I Go to Extremes

Far be it from me to go from one extreme to the other, from too soft on one player to too hard on another (see below), but whatever. I’ll start being a consistent critic as soon as the White Sox start playing a consistent brand of baseball, although I will admit they’re heading in the direction of consistent mediocrity. Back when he traded away Chris Sale for Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech, general manager Rick Hahn said it felt being congratulated because he’d just given up Chris Sale. How true. Moncada reverted to form last night, striking out three times on the way to dropping his average to .183, while Kopech continues to puzzle. You never know which version will show up for his next start. This game of good Michael/bad Michael is growing old, especially for someone who’s already 26. Last night against the Angels, Kopech couldn’t handle the return throw on a potential inning-ending double play in the bottom of the first. A 1-0 Angels’ lead went to 2-0. Given that nobody knows how to get Moncada hitting again or why manager Tony La Russa insists on playing Leury Garcia (.193 BA), every run allowed counts. Then in the sixth inning Kopech gives up a two-run homer to Luis Rengifo, who was batting all of .233 at the time. Rengifo’s fourth homer of the year gave the Angels’ a four-run lead, more than enough to hold on. Final score, Halos 4 Sox 1. The Sox had several chances to get back in the game, like in the sixth inning, two on and two out and the score 2-0. Rather than pinch hit for Garcia, La Russa let him face Shohei Otani. Why? Because Garcia had walked earlier. Well, that was in the fourth inning. In the sixth, Garcia grounded out to end the threat. I wonder what kept Jake Burger and Andrew Vaughn glued to the bench. So, it goes. Win a few, lose more. La Russa has job security the rest of us can only dream about.

Leo Durocher, Willie Mays and Luis Robert

Willie Mays’ first manager in the major leagues was Leo Durocher. Maybe it didn’t matter, or maybe it made all the difference in the world, given that Durocher served as parent figure and protector for the future HOFer. (That part of Durocher was long gone by the time he took over the Cubs in 1966.) Is Luis Robert the next Mays? I don’t know, but I can say he’s a supremely gifted athlete, one you build a team around. My worry is that Robert doesn’t have the support system in place that will allow him to thrive. In other words, I’m not all that impressed by his .295 BA or the eight homeruns or 38 RBIs or the eleven stolen bases or a strikeout percentage of under twenty percent. Last night against the Angels, Robert struck out on three pitches in his first at-bat against rookie righthander Chase Silseth; to say he looked lost or uninterested would be an understatement. But in his next at-bat against Silseth, Robert doubled down the line. In the fifth inning of a tied game, Robert hit a ball to dead center field that travelled 448 feet. You could hear a collective gasp from the crowd the second Robert connected off of reliever Oliver Ortega. A single in his next at-bat left the 24 year-old a triple shy of the cycle in a 11-4 White Sox win. Obviously, I want more games where the hits overshadow the strikeouts. I want Robert to feel comfortable on the South Side of Chicago and with his teammates, all of them. The Latin players help in that, no doubt, along with team interpreter Billy Russo. I just question if that’s enough. A player has to want to dominate the game before he can do so. As good as he is and as great as the flashes of talent have been, Robert isn’t at that point yet. Someone like Leo the Lip could be just who he needs to get there.

Up to a Point

The White Sox really looked good in Anaheim last night, up to a point. Lucas Giolito pitched six solid innings of two-run ball, and, if Gavin Sheets makes a decent catch in right field, it’s six innings of shutout ball. The Sox took the lead, 3-2, in the seventh, when Sheets collected the second of his two hits on the night. If only Sheets had made that catch in the second inning; if only Seby Zavala hadn’t been tagged out after making the turn on Josh Harrison’s RBI single for the go-ahead run; if only Tony La Russa had managed his bullpen differently. But then it wouldn’t be the White Sox, now would it? Bigtime players make bigtime plays, says Stacey King. La Russa brought in Reynaldo Lopez to relieve Giolito in the seventh, and Lopez didn’t have a big play on him anywhere to be found. If you don’t challenge the number-seven hitter and instead put yourself in a position where the home-plate umpire can squeeze you, bad things will happen, which is to say Lopez walked the leadoff batter. Things aren’t likely to get better if you follow the walk with a single to the number-eight batter, but that’s what Lopez did. After a sacrifice bunt, Lopez grooved a pitch to leadoff man Taylor Ward, who doubled off the wall in center. Luis Robert might have made the catch, but he didn’t. The Angels went ahead, 4-3, and the Sox acted as if they thought it was a seven-inning game. They had two more innings to tie the score. Instead, Tim Anderson, Andrew Vaughn and Robert all grounded out in the eighth. Jose Abreu opened up the ninth with a deep fly to Mike Trout, which was a lot more exciting than watching A.J. Pollock strike out on three pitches or Leury Garcia ground out to end the game. Sheets has six hits in his last three games, but La Russa used Garcia as a defensive replacement for him in the seventh. How fitting, for the game, the season and the manager who’s made it all possible.

Accentuate the Positive, or Not

With Dylan Cease, the problem is never reaching 100 pitches in a start; he’s done that in seven of his fifteen starts this season and thrown 91-99 pitches in another six. What matters is what inning those pitches get him to. Yesterday afternoon, Cease threw seven full innings on 101 pitches, which is impressive in itself. Throw in the fact that he also struck out thirteen Baltimore batters, and it’s even more impressive. Keep in mind that Cease yielded all of one run along the way. Gavin Sheets’ short demotion seems to be paying off. He had two hits Saturday and another two yesterday, including a two-run homerun that put the White Sox ahead. Seby Zavala, who looks like an entirely different hitter from a year ago, added an RBI single, and the Sox took a 4-1 lead into the ninth inning. In Strat-O-Matic baseball, players know to put their best defensive team out there for the ninth inning, or else. It was a near-disastrous case of “or else” for the Sox in the ninth with Jose Abreu making errors on consecutive plays to start the inning. Bases loaded, nobody out. A tip of the cap to Kendall Graveman for keeping his cool and earning the save in a 4-3 win. Maybe a corner has been turned, maybe not. Either way, it sure would be nice if someone would teach Tony La Russa how to play Strat-O-Matic. He might actually learn something.

Outplayed, and Outmanaged

After the White Sox lost their third straight game to the Orioles yesterday, this time by a score of 6-2, manager Tony La Russa admitted that his team lost because they were outplayed. Outmanaged, too. La Russa relented and started rookie Lenyn Sosa, batting him leadoff. Only Sosa didn’t play in place of Leury Garcia (1-for-3 on the day , now with a .191 BA). La Russa played him instead of Tim Anderson, who was resting because…somehow, the Sox have five players La Russa doesn’t want to risk injury by going full-out on sure outs. Anderson, Jose Abreu, A.J. Pollock, Luis Robert and Andrew Vaughn all have this special dispensation, so, fans need to understand what they’re seeing isn’t a lack of hustle, except maybe when Robert didn’t appear to go after a bases-clearing double in the seventh inning of what had been a 3-1 game. But I seem to be the only observer who saw that. And La Russa seems to be the only manager who would call on Jose Ruiz to pitch out of a bases-loaded situation. At one point in the seventh inning, starter Lance Lynn had two outs, one on, in a 2-1 game before he ran out of gas. In comes Ruiz, he of the 4.78 ERA and 1.70 WHIP, and there went any chance of winning the game, assuming, of course, that the walking wounded could’ve found a way to score some runs. You might ask why La Russa didn’t instead go to Joe Kelly or Kendall Graveman, two major offseason acquisitions meant to give the Sox a killer bullpen. Or you might ask why the Sox are having all sorts of injury problems after switching conditioning coaches. La Russa could offer a gibber answer to the first (he was going to use Kelly in the eighth if it were still a one-run game), but the second remains a painful mystery to us all. The 2021 Orioles lost 110 games, by the way. This year, they have thirty-four wins, one more than the Sox.

Fish Tales

Allow me a Chicago allusion here: The White Sox stink worse than a beach full of dead alewives. As ever, the odor emanates from the manager on down. Tony La Russa was quoted in today’s Sun-Times calling third-base coach Joe McEwing “as good as anyone in the league.” What, pray tell, is the basis for that assessment, the fact that the Sox lead the majors in runners thrown out at the plate? By the same logic, Lucas Giolito’s 5.40 ERA is proof of pitching coach Ethan Katz doing a bang-up job. Then there’s the issue of second base. The team brings up Lenyn Sosa, hitting .331 at Double-A Birmingham, and the manager indicates Sosa’s not going to play much because he’s merely here “temporarily” and “to fill in.” Who does our HOF manager start at second, instead? Why, Leury Garcia, who went 0-for-3 and saw his BA fall to a paltry .188. La Russa is either stupid, bullheaded or both. I wonder what Rick Hahn thinks. The Sox lost 4-1 to the Orioles last night, managing only one hit and two walks against five Baltimore pitchers. Michael Kopech was upset Orioles’ hitters were bunting on him, what with that ouchy right knee of his, which is something I shouldn’t know because his manager should’ve told him to suck it up or declare himself unfit to pitch. Oh, and the Orioles stole five bases off Kopech. The team stinks, the fans boo. I miss the alewives.

Ouch

On the surface, the White Sox appear to be a mediocre team, as evidenced by their 33-35 record after losing 4-0 to the visiting Orioles last night. In fact, they’re much worse than mediocre. This was a team picked by many to go to the World Series. So, how do they get shut out by Baltimore? Yes, there were at least three outstanding plays by Orioles’ outfielders, all with runners on base. But as Stacey King likes to say, bigtime players make bigtime plays, and nobody last night got a big hit. Leury Garcia, of all people, almost did in the fourth, with the Sox down 2-0, two out and the recently recalled Gavin Sheets—looking as though he remembered how to hit—on second base with a double. Garcia hit the ball to right, and right fielder Austin Hays threw Sheets out, by a lot, at the plate. Gavin did not run through a stop sign, by the way. That makes thirteen times a Sox baserunner has been nailed at the plate. So, why does third-base coach Joe McEwing still have a job? You tell me. On second thought, don’t bother. McEwing makes nice with manager Tony La Russa, and that’s what counts. A fish rots at the head, they say. Things are so rotten on the South Side that Lucas Giolito is doing a James Shields’ imitation, unable to get batters out and forcing his fielders to risk their bodies to do it for him. Danny Mendick tore the ACL in his right knee after he collided with left fielder Adam Haseley as the two, along with third baseman Jake Burger, tried to catch a foul pop during Wednesday’s loss to the Blue Jays. Bad breaks happen to bad teams. If there’s a silver lining, it will be in the form of second baseman Lenyn Sosa, called up from Double-A Birmingham to take Mendick’s place. The 22-year old Sosa was batting .331 with forty-eight RBIs for the Barons. I’ll guess we’ll soon see if he’s the real deal, assuming, of course, La Russa doesn’t see fit torest him first.

Same Old Same Old

Lucas Giolito got rocked, again, and took himself to task, again. After giving up seven runs on eleven hits over five innings of a 9-5 loss to the Blue Jays yesterday afternoon, the White Sox righthander admitted to being “pretty brutal” over his last five starts. Truer words were never spoken. Giolito’s ERA has ballooned to 5.40, with no sign it’ll be going down anytime soon. If he’s to be believed, Gioltio throws great in the bullpen, which, last time I checked, doesn’t count. Meanwhile, pitching coach Ethan Katz is employing all the tech in his arsenal to measure the speed and spin on the pitches his star pupil throws. Here’s a question: If the metrics show Giolito’s speed and spin rates are down, why start him, given the likely results? Giolito’s WHIP for the season stands at a distressing 1.56, worse even than in 2018, when it was 1.48. The respective ERAs for those two seasons are also kind of similar, 6.13 then and 5.40 now. Giolito keeps talking about his mechanics, if only if some guys with wrenches could fix him. Not likely. What impressed me most about the then 23-year old when I first watched him back in 2017 was how effectively he pitched up in the zone, lots of letter-high strikes and outs made. That has definitely gone by the wayside. These days, Giolito is depending on his changeup way too much. Without location, it’s a contributing factor to that rising WHIP. The solution is two-fold, both physical and mental. First, find out if he’s hurt; that could be a reason for diminished velocity. If that’s not the problem, bring out the tech to see which delivery tweaks will lead to the best fastball possible. Once that happens, Giolito needs to go back to pitching up in the zone because that’s where the outs are for him. I hesitate to say that this product of Southern-California privilege thinks too much, so I’ll just say he over-analyzes instead. Tomato, tomahto, either way all the mechanical changes and all the good bullpen sessions in the world won’t matter one bit until Giolito focuses on the approach that’s been the key to his success. Let me put it another way—I think the man is his own worst enemy. That needs to change, and fast.

This, That and the Other

Not long ago, I suggested this Josh Harrison wasn’t that one, the second baseman who twice made the All-Star team with the Pirates back in the day. For this week, at least, I stand corrected. For the second straight night, Harrison again starred in the field and at the plate. He made a great catch in the top of the ninth inning to save a run and drove in the winning run with a two-out single in the bottom of the twelfth. For what it’s worth, the White Sox are now a .500 team. And Dylan Cease is what, exactly? Everybody I read today has only the highest praise for Cease’s six-inning, eleven-strikeout performance, or everyone but me. Yes, six shutout innings are great, but Cease needed 101 pitches to get there. If he goes seven, Tony La Russa might not be tempted to use two rookie relievers the way he did, to turn a 2-0 lead into a 4-2 deficit heading into the bottom of the ninth. But all’s well that ends well, even if I’m walking around like a zombie for staying up to watch all 4:23 of the game. I wonder what it would be like to root for a team that’s above .500?

More of That, OK?

Tim Anderson came off the IL last night ready to hit, with two singles and a run scored pacing the White Sox to an 8-7 win over the visiting Blue Jays. If we could just find the handle on the ball (two errors), it would’ve been in the neighborhood of 8-5 good guys. Andrew Vaughn collected four hits, again, in the two-spot, again, while Luis Robert pulverized a ball for a two-run home run. And, surprise of surprises, Josh Harrison looked as if he could’ve been an All-Star once upon a time, with a two-run homer and at least two plus-plays at second base. Lance Lynn pitched adequately in his second start of the season while Joe Kelly won’t make anyone forget Liam Hendriks in the closer’s role. You beat Toronto once, you might as well beath them again. It’s the only way to reach .500, never mind anything beyond.

What the Numbers Say

Last night in Houston, the Astros’ J.J. Matijecvic recorded his first-ever big-league hit—a homerun—against Michael Kopech, who also gave up a two-run shot to Mauricio Dubon, the number-nine hitter. Final score: Astros 4 White Sox 3. In the second inning, the Sox had runners on second and third with one out. Josh Harrison popped out, the just-recalled Adam Hasely was caught looking. No runs. In the fourth inning, the Sox had two on and two out, Harrison up. He flied out to left. No runs. In the fifth inning, Luis Robert doubled in a run with two out. Up next, Jose Abreu, who grounded out to shortstop. Tying run dies at second. Harrison led off the ninth with a walk. Hasely, unsuccessful in one bunt try, struck out swinging. Danny Mendick lined out to right, and Andrew Vaughn hit a lazy fly ball to center. No runs, Sox lose. Kopech said after the game that he saw some positives in his performance; of course, Tony La Russa said pretty much the same. And the Sox come home two games under .500. Numbers don’t lie, especially when they’re based on performance, or the lack thereof.

Johnny on the Spot

Well, that was unexpected. Not even a day removed from their 13-3 embarrassment of a loss to the Astros, the White Sox come back behind Johnny Cueto. Not only did Cueto throw seven shutout innings in a 7-0 White Sox win, Sox hitters beat up on longtime nemesis and future HOFer Justin Verlander. Verlander couldn’t get through the fourth inning, yielding seven runs (four earned, thank you, Jose Altuve) on nine hits, most of them singles to the right side. Considering that the Sox lineup consisted of nine righthanded hitters against the righthanded Verlander, that’s impressive. If hitting coach Frank Menechino had anything to do with it, hats off. If this was the idea of manager Tony La Russa, knock me over with a feather. Danny Mendick extended his hitting streak to nine games with a single while Andrew Vaughn (batting second, who knew?) and Luis Robert each picked up three hits, Roberts’ batting in four runs. The real surprise, though, has been catcher Seby Zavala, who wasn’t even on the 40-man roster until he was brought up a week ago. Last year, Zavala was mostly famine, with a little bit of power. This year, he looks to be an completely different hitter. In Charlotte, he was batting .282 with eight homeruns; with the Sox, he’s hitting .313 with a homer and four RBIs. How nice when the number-eight or -nine hitter can get on base and turn the order over. But one win is no better than a fig leaf; the Sox need to take the series. Their hopes rise or fall with Michael Kopech. Grandpa will be keeping an eye on the game and Baby Leo, who’s already tossing a ball at ten months.

Talk is Cheap

The White Sox got to see what it’s like to be the Tigers last night, giving up ten runs to the Astros in the bottom of the sixth inning of what had been a 3-3 tie. Final score, Houston 13 Chicago 3. At the center of the debacle was Sox purported ace Lucas Giolito, who gave up runs both early (three in the first two) and sort of late (five in the sixth). “Didn’t execute pitches at all,” Giolito told reporters after the game. “That’s really it.” And let’s not forget this gem from purported manager Tony La Russa: “Once it got away, it got away.” [both comments in today’s Sun-Times] Ya think? But fear not, Sox fans. Giolito said on the team website he has “confidence in myself, so I need to keep grinding. I felt like with the mechanical stuff, today was a step in the right direction. When it comes to actually pitching and executing, I need to be better." Otherwise, you’re just deluding yourself, Lucas. Giolito’s ERA now stands at a hefty 4.78. All this time, I thought he was supposed to be thriving under the New-Age approach of new pitching coach Ethan Katz, who employs whispers, analytics, velocity belts and whatnot to get results. Maybe the new boss isn’t all that different from the old boss, after all. If the Sox split the next two games, there’s your fig leaf. If they drop all three, heaven help La Russa. It’ll be the homestand from hell for him and anyone who turns in a performance like Giolito did.

Stranger in a Strange Land

I am by nature a sincere person, a smart-ass, but always sincere. Cynicism is a poison best left untouched. Too bad the cynics rule over professional sports in Chicago. Over on the North Side, management pretends that a ten-game losing streak isn’t proof positive of a rebuild in its early “wins only hurt draft position” stage. On the South Side, management pretends that Tony La Russa was a consensus choice to replace Rick Renteria as manager and that La Russa is doing bang-up job. And all over Chicagoland, sports’ “journalists” act as if these Bears are different than any other Bears’ team of the past quarter-century and fans should want to know about it yesterday, if not sooner. TV and papers are filled with stories on how the new regime is reshaping a proud, history-rich franchise. Right, and I am the walrus. I listen to the banalities that come out of the mouth of new head coach Matt Eberflus and wonder why no one else hears them. No, better to pretend the emperor is clothed, then expose him as a fool when the inevitable losing streak ensues. Yesterday, Sun-Times’ columnist Rick Morrissey all but admitted doing just that. Morrissey loves it when a La Russa or Marc Trestman comes on the scene and stinks it up. Why? Because “if we’re talking about entertainment value, and I am, are you kidding? You don’t throw away gold.” I guess that means Morrissey would be miserable covering the likes of Mike Trout or Courtney Vandersloot. Some cynics go through the motions of pretending they care about winning. Morrissey and his ilk can’t be bothered. It’s honest, if nothing else. And crappy journalism, by the way.

A Ways to Go Still

So, the White Sox did in fact sweep the Tigers three games in Detroit, including yesterday afternoon’s 13-0 beatdown. Going into the season, baseball savants had the Tigers as a team to watch. How right they were, for all the wrong reasons. Detroit looks to have a good shot at 100 losses before its season comes to an end on October 5th. When a team pitches not one, not two, but three position players, things are bad. (In my mind, you subtract two of Yoan Moncada’s five hits because they came against pitching pretenders.) When a team signs a pitcher to a five-year, $77 million contract only to put him on the restricted list (Eduardo Rodriguez), things are really bad. When a team signs a shortstop to a six-year, $140 million contract and he’s hitting all of .188 with sixteen RBIs, things are terrible. Talk about karma. Last summer, Javy Baez was giving Mets’ fans the thumbs-down sign for daring to boo an underperforming team. I wonder what the over-and-under is for Baez reviving that bit of theatre in Detroit. Couldn’t happen to a nicer ex-Cub, by the way except maybe for Jake Arrieta. If only three games a season makes. Hooray, the Sox banged out twenty-two hits, with Jose Abreu following up Moncada with four and Andrew Vaughn three; my God, even Josh Harrison managed three (the homerun by Danny Mendick rates as more of the new normal). And rookie pitcher Davis Martin, whose 5.1innings of shutout relief with zero walks earned him his first major-league win—where’d he come from? Now, for the reality check. This is still a sub-.500 team, at 30-31; not winning series at home against the Dodgers and Rangers has consequences. Dropping the upcoming series in Houston will, too.

Be Positive

Please understand. I have images seared into my memory of the White Sox going off to slaughter in Detroit, Tiger Stadium filled with the likes of Cash, Kaline, Northrup…So, beating up on the Tigers just doesn’t feel like the normal state of affairs. But beat up on Detroit is what the Sox did last night, 5-1, behind Dylan Cease and three relievers. Andrew Vaughn collected four hits for the first time in his career while A.J. Pollock and Luis Robert each collected two. The fog lifts, I hope, for both hitters crucial to the team’s success. Oh, and Danny Mendick got another hit, with a run scored. What’s not to like? Well, I could do without Cease throwing seven-innings’ worth of pitches in five; that would be 108, in case you’re counting. Sorry, but that kind of inefficiency doesn’t work against good teams. Cease proved that in the start before, when he threw 110 pitches in a mere 4.2 innings against the Dodgers. Waste not, want not. The longer Sox starters go, the less they have to rely on a bullpen where the injuries just seem to keep piling up. Joe Kelly comes off the IL only for Kyle Crick and Liam Hendriks to go on, which is more than enough company for Aaron Bummer. Something’s wrong here. Part of the problem may be a combination of bad luck and bad conditioning, but I wonder if it’s not more than that, like the inevitable consequence of power pitching. If all a pitcher does from the start of his pro career is throw hard, he may be an injury in waiting. From what I can tell, teams are content to keep drafting power pitchers to replace the ones lost to injury; talk about oblivious, if not cynical. My kingdom for the likes of Ted Abernathy, Lindy McDaniel, Bob Stanley….

Better Angels

This is what it’s come down to for White Sox fans—hope for three in a row. Either way, depending on the play or pitch. At least that’s how it went for me last night. A.J. Pollock led off last night’s game in Detroit with a single and moved to third on a single by the next batter, Andrew Vaughn. Pollock’s making third base easily, and I’m thinking, we sweep the Tigers! The thought hardly has time to take shape before Vaughn gets thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a double. Enter doubts. Up comes the next batter, Luis Robert, who immediately answered the question I often asked Clare when she went fishing for outside pitches: And where would that go if you managed to make contact? Why, to the first baseman on a pop out, of course. Two out just like that, and I’m thinking, Go, Tigers! Lo and behold, up comes Jose Abreu, who must’ve come across my calling him old and in steep decline. Boom, two-run homer, and I’m back onboard the we-sweep-them bandwagon. Then Lance Lynn gives it all back in the bottom of the first and coughs up the lead in the bottom of the second. Go, Tigers! Then we score five runs in the fifth and sixth, with Danny Mendick picking up another RBI. Go, Sox! Then Tony La Russa brings in Bennett Sousa after Kyle Crick walks two batters in the sixth. Both runners score, and I’m starting to feel bad again. Then Abreu hits another two-run homer in the ninth. Sox win 9-5, and we definitely have to sweep. So, maybe our first baseman isn’t over the hill; I certainly hope not. But tell me why he’s on the field in the bottom of the ninth inning. You put out your best defensive team late in the game; that’s what I learned long ago in Strat-O-Matic and from watching Al Lopez manage. But not your 2022 White Sox. No, Adam Engel comes in for Vaughn in right field, and Vaughn sits. Sorry, but if you want to win games, Vaughn shifts over to first. But enough negativity. Better to think sweep, until and unless the Tigers prove otherwise.

As I was Saying

If not for Jake Burger and Danny Mendick, those choruses of “Fire Tony [La Russa]!” would’ve started a whole lot sooner. Burger and Mendick each had a hit and RBI in yesterday’s 8-6 loss to the Rangers at Guaranteed Rate Whatever. Jose Ruiz is not a major-league pitcher, as evidenced by his giving up a three-run homer in the tenth inning. Ruiz has appeared in eleven games since May 15th and given up at least one run seven times. He came into yesterday’s game with a 4.98 ERA, which grew to 5.56 after an inning of batting practice-plus. Jose Abreu continues his decline, as evidenced by what happened in the tenth inning. Rangers’ manager walked Luis Robert to get to Abreu, who proceeded to hit into a double play. Woodward then had John King walk Burger to face Josh Harrison, who struck out to end the inning. Who knew the intentional pass could be so effective a weapon? GM Rick Hahn constructed a team with gaping holes—Ruiz; Harrison; the recently departed Dallas Keuchel; ever-injured Joe Kelly; and demotion-worthy Yoan Moncada, who managed a sad flyball pinch-hitting in the eighth inning. Moncada’s batting average is a cringeworthy .132. Trust me when I say there have been no loud outs to offer the slightest glimmer of hope that things will get better. And now Luis Robert has started looking like Moncada at the plate. Since coming back from COVID at the end of May, Robert has totaled all of four RBIs in eleven games this June while hitting .250. Compare that to the eleven RBIs and .341 average he put up in May. We’re either talking the fog associated with long-COVID or a ballplayer’s lost focus here. Either would explain the end of yesterday’s game. After Jake Burger hit a flyball to the warning track in left, Robert tagged up and tried to advance to third but over-slid the base and was tagged out for a game-ending double play. It was so bad that even manager Tony La Russa admitted “it wasn’t a good play.” What can you say about La Russa other than that he’s no more a major-league manager than Ruiz is a pitcher? He got schooled by Woodward on strategy and appears incapable of thinking ahead. Take the tenth inning, please. If the bullpen is depleted (and we don’t know what, if anything, was wrong with Liam Hendriks, who last pitched on Friday), then Abreu can’t make two outs. Either he tries to bunt or stands there like a statue to take a walk or strikeout. Forget possible hurt feelings. There was an opportunity to win the game in ten and avoid going to Ruiz in the eleventh. Enough said. Of course, Abreu could’ve popped up into a double play trying to bunt, and Burger could still have walked and Harrison struck out. I should mention here that the Sox played with a three-man bench yesterday: Harrison, Moncada and catcher Seby Zavla, just called up for the injured Yasmani Grandal. Zavala and Moncada had already been used by the tenth inning, so Harrison it was. Who’s fault is that? Well, as I’ve been saying….

Déjà vu All Over Again

Another game, another two hits and two RBIs for Jake Burger and Danny Mendick. Another crappy outing by Lucas Giolito; another 0-for-day from Yoan Moncada; more bad moves by White Sox manager Tony La Russa, another 11-9 loss for his team, this time to the Rangers in ten innings yesterday at home. Giolito had a 5-0 lead going into the fifth inning but felt a sudden need to give four runs back. After the game, Giolito told reporters he was “disgusted in myself.” That makes two of us Lucas. You’ve been saying that a lot these past two seasons, haven’t you? Maybe he’ll ask for less in free agency if he can’t figure out how to pitch by the end of next season. Do you know how many pitchers the Sox were carrying yesterday? Kudos to you if you guessed fourteen. And yet La Russa all but said before the game that the bullpen would be short because certain pitchers needed rest. God forbid our HOF manager is mishandling his pen. No, he must’ve had good reasons to bring in Bennett Sousa with the Sox up by two in the seventh inning. And what did Sousa do? Why, he managed a groundout before giving up a single and run-scoring double, the runner going to third on an error. Skip brought in a new pitcher who gave up a sacrifice fly to tie the score, and after that it was just a matter of time. Sousa now sports a 9.00 ERA, by the way. Wait, there’s more. Moncada went 0-for-5 on the day with three strikeouts, his first in the bottom of the first being the worst, bases loaded and a 3-0 count. Our ostensible rebuild cornerstone is now hitting an anemic .133. Somewhere, Mario Mendoza smiles. And while we’re accentuating the negative, let’s not forget Jose Abreu, who has twenty-four RBIs in 206 at-bats. Consider that Jake Burger has twenty-two in 125 or Andrew Vaughn twenty-five in 146, and you have cause for concern our first baseman is slowing down. Oh, well. All that matters is our HOF manager taking responsibility. “Never have dodged accountability,” he was quoted on the team website today, “and I won’t start now.” Now, tell me this: What’s accountability without consequences?

Up and Down

“Anointed” ballplayers interest me far less than the grinders do. The first are supposed to do what they do, and receive an infinite number of chances when success doesn’t come quickly. See Moncada, Yoan, and Giolito, Lucas. Ah, but Danny Mendick. Nobody thought he’d be anybody. Even after getting his first callup in 2020, Mendick has had to play the human yo-yo between the South Side and Triple-A Charlotte. By my count, Mendick has been sent down twelve times since the start of the 2020 season, including twice this year alone. I like anyone who plays hard and won’t take No for an answer. Mendick is a pest who refuses to be denied. Since taking over at shortstop for the injured Tim Anderson, Mendick has gone 12-for-37 (.325) with seven runs scored and six RBI’s, including two on a homerun last night in the White Sox 8-3 win over Texas. He’s also played a flawless shortstop. With luck, the pride of Rochester, New York, gets steady playing time at second once Anderson comes back, next week or so. Mendick was a 22nd round draft pick. Jake Burger was a first-rounder, so they’re not exactly two apples for comparison sake, but there are similarities. A series of injuries, coupled with a big dose of self-doubt and anxiety, left Burger on the outside looking in. Like Mendick, Burger has yo-yoed between Chicago and Charlotte, including a Triple-A stint in May. Since his recall on May 24th, the man has been lights out. Burger is hitting .302 over his last fifteen games and .435 over his last seven. Of his thirty-three hits so far on the season, seven have been doubles and seven homeruns, which translates into a .275 BA with seventeen runs scored and twenty RBIs. More, please. I’d love to know how much of the above is Mendick and Burger alone and how much is the result of coaching; too bad sportswriters aren’t interested in exploring the question. If they were, we might have a better handle on Gavin Sheets, who was sent down yesterday to address a funk that has him hitting just .204 with four homers this year. Sheets endured two trips to the minors last year to hit eleven homers with thirty-four RBIs in just 160 at-bats. After going 4-for12 in the postseason, he looked ready to take over the role of left-handed power hitter in the Sox lineup. But not this year, so far. Now, Sheets has to grind his way back and turn 2022 into 2021. I’ll be rooting for him.

Piling On

Like they say, go big or go home. White Sox manager Tony La Russa made a decision yesterday that was gigantic, judging by the reaction. And, in the end, it could cost La Russa his job. Not only is White Sox Nation upset by La Russa’s decision to issue an intentional walk to the Dodgers’ Tre Turner in yesterday’s 11-9 loss; the move invited derision from critics nationwide. Once upon a time, the Sox were leading by a 4-0 score. Then the defense started to suck, and Dylan Cease started to suck, and La Russa continued to suck. Jake Burger made one physical error and two mental ones at third base; his manager didn’t call him out, but at least Burger had sense enough to did it himself. As for Cease, he confused pitching in a game with warming up for one. Catcher Yasmani Grandal either could not or would not get his focus back. Cease had seven full counts in 4.2 innings of torturous work, and threw 110 pitches on the day. He already had sixty-five pitches going into the fifth and threw another forty-five to the nine batters he faced over two-thirds of an inning. Burger booted a ball that could have turned into an inning-ending double play, yes, but no runs scored because of it. In fact, Cease was one out away from getting out of the inning without damage. Instead, he gave up two doubles, a single and a walk. Sorry, but that’s not the mark of a Cy Young-caliber pitcher. Pitchers want to minimize the number of pitches they throw. If they can’t be made to see that, Houston (alright, South Side), we have a problem. As for La Russa’s decision to walk Turner in the sixth despite the count and Max Muncy hitting a three-run homer off of Bennett Sousa, so much for the lefty-lefty matchup. La Russa and his critics are citing a different set of stats (this season vs. career) to make their respective points, so I’ll leave them to fight it out. Instead, I’d like to ask our manager and general manager a few questions about the pitching staff. Like, what makes them think Sousa is a major-league pitcher? Going into the game, he had a 6.50 ERA in twenty-two games this season. After yesterday, his ERA stands at 8.20. At the end of April, he had a 5.63 ERA, and his ERA for the month of May was more than a run higher, at 6.75. And now Sousa’s June ERA is a whopping 15.75. Why would you bring him into a game? Why would you put him on your roster? Ditto Jose Ruiz, who gave up a run yesterday in one inning of work. Ruiz has yielded one or more runs in six out of his last nine appearances. Again, why would bring in someone with a 5.03 ERA when you’ve just scored two runs to pull to within three in the ninth inning? But out comes Ruiz, and he turns a 10-7 game into an 11-7 score. That falls on La Russa, and it has to fall on Hahn. It's bad when MLB.com does a story on La Russa’s failed strategy, and it’s bad when one of the Red Sox announcers jokes that he thought a Boston player was going to get an intentional walk since the count was 0-2. Even Jason Benetti and Steve Stone were pretty flummoxed on TV. Right now, the White Sox are a laughingstock, courtesy of a manager who never should’ve been hired and an owner who never should’ve hired him in the first place.

Insanity

White Sox manager Tony La Russa keeps throwing the same slumping ballplayers out there, as if they’re going to start hitting, and they don’t. Talk about crazy. In last night’s 4-1 loss to the Dodgers (3-1 going into the ninth, when La Russa brought in Jose Ruiz, as if all of a sudden Ruiz could hold the opposition in check), Leury Garcia, Yoan Moncada and Yasmani Grandal went a collective 1-for-12, that “1” being a two-out single by Grandal in the bottom of the ninth. Folks, that’s the textbook definition of “too little too late.” Why La Russa batted Garcia leadoff is a mystery worthy of the Bermuda Triangle. Not only did Garcia strike out three times, he absolutely killed any chances of a comeback in the bottom of the fifth, striking out with runners on the corners, one out and one run in. Any kind of productive at-bat makes it a one-run ballgame. Speaking of productive, Jake Burger went 2-for-4 with a homerun against Tony Gonsolin; two hits vs. a premier righthander ain’t bad in my book. Burger absolutely kills lefthanders, with a .370 BA. That’s 149 points better than he’s doing against righthanded pitching. But he has twice as many homers against righties and those two hits against Gonsolin… So, what could be worse than batting Garcia (now batting .184) leadoff and Moncada (.136) third? Why, resting Andrew Vaughn, of course. Somebody needs to give La Russa a schedule and point out that the next two opponents are the Rangers and Tigers. Those are teams you can beat without your best. The Dodgers are not.

Getting Better

This is how I knew my daughter was sick over the weekend—Jake Burger went on a tear, and not did Clare call to talk about it. Damn’ virus. And this is how I knew she was feeling better last night—she called during the sixth inning of the White Sox 4-0 win over the Dodgers, all four runs coming then. And, yes, Burger was part of it again, with an RBI double against David Price, who must be the most expensive middle reliever in baseball history. We also talked about Yoan Moncada, whose 1-for-3 night pushed his average up to .143. “How long until this affects the team? It doesn’t even look like he’s trying, but he keeps on playing.” I suggested she remember travel ball, where certain players were protected by coaches who also happened to be their fathers. No need to call Ancestry.com, but it’s something like that with Moncada and Tony La Russa, with general manager Rick Hahn lurking in the background to make sure La Russa keeps putting Moncada’s name down on the lineup card. It's fascinating to watch Michael Kopech pitch as he copes with his personal demons, those being focus and walks. I’ve never seen a pitcher both so dominant over stretches and so prone to losing it all at once. There were a few times last night against LA where I thought it was going to happen again, with Kopech going to three balls on six batters. All that resulted in one walk. The sole Dodgers’ hit against Kopech in six innings came on an 0-2 count. Six innings of shutout ball lowered the righty’s ERA to 1.94 on the season, not that he cares to know. James Fegan of The Athletic tweeted that Kopech was upset with himself “for losing focus for the single and the walk he allowed” on the night. Don’t let the good be the enemy of the perfect, my friend.

Talent Untapped

I was reading a piece in the Sun-Times yesterday about the Oklahoma women’s softball team, “the greatest team of all time, and maybe not just in softball,” according to columnist Steve Greenberg. Hmm. Better than any college team with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on it? Tom Seaver? Gale Sayers? There’s an apples-to-oranges challenge here that I’d shy away from that has nothing to do with gender. After all is said and done, each sport is unique onto itself. Except softball. No other American sport has two first cousins like softball and baseball. If Greenberg is right, or just mostly right, then I have to wonder why baseball continues to shy away from softball talent. Consider that OU senior Jocelyn Alo has had three thirty-homer seasons in her career. If that’s not worth a draft pick, why not a free-agent invitation? Sometimes, I just don’t get it.

More, Please

Jake Burger drove in the last two runs of Saturday’s game at Tropicana Field and the first two on Sunday, both White Sox wins. I could get used to this. Burger hit two doubles yesterday. In his last nine games, the sometimes-Sox third baseman has himself ten RBIs, virtually all of them meaningful, including a three-run homer in a 3-1 win against the Red Sox; a walk-off single last Sunday against the Cubs; and a two-run pinch-hit homer to lift the Sox over the Rays on Saturday. Not bad for a guy who spent half of May back at Triple A. But what happens, or should happen, moving forward? As ever, it pays to follow the sage advice of Ozzie Guillen, who advised Sox fans during yesterday’s postgame show that Burger “isn’t going to hit .392 with fifty homeruns and 125 RBIs. Maybe .382.” Our resident savant went on to say what the Sox have to do is to let Burger play now and see what happens. Agreed. Which leads us to Yoan Moncada, an ostensible cornerstone of this South Side rebuild. Moncada had a breakout 2019 season (.315 BA/25 homers/79RBIs) followed by COVID in 2020 and a so-so campaign last year (.263/14/61). As bad as 2020 was (.225 BA), it sure looks better than this season (.135). Will the real Yoan Moncada please stand up? The smart thing to do is play the hot hand. Right now, that’s Jake Burger, and if only in this one regard, Tony La Russa looks to be doing the smart thing.

Glimmers

Ex-White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen put it best during his postgame show yesterday—play the kids. Even when not all of them are. The Sox were sleepwalking through what looked to be their fifth straight loss yesterday against the Rays when pinch-hitter Adam Engel led off with a bloop double that fell in between shortstop Vidal Brujan and leftfielder Randy Arozarena. After the obligatory strikeout by Yasmani Grandal, Danny Mendick collected his second hit of the day to put the Sox on the board. Wait, there’s more. Manager Tony La Russa called on Jake Burger to hit for Reese McGuire, and Burger responded with a two-run homer that travelled some 427 feet to left-center field. Burger isn’t exactly hitting the cover off the ball at .238, but he beat the Cubs on a walk-off single last Sunday and now beat the Rays with his homerun. Those have been the only two Sox wins over the past seven days, by the way. Getting back to Guillen, Engel and Mendick aren’t rookies, but they always hustle; Ozzie noted that with Engel, you’d knew he’d be at second base. Other players, and we won’t name names here, would’ve been jogging out of the box. Burger is a rookie, and as the ever-astute Guillen noted, comes with the promise associated with a first-round draft pick. Too bad that Yoan Moncada continued his death spiral, going 0-for-4, which pushes his BA down to .135, while Grandal’s 0-for-2 with a walk puts him at .160, with a .271 OBP that no longer compensates for the egregious batting average. Leury Garcia went 0-for-4 batting leadoff. He and his .189 BA will be sitting today. The Sox had two runners on with one out in the third when Garcia grounded into a double play. Andrew Vaughn led off the fourth with a single; Moncada followed with a double play. So it goes—glimmers, slumps and gaffes (watch Jose Abreu try to field a grounder cued his way to see what I mean). May the glimmers win out for the rubber game.

Two Words

The two words I most associate with Yasmani Grandal are “clank” and “lumber,” as in, “The ball clanked off of Grandal’s mitt, and he lumbered to retrieve it.” That’s exactly what happened last night at Tropicana Field. The White Sox were trailing the host Rays, 4-2, in the bottom of the seventh inning, runners on first and second with two out. Grandal picked up his sixth passed ball of the season, after which Ji-Man Choi smacked a double to right good for two runs. Final score, Rays 6 White Sox 3. Manager Tony La Russa and I must’ve been watching different games. “Everybody sees the game differently,’’ La Russa was quoted on the team website today. “I saw our pitcher hanging in there and shutting them out [after rookie righthander Davis Martin gave up four in the first]. We got to 4-2, had a couple of chances to make it even and got the go-ahead run up in the top of the ninth. That’s the game I saw.’’ Two blind men and the elephant, I guess. But speaking of the ninth inning, the Sox had the bases loaded with two out and Luis Robert up. Robert struck out on three pitches. Again, body language suggested—to me, no more than a fan and certainly not a HOF manager—that Robert didn’t want to be there. If your best player can’t rise to the occasion, you’re in a boatload of trouble, my friend. Funny how our manager missed that.

No More Mr. Nice Guy

White Sox manager Tony La Russa has some advice for his players, assuming they can exert themselves enough to listen. “What you do is you get angry,” La Russa told reporters after his team dropped its third straight game in Toronto, 8-3, to the Blue Jays. “You don’t get frustrated, you don’t get discouraged. You don’t pout.” You get angry enough to do something about it, according to our HOF manager quoted in today’s Sun-Times. According to FanGraphs, catcher Yasmani Grandal is the worst offensive player in baseball, as evidenced by his taking a called third strike with the baes loaded to end the first inning. Grandal is batting .160 and is signed through next season. General manager Rick Hahn says Sox hitters will live up to the stats on the back of their baseball cards by season’s end. Grandal may need an updated card before then. The Sox cut the lead to one run in the eighth inning, when La Russa brought in Reynaldo Lopez. Here’s what Lopez did: double; walk; double; hit-by-pitch. Two runs had scored by the time La Russa pulled Lopez for Aaron Bummer. That was good for another two runs, all charged to Lopez. Anybody angry? Maybe Andrew Vaughn, back to batting seventh. Or Danny Mendick, benched despite four hits in his last two games? Nothing like pairing Leury Garcia at short with Josh Harrison, who went 0-for-3, to get his BA down to .167. Something’s got to give here, especially with the next six games against the Rays and Dodgers. The Sox could be nine games under .500 by this time next week. Then what? I see the Phillies fired Joe Girardi today. Fire the manager. Now, there’s a thought. But knowing Jerry Reinsdorf, the Sox will keep La Russa and do a “white flag” trade instead. Oh, well.

Best-laid PLans

This White Sox roster must have made sense at some point, just as assembling a coaching staff headed by Tony La Russa did. Those days are long gone. Last night, after the Sox lost 7-3 in Toronto, La Russa offered this explanation of why Michael Kopech gave up five runs in three innings of work—too much rest, nine days of it, in fact. La Russa said it was an explanation, not an excuse. Good to know. Now, maybe Cap’n Ahab can explain why Danny Mendick is sitting after getting four hits in the first two games of the series. Or why today’s lineup features four—count ’em, four—“batters” hitting .183 or lower, with another two at .208 or lower, or why he’s batting Leury Garcia leadoff despite a .183 BA or bat Yoan Moncada (.131) third or…

Crisis

Thomas Paine was right—these are definitely times to try our souls, especially of White Sox fans. Last night, Sox manager Tony La Russa, a sunshine patriot if there ever was one, decided to DH Yasmani Grandal and have him bat leadoff against the Blue Jays. Grandal responded by going 0-for-5, with three strikeouts. If I didn’t know better, I’d accuse La Russa of wanting to throw the game a la the Black Sox. Wait, there’s more. Andrew Vaughn, who went 4-for-5 in the two spot, and Jose Abreu led off the ninth with singles against Toronto closer Jordan Romano. So, that’s runners on first and second, nobody out, the Sox down a run by a score of 6-5. What would you do? Decades of Strat-O-Matic and growing up a 1960s’ Sox fan would have me bunting; after the game, ex-Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said he would’ve been bunting. But not our HOF manager. He had Jake Burger swing away and hit into a nifty 5-4 double play, third base to second. Gavin Sheets, who looks like he’s trying to turn into a 6’5” slap hitter, struck out to end the game. Wait, there’s more. In the sixth inning, the Sox appeared to have tied the score on a sacrifice fly by Grandal, who apparently can put the ball in play on occasion. With runners on the corners, catcher Reese McGuire tagged and scored, or would have with a little—OK, more than a little—effort, which was necessary because Danny Mendick got thrown out at second trying to advance, the tag applied before McGuire crossed the plate. Of course, the team website avoided all mention of the double baserunning blunder (as well as the bunt decision). In the Sun-Times, La Russa said after the game that Mendick apologized and really shouldn’t have let it happen with the play clearly in front of him. No mention of whether or not first base coach Daryl Boston sent Mendick of if he went on his own. And no mention of McGuire not doing the hustle. It'll be interesting to see if McGuire and Mendick get benched, considering that they each had two hits and totaled three RBIs on the night. By all means, send a message. Then again, McGuire has started twenty-three games behind the plate to Grandal’s twenty-four, which tells me Sox pitchers aren’t enamored with Grandal’s pitch calling and defense. As for Mendick, he hustles to a fault, which would explain the play at second base. So it goes in a season where a World Series was supposed to be played on the South Side.