*OFFICIAL* 4-29 DH Game 2 Kittens Cease Scoring SOX 11 DET 0 Postgamer

[voodoochile]

I love these.

https://twitter.com/pitchingninja/st...702563844?s=21

"He GONE!"

[Foulke You]

And the offense is showing signs of waking up. Plus the Sox have played (on paper and to date) a tougher schedule against many teams who got off to hot starts and are or have up to recently been near or at the top of their respective divisions.

They've also managed to do this with some key players missing stretches. Tim Anderson went on the IL for 10 days, Lance Lynn went on the IL for 10 days, Adam Engel has been out all month, etc.

[ChiTownTrojan]

I remember back when Cease was in double-A, seeing clips of Cease's curveball and thinking it was an absolutely perfect pitch. Obviously those clips are cherry-picked and I'm sure every one of his curveballs didn't look that good, but for whatever reason we really haven't seen him dominating with that pitch until last night. If he can continue to get that kind of movement with his curve and still throw it for strikes, paired with his 97 mph high fastball, he should be able to dominate teams.

I love these.

https://twitter.com/pitchingninja/st...702563844?s=21

[voodoochile]

It’s more than paper, Lip. It’s on the field. Being 14-10, and second in all of baseball to the Dodgers in run differential, and having the best starting pitcher ERA in the AL by a full run, is not on paper. It’s on the field.

It’s one month, but it’s been a good month.

And the offense is showing signs of waking up. Plus the Sox have played (on paper and to date) a tougher schedule against many teams who got off to hot starts and are or have up to recently been near or at the top of their respective divisions.

[Hitmen77]

Heck of a game. Dylan had it all working. Great command and so much movement. This is the guy so many of us were hoping to see after a strong ST. Hope he keeps it going.

Nice to see Garcia collect a couple more hits. Madrigal 3/4 and a walk. OPS now pushing .800 as his OBP climbs to .375.

Vaughn is heating up too.

and then there's some guy name Yermin... 4...4...9... without a leg kick SO STRONG!

I thought the loss of Eloy was going to leave a huge hole in the Sox lineup. But this opened the door to Yermin playing on a regular basis while Vaughn has been serviceable defensively in LF and, and you said, is heating up at the plate now. All this while Engel has been out too.

Funny how a huge blow to this team opened the door for Mercedes, who may not have even made the major league roster otherwise.

[Frater Perdurabo]

So let's not assume anything yet although on paper things look good.

It’s more than paper, Lip. It’s on the field. Being 14-10, and second in all of baseball to the Dodgers in run differential, and having the best starting pitcher ERA in the AL by a full run, is not on paper. It’s on the field.

It’s one month, but it’s been a good month.

[Lipman 1]

Too bad Hahn can't put together a lunch date, much less a winning MLB roster.

Time will tell as this season plays out.

What we DO know from history is that under his leadership they have one winning season...one. In a shortened bastardized, bizarre year.

And he couldn't produce a winning one EVEN when they WERE actually trying to win and not tank.

So let's not assume anything yet although on paper things look good.

[TDog]

...

The 7-inning rule is specifically designed for that reason this season and last. With teams needing to be careful with player health and the chance of an outbreak limiting options they wanted to be sure teams didn't have to stress players and specifically pitchers - their most fragile and valuable commodity too much.

There shouldn't be a rule to save bullpens. Teams are distinguished over six months by their overall pitching depth. The seven-inning rule reduces some of the advantage of depth. It restrains the level of competition a season is supposed to be. The 2007 White Sox would have been a different team with frequent weather (or health) postponements and seven-inning doubleheaders. The 2012 White Sox might have won their division if you artificially restrict their bullpen use. I'm not suggesting this is a good thing for the White Sox. I'm arguing that this erodes the quality of baseball.

If you want to reduce the wear on pitchers, you could give them more of the strike zone to work with. This wouldn't be a radical change because it would be closer to the baseball of only a few decades ago. Saving pitching staffs, which managers have been tasked with doing for more than a century, by cutting innings off of the ends of games where relievers are going to be used degrades the competition of the regular season.

Does Kansas City have a great bullpen? I don't know. If they play a lot of seven-inning games, it might not matter.

[Chez]

I know it was "only the Tigers," but Cease's command was top-notch. That breaking ball was pretty much unhittable. Reminded me of vintage Jason Bere. If he can keep his pitch count manageable, the stuff is there (always has been).

[ChiTownTrojan]

First in the AL in ERA among starters at 2.97. Next closest AL team is nearly a run higher (Tampa Bay, 3.83).

If Rodon and Cease can continue to pitch like they did yesterday, the Sox are going to run away with this division.

Also first in the AL in FIP, xFIP, SIERA, and WAR among starters, indicating that the advanced metrics don't think this is a fluke.

[Dumpjerry]

AL ranks:
1st in RS
4th in RA
1st in Diff (+0.3 RPG over #2)

Too bad Hahn can't put together a lunch date, much less a winning MLB roster.

[ChiTownTrojan]

Btw, this has to be said: what an awesome day yesterday was for Chicago sports.

- The Sox sweep the double header, with extremely encouraging performances from their starting pitchers
- The Bears make a huge franchise-altering move in the draft, on the same day that Aaron Rodgers says that he wants out of Green Bay
- The Bulls and Blackhawks didn't hurt their respective draft positions

[ChiTownTrojan]

I don't know, looking at the game after the fact, I don't think it was such a bad lineup for Game 1. I would have thought Lamb and Collins were the keys in getting to Mize.

My big complaint with the lineup is that it seems like La Russa feels that Leury has to start against every RH starter, when he has historically been a terrible hitter against RHP (.241/.281/.346 for his career). Leury is best deployed as a reserve player, someone who is useful to have on the bench because he can fill in at almost any position on the field, but he has played for 5-straight games and in 27 of the team's 24 games on the season. I was okay with Lamb being in the lineup (I'd expect him to get a start on a double-header day), and I was definitely okay with Collins catching for Rodon (the last time they were paired together was the no-hitter).

Of course then Leury goes out and has a few big hits that drive in some runs, including the key hit in Game 1. That's baseball for you. It still doesn't mean that Leury should be playing as often as he is.

[Lipman 1]

These 7 inning DH games are working out pretty good, the Sox are now 4-0 in them.

This year you mean...they certainly didn't last year.

Cease is now 7-0 vs. Detroit in his career.

[ChiTownTrojan]

I remember back when Cease was in double-A, seeing clips of Cease's curveball and thinking it was an absolutely perfect pitch. Obviously those clips are cherry-picked and I'm sure every one of his curveballs didn't look that good, but for whatever reason we really haven't seen him dominating with that pitch until last night. If he can continue to get that kind of movement with his curve and still throw it for strikes, paired with his 97 mph high fastball, he should be able to dominate teams.