Odds 'n Ends

Last night, White Sox rookie catcher Carlos Perez faced Padres’ closer Josh Hader, he of the 1.16 ERA and thirty-two saves, in the bottom of the ninth and the Sox trailing, 3-1. Perez hit his first major-league homerun, something to keep in mind come spring training, when auditions take place to see who replaces Yasmani Grandal. Dylan Cease gave up one run in five innings of work, striking out seven, walking two. Cease was saddled with the loss because he couldn’t stop bouncing pitches; the one run was set up by two wild pitches in the fifth, the first coming on strike three to Matthew Batten. The ball bounced so far away from catcher Korey Lee that Batten ended up on second base. Another wild pitch put him at third, where he scored on a sacrifice fly from Xander Bogaerts. Cease needed 104 pitches to work five innings. Yoan Moncada homered in the bottom of the eighth for the Sox first run. Then, with two runners on, one out and a run in in the ninth, Hader fell behind Moncada, 3-0, only to work the count full. Moncada grounded into a double play to end the game. Jake Burger drove in the tying run for the Mariners in the eighth inning of their 4-3 win over the Pirates A stopped clock gets it right twice a day, sort of like Jerry Reinsdorf saying he won’t sign pitchers to ten-year contracts, or, in the case of Carlos Rodon, six years at $162 million. Last night in Kansas City, Rodon failed to record an out in the bottom of the first, giving up six hits and two walks before manager Aaron Boone pulled him. Rodon ends the season with a 3-8 record and 6.85 ERA. That’s James Shields’ bad.

A Day Early, a Late Reminiscence

Clare and I went to the wrong White Sox game. If we’d waited a day, we could’ve seen homeruns from Andrew Vaughn and Yoan Moncada, along with a White Sox win over the Diamondbacks. Two wins against the Padres, and we don’t lose 100. Fingers crossed. Brooks Robinson died at age eighty-six on Tuesday. I have a running argument with a benighted Cubs’ fan as to who’s better, Robinson or Mike Schmidt. Some people like power, which Schmidt provided with 548 homeruns. Some people like durability and defense. Robinson played twenty-three seasons to Schmidt’s eighteen, winning sixteen Gold Gloves vs. ten for Schmidt. And he didn’t benefit from the true-hop of AstroTurf infields nearly as much as Schmidt did. Granted, Robinson only hit 268 homers, but he came within 238 RBIs of the 1595 Schmidt totaled. I rest my case. My strongest memory of Robinsons dates to a summer’s night in August of 1964; I was twelve. My grandmother lived a few blocks from us on 54th Street with her widowed daughter. Whenever my aunt went on vacation, the grandkids took turns sleeping over at Grandma’s, why, I don’t know. The odds of me striking fear into the heart of a would-be robber were pretty slim. My grandmother was a different story. I once saw her chase off a scam artist who was trying to bully her into signing up for a new roof. She was in her eighties by then. Anyway, when it was my turn, I brought a transistor radio along to listen to the Sox play the Orioles; the radio whispered one Robinson exploit after another. Baltimore was in town for four games, and won three of them. Robinson went 8-for-16 with two homers, six RBIs and five runs scored. The Sox lost the pennant that year to the Yankees by one miserable game. One more win against New York would’ve done it. Or one more against Brooks Robinson and his Orioles would’ve meant a tie. But the 1964 AL MVP wouldn’t let it happen.

The Little Things

The TiVo box gave up the ghost Sunday night, and chaos ensued. Life without Jeopardy! is not worth considering. The new box arrived early yesterday. Installation consisted of screwing in the cable feed; connecting a cable without frying anything; and plugging in the power. Oh, plus telling Comcast. Two hours later, I was still on the phone, following prompts, putting in information that proved to be wrong. Really, good times. Clare and I were supposed to go to the White Sox game against the Diamondbacks. We’d cancelled once already, and wouldn’t be getting another chance until next year. Only. I was on the phone, and the weather was iffy, and nobody wanted to get soaked. We rolled the dice and got there at for the bottom of the first. There were just enough people to make it not feel like a wake, just a bunch of longsuffering Sox fans come out for reasons best known to themselves. We sat thirteen rows behind the home dugout and got plenty of foul balls our way. Nothing we could snag, though Clare did snag a t-shirt thrown by one of those interns standing on top of the dugout between innings. Because my daughter is a dutiful child, she went up to customer relations to ask where we could buy a program; I was willing to spend $5-$10 in order to keep score. Lo and behold, Clare was handed a scorecard, just like from the old days, when they printed the lineup and everything. And it was free, unlike the $30 we spent on parking. As for the game, the Dead Sox only lost 3-0, an improvement over the 15-4 humiliation of the night before. Clare’s worried about Andrew Vaughn’s mental health. I wondered about Gavin Sheets’ stance. Neither of us said anything about the pitching. Just a bunch of guys handed the ball. Ted Lyons and Billy Pierce would not be impressed. We picked Leo up at daycare, then Michele from the train. Grandpa and grandson played with trucks after dinner. Short of a White Sox win, it ended up a pretty good day all the way around.

Your Choice

The White Sox and Bears are identical twins or clones, your choice. Either way, the similarities are equally striking and depressing. Bears’ head coach Matt Eberflus carries a 3-17 record in one-plus seasons. To hear him speak after a loss about his team being so close and just needing to pay attention to detail is to hear the echoes of Sox manager Mickey Mouse saying the exact same thing at one of his press conferences. What’s scary is how each of them really seems to believe the jibber he’s spouting. This focus on putting in the work and having a plan, both part of the gospel preached by Eberflus/Mouse, derives from the world of analytics. Before, teams looked to match good players with good coaches. Now, coaches are technicians utilizing gizmos to maximize player performance. Talent is programmable. I think this is wrong on any number of levels, but at least some teams hire “techs” who can read and implement the data. Eberflus has a job because GM Ryan Poles hired him, and Poles has a job because George McCaskey hired him. Enough said. With the Sox, Chris Getz became part of the organization because Kenny Williams/Rick Hahn wanted him, and he took over as GM when Williams/Hahn were finally shown the door. Can you imagine any of these people as part of the Rays or Packers? Both teams run from personalities. The Sox dumped Frank Thomas and Ozzie Guillen because they had too much; for Jerry Reinsdorf, better to go with the likes of Adam Dunn and Mickey Mouse, damn’ the consequences. It’s the same with the Bears. Go no further than Patrick Mahomes. I think members of the front office were scared off by the fact the twenty-one year old had opinions on a variety of subjects which he freely shared with them in the months before the draft. Better to go with Mitch Trubisky. With the Munsters, silence is a virtue that trumps ability. For all their respective talk about the importance of “culture,” both organizations treat their fan bases and the media with contempt. Two people were shot during a game at Guaranteed Rate Whatever back in August? Oh, the bullet must’ve come from outside. And your proof of that assertion, Mr. Reinsdorf? I won’t hold my breath waiting for him to provide something close to evidence. Last week, Bears’ defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned for reasons nobody at Halas Hall wants to talk about. Everyone sounds like Peter denying he’s a follower of Christ. I half-expect to hear a cock crow during the next Eberflus news conference. Last, but not least, both teams treat their presence in the city as a gift from on high, one which they’ll take away if only they can find a new home willing to put up with their diva demands. Give us what we want, or we’ll take our losing culture—because that’s what the Sox and Bears are about far more often than not—elsewhere. Two peas in a pod, if someone will pick up the tab to build them one.

Dumb

The White Sox took a road series for the first time since early August, beating the Red Sox 3-2 in a rain-abbreviated six-inning affair. Mike Clevinger pretty much guaranteed that he’ll get himself a nice contract somewhere with his fifth consecutive walk-free start while Elvis Andrus pretty much guaranteed adding another season to his fifteen-year career with a two-run double. Andrus was batting .208 going into August. He hit .346 that month and is hitting .321 so far in September. That’s boosted his season’s average up to .255 with forty-four RBIs. Not bad for the thirty-five year old veteran. For his part, Luis Robert Jr. stole a base yesterday, but I’m not sure that was a good thing. Dumb, maybe. Oh, Robert now joins Magglio Ordonez as one of only two players in team history to record thirty-plus homeruns and doubles along with at least twenty stolen bases. Lot of good that did Ordonez with the Sox front office. And Robert? He bruised his left knee sliding into second. But, hey, now Chris Getz has a possible injury excuse if he wants to dump his center fielder. That’s sort of the White Sox Way.

Simplicity Itself

Dylan Cease hurled seven shutout innings, and Luis Robert Jr. went the opposite way in the ninth inning, putting a ball just this side of the Pesky Pole down the rightfield line at Fenway. White Sox win, 1-0. This is Cease when he wants to pitch, which hasn’t been often this season—no walks and eleven strikeouts on 108 pitches. But, unlike the story on the team website today, best not to get too excited about Cease becoming only the third Sox pitcher in team history with three or more seasons of 200-plus strikeouts. Jerry Reinsdorf says his team won’t be signing pitchers to ten-year deals anytime soon, and Cease will be a free agent after 2025. Better to enjoy the luck Robert had. If he were a left-handed hitter, right fielder Alex Verdugo would’ve been shaded closer to the line and might’ve had a play on the ball before it landed in the seats all of 311 feet from home plate. Why, it’s almost enough to make up for Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada going a collective 0-for-8 with four strikeouts (two apiece) or Jake Burger hitting a three-run homer for the Marlins. Almost.

What Might Have Been

Last night, the White Sox faced Chris Sale, traded away seven years ago for Michael Kopech and Yoan Moncada and two minor leaguers. Kopech is done for the season after having surgery on his knee Friday to remove a cyst; Moncada collected a single (and a strikeout) in two at-bats against the player he was traded for; and the Sad Sox lost to the Red Sox, 3-2. Sale scattered three singles over five shutout innings, striking out seven and walking one. The White Sox don’t spend money on pitchers. They let Mark Buehrle walk, and they would’ve done the same with Sale if the rebuild hadn’t forced their hand. I can only imagine what those two could’ve accomplished in the same rotation, Mr. Hard-Slider and Mr. Quick Pace. That would’ve been fun to watch. Instead, we get Tim Anderson flailing away. In the top of the fifth last night, Anderson grounded out against Sale with two outs and a runner on third. In the bottom of the fifth, he double-clutched on a ball generously ruled a base hit. Of course, that turned into a run. Anderson went 0-for-4 on the night with two strikeouts. But, hey, he has manager Mickey Mouse in his corner. Mouse told reporters, “I know Tim makes that play nine out of ten times.” [story in today's Sun-Times] Which comes out to a .900 fielding average. That, my friends, is one of the reasons this team will lose 100 games at some point next week.

Family Ties

The White Sox are the Bears are the White Sox. Mickey Mouse is Matt Eberflus is Mickey Mouse. Chris Getz looks to be Ryan Poles, well, you get the idea. The above when organizations suffer from decades of dysfunction starting at the top and flowing down to every level of activity. Adam Dunn? Mitch Trubisky. Tony LaRussa? Marc Trestman. Guaranteed Rate Whatever? Arlington Heights pie-in-the-sky. The Mouse-Eberflus connection is downright scary. Each in-over-his-head character mouths the same platitudes about togetherness and preparation leading to wins that never happen. Each loss leads to a doubling down on platitudes. With the Sox racing to 100-plus losses and the Bears intent on the football version thereof, that’s a lot of platitudes, folks. And this week we have a football team where the young quarterback points the finger at coaching as a reason for his poor performance, then backtracks, and the defensive coordinator retires out of the blue for reasons that are nobody’s business. However will the Munsters get the public assistance they want for their stadium complex? The good news is, if things keep going this way, they won’t.

Nothing to Say

Yesterday in Washington, Tim Anderson failed to execute a rundown, again, and Yoan Moncada nonchalanted a groundball, again. If little things determine ballgames, a lot of little things went wrong in a 13-3 humiliation. But manager Mickey Mouse offered little beyond saying, “We made a couple of errors that were costly. Other than that, we didn’t pitch very well, and we didn’t hit. There’s not a lot to talk about this game.” [story in today’s Sun-Times] Considering that teams have scored ten or more runs twenty times against Mouse’s team this season, I disagree. Instead, Mouse prefers to talk about the people GM Chris Getz is reported to be hiring—assistant-GM Josh Barfield, a “bright, bright guy”; probable director of pitching Brian Bannister, a “brilliant pitching mind”; longtime scouting figure Gene Watson, possessing a “wealth of knowledge” about how to find talent. [story in yesterday’s Sun-Times] Clearly, apple-polishing comes easily to Mouse. Demanding and taking accountability, not so much.

Filling in the Holes

If the White Sox intend to build their team around Luis Robert Jr., they better find a lot more talent. Robert is a streak hitter in the extreme. After going 1-for-21 over his previous five games, Robert homered Monday night. Last night, he went 3-for-4, including a double and another homer, but the Sox still lost to the Nationals, 4-3. Because, even when he’s hot, Robert can’t do it all by himself. The Sox had two on, two out in the top of the ninth, Elvis Andrus up. Why a thirty-five year old veteran with one foot out the door would be batting instead of rookie Lenyn Sosa is a question better answered by manager Mickey Mouse, if only he made sense. Andrus finished his 0-for-4 night with a lineout to right. Meanwhile, over in Miami, Jake Burger gave the Marlins a walk-off win with two out when he singled in the winning run from third. Burger now has seventy-six RBIs for the season, three behind Robert. Thank you, Rick Hahn.

He Gone

Talk about getting shown up. Just hours after I blasted them, Luis Robert Jr. and Yoan Moncada blasted back. Robert launched a three-run homer while Moncada collected two doubles in a 6-1 White Sox win over the Nationals. Mike Clevinger settled on a complete game after losing his shutout to a Dominic Smith two-out solo shot in the bottom of the ninth. Clevinger’s performance practically insures he’s out the door come October; good numbers and a good report card should get him a pretty decent contract, multiyear even. He’s 8-8 on the season with a 3.42 ERA. The only question for possible suitors will be durability. Clevinger has landed on the IL twice, which explains the 123.2 innings. But if the Yankees signed Carlos Rodon, somebody will pick up Mike Clevinger. Clevinger came to the Sox the target of a baseball investigation over domestic-abuse allegations. He was cleared and has pretty much been a model citizen all season, available to reporters—provided they ask baseball-only questions—and even catching the first pitch from Blackhawks’ great Chris Chellios last weekend. Not necessarily a good guy, but one smart enough to know what he has to do to stay employed. And why would he want to do that with a team closing in on 100 losses?

Luck

In sports, teams make their own luck. The White Sox are a very bad team, ergo, they have very bad luck. Yesterday, with one on and one out in the fifth inning of a scoreless game, Dylan Cease threw a full-count pitch to Kyle Farmer that caught the top of the strike zone, only plate umpire Sean Barber called it ball four. Ryan Jeffers was going with the pitch and still would’ve been thrown out at second by about two or three feet. Bad luck, there. Instead of the inning being over, the Twins had two on for the next batter, Edouard Julien. Cease went full on Julien because that’s what he’s done all season, and he paid for it; Julien hit a three-run homer. Of course, the best Cease could’ve hoped for was a no-decision. I doubt he would’ve pitched into the eighth inning, when Jorge Polanco homered to right-center. 4-0, 1-0, a loss is a loss. And, speaking of losing, Sox manager Mickey Mouse sat both Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert Jr.; Moncada is batting .185 with thirteen strikeouts over his last seven games, Robert .107 with twelve strikeouts. The two have five RBIs between them in that span. And ex-Sox Jake Burger? He’s hitting .357 with two homers and six RBIs. The homerun yesterday against Atlanta gives him thirty-three on the year with 75 RBIs. Gosh, that’s the same number of RBIs as Robert, and he’s a franchise player. Lucky Burger.

Just Wondering

Since taking over for Oscar Colas in right field, Gavin Sheets has eight RBIs in six games, including three last night on a homerun in the White Sox 7-6 over the Twins. It got me to wondering. What if the Sox had moved on from Colas sooner than September? Sheets looked very good his rookie year in 2021, hitting eleven homers with thirty-four RBIs in just160 at-bats. Last year, those numbers increased to fifteen and fifty-three in 377 at-bats. Now, he’s at ten and forty in 272. Funny how the Sox run away from players who can help them. Consider Sheets and his ex-teammate Jake Burger, who last night hit his thirty-second homer in the Marlins’ 11-5 win over the Braves. It was a two-out, two-run shot in the eighth that broke a 5-5 tie. But the Sox didn’t want Burger. I’m sure Gavin Sheets knows the feeling.

Words Fail, Words Show

Words alone can’t convey the dread I feel for White Sox prospects come 2024, in part because of the words manager Mickey Mouse uttered last night. They followed another ugly loss, a second 10-2 drubbing by the Twins, this one featuring egregious fielding from Tim Anderson—an error on a groundball and a misplayed popup that went for a run-scoring single—and pitching by Michael Kopech (one inning, four earned runs on four hits). Oh, but to hear Mouse talk about his players. He assured reporters the Anderson of old will return because “he’s not afraid to put the work in.” What in God’s name does that mean? Does Mouse actually believe that taking extra infield practice and BP translates into success? If so, he’s more of a fool than I imagined. As for Kopech, the silver lining was “he was good on the mental side.” You see, “he struggled with stuff, he didn’t struggle with command.” Got that? I don’t. Regardless, Kopech will bounce back, “he’s going to get this right.” Why Mouse would believe that, I have no idea. In his last three relief appearances totaling 2.2 innings, Kopech has given up six runs, all earned. Next April, the reliever/starter/reliever/??? turns twenty-eight. The odds are he won’t get it right. Maybe if Kopech and Anderson had a manager who treated them as adults, things would be different. But the White Sox don’t have that kind of manager and won’t get around to finding until this one gets fired sometime next May or June.

Mismanagement

By some miracle last night, reclamation project Jose Urena pitched creditably, holding the Twins to just two runs over six innings. Then, something happened. Urena gave up a one-out single, followed by a double, single and homerun. A 2-0 game suddenly turned into a six-run deficit on its way to a 10-2 route. And where was White Sox manager Mickey Mouse during all this? According to his postgame comments, Mouse didn’t want to change pitchers because the Twins’ starter Kenta Maeda was doing so well, giving up just three singles over six innings. Mouse then offered that he might’ve considered changing pitchers in the seventh had the score been tied. Along with analyst Gordon Beckham, I have no idea what he meant. I’m also a little tired of the way Luis Robert Jr. is being touted as the Next Real Big Deal, all because of thirty-five homers and doubles along with seventeen stolen bases. And the .266 BA or the 161 strikeouts, including three last night? Not a word. One of the reasons Willie Mays was a great ballplayer is the fact that, over the course of twenty-three seasons, he struck out over a hundred times just once, at age forty. Mays recorded 112 walks to go with 123 strikeouts that season (1971). And at age twenty-six, Ken Griffey Jr. drove in 140 runs while striking out 104 times. In other words, Robert is good, but he has a ways to go before achieving anything close to greatness.

GIGO

The Kansas City Royals, aka the worst team in baseball at 46-101, beat the White Sox last night by a score of 7-1. That gave the Royals the season series, seven games to six. Sox manager Mickey Mouse keeps talking about evaluating talent, but never at the expense of winning a game. News flash, Mickey—when you start Elvis Andrus and Yasmani Grandal, like you did last night, there’s nothing to evaluate because those guys won’t be around next year and they’re not bringing much to the table in terms of winning anyway, unless you like those two double plays Andrus grounded into. Mouse also has this Santa Claus routine, about checking for effort. Here’s what he said in that regard last night: “We’re not talking about going easier. That’s never been discussed or will be discussed. This is the big leagues and you’ve got to play the game hard. We’re just hoping guys don’t get hurt and finish the season strong. As far as taking it easy, that hasn’t been discussed. The effort they’re giving us on the field is what they choose to give us.” [story on team website today] If that makes sense to you, then you understand gibber more than I do. Like when Mouse told reporters last night how well Aaron Bummer pitched, I mean, outside of the hit-by-pitch and walk leading to two runs in .1 inning. As Ozzie Guillen noted, that “good stuff” has translated into a 7.00 ERA this season.

What We Have Here is a…

A day after Oscar Colas gets sent down to the minors, Gavin Sheets, his replacement in right field, collects five RBIs in a doubleheader split with the Royals last night. Do you see a connection? I doubt if the White Sox do. They’re too busy with other stuff. According to manager Mickey Mouse, “We have to really evaluate our roster and change that mindset to where we are thinking about one thing and one thing only,” which is winning a World Series. [story on team website today] My God, what have they been doing since spring training, if not evaluating talent? Their evaluations kept putting Colas ahead of Sheets, never mind the latter’s power and track record for clutch hitting. In today’s Sun-Times, Mouse talked about judging players by their “makeup, skill set, mindset, [ability to be a good] teammate.” So, how exactly did Jake Burger fall short in these areas? Maybe if Mouse had opened his mouth in protest over the Burger trade before it happened, he’d have himself at least one player who meets his standards. But, when you have a failure to communicate, bad stuff happens. Again and again and…

My Bad

I looked at Oscar Colas and saw Floyd Robinson. My bad. Robinson played for the likes of Al Lopez and Eddie Stanky. If he had made the rookie mistakes Colas has time and again, there would’ve been no season two in a nine-season career. It also helped that Robinson hit .310 his first full season. Colas, who was sent down a second time to Triple-A Charlotte yesterday, is hitting .216. White Sox manager Mickey Mouse told reporters, “We need him to completely clean up his whole game.” [today’s Sun-Times] No, to “clean up” is a physical act, like cleaning up your room or the attic. Learning how to hit and play defense at a major-league level involves considerably more, a true dedication of mind and body. No doubt, Colas got by on his hitting talent alone while playing for Cuban and Japanese teams. With the White Sox last year, he mostly split his time between High-A Winston-Salem (58-74) and Double-A Birmingham (61-77), plus a cup of coffee at Triple-A Charlotte (58-92). What he could’ve learned, other than losing baseball? This year, Charlotte is even worse at 49-89. The Barons would seem to be a team that has perfected throwing to the wrong base and chasing pitches out of the strike zone. Unless he undergoes a Saul-to-Paul transformation, Colas will continue being what he is, a Four-A talent. Sort of like the White Sox.

Two Peas in a Pod

The White Sox are the Bears are the White Sox, two chronically underperforming franchises whose owners behave in ways guaranteed to result in sustained failure. Take yesterday, please. The Sox lost 3-2 in Detroit, the ghost of Rick Hahn appearing in the form of Yasmani Grandal grounding into a rally-killing, bases-loaded double play to end the sixth inning. The ghost of Tony La Russa followed in the seventh inning, when manager Mickey Mouse pinch-hit for one lefty (Gavin Sheets), but not another. Oscar Colas responded to this show of faith by striking out and then nearly injuring second baseman Elvis Andrus on a pop fly that went for a two-base error. Oh, and Tim Anderson failed to run out a squib in front of the plate, not that Mouse benched Anderson for lack of effort. How ever did Mouse get from Detroit to Soldier Field so fast? Because it sure looked like Mouse, not Matt Eberflus, coaching on the sidelines of the Munsters’ 38-20 season-opener smackdown administered by the Packers. The bubble screen (it’ll work one of these times, it has to); a non-existent running game; penalty after penalty. Same old same old. I heard Eberflus say after the game the Bears would learn from this, what exactly, who knows? Mickey Mouse says the same thing all the time, too. Maybe it’s losers’ lingo that’s music to the ears of a certain kind of owner. But it offends me to the core.

Likes and Dislikes

Luis Robert Jr. struck out three times in last night’s 3-1 White Sox loss to the Tigers. Each time, Robert looked awkward swinging at strike three, with all his weight on his front foot, after which he slouched off to the dugout. On his fourth at-bat, Robert singled in the lone Sox run of the night. Michael Kopech pitched an inning in relief; the solo shot he gave up means he has a higher ERA relieving than starting. On his first pitch, he delivered a 95-mph fastball for a strike. He also consistently hit 97-mph on his pitches. Hope springs eternal. Other teams call up young pitching talent; on Saturday the Sox went with thirty-one year old Jose Urena, claimed last month off the scrap heap. Today, it’s twenty-nine year old rookie Jesse Scholtens getting the call. If only indirectly, new Sox GM and former head of player development Chris Getz is responsible for the lack of pitching in the organization. I don’t like rewarding failure.

Old School

Did I mention Tiger Stadium? Chicago baseball yesterday was filled with old-school echoes of pitching battles and late-inning heartbreak. Ironically, it was the Cubs who suffered heartbreak at home while the White Sox triumphed in Detroit. With Mike Clevinger leading the way, no less. Clevinger went seven scoreless innings, picking up the win in a 6-0 victory. The Sox didn’t get their first hit against rookie Reese Olson—who held them hitless over five innings in his major-league debut back in June, BTW—until one out in the seventh, when Luis Robert Jr. doubled down the left-field line. One out later, Yoan Moncada (!!!) homered. The Sox then added a four-sport in the eighth. Clevinger gave up three hits while striking out seven and walking no one, all this on ninety pitches. Over at Wrigley Field, the Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen needed 107 pitches to record a 1-0 complete-game shutout against the host Cubs. James Taillon started for the North Siders, throwing six scoreless innings himself on seventy-seven pitches. Even though Taillon yielded a mere single and a walk while striking out nine, manager David Ross opted to go to his bullpen in the seventh inning. That was a new-school move, possibly motivated by the fact batters hit Taillon at a .300 clip the third time around. In which case, Ross let numbers on a page overrule what he should’ve seen right in front of him, a pitcher dominating the opposition. His starter goes one more inning, then his bullpen has one less inning to cover, and so on after that. Instead, Ross used four relievers. Going into games three and four at Wrigley, advantage Arizona. If they split, that leaves them two behind the Cubs for the second wildcard spot. If the D-backs sweep, they’re tied. That possibility looms on account of some smart, old-school baseball.

Compare and Contrast

I just got off of baseball-reference.com after looking at the Met teams, 1962-68. Good news is, the White Sox aren’t that bad, at least not yet. They beat the Royals last night 6-4, their fifty-fourth win of the season. Heck, it took the Mets five years to win that many games in a season. And yet— If only these Sox were as lovable as those Mets. I can remember being a kid and watching “What’s My Line” on a Sunday night in May, 1964. I was probably on top of the world, given that the Sox had just swept a doubleheader at Tiger Stadium, which was sort of like taking two on a Sunday in the Bronx, Cash and Kaline substituting for Mantle and Maris. That’s not what I remember, though. What I remember is watching “What’s My Line?” that Sunday night and hearing the urbane Bennett Cerf mention how Chris Cannizzaro of the Mets had caught all twenty-three innings of a game his team lost to the Giants, 8-6. Contrary to what the song says about making it there, New York on occasion will love a loser, provided he or she qualifies somehow as one of its own. Who loves a loves a losing White Sox team? New York, from the Times on down, can barely locate Chicago on a map, let alone name its American League team. The Chicago media? Not with the Bears ready to kick off their season three days from now. Jerry Reinsdorf? Surely, you jest. So, on a night Andrew Vaughn collects three hits and Touki Toussaint picks up a win, I remember other times, other teams, even, and hope that next years brings reason to cheer. But I won’t hold my breath.

Karma, Not Instant

I’m came across this gem from Jerry Reinsdorf in a column by Steve Greenberg in today’s Sun-Times: “Going all the way back to Roland [Hemond] and then Al Goldis, I wanted baseball taught in the minor leagues a certain way where people understood what they were doing, they understood what’s the right thing to do in certain situations, and nobody ever did it right until Chris [Getz] came along.” That’s rich. The man who’s owned the White Sox since 1981 is blaming forty-three years’ worth of subordinates for failing to teach fundamentals. Who hired the subordinates, again? Oh, right. Jerry Reinsdorf. So, answer me this—what did Getz teach Dylan Cease, how to squander a six-run lead? Homeruns from Yoan Moncada, Korey Lee and Andrew Vaughn put the Sox by six against the Royals going into the bottom of the third. Too bad Cease couldn’t make it through the sixth inning. By the time Bryan Shaw finished it, Cease was charged with five runs, four earned. Then came the ninth inning, with Gregory Santos balking in the winning run. But let’s not forget Tim Anderson, whose flying flip of a throw on an easy groundball from Nick Loftin sailed over Vaughn’s head and started the inevitable. I imagine Getz earns a pass here because he didn’t develop either Anderson or Santos. In his postgame comments, manager Mickey Mouse looked more like Bambi, with the headlights bearing down. Reinsdorf thinks he can direct the course of change. Allow me to paraphrase Jim Morrison here—you cannot direct the course of change. It will go where it goes. And right now, it’s headed in the direction of 100+ losses. The players know Mouse is coming back, and this is how they respond. By not firing Mouse now, Reinsdorf and Getz are just delaying the inevitable. Karma’s out there, waiting. The Chairman and his newest underling can run from it, but it will still catch them.

None of Your Business

Yesterday was Labor Day, a national holiday. You could tell by how the White Sox took the whole game off, a 12-1 debacle to the Royals in Kansas City. After the game, Sox manager Mickey Mouse let reporters know he was going to address the “inconsistent effort” he saw on display from his players. Would he like to provide examples? No, “I’m not going to get too deep on the effort. I didn’t like it for the most part. We’ll address it.” [story today on team website] How interesting. On the always-entertaining postgame show, ex-manager Ozzie Guillen said he saw guys laughing in the dugout, and he was not impressed. I saw the same thing, but not yesterday. It was Sunday’s loss to the Tigers. One of the supposed core players looked like he was having a grand old time at one end of the dugout while at the opposite end another core player, first baseman Andrew Vaughn, sat alone with a thousand-yard stare on his face. Yeah, we’ll address it. I can only hope that Chris Getz is paying attention to how his players are reacting to the news that Mouse will be back as manager next season. They’ve gone 3-10 since Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn got the boot while Mouse got a reprieve. Either it’s the wrong core, the wrong choice as manager, or both. Keep Vaughn and Luis Robert Jr. and dump the rest, coaches and skipper included. That, or face the prospect of back-to-back hundred-loss seasons. Your call, Chris.

Shell Shock

Michael Kopech is starting to sound like a POW forced to read a confession before the cameras. After his performance yesterday, which lasted all of 1.2 innings in the latest White Sox loss, Kopech talked with reporters after the game, sort of. His monotone was both noticeable and concerning. Kopech faced ten batters, walking five. Why Mickey Mouse keeps starting him is beyond me. Kopech hadn’t gone more than 4.1 innings in his previous four starts. Now, make it five. Start him again, expect a different result, and you’re the definition of insane. That, or Mouse is just dumb. Ditto playing Oscar Colas against lefties. Colas started yesterday against lefthander Tarik Skubal and went 0-for-3. Then, with the Sox down 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth and two runners on and one out, he finally got to face a righthander, closer Alex Lange. So, what happened? Colas grounded into a game-ending double play. Crazy.

See the Difference, Part II

Your new-look, savvy, hustling White Sox were on full display in last night’s 10-0 loss to the Tigers. Where to start? There are so many places. Might as well go with the highlight, manager Mickey Mouse benching catcher Korey Lee for failing to run out a popup in the bottom of the third. Better late than never, Mickey. I can’t wait for you to do the same with the rest of the team. I certainly don’t expect the Mouse-Master to drop the “unicorns and rainbows” act. Why, it’s a real gift how Mouse even found something positive to say about the first two innings of Mike Clevinger’s start, that he got the first two batters out each inning. The four in the first and two in the second (and two in the fourth) were the result of not getting people out, I guess. The Tigers started rookie Reese Olson, who came into the game with a 2-6 record and 5.95 ERA; Olson threw seven shutout innings, scattering four singles. But not to worry. Each time a Sox batter collected a hit, a Sox batter grounded into a double play. Talk about focus and approach at the plate. And let’s not forget to talk about play in the field, while we’re at it. Apparently, second baseman Lenyn Sosa got so excited at catching a cutoff throw from centerfielder Oscar Colas that he didn’t want to let go of the ball. Nothing like seeing a runner score from first on a two-out single. Down in the minors, starter Jake Eder took another loss for Double-A Birmingham. Eder is now 0-3 in five starts since coming over, with an 11.42 ERA in 17.1 innings for the Barons. Holy Kenny Williams (and Don Cooper). The Sox acquired Eder for Jake Burger, who hit two homers last night for the Marlins. That gives Burger thirty on the season. But we have Yoan Moncada.

See the Difference

That sure looked like a smirk on the face of White Sox manager Mickey Mouse while he was talking to reporters yesterday. Mouse said he wasn’t surprised that he survived the front-office purge that cost Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn their jobs. You see, Mouse has been talking to people in the know, so he knew. Oh, and new GM Chris Getz is a great guy. But a smirk will only get you so far in baseball. At some point, talent, drive and coaching become overriding factors. Put another way, the Sox lost, again, this time at home to the Tigers, 4-2. The bottom of the order went a collective 1-for-10. Lenyn Sisa got the hit, a single that did not exactly make up for the two double plays he grounded into. Catcher Korey Lee is starting his Sox career by going 1-for-18. Nine of ten baserunners have stolen off of Lee as well. Holy Yasmani Grandal. Did I forget Oscar Colas? In which case, I apologize for not mentioning Colas went 0-for4 with three strikeouts, one more than Yoan Moncada, for what it’s worth. Getz, Grifol and company have a faith in the twenty-four year old Colas I stopped feeling a good month ago. He got the start last night against lefthander Eduardo Rodriguez and struck out both times he faced him. Colas is 8-for-49 against lefties vs. Gavin Sheets’ 0-for-10. And the difference is what, exactly? Colas has four homers and eighteen RBIs in 221 at-bats. Sheets has nine and thirty-one in 238 at-bats. And Colas gets the start? Meet the new boss(es), same as the old boss(es).

One Mouth, Two Sides

At his introductory press conference yesterday, new White Sox general manager Chris Getz indicated to reporters he understood “things need to change. To that I will say the fans deserve different. I am different, we will be different.” [story in today’s Tribune] Getz also said he intends to bring back manager Mickey Mouse for a second season. If one, then not the other. Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf ventured into daylight for the first time anyone can remember to deny the rumor he wants to move the Sox to Nashville; push the idea that the two fans wounded by gunfire at Guarnateed Rate Whatever last week were hit by bullet(s) fired from outside the stadium (as if that makes it better); and say that an outside hire as GM, Branch Rickey included, would take a year getting to know the organization before acting on repairs. The Sox indeed may require supernatural assistance. To which I say, if you can bring back Rickey, why not Charles Comiskey or Bill Veeck while you’re at it?