Rooting Interests

The Padres play the Cubs this afternoon in the NL Wild Card Series. I’ll be rooting for Gavin Sheets. Dylan Cease? Probably not. And while I certainly don’t want the Yankees to prevail over the Red Sox, I will be rooting for Carlos Rodon. If Cease had a little bit of Rodon in him, his record would be a lot better than 8-12 with a 4.55 ERA. A beard can’t hide that, Dylan. Speaking of the BoSox, too bad Lucas Giolito won’t be pitching in the Wild Card; he has some sort of elbow issue. With luck, it won’t be anything too serious. But I’m sure Giolito will be a good teammate cheering for Romy Gonzalez. The ex-White Sox infielder hit a career-best .305 this year with 53 RBIs in just 315 at-bats. Somebody on the South Side knew Gonzalez was worth an eighteenth-round draft pick back in 2018. Gonzalez was the 528th player chosen. A year later, Andrew Vaughn went third in the draft to the White Sox. If anything, his draft status cast Vaughn as a considerably bigger disappointment on the South Side than Gonzalez. Which makes his revival with the Brewers all the more notable. I mean, going from hitting .189 in 185 at-bats with just nineteen RBIs to .308 in 221 with 46 RBIs sure says something. You can decide what exactly. I’m not saying the Sox should’ve kept all of the above players. But is interesting how this group with the possible exception of Cease has flourished once they escaped Jerry Reinsdorf’s employ. Glass half-full: The Sox can identify talent, whether at the top of the draft or towards the bottom. Glass half-empty: They just can’t develop it.

Bookends

The White Sox bookended their seasons with wins, 8-1 against the Angels on March 27 and 8-0 over the Nationals yesterday. It was all the games in between that were a problem. But at least Shane Smith righted his ship and once again looks like he can thrive as a top-of-the-roatation starter. Five days after limiting the Yankees to one run in five innings, the 25-year old Rule 5 acquisition did even better against the Nats, retiring the first sixteen batters until giving up a single to Brady House, who was the only National to reach base. Smith went six innings, and three relievers didn’t screw anything up. Did I mention Brooks Baldwin? If not, I should. Baldwin went 2-for-4 with a homerun and double good for three RBIs. The former twelfth-round pick finished with eleven homers and fifteen doubles in 300 at-bats, numbers that move him back into the “Maybe” category. As I’ve said on occasion, Baldwin intrigues with his ability to play multiple positions. He played everywhere this year except first and behind the plate (and was listed as the team’s emergency catcher). If the 25-year old switch-hitter can add 25 to his BA, he’s a keeper. The Sox under New-Mickey Venable finished the season at 60-102. According to Chris Getz, I should be impressed. Funny, but baseball-reference.com gives them a Pythagorean won-loss breakdown of 71-91. That was attainable, and getting there next season won’t be cause for celebration.

Picking and Choosing

For the White Sox to go anywhere next season, they have to be able to evaluate talent. If only for argument’s sake, let’s say they can. Yeah, I know it’s a stretch, but what else is there to do on the last day of the regular season? Off of yesterday, it’s a definite “Yes” with Colson Montgomery, plus a couple of “Maybes.” Montgomery hit his 21st homerun of the year to give the Sox a 2-0 that eventually turned into a 6-5 defeat. Oh, that bullpen. Grant Taylor, Mike Vasil, maybe Jordan Leasure. After them, a whole lot of “No’s,” especially if they’re lefties. Sean Burke, a starter who was relieving because that’s the silliness of a “bullpen” day, struck out ten in 4.1 innings of work. I want to say “Yes” about Burke, but that 4.29 ERA forces me back to “Maybe.” Ditto Brooks Baldwin. He joined Montgomery in hitting a two-run homer in the fourth inning. That gives him ten along with 35 RBIs in 296 at-bats. The “Maybe” comes in due to a .236 BA and 85 strikeouts. Yes, No, Maybe—let the evaluations begin.

Just Desserts

The White Sox jumped ahead against the Nationals 8-1 after 4-1/2 innings; they deserved to win. Then Jordan Leasure gave up four runs to put Washington up, 9-8, and the Sox truly deserved to lose. No doubt they would have and should have. You shouldn’t win a game after blowing a big lead and letting the other team hit six—I repeat, six—homeruns. But the other team also committed four—I repeat, four—errors. The last one brought up rookie shortstop Colson Montgomery with one out and one on in the top of the ninth. Montgomery put an 0-1 pitch into the rightfield stands for a 10-9 lead that Grant Taylor did not give up. Sox win, 10-9. At this time of year, you look for the little things to keep going. Montgomery provided some last night. He’d gone 0-for-4 to that point, with three strikeouts. Oh, and he connected off Jose Ferrer, a lefty who’d held lefthanded hitters to a batting average in the .180s. It was Montgomery’s fourth homer against lefties in 73 at-bats; he also has four doubles. It’s enough to keep me going.

We'll See

Chris Getz doesn’t want White Sox fans to focus on a third 100+ loss season. No, he sees the future, and it will be full of players from Double-A Birmingham, which repeated this week as Southern League champs. Maybe, but I wonder. The easy part will be, or should be, pitching. The Barons led the league with a ridiculous—by modern-day standards—2.99 ERA and fifteen shutouts; the 1237 strikeouts ranked second in the league. If Shane Murphy doesn’t get an invite to spring training after posting a 9-4 record for the Barons with a 1.38 ERA in 110.2 innings, there’s something wrong with the Sox front office. There are plenty of other Birmingham pitchers I’ve mentioned periodically who should also get a serious look-see, unless Getz thinks Jonathan Cannon and Sean Burke are a tinker or two away from rebounding. In which case, he’d be in the marked minority. Now, for the hard part, the position players. Oh, the Barons have them, but are the Sox willing to bring them up anytime soon? Like 20-year old middle-infielder William Bergolla, who hit .286 and stole 40 bases? Or 24-year old infielder/outfielder Rikuu Nishida, who batted .273 with 40 stolen bases? Or 22-year old Sam Antonacci, who hit .292 with 21 stolen bases? Throw in what he did at High-A Winston-Salem, and Antonacci hit .284 with 48 stolen bases and 75 runs scored. Last and not least is 24-year old infielder Jordan Sprinkle, who played at the A- and High A-levels before being promoted to Birmingham. For the season, Sprinkle stole 80 bases in total. How are you going to keep them down on the farm if they keep stealing everything in sight? A more pertinent question is, what do you do with your major-league infield if the kids keep producing? Sox fans may rebel or boycott if subjected to another season that sees the likes of Jacob Amaya and Josh Rojas getting significant playing time. And they may not want to see Triple-A Charlotte being the team that gets an infusion of talent. Long story short, I can see people moving to the outfield, and it could include Colson Montgomery. I may even hope it includes Montgomery.

A Modest Proposal

Last night at Yankee Stadium, the White Sox recorded loss #100 by an 8-1 score. I expect loss #101 to happen tonight. Here’s an idea for when the current collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of next season—instead of focusing on a nonstarter like a salary cap, why don’t owners discipline their own ranks with a form of receivership/trusteeship or a compulsory-sale formula? Oh, I know why they won’t, but the idea would be wildly popular with fans and players. In terms of receivership/trusteeship, it used to happen all the time with clubs in financial difficulty; think Brooklyn Dodgers. How fitting if the team of Jerry Reinsdorf, more a Dodgers’ fan than he ever has been a Sox fan, should be placed into the same status. Or just forcing the team to sell off 10-25 percent of its stock for every season of 100+ losses after, let’s say, three straight seasons of such misery also makes sense. If not to MLB ownership, then everyone else who consider themselves fans of the game.

Meet the New Boss

White Sox GM Chris Getz keeps talking about building a new, winning culture for the organization, but I don’t see it. His manager proved, yet again, a déjà vu ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This new Mickey is pretty much the same as the old Mickey. Last night at Yankee Stadium, starter Shane Smith threw five innings of one-run ball; he left after 93 pitches. Why? Lefthanded reliever Tyler Gilbert followed with a scoreless inning. Why not stretch him to four outs against a lineup with five lefthanded batters? Jordan Leasure followed Gilbert with a scoreless inning, and Grant Taylor followed Leasure with one of his own. Why didn’t each of them stay in for an extra out or, perish the thought, allow Taylor to go for a two-inning save? Instead, New-Mickey Venable brought in Brandon Eisert, who responded with a wild pitch and two-strike single—both with two out, no less—to give the Yankees a walk-off 3-2 win. Colson Montgomery hit a monster two-run homerun off Luis Gil in the sixth inning. Venable turned what could’ve been a big deal into a so-what moment. Same as the old Mickey.

Take a Walk

The last two Mondays, Michele and I have walked the lakefront. Yesterday, we did nine miles, give or take. Catch us, if you can. Over the last ten months, we’ve been to NYC, London and Paris; each city has a unique claim to world status. Chicago? Maybe the architecture—don’t get me started on the visual sameness of Paris—if only they didn’t keep tearing down landmark buildings. Definitely the lakefront. On the one side, sand and water. On the other, a never-ending variety of apartment buildings (for contrast, see Paris, above, while contrasting “polychromatic” with “monochromatic,” variety with uniformity). When I bike the lakefront, everything tends to zoom by; walking it, I get a sense of nature. Grass; trees; sand; waves. These are the elements of reverie, or can be until some idiot zooms by on an e-bike or scooter. Did I mention food? There’s actually a nice variety to be had, and it’s no more expensive than what you get at the ballpark, cheaper, probably. Both Mondays, we’ve ended our walk at a place familiar to anyone who’s watched enough Cubs’ broadcasts. Directors love that shot of the lake with the clock tower off of Addison, sailboats gliding along in the distance. (Sure beats Jim Blushi singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”) Well, there’s a dive bar next to the clock tower. You can eat inside or out. There’s a great view of the public golf course that abuts. Don’t worry. Protective screening keeps out any errant golf shots. My recommendation—the Wisconsin brat; that, and good walking shoes. Both are well worth it.

Ninety-Eight and Counting

Another game, another loss for the White Sox, this one 3-2 against the Padres in the last home game of the season. Nothing says defeat like a team going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. If the Sox have but four position players worth keeping (Chase Meidroth, Colson Montgomery, Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel), they have four-plus pitchers: starters Davis Martin and Shane Smith, relievers Grant Taylor—who wants to start—and Mike Vasil. Both relievers pitched yesterday. Vasil went three scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 2.37 in 98.2 innings (!). You have to love those numbers, along with the ones put up by Taylor in his last seven games—twelve strikeouts in six innings with a 0.00 ERA and 2-0 record, plus a save. Wikelman Gonzalez (2.66 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 20.1 innings) probably is a keeper, as is—and trust me, I never thought I’d be saying this—Jordan Leasure. God-awful April through July, the 27-year old righthander seems to have finally figured things out. The 3.09 ERA in August was nice, but nothing in comparison with what he’s done this past month: nine game; eleven innings; two hits; zero runs; ten strikeouts. Pinch me, I must be dreaming. A major-league roster consists of 26 players. By my reckoning, the Sox have fourteen, tops, and that’s if you include Andrew Benintendi; Luis Robert Jr.; Lenyn Sosa; and Miguel Vargas. The remaining twelve will be the difference between progress and a fourth straight season of 100+ losses.

Back on Track

The White Sox are back on track to losing 100+ games for three seasons in a row with last night’s 7-3 loss to the Orioles. Maybe someday the front office will find a lefthanded reliever or two who can get lefthanded batters out with the bases loaded and two out in a tied game. Or not. Core-wise, Kyle Teel had an RBI double against Yu Darvish while Chase Meidroth had a hit and a run scored; ditto Colson Montgomery, who also managed a walk (!). Those who would be part of the core also continued to press their case. Miguel Vargas went 2-for-4 with a double and RBI, and Lenyn Sosa hit his 21st homerun of the season, to go with 71 RBIs. Do you keep them or trade them? Vargas has 32 doubles in 478 at-bats with 56 RBIs; his defense at third and first hasn’t been atrocious. Sosa is Sosa. He’ll hit wherever you put him. Field? Well… A week to go, three games coming up with the Yankees in the Bronx after today’s last home game against the Padres. I think loss-100 comes before the Sox end their season against the Nationals. Let’s see if they can prove me wrong.

Same Old Same Old

The enigma that is ex-White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease started against his old team last night. That would be the second-worst team in all of baseball. Did I mention that Cease and the Padres lost, 4-3? I caught Cease talking to San Diego reporters after the game, and he came off as he always did on the South Side, laid back to the point of total detachment; he didn’t seem too upset with his performance of four earned runs over six innings. Those two Sox batters he hit in the fourth, both of whom scored? Stuff happens, he all but said. At the risk of sounding like Jerry Reinsdorf, the Padres aren’t getting their money’s worth from Cease, not with him going 8-12 with a 4.64 ERA. Cease is earning $13.75 million this year, and God knows how much next season when he signs with somebody—my guess the Yankees or Dodgers—as a free agent. The 29-year old, whose beard and hair make him look like he plays for the House of David, lost to Davis Martin, who now has a record of 7-10 with a 4.03 ERA. Martin is pulling down a shade over $765,000. I can’t wait to see how super-agent Scott Boras spins his client’s stats into a windfall contract. Unless he can’t.

Making Memories

Well, that certainly changed fast. The past few times I’ve pitched to my four-year old grandson, his bat was allergic to contact; tennis, anyone?. Then yesterday, he put nine balls over the fence, with one nearly clearing a second fence. Joy, except for the Packers’ t-shirt he was wearing. Leo will probably grow up a Cheesehead because his mom doesn’t really care about the Bears-Packers’ rivalry. If her boy wants to make a pilgrimage to Green Bay, that’ll be fine with her, provided he knows where his baseball allegiances lay. Amen to that, my daughter and grandson. If all goes right, seventy years from now, Leo will be looking at the latest iteration of the JumboTron I was watching Wednesday, and he’ll have the same reaction. Luke Appling retired before I was born, and I only remember Nellie Fox in his last season on the South Side. But there I was, holding back tears while Appling and Fox were brought back to life on the screen. No doubt, every team has the same sort of video clip to play at the start of a game. “Innovation” and “Jerry Reinsdorf” don’t usually appear in the same sentence, unless maybe you throw in “salary cap.” Whatever, the clip works in ways the Sox marketing department couldn’t begin to imagine. If those folks did, they might worry. Because watching reminds me there’s a connection to this team that extends generations, back and forward. My father cheered Appling, and my father-in-law, too. I lived and died with each at-bat Walt Williams took. Clare did the same with the Big Hurt. For Leo, Colson Montgomery could be his Nellie Fox or Walt Williams. Whomever his hero(s) turn out to be, it’ll be four generations of Sox fans and counting. At some point, the latest generation will demand accountability, and there’ll be no satisfying them until it’s had. Just saying.

The God’s Honest Truth, per Pinocchio

I’m tired of all this talk coming from White Sox GM Chris Getz and his favorite New-Mickey of a manager about how important it is for the team to finish strong. Here’s why. Tuesday night, Andrew Benintendi and Kyle Teel hit homeruns. Neither of them started yesterday in a 3-1 loss (their sixth in a row, but who’s counting? Certainly not Getz and New-Mickey.), even though the Orioles starting Tyler Wells would’ve meant a lefty-right advantage for both Benintendi and Keel. Wait, there’s more. The starting outfield yesterday consisted of Will Robertson (batting .143 at the start of the game, .135 at the end); Michael A. Taylor (.206/.204); and Dominic Fletcher (.231/.188). The trio went 0-for-8 on the day. I was there, section 145, row seven. I saw a bunch of young players sleepwalking over the course of nine innings; I also saw Oriole baserunners steal seven bases. Getz and New-Mickey can spin things all they want. That won’t change the fact this team is three losses short of 100 and next year could be a fourth straight season of 100+ losses

Getting Real

The White Sox had a chance to pull out a game last night against the Orioles. Up until the eighth inning, it was another pathetic effort, with Shane Smith setting the tone in a bad way, giving up six runs on nine hits in 4.1 innings of work. But five runs in the bottom of the eighth pulled the Sox to within a run at 8-7. The bottom of the ninth offered the “core” a chance to show what it could do. With one out, Chase Meidroth collected his second single of the game, bringing up Kyle Teel. The rookie catcher hit his eighth homerun of the season in the first and worked the count to 3-1. Then he struck out on a pitch in his eyes. Up next was Colson Montgomery, who’d struck out twice already. Make that three times, number three on a fastball Montgomery swung through. The 23-year old has now struck out 75 times in 216 at-bats. He’s hitting .095 (2-for-21) over his last seven games, .196 over his last fifteen (10-for-51). Where’s hitting coach Marcus Thames? Teel I’m not too worried about; he admitted after the game to trying to do too much. Everything so far, a .281 BA with 33 RBIs in 224 at-bats suggests he will in fact learn from his failures. That said, I hope Thames or some other coach is there to point out he left a walk on the table with the game on the line. As for Montgomery, I worry all the time. I see the Angels just sent down onetime phenom Scott Kingery. That could be Montgomery in the not-too-distant future if he doesn’t fix his swing. But not to worry. It’s all rainbows and unicorns, or as Sox manager New-Mickey Venable put it in his postgame comments, “Another great example of these guys continuing to battle. Got off to a great start there offensively [the two-run homer by Teel]. Shane did, too. Just as the game went on and they continued to score runs [!!#@!!], our guys continued to battle and it was nice to see us make it interesting.” [quote from today’s Tribune online] They still lost their fifth straight, Skipper.

More...Pathetic

Last night with the score tied at one in the top of the sixth inning with two out and a runner on first base, White Sox manager New-Mickey Venable made a move straight out of the Old-Mickey playbook—he brought in reliever Tyler Alexander. Consider that Alexander sported a 5-14 record with a 5.01 ERA and that he had been scored on in his previous six appearances. No matter. In he went and out went a three-run homerun by Colton Cowser, preceded by a Samuel Basallo single. Basallo went into that at-bat hitting .177, Cowser .197. Both are lefthanded batters. White is a lefthanded pitcher. Orioles 4 Sox 1. I looked for a postgame comment from Venable but couldn’t find one. Maybe words failed him, too.

Pathetic

Guardians’ catcher Bo Naylor entered yesterday’s game against the White Sox batting .183 with 32 RBIs in 326 at-bats. You know what that means, right? In the bottom of the fourth inning with the Sox up 1-0, Naylor hit a two-out, two-run double off starter Yoendrys Gomez. Wait, there’s more. With one out in the seventh and the game tied at two, Naylor homered against reliever Brandon Eisert, who made sure the lefty-lefty matchup didn’t work to his advantage. Final score, Cleveland 3 Chicago 2. The Sox were the most accommodating of visitors, dropping all six games this year at Progressive Field. After the game, Sox manager New-Mickey Venable offered that, “The guys continued to fight and grind. It felt like really all series we had good at-bats where we were making good decisions. Just didn’t really have anything to show for it.” [quote from today’s Tribune story] Words to rebut fail me.

Not Ready for Prime Time

Last night in the bottom of the second inning against the Guardains, White Sox starter Davis Martin gave up a two-run homerun to C.J. Kayfus, who came into the game batting an even .200. Wait, there’s more. In the bottom of the eighth with the Sox down 2-1, Sox reliever Fraser Ellard grooved a pitch to pinch-hitter Jhonkensy Noel. And Noel’s batting average at the time? A less-than-robust .146. That, my friends, is how you lose a game 3-1 and the kind of game you lose on the road to accumulating 92 losses on the season, and counting.

Energy, Talent

This morning, I watched my grandson run around a soccer field. He scored three goals plus an assist (unintended, I think, unless four-year olds really want to pass the ball), showing more energy than the White Sox did last night in Cleveland. Guardians 4 Sox 0. They managed two singles against Tanner Bibee, who came into the game with a 4.69 ERA and came out of it with his first career shutout and second complete game. The Sox won’t beat this kind of pitcher until their lineup stops featuring four starters batting under .240. I include Colson Montgomery (.228) and Miguel Vargas (.233) in that category. Maybe next year they’ll capture some Leo’s energy.

Good News

Four White Sox rookies stepped up yesterday to help take the three-game series against the Rays with a 5-1 win heavy on the contribution of starter Shane Smith. What a story Smith is, the Rule 5 player who made the All-Star team and then looked ready to flame out only to come back strong. Smith had an ERA of 4.26 going into the break. After 5.1 shutout innings yesterday, he’s lowered it to 3.78. The 25-year old righthander has been pretty much lights-out since the start of August. This returns him to “keeper” status in my books. Chase Meidroth? Maybe, maybe not, but he has been on a tear lately, going 13-for-24 over his last seven games. To be truly effective, Meidroth has to get on base and score, as he did yesterday, going 2-for-2 with two walks and a run scored. He’s now hitting .269 on the year with a .348 on-base percentage. The problem here concerns durability and defense. The 24-year old has gotten dinged up a lot over the season, which may or may not affect his play in the field. He’s good on groundballs and double plays, has good range at both second and short but looks to be below-average on anything flared over his head. Did I mention the Sox have a ton of intriguing middle infielders in their system? So many in fact it may affect Colson Montgomery’s future. I’d say our young shortstop is a keeper, but I’m not sure where, exactly. He could stay at short, and that’d be fine. Or he could slide over or try center field in the not-too-distant future; we’ll see. What I can say with certainty is Montgomery delivered yesterday when it counted, with a two-run single in the first inning. He now has a ridiculous 49 RBIs in just 202 at-bats. The .228 BA is nothing to write home about and the 65 strikeouts are a cause for concern, but, still. The 23-year lefthanded hitter old has shown a knack for coming through in the clutch. And his hit yesterday came off a lefty, Ian Seymour, who entered the game with a 2.89 ERA. There is, I think, cause for hope. Ditto with Kyle Teel, whose two-run pinch-hit single in the seventh inning gives him a fairly ridiculous 31 RBIs in 207 at-bats. Oh, and the batting average is an impressive .290. As ever with this rebuild, the question becomes where does Teel play? Somehow, the Sox have ended up with two talented starting catchers, the other being switch-hitting Edgar Quero, and they haven’t shown a willingness to play either Teel or Quero anywhere but catcher and DH. That is less a solution than putting off an inevitable decision. But that’s for another season. Right now, the Sox have some good young players who make the upcoming offseason both tolerable and a little irritating. Why so long until Opening Day, 2026?

Shaky

The White Sox recalled starter Sean Burke from Triple-A yesterday to see if he’s worked out his walk-happiness. Nope. The 25-year old righthander walked four Rays in 4.1 innings of work and was lucky to be charged with only three runs, given that he also coughed up to homeruns. Final score, Sox 6 Rays 5. Which represents good news and troubling news. The good consisted of Lenyn Sosa, him, hitting a two-run double as part of a five-run second inning. The troubling news concerned pitching, and not just Burke. Rookie Grant Taylor entered the ninth in a save situation, only to walk the leadoff batter and leave after one more pitch to the next hitter. Right now, they’re thinking strained right groin. As for prized minor-league starter Noah Schultz, the 22-year old leftie is being shut down to address “continued [right] knee soreness.” No Arizona Fall League for Schultz. And come spring training, who knows? Pitching’s the name of the game. I just wish the Sox had enough of it.

Unhealthy

Tyler Alexander’s pitch to the Rays’ Tristan Gray in the top of the seventh inning last night wasn’t so much fat as obese. Never mind lefty on lefty. The 29-year old Gray smashed a 92.2 mph “blah” fastball into the right field stands for the difference maker last night. Rays 5 White Sox 4. For Christmas, I’d like to have a bullpen that’s actually good. But there were positives, like Kyle Teel clearing the fence in dead center field for his seventh homerun of the season and Colson Montgomery driving in a run with a double instead of a homer, for a change. And Lenyn Sosa, my favorite problem, went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Maybe I should get my eyes checked. The glass almost looks half-full.

All in a Row

The Bears had all their ducks lined up in a row—stories about the Arlington Heights stadium flooded local media; new head coach Ben Johnson had generated plenty of buzz; the team pulled on all available heat strings with a pregame tribute to the late Virginia McCaskey and the ’85 Bears (yet again and again until they’re all gone, and then some more, I’m sure). The one thing Kevin Warren and Ryan Poles didn’t attend to was preventing a fourth-quarter collapse to the Vikings, who scored three late touchdowns to win, 27-24. Not that man-in-the-street interviews are in any way accurate, but, still, I was struck by the number of fans who expressed misgivings about a move out of the city. Probably the best way to address that would’ve been for the team to announce how much personal seat licenses will cost in the best stadium ever designed for a loyal fan base. Just kidding.

Repeat

Let me repeat: What do you do with a problem like Lenyn (Sosa)? The answer matters. Yesterday in Detroit, Sosa hit a 451-foot, game-tying homerun in the third inning before singling in two go-ahead runs in the eighth, giving the White Sox a 6-4 win and the series against the Tigers. In their last seven wins, six on the road, the Sox have come from behind in all seven games. Back to Sosa. In a postgame interview, the 25-year old admitted he was most comfortable at second base but added he was getting accustomed to playing first. Second would seem to belong to Chase Meidroth or one of the talented middle infielders presently at High-A and Double-A. If Sosa moves to first, what happens to Miguel Vargas? Is he the answer at third? GM Chris Getz and manager New-Mickey Venable are going to have to make a decision. Me, I like Sosa’s offense; as the saying goes, he’s clutch. And he does seem to be getting better at first base. Why not leave him there for the rest of the season? If he cracks 70 RBIs (right now he’s at 65), it will show just how good an offensive player he is and indicate what he can be. After that, decide. But if they do trade the righthanded-hitting Sosa, try to get equal value in return, unlike, say, Gavin Sheets or Andrew Vaughn.

Two Questions Worth Asking

The game was over as soon as White Sox starter Martin Perez threw his second pitch in the bottom of the first, which Jahmai Jones promptly hit over the left-field wall. Tigers 6 Sox 0. To say that Tigers’ starter Tarik Skubal dominated would be a gross understatement. The 28-year old lefty went seven innings, giving up two hits and a walk while fanning six. The win gives Skubal a 13-4 record with a 2.10 ERA, stats that could earn him a second consecutive Cy Young Award. Which got me wondering. Would the White Sox consider going after Skubal, a free agent after next season? Would they pay to keep one of their own pitchers with Skubal-level talent? Holy Mark Buehrle, I don’t think so.

Streakin'

The White Sox made it six straight wins, all come from behind, by beating the Tigers 7-5 last night at Comerica Park. Talk about a change in fortune. The Sox lost ta one-run lead in the fourth inning, when two runs scored on a Shane Smith wild pitch. Smith bounced a pitch a good ten feet in front of the plate that catcher Kyle Teel deflected up with his glove. Pitcher and catcher collided trying to field the ball in the air. Pitcher and catcher both looked to be down for the count. But, no. Smith finished the inning and one more after that. Last season, both players would be headed for the IL, and the Sox would’ve lost, either 4-3 or 100-3, whichever struck the Almighty’s fancy. Something’s changed. Did I mention Colson Montgomery? I do all the time, usually with a note of concern attached. None of that off the rookie’s most recent performance, 2-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBIs, two on a seventh-inning line-drive homerun that gave the Sox a 7-4 cushion. Montgomery now has 46 RBIs in 185 at-bats. Not bad. Maybe he can get more and the Sox a seventh straight win.

Another Painful Admission

As much as it pains me to admit (and trust me, it pains me a whole lot), new White Sox manager New-Mickey Venable is not an entirely hopeless case. He has a knack for the unexpected, like last night when he batted his two rookie catchers at the top of the order. How did that work out? Well, Edgar Quero went 3-for-5 DH’ing in the leadoff spot with a double and two runs scored while Kyle Teel followed with a 3-for-5 night of his own with four RBIs, three coming on a game-tying homerun in the seventh inning. Sox 11 Twins 8. The two rookies I’m most concerned about also chipped in, Colson Montgomery with a monster 454-foot shot good for two runs in the ninth and Chase Meidroth with four hits. Montgomery needs to make regular contact and Meidroth, contact that eludes the opposition. Montgomery can’t be hitting .227 this time next year or Meidroth .258. But you take the hopeful signs and see what happens in the offseason. Right now, I’d have to say there’s not much good Jonathan Cannon will be taking from this year. Called up to pitch as long as he could in the series finale, Cannon struggled to last 2.1 inning, yielding five earned runs on five hits and two walks. I think it’s a head thing with the 25-year old righthander. Either he figures things out, or one of those talented starters in the minors will take his spot in the rotation come spring. The Sox have now won five in a row, all come from behind. Who’ve thought it? And sweeping the Twins four games on the road. That, my friends, has never been done since Harmon Killebrew and company decamped from D.C. in 1961. So, if that feat is possible, why not a Friday-night win in Detroit? A guy can dream.

Painful to Admit

It pains me to admit that the White Sox won their fourth straight game last night, 4-3 over the Twins at Target Field, in large part due to the effort of two of my least favorite players, Michael A. Taylor and Jordan Leasure. But that’s what happened. With two on and two out in the top of the ninth, Brooks Baldwin blooped a broken-bat single to right, good for a run. That put runners on the corners, until Baldwin stole second with Taylor up. Twins’ reliever Justin Topa made Taylor look sad swinging at two straight sweepers that broke well out of the strike zone. Too bad for Topa he couldn’t do it a third time. Somehow, Taylor laid off the next two sweepers, both pretty much where the earlier two were. Then came sweeper #5, right over the plate. Taylor, who at that point was 0-for-3 on the night with two strikeouts, turned on the pitch, lining it down the left-field line, on the line in fact, a double plating two runs. Wait, there’s more. That was in the person of Leasure, who gave up a leadoff double to Byron Buxton followed by a walk to Trevor Larnach. Leasure induced the next two batters to hit shallow flyouts to left, requiring Andrew Benintendi to run in for the catch both times. That made it two out and two on for catcher Ryan Jeffers, 3-for-4 on the night with a run scored. Lo and behold, Jeffers grounded out to third. Sox win, Sox win. They hadn’t come back to win a game when trailing in the ninth since August 6, 2023, in Cleveland. That’s a span of 205 games. My problem with the two players who broke that streak is purely performance-related. Taylor is hitting .205 on the season and hadn‘t driven in a run since August 9. Leasure can either be very good or very bad out of the pen. Average it out, and he has a 4.08 ERA. At 34, Taylor may not be back for a second year with the Sox. He’s a plus-outfielder and a very good interview; I can still remember him from the 2019 postseason, when he helped the Nationals win their first and so far only World Series; Leasure is less articulate but just as sincere. So, hats off to both. Now, do it again.

Hitting on All Six

Hitting, pitching and defense, oh, my. White Sox 12 Twins 3 The last time he started, Martin Davis pitched scared, or so I thought. Last night, he did OK+, allowing three runs in six innings for the win, his sixth this season. Two more, please. If Martin keeps getting a 7-5 double play in support, it just may happen. As to hitting, where to start? Probably best to go with Andrew Benintendi, who hit two homeruns, collected four hits and drove in five. Youngsters Kyle Teel and Lenyn Sosa also homered, going back-to-back in the seventh inning. Now, for two other kids. With the Sox down 3-1 and two on nobody out in the fifth, Bryan Ramos doubled in both runners. Definitely more, please. In addition to Ramos delighting, Brooks Baldwin went 3-for-4 with a walk, run scored and RBI. That’s what I’m talking about, Brooks. Nothing says commitment like going 16-for-48 over your last fifteen games. Next, the near-impossible—three straight at Target Field.

When

One of the few intelligent comments ever spoken by “Hawk” Harrelson went along the lines of: It’s not only who you play but when you play ’em. From there it’s a short distance to: It’s not only what you hit but when you hit it. Take yesterday’s 6-5 White Sox win over the Twins. Colson Montgomery homered, again, so, Yea! But it was a solo shot in the second inning. With two on and two out in the seventh, Montgomery struck out. A three-run homer beats a solo job in my book. Montgomery is going to get the benefit of the doubt given his production so far and his standing as a, if not the, cornerstone in this latest Sox rebuild. And, yes, he deserves it. But also consider Brooks Baldwin, on the periphery of the rebuild unless and until he’s gets his batting average in the vicinity of .280. After his two doubles yesterday, Baldwin has 42 points to go. But consider that his leadoff double in the fifth led to a run and his two-out double in the eighth scored the tying run; Baldwin then scored the go-ahead run on Mike Tauchman’s double. The 25-year old utility player was at least a little bit clutch, I’d say. With Luis Robert Jr. on the IL and Michael A. Taylor batting a mere .204, Baldwin has a chance to make a case for himself in this last month of the season. That works for me.

The Two that Count

The White Sox managed five hits against the Yankees yesterday; the back-to-back doubles by Curtis Mead and Will Robertson qualify as unlikely-to-be-repeated flukes. And forget the first-inning single by Lenyn Sosa. What counted were the solo shots by Colson Montgomery in the sixth and Sosa in the eighth. White Sox 3 Yankees 2. Montgomery has fifteen homeruns to go with a .224 BA. All you can do is wonder and hope, that he stays healthy; that he learns plate discipline; that he can hit singles and doubles as well as homers. With Sosa , it’s more about wondering. Two years older than the 23-year old Montgomery, Sosa is a more mature hitter, which isn’t to say that his sixteen homers, 61 RBIs and .269 BA represent a ceiling. I can see 25 homers and a .275 BA within reach if he gets hot in September. Sosa could easily knock in 80 or more runs on a good team. Where does he play? First, second, third? Who does he play for, given the preponderance of middle infielders among top Sox prospects? Something to ponder come the offseason.