This is What Happens

What happens when a baseball team can‘t do any better than promote a retread like Will Robertson from its minor-league system and inserts him in the lineup against the Yankees? He goes 0-for-5, which puts him at 1-for-23 on the season, 0-for-13 with the White Sox. Oh, and the Sox lose for a third straight time to the Yankees, 5-3 in eleven innings. What happens when you bring in a retread like Tyler Alexander to pitch the eleventh inning? He gives up three runs to take the loss and put his record at 4-13 with a 4.88 ERA. But, hey, Alexander is 1-8 with a 3.88 ERA in 23 games for the Sox. What happens when you hire someone like New-Mickey Venable to manage a major-league team? He guides them to a 48-88 record after 136 games—hey, that’s seventeen games better than last season!—and says after the latest loss, “It’s a tough one, no doubt about it. These guys battle and put themselves in a really good spot to win that ballgame and just came up short.” As in going 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position. What happens when you hire someone like Venable? He looks at yet another example of offensive ineptitude and says something like, “We just have to make good swing decision and use the middle of the field. Each guy in different situations is going to attack differently. At the end of the day, you have to shorten up, put the ball in play and use the whole field.” [both quotes in today’s Tribune story online] Move over, Casey Stengel. There’s a new “perfessor” in town. With the reincarnation of those early Mets’ teams now playing on the South Side, nothing could be more fitting.

Look Away

There was no ballgame at the Rate last night, not in any real sense. But it definitely was an embarrassment, Yankees 10 Hapless Sox 2. How embarrassing? How about the nine walks issued by Sox pitchers, five of which scored, or a call of catcher’s interference, also which scored? Or the regression of rookies like Tim Elko (0-for-4 with two strikeouts subbing for an injured Miguel Vargas) and Grant Taylor (four batters faced; two walks; two singles; three runs allowed)? Or the continued inanity of a manager who praises the other team? I don’t care if the Yankees “make really good swing decisions.” [online story today on Tribune website] For some unknown reason, though, I do care about this team. And with each loss, it’s becoming painfully obvious the leader in the dugout this season is just as clueless as the leader in the dugout last season was.

When It Rains...

For reasons that escape me, the White Sox are enamored of infielder Curtis Mead, acquired in the trade for pitcher Adrian Houser. Mead is 14-for-56 with his new team, thirteen of those hits being singles. And yet he plays over the likes of Tim Elko and Bryan Ramos. In the fifth inning last night, Mead airmailed a throw from third base that took his first baseman into the path of runner Aaron Judge trying to beat out a grounder Mead’s way. The first baseman happened to be Miguel Vargas, who’d hit his first career grand slam in the second inning. Maybe Vargas doesn’t have a broken wrist or even a sprained one. And maybe Luis Robert Jr. will come back from his hamstring injury before the end of the season, and maybe Colson Montgomery’s aching left side will allow him to play tonight. And maybe the bullpen won’t give up six runs like it did last night in a 10-4 Yankees’ win. And maybe New-Mickey Venable will stop managing scared. But I have my doubts.

Stupid Is...

Pitching Aaron Civale, who fell apart in the fifth inning last night against the Royals, giving up five runs; Civale is now 2-7 with a 5.37 ERA in thirteen starts with the White Sox. Or then relieving Civale with Tyler Gilbert, who proceeded to give up six runs in .1 inning of work. Or then pitching Mike Vasil for two innings with the score 11-1 Kansas City. Talk about the return of Mickey Mouse. Sox manager New-Mickey Venable didn’t see fit to use Vasil—now with a 2.38 ERA—in the eighth inning Tuesday night with the Sox up 4-0 but wastes him the next night down by ten runs. And with the Yankees coming to down tonight, Venable should’ve gone with Vasil Tuesday and rested him yesterday. Stupid is as stupid does. Royals 12 Sox 1.

Crash and Burn

Last night, White Sox starter Martin Perez threw seven innings of one-hit shutout ball against the Royals; he left with a 4-0 lead the bullpen turned into a 5-4 loss. Somebody needs to teach manager New-Mickey Venable how to handle a pen. You know who Venable brought in to start the eighth, right? Good ol’ Jordan Leausre, who needed 26 pitches to record two outs. Unfortunately, Leasure also gave up two singles and a walk. Enter Grant Taylor. A two-run single by Maikel Garcia followed shortly thereafter. Back out for the ninth, Taylor loaded the bases on three singles, one out. Venable then switched to lefty Tyler Alexander, who promptly gave up a two-run single to lefthand-hitting Michael Massey. Wait, there’s more. Alexander then hit lefthand-hitting Adam Frazier to load the bases. Still more. Alexander then gave the go-ahead single to Kyle Isbel on a 1-2 count. So, Alexander failed to get out any of the three lefty hitters he faced. Way. To. Go. Colson Montgomery hit a homerun in his fourth consecutive game, and Kyle Teel collected three more hits. None of it mattered, though, because Venable didn’t know which pitcher to put in when.

As Simple as One, Two, Three

The White Sox won their third straight game last night, 7-0 against the visiting Royals. You guessed it, they followed that can’t-lose recipe of pitching, hitting and defense. Starter Shane Smith looked like the pitcher he was the first 2-1/2 months of the season, throwing seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit and a walk. Simply put, Smith attacked, with 21 first-pitch strikes against the 23 KC batters he faced. He also struck out three, which means his performance was double old-school. In other words, Smith induced weak contact his defense was able to handle for outs. I’ve been on the fence all year about Miguel Vargas, and still am. I’ll jump on the bandwagon if he can add fourteen points to his batting average and end the season at .250. But I will say this regardless—the man hustles out of the box. That mentality turned two singles into two doubles. More, please. What do you do with a problem like Lenyn Sosa? Enjoy him, if only in the short term. Last night, Sosa went 2-fpr-4 with two run-scoring singles, giving him 59 RBIs on the season. And to think that two years ago, he looked utterly lost at the plate. More recently, Brooks Baldwin did too, until the end of July, Since then, he’s added 21 points to his batting average, which is what going 17-for-56 in August will do. Last night, Baldwin followed Korey Lee’s two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot of his own. Wait, there’s more. Playing left field in the top of the fifth, Balwin raced into foul territory to retire Adam Frazier on a sliding, cleats-into-the-wall catch. More, please, even though you can never get enough of that kind of thing.

Ask and You Shall Receive

Holy-moly, the White Sox did it for two straight games, employing pitching, hitting and defense to take the rubber game against the Twins, 8-0. Kyle Teel had three singles and two RBIs as the DH while Edgar Quero did the catching, and some hitting of his own, with two singles and three RBIs. And then we have the curious/hopeful case of Colson Montgomery, who missed his chance at hitting grand slams in two consecutive games when he flied out to right field with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first. Did I mentioned Montgomery hit a two-run homerun in the second? Luis Robert Jr. collected a single and run scored, which was OK, but his defense, oh my. Robert made two run-denying, diving catches. The one in the fifth inning was especially impressive, as he raced hard into left-center to make a backhand grab. Are you going to be able to replace this level of defense, Chris Getz? Think long and hard before you move this guy, who finally seems comfortable with the team around him. Starter Yoendrys Gomez also seemed comfortable, throwing 4.2 innings of shutout ball for what would’ve been his third win for the Sox, who picked up the 25-year old righthander on waivers from the Dodgers back in May. Other pitchers find success by switching from starting to relieving; Gomez is trying to go in the opposite direction. The Sox have won all three games he’s started. Why isn’t he 3-0 for his new team? No one knows because no one asked manager New-Mickey Venable on why he pulled Gomez, one out short of qualifying for the win. Gomez didn’t mention an injury in his postgame comments, and Venable didn’t say anything, either. God bless Ozzie Guillen for calling out the Sox beat writers for not asking Venable to explain. You gotta love the guy.

A Simple Formula

Pitching, hitting, defense—do that, and you win games. White Sox 7 Twins 3. Davis Martin had another pretty good start, pitching five innings of two-run ball. For once, the bullpen didn’t collapse, and the defense avoided making any errors while turning a double play. Davis aided his cause by scattering five hits and walking one Twin while striking out six. He also picked a runner off of first. More, please. Ditto the hitting, where Colson Montgomery went 2-for-4 with a grand slam. Miguel Vargas chipped in with a double, a run and an RBI on a 2-for-3 night, a performance slightly better than The Enigma’s. Luis Robert Jr. went 2-for-4 with a solo shot and his 33rd stolen base of the year. Why can’t they play like this all the time? I guess that’s like asking, who wrote the book of love?

Better Late than Never

Well, the White Sox finally got around to DFAing Josh Rojas, he of the .180 BA in 189 at-bats. Maybe next, GM Chris Getz will clean house with the pitching staff. Nothing says “loss” like Aaron Civale walking two Twins before giving up a grand slam with two outs in the fourth inning to Royce Lewis or Brandon Eisert allowing two runs in an inning of “work.” Twins 9 Sox 7. The good news, I guess, is the hitting returned. Kyle Teel went 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored while Lenyn Sosa had two hits and two RBIs, as did Colson Montgomery, who scored two runs on a double and two-run homer. So goes Montgomery, so goes the rebuild. That and the pitching.

Batting Practice

Another visit from my grandson, another session of batting practice in the backyard. “Grandpa, let’s play baseball,” followed by a poke in the stomach with a wiffle-ball bat. Charming child. Again, I can’t get over how different Leo is to his mom at the same age. With four-year old Clare, the higher the pitch the better, which explains why a parent in college offered to buy her a ladder for when she hit. With her four-year old son, nothing above the belt, please. The lower the pitch, the more contact he makes. The one thing son and mother have in common is the ability to pull inside pitches. The boy is half-Yogi Berra, half-Paul Konerko. Leo put a whole bunch of balls into the yard next door. He’s going to start t-ball in the spring. That should be interesting.

What Bad Teams Do

The White Sox found a different way to lose last night—Colson Montgomery mishandled a semi-tough groundball to let in a run. Final score: Braves 1 Sox 0. Lose. It’s what bad teams do. Gone was the hitting of the two nights previous. The Sox managed all of four singles, and only one from anyone close to a core player, Brooks Baldwin. It would’ve been nice had one of the other guys stepped up, but they didn’t. If only the bullpen could’ve tallieed 1.2 innings of scoreless work the on Tuesday like they did Wednesday. The real concern is Montgomery, and not because of the error; another scorer might’ve given Ozzie Albies a hit. It’s the hitting, or lack thereof, that concerns me. After going 0-for-3, Montgomery lowered his overall average to .215; .111 over his last seven games; and .170 over his last fifteen. He says he’s making adjustments, and I hope they work. Otherwise, this bad team will keep finding ways to lose.

Mission Accomplished

Monday night, the White Sox bullpen nearly blew a nine-run lead. Last night, they gave away a 10-4 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. Braves 11 Sox 10. After the game, manager New-Mickey Venable blamed himself. “It’s my job to put these guys in position to succeed and just haven’t been able to do it the last two nights. So that’s on me,” Venable told reporters. “[I have to] Reflect on what we could have done better from my end.” [quote in today’s story on team website] Yeah, reflect as in, why am I saddled with these guys? Consider: Tyler Gilbert, .1 inning, two earned runs on two hits; Elvis Peguero, two earned runs on a hit and two walks; Tyler Alexander, .2 innings, two earned runs on two hits and two walks. Maybe pitching coach Ethan Katz could remind his charges there’s not defending a walk. Or GM Chris Getz might consider calling up some of those promising relievers he seems to be sitting on. I won’t hold my breath. On a positive note, Kyle Teel continued his tear, with a double and homerun to go with four RBIs while Miguel Vargas chipped in with two hits, a walk and three runs scored. Core-wise, Brooks Baldwin; Chase Meidroth; Edgar Quero; and Lenyn Sosa each had a hit and a run, with Sosa also tallying an RBI. The enigma known as Luis Robert Jr. had himself a bases-clearing double good for three RBIs. But what difference does it make if you’re content with a mediocre—or worse—bullpen? A loss is a loss.

Problems Good and Bad

The White Sox beat the Braves last night, 13-9. Yea. That said, there were all sorts of problems on display. Let’s start with the good ones. Lenyn Sosa homered for the third time in four games. He also had four RBIs, giving him 54 on the season. But where does he fit in long-term? Of the Sox top-30 prospects, sixteen are position players, ten of them infielders. Of that number, eight are listed as playing shortstop and/or second base. Is Sosa better than all of them? Should he be traded in the offseason? Or do you move him to first? I don’t know. Kyle Teel had four hits on the night, including his third homerun. Is he your #1 catcher, or Edgar Quero? Do you keep both, or trade one? If trading, which one? What would a trade of one of them plus Sosa bring back in return? Brooks Baldwin homered, scored two runs and walked three times, all at the bottom of the order. Baldwin is batting .318 (14-for-44 with three homers) over his last fourteen games. The 25-year old switch-hitter has played six positions so far this season, which right now qualifies him as a poor-man’s Ben Zobrist. Will GM Chris Getz and his manager see the value of that? Now, for the bad problems, as in starting and relief pitching. Sean Burke got sent down to Triple-A Charlotte, where he joins Jonathan Cannon, who’s been pretty mediocre in two starts there. All of a sudden, the rotation features Aaron Civale and Martin Perez. Nothing special there. Why not bring up people from Double-A Birmingham or Charlotte? I mean, other than Owen White? C’mon, four runs in .1 inning. Again, nothing special. It’s odd that an organization with a boatload of minor-league relievers having career years won’t bring any of them up. Now, for last problem, Colson Montgomery. Good news—he looks really good at shortstop and third base. Bad news—he’s hitting .148 over his last seven games, .167 over his last fifteen. Those are concerning numbers. The good news is the rookie doesn’t have a long swing or chase all that much, though he does have 42 strikeouts in 132 at-bats. He’s not chasing after pitches so much as he is swinging through them. Which is what Brooks Baldwin was doing until about seven weeks ago. Brooks, talk to Colson, tell him what adjustments you made to get back on track. That could take care of a big problem.

Anyone Home?

Maybe White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz was all tired out from guiding starter Travis Martin through six innings of one-hit, shutout ball, or maybe hitting coach Marcus Thames could only focus on Brooks Baldwin, who went 3-for-4 on a very hot afternoon in Kansas City. In which case, too bad. The Sox needed nine outs for a 2-0 win. Instead, they got a 6-2 loss, their fourteenth straight at Kauffman Stadium and eleventh loss in their last thirteen games overall. Steve Wilson surrendered a game-tying, two-run homerun with two outs in the seventh. Grant Taylor followed, giving up the go-ahead run with two outs in the eighth, followed by another. Jordan Leasure entered with one on and promptly served up a two-run shot. Damned if I could see any coaching or coach at work in all that. Ditto the hitting, which went 1-for-8 with RISP. Baldwin doubled with two outs and a runner on in the eighth, only Chase Meidroth found a way not to score. What do you say about that, Skipper? “Not sure if he scores there, but that’s really besides the point. In that situation, process-wise, we have to be in tune with the situation.” [quote from story today in the Tribune] Huh? If New-Mickey Venable spoke in plain English, he might say, “Meidroth screwed up there. We always want to force the issue with a chance to score the go-ahead run in late innings.” That’s what a real manager would say, no?

Two Clown Shows

The Savannah Bananas took the South Side by storm Friday and Saturday, drawing over 80,000 fans for two games at The Rate. Part Indianapolis Clowns, part Harlem Globetrotters and part whatever it is they are, the Bananas featured guest appearances from Mark Buehrle; Ozzie Guillen; Paul Konerko; and A.J. Pierzynski. Talk about smart marketing. Over in Kansas City, the White Sox put on their own clown show Saturday night, losing for the thirteenth straight time at Kauffman Stadium, 6-2. And by clown show I mean starter Sox starter Sean Burke fielding a comebacker for a potential double play and then throwing the ball into center field. Burke failed to get through the fourth inning, again. And by clown show I mean playing people like Tyler Alexander, Mike Tauchman and Michael A. Taylor, who won’t or shouldn’t be around beyond this season. And by clown show I mean manager New-Mickey Venable putting a shine on things, as he always does. Wait till next year, or whenever.

A Waste

The White Sox lost to the Royals last night, 3-1, their twelfth straight loss at Kauffman Stadium. The visitors haven’t won there in close to two years. Here’s what I don’t get. Manager New-Mickey Venable used fourteen players on the night, yet only five of them could be considered part of the rebuild. That doesn’t include Luis Robert Jr., because the Sox have no idea what to do with him. Is Curtis Mead part of the rebuild? Mike Tauchman or Michael A. Taylor? Aaron Civale or Brandon Eisert or Steven Wilson? If not, then why did they play? Anybody with a heartbeat should be up from Charlotte. Beyond that, Double-A Birmingham is 68-44; the Barons’ pitching staff leads the Southern Association with a 2.78 ERA. Not Civale, Eisert and Wilson but Murphy (1.32 ERA); Palisch (1.68); McDougal (1.94); and Dalquist (2.09). Notice that I didn’t even mention Hagen Smith or Noah Schultz in this groups. But what do I know?

Won't Get Fooled Again

The signs looked good—the Hollies’ “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” the first song we heard on our way to our seats right behind the Sox dugout. Then a little bit of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck,” just enough to get me feeling like one of the Winchester boys on the hunt for demons. Or maybe Detroit Tigers. Another good sign—the last time Clare and I went to a White Sox-Tigers’ game at the ball-mall Daniel Palka and Matt Davidson hit ninth-inning homers to win it. Why couldn’t magic repeat? A 1-0 Detroit lead going into the bottom of the ninth. If one Sox batter reached base, Colson Montgomery would’ve batted. No such luck. A very sad comebacker, strikeout and flyout gave the visitors the series’ win. The Sox got all of two hits. Talk about lethargic, I don’t care how much praise Sox manager New Mickey Venable heaped on Tigers’ starter Troy Melton, and it was a lot. His team looked like it was going through the motions at the plate. I will say this about Montgomery, who went 0-for-3 on the day: The kid looks like he can play shortstop. Twice he made strong throws on grounders to get the runner, once from deep short. If he can hit .250 with the power he’s shown, I’ll be happy. Enough to go to another game? I don’t know. I’m at that point in life where the little stuff is starting to bother me big time—beef sandwich race on the scoreboard; challenging a fan to get the ball in cup more times than Lenyn Sosa could over the course of a minute that felt endless; t-shirts tossed into the crowd as if we’re a bunch of seals performing for fish. Just play winning baseball, for God’s sakes.

More Good than Bad

The final score should’ve been White Sox 9 Tigers 3, or 9-1, even, depending on Luis Robert Jr.’s ability to take away two homeruns. But I’ll settle for a final score of 9-6, my guys. Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero combined for five hits and four RBIs, definitely nice to see, along with a two-run single from Colson Montgomery on a 1-2 pitch from usual Sox-killer Jack Flaherty. Yoendrys Gomez came out of nowhere, or at least Charlotte, to pick up the win with five innings of one-run ball while Jordan Leasure picked up his fourth save. Words fail me there.

More of the Same

Another game, another homerun from Colson Montgomery, another loss for the White Sox, 2-1 to the visiting Tigers. This script needs tweaking. At least now I have a clue to Montgomery’s recent success. When he went Triple-A Charlotte to Arizona for his reset, he worked on “trying to keep the ball kind of low to the ground, line drives and things like that. Some of my cues in the cage, I’m trying to hit a low line drive to the shortstop. Keeps me tighter to the ball. Not really a normal home run swing.” Montgomery thinks this matters because “A lot of the hitters can tell you if they tried doing homerun swings, it’s probably not going to work.” Young Grasshopper added, “The biggest thing is not trying to do too much.” [quotes from today’s story on team website] My only question is, why didn’t the Sox try a similar approach with Tim Elko? I mean, the guy bootstrapped himself up through the minor-league system to dominate at Triple-A. He appears to be a plus defender at first and a good teammate. Am I missing something here, or does Chris Getz have access to a Paul Konerko clone ready to unveil next year? Curious minds want to know.

Poetry

In the bottom of the first inning in yesterday’s 6-4 White Sox win over the Guardians, rookie shortstop Colson Montgomery crushed a ball 452 feet back to the last row of seats in right field at the old ball-mall. Starting pitcher Davis Martin described what he saw as “beautiful, man, just beautiful. It's something about a lefty swing. Sitting on the bench, we were in the middle of our in-between meeting, and you just hear crack, and you just see everybody's head rip up and we're just like, 'Oh my God, that ball's destroyed.'” [quote from story today on team website] I second that emotion. This is one of the reasons I like Martin—he’s articulate and, in his own way, unfiltered, which means he comes from the Ozzie Guillen School of Speaking. If he can become as good a pitcher as Guillen was a player, so much the better. As for Montgomery, I wish to God someone would explain to me how this transformation has come to be. We’re talking about someone who hit .244 his one season in Double-A ball and .214 his one full season at Triple-A Charlotte, along with .218 this year. So far, the 23-year old lefthanded hitter is batting .238 in 105 at-bats. That comes with nine homeruns; fifteen runs scored; and 25 RBIs. It took Montgomery fifteen games to hit his first big-league homer; he’s hit eight in the sixteen games since. Those numbers suggest the ability to adjust. At least I hope they do. Lest I forget, Lenyn Sosa also homered and drove in three runs. What do you do with a problem like Lenyn? One way or another, we’ll find out.

Crash and Burn

So much for that surge coming out of the All Star Game. After falling to the Guardians 3-1 last night, the White Sox have themselves a six-game losing streak to go with a 42-75 record, which ties a season-worst 33 games under .500. Losing pitcher Sean Burke needed 88 pitches to go 3.1 innings. To call that unacceptable would be one of the great understatements of the year. Right now, a young pitching staff looks more green than promising. Jordan Leasure has been pretty good lately, getting his ERA close to under 4.00, but you have to wonder how long that will last. As for the young position players, ditto. Edgar Quero suddenly looks lost at the plate, and Kyle Teel hasn’t been much better. Shortstop Colson Montgomery stands 6’3”; the last thing you want to see is him expanding his strike zone, but that’s what he’s doing. Dog days, indeed.

Hold that Plane

Yesterday, the White Sox did something both simple and smart—making it doubly surprising—when they sent down starter Jonathan Cannon to Triple-A Charlotte in order for him to figure things out (or else). They may want to give Cannon a travelling companion after what Aaron Civale did last night against the Guardians. I’d call nine earned runs in 3.1 innings demotion-worthy, but, again, I’m a mere fan. However, long-ago injured Martin Perez had a rehab start last night in Double-A that wasn’t bad (four innings, one run), so at least there’s a chance of swapping one veteran pitcher for another. I mean, a guy can dream, right? After all, Brooks Baldwin homered in last night’s 9-5 loss, and he’s playing again tonight. That would suggest at least some dreams come true.

Spinning Wheels

Bryan Ramos made a brutal error yesterday in Seattle, throwing away a bunt attempt in the tenth inning that allowed the Mariners to tie the score before winning 4-3 in eleven innings. No, wait. Ramos is still exiled in Triple-A Charlotte. That was Josh Rojas who airmailed his throw to first. If we’re in a rebuild, I’d rather have the 23-year old making the error than the 31-year old. But what do I know?

Unflattering Imitation

Jonathan Cannon pitched last night just like Davis Martin did the night before, only worse. Cannon couldn’t make it out of the second inning, giving up seven runs, all earned, on four hits and three walks. Nothing like seeing those three walks all score. Final Score: Mariners 8 Sox 6. With the loss, Cannon’s record stands at 4-9 with a 5.34 ERA. The Sox actually have a lot of pitching talent coming up, and not all of it included on their top-30 list (e.g., Riley Gowens and Shane Murphy). If Cannon can’t turn it around, the rotation next year won’t lack for alternatives. Despite the hole Cannon dug, his teammates nearly came back, putting the tying runs on base with nobody out in the ninth against closer Andres Munoz, who’d already given up a long ball to Michael A. Taylor. Munoz came into the game with a 1.26 ERA. He departed with his 26th save and a 1.43 ERA. Oh, well. Two ripples of silver lining—Lenyn Sosa homered again, and Brooks Baldwin went 1-for-3 with a run scored. Baldwin also worked the count for a walk against Munoz, no small feat that. In a real stunner of a move, manager New-Mickey Venable has Baldwin penciled in again today. Wonders never cease.

Or Not

Maybe I gave Chris Getz too much credit for a growing interest in winning games this year as opposed to seasons down the line. In other words, Mariners 8 Sox 3. Sox starter Davis Martin has an irritating—and career threatening—habit of alternating unhittable pitches with godawful fat ones, oftentimes in the same at-bat. We are not amused. Then, there’s the case of Josh Rojas, the new Jacob Amaya. Rojas is hitting .174 in 184 at-bats. Last night, he went 0-for-2 (plus a walk) while making an error at second base that came around to score on a Josh Naylor—him, again—homerun. In what world does Rojas play ahead of Bryan Ramos? I’d like to see what Ramos could’ve done in a game like the one last night. Lenyn Sosa—him, again—hit a first-inning homer against winning pitcher Bryan Woo. Then, nothing happened until the ninth, when Luis Robert Jr. and Colson Montgomery went back-to-back for the other two runs. Ramos brings youth; energy; power; and a decent glove, not unlike Montgomery. You’d think a rebuilding team would want all the players it could get with those attributes. Yes, Chris?

Message Unspoken, Still Sent

The Chicago sports’ universe is all agog over the training-camp travails of Bears’ quarterback Caleb “Oops” Williams. The White Sox are lucky to get what coverage they do. So, nobody has really paid much if any attention to what happened, or didn’t, at the trade deadline last week—Luis Robert Jr. stayed put. Consider the implications. First, there’s someone in the outfield who can catch the ball. Nothing breaks the spirit of a pitcher, especially a young pitcher of which the Sox have a staff full, than watching balls that can be caught fall in for base hits. And nothing buoys a pitcher like seeing a centerfielder save one or multiple runs with a Gold Glove-worthy catch. Yes, the Sox could still move Robert in the offseason or decline his $20 million team option. But the first would be a studied, not a rushed, transaction while the latter appears increasingly unlikely. This is where the deep-pockets’ presence of investor-cum-future-owner Justin Ishbia comes into play. The Sox no longer need to cry poor—if they ever did need to—with Ishbia around. Something else worth noting here—by keeping Robert, GM Chris Getz signaled the rebuild has entered a new phase. The stockpiling of young players is no longer a major focus. Of course, the draft still matters, only now the team doesn’t need to lose to secure a good sport in the draft. Getz and company appear confident they can spot the talent, regardless draft position or round. Winning games is back on the agenda. Happy days are here again.

Still Bad, But--

Sorry. A good team doesn’t blow a 5-0 lead going into the sixth inning, only to lose on a three-run walk-off in the bottom of the ninth. Angels 8 White Sox 5. Bye-bye, sweep. What makes it all so frustrating—and/or promising—is that Colson Montgomery drove in four of the Sox runs, three on a homer of his own in the first inning, followed by an RBI single in the third. The rookie did his mashing from the five-spot in the order, the highest he’s batted so far in his 25-game major-league career. Is it too early to let go of my concerns about Montgomery? Maybe, maybe not, though seven homers and 23 RBIs in 86 at-bats make it hard not to think the pride of Holland, Indiana, has figured things out. We’ll see, just like with second-year man Brooks Baldwin, who went 3-for-4 with two singles and a double yesterday. Too bad Baldwin was batting ahead of Josh Rojas. Who knows how many runs he might’ve scored otherwise. Baldwin is six for his last seven at-bats over three games, all of which suggests he’ll see more playing time with Miguel Vargas going on the IL with an oblique strain. The switch-hitting utility player has raised his average 26 points, to .239. Baldwin sought help in slowing the game down, and the results are plain to see. That’s the kind of stuff that keeps a Sox fan from going totally nuts, along with Montgomery driving in runs. More, please, guys.

The Twilight Zone

It’s official—with their 1-0 win over the Angels in Anaheim last night, the White Sox have entered that place known as the Twilight Zone. Let me be your host. Consider the case of one Aaron Civale, a journeyman pitcher hanging on with a pretty anonymous team. As recently as three weeks ago, Civale sported an ERA of 5.30, a number that suggests he should start looking for another line of work. Then Civale entered the Twilight Zone. The 30-year old righthander has two wins in his last three starts and has lowered his ERA to 3.99 in the process. Civale yielded one hit, an infield single, in 6.1 innings of work against the Angels and sure looked like he could’ve gone seven at least. The Twilight Zone had other ideas. Like following Civale with Brandon Eisert, a pitcher so anonymous as to verge on invisible. This Invisible Man went 1.2 hitless innings before giving way to…Jordan Leasure!!!! Blare the opening voiceover. Leasure pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save. No drama, as much as I expected a two-out walk followed by a walk-off homerun. Instead, a second-inning RBI single from Kyle Teel held up as the winning run. Sox go for the sweep this afternoon. Key closing credits.

Ugly, Lucky Scoreless Inning

It was one of the ugliest, luckiest scoreless innings I’ve ever seen a White Sox pitcher hurl (note the subtle pun). In his first appearance after suffering a sprained ankle at the All-Star Game, Shane Smith sandwiched a single around two walks to start the bottom of the first in Anaheim. There was ever so much more to come in a 6-3 Sox victory. Start with Sox catcher Edgar Quero, who picked off Zach Neto at third base; that’s two such pickoffs for the rookie, in case you’re counting. Not only that, Quero would’ve thrown out the trailer on a double-steal attempt that followed, only second baseman Lenyn Sosa dropped the ball. Somehow, Smith found the wherewithal to strike out Jo Adell for the second out. But wait, we’re not done here. Smith then proceeded to walk ex-Sox Yoan Moncada on five pitches to load the bases for a second time. On his 35th pitch of the inning, the 25-year old righthander induced a groundout from Angels’ catcher Logan O’Hoppe. Alleluia. In the top of the second inning, Sosa atoned for his fielding gaff by joining Andrew Benintendi to club back-to-back homeruns; Sosa also singled in a run. (What do you do with a problem…?) Colson Montgomery provided homerun #3 on the night, a 433-foot shot to dead center in the top of the sixth. Oh, and Josh Rojas (!!!) homered in the ninth. Jordan Leasure—see exclamation marks, above—struck out four in 1.2 innings of relief to pick up the win, made possible in part by a textbook-perfect relay in the seventh inning with Grant Taylor pitching. It went from right fielder Mike Tauchman to shortstop Montgomery to third baseman Rojas, who applied the tag on baserunner Gustavo Campero, who tried to advance from first with two outs on a single by Nolan Schanuel. Wait, there’s more. Rojas’ tag came before Angels’ baserunner Travis d’Arnaud crossed the plate; that run would’ve tied the game at four. Mercy. The Sox now have equaled their win total (41 games) from last season and have 52 games left to record #42. I’m hoping for as close to 70 as they can make it.

Surprise

Well, you could’ve fooled me. Yes, White Sox GM Chirs Getz traded starter Adrian Houser for three minor leaguers, but centerfielder Luis Robert Jr. stayed put. Hmm. From what I could tell, Getz was looking at Robert as a player with two more years of team control, via separate $20 million team options. But other GMs saw him as more of a rental. In other words, they didn’t see Robert doing enough over eight-plus weeks to justify picking up his option. Agree to disagree, I guess. Personally, I have no problem with this. Robert plays Gold-Glove quality defense, and his offense is whatever he wants it to be. Maybe now he wants it to be on a level with his defense. Average it out, and nobody the Sox could replace him with would be as good. Sorry, Michael A. Taylor. What really amazed me was the reaction of various Sox pundits. I read one who said failing to move Robert would cost Getz his job, exactly why I have no idea. And some talking-head guest on WGN TV said the Sox should’ve traded Robert because—wait for it—they could then “close the book” on the past. Huh? And that figurative act was somehow more important than actually having someone play the position? Right now, Getz has some young catching and infield talent to go with a bunch of young pitchers in various stages of development; he does not have outfield depth. He’ll either have to trade for it or sign a free agent while hoping that Braden Montgomery, the one outfield prospect in the organization, can make the jump from Double-A to the majors at some point next season. Let’s see how he does.