since the start of the 2019 season Devers leads all of MLB in extra base hits with 298. "Return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear."

[Maxbialystock]

Sometimes you're right. But good pitching is obviously the best defense, and great pitching can nullify great hitting.

 

And if good defense isn't always the key to winning, few can deny this: good defense is often the key to not losing.

 

Good defense is not "often the key to not losing." It's a factor, but nowhere near as important as hitting or pitching.

[Maxbialystock]

Bello looking good, and thank goodness for that because the Sox lineup doesn't. But it's way early.

[Maxbialystock]

Weird. Cora has six righty bats in the lineup, and Giolito's favorite pitch is that slider, which is making those righty batters look silly.

[vegasbob]

Personally I think the Dalbec promotion makes some sense. Why not give him one more shot or maybe increase his trade value a bit. Not much to lose. I assume Casa will still get the majority of starts as long as his signs remain positive.

 

i agree, let him show something, not so much for the Sox but for his value ( if any). Meanwhile Wong is clueless on a good slider.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Weird. Cora has six righty bats in the lineup, and Giolito's favorite pitch is that slider, which is making those righty batters look silly.

 

I'd ask him about his strategy, but he's not taking my calls.

[vegasbob]

Weird. Cora has six righty bats in the lineup, and Giolito's favorite pitch is that slider, which is making those righty batters look silly.

 

The wily, esoteric thinking of Alex Cora.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

The wily, esoteric thinking of Alex Cora.

 

I don't know if it's strategy or tragedy. Stay tuned.

[Maxbialystock]

i agree, let him show something, not so much for the Sox but for his value ( if any). Meanwhile Wong is clueless on a good slider.

 

Very clever attacking Wong now catching his 6th game in 6 days. Duvall and Turner, far more experienced hitters, also had a tough time with that slider.

[Maxbialystock]

Nice double play with Hamilton in the middle getting off a quick release, hard throw to 1b.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

That was a nuthin' Burger. Btw, does anyone here remember Hamilton Burger?

[vegasbob]

Very clever attacking Wong now catching his 6th game in 6 days. Duvall and Turner, far more experienced hitters, also had a tough time with that slider.

 

Yes, I noticed the other guys bringing back shades of JDM, and wondered how much tiredness was affecting Connor. Having said that, his chasing was particularly egregious and uncalled for. ( sarcasm)

[Jasonbay44]

David Hamilton seems like he could be a weapon with this speed