Speaking of Dunce Caps

White Sox manager Vibes Venable donned the dunce cap in the top of the first inning against the Guardians last night when he left the dugout to visit starter Noah Schultz after a two-run single put the visitors up by two and threatening for more. Somehow, Venable missed that pitching coach Zach Bove had already made a visit after Schultz hit Jo Adell to load the bases. And Venable has a bench coach why, again? Sadly, there’s more in this 8-2 loss. Venable brought in David Sandlin, just called up from Charlottee, and the 25-year old righty did all that you could ask on short notice. Sandlin got out of the first without further damage and then kept Cleveland off the board through the fourth. Ah, but the fifth. That’s a different story requiring an even bigger dunce cap. Sandlin got Steven Kwan to ground out before giving up a single to Chase DeLauter. Did Venable think it was time to take out his pitcher? Nope. Ditto after Sandlin yielded a walk and then a hit-by-pitch. Maybe Venable was still in shock from his first-inning faux pas. Whatever the reason, not only did he stay in the dugout through all that but for Angel Martinez’s grand slam as well and two hits after that. What does this all mean? Heaven help the White Sox if the team takes on the personality of its manager, that’s what.

Enough

You know what I’ve had enough of? White Sox manager Vibes Venable complimenting the other team for beating his team. Venable did it again last night after the Red Sox came back a total of five time to tie the score—three times in extra innings—before pushing across the winning run in the thirteenth. Bad Sox 12 Good Sox 11. This was a game the White Sox needed and Venable managed away. He used everyone out of the bullpen except Sean Newcomb. Guess what? I would’ve used Newcomb and/or a starter to get the win. Chase Meidroth gave the Sox a two-run lead with a homer off Aroldis Chapman in the top of tenth, only for Venable to treat Trevor Richards like he was the second coming of Rollie Fingers. Richards gave back both runs, plus one in the eleventh. Instead of saying how good the Red Sox were, Venable could’ve put on a dunce cap. Same message.

Numbers Game

The Bad Sox had their way with the Good Sox last night, shutting out the visitors 4-0. Live by the long ball, die a whole bunch of other ways. Like the stolen base. Boston had three to our zero, and two of those set up runs. Not only did Drew Romo fail to throw out two would-be base stealers, he let one advance to third on a throwing error. Did I mention Romo went 0-for-2, dropping his average down to .132? Romo left it to his teammates to collect three singles and a lonely double. Ah, batting average. The White Sox rank seventh in all of baseball for homeruns, the Red Sox 24th. But Boston ranks twelfth in BA and fourteenth in OBP to 22nd and seventeenth for the White Sox. Did I mention the Red Sox have the third-best team ERA at 3.49 while the White Sox are thirteenth at 4.08? Let me channel my inner Hawk Harrelson here. (Ignore the shuddering.) The Carmines are on an incredible hot streak right now, going 30-5 since June 25. In baseball, it’s not only who you play but when you play them. Which is what all the numbers are pointing to.

Danger

Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! Davis Martin is pitching, and for some time now, that’s a bad thing, as evidenced by six first-inning runs at Fenway last night. Bad Sox 14 Good Sox 2. After the game, Martin said he may have been tipping pitches. What, that wasn’t happening in April and May, when he was 7-1 with a sub-2.00 ERA? All I know is he hasn’t gone a month since with an ERA under 5.68. It can’t all be attributed to tipping pitches. The 29-year old righthander has a 6.55 ERA over his last seven starts and 5.54 over his last fifteen. What gives? The analytics’ crew better get their gizmos out to find the answer. And quick.

Then and Now

When the trade deadline passed yesterday at 5 PM, the White Sox showed themselves to be astute buyers, acquiring catcher Joey Bart; reliever Huascar Brazoban; and outfielder Brenton Doyle. They join starter Luis Castillo, traded for over the weekend. GM Chris Getz was able to hang onto all his top prospects. Will it push the Sox over the top and into the postseason? We’ll have to wait to find out. All these names make me think of players acquired for pennant drives long ago: Ken Boyer; Smoky Burgess; Rocky Colavito; Jim King; Frank Lary; Moose Skowron. I remember them all, if not the World Series they were supposed bring along.

Power's Back On

The White Sox hit three homeruns yesterday, beating the Rays 9-1 behind some pretty good pitching from starter Anthony Kay. As ever, I should be happy, but— Will Colson Montogmery ever figure things out at the plate? Yesterday, Montgomey doubled with two out in the top of the first, which set up two runs, so, good that. Only he proceeded to strike out his next four at-bats to leave him batting .215 at the end of the day. Four strikeouts, oh my. Subtract one, and you’ll end up with three, just like catcher Drew Romo, whose 0-for-4 left him hitting a pretty miniscule .134. Would it even be mathematically possible for Romo to get his BA to Montgomery’s .215? Right now, lack of production from behind the plate makes it look like the Sox are playing without a DH in the lineup. And I can think of some Sox pitchers of yore who could hit better, as in Gary Peters and Juan Pizarro. But a win’s a win, and the Sox took the series, two games to one. Now, it’s on to Boston, where I really, really like to see our Sox beat those Sox.

Power Outage

The problem with big-power/low batting-average teams is feast-or-famine syndrome. Friday night, the White Sox hit four homeruns and won. Yesterday afternoon, they managed all of five singles and lost. Rays 1 Sox 0. The silver lining is that Noah Schultz pitched five innings of one-run ball. The Tall One scattered three singles while striking out four and walking no one. Schultz was also pretty efficient, throwing just—for him—67 pitches. The question now is, what becomes of the 22-year old lefty in the wake of the Sox trading for starter Luis Castillo? Bullpen? Back to Charlotte? Tune in, and, while you’re at it, read all the “experts” who think the Sox gave up too much for the 33-year old righthander. All of a sudden, ex-Sox Seranthony Dominguez has a value beyond his 3.99 ERA and five blown saves. Yes, I would’ve liked to hold onto catching prospect Boston Smith (what a name), but what were the odds of Smith leapfrogging from Double-A to take over from Kyle Teel and company anytime soon? In my book, it was a trade worth making. Time will tell.