My Bad

I thought Lucas Giolito might rise to the occasion and pitch the White Sox to a series-clinching win over the Astros yesterday. My bad. What Giolito did instead was give up seven runs on eight hits and a walk in three-plus innings of a 21-5 rout. Manager Tony La Russa thought that Vince Velasquez and Jose Ruiz are major-league pitchers. His bad. Velasquez and Ruiz each allowed five runs. Giolito now sports a 5.34 ERA to 5.68 for Velasquez and 4.72 for Ruiz. There’s no reason for the latter two to be on this roster a day longer, and the same holds for Giolito next year. This was a must-win game, and Giolito laid an egg. In comparison, Michael Kopech pitched brilliantly the night before. At least Kopech was able to go six innings while giving up just three runs, one of them stupid. Giolito can give up three runs in the blink of an eye. The 28-year old will be a free agent after next year. His best season was 2019, when he went 14-9 with a 3.41 ERA. He went 4-3 with a 3.48 ERA in the COVID-shortened season of 2020, with a no-hitter and a win over Oakland in the wildcard series. Last year, he was 11-9 with a 3.53 ERA, plus one crummy start (4.1 innings, four runs) against Houston in the ALDS. Where in any of these numbers does it suggest Giolito rates Max Scherzer dollars? My father was a strong man. He must have thought I could be that way, too, to let me be a White Sox fan.