2024 Season | Series #4 | White Sox @ Guardians | April 8-10, 2024

[CBBI]

What a game for the bullpen! 5.2 innings, no runs. They gave the hitters a chance. Sandlin, Beede, Clase, and Morgan were awesome and the young guys Smith and Herrin turned in scoreless, no drama innings.

Sox scored in the 10th off Morgan.

 

[Gson]

Gotta trade for the youngest one
Have to

His name is Myles.. he's a farm hand with the A's.. very well thought of in their system.. fwiw..

 

[Gson]

A few notes on the game tonight...

Naylor is bigger than you'd think... both of them..

Rocchio is a flat out stud.. runs fast.. great hands.. massive BB IQ.. is comfortable & at home on the diamond..

Brennan needs to play more.. he has the look of that guy who, given consistent playing time, is going to be special..

I have no idea why Florial is on this team.. none..

Bibee was up.. and didn't seem to be able to keep the ball out of the Sox nitro zone for the first two innings... after that, he settled in & pitched effectively, but the damage had already been done. After the 5th run.. the thought became.. they came back from this yesterday.. they can do it again..or Bibee needs to save em..

The pen is incredible.. all of these guys seem to know where to put the pitches to get outs.. Having a defense like the Guardians do..helps a LOT..

Off day tomorrow.. then the quality of opponent goes up.. Looking forward to Saturday's game..fwiw..

 

[sportscoach]

Sox scored in the 10th off Morgan.

Technically that was an unearned run in the box score... The ghost runner on 2nd in the extra innings, when they score, is always an unearned run...

 

[smalls1129]

Who said we shouldn't be having fun? Have fun and enjoy the wins, but this team doesn't overly excite me right now. I do think it's going in the right direction, but I want to see guys like Hedges, Morgan, Laureano and maybe another one or two replaced with some up and comers. It will happen and patience is required.

I've specifically stated that we were doing what needed to be done against weak competition. Although this White Sox series kinda put things in perspective.

I was responding specifically to the bolded below.

CDAV45 said:
I'm a happy drunk so yeah, I'm fun at parties. Actually, I get accused of clowning around too much at times. The problem you're having is deciphering the difference between having fun and living in reality.

 

[thestatman]

Sox scored in the 10th off Morgan.

Unearned run.

 

[Meatwad]

Steven Kwan is hitting the shit out of the ball, too

 

[Real Deal]

How many times are we gonna hear how the team doesn't excite someone? After each series win?

Now I don't expect 2 wins vs the evil empire but I'm sure it can be done with the way the guys are swinging it.

 

[CBBI]

Technically that was an unearned run in the box score... The ghost runner on 2nd in the extra innings, when they score, is always an unearned run...

Unearned run.

Jfc guys.

I know the first run scored in extra innings is unearned.

I’m simply pointing out the White Sox scored a run with the bullpen pitching.

Wham said “no runs” not “no earned runs”.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

I was pissed at Vogt in the 6th when we had the bases loaded and nobody out. Bo Naylor and Florial were due up so of course the Sox brought in a lefty. The Guardians were down 5-4 and this was their chance to take the lead.

I expected Vogt to bat Fry for Bo (and take over catching) and then Freeman for Florial. But he left Bo in the game and he struck out. Then he pinch hit Fry for Florial and Fry was plunked on the first pitch, tying the game. Then Rocchio grounded into a first pitch double play.

In the end Bo had the game-winning hit against a RHP, so it worked out. But if Vogt had put in Fry to pinch hit for Bo, and he got hit, then the game is tied with the bases still loaded, nobody out, and Freeman hitting for Florial against the lefty, who couldn't be taken out until he faced Freeman and Rocchio.

Anyway, I would have played it differently but we ended up with Bo facing a RHP with the bases loaded in the 10th, so it worked out.

 

[CDAV45]

How many times are we gonna hear how the team doesn't excite someone? After each series win?

Now I don't expect 2 wins vs the evil empire but I'm sure it can be done with the way the guys are swinging it.

Be excited. Have fun. Having high expectations and then saying "I don't expect 2 wins vs the evil empire" is a little controversial, but that's OK. Me, I'm fairly certain our weaknesses are going to get exposed when we start playing good teams and all the cheerleading will turn into childish like crying. So when you get to that point just go back and reread my posts where I say things are going to get better soon and that they are already improved at C.

Steven Kwan is hitting the shit out of the ball, too

He sure is and that 85.5 EV screams hitting the shit out of the ball. After all his EV from last year was only 86.0.

I hope you guys are reading me wrong. I'm not mad or angry or disappointed. I think what is happening is just a part of the process of building a good MLB team. I do get a kick out of all of your emotional outbursts and slights though. It's like I said something about your moms or something.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

How many times has Clase come on in non-save situations and lost the game? He had nine losses last year, many of them when he gave up the winning run in a tie game in the top of the 9th. It looked like that would happen again in this game.

He gave up a double on the first pitch of the inning, then booted a bunt that should have been an easy out. But he got the ground ball to Rocchio, who turned the double play while holding the runner on 3rd, which I can't remember ever seeing before. Then a ground ball to Jose got him out of the inning.

I also need a shout out to Eli for getting back-to-back strikeouts with a runner on 3rd and one out in the 10th. Yeah, he gave up a double to Sheets to start the inning, but Sheets is locked in now, hitting .333/1.159 on the season.

Next time we need to do a better job against 34-year-old Robbie Grossman. He had 5 walks and 3 hits in this series, getting on base 8 times in 14 plate appearances. He came in 0-for-9. He got to a 3-2 count in nearly every at-bat. Best batting eye I've seen in quite a while. He kept taking 3-2 pitches one ball width off the plate. Gotta hand it to him, but just throw strikes for God's sake.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Be excited. Have fun. Having high expectations and then saying "I don't expect 2 wins vs the evil empire" is a little controversial, but that's OK. Me, I'm fairly certain our weaknesses are going to get exposed when we start playing good teams and all the cheerleading will turn into childish like crying. So when you get to that point just go back and reread my posts where I say things are going to get better soon and that they are already improved at C.


He sure is and that 85.5 EV screams hitting the shit out of the ball. After all his EV from last year was only 86.0.

I hope you guys are reading me wrong. I'm not mad or angry or disappointed. I think what is happening is just a part of the process of building a good MLB team. I do get a kick out of all of your emotional outbursts and slights though. It's like I said something about your moms or something.

I'm excited that the Guardians are 9-3 after playing 9 of 12 games on the road. But I can't ignore that our four opponents have a combined record of 12-23 against teams other than the Guardians. The teams we played so far are either bad teams or teams playing bad right now.

As for Kwan, his BA is .386 and his expected BA is .334, so he has been somewhat lucky but not excessively. AFAIC, an 85 mph line drive is better than a 100 mph ground ball.

His launch angle is up from 10.7 degrees last year to 15.3 this year. His barrel percentage is up from 1.1% to 4.1%. The result is his line drive percentage, which is key for Kwan, is up from 25% to 39%, so we're seeing huge jumps in launch angle, barrel percentage, and line drive percentage. His ground ball percentage has dropped from 45% to 26%. He's turning a lot of ground balls into line drives.

I would say he's "hitting the shit out of the ball", unless you want to limit the definition of "shit" to EV only.

 

[CDAV45]

I'm excited that the Guardians are 9-3 after playing 9 of 12 games on the road. But I can't ignore that our four opponents have a combined record of 12-23 against teams other than the Guardians. The teams we played so far are either bad teams or teams playing bad right now.

As for Kwan, his BA is .386 and his expected BA is .334, so he has been somewhat lucky but not excessively. AFAIC, an 85 mph line drive is better than a 100 mph ground ball.

His launch angle is up from 10.7 degrees last year to 15.3 this year. His barrel percentage is up from 1.1% to 4.1%. The result is his line drive percentage, which is key for Kwan, is up from 25% to 39%, so we're seeing huge jumps in launch angle, barrel percentage, and line drive percentage. His ground ball percentage has dropped from 45% to 26%. He's turning a lot of ground balls into line drives.

I would say he's "hitting the shit out of the ball", unless you want to limit the definition of "shit" to EV only.

I agree with everything you're saying here Wham. I've stated that they have done what is expected against shitty teams. That's a good thing even though I was less than impressed with this last series.

I've also stated that Kwan is going to win a batting title and that he is one of the premier leadoff hitters in baseball. The problem lies with the overall construction of the outfield. I don't like it and I don't think it will remain as it is over then next year or two.

Hitting the shit out of the ball is hitting it hard and frequently. He's not hitting the ball hard, but he is hitting it frequently so I would say he's putting the bat on the ball as opposed to hitting the shit out of it. Which is better between an 85 mph line drive and a 100 mph ground ball is depending on where it is hit.

This is what I think will happen with Kwan when he faces good pitchers. His only hope for power is with pitches on the inner 1/3 of the plate. Now if you're pitching a close game and Kwan is at the plate how are you pitching him?

 

[Meatwad]

He sure is and that 85.5 EV screams hitting the shit out of the ball. After all his EV from last year was only 86.0.

I mean, if the only measurement for "hitting the shit out of the ball" was exit velo, sure.

Kwan's hard hit %, barrel %, launch angle, sweet spot %, XBA, XSLG, XBA are all up.

He's attacking the ball, and hitting the shit out of it. As far as Steven Kwan is able to do.