How to Win

The White Sox broke their eight-game losing streak yesterday because thirty-year old rookie Mark Payton hustled out of the box in the eighth inning after hitting a routine popup to second baseman Nick Gordon, who promptly dropped the ball. Yea! Steve Stone sounded like he was ready to leave the booth and personally award Payton a medal for hustle. Payton scored what proved to be the winning run on a Jose Abreu double. The best that can be said for Yasmani Grandal is he caused no irreparable harm during the game. I want to talk about both Payton and Grandal. Payton, who stands two inches taller than Clare, was born two weeks after my daughter. He attended St. Rita High School on the South Side, where eighteen Mustangs have gone on to play in organized ball, five making it to the majors. Payton joins pitchers Jim Clancy; Ed Farmer, blessed be his name; Lefty Sullivan; and Tony Zych as major-league ballplayers. I should also note one of Payton’s high school teammates, drafted by the Rangers, happened to be the brother of one of Clare’s high school teammates. Oh, and both teams were the Mustangs. I doubt Payton will be with the Sox next year; journeymen on the smallish side aren’t hard to come by. That said, he demonstrated how baseball is supposed to be played, full-out all the time. So, like a stopped clock twice a day, Stone got it right about a Sox player who actually hustled. I can’t wait for the next time. If and when it comes, I doubt it will have anything to do with catcher Yasmani Grandal, who gave up another three stolen bases. That’s forty-six successful steals out of fifty-four attempts for a fifteen percent caught-stealing rate. Wait, there’s more. Grandal has been catching eleven seasons. He has ninety-one passed balls to go with a twenty-five percent career caught-stealing rate. Once upon a time, the Sox had A.J. Pierzynski behind the plate. Over a sixteen-year career, Pierzynski accounted for only eleven more passed balls than Grandal has, and, remember, the season isn’t over yet. While Pierzynski was as bad as Grandal in throwing out baserunners (twenty-four percent vs. twenty-five), it’s worth noting that A.J. had 2043 hits total to 841 for Grandal. So, yes, I wish we had A.J. in his prime. I also wouldn’t mind a Sox catcher from the 1980s and ’90s. In twelve seasons on the South Side, Ron Karkovice was charged with fifty passed balls in 6972.2 innings behind the plate; compare that to Grandal’s ninety-one in 7707.2 innings. Wait, there’s more. Karkovice has a career forty-one percent caught-stealing rate. As MC Hammer might say, Grandal can’t touch that. Sox GM Rick Hahn likes to read the backs of baseball cards. Maybe he should start looking at baseball-reference.com every once in a while. He might learn something.

Oh, Well

Oh, well. Another game another loss for the White Sox, last night’s 8-4 drubbing by the Twins their eighth in a row. What more can you say? I could mention that Andrew Vaughn is hitting .218 over his last thirty games and .083 over his last seven, but what’s the point? Then I’d have to say Eloy Jimenez is hitting .185 over his last seven and Romy Gonzalez .167 over his last seven. Again, I could point out that Johnny Cueto, last night’s starter, has a 5.01 ERA over his last seven starts; Jake Diekman an 11.81 ERA over his last seven appearances; or Jose Ruiz a 6.43 ERA over his last seven. And the point would be? That they all pitched last night, I guess, along with Joe Kelly. At least Kelly didn’t see his shadow and hurt himself. Good news, White Sox style.

Did He Say Something?

This is how the White Sox responded to their (acting) manager calling them out after a sixth straight defeat—they went to Minnesota and lost a seventh time. They also struck out fourteen times while collecting two, that’s right, two, hits on the night. That 4-0 score wasn’t nearly as close as it looks. Lance Lynn pitched like he didn’t care while his teammates batted the same way. You’d think they’d never seen a slider before and that 27-year old Twins’ starter Bailey Ober was the second coming of Cy Young. Jose Abreu looked absolutely awful, with Andrew Vaughn right behind him. When those two quit, folks, we have a problem. If silver linings do in fact exist, at least this is happening to Jerry Reinsdorf. I can’t think of a more deserving owner.

How Low Can They Go?

Right now, the White Sox are like a bad accident that people can’t help but look at. Which explains why they keep getting end-of-season coverage, in the Tribune even. What I didn’t expect was who’d be bumped. The Cubs, yes, but Northwestern, too? The Wildcats lost to Miami of Ohio at home on Saturday. The game ended just before 10 o’clock, too late for the Tribune to print a story on Sunday. When the folks at Alden Global Capital got around to it on Monday, they went with a short AP story, buried on the back page of sports. Talk about callous. The same story ran in longer form on the web site, only it wasn’t identified as an AP piece. There were also stories on the Notre Dame and Northern Illinois games, both from the AP (I checked), both without AP attribution. Maybe the online Trib is too embarrassed to admit the paper can’t be bothered to send reporters to cover games. I know I’d be.

The Three E's

I’ve been so busy complaining about Jake Diekman that I’d totally forgotten about Kendall Graveman. Where would the White Sox be without him? Graveman entered a 1-1 game in the eighth and promptly went to work. Four singles and a wild pitch later, and you have a 4-1 Tigers’ lead, which would turn into the final score. Consider the hit-by-pitch as a non-run-scoring bonus. A big free-agent signing by Rick Hahn in the offseason, Graveman is sporting a 1.43 WHIP on the season. Throw in six save in twelve opportunities, and you could be forgiven for thinking Hahn made (another) bonehead move. Only how do you explain Graveman having a 1.77 ERA in 2021 and ten saves (in fifteen opportunities)? Was that a one-season fluke, or was there something rotten in the Denmark known as the 2022 White Sox? Judging by what acting manager Miguel Cairo said after yesterday’s loss, the sixth straight and all of them at home, it definitely looks to be more of the latter than the former. Cairo told reporters, “Today was the worst one. Today was, that’s not acceptable. That’s not baseball. That’s not what the Chicago White Sox are about. It was terrible.” In case anyone was wondering, Cairo meant, “Execution. Effort. Everything.” Cairo’s wrong about one thing, what the White Sox are about. Under Jerry Reinsdorf, this has been an organization based more on who you know than what you know. Hence, the second coming of Tony La Russa. Sadly, La Russa forgot to implement the three E’s Cairo referenced after yet another loss in a dismal season.

Insanity

White Sox acting manager Miguel Cairo keeps sending out the same lineup as if certain underperforming players will grab the opportunity to turn things around. Nope. Yoan Moncada and Yasmani Grandal keep doing the same old same old. Moncada went 0-for-3 with a walk in yesterday’s 7-2 sleepwalk of a loss to the Tigers while Grandal chipped in by going 0-for-4. The Tigers recorded one stolen base (giving Grandal a caught-stealing rate of sixteen percent), and Vince Velasquez was charged with a wild pitch, nudge-nudge, wink-wink. No passed ball there. And don’t let me forget reliever Jake Diekman. Tuesday, Diekman gave up three runs on five hits to the Guardians, a performance he managed to top in the seventh inning last night with four runs on five hits. This gives Rick Hahn’s big trade-deadline acquisition a 7.31 ERA since coming over from Boston. Speaking of the Red Sox, remember Reese McGuire, the catcher Hahn traded for Diekman? Since going over to Boston, McGuire has hit a torrid .361 in eighty-three at-bats with three homeruns and twelve RBIs. For the season, he’s hitting .274 with twenty-two RBIs in 234 at-bats. Compare that to Grandal with his .205 BA and twenty-six RBIs in 307 at-bats. Oh, and McGuire has a caught-stealing rate of forty-five percent. Crazy.

The Fruits of His Labors

At age twenty-eight, Lucas Giolito still hasn’t decided what he wants to be when he grows up, not entirely. By my count, Giolito has reinvented himself at least twice since coming to the White Sox in the Adam Eaton trade back in 2016. And he’ll be doing it again this offseason. Giolito came to camp in March some twenty pounds heavier, all muscle. Our California dreamer said he felt great, initially, only to realize over time that the extra muscle affected his athleticism. Of all the places to be the Incredible Hulk, a pitching mound is not among them. I can’t wait to see what Giolito comes up with for his next incarnation. I only wish it could withstand the touch of Yasmani Grandal, the man made rich by GM Rick Hahn. Grandal was a virtual one-man wrecking crew in the game against the Tigers last night, only the wrecking cost his team the game, 5-3. Detroit stole bases in the seventh and eighth innings. Both runners scored courtesy of our catcher. In the seventh, Akil Baddoo continued on to third base because Grandal threw the ball into center field. In the eighth, pinch runner Willi Castro stole off of Grandal and went to third on a wild pitch. Virtually any ball in the dirt turns into a wild pitch because Grandal can’t block it. But, hey, he got a double and a walk Nothing says “success” like a .208 BA and .309 OBP. And let’s not forget Yoan Moncada, another of Hahn’s great acquisitions. Moncada went 0-for-5, which he does a lot given how acting manager Miguel Cairo likes to bat him second instead of, say, eighth or ninth. Can you bat bench? Moncada is hitting .213 on the season. To think that we once had Robin Ventura and Joe Crede at the hot corner. Heck, Pete Ward and Bill Melton. Heck again, Vance Law and Eric Soderholm. Pitcher to catcher to third base—what hath Rick Hahn wrought?

Now What?

The White Sox lost to the Guardians 4-2 last night. The series they had to sweep turned into the series where they were swept, at home. For as long as I can remember, Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has always had at least one apologist in the media willing to spout the company line about why things went the way they did, and didn’t. Thankfully, those folks have all moved on, while the people out there now talking and writing seem plenty upset about this bad joke of a season. Now what? It's reached a point where I wonder if the scorn Reinsdorf often heeps on his critics and the spite that guides the operation of his team will be of much further use to him. I just saw an excerpt from yesterday’s pregame show where a panelist nearly suffered a stroke on-camera calling out a certain HOF manager and the organization he works for. Folks, this was on the pregame show, where everything is supposed to be sweetness and light. My guess is Reinsdorf’s instinct is to hunker down and wait for the anger to subside; then, it’s back to business for the 2023 season. Bad Doug would love for him to do just that, because it would all but guarantee an Opening Day crowd that would make Phillies’ fans look a bunch of tea-drinkers. Not-Bad Doug wonders how Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn keep their jobs and who’ll be the manager come Opening Day. In Chicago sports, things stay the same forever, until they don’t. The Cubs were owned by the Wrigleys, until the Trib bought the team. There was day baseball, until the Trib decided otherwise. The Bulls and Hawks played in facility steeped in lore and personality, just like the Sox did, until they didn’t. Mike Ditka was the one and forever coach of the Bears, until he wasn’t. I could be wrong, but we may be coming to another of those epochal “until” moments in Chicago sports.

Compare and Contrast

Dylan Cease is the best pitcher on the White Sox. Tuesday night, he struck out three Cleveland Guardians in an eventual extra-inning loss for the Sox. Triston McKenzie is not the best pitcher on the Guardians, not yet at least. Last night, he struck out thirteen Sox “hitters”—down from fourteen the last time he faced them—in an 8-2 Cleveland beatdown at Guaranteed Rate Whatever. Last night, Lance Lynn didn’t have it. Of course, if he did pitch well, he still could’ve lost, given that he was pitching to Yasmani Grandal with Yoan Moncada playing third base. Watching those two was like watching a goalie camp for the Blackhawks. That, or they were swatting at flies all night. Bad Doug is back in that part of me wants to see this team lose all its remaining thirteen games, just to see how owner Jerry Reinsdorf would respond. Oh, he could extend Tony La Russa, all right. Reinsdorf is nothing if not spiteful. But just how dumb is he? We’ll soon find out.

Like I Said

Like I said, the White Sox aren’t going to win their division. They showed why, yet again, last night in losing to the visiting Guardians, 10-7 in eleven innings. For better and worse, the game bore the handiwork of general manager Rick Hahn. If only every deal Hahn has made were of the caliber of Joe Quintana for Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease, this would be a whole different conversation. Last night, Eloy hit when it counted, driving in the tying run in the sixth inning, and Cease pitched the same way, giving up one run over six innings. Alas, most Hahn moves have been a good two or three or a hundred notches below Jimenez/Cease. The Sox scored three runs in the sixth to take a 3-1 lead. Jimmy Lambert relieved Cease to start the seventh and promptly walked the only two hitters he faced on twelve pitches. Aaron Bummer relieved Lambert, which is to say things got interesting and the Sox were lucky to be in a tie game going into extra innings. If Liam Hendriks counts in Hahn’s column of good acquisitions (he pitched a scoreless ninth), Kendal Graveman belongs elsewhere. He gave up two runs that his teammates were somehow able to match in the bottom of the frame. Which brings us to Jake Diekman, the only pitcher Hahn thought to acquire before the trade deadline. Diekman absolutely stunk and was charged with five runs on three hits, a walk and two wild pitches. Wait, there’s more. Back in 2019, Hahn signed Grandal to a questionable four-year deal for $73 million. In three-plus seasons, Grandal has never hit above .240 or driven in more than sixty-two runs. This year, he’s batting .201 with twenty-six RBIs. Though he’s only played in eighty-nine games on account of injury, Grandal is tied for the most passed balls (eight) in all of baseball. A brick backstop would have a higher WAR. With the Guardians ahead by five runs, Grandal the purported master of bat control came in to pinch hit only to strikeout on a full count, swinging at a ball in his eyes. A.J. Pollock, in one of his two-game stretches of looking all-world, then hit a two-run homer. With Grandal on base and Bryan Shaw, Cleveland’s version of Diekman, pitching, it would’ve been a 10-8 game, making Seby Zavala’s double all the more interesting. In reality, the score was 10-7, with two outs and Zavala on second. And up comes the piece de resistance in the series of roster moves made by Rick Hahn. That’s right, Leury Garcia, he of the three-year $16.5 million re-signing, stepped to the plate with the season on the line. As might be expected, Garcia popped out to short. End of game, end of season, barring a miracle. Age appears to have caught up with Tony La Russa; the odds of his returning to manage next year lie somewhere between slim and none. But can Hahn be trusted to reshape a roster he bears full responsibility for putting together in the first place? Not from where I stand.

The Only Game in Town

In today’s Tribune, Bears’ pictures got more space than the Cubs and Sox combined. Ditto stories on the Munsters. Over at the Sun-Times, things were a little more fair. Munsters, seven pages of coverage, Sox and Cubs four pages combined. I wonder, are the Giants and Jets knocking the Yankees and Mets off the front page? Trust me, if the Sox and Cubs were having seasons as good as their Gotham brethren, it’d be the best-kept secret in all of Chicago.

Déjà vu All Over Again

The White Sox did what you’re supposed to do against a team like the Tigers—they clobbered them yesterday, 11-5. The keep-Rick Hahn-as-GM crowd had a very good day. Gavin Sheets garnered two RBIs on an opposite-field single and bases-loaded walk; Andrew Vaughn hit his first career grand slam; and Eloy Jimenez sent a ball 450 feet to left center as part of his three-RBI afternoon. So, now the Sox find themselves five games over .500, just like they were back on August 16th. That’s a deceptive month-plus of .500 ball. Deceptive why? Because they sank to as many as three games below before coming back to life under the leadership of acting manager Miguel Cairo. Next up are the Guardians for a three-game series at home. Cleveland won’t be Detroit, though the Sox will be the Sox. If only I knew what that meant.

This is Why You Bunt

The White Sox didn’t bunt, again, in the tenth inning, again, last night in Detroit. And they failed to score against reliever Alex Lange, again. But the eleventh inning was different. Elvis Andrus bunted the ball close to the third-base line. Pitcher Gregory Soto could not pick up the ball cleanly, resulting in runners on the corners with no outs. Guess what happened next? The Sox scored two runs and hung on for a 4-3 against a Tigers’ team now thirty-five games under .500. Whoopee. Did I mention the Sox collected all of five hits in eleven innings or that the Guardians swept the Twins in a doubleheader? That Yoan Moncada got two more hits righthanded, to raise his BA against lefties to .271 (we won’t mention the .200 BA against righties)? That A.J. Pollock actually drove in two runs with a single? My bad. And don’t let me forget Yasmani Grandal, 0-for-3 with a walk. Akil Baddoo also stole a base against Grandal, who has now thrown out eight of forty-five runners trying to steal. That’s sad, sort of like Kendal Graveman walking Baddoo, a .186 hitter, on four pitches to set up the tying run in the eighth inning. All that matters, though, is the win. Right?

Back to Normal

Last night, the White Sox couldn’t beat the Tigers, a team thirty-five games under .500, while the Guardians came back from a 3-0 deficit in the bottom of the seventh to beat the third-place Twins. That’s all you need to know. Those gluttons for punishment among you, read on. The deadwood trio—Yasmani Grandal, Yoan Moncada and A.J. Pollack—went a combined 0-for-13 in a ten-inning, 3-2 loss. Each contributed a strikeout, none bigger than Moncada’s with the go-ahead run on second base in the tenth. A raspberry while I’m at it aimed in the direction of acting manager Miguel Cairo, who elected not to bunt the free runner over to third base. Cairo said he wanted to be aggressive against reliever Alex Lange because he features a good slider. Huh? Sliders go into the dirt. With a runner on third, a pitcher will feel the pressure not to throw a pitch away, thereby doing so. That’s how the Guardians scored their winning run, by the way. As for starter Lucas Giolito, I can’t even say his performance constituted the glass half full. Yes, only one run allowed, but that was in 4.2 innings, and he needed ninety-six pitches to get there. By way of comparison, Tigers’ starter Matt Manning threw eighty-seven pitches over seven innings. As ever with Giolito, the bullpen gets a workout. There’s just something not right going on with the onetime centerpiece of our “rebuild.” According to the box score, it was seventy-nine degrees in Detroit at gametime, yet the sweat was pouring off of the bill of Giolito’s cap by the bottom of the second. The sweat is always pouring off of him, which I never noticed until this year. Couple that and an inability to reach 93 mph on his pitches, and you’ve got a pitcher in trouble. Come to think of it, the same goes for his team.

Showing Me Up

That was certainly interesting. The three players I badmouthed yesterday—Yasmani Grandal, A.J. Pollock, and Yoan Moncada—all played a role in beating the Guardians yesterday, 8-2. Lance Lynn also had a hand in the win, giving up two runs in 6.1 innings. But, with Lynn, you kind of expect him to perform under pressure. The other three, not so much. Grandal had two hits, including one of five homeruns the White Sox clubbed pit of Progressive Field. He also called off Jose Abreu for an infield pop in the first inning and proceeded to whiff on the catch. That put two Guardians on with one out, but Lynn reached back to record two strikeouts. Like I said, he tends to perform under pressure. Grandal also showed, yet again, that he’s a detriment on the base paths. Josh Harrison hit what should’ve been a run-scoring triple in the sixth inning, but it turned into a mere double with Grandal “running” ahead of him. Guess who was too gassed to score? But I’ll gladly take the homerun. As for Pollock, he still had that Craig-Kimbrel-with-a-bat-thing going on, as evidenced by his 0-for-4 collar. But he did make two nice catches in the outfield, so there’s that. Which brings us to Moncada, he of the 4-for-5 day at the plate; three of the hits, including a double and a homer, came batting lefthanded. Now, let’s see him keep it up, unless he’s satisfied hitting .205 from his dominant side. Lest I forget, Gavin Sheets homered to cap a ten-pitch at-bat, and Andrew Vaughn followed by going back-to-back. All of the above needs to be on regular display through the end of the season. Anything less, and I was right.

Three Strikes

Here are three reasons the White Sox won’t win their division; all were on display in yesterday’s 4-0 loss to the Rockies. If you want to make these three reasons to fire GM Rick Hahn, be my guest. Start with catcher Yasmani Grandal, so brittle in the third year of his four-year contract that he can’t be counted on as a starter. And why would you want him to start, anyhow? He runs like a boulder stuck in the middle of Kansas. Really, strikeouts are preferable to groundballs with runners on base; no double plays that way. Garandal struck out pinch-hitting yesterday, putting his BA at .202 with sixty-eight strikeouts in 282 at-bats. That’s a k-rate of just over twenty-four percent. And let’s not forget A.J. Pollock, who Hahn acquired in exchange for Craig Kimbrell back in April. Think of Pollock as Kimbrel with a bat. He’s red hot for two games, ice cold for three. Yesterday, Pollock went 0-for-4 with a double play; strikeout with two runners on; a second strikeout; and a groundout to third with a runner on second base. Gosh, maybe the 34-year old Pollock won’t exercise his player option for next season. Yeah, right. Last and certainly not least is Yoan Moncada. The Rockies thought so little of Moncada they brought in a righthander to face him in the bottom of the seventh inning and two runners on. Colorado manager Bud Black knew what he was doing. With that strikeout on four pitches, Moncada is now batting .196 lefthanded with seventy-nine strikeouts in 260 at-bats, for a k-rate of thirty percent. We won’t talk about his .250 OBP lefthanded. There you have it, three reasons why this season has gone bust. I’ll be happy to be proven wrong today with the Sox playing a makeup game in Cleveland. But I won’t hold my breath.

Tick-tock

Last night, Eloy Jimenez hit a three-run homer for the White Sox in the bottom of the first inning against the Rockies. Then, starter Michael Kopech gave back two of those runs on a homerun in the third inning to number-nine hitter Alan Trejo. From that point on, I waited for another two-run homer to put Colorado ahead. I couldn’t help myself. That kind of thing has happened all season. But not last night. Jose Abreu added a solo shot in the eighth inning, and the Sox won 4-2, their tenth win in fourteen games under Miguel Cairo since he’s stepped in for an ailing Tony La Russa. Did I mention that Cairo gave a fire-and-brimstone speech after his first game, a 9-7 loss to the Royals? Well, he did (and how come it took Bob Nightengale of USA Today to report it?). Twenty games to go, three games back, four in the loss column. If that’s not painting yourself into a corner, what is? I’d rather not find out. Just win, guys.

Disappearing Act

The White Sox are living on borrowed time, coverage-wise. Either they keep playing winning baseball, or they go the way of the Cubs, which right now is out of sight, out of mind. Sunday night WGN TV sports’ anchor Jarrett Payton—being the son of Walter apparently his only qualification for the job—declared that Chicago would go wild if the Bears beat the Packers, who happen to be their next opponent. It would be more accurate to say the Chicago media would go wild. Yesterday, I watched one sports’ segment on local television that ignored there were two baseball clubs still playing. Over at the Alden Global Capital Tribune, it’s as bad, or worse. Today’s hardcopy sports’ section used the AP story on the Cubs beating the Mets in New York. Over on the website, they ran the same story, without identifying its origins. Chicago sports is a dog-eat-dog world when it comes to team coverage, and the Munsters have an enormous advantage for reasons that escape me. Oh, well. Win or die. Or disappear.

Nothing to Get Excited About

The White Sox laid an egg in Oakland Sunday, losing 10-3 to the A’s. Eloy Jimenez went back to looking at his handiwork instead of hustling out of the box. Two sure doubles turned into a close double and the world’s longest single. But, hey, it could be worse. The Sox could be the Cubs, who lost at home to the Giants, 4-2. When you’re twenty-four games under .500, you automatically draw the short straw in the Bears’ media market. The Munsters won their season opener at home against the 49ers, 19-10, and the Cubs were nowhere to be found in the Trib’s legacy sports’ section. That would mean another page (two actually), and we can’t cut into the profits of Alden Global Capital, now can we? The moral of the story, though, is that the Sox will join the Cubs in wearing the unwanted invisibility cloak—especially if the Bears pull off upset no. 2 next Sunday in Green Bay—if they don’t get back to winning, starting tomorrow at home against the Rockies. Because, my friends, you can’t read what isn’t there to be read.

Twilight Zone

There’s a signpost up ahead that says the White Sox are entering the Twilight Zone. How do I know? Because, for the first time in team history, Sox batters recorded twenty or more hits in the same series. Yesterday, it was twenty hits in a 10-2 beatdown of the pretty hapless A’s. A.J. Pollock and Andrew Vaughn led the way with four hits each while Eloy Jimenez and Josh Harrison both managed three. Elvis Andrus hit a three-run homerun and now has twenty RBIs in eighty-nine at-bats for his new team. All in all, these are hot Sox. That goes for the pitching, too. Lance Lynn went six innings for the win, giving up two runs, neither earned. Which gives me an opening to complain; I am, after all, a Sox fan. Harrison made two errors at second base, resulting in both unearned runs. On the season, Harrison has been charged with eleven errors, eight at second and three at third base. That, my friends, is way too many. Romy Gonzalez has yet to make an error in fourteen games at second base and two at shortstop. He’s batting .333 with ten RBIs in sixty at-bats. There’s your future. Play him.

End Times, Part II

And I thought the White Sox winning in Seattle on Wednesday after the first seven hitters struck out verged on the unbelievable. And it was, just like last night in Oakland, where the South Siders were no-hit through 6.1 innings. Wait, there’s more. Not only did two known-but-to-family-and-friends’ pitchers (Austin Pruitt and Joel Payamps) throw no-hit ball, the A’s took a 3-0 lead into the ninth with two outs to go. Then Eloy Jimenez homered and pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal walked. After a bang-bang play at first base went against A.J. Pollock, Andrew Vaughn singled in pinch-runner Leury Garcia from second base to make it a one-run ballgame. That said, Oakland’s A.J. Puk was one strike away from victory. Only he hit Seby Zavala on a 2-2 pitch. Next up was Romy Gonzalez, who was 0-for-3 with three whiffs on the night. And what did Gonzalez do? Why, he singled in the tying run, pinch-runner Adam Engel touching the plate with his left hand just ahead of catcher Sean Murphy’s tag. Wait, there’s more. Elvis Andrus doubled in the go-ahead runs to give the Sox a 5-3 lead, and win. This would all be totally unbelievable but for two back-to-reality performances from Yoan Moncada and Lucas Giolito. Moncada followed up his 5-for-6 game by going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. As for Giolito, he struggled through six innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks. Two things of note here—Giolito’s velocity is down over past seasons, and he sweats like a bear while pitching. If the Sox can manage a win today behind Lance Lynn, they might actually accomplish the impossible. No, they won’t vault into first place against the Guardians, at least not yet. But they will force Chicago sports’ media to acknowledge their existence on the same day the Bears open their season, at home, no less. Like I said, end times.

End Times

The Oakland Coliseum has been a house of horrors for the White Sox for as long as I can remember. It could be Reggie Jackson stepping to the plate, or Kurt Suzuki. Sox lose, Sox lose. According to the Sun-Times, the Sox have gone 3-12 in that dank, concrete bowl since the 2017 season. So, imagine my surprise to see Elvis Andrus and Yoan Moncada go back-to-back to start the game and Moncada add a three-run homer in the second on his way to another five-hit game (the first one in June against Detroit). Eloy Jimenez and Romy Gonzalez also homered, with Gonzalez adding four hits to a twenty-one hit, 14-2 rout of the A’s. One down, three to go. Dylan Cease was merely mortal in going six shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks. Vince Velasquez was Vince Velasquez, yielding two runs in the eighth. Maybe he only gets up for the important games, like against the Mariners. Sure, I’ll believe that. The second call from my daughter yesterday was considerably more downbeat than the first. The cost of a new sump pump may have sunk in, and someone who was supposed to work on the new dishwasher cancelled (not to be confused with the person who didn’t have the part to fix the new stove). She also shared this bit of sobering news—Tony La Russa may be back in the dugout next week, doing whatever it is he does. Every player asked has said he wants La Russa back. Beware what you wish for, my friends.

Better Late Than…

Seattle starter Luis Castillo struck out the first seven White Sox hitters he faced yesterday afternoon. Meanwhile, Michael Kopech was doing a mean Lucas Giolito imitation, falling apart all at once in the third inning to give the Mariners a 4-0 lead. With the living room windows open, I may have treated the neighbors to a few ##!! outbursts. But Castillo faltered, and the Sox took advantage, starting in the fourth inning with a two-run homerun by Eloy Jimenez that wouldn’t have happened without a lot of hustle from Jose Abreu, who beat the throw at first on a potential double-play groundball. There’s a moral here about hustle all the time, no matter what. Maybe Tony La Russa can comment if and when he returns to the dugout. Interim manager Miguel Cairo either knows what he’s doing, or he’s very lucky. I mean, he summoned Jose Ruiz, Joe Kelly and Vince Velasquez out of the bullpen, and they threw 2.2 scoreless innings between them. Oh, Jake Diekman and Aaron Bummer each gave up a run, but add it all up and the Sox won, 9-6. Clare just called to tell me about her new sump pump. She finds it interesting nobody is saying a word about La Russa’s status or Cairo’s seeming competence (6-3 since stepping in). Whatever. Just keep winning.

Do As I Say—

Not as I do. Because only an idiot would stay up late to watch the White Sox-Mariners’ game, like I did last night. Johnny Cueto did not deserve to lose on account of one run over six innings; maybe if Yoan Moncada knew how to apply a tag at third base it would’ve been no runs. And bless Jimmy Lambert for bailing Cueto out of a two-on, nobody-out situation in the seventh inning. But Sox hitters, forget about. A.J. Pollock reverted to his “What do I do with this bat in my hand?” approach to hitting, as in 0-for-4, two strikeouts and six runners left on base. Yasmani Grandal, on the other hand, was himself, with a walk and three strikeouts. The game was 1-0 Seattle going into the bottom of the eighth, then 1-0 with two out and nobody on in the bottom of the eighth. That’s when Reynaldo Lopez lost focus, issuing a walk ahead of a two-run homerun to Cal Raleigh. Final score, Mariners 3 Sox 0. That was something I didn’t need to stay up for. Lesson learned. Anyhow, today’s a day game.

Chasing

You’d think I’d be happy to learn I’d misread the schedule—the White Sox game in Seattle started at 5:40 PM our time, as opposed to three hours later. And I was, not that I could watch all that much. Not with a peripatetic grandson on the loose. I saw enough to know that Lance Lynn isn’t Dallas Keuchel. Seven months older at age 35, Lynn seems to have found his groove after missing a good part of the season with a knee injury. (Dallas, do yourself a world of good and drop a few pounds. Yes?) Over his last seven games, all starts, Lynn has posted a 4-1 record to go with a 2.06 ERA. Yesterday against the Mariners, the portly righthander gave up one unearned run in seven innings of work. Sox win on homeruns by A.J. Pollock and Elvis Andrus, 3-2. We pick up a game on the second-place Twins, remain two back of the Guardians. Not to beat a dead horse (too much), but Keuchel was 2-5 with a 7.88 ERA when the Sox released him. Next, he went to the Diamondbacks, where he could be reunited with his old Astros’ pitching coach, Brent Strom. Judging by the 0-2 record and 9,64 ERA, the reunion wasn’t a success. Then it was off to Texas for another two starts, leading to two more losses and a 12.60 ERA, followed by his release on Sunday. It’s doubtful anyone else will be interested. Keuchel thought he had something left; the numbers showed otherwise. It’s not his fault. Stand him next to Lynn, and Keuchel is the one who looks to be in shape and ready to go seven innings. Such is life in baseball. As for Sox fans, we take the good with the bad, while being thankful the bad got DFA’d back in May.

Not Yet

Bandwagon delayed. You don’t count on the White Sox winning five in a row with Lucas Giolito taking the mound. Giolito struggled through five innings, allowing a two-run homerun to Carlos Correa, and that was all the Twins needed. Oh, the Sox pulled to within 2-1 in the seventh inning, only for Leury Garcia—the gift from general manager Rick Hahn that keeps on giving—bunted back to the pitcher on an attempted squeeze. After that, interim manager Miguel Cairo channeled his inner Tony La Russa with his bullpen selections. Kendall Graveman wild-pitched in a run, and Vince Velasquez—Rick Hahn gift no. 2—coughed up another two, just in case. Twins 5 Sox 1. Now, it’s onto Seattle and three late starts. I’m too old to stay up past midnight. It will be up to TIVO to deliver the news, good or bad, each morning.

Dr. John

Like the man said, it must’ve been the right time, but the wrong place. Last night, Michele and I were sitting under the stars, clouds actually, at Ravinia on the North Shore. A world away on the South Side, Dylan Cease was throwing for the White Sox. We were listening to Handel, as performed by The Music of the Baroque. The tickets were a bargain at $10 apiece, unlike tonight—you want to hear Stevie Nicks, it’s going to cost ten to twenty times that. Because I could listen to the music without having to use my ears, I followed the Sox-Twins’ game on the phone, starting in the sixth inning. I knew right away Cease had a no-hitter going. I can’t help but think Twins’ manager Rocco Baldelli tried to get Cease out of his rhythm, or “freeze the kicker” if you will, by letting infielders Nick Gordon and Jermaine Palacios pitch the eighth inning; a 7-0 game slowly, too slowly, turned into a 13-0 rout. Three up and three down for the Sox might’ve been better for Cease. He got the number eight and nine batters out, leaving only Luis Arraez in the way of a no-no. Only Cease left a pitch over the plate for Arraez to line into right field for a single. For what it’s worth, I think plate umpire Jeremie Rehak squeezed Cease on the first pitch to Arraez. On an 0-2 count, he’s throwing heat upstairs to challenge Arraez. Oh, well. A win’s a win. Maybe I’ll consider climbing up on the bandwagon if the Sox can complete a sweep. You never know.

One-for-three

We turned the living room into a sports’ bar last night, sans booze. Michele followed her son-in-law’s football game via phone while we alternated between the White Sox-Twins’ game on TV and Serena Williams at the U.S. Open. We went one-for-three in the process. My son-in-law will get things in order soon enough; he’s coaching a team that won only one game last season. Unless she changes her mind, Williams is done. She staved off match-point—and retirement—five times before losing to Ajla Tomaljanovic in three sets. I’m pretty sure each of those five times ushered in a rush of memories from other tournaments. Other players should be so lucky. As for the White Sox, that’s three games gained on first-place Cleveland in three days, but I’m still not hopping on any bandwagons. But it was nice to see Davis Martin rebound from his previous start to throw five shutout innings in relief of starter…Joe Kelly (!). And Yasmani Grandal hit a game-tying homerun in the eighth inning!! Sox 4, Twins 3. Tonight, Michele and I travel north to Ravinia to hear the Music of the Baroque under the stars. The concert doesn’t start till 7:30. That’ll give me a little over an hour to follow the Sox game, time enough to see if I want phone updates. You never know.

Slip-sliding Away

For reasons beyond my comprehension, we get YouTube on our TV. That’s how I ended up watching yesterday’s White Sox-Royals’ game. Nice to see the Sox think they have a chance of leapfrogging two teams to win the division. But don’t look a 7-2 Johnny Cueto win in the mouth, I guess. I do hope MLB got bushels of money for letting YouTube carry the game. If you’re going to trash the national pastime, at least make it worth your while, I say. And make sure you have control over the announcers. I mean, two squids and Yonder Alonso in the broadcast booth don’t exactly make an homage to Red Barber or Vince Sculley. Also, correct me if I’m wrong here, but YouTube couldn’t even sell much of the commercial time between innings. There were a couple of ads followed by a countdown to the next half-inning on an otherwise static screen. Nothing says “fiasco” better. Tonight, though, I go back to muting broadcasters I know, if not quite love, with the Twins coming to town for three games. Like they say in Missouri, the Sox will have to show me they can catch a team before I believe it.

Now What?

The White Sox snapped a five-game losing streak last night by beating the Royals, 4-2. How nice to see Lance Lynn dominate over seven innings and the bullpen not collapse, though Liam Hendriks gave up a run again, which makes one run or more for three straight appearances and counting. Of course, the real news remains manager Tony La Russa and his health situation; more tests today, we’re told. It appears no one from the front office bothered to tell the players what the situation was with La Russa before Tuesday night’s game, though it’s possible General Manager Rick Hahn did, but nobody could understand that “was done by” speaking style of his. Jerry Reinsdorf has said that firing La Russa was the biggest mistake of his ownership. Here’s a chance for him to correct the second biggest mistake.