Mum's the Word

Two recent injuries to Chicago-team athletes highlight the difference between baseball and football. One sport allow the flow of information while the other would control it with a nod to the Kremlin. Back on September 20, Alex Bregman was hit in the face by a foul ball while standing in the on-deck circle during a game against the Reds. Within hours, Bregman had posted a picture of his face, his right eye swollen shut; news that Bregman had suffered several facial fractures came the next day. At no time did it appear that the Cubs tried to control the release of news or keep Bregman from talking to the media. Now, compare that to the injury the Bears’ Caleb Williams suffered a week ago Sunday against the Vikings. The way Williams went down without contact and then grabbed his thigh, it looked to be a fairly serious hamstring injury. Only the next day Coach Ben Johnson refused to rule out his quarterback for last night’s game against the Eagles. Johnson said Williams was “week-to-week.” Then, on Sunday, ESPN reported Williams had a Grade-2 hamstring strain and was expected to miss three-four weeks. Either Johnson and the Bears’ medical staff don’t know how to communicate with one another, or Johnson was blowing smoke at an always-gullible Chicago media and the Eagles. I’m going with door number two. Go on the Bears’ website and search for an injury update, and you won’t find anything official. Look for Williams addressing the injury the way Bregman did his, and you won’t find anything. At least, I didn’t. Not to worry, though. Third-string quarterback Case Keenum guided his team to a 27-7 win over Philadelphia, and all is right in Bears Nation. Except for the part about being upfront about player injuries. That’s so baseball.

Clichés Abound

The White Sox beat the Rockies 4-2 in the last regular game of the season. Now, it’s on to Houston for three games against the Astros. The team with four fewer wins earned home-field advantage after winning the AL West. And they say we’re in a weak division. I keep looking for the right cliché to describe the situation. The Sox need to play smart, but being dumb enough to think they can take the wild-card’s not a bad idea, either. They should strike first, yet be able to take a punch, and leave everything on the field. Push the envelope, but don’t do anything stupid. The Pope’s a South Sider and a Sox fan. I have no problem with a little divine intervention.

Nope

In his biggest start of the year, Davis Martin went one-third of an inning, putting the White Sox in a 3-0 hole they never managed to climb out of. Rockies 9 Sox 6 and AL Central crown to the Guardians. Joining Martin in failing to seize the moment was Colson Montgomery. With two out and two on and the score 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth, Montgomery struck out on four pitches. Two innings later with runners on the corners, one out and the score still 5-3, Montgomery hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Colorado broke the game open with four runs in the ninth. To me, you want to end the regular season on a high note. And that means winning. Owning up to bad performance(s) after the game is no substitute.

So Close

The White Sox showed no serious signs of a collective hangover from clinching a playoff spot Thursday when they beat the Rockies 6-1 last night before a packed house at The Rate. Almost everyone you wanted to contribute did. Sean Burke gave up a run in a 5.1-inning start and looked sharp. Same for Hagen Smith, Grant Taylor and Bryan Hudson out of the bullpen. On the offensive side, Sam Antonacci collected three hits while Braden Montgomery added two. And then there was Munetaka Murakami with three hits, two of which left the yard, and three RBIs. Of some concern are Tristan Peters, 4-for-39 over his last fifteen game, and Colson Montgomery, who now holds the MLB record for strikeouts by a player in a single season plus a sub-.200 BA. Pick which of these two will snap out of it first. I know my choice. Now, if the Guardians would just lose in Kansas City…

Nice, But—

The White Sox made some baseball history yesterday when they beat the Royals yesterday, 9-1. No other team has ever made the playoffs after two or more seasons of 100-plus losses. The Sox did that three years running. So, it was nice to see David Sandlin pitch like he had a clue, with six innings of one-run ball. The rookie righthander yielded five hits while recording seven strikeouts and not a walk. Please, please, more of that. Speaking of rookies, Sam Antonacci scored three runs and Tristan Peters picked up two RBIs. Braden Montgomery also looks to be coming out of his funk. In his last five games, Montgomery has gone 9-for-20 with four runs scored. See, please, above. Which brings us to the Doug-downer part. Right now, the White Sox have clinched the third AL wild-card spot and are still a game back of the Guardians for first place in the AL Central, with three games to go. Cleveland, which managed two victories against the Red Sox while scoring a total of three runs in three games, now finishes out the season on the road against the Royals while the Sox go home for three against the Rockies. We need to sweep, the Guardians have to lose a game. And while all of that is going on, manager Vibes Venable has to figure out what to do with Colson Montgomery, who has his BA down to .200 and his season-strikeout total up to 223. One more and Montgomery breaks the major-league record. If he plays, he’s going to strike out at least once over the course of three games. If he sits, he misses out on the opportunity to figure things out. But there’s no fixing Montgomery without risking a bit of notoriety. Like the 2024 White Sox, now a team growing ever smaller in the rear-view mirror.

Of Openers and Word Salad

The Royals scored four runs against the White Sox in the ninth inning Tuesday night, and they scored four in the first last night on their way to a 5-4 win. That’s what I meant about momentum. Opener Bryan Hudson didn’t have it, pure and simple, getting tagged for four runs (three earned) on four hits in .1 inning of work. And what did Sox manager Vibes Venable have to say about Hudson’s outing? He told reporters after the game, “Credit the Royals for putting the ball in play, finding the holes and we weren’t able to stop them really that first inning.” [all quotes from today’s Trib story online] I have eyes, Skipper. Tell me why your team, your opener, couldn’t stop the Royals in that first inning. Otherwise, stop insulting my intelligence. The way you did in discussing the play that cost you the game in the seventh inning. With a runner on second, two out, the score tied at four and Hagen Smith on the mound, you decided to have Smith pitch to Maikel Garcia, who already had two hits and two RBIs. Garcia made it three across the board with a run-scoring double. Why give the righthanded Garcia the righty-left advantage against Smith? Why not walk him and have Smith face lefty Vinnie Pasquantino? Get ready for the jibber-est of jibber answers, folks. “We talked about it,” Venable said. “It was just below the threshold as far as the gap between them that we typically do it.” Say what? “In hindsight, you wish that maybe you would [have walked Garcia]. But the process was good. [!!##$%!] That’s just one of those [times] in which the threshold on that matchup was below what we typically do to walk someone.” Words fail me. Venable, too, it would seem.

Almost a Great Game

The White Sox were ahead of the Royals 14-4 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning in Kansas City last night. Seven late runs later, the Sox had themselves a 14-11 win to remain one game back of the Guardians with five to go. Always lead with the good stuff in a win. The Sox cranked out four homeruns, Chase Meidroth; Brenton Doyle; Randal Grichuk; and Munetaka Murakami doing the honors. Meidroth collected a career-high five RBIs while Grichuk went 4-for-5 with three extra-base hits, falling a triple short of the cycle. And, hey, Tommy Pham scored twice on two walks. Now, for the not good, as in, will Colson Montgomery ever snap out of it? Last night, Montgomery went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, inching him closer to the major-league record of 223. Montgomery has 219 and counting. If the second-year shortstop’s offensive numbers are going down, Anthony Kay’s ERA is heading up, also in the wrong direction. The veteran lefthander struggled through four-plus innings last night, giving up four runs on seven hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. A suddenly with-it Noah Schultz picked up the win with two scoreless innings. In three relief appearances spanning 5.2 innings since his return from Triple-A Charlotte, the maybe-next Randy Johnson has yet to allow a run. The two pitchers who followed Schultz out of the pen, Trevor Richards and Luis Castillo, weren’t nearly as good. Richards gave up three earned runs in an inning of work, Castillo four runs. Ick. That’s the kind of bad mop-up work that can give the other side unwanted momentum. But I’m in good-news’ mode here. Schultz pitched well, and the other A-team relievers got an extra day of rest. Their availability should cancel any bad-guy momentum. I think.