Hmm…

Talk about a needed pick-me-up. Dylan Cease went seven shutout innings against the Angels yesterday, picking up the 3-0 win. Cease struck out eleven, including Mike Trout three (!) times. What’s amazing to me is he did it on 93 pitches, 64 of them strikes. Last season, the 26-year old right hander needed 90-plus pitches just to make it through the fifth or sixth. According to FanGraphs, Cease threw 49 percent fastballs vs. just over 47 percent curves and sliders. But it’s not so much the variety of pitches that made him effective as the ability to get the breaking balls over for strikes. The more Cease does that, the harder it is for batters to sit on his fastball. Depending on the weather (God hates Chicago right now), the White Sox travel to Wrigley Field with Michael Kopech and Lucas Giolito set to pitch. That’s how you want the schedule to line up. If Kopech and Giolito were paying attention to their teammate, it should be lights out. Otherwise, Sox fans will come away very grumpy. Me, I just want the rain to stop so we can see what transpires at the ballpark where Bill Veeck planted the ivy, lo, those many years ago.