Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One Before

Johnny Cueto on the mound and the White Sox facing a lefty making his major-league debut—sounds promising, yes? No, and that’s with Cueto going eight full innings in Texas against the Rangers. Only Tim Anderson and company couldn’t touch Cole Ragans for more than a run in the five innings he pitched. They managed another run against the Rangers’ bullpen, as if this were an Al Lopez or Eddie Stanky team. In other words, two runs of offense were not enough in a 3-2 loss. Texas scored the deciding runs in the seventh inning. Cueto threw high to first to put a runner on; that would’ve been an out. Josh Harrison was slow covering first base on a dribbler to Cueto; that would’ve been an out. And the score would’ve remained tied at one apiece. Yasmani Grandal was dropped down to eight in the batting order, which is where he belongs, there or on the bench; he responded to his demotion by going 0-for-3. Not to pick on Grandal (seriously). Tim Anderson batted leadoff and went 0-for-5. Something is definitely off with the team igniter. Anderson has hit all of one homerun since May 24th and looks distracted at the plate. Maybe he caught something from Yoan Moncada, batting .204 after picking up a hit in four at-bats last night. Oh, well. Things will turn any day now, right? Right?