A Tale of Two Sox

Last night, James Shields and Chris Sale started for the White Sox and Red Sox, respectively.  Shields retired the first nine Cubs’ batters he faced, leading analyst Steve Stone to declare in the top of the fourth inning that Shield’s “power change” was back.  Alas, Stone spoke too soon.

Shields gave up a run in the fourth and another four in the fifth before being lifted; three of the five runs were earned, giving Shields a 5.86 ERA (and sure to be rising).  For anyone interested, Shields earned $21 million last season and is in line to earn another $21 million this year and, you guessed it, $21 million in 2018.  It’s nice pay for a 2-3 record.

In Seattle, Chris Sale—he used to pitch for the White Sox, I’m told—threw seven scoreless innings.  Sale gave up three hits and a walk to go with 11 strikeouts.  He’s now 13-4 on the season with a 2.37 ERA.  He leads the known world in strikeouts, tallying 211 in just 148.1innings.  Sale made $9.15 million last year compared to $12 million this season and $12.5 million due in 2018.  That’s what you call a healthy return on your investment.

Meanwhile, Yoan Moncada, who turned into an ex-Red Sox when he went to the White Sox as part of the deal for Sale, hit his first career homerun Wednesday, this off Jake Arrieta.  That’s nice.  Moncada is currently batting .130 since his call up.  That had better improve, or we’ll be dealing with an inverse Curse of the Bambino.