Good Pitching, Bad Hitting

If good pitching stops good hitting, the White Sox have one and not the other. Nationals 2 Sox 1 in ten innings. I don’t want to get too excited, but rightie Sean Burke does seem to be figuring things out on the mound. Yesterday, he threw 7.1 scoreless—and walk-free—innings, only to have his teammates strike out thirteen times. And that’s actually an improvement over Saturday, when they whiffed fourteen times in ten innings. We turn our lonely eyes to you, Braden Montgomery. Speaking of which, the Luisangel Acuna watch continues. Acuna’s BA has hit .179 and shows no signs of stopping its downward spiral there. Did I mention Derek Hill, with his one RBI in 34 at-bats or Tanner Murray, with 3 in 28? Murray most likely will be the first of this trio to exit, but only because he hurt his left shoulder making a diving catch in the tenth inning yesterday. The Sox being the Sox, expect them to promote Jarred Kelenic, batting a robust .190 for Triple-A Charlotte. The late, great Bob Newhart used to do a bit about how a roomful of chimps at typewriters would produce the works of Shakespeare over the course of eternity: To be or not to be, that is the @@!#. That’s the White Sox front office, bringing up Noah Schultz, finding a way to tap into Sean Burke’s potential, along with signing Anthony Kay to a two-year deal, even though he has no real future on the South Side. @@!#

Full Circle

White Sox rookie lefthander Noah Schultz had himself a very nice third start in the majors, six innings pitched, two earned runs, eight strikeouts. Too bad Vibes Venable went with Jordan Leasure to open the tenth inning. Nationals 6 Sox 3. Not that I watched the game in real time. No, we had to be at our grandson’s t-ball game, where his mother made her coaching debut, subbing for the absent head coach. Where my daughter found the patience is beyond me. Clare didn’t start t-ball until she was six, and here she was dealing with a bunch of four-year olds, some of whom found it hard to stand up for any length of time. As for hitting, they made more contact whacking the tee than the ball. And there was my daughter, getting little knees to bend and eyes to concentrate on the ball in front of them. This from someone who is very much like her father, someone who doesn’t suffer fools gladly and considers way too many people to be fools. Leo at least drove the ball and knew to touch the bases; no doubt, Mom will work with him about standing in the field. A glove doesn’t do much good when you’re lying down.

Baby Steps

By beating the Nationals 5-4 last night to begin a six-game homestand, the White Sox improved their record to 11-15, which is better than eight other teams, the same as the Giants and a half-game behind the Angels and Mariners. Who knew? Sam Antonacci hit what proved to be the game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth. The sort-of left fielder now has four RBIs in 28 at-bats along with three walks vs. two strikeouts. To me, Antonacci looks to be a keeper. The question, though, is what happens once Austin Hays comes off the IL? At that point, Chris Getz and Vibes Venable may find themselves facing a difficult choice. Who do they want at second base, Antonacci or Chase Meidroth? In 91 at-bats, Meidroth has managed all of two RBIs; the twelve walks turns his .253 BA into a .340 OBP, as opposed to .343 for Antonacci. Meidroth plays a nice second base, but Antonacci bats left-handed and looks to be faster on the basepaths. I know who I’m leaning toward. But it’s Getz and Venable who’ll have to decide, and probably sooner than later.

Like a Good Team

Wow, a three-run homerun by Andrew Benintendi in the ninth to break open a tied game and give the White Sox a 4-1 win over the Diamondbacks along with a series’ win. This must be what good teams do on a regular basis. If only. But maybe I’m being too hard. At 10-15, the White Sox have a better record than six teams—oh, I wouldn‘t want to be the Astros, Mets, Phillies or Red Sox right now—and are half-a-game behind three others, one of whom will be in town for a three-game set starting tonight. Beat those Nationals! There’s just enough hitting and pitching on the major-league level to make me wonder why GM Chris Getz isn’t moving the minor-league talent up sooner. Or maybe it’s a tomato/tomahto thing, my slow is his fast. In which case, I can’t wait. I’ve already mentioned the minor-league pitching talent. There’s also hitting, starting with Braden Montgomery in Double-A. The 23-year old switch-hitting outfielder is batting .354 with eighteen RBIs for the Barons. Teammate Alec Makarewicz is also worth watching. The 25-year old undrafted third baseman has come out of nowhere to hit .364. Triple-A outfielder Caden Connor and first baseman Ryan Galanie could also hit themselves into a callup before too long. All I know is, this sure beats 2024.

A Waste of Pop

Last night in Arizona, Munetaka Murakami homered for a fifth straight game; Colson Montgomery a fourth; and Miguel Vargas a third, but the White Sox still lost to the Diamondbacks, 11-7. Given the pitching, it could’ve been worse. Oh, the organization has pitching, only GM Chris Getz won’t promote it. No, instead of bringing up talent from their minor-league system, the Sox insist on using retreads. Last night, they started Anthony Kay, who pitched, as my father would say, like Mickey the Mope. I mean, eight earned runs in 3.2 innings on eight hits (two of them homeruns) and three walks. After the Sox pulled to within 8-5, manager Vibes Venable brought in Lucas Sims, and he gave up two runs in an inning of work. This is both depressing and, I’d argue, self-defeating. Let the kids—Hagen Smith, Tanner McDougal, Shane Murphy, Duncan Davitt—take their lumps with the parent club. Why? To see what they have, which can’t be any worse than what Kay has shown. He’s 1-1 on the season with a 5.57 ERA. For his career, the 31-year old is 5-3 with a 5.59 ERA. Tell me that’s going to get any better.

This and That

Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery hit back-to-back-to-back homeruns in the second inning last night as the White Sox beat the Diamondbacks, 11-5. I wonder if Billy Donovan was watching? Each homer was important in its own way, as was Sam Antonacci’s inside-the-parker in the ninth inning. Murakami can point to his ninth homer in this young season to quiet the doubters (like me) while Vargas needs to put up the best stats possible as the new Lenyn Sosa. The better he does, the better his new team will be (see Sosa, Toronto Bluejays). Short of a miracle, Vargas will be gone sooner than later. The Sox have 20-year old third baseman Caleb Bonemar tearing up High-A pitching; odds are Bonemer will be in Double-A before long and/or Triple-A. In addition, the Sox will draft first come June. The consensus best player is UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky. If the Sox take Cholowsky, somebody has to move, either to third base or centerfield. Like I said, Vargas can only help himself find a good team by producing now. Montgomery also needs to produce, even if he won’t be switching teams anytime soon. The doubters (like me) keep looking at BA (.213) and strikeouts (30 in 80 at-bats); the six homeruns and sixteen RBIs make a strong case for the glass being more than half full. We’ll just have to wait and see. Ditto for Antonacci, who also had a triple in the first inning to go with three RBIs for the game. My, that kid can fly. The more he hits, the more he quiets the doubters (for once, not me). We’ll just have to wait and see. Which brings us to now ex-Bulls’ head coach Donovan, who announced yesterday he wasn’t coming back even though Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf clearly wanted him to. Who can blame Donovan? He’s seen Reinsdorf dysfunction up close for six years. He can pretty much have any head-coaching job in the pros or college that he wants. Good luck to the only New Yorker I’ve ever liked.

Relief

In the bizarro world that is stadium politics in America, the Illinois General Assembly is scrambling to keep those lovable Munsters on this side of the state line with Indiana. The focus is on “tax relief.” Legislators know any kind of deal with the team risks charges of favoritism. When Virginia McCaskey was the face of the Bears, it was hard to say or think nasty things. With her son George in charge, it gets a whole lot easier. So, a billionaire handout is being disguised as “megaproject” legislation that will allow corporate entities to get tax breaks because, otherwise, local property taxes can be such a drain on quarterly profits. But fear not, little folks, you too will be offered some sort of tax relief. And how much will that cost? Correct me if I’m wrong, but lower taxes mean budget deficits if the affected taxing bodies don’t lower spending. Which Illinois communities are going to cut back on teachers and first responders? Which ones are going to rush to privatize municipal services or slash library hours? Of course, tax relief could be tied to some sort of millionaire’s tax, an idea of growing popularity with anyone not a millionaire. Question, though. Do you think George McCaskey is going throw his support behind any such effort?