JotCast | White Sox/Astros ALDS Game 1 Chat

White Sox/Astros ALDS Game 1 Chat

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Guest

6:45

Cora said JD is available to pinch hit and will hopefully start tomorrow

Luke Hooper

6:46

Brandon Belt was also taking grounders yesterday, which I was quite surprised to see.

Jon Becker

6:48

Good job by Maton there, don't want to give the White Sox any hope

David Laurila

6:48

Astros win probability is at 99.1% right now.

darkness88

6:49

Still kind of angry that Straw only returned Maton

David Laurila

6:49

Straw was pretty good with Cleveland.

Jon Becker

6:50

And don't forget the Astros got Yainer Diaz too, 35+ FV with big power: https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2021-in-season-prospect-...

Luke Hooper

6:51

Yea he did have a really nice season and Maton was kind of meh.

David Laurila

6:52

When I interviewed Myles Straw early this season, I asked him about having never reached via HBP in a big-league game. That changed the very same night,

Jon Becker

6:52

Is there a Laurila Curse?

David Laurila

6:52

Nah, it helped his OBP.

Jimmy Wynn's Toy Cannon

6:53

I think the Astros were trying to sell high on Straw while making room for Meyers. Straw doesn't have much room to get better than he is now - Meyers does

6:54

David, would you interview me and ask about why I haven't achieved all my hopes and dreams? I wanna test out a theory

David Laurila

6:54

First time I talked to Curtis Grandson he ran into a wall a few hours later and had to be helped off field. Missed a few weeks. That was in Double-A.

6:55

Hopes and dreams are overrated.

Phil

6:57

I've been puzzling all day over the Red Sox roster (particularly no Barnes or Sawamura, both of whom looked decent over the last week or so, though of course terrible before that). They seemed to have strongly prioritized people who could go multiple innings for the last couple of bullpen spots. Is this a reasonable strategy, given that we're talking about people likely to be entering a game that the starter has already screwed up?

David Laurila

6:57

Sawamura not on roster surprises me a bit.

Jon Becker

6:59

Quite a fall from grace for Barnes too, huh? From a nice extension in July to being left off the roster now.

David Laurila

7:01

Meanwhile, it is now 7 pm here on the east coast and I have opened a bottle of Octoberfest.

Phil

7:01

I'm also not totally sure I get Santana being included, although their utility options are limited with Iglesias ineligible. When is the last time he faced major-league pitching? It's hard to imagine he'd be used except as a defensive replacement/injury protection, yes?

Jon Becker

7:01

I forget who it was, but one of the Red Sox beat writers made an astute point: he's not as good a fielder as Araúz or as fast a runner as Durran, but he accomplishes both roles in one spot, and the Red Sox needed to add SP back to the roster.

Luke Hooper

7:02

fall beers are officially here

7:03

David, what was your favorite interview you did this year?

David Laurila

7:04

I never know how to answer the favorite interview question.

Luke Hooper

7:06

That's probably fair

Jon Becker

7:06

Kendall Graveman with a six-run lead is a little surprising here, but Dusty's not taking anything for granted, I guess

David Laurila

7:06

Recent ones I was pleased with are Josh Donaldson on hitting and Eli Morgan on changeups. I did one with Bobby Dalbec that was 100% about music. That was fun.

Luke Hooper

7:08

I eat up all your changeup interviews. Those are my favorite

7:07

Just noticed Brett Phillips didn't make the ALDS roster, thoughts? Kinda sad to see him miss it, but interesting decision as well considering his late-game flexibility with defense and speed

David Laurila

7:07

No Phillips struck me as odd, because he's magic.

Jon Becker

7:08

Two lefty starters in the first two games didn't help his chances, but yeah, surprising to see him left off, especially when he's a far superior fielder to Luplow.

From MLB Communications: The 2021 Wild Card round averaged 7.1M viewers, the most-watched Wild Card round since 2015 and second most-watched since the inception of the current format in 2012.

Luke Hooper

7:10

With those matchups and fanbases, it better have been the biggest.

Joey Caltrain

7:10

The Rays are saving up their Phillips magic for the World Series

James

7:12

Why use Graveman here? Game is in hand and he doesn't do back-to-backs much?

Jon Becker

7:15

I'd guess it's a matter of Dusty wanting to lock this down with his best relievers or Graveman falling back in the hierarchy a bit.

David Laurila

7:13

Circling back to the bottle of Octoberfest I opened at 7 o’clock, I bought a six of Allgauer a few days ago. This is the first one I’ve tried and my initial impression is "meh."

Luke Hooper

7:14

If this was a better game it would taste better.

7:15

maybe a homer here will turn things around

David Laurila

7:15

Win probability is up to 99.4%. Would love a long ball to put this game within reach.

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