Upon Further Review

Shane Smith started out like gangbusters. The Rule 5 pickup from Milwaukee had a 2.37 ERA in his first thirteen starts for the White Sox. But Smith’s last three outings have qualified as nose-holding bad, as in seventeen earned runs over eleven innings. Hold the Rookie of the Year talk, at least for now. Like Smith, infielder Miguel Vargas had himself a nice run, shooting extra-base hits all over the place, but that seems ages ago. Vargas is 1-for-25 over his last seven games and 9-for-58 over his last fifteen. Hold the Steal of the Year talk, at least for now. Last night, Smith gave up four runs in the bottom of the first, after retiring the first two Dodgers he faced. The 25-year old righty also gave up a two-out run in the third and fourth innings. Dodgers 6 Sox 1. Vargas had nothing to do with the sole Sox run, going 0-for-4 on the night. Unlike Lenyn Sosa. Sosa went 2-for-3 with a two-out RBI double in the fourth inning, when there was at least a faint chance his team might come back. It’s nice when your second baseman is hitting .278 at the start of July. Too bad Sosa’s teammates combined for one other hit in the game, along with twelve strikeouts. Smith, Vargas, Sosa—who in this group is not like the others? I have an idea.