Pointless

A week ago today, Michele and I were walking up and down Montmartre, one of the nine hills of Paris, desperate not to lose sight of our guide. Let’s just say it was a very challenging 428 feet this way, then that; one crowded street, then another; right foot in, right foot out. At the end, we shook all about. But at least our guide knew where she was going; the four-hour walk had a beginning, middle (with countless steps to the top, trust me) and end. With the White Sox, it’s more about walking in a meaningless circle. Last night, they wasted six shutout innings from starter Shane Smith; talk about a find. Smith has a 2.08 ERA over eight starts spanning 43.1 innings. But this team doesn’t hit (as evidenced by their four hits total in a 3-1 defeat), and they have no real bullpen. Jordan Leasure picked up the loss. Wow, there’s a surprise. The 2025 Sox under manager New-Mickey Venable have the same 11-29 record the 2024 team had under the original Mickey Mouse. Yes, the starting pitching is young and at times pretty good, with three more intriguing arms—Hagen Smith, Noah Schultz and Grant Taylor—putting up nice numbers at Double-A Birmingham. But winning depends on good pitching with at least a teeny assist from the offense. That’s not happening, and it doesn’t look like it will anytime soon. These hitless blunders rank 27th out of 30 both in runs scored (135) and on-base percentage (.291). Their team batting average is a baseball-worst .214, and yet Marcus Thames stays employed as hitting coach. Tim Elko went 0-for-3 last night, robbed of a run-scoring single in the seventh inning by Marlins’ second baseman Mario Sanoja. All I can do is hope Elko stays in the lineup and doesn’t panic. Oh, and stay as far away from Thames as possible. The same goes for the other young Sox players, starting with Brooks Baldwin, Chase Meidroth and Edgar Quero. All three have shown flashes, though with Meidroth it comes with concerns he’s going to break down the way Nick Madrigal did. As for the one or two bats in the minors—Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery—take your time. It's not like this team is going anywhere, except in circles.