East of Eden

Definition of a White Sox fan, myself included: Somebody complaining, loudly, about the accommodations in heaven. The Sox beat the Astros 3-1 last night behind Dylan Cease and Joe Kelly. These mints taste terrible. Yeah, it was nice to see Cease throw six shutout innings (and distressing to behold another instance of manager Pedro Grifol’s misplaced faith in Reynaldo Lopez. But, hey, only one run in .2 innings. Get him warmed up for today.). Maybe he could do it again in his next few starts. The hitting still looks bad, with Andrew Vaughn now taking it out onto the field with him; it’s a shutout win for Cease if Vaughn doesn’t range halfway to second base on a ball fielded by Kelly. But Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada managed three hits apiece, and the Luis Robert Jr. of May looks like the anti-Luis Robert Jr. of April. Robert had two hits last night, including a homerun, and is hitting .415 on the month, vs. .202 in April. The heir to Landis, Berry and Rowand now has as many RBIs (thirteen) in half a month as he did in all of April. Consistency may be a hobgoblin to certain people and in certain situations, but it sure would be nice if Robert could achieve more consistent results. So, Lucas Giolito pitches today in the rubber game. I imagine a scene straight out of “The Natural,” the owner and his lackies gathered together hoping the star fails. Only Jerry Reinsdorf and Rick Hahn want Gioltio to win. That would increase his trade value.