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Entering with the best record in baseball, the New York Yankees looked every bit of the part offensively. But committing two errors and struggles from Jonathan Loáisiga allowed the White Sox an opportunity to tie it late in the seventh inning.
Loáisiga threw a center-cut 99 mph sinker to Yoan Moncada with runners on first and second.
Moncada did not miss, blasting a momentum turning 3-run homer to deep center field, tying the game.
YO GOES YARD!#ChangeTheGame | @NBCSChicago pic.twitter.com/wauL6kCW0r
Guaranteed Rate Field was rocking as White Sox fans were hopeful that, unlike on Monday, it would be the South Siders pulling off the late-inning comeback.
Joe Kelly entered the game and got two quick outs to start the eighth inning. Then all hell broke loose as Kelly lost the strike zone. The result was three straight walks with New York’s heavy hitters coming to bat.
When Kelly faced DJ LeMahieu, Tanner Banks was warming up in the bullpen. The assumption was that if the inning got to Anthony Rizzo, it would be Banks pitching to him. The downside with that scenario was New York would have the lead.
Sure enough, a squibbler from Aaron Judge was just right to beat it out for an infield single. Smart baserunning by Gleybor Torres as he didn’t stop running on the play and scored. The grounder that didn’t leave the infield plated two runs, and the White Sox were down 9-7.
Now it’s Rizzo’s turn to bat, and Kelly’s pitch count was at 25. I figured this would be the situation La Russa had planned to bring in a lefty hoping to keep it a two-run game.
Nope. La Russa allowed Kelly to face Rizzo, and he promptly walked him on four straight pitches.
Bases loaded again, and Giancarlo Stanton stepped up, who had already hit two homers in the game off Dylan Cease. This was the situation when La Russa called for Banks to replace Kelly.
Not surprisingly, Stanton won the platoon advantage, lacing a single to center and scoring two more runs. Because of the three batter minimum rule, Banks had to face Josh Donaldson. The nemesis that Donaldson is buried the White Sox for good with a monster three-run homer.
That’s how a 7-7 game with two outs in the top of the eighth inning becomes 14-7. Most of the White Sox crowd left after Donaldson’s home run, and they missed the Yankees scoring another run in the ninth to win 15-7.
Lost in the eighth inning shuffle was Cease’s odd night. He lost both battles to Stanton and had difficulty getting LeMahieu out as Cease allowed six runs in four innings of work. However, Cease struck out 11 batters. His final line was 4 IP 6 H 6 ER 2 BB 11 K.
Josh Nelson is the host and producer of the Sox Machine Podcast. For show suggestions, guest appearances, and sponsorship opportunities, you can reach him via email at josh@soxmachine.com.
Oh well on the 8th. While Tony did completely bungle the pitching Kelly did get the grounder that would’ve gotten out of the inning but just some bad luck on where it ended up going. 1 foot to the left or right and Tim or Leury probably field it cleaner and can make a real throw. I cant get too mad about the total runs given up since the Yankees are just smashing everybody right now, so you cant get too broken up over it.
Offense made some nice gains tonight, Moncada’s dinger was huge and they scored some runs off a tough bullpen. Till things went wild at the end they were trading blows with the team playing the best in the league to start the year. So overall i walked away on a more positive vibe.
Pollock warming up too, which is good to see.
I will go to my grave saying The Mendoza Line is .215 – Mario Mendoza’s actual lifetime batting average.
Most people just use .200. I actually use .198, based off his season with the most Plate Appearances. But i would nto say you were wrong to use .215 for te Mendoza line.
With the later start times and being in EST, I’ve started going to bed around the 7th inning this week. That decision has paid off handsomely.
Jerry Reinsdorf’s bid to bring Tony La Russa back has resulted in the tribute to the 1984 White Sox that nobody wanted.
The outcome is what it is, but I have to admit I am surprised that Tony thought “8th inning, tie game, on the day that Cease started, this is a time to bring in Joe Kelly fresh off the DL.”
I understand that his options were limited by the Bummer injury…but both Graveman and Hendricks had the day off yesterday due to the COVID cancellation…and there had been opportunities to use Kelly earlier in the game…and, IIRC, he has in the past put top-of-lineup hitters towards the bottom of the order for a couple of days after they come off the IL.
Wait. You can’t throw Hendriks in a tie game. You have to wait for the lead.
Yeah I believe that is a TLR Rule – from 1984 I believe.
When your team allows 8 runs after the 8th in a tied game, the manager didn’t do a good job. There is just not a single good excuse that a good manager allows that to happen. TLR bullpen management in the 8th was atrocious.
This team is simply at an incredible disadvantage without a different manager. A better manager won’t fix all their issues either, but they are sunk when they have clearly the worst coach in professional sports. This team isn’t as good as at least 2 or 3 rosters in the AL to begin with.
They will be very lucky to win 1 out of the next 2 with VV and Keuchel, esp with Cole going tonight for NY. TLR will wind up costing them at least 4 games in the standings, maybe more by the time all is said and done.
Couldn’t agree more. Tony was so good because he always seemed to be one step ahead of the other manager. Now it’s the opposite. The top of the 8th was a perfect example. Kelly should have been on a short leash anyway, since it was only his 2nd game of the year. Then when he started consistently missing with his curve, he should have had Graveman up for LeMahieu or Judge. Then when he finally got someone up, it was Banks to presumably face Rizzo, but inexplicably left Kelly in, then brought Banks in to face Stanton. Is there anyone out there who thought the Banks/Stanton matchup would go well for the Sox? His managerial incompetence is showing up at least once a week. No team can overcome that. It is pretty clear that they are the best team in the division on paper, but I just don’t see how they can continually overcome the ineptitude from their manager. He needs to go now, before he completely loses that clubhouse.
On to another point. Abreu and Grandal are such easy outs now. It’s still relatively early, but they could very well be at the age where they just can’t be middle of the order producers. Grandal looks really slow at the plate- he can’t get in front of anything. And Abreu looks lost at the plate and in the field. Vaughn needs to be up tonight. 2 homers yesterday- why does a guy who only missed 2 weeks need a rehab stint? They are so mismanaged on the field, in the front office, and especially in ownership. No amount of talent can overcome that miserable trifecta.
Abreu is trying to pull the ball every at bat. Hence, a lot of weak ground balls to the left side. Robert did the same thing last night. Robert is strong enough to hit HRs to the opposite field, like Stanton did. Go with it! And I’ve seen Abreu adjust to go up the middle or the opposite way too to get himself back on track. Just do it. As far as Grandal is concerned, he is old, and for a catcher, really old.
I think we need to shake things up and bench some guys and let the kids play. I wouldn’t be opposed to calling up Perez and Sanchez to see how they do. Vaughn has to play everyday, and at 1B, not LF. Let Abreu and Grandal DH. McGuire can catch pretty well.
My least favorite rationale for making a lineup or position switch is: “let’s see how they will do”. There is a reason why young players are allowed to develop in the minors. “How they will do” is likely very different after they are allow to develop, as opposed to bringing them up before they are ready.
TLR is a mental midget. It’s not just the bad visible decisions, but all the negativity he creates.
Does anyone have legitimately different feelings about this year than last year? The team is largely the same so the glaring problems are largely the same. It just feels like we’ve seen this story already and know how it ends.
Sometimes I have the feeling this team is worse than 2021’s
So far they are playing worse, the defense shows it.
Agreed. The front office did not improve on last year’s squad. It feels like a roster that is good enough to play a couple of home games in October, but that is not good enough to make it to the ALCS.
Since the plan is “stay healthy”, a lot depends on whether Lance Lynn in 2022 can look like the best version of Lance Lynn in 2021.
We’re nearing 20% into the season and this team is looking like the same around .500 squad we saw 2nd half last year.
I am definitely glass half-empty on the 2022 White Sox.
This team is definitely a team that runs very hot and very cold. The extreme outcomes lead to mostly a .500 ballclub hoping that a hot streak gives them a better record. Or the positive extreme, a hot streak hits for the playoffs too.
This team was always set to depend on growth from it’s own players. Because it is pretty much the same team from 2nd half of last year:
How is that team doing?
Hahn built up the bullpen and spent a lot of money on it when he should have spent it on SP. Can you really justify not offering Rodon a QO? Really? Even if he didn’t take it, you would have a draft pick. And sign someone else…and an A lister not some AAAA guy from the Phillies.
He would have taken it and considering that he hasn’t pitched a full season since 2016 and the steady degradation of abilities as the season went along, even with extra rest, it’s justifiable…although maybe less so in current retrospect.
Whatever money would have gone to Rodon was spent on Pollock, Graveman, etc. I would like to see another premier starter but I am not thrilled with the idea of not having those other guys either.
It’s typical that when the offense decides to wake up, the pitching (especially the bullpen) begins to crumble. TLR’s decision making definitely doesn’t mitigate it
on the upside, Yoan’s bat on that HR was probably the fastest I’ve seen it since 2019.
This is the Giancarlo/Judge Yankees I’ve feared for years. They are finally both healthy and productive at the same time. Too bad it’s happening during the White Sox “window”.
I’ll be succinct: the stat line Kelly had in that game doesn’t happen unless the manager is an incompetent ass.
TLR is a quarter century older than the average age of other AL managers (52). He has absolutely no business managing now. Maybe that’s why only two other people his age have ever coached in pro sports, neither with any success whatsoever.
Anyone who is 10+ years younger with even a little bit of coaching experience would be a huge improvement. Where is Ned Yost?
I left the family business when I was 35 to pursue other interests (started working at it at 13 years old). At 50, things changed and I needed to find other work, so I thought, why not go back into the business I was raised in and was highly proficient in?
The reality was, I had forgotten so much that was second nature to me previously, I was shocked. Little things, little details. Thing was, they didn’t come back instantly when I made the mistake the first time. In some instances it took years for an, OH YEAH, now I remember, moment.
The assumption that because you did something at a high level previously in your life, that you can jump right in and do it again, after a substantial layoff, is just flat out wrong, and I lived it.
Let’s talk about that 8th inning again. I was at the game and following on Gameday. One, the HP umpire had a really tight zone last night. You can’t throw center cut to that lineup, so our guys had to work the corners. Kelly had Torres struck out twice in that AB according to Gameday’s strike zone, on low pitches, but in the zone.
Banks was going to come in for the 8th until the Sox tied the game. I sit on the 3B side so I can see the bullpen very well. As soon as Moncada tied the game Kelly started warming up. Because Abreu and Roberts both grounded out on short AB’s, Kelly wasn’t warm when he came in. I’ve noticed that TLR never warms two guys at the same time. TLR didn’t plan for the possibility that the Sox would tie the game! And then had no one ready when Kelly walked Gonzalez other than Banks, who is a AAA pitcher at best.
Last, why oh why did Garcia cut off Anderson on Judge’s groundball to short? Yeah, they were shifted a bit, but if TA takes the ball he is running toward first, not away from it like Garcia and gets the out. Inning over. If you signed Harrison, why don’t you play him. Garcia is a versatile substitute, not an everyday guy.
I was at Monday’s meltdown and yesterday’s. This is a mediocre, undisciplined team. Roster construction is poor and on field management is worse.
Probably playing Garcia because he is in one of his hitting spells. But I would kind of like to see Harrison at 2B for a while
I doubt that Tim could have made the play. It did not look to me as if he was even moving towards the ball. But I agree that Kelly had Torres struck out, and our reaction to Kelly would be a whole lot different this morning had the plate umpire called a strike.
So per Fegan’s tweet, Tony basically conceded the game after Judge’s single putting the Yanks up by 2 in the 8th, even though they just erased a 3 run deficient the previous inning. Worrying about arm usage for the NEXT game even though they had a day off and the game THEY WERE PLAYING AT THAT MOMENT was still winnable.
He really seems to be losing his mind. His managerial decisions are indefensible.
I can understand the problem with the best guys being overused and not wanting to push them with a deficit. (On that note, the starters need to go deeper.) But they still needed to get one of the better relievers warmed up in what was a tie game with Kelly struggling. They don’t have a good lefty option, so maybe it would have been Foster at that point. I don’t know if the overuse is to the point of not even wanting to do that.
According to baseball savant, the White Sox had a 13% chance to win after Judge’s single. Make of that what you will. I think the main issue is keeping the pitcher in the game in a tie after they’ve just walked the bases loaded (Sox had a 46% chance to win according to the same measure before the Judge single).
I think my frustration is that he let a winnable game go because of the “next game”. The matchup tonight is Gerrit Cole v. Vince Velasquez.
I know the games are played and won on the field, but it just seems like there’s been many times when he’s taken games for granted thinking we can just recoup the loss. As a fan, I find that kind of reasoning exhausting.
Just pathetic. Conceding a loss like that should be a fireable offense. This is not only incompetence. This is unethical. Unprofessional. What is happening with the Sox FO?
They are hamstrung by the owner. If Hahn fired Tony, he would be gone shortly after.
So Hahn is a man with no principles, I see. Just as pathetic. How can he sleep at night? I would have resigned.
When you look into the White Sox dugout, everyone is always laughing and giggling. They have a focus and concentration issue. They make too many errors, they swing at too many bad pitches, they throw to the wrong base too often. The bullpen falls behind in the count too often. There is no way they can compete with teams like the Yankees, Astros and Rays. They should stop goofing around so much during the game and get serious about playing winning baseball.
Most good teams are laughing and giggling in the dugout too.
Well, unfortunately, they aren’t good at the moment, although that can certainly change.
Meh. Torres was out twice in that eighth on perfectly placed knuckle curves and it just wasn’t called; Judge barely beat that infield single out. What happened after compounded that beyond salvaging, but that’s what happens in games against offensively explosive teams— a couple of small miscues or bad bounces turn into a huge crooked number very quickly.
Losing by two or losing by seven doesn’t much matter to me. This game wasn’t kept competitive because Bummer is on the IL, Graveman & Hendriks have been overworked in the early going, while Cease could only last 4 innings and it seems Reynaldo’s maybe not available to bridge a couple of middle innings in a situation like that. The margin for error with the bullpen was very thin; asking for Ryan Burr to theow two innings in a tight game vs the Yankees is proof of that. Not surprising it didn’t work, only disappointing that they got most of the way there before it blew up quite so spectacularly.
Hahn needs to make a pair of trades a la Tepera, preferably at least one for a lefty, is the main takeaway.
The other takeaway I get from this game is that the high-leverage relievers may be more fatigued than we realize. Time we should be seeing more innings out of starters.
A lot of thoughtful comments this morning. There is plenty of the for the Sox to start playing better and start looking like a team that should have some impact in the AL playoffs; unfortunately they don’t at the moment. In no particular order, they have a lot of negatives at the moment:
I’m an optimistic guy, but it’s time for some fixes to start popping up.
I’ll give the hitters til the end of May with the warmer weather to come around a bit. Eloy sounds like he could be back sooner than expected, is already sprinting supposedly.
Their bullpen isn’t going to be as great as planned, because for one Crochet is gone, and Kelly was a predictably dumbass signing since the guy is coming off an injury. He looked ok prior to imploding with his control, hopefully was just a bad night. But still, no good reliable lefties for any team is a problem, and Bummer is unlikely to be great even if he doesn’t suck like he has.
The only way to get this team headed in a better direction is to get rid of TLR and let that change sink in. He didn’t hire himself, it isn’t his fault that he’s managing like someone who isn’t qualified because he is in age related decline. If they got rid of him it would change the vibe and remove a lot of negativity, both in the clubhouse and with the fans. Players may not all be super bright individuals, but at least a few of them have to be asking the same questions fans do, and coming to the obvious conclusion that the manager is a total assclown.