Cruel to be Kind

The White Sox beat the Angels 8-1 yesterday at (Cut)Rate Field to go above .500 for the first time in two years. Truly, baby steps. Sean Burke continues to look like a major-league starter, throwing six shutout innings on a mere three hits and zero walks. Oh, gosh, only three punchouts, which means the 25-year old righthander pitched to contact. Whatever. If Burke’s a keeper, maybe Lenyn Sosa is, too. Sosa hit the ball hard twice before connecting for a two-run homerun in the bottom of the eighth. All I’m asking for, Lenyn, is consistency at second base and at the plate. After that, it would be wrong to get too excited. Andrew Benintendi cranked a three-run homer to put the game out of reach in the eighth, so could for him. Chris Getz is still likely to spend the entire season trying to move Benintendi, though. Along with Luis Robert Jr., who hit a double and played a nice centerfield, and Mike Clevinger, who struck out Jorge Soler on a full count with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth. Austin Slater, who homered in his first White Sox at-bat, is more likely to get released when the time comes, unless he puts up some nice numbers that will net a midlevel prospect from somebody. Miguel Vargas? Two hits, one of them the saddest of dying quails. He didn’t do anything to hurt his chances at third base, but time will tell. Ditto for Andrew Vaughn, who really needs to get off to a good start for a change. As for Korey Lee, he’s a gone catcher walking, unless Kyle Teel and/or Edgar Quero fail to make it out of Triple-A. Anyway, it’s baseball, and that’s all I can ask for.