Tag: South Side Hit Pen

South Side Hit Pen swag!

by Brett Ballantini, posted in Breaking News

We’ve got our first original design up and running over at TeePublic! Get it at a special sale price for the next two days!

We’ve got tees, tanks, baseball tees, mugs, notebooks, stickers, and even throw pillows! Kids tees and hoodies are available too!Get ’em while they’re hot here

The classic t-shirt has over 15 color options, so pick and choose whichever color you like best paired with the SSHP logo!

As a baseball-related website, why not sport a baseball tee with the fresh logo? You’ll be more than set for future Wiffleball matchups!

As we know, winter is right around the corner, so keep yourself cozy and content with a fresh-looking sweatshirt!

Ditch your one-time-use coffee cup, and bring your coffee to work in style! (Warning: This coffee mug might just give you @jresis #SoxMath superpowers.)

Tired of your laptop missing that snazzy factor? Lucky for you, the new design can be purchased in the sticker format!

All proceeds go back to supporting your favorite contributors who continue to create the best Chicago White Sox content! Support South Side Hit Pen while simultaneously sporting a new sleek design on your favorite everyday-wear attire! Let us know what you order or would like to see in the future. I already know that Angie Wilz, the beloved doggo of @lwilz17, has put in a high demand for baseball caps!

Gamethread: Angels at White Sox

by Ashley Sanders, posted in Gamethread

Gio-LIT-o: LWilz17 has found a gem in this shirt, so make sure you grab one of your own here!

Whether or not the Chicago White Sox can throw back-to-back complete games, Lucas Giolito is always slated to give the Good Guys a chance. Although the Los Angeles Angels are not in playoff contention, they have been the Sox’s sore thumb for the past few seasons. On paper, it should be a good matchup in the first game of a six-game homestand.

Luc-ace G-elite-o has been magic for the South Siders this season. Gio is 14-8 with a 3.30 ERA. He is also worth an outstanding 5.8 WAR! In the final month of the season, it would be something special to have Giolito close out his break out season on the up-and-up. As the ace of the staff, I wouldn’t expect anything less.

As for the opposition, Dillon Peters will take the mound for the Halos. Peters is the owner of a 3-2 record and a 4.13 ERA in 12 games this season. He has pitched 4, 4 2/3, and 6 1/3 innings in his last three starts, respectively. If the Sox can get to him early and wear down the Angels bullpen, it should hopefully be the start to a successful weekend series.

This is how the White Sox will line up against Peters:

José Abreu is back in the mix after a day off yesterday, so he’s back in his usual third spot of the order. Leury García was placed on the bereavement list, so he will miss the weekend series. Tim Anderson will bat leadoff, and Yoán Moncada will go back to the two-spot.

The Angels will order themselves as so:

Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani bat second fifth, respectively. As major catalysts to this team, Giolito will look to shut them down before they can get started.

Tonight’s 7:10 CT ballgame will be broadcasted on NBC Sports Chicago Plus; just like always, WGN AM will provide the radio coverage. Although I have been a part of several Six Pack of Stats wins, I’m still looking for my game recap victory to whip out the sunglasses emoji — who is growing impatient as it awaits its curtain call. More importantly, South Side Hit Pen made its gamethread debut last month on August 15 against these same Angels; in a little month-span full circle, a win for that sake would be sweet!

Gamethread: White Sox at Braves

by Ashley Sanders, posted in Gamethread

On a hot streak: ReyLo is looking to bring the heat against the hottest N.L. East team. (Clinton Cole / South Side Hit Pen)

Though the Chicago White Sox couldn’t outpitch the Atlanta Braves, the offense lived up to their end of the bargain. Scoring seven runs, the bats of the South Siders were heated up down South. Unfortunately, Iván Nova was plagued by his worst start as of late.

Luckily, baseball is a short-memory game, so as John Mulaney once said, “What’s yesterday?”

Today, Reynaldo López will try to help his team even the series in this weekend’s interleague play. This Rey of sunshine has had quite the second-half to the 2019 season. As a total of the halves, Reynaldo owns a 8-11 record, as well as a 5.08 ERA. López has also amounted an 0.8 WAR, according to Baseball Reference. Look for ReyLo to keep it rolling!

The former Houston Astro and late-to-the-2019-season, Dallas Keuchel, is 5-5 on the season, and he owns a 3.78 ERA. In only 13 games played this season, Keuchel has been worth 1.4 bWAR. Hopefully, the Sox can take advantage of Keuchel’s short 2019 season.

These are the South Siders tasked to get the job done tonight:

After his pinch-hit, three-run home run — Welington Castillo is tonight’s starting catcher, batting sixth. Other than that, the first five guys are the eyes of the future.

For Atlanta, their offensive-burst of a lineup is as follows:

This rejuvenated lineup is one to worry about during this series. After a ten-run party last night, these guys are aiming for a repeat.

I say we make things a little interesting and tie the series before a fun Sunday night game! NBC Sports Chicago will provide your Chicagoland TV broadcast, but MLB.TV will have tonight’s game as the free game of the day! As always, the ol’ faithful, WGN, has the radio coverage. It’s a 6:20 CT start, and I am itching to bring out the sunglasses emoji!

Six Pack of Stats: Twins 3, White Sox 1

by Lenny G, posted in Six Pack of Stats

As they say in baseball: Let’s do that baseball! (FanGraphs)

There’s a throwaway gag in Family Guy, where Peter and Lois go to a drive-in movie theater (in a tank, because why not) and watch “The Even Couple” starring Jeff Daniels and Bill Pullman, two mild mannered, evenly tempered actors who you could probably interchange in literally every movie they’ve been in and not notice. This Sox/Twins “thriller” was pretty much like this bit. Two teams performed functional baseball, gave workman-like, professional efforts, and had some moments that moved the needle ever so slightly towards: Meh. Anyway! Here’s your Six Pack of Stats! (brought to you by the number 6)

1+1+1+1+1+1

Both the Twins and White Sox offenses were relatively quiet for most of the night. The Sox could only muster six hits all night. Five singles sprinkled throughout, and one BIG FLY from our very own Tim Anderson that made the game 2-1 in the fourth inning.

Inner-half fastballs don’t usually get hit 400 feet to right center, but (Dr. Malcolm from Jurassic Park voice) Tim … uh … finds a way.

The Twins also had six singles, however the remaining two hits they got were solo homers off of Giolito in the second inning, which ended up being enough tonight!

203

The number of strikeouts for Lucas Giolito so far in the 2019 season, which for those counting at home, makes this the first 200-plus strikeout season of his career. The soon to be AL Cy-Young vote getter didn’t duplicate his dominant performance from last week, but a quality start and nine K’s make for a fine effort.

6th

With his 200-plus K season, Lucas Giolito became the sixth pitcher in franchise history to achieve this feat! The number of 200-plus K pitchers/convicted drug kingpins on this list remains at one, however.

Six feet

That’s how far Steve Stone’s loved ones would have buried him underground had this fifth inning foul ball off the bat of Twins batter Mitch Garver shot into the Sox TV broadcast booth a few inches lower than it did. Thankfully for him (and not so much for NBC Sports Chicago) the monitor just behind his noggin caught the brunt of the damage. Rob Manfred immediately called for the installation of nets to cover all broadcast booths.

.666

The game batting average for one Yolmer Sánchez, who went 2-3 and despite them only being singles, had the highest WPA of all Sox players for the game at .118. (The second single came with one out in the seventh inning, which was the only time the Sox had a man in scoring position with fewer than two out.) Naturally, Matt Skole pinch hit struck out and Leury lined out to Sano to end the last Sox offensive threat of the night.

Y-E-L-I-C-H

Let’s make up for the fact that the last stat was barely worth mentioning, but again, not much exciting happened in this game, one that mattered way more to the Twins than the Sox. So I will instead recognize the reigning NL MVP (and six-letter surnamed) Christian Yelich, who was involved in a one-sided twitter owning of some random troll. Yelly will be featured in ESPN’s The Body Issue and some of his tasteful nudes popped up on Twitter (sorry ladies and gents, no peeks at his Wonderbat) and some random Twitter-MAGAbot named @RoxaneJ77 who claimed to be sad in a now-protected tweet because Yelich “didn’t give a thought about all the kids that idolize him before doing his naked photo shoot.”

Yelich responded simply with a two-worded tweet: “Relax Roxane.”

But did our hero let bygones be bygones? NO, dear reader, he most certainly did not, and owned this troll into an early Twitter grave by doing this:

#RIPRoxane

White Sox Minor League Update: August 20, 2019

by Lenny G, posted in Minor League Update

Monster effort: Luis Robert, barely able to raise his arms for high-fives in the dugout after hitting his 13th homer this week, is gonna go full Rumpelstiltskin “any day now.” (Laura Wolff/Charlotte Knights)

Charlotte Knights 9, Durham Bulls 3

Luis Robert (CF): 2-for-4, HR (13), 1 RBI (32), 3 R, 1 BB (.310 BA, 1.025 OPS)
Nick Madrigal (2B): 3-for-5, 2B (3), 2 R, 0 K (.311 BA, .733 OPS)
Yoán Moncada (3B): 3-for-5, 2B (1), 1 RBI (6), 3 R, 0 K (.409 BA, 1.136 OPS)
Daniel Palka (RF): 1-for-2, HR (26), 3 RBI (69, nice), 3 BB, 0 K (.274 BA, .942 OPS) *MVP*
Justin Nicolino (SP): 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (W, 8-6)

In a shocking turn of events, fatigued center fielder Luis Robert was able to overcome the need of a fainting couch and hit another danged homer over that sweet LED Monster in Left Field out in Durham. The top three hitters of Madrigal, Moncada, and Pantera (aka the first-inning batting order of the next White Sox championship team) combined to go 8-for-14 with 2 2B, 2 HR (YoYo is ret-to-go), and eight runs scored. It’s a damn shame the weary burdens of dominating Triple-A weigh heavy on the bodies and minds of our prospects, cheating Sox fans of … hmm … I feel I’ve lost track of the narrative.

Oh, yes! MVP honors go to Palkamania because he mashed a tasty three-run tater and reached base three times via the free pass. Also, because the poor guy needs it, dammit. The Knights are 71-56, control their destiny in the IL wild card chase, and at this point are a slight underdog in a straight-up matchup with Ricky’s Boys.

(South Side Hit Pen has confirmed where Luis Robert’s Home Run from Monday landed, seen here in this undoctored photo. Can you imagine if Robert wasn’t so fatigued!)

Birmingham Barons 9, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 3

Laz Rivera (2B): 3-for-4, 2 HR (2), 4 RBI (36), 3 R, 1 SB (9) (.259 BA, .605 OPS) *MVP*
Blake Rutherford (DH): 2-for-4, 2B (13), 2 R (.263 BA, .669 OPS)
Damek Tomscha (LF): 3-for-4, 2B (5), 1 RBI (24) (.287 BA, .767 OPS)
John Parke (SP): 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (2.55 ERA)

Just like their Triple-A compadres, the Barons defeated their opponent 9-3, sautéing the Jumbo Shrimp in butter, lemon juice, and some parsley. That’s about all the interesting bits, but MVP honors go to Laz Rivera, who is no longer listed as missing on the side of a milk carton, with two dingers and four ribbies tonight. 57-67 is the Barons record and [Forrest Gump voice] that’s all I have to say about that.

Winston-Salem Dash 5, Lynchburg Hillcats 2

Steele Walker (DH): 1-for-4, 2B (24), 1 BB (.284 BA, .802 OPS)
Andrew Vaughn (1B): 0-for-5, 1 RBI (15) (.250 BA, .765 OPS)
Zach Lewis (SP): 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (W, 6-6, 5.85 ERA) *MVP*

The Dash didn’t have to do much offensively (see: five hits) to maximize their run efficiency, with five runs in their victory over the Hillcats. A big thank-you to Hillcat Jodd Carter (yes, that’s his name, no matter how hard autocorrect wants to make it Jody) for the throwing error leading to the rare two-run sac fly, giving the Dash a 2-1 lead. A lead that Zach Lewis would hold up, only getting touched for two unearned runs in six innings, with six Ks. The Dash are 66-54.

Rome Braves 14, Kannapolis Intimidators 4

Ramon Beltre (3B,P[!]): 2-for-4, 2 RBI (33) (.218 BA, .577 OPS); .1 IP, 1 H (0.00 ERA) *MVP*
Alex Destino (RF): 2-for-4, 1 BB, 1 K (.302 BA, .861 OPS)
Davis Martin (SP): 4 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (L, 7-9, 5.26 ERA)

Not much slugging from the Intimidators bats tonight, as 12 hits equaled just 13 total bases. Starter Davis Martin (already worthy of a wary eye as a Two Last Names guy) didn’t have it, nor received much help, with two errors behind him. Ramon Beltre gets begrudging MVP honors for knocking in 50% of Kanny’s four runs and committing 50% of its four errors, while also pitching (!) one out of the game. The Intimidators record slip-slides down to 55-70.

Billings Mustangs 10, Great Falls Voyagers 6

Caberea Weaver (CF): 2-for-5, HR (2), 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 K (.260 BA, .707 OPS)
Joshua Rivera (2B): 1-for-4, HR (2), 3 RBI (3), 1 R (.200 BA, .603 OPS)
Dan Metzdorf (SP): 3 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 K (3.38 ERA) *MVP*

Things started off swimmingly for the Voyagers, as they scored five runs in the second inning, highlighted by a three-run homer by Joshua Rivera! Ramon Pineda pitched the fourth inning with a 5-0 cushion and boy howdy, did those wheels came off in a hurry.

A leadoff error by SS Lency Delgado set an ominous tone for the rest of Pineda’s outing, as he loaded the bases on walks and a HBP. A sac fly cut the lead to 4-1, and Pineda would have gotten away with minimal damage if it weren’t for that meddling Connor Reich who, coming in after Pineda left with the bases loaded, promptly unloaded three more runs on his bill by giving up a first-pitch grand slam to Renal Ozuna. A five-run lead suddenly became a brand-new ballgame.

Caberea Weaver gave the Voyagers a brief reclaiming of the lead in the fifth inning with a solo homer, but Great Falls’ bullpen would continue the leakage by giving up five more runs, and the Voyagers record fell to 23-33.

AZL White Sox 8, AZL Brewers (Gold) 7

Micker Adolfo (DH): 2-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K (.306 BA, 1.016 OPS)
Logan Glass (CF): 3-for-4, 2B (4), 1 RBI, 1 R (.226 BA, .583 OPS)
Mac Welsh (P): 0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 K (SV 3, 0.00 ERA) *MVP*

Down 7-1 after four innings of ungood pitching from starter Luis Rodriguez, the AZL Sox chipped away at the deficit until busting thru in the sixth inning with five straight two-out hits. That added up to four runs and a 8-7 lead, a lead that held up thanks to four scoreless innings from the Sox bullpen (one hit, five Ks). I’m giving MVP honors to Mac for getting 2 Ks in the ninth with the tying run on for the save! Bless those baby Chisox hearts, as the win shoots their record up to a scintillating 14-37.

DSL White Sox 8, DSL Orioles 3

Yolbert Sánchez (SS) *Co-MVP* – 5-for-5, 2B (13), 1 RBI, 1 R (.283 BA, .766 OPS)
Richard García (C) – 2-for-2, 2 RBI (11) (.286 BA, .724 OPS)
Elijah Tatís (SS): 2-for-4, 2 R (.203 BA, .545 OPS)
Homer Cruz (SP): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K (W, 5-4, 3.86 ERA) *Co-MVP*

The DSL Sox jumped out to a first-inning, three-run lead over the Orioles in a way that would make the 1906 “Hitless Wonders” White Sox blush with pride, scoring three runs without the benefit of a batter striking a ball with his bat so that it lands in fair territory that is not the result of an error or fielder’s choice … otherwise known as a hit!  OK, Yolbert got a single, but the runs came in the forms of an RBI groundout, throwing error on a stolen base attempt, and some #wildpitchoffense!

Starter Homer Cruz was dominant, with six strikeouts in five innings of shutout ball. He certainly did not live up to his first namesake down in the DSL today.

Welcome to South Side Hit Pen!

Featured by Brett Ballantini, posted in Breaking News

Welcome, welcome, welcome, everybody, we’re South Side Hit Pen! As we’re prepping an onslaught of coverage here in our debut week, there’s just time for a quick recap of the website politics of this past season.

Coming out of our season-long struggles at South Side Sox, including a quickly-aborted merger with another site, we’ve landed here, as our home for the near and foreseeable future.

(As you can read over on South Side Sox today, SSS is not going away, not at all.)

But what will change is that the talented and diverse collection of voices we built at SSS over the past year-and-a-half are all coming over to South Side Hit Pen to continue their coverage.

And that staff is talented beyond measure. For brevity’s sake, just take a look at our masthead page to get acquainted with everyone.

Unlike the plan when we attempted our merger last month, here at South Side Hit Pen, we’ll be providing all the coverage seen at South Side Sox, including gamethreads and game recaps. It’s the only way for all of writers to continue to get the shine they deserve, given some of SSS’s budget limitations at present.

So essentially, everything you’ve become accustomed to reading at SSS, you’ll now find here at South Side Hit Pen.

As you might tell from glancing in the upper right corner of the home page, we are now able to freely solicit your support via Patreon. And if you click over to our Patreon page, you’ll see that the support tiers for South Side Hit Pen have expanded beyond the five we started our fundraising effort with. A short version is that anyone supporting us at designated levels for an entire year (and if you’ve been supporting us since the spring, your year clock is already ticking …) will get some nice premiums as a thank-you for your support.

And it’s worth reminding you of how crucial that support has been; after support changes to SSS slashed our budget in half, Patreon contributions are how all of our staff have been paid for the balance of the summer. It’s gotten a little tight at times, yeah, but we are a group of White Sox fans who are very devoted not only to the team, but to our efforts as a site. We truly hope that devotion seeps out of every article we run, and appreciate the fact that you as Patreon supporters are responsible for that work being possible.

Patreon contributions are how all of our staff have been paid for the balance of the summer. We are a group of White Sox fans who are very devoted not only to the team, but to our efforts as a site. We truly hope that devotion seeps out of every article we run, and appreciate the fact that you as Patreon supporters are responsible for that work being possible.

(For now at least, we’re avoiding any advertising at South Side Hit Pen. After the visual assault that is SSS, you are probably owed some White Sox reading in repose.)

As for the coverage you’ll find on South Side Hit Pen beyond what you’re used to (gamethread, game recap, Minor League Update, Six Pack of Stats), well, yeah, there’s gonna be more. We’ve introduced some new features at midseason, most notably Know Your Enemy written not just for every new White Sox opponent, but every White Sox opponent, period.

Next week, following up on our unprecedented Top 100 Prospects that were named earlier this year, we’ll update that list with a midseason Top 50.

And yes, yes, yes, finally, after more than a year away, we’ll be dragging a podcast out again. It’s likely going to be one or more episodes per week, but shorter, one-conversation segments, rather than multi-part opuses that might put you to sleep. (Long, droning episodes that can be used as a sleep aid will be available to Patreon supporters, so if you’re sleepy, consider ponying up.)

Looking ahead to the offseason, we’ve got a ton in store for you:

  • WSM20051917 (yep, he’s truncated it a bit from SSS) will roll out his Deep Dive series. Recall a year ago, he profiled more than 200 White Sox minor leaguers.
  • In December and January, we’ll be rolling out not one, not two, but three Hall of Fame elections: our first-ever Veteran’s Committee vote, a traditional Cooperstown Class of 2020 vote, and the third annual White Sox Hall of Fame vote.
  • In January, we’ll begin counting down our 2020 Top 100 Prospects.

And there’s more, some Patreon-only content, some just cool ideas we come up with at the spur of the moment. Video, music, art … yep, we’ve got some surprises in store.

One thing that bears mentioning is that primary reason I resisted doing any site work outside of South Side Sox. Foremost, South Side Sox is awesome — unquestionably the best Chicago White Sox site on the web. But the core of SSS is the community, one that’s built up over 15 years, through leadership changes, and lord knows how White Sox team failures. The greatest reluctance over leaving SSS in any way whatsoever is the community that’s flourished there.

So more important than praise for individual writers or stories or ideas here at South Side Hit Pen is the hope that at least some of that South Side Sox community will be willing to follow us here and grow a base that could one day rival that of peak SSS. An extremely lofty goal, but the White Sox are talking about a “championship window,” no? So let’s set our sights high.

Joining the community and commenting at South Side Hit Pen is easy to accomplish:

You have several login options: WordPress, Google, Twitter and Facebook. And if you’re not into any of that, you can just provide an email and screen name, one time, tick the “Save my name” box, and you’re good.

We’ve got a Twitter handle, SouthSideHitPen, although the sassiest takes and occasional street fights with northside fans will come from the BrettBallantini Twitter handle and other individual writer accounts. But you already knew that.

There’s probably some stuff I’m forgetting, so this welcome is going to be anchored among our freshest posts for awhile, in case you want to revisit.

As always, thanks to each and every one of you who have made our time covering the White Sox for you a true delight. We promise to continue to surprise and delight you with our coverage, and earn every penny of the support you provide.