Nice Ride

Life has meaning when an attractive young woman notices you exercising. Only in this case she said, “Hey, nice bike,” instead of “nice bod.” Oh, well. I was out Tuesday and Wednesday riding my Schwinn Sports Tourer, 1972 model, on the 606. Tuesday’s ride was cut short when the new Brooks Saddle seat I installed came loose and stayed that way despite all efforts to tighten it. So, off to the Lone Gun Men Schwinn shop. No, it’s not actually called that, but it definitely gives off a little of that X-Files vibe with the three guys who are always—and I mean always—there. Someday I might even bump into Scully and Mulder. Anyway, the boss of the Gun Men took my bike and spent a good ten minutes reinstalling the seat. Then he sized it for me; with the bike in a stationary position and your butt on the seat, you should be standing on the balls of your feet. And so I was. We got to talking, and I asked the boss the difference between a Sports Tourer and a Paramount. “The difference between comfort and performance,” he answered. “The Tourer is a Cadillac, and the Paramount’s a Corvette.” Suddenly, it all made sense. I asked if there was any way I could get my Belgian-made rims to shine, and he sold me a tube of special wax made in Germany. The boss also advised me to get a high-performance car wax to protect the frame. “That’s opaque green. Schwinn only used it for one year, and you can’t find any touch-up paint. But people are going to notice that bike.” After I got those rims to sparkle, someone sure did. I’ll be spending the next few weeks trying to decide if I want to switch to a Corvette. Vroom, vroom.

Make It Stop

Another game, another bullpen meltdown, another loss, 10-5 to the Twins. How do you say, 6-25? Oh, I just did. The White Sox bullpen was handed a 4-2 lead going into the sixth inning yesterday afternoon. Five pitchers combined to give up eight runs, six earned. Shortstop Paul DeJong is hitting .216. He really can’t afford to make an error that would’ve allowed Steve Wilson to escape an inning where he’d walked the bases loaded. Then again, it may just have delayed the inevitable. On a positive note, as positive as anything with this team can be, rookie catcher Korey Lee homered and threw out two baserunners trying to steal. It’s getting harder and harder for manager Mickey Mouse to justify playing Martin Maldonado. Ditto for Chris Getz keeping Maldonado on the roster. Consider that ex-Sox first baseman Jose Abreu agreed to go to the minors in an effort to find his swing. Abreu was 7-for-71, with no homers and three RBIs for the Astros. Maldonado is hitting .100, with his three RBIs all coming on his one homer. What a difference .001 makes, I guess.

Take What You Can Get

Michael Kopech, Michael Kopech, Michael Kopech. Another appearance, another run, another loss. The White Sox have now lost six in a row to the Twins. I almost feel bad for manager Mickey Mouse; anybody in his position would call on Kopech, whose fastball is the best it’s been in three years at least. But the old saying, walks will kill you, fits here. Kopech walked the first batter in the ninth inning, and he scored what proved to be the winning run in a 6-5 game. Kopech has walked nine batters in 16.1 innings. Not good. Quite unlike Danny Mendick, who hit a two-run homerun and a double last night. Mendick is 10-for-37 since being called up. Compare that to Martin Maldonado, who started again last night for reasons beyond my comprehension. Maldonado is 5-for-50, and to say his defense is not on a par with Mendick’s would be an understatement. So, it goes, just like you’d expect for a team 6-24

Good Luck, Bad Luck, Good Team, Bad Team

Bad teams have bad luck, it’s as simple as that. The White Sox are a bad team who were done in by a bad home-plate umpire. The pity of it is that Sox starter Garrett Crochet was “on,” with stuff as good as Dylan Cease ever showed. Crochet yielded two hits over five innings; unfortunately, one was a two-run home run that shouldn’t have been. That’s where luck comes in. The Sox actually jumped to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first against the visiting Twins. After striking out the first batter in the second, Crochet walked the second, only he didn’t. I mean, the at-bat pitch chart for Manuel Margot on MLB Gameday shows two of the four pitches called balls were clearly in the strike zone. The Twins should send a thank-you note to Jonathan Parra for his strike zone. By this time, Crochet had already retired two of the first four Minnesota batters on strikeouts, so it’s not as if Parra wasn’t expecting the Sox lefty to be around the plate. Carlos Santana followed Margot with a homer, which tied the game at two, where it stayed until the ninth. That’s an inning where things often go bad for bad teams, and it was no exception here. The Sox give up a run in the top of the ninth, put two runners on in the bottom but don’t score in a 3-2 loss. The only way for a team to change its luck is to get good. But how?

You Talkin' To Me?

In fact, the White Sox could and did sweep the Rays, 4-2, behind 8.1 innings from Erick Fedde; three hits apiece from Gavin Sheets and Eloy Jimenez; and two more RBIs from Andrew Benintendi. What’s not to like? Other than new announcer John Schriffen, nothing. Sorry, but I don’t like what Schriffen said after Benintendi hit his walk-off homerun Saturday: “Say it proud, for all the haters, South Side, stand up!” You talkin’ to me, John? One month of calling games doesn’t give you instant cred, my friend. Unless it’s about sucking up to the person who got you the job in the first place.

Beggars Can't Be Choosers

So, after 27 games, the White Sox finally win two games in a row and take their first series, beating the Rays 8-7 in ten innings. Be still, my beating heart. Yea for Andrew Benintendi driving in six runs, including the game-winner on a two-run walk-off homerun. Boo for manager Mickey Mouse, who insisted on starting Martin Maldonado behind the plate again; Mouse must believe in lightning striking twice. Not last night. No three-run homer again by Maldonado like on Friday. But three Rays’ baserunners did steal on him. I certainly didn’t expect to savor win no. five on the season, not after watching Andrew Vaughn butcher a play at first base with two out that set up a two-run double by Randy Arozarena (beat the runner to the bag, Andrew, don’t toss it to a pitcher late coming off the mound to cover first) and two wild pitches in the tenth inning by reliever Deivi Garcia, one of which let in the go-ahead run. You take your wins where you can get them, I guess. The question is, do the Sox take three?

What's the Plan?

White Sox win, White Sox win, a 9-4 beating of the Rays to up their record to 4-24 on the season. Whoopee! Nothing like adding 36-year old Tommy Pham to the roster or playing 37-year old Martin Maldonado enough so that the law of averages finally takes hold and Maldonado doubles his hit total on the season, to four. What’s not to like, outside of everything? Last August, Jerry Reinsdorf said he stayed in-house and hired Chris Getz as his new general manager so as to make for a quick(er) turnaround. Here’s Getz on the team website today: “This wasn't going to be a quick fix by any stretch. We had a lot of areas that need to be improved. It's my job to do that and make good decisions for the health of the organization." No matter what the owner says, apparently.