The MLB Tonight crew broke precedent and stayed on the air until the game ended, much to the chagrin of Harold Reynolds and Sean Casey. Their banter and clear desire for the game to end so they could go home became more entertaining than the game itself. Harold and Sean ended up doing their own walk-off from the set moments after Pierre drove in the winning run.

Stayed for all 14 innings. It was a blast, though I wish it would've ended with a Tribe win.

Thoughts:
1. Alejandro De Aza with two triples - lol. The good news for other AL teams is that Ozzie will probably have him in regularly for the next month and a half on the strength of this one.

2. Ubaldo was hit pretty hard and it felt like a minor miracle that the Indians hung around until the top of the 8th and 9th to tie it up.

3. Sure looked like Scott Barry blew an easy call on De Aza's triple at third (the ball beat him, replays seem to show Chisenhall getting the tag down, and Barry was in position to see it). De Aza went on to score to give the Sox their 7th run. From my position down the third base line, it also looked like Hafner didn't come close to swinging at strike 2 in the 9th with Choo on second, but my eyes may have deceived me.

4. That Sox lineup in extras was punchless (although I guess you could say that in general)...then they pulled Konerko for Vizquel. They gave themselves plenty of opportunities, though. Hard to watch that game and not think about Dan's article about the importance of Dunn and Rios.

5. Speaking of punchless, the Tribe could've used Kipnis last night. Also, Fukudome is a sinkhole.

6. Tony Sipp vented the frustration of probably every Indians fan watching when he got tossed. Wally Bell blew a call on a dribbler up the line. You can make excuses for that one (Bell was blocked by Sipp), but after the other perceived slights and the importance of the call, I was pretty worked up about it.

Sox get five triples,

Who was in left field, Shoeless Joe?

The Dunn watch.

Lowest BA 1911-2011, minimum 375 PA

So Deer is the lowest BA that qualified for the batting title? Dunn seems likely to break that.

He's also the only name on your list that didn't actually have a bad year (92 OPS+ and 1 WAR isn't great, but it's non-terrible).

Who was in left field, Shoeless Joe?

Actually, the scoreboard noted that the last time the Sox got five triples it was 1920 and Shoeless Joe was one of the guys doing it.

Mathis is hitting .177 this season, with a 38 OPS+.

Stayed for all 14 innings. It was a blast, though I wish it would've ended with a Tribe win.

I was there for the whole thing, too, but was more pleased with the outcome :)

Thoughts:
1. Alejandro De Aza with two triples - lol. The good news for other AL teams is that Ozzie will probably have him in regularly for the next month and a half on the strength of this one.

He's not a permanent solution, but he's a hell of a lot better than Rios right now.

2. Ubaldo was hit pretty hard and it felt like a minor miracle that the Indians hung around until the top of the 8th and 9th to tie it up.

Agreed. The Sox blew a lot of chances to put the game away before the 9th.

3. Sure looked like Scott Barry blew an easy call on De Aza's triple at third (the ball beat him, replays seem to show Chisenhall getting the tag down, and Barry was in position to see it). De Aza went on to score to give the Sox their 7th run. From my position down the third base line, it also looked like Hafner didn't come close to swinging at strike 2 in the 9th with Choo on second, but my eyes may have deceived me.

The throw definitely beat De Aza; I haven't seen a replay of the tag, though.

Regarding the check-swing call: the home plate umpire (Diaz) was very loose on those calls all night long. I was sitting along the first base line, and there were at least three instances of righties getting called for swinging (by the home plate umpire) when I thought they weren't even close to doing so.

4. That Sox lineup in extras was punchless (although I guess you could say that in general)...then they pulled Konerko for Vizquel. They gave themselves plenty of opportunities, though. Hard to watch that game and not think about Dan's article about the importance of Dunn and Rios.

The Sox did put runners in scoring position in six straight innings (9th-14th). Their hitting with RISP was bad, but overall, they actually hit OK.

5. Speaking of punchless, the Tribe could've used Kipnis last night. Also, Fukudome is a sinkhole.

Fukudome looked lost up there to me, as well.

6. Tony Sipp vented the frustration of probably every Indians fan watching when he got tossed. Wally Bell blew a call on a dribbler up the line. You can make excuses for that one (Bell was blocked by Sipp), but after the other perceived slights and the importance of the call, I was pretty worked up about it.

From my angle, it looked like LaPorta tagged Sipp, not the runner, on that play. Hard to tell.

I thought the worse call that went against Cleveland was the call that Alexei Ramirez didn't interfere with Brantley on Choo's single in the 4th inning or so. I was watching the ball, but when I looked back to the infield, Brantley had rounded second (from first) and was on the ground, with Alexei standing next to him. Brantley recovered and made it to third, but Choo had to retreat to first. Acta was arguing it for quite a while, and I thought he was correct.

He's not a permanent solution, but he's a hell of a lot better than Rios right now.

This. Replacement level would be, sadly, a pretty big upgrade for the Sox in CF, and De Aza is likely somewhere between replacement level and slightly below average. The next move is probably cutting your losses with Dunn for the rest of the year, as a replacement level DH would similarly be a huge upgrade.

3. Sure looked like Scott Barry blew an easy call on De Aza's triple at third

The triple I couldn't believe was Flowers. Not the call - the defense. Ball lands in front of the rightfielder and he lets it get behind him. Shaky defense all night long.

14 innings, and the White Sox went down 1-2-3 exactly once. Cleveland in the first three innings (man Floyd looked good early) and then the 10th and 14th. No wonder the game moved slowly after the first three frames.

Thoughts:
1. Alejandro De Aza with two triples - lol. The good news for other AL teams is that Ozzie will probably have him in regularly for the next month and a half on the strength of this one.

FWIW De Aza:

1: is 27
2: his AAA #s from 25-27 strongly suggest that he's a much improved hitter than when he flopped with the Marlins
3: he can play CF

I don't see how he's not, in 2011, one of the three best OFs on the team right now

So Deer is the lowest BA that qualified for the batting title?

Yes, in the past century.

The modern rules for qualifying for the batting title were adopted in 1957 (3.1 PA per team game). Since 1893, when the modern pitching distance was adopted, the official lowest BA qualifier is Bill Bergen with .139 in 1909; he also qualified with .159 in 1906. Neither season would qualify under the modern rules.

Sox get five triples, Juan Pierre homers, and Adam Dunn gets a hit

I assume these are listed in increasing order of unlikeliness.

The MLB Tonight crew broke precedent and stayed on the air until the game ended, much to the chagrin of Harold Reynolds and Sean Casey. Their banter and clear desire for the game to end so they could go home became more entertaining than the game itself. Harold and Sean ended up doing their own walk-off from the set moments after Pierre drove in the winning run.

I thought MLB tonight campaigned/promoted the fact that they stayed on the air until the last out from the last game was recorded, has that changed recently?

2: his AAA #s from 25-27 strongly suggest that he's a much improved hitter than when he flopped with the Marlins

And he flopped with the Marlins due to a pair of unfortunately timed ankle injuries. When he's healthy, he's performed well enough in center field, both at Triple-A and with the White Sox.

He should be starting over Rios every day, except against tough lefties.

Observations from watching the game on TV:

1. De Aza would have caught Brantley's single in the ninth.
2. The home plate umpire was horribly inconsistent with balls/strikes/check swings. By the late innings I had no idea how a pitch was going to be called.
3. Any pitcher with a heater over 92 is nuts if he throws Gordon Beckham anything other than fastballs upstairs. He absolutely cannot hit a major league fastball up in the zone.

3. Any pitcher with a heater over 92 is nuts if he throws Gordon Beckham anything other than fastballs upstairs. He absolutely cannot hit a major league fastball up in the zone.

That would seem to present a serious obstacle to Beckham having anything resembling a decent career.

The Sox had two triples in their first 59 home games this year.

He should be starting over Rios every day, except against tough lefties.

Rios has hit approximately 600/700/1000 in games I have attended since he was traded (and also robbed multiple Twins of homeruns). I don't think I've been to a game the last couple of years when the White Sox were in town Rios didn't get at least 2 hits.

14: Their recap show Quick Pitch comes on at 1 a.m. and they'll continue to update any remaining games until they're final. The network's main show, MLB Tonight, runs from 6 to 1 a.m. So in that effect, they broke protocol and kept the main show with three hosts running until the game was over instead of sending it over to the solo-man recap show.

That would seem to present a serious obstacle to Beckham having anything resembling a decent career.

I have no idea what is wrong with Beckham. He hit at every level, including his rookie year, until last spring. And then he turned it around last fall and now this entire year he's been in a slump. He has backslid big time. His iso is down, his isoD is down, and like you mentioned, he cannot hit a fastball up over his waist to save his life. He used to be able to drive the ball to the opposite field with regularity, this year he's whiffing on those pitches he used to drive.

Obviously his swing is longer than it was his rookie year. SSS had a good look at it a few weeks ago. His hands are not where they were his rookie year and his swing is so long he has to load up too early so he just pulls off hanging breaking balls as well as having the fastball problem.

Luckily his defense has been great. His career has certainly stalled though.

I stayed up and watched the end of this. And Hawk was his usual homerific self, but he had two "HE GONE!!"s and that's worth all the other nonsense.