Sunday Sunday

Yesterday being the last Sunday of the season for the White Sox, we had to go; it’s become a tradition.  Chris, Clare’s fiancé, couldn’t make it, being that yesterday was the last Sunday in September and college football in season doesn’t let coaches sneak off and watch another sport.  So, it was the three of us with three great seats.  Really, Subhub is an incredible bargain when you want to go watch a baseball team with 90-plus losses.

We were thirty feet past the Royals’ dugout down the first-base line, three rows from the field, parallel to the top of the infield lip; we saved something like $90 off the face value of the tickets.  For one day at least, I can report that the White Sox rebuild looks to be in fine form.

Start with Lucas Giolito.  The right hander pitched seven innings of one-run, five-hit ball, with five strikeouts and no walks.  What’s not to like in those numbers?  Giolito is 3-3 on the year, with a 2.38 ERA over 45.1 innings.  Again, what’s not to like?  At 6’6”, Giolito doesn’t try to overthrow the ball; instead, he seems to like to throw high strikes.  So far, nobody’s caught up to him.  Off his performances the past month, he’s a lock to be in the rotation come April.

Over on the position side, Yoan Moncada also looked (pretty) good.  Moncada made a B+ play in the top of the first, going far to his ride and throwing to first while sliding.  Then, in the bottom of the first, he doubled off the wall in left-center field and scored on a homerun by that Renaissance Man, Avisail Garcia.  Now, if Moncada can just keep the same focus for his next at-bat and the one after that, he’ll be onto something.

Did I mention Adam Engel, he of the .177 batting average?  Engel made yet another over-the-shoulder catch and looked fast—because he is—scoring a run in the fifth inning.  Defensively, Engel is quickly approaching Ken Berry status, and Berry is the best Sox center fielder I’ve seen in fifty years.  (Aaron Rowand was the most fearless, not quite the same).  Engel, then, can catch the ball with the best of them and run the same way.  Please, somebody, teach the young man how to make consistent contact before it’s too late.

The Royals look to be a team going in the opposite direction of the Sox.  First baseman Eric Hosmer in particular had a bad day, dropping a foul pop and failing to dig out two low throws.  Fan favorite Melky Cabrera flashed a little of what I call “bad Melky” in the seventh inning when Avisail Garcia lined a ball down the right field line with two runners on.  Cabrera broke into a jog either because he thought the ball was going out or going foul; it did neither and ended up for a double.  In the top of the eighth, the Royals’ Jorge Bonifacio hit a ball just like Garcia’s.  With the Sox already up by seven runs, right fielder Rymer Liriano chased after it as if his life depended on it (and it does, professionally speaking).  Liriano nearly ended up in the seats, but he caught the ball—and made an impression.

I’m glad to report that we spent all of one dollar at the park, for a scorecard.  Otherwise, we brought in our own water and sandwiches.  For those who care, beer ranged between $8.75 and $9.75 while lemonade could be had for $7.50 and popcorn $4.  According to a program I have from my first season of being a real fan, lemonade and popcorn in 1964 each cost all of a quarter.  If you wanted to keep the same profit margin and just factor for inflation, that would be $1.97 in current dollars.

I don’t know what pizza cost at the park, but the one we had from Benny’s when we got back home tasted great and cost just under $20.  Why my wife and daughter ordered black olives on their side of the pizza is beyond me.