A Day to Remember

We accompanied our grandson to his first-ever White Sox game yesterday afternoon, and I think he enjoyed himself in all the ways a kid should on such an august occasion. I mean, he wore a Munetaka Murakami shirt in honor of his favorite player; scored a Murakami bobblehead; and watched his hero hit a homerun in a 12-3 Sox romp. Leo missed Mune’s second homer of the day in the eighth inning, by which time he was asleep in the car on the way home. I saw it for him. Thank you, Erick Fedde for providing the perfect argument against spending big on a closer. Closers can’t close when there’s no lead to close on. And Fedde kept putting his team in the hole giving up the lead when given it. The desperation fourth—or fifth—starter gave up a leadoff homer to Jeremy Pena in the first, then let the Astros tie the game at two and three before manager Vibes Venable saw fit to pull him with one out in the fifth and one on. That’s three runs in 4.1 innings of work, for anyone keeping stats out there. If the Sox want to build something special, they need a minimum of two more quality starters. You rarely get those at the trade deadline, and never on the cheap. No, you’re better off to develop them; sign them as free agents; or swing big trades for them in the offseason. Right now, GM Chris Getz would be best off improving his roster around the edges and going with the team he constructed during spring training.

Tell Me

Tell me why White Sox GM Chris Getz would raid his minor-league system for closer Mason Miller? What good’s a closer if your team keeps losing games in the sixth inning? The Sox did it Friday night, giving up eight runs to the visiting Astros, and again last night, when they coughed up a more modest three in a 4-1 loss. It might’ve been different had Sean Burke not hit the leadoff batter that inning or if Colson Montgomery had made a nice play on the grounder his way by the next batter (Jeremy Pena) and started a double play or Braden Montgomery hadn’t let a ball get by him in right field with the bases loaded. But all that happened, along with next to no hitting from the Sox. So, repeating myself as I do, let me say that, if the heart of the order doesn’t produce, all the lockdown closers in the world won’t matter. And the two-through-five hitters last night went a collective 3-for-15 with six strikeouts and one lonely RBI.

“Pahpped It Up!”

Good thing Harry Caray wasn’t around to call last night’s White Sox-Astros’ game. Caray, who had an unmatched ability to heap scorn on the home team, would’ve run out of disgust long before the last of eleven [!!!] popups by Sox hitters in last night’s 9-5 stinker at The Rate. What stunk? Well, Davis Martin threw five shutout innings before collapsing in the sixth. Manager Vibes Venable had lefty reliever Bryan Hudson face two righthanded hitters who drove in five runs between them. To add insult to injury, Seranthony Dominguez gave up a single and two walks in .1 innings, allowing both inherited runners to score. Oh, and Sox hitters went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: This team won’t go anywhere if players like Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery don’t hit .250 or above. Last night, the duo went a combined 0-for-7. Vargas hit two popups to four [!!!!] for Montgomery. Yikes and Ick. Instead of shipping off prospects for a rental or a closer that’s not as important as a good starter over the long term, GM Chris Getz has to ask himself what he wants his infield to look like next season and the ones immediately after that. If he thinks Caleb Bonemer and Roch Cholowsky are going to be better than Vargas and Montgomery, he has to deal the latter two, better at the winter meetings than the trade deadline. But he has to do something. You don’t win titles popping out eleven times a game.

You Got That Right

I used to say, with Leo, we didn’t so much babysit as baby-chase; that boy had—and has—a near-endless supply of energy. Only his little sister has more. You try running after a whirling dervish. Michele and I (though, honestly, mostly Michele) tried to keep up with our charge for over eight hours yesterday, at the end of which my wife was not in the mood to make dinner. Given that my culinary skills don’t extend much beyond can-opener and microwave, we decided to go to one of our favorite summertime spots, La Barra, in nearby Riverside. Ordinarily, I don’t care much for sports’ bars; they bring out the worst in me. I mean, who wants to sit across from someone whose face is glued to a TV screen? No, we go for the outdoor tables; the pizza; and the parade of humanity that passes on sidewalk and street, the backdrop provided in part by Frederick Law Olmsted, who laid out Riverside back in 1869. Think trees, curved streets and Victorian water tower (plus train station). All of it helped relieve aching, grandparent muscles. After filling up on thin-crust pizza topped with sausage and mushrooms (curious Chicagoans want to know, I’m sure), we got up to leave, passing a couple on our way. The woman looked up at me and immediately did a double-fist pump in the air while shouting “Yea!” For a second, I thought I had myself a groupie, but only for a second, because the woman immediately shouted, “First place!” I was wearing my 1959 White Sox cap. I smiled back and nodded. Cheers by association is just fine by me.

I Should Be Happy. But—

A 4-2, series-clinching win for the White Sox over the Rangers should have me doing cartwheels. But a couple of things are keeping me earthbound. Not the relief pitching, though. Last night, Jordan Hicks; Grant Taylor; and Bryan Hudson hurled four perfect innings in relief of starter Anthony Kay. Taylor, especially, was in command, striking out five of the six Texas batters he faced. You can’t knock that. Or the six hits and four RBIs that Chase Meidroth and Andrew Benintendi provided, along with the three runs Braden Montgomery scored. But just seven singles on the night, provided by the above three? Colson Montgomery can’t seem to crack the .230 mark. Not good. Or Miguel Vargas .250. Ditto. I won’t even talk about the catching situation, other than to wonder why Korey Lee has spent most of the last two seasons in Charlotte. And the starting pitching is Wegovy-thin. Anthony Kay likes pitching in traffic so much, they should save him for the tenth. Talk about channeling your inner Erick Fedde. How Kay limited the Rangers to two runs is a mystery. Ordinarily, you give up five hits and two walks in five innings, you’re asking for trouble, more so if you hit a batter, which Kay did. The lefty escaped a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the fourth only through a great play on a groundball to Miguel Vargas, who turned a 5-3 double play to limit the damage to one run. You can’t argue with success, I guess. But I insist on my right to nitpick.

What He Should've Said

The Tall Enigma pitched for the White Sox last night in Texas, but not for long and certainly not well. Over 3.2 very bad innings, rookie lefthander Noah Schultz was pummeled by Texas hitters who tallied five runs on eleven hits. Final score Rangers 10 Sox 0. After the game Sox manager Vibes Venable gave Schultz the verbal equivalent of a participation trophy. “It was a rough [outing for Schultz],” admitted Venable of the ever-so-obvious. “At the same time, he was in the zone. That’s something we’ve really been working hard on, getting him in the zone. He’s done a nice job with that. He just didn’t miss any bats. Got to credit the Rangers big time today.” [story today in online Trib] No, you don’t; let the other guy mete out credit to his player, Vibes. Your job is to get the best out of your roster. What has having Schultz get “in the zone” accomplished, outside of a 3-7 record and 6.04 ERA? Time to drop the rah-rah approach, if only with Schultz. Instead, try pointing out those stats to the person who generated them, and then hint, strongly, numbers like that usually earn demotions. My way can’t be any worse than yours.

Accentuate the Positive

First, the good news—the White Sox really looked like they were going to stink up the joint last night in Texas against the Rangers. First, they let Jacob deGrom off the hook in the first inning, failing to score after putting runners in scoring position and nobody out. Then, they spotted deGrom a 2-0 lead. Thank heaven for Sam Antnoacci and Andrew Benintendi. Long story short, Sox 10 Rangers 3. Antonacci scored the Sox first run in the third and drove in the tying run in the fifth while Benintendi hit a bases-clearing double later that inning to knock out deGrom. The pitcher whom some people like to tout for the Hall of Fame, this despite a mere 103 career wins at age 38, gave up five runs on seven hits and two walks in 4.2 innings. Erick Fedde did his Houdini act for four innings while Chris Murphy picked up the win in relief. This was all to the good, along with Jordan Hicks’ continued resurgence. The righty struck out two in .2 innings when it counted and now has a 0.00 ERA over his last seven appearances. I did not see that coming. The only downer to report is Kyle Teel’s injury, an ankle sprain incurred during a play at the plate in the bottom of the second inning; Teel missed on a sweep tag of baserunner Ezequiel Duran. Here’s the thing—there was no contact on the play. Teel just pivoted on his ankle, and something happened. Oh, well. Edgar Quero’s back with Teel making another visit to the IL If ever a player needed to seize an opportunity, it’s Quero, now. We’ll see soon enough.