White Sox (Cannon) vs Red Sox (Buehler): 4/21/25, 11:10am

[Nick]

In April, Justin Slaten has pitched 7 times, 7 innings and given up one hit, no walks.

Looks like our closer to me.

[vegasbob]

Nice close by Slaten. That was a shutdown inning.  Throw strikes with velocity/movement and a pitcher will succeed.

3 of 4 is fine, but hope we don't miss the eventual playoffs by 1 game.

[Thunder]

My in person win streak lives on!!

[Bellhorn04]

Wins are wins, but man did the White Sox give us a hard time the last 2 seasons.  We went 8-6 and a few of the wins were tough ones.

[vegasbob]

The scoreless inning strings  are notable ( 7 & 6) in the last 2 WS games. 

Seattle will bring a better team to Fenway , so we will see what the homeboys can do. 

[Tedballgame]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Story is really looking like the player we hoped we got day one. His arm is still a big question, but I hope he can keep this going for a full season. He had a couple short stretches of great play in previous Sox seasons.

He could be the key to the 2025 season.

If they can find someone to take his contract, trade him before he gets hurt so they can bring up Mayer. They would save a ton of money. 

[Old Red]

2 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Wins are wins, but man did the White Sox give us a hard time the last 2 seasons.  We went 8-6 and a few of the wins were tough ones.

As I said before the ist series with the White Sox, and said the same thing about this series with the White Sox that even if the Red Sox swept the series it would be nothing more than a MEH IMO. This didn’t even rate that. I applaud you diehards that actually watched this 4 game series between the two titans of swat.

[Hitch]

1 hour ago, Tedballgame said:

If they can find someone to take his contract, trade him before he gets hurt so they can bring up Mayer. They would save a ton of money. 

In what world is anyone taking his contract on right now? Come on man. 

3 from 4 is what we needed to be doing. Onwards and upwards. 

[Hugh2]

I was saying over the offseason how Slaten has elite stuff and could end up sliding into the closer role.  One reason why I wasn't that down on the moves they made in the bullpen this offseason. 

I don't care how bad they are.  3 out of 4 is a good. 

[notin]

1 hour ago, Tedballgame said:

If they can find someone to take his contract, trade him before he gets hurt so they can bring up Mayer. They would save a ton of money. 

 And in the end, isn’t that what it’s all about - saving money?

[notin]

2 hours ago, Nick said:

In April, Justin Slaten has pitched 7 times, 7 innings and given up one hit, no walks.

Looks like our closer to me.

I think the Sox might be a bit hesitant to anoint him.  Chapman did come in to face the tougher hitters, after all…

[Nick]

4 minutes ago, notin said:

I think the Sox might be a bit hesitant to anoint him.  Chapman did come in to face the tougher hitters, after all…

It's good to have more than one option. We need for Hendriks to ramp it up quickly.

[Hugh2]

I really don't think two weeks has erased Story's inability to stay healthy the last 3 years.  And if he's this good all year why would we even want to trade him?

Mayer doesn't strike me as the guy who is going to hit the ground running but rather a guy who needs a year or 1.5 years until he really reaches his own.  Bogaerts and Duran weren't instant stars, most guys are not.  If Story is good and healthy he's helping you get to the post season. 

If anything Story plays to opt out and that solves everything. 

[Hugh2]

18 minutes ago, notin said:

I think the Sox might be a bit hesitant to anoint him.  Chapman did come in to face the tougher hitters, after all…

That's kind of the new trend.  Your elite closer may be the 8th inning guy if you have 2-3-4 coming up. Makes more sense.  Still, that makes someone like Slaten the "set up" guy.  Which is well deserving, hopefully the youngster continues to grow and shine. 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

42 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

That's kind of the new trend.  Your elite closer may be the 8th inning guy if you have 2-3-4 coming up. Makes more sense.  Still, that makes someone like Slaten the "set up" guy.  Which is well deserving, hopefully the youngster continues to grow and shine. 

New trend?

I thought this was established with Andrew Miller years ago.

[redsoxrules]

Durrans slow start is concerning. He had 83 XBH last year. He's currently on pace for 44 this year. It seems putting on all that extra muscles in the off season is backfiring. 

[Kimmi]

6 hours ago, Nick said:

That's 3 straight decent outing by Walker Buehler after 2 shaky starts.

As long as he can give us 90 pitches per start, I'm good with him.

He looked a little shaky to start, but he ended up having a really good outing.

[Thunder]

Through 24 games, I think we're in a pretty good place. It hasn't been anywhere near perfect, but we've won games in different ways. There have been days where pitching saved us, and days were hitting saved us. I'm more excited about this team than any team we've had since 2021. We need to stay patient with our slow hitters. One day at a time.

 

Story is quietly putting together a hell of an April though. 

[Kimmi]

5 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Wins are wins, but man did the White Sox give us a hard time the last 2 seasons.  We went 8-6 and a few of the wins were tough ones.

It was nice to win 3 out of 4, but it's annoying how tough both series this year have been.  The White Sox are .133 against the other teams they've played,  LOL

[moonslav59]

6 hours ago, Nick said:

In April, Justin Slaten has pitched 7 times, 7 innings and given up one hit, no walks.

Looks like our closer to me.

Has Chapman done anything to lose the Closer role?

4 svs

0 BS

[moonslav59]

28 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

It was nice to win 3 out of 4, but it's annoying how tough both series this year have been.  The White Sox are .133 against the other teams they've played,  LOL

.133 is closer to .250 than .000.

[Bellhorn04]

49 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

.133 is closer to .250 than .000.

The White Sox are .429 against us this year overall.

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

The White Sox are .429 against us this year overall.

Yes. I meant this series. (3-1 is .250 for CWS)

[Bellhorn04]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Yes. I meant this series. (3-1 is .250 for CWS)

But I think Kimmi was talking about the overall records.  Makes more sense to compare the .133 against all other teams to the .429 against us.

[Randy Red Sox]

8 hours ago, vegasbob said:

Telling you now, 4-2 isn't the final score in this one. 

it's not ??  what WAS the final score??

[Randy Red Sox]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Has Chapman done anything to lose the Closer role?

4 svs

0 BS

Chapman is looking good so far and so is Slaten.  Nice to have both at the back-end along with Whitlock.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

But I think Kimmi was talking about the overall records.  Makes more sense to compare the .133 against all other teams to the .429 against us.

I get that. A .133 winning percent would amount to 1-6 in a 7 game sample size. They went 3-4 for 2 more wins than what could or should have been expected.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

Chapman is looking good so far and so is Slaten.  Nice to have both at the back-end along with Whitlock.

I'm thrilled to have two pen arms pitching like solid closers. At the start of the year, I felt that was our weakest area (along with maybe catching.)

I'm not sure this can go on, all season, but it could. We still need someone like Hendriks or maybe Weissert, Bernardino or Wilson do well, too. (Maybe 2-3 or more will be needed.)

[jdc69]

It was nice to have Buehler pitch 7, then the setup man, then the closer. No adventurous late innings.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

12 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Has Chapman done anything to lose the Closer role?

Nothing -- Cora just liked using him better for yesterday's match-ups coming up in the 8th. 

Chapman is used to being a "set-up" man from the role on other teams the past few years. Seems like a guy who simply tries to blow away anyone at any time. So he's not like one of those Sheldon closers who can only pitch in the 9th with a lead or they might lose their minds (thinking of a few borderline Hall of Famers who recently pitched in Boston).

Maybe Cora is transitioning Slaten, his youngest power reliever, into the closer role.