*Official 4/5 Rodon to the Rescue...*

[Lipman 1]

Best game of the season so far. This is the White Sox team fans have come to expect.

Almost letter perfect tonight. Rodon with nine strikeouts in five innings, Kopech added five more. Sox got some hits finally when they needed them.

On to Tuesday.

[voodoochile]

Nice night for Rodon, Kopech, Ruiz, Granal, Yoan and... The Yerminator. Crazy start that kid is off to. Couple solid defensive plays in LF by Vaughn too. Was really a very businesslike win. Nothing fancy, just keep plugging along and take pitches forcing the other team to throw strakes or walk you.

We'll take 95 more just like that one, please...

[thomas35forever]

Best game of the season so far. This is the White Sox team fans have come to expect.

Almost letter perfect tonight. Rodon with nine strikeouts in five innings, Kopech added five more. Sox got some hits finally when they needed them.

On to Tuesday.

Pretty much sums it up. I'll add that Mercedes continues to show he could be a potent threat throughout the season, and Vaughn is making plays in left that would have given us heart attacks had Eloy attempted them.

Very nice evening for the South Siders.

[TDog]

Pretty much sums it up. I'll add that Mercedes continues to show he could be a potent threat throughout the season, and Vaughn is making plays in left that would have given us heart attacks had Eloy attempted them.

Very nice evening for the South Siders.

It's been awhile since the White Sox had a designated hitter who could actually hit. You probably have to go back to Jim Thome, maybe to Frank Thomas to find a Sox DH who had a 12-for-18 stretch with a walk. It probably helps that Mercedes has been around baseball long enough to appreciate what his role needs to be. I'm glad Vaughn wasn't asked to DH, as I read some were projecting. It's not that I'm worried about Vaughn. It's possible he was called up too early, but he looks like a good athlete. I hope he'll end up a better hitter for what he's going through now. He's actually looked good in left, not embarrassing himself in in an outfield that has had some embarrassing moments. Maybe he tried to do too much with his throw after the catch at the wall, but the Sox played well tonight.

Mercedes should have popped out instead of walking in the ninth, but he took advantage of the error. The Sox put themselves in a position to win this game by capitalizing on a double-play grounder that was muffed to leave two runners on with no outs. Garcia probably beats out the bunt off the home plate. Vaughn gets hit with two strikes to drive in his first run and Hamilton gets the first hit scoring a Sox base runner since Mercedes doubled in the sixth Saturday night. The drought seemed longer.

Key to the Mariners losing, from the Seattle perspective, was not tying the game with a runner on third and none out in the third before the Sox scored three in the next half inning. Even down 4-0, they had a chance to come back, at least put a dent in the deficit, when they loaded the bases with just one out their next time up. The Sox played a fairly loose and confident game tonight despite the bad weekend in Anaheim. Rodon got out of two jams that could have eventually lost the game, even after making the error that could have easily tied the game going into the fourth. He seemed to lose his command in the fourth. I don't know if the lead took some of his edge off, but having the lead allowed La Russa to let him go five. He had better stuff than he's had for years. Hopefully that's a sign of things to come. Kopech has been a different pitcher this year as well.

The Sox played tonight like they put the weekend behind them, and this wasn't even their best lineup.

[HomeFish]

I'll be honest, I was asleep for almost the entirety of this game, but I looked at the box score as soon as I woke up and it looks fantastic. Rodon and Kopech completely dominated the Mariners. Moncada had a few hits. Yermin Mercedes went 2-for-4 and saw his batting average go down as a result.

[ChiTownTrojan]

Fantastic pitching all night. One of the big questions going into the season was whether Cease and Rodon would carry their Spring Training performances forward. One turn through the rotation and Rodon answered with a resounding yes, though Cease was more of a mixed bag. Rodon got a little wild towards the end but overall was extremely impressive pitching through a couple jams that weren’t entirely his fault.

Kopech and Crochet are so useful in their roles now, able to come in and just shut the opposing team down for 2 innings at a time each. That’s been huge since the starters haven’t been able to go more than 5 innings other than Giolito. I think it’s safe to say that Kopech’s “stuff” is as good as ever coming off TJS. That slider is unhitable playing off the high heat.

Ruiz with 2 very strong innings as well - that’s the best I’ve seen him look, and if he can command 96 with a good curve like he had last night he might be able to pitch meaningful innings this year.

As for the negatives, Vaughn is still hitless, Moncada struck out another 3 times (I think his K rate is over 50%), and Leury looked lost at the plate like he has all season. But Yermin continues to carry the team offensively. What a story.

[ChiTownTrojan]

I'll be honest, I was asleep for almost the entirety of this game, but I looked at the box score as soon as I woke up and it looks fantastic. Rodon and Kopech completely dominated the Mariners. Moncada had a few hits. Yermin Mercedes went 2-for-4 and saw his batting average go down as a result.

Check that box score again - Yermin was 3 for 4, plus a walk.

[ChiTownTrojan]

One more thing - I’m a huge fan of Grandal’s “mic drop” bat flip when he hits a no-doubter.

[ChiTownTrojan]

Records set last night:

The Sox have won 16 straight against LH starters, which ties for the second longest streak in MLB history.

3 players whose name starts with Y got consecutive hits for the first time in MLB history.

Yermin sets (or ties? I can’t recall) the MLB record for most hits in his first four career starts (12).

Yermin ties Wimpy for the team record for most hits in the first 5 games of the season. Yermin only played in 4 of them.

Rodon and Kopech are the first two Sox pitchers to have every had five or more Ks in the same game while giving up no runs.

[DeployEloy]

Rodon’s outing could have been a lot uglier than it was, but he took care of business when needed to. The slider looked good and he was spotting pitches for the most part. Worked the upper half well especially. Can’t wait to see him incorporate a change up into the mix. He only threw fastball and slider and still managed the K rate he had. Very encouraging start from him.

Kopech looks like he’s on another level out there though. It will be interesting to see what they do with him, especially if rodon continues to pitch well. Probably Rodon, but Cease and maybe even Keuchel may need to keep an eye on their backs because of how well Kopech has been performing. Wonder if the plan is a 6 man down the stretch, regardless of what happens.

[ChiTownTrojan]

Rodon’s outing could have been a lot uglier than it was, but he took care of business when needed to. The slider looked good and he was spotting pitches for the most part. Worked the upper half well especially. Can’t wait to see him incorporate a change up into the mix. He only threw fastball and slider and still managed the K rate he had. Very encouraging start from him.

Kopech looks like he’s on another level out there though. It will be interesting to see what they do with him, especially if rodon continues to pitch well. Probably Rodon, but Cease and maybe even Keuchel may need to keep an eye on their backs because of how well Kopech has been performing. Wonder if the plan is a 6 man down the stretch, regardless of what happens.

Yaz on Kopech after last night's game:

https://twitter.com/HashTagWhiteSox/...915789312?s=20

[Chez]

Kopech looks like he’s on another level out there though. It will be interesting to see what they do with him, especially if rodon continues to pitch well. Probably Rodon, but Cease and maybe even Keuchel may need to keep an eye on their backs because of how well Kopech has been performing. Wonder if the plan is a 6 man down the stretch, regardless of what happens.

I think Hahn has said that both Kopech and Crochet have limits on their innings this season. Using them for two innings three days a week (or so) seems to be the best bang for the innings limit buck.

[ChiTownTrojan]

I think Hahn has said that both Kopech and Crochet have limits on their innings this season. Using them for two innings three days a week (or so) seems to be the best bang for the innings limit buck.

Yes, though I expect Crochet is on a lower innings limit than Kopech, since Crochet has never thrown more than 60 or so innings in a single season in his life. That's the reason Crochet might be more of a 2-3 year project to transition him to the rotation. Kopech will almost surely be in the rotation in 2022, he just needs to get back to his prior endurance levels after not pitching in 2.5 years.

If needed (which is likely), I expect Kopech to be starting in the second half, and he'll still be able to stay under 120 innings or so.

[ChiTownTrojan]

Check out this overlay of Kopech's fastball and slider. Incredible.

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/st...712103936?s=20

[voodoochile]

Check out this overlay of Kopech's fastball and slider. Incredible.

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/st...712103936?s=20

I think that's that tunneling thing we hear about.