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Post by laurenfrances on Aug 12, 2024 16:39:27 GMT -5
Alex Verdugo (L) LF
Juan Soto (L) RF
Aaron Judge (R) CF
Giancarlo Stanton (R) DH
Austin Wells (L) C
Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L) 3B
Anthony Volpe (R) SS
DJ LeMahieu (R) 1B
Nicky Lopez (L) SS
Lenyn Sosa (R) 3B
Andrew Benintendi (L) LF
Andrew Vaughn (R) DH
Gavin Sheets (L) 1B
Korey Lee (R) C
Dominic Fletcher (L) CF
Corey Julks (R) RF
Brooks Baldwin (S) 2B
Ky Bush
LHP
0-1, 6.75 ERA, 3 SO
Luis Gil
RHP
12-5, 3.06 ERA, 138 SO
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Post by inger on Aug 12, 2024 16:49:06 GMT -5
The White Sox. Where veterans are sent to die and rookies to audition and finding out that they’ll be selling cars for a few years… or the rest of their life… if they can cut it…
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Post by inger on Aug 12, 2024 16:55:55 GMT -5
I’ve been a touch under the weather the past few days with sugar level issues. Have come around a bit today and should be more of a pain in your necks today on the game thread and forum in general…
We just finished having a real 25 minute long frog strangler here. Gonna mess with my golf range time, but I wasn’t planning on going anyway due to feel bad (267 sugar) earlier. Down to 175 range now…
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Post by kaybli on Aug 12, 2024 17:26:17 GMT -5
I’ve been a touch under the weather the past few days with sugar level issues. Have come around a bit today and should be more of a pain in your necks today on the game thread and forum in general… We just finished having a real 25 minute long frog strangler here. Gonna mess with my golf range time, but I wasn’t planning on going anyway due to feel bad (267 sugar) earlier. Down to 175 range now… Glad you're feeling better, inger! |
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Post by inger on Aug 12, 2024 17:30:43 GMT -5
I’ve been a touch under the weather the past few days with sugar level issues. Have come around a bit today and should be more of a pain in your necks today on the game thread and forum in general… We just finished having a real 25 minute long frog strangler here. Gonna mess with my golf range time, but I wasn’t planning on going anyway due to feel bad (267 sugar) earlier. Down to 175 range now… Glad you're feeling better, inger! Me too… ✔️🤪… |
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Post by qwik3457bb on Aug 12, 2024 17:56:12 GMT -5
The Yanks fly to Chicago after a tough couple of series with a couple of rainout-caused doubleheaders that mangled their already questionable bullpen. On paper they get an enormous break, because their next opponent is not merely the worst team in baseball this, but is actually in the running to be the worst team in MLB history, at least post-1900 history anyway. The White Sox team they face in Chicago the next three is catastrophically bad: going into this series, they've lost 3 in a row and if not for a win earlier this week against a poor A's team, would've set the all-time losing streak record; they've lost 24 of their last 25. They started the season 3-22 and had their one and only stretch of competent play after, going 11-8 to get to 14-30. Since then, the ChiSox have lost 61 of 75, meaning they've played nearly a half-season's worth of games at under a .200 pace. It's true they've been a bit unlucky, but at 5 games below their Pythagorean WPCT, even at 33-86, they'd still be on pace to lose 117 games.
Their offense is last in the majors in runs per game, and by more than 1/2 run per game worst than the Marlins, the 2nd worst team. They're last in triples, 29th in HR, 29th in BB, last in BAVG, OBA, SLG and obviously, OPS. They're 26th in runners left of base, mainly because they don't get runners on base. They are pretty good at one thing: basestealing. Not that they steal a lot; in fact, they're 17th in total SB, but they don't get thrown out either, and their SB% is very good, 78%. Their pitching is 29th in ERA, ahead of only the Rockies, who have the excuse of playing in Coors Field. 29th in WHIP, 28th in HR allowed, last in BB allowed (despite not having Gil and Stroman on their staff), 19th in K's, 29th in K/BB ratio. I guess their one good starter, Garrett Crochet, keeps them from being in the basement in more categories. They have the most blown saves, 29, and the lowest save percentage 37% (a bit deceptive, they can't get to their closer with leads, because their awful middle relief blows them before they can get to the closer), 11th worst inherited runners scoring rate, and 28th in reliever ERA. They're 20th in Team Defensive Efficiency, made the 6th most errors, 26th in team double plays, last in BIS' Defensive Team Runs Saved, and at -75, more than double the next worst team in minus defensive runs, and their last in Statcast Fielding Run Value, but much closer to the next to last team.
To sum up, the current state of the White Sox...I'll paraphrase the review of the fictional film "Benji Saves the Universe" by Opus the Penguin in the old Bloom County comic strip by Berke Breathed:
Jerry Reinsdorf's 2024 White Sox team has brought the word bad down to new levels of badness. Bad hitting. Bad pitching. Bad fielding. Bad everything. This bad team oozes rottenness from every bad play in every bad game. Simply bad beyond all infinite dimensions of possible badness...
...Well, maybe not that bad. But Lord, they're not good.
Look, there's no excuse for not winning this series, not even the rookie lefty making his 2nd major league start in the opener, the semi-comptent starter going in the middle game, or even if they face Crochet after all in game 3. Really, a serious title contender at this stage of the season buries this team early in each game, and wins all three. Which doesn't mean the Yanks won't lose 2 of 3 if they don't show up ready to play.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Aug 12, 2024 18:00:04 GMT -5
In the opener, the White Sox send out a rookie lefty named Ky Bush. Drafted by the Angels of the 7th round of the June Amateur Draft in 2021, he made 5 very short starts in high A that season and did OK, striking out 20 in 12 innings with a 4.50 ERA. He pitched the whole season in AA in 2022, on an unusual schedule; the Angels had him starting once every 7 days. He went 7-4 in 21 starts with a 3.93 ERA. He missed the first 2 1/2 months of 2023 with some sort of injury, and after two rehab starts in rookie ball, the Angels sent him to AAA to make 6 starts, then traded him to the White Sox at the deadline along with catching prospect Edgar Quero for starter Lucas Giolito and reliever Reynaldo Lopez, who was having a marvelous season in the Braves rotation, before going on the IL with a strained forearm. Bush pitched very poorly in 9 starts in AA for the White Sox to close out 2023.
Before this season, Eric Longerhagen at Fangraphs rated him the #18 prospect in the White Sox organization with a grade of 40, and by attrition rose to #14. His scouting report said he had a good slider, curve and change, but a below average FB and below average command. The report said that Bush used to throw 95-7 and if he ever got back to that, he'd be a very good starter prospect, but as he was, he looked like a multi-inning reliever. But this year, he made 14 outstanding starts at AA, with a low hit rate, but a high BB rate. They moved him up to AAA and he made four bad starts, but the White Sox were desperate for starting pitching after trading away Eric Fedde and losing ex-Yankees prospect Drew Thorpe to the IL. In his one major league start a week ago, he went 4 innings against the A's, allowing 3 runs on just 2 hits, striking out 3, but walked 5. Obviously, his start tonight against the Yanks is the first time he's ever pitched against them.
Repertoire: In the start last week, Bush used just three of the pitchers he's supposed to have: 48 fastballs, 28 sliders, and 8 changeups. These are all very small sample sizes, but in that game the FB had some rise, but below average run, the slider had above average drop and below average break into righties, and the change had below average drop and above average tail. The FB and change had negative run value, the slider had positive run value. He didn't allow a line drive or get a popup, and the FB/GB ratio was 5 to 4. He didn't give up a HR, so the HR/FB rate is 0. The BABIP was low, but so was the strand rate. ERA estimators are basically meaningless after one game. Not one batted ball was barrelled, but 5 of 11 were hit hard. The called strike rate was high, but the swinging strike rate was very low, and so was the CSW. The pitch mix was fastball averaging 93, 57% of the time, slider 83 about 33% and change 87 about 10%.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Aug 12, 2024 18:02:10 GMT -5
Playing the name game: You're probably not surprised there are no other MLB players in history named Ky. There have been 8 players with last name Bush. The greatest hitter was shortstop Donnie Bush, who played for Ty Cobb's Tiger teams from 1908 through 1921, and finished his career with more than 1200 runs, 1800 hits and 1100 walks. The best pitcher named Bush is "Bullet Joe" Leslie Ambrose Bush, who pitched 17 seasons from 1912 through 1928, winning almost 200 games (and losing almost as many). He was in the starting rotation for three different title winning teams, the 1913 A's, the 1918 Red Sox and the 1923 Yankees. There have been other players who have won with three different teams, including Herb Pennock, who was also a starter on all 3 champions that Bush pitched for and the 1915 and 1916 Red Sox and the 1927, 1928 and 1932 Yankees as well, and Will Smith, the releiver who became the first play in MLB history to win titles with three different teams in consecutive seasons last year. Smith won with the Braves in 2021, the Astros in 2022, and the Rangers last year.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Aug 12, 2024 18:03:09 GMT -5
Luis Gil starts for the Yanks. He's come most of the way back from a series of bad starts following his white-hot streak to open the season. He changed his slider before his game against the Red Sox 5 starts back, and has been able to use it much more, giving him the ability to throw with greater variety. He's 3-1 in those 5 starts with an ERA under 2.00, and 36 K's and 10 BB in 28 innings with just 20 hits and 2 HR allowed. On the season, Gil is 12-5 with an ERA of 3.00. In 22 starts, he's pitched 117 2/3 innings, allowing 73 hits, 41 runs, 40 earner, 10 HR and 58 walks with 138 K's. His WHIP on the season is an excellent 1.113. He's tied for 5th in the AL in wins, 9th in ERA, 10th in K's, is 5th in K's per 9 inning, 3rd in fewest HR/9, and 4th in winning percentage, but he also leads the AL in walks allowed and BB per 9 innings.
This is Gil's 3rd career start against the White Sox, the other two are a bad one in 2022, and a brilliant start against them earlier this season, in which he threw 6 innings of 1-hit, 1-BB shutout ball, setting a career high with 14 K's. In the two starts combined, he's 1-0 with an ERA of 4.50. In 10 innings, he's allowed 10 hits, 5 runs (earned) 0 HR, and 3 BB with 10 K's. His WHIP against Chicago is 1.300, and the White Sox team quadruple slash line against Gil is .250/.302/.325/.627.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Aug 12, 2024 18:05:31 GMT -5
Yankees' lineup vs. Bush...you don't expect to find anything here, right? So I'll just give the starting lineup again...
1. Verdugo (LF)
2. Soto (RF)
3. Judge (CF)
4. Stanton (DH)
5. Wells (C)
6. Torres (2B)
7. Chisholm (3B)
8. Volpe (SS)
9. LeMahieu (1B)
On the bench...or anything here, right?
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White Sox lineup vs. Gil:
1. Lopez (SS) is 0-2 with 2 K
2. Sosa (3B) hasn't faced Gil
3. Benintendi (LF) is 1-3 with 1 double and 1 RBI (he got the only hit the White Sox got off of Gil in May)
4. Vaughn (DH) is 0-3 with 3 K
5. Sheets (1B) is 1-4 with 1 BB and 1 K
6. Lee (C) is 0-2 with 2 K
7. Fletcher (CF) hasn't faced Gil
8. Julks (RF) hasn't either
9. Baldwin (SS) hasn't as well.
On the bench: Robert (CF) is 1-2
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Post by qwik3457bb on Aug 12, 2024 18:06:03 GMT -5
Yesterday, the Yanks built up leads of 5-0 and 8-3, only to watch in horror as "Swing and Miss" Mark Leiter and "Closer" Clay Holmes nearly blew all of it. The Yanks got a 3-run HR from Stanton, two solo HRs from Soto, and a solo shot from Judge to build the lead, but Leiter gave up 3 in the 8th on a pair of HR by Nate Lowe and Carson Kelly to cut it to 8-6, and Clay Holmes got the 1st 2 outs in the 9th, then gave up: a walk, another walk, an RBI single by Adolis Garcia, who then stole 2nd, putting the go-ahead run on 2nd, before Holmes finally got Leody Taveras to ground out to 2nd and end it. Holmes got his 26th save for his fine effort, Marcus Stroman pitched into the 6th, giving up just one for his 8th win against 6 losses, and Andrew Heaney gave up 4 runs in 4 2/3 innings to drop to 4-12. The loss gave the Yanks the series win, a 5-4 record for the somewhat disappointing homestand against three sub-.500 teams, and left them 21 games over .500 again at 70-49. They're still not near their season high, having gone 20-27 since they were 50-22.
In other AL East action: In Fenway, the Astros completed a sweep of the Red Sox, 10-2. Alex Bregman broke open a 1-0 game in the 5th with a 3-run HR as part of a 5-run rally, and Houston put it away with a 4-run 6th on a two-run double by Diaz and a two-run HR by Pena. Hunter Brown extended his run of good pitching to 15 starts by giving up 2 runs in 5 1/3 ininngs to get to 10-7 on the season. James Paxton started for Boston but had to leave after just three batters with a calf strain (there's a shocking development, isn't it?), but Lucas Sims gave up the Astros first run and took the loss, his 2nd of the series, to drop to 1-6 on the season. In Toronto, the A's hammered Jays' starter Chris Bassett for 6 runs in the 1st, including HRs by Brent Rooker and Zack Gelof, and coasted to an 8-4 win, taking the series from the Jays. Ex-Yankee J.P. Searns gave up 3 hits and 3 runs in 7 innings to get to 10-8 for the season. Bassitt's loss dropped him to 9-11 on the season, and was his 6th bad game in the last 7. In Tampa, the O's took a 1-0 lead in the 4th on a solo HR by the white hot Anthony Santander, his 35th of the season, but the Rays tied it in the 7th on a RBI single by Dylan Carlson, took the lead in the 8th on a sac fly by Curtis Mead, and held on to win 2-1, avoiding the sweep by the O's. Manuel Rodriguez pitched a scoreless 8th and was the pitcher of record for the win when Mead hit the sac fly, he's 2-2 on the season. Pete Fairbanks gave up a single with 2 outs in the 9th, but struck out the side including Colton Cowser for the final out for his 23rd save. Craig Kimbrel walked the bases loaded before the sac fly and took another loss, dropping to 6-4 on the season. Both starters, Suarez for the O's and Springs for the Rays pitched well, but neither got a decision.
Going into today's games, The O's and Yanks are once again in a flatfoot tie for first; the Sox are now 7 1/2 back in 3rd, the Rays are 10 back in 4th, and the Jays are 15 1/2 back in the cellar.
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Post by kaybli on Aug 12, 2024 18:06:40 GMT -5
Going for a walk, back to watch the game in about an hour.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Aug 12, 2024 18:08:19 GMT -5
Elsewhere in the AL East today... at 6:50 pm at the WeirdoDome™, the Astros flew down from Boston to start a 3-game series against the Rays in Tampa. Framber Valdez (11-5, 3.46 ERA) starts for Houston. He's 4-0 in his last 5 starts with 4 great games and one poor one. Taj Bradley (6-6, 3.06 ERA) goes for the Rays. He's coming two straight pastings after 9 brilliant starts before that. The Rangers left the Bronx, and have flown up to Boston to start a 3-game series against the Sox at 7:10 pm. Tyler Mahle (0-1, 1.80) makes his 2nd start of the season for the Rangers, he took a tough loss against the Astros in his first start 6 days ago. Brayan Bello (10-5, 5.16 ERA) starts for Boston. Bello continus to pitch so-so ball; 1-0 in his last 5 starts with an ERA of 4.45. The Jays flew across the country to start a 3-game series in Anaheim. Bowden Francis (4-3, 5.44 ERA) starts for Toronto; his pitched well in a no-decision against the Orioles in his last start. Davis Daniel (1-3, 6.04 ERA) starts for the Angels; he's looking to bounce back after the Yanks smacked him around in the 1st game of Wednesday's doubleheader. The Orioles have the day off before they begin a 2-game Beltway Series against the Nationals at Camden Yards
And, at 8:10 pm at Guaranteed Rate Field, it's Gil vs. Bush.
Preview stuff finished, I'm making some dinner for myself. See you in an hour.
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Post by chiyankee on Aug 12, 2024 18:11:22 GMT -5
For me these games against the White Sox are some of the most annoying of the year since YES is backed out and I'm forced to watch the White Sox broadcast which over the years has been brutally bad. At least I'm going to Wednesday's game will only have to listen to two of their broadcasts.
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Post by kaybli on Aug 12, 2024 18:17:35 GMT -5
Going for a walk, back to watch the game in about an hour. Oh I forgot games at 8:10. Thought it started at 7pm. Nice. I shouldn't miss much action. |
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