Silence is Golden

White Sox manager Mickey Mouse did an interview on the team website today where he said, “I actually love” Sox fans “because they are passionate, they are smart.” But why in heaven’s name would we love him back? Yesterday, Mouse’s team sleepwalked its way through a 6-1 beatdown in Yankee Stadium. Brad Keller got the start and fell in love with the number four, as in four innings pitched, four strikeouts, four solo shots. Keller told reporters afterwards, “Stuff felt good, made some mistakes but just tried to settle in and get as deep in the game as I could.” Follow that up with Mouse’s observation, “Keller was OK at time but missed out over the plate enough to give up some runs,” and you can see why Sox fans are a grumpy lot. [both comments in today’s Tribune] They’re too smart to listen to remarks so dumb.

Insane

The White Sox, make that manager Mickey Mouse, keep playing Andrew Benintendi and Martin Maldonado, as if things are going to change. Talk about insane. Mouse’s idea of batting Benintendi lower in the order is to slot him fifth, why, I have no idea. With the Sox down 4-2 to the damn’ Yankees in the eighth inning last night, up came Benintendi with the tying runs in scoring position. The Yankees brought in lefty Caleb Ferguson to face the lefthand-hitting Benintendi. Ferguson had a 6.00 ERA while Benintendit was 3-for-32 against lefties. After striking out, he’s now 3-for-33. Sox go on to lose, 4-2. And Maldonado? Why, 0-for-3 with another two strikeouts along with a passed ball that set up a New York run. Maldonado is now batting .097 with 31 strikeouts in 72 at-bats. Insane.

The Strange Case of Kevin Pillar

The White Sox DFA’d outfielder Kevin Pillar on April 28th . The Angels signed him two days later. The numbers tell some sort of story. For the Sox, Pillar batted .160 with a homerun and four RBIs in seventeen games. With the Angels, Pillar is hitting .455 with three homers and fourteen RBIs in ten games, though he’s had eight more at-bats with the Halos. Still, what gives? How can an eleven-year veteran, so obviously motivated to extend his career, fall on his face with one team and then magically turn it around with another? I’m sure Sox manager Mickey Mouse had nothing to do with it. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind horse. Say no more.

Family Trip

Clare and I went to the White Sox game against the Nationals yesterday afternoon, which meant we brought my granddaughter along, too. Her mother sent along good womb-vibes courtesy of a 2-0 Sox win. How many people were there? Not so many to keep fans from hearing Garrett Crochet swear when he missed with a pitch; the box score gave the attendance at 11,008. For some reason, we didn’t get to guess. Even though Bryan Ramos didn’t play, he continues to impress. The pregame activity featured a federal judge swearing in 24 new citizens. Ramos watched proceedings from the dugout steps and then helped distribute Sox caps to the new citizen/fans. Civics is a big thing for me; I take my e pluribus unum very seriously. So, to see Ramos and, yes, manager Mickey Mouse do that was, as I said, impressive. But then I had to read in today’s Tribune what Mouse said about catcher Korey Lee, who caught Crochet and went 3-for-3 with an RBI. Well, you be the judge. “I know people want to see Korey play every single day. But that’s not in his best interest right now and, in reality, not in ours either because we have a lot of development to do with him.” Catch-22, White Sox-style: Lee needs to develop more to play more, only development is tied to playing. But you take your wins where you can find them while stepping over the mouse droppings. And, if you’re like me, wonder what planet Jerry Reinsdorf inhabits. It’s obviously not one that includes the neighborhood of Bridgeport. Driving to and from the game, I couldn’t get over the redevelopment that continues in the neighborhood Richard J. Daley and my father both once called home. The old and very, very new mix in Bridgeport unlike any other neighborhood in Chicago; at some point in the not-too-distant future, it will become official with a story in the New York Times. Bridgeport is a place that makes you want to walk around in and explore or, in my case, remember. As for Guaranteed Rate Whatever, it looks like it always has since opening in 1991, a concrete blob in the middle of 70 acres of parking. Not that Reinsdorf ever cared about the fan experience outside his stadium, but it’s definitely there in restaurants on side streets and thoroughfares. Night games and driving present a challenge in growing an entertainment district a la Wrigleyville. It’s by no means impossible, and I’m not even sure how hard it would be, but the Sox have wasted over 30 years not looking for answers. For day games (and more of those, please), I’d encourage fans to do a combination of public transportation and Uber/Lyft; that way, they don’t have to clear out of a parking lot after the game. They can come early; stay after a game; explore. Ditto for driving before a day game. Park the car, explore. Heck, come early to a night game. Park the car, explore. But the Sox have never encouraged it, never shown how to do it or where to go in Bridgeport. What a waste, sort of like most any Kenny Williams’ trade. Or when Rick Hahn traded Chris Sale or Chris Getz…

Hits and Misses

It’s official—the White Sox are playing the contract, not the player, with Andrew Benintendi. You’d think manager Mickey Mouse would sit his left fielder in game two of yesterday’s doubleheader with the Nationals after Benintendi went 1-for-4 (a meaningless single) and hit into two double plays, but you’d be wrong. Out he went for game two, and out he went with his bat, 0-for-3 with another double play. Sox split. I guess it could be worse, and Martin Maldonado could’ve started both games behind the plate. That way he could’ve gone 0-for-6 with six strikeouts instead of 0-for-3 with three. But ask Mouse and no doubt he’d say that Erick Fedde threw seven shutout innings for his fourth victory of the season because Maldonado was catching him. Yeah, right. Speaking of the manager with a career .361 win/loss percentage, he actually came out and criticized a player in public, two actually, Bryan Ramos for missing a hit-and-run sign and Gavin Sheets for sleepwalking in right field. Will wonders never cease? Oh, and Andrew Vaughn hit two homeruns to drive in all four runs in that game-two win for Fedde. So, they’re not ceasing yet.

Waiting and Wondering

No soup for you, Korey Lee, not when you let Michael Soroka give up four earned run in 5.1 innings. And no five-game win streak. Guardians 7 Sox 0. But enough of that. How about this? As a parting gift to his team (not that he knew he was going), ex-GM Rick Hahn drafted three shortstops for the organization. Two of them are doing really well, to the point of meriting a promotion. And the third? That would be Colson Montgomery, the Sox top prospect. The good news is, Montgomery’s in Triple A at the age of 22. The bad new is, he’s hitting .225, with six homeruns and 46 strikeouts in 129 at-bats. The longer Montgomery takes to figure out his hitting, the longer Brooks Baldwin stays at Double-A Birmingham, where he’s leading the Southern Association with a .360 BA. Baldwin has eighteen RBIs in 114 at-bats to Montgomery’s fifteen in 129. Interesting. The longer Baldwin stays in Double A, the longer Jacob Gonzalez stays at High-A Winston-Salem, where he’s hitting .289, with three homers and twelve RBIs in 121 at-bats. Something’s got to give. Ideally, it would involve Montgomery going on a hot streak and getting promoted to the Sox, allowing for some piggy-move-up action with Baldwin and Gonzalez. Or the Sox could get creative (perish the thought) and try the other two at new positions, like second base and centerfield. It’s something to keep an eye on. Along with waiting for Soroka to get sent to the pen, if he’s lucky.

Double-dumbing

Yea, the White Sox won their fourth in a row last night, beating the Guardians behind Mike Clevinger and three relievers. But leave it to manager Mickey Mouse to put a damper on things. In answer to my question from the day before—would he start Korey Lee behind the plate?—the answer was both obvious and depressing: No. More of Martin Maldonado doing his thing, striking out once in three at-bats, although I admit Maldonado did chip in with an RBI single. Mouse also talked gibber before the game about rookie Bryan Ramos, who made two nice plays at third base. The manager with the tiny .361 career win/loss percentage said it’s “not obvious” Ramos will be staying around after Danny Mendick comes off the IL. As God is my witness, Mouse’s logic was more twisted than a bag of pretzels. Please, oh please, Bryan, hit two homeruns today. I can’t imagine what you manager would say to that.